I'm a hopelessly slow reader, and it continually frustrates me, and later shames me in front of my friends. I just can't read the information fast enough to keep up with the world! I blame elementary school who had me read a grand total of I think 2 books by the time I was 12 (both involving dying dogs [1]... what the hell is wrong with you people?). I've been reading some things on how to improve my reading speed while maintaining comprehension, and also looking into how technology might be able to help. A colleague pointed me to SpreedNews which turns out to be awesome, and I top out at just under 500 words per minute before I simply don't remember anything about what I read. Now if the Amazon Kindel could incorporate this technology and allow me to read anything on the Kindel with this fancy rate adjustable phrase flashing awesomeness, I'd buy two... today. Unfortunately, one of the core technologies of the Kindel is their fancy pants epaper screen, which while it is great to look at and easy on the batteries, its refresh rate wouldn't allow for 20 words per minute, let alone 500. Ah well, maybe when Devon is my age he can get me a nice ereader that solves all my problems, without killing any dogs.

1. "Old Yeller" and "Where the Red Fern Grows" - both belong on the banned books shelf at my local library.