Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve found yourself somewhat irked by the Kindle‘s lackluster organizing abilities, you clearly aren’t alone. A post by The Kindle Team over on Facebook has made clear that Amazon is aware of the shortcoming, and it’s currently toiling away on a “better way to organize your growing Kindle libraries.” No details are given about the forthcoming solution, but the team does confess that it’ll be released as an over-the-air update “in the first half of next year.” Huzzah?

[Thanks, Anthony]

Amazon promises update to better ‘organize Kindle libraries’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kindle fans now have one more place they can read their e-books: a PC. Kindle for PC joins the equally well-named Kindle for iPhone and, er, Kindle for Kindle in the list of ways to read Amazon’s digital-rights-managed content. A Mac version is “coming soon”.

The application does pretty much what the iPhone version does: Your place is synced with other devices by Whispersync, and there is support for your bookmarks and annotations. You can browse and buy from the Kindle Store, but you can’t access blogs, newspapers or magazines. This isn’t a problem, we guess, as you’re sitting at a computer with a web browser anyway.

But the thing that intrigues us is the screenshot above (along with more on the Amazon site) that shows a book with color illustrations. This may mean a color Kindle is on its way, or that Amazon is simply future-proofing its Kindle books. Either way, since when did Kindle books get color pictures? It would seem rather bandwidth-unfriendly to a company that restricts international downloads to save on the wireless bills.

On the other hand, you can now buy and read Kindle books without buying a Kindle. Amazon must be expecting its brand name to shift a lot of e-books direct to computers. Imagine, then, how it would answer the question “Why are the pictures on my $1000 computer in black and white?”

Product page [Amazon]

See Also:

• Kindle for PC Could Trigger E-Book Piracy

One of the Kindle’s sweetest features is Whispersync, which lets you put down one device and keep right on reading on another, just from where you left off. This means that you can read at home on the Kindle itself, but when you find yourself in a long queue at the store, you can keep reading on your iPhone. This idea of the “book” existing independent of the device is a rather forward thinking one. If you live in the United States.

Along with the crippled, half-baked international launch of the Kindle, Amazon has still not made the “Kindle for iPhone” application available for its overseas customers. The only place to find it is in the US app store. Since I used my iPod Touch almost exclusively to read books for the past year, this is pretty annoying. Perhaps there is a workaround?

It turns out there is. Thanks to the iTunes Store option to choose “none” as a payment method, you can sign up for a US iTunes account with nothing more than an e-mail address (not the one you normally use), a real address and a cellphone number. Any free applications are then available to download, and best of all, when you hook up your iPhone or iPod Touch the application just syncs.

So does it work? Yes. I launched Kindle for iPhone and input my Amazon login. All my purchased books were there, at exactly the place I had left off on the Kindle itself. And while this is a rather big deal for any foreign Kindle and iPhone owners, this experiment shows that US travelers will have access to Whispersync via their cellphones whilst abroad.

None of my newspapers showed up, and neither did any books or documents I had loaded on there myself, so this is limited to the books bought from the Kindle store. But hey, it’s free. If you know how to get it.

Product page [iTunes]

See Also:

• Crippleware Alert! International Kindle Gets No Web Access Outside …
• Hands-On With the International Kindle and Its Surprise Web Access …
• Amazon Kills U.S. Kindle, Cuts International Price
• Amazon Dumps Sprint for Kindle 2, Embraces AT&T
• International Kindle Now Shipping: The Good, the Bad and the …

Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he’ll explore where our industry is and where it’s going — on both micro and macro levels — with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

There was a raging debate going on last week at Engadget HQ over the role of dedicated ebook readers that spilled over on to the Engadget Show. You can watch the show here, but essentially big boss Joshua Topolsky and Paul Miller feel that the new Barnes and Noble Nook is going to be a hit — the one machine that gets suburban moms to buy. On the other hand, Nilay Patel, rationally (as he agrees with me) says it’s not going to happen and there’s no mass market for dedicated ebook readers. I’m going to weigh in and say Nilay is probably right.

Now don’t get me wrong, this is not entirely an integration vs. convergence story. I believe there’s a market for dedicated devices: cameras have not been displaced by music phones, media players have not been displaced by music phones and ebook readers could serve bibliophiles, especially those who travel a lot. However, mobile reader apps like those from Amazon and Barnes & Noble can easily tap into more casual markets, allowing users to leverage the investment in screens they already own instead of buying a dedicated device. That’s one reason why I think it has been important for Amazon and B&N to get their ebook platform onto as many devices with screens as possible, and why Sony’s making a mistake by ignoring the opportunity.

Continue reading Entelligence: Of ebooks and suburban moms

Filed under: Handhelds

Entelligence: Of ebooks and suburban moms originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember that legal dealio with Apple that erupted after the Norwegian Consumer Council, Forbrukerrådet, read the iTunes EULA? Right, that toothless complaint that waffled on for years until it was finally rendered moot by Apple going DRM-free — long after Apple benefited from the iTunes-to-iPod lock-in. Well, it’s brewing again only this time the council has focused its meticulously crafted aluminum spectacles, often highlighted with vibrant reds or blues, upon Amazon’s practice of tying its content exclusively to the Kindle’s new international reader. According to a critique published by the Council’s boss, Hans Marius Graasvold, the fine print in the Kindle’s terms of service, “violated several provisions of Norwegian consumer protection law.” He takes exception with Amazon’s ability terminate the terms of service entirely should customers violate said terms. In other words, Amazon could deny you access to all your purchased books if you make an illegal copy of just one — unimaginable by brick-and-mortar standards where a Wal-mart could take your entire CD collection should you decide to rip a single disc. Graasvold’s also miffed at Amazon’s ability to change the agreement at any time without advanced notification. The Council does not currently have official support from the country’s Consumer Ombudsman as it did when it went after Apple. For the moment, the council says that it’s awaiting feedback from Amazon and Norwegian publishers before proceeding with what Graasvold calls, “an iTunes 2 case if we are not satisfied.” Good luck with that.

Important Norwegian consumer reads Amazon Kindle’s EULA, sends angry letter originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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