On May 15, Amazon issued a law suit against Discovery Communications, claiming that Discovery is infringing upon four e-commerce patents. This law suit comes not long after the law suit that Discovery issued against Amazon which claimed that technologies used in the Amazon Kindle infringes on a patent of their own.
This news, as reported by Business Insider, isn’t expected to blow up into a huge story since the affected sector within each company is rather small.
Discovery is quick to point out that Amazon’s rebuttal is unrelated to their e-reader suit. At first, it may seem like Amazon is trying to “change the subject,” but patent infringement looks the same from any angle. However, Amazon is likely using their follow-up suit as a method of bringing Discovery to the table for negotiations. Also, a good point regarding patents was made in the article:
…but it’s a reminder that patents are sticky, and everyone is potentially touching everyone else’s intellectual property.
That’s one reason Apple might not be overly aggressive with its mobile patents, such as suing Palm over its use of multi-touch mobile UI technology, which Apple has patented. Palm has plenty of patents, too, and Apple could be violating some.
According to an article at msnbc.com, several schools will be running a Kindle Pilot Program, putting a number of Kindle DX units in students’ hands for academic use. The Kindles are to be sold to the schools at a 50% discount, and the students will be allowed to use the Kindles free of charge.
The five other schools launching DX trials this fall — Case Western Reserve University, Pace University, Princeton University, Reed College, and Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia — said they plan to offer the Kindle edition of selected texts from three publishers: Cengage Learning, Pearson Education and Wiley, together representing more than 60 percent of the U.S. higher-education textbook market.
Pace said it will get Kindles at a 50 percent discount from Amazon for the 50 students in its pilot program, and then provide them to the students at no charge.
Another section of the article continues to hope for lower electronic textbook prices. Arizona State is hoping for the price to be cut in half. I think that’s a little drastic considering that Amazon is currently losing money with most Kindle version purchases. Though, anyone who’s been to college knows that the price of textbooks is the result of obscene markup. So it’s possible students could see a significant drop in price. We will just have to wait and see, though, as Amazon has yet to comment on how the Kindle textbooks will be priced.
I’m really interested to see how students and teaches feel about the Kindle once the pilot programs have been completed. I still hold to the opinion that many students will be very willing to adopt the Kindle once they have used one. So much so that I wrote an article about Students Using Kindle Textbooks.
An interesting point I’d like to explore is that I haven’t heard of any of the competition going as far as running pilot programs at schools. On top of that, I haven’t heard of any negotiations between Amazon’s competitors and publishers. Amazon is has targeted schools and students and is going after them quite aggressively. If they can secure the academic market, you can bet the Kindle will be around for years to come.
If anyone out there has information about Amazon’s competitors targeting students and schools, please leave a comment below.
Many of you have probably already seen this, but for the sake of those who haven’t, I’m posting this anyway. One of the guys over at Incredible Stuff I Made, with a little help from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories created a perfect wooden model of the Kindle 2. You can read all about it and check out all the images on their kindling post. The term, “literal humor” is appropriate on so many levels.
Amazon recently announced a new beta program, “Amazon Kindle Publishing for Blogs,” that allows blog owners to publish their blogs with the Kindle. Kindle users subscribe to the blogs for a monthly fee and blog owners can earn up to 30% of each subscription.
The Kindle subscriptions can cost up to $2 per month, which could earn the blog owner up to $0.60 per subscription each month. Once multiplied by the potential thousands of readers any particular blog may have, the monthly subscription income can add up very quickly. A blog with 5,000 subscriptions can earn up to $36,000 per year.
There is no upfront cost to the blog owners who wish to publish with the Kindle. All they must do is register with Kindle Publishing for Blogs and provide them with the info needed to receive a check.
For those of you who happen to own a popular blog, this program has the potential to instantly add an additional revenue stream. If you’re blog is small or just getting started, this is certainly a good incentive to do your best. You can read more about the program with the Kindle Publishing for Blogs Help section.
Kindle owners can subscribe to blogs now. If you’re still thinking about buying a kindle, there’s still time to pre-order a Kindle DX. If you can’t wait until summer or you’d rather rock the popular 6″ model, the Kindle 2 is available for immediate shipment.
I have a fairly long commute to and from work each day and I usually listen to a local AM radio station to pass the time. Whenever I need a break from all the talk, I usually flip over to another station for some music. Sometimes, though, I’m in the mood for neither.
Recently, I’ve been carrying my Kindle to keep me company in the car. I had not used the “read to me” feature very often and I figured the time I spend in the car everyday was a good opportunity.
Yesterday, I loaded up Alice in Wonderland before pulling out of the parking lot. My Kindle began reading and I immediately became aware of one small factor that could hinder my enjoyment: road noise. I increased the volume to the maximum setting, which compensated. Driving on the city streets did not interfere much at all as I could hear the words of Lewis Carrol quite well. It wasn’t until I merged into interstate traffic that I had to strain to listen.
There are a couple of things I may try in the future. First, I should try taking off my kindle cover. The speakers are on the back of the Kindle, so taking the cover off is really the only way to hear the Kindle unobstructed. Second, I guess I could try using an ear bud, but I really think that’s a bit unsafe while driving. If I was a passenger, I wouldn’t hesitate using some kind of earphones.
All said, listening to the Kindle read to me was an enjoyable experience. If I was to use this feature daily, I could probably knock out 2 or so books per week.
After giving this some thought, I can imagine some people (myself included) would only listen to “casual” books with their Kindle. However, I can totally see using the Kindle to read newspapers and magazines. This seems like a perfect way to use the “Read to Me” feature, since most of us are used to consuming news-type information in this manner.
If anyone has a “read to me” experience they’d like to share, please leave a comment below!
Ah, the grand days I spent on campus… the half-mile walks between classes, the knee-buckling weight of my backpack, folders overflowing with loose notes. Ok, so I’m being a little sarcastic, but would you believe that there’s a new product on the horizon that has the potential to eliminate some of our college woes?
Even though the college life is generally a high point in our lives, most of us will never forget the years of academic drudge. Amazon’s recently announced Kindle DX quite possibly can give students a well-deserved break.
If you set aside college tuition, the next large expense for the average student is textbooks. Weighing up to a few pounds and often costing over $100 each, college textbooks are a burden to students in multiple ways. To make things worse, students have to buy these books every semester. As the semester goes by, publishers are pumping out the next version of their textbooks, forcing students to buy the latest versions instead of catching a break on used books.
So why is the Kindle DX a good choice for students? There are several reasons:
- Pay less for books. Traditionally, Kindle books have been for sale at a reasonable discount compared to their paperback and hardback counterparts. If the textbooks offered for the kindle follow suit, students should expect to easily save a $100 per semester.
- Greater availability and convenience. One of the things I never looked forward to was going to the campus bookstore. List in hand, I would wonder about the store looking for the books I’ve been told to purchase. Then, I stand in the checkout line with twenty pounds of books in my arms. Purchases made with the Kindle are done via Amazon’s wireless “Whispernet” connection. Kindle owners can potentially purchase their book in class, from home, where ever is most convenient.
- Less bulk to carry across campus. Finally there’s an alternative to carrying several pounds of books on our shoulders. Personally, I think having a Kindle to store just one the required texts would be justification enough, but can you image if your entire semester’s worth of books were tucked away in a single, slim, ultra-light device?
- Generate study notes easily. One of the features I really enjoy using with my Kindle is the notes and highlights feature. Whenever I come across something worth noting in a book, I can highlight and save a clip of the text with just a few clicks. I can then take that collection of clips and use them to find important parts of a book, or simply skim through them to refresh my memory. I think this could be a huge benefit to students.
- It’s a Kindle. – Remember, guys, we’re still talking about the same Kindle that everyone loves to use for their everyday reading. With the DX you’ll enjoy a larger screen, built-in PDF support, an auto-rotating screen, and more available internal storage than ever!
I’m looking forward to seeing how well the new Kindle DX does in the academic market. I’m not sure if I will jump over to the new, larger format (I’m just now rocking the Kindle 2). Though, students who don’t already own a Kindle should definitely consider pre-ordering a Kindle DX, which is due out this summer. If you can’t wait that long, the popular Kindle 2 is available for immediate shipment.
So, we’ve finally gotten around to giving KindleChat.com a face lift. Hopefully this will allow everyone to navigate the site more easily and find what they’re looking for. Beyond the new look, the most notable addition is the search feature, which is near the top of the page.
We’ve still got some things to tweak here and there, so you can expect to see more changes in the future. We’re also open to your ideas and input, so please feel free to leave a comment below!
I’m stilling seeing lots of rumors on the web that report the Kindle 3 will have a touch screen. I’m still wary of this idea. There’s no doubt that a touch screen interface will greatly improve how we navigate about. My largest concern is that I’m going to spend too much time wiping the fingerprints from the screen.
There are a couple of ways around this… and no, I do not simply need to wash my hands more often.
Perhaps the Kindle 3 will use a type of cover or film that doesn’t show fingerprints. Maybe a stylus could be employed. I don’t see this being a popular decision among Kindle users, but it would certainly lend a greater degree of precision and totally eliminate any worry of fingerprints.
Guys, I don’t know why I hate fingerprints so much. I just do.
Among other things, each instance of the touch screen rumor I’ve read is paired with the additional rumor of a 2009 release date. That just seems ridiculous to me, but I guess Amazon could have kept the forge glowing and hammers ringing for another expedient next-generation delivery.
Well, it’s been just over two weeks since I received my Kindle 2. I’m happy to say that I’ve been able to read with my new Kindle for those two weeks on just one battery charge. I’m also happy to say that the Kindle gave me plenty of notice before completely running down. I was able to finish up a chapter before plugging up the power adapter for the second time. I was getting sleepy too, so both I and the kindle needed some respite.
I recently read a review about the Kindle 2 and Kindle 1 that more or less compared the two. The reviewer is a self-proclaimed “early adopter,” but had a strange way of appreciating how Amazon had redesigned the second version of their reading device (the Kindle 2 reader).
Further in his review, he mentioned that a touch screen seemed like a good idea for the next generation of the popular Kindle reader. I can think of several ways to improve the Kindle, but I’m having trouble with seeing how a touchscreen would be desirable.