New digital book reader from Amazon is wireless

The Kindle, the new digital book reader sold by Amazon starting today, doesn't require a computer for downloads. It's wireless.

The unit is priced at $399 and can also be used to download blogs and material online. However, users will pay to read blogs and other content that is usually free. {Will this lead to a blogger writer's strike?}

"Owners of a Kindle do not have to pay to use this wireless network, Amazon pays the access costs and only charges for any content downloaded to the reader.

This does mean that any Kindle owner could be paying to read many blogs and papers they could read for free online.

A subscription to the New York Times costs $13.99 per month on Kindle. A popular blog, such as BoingBoing will cost $1.99 per month for Kindle owners.

,,,

"Those buying a Kindle gets an associated e-mail address so if that person is sent Word documents or PDF files, these are converted for reading on the device.

The keyboard on the device lets people annotate and make notes on documents and send messages.

The Kindle also has buttons that link it directly to the Oxford American Dictionary and Wikipedia."
-via bbc.co.uk

Books, blogs and other content can be downloaded anywhere - a hotspot isn't necessary. The technology used, they say, is the same as that for a cell phone.

As far as accessible features, there are six fonts to choose from to get large print. I haven't read a review yet by anyone using it to see how easy or hard it is to work the device with mobility impairments - but here's a video showing the device and how you turn pages. There appear to be two slim bars on each side of the device you press down to turn pages forward or backward. These might be workable by someone who can move a knuckle or has one finger that works, but I'd suggest you look at the video to check it out because I've never tried to use one.

I do know one thing -with the price of electronic page turners for those of us who can't turn pages of a book, any time a device like this hits the market it's exciting. If you'd like to see more photos and get more information about the device, check out this blow by blow from the launch event.

[visual description: The device is shown on top of a textbook and is slightly smaller than the book. On top is the reading screen and below it is a keyboard. The unit is white in color, thin and weighs approximately 10.3 ounces.]