Week 9 - Question 23

Hooray, I have finished doing Learn 2.0 or Web 2.0 online! It's only taken me almost a year to do.

I have enjoyed learning about Podcasts, social networking, tagging, wikis, RSS, online tools and applications, photos and images and more! But am also glad that it is completed and I can do other things with my time.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do this.

Week 9 - ebooks

Have just had a look at a picture of Amazon's 'Kindle' - the wireless ebook reader, which is about the same size as a paperback. I haven't seen anyone in New Zealand with one yet but that's not to say that there aren't any here.

I had a look at the Netlibrary and watched and listened to the demonstration of setting up an account, selecting an ebook and downloading. It was interesting to note that the files can be big, about 180MB, are slow to download on dial-ups, have an expiration, have to delete files manually and do not run on ipods and the like.

I also had a look at www.ebooks.com, a popular electronic book store. Nicely laid out with various categories including best-seller books and fiction and non-fiction choices.

It will be interesting to see how popular ebooks and 'Kindle' become in time. They will probably come into their own realm just like the microwave has a place in the kitchen but didn't takeover from the conventional oven. I still like the feel of paper type books!