Kindle
”Ballmer Predicts Death of Printed Media
Little known fact (that we just made up): Steve Ballmer once had a newspaper thrown through his front window. After eating the newspaper delivery boy and his entire family , Ballmer sat down with to chat about the future with The Washington Post. And among other things, he pegged a date for the death of printed media: 10 years from now. More »Amazon Kindle Price Reduced to $359, Now Back In Stock
The Kindle is back in stock and it's now available for a reduced price, dropping from $399 to $359. Maybe that will help Amazon to achieve those crazy $750 million in sales by 2010. [Amazon—Thanks Françoise]
First Year Kindle Sales vs. iPod, Palm Pilot and Other Famous Gadgets: How's It Doing?
Amazon's Kindle might pull in $750 million by 2010, growing from an estimated 189,000 units this year to 2.2 million in the next couple, according Citi analyst Mark Mahaney. But how does that stack up against other important gadgets in their first year of life? Silicon Alley Insider has done the hard work for us. Considering that Kindle is a gadget type that the mainstream has had no basic interest in until now (e-reader) and that it's been perpetually out of stock, it's not doing too shabby, though it's had a serious hype advantage over some of those gadgets. I have the feeling Kindle 2 is where it's really gonna be at. [Silicon Alley Insider, Thanks Dan!]
Analyst Predicts $750 Million Worth of Kindle Sales by 2010
It looks like Amazon's foray into the world of gadget making is going to be a profitable one indeed: CitiGroup analyst Mark Mahaney claims that in less than two years, the e-book reader is going to pull in a whopping $750 million. For those of you keeping track at home, that's a shitload of money. More »Kindle Finally Back in Stock on Amazon
At last! Amazon is finally restocked with Kindles, after Jeff Bezos' front-page confession that he was fresh outta e-Books. $399, folks. [i4U]Penguin to Launch Ebooks Alongside Regular Releases
The international publisher, Penguin, has decided to hop onto the ebook bandwagon, by promising regular book launches to be held in conjunction with their ebook counterparts. Unfortunately, the prices will not be lowered for the ebook varieties, but Penguin will offer direct downloads from their website. More »ECTACO's jetBook E-Book Reader "Will Change the Way We Read Forever!"
According to ECTACO it won't be the Amazon Kindle or the Sony Reader that changes the way we read—it will be their new jetBook. Why? Well, first of all it is red and everyone knows that red is the color of learning. Second, it features a 5-inch, high-res TFT display, an MP3 player, bookmarking capability, multi-language support and an SD expansion slot. There is no word on how much memory is built-in, but we do know that the device will set you back $349.95 and there is no e-book store. So, you are on your own when it comes to finding content. [ECTACO via Gearlog]Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader Locked Up: Why Your Books Are No Longer Yours
If you buy a regular old book, CD or DVD, you can turn around and loan it to a friend, or sell it again. The right to pass it along is called the "first sale" doctrine. Digital books, music and movies are a different story though. Four students at Columbia Law School's Science and Technology Law Review looked at the particular issue of reselling and copying e-books downloaded to Amazon's Kindle or the Sony Reader, and came up with answers to a fundamental question: Are you buying a crippled license to intellectual property when you download, or are you buying an honest-to-God book?
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Jeff Bezos: Kindle Back in Stock Soon, Honest! (P.S. I Love the Kindle Cake)
Whether the Kindle's perpetual sold out status is the result of honest-to-God feverish demand for the little slab of e-book voodoo or a willfully sub-demand supply, that's about to change. Jeff Bezos has a little love note on the front page of Amazon saying he's sowwy they can't keep up with our blistering desire to get our Whispernet on, and that Kindles will be shipping the same day you order them—in a just a few weeks. So, you have to wait a few weeks in order to um, not wait a few weeks. Oh and that Kindle cake? "Delectable." [Amazon]Is Getting a Caked a Good Omen for a Gadget?
This bookake looks as disgusting as the real Amazon Kindle. Not because it's a bad cake. I'm sure it tastes great and the details are accurate. The problem is that, unfortunately, the chef didn't have a lot to start with. Brian says that all this baking is good for Kindle. It's all about what he calls "The Cake Factor":
Brian Lam's Cake Factor: no one makes a gadget cake unless they love the gadget, so this is a good sign for Kindle
A "good sign"? I completely disagree with him, and I have definitive proof:
More »Netronix E-Book To Have Touchscreen and Wi-Fi
Taiwanese manufacturer Netronix is promising a new spin on an old idea: putting a touchscreen on an the EB-100, an E-Ink-based e-book reader. We've actually seen the basic design before, in the gen-3 Cybook by Bookeen. But there was never promise of touchscreen, nor anything said about 802.11g Wi-Fi, which Netronix is also offering. The rest of the specs are pretty straightforward: 6" screen, SD card slot, support for PDF, RTF, TXT, HTML, MP3, AAC, and some image files. But as much as I enjoy the Kindle, a touchscreen interface may really be what's needed to bring mass appeal to the e-book concept. You hear me, Jeff Bezos? [Product Page via Tecnogadgets]
asus
Eee PC Has A Kindle Mode?
Got a desire for the sold out Amazon Kindle? If you do your probably out of luck on actually getting one anytime soon. The next best thing might actually be an Eee PC in "Kindle" mode. By using FBReader in fullscreen and portrait mode, an Eeeph forum member turned his Eee into a Kindle imitator. Since FBReader is a free e-book reader for Unix and Windows computers this little Kindle tweak shouldn't be too hard to get you a multi-function e-reader out of the popular Eee PC. [Eeeph via EeeUser]
bookbinding
Amazon Plans to Buy Audible
It seems like a cozy fit: Amazon.com, the beloved mega bookseller, plans to by Audible.com, the biggest (only?) digital distributor of audiobooks. The news release itself describes the terms of the deal ($300 million in cash) but doesn't really outline Amazon's ultimate plans. Amazon does, notably, take this opportunity to plug the Kindle, giving us an idea that any refresh to the Kindle's OS will involve a more full-featured audio player. No word, however, on whether or not Amazon will insist its new subsidiary distribute files in DRM-free MP3. Wouldn't that be nice? [Amazon PR]
steve jobs
Steve Jobs: "People Don't Read Anymore," Android Is Going Down
I love Steve Jobs. Why? Because when he speaks, he doesn't deal with details or nuance—everything is a sweeping proclamation. I like that. His take on Amazon Kindle, for instance, makes it pretty clear Apple won't be making the actual "iPod of reading":"It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore... The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don't read anymore."More »
impressions
My Wife's Take After a Week With an eReader
I gave my wife a Sony Reader for Christmas after she'd talked about them for some time (she deemed the Kindle "ugly" btw, which is important as anything else for a gadget that's designed to be looked at for hours on end, I guess). Her verdict on the experience? Good, but there's one thing she's surprised to miss most from real books: More »Anyone Having Kindle Screen Issues?
Someone sent CrunchGear a shot of their brand new Amazon Kindle and some pretty serious problems they're having with its screen. This could be an isolated issue, or not. Is anyone else having similar issues with their Kindle? Let us know in the comments. [Crunchgear]
Amazon Kindle Has Secrets: Faux-GPS Google Maps, Minesweeper, and More
So, you 






