There’s a new high-tech kid on the block. Amazon.com unveiled its new “Kindle” device today, an e-book reader built to actually be usable. It works with Amazon.com - much like the iPod works with iTunes - allowing users to purchase books for $9.99 and download them to the reder, which can hold about 200 tomes.

For monthly subsctiption rates, your Kindle will also provide you the full text of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, or others every day. These papers will download wirelessly - the Kindle doesn’t plug into your computer, but rather utilizes wifi technology - so all you have to do in the morning is remember to take your Kindle with you. (You can subscribe to magazine the same way.) It also offers blog subscriptions, for $1.99 (or less) per blog per month. I imagine charging for what otherwise is free information will probably not last long; people will complain and it will be a small concession for Amazon to change their blog policy.

As to useability, the 10.3 ounce device weighs less than a standard trade paperback and uses e-ink technology, which means it is read without backlight and puts much less strain on the eye than a standard computer screen. It is only in black and white, but of course grown-up books do not have many color illustrations. (I don’t know if e-ink can handle colors, or if the method is a one-color pony.)

Want one today? Visit Amazon with $400 and one of the first Kindles can be yours.

Happy reading.