Happy Birthday, Kindle! A very interesting post from Nicholas Rossis. Check it out. 🙂
Image: Amazon
Ten years ago, on November 19th, 2007, Amazon introduced Kindle to the world, for US$399. It sold out in five and a half hours, even though there were just 88,000 books available for download. The device remained out of stock for five months until late April 2008. Today, the store has over 7 million e-books available in the United States.
However, that’s hardly Kindle’s greatest success: that honor goes to the fact it released the creativity of millions of writers, allowing them to publish their manuscripts directly on Amazon’s store without having to wait for a publisher’s approval.
Standing On The Shoulders Of Sony
The Kindle’s development started in 2004 when Jeff Bezos tasked his employees to build the world’s best e-reader before Amazon’s competitors could. He had good reason to be wary, as Sony had already released Librie and the long-forgotten Rocket eBook was starting to gain…
View original post 294 more words
The Write Stuff 
Mine is four and a half years old, treasured ‘Paperwhite’ ; it comes on holiday with me, but stays safely inside the suitcase or hotel room; daren’t take it on the bus or train, don’t want to lose or drop it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
My Paperwhite died from overuse! 😀 I went with the Voyager next, and love it even more, because it is LIT, but not backlit, like a computer. It has little built in lights that shine on the front, so it looks just like reading by a nearby lamp. And the light is dimmable. The darker the room, the less light you need to read by. I love it more than anything! Oh, the joy of highlighting a word and getting an immediate definition, or a reference to a name that’s been used earlier in the books, etc. And best of all, I can choose the font that’s easiest for me to read, and resize it to whatever my tired, old eyes want. Try doing THAT with a print book. (Not that it’s an either/or thing with me. I will ALWAYS buy print books. They are treasures, and sometimes–now and then–I actually read from them! Hahaha.)
LikeLiked by 2 people
I got a Fire when they first came out in the UK, shortly after I published my first e-book and it’s still alive and kicking. I thought I’d never get used to it, but now I couldn’t live without it… (or another one, of course). I love the letter size (my eyes aren’t what they used to be) and the dictionary is particularly useful when reading historical fiction. It’s difficult to imagine a life without it now.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I didn’t go with the Fire, because I can’t read long on anything that’s backlit, like the computer. My eyes water constantly. So the Voyage was a better choice for me, as I’m only using the Kindle as a dedicated reader. Between my PC and my tablet, I felt I was covered for online surfing, etc. So far, it’s been great, as the Voyage, with its front lighting, is no harder on my eyes than reading a print book. But if that weren’t a problem, the Fire would have been fun. I do like seeing the covers in color. 😀
It’s nice that there are several styles to choose from, and we can pick the one that works best for us. And I love having 500 books in my purse at all times! 😀 Happy Kindle Birthday! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m with you, Marcia: since I’m staring at a computer monitor all day for my day job, the last thing I want to do when relaxing is stare at another one. So, Paperwhite to the rescue! Thanks for sharing 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I forgot Paperwhite now has a version with a light on the front of the page, too. Along with Voyage, it’s great for reading in bed, after dark! 😀 Backlit text is a pain in the EYES after a while, and front lighting via a lamp or a Paperwhite/Voyage is great! I do continue to collect print books, though. I love being surrounded by them, and I’m mad for good cover art. I’d just rather read on my Kindle. (It saves book spines, too!) 😀
Thanks for posting this, Nicholas. I hadn’t even realized Kindle was now ten. My how time flies when you are reading great books, eh? 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person