Amazon Updates the Kindle Lineup

In a recent press event, Amazon, the makers of the popular Kindle e-reading device, announced the next generation of Kindle devices.

Kindle:


The good old Kindle we all know and love, right? Wrong. Although it keeps the simple, one word name, the new Kindle is a very different looking device. With the same 6 inch screen size as its predecessor, the new Kindle weighs 30% lighter (6 ounces), most likely due to the most noticeable difference: the new Kindle has no keyboard. Instead of using the keyboard, one navigates the device using the new five way controller, as well as four other small buttons.

The New Kindle

Download books over Wi-Fi (no 3G option this time around), and read them wherever you go, with up to a month of battery life on a single charge. Also, as Amazon is marketing strongly, the Kindle can be used even in bright sunlight, because of its black and white e-ink display.

The most compelling aspect of the new Kindle is it's price. The new device is the cheapest Kindle ever, at $79 if you choose "special offers" (click here to get an overview of what special offers is). If you choose not to go for the special offers, you'll pay $109 for this new e-reader.




Kindle Touch:

The Kindle Touch

At first glance, the Kindle Touch looks almost identical to the Kindle. The main noticeable difference is the Touch's lack of buttons. However, no buttons are needed, due to the Kindle Touch's 6 inch, e-ink, thouchscreen display.

Other than the touchscreen display, the Kindle Touch is almost identical to the regular Kindle. Another big difference is the 3G capabilities. The Touch is the only new Kindle that is available with a 3G model. With the always connected convenience of a cell phone, without any monthly fees or yearly contracts. The Wi-Fi version costs only $99, while 3G capabilities will cost you $149.


Kindle Fire:

The Kindle Fire

Probably the most anticipated update to the Kindle family is a color tablet device, called the Kindle Fire. The fire comes packed with a 7 inch color screen (something completely new to the Kindle brand), a 14.6 ounce weight (about the weight of a can of beans), a dual-core processor, and 8GB of storage. The body of the device is simplistic yet pretty, with no visible buttons.

The Fire runs Android, with an Amazon skin that makes it look like a completely new OS. Amazon is marketing the Fire as more of a multimedia player than a tablet computer, and, since it doesn't run the Android Market, that's really what it is. You can, however, download apps from the Amazon Appstore, which has, as Amazon says, "thousands of apps and games". You can download this content via the built in Wi-Fi, as this device has no 3G built in.

The Fire seems to revolve almost solely on Amazon's content. You download music from the Amazon MP3 store, apps from Amazon's Appstore, and movies from it's own video store. As always, books are also downloaded from Amazon's own service. This is an Apple-like strategy (with Apple's iTunes store), and is probably one of the reasons that Amazon can sell this device for only $199.

The new Kindle Fire is available for pre-order now, and will ship on November 15.

5 Android Apps you Need: App 1

This is the first part of a five part series. Check back every Monday and Thursday for more.

If you've been reading Gadgetator regularly, you probably know about the 5 iPhone Apps you Need series we did a while back. Although iPhone may be slightly more popular than Android, I never like to be biased, so here's... 5 Android Apps you Need.


iOS, the operating system behind the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, has always been known for it's large number of apps available. However, with Android's success over the past few years, it's app numbers have been slowly creeping up, and it's getting hard to choose the great apps from the not so great ones. Here's a little  bit of help, as I, over the next few weeks, will highlight 5 of the best apps for your Android device.

The first app in this series, called Kindle, is available for free from Amazon.com, as well as a free download from Google's Android Market.

Many people enjoy reading for different reasons. Be it to relax, laugh, or soak up information, Kindle strives to help get that reading done without having to lug around heavy books. All you need is your Android phone and the Kindle app (iOS, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry apps also available), and you're set. You can now read wherever you are without carrying heavy books around.

Now, you get that you can read with the Kindle app, but there is much more to it. Kindle allows you to browse over 950,000 books, as well as newspapers and magazines, and read them on your device. Although some books are free, most cost close to $10.

The reading experience is also great, as you can change font size, search inside the book, and instantly look up hard words with the built in dictionary. The Kindle app's Whispersync technology means that the page you are on, any notes you took, and bookmarks are automatically synced with any other Kindle apps you have on other devices, as well as on the actual Kindle device itself, so you never miss a word.

So, if you're running Android and enjoy reading, the Kindle app is a great, free download.

Amazon Announces Kindle Textbook Rentals

One of the major things that is keeping students around the world paper-free, is the fact that textbooks just aren't available on electronic devices. Well, weren't. Amazon, the creator of the popular Kindle eReader device, announced today that they would be launching a textbook rental service, and claims that students can save up to 80% on their textbooks.

"Today, Amazon.com announced the launch of Kindle Textbook Rental," Said the Amazon.com press release, "Now students can save up to 80% off textbook list prices by renting from the Kindle Store. Tens of thousands of textbooks are available for the 2011 school year from leading textbook publishers such as John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier and Taylor & Francis. Students can find details about the program at www.amazon.com/kindletextbooks"

The Kindle textbooks can be rented anywhere from 30 to 360 days, so students really have flexibility. Also, like other Kindle books, these are, as Amazon.com calls it, "Rent once, read anywhere". This means that you can read a Kindle textbook on, of course, the Kindle device, as well as the Kindle app for iPhone, Android, and even for the Mac and PC.

This seems extremely convenient, however, although Amazon is claiming prices up to 80% than hardcover books, that is not countering in the fact that many people can sell used textbooks after using them, and earn back a percentage of what they paid originally.

Do you think it's worth the convenience to lose the reselling value? Are you going to be using this new Kindle feature? Let me know by simply commenting below. Thank you.

Kindle; With Ads

     Amazon has been recently trying to be able to lower the cost of their popular Kindle eReader, and today they announced one of their latest attempts.
     The company announced earlier today that the Kindle will now be available for $25 cheaper. This is the same Kindle hardware as the current version, so what's the reason for the price drop? Amazon will be introducing a new advertising UI for the Kindle device.
     In the new $114 Kindle, you will see an ad when the device goes into screensaver mode, as well as under the main menu UI. There will be no ads when you are reading, and Amazon made sure to point our that the ads will be completely unobtrusive.
     To go along with the new Kindle, which Amazon is calling Kindle with Special Offers, Amazon created a new application called AdMash. AdMash allows users to vote on ads that appear on the screensaver, and is designed to bring you more targeted ads, and ultimately making the ads more successful. This ad voting system would follow in the footsteps of Facebook and Hulu.
     Another really cool feature, one that may even make someone favor the ad-based Kindle over the regular one, is the special offers that will be sprinkled in among the traditional ads. For example, one might see an offer for buying a $20 gift card for $10.
     The new Kindle is available for pre-order now, and will be available for purchase on March 3rd.
     This a great step for Amazon in bringing the Kindle's price down. With the price of the Kindle when it was first announced at $399, getting it down to only $114 is a great feat, and will probably be good for everyone: Amazon, the consumers, and the advertisers.

Nook follows Kindle with New York Times Paywall

     A paywall for the New York Times website was announced a few weeks ago, and went into affect March 28, 2011. This paywall allows users to read 20 stories per month, and then they must pay for the ability to read stories on the New York Times website. This paywall costs $15 per four weeks, but print subscribers can access all of the stories for free.
     Recently, Amazon announced that those who subscribe to the New York Times via the Kindle will get free access to the New York Times website, just like print subscribers. Now, Barnes and Noble is following suit. Any subscribers to the New York Times on the Nook will now be able to access all of the stories online without a paywall.
     Currently the New York Times iPad app is free and ad supported, but that is not going to last forever. I wonder what the iPad subscribers would get once they have to start paying.
      So if you subscribe to the New York Times via Kindle or Nook, have a good time surfing up the New York Times website, while I carefully count my stories, trying to keep it under 20.

Love Wikipedia and Have an eReader? Check This Out

Over at the excellent blog "How-To Geek" they have outlined a way to turn any Wikipedia article into a PDF eBook. This eBook then can be stored on your computer or transferred to and eReader. The process is simple, and when you are finished you have an offline copy of any Wikipedia article available wherever you go.

Check out the full step by step instructions here.

Amazon's Kindle App is Now Available for Android

Android and ebook fans can rejoice! Amazon has just released their Kindle app for Android devices.

Here's a list of the major features from the Kindle for Android website:

• Get the best reading experience available on your Android phone. No Kindle required
• Access your Kindle books even if you don't have your Kindle with you
• Automatically synchronize your last page read and annotations between devices with Whispersync
• Adjust the text size, add bookmarks, and view the annotations you created on your Kindle, computer, or other Kindle-compatible device
• Read in portrait or landscape mode
• Tap on either side of the screen or flick to turn pages

The Whispersync technology seems to be one of the most unique features of the Kindle app. It will synchronize where you last read on multiple kindle devices (iPhone, Android, Kindle, iPad). This a cool feature, that might help transition regular book readers into ebook readers.

You can find the Kindle application on the Android Market and the App Store for Apple Devices.

eReaders Become More Affordable

If you are interested in buying an eBook reader, now is the time. Several new models of readers are coming out soon. Also, several popular eReaders have recently dropped in price.

As we have mentioned previously, Borders is getting into the eBook game. The company is launching its own eBook store, and will soon be selling two new eReaders. In addition to the Sony eReaders it currently sells, Borders is adding the Kobo eReader and also the Libre Pro from Aluratek to the lineup. The biggest thing about these new eReaders is their price. The Kobo eReader costs $149.99, while the Libre Pro is only $119.99. Each of these new eReaders, if purchased through Borders, will also come preloaded with 100 free classic books.

Barnes and Noble is also releasing a new version of its popular Nook eReader. The new Nook Wi-Fi costs $149, and has almost all of the same features as the Nook that was released last year. The only difference is that the Nook Wi-Fi does not have built-in 3G connectivity, so you can only directly donwload books to your Nook if you have a Wi-Fi connection. Barnes and Noble has also dropped the price on the older version of the Nook, now called the Nook 3G, to $199.

Not to be outdone, Amazon has dramatically cut the price of its Kindle 2 eReader, to $189. Just recently, it was selling for $259. The Kindle is now also available for purchase in Target stores.

Meanwhile, sales of the the Apple iPad show no signs of slowing down. Apple announced that, in only 80 days, it has sold over 3 million iPads. Compare this to estimated sales on the Kindle, which in approximately 2 years has sold 3 million units.

With the many different eReaders now available at a wide range of price points, now is an excellent time to try one out.

Amazon: eBooks Outsell Print Books on Christmas Day

Amazon.com recently reported that it sold more ebooks than physical books on Christmas, a first for the company. The online retail giant also announced that its Kindle ereader has become the most gifted item in the company's history, but didn't provide specific sales numbers.

Read more at Yahoo! News.

Amazon Releases Kindle for PC Application

Competition for ebook readers has been heating up.

Sony has introduced new versions of its Reader. Barnes and Noble's new device, the Nook, will be shipping soon. Instead of a new device for the holidays, Amazon has launched a new, free, application that allows Kindle books to be more accessible. Kindle for PC joins the Kindle for iPhone app that allows Kindle books to be read on devices other than a Kindle, like on your home computer.

Still a beta release, Kindle for PC, like the Kindle for iPhone app, features Whispersync technology which keeps tracks of your place in a book when you switch between devices. It is currently only available for Windows, but a Mac version is promised.

For some reviews, check out this story at wired.com and this review from PC World.

Apple to Launch Kindle Competitor this Fall?

Apple is getting ready for a Fall launch of a tablet computer with a touch screen like the iPhone or iPod, reports the Financial Times. The new computer will not run the full Mac operating system, but a slimmed down version limited to running one application at a time.

Apple hopes that its new machine will increase the sale of its music downloads. The new tablet will have a larger screen than an iPod or iPhone, to give users the experience of looking at a 12" album sleeves from the recording industry's past, when music was recorded onto vinyl. The bigger display might include videos, photographs, sleeve notes and lyrics for a song or album.

The device is expected to have Wi-Fi capabilities and to be able to download and stream music and run applications. There are no indications about the price or screen size of the machine.

Some of the impetus for this new tablet is believed to have come from record companies which have seen their incomes plummet because far fewer now buy entire albums; Apple's iTunes Music Store, launched in 2003, allows people to download single tracks rather than buying the whole album at once – drastically cutting the income for the record company.

There is also speculation that the computer will contain ebook capabilities, making it an immediate rival to Amazon's Kindle. "It would be a color, flat-panel TV to the old-fashioned, black and white TV of the Kindle," one publishing executive told the Financial Times.

[via Guardian Online]

Amazon Releases Kindle eBook App for iPhone

Amazon has released a Kindle ebook app for the iPhone, which allows users to read books already purchased through their Kindles, buy new ebooks from their phones, and access Amazon’s 240,000-title catalog even if they don’t own a Kindle.

Chris Gaylord rounds up the pros and cons in Kindle on the iPhone, from the Christian Science Monitor.

New Hampshire Library Offers Kindles to Library Users

The Howe Library in Hanover, New Hampshire, has three Amazon Kindles ebook readers that it is loaning to Library users. Though each device holds approximately 200 titles, the Library is offering a limited number of titles because its goal is “to simply give our patrons the opportunity to try out new technologies.” The readers circulate for a one week period and can be reserved.

Bravo.

[via librarian.net]

The Kindle is So Yesterday...

Technology marches on. Today, the Kindle. Tomorrow -- literally -- Plastic Logic? Yep. Sorry Jeff Bezos of Amazon, but your 15 nano seconds of fame concerning reader technology appear to be up.

Imagine what comes after tomorrow.

[Hat tip to coolhunting.com]

Kindle 2 Reviewed

Now that gadget geeks have had their chance to take a look at Amazon's new generation e-book reader -- Kindle 2 -- released two days ago, the Christian Science Monitor blog has gathered some early reviews:

Review round-up: Amazon Kindle 2

Amazon Announces Kindle 2

Amazon has announced the release of Kindle 2, a new, updated version of its popular e-book reader. To celebrate the new reader, the company also announced that author Stephen King has written a Kindle-only novella – Ur – specifically for Amazon.

The Kindle 2 is slimmer (.36”), lighter (10.2 ounces), and sleeker, and has a longer battery life than the original. It can hold more than 1,500 books, and can convert any text to audio, so it can "read" books to you.

However, the Kindle 2 still cannot use e-book formats other than Amazon's.

The Kindle 2 will start shipping February 24.

To read more, see Wired.com’s Amazon's Kindle 2 Slims Down, Adds Audio.

Kindle 2 eBook Reader to Be Released Soon

According to several technology blogs, Amazon will announce its new Kindle 2 eBook reader at a February 9 press conference at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City.

Writes Techcrunch: “It’s a longer device but not as thick as the original Kindle, and fixes some of the button issues that plague users (like accidental page turns)... If our sources are correct, the new Kindle will be quite a bit nicer than the original model. It was originally described as being what the iPod Touch was to the original 1st gen iPod - a quantum leap in gadget styling and technology.”

We've followed the growth of eBooks and their readers on The Tech Desk. Will the Kindle 2 be as big a hit as its predecessor?

Stay tuned.

The Future of Book Buying?

Today's issue of Shelf Awareness has a very interesting letter by author M.J. Rose describing her experiences using the Amazon Kindle to buy and read e-books. Though e-book readers are not widespread yet, this article is a great glimpse of how they will affect traditional book publishing as they become more available.

E-Book World: Quandries and 'One Hell of an Exciting Time'

People of the Screen?

Maybe the question shouldn't be "Are we killing books?" but "Are we killing reading?"

This wonderfully in-depth column on implications of our new media and its impact on the mundane task of reading is thought-provoking. We've been debating a bit here in the Tech Center about the differences in reading online versus the printed page and I think this column makes a very persuasive case that we're underestimating the risk of something very basic as we plunge ahead in our love affair with technology with a seemingly tacit acceptance that any change is good change. Things change. People evolve. Get used to it. I find this attitude, especially in a library, to be rather odd and this really gets to the heart of my side of the argument.

From the column:

How strategic and targeted are we when we read on the screen? In a commissioned report published by the British Library in January 2008 (the cover of which features a rather alarming picture of a young boy with a maniacal expression staring at a screen image of Darth Vader), researchers found that everyone, teachers and students alike, “exhibits a bouncing/flicking behavior, which sees them searching horizontally rather than vertically....Users are promiscuous, diverse, and volatile.” As for the kind of reading the study participants were doing online, it was qualitatively different from traditional literacy. “It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense, indeed there are signs that new forms of ‛reading’ are emerging as users ‛power browse’ horizontally through titles, contents pages, and abstracts going for quick wins.” As the report’s authors concluded, with a baffling ingenuousness, “It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.”

I think there is a legitimate point here. Now I wouldn't argue that reading online (if that's what we can call it) is bad, just very different. And hopefully in some ways it's better. But I would argue that clearly, in some very specific ways, it's worse. Much worse.

Take the time read the full column. Hopefully it will create a good debate.

E-book Sales Still Small, But Growing Quickly

Recently, The Tech Desk has been covering the switch from print to digital format in the news business. Whether or not you are ready, more and more media are reducing or eliminating print and moving to all online, electronic publications.

But what about the book publishing business? Will book readers really forgo their paper texts for digital ones, viewable on Amazon’s Kindle, Sony’s Reader, or one of the dozens of other devices now available?

Well, increasingly, evidence shows that they will. According to a recent article in The New York Times:

“For a decade, consumers mostly ignored electronic book devices, which were often hard to use and offered few popular items to read. But this year, in part because of the popularity of Amazon.com’s wireless Kindle device, the e-book has started to take hold…

Many Kindle buyers appear to be outside the usual gadget-hound demographic. Almost as many women as men are buying it… and the device is most popular among 55- to 64-year-olds.

So far, publishers like HarperCollins, Random House and Simon & Schuster say that sales of e-books for any device — including simple laptop downloads — constitute less than 1 percent of total book sales. But there are signs of momentum. The publishers say sales of e-books have tripled or quadrupled in the last year.

Amazon’s Kindle version of “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle” by David Wroblewski, a best seller recommended by [Oprah] Winfrey’s book club, now represents 20 percent of total Amazon sales of the book, according to Brian Murray, chief executive of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide.

So you want to give electronic books a try? The Troy Public Library has e-books that you can download to your computer. Visit our website at www.libcoop.net/troy, and click on Downloadable eBooks, Audiobooks and Videos in the left side frame. From here, you’ll be able to access our OverDrive and netLibrary collections, each of which has hundreds of ebooks for you to download and view.

Let us know what you think.