There's nothing more misplaced than someone trying to use a single computer for everything. You can but typically it is optimized for one task so has shortcomings for others. Since there are computers all over the place these days -- just about any device has one in it somewhere -- it doesn't make sense to count them all.

FWIW I can use up to six computers in a day (including a tablet and Kindle) plus assorted Echos, a Roku and so on. They're just part of the background of everyday life in the 21st century.

Agreed, my thoughts on reading this were to some extent how ill-defined it is these days - just what qualifies as computer? Just in the home I have my personal laptop, desktop setups in study and workshop, BSD based server and Windows RDP application server, phone and 6" and 10" tablets - the six incher doesn't get and awful lot of use except when the wider screen compared to my phone is useful. Then I have my work laptop, work desktop, the file and application servers I use there. I figure we're probably excluding cloud and appliances, e.g. printer, router etc too.

Like you I see it as a complete non-issue. I could simplify the device count because my desktops only really get used as fairly fat thin clients, i.e. they may run Libre office, email, browser, much else is likely to run remotely. I could consolidate them with my two servers but why bother? I actually quite like silent local terminals that don't need upgrading constantly.

the six incher doesn't get and awful lot of use

It's his wife I feel sorry for.

Yep. Apart from phone, laptop, workstation I must use dozens every day if you include all the embedded ones in all sorts of kit.

it doesn't make sense to count them all

I think there are at least a couple of things going on here.

First, there's the subliminal message we have been getting since the first camera phones were launched - you now have a powerful device in your pocket that can take the place of several previous devices. First the music player, then the compact or disposable camera, then a laptop (later a tablet) for idle browsing, mild creativity and quick emails, even enterprise stuff through Teams (for example) and phones are perfectly capable of video calls, so there's no need to faff about with a laptop or a USB webcam on your desktop, and you can join work meetings from the beach if you so desire. Now they are trying to persuade us that a phone with a large enough screen - even if you have to connect it to a physical keyboard - is sufficient to deal with most "common" productivity tasks.

The message is, if you have a suitable phone you don't need anything else. I used to carry a disposable film camera around with me, but not since my mobile provider sent me a [1]Sony k800i . Can't say I was ever seriously into portable music, but I did used to have a minidisc player which was useful for the odd bit of field recording. Nothing since. You get the idea.

Second, there's probably the angst that most of us who give it even half a minute of thought feel - and that is that every device you buy is ultimately adding to problems with overexploitation of natural resources and quite probably also financing some less than savoury labour practices in somewhere like China. Also it's money. Every device you buy is less money to spend on something else. £180 for a Kindle 32GB Signature as reviewed (leaving aside what that means about being tied to the Amazon ecosystem)? It's a big weekly shop for my household, or I could buy 25 or 30 new paperbacks for that sort of money, and that's ignoring the money you have to spend to "buy" books to read on a Kindle. Once read, a paperback will sit on the shelf to be re-read, or lent, or picked up and quoted from, or sold or given away, or donated to a charity shop.

Oh, and I wouldn't count the things we used to call "microcontrollers" as computers, because you are not setting out to buy a general-purpose computing device there, not even if you buy a TV. You buy a washing machine, not a computer with a washing machine function!

M.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Ericsson_K800i

Yes. If you're a gardener you don't worry about the amount of different digging implements you have! Right tool for the job...

"I find the Paperwhite a little too small and it doesn't offer landscape mode to offer an alternative grip"

The Kobo Sage addresses both those issues - 8 inches not 6.8, and with landscape mode. I recently moved from a Kobo Libra H20 to the new Sage, and have found the bigger screen size to be well worth the change. I left the Amazon three years ago, and while Kobo's customer service is bad on a good day, their devices are a very credible alternative to the presumption that Kindles are the only ereader game in town.

Kindle readers are not the only game in town but they seem to be the only ones that airport security ever see. This Summer I was pulled over for a bag search because my Kobo reader 'looked different' on the X-ray. Admittedly the airport was almost deserted so Security Theatre were having to work extra-hard to justify their presence.

I've just bought a Kobo Libra 2 and I'm very pleased with it. It will auto-rotate the text to landscape, or left-handed, and supports headphones. Those are two of the Kindle shortcomings mentioned.

Kindles do landscape mode . Click top of screen. Click Aa . Click layout tab. Click landscape. . Only drawback is it doesn't affect the homescreens.

I alway say, "if I havent learnt something new everyday, then Ive been asleep!" Today already! learnt that my Kindle (owned for yrs!) has a landscape mode!!! Thank YOU! lol

Let's see, phone, tablet (e-mail, web browsing), work PC, work secure laptop, big home computer (photo editing, some limited video editing, games), home TV PC (two of them for two rooms), the older all-in-one still used occasionally for older games. There's also an older tablet now reserved for watching Netflix while doing cardio. With the Synology NAS that doubles as a Kodi and Git server it adds up to ten - and all of them get used at least once a week.

I don't think the average modern car would even start if it only had four.

Then I won't bother since there's no point to buying one through which to consume all those audio books from Audible.com... You know, an Amazon owned company that an Amazon produced book device just *MIGHT* want to facilitate?

But then WTF do I know, I'm just a potential customer who will now go elsewhere to find a suitable device.

Only four ?

Yes, that's a bit decadent for a Reg person. I'm thinking a dozen and upwards is more my usual day.

> the strong light from a tablet

Not being familiar with Apple products I admit to speaking from a position of ignorance.

However, I would expect any decently designed tablet to have a night-time mode or app, that altered both the brilliance of the screen and maybe even its colour.

That helps with OLED displays but with LED ones there's always some backlight. The gently back or side lit e-readers are much easier on the eyes.

Try telling that to my missus - even at LOWEST brightness on my iPad Mini in the Kindle app, she grunts & grumbles over the light spill to the point I have to read under the bleedin' covers like a ten year old!

I noticed I had 5 different OS's spread on my desk. I think it was BB10 phone, Android phone (work + personal), Linux and Windows laptops (work + personal) and an e-reader. The mix has changed but the numbers have only gone up.

I purchased the new Kindle Paperwhite to replace the six year old model that had begun to freeze on a regular basis and was a bit tempermental about turning pages. Unusually for me I ordered a couple of weeks before the release date (I usually buy last year's model of anything to save a few quid) encouraged by a £20 trade in and a 20% loyalty discount which brought the price down for the basic model to below £100. The slightly larger screen is a plus point and the option to vary the warmth of the screen is handy though a bit counterintuitive for a device sold on the whiteness of its screen.... Apropos the headphone issue, the new Kindle has Bluetooth which I presume is there to couple to wireless headphones though since I don't go for audio books I haven't bothered to try this feature out.

The new UI takes a bit of getting used to but it does provide quick access to the display characteristics and connectivity which you are likely to need more often.

I get though a book every two days on average (not including re-reads) but manage to find much of what I want on the daily or monthly deals so I reckon it works out cheaper for me than buying real books. The only down side for me is having to deal with Amazon which I avoid if at all possible for any other online purchases.

As any avid reader knows, the Kindle 4 NT is the last good reader from Amazon. No touchscreen crap, able to read in full sunshine, easy to root, easy on the eyes, no audiboos support.

Now back on topic: desktop, laptop, second laptop, 4 Pis, Kindle, phone, phone acting as GPS on car, phone acting as GPS on ATV. Oh, wait, do Arduinos and ESPs count as computers?

I don't often use my phone as a "device" for anything more than variations on messaging apps for different projects and tasks. Despite their best efforts, the browsing experience on a cell phone, even one with a large screen, is incredibly unpleasant for one with poor eyesight.

One bright side to poor vision: my 2HD monitor is effectively a "retina display" because I can't even begin to focus on individual pixels with this thing. *LOL*