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25 Aug 2009 11:27

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Tech: Sony’s got a new, larger Reader to compete with the Kindle

  • $399 for seven inches of wireless reading glory source

04 Aug 2009 21:40

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Tech: Sony’s Reader puts pricing pressure on the Amazon Kindle

  • $199 the cost of the Sony Reader Pocket edition; they’re also coming out with a $299 edition featuring a nice touchscreen
  • $9.99 the cost of e-books from Sony, down from $11.99 and matching the Kindle; finally, a promising Sony product? source

01 Aug 2009 14:21

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Biz, Tech: Irony continues to ensue with Amazon’s “1984” Kindle removal

  • one In an attempt to avoid a lawsuit over rights, Amazon decided to delete already-purchased copies of George Orwell’s most famous novels – “1984” and “Animal Farm.”
  • two People loudly complained, saying that it was unfair to consumers and that the deletions set a pretty sad-slash-hilarious example, considering the books’ context.
  • three A ticked-off high school student sued Amazon, saying that he had his notes on the book for school ruined because of Amazon’s, well, Orwellian way of handling things. source

18 Jul 2009 12:33

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Tech: Amazon deletes Kindle books, adds irony in the process

  • Amazon says this is a ‘rarity,’ but even once is too many times for bull$*(% like this to happen. … And of course the fact that this happened to 1984, of all books, makes this even more surreal.
  • Gizmodo writer Adam Frucci • Regarding Amazon’s latest struggle with the Kindle – the fact that they deleted copies of George Orwell’s “1984” and “Animal Farm” remotely. While it appears to be a rights issue more than anything else (i.e. the publisher didn’t have those rights), the truth of the matter is, Amazon deleted books in the very style that makes them look like Big Brother, which should concern Kindle owners. • source

22 Jun 2009 22:39

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Tech: Eventually, Amazon’s Kindle runs into a hard, solid wall of DRM

  • A poor blogger found out the hard way. Dan Cohen of GearDiary found out the other day that some books he downloaded for his Kindle/iPhone had a limit to how many times they could be downloaded and on how many times they could be shared. Worse, it seemed this number was arbitrary and was, until now, not communicated to customers. After talking to a number of Amazon customer service reps, he confirmed it was set by publishers, though it was very confusing to get to that point. Granted, Cohen posts on a site that checks out tons of devices, so it’s possible that his case is extraordinary, but why is it even there in the first place? source

06 May 2009 11:52

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Tech: The new Kindle DX is everything we expected and … about that

It’s a bigger-screened Kindle, perfect for reading textbooks on. Newspapers, maybe. $489. Not cheap, but interesting. source

04 May 2009 08:21

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Politics, Tech: Dear newspapers: A widescreen Kindle sounds smart, but …

  • I implore newspapers not to put too much stock in these big screen Kindles. I know the options are awfully thin as to what can save you, and the Kindle is a potentially sexy savior; but it is not the answer.
  • MG Siegler • Techcrunch blogger, on the possibility of Amazon throwing a hail-mary pass to newspapers in the form of a wide-screen Kindle this week. It won’t work, he says, mainly because newspapers are a different kind of beast from books. He notes that it might cost a lot more and that the place a type of product like this could really help consumers is textbooks. We’re prone to agree. By the way, Hearst is working on something like this. By the way, super-smart newspaper consultant Steve Yelvington agrees. • source
 

22 Apr 2009 18:47

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Tech: Amazon apparently makes a killing on the Kindle

  • $359 The amount that Amazon charges consumers for the pretty popular Kindle eBook reader; the online superstore also charges consumers for the books themselves
  • $185.49 The cost of the parts – nearly half goes to the screen. This doesn’t include the wireless access for book downloads or other costs, but it’s still a huge profit margin. source

04 Mar 2009 21:29

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Tech: Amazon lights a Kindle fire under the iPhone

  • $399 cost of a new Amazon Kindle e-Book reader; it ain’t cheap
  • $0 cost of the new Amazon Kindle iPhone app; it’s kinda free source

03 Mar 2009 23:10

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Tech: The voice of the Amazon Kindle 2 does what he does best: Talks.

  • I record a massive amount of fragments and random sentences, and they’re able to chop them up in a way that allows my voice to speak whatever is written down – that’s an over-simplification, since I don’t understand all the intricacies of how it works.
  • Tom Glynn • A Boston-based voice actor who’s also the voice of Bank of America and the National Weather Service, among other things. Now he reads books to you like your mom used to. • source