Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story • Hacker News Board

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#141

Post by andrewla » Mon, Apr 13, 2015, 2:29 PM UTC

cbsmith wrote: post #83

pookieinc wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this post, but not with regards to the Kindle, but more Amazon as an entity. Also, perfect timing to read this article, after just purchasing a Kindle Paperwhite and having it for a few weeks now. As a casual reader, I find the Kindle Paperwhite as the perfect medium for my reading needs. I can hold it in one hand, I can read it any time of the day with adjustable brightness, and the e-ink is very clear…

> The justification notion, I would argue that the typical user may not notice it as much as the hardcore reader. The fact of the matter is it impacts all readers, whether they recognize it or not, and there is a reason the printing industry generally doesn't do it.

I'm confused by this -- looking through my physical books now, I'm hard-pressed to find any that aren't fully justified.

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#142

Post by worklogin » Mon, Apr 13, 2015, 2:35 PM UTC

jkestner wrote: post #136

Question: why does the Voyage exist? After progressively getting the price down, a very Amazon thing to do, a high-end model seems un-Amazonian. Especially if it doesn't really meet the needs of serious readers. Did Amazon just see an unmet market at that price point? Curious as to when companies move upmarket with a product line - it's usually the other way around.

Hey, everybody, I have an announcement!

I like the Voyage!

I own one, and reading on it is quite pleasant. I can see the rationale for pressure buttons (you can adjust the sensitivity). The resolution is fantastic, backlighting is great compared to reading in my particular low-light environment. The store works for what I need as a casual reader. I had a Kobo H2O, which was alright, but felt less refined. Also, the Kobo didn't have any useful newspaper subscriptions.

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#143

Post by worklogin » Mon, Apr 13, 2015, 2:39 PM UTC

megablast wrote: post #43

jayvanguard wrote: post #23

This person seems extremely picky. I have pretty much every generation of kindle and they just keep getting incrementally better. Resolution, backlight, multiple dictionaries, x-ray, etc.

> This person seems extremely picky. I don't understand this? Why not disagree with the valid points he made, rather than just calling him picky? When you use a device a lot, as you would an ereader, I can imagine these problems becoming magnified.

He is disagreeing, by indirectly stating the guy doesn't have valid points.

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#144

Post by dilap » Mon, Apr 13, 2015, 2:45 PM UTC

jayvanguard wrote: post #23

This person seems extremely picky. I have pretty much every generation of kindle and they just keep getting incrementally better. Resolution, backlight, multiple dictionaries, x-ray, etc.

Picky or not, they are valid complaints, and a lot of people (me included!) share them.

It's frustrating because the kindle does a lot of things right, but it could be so much better with just a little thoughtful attention.

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#145

Post by polarix » Mon, Apr 13, 2015, 2:46 PM UTC

Red_Tarsius wrote: post #93

I love the virtual bookshelf concept. I love not to waste time wandering through libraries and that almost any book is two clicks away from me. That said, I'm also a graphic designer and many book layouts are awful. I can't tell how many times I read 1 star reviews of good books which were worthless as an ebook. The ebook is thrashing 500 years of typographic tradition. It's trashing everything we know about making a…

Citation for Audible's business tactics? How could it be done better, given the labor outlay and legal coordination required to record an audiobook?

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#146

Post by dilap » Mon, Apr 13, 2015, 2:48 PM UTC

The problem is that they don't really have any competition. I had a weird sudden wish watching the Pepple Time video on kickstarter that they would expand into e-readers. They've already got the experience with the screens...

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#147

Post by mark-r » Mon, Apr 13, 2015, 3:03 PM UTC

hyperbovine wrote: post #135

pookieinc wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this post, but not with regards to the Kindle, but more Amazon as an entity. Also, perfect timing to read this article, after just purchasing a Kindle Paperwhite and having it for a few weeks now. As a casual reader, I find the Kindle Paperwhite as the perfect medium for my reading needs. I can hold it in one hand, I can read it any time of the day with adjustable brightness, and the e-ink is very clear…

Exactly, Amazon understands and targets the majority , and they wind up very satisfied. This article lost me at "you’ll find hundreds and hundreds of people asking, begging for Amazon to change this." Ooh, hundreds! Amazon has manufactured at least 10 million kindles by now.

The point is that the product would be better for those millions of people too, they just don't realize it enough to ask. The same way people didn't realize they wanted an iPhone until Apple invented it - people were quite happy with their Blackberries.

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#148

Post by s3cur3 » Mon, Apr 13, 2015, 3:05 PM UTC

VLM wrote: post #128

prof_hobart wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What impact is that?

A bit of google will find https://kaiweber.wordpress.com/2010/05/31/ragged-right-or-ju... containing numerous links to academic papers showing lower test scores with right justification. I don't know if the author cherry picked only the articles favoring the authors opinion. (edited to add, also try googling for the topic and "Dyslexia" where the conclusions seem fairly non-controversial and realize dyslexia is a spe…

> This is aside from the fairly obvious aesthetic argument that looking at ugly things (like right justified text) inherently lowers your quality of life.

If ugly line endings even make your list of "things in my life that could be going better," you're living a pretty charmed life. :)

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#149

Post by rhino369 » Mon, Apr 13, 2015, 3:08 PM UTC

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #4

To be fair, I find it much easier to fall asleep after using my Kindle Paperwhite than I do with an iPad. But, virtually every aspect of the Kindle ecosystem user experience is an experience in mediocrity. In some respects, I feel like the company is like what you'd get if you crossed the worst aspects of Microsoft and Google. (And apologies to my friends who work at Amazon, but let's be honest: you're all going to q…

Amazon seems like Microsoft but without the massive profits from cash cows (windows+office) to subsidize R&D.

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#150

Post by throwaway41597 » Mon, Apr 13, 2015, 3:16 PM UTC

Derbasti wrote: post #67

After having owned three kindles, I have switched to a kobo about a year ago. The kobo has many of its own problems, but it gets the reading experience right: it uses (very un-aggressive) hyphenation, and the lock screen displays the book cover. I miss going on Amazon, clicking some button, and immediately start reading a new book. Now that's a multi step process that involves a computer and a DRM removal tool. But t…

So is it reasonably easy for one to step out of the walled garden? I've considered buying one (Kobo) but I've read comments saying it constantly wants to connect to wifi (after a factory reset which sometimes is required because of buggy firmware) and transfering files without using the desktop software is nearly impossible.

I just want to read PDFs, text files, possibly HTML with some light CSS. I'd like sync to take at most 30 seconds of work. Would you recommend one? Any alternatives?