# Ouch!

- **Date:** 2007-11-21

Amazon announced their portable reading device called [kindle](http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Original-Wireless-generation/dp/B000FI73MA).
 The screen works using ink but displays the ink particles electronically.

![Amazons Kindle](https://wsrv.nl/?url=https://origin.wollzelle.com/images/2007-125.png&w=1024&dpr=2&output=webp)

Although the [eInk](http://www.eink.com/) technology sounds very promising and I like the idea that the screen mimics paper kindle looks “so not sexy”. It doesn’t look very innovative nor does it feel like a traditional book. It reminds me of a white plastic device from the eighties.

I’m not sure if there is a market for a dedicated eBook reader or if it should be a device with more cross-over functionality (eg. web, mail). What do you think?

Wired has a brief [e-book readers at a glance](http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2007/11/e-book-readers/)
 overview or you can find a more detailed review over at [PCWorld](http://www.pcworld.com/article/139829/amazon_kindle_review_igniting_interest_in_ebooks.html).

Btw: Great fictions that share advantages of both worlds (traditional/interactive) are the The Daily Prophet newspaper, as shown in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

![Daily Prophet](https://wsrv.nl/?url=https://origin.wollzelle.com/images/2007-126.png&w=1024&dpr=2&output=webp)

or the newspaper in Minority Report, both epapers with constantly changing text, video and sound. On the other hand it would get really noisy in our beloved coffeehouses with those “talking” epapers ;)

![Minority Report epaper](https://wsrv.nl/?url=https://origin.wollzelle.com/images/2007-127.png&w=1024&dpr=2&output=webp)