Re-Kindle My Interest in Gadgets

I’m not the type that’s normally impressed by gadgets but the Amazon Kindle caught my attention today in a big way.

Before I got involved with this web stuff in ’98 I designed computer hardware and electronic gadgets for a living. One of the more interesting projects was the Digital Wallet. The Wallet was an external storage companion for digital cameras back in the days when a 16MB Compact Flash memory card sold for $199. The company, MGVision/Minds@Work, eventually ran out of money which was a shame, though not surprising. The Wallet had HUGE potential.

The basic internal design of the Digital Wallet was about 80% of what was in the first generation Apple Ipod. I went to another company after MGV to head up a new group they were forming. I desperately tried to convince the owners to branch off into the MP3 player market as an OEM supplier. It would have been fairly easy to mate an AAC decoder chip to the Motorola Coldfire processor used in the Wallet and have a great handheld MP3 player. At the time the only portable player on the market was the Diamond Rio and it was extremely expensive. They balked at the idea due to the AAC licensing fees and production tooling costs. Instead they split off an internet company which ultimately led me to where I am today.

Sorry to bore you with the history lesson but the Kindle reminded me of another product I was part of doing a proof of concept/prototype in 1997. We developed a tablet PC running a proprietary OS on the old Chips & Tech PC Chip with a public crypto version of the Fortezza card. The crypto card was used to make sure that the digital media/books sold over the internet could only be used by people with the correct Fortezza card. We thought that was the key to convincing the book companies that digital distribution wouldn’t erode their profits and wouldn’t contribute to piracy. Unfortunately the company couldn’t round up any venture funding at the time and it fizzled. The technical limitations at the time were bulk/weight, slow modems and crappy battery life. We had essentially prototyped a Kindle in 1997.

Fast forward 10 years and the portable book reader concept is a reality. Lithium Polymer batteries, advances in LCD technology and ultra-low-power multi-gigabit Flash memory chips have made it possible to create a marketable product. I think the Kindle is a harbinger of change within the publishing industry. It represents a mini-quantum leap in the publishing business with the potential impact of that MP3s and the internet had on the music distribution business.

All that and it’s just cool too.