Mobile wireless eReader a sign of the ubiquitous future to come

(Guest post by Jonathan Nalder)

I’m not a fan of Amazon’s Kindle eBook Reader. Not only is it not available in my country, but I feel the days of paying over US$350 for a device that only does one thing are long gone. Having said that, as en educator and former libary worker, I can see several direct eduational applications, especially with the just announced Kindle 2 having the ability to read out its content. Read a detailed overview via Appleinsider.

Why I’m writing about it however is more because of what the Kindle 2’s other features don’t do - they don’t sync with a PC or laptop. Just as Google’s Android mobile operating system gets all its contact and calendar data directly from the cloud, so too does the Kindle 2 interface via 3G connection only with a home eBook site, or with other Kindle eReaders. This is the future of mobile, wireless devices and why they are leading towards a true ubiquitous, everware future. Even small mobile devices now have the ability to connect wirelessly to all the information etc they need to be fully functioning.

Are education departments setting up such networks to unleash the power of having this kind of computing available 24/7 from any location?

You can read more posts on emerging mLearning devices ad ubiquitous learning at Jonathan Nalder's 'uLearning' blog.

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