Episode 0087, 02/07/2009
Title/Description: Kindle 2, DTV Switch Disaster, and
other tech headlines
Welcome to Course
Technology's CourseCast of the week, Episode 88, recorded February 14th, 2009. This
is Ken Baldauf bringing you this week's technology news and information. This CourseCast
is brought to you by Course Technology. Check out www.cengage.com/coursetechnology
for innovative textbooks and creative electronic learning solutions.
Story 1 - Kindle 2
At a jam packed press
conference, Amazon unveiled the next generation of its ebook
reader, the Kindle 2. In many ways the event was more like a Steve Jobs keynote
at MacWorld, than what you might expect from Amazon. Rumors and high-levels of
anticipation led up to the event. The event itself, featured
fanfare, celebrities, and bloggers streaming every bit of information.
The event was immediately followed by headline articles in all of the major
online tech publications reviewing and picking apart the features of the new
Kindle.
The Kindle 2 is thinner and
lighter than its predecessor. It weighs 10.2 ounces, and is just under a
centimeter thick. So it's lighter than a paperback and about as thin as most
magazines. The Kindle 2 has improved its button arrangement to make turning epages easier, and faster. It has more memory and stores as
many as 1500 books. The display is improved as well,
supporting 16 shades of gray, up from just 3 - sorry, no color yet! It also
features a text-to-speach feature that can read aloud
the printed page at times when your eyes are needed elsewhere.
The Kindle 2 will begin
shipping February 24, and can be preordered now for $359. The devices makes use
of a free wireless service from T-Mobile to access ebooks,
magazines, newspapers, blogs, and other online publications and services.
Content doesn't come cheap though! Books cost around
10 bucks, newspapers like the NewYork Times and Wall
Street Journal around 10 - 15 dollars per month, and magazines from around
$1.25 to $3 per month. Blogs and other Web content are free.
The release of the new ebook reader has many speculating as to whether the
transition from paper to pixels is about to ramp up. So far, ebooks have been adopted by a relatively small population.
The Kindle has only one major competitor, the Sony e-Reader. While it is
possible to enjoy ebooks on the iPhone and other
smart phones, Amazon is building its bridge from paper to pixels via its
dedicated device that locks down content to protect copyright. This may be the
only way to get buy-in from publishers who have so far been reluctant to
distribute content digitally. A key feature for the Kindle's success is the
ability to access content directly, without connecting to a computer, over a
large wireless network. Amazon's partnership with T-Mobile is game-changing.
Unfortunately, Amazon has been unable to make similar arrangements with
carriers outside the
Over the course of the next
year, many will be watching adoption rates of the Kindle very closely. Will it
take off like the iPod and iPhone? Will commuters, crammed into subways, trains
and busses, have kindles under their arms rather than the daily paper? WIll campus bookstores become obsolete as students download
a semester's worth of books from Amazon in a matter of minutes.
If its timing is right, the Kindle 2 has the potential to dramatically change
the way we live.
Sources:
Amazon Unwraps
Kindle 2.0 [Technology Review]
Shhh: Whispersync could be the
real news out of Kindle 2 [Computerworld]
Kindle
fans upset that Kindle 2 drops SD slot, replaceable battery [Computerworld]
Amazon
Finds Barriers To Spread of Digital Word [News Factor]
Amazon
unveils slimmer Kindle reader [Reuters]
Story 2 - DTV Switch
Disaster
Last week, I reported that
the deadline for the move to digital TV was extended from Feb 17 to June 12.
Well it appears that having prepared for the Feb 17 deadline, most TV companies
prefer to go with the original date. Hundreds of TV stations ar eplanning to make the
transition on Feb 17 as originally planned. The language of the law extending
the deadline gives them the right to do so. The Major networks including CBS,
NBC, and ABC have agreed to hold off until June. It's hard to say if the
deadline extension reduced or added to the confusion around the issue.
FCC
to scrutinize stations wanting early DTV switch [Reuters]
And now
for News Briefs.
That's it for this week's CourseCast.
Links to this week's stories and many more news and information resources are
provided at the CourseCast Web site at coursecasts.course.com. E-mail us with
your suggestions for the show at course.coursecasts@cengage.com. Until next
time have a great week and be sure to take advantage of the Power -- of
Technology!