Editing 548: Kindle

{{comic
| number    = 548
| date      = February 25, 2009
| title     = Kindle
| image     = kindle.png
| titletext = I'm happy with my Kindle 2 so far, but if they cut off the free Wikipedia browsing, I plan to show up drunk on Jeff Bezos's lawn and refuse to leave.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|Amazon Kindle}} is a device that allows people to read books via ebook format. The comic was published three weeks after {{w|Amazon.com|Amazon}} released the {{w|Amazon_Kindle#Kindle_2|Kindle 2}}, which included the ability to read {{w|Wikipedia}} articles via the 3G connection that was included with the device.

[[Cueball]] remarks that "ebooks are for chumps", but goes on to explain the real reason for purchasing a Kindle. Since it has free cellular web access, he could navigate through any city (presumably with 3G access), assisted by {{w|Wikipedia}} and {{w|Wikitravel}}.

[[Megan]] believes she has heard such a description of a device before and snatches the Kindle away from Cueball. When she scratches off the Amazon Kindle logo at the top of the device she reveals that the device is actually ''{{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (fictional)|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}''. This fictional electronic encyclopedia is described in the {{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|real-life franchise}} of the same name. Those works recount the tale of a travel editor who works for and owns a copy of the ''Guide'', which provides travel tips throughout the galaxy, including {{w|Mostly Harmless|an entry for Earth}}. The comic suggests that Amazon simply re-brands copies of the ''Guide'' as Kindles.

The title text refers to the great utility of having the ability to access Wikipedia for free on an easy-to-carry device. The speaker states that should this utility ever become disabled, he would stage a drunk protest on the lawn of {{w|Jeff Bezos}}, the CEO and founder of Amazon.com. This method of protest is used by the protagonist of the Hitchhiker's series, in the beginning of the first book, in an attempt to prevent his house from being demolished, by lying in front of the bulldozer (in vain).

Amazon warned customers using 1st and 2nd generation Kindles in 2021 that 3G connectivity will cease to work, because network operators are upgrading their networks from 3G to 4G. Since this is not Amazon's fault, a drunk protest doesn't seem appropriate though.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is looking at a tablet.]
:Megan: A kindle? Ebooks, huh?
:Cueball: Ebooks are for chumps.
:Megan: Why get a kindle, then?
:Cueball: One reason:

:[Text is above the frame in which Cueball wanders a city with the tablet and with small bubbles forming above his head to indicate him being intoxicated.]
:Cueball (narrating): <u>Free</u> cellular web access. Even if I spend months broke and drunk in a strange city, I'll still be able to use Wikipedia and Wikitravel to learn about anything I need.

:[Megan takes the tablet from Cueball.]
:Megan: Why does that sound familiar?
:Megan: Gimme that.

:[Zoom in on the top of the tablet where the name is written:]
:Amazon Kindle

:[Zoom out to Megan who scratches at the top of the tablet.] 
:Scrape, scrape, scrape

:[Zoom back to the damaged top of the tablet where a layer has been scraped off. This partly reveals a new name, where the first and last two letters are only partly visible:] 
:Hitchhiker's Guide

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]