Lost in all the furor over audiobook copyrights and technical achievements is the real reason to buy a Kindle 2 -- one that sci-fi fans know quite well.
Webcomic: The real reason to buy a Kindle 2 (and it's not the free audiobooks)
by Jay Garmon in After Hours
on March 1, 2009, 9:00 PM PST
The entire eBook industry is up in arms about the Kindle 2's ability to read books aloud with a built-in text-to-speech system. The Authors Guild says it's a violation of audiobook copyrights. Techdirt says that's pure legal poppycock. CrunchGear just has gadget-love for the the new Kindle, and lists 10 reasons for and against buying a Kindle 2. Lost in all the furor, however, is the real reason to buy a Kindle 2 — one that xkcd and sci-fi fans know quite well.
(Hat tip to SF Signal for some sources.)
Jay Garmon
Published: March 1, 2009, 9:00 PM PST Modified: March 1, 2009, 9:00 PM PST See more After Hours
Share: Webcomic: The real reason to buy a Kindle 2 (and it's not the free audiobooks)
By Jay Garmon
The Trivia Geek, known to some by the mysterious alias "Jay Garmon," is an online community entrepreneur trying his luck with some promising Internet startups. To get the real skinny on his wacky business ideas--and his amateurish sci-fi short stories--read his blog, JayGarmon.net. It's like Jay without editorial oversight or decent engineering support. \ \ Jay is also the diabolical mind behind TechRepublic's Geek Trivia newsletter, a former contributing editor of TR's Geekend blog, and until March of 2008 was a project manager for TR site feature development. \ \ In a previous life (read: fresh out of college), he was an ad man, toiling away for low pay and less respect as a copywriter and producer of print ads, radio spots, and TV commercials. No, you've probably never seen his work. Be thankful. \ \ Between his ad days and his life as a TechRepublicist, he worked briefly as a Web developer, mostly using (shudder) FrontPage and SQL Server to build rickety and poorly conceived database-driven Web sites. He was self-taught, and it showed. He's also dabbled in proposal writing, though he wouldn't recommend that as a career choice. \ \ Today, when he's not trying to build the next Internet media giant, Jay reads some comic books, plays tabletop RPGs, helps run a local sci-fi con, tries to launch a career as a fiction author, watches a lot of sports, and keeps his wife and daughter happy. The last part is easiest.
Contact Jay Garmon
See all of Jay's content