Nothing specific has yet surfaced about the Hearst reader. Fortune describes it as being the size of a "standard sheet of paper" (8 ½ x 11 inches?) and it might use displays developed by , which Hearst invested in about a decade ago. This screen would be a lot bigger than the 6-inch diagonal screen on the book reader. As Fortune points out, more space for ads.

At the same time, a number of Web news sites reported that Hearst is thinking of moving a lot of its content to fee-based Web sites. So, if I understand this correctly, Hearst is assuming that you will spend your money to buy a special reader to enable you to spend more money to read its content - sounds like a plan.

Hearst seems to be learning from Amazon but I do not see how anyone can yet learn much from the . Amazon has been selling a lot of Kindles but that does not mean that all that many people want to keep accumulating special purpose devices.

The usefulness and use of the Internet has grown primarily because a single device - the PC - and a single piece of software - the browser - enabled access to a vast variety of applications and content. You do not need to get a special computer to find out that it will snow tomorrow or to watch politicians say dumb things on YouTube.

I would like a device about the size and shape of the rumored Hearst device but I want a general purpose computer, not a one-trick pony (see ?). I expect that Kindle sales would drop precipitously if , or someone else, were to bring out a device of the sort I describe in that column, particularly if it has a full color E Ink type screen -- as would the sales of any purpose-built device from Hearst.