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TKC 81 James McQuivey

News – Amazon says it will have to capitulate to Macmillan, but when? Five days after its notice of capitulation, at least two best-selling Macmillan books still have no Buy buttons at Amazon.

UPDATE: Just after recording the episode, I checked Amazon for Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, and it’s now available in hardcover for $13.46.  No Kindle edition at any price. Brad Stone and Motoko Rich break the story in Bits.

Forrester’s James McQuivey says that by capitulating Amazon actually wins in the short term and long term.  Dave Slusher of Evil Genius Chronicles echoes a twitterer’s question — “How does increased competition (Apple’s iBooks to Amazon) result in higher prices to consumers?” — and adds, “That, sir, is an excellent question and one worth thinking about.”  Or do Amazon simply look like fools?

News item #2: Amazon reportedly buys a touchscreen maker.

News item #3: 93 percent of these eReader owners are very or somewhat satisfied with their devices.

Tech tip - Via Andrys Basten’s Kindleworld, Steve Brady (aka The Professor) creates a Word macro (Windows only) that might bring some order to your My Clippings file.  To see your highlights and notes online, click here.

Interview - This is the conclusion of my conversation on February 1, 2010, with James McQuivey, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, where he covers media technology. In this part, James describes what his Forrester associates are calling “The Kindle Flame.”  That’s the next version of Kindle, the one that will really get the fire going. Click here for the first half of the interview at The Reading Edge.

Content – Instapaper just keeps getting better for Kindle users.

Your comments - Lots more discussion of the Apple iPad, and a way for authors to autograph Kindles!

HOW TO WIN A KINDLE AND ACCESSORY – Click here to check out out my new Facebook “Reading Edge” page. If you become a fan, you will automatically be entered to win a brand new 6-inch Kindle and one accessory from Octovo.  The drawing will at noon on April 1, 2010. Thanks to Elle Moran and Octovo for sponsoring this contest!

Click here to download this episode.

 
Posted 05 February 2010 † Len Edgerly § Kindle ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , , , , , ,

TKC 80 Brad Stone

News – Amazon beats expectations by reporting a whopping 71-percent increase in net income for the fourth quarter of 2009 and offers its first-ever information on how many Kindles the company has sold.  Apple presents to the world its gorgeous tablet, the iPad.  In the long-running soap opera known as “Who Will Kill the Kindle?” Steve Jobs’s presentation had plenty of pundits declaring “game over.”  Not so much on Wall Street, or among four leading Kindle bloggers – Andrys Basten, Stephen Windwalker, Abhi, and Bufo Calvin.

Tech Tip - How to keep track on your Kindle of words you’ve looked up using the built-in Oxford American Dictionary or another dictionary which you’ve set to the default dictionary.

Interview – Brad Stone, New York Times technology reporter in San Francisco, is one of the lucky few who not only touched but had a chance to try out an iPad at Apple’s debut extravaganza on January 27.  I spoke with him that night about his impressions of Apple’s new creation, and about what he thinks the impact will be on the Kindle and other dedicated eReaders.  This episode contains the first portion of our conversation.  The conclusion is posted here, at my new companion podcast, The Reading Edge.  Note: In fact, TKC 80 contains the entire Brad Stone interview, because I neglected to delete the conclusion here.  The conclusion is also available at The Reading Edge Episode 7 along with the Steve Jobs’s comments about the Kindle and the iBooks store.  Sorry for the confusion.  –Len

Click here to go directly to audio for the second part of the interview.

Content – Harvard Business Review and Amazon launch an innovative use of the Kindle Store, selling HBR titles by chapters as Short Cuts.  I sampled the $3.16 book summary of The Innovator’s Dilemma: Why New Technologies Cause Great Companies to Fail,  by HBS Professor Clayton M. Christensen.

Comments – Because of the volume of terrific comments prompted by the release of the iPad, I have created a separate episode for the comments this week.  Click here to hear from Pastor Mark Pierce, Mary McManus, Bob Anderson, Jim Jones, Kipp Poe, Jean Remple, Marie Sotiriou, Dan Meyers, John Halkias, Candy Yates, and Stace Wile.  For audio link to comments, click here.

Click here to download this episode.

 
Posted 29 January 2010 † Len Edgerly § Kindle ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , , , , ,

TKC 80a Your Comments on iPad

Jim Jones of Omaha

I’ve been reading nonstop this week about the iPad’s impact on the Kindle and eReaders, and some of the smartest commentary so far comes from listeners of The Kindle Chronicles.

So this is a special episode comprising just your comments.  Many thanks to those who joined the conversation, namely Pastor Mark Pierce, Mary McManus, Bob Anderson, Jim Jones (in photo at right), Kipp Poe, Jean Remple, Marie Sotiriou, Dan Meyers, John Halkias, Candy Yates, and Stace Wile.

There’s more to be said, so please feel free to email me at PodChronicles AT Gmail DOT com, or leave a comment here on the show notes page.  You can also leave an audio comment by calling 206-666-2713.

You might be interested in a Wired.com article titled “Apple iPad Raises the Stakes for eReaders” by Priya Ganapati.  I’m proud to be quoted by her as a die-hard e-reader fan, and I thought she did a good job reporting a complex story in a fair way.

Click here to download this episode.

 
Posted 29 January 2010 † Len Edgerly § Kindle ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , , ,

TKC 79 Seth Harwood

News – Amazon announces it will open the Kindle to application developers. Abhi has some ideas on good candidates.  Authors and publishers using the Digital Text Platform for Kindle will get a sweeter deal as of June 30. David Pogue goes ballistic when his daughter discovers that Barnes & Noble has been lying about the true weight of the nook.  Stephen Windwalker’s homerun headline on the matter (and his savvy take on the DTP change.) Amazon’s Kindle marketing department comes up with the equivalent of free beer.

Tech Tip – Via listener Bill Carson, a tip for sharing web content with someone in a place like, say, China, where not everything is available the way it is in the U.S.

Interview – Seth Harwood talks about his experimental and successful journey via podcasting to publication of his crime novel, Jack Wakes Up, and his new collection of well-honed stories available in Kindle edition, A Long Way from Disney. Photo by Mark Coggins.

Content – Via Jean Remple, a great explanation in The Times of Apple’s whatever-it-is, to be revealed next week.  Two new Kindle books worth checking out: One Way Journey by Dean Whitbread and Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business by Steve Garfield.

And your comments…

Click here to download this episode.

 
Posted 23 January 2010 † Len Edgerly § Kindle ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , , ,

TKC 78 Harvey Chute

Intro - How was Las Vegas? I ruminated on our stay for CES here.

News – Can the Kindle really account for 90 percent of all eBook sales? TBI Research says yes, according to unnamed sources. Abhi says it’s not totally crazy. Are you getting tired of HarperCollins delaying eBook releases?  Some of us got rowdy at the Amazon listing for Game Change, leaving one-star reviews that maybe will get someone’s attention. Stephen Windwalker notes the book is still selling well.  Marion Maneker muses about how much easier it would be to match supply to demand if publishers took advantage of the eBook platform instead of delaying eBook versions.  The National Federation of the Blind settles with ASU. Amazon makes it easy to send support to Mercy Corps to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti. And finally, via Rick Limpert and Bufo Calvin, changes in Amazon’s self-publishing service, the Digital Text Platform.

Tech Tip – Via Andrys Basten, here’s the official word on whether you should turn your Kindle all the way off at the end of the day, or simply put it in sleep mode.

Interview – Harvey Chute,  webmaster and owner of the fast-growing Kindle Boards forum, sat down for a visit at CES in Las Vegas.  He was busy learning about all the rival eBook readers, and he told us about what surprised him most in the eBook TechZone.  Check out some of his photos and commentary on eBooks here.

Content – Thoughts on Michael Seringhaus’s recently published “E-Book Transactions: Amazon ‘Kindles’ the Copy Ownershhip Debate” in the Yale Journal of Law & Technology.

… and lots of comments!

Click here to download this episode.

 

Be sure to check out my new podcast, The Reading Edge.  The first episode is up, an interview with a product expert for the Sony Reader.

Posted 15 January 2010 † Len Edgerly § Kindle ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , , ,

TKC EXTRA – Meet Alex

I got my hands on an Alex on January 9, 2009 2010 at the Marvell booth at CES in Las Vegas. I was VERY impressed with the sensititivity of the touch screen at the bottom of the device, and the slim hardware. This looks like what the nook should have been. Here is the video that Darlene took of my experimentation. The Marvell booth had an Alex in a black case and another in white, both stunning.

Video taken by my official Broadcast Crew at CES, Darlene.

Posted 10 January 2010 † Len Edgerly § The Reading Edge ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , ,

TKC 77 Patrick Mish

News – Kindle DX goes global.

Tech Tip – Can’t delete an item from your Kindle using with the 5-way controller? Rick Askenase to the rescue…

Interview – Not everyone with an eBook entrepreneurial mission is making eBooks. Patrick Mish, CEO of M-Edge Accessories, tells how he and his wife reacted early to the eBook boom by focusing with laser-like intensity on covers and other accessories.

Content – I can’t say I’ve managed to get this new source of newpaper content to actually work on my Kindle, but I’ve gotten close enough to know that PressDisplay is worth checking out.

Comments – Lots of great comments on covers, the mysterious 311 command, and more. Including an audio comment on content from Linda Hopkins.

Dan Weitman of NewMediazine did a thorough profile of The Kindle Chronicles.  Check it out here.

We’re headed back to CES for more interviews in the eBook TechZone.  I’ll be uploading them to the new podcast I’m creating, The Reader’s Edge, which will cover eBooks in a more general way than The Kindle Chronicles.  Stay tuned!

Click here to download this episode.

 
Posted 08 January 2010 † Len Edgerly § Kindle ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: , , , ,

TKC EXTRA – enTourage’s eDGe

Joe Kralowetz, software director at enTourage Systems, demos what they’re calling the first dualbook – the eDGE, which has one eInk screen and one LCD screen. Interesting concept.

Note: the duplicate video player below enables the video to be part of my feed to iTunes. There must be a way to have only one view of the video player in these show notes, but I don’t have time to figure it out here at the Venetian this morning.

 
Posted 08 January 2010 † Len Edgerly § The Reading Edge ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , ,

TKC Extra – Interead

Neil Jones, Interead CEO

The Interead booth at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has a nice wall of “real” books and appearances by authors available on the COOL-ER reader.

Yesterday (January 7, 2010) I spoke first with Erin Mitchell, head of communications for Interead, who got my attention at the booth by asserting that it is a bad idea to have dictionaries built into eReaders, because you learn words better by looking them up in a paper dictionary.  That led to a lively conversation that I enjoyed.

Neil Jones, CEO and founder of Interead, was available later in the day for a chat about why he founded the company and his ambitions for its role in the fast-growing eBook industry.

Click here to download this episode.

 
Posted 08 January 2010 † Len Edgerly § The Reading Edge ‡ Comments (4) ° Tagged: , , ,

TKC Extra – Mobile Logic’s Maureen Mellon

Maureen Mellon, senior director of product marketing at Plastic Logic, tells about the development of the company’s new proReader Que, which made its debut at CES today.

The Plastic Logic booth was one of the hot destinations at the Consumer Electronics Show.  Attendees and media crowded around the company representatives as they gave demos of the reader, which is aimed primarily at business users.

Click here to download this episode.

 
Posted 08 January 2010 † Len Edgerly § The Reading Edge ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,