Amazon Kindle (ebook thingy)

No, won't cost you. Apparently ome cheapos use it is their only webbrowser.

What do you mean now functional, President Keyes? It shows up on a different page from the Experimental one?

Cool bonus feature on the iPhone app is the free Duden dictionary for German texts.

When I first got my Kindle there was an experimental page listing 3 features, but text-to-speech was the only one that worked. I guess at some point in the last year or so the web thing got activated.

I lost my place in my book this morning on the train and could not find it. What are the bookmarks even for? I saw it added page #'s to my clippings document, but couldn't get to it from there.

so i'm more and more tempted to get one of these things. A couple of questions to you guys:

-I already have an iPad but don't use it that much for reading cuz of eye fatigue, but I'm a bit worried that I would neglect the Kindle as a result. Any of you guys use both?
-I was initially set on getting the large version (DX?) but the price difference and the fact that it'd be taking even more luggage space along with my iPad made me rethink. 6" seems awfully small though but maybe for e-reading screen size is not that much of an issue? Any insight?

I have an HP Touchpad (flop ipad clone) and a Kindle. Kindle is definitely easier on the eyes for reading.

The regular Kindle screen size is a little on the small size but it really doesn't matter. One problem is that it doesn't always right-align the text because of the small line size. I've started using it in sideways mode to avoid this. Poetry is also an issue, with it not being clear which lines are being wrapped.

I have a Kindle. Gave it to my friend because she wanted to try it out. I read a few books on it, but didn't really get into it. We also have an ipad. My husband loves reading from it. (He has a visual handicap, so Kindle app great cause he can switch to W/B and enlarge the font....)

Honestly I'd stay with the ipad. I didn't much like the Kindle thing myself. I will start reading on the ipad, once I finished the gazillion books I bought. lol

yeah i do really enjoy reading from my kindle but i have so many books i still need to read and seem to keep acquiring more (often because the books i want are not available for kindle)

I think the Kindle is less strain on the eyes than an iPad - it's an e-ink screen instead of backlit LCD. The small screen isn't really a factor, since you can make the font as big as you want. You'll just have to turn the page more often.

I had a first generation Kindle which had the same screen size but each page would have only half the text as a page on the latest small one has. That was too little, but the current one is fine. And yeah, the e-ink is pretty easy on the eyes.

also search was hella slow. It was like "I know I saw that somewhere on this book, maybe on the previous page, but where?"

-I already have an iPad but don't use it that much for reading cuz of eye fatigue, but I'm a bit worried that I would neglect the Kindle as a result. Any of you guys use both?

Yeah. The ipad is all right for short bursts of reading (an hour or so), but the backlight can be fatiguing, even on a low level, and it's too heavy to hold up comfortably for long periods. I can read my kindle for several hours without any discomfort at all – it's actually more comfortable to hold than a perfect-bound book because you're not having to hold it open at the spine.

-I was initially set on getting the large version (DX?) but the price difference and the fact that it'd be taking even more luggage space along with my iPad made me rethink. 6" seems awfully small though but maybe for e-reading screen size is not that much of an issue? Any insight?

It feels awfully like reading a paperback, so definitely not too small. You would only really look at the DX if you wanted to read a lazy pdf of a broadsheet newspaper.

Oh and no backlight = ~days~ of reading on one battery charge. Oh and Amazon's widely believed to be releasing a new range very soon.

Anybody keep tabs on good Kindle Singles? We should do that.

i'd be interested in that

should be an interesting fall for amazon hardware too: http://www.marco.org/2011/08/27/amazon-tablet-guess

I read good Kindle single by that unlikely recipient of the ILB silent treatment James Salter called "Charisma" I think, HOOS

Just bought "American Juggalo," "The Heart of Haiku" and "Scalper." Will report back.

And will check out Charisma too!

funny reading all the hate and "it'll never fly" stuff at the top. i bought one of these 2 years ago and haven't looked back. there were extenuating circumstances for my being an early adopter - i live overseas, where it's hard to find/buy a wide selection of physical books, and i go through a lot of books so the kindles been a lifesaver for me.

anyway yes the e-paper thing is easy on the eyes, when you sit in front of a computer screen all day it makes a pretty big difference too. also when i go on vacation i don't have to fill up half my suitcase with books, which is handy.

can i put books that i already own, onto my kindle library, for free?

― F-Unit (Ste), Wednesday, November 17, 2010 9:08 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

rapidshare is your friend - most books that i want to reread i can find for free if i look around a bit. i still wind up buying some of my more obscure authors through amazon, but there's loads out there for free as well. i'm pretty sure amazon has the most extensive collection of books available of all the sellers too...

http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/02/amazon-kindle-tablet/

no e-ink means i won't be tempted to upgrade

the idea of a dual e-ink/backlit screen kinda blows my mind

this thing isn't gonna have any e-ink technology in it

no, but the article offhand mentions a dual 'in the works'

ugh, the e-ink it was makes the kindle a better reader. an android touch-screen device sounds like the nook, which while it has some good things about it, just have a good feel like the iPad - amazon should try to get a color e-ink display up, or a cheaper, thinner kindle

it'll be interesting to see how many of these things they sell before the year's out -- like, i wouldn't want one of these instead of an ipad, and if i could only have one tablet i'd choose an ipad, but i would consider eventually picking one of these things up just to try it out

Don't get me wrong, an iPad is much better all-around as a device. But if they want it to be a good reader, and not just a substandard web-browser/general internet device, they've got to go far to go to compete w/iPad atm. If I was a huge reader, I'd pick a Kindle over the iPad - it's easier to read lots of text on an e-ink screen over time compared to a standard backlit one

getting into bed w/android feels like a misstep for amazon to me

I really liked the rumour of a kindle that focused on all the reading elements -- basically eink tablet with Reeder, Instapaper, Kindle books and some news apps. That would be killer for me. An android thingy (with only Amazon apps) seems a bit meh.

yes to all that.

getting into bed w/android feels like a misstep for amazon to me

― punk'd um (cozen), Sunday, September 4, 2011 7:25 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark

why do you think this is?

cos android sucks the big one and kindle doesn't suck the big one

android tablets all have an aura of failure about them xp

I mean every 2 weeks you get a new report of "X android tablet actually only sold 1% of its production run"

Given the rampant appearance of malware in Android apps, it would seem theat ecosystem would definitely benefit from heavy invovement by a trusted name with the resources to properly vet apps. And as a tablet OS it suffers in comparison to iOS mostly in the lack of hardware standards and ecosystem of developers and vetting the Apple app store provides.

And Amazon definitely needs more popular alternatives to the iPad, as the 30% take by Apple on in-app purchases cuts deeply into impulse book buying. The HTML 5 Kindle Cloud web app is the universal solution, but accessing it requres a few more screen taps than tablet neophytes might execute.

I don't think current e-ink technology is compatible with back lighting, as e-ink pixels are tiny capsules filled with charged opaque dye compounds/particles.

getting into bed w/android feels like a misstep for amazon to me

Amazon did something different with Android - they started with an older version of Android and forked it, basically replaced a lot of the code and started their own line of development. So they won't be tied to whatever direction Google takes Android. Sort of how OS X is based on a flavor of Unix.

Now that Amazon controls the end-to-end relationship between suppliers of goods stacked in its warehouses and consumers of those goods using its devices, Amazon’s next opportunity is to eliminate anyone who stands as a bottleneck between the two.

It’s already well underway with books. Amazon’s long offered authors various models to self-publish, giving them a generous cut in exchange for conditions that help keep e-book prices low. Now it’s developing its own imprint to work directly with authors and agents. J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore was publishing’s “Radiohead” moment, showing that major authors, too, didn’t have to play with traditional publishers to deliver e-books to readers.

How far is Amazon willing to take this? Amazon’s experience has shown that books can in turn provide a template for all kinds of media and other goods.

For instance, imagine an analog to Amazon’s self-publishing services: Why not make an independent movie or television show and release it through Amazon? Once the video is hosted on Amazon’s servers, it’s available for immediate digital download or streaming through Prime to desktops, tablets or set-top boxes. Both streaming and downloads promise a revenue share for content creators. Customers could buy a Blu-ray or DVD that Amazon burns and ships on demand — no storage, no overhead.

A lot of this video content would be vanity crap. But it could also be the next Funny Or Die or Channel 101. The breadth and independence of buying choices could easily differentiate Amazon from traditional studios — or even for those studios themselves, from competing services like Netflix.

You can extrapolate this to any kind of media, from music to magazines, to physical goods like groceries (one area where Amazon’s never really been able to turn the corner), or to software — anything that can be hosted, stored or delivered. All of it fronted by Amazon’s user accounts, credit cards and retail systems. It’s iTunes, but more.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/09/amazon-bigger-than-tablet/all/1

So amazon is basically an online big box store for all things digital media?

"and maybe they want to be more"

it blew my mind when i first found out they delivered groceries in seattle, but--of course they do. it makes sense. i already order my groceries & have them delivered, if i could do *all* my shopping on one site (and hurdle the heebie jeebies of one company having all my data) i totally would.

http://images.wikia.com/pixar/images/f/f0/250px-BnL.svg.png

srs

what was that speculative video from a few years back that imagined google merging with amazon "to become googlezon, the indisputable leader in delivering your world."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT9ho2G0N_Y

p sure googlzon was defeated by the japanese navy some years back

lol

For instance, imagine an analog to Amazon’s self-publishing services: Why not make an independent movie or television show and release it through Amazon?

ooh, let's see, maybe bc writing something costs c. nothing, making a movie "a shit tonne"? idk, spitballing

i mean sure '- a guy who hasn't embraced web 2.0'. but honestly.

have you heard of "the youtube"

Amphibology is a Barthesism, n'est-ce pas?

Wrong thread :(

have i heard of it? dogg i spend 5-10 hours a day watching all the amazing user-generated content that users generate and put on youtube. it is an absolute goldmine for original art filmmaking. if hans richter or michael snow were getting started today... not to speak of all the many great actors and dramatists who got their first breaks on youtube.

xpost