Amazon Kindle (ebook thingy)

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

sooooo why not make some amazing user generated content and sell it through amazon, upping yr sales through their recommendation algorithims rather than keeping your fingers crossed and hoping on "related videos" clickthroughs and whatever social media intern you've got on promo?

read that post as 100% sarcasm tbh

ha i didn't even read all the way to the end tbh

^ endemic of the youtube culture

but seriously--there are plenty of people doing interesting orig work on yt, and i suspect they'd be interested in a legit revenue model. there are whole networks out there like indy mogul or impressive standalone shorts like fede alvarez's 'panic attack' that, if given a push, could produce even more impressive things.

i may be 100% wrong tbh

^ also the youtube culture thing etc

not to speak of all the many great actors and dramatists who got their first breaks on youtube.

p claro imo

what's the advantage of filmmakers going through amazon versus doing stuff like this?

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2010/10/open-five.html

http://www.nobudgefilms.com/

This page seems to be somewhat hidden (in Canada at least) so I'm throwing it up here

Free ebooks collection
http://www.amazon.com/b?node=2245146011

Includes the kindle daily deal on the top left.

Also I have found mobileread.com to be a good source of free ebooks.

just DL'd 'american book of the dead' free on amazon and lovin it so far

I have one of these now! And have thrown my collection of OCR'd PDFs onto it, which I now realise I should probably organise better (e.g. why indeed I want to read 2499371 tonight). I do have a question though: one of the PDFs I tried to view has the bottom line on each page obscured by the page number bar - is there anything I can do about this? Besides changing the zoom, which is a bit of a pain because it means I have to move lots to get around the page. I couldn't find anything looking it up, and I appreciate that perhaps DIY-scanned and uploaded PDFs aren't necessarily going to be compatible, but I'd quite like a fix.

what's an OCR'd PDF? i run my pdf's through calibre and they generally come out completely readable. good for converting other formats into kindle friendly, iphone friendly etc formats

anyone else quite regularly notice spelling mistakes in the ebooks they download on the kindle? or is it just me reading trashy books

quite a few ocr issues (i.e. once every few pages) in the ONE BILLION BOOKS YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE t0rr3nt i found.

what's up

http://www.kindlepost.com/2011/09/kindle-books-now-available-at-local-libraries.html

tpp anything i've d/l'd legit has had errors and words bre aki ng up li ke th is but anything i've ahem acquired or that was free has been ok

Just checked out some kindle books from the Seattle library. Easiest if your Kindle has wifi; mine's 3g only so have to copy the files via usb. Still an easy process.

You can get them from the NYPL too. Books were in a weird grayed out limbo when I tried to download over 3G until I realized about the WiFi. So a need for Wifi or USB but no need for
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/libraryken.jpg

because i'm a nerd, i'm watching a livestream of the kindle announcement today. so far they've announced a $99 kindle touch - basically the e-ink kindle with a touchscreen to turn pages, etc.