O Kindle, considerado por muitos como a revolução da literatura universal está chegando ao Brasil ( e também a outros 99 países). Nos Estados Unidos ele já é um sucesso, mas será que ele vai vingar aqui no nosso Brasil ?

O Kindle é um leitor de livros digital que tem como maiores trunfos o fato fazer o usuario ter instantaneamente o inventário de mais de 20 mil livros e 85 jornais prontos para serem comprados, e tambem a tecnologia e-ink( ou tinta eletrônica) que é feita com particular magnéticas, que além de gastar menos energia, tem uma leitura bem mais confortável aos olhos. Fora também as funcionalidades de fazer qualquer pesquisa na sua biblioteca virtual em questão de segundos, e também de fazer marcações facilmente em qualquer parte do e-book ( ou livro virtual, como queriam ).Nos Estados Unidos a compra desses livros pode ser feita diretamente pelo aparelho, por conexão 3G, e aqui no Brasil vai ser do mesmo jeito.

O kindle aqui no brasil terá alguns problemas: nem todo lugar tem conexão 3G disponível, o preço do aparelho aqui no brasil será muito caro ( vai ser US$ 279 que somado a taxa de entrega (US$ 20,98) e o imposto de importação vai dar no final por volta de 1000 reais, o que é muito caro para a maioria das pessoas. Outro problema no começo também será a falta de oferta por livros e jornais em portugûes ( até agora só o jornal ” O Globo ” que tem uma edição eletrônica disponível para venda).

Mas nem de contras vive o Kindle, muito pelo contrário, ele tem vários prós: a facilidade de levar centenas de livros em um dispositivo de apenas 290 gramas, a falicidade de se você na rua pensar em um livro, e se interessar em comprar poder fazer isso instantaneamente e receber o livro em apenas 60 segundos. O preço também é um atrativo, a maioria dos livros sai por US$ 9,99 ( infelizmente, as compras so podem ser feitas em dolar).

O Kindle deve sim revolucionar a industria da literatura, e já está fazendo isso, mas aqui no Brasil ele ainda vai demorar para pegar, pelo menos enquanto o preço do aparelho for tão alto e ainda enquanto não tiver tantas obras em português.

AmazonKindle...the perfect way for a Shoe Princess to surf the galaxy!

My Darlings

I’m so very proud to announce that, as of yesterday, SP Emma Bowd and moi officially became part of modern 21st Century history.  All thanks to the international launch of The Shoe Princess’s Guide to the Galaxy on the absolutely amazing and stunningly beautiful wireless Kindle by Amazon.com.

With a book download taking less than 60 seconds, Shoe Princesses with a Kindle can now delight in The Shoe Princess’s Guide to the Galaxy anytime and anyplace on the planet (…with wireless access!). Oh, and you can also read newspapers, magazines and blogs.

Savour the moment SPs…this is the future!

Happy e-reading! xx

Is Your Kindle Cracking Up? Amazon Sued in $5 Million Class Action
Amazon’s Kindle may be selling incredibly well and transforming the publishing world, but it looks like some users are finding its build quality lacking. A $5 million class action has just been targeted at Amazon, in fact.

Amazon has added a BIG new feature – If you go to kindle.amazon.com you can now view all your Kindle Notes and Highlights. You can’t share them – however, it’s really good to be able to access them online.

You’re initially welcomed with a simple message -

Our customers have told us that they love being able to add highlights and notes to their Kindle books, and now we’ve made it possible for you to access your highlights and notes here at AmazonKindle.

To view your highlights and notes from your browser, sign in with your Amazon account, and select one of your books where you’ve added highlights or notes.

Once you log-in you get your ‘Reading List’ which shows all the paid books you’ve bought. It initially only showed 11 of my purchases – However, after using it for 5 minutes it updated and showed all of them including the free books and calendars (though not my personal documents) -  

AmazonKindle Your Reading List - list of your purchases

You can click on any one book and go in and see how many notes and highlights you’ve made, your rating of the book, the book’s rating at Amazon, it actually shows your notes and highlights, and customer reviews. Here’s what it looks like (of course, this is a book I haven’t read yet) -

AmazonKindle Book View

AmazonKindle is a really good addition. There are complaints already that you can’t share your notes and highlights. Personally, more interested in Kindle for PC (or Kindle Online) i.e. being able to read my purchases online.

Bottomline is that this is a good addition and a positive step. Coming quick on the heels of all the other Kindle additions in May (and the kindle dx) this is a really good sign.

TECHNOLOGY

Amazon has given ground on the experimental text-to-speech function of the new Kindle, following a chorus of criticism from authors and publishers including Author’s Guild President Ray Blount, Jr. Rather than offer the feature across its entire library, Amazon will offer authors and publishers the choice whether or not they would like to enable text-to-speech on title-by-title basis. (Cynopsis 3/2)

Dell wants to leverage its netbooks as a way of selling wireless 3G data plans by essentially giving away the hardware in a business model similar to the one cell phone carriers have long employed. CEO Michael Dell told analysts last week: “We want to get a larger share of the profit streams embedded in our growing installed base of the hundreds of millions of products we deliver. … Opportunities like search services, 3G originations and other telecom opportunities.” The New York Times (2/27)

It’s been a big day for “Spam & Eggs: A Johnny Denovo Mystery.” Not only did the book go live on the Kindle, the print editions arrived — and they look great!

For all the hubbub about ebooks, there is still a magic about a printed book. These look better than I expected.

The printed books arrive!

Books can vary in their physical appeal, and I’ve never bought the literal truth that you can’t judge a book by its cover (I do believe its allegorical truth, however). There is an element of craft and taste in any cover.

Page layout and typeface choice both enter into the readability of text and its ability to transport the reader and suspend reality.

I’m very happy with this book’s aesthetic. It looks great, feels right, and reads well.

Whew!

Last week, Amazon released the second edition of its popular eBook Reader, the Kindle.  I am not a current owner of a Kindle, but I am seriously considering purchasing the new Kindle 2.  Sadly, there were no huge changes made between the new Kindle and the original, but rather a few important ones.

• Slimmer. Just over 1/3 inch.
• Light[er]. Only 10.2 ounces, the weight of a small paperback book.
• Fast downloads. Get a book in ~60 seconds and you don’t even have to be in WiFi!
• Looks real. Text and display has been made more crisp to give readers a better experience
• Longer battery life. 25% longer than the original, letting you read for days without charging.
• Larger storage. Holds up to 1,500 books.
• Faster page turns. 20% faster.
• Text-to-speech. Known as “Read-to-Me” feature, the Kindle will read to you, just like the good old days with your parents before bed.
• Large Selection. At 230,000 books, the selection is not terrible, but still not the best. But with the low prices and blog feeds to read, I don’t think you’ll ever get bored with the Kindle.

Some questions: I have an iPhone.  I can read blogs, some books, surf the web, play games, and much more.  Do I still need the Kindle?  Also, how real is it.  I mean, isn’t half the fun of reading having the book in your hands and turning the pages?  I’m still not 100% sold, but please comment!

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Kindle 2? Meh. (feldmanfile.blogspot.com)
• What’s New With The Kindle 2 (techcrunch.com)

KINDLE 2: E-READING JUST GOT EASIER

Earlier this morning, Amazon announced the Kindle 2, the upgraded version of their popular first edition e-reader. Even though 2008 sales for the original Kindle are unknown, some analysts speculate anywhere from 374K – 500K units sold. In essence, the thing is pretty freakin’ popular.

After watching the demo video and reading the specs for the new E-reader, I think this one will be even more so.

Check out the demo video for yourself:

Here are the highlights for me:

Design

It’s thin, it’s lightweight (10.2 ounces), and it looks pretty spiffy. I already want mine laser-etched. In addition, the pages ‘turn’ faster and the display is clearer with 16 shades of gray. No glare in the sun for beach reading.  Just checked out Techcrunch’s side by side page turn from Kindle1 & Kindle 2 and it looks pretty much the same.

Capacity

Not shockingly, the storage has been increased to accommodate 1,500 titles. Not quite sure who would need that many books packed into one device but then again, I didn’t understand the 80GB iPod either.

Delivery

Once a book is selected over the 3G wireless network, the title can be downloaded in 60 seconds. Browsing and downloading is all done with NO charges to the user. Amazon picks up that cost. All you have to do is pay for the title. If only my iPhone was so sweet…

Battery Life

You get 25% more life from the battery. This translates to 2 weeks on one charge.

Text to Speech

Initially, when I read about this feature in the live blog from Crunchgear, I thought this sounded pretty fab. You can either read on the device or switch to text to speech and have the device read to you. This works especially well when you say, commute to work by driving to a train station and then take the train into the city. Have the Kindle read to you during the car ride to the station, and then continue reading on your own on the train. Ingenious. That said, as someone who is currently listening to Freakonomics in the car, it’s a much different enterprise when listening to a human being read to you rather than the automated robotron voice of the Kindle 2. As much as I like hearing why drug dealers still live with their moms, I’m not as keen to hear it from robotron. Check out the demo video halfway down the page on the product site and you’ll see what I mean.

Price

This new Kindle costs $359 which was the going rate for the Kindle 1. On top of that, NY Times bestsellers cost only $9.99 on the Kindle which is usually less than the book. In checking the Amazon book store, this is not always the case. Plus, to this end, being that there is no printing and manufacturing cost, I’d actually think the title cost could be less. Kindle 1 owners get top priority in ordering the device as an act of Amazon love. In addition, anyone who recently purchased the Kindle 1 but hasn’t received the device yet will receive the Kindle 2. Very nice. Click here to pre-order yours. The device will ship 2/24.

TECHNOLOGY

Verizon Wireless is prepared to back the competitors of Amazon’s Kindle electronic reader by letting subscribers use the carrier’s network to download books, newspapers and other material, according to a Verizon Wireless executive. The executive also said he doubted the recession would inhibit the growth of such nonessential technologies as e-readers. Reuters (1/6)

I wrote this on the “Wall of Suggested Innovations” last night at CES Unveiled.  To this end, I submit my plea to Apple.  If you build it, they will come.  And if you do, can you get Jobs to present it on his MacWorld Reunion Tour?

By midyear, Intel plans to have a media processor that will be compatible with Adobe’s Flash media player to allow for the screening of Web content via set-tops, digital TVs and other home-entertainment players. Intel also is partnering with Yahoo! on the “Widget Channel,” a platform for weather, news, games and other online content to be shown on TV screens. Multichannel News (1/5) , CNET (1/5)

Broadcom and Adobe Systems also announced a partnership to place Adobe’s Flash platform into Broadcom’s latest digital television and set-top box system-on-a-chip platforms. Adobe’s ubiquitous Flash is the standard for delivering online video to websites including YouTube and Hulu. (Cynopsis 1/7)

Brad Stone of the New York Times co-authors an article asking if readers are ready for e-Readers (like the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader). Readers of this blog are probably aware of my intense debates (see here and here) on the Kindle that ranged from hatred to slow acceptance of the inevitable onslaught and dominance of e-readers. But I digress…

Sales of e-books:

The publishers say sales of e-books have tripled or quadrupled in the last year.

Sales of Kindle:

Peter Hildick-Smith, president of the Codex Group, a book market research company, said he believed Amazon had sold as many as 260,000 units through the beginning of October, before Ms. Winfrey’s endorsement. Others say the number could be as high as a million.

Sales of Sony’s e-Reader:

Mr. Haber said Sony’s sales had tripled this holiday season over last, in part because the device is now available in the Target, Borders and Sam’s Club chains. He said Sony had sold more than 300,000 devices since the debut of the original Reader in 2006.

The article even talks about the iPhone and it’s challenge to the ecosystem of e-Readers, a much overlooked topic that I’ve discussed on this blog.

Perhaps the most overlooked boost to e-books this year — and a challenge to some of the standard thinking about them — came from Apple’s do-it-all gadget, the iPhone.

Having said that, I’ve got to confess: I’m on the path of overcoming my initial skepticism around the Kindle.

Why?

Kindle v2.0 (more aesthetically pleasing – not an eyesore), the desire to centralize all my reading in one simple device vs. a life of strewn unread books, battery life, lower price point expected (between $249 to $299), but most importantly the fact that nobody has a better, more complete catalog of books on the planet than Amazon. In much the same way as Apple currently reigns supreme in the music business, thanks to iTunes.

Where do you stand on the conversion scale? Want a Kindle for next Christmas?

TECHNOLOGY

Amazon Kindle is either Oprah’s favorite gadget or Amazon sent over the largest fruit basket looking for the ultimate endorsement. Either way, by using OPRAHWINFREY as a coupon code, her glorious name nets you $50 off the e-books standard $359 price. (http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/10/24/crunchdeals-oprah-loves-the-kindle-so-heres-50-bucks-off 10/24)

ZeeVee, which recently launched the ZvBox to grab high- and standard-definition video off the Internet so it can be played back on TV screens, is developing a graphical user interface system that is more intuitive for users. Additionally, the company is working on a rack-mountable version of the ZvBox that features better connectivity and cooling. CEPro.com (10/24)

Computer makers will begin marketing a line of quick-booting machines in the next few months, aimed at easing consumer frustration of waiting several minutes for PCs to start. Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo will ship computers that will provide access to e-mail and the Internet within 30 seconds, and Microsoft has pledged to reduce boot time drastically in its next version of Windows. The New York Times (10/25)

Actually, this technology already exists.  It’s called a Mac.  I’m a daily PC-user and Mac-user and I approve of this message.

Flat-panel TV manufacturers are “cautiously optimistic” that strong sales in the first half of the year will continue through the holiday season. Two reasons for hope, despite the dire economic news, are that manufacturers have been rolling out more discounted models lately and the country’s transition next February to all-digital TV signals. “In general LCD sales have been very good through the year. Although there have been negative macro-economic forces since Q1, the flat-panel sector has withstood the pressure very well,” said Jonas Tanenbaum, Samsung visual display products group LCD products marketing vice president. TWICE (10/27)

Denon has introduced a new Blu-ray disc player that the company says is state-of-the-art for the eyes and the ears. According to this report, the DVD-3800BD is the first product to use the 10-bit Silicon Optix Realta chipset with an HDMI connection, and the device features Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoders for optimum sound. Pocket-lint.co.uk (10/24)

This is a sequel to my original post where I proclaimed that the future of reading was the iPhone and NOT the Kindle. Since then, we’ve seen a slew of posts that repeated my claims and more recently we saw some numbers that claimed the Kindle was a big success! hmm… where do we stand now?

What has changed since then. Let’s do a recap in 3 parts:

1. My original comparison – iPhone vs. Kindle (Nov 07)

Apple iPhone vs. Amazon Kindle

2. iPhone could give Kindle a run for its money

Bloggers who think like me

Greg Sandoval, CNET

Certainly, the Kindle’s advantages as an e-reader aren’t enough to trump the host of iPhone features: a phone on a new faster network, camera, video player, it holds photos, contacts, you can play games and there’s the apps we don’t know about yet. With the Kindle I get Web browsing and e-mail.

Josh Catone, Read Write Web

The Kindle does very few things with its black and white screen. It reads books, it checks some RSS feeds and gets the news… that’s about it. The iPhone, on the other hand, lets you do all of that, and pretty much anything else you can do on the Internet. And it’s a phone. And a portable media player. With sites like eBooks.com out there, which sells over 100,000 books, most in the PDF format that Readdle supports, theoretically the same content available on the Kindle is available on the iPhone.

Brian Caulfield, Forbes

Yet those advantages, plus the Kindle’s ability to tap into content from Amazon, coupled with its wireless connection, may not be enough to make it a winner. At $399 it’s not only pricier than a small library of used books, it’s more expensive than Asustek’s 2-pound, $299 Eee PC laptop. Another catch: Amazon, according to Newsweek, is going to charge subscription fees for blogs, magazines and newspapers. Yet most magazines and newspapers — and practically every blog — can be had online for free.

3. But its raining Kindles!

Josh Quittner, TIME

Is the Kindle starting to catch fire with consumers? From the Department of Inscrutable Data Points comes word that e-book sales for Amazon’s Kindle — its digital reading device-have doubled during the past two months. Kind of, sort of, maybe.

So, we don’t have a definitive answer on this yet, but it looks like Kindle’s definitely not a flop. The question, remains, would Apple eliminate the need for a Kindle if it focuses on selling books.

But I think the Kindle’s killer features (immediate access to books – wherever, whenever; stronger battery life, readability, and the range of books available) will give them an advantage with book lovers.

What do you think? Kindle or the iPhone?

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The AmazonKindle is a device used to wirelessly download ebooks. It provides instantaneous access to like 250,000,000,000,000,000 books. I really want an AmazonKindle for a graduation gift, but I doubt my parents will get me one (they’ll probably just take me to get food somewhere).

K- i dont get it. I dont understand why Amazon is selling these and i really dont understand why people are buying them so quickly that they cant manufacture enough. They actually apologize about the lack of product on their front page.

Why not read the book on your laptop, or buy a freakin paper copy. I dont care how sharp this pile of a display is its not going to be as good as my laptop, and my laptop lets me do so many other fund things so i dont have to read. Oh and BTW this thing costs $400- but you can get your book in minutes- even in the back of a cab- WTF. There is no freakin way anyone under 45 is buying these- is there? I really cant believe this pile is selling. I mean look at it its straight out of 15 years ago.

Here’s an educated review of the Kindle and the ASUS Eee

O Amazonkindle promete acabar com o livro da forma como conhecemos! Eu experimentei um e ele dá aquela sensação de ler um livro com folhas! Mas há outras coisas interessantes; Seu peso e tamanho, não precisar de manual – é fácil de usar! Você compra os clássicos da literatura mundial por U$ 1,99! Carregar 200 livros! Pode mudar o tamanho das letras! Então dá próxima vez que esperar 8 horas nas filas do aeroporto! Você coloca a leitura em dia!
Muda tudo! É o fim do Império da panela dos sempre e mesmo escritores! É o começo da extinção das livrarias megastores! Lembra-se do que aconteceu com as lojas de Cds?
E os leitores se transformarão em editores! Agora, ficou mais fácil publicar seu livro! Tudo online!

Você pode ler o livro, e participar de comunidades, fóruns de leitores, pesquisar na blogosfera, navegar na wikipedia sobre o autor e seu livro,! Tudo integrado!

Ou Poderá definir o final com centenas de leitores em todo o planeta! O que antes era solitário, se você desejar poderá se tornar coletivo! Voltamos alguns séculos, quando cidades medievais se sentavam em uma praia ou de uma fogueira e escutava o contador de histórias!

Seu jornal preferido e sua revista semanal, será entregue no seu Kindle! As arvores agradecem, e os pássaros também!

Os escritores poderão mudar seu livro em tempo real e enviar atualizações!
As histórias nunca acabam!

Paralelamente, no Brasil seguindo o modelo “tinta no papel” entre outros acabam de lançar o livro chamado “O Futuro do Livro”, discutem onde vamos fazer a anotação ao pé da página com uma emocionante letra tremida? E como será a marca da lagrima sobre a pagina amarelada?

Um livro interessante, porém que é publicado com duas décadas de atraso!
Eu acho que a lagrima será na tela de um ebook, e a anotação com um lápis digital!

Ps: Inspirada na materia de Steven Levy da Newsweek e em uma nota do Jornal “O Estado de São Paulo

Amazon gioca la carta dei dispositivi mobili per leggere libri; aggiungendo un tocco di wireless. E’ infatti disponibile il nuovo AmazonKindle, un dispositivo (forse non bellissimo, abituati come siamo all’iPhone …) ma sicuramente di grande interesse. E’ wireless, e permette di collegarsi al sito Amazon e scaricare oltre 90.000 libri: il libro costa ovviamente meno che in versione cartacea, e il Kindle permette una facile e comoda lettura a video. La versione è la 1.0 ed i commenti dei primi acquirenti sono medio-alti.

Diciamo che le funzionalità sono centrate e la spazio di mercato c’e' … ma cosa ne direste di simili funzionalità sul vostro nuovo iPhone fiammante ?

Peccato che Amazon abbia sbagliato i conti delle scorte magazzino per Natale: il Kindle è infatti sold-out, impossibile averlo per Natale. Peccato …

Video: Amazon’s Kindle in a crashed state — must the content be reloaded? by ZDNet’s David Berlind — For those of you who have been around long enough to experience some of the earlier PDAs based on flash memory like Palm’s initial Pilot and later, devices like the iPaq that were based on Microsoft’s PocketPC operating system, then you’ll remember what a drag it sometimes was when those devices became so inoperable that [...]