Thing #7 - Technology

I just think that technology in itself is cool, to be honest.

I love that I have a cellphone in my pocket at this minute and it goes everywhere with me.

I love that digital cameras can look like the kinds of cameras we're all used to, or can be tiny buttons on our phones, or small & cheap little things in the shape of a clunky carabiner.

Something I find very interesteding is the Kindle that Amazon has come out with. Not only that, but Barnes & Noble also came out with their own version. I don't want to see an end of bound and printed books. I like the paper, I like the heft of it in my hand, I love the smell when I turn the pages. I like that since the 1500s, people have been reading books in the same way that I do. Umberto Eco feels that printed books will decline and eventually perish (from his afterword in The Future of the Book). And I believe he may be right. But that doesn't mean that I don't mourn this, and wish it not to happen.

At the same time, I think that the Kindle is a super cool device and would love to see one in action. I'm interested in the technology that it uses - especially the "electronic ink" that they use instead of a backlight. If it does what I think it does and replicates the look of a printed piece of paper...well...perhaps the decline of the book won't be all that bad.

I'll be more interested when it can replicate the smell, too.