MEGAN MCARDLE CRACKS, and shells out for an Amazon Kindle. I saw one at CES, and the screen was quite readable even in a semi-dark bar. I thought of ordering one, but for a while Amazon was so swamped by the demand that the wait for delivery was measured in weeks-to-months. They seem to have caught up now, so I eagerly await her review.

Jim Treacher got one a while back and emailed that he was reading InstaPundit: “It’s kind of an interesting experience. The hyperlinks work, as long as the wireless is turned on and there’s a signal. It’s kind of awkward to navigate, though, since you’re ‘turning pages’ instead of scrolling. There might only be 3 short entries per page. But that’s not so bad. At least I know there’ll always be something to read on it!”

The Kindle could be turned into a wireless web-browser without much trouble, it would seem, if you could get to the right pages. Maybe I should set up a page of links to gmail, hotmail, etc., just for Kindle users!

UPDATE: Treacher emails that the Kindle has a built-in browser: ‘You can navigate text-heavy sites like most blogs pretty well, and G-Mail is doable but a pain in the ass. You have to go to the ‘Experimental’ menu to use it, which is appropriate.”