kindle

Report: Amazon scares up Stephen King for Kindle

When Amazon.com hosts its anticipated Monday morning e-book event, one of the highlights could be an exclusive deal for the Kindle with horror story master Stephen King.

The Amazon event, taking place at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York, is widely expected to feature the unveiling of a next-generation Kindle e-book reader. On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon also will say it has acquired a new work by King that would be exclusively for the Kindle.

The Journal says a Kindle-like device is a factor in the story. The work by King might later … Read more

Amazon to unveil next-gen Kindle?

At a Monday morning press event at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, Amazon.com is expected to turn the page on its e-book reader business.

The company is widely expected to introduce its next-generation Kindle device (CNET News plans to live-blog from the event later Monday morning). Rumors of its imminent launch have circulated since last summer, and in the fall, a photo of what is purported to be the Kindle 2 leaked on the Boy Genius Report blog. On Friday, a fresh set of purported Kindle 2 pictures hit the Web.

What the final product will look like is unknown, but if a new Kindle is launched Monday it's easy to imagine it will be lighter, slimmer, and have an updated look. The original design was largely panned for being too bulky and having too many sharp edges, as well as an interface that wasn't as user-friendly as some had hoped.

Even beyond that, there are a whole host of tweaks to the device consumers want to see in the next Kindle: wider support of file formats like PDF; a color screen; touch-screen capabilities like swiping to turn a page (as with Sony's Reader); and, more particularly, redesign of the "next page" button, which is located near the spot where many hold the device while reading.

Reported Kindle 2 photos look like the real deal

Just got an e-mail from Alexander Turcic over at MobileRead.

Turcic, based in Switzerland, writes:

Hi David:

I hope you are doing fine. Got some news regarding Kindle 2 price and release info, plus the first Kindle 2 pics.

Cheers, Alex

According to the post, the Kindle 2, which is expected to be announced Monday at 10 a.m. in New York, will be available on February 24 and carry a list price of $359--just like its predecessor. All in all, the device looks similar to what we saw in earlier leaked photos, but in these shots the Kindle 2 looks sleeker and decidedly more impressive. While we have no confirmation that this is the real deal, these look like marketing shots if I ever saw them.

More photos after the jump. … Read more

Amazon Kindle books coming to cell phones?

Some people have criticized Amazon for essentially making the Kindle a "closed" e-book reader system. However, word from Yahoo Finance is that it might not be so closed after all and that Amazon will be making its Kindle books available on a wide variety of mobile phones in the near future.

At this point, it's unclear whether it will be offering up all its Kindle titles (the Kindle Store currently has about 230,000 e-books for sale) or just a fraction of them. Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener simply said the company is working on making Kindle books … Read more

Steve Jobs meets the Kindle

As Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos readies to take center stage Monday morning to release what will most likely be the next version of his company's much-hyped digital reading device, I recently obtained some very interesting--and exclusive--information concerning a very hush-hush meeting between Steve Jobs and Bezos that took place on the eve of the launch of the original Kindle back in November of 2007.

My Deep Throat simply goes by the handle "The Dude," and it's unclear whether he's a disgruntled employee of Apple, Amazon, or the hotel where the meeting allegedly took place--or whether … Read more

Top 5 fixes for the next Kindle

I just posted a new episode of CNET Top 5 dealing with the Kindle e-book reader. With Amazon rumored to be announcing a new Kindle next week, I figured I'd take stock of the things I'd like to see them change in the next version. I've had a Kindle for more than a year and there are definitely things I love, but there are also most definitely things I hate.

So please give the video a look-see and then if you have your own ideas for what Amazon should change in Kindle 2.0, go ahead and … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 902: How to cook a Wooly Mammoth

Let's be clear: we don't know how to cook a Mammoth. But Natali would like to know, because apparently she eats her pets. That is not true at all. But what is true is Google turned the whole Internet into malware this weekend. And that we can tell you why. And will. So listen in.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 902

Google flags whole Internet as malware http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/31/google-flags-whole-internet-as-malware/ http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2009/01/google-broke-the-internet-malware-detector-went-haywire.ars http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10153942-92.html

Gmail spam filters broken http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-mornings-spam-filter-issue.html… Read more

Amazon's revenue jumps, beats Street forecast

Amazon.com beat Wall Street's fourth-quarter revenue and earnings expectations, as the e-commerce giant posted strong holiday sales amid a weak economy.

Amazon's revenues jumped 18 percent to $6.7 billion for the quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. Wall Street had been expecting Amazon to generate sales of $6.4 billion for the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters.

The company reported a 9 percent increase in net income to $225 million for the quarter, or 52 cents a share. Wall Street was expecting a net profit of 50 cents a share, excluding stock options … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 898: Fail whale tale

Aye mateys, it is a tale sad and full of woe. It is about Natali Del Conte and the pictures she takes of the unsuspecting public. How will the proposed law to require a clicking-sound in phone cameras affect her? Badly, my friends. Badly. We also kick around the DTV transition some more and IE 8. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 898

Microsoft releases IE 8 browser http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7852340.stm http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10150516-12.html

Senate passes bill to delay digital TV switch http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601984.html … Read more

New Amazon Kindle 2 coming February 9?

A few days ago I wrote a column speculating when Amazon's new Kindle might arrive, and I might have gotten the answer Tuesday morning.

I just received an invite "to an important Amazon.com press conference" on the morning of Monday, February 9 in New York. I'm not going to say where it is (that's not cool for Amazon's PR people, who would have to deal with crashers), but let's just say it's in a location that relates to books.

When the Kindle was first announced in 2007, Amazon held a very … Read more