TI8

Johnny: Ever since the era of technology approached us, nearly everything around us seemed to turn its upside down, like with the mobile phones and tablets, we reduce the time spent on the TV. But how about reading, how was it affected? I suppose Kindle is the answer. In 2007, the Internet commerce company Amazon introduced a $399 electronic book (e-book) reader called the Kindle. The Kindle wasn't the first dedicated e-book reader device, but it didn't really have much competition -- there wasn't a huge demand in the market for e-book readers before the Kindle's launch. Amazon has two distinct advantages over earlier e-book manufacturers. The first is that the company designed the Kindle to interface seamlessly with Amazon's online store--- Amazon.com. Amazon.com hosts more than a million titles in electronic format. Because the Kindle is wireless, you can access the store without connecting the device to a computer. You can buy a book or subscribe to an electronic version of a newspaper on Amazon and download it directly to the Kindle. The second advantage is that Amazon has a large customer base. Both of these factors give the Kindle a leg up on the competition. Iris: Why would you want to use an e-book reader in the first place? One reason is that a single e-book reader can hold many titles. The $69 Kindle, Amazon's base model, can hold up to 1,400 titles (books, newspapers, magazines and blogs) in its memory. The newer models also offer WiFi connectivity. The original Kindle had a port that allowed users to save titles to a memory card, extending the device's capacity, which appealed to people who like the idea of having an electronic library that takes up very little physical space. The models available today do not have card slots, but available Kindle models come with 2 or 4 gigabytes of storage space, and Amazon also stores your entire library in the cloud, allowing you to delete and re-download titles at will to organize and save space. The Kindle's memory capacity also makes it very convenient for travelers. With a Kindle, you don't have to worry about packing heavy books in your luggage to keep you occupied for your whole trip. A single Kindle can hold more than enough titles to tide you over. And if you decide you want something completely different midway through your travels (as long as you're traveling in the United States or a country in which Amazon offers service for its international Kindle), you can always use the Kindle to access Amazon's store and buy a new book. Johnny： The Kindle also has several functions that you may find helpful while reading. You can bookmark a page, highlight a selection of text or even type notes as you read. With these features, the Kindle has the potential to replace hardcopy textbooks in the future, something many students would probably welcome. While they would no longer be able to sell a used copy of a textbook at the end of a term, they wouldn't have to tote around a backpack filled with hefty books either. Amazon Kindle Layout The original Kindle has an off-white plastic casing and an asymmetric, beveled shape, like a closed three-ring binder. It has a rubberized back that makes it easier for users to hold the device. It's 7.5 inches (19 centimeters) long and 5.3 inches (13.5 centimeters) wide. It's only 0.7 inches (1.8 centimeters) thick and weighs a mere 10.3 ounces. Iris： Amazon has changed the design of the Kindle a few times since its introduction. The third-generation device, also known as the Kindle Keyboard, is less angular than the original model. It initially came in two versions: a WiFi-only model and a 3G and WiFi model, the former of which is no longer available. The Kindle DX, a larger keyboard-laden e-reader with a 9.7-inch (24.6-centimeter) diagonal screen, has also been discontinued. The Keyboard 3G is just as tall as the first Kindle, but is less angular and a little narrower at 4.8 inches (12.2 centimeters) wide. It's 0.34 inches (8.5 millimeters) thick and weighs 8.7 ounces (247 grams). The E-book Reader Display One complaint some people had about early e-book readers was that they found it difficult to read words on an LCD display. Some users complained that longer reading sessions put too much strain on their eyes. Amazon's solution to this problem was to use electronic ink technology. The Kindle's electronic inkscreen looks more like paper than an LCD screen. It reflects light in much the same way that paper does. The screen lacks a backlight, so, with the exception of the new Paperwhite, you'll need an external light source in order to read anything. Johnny: A company called E Ink in Cambridge, Mass., developed the technology the Kindle relies upon to display text and images. Rather than use the liquid crystals you'd find in an LCD or the ionized gas you'd find in a plasma display, electronic ink actually uses millions of microcapsules, only a few microns wide. Each microcapsule contains a clear fluid and thousands of white and black particles. The white particles carry a positive magnetic charge and the black particles have a negative charge. It's these positively and negatively charged particles inside the microcapsules that make electronic ink displays possible. An array of thousands of tiny electrodes lies beneath the electronic ink display. When an electrode emits a negative charge, it repels the negatively charged black balls, pushing them to the top of the microcapsule. At the same time, the negative charge attracts the positively charged white particles to the bottom of the microcapsule. When the electrode emits a positive charge, the white and black particles switch places and the screen appears to be blank. Iris: Working together, thousands of electrodes and millions of microcapsules generate the text and images you can see on an electronic ink display. Through precise charges the Kindle can display a range of grays to provide shading in images. You can even adjust the Kindle's font settings to display text in a larger or smaller font size. The Kindle uses less energy to generate a page view than a comparable LCD or plasma screen. The company's Web site states that the Kindle pulls power from its battery only during the initial page generation. It doesn't require more power until the user changes the page view. Because of this feature, the Kindle's battery can provide power for up to two months on a single charge (assuming the user doesn't have the wireless feature turned on). The electronic ink display is one of the Amazon Kindle's top selling points Johnny： Amazon's E-book Store To get the most out of your Amazon Kindle, you'll need to create an account with Amazon.com. It's a free process -- all you'll need is a valid e-mail address. Once you have an account, you can register your Kindle with Amazon. This gives you access to the Kindle Store through Amazon's wireless network, called Whispernet. The Amazon Kindle's modem gives you wireless access to an electronic store that includes more than 1 million books, newspapers and magazines [source: Amazon]. Amazon provides 3G wireless service without a monthly subscription fee on some devices -- you just have to pay a little more upon purchase of the device. The 3G devices also allow for WiFi access to the store, and the non-3G devices are WiFi-only. The Kindle allows you to buy books directly from the device. Alternately, you can browse books in the Kindle store using your computer's Web browser and purchase them from your computer. Amazon will send the electronic books directly to your device. You can also browse several blogs online.