Kindle in an UMPC

Kindle for PC has been released by Amazon. I should had post about it but I did not and the reason is because I own a Kindle and I would never go back to read a book in a PC, PPC or any other LCD or similar display. Beside the fact that the visual experience is not the same, an UMPC is too heavy for the task and a PPC, iPhone, etc, are too small. Christmas  is coming guys, save some money and get the real thing. Anyway… Here is a video showing Kindle running in an UMPC.

YouTube
- Amazon Kindle for PC Software on a Viliv UMPC

What happens when you use the wrong tool

Recently the University of Princeton ran an experiment to see how good the Kindle was for the educational system. And read carefully my words, “how good the Kindle was”. And I said this because after reading this comment from one of the students participating in the experiment you will end into the same conclusion where I ended.

“Much of my learning comes from a physical interaction with the text: bookmarks, highlights, page-tearing, sticky notes and other marks representing the importance of certain passages — not to mention margin notes, where most of my paper ideas come from and interaction with the material occurs,” he explained. “All these things have been lost, and if not lost they’re too slow to keep up with my thinking, and the ‘features’ have been rendered useless.”

Well, just by reading this, I can say that the Kindle is not the right tool for this guy. He needs something more flexible, something that will allow him to take notes right on the eBook, highlight, organize his notes and have a search capability within his notes. Everything that can be found in a mini Tablet PC using Windows 7, OneNote and PDF Annotator. Even within the eBook Readers with e-ink technology we have other readers like the iRex iLiad that comes closer to cover the needs of this student (and the majority of all students) than the Kindle. The failure was not in the eBooks, the failure was from the those who planned the experiment by not asking what are the students needs and then pick the right tools to cover those needs. The failure is in the jump to a new technology just because is appealing and new and no because it’s really what you need.

eBook Readers still a long way to go and what is available at this moment is more than enough for having a good time reading but it fails to satisfy the students’ needs because they are under pressure and they need quick results. They have just different needs that are far from reading for pleasure. And that’s what the Kindle is, a tool for having a good time reading.

Refurbished Kindle for $149

Mobileread is reporting about the possibility of buying a Refurbished Kindle for $149! Have I ever said that the Kindle is the best gadget I have ever bought?

Save money using your Kindle

GottaBeMobile has posted a video today about how and why you save money using a Kindle.

 

There is a lot of controversy lately after Amazon deleted copies of the book 1984 when the company found that this book was being sold illegally at Amazon. Should they have done that? The answer is no, that was a stupid decision. But still, I keep saying and repeating, the best gadget that I have ever bought is the Kindle. I’m more for a Social DRM than the traditional one, I have paid for my books and I feel that I should be free of reading it in any device I want. And currently you can’t do that with your books bought using the Kindle. So, I’m not saying that the Kindle is perfect but at least is the first step in the right direction.

Red Alert! Kindle price is now $299!

Yes, that’s a really important news. Kindle price went down to $299. Still a little high but it’s 100 dollars less than what I paid for my first generation Kindle. Do I regret this purchase? NO. I have been using it daily and the only regret I have is not to have more time to read even more. I went from reading may be one book per year to more than 2 books per month. In my first year of ownership I read close to 50 books!

The True Cost of Kindle 2

According to BusinessWeek, the real cost of building a Kindle 2 is around $185 but Amazon charges users 48% more, to be exact $359, 

A teardown analysis of the Kindle 2 by market research firm iSuppli estimates the cost to build the device at $185.49, or about 52% of its retail price of $359. ISuppli takes apart consumer electronics to identify the manufacturer's suppliers and estimate the cost of the device's components, providing a rough idea of the profit margin for each unit sold. Amazon declined to comment on iSuppli's analysis.

Via:  BusinessWeek

Amazon Kindle 2 Announced

The news is all over the web, Amazon will start shipping the version of 2 of Kindle on February 24th, price: 359 dollars. You can check some pictures at engadget, page that is covering the Press Event Live.

Oprah loves the Kindle

I have been reading about it everywhere in the web but just to day I found a picture of it.

Oprah has a Kindle! And she is helping to all that want one by offering a 50 dollars off coupon OPRAHWINFREY if you buy it before October 31st.

More than 750 free eBooks for your Kindle

Diesel eBooks has put together a list of more than 750 eBooks in PRC format that can be downloaded from  and read it in your Kindle.

There are very good classics from Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Jule Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, etc. And all of them, like I said, already formatted to be read in your Kindle. That page is also Kindle friendly so you can access it on your Kindle and download the files using your Kindle.

Tell editors what you want to read

There is one gadget that I use more than my cell phone and believe it or not sometimes even more than my lovely P1610, this gadget is my Kindle. Today I read that there are more than 150000 books converted by Amazon and editors to eBook. And the best news, they have created a way to tell editors what you want to read in your Kindle if it not available yet in the Kindle Store.

Free Kindle e-book via Whispernet

Wow! Yes, you can read this novel that has not been published yet in your Kindle for free if you look for it and download it in your Kindle. In another words, free if you use your Kindle to get it.

Amazon and publisher Grove/Atlantic from today will be giving away a free copy of the new novel Spirit House by Christopher G Moore to Amazon Kindle customers, beginning today Kindle owners can go to the Kindle page for Spirit House and download a free copy of the e-book via Whispernet.

Via:  Blog Kindle

Using amazon kindle outside of the US

Here is a blog post that explain how you can still using the Kindle if you don't live in USA. 

Guide to getting an Amazon Kindle working outside of the US and downloading books outside the US. This is targeted at people who have a Kindle, but don't have a US billing address to purchase books.

A very smart workaround. And I don't blame people for trying these methods because there is nothing like reading in a Kindle.

Jennifer Aniston owns a Kindle

You can imagine, this is a big news within the "Kindle Community"! Even when they say that it's not a news.  

This is not really news, it’s just note-worthy. US Magazine has snapped Jennifer Aniston with her very own Kindle becoming the the first(?) celebrity to own a Kindle.

Well, here it's, may be is not a really news, it's just note-worthy... I, Ctitanic, own a Kindle too!

Kindle Software version 1.04

Yesterday my Kindle was updated automatically by Amazon to version 1.04. I have not noticed anything new or different. But I have to say that I'm extremely happy to see an update process so well thought. I left my Kindle in standby in my bed and went to our kitchen to drink a glass of water, and when I came back I noticed that there was a different standby picture shown on it, I exited the standby mode, checked the version number and there it was a new version. Do you want something simpler than that?

My Kindle got updated

Yes, Yesterday I turned on the wireless connection to look for information in the Wikipedia, once I finished reading there I turned off the connection, pressed Alt+Aa to lock my Kindle and after few minutes my reader went by it self into a update procedure. I did not have to do anything. The ROM version now is 1.01

Update for Kindle Software coming

Amazon is updating the software in the Kindle and will be done all via kindle's wireless  connection.

We're constantly working on improving your Kindle user experience. When we make improvements to the Kindle software, we'll send you information about the update via e-mail. Please refer to the links below for more information about Kindle updates. The most recent version of the Kindle software is Kindle 1.0.4 released February 2008.

Unboxing my Kindle

I just got my Amazon Kindle and of course, I took a lot of pictures of the "unboxing" ceremony.

I wrote some comments in some of the pictures explaining what I was seeing on that moment.

My Kindle is getting closer!

Stephen King has a Kindle

Recently Stephen King, one of the best known American writers, wrote a very good article about his recently bought Kindle.

Will Kindles replace books? No. And not just because books furnish a room, either. There's a permanence to books that underlines the importance of the ideas and the stories we find inside them; books solidify an otherwise fragile medium.

But can a Kindle enrich any reader's life? My own experience — so far limited to 1.5 books, I'll admit — suggests that it can. For a while I was very aware that I was looking at a screen and bopping a button instead of turning pages. Then the story simply swallowed me, as the good ones always do. I wasn't thinking about my Kindle anymore; I was rooting for someone to stop the evil Lady Powerstock. It became about the message instead of the medium, and that's the way it's supposed to be.

And did I mention that you can also look up definitions of words that puzzle you as you read? My definition of Kindle: a gadget with stories hiding inside it. What's wrong with that?

Stephen King test-drives the Kindle

My Kindle is coming home

Yeah, finally after a month and 9 days I'm getting my Kindle! I should received next Tuesday and that's good because that leave me free this weekend to check another baby that I just received: the Wibrain B1!