Saw another iPad, on the Northern Line, a bit after 11am. It was a young woman this time. She was using it to read a print book. She had set the print to large. This is a good example of "horseless carriage" use as adjusting the print size is certainly NOT something one can do with an ordinary book...
Amazon report that for the first time, sales of eBooks (for the Kindle -which presumably could include sales to people with iPads using the kindle app) exceeded hardback book sales.
This sugests to me that eBooks could be about to become disruptive; and will certainly start making inroads in the academic book market. When my daughter went to University last autumn we bought her a macbook, and she has told me that she does use etexts on that, but she is still a very heavy consumer of conventional books. Should her brother go to university in three years time, I now believe that an eReader will be part of his kit, but whether as a dedicated device or something he does with his lap top is not clear.
This sugests to me that eBooks could be about to become disruptive; and will certainly start making inroads in the academic book market. When my daughter went to University last autumn we bought her a macbook, and she has told me that she does use etexts on that, but she is still a very heavy consumer of conventional books. Should her brother go to university in three years time, I now believe that an eReader will be part of his kit, but whether as a dedicated device or something he does with his lap top is not clear.
Tyle Brule, writing in last Saturday's Financial Times reports seeing a number of people on holiday reading using iPads. (no doubt in rather up market surroundings). The problem is that an iPad is really difficult to read in direct sunlight, he observes, producing strange contortions as people look for ways to shade the screen. he reckons old fashioned literature on paper so much more convenient. I have two thoughts on this:- 1. It reminds one of how all these things are user specific. It would not be a problem for me as I cannot read in bright sunlight. I can only read a book or a magazine in shade anyway. So if I were an iPad user I would not notice..(I have a problem in my left eye; the iris does not work properly so glare always a huge issue for me) 2. A way of letting me read comfortably in bright sunlight would be prescription poloroid reading glasses. if an iPad screen could be devised that was both bright and emitted polarised light, then with the right glasses it could be easy to read, even in bright sunlight. Actually I do not like sitting in the sun.