Kindle hacking is at its infancy but there's already a pretty sweet list of homebrew hacks that let you for example, replace the dead people in your screensavers, change/add new fonts, etc. So over the weekend I took a look and it turns out that since I last checked a nice Kindle hacking community has sprung up, discovered that the Kindle doesn't have any real security, and made available all the tools you need to take full control over your device. That's $20 less the $99 ARM SheevaPlug which doesn't have nearly as many features.

Heck the 'special offers' Kindle now costs just $79. Amazon probably isn't making a profit on the hardware. There are endless creative off-label things you could do with it.Ĭonsidering all the features packed into the Kindle the price is jaw dropping.

The Kindle is a very low cost, super lightweight, ARM Linux machine with an eInk display that can be easily read in bright sunlight, a great text-to-speech system, amazing battery life, WIFI / 3G access, a nice bit of storage, sound output and even a hidden microphone. I know there's Linux under the hood and I want root on it. I don't expect Amazon (or any other consumer company for that matter) to design a product that fits perfectly with my needs out of the box. I keep having these ideas on little features that would make the device even more useful to me but probably wouldn't make sense for the average user. They can spy on my reading (how would I know?), delete my books, etc. If it's connected to a network, Amazon can update my firmware remotely at any time without asking me first, possibly changing the device's behavior in undesirable ways. My only major concern with the Kindle is that I'm not supposed to have full control over it: It's maybe the only mobile device I feel has unambiguously improved my quality of life in a net positive way (I'll leave my gripes with smart phones for another time). When I take a break I stick it in my pocket and have Tom Glynn's synthesized voice quickly humming whatever I'm reading to me while my hands are free to eat my meals, take care of boring errands, etc. So much that it's almost wearable computing by now. Besides my workstation, my Kindle is the device I use the most.

Kindle emulator for mac