In late 2007, I wrote this piece about the future of education being “rekindled.” In it, I advised readers to expect further advances.
Yesterday’s introduction of the latest Kindle device has borne out this advise. The new electronic book is twice as thin; has a 7.5X increase in memory capacity (meaning it can now store 1500 books versus only 200 for the first device); has a 25% improvement in battery life; has 16 shades of gray (versus 4); is easier to navigate; and comes with a cheesy, robotic speech recognition device that can read aloud the text of the book.
Many of the reviews have been overly critical of the latter tool, but it is important to remember that speech/voice recognition technology—like almost everything else in Kindle (except the price)—is only going to get better with time. In fact, within a few years, I envision electronic books will serve as substitute reading tutors in public schools. (Note: I’m not predicting that Amazon’s Kindle will necessarily be the de facto device to play this role. Google and others will soon develop similar devices that may be even easier to use and come with a more attractive price.)
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