the brook

As long as I live
I’ll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing.
I’ll interpret the rocks,
Learn the language of the flood, storm,
And the avalanche.
I’ll acquaint myself with the glaciers
And wild gardens,
And get as near the heart of the world as I can.

— John Muir

Amazon recently pushed a firmware update to the 2nd generation Kindle which allows it to natively read PDF files. I can now drag and drop files to the Kindle from my computer, and the Kindle displays them perfectly; something that should’ve been the first feature Amazon thought of in a book reader.

Such “generosity”, I suppose, is the direct result of someone at Amazon noting that it’s competitors — the Sony eReader, the Barnes and Noble Nook and others have native PDF compatibility and were boasting about it. Not only that, people were listening.

They say competition helps the consumer. And they are right.