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TKC Video: K3 Speed Test in Ocean Park

In this video, I compare the speed of 3G v. WiFi on a pair of Kindle 3s set up with identical configuration except for the wireless connection. Both are set to enable Java and Images, and cookies and history were cleared before the test. WiFi here at the cottage in Ocean Park, Maine, where the video was filmed, is averaging 9 Mb/second download and .22 Mb/second upload.

Note – The video player below links to the Blip.tv version of the review, which is identical in content but has lower resolution and file size — it’s the one that will go in the RSS feed and be available if you subscribe to The Kindle Chronicles in iTunes:

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Posted 28 August 2010 † Len Edgerly § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (3) °

TKC 110 Darlene

News – 1) Early reviews of the Kindle 3 are uniformly positive, including judgments by David Pogue,  Wired Magazine, Fast Company, and The Telegraph. 2) The Jackal backpedals with Random House, putting a premature end to a Kindle exclusive on some great backlist titles. 3) Amazon touts record sales of the Kindle 3 without saying how many they sold.  4) J. A. Konrath reports that he sells 60 times more of his books at the Kindle Store than he does at Apple’s iBooks store.  5) Seth Godin has had it with traditional publishing.

Tech Tip – Paul Levin provides my first Kindle 3 tip, using the WiFi to transfer personal documents without a charge.

Interview (10:55) – My wife Darlene and I compare notes after a week of trying out a review copy of the Kindle 3.

Content – If you’re looking for new Kindle-related podcasts, be sure to check out eBook Ninjas and Unruly Guides.

Note – Please click here to vote for my South by Southwest Interactive 2011 panel proposal, “Surviving the E-Book Revolution.” Thanks!

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Posted 27 August 2010 † Len Edgerly § Kindle ‡ Comments (12) ° Tagged: , , ,

TKC Video: A Fireside Chat

In this fireside chat on a stormy day at Ocean Park, I compared the WebKit browser in the new Kindle 3 with the browser in the Kindle 2. I looked at the speed with which they both arrived at a web page, and I considered the differing views of the web page by each. I also looked at the new Kindle’s Article Mode in operation, but so far I have not been impressed with it. I may be doing something wrong, or there may be updates coming.  Filmed by Darlene on my iPhone at Ocean Park, Maine, on August 25, 2010.

Click on the player below for a smaller, lower-resolution video that will go on the RSS feed for mobile devices:

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Posted 26 August 2010 † Len Edgerly § Kindle ‡ Comments (6) ° Tagged: , , , ,

TKC Video Extra: K3 Review

I’ve been reading on and exploring a new Kindle Free 3G +WiFi for three days now, using an Amazon review copy that arrived here in Maine on August 18.  This video presents what I think is so great about the Kindle 3, as well as one disappointment I have in it.

I had already pre-ordered my new Kindle 3, so I plan to donate the review Kindle to EBooksForTroops as part of our new project to donate used Kindle 2′s to U.S. soldiers on active duty in Afghanistan. You can learn about this initiative by clicking here.  We also just received word that the IRS has approved the E-Books for Troops 501(c)(3) application, so donations to the nonprofit are now officially tax-deductible. We will use the Gazelle listings for value of the donated Kindles for tax purposes.

This video demonstration of the new Kindle compares it with my Kindle 2 and covers size and weight, speed, clarity of display, improved PDF capabilities, accessibility, WiFi, and the missing row of numbers keys.

(The video player below links to the Blip.tv version of the review, which is identical in content but has lower resolution and file size — it’s the one that will go in the RSS feed and be available if you subscribe to The Kindle Chronicles in iTunes: )

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Posted 22 August 2010 † Len Edgerly § Kindle ‡ Comments (18) ° Tagged:

TKC 109 Craig Findlay

Craig Findlay and his son, Cam

News – 1. Blogger Keith Peters takes a VERY close look at the Kindle and iPad screens.  2) Amazon updates its Kindle for PC app. Andrys Basten comments.  3) The expected shipping date for new Kindles slips again, to September 17. 4) Stephen Windwalker is finishing up his latest Kindle Nation survey. 5) The IRS gives unusually fast approval  to the 501(c)(3) application of E-Books for Troops, making it official that donations to the nonprofit are tax-deductible.  Also, we launch Kindle 2 for Troops, a way that you can send in your Kindle 2 and we’ll distribute it to a soldier in Afghanistan. Thanks to Mike Cain, iReaderReview, TeleRead, and Stephen Windwalker for helping to spread the word!

Tech Tip – Allen MacDiarmid alerts me to a better way to highlight long passages on the Kindle, and also shares a shortcut for Text-to-Speech controls.

Interview (12:01) – Craig Findlay of Kelso, Scotland, is an avid Kindle user who is delighted with the opening of Amazon’s new Kindle U.K. store.  In a Skype call from Maine to Scotland on August 18, 2010, we discussed the pace of e-book adoption in the U.K., the pricing of e-books, and more.  Craig is going to take this creative writing course at Open University, the better to publish his own novel on Kindle some day.

Content – Common as Air: Revolution, Art and Ownership by Lewis Hyde looks like a great read, and I have an interview scheduled with the author on September 2, 2010.

Comments – Judy Lin on Kindle gifting, Chris Baker on my Wolf Hall Tournament of E-Readers video, Amy Leigh on her 10 Kindle Cases You Can Build For Free post, Rick Askenase on the Kindle tipping point, Jean Remple on Bob Stein, and Steve Wisener on bundling e-books with print books.

You can help! Click here to give a thumbs up to my South by Southwest Interactive panel proposal, “Surviving the E-Book (or EBook) Revolution.”

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Posted 21 August 2010 † Len Edgerly § Kindle ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , , , ,

TKC 108 Russ Grandinetti

News – 1. Will Amazon make it possible to give Kindle books straight to your Kindle? Is that a good idea? 2. Plastic Logic abandons the Que ProReader before launch.  Click here for the interview I did with Maureen Mellon at the Que’s booth at CES in January. 3. The National Federation of the Blind commends Amazon for the accessibility improvements included in the next generation of Kindles. 4. Blogger Mike Cane urges Jeff Bezos to pounce on the opportunity to buy Barnes & Noble.

Tech Tip – Courtesy of the Me and My Kindle blog and Teleread, a reminder on how to delete a whole bunch of typing with one click.

Interview (starts at 12:03) – Russ Grandinetti, Amazon’s Vice President for Kindle Content, in a conversation by Skype and phone on August 11, 2011, talks about social media, Google Editions, and whether there will be serious shortages of the Kindle 3.

Content – Pete Hamill’s upcoming book on immigration, They Are Us, will skip print altogether and go straight to e-book format this fall.

If you’d like to support my panel proposal for South by Southwest Interactive 2010, titled “How You Can Survive the E-Book Revolution,” with Joshua Tallent, please click here and vote for the proposal and leave a comment. This might improve our chances of being selected to present the panel at SXSW.  Thanks!

If you are itching to pre-order a Kindle 3 but don’t know what to do with your trusty Kindle 2, check out E-Books for Troops early next week. Ken Clark and I are cooking up a great solution.

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Posted 14 August 2010 † Len Edgerly § Kindle ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , , , , ,

TKC 107 Baratunde Thurston

Photo by Alexa Lee

News – 1: The next-generation Kindles are temporarily sold out, and the ship date has slipped from August 27 to September 4.  Andrys Basten details more features of the Kindle 3. 2: Amazon updates the Kindle for iPad/iPhone/Touch app. 3: Jeff Bezos explains to Charlie Rose the difference between an iPad and a Kindle. Hint: one of them is not used to play Angry Birds. 4: Are Shuffled Row and Every Word the first two Kindle Apps? 5: I receive direct confirmation from the Google Books Team that the soon-to-be-launched Google Editions e-book store will not debut with the Kindle as a supported partner device, but you will be able to buy my mother’s book in non-DRM’d PDF format for reading on your Kindle.

News That Broke Too Late for Audio: Amazon announces the opening of its new U.K. Kindle store.

Tech Tip – You can make a nice e-book from your WordPress blog with the Anthologize plug-in. Thanks to Chris Martin for this tip!

Interview – Baratunde Thurston, Web and Politics Editor at The Onion, was my very first interview guest two years ago on TKC 1, which was uploaded on July 26, 2008.  So it was great to talk to him again for an update on his Kindle habits, including the sad news of his original Kindle’s untimely end  on the streets of New York City. We spoke via a Maine-to-NYC Skype connection on August 4, 2010.

Content – Stephen Windwalker releases an important new book, How to Price eBooks for the Kindle: A Pocket Pricing Guide for Authors and Publishers to Maximize Sales and Royalties with the New 70 Percent Royalty Option. Mrs. GeekTonic reviews FantasticFiction, a good site for finding e-books to read on your Kindle, and Candy Yates recommends KindleIQ, a site that will notify you of free e-books and price decreases.

Comments – Thorn on the too-many-ebooks problem and Patrick Scott with a good question on K3 hardware.

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Posted 06 August 2010 † Len Edgerly § Kindle ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , , , , ,

TKC 106 Stephen Windwalker

This is NOT the new Kindle...

In this abbreviated episode, I share impressions of the new Kindle with the only other person I know who saw one during previews conducted in Boston by Amazon.  Stephen Windwalker, creator of the Kindle Nation blog, took time out from his on-deadline authoring to explain why he believes Amazon has once again managed to hit “the sweet spot” with a host of new features and design improvements to the six-inch Kindle, available now for pre-order, with deliveries beginning August 27.

Click here to download this episode.

[podcast]http://traffic.libsyn.com/thekindlechronicles/TKC_106_Stephen_Windwalker_1.mp3[/podcast]

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Posted 30 July 2010 † Len Edgerly § Kindle ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: , ,

TKC Extra – Preview of the New Kindle!

I had a chance to check out the brand-new Kindle six-inch on Monday, July 26, 2010, which happened to be the two-year anniversary of the first episode of the podcast. So it was a good day to take the Amtrak Downeaster from Old Orchard Beach to North Station for a rendezvous at the Fifteen Beacon Hotel with Jay Marine, Director of Product Development for the Kindle, and Stephanie Mantello, Senior PR Manager for the Kindle.

This episode comprises my first impressions of the new Kindle, recorded on Beacon Street immediately after the preview, as well as some added details from the press release, recorded in Cambridge, Mass., on July 27, 2010.

Click here to download this episode.

[podcast]http://traffic.libsyn.com/thekindlechronicles/TKC_Extra_7-27-10.mp3[/podcast]

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Posted 28 July 2010 † Len Edgerly § Kindle ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: ,

TKC 105 Bob Stein

Photograph copyright James Duncan Davidson

News – 1: Amazon announces stunning new data showing the Kindle has done quite nicely during the first three months of the iPad Era. Mike Kane says Kindle is now the new standard for eBook formats. Also weighing in on the news are Stephen Windwalker, Andrys Basten, Bufo Calvin, and Abhi. 2: Literary Agent Andrew “The Jackal” Wylie makes good on his threat to create his own publishing arm, which makes an exclusive deal with Amazon for 20 $9.99 Kindle titles by modern literary giants.  Random House is not amused. Mike Kane says get over it, Amazon has won. Here’s a good Guardian piece on the row and Harvard Magazine’s profile tells how The Jackal got his name.  Andrys Basten suggests you back up these titles if you buy them, in case Random House succeeds in rolling this deal back somehow. 3: Amazon’s stock price recovers after opening sharply lower as a result of great earnings in the second quarter. Huh? 4: My video take on the new Borders e-reader, Aluratek’s Libre.

Tech Tip – With help from Joshua Tallent, listener Alan Morris completes his labor of love, turning a memoir by an RAF pilot, The Last Enemy by Richard Hillary, into a high-quality e-book.  He’s offering the e-book at no charge to publishers who own the rights to the book, in hopes it will survive into the digital age.  You can help by clicking here and then clicking on the “I’d Like to Read this Book on Kindle” button. Alan gives a very thorough account of how he did it in this blog post, which you might want to check out if you have a similar e-book project you’d like to undertake.

Interview – Bob Stein, founder of the Institute for the Future of the Book, spoke with me from Portugal on July 13, 2010, about his vision of the book.  Also mentioned in our conversation: Craig Mod’s “Embracing the Digital Book,” Sophie, Commentpress, Eucalyptus reader, and Eastgate Systems. Click here for the “On the Media” NPR program on which Bob appeared on July 2, 2010. If his plans for a new publishing venture materialize, you’ll see information about it here.

Comments – From John C. Adamson, Mary Hundley, and Rick Askenase.

Next Week – To celebrate the second anniversary of the Kindle Chronicles, I plan to interview my very first guest, Baratunde Thurston, who appeared on TKC 1 on July 26, 2008.

Click here to download this episode.

[podcast]http://traffic.libsyn.com/thekindlechronicles/TKC_105_Bob_Stein_1.mp3[/podcast]

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Posted 23 July 2010 † Len Edgerly § Kindle ‡ Comments (6) ° Tagged: , , ,