Apple takes e-book pricing to the Supreme Court

Apple takes e-book pricing to the Supreme Court

“Never give up, never surrender!”
–Commander Peter Quincy Taggart, played by Jason Nesmith, who in turn is played by Tim Allen
Galaxy Quest
screenplay by David Howard, Robert Gordon

The Department of Justice case against five of the biggest USA trade publishers and Apple was settled so long ago (June of 2013) that the settlement-induced injunction against the Agency Model has expired for the publishers (and a modified version is back in effect).

The only party that didn’t settle was Apple.

They are good at fighting in court…and they have enough money to do it for pretty much as long as they want.

Well, until the options run out, anyway.

The Supreme Court is the final option in this case.

In this

Apple document filed with the Supreme Court

Apple requests an extension of a month to file their case to the Supreme Court…they currently have until September 28th of this year, they’d like it to go through October 28th.

Why do they need another thirty days?

They’ve been busy. 🙂

This isn’t the only legal issue in which Apple is involved, and there are only so many world-class, Supreme Court worthy lawyers available to work on them.

Given that they say, “This question is exceedingly important to the United States economy…” it does make one wonder a bit about their priorities. 😉

Apple’s primary argument appears in section 2, which includes

“Before Apple entered the e-books market, Amazon held almost 90% of the market for e-books, which Amazon sold for use on its closed Kindle system.”

Therefore, according to them, they needed to work with the publishers to be able to challenge that market control, which “…suppressed competition and innovation”. Essentially, the assertion goes, Amazon’s low pricing (sometimes charging customers less than what Amazon paid to the publisher) made it unattractive for other people to enter the market (who couldn’t afford to do that), and threatened to result in publishers not making e-book available.

Both of those may be true.

That wouldn’t justify an illegal action, of course…the question here is whether the earlier court decisions (the initial ruling against Apple by Judge Denise Cote and an appeal) against Apple were done on a valid basis.

It’s worth reading their case for the extension.

What does all of this mean for we readers?

Either Apple has September 28th or October 28th to file this request to the Supreme Court…the latter if the Court grants an extension.

My understanding is that if they don’t grant the extension, that might also indicate a rejection of the appeal.

If the appeal doesn’t happen, Apple owes something like half a billion dollars. That’s a lot of money, but they could handle it.

If the appeal was upheld, and the early decisions were overturned (which could take some time)?

It’s a vindication for Apple, and they don’t owe the money…but, and I’m not an expert, I don’t think it results in any particular actions going forward. I don’t think it changes how e-books are priced, for example. It could affect how future negotiations go on other issues.

I’ll keep an eye on it, but honestly, I’ll be happy when there is closure on this. 🙂

For a good analysis, I recommend this

Forbes post by Roger Parloff

What do you think? Will the Supreme Court grant the extension? Will they hear the case? What does it mean if Apple wins…or loses? Do you even care at this point? 🙂 Feel free to tell me and my readers what you think by commenting on this post.

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Note: I plan to do another post on the new Amazon hardware in the couple of days, following yesterday’s initial coverage:

Amazon hardware announcements! $50 tablet, 10″ tablet, Fire TV 2

I intend to do something like a buying guide, to give you a sense of why you would pick one over another, why you might or might not want to upgrade, and what other options you might have. 

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

Limited time offer on Fire tablets: Things We Set on Fire $1 .99

Limited time offer on Fire tablets: Things We Set on Fire $1 .99

If you have a Fire tablet, with special offers, check it for this one. It’s big savings on a popular book.

Sorry this is so short, I am just on my phone. 🙂

Update:

These are special limited time offers, which are only available to Fire tablet owners.

What happens is you can get a text to alert you to an upcoming deal (details in the links below). You don’t get much warning…maybe an hour.

The deal also appears on the sleep screen of your Fire, and you can find it under Offers on the homescreen (all the way at the end). That will disappear when the sale is over.

Then, you say you want to “learn more”. You’ll get to a screen with a countdown clock. As soon as the clock gets to zero, you need to click to have a chance to get it.

They have typically been selling out in seconds, although this one looks like it will last the hour.

Here is information on the program:

• Limited Time Special Offers only on Kindle Fire
• Limited Time Special Offers only on Kindle Fire at AmazonSmile…benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*

As I’ve written before, I look at these LTOs (Limited Time Offers) sort of like buying a lottery ticket: I don’t expect to get one (win), but its exciting if I do! Of course, the “ticket” doesn’t cost me anything.

These LTOs are one of the best arguments for having Special Offers…and yes, a good argument for having a  Fire (at AmazonSmile)!

Did you get one? Do you have any other comment on this? Feel free to let me and my readers know by commenting on this post.

One more thing: I’ve had a couple of readers say on past offers that they never even saw the offer. As far as I know, these go out to every eligible Fire tablet in the USA. A few possibilities occur to me:

• They either bought a Fire tablet without Special Offers, or bought out of the offers later. You have to be subscribed to those in order to get these deals
• They weren’t connected to wireless in time for it to update
• They didn’t check the Offers tab (I don’t always see it on the sleep screen)

It might not have been any of those, but those three would have done it.

This time, also, I think someone was saying I hadn’t included a link.

I don’t think I can…I think you have to go directly from you Fire tablet. I know I didn’t see it when I went to the book in the browser.

Although the sale is over, this was the item:

Things We Set on Fire (at AmazonSmile*) by Deborah Reed | 4.1 stars | 1,269 customer reviews

It’s $4.99 right now to buy, and it’s also available as part o

Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

I have to say, it was nice to see a book as one of these LTOs. 🙂

===

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

Amazon hardware announcements! $50 tablet, 10″ tablet, Fire TV 2

Amazon hardware announcements! $50 tablet, 10″ tablet, Fire TV 2

Let it rain!

Five more press releases from Amazon with new hardware announcements (and these may not be the last this holiday season).

I’m not always right, but it’s fun when I am. 😉

I said yesterday that a flurry of press releases and the unavailability of the Amazon Fire TV suggested we might get hardware announcements this week…they’re here!

There are some significant developments here…I’ll deal with those in a moment, but I do want to mention that these announcements don’t include new EBRs (E-Book Readers…non-Fire, non-backlit) or a new Amazon Echo (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) (although there is a ground-breaking announcement on Alexa, the “parse-onality” of the Echo). I think EBR announcements are still forthcoming, and that we probably won’t get an Echo 2 announcement, but that we’ll hear a lot about the Echo (including the “Alexa Skills” and more features).

Let’s start with Fire tablets. Those are used by many people for reading…including me. I do still read on an EBR before going to sleep, but I would guess that at least 90% of my reading is done on my

Kindle Fire HDX 7″, HDX Display, Wi-Fi, 16 GB – Includes Special Offers (3rd Generation) (at AmazonSmile*) (now retired…today, I think)

I think that may be increasingly true for people. Let’s do it this way: we’ll go from the least expensive currently available new (or available for pre-order) directly from Amazon Fire tablet and go up from there. I will likely need to expand these descriptions in future posts…this will be a high-level listing, noting some key points:

NEW: Fire, 7″ Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB – Includes Special Offers, Black (at AmazonSmile*) $49.99
This is about half the previous lowest price. Lower quality screen, shorter battery charge life, mono (not stereo)…but a micro SD slot, cameras front and back, and Mayday (on-screen tech support…an amazing feature). Most people, certainly casual users, aren’t likely to notice an hour’s less battery charge life or fewer pixels. Serious gamers would. This will likely be a huge hit. They are also, interestingly, offering six for the price of five with a code: FIRE6PACK. That makes it really work for schools, large families, bookclubs, businesses. Yes, there are other cheap Android tablets out there…but people want Amazon, and Mayday is a big advantage.

press release

Fire HD 6, 6″ HD Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB – Includes Special Offers, Black(at AmazonSmile*) $99.99
Twice the money and a smaller (although better) screen. It says it is going to get Mayday (which has been it’s drawback). Will it get the new Fire 5.0 with the other new features? It’s also a mono speaker, and with no micro SD slot. Not clear to me how long this one will stick around.

NEW VERSION: Fire Kids Edition, 7″ Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB, Blue Kid-Proof Case (at AmazonSmile*) $99.99

press release: Introducing the All-New Fire Kids Edition—Built from the Ground Up for Kids, Now Under $100

NEW: Fire HD 8, 8″ HD Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB – Includes Special Offers, Black (at AmazonSmile*) starting at $149.99
I think this will be seen as the “normal” model (with the $49.99 being seen as the “cheap” model). It has the micro-SD card slot. It has the features of the $50 “Fire” (that’s it…like the call the least expensive EBR the “Kindle”), but all around ramped up hardware (better cameras, processor, screen)

NEW: Fire HD 10, 10.1″ HD Display, Wi-Fi, 16 GB – Includes Special Offers, Black (at AmazonSmile*) starting at $229.99
The top of the line model…with a significantly bigger screen. It’s worth noting that the 8″ actually will have a sharper screen, since they have the same number of pixels…on a larger screen, that makes them less dense.

Press release for 8 and 10″ Fire HDs: Introducing the All-New Fire HD: Powerful Tablets Designed for Entertainment

—

Next up: the Fire TV 2, a special Fire TV gaming edition, and an updated Fire TV stick (for more money, but with a voice remote)…

I will definitely need to add to these descriptions (you can check the press releases or the product pages, but note that Alexa is coming…but apparently not for device control, just for conversation and information. If that’s correct, the Apple TV (which is more expensive than the non-gaming edition) might win that round. However, voice search is improving on the Fire TV, so we’ll see.

Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote (at AmazonSmile*) $49.99 with voice remote, $39.99 with standard remote

Amazon Fire TV (at AmazonSmile*) $99.99

Fire TV press release: Introducing the New Amazon Fire TV with 4K Ultra HD and Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote

Amazon Fire TV Gaming Edition (at AmazonSmile*) $139.99

Fire TV gaming edition press release: Introducing the New Amazon Fire TV Gaming Edition—Take Game Night to the Next Level

More on these developments later…

 

Let me and my readers  know what you think about the new hardware by commenting on this post. Some of my regular readers and commenters are particularly good at parsing these sorts of announcements, and we’ll all benefit from their analysis! 🙂

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

Amazon announcement storm: precursor to hardware announcement?

Amazon announcement storm: precursor to hardware announcement?

Amazon has put out six press releases (well, okay…two of them were the same, just in different languages) in the last two days.

The last time that happened was in June…when the

Amazon Echo (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

became generally available.

I checked: there was also a flurry around the time of the announcement about new models last year in September.

Now, this pattern is different…those press releases came afterwards or were concurrent. These are (perhaps only very slightly) before.

However, I think that part of what may happen is that Amazon is arranges deals and creates features to make the release of hardware even more exciting. They want heightened interest in Amazon generally as well at that time, and goodwill.

These announcements also give you options even if you aren’t interested in buying new hardware.

—

Amazon Prime Members Enjoy Digital Access to The Washington Post for Free

The upshot here?

“Prime members can now enjoy six months of free unlimited access to The Washington Post National Digital Edition, a subscription usually retailing for $9.99 per month. After the first six months of access to world-class national and international news, Prime members can continue to enjoy unlimited digital access with a discounted monthly subscription rate of only $3.99, a savings of 60% per month.”

I did enjoy the Washington Post (owned by Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos) when we got it for free for six months on Fire tablets, which I wrote about it:

Washington Post free on Kindle Fire

Even though I could have continued it at a very low cost, I didn’t. It was one of those things where I have enough to read without it, and it was symbolically challenging for me to pay for it at all.

I figure I’ll read it for the six months, and then cancel it again. I don’t feel like that’s cheating: I’m paying for Prime anyway, and they aren’t asking me to get it only if I think I might subscribe.

Note that this time it is for Prime members (not based on having a Fire tablet), and you can read it on many platforms…including the website.

Oh, this isn’t available for current subscribers, by the way…so I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t sign up before. 😉

Start here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/primeoffer

—

Now Available: The Complete Sex and the City Series on Prime Video

Amazon started giving Prime Members free streaming access to older seasons of some HBO shows a bit more than a year ago

Round up #255: authors’ insults, HBO ruh-roh

and now they’ve added the complete Sex and the City.

Interestingly, it is available for download for offline watching. The selection of downloadable Prime Videos has gotten much better recently: a lot more well-known titles. This is a way that Amazon differentiates itself from Netflix and Hulu, and it looks like it wants to push that.

Downloadable titles (for Prime members, at no additional cost) now include:

• Transparent
• Downton Abbey
• Extant
• Grimm
• Under the Dome
• American Horror Story
• Wallace & Gromit: the Complete Collection
• Curious George
• Vikings
• Justified
• Orphan Black
• Teen Wolf (the new MTV version)
• 24: Live Another Day
• Sons of Anarchy
• Hand of God
• Girls

Note that it isn’t all seasons of those, but this is still nice!

Oh, and movies, too, including:

• Pulp Fiction
• The Bling Ring
• Kill Bill
• Spy Kids
• Life After Beth
• Good Will Hunting
• Under the Skin
• Sling Blade
• Spring Breakers
• The Neverending Story
• Ella Enchanted

—

Amazon Fire TV—Largest and Fastest Growing Selection of Any Streaming Media Player

This one was a general Fire TV announcement (and they might be introducing a new version of it, I suppose). That might be in part a response to the new Apple TV announcement…that sounds cool, but it’s relatively expensive. Apple TV will start at $149, as opposed to $99 for the

Amazon Fire TV (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

and $39 for the

Fire TV Stick (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

Hey! The Fire TV is unavailable! Very good chance that means an announcement for a new gen soon…before the end of the week I would guess. I know, I know…I didn’t think that was the case with the Fire Phone when I wrote about it yesterday, but this is different…especially with the announcements of new content.

The press release includes these interesting bits:

• “Popular new titles include AT&T U-Verse, HBO NOW, Pac Man 256, Orbitz, Quiplash, Tastemade, and Tennis Channel Everywhere. FOX NOW, FXNOW, Poker Central, and Turner Classic Movies will be coming to the platform soon.”

If TCM is free (to watch the movies, not just to get the app), I’m an especially happy camper. 🙂

This is also useful:

“Fire TV integrated universal search from the very beginning, and customers have loved being able to easily search across multiple services, including HBO GO, Showtime, Hulu, STARZ PLAY, ENCORE PLAY, and Vevo. Plus, Amazon will be adding over 10 services to universal search by the end of the year, including A&E, HISTORY, Lifetime, and PBS.”

—

Amazon Continues to Expand its Superfast Delivery Service: Prime Now Lands in Los Angeles Featuring Tens of Thousands of Items from Amazon, Local Store Deliveries Coming Soon

Prime Now is this incredible, two-hour delivery service (you can pay $7.99 to get something in one hour).

They are establishing four (!) hubs for this in Southern California, and will be covering quite a few cities (“Los Angeles and Orange County including areas such as Santa Monica, Redondo Beach, Silver Lake and Irvine, to name a few…”).

Additionally, they’ll deliver from some local stores, like Sprouts. My Significant Other likes an Icelandic yogurt called Siggi’s which we can get at Sprouts…but it’s never a good shopping experience. We aren’t covered by Prime Now (yet), but getting it deliveed in two hours at no additional cost? Yes, please.

—

Amazon Announces Finalists of Second Indie Literary Contest for Spanish-Language

For a final press release, also available in Spanish:

Amazon Anuncia los Finalistas del Segundo Concurso Literario de Autores ‘Indie’ en Español

we get something that has to do specifically with books. 🙂

Amazon has been taking submissions of unpublished books in Spanish, and they are down to five finalists. See this page for more information:

http://www.amazon.com/concursoindie (at AmazonSmile*)

The winner will “have the opportunity” to be published in print, audio, and e-book by Amazon.

The winner will be announced October 15th.

—

There you go!

In the middle of writing this, I tweeted about the Fire TV unavailability…I wanted to get that out before Amazon made an announcement. 😉

What do you think? Is Amazon about to announce new hardware? What does it mean that they are taking more interest in non-English publishing? Does all of this have to do with new models, or is it just a coincidence and build up for the holiday season? Feel free to tell me and my readers what you think by commenting on this post.

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

 

When did it become Amazon Freetime unlimited?

When did it become Amazon Freetime unlimited?

Back in 2012, Amazon announced Kindle Freetime Unlimited, as I wrote about in this post:

Amazon introduces Kindle FreeTime Unlimited

I was looking in the Kindle store, and noticed that it was gone…and replaced by Amazon FreeTime unlimited.

The link from the storefront was redirected to

Amazon FreeTime unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

That’s interesting…and a bit concerning.

The new page focuses much more on videos than on books, although they do get mentioned. They say:

“Personalize each kid’s experience with profiles, and let them watch where they want to – on Fire Tablets, Kindle eReaders or Fire TV”

Now, they also  mention reading…although they put apps in front of  books.

Branding matters…a lot.

Is Amazon moving away from the Kindle brand in favor of just being Amazon?

At  least in this case, they are.

They did already step away, when they changed the Kindle Fire tablet into just “Fire tablets”.

This may tie into Amazon’s rumored $50 tablet…we should get a hardware announcement within the next month or so (I’m think it will come before the end of the month).

If you asked most people what they thought “Kindle” signified from Amazon, I think they would say “e-books”.

I don’t at all think Amazon will stop supporting e-books. I also expect that, for now, they’ll keep producing EBRs (E-Book Readers), in addition to tablets.

Five years from now, will Amazon still be making  EBRs?

I’m not sure about that…especially if screen technology greatly improves.

If the two technologies merge, so we get super long lasting batteries, color, video, and a comfortable reading experience, I think the public would think of it as a tablet, not as a Kindle…and that Amazon would brand it that way.

We’ll see…

What do you think? Why did Amazon change the name?  The word “Kindle” is a powerful brand for them…how will they use it in the future? Feel free to tell me and my readers what you think by commenting on this post.

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

The Fire (Phone) has gone out…no longer available

The Fire (Phone) has gone out…no longer available

Well, I guess I have a collector’s item now.

Don’t get me wrong…I like collector’s items, and have a number of rarities.

However, it makes me a tad uncomfortable that one of the things on which I rely the most, my daily use SmartPhone, the

Amazon Fire Phone (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

now says on the Amazon product page

“Currently unavailable.
We don’t know when or if this item will be back in stock.”

I mean, I’m sure it was a gas to own a Tucker 48…but I’m guessing it’s a little hard to find spare parts and an authorized repair shop. 😉

I do like my Fire Phone…not as much as I liked my Galaxy, but it has some cool features.

I’m sure Amazon will continue to support it…but no question that they’ll stop developing for it. We already know they laid off a bunch of techies at Lab126 that worked on it. With something like a SmartPhone, you develop new features partially to attract new customers, not just to service the ones you have. Since there won’t be any new customers, there is less of an incentive to innovate.

It is possible this Fire Phone will come back into stock…but it seems a bit unlikely.

It’s also possible (and Jeff Bezos has indicated it will likely happen) that Amazon develops some other phone…but probably not right away.

I can make a gadget last a long time, but I don’t want to be doing a lot of first aid to what is basically my lifeline to the world.

For example, I drove a car…until it literally fell apart. 🙂 The whole muffler exhaust pipe thing (I’m not a car person, as you can tell) dropped. I took a fan belt, tied it up, and drove like that for maybe another two weeks. This was many, many years ago…I wouldn’t do that now.

I’ll keep counting on the phone for now…but it’s not too early to sort of think about other phones.

I wouldn’t get an iPhone…Apple soured me with what they did with e-books, and I have an iPhone for work. I’ve never liked the iPhone as much as I liked my Galaxy.

Part of that is just familiarity, I know.

If I had to get a phone right now, I’d be looking at a Galaxy again…perhaps the Edge.

What went wrong with the Fire Phone for Amazon, and how does this impact EBRs (E-Book Readers)?

Price.

That was about it.

If the Fire Phone had been introduced as a cheap phone, I think it would have done well.

People are always impressed when they see the 3-D effect.

The gestural control, while that sounds gimmicky, is helpful. It makes  lot more things one-handed. It takes a little bit to get used to flicking the phone this way and that for different functions, but it works.

Then, of course, there is Mayday…Amazon’s on-screen tech support. That’s a remarkable achievement.

This should be a pretty clear lesson to Amazon: don’t try to be the luxury brand.

That should place downwards price pressure on other gadgets…and we’ve been hearing a rumor about a $50 tablet from Amazon, in time for the holidays.

It’s been just about a year since the last big hardware announcement from Amazon (September 17th last year), and the year before that was the end of the September.

We probably won’t hear about a phone in this year’s big announcement…although I could see the Echo getting some sort of phone capability (either tying into your phone through Bluetooth, but controlled by the Echo, or maybe VOIP…Voice Over Internet Protocol).

There is also the possibility, which hasn’t been talked about much lately, that Amazon introduce a wearable (a watch?) with phone calling. I’ve never liked wearing watches (I carried an old fashioned pocket watch for years). Wristwatches would tend to go wacky on me. I couldn’t figure that out for some time, although there were people who thought it had to do with my “magnetic personality”. 😉 Someone finally made a good suggestion to me: since I’m ambidextrous, I probably tended to bump it into things more…I couldn’t put it on a non-dominant hand.

Yeah, I’d rather not get a SmartWatch.

No real reason why a tablet couldn’t make phone calls, I suppose…my Kindle Fire could do it with an app, but it wasn’t that convenient.

Anyway, it’s the end of a (short-lived and largely non-impactful) era. Unless it’s just out of stock…but I think that’s unlikely.

Keep your fingers crossed that my phone hangs in there! If Amazon did bring out another, fairly inexpensive phone before I had to replace this one, I would honestly consider it…owning this one has not been a bad experience…Samsung was just a better experience. 😉

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

 

A new feature, and you can help…ILMK Readers’ Recommendations: book discovery zone

A new feature, and you can help…ILMK Readers’ Recommendations: book discovery zone 

You know how people like to say, “So many books, so little time”?

Well, if they said that twenty years ago, they didn’t know the tenth of it! 😉

It’s not necessarily that the problem is that there are that many more books (although there are clearly more published each month than there used to be). Even if you read a book every day for fifty years, you wouldn’t read 20,000 books. I think it’s safe to say that you aren’t going to read 100,000 books in your life…and there are close to four million titles in the Kindle store…and there are over eighteen million new paperback titles at Amazon.

Part of it is that they are so much more available than they were. When every book cost a significant amount, it was easier to say no.

There are tens of thousands of free Kindle books from Amazon…and that doesn’t include the more than one million books you can borrow from

Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

for $9.99 a month.

I’ve tried a number of ways to help you, my readers, discover books.

I’ve also been grateful when you’ve suggested books to me.

Thanks to my

Pick my read #1

poll recently, I read

The Martian (at AmazonSmile*)

which I enjoyed (and I’m looking forward to the Matt Damon movie).

I’m currently reading

Terms of Enlistment (at AmazonSmile*)

and it’s a book where I’m excited to see what happens next.

I wanted to find some way to get everybody more recommendations.

I didn’t want to just ask for narratives, though…there are a lot of places to get those kinds of wonderful, insightful reviews.

I decided to go with a polling type system.

Take a look at it, and see what you think:

ILMK Readers’ Recommendations: book discovery zone

I’d love you to participate, although of course, it’s up to you.  🙂

You can comment on the page to recommend a title and/or a new category, and you can “vote” in the poll to recommend the book.

My thought is that people will notice books with a lot of votes and check them out…or perhaps, see a book that’s completely unfamiliar but has a few votes, and look at that one.

I’ll be interested to know what you think…

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

Round up #308: authors watch, free Oz

Round up #308: authors watch, free Oz

The ILMK Round ups are short pieces which may or may not be expanded later.

I read more than fifty of these novels…and they may be headed to the big screen

I’ll give you some clues before I tell you, just for fun. 🙂

This was a very popular series of books.

I read all of them.

I started reading them because our kid (actually a kid at that point) was reading them. However, I also enjoyed them.

The author has also had some success with other books.

There has already been a TV series, and we have the boardgame.

One of the stars of the TV series has also played a superhero in the movies.

The plot is reminiscent of one of my favorite fictional characters, Buddy Baker, who first appeared about thirty years before the first book.

The author is generally known by two initials and a last name.

The series is…

The Animorphs (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

According to this

The Mary Sue post by Dan Van Winkle

(and other sources), Universal is looking at developing a feature movie from the 1990s hit about kids who can become animals…but that really simplifies it. It’s a lot more dark and harrowing than that sounds.

Universal is where you want your movie to be right now…they are having an amazing year! It’s one of the best box office years (especially measured by profitability) for any movie studio ever. Jurassic World, Pitch Perfect 2, Straight Outta Compton…and no real dogs (although the Ted 2 box office was lower than many people expected.

I’ll be keeping my eye out for this one…

Wicked is free

Thanks to

Books on the Knob

for the heads up on this one!

Free at time of writing in the USA Kindle store is

Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked Years Book 1) (Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked Years Book 1))
by Gregory Maguire

It is a bleak take on the Wizard of Oz series, and not intended for children.

Regular readers know I’m a big fan of the Oz books, and have written some about Oz (I have a book I’d like to write which is tied to Oz…it’s not in the front of the list, though). You can read my thoughts about Wicked (on which the popular ((so to speak)) musical was based) here: Wicked, Oz, and reimagining public domain works.

By the way, this appears to be free because of Amazon’s price matching policy (in this case with Barnes & Noble)…another way Amazon serves us as customers. You can even report higher price somewhere else on book’s Amazon product pages.

Authors watch TV? Who knew? 😉

Some people like to present this scenario that reading and watching TV are at odds…that they are bitter enemies, and it’s usually presented as the noble mental warrior being assaulted by a scourge of uncouth barbarians.

I don’t see it that way. 🙂

I read. I watch TV.  I watch movies. I like old time radio. I listen to music. I love talking to people.  One of my favorite things is to encounter wild animals in nature.

Put simply, I like input.

I’m not the only one that feels that way.

Those authors who write the books the literati love? Some of them watch TV, too. 😉

In this

FLAVORWIRE post by Alison Herman

ten writers’ favorite TV shows are listed. Well, not necessary favorite, despite the title, but shows they like.

I found it fascinating!

Take a guess: Joyce Carol Oates has been nominated five times for the Pulitzer. What show(s) influence that famed intellect?

Which author picked the CW’s Supernatural?

It’s a fun read…

The Bookseller: “A manifesto for trade publishing”

This was an interesting piece:

The Bookseller post by Alastair Horne

Essentially, it recommends that trade publishers (the people who publish the kinds of books you would buy in bookstores…not textbooks and such) should be looking at education publishers to see how they have adapted to the changing market engendered by the rise of e-books.

It makes a good point, in my opinion, although it’s not very specific.

“He who must not be mispronounced”

What do a talk show host and an evil wizard have in common?

I remember years ago when I was managing a brick-and-mortar bookstore.

I heard a parent upbraiding a child for mispronouncing a word.

I said, kind of matter of factly, “You know, that’s the sign of a reader.”

Parent: “What”

Me: “It means your child has read the word, but never heard it pronounced.”

That’s not verbatim, but at that point, the parent started praising the kid. 🙂

I think all of us who are serious readers have done that at some point, especially with foreign words.

I know I thought “writhe” was pronounced to rhyme with “with” for a long time, for example.

Well, J.K. Rowling has recently confirmed that the name Voldemort has a silent “T” at the end (as it would if was French):

According to this

EW post by Jessica Goldman

and other sources, that name (which canonically should not be pronounced at all, I suppose) should be something like “VOHL-du-mohr”…not saying the terminal “T”.

It appears that it was the first movie that cemented in readers’ eyes…er, ears…that the “T” is said.

Jim Dale pronounced it the French day in the first two audiobooks, then did it the movie way, from what I’ve heard (which was not be listening to the audiobooks).

An amusing cartoon

I thought this cartoon was funny:

EBOOK FRIENDLY

B&N stock down more than 20%

Since I recently wrote about Barnes & Nobles’ most recent financial report day before yesterday, the largest bookstore chain in America saw it’s stock drop more than 20%.

There was a tiny “dead cat bounce” (where it went very low, and came back a bit, then steadies itself at a significantly lower level).

You can see the chart here:

http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=BKS>

It’s particularly informative to check the box that will show you a comparison to the retail segment in general…which stayed reasonably level during that time.

What do think? Is Barnes & Noble doomed? Were you or was someone you knew a fan of Animorphs? Have you ever read a book/series because your child was reading it? Does watching TV make you less likely to read? Feel free to tell me and my readers what you think by commenting on this post.

Stephen King given National Medal of Arts

Stephen King given National Medal of Arts

One of the defining characteristics of being a geek, and I’ve been a proud geek for a long time, is being an outsider.

Geeks aren’t supposed to be the cool kids, and even more definitely, they shouldn’t be recognized for creating and enjoying “high brow”, quality art.

Let me be clear: I don’t mean to say that’s the right attitude, but it’s what we used to think people think.

Of course, it’s never really been true.

Those authors who undeniably are considered to be the “classic” authors have often created geek-friendly works.

Shakespeare? Fairies, ghosts, and witches.

Dickens? The work people know best well and has been most parodied (including by me…A Kindle Carol) is a ghost story…with time travel.

Jack London? Post-apocalyptic fiction (The post-apocalyptic fiction of…) and past life cave people  (Before Adam).

However, the literati who look down their noses at books with spaceships and telepathy could always say that those were not the main works of these authors.

It would be very hard to make an argument that Stephen King (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) is not first and foremost a genre author.

That’s why it feels like a milestone in geeks getting respect that the horror author was given a National Medal of Arts yesterday by the President.

National Endowment for the Arts official page

The citation reads:

“Stephen King for his contributions as an author. One of the most popular and prolific writers of our time, Mr. King combines his remarkable storytelling with his sharp analysis of human nature.  For decades, his works of horror, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy have terrified and delighted audiences around the world. (Bangor, ME)”

Looking back through a list of the recipients, I didn’t see a lot of people who would be found primarily in the science fiction, fantasy, and/or horror sections of a bookstore:

• Ralph Ellison
• Eudora Welty
• Howard Nemerov
• Robert Penn Warren
• Saul Bellow
• Czelaw Milosz
• John Updike
• William Styron
• Maurice Sendak (yes, geek-friendly…although putative children’s books feel like they have more latitude to employ fantasy elements and still be respected)
• Philip Roth
• Maya Angelou
• Ray Bradbury (so King’s award is not unprecedented for a primarily genre author)
• Rudolfo Anaya
• Beverly Cleary
• Stan Lee (absolutely, undeniably geek friendly…one of the icons. The award, though, wasn’t really for prose writing)
• Louis Auchincloss
• N. Scott Momaday
• Ernest Gaines
• Tobias Wolff (also awarded this year, the same as Stephen King)

I think

Stephen King’s

The Stand (at AmazonSmile*)

has a legitimate case for being the “great American novel”…but I don’t expect the President and the National Endowment for the Arts to think so.  😉

That certainly may just show my own prejudice. I grew up with it being a matter of social shame to be a geek.

That’s not the case now.

Look at the top grossing movies, the most popular televisions shows…undeniably, mainstream audience grok the geek.

In those visual media fields, respected awards have been coming more and more to geek-friendly works and artists. Oscar winners feel no concern about appearing in a fantasy/science fiction/horror movie (or, even more shocking, TV show) these days.

However, for the types of people who would even sneer at the idea of watching a video, to recognize the authors of books with vampires and robots? That feels new.

I wouldn’t say that we are entirely there…and, I’m not convinced that geeks really want to be there.

What do you think? Is there still a stigma in being a “genre author”? When I say “genre”, do you think geeky, or do you include romance and Westerns, among others? Are works with fantasy/science fiction elements inherently less “honorable” than works with more realistic settings? If you think that the acceptability has changed, why do you think that is? Is it just the popularity? Should that influence merit awards? Feel free to tell me and my readers what you think by commenting on this post.

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

Round up #307: B&N stock drops, Siri can run your Apple TV

Round up #307:  B&N stock drops, Siri can run your Apple TV

The ILMK Round ups are short pieces which may or may not be expanded later.

 

Amazon expands Kindle Scout worldwide

Amazon sent me this

press release

which announces that the

Kindle Scout program

is expanding to other geographical territories. Amazon says it’s “…Europe, Canada,Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, India and more”.

Authors submit never before published novels.

Readers read excerpts, and recommend which ones get traditionally published by Amazon. You can have up to three nominations at a time.

If one of your current nominations gets published, you get a free copy.

That’s all good for customers.

I also think it’s a good deal for authors.

Has it been successful?

Amazon says, “Kindle Press books have an average Amazon Customer Review of 4.48 stars across 2,709 reviews.”

That sounds pretty good!

For more insight on the program, see

An ILMK interview with The Behrg, author of the Kindle Scout winner Housebroken

Apple TV adds Siri…come on, Alexa!

The Apple announcement today had several interesting things, but the one that most impressed me was the voice control of Apple TV with Siri. I’ve seen it said that it’s not that big deal, it’s similar to what already exists in Voice Search in

Amazon Fire TV (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

It seems quite different to me: it doesn’t only find things (and in much more natural language than Fire TV’s current search), it actually does things…it’s voice control, not just voice search.

I’ve been saying I expect Alexa control of the Fire TV this year.

Well, here’s something interesting:

The Fire TV (linked above) is “currently unavailable”.

Will they release a new version with integrated Alexa, the voice service currently only available on

Amazon Echo (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

?

If they do, will there be a downloadable app (or simply an update) for current Fire TVs?

I suspect the answer is likely to be both…but I certainly expect the capability to arrive…and likely to be announced before the end of this month.

The good news for Barnes & Noble…they sold more toys…

Barnes & Noble announced financials…and it wasn’t good, and many investors dumped the stock.

Here is the

Seeking Alpha transcript of the call

and here is Barnes & Nobles’

press release

In terms of the NOOK and NOOK books…well, it continues to be bad. B&N says

“…NOOK sales decreased 22.4% to 54 million for the quarter. Digital content sales declined 28% to 37 million on lower unit volume…”

Close to a quarter of sales is bad, period.

Core comparable bookstore sales (that excludes NOOKs and such) did rise 1%, but that wasn’t enough to stop a more than 25% loss in the stock’s value.

Bottom line…it just doesn’t look good for B&N.

What do you think? Is B&N doomed? If it survives, what will it look like? Would you want voice controls for e-reading (“Open Alice in Wonderland”, “Open something funny…)? What stood out to in the announcement from Apple? Feel free to let me and my readers know what you think by commenting on this post.

Thanks to regular reader Joe Bower for a comment which improved this post.

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.