Kindle

The new Amazon Kindle Fire announced

I’ve just watched the new Amazon Kindle Fire advert and – I want one! It’s only available in the US right now – and it’s for the bargain price of $199.

I hope they don’t do what Barnes and Noble did with their Nook Color and leave it for the US only.

It looks very much like a Blackberry Playbook, but uses a new type of browser that splits the load between the local hardware and the Amazon Cloud Compute services, so it’s supposed to be very fast. Dual core too, it has a gorilla glass screen, integration with the Amazon apps store, a heavily customised Android system, full colour screen… but at a fraction of the cost of the ipad.

Watch the video HERE

I’m DEFINITELY going to be buy one when it comes to the UK, but unfortunately I don’t think it’ll be a straight currency transfer to the UK. $199 is about £149 right now… so it’ll more likely do what other US providers do and charge the same amount in sterling. The question is, when will it be available? From everything I’ve read, IF it’s coming to the UK, it’ll likely be available before Christmas – but it’s more likely to cost £199.

Daryl Gregory books

Don’t you just love it when you stumble across a book that’s just… well written, enjoyable and you struggle to put it down? Well I do, which is why I wasn’t pleasantly surprised by The Devil’s Alphabet by Daryl Gregory. It’s a contemporary fantasy story that could appeal to people who don’t normally appreciate the genre. As I was reading it, I could easily imagine it being a cinematic blockbuster… if only someone would take a risk and make a film like this.

I had the paper back version, but it’s also available on the Kindle too (HERE).

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If you like books by Harlan Coben

Once you find a good author, one that you’re happy with… you like their style and the way they build a good story, then you often want to read more of the same, or find other authors who write in the same genre and at a similar level. But knowing where to find these similar authors isn’t always easy. So, here’s a quick guide to some similar authors to Harlan Coben.

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Kindle software update rolls out

Amazon Kindle 3GAmazon have announced that they’re rolling out a software update to Kindle owners, taking the software version to 3.1. It’s a seamless update that should come through automatically, just as soon as you activate your Kindle’s wi-fi. There’s no information about whether the update comes through via 3G.

There are 4 main features that will become enabled as part of the update and I’ve listed them below in order of importance (from my own perspective). Unfortunately, there’s no change to allow custom screensaver images (as was possible on previous Kindle versions), or to default the images to align with the current book or publication you’re reading. I’d much prefer to see something specific that I choose as opposed to the classics author images that currently pop up.

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Amazon Kindle ebook sales higher than paperbacks

Amazon Kindle 3GInteresting to see two bits of news in the press today about the Amazon Kindle. First there’s the report that Amazon Kindle ebook sales has outstripped traditional paperbacks in the US during the final quarter of 2010. This trend has apparently continued in to January 2011 too, with 115 ebooks being sold for every 100 paperbacks. (Source: HERE)

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CODY1 is now available on Amazon’s Kindle!

How cool is this, you can now subscribe to this blog through my very own Amazon Kindle subscription (link HERE).

As with all blog, newpaper and magazine subscriptions on Kindle there’s a 14 day free trial – so what’s to lose?! It’s only 99p per month too – and there’s always new jokes, information, advice and general news being added.

To find out how to publish your own blog to Amazon’s Kindle service – click HERE – and read my other post about how to do it.

Use Windows Task Scheduler to send news to Kindle with Calibre

Amazon Kindle 3GFollowing on from my earlier post about “Automated free news for Kindle using Calibre” (link HERE), nickredding over at Mobileread.com suggested a much simpler approach. Rather than using a separate wake up timer application to wake my PC up, ready to run Calibre – I should use the one built into Windows.

Windows Task Scheduler allows you to schedule your PC to wake up and run a specific application at a specific time.

Calibre will have to be set up the same, in terms of scheduling the download of news from specific sites at specific times, so as to coincide with the task scheduler, but it just means you don’t have to download the separate wake timer.

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Kindle and wordpress

Amazon Kindle 3GThe more I play around with the Kindle the more uses I’m finding it for it. Already there’s a plugin that can be used with WordPress to benefit Kindle owners/users. It’s called Kindle This (more info below HERE). And if you’re wanting to publish your blog to Kindle – then you can do so now – and it’s actually surprisingly easy, taking around 10 minutes to do; info on this, including step by step instructions is included below HERE.

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Kindle ebook news server using Calibre

Amazon Kindle 3GI’ve been reading around the topic and I’m still struggling to understand just how to install Calibre on my web server. I want to be able to run Calibre 24/7 on my server so that I can serve up news according to my pre-determined schedule, as opposed to using the process described in my other post: Automated free news for Kindle using Calibre.

However, I have come across three resources that I think might help.

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Automated free news for Kindle using Calibre

Amazon Kindle 3GThe Amazon Kindle is a fantastic piece of kit, with lots of great features and an immense and growing library of available resources. Check out my other post HERE to read more about the Kindle and find links to some great resources.

However, one of the things that I’m not overwhelmed with is the selection and quality of news sources that are available for subscription through Amazon. Not only are they quite pricey which, for a digitally delivered item, seems to be exploiting the new device and the growing market of people with ebook readers. But there is a solution, if you want to take a little time and effort to set it up properly. That solution is CALIBRE – download available HERE.

I’ve read around various sources and have outlined a relatively simple process for setting up Calibre to automatically fetch and send news to your Kindle. (If you’ve not got a Kindle yet, you can click HERE to buy yours now)

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