kindle

Calling it the iPod of the book business, CitiGroup analyst Mark Mahaney says the Kindle e-book reader will generate three-quarters of a billion dollars for Amazon.com in less than two years.

That should account for up to 3 percent of Amazon's business. See his chart and reasoning here.

His calculations assume that unit sales will grow from 189,000 by the end of this year to 2.2 million units in just two years. By then he assumes the price of the device will be just below $300. Mahaney also points out that Amazon does have the largest … Read more

Barely a month after Jeff Bezos' very public mea culpa over delays, Amazon's Kindle is apparently back on the virtual shelves.

The e-tailer's listing page for the e-book reader indicates that it's in stock and available for purchase, at the usual $399 plus free two-day shipping.

After the Kindle had sold out so quickly after its launch in November last year, there had been some speculation that the delays were caused by production problems or were planned deliberately to stoke more demand. But as Craver David Carnoy indicated, it was probably just a victim of holiday shopping madness.… Read more

Although some people see a reason to buy a device just to read a book, I don't. Some have said that Amazon's Kindle is the savior of the e-book market. I don't believe it. Others say that e-book readers will kill the book publishing industry and bring it into the 21st century. I think that's rubbish. The fact of the matter is e-book readers will never have commercial relevance.

So I know what you're probably thinking -- "But, didn't the AP release a story yesterday that said Amazon's Kindle may have 'revolutionized the e-book market'?". Yep. But if you read between the lines a bit, you'll find that an important piece of the pie is missing -- no one is willing to say how strong sales are and so far, the tiny e-book market is still extremely small.

And although the market may be growing at an extremely slow pace as some have claimed, there's no indication that anyone wants these toys. For years, the book has been a vessel of knowledge and entertainment for people and I simply don't see how a small piece of plastic can change the connection people have to holding a book, flipping the pages and marking notes on the paper.

Simply put, the idea of an e-book reader is fundamentally flawed.… Read more

Lampposts mystery solved! (thanks Joe) http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/17/ padded-lampposts-in-london-not-really-being-tested/

Jeff Bezos Kindle cake: http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9899249-1.html

Icon watch (easy cake): http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2008/03/icon_watch_just.html

USB slide show for your computer’s vitals (nice-looking cake): http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9899114-1.html

eMotion’s solar-powered media player http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9899007-1.html… Read more

If you happened to have visited Amazon's Web site today, you might have noticed that a large message from Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos, was plastered across the home page of the site. Basically, it was a big fat apology for Amazon's inability to ship its Kindle electronic book reader in a timely fashion.

Ever since it quickly sold out at launch, a lot of folks have been speculating about just how many Kindles Amazon had sold and whether the long delays in shipping were a case of production problems or a PR ploy designed to make the Kindle appear … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Though times may be tough for other TV manufacturers, Sony says it isn't feeling a thing yet in its electronics division here in the U.S.

At a press briefing with reporters here Wednesday evening, Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow said that despite indications of a weakening U.S. economy, all is well with the Japanese electronics giant.

"I don't think consumers buying consumer electronics yet feel that," Glasgow said. "Sony did particularly well during the holidays. It was the best in the history of Sony Electronics in the U.S."

A boon … Read more

While most of Steve Jobs' energy on Tuesday was spent touting the new MacBook Air, the Apple chief did take some time to praise longtime rival Bill Gates, who plans to stop working full-time at Microsoft at the end of June.

"Bill's retiring from Microsoft is a big deal," Jobs told the New York Times. "It's a significant event, and I think he should be honored for the contributions he's made."

I'm guessing Jobs probably won't issue a Bill Gates edition iPod, but the two have been making nice in public, … Read more

A significant amount of skill with a soldering iron and some custom firmware has revealed a number of interesting features Amazon.com hid within its Kindle e-book reader.

Among the ones that hardware hacker Igor Skochinsky uncovered and described on his blog are a basic photo viewer, a minesweeper game, and most interesting, location technology that uses the Kindle's CDMA networking to pinpoint its position. There also are some basic location-based services that call up a Google Maps view to show where you are and nearby gas stations and restaurants.