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# 4 Blogger
Joe Wikert's Kindleville
Joe Wikert's Kindleville (kindleville.blogspot.com) has great Amazon Kindle news, photos, videos and more
Monday, Nov 2
Opinion: Francis Hamit: An Author's Point of View
Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail. We continue to experiment with e-book publishing, but it’s no longer a priority, and any future Kindle offerings will be through Smashwords.com.
Thursday, Oct 22
Coming Soon to Your PC: Kindle Books
First there was the Kindle iPhone app and now Amazon is further hedging their hardware bet with this announcement about the future ability to read Kindle books on your Windows PC. No word on Mac support, btw. Amazon obviously realizes that too and is taking the initial steps to ensure they re...
Saturday, Sep 12
The Asus Eee-Reader: I Don't Get It
They talk about using the second screen as a virtual keyboard. Anyone who owns an iPhone will tell you the thing they like least about it is the virtual keyboard. Heck, even the chicklet Kindle keyboard is better than a virtual one. (Wow, did I just say the Kindle has an interface feature that's...
Sunday, Sep 6
Managing Stolen/Lost Kindles
It should be so much easier than this. I'm talking about Amazon's policy regarding lost/stolen Kindles, as outlined in this article. I can't imagine losing my Kindle and having Amazon tell me they won't disable it. Dear Mr. Bezos, can you please just implement the oh-so-simple solution outl...
Sunday, Aug 23
Opinion: Slowly Losing Interest in Subscriptions
I discovered the NY Times iPhone app when I got my first iPhone. As is the case with most apps, they keep updating and improving it. The latest version has me wondering why I bother paying Amazon $13.99/month for the Kindle version. I hear there are elements in the Kindle version that don't appea...
Sunday, Aug 16
Opinion: Lessons from the iPhone App Store
Amazon has a tried and true method for promotion and encouraging discovery. But they're only one outlet. More and more ebook storefronts are popping up every week. Then there's the self-publishing angle. How many new self-published works hit virtual shelves every month? Hundreds of thous...
Sunday, Aug 9
A glimpse of the future?
I'm not quite ready to go that far, but I do think we need to keep the pressure on Amazon. And the incident has made me think twice about purchasing Kindle editions of books. It was a reminder that we do not really own the e-books we purchase from Amazon.
Monday, Aug 3
Opinion: How Amazon Should Have Handled the Orwell Situation
It's old news by now. Someone who didn't own the rights uploaded Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm to the Kindle distribution service. Amazon then stepped in and removed all the illegal copies from Kindles around the country. It should also be noted that Amazon provided refunds as well.
Monday, Jul 27
Follow-up: More publishers delaying e-books?
Authors whose works may be delayed in e-book format include Dan Brown and Stephen King (Yes, the same Stephen King who wrote a story exclusively for the Kindle to help pimp the Kindle 2.). Are we heading for a showdown between publishers and Amazon?
Monday, Jul 20
How do you spell "shortsighted?"
After watching the music industry completely fail at accepting and embracing digital technology and seeing the resulting consequences, it's almost unfathomable that any other major media industry would make the same mistakes. But the publishing industry is heading in that directio...
Monday, Jul 13
Opinion: PC Mag and BusinessWeek on the Kindle
I blame some of this on Amazon for having such a closed model and not allowing for a third-party development ecosystem like what Apple has done for the iPhone, but most of the responsibility lies with the content publishers. I don't see anyone stepping up and creating some great, new Kindle...
Monday, Jul 6
UR, by Stephen King
It's also a very quick read. I'm a slow reader and I still managed to get through it in little more than an hour. You might call that "short" but I call it "perfect." I spend most of my Kindle time reading short pieces of content. Newspaper articles, magazines, blog posts. Those are the things I like...
Tuesday, Jun 30
A Kindle App Opportunity
What if you could do this?: Grab the url from the email message or your browser and drag it over to your Kindle, which is connected to your computer via USB? The application looks up that url, grabs all the HTML content that appears on the page, converts it to the Kindle's native format (mobi)...
Tuesday, Jun 23
When Two Out of Three Ain't Good
“[The Kindle DX] is $489, and that is an unbelievably low price for something that has inside it a sophisticated computer, a completely new kind of display of that size, and a 3G wireless radio,” Bezos said.Bezos rightfully points out three important attributes of every Kindle: it's a ful...
Tuesday, Jun 9
E-Books get Olfactory
Do you enjoy e-books on your Kindle, but feel like you are a few sniffs shy of the full reading experience? Worry no more, Smell of Books has you covered. With tongue firmly in cheek, Smell of Books promises to delivery the "smell of your favorite paper book" in a handy aerosol delivery format.
Wednesday, May 6
Thoughts on Amazon's New Whispernet Charge Policy
As everyone probably knows by now, Amazon has altered the conversion/delivery fee associated with sending files wirelessly to your Kindle. When I got my Kindle v.1 I was happy to see that I could email PDFs and other documents and have them delivered wirelessly to the device for 10 cents/at...
Thursday, Apr 23
Thoughts on the Kindle DX
I'm glad Amazon is innovating and not just sitting still. The Whispernet content delivery feature included in the entire Kindle family was a unique why-to-buy for K1 and it remains one for K2 and DX. It would be very easy for Amazon to just sit back and watch the competition limp around withou...
Thursday, Apr 2
My Visit to E Ink
Last week I mentioned I was heading to our Cambridge office and had a meeting scheduled with E Ink, the company that makes the Kindle and Sony Reader displays. I wound up spending the better part of an hour with Russ Wilcox, CEO of E Ink, and got to see some very cool stuff.
Friday, Mar 20
Opinion: Interview with Kindlefeeder Founder Daniel Choi
DC: First, I would really, really love to be able to write notes and annotations on an e-ink screen with a stylus or some sort of electronic pen. The ability to scrawl notes in margins and underline, star, and circle passages is the most important reason I still often buy printed books, even w...
Thursday, Mar 12
Tips and Tricks for Kindle 2.0 Owners
To search Wikipedia, select 'wikipedia' as the search category. To search content by a specific author: @author [author's name] in the Kindle Store search bar Advance to next song: ALT-F Pause an Audible file: space bar Reset Kindle: slide/hold power switch for 15 seconds
Wednesday, Feb 11
Kindle 2.0. Two steps forward, one step back?
As Tyler recently posted, Amazon has spilled the beans on the next version of Kindle. Now that we have all the specs, all that’s left to do is debate their merits relative to Kindle 1.0. In other words, is Kindle 2.0 really an upgrade? It’s as if Kindle 2 were designed in a vacuum.
The Genius Behind "Sold-Out"
1) Amazon sells out of the Kindle in November 2008, putting it in a 10-12 week back order. 6) Amazon introduced the Kindle 2 on February 9th, 2009. 3) By placing the Kindle on backorder for 12 weeks, Amazon builds an unnatural demand for the Kindle, making the Kindle seem almost unattainable.
Monday, Feb 9
Opinion: What surprises does Amazon have in store today?
What might those feature be? Predictions abound, including this recent PC World article. Well, since Jeff Bezos seems to have lost my cell phone number, I'm not in the loop, but here are my top five hopes: What are your predictions? What features do you think Amazon will unleash in Kindle 2.0...
Will "Fallout 101" Change the Face of Publishing?
It does strike me as odd that Amazon is trying to fit the proverbial square peg in a round hole. There must be a more engaging way to present the content than using the blog reading interface. And why not commission a serial project from a capable author and make the content exclusive to the Kind...
Sunday, Feb 8
The Kindle: Remarkable but ot for the reasons you think
The intriguing and noteworthy aspect of the Kindle, however, is not necessarily the physical gadget created by Amazon, but rather the E-Ink technology behind it. The Cambridge, MA company is responsible for developing the 'electronic paper' technology used not only in the Amazon Kind...
The New Voices of Kindleville
P.S. -- Tomorrow we'll be hearing the big announcement from Amazon...the worst kept secret in years, Kindle 2.0. I'm heading to O'Reilly's Tools of Change (TOC) conference in New York tomorrow morning, but I plan to keep an eye on the Amazon news. I'll be Twittering both the TOC conference and the A...
Sunday, Feb 1
Will Amazon Advance the Ball with Kindle 2.0?
Innovative Content Models -- $9.99 books are great and Amazon's obviously selling quite a few of them, but what about book clubs, all-you-can-eat and other content pricing models? If I can sign up for an e-content subscription/access model like Safari or Books24x7 on my computer why doe...
Sunday, Jan 25
WANTED: Kindleville Curator
My interest in the Kindle is waning but I'd like to see Kindleville live on as a resource for the community. It's still the #1 blog being pushed out by the KindleFeeder service, ranking ahead of such heavyweights as The Huffington Post, The New York Times, Lifehacker, Wired's Top Stories an...
Sunday, Jan 11
Where's My New York Times?!
I've been subscribing to The New York Times on my Kindle for several months now and I look forward to curling up with it every night. Imagine my disappointment when I brought my Kindle downstairs last night and couldn't find the latest issue. I figured maybe something went awry with the wirel...
Sunday, Jan 4
USA Today vs. The New York Times
I've been paying $13.99/month for The New York Times on my Kindle for several months now and I love it. When I saw USA Today was coming to the Kindle I was curious, so I signed up for a 14-day trial. I'm less than a week into it and getting ready to shut it down.
Thursday, Oct 16
Kindle myFaves
I was recently in the market for a new Blackberry so I visited a couple of cell phone providers to see what they had to offer. I wound up going with AT&T but the myFaves program at T-Mobile left an impression. I didn't see a use for it on a cell phone but I'd love to see something like it for the Ki...
Monday, Oct 6
Wade Roush with Four Improvements for Kindle 2.0
4. Add a talking book feature. I've talked about this one before as well. My eyes get tired reading regardless of whether the content is on paper or a Kindle screen. Why not create a hybrid product that let's me flip a switch, close my eyes and read the content to me, right where I left off when my eye...
Tuesday, Sep 30
The Challenge of Unsubscribing
Here's how it's done: Select the Manage Your Kindle option on Amazon's top nav bar. On the resulting screen scroll down to the heading "Your active Kindle subscriptions." You'll see a "Cancel Subscription" option for each of your active subscriptions. Just click on that link for any subscr...
An Anti-DRM Book Wrapped In...DRM
First of all, there's a convenience that comes with having a book like this available on the Kindle. Sure, I could grab a free PDF of the book here and it comes with no DRM, btw. I could then forward that PDF to my Kindle e-mail address, let Amazon convert it to Mobi format and have it wirelessly de...
Sunday, Sep 28
Kindle 2.0 Rumors: The Good, The Bad and The (Still) Ugly
The Kindle 2.0 rumors are picking up steam again. And now there are photos of an actual device floating around. As the picture to the left shows, version 2.0 will apparently be about the same size as 1.0. The photos show they're also changing the chicklet keyboard as well as the scroll wheel (with a...
Thursday, Sep 25
What if you threw a "break-the-Kindle-DRM" party...
The GalleyCat post goes on to quote another Kindle blogger who says that "I really think we are going to see the napster of books - sooner or later." This has already happened with sites like Scribd, for example. What we haven't seen yet though is a bunch of hacked Kindle editions floating arou...
Sunday, Sep 21
What e-Publishers Should Do for Readers
As a consumer, I absolutely love the "buy for a friend" feature that's #3 on the list. Then again, I'm having a hard enough time keeping up with the Kindle content I buy for myself -- I can't imagine how far behind I'd get if others were also buying me books and magazines!
Saturday, Sep 6
Opinion: Kindle Webinar Questions, Part II
The first rule of thumb here is that nothing is truly 100% secure. If enough hackers want to unlock your protected files they'll find a way to do it, period. That said, I haven't heard of any serious issues up to now with Kindle content. Don't forget though that DRM-protected content isn't the o...
Monday, Sep 1
Opinion: Kindle Classroom Interview with Teacher Chris Edwards
JW: There's been a lot of talk about the Kindle (or some other e-book device) becoming a huge hit for textbook reading and storage. With the functionality you see on the Kindle today, do you feel that's a viable short term solution? Are there any features you feel would need to be added to the K...
Sunday, Aug 31
Kindle Availability of Obama's New Book
I was glad to hear that someone has finally learned how to take advantage of e-book vs. print book availability. Barack Obama's new book, Change We Can Believe In, was available yesterday on the Kindle and is just now in physical bookstores today.
Wednesday, Aug 27
Kindle Covers
Lastly, the Executive Jacket just looks great. I don't know what the material is on the outside of the Amazon device, but if it's leather it's nowhere near as nice as the leather in the M-Edge product. Other Kindle owners have noted that the M-Edge doesn't have the padding on the facing flap th...
Kindle Webinar Questions
Doesn't Amazon have to convert Mobi files for the Kindle, or can you upload them directly to the Kindle from your computer? You can load Mobi files directly from your computer to your Kindle. There's no need to go through Amazon for this.
Sunday, Aug 17
Feedbooks Newspapers are Replacing My RSS Reader
P.S. -- I see Feedbooks now has a USB-based update option where the content is pushed automatically once you're connected to your computer. I'll have to try this one next since my Kindle gets connected to my laptop almost every day (to test new Kindle file samples).
Friday, Aug 15
What's On Your Kindle?
That's a question I've heard a lot lately. Kindle owners and non-Kindle owners are curious to hear what's loaded on my device. Here's a quick rundown of the content currently on my Kindle: The Bible -- My very first purchase. I chose the NASB edition because so many other Kindle readers recomm...
Wednesday, Aug 6
Yet Another Shortsighted Kindle Perspective
Ah, the ever-present iPod reference. I continue to tip my hat to Steve Jobs & Co. for the incredible work they've done with the iPod platform (including iPods, iPhones, iTunes, etc.) As I've said before, Jobs has converted Apple from a computer company into an enormously successful con...
Thursday, Jul 31
What Are Kindle Owners Buying?
1. The New York Times, Amazon ranking: #15 2. The Wall Street Journal, Amazon ranking: #19 3. The Washington Post, Amazon ranking: #132 5. The Los Angeles Times, Amazon ranking: #223 IOW, out of all the products Amazon sells for the Kindle, only 2 newspapers make the top 100.
Sunday, Jul 6
Opinion: Test Driving The New York Times
But...I'm afraid it won't succeed at this price. And that concerns me because I really want these Kindle subscriptions to be wild successes and stoke the Kindle experience itself. (Which is why I'm taking the time and trouble to write this review.)
Wednesday, Jul 2
We're All Kindle Salespeople
Btw, this was yet another example of the awareness problem Amazon faces with the Kindle. He too is a regular Amazon customer but has never noticed any of the Kindle ads on Amazon's home page. Never. Ever. He had no idea what the name Kindle referred to; a "Kindle" could be a new type of chair for all...
