Where do I get one of these?!

Speaking of the future. I want this interface.

I know it hasn’t occurred to me alone, partly because I have seen the idea expressed by others before, but I think we often overlook the wonderful fact that we live in the future. Remember those old films about the promises of the next century? Well, I look around in the distant future of Twenty-Ten and realize that we got a few of them right.

Sure, we don’t have flying cars. I could care less about that. The first time my gas light came on in the middle of nowhere, I’m pretty sure I’d swear off them permanently anyway. What we do have is the Kindle. Think about it.

Every day, I can wake up and have the newspaper already sitting on my desk in the form of a piece of “paper” that changes on a daily basis or whenever I happen to need it for something. I carry around the better part of a library in my pocket, and when I find I’m lacking something it’s the matter of a few moments while it is beamed to me from far off locales to prevent me the inconvenience of getting up and driving to the store. In moments of curiosity, this wonderful device can get me answers to most any question by accessing one of the largest knowledge bases in existence from nearly anywhere in the world at no charge with no questions asked.

It’s so mundane right now, too. That’s quite possibly the most surreal point of all. We have devices like the Kindle and nook and a dozen others to choose from, the main difference between them often being aesthetics and level of convenience, and nobody even realizes what they mean!

I’m still holding out for an affordable version of the house that wakes me up and cooks me breakfast every morning, but I’m willing to let that one slide. So long as I can sit here with an eReader and enjoy, the future is good.

When you think about it, what does all of the talk about Kindle vs. iPad really matter, anyway? The future I dreamed of 10 years ago is here now.

I have universal access to the content I care about when I’m on the go. I have my choice of form factors and navigation features between the various Kindle apps and the Kindle itself. When you add things like Calibre, Instapaper, and Scribd into the mix you’ve got the makings of a very tasty concoction indeed.

I embraced the Steve Jobs way of doing things for a long time and I do long for an iPad at some level. However, I’ve come to realize that Apple will always dictate how and what you can do with their devices and that elitist attitude is something I’ve come to loathe.