A snapshot from hypertext hater Nicholas Carr
With the Fire, as with its its whizzy-gizmo predecessors, the iPad and the Nook Color, we are seeing the e-book begin to assume its true aesthetic, which would seem to be far closer to the aesthetic of the web than to that of the printed page: text embedded in a welter of functions and features, a symphony of intrusive beeps. Even the more restrained Kindle Touch, also introduced today, comes with a feature called X-Ray that seems designed to ensure that a book's words never gain too tight a grip over a reader's consciousness: "With a single tap, readers can see all the passages across a book that mention ideas, fictional characters, historical figures, places or topics that interest them, as well as more detailed descriptions from Wikipedia and Shelfari, Amazon’s community-powered encyclopedia for book lovers." The original Kindle, now discounted to $79, is beginning to look like a dusty relic - something for the rocking-chair set.
Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Beyond words: the Kindle Fire and the book's future
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