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Whispersync: My Favorite Technology of 2009
By Dave Peterson | December 28, 2009
When I look back on the past year and ponder what single technology or device has made the biggest impact for me (and was truly introduced in 2009, not just a minor revision to something existing), one thing does come to mind ahead of others. It’s no secret to readers of GadgetyTech, that I have a fondness and interest for eReaders. To me, the whole charm of digital books is convenience and the ability to read anything from your library anywhere you are on a moment’s whim. Nothing has done more to make that a seamless, painless experience than Amazon’s Whispersync, the wireless technology that links all your Kindle-enabled devices together. A stand-alone reader is really just a high-capacity book. You still have to think about taking it with you when you go somewhere if you want to read it, and the Kindle still has enough bulk to it that you might not carry it all the time. But you probably do always have your phone with you. If that phone is an iPhone (or soon a BlackBerry), Whispersync will allow you to start reading whatever book you’re working through at the exact point where you left off on the Kindle you chose to leave at home. Read to page 34 on your Kindle, put it down and pick up your iPhone, the book opens to page 34. Read that device to page 72, shut it down and go back to your Kindle, which now opens to page 72. There’s something kind of magical about that and it takes the convenience of digital reading well beyond carrying hundreds of books with you at one time. It moves toward making the presence of a particular device irrelevant and brings the content to the forefront where it belongs.
Topics: ereaders | 2 Comments »
April 4th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
[...] the same book is a great convenience. In fact, I called it my favorite technology of 2009 in a previous post, so the absence of a syncing system could definitely effect future decisions on whose eBooks I [...]
October 5th, 2011 at 1:31 am
[...] Whispersync: My Favorite Technology of 2009 | GadgetyTechWhispersync: My Favorite Technology of 2009. By Dave Peterson | December 28, 2009. When I look back on the past [...]