great kindle

PageBot for Kindle - Assistive technology for access to Kindle reading

PAGEBOT FOR KINDLE
Origin Instruments, a global provider of assistive technology, announced today the first switch-based access to the Kindle eReader. PageBot for Kindle enables convenient reading by people who cannot hold the Kindle or press its buttons.

Origin's solutions for Kindle DX and Kindle 2 are available now, and an additional PageBot model that works with all versions of the Kindle 3 will be available in June.

The CEO of the company is Steve Bain, long involved with the e-reader community on Twitter as KindleToday, keeping us abreast of developments in the e-reader world along with KindleZen, who explains to us at the KindleZen website how, as a high-level quadraplegic and member of the team, he uses the PageBot, placed on a lapboard, to read on a Kindle. Below is some information from the Origin Instruments site and from the press release.

Designed for adaptability, PageBot combines:
. actuators for the Kindle's Next Page and Previous Page
buttons,
. a contoured frame for securely holding the Kindle, and
. a universal mounting arm that can position the Kindle for
convenient reading.

PageBot's switch interface accepts Next Page and Previous Page commands from:
. one or two adaptive switches, or
. a wired or wireless USB mouse device.

Origin Instruments provides more-detailed explanations at their PageBot webpage. I especially liked their solution for the Kindle's time-out function, which requires having to power up the Kindle from sleep, via its power switch. Some excerpts from that page:

' PageBot combines a secure and adjustable mount, dual integrated actuators for the Kindle Next Page and Previous Page buttons, and a built-in intelligent drive circuit that can directly interface to a wide variety of adaptive switches.

With PageBot, reading on the Amazon Kindle is accessible to people with motor disabilities that might result from birth defects, spinal cord injury, ALS, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy, multiple sclerosis, stroke, arthritis, or repetitive strain injury. PageBot provides a much more compact, reliable, and cost effective solution for long-form reading than legacy mechanical page turners for paper books.

PageBot integrates multiple interfaces for adaptive switches that can suit the preferences and abilities of individual users.

Standard mechanical adaptive switches with 3.5 mm microphone-style connectors, like the button switches available from Origin Instruments, can be plugged in directly. Dual switches, like the Origin Instruments Sip/Puff Switch, can interface with a single stereo cable.

PageBot is also compatible with a wide range of adaptive switches that are available from other assistive technology suppliers. In addition, a USB host interface is provided so that PageBot can be operated from the buttons of a wired or wireless USB mouse.

PageBot captures the Kindle in a grip of compliant foam that helps prevent scratches and enhances resistance to mechanical shocks.

PageBot is delivered with an adjustable mechanical mounting arm that is articulated in four degrees of freedom. [See their webpage for details]

PageBot has very low quiescent power consumption and can be powered from the standard Kindle power adapter or from an optional rechargeable USB battery pack.

PageBot includes an integrated Keep Awake mode with an automatic timer that can optionally prevent the Kindle from entering sleep after a period of inactivity. This feature eliminates the need to manipulate the Kindle power switch after a pause in reading.

PageBot is available in three different models. PageBot for Kindle DX and PageBot for Kindle 2 are both available for delivery from the Origin Instruments online PageBot Store.

PageBot for Kindle 3 will be available in June 2011. Amazon's Kindle and needed adaptive switches are available separately. '

The pricing of adaptive equipment technology, usually produced in modest-volume, is often extremely expensive. These seem, relatively speaking, more reasonably priced to me.

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Jeff Bezos talks about possible Tablet and concerns over adKindles

CONSUMER REPORTS TALKS WITH JEFF BEZOS

"Asked today about the possibility of Amazon launching a multipurpose tablet device, the company's president and CEO Jeff Bezos said to “stay tuned” on the company’s plans. In an interview at Consumer Reports' offices, Bezos also signaled that any such device, should it come, is more likely to supplement than to supplant the Kindle, which he calls Amazon’s “purpose-built e-reading device.”

I'd prefer the words "would supplement" to "more likely" ... but he's likely being cagy with the "should it come" that Consumer Reports' Editor, Paul Reynolds, reports.

Bezos added, "We will always be very mindful that we will want a dedicated reading device,” he said. “In terms of any other product introductions, I shouldn’t answer."

There's a video of another talk with CR yesterday. Pressing 'play' on it may not work. If not, just move the pointer forward a bit. I haven't listened to it yet. Kindle-Blog edition readers won't be able to use this video link on a Kindle and will need to view it on a computer, smartphone with data plan, or tablet.
It's a pretty lively conversation, from what I can see.

Re the new ad-subsidized Kindle With Special Offers and ads of course, CR reports that Bezos said it shouldn’t be interpreted as a stepping stone to a future Kindle that’s more multipurpose or that allows e-commerce to intrude on the reading experience.

Re Library Lending, Bezos didn't feel he could say more than “sometime this year” for when library lending would be available on the Kindle. "But he did say that users should expect a lineup of titles that’s at least comparable to those available for competing devices that support library e-books."

In Len Edgerly's conversation with Jay Marine the other day, it seemed that "by the end of the year" was brought up. The last time I heard that phrase used (and it was for Kindle book loans between Kindle owners), it was finally announced as ready on Dec. 31, so I wouldn't count on it being any sooner. It'd be nice to be surprised though.

CR reports that Bezos said again that Color E Ink “is not ready for prime time…the colors are very pale.” And Reynolds notes that 'he added that “it continues to be improved” and “it makes a lot of sense for there to be a low-power, reflective color display. I think that’s something you could build a fantastic product around.”

Well, I don't think they can afford to wait for that before offering a color tablet. Quite obviously they're working on one, and I'll be adding more on the possibilities soon.

Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

CONVERTER for Kindle, a new app from 7 Dragons - Update

Dragon 7 Group, which brought us Notepad, the most popular longer-time Kindle app, has just released Converter ((Easy Conversions for Kindle). As with other Kindle apps, Amazon has not yet made them available internationally.

From the product description:
Converter is a simple utility that lets you convert between different units of measure on your Kindle and answers common conversion questions. How many Cups are in a Quart and how many Teaspoons are in a Tablespoon? Having trouble converting between Celsius and Fahrenheit while visiting a foreign country? Quickly convert among 76 units of measure in these 11 categories:
- Angle
- Area
- Energy
- Length/Distance
- Power
- Pressure
- Speed
- Temperature
- Time
- Volume
- Weight

There is more in the description on the product page.

Update - Typing Numbers on the Kindle 3
The Converter tool explains numbers on the Kindle 3 but here's a general explanation so you'll be prepared. The combo of the alt-key followed by the hidden number keys on the top row work best and they're shown at the bottom of the pages.
[End of Update]

I've downloaded the utility and it's pretty fast, more so when you learn some shortcuts, and I especially like 'b' for switching the From and To types.

Instead of just depending on Menu options and Menu Help, you can view, at Vimeo, videos showing the Kindle Converter and Kindle Converter Shortcuts as well as several other videos on using the Converter. You can select them in the box at the right at Vimeo. Those include Intro, Detailed Intro, Quick Look, and Converter pages.

For 99 cents, a very helpful tool!

Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

The Kindle Chronicles interviews Amazon's Jay Marine re Library Lending, etc.

AMAZON'S JAY MARINE ANSWERS SOME QUESTIONS IN THE KINDLE CHRONICLES FRIDAY PODCAST

Kindle Director Jay Marine is interviewed by Len Edgerly for last Friday's podcast at thekindlechronicles.com.

Special Offers: some want these for older Kindles
For each podcast, Len has a text summary with a description of what's covered in the various regular sections, and it's the most relaxing way to catch up with the week's Kindle news.

They start out by discussing the new $114 Kindle with Special Offers and Ads (the Special Offers being a carrot for the currently low-key ads said to subsidize lower-cost Kindles).

The initial offers include:
. $10 for $20 Amazon.com Gift Card
. $6 for 6 Audible Books (normally $68)
. $1 for an album in the Amazon MP3 Store
(choice of over 1 million albums)
. $10 for $30 of products in the Amazon Denim Shop or Amazon Swim Shop
. Free $100 Amazon.com Gift Card when you get an
Amazon Rewards Visa Card (normally $30)
. Buy one of 30 Kindle bestsellers with your Visa card
to get a $10 Amazon.com credit
. 50% off Roku Streaming Player (normally $99)

As more ads are bought by companies to be displayed on the ads-supported Kindle, it'll be interesting to watch the ratio of ads to special offers.

While I've not been interested in this for myself, others who have Kindles already are asking, on forums, that the older Kindles get updated software to get the special offers too. Of course, the ads would come along with those special offers.

Marine is asked if Amazon has plans to do something like this for those wanting the special offers in a software update. You can hear the answer at the podcast.

Kindle Library Lending
A question asked in the discussion of how the Kindle Library Lending will be run involved whether or not Amazon would use Adobe's DRM (digital rights management) process as Barnes & Noble, Sony, and Kobe do.

In my article on how the Lending Library would probably function, vs how it's run for the other e-reader companies, I didn't think Amazon would be using Adobe's DRM.

Marine confirms that they will not be using Adobe's DRM and that when you opt to borrow a library e-book that's available, you'll be able to have it within 60 seconds without needing to download any other software. That's a big advantage. And it means, to me, that Amazon will provide the download in order to track annotations and keep them for the users for possible future use.

According to Marine, they waited until they could do it 'right' because their entire goal with the Kindle has been to make downloads seamless and fast.

They discuss how it won't be ready right away. Len asks some good questions during the interview. He doesn't ask about the rumored Android tablet, he explains, since Amazon has a policy of not talking about possible coming products.

Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

Inside Apple - Fortune's report on ' how Apple really works' - $0.99 on Kindle. Update 3

INSIDE APPLE - From Steve Jobs down to the janitor: How America's most successful - and most secretive - big company really works, by Adam Lashinsky Sr. Editor at Large - Fortune (Kindle Edition - May 10, 2011). That's a mouthful of a title!

Update - Amazon has changed the download date each day. Release was to be 5/10/11, then it was 5/11, and today, it's 5/12. One has to wonder why the holdup, not that it's that important, but it's strange. Maybe Fortune didn't want it competing for first-days download when they'd want people to buy their own magazine app (for Apple devices only) to read the report, which makes some sense. Also, as noted, Amazon's version has added-material.

Update2 - As of 6:15 am or so, 5/11, Amazon has made the download available for Kindles after all, and the Product Detail release date was set back to 5/10. If you've pre-ordered it, it'll just show up on your Kindle now.

Update3 - It's quite a short, unsurprising article. I'm surprised they'd begin to call it a 'book,' and definitely it's not a long, meaty article even.

~~No longer described as a 'pre-order,'~~ the official release is dated 5/10/11 but not downloadable ~~now~~ until ~~5/11/11~~ 5/12/11 for some reason. Should be a fascinating read. $0.99 in the U.S.

From the Product Description:

' To Apple’s legion of admirers, the company is like a tech version of Wonka’s factory, an enigmatic but enchanted place that produces wonderful items they can’t get enough of. That characterization is true, but Apple also is a brutal and unforgiving place, where accountability is strictly enforced, decisions are swift, and communication is articulated clearly from the top. Fortune takes you around 1 Infinite Loop, inside Apple’s management structure, and into a world where CEO Steve Jobs doesn’t tolerate duds. '

Not an exaggeration, judging from Sunday's news about how Jobs handled the MobileMe matter. As noted, he did bring the company from near-bankruptcy to a hugely $-rich company.

While the Fortune issue detailing everything is available as a download of the Fortune app for APPLE devices here, and that will get you the latest issue with the full report at $4.99, macstories.net updated their report by letting their readers know that Inside Apple is now available on Amazon as a Kindle Edition, adding:

' it’s undoubtedly the best way to get the full story (which includes several more details, facts and anecdotes than the ones summarized...) without purchasing the entire [Fortune] issue or subscribing to the magazine. '

Furthermore, it's only $.99 as a Kindle edition instead of $4.99 for the Fortune app on iPad or iPhone, etc.

In fact, many aren't aware that it's Amazon's policy that you don't need to buy a Kindle to read Kindle books.

You can just download either the free Kindle for PC or Kindle for Mac apps to download and read the Kindle version on your laptop or computer. In addition, there are several other Kindle apps available for the various smartphones and tablets now, and they'll also be able to read this.

Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

Tips for new Kindlers on Mother's Day. Free Kindle books. Battery use.

Mother's Day greeting at left, is from the Manhasset Library.

Since many will be opening new Kindles today, I thought I'd mention a couple of things that can help with finding free books, to give it a workout, and do a reminder on tips for getting the most out of the Kindle battery.
At the top of this blog's reference column, you can always find free books available at the moment (some are temporarily free due to promos).

Temporarily-free books -
Non-classics - USA: by:
NEW: Last 30+ days May 2011
Publication Date Late-listed
Bestselling High-ratings
UK: PubDate Popular

Most Popular Free K-Books
U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):
Top 100 free
UK-Only:
Top 100 free
USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, for now):
99c Notepad for Kindle, 99c CalendarPro

You can also get an idea of other sources for over a million free books as well as get some pre-set links for low-cost Kindle books, at the Free Kindle Books guide here

SPECIAL BOOK DEALS TODAY - temporary promos
The Amazon Kindle Forums often has message threads on discounted books that include some free books.

Yesterday's included a tip on Kindle books from Rosettabooks that have tie-ins with movies, available at $0.00 today. I've no idea for how long. These include: A Passage to India, The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, and others.

There are also some Dr. Vook TextVooks available for $0.00 today BUT BEWARE of any that are animated, with audio/video, as those features work ONLY on the iPad, iPhone, or iPod (Touch) -- they don't work on the Kindle or even the Kindle for PC app either.

However, the NON-animated TextVooks are extremely "brief" (maybe 15-20 pages only) and said to be good 1/2-hour refreshers for some. For $0, those may be worth a download for the Kindle. I have to believe the product descriptions are thoroughly tongue-in-cheek, by a cheeky professor who says outfront that these are written by graduate students. The "Did you know?" boxes can be fun, and the TextVooks are like more-filled-out outlines.

More from The Complete Works Collection

The blog entry just before this had to do with the Complete Works Collection offerings for $2.99.

What I hadn't noticed among the sets was the Harvard Classics set, which my family actually had when I was growing up. A lot of families did. They must have been sold by radio or door to door. This is quite a set though.

TIP 1 - for using Table of Contents to get to Chapters and back
I've read that some who jump to a chapter have felt that they must then page through until they can get the next chapter or another one they want.

The trick is that if you want to go back to the LAST place you were when you 'jumped' by clicking a link, you just press the "Back" button and you're back where you were before the 'jump.' This works for footnotes too, generaly.

For those who bought Shakespeare sets, some families might be interested in a not-free but much-praised Shakespeare GLOSSARY. Warning: it's $12 but many feel it's well worth it while trying to read that old English :-)

BATTERY LIFE
The Kindle is known for its long battery life, but certain functions use a lot more battery power than others, and one involves a process that's a part of putting new books on your Kindle (UK: K3).

Indexing - The Kindle allows you to do a Search on the entire device to find a key word or phrase that may occur in any book or magazine on the Kindle.

In order to do that, the Kindle "indexes" all new text material that is placed on it, which means it makes lists of key words found in each so that they can be found when you decide to do a Search, either within a book (commonly done) or of all the text on the Kindle (less common and it takes awhile to get search results but this can be very useful).

That indexing takes a LOT of battery life. New Kindles seem to use a lot more juice than people had expected, and that's because they are usually getting a lot of new books on them, with a lot of indexing to be done.

Sometimes, a book might not finish indexing for some reason, and that can cause slowdowns.
TIP 2 - If you think the Kindle is being a bit slow and you want to check to see if a book has not completely finished indexing but should have completed (a day later, say), do a SEARCH on a nonsense word, such as "xwzq" and the search will end without finding that (normally!). However, if a book has not completed indexing, you'll get a message to that effect.

It shouldn't take more than an hour or 4 to do indexing, but I've seen that people put hundreds of books on right away, or even a thousand, in a couple of cases. That will take quite a bit of time to index.

If a book never finishes indexing (after a day or two), it probably became corrupted during a downloading session due to weak reception with the WiFi or 3G. I'd delete it and re-download it.

TIP 3 - Plug in the charger when you're putting a LOT of books on it, because you can read while the device is charging. That way, the indexing won't use battery power, and you won't be surprised by the battery being unusually low after you've added a great many books. A few books, no big difference -- but as I say, some just download or transfer hundreds right away.

BATTERY ADVISORIES FROM KINDLE CUSTOMER SERVICE FORUM MESDAGES
I collected the ones that were made over a year ago, and they still hold.

Essentially, no battery power is used for a screensaver/screensleeper or for any page of content, until something changes in that page. Kindle Team recommends you just let the Kindle go to sleep rather than power it down. It takes more power to turn it on often, actually.

TIP 4 - When you're through reading for a while, CLOSE the book by pressing the "Home" button. This records the last-page you read so that you return to that page when you next open the book (or when you next open the book but you're using your smartphone which is sync'd with the Kindle - a nice feature). Closing the book by pressing the "Home" button also saves, to a special file, your highlighting and notes, so it's important to do that.

The type of battery in the Kindle shouldn't be brought down to Zero. Amazon recommends you not let it get below 25% or so. Leaving enough there prevents problems. There's no harm in topping off, because there's no "memory" effect as with the older type of batteries.

Read much more in the Battery Advisories from Amazon Kindle Customer Service.

That should do it!

Special Kindle Illustrated, Commented Editions - Complete Works Collections - UPDATE

THE COMPLETE WORKS COLLECTION

These are sets published this year, and I hear more attention is given to formatting with the newer ones.

While I have the Complete Works of Shakespeare already, I wanted some of the features mentioned in the product detail. Using the Shakespeare set as an example, the description is: "The Complete Plays of Shakespeare (Special Kindle Illustrated and Commented Edition) All of William Shakespeare's Unabridged Plays AND Yale Critical..."

The set was "especially created for the Kindle" and is "commented and fully illustrated," with:

' - Over 12 full color (color enabled device required) illustrations and photographs [Well, THAT makes no sense, does it. But the Kindle can deal with color photographs; it just shows them in black and white. However, your Kindle for PC or for Mac and other Kindle apps can show them in full color] ...
- Over 300 pages of additional biographical and historical materials
- Over 14 critical essays from leading Shakespeare scholars from Yale University on various aspects of Shakespeare's life and literary legacy
- Fully Kindle enabled with fully interactive table of contents, Kindle MasterLink technology, Kindle Text-to-Speech ' (Audiobook) enabled, Kindle Lending Technology enabled

Note that sets of complete works, with illustrations, will be several times larger than a regular Kindle book. In this case the file for the Kindle book is 6 times larger than the average Kindle book.

Here's the page listing all the Collections available.

These sets are probably, at $2.99 each or less, something students and families might find worth a look.

UPDATE - I perused my copy more closely. The illustrations I've seen so far have been in in the front and are small although putting your cursor on them and clicking on one zooms it to fill the screen but they're not in high resolution.

There is also no explanation for these illustrations. It's as if they're there just for atmosphere. I don't see why they couldn't explain one was the Globe Theater. For a set with a very good set of notes in the BACK of the book, the lack of information for the illustrations is pure laziness.

The Table of Contents: As promised, it's interactive, but the essays under "A critical Introduction to Shakespeare" by writers from Yale University, while linked under most circumstances, doesn't work if the would-be link winds up at the top of the page in some font-settings. The workaround is to lower or raise the font size so it moves off the first line and then you can click on it.

The essays start at Location 82864. (Good to bookmark it.) Curiously, just in front of it is another illustration and this one is explained. And there are others illustrations in the Yales essays section.

Chapters (to give you an idea of whether or not they'll interest you)
1.   An Outline of Shakespeare's Life
2.   English Drama before Shakespeare
3.   The Elizabethan Theater
4.   Elizabethan London
5.   Shakespeare's Nondramatic Works
6.   The Sequence of Shakespeare's plays
7.   Shakespeare's Development as a Dramatist
8.   The Chief Sources of Shakespeare's Plays
9.   How Shakespeare got into print
10. The Plays of the First Period -
Imitation and Experiment 1587 (?)-1594
11. The Plays of the Second Period - Comedy and History
12. The Plays of the Third Period - Tragedy
13. The Plays of the Fourth Period - Romantic Tragi-Comedy
14. Chapter 14 - Famous Mistakes and Delusions about Shakespeare

Although the Complete WORKS by Shakespeare, via Mobile Reference does not have the voluminous notes/essays, its formatting is easier to read, as they use bold facing and more separation between lines. They do recommend font size 2 to avoid odd line breaks but you can rotate the Kindle to Landscape to avoid that. That set is $2.99 also and is nicely organized but has only a short biography of Shakespeare as an addition. The sonnets and other poems are included in that set though.

THIS set of plays uses small italics instead of bold facing (to identify the speaker) and less separation of lines.

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

Forrester? or an ignorant column on "demise" of dedicated e-readers ?

Demise of dedicated e-readers

It was pointed out to me in a comment today that not only will e-readers get ever less-expensive (as most certainly all have expected them to, as pieces of electronics), but we now have another column predicting the Death of dedicated e-reader devices.

Forrester seems most to blame for the false reasoning used in this most recent wish-for-attention column (and they're getting it) because Forrester sees tablets and e-readers in a contest that e-readers cannot "win."

Are simpler cars in ongoing contests with multi-featured cars that the simpler cars must "win" or "die"? Will they stop manufacturing sports car models because they are not as easy-to-operate and aren't able to carry families on vacation trips? Will the sports cars "lose" to the family sedan? Simplistic black & white thinking carries the day usually.

I've no patience with wishful thinking based on not understanding different technologies nor reasons why one technology, predicted soon dead by the same experts mentioned last year, proved so popular in the last year during the time that the iPad certainly claimed hearts and minds. Buyers knew the difference, if not some gadget columnists who think only in terms of 'appearance' (drab, plain, retro) and carry mainly the "cool kid" mentality as we saw for the last year and a half until many of them decided one type of technology actually DID seem "cool" to many hoping to just read books rather than flash around playing games and surfing the web at every chance (I'm one of the latter).

I'm behind in blogging because I was away, but I will (b)log this one before the others that I've put on a todo-list because obviously there will be much written about the latest research opinions, as happened in 2010 when all predicting the end of e-readers by the end of the year often seemed to hope they were right.

Inevitably, yes, if/when we can get color screens for dedicated-readers while keeping the relaxing quality of e-Ink effect on eyes that don't want LCD screens for reading novels, inevitably today's e-readers (or even today's tablets) will not be wanted or needed, even if dedicated e-readers are light to carry because they are dedicated to one activity. Everything in life does change.

I decided to blog the response I made to a note in the blog's Comment areas, which was a helpful link to the story (because e-readers WILL drop in price as was the comment-writer's focus, which is the good and obvious point of some of the researcher opinions).

I'm still reviewing the news of an inevitable Amazon Android Tablet (which I initially blogged (August 2010) when a long-time Computerworld columnist reported receiving confirmation from his Amazon sources in August that there WOULD be an Android tablet from Amazon.

The recent information on the technology involved in an Amazon order for tablets from Quanta Computer (with screen-panel properties licensed by E-Ink Holdings (for fringe field switching -- which is for LCD screens) has been vague and I'll write on that later today. Since some columnists have interpreted the "2nd half of 2011" as "by the holidays 2011" because of the time to produce, test and stock these, I hadn't jumped on it yet as the news traveled fast on Twitter, Facebook and Kindle forums, where I was involved in discussions.

Back to the column on latest expert research. Here's my response (slightly modified for the blog-post) to the Huffington Post article on the 'demise' of the dedicated e-reader and its days "being numbered." Catchy thought, no?

' Didn't Forrester and assorted columnists predict the end of the Kindle itself by the end of 2010 due to the popularity of the iPad and other tablets?

Also, never in a truly idiotic presentation of the premise for the death of dedicated e-readers does the article mention Forrester speaking to the issue of E-INK (which they may have! and it was columnist idiocy instead that produced the gist re the death of dedicated e-readers).

Or, it may have been Forrester's. The many studies done have been wrong about the popularity of e-reader devices before, when the iPad arrived, asking leading questions in their surveys.

I have [and enjoy] a NookColor and I intend to get the Amazon tablet if it comes, for the color magazine capability and for portable web-browsing but with Amazon features that I hope will be better done in software than is the B&N tablet-reader.

I would *never* give up the e-Ink model for an LCD tablet, for reading books. And there are voluminous notes on forums that say the same thing, by people who own tablets or semi-tablets along with their Kindles or other e-Ink readers.

If years from now they have non-LCD and e-paper-type capabilities for relaxing reading (eye care for many), along with color on a par with vibrant color in LCD tablets, then the dedicated e-reader may not be needed (though they'll always be lighter) -- but not mentioning e-Ink here at all is sheer ignorance when predicting demise of current e-readers due to interest in tablets. It reminds me of the columnist who idiotically placed a picture of a tombstone at the head of his column last summer with the wording that the Kindle would die and be buried as of 2010 due to the birth of the iPad. Experts want what they want.

There is a wish there that's just unseemly and speaks to a special kind of extreme love for electronic sleekness over everything else that has to do with their own disliking the "drab" or "retro" *look* of e-ink readers. Actual functionality is rarely addressed.

But you're right in your own emphasis that e-reader prices will go down. I thought most people have seen this with ALL electronics.

The FLIP camera? GOD. It has the same end result as a fine in-camera HD movie thing. It's not remotely like e-Ink vs color. '

Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

Kindle to be available at Walmart. Is ad-supported Kindle a primary focus?

KINDLE 3 AVAILABLE AT 3200+ WALMART STORES STARTING THIS WEEK.

The Editors of The Kindle Daily Post (national or international editions), which is always clickable at the top right-hand corner of the Kindlestore, announced yesterday (all emphases mine) that "...starting this week, Kindle will be available in over 3,200 Walmart stores nationwide. Most stores will have a Kindle on display so you can check out all the features before you buy. Walmart stores will be selling both Kindle 3G and Kindle with Special Offers.

Walmart is the latest in a growing list of retailers offering Kindle, including Target, Best Buy, and Staples, among others."

Note they mention "both" the "Kindle 3G" and "Kindle with Special Offers."
But they don't mention a third possibility, the Kindle3 WiFi-Only Without Special Offers

Is it possible there'll be no $139 WiFi-Only model at Walmart?

That would be of interest insofar as the Non-Ad WiFi-Only Kindle may be getting less production interest.
Or, it could be that the Kindle Post mention of 'both' Kindles was unintentional on the editors' part, but that'll be interesting to watch. The latest Youtube video has emphasized the "from $114" price point.

Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

Best New $0.69 MP3 Songs for your Kindle or other mp3 player - Update2

Amazon recently lowered the price of several popular songs to $0.69, and it happens that these songs are still $1.29 on iTunes..

Update - Commenter Ross just reported that these downloads are restricted to the U.S., which I didn't know. Apologies for not having warned those outside the U.S., then, who must be getting more frustrated over the geo/location situation with each new blog entry.

Update2 - Commenter mashadutoit writes: "What makes the amazon mp3 limitation doubly frustrating is that they allow you to go through the whole process of downloading their MP3 downloading software, and only when you try to use it right at the end do you get a message that this service is only available to US customers. :( "

That is especially thoughtless of Amazon. The only possible upside I can see in their allowing people to download the software with high hopes before they find out they're not even allowed to use it is that perhaps this is because they intend to find a way to enable mp3 downloads someday if they can get agreements with the music publishers internationally. I have no idea though.
If anyone at Amazon is reading, I hope you will say something somewhere about this double frustration for non-US residents.

Computerworld's Ed Oswald writes, "It's not clear as to whether the price drop was a blessing from the music labels, or if Amazon has decided to take a profit hit in the name of gaining market share. It's no secret that some music industry execs would like to limit iTunes' clout in digital music, and may have given more favorable terms to competitors.
. . .
These days, the $1.29 price point is reserved for special content (the Beatles catalog for example) or best-selling tracks from major artists. But with Amazon now apparently undercutting iTunes by nearly half, Apple may be forced to answer back."

Some of the songs at 69 cents are, Oswald notes:
Lady Gaga's hit "Born This Way" and "Judas," Taio Cruz's "Dynamite," Cee Lo Green's "Forget You," and The Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling."

Check the list of $0.69 top songs at any time. There are currently 204 of them.
Some of them will of course also be found in the "Bestsellers in MP3" page, which has the "Top 100 Paid" songs alongside the "Top 100 Free songs."

Remember that the Kindle has a 'music' folder which allows the playing of mp3's (as background music while reading) over the not-very-loud Kindle speakers or via headphones. But these mp3's play only in the order they are placed on the Kindle (or randomly on the original 2007 Kindle), although a favorite or two can be put in the 'Audible' folder which allows them to be Selected -- but you can't read a Kindle book while listening when using the Audible folder.

See the earlier mp3's on Kindle section for more information on how the Kindle handles mp3's.

(The Kindle-edition of this blog can be searched for the words "mp3 files" because the 24 latest blog-articles are kept in each edition. You can just type "mp3 files" to search the Kindle blog for this when you have it open for reading.)

Also, if you haven't read about the new Cloud Player, you might also want to check out the first blog article on Amazon's new Cloud storage and music-streaming feature, which provides all Amazon customers with 5 free gigs of storage per year. There is also a bonus upgrade available in most countries, to 20 free gigs total per year if you buy an mp3 album (there are 99 cent albums). However, that storage-upgrade isn't available in the 27 countries listed in the table at the bottom of that first blog article.

It'll be interesting to see how well Amazon's lower pricing works out. When I download an mp3, I can opt to put it into the iTunes library.

Reminder: Amazon is offering a $25 gift certificate with a purchase of one 3G Kindle (limited to one per customer) until Mother's Day.

Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

New useful app, USA-only for now (still) - Calendar Pro - UPDATE

JUST AN ALERT ON A GOOD CALENDAR APP FOR KINDLE - UPDATE

This was released April 28 and has 7 customer reviews, with 4-1/2 stars average.
No apps are available outside the U.S. yet, although Amazon has said they plan to make them available globally eventually. Apologies to non-US readers who see the news but can't access the products yet. I know it's frustrating.

AND, as is happening with my current favorite-app, Notepad, people are giving low "1" ratings for an app if the app is not available yet in their country. (I've not tried Calendar Pro yet.)

AMAZON: Why don't y'all just *identify* protest-feedback about unavailable products (especially when the delay is on Amazon's side) as "Other" and treat them as what they are: not reviews of the product. It's unfair to the authors and unfair to consumers trying to decide on products when we see ratings that are affected by protest-feedback that has nothing to do with the quality of the product nor even written by those who have the product.

Protest-feedback should be identified and should not be counted in ratings against the product itself, since reviews are expected to be on products actually bought and used, and based on effectiveness.

The protest-feedback could still show on the page, and customers interested in the product could read them, but the ratings really should not be made useless by Amazon's counting them in the actual review-ratings.

Back to Calendar Pro: it sounds good -- one caveat is that in this first update, it doesn't do recurring events, and Jujuba Software plans to add that in a future update. In the meantime, other apps have been updated and submitted, but Amazon seems more than a month behind in reviewing the updates.

UPDATE: I've tried the app now and after initial confusion on navigation, its Help menu, available via the Menu button, clarified puzzlements, such as
1. using the 5-way button to go right, to get into Edit mode
(rather than Return/Enter, which the Kindle navigation tends to use
2. first option to go to Today, or Agenda when 'Today' is not usually
my first choice, and displaying no way to get to other views.

Using Help, you learn that you just press 'm' to get the month and 'y' to get the year. And there is usually context-help for every page via the Menu button.

My favorite thing: AGENDA. This shows you a text list of what is coming up for you, from your calendar entries.

REQUESTS:
1. I think Go to Month should be an option at the bottom (space permitting)
2. A Week-view option would be great
3. Recurring events - a must for wkly/monthly events + birthdays, etc.
4. A Search mechanism as is used in Notepad.

This'll be an app I use regularly. It has a very clean feel and is easy to use once you get used to it. Also, it's very useful as a calendar that's always w/me that I can check and change easily for appointments.

Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

Q&A: Kindle Tips: The Kindle's "Real page numbers"

QUESTIONS: DO YOU HAVE ANY?
If so, add them to Comments area and I'll either reply with an answer or do blog entries on some. I'd like to start a Question Bag in any case.

Q: I don't see real page numbers in my Kindle books. Shouldn't they be there now?

A: That depends on several things:
1. Are you using a Kindle 3?
I have no idea whether Amazon will upgrade older Kindle software for Kindle 2 and DX's to have these. I would think they'd be included eventually. Amazon often takes 6 months to get to the old Kindles with updated software and it's been longer than that for some changes that should have been added to the DX Graphite at least. The Kindle 1 with its different type of screen probably would not be updated, as the added calculations could slow down more that slower model.

2. Is your Kindle 3 using Update v3.1 ?
Press Menu button, then Settings, and your software version no. will be at the bottom right. If by now, you don't have v3.1, I'd call Customer Support at 866-321-8851 but if you're outside the U.S., try Call me, which is able to call back people in several countries but provides an email form if your country is not on the Call-me list. Ask them to help you with it, if a manual download (rather than automated) is required at this point. Sometimes, they can send one to your Kindle, if the update should have been sent earlier.

If you're comfortable with using your Kindle's USB cable (that is part of your power cord), to download an update and put it on your Kindle, see this blog's article on software update v3.1 for information on how to do that.

3. If you have Kindle 3 with v3.1 software, have you tried pressing Menu button?
That is the only way to see the real page numbers. Amazon decided to keep the location and real-page numbers out of the way and showing only the percentage of the book you've read so far. Press Menu and you'll see the page number *IF* Amazon has added them to that book..

4. Most Kindle books don't have page numbers yet.
Amazon is adding page numbers to books and they definitely prioritize them.
The books must be matched to a specific printed edition and its ISBN #.
If a book has been processed by Amazon to add real-page numbers, this information will show up in the product page's Product Detail (you need to scroll down a bit to see that).

In their original announcement, they said they've "“added real page numbers to tens of thousands of Kindle books, including the top 100 bestselling books in the Kindle Store that have matching print editions and thousands more of the most popular books.”"

They've continued adding them at a fast pace, from what I read a couple of weeks ago, and they include the usual publishers and also university press books.

5. NON-Amazon books definitely won't have them, as Amazon can't calculate page numbers on books they don't have on their servers.

Amazon wrote the following in a Kindle Post Daily over a month ago.

' We created algorithms to match the text of print books to Kindle books and organized all of this in the cloud, using our own AWS platform. The results of this work are stored in Amazon’s Simple Storage Service, where we track the complete history of every page matching file we’ve produced.

We even found a way to deliver page numbers to books that customers had already purchased – without altering those books in any way, so customers’ highlights, notes, and reading location are preserved exactly as they were.

Some other e-bookstores have added virtual “page numbers” to e-books, but we’ve found that these approaches can be confusing and often inconsistent – they don’t map to the page numbers in physical books, and in some cases they don’t account for title pages, blank pages, and other nuances that we see in print books.
' [ Andrys' note here: Sony and iBook page numbers don't map to print-book pages. ] '
... We want you to lose yourself in the reading, so page numbers are only displayed when you push the menu button... '

Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

Language Trainer Kindle Apps On Sale at Half Price Until May 11

Saw this at Amazon's Facebook page: "Save 50% on Language Trainers from 24-7 TUTOR and brush up on your Spanish, French, Italian, and German."

Below are two examples (See the page with the full set.)

24-7 Spanish - Basic Phrases (A Language Trainer) by 24/7 TUTOR (Kindle Edition - Feb. 15, 2011) - Kindle Active Content - $1.99 (Regular price: $3.99)

24-7 French - Basic Phrases (A Language Trainer) by 24/7 TUTOR (Kindle Edition - Feb. 23, 2011) - Kindle Active Content - $1.99 (Regular price: $3.99

Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

Amazon offers $25 Gift Card with purchase of 3G Kindles for Mother's Day

Two images of text seen at Amazon's Kindle pages last night:

Amazon announces $25 Gift Card with Purchase of
a Combo 3G Cellular Wireless-and-WiFi Kindle

Amazon has made an entire page for Mother's Day ideas for gifts. But here's something new.

I was surprised to see the new $25 Gift-Card offer in a pink-purple band and in the less colorful ad-box tonight (see above) on the Kindles product page -- with word that Kindles that have both cell-phone wireless capability and local WiFi network access (home/office/cafes) and which are therefore more expensive, will include a $25 gift-card for the Mothers Day holiday if one follows the steps there. That last part is important. The gift-card has to be included when adding the Kindle order to the cart.

Be sure to read the underlined "details and terms" for the $189 6" model -- I'll point out a couple of them here.

NOTE: The 3G capability is also part of the larger 9.7" Kindle DX Graphite model, so the $25 gift-card offer applies to that as well. See the "details and terms" for that one if interested in that model.

This is, in essence, a $25 credit offer on both the 3G models but without "special offers and ads" as part of the Kindle as they are with the $114 deal (which has no 3G capability).

First: some important points cited in the 'details and terms" that you should be sure to observe if interested in the offer:

When adding a '...Kindle 3G (Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 6")' or the Kindle DX (Free 3G, 9.7"), you'll need to include the "$25 Amazon.com Gift Card described in the promotion when adding the order to your Shopping Cart" by either selecting the $25 gift card offer on the applicable Kindle product page or by adding the Gift Card from its own product page (which I think is strange).

For gift-card terms and conditions, read www.amazon.com/gc-legal

Promotional offer limited to one Gift Card per customer.

The promotion is valid from 11:00 4/27/2011 to 23:59 5/8/2011.
"Amazon reserves the right to cancel it at any time."

Does not apply to orders placed with 1-Click...

Much more at the linked "details and terms" for each model, as linked above.
I haven't seen any mention that this is limited to the U.S. but it may be.

The Kindle3 3G/WiFi at $189 minus $25 gift certificate = $164
(usable for a case or a couple of books, say)
See 3G or WiFi? What does each do?

The Kindle DXG at $379 minus $25 gift certificate = $354

I've seen one question quite a bit on forums and customer-review comment areas in the last few days: Why would one want the 9.7" DXG model?

The DXG model is expensive, but I prepared, almost a year ago, some
Questions you should ask yourself if interested also in the larger Kindle
but not sure which one would work better for you.

Also, Reactions to DXG by tough Mobileread Forum folks

Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

Kindle Pictures Feature. .2 Free Tools that Convert Images to Kindle format.

Kindle 3 and Kindle 2 with same screen-sleeper

UTILITIES FOR PUTTING PHOTOS (not Screensavers) ON A KINDLE, USING THE RIGHT FORMAT
(Windows utilities, though the first one can be done via a website.)

(Update/Correction: I fixed an E-nki site link to bring people to the right site!).

As Kindle owners learn quickly, Kindle screensavers (really, screensleepers) are not officially replaceable by our own images (unless one uses a 'hack' and that can be problematical in a few ways although some find it worth doing...and re-doing with each Kindle software upgrade).

I don't recommend it, and only the computer savvy should tackle it; even then, there are disclaimers by the utility makers that your warranty can be voided if a problem occurs during installation. It's not super-difficult but no one is going to be responsible for anything going wrong on it, so I don't get into the details. You can always google kindle screensaver hack to see what's involved. I personally don't think it's worth it.

And now the latest Kindle (with Special Offers and ads) shows Amazon had a specific reason for not offering "screensavers" that could be customized by the Kindle user.

It'd be nice if Amazon were to offer customizable screensleepers for their higher-cost Kindles without ads, at some point. (The sad dream that never dies.)

Your Photos on your Kindle in the Pictures Folder - a Kindle Feature
In the meantime, Kindle owners CAN put favorite photos or illustrations on the Kindle in a special Pictures folder, and I've found that many don't know this is possible.

The instructions for this are in the Kindle User's Guide (which is placed by Amazon on each Kindle during first wireless sessions and is also available for your computer in PDF format -- see Kindle User Guides at the Amazon help pages).

Remember that Kindle books or files can be Searched for words like "pictures" and sometimes that makes it easier to find a feature.

A Kindle customer posted step-by-step instructions at the Amazon Kindle forums. In reply to an earlier post on Feb 9, Anthony Hansen wrote (slightly modified) :

' If you would like to add photos to your Kindle 2, it's pretty easy to do. Here are a few short steps to getting some pictures onto your Kindle.

1. Connect your Kindle to your computer with the Kindle USB cable.
2. Go to the file folders for your Kindle on the computer and add a new folder called `pictures' (without the quotes).
3. Within the new `pictures' folder that you just created, create other folders which will be used to store your pictures. The names of these sub-folders should describe what type of pictures will go into the folders. These sub-folder names are what you will see on the Kindle's `Home' page and are the photo albums that you will put pictures into.
4. Add pictures into the newly created sub-folders (albums).
5. Safely remove your Kindle from the computer.
6. Go to the `Home' page on your Kindle and press Alt & Z keys together (alt-z) to see the photo albums.
7. Go down to the photo album that you want to view using the 5-way button [or the Kindle-1's mercury-like rolling column-cursor] and then select the album to view the pictures.

That's it. This should take no longer than five minutes to do depending on the number of pictures [you're] adding '

KINDLE IMAGE CONVERTER

This is a nicely easy-to-use tool that converts almost any image you have (size does not matter much) to a Kindle-compatible black & white version in the right size and orientation for the Kindle display. It works for 6" Kindles and the 9.7" Kindle DX's.

It does convert 'up' to larger sizes rather well, to my surprise, but sharpness and clarity will be more likely when you send a larger photo to convert 'down' (and something to remember if doing this for the larger-screen DX).

It's also very fast, even using the method as seen in the image of the webpage above, uploading a photo to the website for conversion -- probably the way to do it for Macs.

But the link below the uploaded filename field is for a download of the executable (a Windows file), which means you can have the tool on your Windows computer and do it without uploading the file to the webpage.

If you decide to try it, let us know how that works for you.

E-NKI MANGA, COMICS, AND GENERAL BULK IMAGE CONVERTER FOR KINDLE

I haven't had a chance to try this one. E-nki describes it this way:

"E-nki is an image processor designed for latest Kindle.
"It converts common image documents (JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP) into optimized PNG files for e-ink displays, and more important, you can convert your compressed archives directly. (CBR and CBZ too!)"

There is also a link to the FAQ, which does answer questions not addressed on the main page. E-nki is a downloadable file and there's no web-style conversion tool.

On what, specifically, the utility does:
1) Converts pictures to grayscale
2) Tries to remove white borders
3) Resizes pictures while maintaining the aspect ratio
4) Rotates the pictures

Author E-nki is on vacation but checking mail, so you can send questions to the e-mail address given at the webpage.

As mentioned, I haven't tried it. So, it's not a recommendation but a suggestion. If you can, let us know (in the Comments area) what you think if you try one or both of the tools mentioned here.
The feedback and useful info (and some raves) on SendtoReader (to Kindle) were very helpful.

As ever, when you enjoy and regularly use a free utility, support the software developer with donations if they feature a donation-method. That tends to support improving the product and time giving user support. That includes the popular Instapaper, which itself is used in a few other tools.

Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

New Kindle TV Ad airs tonight How it differs from previous ones.

LATEST TV KINDLE AD AIRING TONIGHT

In this latest tv ad -- click on the image at left to see the video on YouTube (unless you're reading this on a Kindle-edition blog, which doesn't do video) -- Amazon is introducing the $114 Kindle "with Special Offers" and ads by saying "from $114" at the end.

They're not showing the special offers or ads on the Kindle in this ad, as it's presumably an ad for any of the Kindles.

A viewer going to the Kindle product page will see the $114 model shown side by side with the $139 model, with the higher-priced 3G model mentioned below them and can tell at that point, in most cases.

What they're doing this time is talking a bit about what the Kindle can do, using a gal who just loves her "real" book and a guy who's enjoying his own "real" book too, via Kindle (nicely done).

She tells him what a paper-based book can do and he shows that the Kindle is pretty good with those features, but when she shows him the dog-ear-fold bookmark, he just smiles in a mild way, not pushing more, but he knows the Kindle does that too :-)

No heavily 'better than thou' bits or people jumping on precarious places while holding their Kindles but just a conversation about a paper book and a Kindle book.

No cute animations with cardboard backgrounds that leave many wondering what on earth a Kindle is and is it a toy for kids. :-)

I'd love it if they showed the Kindle feature of Searching for a character's name in a book and seeing all the linked pages where it shows up or if they showed how easy the dictionary feature is, with a summary-definition showing, when the cursor is on a word, and then the expanded definition with "Origin" of the word when you press the 'Return' or 'Enter' key, ending by pressing the 'Back' button to return to your spot on the page you were reading.

For one thing, I miss those features when reading paper books now.

I imagine there'll be lots of different reactions though :-) ??

Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

FREE Kindle book - Student Travel Guide to Europe, 2011

Let's Go Europe 2011 - Normally $21.95, FREE currently

Let's Go Europe 2011: The Student Travel Guide (Kindle Ed.), is authored by Inc., Harvard Student Agencies whose Kindle books with more specific European locations cost between $9.66 - $9.99. They're providing this Kindle book for $0.00 right now, on what is likely a temporary 'price.'

Released in January 2011, it has 9 customer reviews with 4 stars out of 5. It's quite large (at 1,232 pages), as most Kindle books that are mainly text average less than 1 meg, and this one is about 3 megs and will take longer to load, which indicates it has more than the usual number of images. Product description:

' From Portugal to the Ukraine, from Norway down to Greece, Europe is a lot to take on. Luckily, the student adventurers behind Let’s Go Europe 2011 know that any traveler can handle it — with a little help. Whether whipping through London, Barcelona, and Prague in five days or spending a leisurely year abroad, travelers get all the info they need from Let's Go. Their wit and irreverence can brighten even the drabbest Renaissance museum — if travelers didn’t take their advice to skip it. From German beer halls to Roman ruins, Let's Go Europe 2011 is the ticket to adventure. '

CAVEAT The two Kindle book reviews I see (the rest are paperback reviews) say it's well worth downloading as a free book, but is written by Harvard students for other students and one reviewer thinks it's mainly for students with money to spare -- I used to go on the $5/day books :-) And the paperback version had less information on hostel locations than a couple of people wanted.

On the other hand, another reviewer says:

' However, to be honest, the listings for stuff like accommodations and nightlife are just UNBEATABLE, so I'm willing to deal with the flaws in order to get those recommendations.

I was trying to keep to a budget, so maybe I'm biased, but when I opened the Lonely Planet and Frommer's guides in the bookstore, their idea of "cheap" was like...65 euro a night. Even the "shoestring" book was borderline. That's just not the sort of budget I'm operating on.
Let's Go, on the other hand, listed hostels and cheap mom-and-pop places that got me through most of Western Europe on 20 euro or less a night. No complaints about those prices. '

Some think the writing is fun while others find it geared toward those who look for drinking places. The maps and even some icons are said to be very hard to read on the Kindle (I recommend viewing these in Landscape mode, which may handle better some bad layout problems mentioned.)

For $0.00, it's worth a look.

Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

Kindle News Roundup: NYReview of Books Kindle Ed., More on rumored Samsung/Amazon tablet; Kindle for Android Update; Amazon Germany's Kindlestore opens; publishing in Amazon.de Kindle Store

KINDLE NEWS THIS WEEK

New York Review of Books
This excellent resource is finally available in a Kindle edition. The New York Review of Books reviews "...the most engrossing new books and the ideas that illuminate them." There's a 14-day free trial and you can unsubscribe during that time.

Kindle for Android
The Kindle for Android app has been updated to tailor it for tablet-computers, with enhancements that take advantage of the larger screen. New features include
. the Ability to pause, resume download at any time
. enhanced word look-up capability (for Android-based phones and tablets)
with built-in dictionary with over 250,000 entries and definitions.

Amazon.de Launches German Kindle Store
Amazon's press release says that the Amazon.de Kindle Shop will have the Largest Selection of Any E-Bookstore in Germany.
It launches with "650,000 titles, 71 of 100 Spiegel bestsellers, and over 25,000 German-language titles with thousands of German classics downloadable for free only on Kindle. Top German and international newspapers and magazines are also available for single purchase or subscription including Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Handelsblatt and Die Zeit."

Also, Amazon announced yesterday that authors and publishers worldwide are now able to make their books available in the Amazon.de Kindle Books store in Germany, using the (kdp.amazon.de) Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) service.

"German-language authors and publishers can utilize the new German KDP website to make their books available in Germany, Austria, the U.K., U.S. and over 100 countries worldwide. The popular KDP 70% royalty option, which allows authors and publishers worldwide to make more money on books sold to Kindle customers in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, is now also available for books sold in Germany and Austria. Additionally, publishers can now receive their payment in either Euros, British pounds or U.S. dollars. For more information and program terms, please visit kdp.amazon.de."

MORE on that Rumored Kindle Tablet via Samsung
Peter Rojas, who wrote the article this week about the probability of a Samsung-built Amazon tablet, was the co-founder and former Editor of Engadget and is now co-founder of gdgt.com. He has very good connections in the industry and, while there's always the small chance he can receive bad information, his sources are probably more solid than the usual.

Also, on November 5, 2010, I wrote a blog article about the rumor of an Amazon Android tablet being quite strong because Computerworld's Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, aka cybercinic, had quietly included in a column the following:

' Sources at Amazon tell me that the company will indeed produce a mass-market Android tablet. I can't tell you its size, pricing, when it's expected to ship, or anything else of substance. The one thing I do know is that, like the Kindle, it will run Linux with a Java-based interface. In short, this new tablet Kindle, let's call it "KinTablet," will run Android. '

Some have said that Amazon would not want to upset its OEM partners by releasing a 'competing tablet' but Kendrick feels it would not be so much a tablet built to compete but "would be intended to extend the company’s retail operation into the next logical space."

To speculation or hopes that this would be a particularly mighty tablet, ZDNet's James Kendrick writes, "Amazon’s intent would not be to produce a state-of-the-art mobile device" but would instead "be designed to have the Amazon retail system completely ingrained into a decent, economical tablet. Amazon's own Android Apps store would probably be 'curated' (as Apple's is and B&N plans to be, for Non-rooted NookColors), but in effect, competing with Google's Android market, which is 'open' but also leaves non-computer-intense customers to their own security measures and is disorganized and confusing to many.

In another article, about the Kindle with special offers and straight-out, large ads on its screensleepers and on the bottom area of the Home screen of book titles, Kendrick writes:

' If only 1 percent of ... Android activations resulted in a Kindle customer, that is over a million new customers every year for Amazon content. That’s a conservative number, but the size of the Android market is huge. Most Kindle app users probably buy multiple ebooks from Amazon...it’s no surprise that Amazon is selling so many ebooks..."

"So this ad-supported Kindle reader will probably get more devices in the hands of new customers, but that’s not the real story. I wonder if this is Amazon’s first baby steps into developing its own ad network for its future mobile devices that it is probably working on. I firmly believe Amazon is about to disrupt the mobile space by entering into the mobile space with a tablet device, and take Apple on directly. An ad network would be another piece of the ecosystem to go head-to-head with Cupertino. '

I wondered the other day if Apple's sudden lawsuit against Samsung (a supplier for Apple), for look & feel concerns, might be explained by this rumored tablet partnership with Amazon. I wasn't the only one wondering out loud.

Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite

Labels