Looming

[threemonkeys]

Got a reminder that the Hugo voting deadline is not that far away. It gave me a prod that I need to get stuck into reading the ballot items from the voters pack. I spent a good chunk of the day working my way through some categories. But the take home message for the day was that while it is great to have these electronic copies for ballot evaluation, I really still don't like reading longer works on a computer screen. Its an odd thing, I can easily spend a long time with a screen in front of me, but something about interaction with the machine interferes with my ability to immerse myself in a book or comic. Interestingly, it's related to fiction - no problem with fanzine articles.

I did have a play with a Kobo eReader a couple of weeks ago. It does have a nice form factor - similar in size and weight to a paperback book. It also seems admirably open in terms of format and channel - or so I'm told. It still has rather a lot of software defects, but it does seem a big step in the right direction. Perhaps only one more generation and such things may be something I'd actually use.