Jessica is me.

I use Bloglines, but I'm probably going to switch to Google Reader. Both for the Google Gears thing and the fact that Bloglines sometimes just seems to lock up. Oh, and Bloglines marks an entire blog as read as soon as you click on it, but Google Reader only marks them as read as you scroll to them.

Got the external monitor to work. Wow, this is going to take some getting used to. Everything is HUGE. I once knew how to shrink it. Hrm.

I think with a G3 iBook you're limited to the same resolution of the iBook's screen. So if you attach a big monitor, everything becomes huge (because of the lower resolution than the monitor would typically use).

Yeah, I'll just put it farther away!( I have 15 days to decide whether I'm keeping it or not. We'll see.)

So am I the only one absolutely salivating for an Amazon Kindle?

This review has convinced me that I am going to be 100% happy with my purchase. It sounds like exactly what I've wanted out of an eBook reader since I discovered the concept of them several years ago.

I like the hardware, but the terms of service and other limitations they put on it make me not want it.

Among other things, they make it a PITA to load any stuff that's yours that you didn't buy from them. And no PDF.

I think I'll wait on a later ebook. Or something.

I'm surprised by this:

It's surprisingly easy to get non-Amazon material on it. I just plug it in to the USB cable which perpetually hangs off the back of my laptop, and it shows up as a hard drive. I drop .txt and .mobi files into the "Book" folder and they show up. I convert a handful of PDFs to .mobi files using Mobi Creator and they work perfect, Tables of Contents and all. Sweet.

since that was a flag waved by dissenters. I just have to remember which ones, so I can see if they've withdrawn their claim.

Also, it's ugly. Why it got to be ugly?

since that was a flag waved by dissenters.

Maybe the issue it it's difficult to get your stuff on it wirelessly?

Although I seem to remember people complaining you had to email stuff to Yahoo to be converted to get it on the thing. Hmmm....

Well, I'm too lazy to go read those articles again. Maybe someone can report back....

You can drag any MobiPocket or TXT file on it over USB, instantly and easily. And the Mobi Creator software converts PDF, easy-peasy, apparently. (Unfortunately, there's no Mac version, but I bet somebody comes up with one, or some other converter, if the Kindle catches on.) Honestly, from what I can tell, the "problems" with putting your own stuff on it are barely problems at all. Just bad marketing by Amazon. That e-mail thing is an example: it's possible to e-mail files to your built-in Kindle e-mail for $0.10, if that's how you want to do it, but you can do it with USB for free: unfortunately, Amazon doesn't make that especially clear. The article actually goes into that.

The reviewer also insists that the device isn't really ugly at all: just looks that way in the photos. I frankly don't care whether he's mistaken because I want my eBook reader to disappear three words into whatever book I'm reading, at which point I don't care what it looks like. And apparently the feel and ergonomics of it make that happen. Th exchange with his wife is gold (quoting for those who haven't read it):

"So how do you like it?" I ask.

"It's good. Not as good as the last one, but it made me cry about half way through. They killed off one of the main characters, so I just had to finish it and see how they ..."

"No I mean the Kindle."

She looks puzzled.

"Oh. It's fine I guess," she says, shrugging. "I didn't really think about it. It's nice you can read it with one hand instead of lifting weights with a hardcover."

That's what I want.