kindle

Battery safety bungles, blunders, and boo-boos

Exploding batteries make headlines, but they're just the tip of the iceberg. If you've read owner's manuals, as I do, you see danger lurking everywhere. A couple examples:

"When not using remote controls, remove batteries. Do not take battery apart, heat it, or throw into fire." Curious kids do that kind of stuff all the time (I did), and the fine print in the owner's manual won't deter them. I suppose that the warnings are in there for legal reasons.

"Do not subject remote control to undue physical stress, such as striking it or dropping it." Wow, who would have thought that by merely dropping a remote, you're at risk. I guess that those of us with bare wood or tiled floors are living dangerously. Heed all warnings!

I haven't yet seen the next warnings in any manual, but it's just a matter of time before they appear.

"Do not put the battery in your mouth or swallow it." That's just common sense, but the tingling sensation of a few volts zapping your insides may...don't do it!

"Do not sit on batteries, and if you do, be aware that flatulence may pose additional risks." Of course.… Read more

New Apple tablet rumors point to Kindle clones?

More Apple tablet/Netbook rumors surfaced Wednesday as one Apple watcher wonders what the company is doing with all those books.

Reuters is reporting that Apple has ordered 10-inch touch screens from Wintek, a contract manufacturer in Taiwan that makes the touch screens used in the iPhone and iPod Touch. The screens are expected to be ready by the third quarter of this year, setting the stage for a possible late 2009 introduction of the long-rumored Apple tablet and/or Netbook.

But one interesting possibility for that rumored device comes from longtime Apple writer Andy Ihnatko, who is wondering if … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 927: Get out of my floveal

Firefox is trying a new blank tab feature that gives you some links but leaves the focused middle area blank to go easy on the floveal area of your eye. We also are very excited about mind control peripherals for your computer. And Natali says pinche again. Which is always good.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 927

YouTube to block UK music videos http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7933565.stm

Firefox, too, revamping new-tab behavior http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10191921-2.html

Amazon testing HD VOD on TiVo? http://i.gizmodo.com/5166326/amazon-hd-video-on-demand-now-beta-testing-on-select-tivo-devices

Venezuelan cell … Read more

Plastic Logic: Even the delivery date is flexible

Last September, I wrote a piece about a new e-book reader under development at Plastic Logic (see "E-books: The flexible future").

At the time, the company was hoping to ship its still unnamed e-book reader in the first half of this year. I was really looking forward to it, since it provides a unique combination of two valuable features: a big screen and enough flexibility to tolerate a little bit of bending. (I worry about my Kindle getting crunched in my briefcase.)

Monday night, I was watching the local news from KGO-TV in San Francisco, and caught a … Read more

Kindle 2 flaw: Lighter text causing headaches?

Whenever a next-generation version of a product is launched, inevitably you get comparisons to the previous model--and what the older model did better. Well, in the case of the Kindle 2, the nitpicking is in full swing as several blogs have taken up the debate over whether the Kindle 2's text is lighter than the original Kindle's.

On Joe Wikert's Kindleville blog, one reader lodged the following complaint:

Side-by-side, the K1 text is bolder and jumps out at you. It's as if the low fidelity, dot-matrix-like typeface of the K1 is better suited for the reading experience than the feathered, crisp, 16-shades of gray of the K2. After 30 minutes of reading on the K2, my eyes get tired and I actually experience mild dizziness, headaches. Never experienced that with the K1.

In the Mobileread forums, a reader posted that he had decided to return the Kindle 2 after he noticed "low contrast on text as compared to kindle 1...text on kindle 1 is really good it is dark and somewhat thicker than kindle 2 at the same font size, menu is normal on kindle 2." He said he spoke to a Kindle representative (we assume a customer service person), who said he'd heard complaints from other Kindle 2 users as well.

On Amazon, there's a thread titled, "Amazon: Please make the text darker on Kindle 2!"

The thread's starter, BMK, is calling for an e-mail campaign to encourage Amazon to update the firmware on the Kindle 2 to fix the alleged problem.

"Kindle 2 is capable of producing darker text than the default setting, which is light, thin, and difficult to read for many people. Customer Service has reportedly told at least one person that the standard text could have been a darker shade of gray/black than the one that was chosen."

So, what's the deal? Are people imagining things or is there really an issue? … Read more

Week in review: Apple's hardware harvest

Apple announced updates to its desktop offering this week in hopes of jump-starting sales in a category that has stagnated.

Three Mac desktop categories were updated, but only one really matters: the Mac Mini and Mac Pro aren't nearly as popular as the all-in-one iMac. Apple did improve the specifications of the iMac at the same price points, lowering the cost of acquiring a 24-inch version to $1,499. But it made few significant changes to a design that hasn't been updated since September 2007 and resisted calls to reduce the price of the iMac below $1,000, … Read more

Barnes & Noble acquires e-book seller

Updated at 8:20 a.m. PST with comment from Barnes & Noble.

Barnes & Noble has acquired e-book seller Fictionwise.com for $15.7 million, as it makes another attempt at running an e-book store.

The cash deal, announced Thursday, is part of Barnes & Noble's plans to launch its own e-book store later this year, despite its lack of success with a previous attempt years ago.

Back in 2000, Barnes & Noble teamed up with Microsoft to launch an e-book store with the help of Microsoft Reader software. But three years after its launch and investing at least $20 million into the project, … Read more

Kindle is not the best iPhone e-reader

By now, you know you don't need a Kindle 2 to read books electronically. You can use the new Kindle for iPhone app.

But Kindle's not the only way to read books on a iPhone or iPod Touch. There are two other readers well worth checking out:

The apps

eReader

eReader is one of the most popular iPhone apps in the Apple App Store and it's the second-most downloaded program in the store's "Books" section. It's well liked for good reason.

eReader is designed extremely well, and it makes flipping through pages of … Read more

Kindle books, meet iPhone readers

roundup Got an iPhone or iPod Touch? Amazon's new Kindle for iPhone app lets you use those gadgets to read electronic books.

Kindle is not the best iPhone e-reader Who needs a Kindle when you have an iPhone? We take a look at some of the best ways to read eBooks on your iPhone or iPod Touch. (Posted in Webware by Don Reisinger) March 6, 2009 7:30 AM PST

First Look video: Kindle for iPhone Here are some first impressions of Amazon's new Kindle application for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. (Posted in The Download Blog … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 924: Live smart die dumb

Riding an electric motorcycle can make you smarter, but as Molly points out, it can also kill you. So six to one, half a dozen to the other. We also can break you off a piece of that Ice Pod bar. As soon as someone sends us one. And Sweden is trying to send us some bandwidth. Thanks, Sweden!

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 924

Obama names IT change-agent Vivek Kundra as federal CIO http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=1175

Sprint and Palm hosting Palm Pre Webcast on March 12 http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10188601-1.html… Read more