Electronic paper has been with us for years and years. It has great advantages: crisp, easy-to-read text, super low power. But it also has downsides: slow, messy refresh rates, monochrome text.

Still, in a world that esteems shiny, bright, colourful screens, there’s something undeniably appealing about crisp, easy-on-the-eyes dark text on a light surface.

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been reading Matt Gemmell’s posts on Mastodon with great interest. He’s acquired a new Kindle Scribe and he’s been talking about it, complete with videos showing drawing tools and handwriting conversion, and even the sound of the damn thing while writing!

The takeaway is shocking (to me, anyway): e-paper has become fast, responsive and more crisp than ever before. The Kindle Scribe, in particular, is a fascinating device. Not only is it an e-book reader, but a notebook and PDF markup tool. With its light weight, letter-paper size and long battery life, the Scribe looks like a super compelling bit of kit!

Buuuuuuut...

I’m fully, completely, hopelessly encsconsed in the Apple technology universe. I use my Mac, and my iPhone, and my iPad, and my Apple Watch all day every day. I’m taking notes, setting up appointments and managing files, all in the Apple walled garden. If I had a Scribe, how could any of that work with my stuff?

I’ve always rolled my eyes at the term “walled garden”. But to be frank, there’s something to it: some systems are universally accessible (calendars, email), while others are behind lock and key. In the case of the Scribe, the fact that iCloud Drive isn’t available on non-Apple devices really slams the breaks on any hope for adding this device to my roster.

How great would it be to have an iCloud Drive API? I filed a Feedback about it (FB13429455), so if you’re in Apple and wish to champion this Quixotic attempt to blast a door in the garden wall, now you have an excuse.