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Kindle
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jeff bezos
ebooks
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 »
e-books
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]
legalese
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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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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kindle
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]
question of the day
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:
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e-books
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 »
amazon kindle
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]
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]
easter eggs
So, you wasted some hard-earned money on bought an Amazon Kindle. Good for you! Now that you have one, it's time to exploit the crap out of it. I'm talking, of course, about easter eggs, otherwise known as functionality that should be available to everybody in the first place. Yes, there's Google Maps access with triangulation locating! Minesweeper! A picture viewer! And more!
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Amazon Kindle Has Secrets: Faux-GPS Google Maps, Minesweeper, and More
So, you
ebay madness
While one of the major quibbles with Kindle is its sure-to-darken-your-wallet $400 pricetag, apparently knowledge is priceless, since the sold-out snowspeeders have been going for up to $1500 on eBay. The average is only around $830, but that's still kinda gross. While we're wandering around the seedy area of the eBay neighborhood:
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Amazon Kindle on eBay: $1500; Guy in Santa Suit Delivering a Wii to Your Door Christmas Day: $28,000
While one of the major quibbles with Kindle is its sure-to-darken-your-wallet $400 pricetag, apparently knowledge is priceless, since the sold-out snowspeeders have been going for up to $1500 on eBay. The average is only around $830, but that's still kinda gross. While we're wandering around the seedy area of the eBay neighborhood:
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hacks
Kindle DRM Hacked (That Was Easy)
The Kindle only allows the reading of Amazon DRM-protected content. So how do you load other eBooks onto the Kindle? Just add Amazon DRM. That's one solution hacker Igor Skochinsky has used to load Mobipocket books onto his Kindle. Using a series of scripts, he's able to convert eBook files to Amazon's AZW format and then add the necessary serial number DRM, specialized per an individual's particular Kindle.
Oh, and now you can too since his scripts are available for download. Should you feel bad about reading your non-Amazon eBooks on the Kindle? For $399 I wouldn't feel bad loading it with the souls of Amazon's first born children. [reversingeverthing via gadgetlab]
gadgets
Amazon Kindle Gets Third-Party Support From Fictionwise
Amazon's Kindle e-Book device gets its first third-party content provider support in the form of Fictionwise, which adds over 15k books to Amazon's already extensive library. Unlike first-party books, you can't directly download the books via the Kindle. You have to first download them onto your computer and sync via USB, or email them to yourself and pay the 10-cent fee. Quite a pain in the ass. Unless of course you can purchase this book, then it's totally worth it. [Fictionwise via Electronista]
rumor
Amazon Taking Kindle and Whispernet International?
A new rumor claims that Amazon wants to take their Kindle e-reader international. And while such a feat isn't a big deal for most of its competition, the Kindle's Whispernet service (a free EVDO connection allowing the downloads of books, etc from the Amazon store) will need a new partner to work across Europe (along with some hardware revision). And as rumor has it that Amazon is in talks with Vodafone Chief Arun Sarin to make this happen, sell e-books to everyone, take over the world, etc. Buyer beware: our attempts to burn Kindles in protest just won't have the impact of a good, paper book burning. [mobileread]
write on
Writeable, Color e-paper ReKindles Our Interest
Fuji Xerox has just demonstrated what may be the Holy Grail of e-paper—probably not the "E-Ink" technology found inside the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader, but something similar—a prototype display that a user and write on. Three layers of polymer-dispersed liquid crystals are used (red, green and blue), meaning the display has a gel-like base.
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