Kindle: Great service needs a better device

Seven years ago I took the novels of Jane Austen with me to Egypt. As my companion read and reread her sole paperback, I simply turned on my Rocket eBook and made my way from "Sense and Sensibility" to "Persuasion." The backlit screen was easy to read, the interface simple — I was hooked.

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Report: Amazon to Unveil E-Book Reader

Amazon.com Inc. is expected to unveil its long-awaited e-book reader at a media event Monday in New York, according to CNet Networks Inc.'s technology news site.

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ebooks ipod apps

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Amazon's changes include abandoning the Kindle 2, dropping the price of the new international edition from $279 to $259, and introducing a new Kindle for PC application as part of the launch of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system.

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On Wednesday, iRex Technologies, a spinoff of Royal Philips Electronics that already makes one of Europe's best-known e-readers, plans to announce that it is entering the United States market with a $399 touch-screen e-reader.

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They may be cheaper and more convenient, writes Andrew Keen, but ebooks do not represent meaningful cultural progress.

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After researching some different eBook readers for Blackberries, I'm proud to say that I'm very impressed with the Mobipocket eBook Reader. In fact, I'm obsessed with it! Anyway, you can download books to your Blackberry through your computer or through WiFi or your data plan.

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The American Chemical Society found that most subscribers to its academic journals no longer want the print version, and the group's VP of Web strategy says it's only a matter of time before print fades away completely.

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Sony, which we've blasted in the past for an insistence on proprietary formats, will support the open standard ePub format for its ebook readers.

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The new gadget, made by Elonex for Borders UK, is not particularly flashy. Where the Sony Reader and Amazon's Kindle - which is not available in Britain - are sleek and beautiful, the Borders eBook is simple and functional.

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I included this article as a starting point. Perhaps you don't believe that the Kindle can get any better. This group can also be used as a starting point for discussin the change-over form paper books to the ebook medium in schools and at home. Let's talk about it!

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In discussions with publishers at the annual BookExpo convention in New York over the weekend, Google signaled its intent to introduce a program by that would enable publishers to sell digital versions of their newest books direct to consumers through Google.

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In the world of e-book readers, that's huge. But if Apple fulfills expectations and releases a tablet-style computer later this year, it's going to render the Kindle — no matter what screen size — almost instantly moot.

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According to a number of well-substantiated rumors, Amazon is set to debut a new, large-screen version of its Kindle eBook reader on Wednesday morning during a press conference at Pace University in New York City.

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Amazon is holding a press event on Wednesday, and the rumor mill has reached a consensus: it's set to release a large-format reader, more suitable to book and magazine content.

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Electronic books may be the fastest growing segment of the publishing world, but some authors are still not interested in participating. You won't, for instance, find any of the Harry Potter novels in digital format.

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ebooks are becoming increasingly more popular, one author asks the question, is kindling become a verb, as google did?

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Could Apple netbook be an iPhone/XO hybrid?

Rumors suggest that Apple's long rumored netbook is around the corner. Additional rumors point to a possible eBook tie-in. That's intriguing. My first thought, though, was that what I love most about the Kindle is it's eInk screen, which requires as much light as a normal book.

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Fictionwise has been acquired by Barnes & Noble, said to be the world's largest bookseller, for $15.7 million in a stock deal that TeleRead revealed earlier today.

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It sounds like a case of attempting to suppress technological evolution without considering that techno-nerds will find a solution to allowing the reader to decide if he or she wishes to listen to the eBook she or he is downloading.

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Having used both Kindles 1 and 2, I thought it would helpful to list where the new Kindle excels and where it falters.

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Analysts see profits from the new version of Amazon's e-book reader, but they stop short of calling it a major disruptor like Apple's music player.

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A Better Kindle Still Isn't Great

When the first Kindle came out it inspired in me a sense of ugh. It was hideous to look at with an awkward appearing keyboard and hugely obtrusive buttons along the sides.

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At $359 for the Kindle, that's a luxury device anyway you look at it. Like most consumer electronic devices, getting below $200 is key to capturing a more mainstream audience.

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Remember my review of Amazon's first Kindle? I thought it sucked. Almost all of my ire was aimed at its design. I couldn't hold it or pass it to other people without it flipping pages and the UI looked like something Microsoft designed back in the late 1980s.

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The pace of the e-book market over the past decade has been excruciatingly—and yes, you guessed it, unjustly—slow. My frustration is much like that of the Mac users of old.

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Plastic Logic--a company founded to commercialize electronics built on flexible plastic substrates--demonstrated a prototype e-book reader (not yet named) and announced that it plans to ship this product in the first half of next year. You can read the press release for yourself.

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