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 On June 15, the biggest update since the launch of the Kindle DX was released. The new version 2.5 update has a cool feature that owners of the Kindle 2 to send updates to Twitter and Facebook from the Kindle using Sprint’s 3G network. Information is so widely shared these days that it is only natural that the Kindle should add that capability.
Once you install the update, link your Kindle to Twitter or Facebook in the Kindle browser. Once the browser is connected to the social networks, you can select text from whatever books you choose and tweet them to your followers. The text will show up with a kindle hashtag and a link so the passage selection has to be pretty short. more
If you would rather share an annotation of a book you are reading, use the annotation tool to select the text and save and share your Twitter and Facebook friends or with the Kindle community. There is a Highlights section in the Kindle community where you can go see what fellow Kindle users are reading. This is a good way to find reviews and suggestions for books to read.
This is a good way to share favorite quotes or lines in a book quickly. The drawback is that the space is limited, but if you have to, you can always create a set of multiple tweets on the same passage. This would be a great online discussion or book club starter. If this feature takes off, it will be fun to see passages from well known or much loved books shared and discussed.
 A day after Amazon’s May 10 announcement regarding plans to offer Kindle for Android, Amazon announced updates for its Kindle for PC application. The article from eWeek suggests that Amazon’s recent actions might be in response to increased competition from the iPad, Nook, Sony E-reader and others.
Kindle for PC’s new features include the ability to edit notes and marks, change background color, adjust screen brightness control and includes a full screen reading mode. Amazon’s Whispersync technology transfers notes, bookmarks and “last pages read” between a PC, smartphone and the Kindle. By adding these adjustments to the application, Amazon has made it much more user friendly.
Jay Marine, Director of Amazon Kindle wrote: “Kindle for PC lets customers enjoy more than 540,000 books in the Kindle Store even if they don’t yet have a Kindle, and it’s the perfect companion application for the millions of Kindle and Kindle DX owners.” Amazon seems to be heading into the predicted direction of gearing their market towards software, despite solid Kindle device sales.
Amazon also recently announced plans for a new update to the Kindle and Kindle DX called Version 2.5. In this version, users will be allowed to share passages with friends on Facebook and Twitter. It will also include Collections, which categorizes books and documents on the Kindle into different sections based on the subject, and Popular Highlights, a passage from a book or document that the Kindle community finds the most interesting. Content sharing is “the big thing” right now. It will be an interesting trend to watch in terms how how the Kindle will work with it.
Kindle’s market is stretching beyond the casual reader to research and academics. As proof, PhysOrg.com, the leading web-based science, research and technology news service, just announced it is giving its subscribers a way to keep up with news on their Kindle e-readers. The service will offer Kindle users two options for news feeds. The first, “Spotlight News”, will feature the top 40 or so stories of the day fed directly to the subscriber’s Kindle. Those readers who want more specialized news, can choose one of five channel feeds that provide all the stories in one of the following subject areas: Space and Earth, Technology and Electronics, Biology and Chemistry, Physics and Nanotechnology or Medicine and Health.
Since it was launched in 2004, PhysOrg.com has has grown to include 1.75 million readers every month from the scientific, research and engineering community. The news service publishes about 100 articles every day, giving the world some of the most comprehensive coverage of science and technology developments available.
PhysOrg.com also has apps for news feeds and podcasts for the iPhone and any MP3 player. Each of the Kindle feed subscriptions cost $1.99 per month. For more information, go to PhysOrg on Amazon Kindle.
In May I wrote a post about library usage of Amazon Kindle. Recently Lone Wolf Librarian did a more thorough search and uncovered at least 15 libraries that lend Kindle eBook readers to their patrons. Here are just few:
- Mary White, Director of Howe Library in Hanover, NH - The Kindle Library Loaning Page. Lending out Kindles since Jan 14th, 2009.
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Sparta Public Library in Sparta, NJ have 2 Kindles for lending.
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LaCrosse Public Library lends out 1 Kindle.
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Rancho Mirage Public Library lends out Kindles, although its unclear whether its internally or patrons can take them home.
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Texas A&M University Libraries have 18 Kindles (add your name to the waiting list here) …
If Amazon were to come up with some kind of library-oriented solution that would streamline the process and eliminate the need for librarians to constantly register/deregister devices (to prevent useres from accidentally ordering books like this one) they would make a killing because:
- Libraries would buy devices and books wholesale
- More people would get introduced to the device and end up buying one for personal use.
Believe it or not most of the general public doesn’t know that Kindle is. I often get asked what is that device that I’m reading from in parks and other public places.
Here are the rules of the contest, please read them carefully:
When Amazon Kindle 2 was released Kindle Store had 240,000+ books for sale. This number is growing daily and it’s about to hit 250,000 which is pretty impressive. In order to win brand new Amazon Kindle 2 Wireless eInk reading device all you need to do is email me your best guess about when number of books in Amazon Kindle Store is going to top 256,000 (one thousand books for each megabyte of flash memory in Kindle 1 :) )
You can visit Amazon Kindle Store daily to get a feel for how fast eBooks are piling up. Count as of 03/13/2009 was 248,429 when I checked. I will accept entries until the day number of books will be more than 250,999. I check book counts every 00:01 PST and that would be the cutting line. Once I see 251,000 books or more – no more entries are going to be accepted. I will announce the cut-off date once it happens. After that it’s waiting time: once I see 256,000 books or more at 00:01 that would be the winning date. I’ll announce it in the morning. Of all persons who submitted entries with this date I’ll randomly pick 1 winner.
To submit your entry just send an e-mail to contest@blogkindle.com with your chosen date in the subject in the following form: MM/DD/YYYY, where MM is two digit zero-padded month number, DD is two digit zero-padded day number and YYYY is 4 digit year. So 03/21/2009 would be 21st of March 2009, 04/03/2009 would be 3rd of April, 2009. Please don’t put anything else in the subject line. Any content in the message body is going to be ignored. I will use email address the letter was sent from to contact the winner and arrange for shipping the prize. Any entries that don’t follow the format described above will be discarded. If I don’t receive a response from the winner within 72 hours from sending the letter a new winner will be chosen.
One entry per person for the entire duration of the contest. Cheaters WILL BE disqualified! Amazon employees are on their honor not to participate :)
I will not use your email address for any other reason then to contact your if you are a winner. I’ll not give them to spammers, spam them myself or randomly send out my rants when I feel lonely and sad. In fact once this contest is settled I’m going to delete all of them.
I will not disclose winners identity even partially without winners consent. Though it would be nice to receive this consent for posting at least winner’s city. If you provide a photograph of the Kindle 2 once you receive it (with you if you would like to) I promise to post it here.
OK. Once again the rules in a nutshell:
- Figure out a date on which at 01:00 PST Amazon Kindle Store would have 256,000 books or more
- Send email to contest@blogkindle.com with this date date in the subject line in the following format: MM/DD/YYYY (see details and examples above)
- Email should be sent on a day on which at 01:00 PST book count in Amazon Kindle Store was 250,999 or lower. I’ll post when it happens (though not immediately)
- There is a limit of one entry per person for the entire duration of the contest.
- Out of the people who submitted correct date properly 1 winner will be chosen randomly.
- Winner will be contacted on the winning day described in (1) using email that entry was submitted from.
- If I don’t receive any response from the winner within 72 hours of sending the email a new winner would be chosen randomly.
- In the unlikely case that (6) would be repeated enough times that no winner could be chosen, I’ll randomly choose a winner from people who were off by 1 day either way. I’ll keep expanding the date range and repeating (6) until winner can be found.
That means that as long as there are valid entries somebody is pretty much guaranteed to win.
Why am I doing this? Honestly I would like to see more comments to my posts, I would like readers to get more involved with the blog. I believe that an easy way of achieving that would be to attract more subscribers by holding this contest. So if you like this blog and what I write here please spread the word on other blogs and forums. The more people I would see enjoying the content that I provide here the more time I’ll spend creating more better content.
If you have any questions – please leave a comment. I’ll try to respond as fast as possible.
XKCD, “A Webcomic Of Romance, Sarcasm, Math, And Language” recently did a comic about Kindle which I couldn’t resist posting here especially since it mentions a book that I’m very fond of personally.
If you haven’t seen XKCD before I really recommend to explore it as you are sure to have some good time. I personally would love to see it available for subscription on Kindle Blogs but I guess because it is Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License it will never happen.
Yesterday I came across this great post on Google Groups, its a list of Kindle disorders that Kindle owners tend to suffer from – enjoy;
A few days ago I detected a certain malady that some Kindle users may have experienced. I have come to learn that there are many more conditions, symptoms and maladies of which I believe my fellow Kindle users should be aware. The list is not exhaustive so please feel free to add any additional items as you may have experienced on your own.
Kindle Abandonment Syndrome: The feeling of concern when you cannot find a newly published or previously published book in Kindle format which results in you sending threatening letters to publishing houses or checking the “New on Kindle” site every ten minutes.
Kindle Anxiety Syndrome: Worrying that your Kindle will run out of charge before you can reach your home and your charging cord.
Kindle Separation Anxiety: This manifests symptoms which include trying to tap the next page button on a paperback or hardcover book, if you still read those!
Kindle Agoraphobia: The fear of traveling to a destination that goes not have Whispernet access, like a foreign country, a remote location, or a tunnel.
Kindle Envy Condition: This is when people post negative comments about the Kindle on forums without having ever owning one.
Kindle Curiosity Malady: This is when you spot another Kindle owner in public and you insist he or she show you what they have downloaded on their Kindle.
Kindle Braggadocio: This is when you give a ten minute demonstration of how your Kindle works when someone casually asks if that is a Kindle.
Kindle Confusion Malady: This is when you repeatedly lick your finger when you tap the next page button.
Kindle Hoarding Syndrome: This is a condition where you have downloaded 2000 books from every free e-book website you can find. It is particularly serious when you download the Russian versions of
Tolstoy’s books and you cannot read Russian.
Kindle Displacement Condition: This is a condition where you consider your Kindle a member of your family and purchase seven designer covers and extra SD cards but neglect to buy your family milk.
Kindle Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: This is when you check the Velcro patch which secures your Kindle to its case every half hour to ensure it won’t slip out again. It can also manifest itself with the
purchase of multiple batteries and the constant checking of your Amazon Media Library.
Kindle Carpel Tunnel Syndrome: Intense pain in your thumbs from speed reading on your Kindle.
Kindle Obesity: This is the insistence that gaining weight is only due to the fact that with a belly you can now read your Kindle while lying prone.
Kindle Perplexity Disorder: This is when a patient insists that any reading matter he or she received must be in either asw, prc or pdf convertible format because “I don’t read anything that isn’t
Kindlized.”
Kindle Grammar Abuse: Using the word Kindle as anything other than a noun: such as is it Kindleable?; can you Kindlize that? Or I don’t do anything unKindled.
You may ask is there a cure for these maladies. I fear that no cure is available. My only hope that is when the Kindle becomes universally accepted like the IPod and the laptop computer, these maladies will be readily accepted by the population.
Some of these are hilarious and are especially true for me. Do you have any Kindle related disorders you would like to share?
Source: Google Groups
Another day, another Kindle competition. Surpass Hosting is staging a contest where the winner can bag themselves a Kindle.
Its a lot easier to enter than the previous competition we told you about, all you have to do it write a haiku – simple.
Give us a great haiku about Surpass Hosting and win an Amazon Kindle to further enjoy poetry and reading.
“The most common form for Haiku is three short lines. The first line usually contains five (5) syllables, the second line seven (7) syllables, and the third line contains five (5) syllables. Haiku doesn’t rhyme.” Here is an example haiku:
i love you surpass
you make my sites go so fast
happy webmaster
Just post your entry in this thread, then on August 29th we’ll all vote for the winner. It’s a community feeling.
Sometimes I wish that I had a Kindle to give away, I have so many competition ideas, but no prizes to give away =(
Source: Surpass Hosting Blog
 If your one of the many people interested in buying the Kindle, but unfortunately you live outside the US, then until Amazon decides to release Kindle in your local you cant enjoy the benefits of owning a Kindle. Kindle owners here in the US are also interested in knowing whether using their Kindles outside the US is possible. Amazon states in it’s FAQ section that it is working on releasing the Kindle for international markets and asks that international customers to sit tight for the time being.
That’s not good enough for some.
Where there’s a will, there is way. A post by Nerdgirl on her site offers a solution for those unwilling to wait for the official Kindle release in their country. The hack involves tricking Amazon into thinking that your billing address is associated with a US address — apparently Amazon does not verify the address unless you purchase a dead-tree book. This then allows you to associate a Kindle device with your Amazon account, once your Kindle is associated with your account you can use gift certificates to buy e-books. But if your expecting them to be delivered wirelessly then think again, they wont be, you will have to transfer the e-book via USB.
The very fact that someone has discovered this hack proves that people outside the US are itching to get their hands on the Kindle.
You can read the full instructions on Nerdgirls website by following the link below.
Source: Nerdgirl
Back in May we got wind of a new social fanzine site especially for science-fiction and fantasy readers, Tor.com was due for launch we were told imminently, but as with these things the launch actually didn’t happen for a couple of month – over the weekend Tor.com was launched.
If you read the earlier post you know that had you signed up for the newsletter, Tor was giving away a free e-book every week in their weekly newsletter. Now that the site has launched, Tor will make available all 24 titles that were given away in the newsletter–only till the 27th of July, so head on over to the site and download them–in their Freebies Bonanza, there is a selection of artwork for download as-well, some would make an excellent desktop wallpaper.
Here is the list of all the available e-books;
If your a fan of science-fiction and fantasy books then you might want to bookmark Tor.com, and sign up for access to more advanced community features, whilst the site is still in officially in beta there is a lot there for you to look at and read. There are already some lively discussions going on in the community forum with Tor and Macmillan employees and the blog on the front page is filled with interesting news and stories.
Oh my god, why is everyone is looking at me??!!!… are you the type of person who gets paranoid about what people are thinking when you indulge in the latest self-help book? Lets face it there are some books which are just plain embarrassing to be seen with, The Amazon Kindle official blog has a humorous post about one bloggers addiction to self-help books and how they make her feel, she lists what’s going through her mind when she’s reading on the bus;
Me (reading): He’s Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys
Bus passenger (thinking): “That chick probably gets dumped a lot.”
Me (reading): How Not to Look Old
Bus passenger (thinking): “She should have read that a couple of decades ago.”
Me (reading): The Secret
Bus passenger (thinking): “She watches too much Oprah.”
Me (reading): Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires
Bus passenger (thinking): “Geez…yesterday she was reading The Secret.”
For those of you who are conscious about what other people are thinking when you read your book the Kindle makes reading your weird little titles a little more bearable in public, no longer do you have to hide the cover or find a secluded spot to read your book, the Kindle offers protection because the title you are reading remains anonymous. However now people will now think you are cool because you own a Kindle, or are they just saying that because you own a Kindle?… hmm
Has the Kindle made you more a adventurous reader in public?
Source: Amazon Kindle Offical Blog
AuthorIsland.com turn 2 months today and to celebrate this monumental day they have decided to give away 2 Kindles in a competition, sweet!
From AuthorIsland.com
AuthorIsland.com is turning TWO this month and to celebrate, forty three AuthorIsland.com authors and one of our publisher members got together to offer up one heck of a prize! They’re giving away TWO – are you ready for this? - TWO AMAZON KINDLES!!! YIPPEEEE!!!
But you’re going to have to work for it, each of the forty four sponsors has a question for you to answer – the answers can be found somewhere on each of the author’s websites. Once you have all the answers, email them to AuthorIsland at yahoo.com, numbered, along with your name and address, with AuthorIsland Kindle Contest in the subject line. TWO winners will be drawn on August 1st from all the correct entries to receive their very own – AMAZON KINDLE!!!
You can enter the competition by following this link, be warned however they ain’t kidding when they say your going to have to work for it, there are 44 questions to answer! however you do have plenty of time to find the answers since the deadline for entering is August 1st.
Good luck if you decide to enter!
Source: Author Island
Today Warren Buffett told CNBC that he’ll “probably” get a Kindle as he “edges” his way into 21st century technology. Warren Buffet said he was impressed with the Kindle after hearing “wildly enthusiastic” reviews by attendees at Herb Allen’s annual gathering of the rich and famous in Sun Valley, Idaho. He would have been even more impressed if he discovered the number of books about him that are currently available in Kindle Store.
Below is part of the transcript.
Julia Boorstin: I should start off with a question about this conference. I heard this morning that the Kindle is a big topic, talking about the publishing industry changing, and (Amazon CEO) Jeff Bezos made a presentation. I heard you don’t even have a cell phone. What do you think of the Kindle?
Julia: You do!
Buffett: It’s an 1893 model, I think. Alexander Graham Bell gave this to me personally. (Laughs.)
Julia: Does this mean you’re going to be getting a Kindle?
Buffett: I probably will, after hearing about it today. And I ran into a number of people that have Kindles and who are just in love with them. In fact, a woman that is the wife of another attendee here, came in on the plane with us, and she was using a Kindle and was wildly enthusiastic about it.
Julia: So this is going to be your new technology?
Buffett: Well, who knows? I mean, I kind of edge into technology. I’m just getting into the 20th century. I’ll be working on the 21st century pretty soon, yeah. (Laughs.)
Julia: What is the mood at this conference this year?
Buffett: Well, the mood .. I would say that people just love being here. That’s what happens. I was at a barbeque last night and everybody had such a good time. So I have not yet heard a discouraging word, as we say in Wyoming. (Laughs.) But, I’m sure some of the people have got their own problems in their own businesses, but nobody’s talked about it yet.
For the complete story and transcript go to the story on CNBC.
 The Amazon folks are eager to get the word out about Kindle and they really want people to see a Kindle device, so much so that they want existing Kindle owners to go out and market the device for them! On May 19th Amazon requested that Kindle owners to go out and market the Kindle, actively encouraging you to meet stranger with your $400 Kindle device plus the value of books to meet a total stranger and “show off” – Amazon’s own words – sounds like a recipe for disaster if you ask me.
I wonder which smart alec at Amazon PR thought this idea up:
We’ve heard feedback that many Kindle owners love their Kindle and like showing it off. Some of you even said you have trouble reading Kindle in public because people always ask, “What is that?” We’ve also heard from prospective customers who would love to see a Kindle before they buy one.
We created the “See a Kindle in Your City” area to help prospective owners connect with Kindle owners to get a chance to see the device in person. We started with a selection of cities – find yours or start one for your city. Whether you want to meet at your local coffee shop, a public park, or your favorite watering hole is up to you. We hope you enjoy meeting your fellow Kindlers.
Please cut and paste the following link in your browser to go to the “See a Kindle in your City” discussions.
[converted to link -ed]
As Michael V. Accettura puts it “What an outrageous request from amazon!” – I couldn’t agree more, Amazon want us Kindle owners to do their job and market the device for them. How about you go out there Amazon, and show off the Kindle yourself? I could understand this request if Amazon was employing some kind of referral system where a sale would result in cash compensation or perhaps a couple of free Kindle e-books from the Kindle store, but Amazon aren’t even doing that.
User Diane point out this may be the perfect “steal a Kindle” opportunity for all technology loving crooks and looking through the forum, unsurprisingly, very few people have taken Amazon up on their offer to parade their Kindle around in front of strangers.
Finally to quote Micael V. Accettiura again “I appreciate the offer to become an unpaid pimp for the kindle, but no thanks amazon.”
Would you take your precious Kindle and show it off to a complete stranger?
Source: Amazon Kindle Customer Discussions
Tor Books is a major hardcover and paperback science fiction and fantasy publisher, one of the largest in the English-speaking world, it announced recently that it was working on a new community website which would be a “go-to site, a central community” for science fiction and fantasy fans, this website will act, in part, as a form of branding and promotion for Tor book titles. The site will also implement light social networking elements and publish original short fiction and nonfiction for free online, all DRM free.
Here is the hook from the front page of Tor.com
A science fiction and fantasy site not quite like any you’ve seen before, mixing news, commentary, original stories and art, your own comments and conversations, and more. A place on the net you may find yourself wanting to visit—and participate in—every day.
While there isnt any more information on the site Patrick Nielsen Hayden is on the team that is developing the site, he had this to say;
But we know several things. We know that the site will use a blog-like architecture to present an ongoing stream of news, opinion, and observation from various Tor people, myself included, about the SF and fantasy events of the day—and about perhaps less-current things that are nonetheless of interest to SF and fantasy readers, such as medieval siege engines, the Van Allen Belt, hoisin sauce, XKCD, and the novels of Georgette Heyer. We know that there will be non-Tor bloggers also posting to the “front page”; in fact we’ve already recruited several in order to ensure coverage of particular niche areas. (Some of these individuals will be familiar to Making Light readers—wave hello, Bruce Baugh—and we haven’t finished recruiting, either.) We know that the site will also feature new original fiction on a regular basis, illustrated under the supervision of art director Irene Gallo, and that these original stories—free of DRM, offered as part of the blog feed and also Available For Your Convenience in a variety of other formats—will have their own associated open comment threads, just like everything else on the blog. We know that there will be lightweight “social networking” features for registered users, including the ability to form mutual-interest groups through tagging and the ability to create journals and/or discussions of their own. Most of all, we know that the real point of the exercise isn’t to create yet another blog, but rather, a place and a context for the lively, ongoing, wide-ranging, and profoundly self-organizing discussions that have characterized the science fiction subculture since its earliest days. In other words, it’ll be a lot like Making Light, except with original fiction and art, more front-page bloggers, a more direct connection to SF and fantasy, and run out of the middle of Tor Books.
From what I have gathered from various sources a few dozen authors have already been approached to submit their work, Tor is possible paying upward of 25 cents per word for some of the stories from the prominent authors. Once the titles are published on the site they will also be accompanied by commissioned artwork.
Beta testers can apply to join the private beta by sending an email to tor.betatest@gmail.com, however that maybe unnecessary since the launch may be imminent – it is due for launch sometime in May.
As part of the effort to get users to sign up, Tor is offering a free e-book every week for users who sign up for the weekly newsletter, this weeks offering is “Touch of Evil” by C. T. Adams , in previous weeks you could have got your hands on “Mistborn” by Brandon Sanderson, “Old Man’s War” by John Scalzi and “Spin” by Robert Charles Wilson – all of them great books, all of them DRM free and all of them work with the Kindle.
The concept of the site sounds amazing, and there isn’t anything remotely like it anywhere on the web. Even if they implement half of what they are trying to do, the site will be a huge success. So if you love your science fiction and fantasy book, sign up for the newsletter and stay tuned in for the launch.
Source: Making Light
As it turns out, not only can you read books on your Kindle, you can now eat it!
LilPeaPod from Team Sugar spent her Sunday afternoon cooking up this geeky cake delight and what a result. At first glance it actually looks like a Kindle device, we think it’s a shame it has to be eaten!
Looks delicious! We love the “Kindle Kake”! Check out the cake gallery.
Source: TeamSugar
Last month Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos said “the Kindle, in terms of demand, is outpacing our expectations.” Now with that kind of success it is probably reasonable to assume that Amazon is already hard at work on Kindle v2 and that competitors are also hard at work on their own Kindle-like devices. One aspect of the Kindle that many have criticized is that it lacks a stylish design, and I mostly agree.
Now enter student Designer Nedzad Mujcinovic from Monash University who has come up with a beautifully designed e-book for the Dyson Australian International Design Awards which could give Amazon some food for thought. His design would use the now familiar e-ink technology, but unlike the Kindle would feature a touch screen component. This would remove the need for a keyboard instead relying on a gesture based input system. Pages can be turned by sliding your finger from one corner to the other corner and double or even triple-finger gestures will advance the book by ten and 50 pages respectively. One aspect of the Livre e-book concept I find intriguing is listed in its description – ‘The silicon body adds flexibility to excite the feel of soft cover books.‘ I love the idea of having a ‘bendy e-book’!
I like the design and the idea of a multi-touch surface which would increase the reading area by removing the need for a tactile keyboard, however the design is a bit too bulky and would look a lot better if it lost half an inch in width. Overall the Livre does a better job of mimicking a book than the Kindle and the multi-touch would allow for a better user experience so it gets a thumbs up from us.
The product description:
Product Description and Principal Function(s)
As high density living puts a strain on private space, storage space tends to suffer the most. One of the items people find hard to let go of are books. To those who own a lot of books, books are much more than what meets the eye. Collections of books tend to be ones’ pride and memory on certain moments in life. When taking a dusty book of the shelf one may remember the state of mind on the first read years ago… LIVRE is a new age book, a product that addresses all of these aspects of book reading!
Why does the product represent design excellence and why do you believe it deserves an Australian Design Award?
This project represents excellence in design due to the fact that it fully addresses all that was set out to be achieved. The resulting product is an electronic device that is innovative in every way. It succeeds where all competitors’ products fail. It is not an electronic book reader as we know it. LIVRE is a product that takes books to the next level. LIVRE is the book of the future. LIVRE feels, looks and functions like a traditional paper book, yet it presents an evolved version using modern day electronics to further improve the experience and functionality!
The traditional stitched leather cover brings the feel, tactility and smell of old style books to LIVRE. The cover dsign allows the user to make DIY covers from any material or by covers to suit a particular collection of books, ie “Harry Potter” series. The silicon body adds flexibility to excite the feel of soft cover books.
Interaction happens via a thin capacitive touch screen mounted on top of an electronic paper screen (‘eINK’). Browsing pages happens by striking the screen from right bottom corner towards the centre of page to go forward or from the left hand corner to go backwards. Doing that using one finger will browse one page, two will browse ten pages and three will browse fifty pages at a time.
Charging and file transfer happens via USB typeB mini port. Wireless file transfer via Bluetooth is also available.
Options like changing font size and status overview are not ‘in your face’, they are rather hidden, yet accessible at user’s discretion.
The aesthetic of the LIVRE was inspired by old style disintegrated books and modern sculptural movements. The general shape of the LIVRE is one that most readers of traditional books wish their books were by trying to fold and bend them for easy one handed holding.
LIVRE is the book of the future!
Source: Dyson Student Design Awards, Engadget,
Kindle owner John Federico recently had some trouble with his Kindle after it developed a crack on the bottom of the device, this is what he had to say about Amazon’s customer support;
I love my Kindle and I’m a big fan of Amazon – even more now after dealing with their Kindle Customer Support folks.
My Kindle developed a strange crack on the bottom of the unit where the ports and volume control are located. I called Amazon support to explain the situation and they immediately shipped a new Kindle (so I wouldn’t be without mine while they replaced it.)
When the new one arrived, the process for deactivating the original Kindle and activating the replacement was fast and flawless.
I packed up my original unit into the replacement’s box, slapped on the return shipping label that Amazon sent me and off it went, back to Kindle-land.
Nice job, guys.
Nice job indeed – it seems like the Amazon customer service guys did a great job in dealing with John’s problems, I am a bit surprised that they shipped out a replacement before requesting John’s Kindle back. However, this is a really good sign that Amazon are looking after their Kindle customers, which is impressive after you read about all the Amazon horror stories out there.
Source: brandbrains.net
Believe it or not the above picture is not that of a fine old book, but rather a modified case cover for the Kindle! This beautiful piece was made by a user on the mobileread Kindle forum, it features a hand made leather book case, marbleized paper for the end papers, gold leaf to give the impression of gilded pages and a felt-lined holder which keeps the Kindle securely in place. You still don’t believe me do you? in that case I suggest you scroll down the page and have a look at other the images.
Whilst it does look pretty, a few readers on the forums have pointed out that there seem to be some usability issues. For instance on this particular case-mod the cover does not fold back upon itself which may cause readers to use both hands whilst reading content, however the creator of the case mod assured them that it is not a big issue. I guess the only way of telling if it affects usability is by actually using it.
This case-mod simply blows the standard case you get with the Kindle out of the water, or for that matter any other case out there. I think a commercial venture which would offer this to Kindle owners would be an excellent idea, apparently this case-mod it has already fooled some people into thinking that it is a real book!
Now here are some more picture for you to drool over:
Source: user artsci on mobileread Kindle forums
 Last December the news was that the Kindle’s up for auction were selling like hot cakes, I thought now that the hype and buzz surrounding the Kindle has calmed down a bit, we should go back and see what the situation is over at eBay.
In December, the Kindle was selling for an average price of $864.04, that was more than double the retail price. Predictably, since then thing have changed and this week the Kindle is selling for an average price of $421.33. The most a Kindle was being auctioned for that I could find $600.00, contrast that with the $1500 just a couple of months ago and its seems like Kindle has truly lost x-factor, at least on eBay it has.
So if you don’t like your Kindle it seems as though you can still sell without losing any money. So when Amazon gets more Kindles back in stock, the auction prices should drop a bit more so those of you who don’t own one already might be able to pick up one at a bargain price. That’s assuming Amazon ever gets any back in stock because it seems like forever now that there hasn’t been any in stock, of-course we’ll let you know as soon as Amazon gets them back in stock.
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On June 15, the biggest update since the launch of the Kindle DX was released. The new version 2.5 update has a cool feature that owners of the Kindle 2 to send updates to Twitter and Facebook from the Kindle using Sprint’s 3G network. Information is so widely shared these days that it is only natural that the Kindle should add that capability.
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