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The E-Book Files
MaineWriter:
Here's a book everyone should buy and read!
I Do, an anthology of short stories in support of marriage equality.
Do you support the right of any human being to marry the person they love? The right to say 'I Do' to a life of commitment and sharing with the that one special person? We do. We hope that marriage will soon be a dream that everyone can share. That's why the following authors of LGBT fiction have donated stories to this anthology, in aid of Lambda Legal Fund's fight for marriage equality: Tracey Pennington, Alex Beecroft, Charlie Cochrane, Clare London, Storm Grant, Lisabet Sarai, Sharon Maria Bidwell, Jeanne Barrack, Marquesate, Z.A Maxfield, P.A Brown, Allison Wonderland, Erastes, Zoe Nichols and Cassidy Ryan, Emma Collingwood, Mallory Path, Jerry L. Wheeler, Moondancer Drake, Fiona Glass, Lee Rowan. All profits from the sale of this anthology will be donated to the Lambda Legal Defense to fight Prop 8 in support of marriage equality for all.
Available in multiple ebook formats as well as print. Links to purchase are at the publisher's website:
http://www.mlrpress.com/ShowBook.php?book=IDO21001
L
belbbmfan:
The New Kindle has arrived. No word on whether it will be available in europe. :-\
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/technology/personaltech/10kindle.html?_r=1&hp
Amazon in Big Push for New Kindle Model
By BRAD STONE and MOTOKO RICH
Escalating its efforts to dominate the fledgling industry for electronic books, Amazon.com introduced on Monday a new version of its electronic book reader, called Kindle 2.
Amazon said the upgraded device had seven times the memory as the original version, allowed faster page-turns and had a crisper, though still black-and-white, display. The Kindle 2 also features a new design with round keys and a short, joysticklike controller — a departure from the previous version’s design, which some buyers had criticized as awkward. The new device will ship on Feb. 24. Amazon did not change the price for the device, which remains $359.
Though the improvements to the Kindle are only incremental, Jeffrey P. Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief executive, defined some ambitious goals for the device. “Our vision is every book ever printed, in any language, all available in less than 60 seconds,” he said at a news conference in New York.
Amazon introduced several new features for the Kindle. A new text-to-speech function allows readers to switch between reading words on the device and having the words read to them by a computerized voice. That technology was provided by Nuance, a speech-recognition company based in Burlington, Mass.
Amazon is also allowing Kindle owners to transfer texts between their Kindle and other mobile devices. Amazon said it was working on making digital texts available for other gadgets (like mobile phones), though it did not specify which ones.
One competitive threat Amazon is facing in its effort to dominate the world of e-books is Google, which has scanned in some seven million books, many of them out of print. Google has also struck deals with publishers and authors to split the proceeds from the online sales of those texts.
Google recently said it would soon begin selling these books for reading on mobile devices like the Apple iPhone and phones running Google’s Android operating system.
Implicitly addressing the threat posed by Google, Mr. Bezos said that Amazon knew better than other companies what book-buyers wanted and stressed Amazon’s digital catalog of 230,000 newer books and best sellers.
“We have tens of millions of customers who buy books from us every day and we know what they want to read,” he said. “And we are making sure to prioritize those items.”
Markus Dohle, chief executive of Random House, the world’s largest publisher of consumer books and a unit of Bertelsmann of Germany, said the company was working with Amazon and other e-book makers to digitize its so-called backlist of older titles. When asked in an interview after the news conference if he was concerned about the effects of Amazon’s dominance in the e-book market, Mr. Dohle paused and laughed.
“It is not up to us to talk about Amazon’s competition,” he said. “I don’t think that any kind of defensive business strategy will succeed. We want to grow our business in all channels and one of the fastest-growing customers is Amazon in all areas.”
“We see the Kindle and we see e-books as a real opportunity because we think that it will not cannibalize the physical part of the business and it will also generate and create new readers of books,” Mr. Dohle said.
MaineWriter:
Yes, Fabienne, I was really hoping they would announce that the new Kindle had international capability. To me, that seemed like an important upgrade. I know they are working on making deals with the European wireless carriers...hopefully, soon.
Of course, I have the kindle2 on order. LOL. It is due to arrive on 2/25. I am excited! For the moment, I am keeping my old one. I can't bear to part with it. It's been to Europe!
This week's ebook recommendation:
It is very good. Also available in print.
This is a multi-faceted novel which brilliantly joins the nomenclature of romantic and historical fiction. I would recommend this novel to lovers of music, lovers of history, and just plain lovers. --Knowbetter.com
Juliet Waldron brings Konstanze and her wayward genius of a spouse to vivid life. She avoids the pitfall of the biographical novelist by refusing to make either of them the villain, and her insights into character are extraordinary. --Liz Burton, The Blue Iris Journal
Mozart's Wife is a story of love, jealousy, grief and most importantly--forgiveness. ...Fastpaced; Ms. Waldron has exquisite, flowing prose. .. a must read... --Kim Murphy, Sime-Gen
Waldron's writing is humorous, erotic, and fluid. Her beautiful use of words reveals the delicate, volatile intimacy inherent in marriage. In the antagonist, Waldron characterizes a woman's quiet (and sometimes not so quiet) struggle to remain the dutiful wife while also protecting her children and herself from her husband's self-destructive behavior. Mozart's Wife is a consuming piece that reminds us that all humans, regardless of talent or skill, are within the boundaries of fault and outside the lines of perfection. I highly recommend this wonderful book. --Melissa Levine.
L
MaineWriter:
This is exciting news. They have released a Kindle app for the iPhone/iTouch. I downloaded it and it worked great.
You can read more about it in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/technology/personaltech/05pogue-email.html?em
Here's a good, comprehensive review from CNET:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10187912-1.html?tag=mncol;txt
And a good article from the Chicago Sun Times:
http://www.suntimes.com/business/1461776,ihnatko-kindle-apple-amazon-itunes-books-030409.article
So...all of you who have been hesitating to buy a Kindle...now you can read Kindle books on your iPhone/iTouch! Yippee!!
L
belbbmfan:
I read the article in the New York Times. I wonder if it's comfortable reading on an iPhone? The Kindle reads well, it really feels like reading a book, but the screen on an iPhone is much smaller.
I got myself a new mobile phone last week (my old one had finally died on me, well, it was 7 years old. LOL) and I can surf the internet on it. But the screen is so small, I find myself squinting at the small print.
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