The Kindle Chronicles

News – The Kindle iPhone and iPod Touch app 1.3 now works in 60 countries. Via the New York Times, Stephen Covey — not Stephen King — makes the e-deal heard round the publishing world. Anne Rice wonders if it’s a good idea. The nook is rooted, the nook is rooted! Audio interview with Robbie Trencheny, the California high school student who started NookDevs. Click here to follow him on Twitter. Mr. and Mrs. GeekTonic post their must-read reviews of the nook.

Tech Tip – Len’s 2Doo list 2.o, with help from Larry Goss. Also, your host proves to be a dim bulb in the mysterious matter of a Mighty Bright clip-on light that wasn’t getting the nightime job done.

Interview – Eric Engleman, senior tech writer at TechFlash, pretty much covers just one company – Amazon. That gives him a lot of time for hard work the development of good sources, which gives him unusual insight into what’s ahead for the Kindle and its competitors. We spoke by Skype/landline on December 15, 2009.

Content – Via Bufo Calvin’s blog, I learn that Barnes & Noble’s Fictionwise has a Kindle store!

Comments – Esmerald deTrafford’s downloading woes down under, Bruce Bouchard on Babylon Dictionary software, Vern Elmore on eBeam, Ted Inoue on Kindle version 2.3 fonts (click here for the one I use for darker, larger font on my Kindle-US), Craig Findlay’s net additional cost to upgrade from a Sony PRS505 to a Kindle International is 20 pounds thanks to eBay, Alex Bowman looks forward to the next meetup, Craig Scarberry on Cory Doctorow, Al MacDiarmid’s very bad time updating to 2.3, Peggy Poellot speaking up on behalf of the original Kindle, Blair Savin’s sunlight 2.3 problem, and Richard Fischer on the Magic Catalog of Project Gutenberg.

Next Week: Will TKC staff succeed in their (her, actually) reasonable request for one week off a year? Stay tuned….

News – Second looks at the Nook: Staci D. Kramer at PaidContent asks “what else do we need to know about the Nook?” Will publishers cripple the LendMe feature? Joe Wilcox cancels his Nook preorder after comparing eBook prices between Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, lets slip a reference to the “Apple slate”. Click here for the “off the record” video obtained by Neiman Journalism Lab.

Tech Tip – My personal method for creating a To Do list within a book I’m reading on my Kindle.

Interview – Michael Koenig, director of MBA operations at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, has been a prime mover of Darden’s pilot program testing the Kindle DX in a test involving 60 MBA students. Click here for Darden’s very good BusinessCast, which interviewed Robert Carroway, associate dean for MBA education, in June after he and Koenig had attended the press conference unveiling the DX. Koenig makes clear that Amazon is serious about its test of the higher education market for Kindles, and that there are areas for improvement of the current design of the DX. Did anyone say “folders?”

Content – Stephen Windwalker notes that the new Barbara Kingsolver novel, The Lacuna, is available for pre-order for $9. And Karen Oland reports the same is true for Pirate Latitudes by Michael Chrichton, due for release in hardcover and Kindle on Nov. 24th, and Under the Dome by Stephen King, set for Kindle release on Dec. 24th – more than a month after the hardcover release on Nov. 10. Grrrr.

Comments – Craig Findlay from Scotland, Steve Gold relays Kindle news from Japan via the Mainichi Daily News, James Palmer and Rick Limpert note USA Today’s coverage of the Cushing Academy digital library, Linda Hopkins on the Nook, Allen MacDiarmid on the large-fonts hack for Kindle 2, Jesslyn Hendrix on the 2.0.4 firmware, Ann Miner on Bookmarks Magazine, Melissa Gann and John Halkias on Kindle for PC (and Mac and Blackberry).