The Kindle is the hottest ereader on the planet but I wouldn’t buy one right now. Nope, we just crossed that threshold where it’s downright silly to buy one right now. You can wait a few weeks. The next-gen model is right around the corner.
Amazon just slashed the prices of refurbished Kindles. A WiFi-only model can now be had for $99 while the 3G version is just $129. That’s cheap — even for a refurb. Kindle 3 accessories also now have a lower price. SlashGear points out that the last time Kindle refurbs and accessories went on sale, the Kindle 3 launched just a month later. That fits the prior rumors that the new ereaders and slates were possibly launching in September or October. Can’t you wait until then? → Read More
Yesterday’s “Everybody panic!” is today’s “Meh.” B&N, Amazon, and Google Books have all taken pains to make it abundantly clear that you can only buy their ebooks from the e-store “through the Safari browser on their device or any computer” (to quote B&N) and have removed direct links to those stores from their iPad apps. In this way, they bypass Apple’s 30% revenue request. Here are the chances folks have made, including Google Books’ return to the App Store with ebook sales disabled. → Read More
At the beginning of the year, Apple said it wanted 30% of everything sold through the iPad platform. You could sell almost anything – books, downloadable content, magazines, pictures of kittens – but, according to their subscription rules, everything had to go through Apple itself and you could not, in short, go out to a web page to complete the transaction. That promise – to shut down external web stores on the iPad – has been fulfilled and the Nook, Kindle, Kobo, and Google Books apps have just been either drastically changed or removed from the App Store entirely. → Read More
The fabled Amazon tablet: Oh how you tease us so. You come from the maker of the world’s most beloved ereader and are said to run the versatile Android OS. (hopefully skinned, though) But there’s just so much we don’t know about you. When are you coming? How much are you going to cost. What’s your name? Are you even real?
The Wall Street Journal thinks it’s real. In fact they just named October as the release month and state new Kindle models are coming soon, too. Details are understandably on the light side, but there are some interesting specs concerning the tablet: 9-inch screen, no camera, and running an unnamed Android release. Doesn’t sound like an iPad killer to me. → Read More
The Kindle 3G is now available for a lower price. That is if you don’t mind seeing AT&T ads. Amazon and AT&T just announced that two have teamed up to offer the Kindle 3G for $139. That’s a price drop of $50 off the retail model and $25 lower than the previous offer. All you give up are the standard literary greats screensavers for AT&T adverts. The rest of the Kindle 3G is the same. It’s the same e-ink screen, long battery life and slender design.
Amazon announced a few months back an ad-supported WiFi-only Kindle for $114.99 and then a $164 Kindle 3G. These models features ads placed at the bottom of the homescreen and sponsored screensavers as well. → Read More
Once again, we’re packaging some of the top news of the week in a quick-to-digest video format. If you missed some of the big tech stories this week, TechCrunched gives you the highlights. Take a look, have a listen and let us know what you think. Also, be sure to visit the below links for additional insights. → Read More
There are so many ways to get around the New York Times paywall (or, as someone called it when it debuted, its pay fence) but if you subscribe to the NYT on your Amazon Kindle, you are now “entitled to complete online coverage of breaking news, articles, videos, audio clips, multimedia and blogs on NYTimes.com” free of charge.
Amazon had promised this would be coming, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. → Read More
Not a lot of information here to go on, but it jives with rumors and hints over the last year that Amazon would be putting out a full-on tablet of their own. Digitimes reports that the tablet is poised for an August or September launch, and millions of units are expected to be sold by the end of the year. A TI processor and standard OEM touchscreens and LCDs suggest a fairly normal tablet, probably with an emphasis on and special access to Amazon’s streaming media services, rather than an e-reader tablet like the B&N Nook Color. → Read More
Attention, world! The Kindle, the top selling ebook reader of all time, is now sold by Radio Shack. That means you can head down to your local strip mall, pick up some beer at the party store, a Get Well card at Hallmark, and a WiFi or 3G Kindle at the Shack for $114 to $189. How convenient! → Read More
Short Version: After a few days with the new Nook I was hooked. It is a pure reading experience condensed into a device the size of a paperback and with a super-crisp e-ink touchscreen. The Nook is, in short, the best e-reader from a major player I’ve used thus far and is well ahead of its competitors in terms of usability and form factor. → Read More
I have egg on my face, hands, and in my hair. Last year I called a premature end to the ereader race, stating that the Kindle was first to market and therefore in first place. I’m pleased to report that I was wrong.
The new Nook is without question the best standalone Wi-Fi ereader on the market. Note that I added a few weasel words there, and if you’re looking for 3G then the Kindle 3G is still a winner, but as a reading device the Nook is nonpareil. → Read More
I wrote a book in 2004 about hackers, spammers, and other nerds and I thought I’d like to share it with the world. It’s currently available on Amazon and B&N and is $9.99 for the print edition and an inexplicable $9.49 in the Kindle edition. It is apparently not available for the Nook.
The book is 7 years old and is nearly out of print. It is about spammers, hackers, and viruses and I wrote it for a general audience like my dad who may or may not be all that technically savvy. It’s not a How-To as much as an exploration of the personalities in hacking.
According to Bookscan I sold 0 copies in the past few months and rather than allow it to molder, I’ve decided to give it away, with some caveats. → Read More
I’m a big fan of my Kindle DX. It’s literally my favorite gadget. I love the form factor, the large screen, the relatively good battery life and the keyboard. Amazon could eliminate any of those items and my love would still be just as strong. The Kindle DX is perfect in my eyes. It’s so perfect that just the thought of Amazon ditching the buttons in favor of a touchscreen pains me as deeply as The Road.
That’s the trend now: touchscreen e-ink screens. Within the last 24 hours, Kobo and Barnes & Noble introduced models with new touchscreen e-ink displays. It’s a fantastic step in low-power consuming displays with really quick page refreshes and battery life. The new Nook has a 2-month battery. All good. Even the touchscreen is great technology with good-enough sensitivity. But I don’t want it in my next Kindle. → Read More
Wow. Woot has a ringer today in a refurbished 3G Kindle. $90 will net buyers the previous generation Kindle, but at least the more pricey 3G wireless model. Even though this is a 2nd gen unit, and Amazon is currently about nine months into the 3rd generation’s life, you’re really not losing all that much. This is a deal, friends. → Read More
This is a really weird time to be a writer. Agents are becoming publishers; publishers have moved to “the agency model“; and some self-published authors are making millions—all because e-books are now outselling all other segments. Magazines and newspapers are dying, blogs and aggregators are thriving, and the line between them all is blurring. Last year Apple was their savior; now it’s damned as a destroyer.
So what’s a writer to do?
These days I’m mostly a developer, but I’ve had a clutch of novels (thrillers about globetrotting techies) published by traditional houses, and also experimented with just about every form of The New Publishing. My latest book (an epic urban fantasy about a squirrel) was Creative Commons-released and self-Kindle-published before I sold it to a publisher. I’ve scripted a Vertigo Comics graphic novel, and a free online comic for Engineering.com. Plus I write here, and for magazines. And the news I bring from all my literary peregrinations is this:
…in the immortal words of William Goldman, nobody knows anything.
And that is awesome. → Read More
Amazon has always been frustratingly close-lipped about its hardware business, opting not to divulge sales numbers or upcoming hardware changes for more or less the entire life of the Kindle. And incredibly, such information rarely leaks out (though we managed to catch the graphite Kindle 3 ahead of its debut). But today just two words are sending the tech blogs into confusion, as Jeff Bezos coyly tells an interviewer to “stay tuned” in relation to a new Amazon tablet. → Read More
When not destroying the heartland and ripping down the fabric of small town America, Wal-Mart likes to give back to the community. For example, the Arkansas Boys and Girls Club of America, got a $10,000 grant from the giant to buy books, magazines, and most notably, Kindles.
There will be 50 Junior High and High School children involved in Bright Spot. This reading center will contain not only books, but also other forms of literature. Magazines, Kindles, and music will be available for the children to enjoy and read. This program encourages teens to continue reading in their everyday life.
“The Walmart Foundation’s Bright Spot for Reading Initiative is essential in preparing youth for academic and life success,” continued Shelby Kriz, Director of Education, “We are grateful to The Walmart Foundation for the opportunity to create an environment that will encourage and allow our youth to enjoy and develop an affinity for reading.”
Quanta, a Chinese hardware manufacturer, is reporting that they have received an order from Amazon to build new Kindle tablets, potentially with fringe field switching display touchscreens that may or may not mimic the screens found in devices like the Nook Color. → Read More
One of the main features of the latest version of the Kindle was its new “Pearl” E Ink screen. It offered better contrast, faster response, and so on. And since we’ve gotten so used to new stuff being given to us every year, I guess we all just kind of expected there would be another new E Ink screen this year, along with a new wave of e-readers using it. Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be the case. → Read More
Researchers at the University of Washington have found that, while useful, Kindles (specifically that larger Kindles DX) aren’t all that popular with students – yet. Their issues, arguably, are UI problems including the need for a “skimmable” abstract of content and better note-taking systems. However, to be fair, Amazon and B&N could fix those problems in a heartbeat.
“Most e-readers were designed for leisure reading – think romance novels on the beach,” said co-author Charlotte Lee, a UW assistant professor of Human Centered Design and Engineering. “We found that reading is just a small part of what students are doing. And when we realize how dynamic and complicated a process this is, it kind of redefines what it means to design an e-reader.”
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