Thursday, September 29, 2011
The Amazon Publishing controversy
An article I just wrote about Amazon and publishing. (This was one of those that could have gone either way, appearing either on this blog or my mainstream one.)
eReader cover by Christian Marie
As her designs may hint, Christian Marie is a woman despite the first name. She makes some nice bags and covers, and I fell for the colors on one of these Kindle covers.
I got it today and I think it's very good. It has a good balance between soft and protective, it is easy to hold when folded back over for reading, and it looks good.
It weighs just 90 grams (3.2 ounces).
It was only $33, almost too cheap.
She states: "I'm taking custom orders. If you want one of my designs in another color, have a design you want me to create, or have a fabric in mind, just let me know."
(Click for big pics.)
It easily holds the first gen Samsung Galaxy tab, even though that is thicker than the Kindle.
Pretty, eh? Sure, I'm a man, but I'm an artist first, dammit! :-)
And it reminds me of a favorite painting, Sunflowers by van Gogh, the one with the mint background like this.
She provides a Velcro holding mechanism, one half sewn into the cover.
Velcro is insanely strong, though, I think this strip could hold up a grown person, for real. So I used two smaller strips on the Kindle instead. (And I had black strips, looks better on the graphite Kindle if you take it out of the cover.)
See, holds it fine. I can even shake it vigorously, and the gadgets stays put.
Open.
Easy to use when reading, and it light-weight, much lighter than Amazons (admittedly gorgeous) leather covers (which also cost more) .
I got it today and I think it's very good. It has a good balance between soft and protective, it is easy to hold when folded back over for reading, and it looks good.
It weighs just 90 grams (3.2 ounces).
It was only $33, almost too cheap.
She states: "I'm taking custom orders. If you want one of my designs in another color, have a design you want me to create, or have a fabric in mind, just let me know."
(Click for big pics.)
It easily holds the first gen Samsung Galaxy tab, even though that is thicker than the Kindle.
Pretty, eh? Sure, I'm a man, but I'm an artist first, dammit! :-)
And it reminds me of a favorite painting, Sunflowers by van Gogh, the one with the mint background like this.
She provides a Velcro holding mechanism, one half sewn into the cover.
Velcro is insanely strong, though, I think this strip could hold up a grown person, for real. So I used two smaller strips on the Kindle instead. (And I had black strips, looks better on the graphite Kindle if you take it out of the cover.)
See, holds it fine. I can even shake it vigorously, and the gadgets stays put.
Open.
Easy to use when reading, and it light-weight, much lighter than Amazons (admittedly gorgeous) leather covers (which also cost more) .
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
The Kindle "Fire" is released
Not two, not three, but four new Kindle models from Amazon today!
And such lovely prices! From a non-touchscreen model at only $79, to a full seven-inch color model ("Fire") at only $200! That's aggressive business, folks!
... Lame, though: the UK price for the basic model is £89, that's $140! Sixty dollars more than the US price. Oh my gawd. (That must be an ad-free version at least.)
Also, they don't even sell the Touch models in UK yet. I wonder why, since it's the same content, unlike the Fire, which also gets video etc.
The small one is the only one on show on Amazon UK... and yes, like suspected, they won't even ship one of the others from America. Heck and Durnation. I wonder how long it'll take before The World can get a color Kindle?
I could have one shipped on a via, but I'll bet anything it's useless over here, at least as far as buying Amazon content goes. Once the UK Amazon ebook store opened in 2010, I was no longer able to buy ebooks on the US store.
I wonder if, like Barnes And Noble, they will check your position not only buy your account info (credit card), but also by IP? So even US customers can't buy if they are outside the US?
I emailed Kindle support, and they answered:
"Kindle Fire is designed presently for US and will have all the features working in US and for the residents of US. The Kindle Fire if out of US will work like any other normal Kindle."
Since the "littlest Kindle" (smaller than Kindle 3) has no touch-screen nor any keyboard, I guess things like Search are out. [Update: it has an on-screen keyboard which can be used with the five-way controller. Better than nothing. Also they still sell models with keyboards for a higher price.]
As as one might guess, the 80-bucks price only goes for the "special offers" model, meaning it shows ads on the screen saver. I guess if I were pressed, I could live with the ads (there are none in the books themselves I'm sure), and I never liked the Kindle keyboard and quite rarely use it, so...
I must say the small size (the K3 was already small) and the light weight, 170 grams, appeal to me, it's a real pocket model.
The Kindle Touch looks great, but sadly it only uses the "graystoke" (my derogatory term) screen used in earlier models, the screen which I dislike due to the dull gray background. I had really hoped (but not very optimistically) for some kind of non-backlit display which managed a better contrast range.
The Kindle Fire is exactly as I'd imagined it: a low-end, but still pretty capable Android 7-inch tablet, with the Android interface hidden away behind a slick Amazon media store interface, and capable of running Android apps, but only those from the Amazon app store. (Unless it gets hacked, which it probably will.) From a tablet viewpoint, I don't see any great reason to get this, apart from the very good price, but from a Kindle viewpoint, it's a very interesting step up.
As I'd predicted, the Kindle Fire is wifi only, no 3G. It stands to reason they can't deliver video for free to millions of devices over the cell phone net! They have to pay the cell phone providers per megabyte, and even just for books it's not a trivial expense.
By the way, as one might also have predicted, Amazon clearly wants this to be seen as a "ereader plus" rather than an iPad competitor. And that's surely wise, given the restrictions of the price area they want to be in. And also given that so far iPad competitors are all dead on arrival pretty much.
The UK site states that the Kindle 3 is/was the product they sell which has the most five-star reviews. Considering the enormous number of products sold on Amazon, one must admit that's quite a statement!
And such lovely prices! From a non-touchscreen model at only $79, to a full seven-inch color model ("Fire") at only $200! That's aggressive business, folks!
... Lame, though: the UK price for the basic model is £89, that's $140! Sixty dollars more than the US price. Oh my gawd. (That must be an ad-free version at least.)
Also, they don't even sell the Touch models in UK yet. I wonder why, since it's the same content, unlike the Fire, which also gets video etc.
The small one is the only one on show on Amazon UK... and yes, like suspected, they won't even ship one of the others from America. Heck and Durnation. I wonder how long it'll take before The World can get a color Kindle?
I could have one shipped on a via, but I'll bet anything it's useless over here, at least as far as buying Amazon content goes. Once the UK Amazon ebook store opened in 2010, I was no longer able to buy ebooks on the US store.
I wonder if, like Barnes And Noble, they will check your position not only buy your account info (credit card), but also by IP? So even US customers can't buy if they are outside the US?
I emailed Kindle support, and they answered:
"Kindle Fire is designed presently for US and will have all the features working in US and for the residents of US. The Kindle Fire if out of US will work like any other normal Kindle."
As as one might guess, the 80-bucks price only goes for the "special offers" model, meaning it shows ads on the screen saver. I guess if I were pressed, I could live with the ads (there are none in the books themselves I'm sure), and I never liked the Kindle keyboard and quite rarely use it, so...
I must say the small size (the K3 was already small) and the light weight, 170 grams, appeal to me, it's a real pocket model.
As I'd predicted, the Kindle Fire is wifi only, no 3G. It stands to reason they can't deliver video for free to millions of devices over the cell phone net! They have to pay the cell phone providers per megabyte, and even just for books it's not a trivial expense.
By the way, as one might also have predicted, Amazon clearly wants this to be seen as a "ereader plus" rather than an iPad competitor. And that's surely wise, given the restrictions of the price area they want to be in. And also given that so far iPad competitors are all dead on arrival pretty much.
The UK site states that the Kindle 3 is/was the product they sell which has the most five-star reviews. Considering the enormous number of products sold on Amazon, one must admit that's quite a statement!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Callet case
The Callet iPhone case, with versions for iPhone 3G, 3GS, and 4, holds phones securely while providing built-in slots suitable for cash, credit cards, hotel keys and driver’s license.
Just to make sure that if you lose your phone you are completely f***ed. It really ought to hold your passport too. :-)
The Magic Catalog of Project Gutenberg E-Books
Have you heard of The Magic Catalog of Project Gutenberg E-Books? You need never complain of lack of reading material again.
Just download that book-index-link file, and put it on your Kindle (or other ereader, there's a Kindle/mobi version and a ePub version). When you open it, click on the link of any book which interests you, and it downloads to your ereader automatically and near-instantly from Project Gutenberg! (As you may know, that is a big collection of free books which are out of copyright, collected and converted to ebooks by volunteers.)
You can find the file directly on the Kindle just by googling it in the Kindle's "experimental browser".
The Magic Catalogue seems to have no organization whatsoever, beyond perhaps very popular books being first (Mark Twain and E Rice Burroughs are early). You're supposed to use search, or to just grab whatever hits your fancy.
By the way, on my Kindle 3, I have an odd bug: on the top line on a Catalogue page, I can't click it, instead I get a line cursor to make highlights with or select a word. Does anybody know how to make it into a hand cursor for clicking links?
(If necessary it can be solved by opening the Catalogue in the Kindle app on a PC or Mac, downloading and transferring to the Kindle by USB.) (Though oddly, downloading does not seem to work on my iPad's Kindle app.)
For the iPad, the ePub version seems to work nicely in the iBooks app.
... Holy mama, there's a lifetime's worth of classics reading there! All for the grabbing. What a brave new world.
Just download that book-index-link file, and put it on your Kindle (or other ereader, there's a Kindle/mobi version and a ePub version). When you open it, click on the link of any book which interests you, and it downloads to your ereader automatically and near-instantly from Project Gutenberg! (As you may know, that is a big collection of free books which are out of copyright, collected and converted to ebooks by volunteers.)
You can find the file directly on the Kindle just by googling it in the Kindle's "experimental browser".
The Magic Catalogue seems to have no organization whatsoever, beyond perhaps very popular books being first (Mark Twain and E Rice Burroughs are early). You're supposed to use search, or to just grab whatever hits your fancy.
By the way, on my Kindle 3, I have an odd bug: on the top line on a Catalogue page, I can't click it, instead I get a line cursor to make highlights with or select a word. Does anybody know how to make it into a hand cursor for clicking links?
(If necessary it can be solved by opening the Catalogue in the Kindle app on a PC or Mac, downloading and transferring to the Kindle by USB.) (Though oddly, downloading does not seem to work on my iPad's Kindle app.)
For the iPad, the ePub version seems to work nicely in the iBooks app.
... Holy mama, there's a lifetime's worth of classics reading there! All for the grabbing. What a brave new world.
Newest Amazon rumors
[Thanks to KindleWorld]
The newest rumors about Amazon's Wednesday announcements claim that not only will they announce a $200 tablet, which would be huge in itself, but also two new e-ink models, one priced at $100.
Will they really announce that much at once? That would be a lot to digest for everybody.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Make wiki articles into an ebook
eReadUps is a useful service. You do a quick search, and it find wikipedia articles which are related. You select those of interest to you, and it collects and formats them into a nice ebook in iPub or Mobi, including functioning internal links.
This is much more readable than the Wikipedia web site, which suffers from too long lines and too small text. And to have it collected for a book for your Kindle or iPad or whatnot is very handy.
This is much more readable than the Wikipedia web site, which suffers from too long lines and too small text. And to have it collected for a book for your Kindle or iPad or whatnot is very handy.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Art books in ebooks
The tablets will be less cheap, of course, but only in the beginning. And art just looks so great on a really good color screen, due to the much higher dynamic range etc.
I was just thinking about the classic Frank Miller "comic" books Elektra Assassin and Elektra Lives Again. I would like to look at them now, they had some wonderful art by Miller himself and by Bill Sienkiewicz. I have them somewhere, but lord knows where. I'm not even sure if they're on one of my numerous book shelves around this place, or if they're in a box stored away. If I had them in a super-sized ebook reader, it would be a matter of a few seconds with a search field to call them forth.
... I'm trying again to read comics on the iPad, but it's only *almost* big enough. To read it comfortably, you have keep zooming and navigate around on the page, it's a mess. But if the screen was just 50% bigger and the resolution 50% higher, a full page could be read easily all at once.
... This goes for typical American comics. For larger pages, like most European comic "albums", I'd say the screen should be 100% bigger.
Get Instapaper articles read aloud
Discovery: the app InstaFetch Pro for Android can read aloud Instapaper articles for me. Very cool. (The free Lite version won't. I think that's fair, good choice for a premium feature. And the Pro is only three bucks.) It is an off-brand app, the author of Instapaper does not make an Android Instapaper app. Whether that's a time issue or a taste issue I dunno.
On iPad, I don't think the system, yet anyway, allows apps to read aloud text, except if it is copied/pasted into them. Don't know why, maybe they are afraid of copyright conflicts. (When Amazon made the Kindle able to read aloud, they had to give publishers the right to disable this feature for their books, due to fears that this might undercut the audiobooks market.)
I can get something similar on the iPad by using VoiceReaderWeb app. But the interface is a bit unreliable and clunky on that app, yet. (And unlike the iPhone version, it currently won't allow me to log into Instapaper, I'm pursuing support for that bug.)
Wait: I may be wrong, if this app is allowed to read text aloud, it seems the system does allow it. So what I'm wondering, why is this the only app I've heard of which will do it? An ebook reader app which would read aloud would be gold. Mmmm, unfortunately an independant app wouldn't be able to open the encrypted (DRM'ed) Kindle or iBooks books. (Again, there is such an app for Android, and yes, it won't read encrypted books, which is the bulk of the interesting ones IMHO, since only very few publishers dare put out open books.)
Amazon ought to make the Kindle app read aloud, like the Kindle device can. What might be the reason they haven't? Maybe because on an Android device, one could save or record the reading, but not on a Kindle device, so the copyright conflicts would be bigger?
I wonder about these things. No wonder I can't sleep!
---
PS: The sleep thing was just a joke, friends who read this need not worry! :-)
On iPad, I don't think the system, yet anyway, allows apps to read aloud text, except if it is copied/pasted into them. Don't know why, maybe they are afraid of copyright conflicts. (When Amazon made the Kindle able to read aloud, they had to give publishers the right to disable this feature for their books, due to fears that this might undercut the audiobooks market.)
I can get something similar on the iPad by using VoiceReaderWeb app. But the interface is a bit unreliable and clunky on that app, yet. (And unlike the iPhone version, it currently won't allow me to log into Instapaper, I'm pursuing support for that bug.)
Wait: I may be wrong, if this app is allowed to read text aloud, it seems the system does allow it. So what I'm wondering, why is this the only app I've heard of which will do it? An ebook reader app which would read aloud would be gold. Mmmm, unfortunately an independant app wouldn't be able to open the encrypted (DRM'ed) Kindle or iBooks books. (Again, there is such an app for Android, and yes, it won't read encrypted books, which is the bulk of the interesting ones IMHO, since only very few publishers dare put out open books.)
Amazon ought to make the Kindle app read aloud, like the Kindle device can. What might be the reason they haven't? Maybe because on an Android device, one could save or record the reading, but not on a Kindle device, so the copyright conflicts would be bigger?
I wonder about these things. No wonder I can't sleep!
---
PS: The sleep thing was just a joke, friends who read this need not worry! :-)
Friday, September 23, 2011
Amazon event on 28th
I just heard through one of my powerful sources that amazon is having an event on Wednesday 28th September, to announce new Kindle(s).
Kewl. I hope it/they will have some nice surprises and unique features, rather than just be another Android device with a slick Amazon interface painted on. I'm sure it'll sell well even if it hasn't, but I wouldn't buy one, I already have three, gasp, three Android devices, a 5-inch, a 7-inch, and a 10-inch. (Dell Streak, Samsung GT first gen, Motorola Xoom.) Oh, plus a very cheap seven-incher, Tabtech or such.
In other news, Al Gore has apparently made a deliberate plug for new iPhones coming out in October. I guess *he* won't get fired though, being on Apple's board. Interesting that he used the plural word "iphones"... might mean more than one size of iPhone. Seems unlikely Apple making a 5-inch iPhone, but that's one I probably would get if they do.
Kewl. I hope it/they will have some nice surprises and unique features, rather than just be another Android device with a slick Amazon interface painted on. I'm sure it'll sell well even if it hasn't, but I wouldn't buy one, I already have three, gasp, three Android devices, a 5-inch, a 7-inch, and a 10-inch. (Dell Streak, Samsung GT first gen, Motorola Xoom.) Oh, plus a very cheap seven-incher, Tabtech or such.
In other news, Al Gore has apparently made a deliberate plug for new iPhones coming out in October. I guess *he* won't get fired though, being on Apple's board. Interesting that he used the plural word "iphones"... might mean more than one size of iPhone. Seems unlikely Apple making a 5-inch iPhone, but that's one I probably would get if they do.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
The quality of Kindle's voice
I think the Kindle 3's reading-aloud tech has been bypassed, and I hope it's upgraded in the next generation.
In particularly, I find it to be an egregious error that the software does not know to make a pause after a full stop, and make it sound like a new sentence after! It seems to simply ignore full stops, very odd. But it does pause by a dash, for some reason. So for example, the segment:
"That's why we like e-books. In Arabia it is well known..."
is read like:
"That's why we like e. Books in Arabia it is well known..."
In particularly, I find it to be an egregious error that the software does not know to make a pause after a full stop, and make it sound like a new sentence after! It seems to simply ignore full stops, very odd. But it does pause by a dash, for some reason. So for example, the segment:
"That's why we like e-books. In Arabia it is well known..."
is read like:
"That's why we like e. Books in Arabia it is well known..."
Not great. :-)
I hope that they've kept the read-aloud feature in the upcoming Android Kindle, and that the necessarily more powerful processor has allowed them to include better speech software.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
You get what you pay for
Just a kind word of warning: if you want an economical tablet with touch screen, make sure it at least has a capacitive screen, not a resistive one.Just for fun I bought the very economical Tabtech (NATPC?) M009S tablet from Amazon UK (70 Sterling, 100 bucks). Well, it is amazingly affordable for an Android tablet, but... it's just frustrating to work with. The Interface is confusing, it's slow, some apps will be able to connect while others won't, and the screen is frustrating, you have to press hard to make it react, and it's not uncommon that nearby elements react instead. Also, the color and clarity of the screen is clearly inferior for discerning eyes.
As a gift to a five-year-old, sure, but otherwise...
Sure, I guess it's to be expected at such a low price, isn't it? Well, maybe some others are like me: I don't really expect it. I expect things to be made cheap by cutting features and complexity, not by simple overall crappy quality. Maybe I should have learned better by now, but it's just my basic level of think. Perhaps it is related to having grown up and lived til age 37 in Denmark, where you don't really find crap to buy. Sure, this makes things more average on the average, but they are much more pleasant to use, and they don't have to be replaced every 13 months.
On the other side, I continue to be pleased by the first-gen Samsung Galaxy Tab (7-inch). It's good quality and nice to use. I'm looking forward to their new generations with high rez screens, not the least the phone-slash-tablet, the 5.3-inch Note. (If Apple manages to keep these away from the market too, I'm going to Cupertino with a mob and torches.) (The kind with LEDs, to save batteries.)
Amazon's Kindle Net bill
I'd assumed that Amazon had gotten a highly favorable deal with the cell phone internet providers, since they are able to give the connection away for free to anybody buying a Kindle.
However now I hear that the price is, or at least was for a long while: 17 cents per megabyte! That's not cheap! If somebody only uses his Kindle to download lots of free ebooks from Project Gutenberg or other places, including Amazon itself, and I'm sure there are quite many such people, then that's easily $20-30 every month on Amazon's bill for him alone, with nothing in return.
In short, that's a really gutsy gamble Amazon has taken there, with the free 3G. I wonder how it's going so far. (They are even more close-mouthed than Apple when it comes to sharing numbers.)
However now I hear that the price is, or at least was for a long while: 17 cents per megabyte! That's not cheap! If somebody only uses his Kindle to download lots of free ebooks from Project Gutenberg or other places, including Amazon itself, and I'm sure there are quite many such people, then that's easily $20-30 every month on Amazon's bill for him alone, with nothing in return.
In short, that's a really gutsy gamble Amazon has taken there, with the free 3G. I wonder how it's going so far. (They are even more close-mouthed than Apple when it comes to sharing numbers.)
My interview on TKC
I'm excited to have been interviewed on one of my favorite podcast. If you want to hear it, go to this page on The Kindle Chronicles. (Here's the download link.)
Interview (Starts at 12:25)- Eolake Stobblehouse blogs about e-books and other creative endeavors from his perch in Lancashire, U.K. I spoke with him by Skype on September 12, 2011, and we cooked up some great ideas for Amazon on how they might design the new tablet in a way that includes a special procedure for entering that focused, nondistracted realm of Kindle reading, even on the bright-screen of the tablet.
Interview (Starts at 12:25)- Eolake Stobblehouse blogs about e-books and other creative endeavors from his perch in Lancashire, U.K. I spoke with him by Skype on September 12, 2011, and we cooked up some great ideas for Amazon on how they might design the new tablet in a way that includes a special procedure for entering that focused, nondistracted realm of Kindle reading, even on the bright-screen of the tablet.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Microsoft Outlaws Flash on Touch-Interface IE 10
Microsoft Outlaws Flash on Touch-Interface IE 10, article.
Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it will ship two versions of Internet Explorer 10, one for traditional desktop use and another for “Metro,” the “touch-first” aspect of Windows 8 that is aimed at tablets and touch-interface PCs. The company has followed in Apple’s footsteps with this version by making it plug-in free, which means no Flash.
I guess this is a strong vote against iPad's Flash-less-ness being just a personal vendetta move on the part of Steve Jobs.
Steve said that we have yet to see Flash running well (fast and stable) on *any* phone or tablet, and from what I hear, this is still the case.
By the way, Bryan Chaffin wrote the article, and he's often funny...
To offer a remarkably mixed metaphor, Microsoft looked at the line Apple drew in the sand on the issue and decided that the grass was greener on the side where tablets don’t have Flash.
Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it will ship two versions of Internet Explorer 10, one for traditional desktop use and another for “Metro,” the “touch-first” aspect of Windows 8 that is aimed at tablets and touch-interface PCs. The company has followed in Apple’s footsteps with this version by making it plug-in free, which means no Flash.
I guess this is a strong vote against iPad's Flash-less-ness being just a personal vendetta move on the part of Steve Jobs.
Steve said that we have yet to see Flash running well (fast and stable) on *any* phone or tablet, and from what I hear, this is still the case.
By the way, Bryan Chaffin wrote the article, and he's often funny...
To offer a remarkably mixed metaphor, Microsoft looked at the line Apple drew in the sand on the issue and decided that the grass was greener on the side where tablets don’t have Flash.
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