Amazon Restores Some Heft To Helvetica For Kindle E-Ink Readers (teleread.com)

David Rothman writes: Props to Amazon. The Helvetica font will be restored to a more readable weight than the anorexic one in the latest update for E Ink Kindles. Let's hope that an all-bold switch—or, better, a font weight adjuster of the kind that Kobo now offers—will also happen. I've queried Amazon about that possibility. Meanwhile thanks to Slashdot community members who spoke up against the anorexic Helvetica!

Comments

Re:all life matters initiative reunveiled

[Rei]

Word salad dances singingly dogs into the breeze?

I'm anorexic!

[Anonymous Coward]

You insensitive clod!

Re:I'm anorexic!

[Anonymous Coward]

You insensitive clod!

I'm Helvetic! Du insensitive Dumbkopf!

Why is this a story?

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't get me wrong, it's worth posting about. But it's a pretty small follow-up to a previously posted story. This is exactly the kind of thing that belongs in Slashback, which I'd really like to see the editors bring back. There are plenty of other stories with follow-up news that never makes it on Slashdot. We actually need more of this, but not each as its own story. Please bring back Slashback!

Re:Why is this a story?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because Hipsters love Helvetica

Re: Why is this a story?

[bill_mcgonigle]

New stories with back and forward references would make more sense. If you pull up a Slashdot story from Google and read it you'll never know there's a Slashback with an update or correction. A filter could be applied for exclusion or presentation changes based on tag from that point forward.

Put a feature request into the Soylent github - hopefully /. will finally go open-source under @whipslash's leadership.

[I'm expecting these tags will magically start working one day.]

Re:Why is this a story?

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

It's not a pretty small follow-up because it shows us that Amazon has responded (correctly) to the complains of their users. Those of us without a Kindle would never have known about what Amazon did.

So what I've learned is that Amazon made a mistake, people complained and Amazon fixed it. Unlike Apple* and Microsoft, who keep doing things that their users hate and don't fix those mistakes later.

* and I say this as a Mac and iPhone user.

Re:Why is this a story?

[KGIII]

If you search around the 'net, you can find a documentary called "Helvetica." It might not seem like it but it's actually a pretty good documentary. Because that's pretty much all I want, I was scrounging the 'net for documentaries and found that. I wasn't expecting a whole lot when I watched it but it actually turned out to be pretty good. I was actually pleasantly surprised.

Re:Why is this a story?

[oldmac31310]

No need to be surprised. It is a good documentary especially for those of us that are graphically/typographically inclined. Not sure this story is much significance though. And to the AC referencing hipsters, really nothing hipster about helvetica. Just a very plain and practical typeface but like any other, has its limitations.

It's a wider issue

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

A wider issue is the general trend for devices with behaviour that is remotely changed after you buy them thanks to software updates. What is the situation if you bought an e-reader you were happy with and could use comfortably, but then after this kind of update it no longer works for you because, for example, your eyesight isn't good enough to read the new font? It's obvious why hardware and software vendors might want this kind of capability, but how do we protect the buyers who are using the products to make sure they're still getting what they paid for when they decided to buy?

Re:It's a wider issue

[Alumoi]

By not upgrading unless it adds something you need?

Re:It's a wider issue

[EmeraldBot]

A wider issue is the general trend for devices with behaviour that is remotely changed after you buy them thanks to software updates. What is the situation if you bought an e-reader you were happy with and could use comfortably, but then after this kind of update it no longer works for you because, for example, your eyesight isn't good enough to read the new font? It's obvious why hardware and software vendors might want this kind of capability, but how do we protect the buyers who are using the products to make sure they're still getting what they paid for when they decided to buy?

Ultimately, the only way to do that is to give power to the users, and the only way to do that is to offer them a choice or a setting. I'm sad to say that the modern trend is to instead make the choice for the user, because this is not the only problem that results from this philosophy. What I don't understand is why nobody puts in an "advanced mode" or something like that into these devices, to allow that kind of crazy customizability, while still keeping the simple and minimalistic version for those who want or need that. Android has a good example with its developer mode; most of the population might not need to simulate GPS locations or load programs through a USB connection, and using a slightly obscure trick like the repeated button taps ensures that the people who find it will be the people who need it. Then, you can appeal to both the casual user or UX lover as well as the obsessive nerds such as myself.

Re:It's a wider issue

[Anonymous Coward]

Options mean you really can please all of the people all the time.

Re:It's a wider issue

[Dutch Gun]

Devices updating is both a good thing and a bad thing from a customer perspective. You can get new features, bugfixes, and security updates, of course. But what happens if functional changes are made and you aren't happy with it? That's sort of a tough one. Almost any functional change you make is going to make a small percentage of people unhappy, because people don't like change, or it may genuinely be a worse experience for them for whatever reason.

Does that mean a company shouldn't try to genuinely improve their product? People might also complain about the opposite - that a device has been "abandoned" if nothing ever happens with it. We see the exact opposite problem with many Android phones today - especially the lower-end models. The manufacturers have a sell-it-and-forget-it mentality, and that simply isn't acceptable nowadays from a security standpoint.

I think one good example of changes negatively affecting customer experience is all the Xbox 360 UI updates. At some point in time during the console's lifecycle, MS decided they wanted to push a bunch of advertisements out to their paying customers, and so radically changed the console's UI. Moreover, the new UI felt like it was a lot less information dense, with a good deal of space reserved exclusively for advertising. That was a change made solely for the benefit of Microsoft's bottom line at the expense of their customers.

Re:It's a wider issue

[tlambert]

By not upgrading unless it adds something you need?

But... but... 1.1.3 is soooooooooooooo much better than 1.1.2!!!!!

It has a +0.0.1!!!!!!!

Re: It's a wider issue

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the future Reoublucans want for all of us.

Re:It's a wider issue

[c0d3g33k]

By not upgrading unless it adds something you need?

That can often times be difficult, since the description of upgrades are often dumbed down to the point of uselessness in the name of user friendliness or deliberately obfuscated to hide what they contain (looking at you, Microsoft). Figuring out if it contains something you need isn't as simple as your flippant comment suggests. Not to mention the fact that updates on devices like the kindle are delivered in a single monolithic update file, so there is no opportunity to selectively reject changes such as the one OP describes while accepting needed security updates.

Re:It's a wider issue

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Ultimately, the only way to do that is to give power to the users, and the only way to do that is to offer them a choice or a setting.

There is a middle ground: you separate updates for areas like security and reliability from updates to the UI and functionality. Got an existing system? Sure, you can patch your existing software to keep it as secure as possible, without also getting UI changes or new functionality. Want our latest features? You can update to a new version of the software, but you take it or leave it.

We successfully built software for some number of decades in this way, and in practice it wasn't a prohibitive maintenance burden for the developers to support a previous version or two for essential updates. Unfortunately, this level of customer support and actually making useful products doesn't play nicely with the trendy Agile, X-as-a-service, Lean, insert-other-buzzword-here mentality of a lot of young developers and startups today, and now the established heavyweights are seeing opportunities to save a bit of cash and exert more control over their users by adopting the same techniques.

Re:It's a wider issue

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

I think we need to start consciously distinguishing between fixes and other changes.

If a device doesn't properly do what it was supposed to do when the customer bought it -- there's a security vulnerability, it's not quite in spec and so doesn't work properly with something, that kind of thing -- then like any other purchase, the customer should get what (they thought) they were paying for when they decided to buy, and the manufacturer should fix the defect.

The manufacturer is under no equivalent obligation to offer non-essential changes, like moving the UI around or adding new functionality, but might choose to do so anyway. IMHO in that case they should be free to offer them to others on whatever reasonable terms they want. If a user doesn't want them, they don't have to buy in, just as they don't have to buy the latest version of a device in the first place if they don't like it.

The key point is that if a purchaser chooses not to buy into any extra offers from the manufacturer, that should not be remove the purchaser's basic right to get what they paid for originally or negate the manufacturer's normal obligations to make defects good or compensate in some reasonable way, just like manufacturers of any other product under normal consumer protection and similar laws in many places.

Re:It's a wider issue

[Alumoi]

That's why you wait a couple of weeks, at least, before even thinking of upgrading. Let some 'oh, shiny' poor shmuck test it.
And, please, what securiity updates for a freking e-reader? It's a device for reading documents, nothing more, nothing less. Do you apply security updates to a paper book?
Yeah, yeah, I know, you can browse the web, read mail, install apps and so on. But why should you do it? You bought it for reading books, right, else you'd have bought a tablet.

Re:It's a wider issue

[Anonymous Coward]

And enjoy a pop-up encouraging you to upgrade every time you use the device for the rest of it's life?

Side note: I gave up on Kindle (which really is a good way to read on public transportation) when it became impossible to root the device so as to change the screen-saver photos. I don't understand the mentality that says not only will we dictate what pictures are shown when your kindle is powered-off, but we will also actively and aggressively prevent you from modifying the software to change these pictures. And, in case you're wondering, I paid extra for the non-ad supported version so this isn't a case of trying to get around seeing ads. For some reason, all of the device makers have made the decision that their users should only be allowed to use the devices they buy in a pre-approved manner. Not exactly sure why, but I'm pretty sure it has to do with some combination of Steve Jobs' ego, DCMA restrictions, and DRM (in the sense that the device makers have to lock down the device to satisfy rights holders or they can't get content deals).

Re: It's a wider issue

[Anonymous Coward]

Wireless networking isn't just for surfing the web. These readers also download the books that way, so you need security updates, whether you like it or not.

Re:It's a wider issue

[c0d3g33k]

And, please, what securiity updates for a freking e-reader? It's a device for reading documents, nothing more, nothing less. Do you apply security updates to a paper book?
Yeah, yeah, I know, you can browse the web, read mail, install apps and so on. But why should you do it? You bought it for reading books, right, else you'd have bought a tablet.

Think it through. How do those books get on the device in the first place? It's a networked device with purchasing ability, tied to your Amazon account and payment information. That's enough reason to warrant security updates, even if the device is used for nothing else but buying and reading books.

Re: It's a wider issue

[Alumoi]

Funny you should say this. I've been using a Kindle (4, non-touch) for a quite a while now and calibre is doing a damn fine job of managing my e-book collection. Why would I let somebody else manage my device? If you don't know, Amazon can and will delete books from your device.

Re:It's a wider issue

[Anonymous Coward]

Think it through. How do those books get on the device in the first place? It's a networked device with purchasing ability, tied to your Amazon account and payment information. That's enough reason to warrant security updates, even if the device is used for nothing else but buying and reading books.

Defective by design. There shouldn't be enough information on a device to perform a complete purchase.
No amount of security updates will resolve a system that isn't design where convenience have been chosen over security.

I like the method my bank uses. For any operation that has to be verified the bank generates a code. For transactions the code is based on the amount being transferred. For adding an allowed recipient it is based on the account number of that recipient. This way I can verify that the code is for what I want to do. I then enter that code into an external gadget that generates a verification number that I can enter on the banks web page to verify the transaction.

If someone hijacks the banks page or my internet connection then I will notice that the codes given to me aren't for the desired transaction. If someone takes control over my computer they can't do jack shit because the code generator isn't connected to the internet in any way and the code generated only verifies the transaction that I have checked is the correct one.
The weakness in the system is that if I do a lot of banking on a computer that is compromised then the attacker might get enough information to figure out the key that the code generator uses. Replacing it after having used computers that might have been compromised solves that.

Re:It's a wider issue

[Alumoi]

I thought about it before buying it. In the end it's tied to a freaking debit card I don't care about. I need to buy something? I top up the card with the ammount needed and that's all.
It may help, though, I'm living in Europe. Over here banks are more careful with their customers (or, at least, my bank is).

Re:It's a wider issue

[Anonymous Coward]

Another problem is that frequently feature changes and security updates are bundled together.

Apple does this with iOS all the time. iOS 8.4 broke the music app but included important security fixes. iOS 9 is unusably slow on the iPhone 4S but it's the only way to get important security fixes that you need if you intend to ever browse the web or connect to wifi.

Firefox does this all the time. Want the latest security fixes? Hope you also want whatever latest crap the UX idiots at Mozilla have come up with! Not to mention random additions like ads in the URL bar and bundled software like Pocket. But only by accepting those can you get a browser that's safe to use to view websites.

And, of course, sometimes bug fixes and feature changes get bundled together. Want a version of that application you depend on that doesn't randomly crash? Hope you don't mind the UI being entirely rearranged!

Re:It's a wider issue

[stasike]

There are other manufacturers that make devices that are much more configurable, such as above-mantioned Kobo. There are even Android based E-ink readers, even with Google Play enabled by default. No rooting necessary.
I personally find PocketBook devices to be the most configurable non-Android based devices. You can even install third party apps, such as Gvim editor, terminal emulator or sftp server.

Re:It's a wider issue

[Anonymous Coward]

You just had to get the shiny Kindle, didn't you?
Kindle up to and including 4 can be rooted. Don't know about touch, didn't see the need for a touch interface, but every other real e-reader from Amazon can be rooted. Yes, even the ad-supported ones.

Re:It's a wider issue

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

I agree.

That said, I think there is a fundamental difference between Apple's behaviour and Mozilla's here, for the simple reason that users of Apple gear paid for it and should therefore get what they bought, in proper working order. While it's certainly frustrating for many Firefox users that things keep changing and often not for the better recently, those users never paid Mozilla anything and so Mozilla owes them nothing in return.

Things get much more complicated when you bought the device from a vendor but the ultimate control rests with some third party, typically a software developer. This is where a lot of dubious things are going on right now, but in a lot of jurisdictions the consumer protection laws haven't yet adapted to the modern technology landscape and tend to place the original vendor with most or all of the responsibility when things go wrong, even though it's actually the software they're reselling that is the root cause of the customer's complaint. At some point we're going to have to deal with this, along with the various other third party issues like the legal basis (or otherwise) for an EULA or similar document, because clearly it's not realistic for every shop or web site that lets you buy a device or a copy of some software to fix technical issues they have no practical way to control.

Re:It's a wider issue

[Anonymous Coward]

Riiiight. How many devices do you own, and how many hours a week can you spare to make an informed decision?

Also, once an undesirable feature is in, it tends to stay in, so what do you do when a later update brings desirable features?

Re:It's a wider issue

[DutchUncle]

The information is usually as complete as "Try it, you'll like it." or, "Your device no longer works with our server so you have no choice."

Re:It's a wider issue

[DogDude]

By buying books, instead of stupid gadgets.

Re:It's a wider issue

[stealth_finger]

By not upgrading unless it adds something you need?

That can often times be difficult, since the description of upgrades are often dumbed down to the point of uselessness in the name of user friendliness or deliberately obfuscated to hide what they contain (looking at you, Microsoft). Figuring out if it contains something you need isn't as simple as your flippant comment suggests. Not to mention the fact that updates on devices like the kindle are delivered in a single monolithic update file, so there is no opportunity to selectively reject changes such as the one OP describes while accepting needed security updates.

Also the ability to rollback is getting more and more rare these days.

Re:It's a wider issue

[DutchUncle]

All too often, a designer's idea of "improvement" is a user's case of "devolution". "Cleaner Interface" == "Where the hell did they put the options I used to know how to use, and why is it randomly doing stuff because I touched it differently?" Or, Slashdot Beta. Even suboptimal interfaces become the standard that everyone is used to, like the QWERTY keyboard; just imagine an update "improving" everyone to Dvorak.

Re:It's a wider issue

[c0d3g33k]

Defective by design. There shouldn't be enough information on a device to perform a complete purchase.
No amount of security updates will resolve a system that isn't design where convenience have been chosen over security.

There isn't. That information is tied to the account that the device is associated with and communicates with over the network.

I like the method my bank uses.

I'm glad to hear it. But your bank is irrelevant to a discussion about a networked e-reader and the many reasons there might be to perform security updates that have nothing to do with purchasing or banking, even if authorizing purchases by communicating with an online account is one of the things it can do that needs securing.

Re:It's a wider issue

[Dutch Gun]

I made the same argument in another thread (and using the same example of the Qwerty keyboard, oddly enough) related to how changing a widely known user interface paradigm (a car's shifter) can actually be deadly. Sometimes ubiquity trumps "efficiency".

Re:It's a wider issue

[Dutch Gun]

Yep, agreed. I don't think there have been too many blatant examples of actually removing functionality through updates, though - at least that I can recall offhand. While US consumer protection laws aren't quite as strong as in some European countries, a company that altered a product post-sale so radically would quickly find itself at the receiving end of a class-action lawsuit.

One could argue that Sony did this with the PS3 when they removed the "other OS" functionality, but I think they got away with it* because:
a) It was a feature that very few of it's customers used, and
b) It can easily be argued that that functionality wasn't central to the functionality for which most consumers purchased their device.

* A class-action lawsuit was filed, but was eventually dismissed.

Re:It's a wider issue

[sjames]

So what do you do with the update that:

1. Allows you to read ebooks released after 2015.
2. Shrinks the font to 6 points
3. adds Squeegee Guy, you will be billed $0.05 each time the screen is cleared

Re:It's a wider issue

[sjames]

As for Sony, to me it is inexcusable. I am under no obligation to be a mainstream user. The fact is, I bought a product for its feature set. If it now doesn't have some of those features, I no longer have what I paid for. The judge must be smoking crack IMHO.

Another example that comes to mind is VW diesels. Bringing them into emissions compliance by software update will reduce performance or mileage. The fact is that the cars were defective and if the defect can't be cured without degrading the specs, the buyers are owed compensation for degraded value.

You're Welcome!

[Anonymous Coward]

AC and Kindle user with ageing eyesight.

So What

[rossdee]

If you had a eink Kindle and you found Helvetica to hard to read you probably switched to another font already
anyway I like white text on a black background

Re:So What

[squiggleslash]

I've always used a serif font for reading, san serif, even Helvetica, just isn't the greatest for large amounts of text except in cases - and recentish Kindles aren't one of them - where the resolution is so attrocious that seriffed fonts just aren't practical.

I'm kinda surprised it was as big a deal as it was, I'd have thought most people weren't using Helvetica.

Re:So What

[tlhIngan]

anyway I like white text on a black background

Actually, white-on-black makes things worse - it makes skinny fonts skinnier and the black "creeps into" the white and makes fonts appear smaller.

So much so if you're doing it, you must increase the size and weight of the font you're using to make it look "normal" again.

Re:So What

[Hognoxious]

Is this something specific to do with eInk? I thought (from photography back when I had copious free time) that light tended to bleed into dark.

Re:So What

[dgatwood]

White text on a black background certainly looks thicker than black text on a white background to me on my MacBook Pro. That said, it may depend on the font rendering engine.

Re:This post brought to you...

[RabidReindeer]

This post brought to you by the First World Problems Department.

Also. Seriously, this is "news for nerds"? A minor font tweak on some ebook reader?

If it saves some other nerd from creating a product with eyestrain-inducing text, then yes.

Yes, yes, bring us back the workaround.

[tlambert]

Yes, yes, bring us back the workaround.

The underlying problem doesn't have to be resolved, because we can just ignore it by installing a bolder font than the one that uncovered the underlying problem in the first place by making it more obvious.

Does anyone else see this as a crap solution to the problem?

Does anyone else see the actual problem is people with bad vision trying to use eReaders?

What about those of us with prosthetic hands who can't use touch screens for lack of capacitive coupling? We should dumb down all of our devices so that the most handicapped among us can use them all. You know, instead of working to fix the handicaps or anything.

Re:Yes, yes, bring us back the workaround.

[drinkypoo]

What about those of us with prosthetic hands who can't use touch screens for lack of capacitive coupling?

You know they have gloves with capacitive fingertips now so you can use such devices, right? They don't depend on your fingertip's capacitance. That's a solved problem.

Re:Yes, yes, bring us back the workaround.

[tlambert]

What about those of us with prosthetic hands who can't use touch screens for lack of capacitive coupling?

You know they have gloves with capacitive fingertips now so you can use such devices, right? They don't depend on your fingertip's capacitance. That's a solved problem.

Actually, it's a problem I solved for Bochs when I worked at Google. Because I had the need to solve the same problem for a robot that needed to be able to capacitively couple with touch devices. The gloves only work because they are conductively connected to a great big meat antenna (you), such that the cpacitive coupling works.

If you have an artificial limb, there's generally no electrical coupling to the meat antenna. So people with artificial limbs do not get to use touch devices.

The fix is to place a conductive film in the plasticine coating, and to hook it up to an antenna. It's a relatively simple hack, and you can pretty much use any WiFi or Cellular modem antenna from a laptop to do the trick.

And then, voila! Magically able to use touch screen devices. The prototype allowed a man in Germany to use the touchpad on his Lenovo Thinkpad for the first time in his life. Which meant he didn't have to carry a mouse around, since both his arms were prosthetic.

Yes, I am a genius. I'll even let you hire me if you have something interesting to work on. You probably don't.

Re:Yes, yes, bring us back the workaround.

[Solandri]

Does anyone else see the actual problem is people with bad vision trying to use eReaders?

No, the problem is the maker of a programmable device artificially limiting the font selection available to the owner.

Re:You are not the Owner

[PhineusJWhoopee]

Wait a minute..you set the font, size, and weight to your needs for your physical books??? ed

Great - now they need to enable a night mode!

[PhineusJWhoopee]

I love my Paperwhite (small form factor, light weight, long charge) - but I really wish you could invert the text and have white text on black, for reading at night.

Re:Great - now they need to enable a night mode!

[locofungus]

Two problems with this.

1. You don't seem to be able to change the colour of the paper all the way to the border - not sure if this is a limitation of the paper, limitation of the kindle or limitation of my efforts to get inverted text.

2. (and why I gave up on 1) when the page refreshes, it goes to all white before it changes back to black. If you could *COMPLETELY* turn off the back light and use reflected light then this would probably be OK but it causes a very unpleasant flash when reading with a dark adapted eye.

One day I'll get around to attacking my voyage with a soldering iron and rooting it so I can turn off the backlight but I don't know when.

stop shilling kobo

[UVB-76]

seriously this is the second anti-kindle pro-kobo (wtf is a kobo anyway, i have only ever heard of it in these "new direction" spam posts) article within a week. dear new owners , please stop with the advertising articles, shilling is actually worse than blatent spamming

Re:stop shilling kobo

[c0d3g33k]

Get a grip. The site where the articles were posted is dedicated to books and reading gadgets. As enthusiasts, they would be aware of many ereaders, and mentioning one in the context of an article about a shortcoming of another makes sense. Just as an article about Ubuntu might mention Fedora, mentioning the Kobo in an article about Kindle makes sense. I see no advertising here.

Re:stop shilling kobo

[GuB-42]

I recently bought a e-reader and bought a Kobo because it fitted my needs, my budget and was easily available for me. There were other options, including "no-name" stuff, but one that was out of the equation right off the bat was the Kindle.
Come on... an e-reader that doesn't support ePub, are you serious?

Now, if you don't mind selling your soul to Amazon, sure, get a Kindle. I won't blame you, Amazon is convenient after all.

Advanced settings

[hankwang]

I miss that too. But I think the problem is that QA gets much harder with lots of advanced options. You have test against all possible combinations of options or the users will whine.

Casus: I just bought a fancy photo camera with a 360 page manual describing all the settings and features. It didn't take long before I had activated a feature that disabled the autofocus mode selection. Took me a full hour of trying to figure out that enabling digital zoom does not go along with focus-to-faces... That kind of UI issues disappear when you simply dont offer so many settings.

Re:Advanced settings

[rothman]

What's so advanced about a software switch to turn bold on or off? Or a slider to vary font weight? If Kobo can include a slider, then Amazon surely can.

Re:Advanced settings

[c0d3g33k]

I think the OP was speaking generally. The settings you mention are simple enough. In hindsight (ie. back in the day), the advanced settings section often became a collecting point for many edge-case tweaks, so things could get complicated and messy if not unchecked. So in modern products that can of worms is often pre-emptively left closed.

Re: Advanced settings

[Anonymous Coward]

You know that changing font weight can change the the width of the glyphs and therefore leas to a completely different text layout? This may have consequences on things like page counts. So it's maybe not quite as simple as you think.

Re: Advanced settings

[sjames]

If amazon was able to retroactively change the font weight and not screw all of that up, then it must not be a big problem.

Re:You are not the Owner

[dargaud]

Hmmm, no, but it has happened (rarely) that I did not read a book because the font was shitty and hard on the eyes.

Not upgrading may not be a (realistic) option

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Unfortunately, there is a trend for updates to be completely automatic and involuntary, both with certain devices and even now with Windows 10 on the desktop. All it takes is some sort of online component it depends on and you have a crank to turn the update wheel, even if the update actually has nothing to do with that online element. Again, it's clear why the developers would prefer only having to support their latest code base, but unfortunately it leaves users with no control over their own devices, including in cases where from their point of view the update makes something worse than it was before.

There are also all kinds of mechanisms that effectively compel updates even if they aren't directly made mandatory and automatic. For example, on iOS devices, you can only get apps from the App Store, and Apple can impose constraints on those apps if they want to be listed. This can drive app developers towards only supporting the latest version of iOS, and again that can be a problem for people who previously had an older version of the app installed on an older version of iOS that worked well on an older device where perhaps the new version does not. These cases are particularly nasty, because all the developers involved can point fingers at each other and say it's someone else causing the problem, yet to the user the reality is the same: their device and software used to work, and now they don't.

Re:Not upgrading may not be a (realistic) option

[DutchUncle]

this++. All of the apps on my iPhone worked fine, until one day a bunch of them insisted that they couldn't work without being updated. And of course the update requires updating the entire phone, which I don't feel like doing (I'm close enough to replacement that I don't want to destabilize until then). Part of the idea of XML and TCP standards was to avoid the need to tightly couple clients and servers; of course this is often ignored, or deliberately subverted, in the phone app space.

Re:This post brought to you...

[Applehu Akbar]

The new font, which was called Bookerly, had been hailed as more readable. Looks as though it wasn't. Fortunately, Kindle allows a choice of several fonts, including the monitor-friendly Verdana

update?

[jbmartin6]

Why on earth would one ever apply an update to the reader? To get the latest spyware and backdoors from Amazon? Seriously, I have stopped ever updating anything if I can help it, I don't need any more "improvements" like this.

Re:update?

[Luthair]

I think it happens automatically. Ultimately their DRM might require it.

Re:update?

[stasike]

Why on earth would one ever apply an update to the reader?
You have no option other than disabling the WiFi or filling the flash memory completely with content so that there is no space for Kindle to download the update to. If you disable the WiFi you have to side-load all your purchases using USB cable The last update - the one with the new certs for connecting to the Amazon servers is only a few kilobytes.

Re:update?

[jbmartin6]

You may be right. I keep mine in airplane mode almost all the time so possibly I never notice. There is an 'update my kindle' option in the Settings menu, but it was grayed out.

Re:You are not the Owner

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Although this is a fair point, I also can't remember the last time I picked up a book I've read several times before off my shelf, and found it was suddenly now set in 6pt Comic Sans.

Re:You are not the Owner

[Anonymous Coward]

No. I also have never had a physical book shift its font after I got it home.

Palatino is more legible than Helvetica

[Anonymous Coward]

Sans Serif fonts are great for signage, but a serif typeface is easier for reading long passages of text.

Re:You are not the Owner

[Anonymous Coward]

Although this is a fair point, I also can't remember the last time I picked up a book I've read several times before off my shelf, and found it was suddenly now set in 6pt Comic Sans.

I assume you haven't had toddlers in the house recently.

Re:all life matters initiative reunveiled

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

Lungha, her sky gray.

Ageism at its most insideous

[RogueWarrior65]

What this illustrates is the fact that tech companies often neglect a large segment of the population whose aging eyesight affects their ability to use the devices. Cataracts, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration are maladies that most people are going to have to deal with eventually. Those baby-boomers and Gen-Xers who have the money to buy the gadgets can't be ignored.

Re:Ageism at its most insideous

[Anonymous Coward]

If you think that inconvenient typography is the most insidious form of ageism, you are in for some extremely unpleasant surprises.

Re:This post brought to you...

[sombragris]

Not in my Kindle Voyage. All I have is Baskerville, Bookerly, Helvetica, Palatino, Futura, Caecilia and Caecilia Condensed. No Verdana here. Seriously, the only worthwile choices IMHO are Baskerville, Bookerly and Palatino. Caecilia is awful in its bold weight (almost indistinguishable from the normal one).

Seriously, Amazon needs to improve the font situation on its e-ink Kindles.

Re:You are not the Owner

[Anonymous Coward]

No. I'm just not planning ever to buy an ereader where I cannot set a readable font because it gives me no better readability than a paper book.

Re:I'm a clod!

[Anonymous Coward]

You insensitive anorexic!

Re:This post brought to you...

[Applehu Akbar]

Some of these choices may be in the tablet apps but not in the e-ink reader.