Quotations…with full definitions #1

Quotations…with full definitions #1

I sometimes get chided for being too explicit in my language…using many words when fewer (or an initialism or acronym) would do as well.

Well, I’ve never seen brevity as a virtue. 😉

William Harper “Johnny” Littlejohn in the Doc Savage adventures was also known for using long words, as was the Wogglebug in the Oz series.

I thought I would take it to an absurd length, and make a game out out of it. 🙂

What I’m going to do is take some public domain works and quote something I think would generally identify them to many readers of this blog…but replace each of the words with the first definition shown on my (no longer sold new) Kindle Fire HDX. Note that the first definition may not be the contextually appropriate one…that’s on purpose. I also want to use this to illustrate how the dictionary might or might not help someone in understanding a text. Consider, say, an artificial intelligence system trying to understand a novel…

You can see if you can identify them. 🙂

I’ll separate the definitions with a pipe: |. In other words, each word in the original is represented by a definition separated from the next word with |.

If there is a proper noun, I’m going to block it as too much of a give away (and it may not have a definition).

Note that the dictionary will tend to define the root word; for example, if you look up “swinging”, it will define “swing”…look up “cats” and it define “cat”.

If you see a word all in capitals, that is how the dictionary refers to another major entry.

I’ll post the answers in the next few days.

#1 “Shine with a gleam that varies repeatedly between bright and faint, | shine with a gleam that varies repeatedly between bright and faint, | small in size, amount, or degree (often used to convey an appealing diminutiveness or express on affection or condescending attitude) | an implement with a handle and a solid surface, usually of wood, used for hitting the ball in games such as baseball, ,cricket, and table tennis! |

In what way or manner; by what means | denoting the next after H in a set of terms, categories etc. | a feeling of surprise, mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable | asking for something specifying something | used to refer to the person or people that the speaker is addressing | expressing location or arrival in a particular place or position.”

2. “Used to introduce something contrasting with what has already been mentioned | easy to mold, cut, compress, or fold; not hard or firm to the touch! | Asking for information specifying something | the natural agent that simulates sight and makes things visible | moving in one side and out the other side of (an opening, channel, or location) | at some distance in the direction indicated; over there | an opening in the wall or roof of a building or vehicle that is fitted with glass or other transparent material in a frame to admit light or air and allow people to see out | separate or cause to separate into pieces as a result of a blow, shock, or strain?

The study or use of systems (esp. computers and telecommunications for storing, retrieving, and sending information | third person singular present of BE | denoting one or more people or things already mentioned or assumed to be common knowledge | the direction toward the point of the horizon here the sun rises at the equinoxes, on the right-hand side of a person facing north, or the point on the horizon itself, | used to connect words of the same part of speech, clauses, or sentences that are to be taken jointly | [Name]  third person singular present of BE | denoting one or more people or things already mentined or assumed to be common knowledge | the star around which the earth orbits!”

3. “Denoting the next after H in a set of terms, categories etc. | 1st person singular present of BE | denoting one or more people or things already mentioned or assumed to be common knowledge | feeling or showing pleasure or contentment | an animal, as distinct from a human being | expressing the situation of something that is or appears to be enclosed or surrounded by something else |  denoting one or more people or things already mentioned or assumed to be common knowledge | the earth, together with all of its countries, peoples, and natural features. | Used to express uncertainty or possibility | used to refer to a person or thing that is different or distinct from one already mentioned or known about | human beings in general or considered collectively  | possess, own, or hold | past and past principle of SAY | to such a great extent | during the period of time preceding (a particular event, date, or time,) | used to introduce something contrasting with what has already been mentioned | used with an auxiliary verb or “be” to form the negative | the lowest cardinal number; half of two | accompanied by (another person or thing) | of the type previously mentioned| just behavior or treatement.”

4. “The chemical element nobellium | the lowest cardinal number; half of two | accompanied by (another person or thing) | of the type previously mentioned| past of WILL | possess, own, or hold | accept (something) as true; feel sure of the truth of | expressing the situation of something that is or appears to be enclosed or surrounded by something else | denoting one or more people or things already mentioned or assumed to be common knowledge | coming after all others in time or order; final | the time taken by a planet to make one revolution around the sun | expressing the relationship between a part and a whole | denoting one or more people or things already mentioned or assumed to be common knowledge | one more than eighteen; nine ore than ten; 19 | a period of one hundred years | used to identify a specific person of thing observed by the speaker | used to identify a specific person or thing close at hand or being indicated or experienced |  the earth, together with all of its countries, peoples, and natural features. | Used to express uncertainty or possibility | first and third person singular past of BE | present participle of BE | look at or observe attentively, typically over a period of time | having or showing eagerness or enthusiasm |  used to connect words of the same part of speech, clauses, or sentences that are to be taken jointly | a short distance away or apart in space or time | identifying the agent performing an action | the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills | of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above the normal or average | introducing the second in a comparison | an adult human male |  used to connect words of the same part of speech, clauses, or sentences that are to be taken jointly | up until the present or an unspecified or implied time; by now or then | used in comparisons to refer to the extent or degree of something | (of a living being, ofen in contrast to a divine being) subject to death | used in comparisons to refer to the extent or degree of something | belonging to or associated with a male person or animal previously mentioned or easily identified; used with a possessive to emphasize that someone or something belongs or relates to the person mentioned.”

Whew!

That was a lot of work (I retyped all of those), but it was fun!

If I was given this challenge, I think I would be confident in getting three out of the four, and might get the fourth. I would have to treat it like a puzzle…break it down, solve certain words as a clue to the quotation…and from there, the book. You can give yourself the point on a question if you know the book…you don’t have to “translate” the entire quotation.

Hope you have fun!

Update: I forgot to mention that I was perhaps inspired by the spirit of

Allan Sherman’s Night And Day (With Punctuation Marks) (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

Allan Sherman was a brilliant musical comedian (considerably preceding Weird Al Yankovic), and you can hear a sample of the song on that page. Update: I just listened to the sample…they never get to the really funny parts! Oh, well. 😉

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.

 

ILMK 2015 e-book bestsellers

ILMK 2015 e-book bestsellers

Are readers of this blog, ILMK (I Love My Kindle), like Amazon customers generally?

After all, I do poll you from time to time…there are probably people who extrapolate from that to Amazon customers, and even from that to the population at large.

I don’t think so.

My sense has been that my readers are more likely to be serious readers…that is, I think they are more likely to have reading as a big part of their lives than the average American.

I also think they are more engaged with the e-book world. I think they are more likely to be aware of the issues, and to know who the authors are…and who the publishers are.

Certainly, there may be a loop here: it may be that people who are my readers also become more engaged with the e-book world because they are reading more about it…and actively intellectually interact with it, through polls and comments.

However, I do think that they initially get involved with the blog because of a heightened interest.

So, I decided to go ahead and do something I’ve been reluctant to do before: give you a list of the Kindle e-book bestsellers through ILMK this year.

I haven’t wanted to it because…well, I don’t like to make this blog about sales.

Oh, I’m happy to help out lesser known authors. It gives me a kick to feel like I made a difference in the success of somebody’s book, even though I think my influence is actually pretty small.

The other thing is that I don’t want people to think I’m looking at what they buy…or click on…or read. I don’t see anything tied into individuals at all. I just get aggregate stats…that so many people did “x”, not who they are.

That said, let’s take a look at Kindle e-book sales from Amazon.com through ILMK for 2015 (through December 14th…there will be more sales between now and the end of the year, especially after people get new devices, but this should give us an idea).

I can’t really give you the specific numbers (you may have noticed that Amazon doesn’t do that) 😉 so what I’m going to do is make the one that has sold the most as 100%, then rank the others based against that. In other words, if the top seller sold 1,000 copies (really licenses), and the second one sold 750, the second one would show as 75%. If the third one sold 250, it would be 25%, and so on.

1.Tricky Twenty-Two: A Stephanie Plum Novel (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) by Janet Evanovich. This one went on a big pre-order pre-sale of $2.99…we bought it for that, I’m guessing others of my readers did too, when I alerted them. I love being able to save people money or something that they would have bought anyway! I’ve read this one. #46 on Amazon’s Best Sellers of 2015 in Kindle Books (at AmazonSmile*) at time of writing.  100%

2.One Murder More (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) by Kris Calvin. This is by my sibling, and I have mentioned it several times. 🙂 While it has been recognized by Amazon (by being one of the few books picked for its first physical store, for example), and has been well received by Amazon customers (63 customer reviews, 4.7 stars out of 5), it has undoubtedly sold relatively better through this blog than at Amazon generally. It’s currently ranked 579,404 aid in the USA Kindle store out of 4,109,509…top 15%, which is quite impressive for a first time novelist from a non-Big 5 publisher! Not on Amazon’s 100 bestsellers list. 78%

3. (tie) Churchill: A Life (at AmazonSmile*) by Martin Gilbert. This one had also been on sale…but I do think it shows something that a non-fiction book from 1967 was a top-seller with my readers this year. I have not read this. Not on Amazon’s bestsellers list. 44%

3. (tie) Go Set a Watchman (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) by Harper Lee. One of the most talked about books of the year. I read this one. #6 on Amazon’s list.  44%

3. (tie) The Martian (at AmazonSmile*) by Andy Weir. My readers picked this as a read for me in my first poll like that, and I did enjoy it. It had what should end up as a top ten domestic grossing movie adaptation (2015 Movie Box Office: 40, 80, 1, 2 , 3) which is likely to get significant Oscar nominations. It was originally independently published. #4 on Amazon’s list. 44%

3. (tie) The Nightingale (at AmazonSmile*) by Kristin Hannah. I have not read this one. #5 on Amazon’s list. 44%

3. (tie) The Shell Seekers (at AmazonSmile*) by Rosamunde Pilcher. I have not read this. Not on Amazon’s list. 44%

3. (tie) Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition (at AmazonSmile*) by T. Colin Campbell. I haven’t read it. Not on Amazon’s top 100. 44%

As you can see, not a lot of overlap with Amazon’s list (although there is some). My intuitive sense here is that sales on traditionally published books significantly drove the rankings.

When we go down to the next tier (33%), I would say there are more books that are less well-known:

• 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works–A True Story
• Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
• Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection (Calvin and Hobbes series Book 9)
• Indigo Slam: An Elvis Cole Novel
• Maude
• Spinster’s Gambit
• The Art of Racing in the Rain
• The Days Are Just Packed (Calvin and Hobbes series Book 8)
• The Einstein Prophecy
• The Girl on the Train
• The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation
• The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World’s Favorite Board Game

There you go! I’d say it does show that ILMK readers are different from the general Amazon population of Amazon’s customers. 🙂

I’m very interested in any feedback you might have on this post, since it is something new, and I sort of feel like I’ve crossed a line. Do you like seeing what my readers as a group bought through the blog? Did it surprise you that I can see that data? Does it bother you? What do you think about the actual titles, and how they compare to Amazon’s list? Feel free to tell me and my readers what you think by commenting on this post.

Bonus deal: today’s

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

is more than thirty (!) of the bestselling 87th Precinct books by Ed McBain, including Cop Hater (the first book in the series) for $1.99 each. This major backlist series is now published by Amazon (in e-book form). These would make a good gift…and they make a good argument for  Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) (which can also be given as a gift), since they are available through that service at no additional cost.

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 argument for having both a Fire tablet and a Kindle EBR (E-Book Reader)

The argument for having both a Fire tablet and a Kindle EBR (E-Book Reader)

My most popular post for this week is one that I wrote more than a year and a half ago:

The reading experience: Paperwhite vs. Kindle Fire HDX

It has been consistently popular, and is my top post overall…even though at this point, it refers to two older models.

It’s a comparison between reading on an EBR (E-Book Reader) and a Fire tablet.

When  I wrote it, I assumed its main use would be by people making a choice between one device type and the other.

I think that’s  likely still the case…although I think it’s now more likely to be a question of which additional device to get for someone who already has (at least one) device.

That makes for a simple question: why have two devices?

The arguments against having two are pretty clear:

• It costs more money…the cheapest Fire tablet (Fire, 7″ Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB – Includes Special Offers, Black (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)) is about $50 normally, the cheapest EBR (E-Book Reader…Kindle, 6″ Glare-Free Touchscreen Display, Wi-Fi – Includes Special Offers (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) is about $80 (although on sale at time of writing for $20 off,  $59.99)
• It’s harder to carry two devices around than one
• You have two devices to charge
• While you can synchronize Kindle books between the two devices, it isn’t seamless…you have to connect to wireless, for  one thing
• Synchronizing personal  content is another matter…some things can be done, but others can be problematic
• You may want a cover each, chargers, and other accessories
• They will probably need updates at different times…you are needing to maintain two devices instead of one

However, I, like many of my readers (I assume…I’ll ask you later in the post), use a Fire tablet and an EBR…every day.

I have the now discontinued Kindle Fire HDX and a

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

I use them in two different ways.

I would actually say that over time, the EBRs have become more reading focused (and therefore have diverged more from the tablets)…or at least, more sight-reading focused.

The newer ones don’t do audio at all, so no music. Unfortunately, that also means no audiobooks, and no text-to-speech (TTS), which is software that will read text out loud to you (I typically use that for hours every week in the car), although publishers can block TTS access (and some do on some titles, but I think it is not as common as it used to be).

They also don’t do “active content”, a special type of EBR game (and some were utilities).

The Voyage (and the All-New Kindle Paperwhite, 6″ High-Resolution Display (300 ppi) with Built-in Light, Wi-Fi – Includes Special Offers ((at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*))

have lights that shine towards the screen, not towards your eyes. You read from the light bouncing off the screen…the same way you read a paperbook. It’s the most comfortable reading experience I’ve ever had…including paper.

I read it in bed before falling asleep…a tablet wouldn’t be as good for that for me. I haven’t tried the new “Blue Shade” functionality, which might make a tablet better than it is now for bedtime reading…it’s a selling point for the

Fire HD 8 Reader’s Edition (Fire HD 8 Reader’s Edition)

Still, I doubt that would be as comfortable…and it’s nice to only have to charge my Voyage every two or three weeks.

I have to say, though, it stays in my headboard except when I’m actively reading it (or charging it).

When I go out, I only take my Fire.

I want my Fire for other things…although I especially want it for that TTS. I do sight read on it as well…for example, at lunch, I may do a bit of exercise in my office and I do like reading while I do that. 😉

I also use my Fire for my morning

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

read (it takes the place of what used to be a newspaper). In fact, here is part of my morning routine, which would only work on the tablet:

• I check my local news station app, ABC7 San Francisco (especially well designed, I’d say)
• I check the CNN app
• I check Flipboard
• I check my WordPress app (in case comments came in while I was asleep)
• I use my favorite browser, Maxthon, to check the Amazon Appstore, the Kindle Daily Deal, and usually BoxOfficeMojo
• I check the IMDb app for news, although I will have seen some of the stories in Flipboard
• I turn on the family room light

Some other things that I couldn’t do on the Voyage:

• I read Entertainment Weekly with a Kindle subscription
• I read Fortean Times in my Zinio app (which I got from the Zinio site…not available directly from the Amazon Appstore, but Amazon allows us to install apps from other sources
• I shop 🙂
• I use the clock app for a nightstand clock (and sometimes when I’m addressing a group)
• I check the weather (although I usually use our Amazon Echo ((at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) for that))
• I check my Google calendar
• I play music (most often for other people)
• I print to a wireless printer (I use PrinterShare Mobile Print ((at AmazonSmile*)…it costs about $10, but I got it for free at some point)
• I check e-mail
• I read documents, including PDFs…and I’ve used it for PowerPoints
• I go to other websites

As you can probably tell, if I was only going to have one at this point, it would be a Fire tablet. I use it in many ways, and the reading on it is okay.

I do like reading on the Voyage better…and fortunately, you don’t need to have only one type. 🙂

One last point: when the first Kindle EBR was released, it cost nearly $400. Now, eight years later, you can get both a tablet and an EBR for less than half of that…

Now let’s find out about you. 🙂

I’m interested here in what you use, not just what you own. It’s also okay with me on this if you use a different brand…say, an iPad instead of a Fire.

Oh, and I’m fully cognizant of the fact that you might use something else…a phone, a laptop, and so on. 🙂 Picking “neither” in the poll isn’t meant to suggest you aren’t reading (or consuming other content).

Have other comments about this? Want to share your experiences? Feel free to tell me and my readers 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.

What do you get them if they already have an Amazon device?

What do you get them if they already have an Amazon device?

There continue to be

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

for the holidays, but what if somebody on your giftees list already has an Amazon device? What can you get for them then?

Well, obviously, you can always get

 Amazon Gift Cards (at AmazonSmile*)

🙂

Those are always welcome, and that way they can get pretty much whatever they want. I think, for example, it’s pretty hard to buy somebody a cover: you have to know which model they have, and it’s kind of personal as to how it feels and how it looks.

Another option is to

Give the Gift of Prime (at AmazonSmile*)

That’s $99 for a year…and gets them free (to watch) videos, streaming music, free two-day shipping on many items, and other benefits.

If they already have Prime, they can exchange it for a gift card. 🙂

If you want to give them the gift of reading, you can give

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

Those start at $59.94 for six months. That could be a good gift for a family or a couple of kids. If they already are KU members, this will extend their subscriptions.

Now, what if you want to give them something physical?

One choice is a “powerbank”. This would be good for any EBR (E-Book Reader) or Fire tablet (or Fire Phone, for that matter). This is small device you charge up, and then you can carry it with you. It is then able to charge your device….pretty much any common device that would charge from USB.

My work just gave us all these for the holidays:

[Upgraded Version] EasyAcc 2nd Gen 10000mAh Power Bank Portable External Battery Pack (2.4A Smart Output) Travel Charger for iPhone Samsung S6 Edge HTC Smartphones Tablets -Black and Orange (at AmazonSmile*)

This one might be a bit heavy for some people but there are also smaller and lighter ones. The bigger ones can typically charge more often before they need to be charged, and may be able to charge bigger devices (not everything that can charge a phone can charge a tablet).

They can be especially valuable on a long flight; even though more planes seem to have in-seat power, it’s still far from universal. It’s not always easy to find an outlet during a layover. While an EBR can outlast the longest flight, having the power option can be good for an extended camping trip…or if the timing to charge your device just wasn’t right.

You also want something with “Smart Output” like this one…that detects what is plugged into it, and delivers appropriate power.

Even if they already have one, it wouldn’t hurt to have two. 🙂 They could return it, too. This one is $18.99 at time of writing.

For home power, we use one of these:

Photive 50 Watt 6 Port USB Desktop Rapid Charger. Intelligent USB Charger with Auto Detect Technology. (at AmazonSmile*)

This is a little charging station…small and sleek. It’s similar to the portable powerbank, in that you can plug USBs into it. You can charge your EBR, your tablet, your phone…all in one place, and quickly (great for taking to a hotel, too).

This was initially recommended to me by reader Man in the Middle (and others)…thanks, readers!

If they have a

Amazon Fire TV (at AmazonSmile*) (today, 12/12, is the last day of a sale on them)

 

I’d suggest Bluetooth headphones. I use these a lot with ours, when my Significant Other is still asleep. 🙂 I use an inexpensive type from Arctic which is no longer available (others from them are). I like the behind the neck style, rather than over the head or in the ear, but there is a huge range.

If they have an

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

there are so many options…but it’s hard to get the right home automation if you don’t know what they already have. There are compatibility questions when you are buying smart lightbulbs, for example.

Certainly, another Echo would generally be welcome. 😉 We have one in our house in the family room, but having another one in the bedroom would be good.

I would say the most interesting thing I have for use with the Echo is our

Logitech Harmony Home Control – 8 Devices (White) (at AmazonSmile*))

which is $107 at time of writing.

That controls our TV devices: I can switch sources, turn everything off, and mute the TV, all just by voice requests through our Echo to IFTTT (If This Then That) and then to the Harmony.

Now, I want to be clear: this is more of a hobbyist thing at this stage. It’s not simple to set up the activities on the Harmony: doable, yes, but it takes some work and it’s not all intuitive. See

How to use the Amazon Echo and a Logitech Harmony to put on your TV shows

in my The Measured Circle blog for a starting point

The Harmony is also a great universal remote (we eliminated the use of several remotes), and once that is set up, it is easy.

Some other ideas:

• Wi-fi extenders…around $30 and up, which improve the signal for your devices in your home
• Hubs…not too hard to get a more (?) powerful hub. There would be some set up involved
• Stands and holders
• Individual e-books can be gifted
• Donations to charities which support literacy; some, like Worldreader.org, specifically use e-books and Kindles

One other suggestion, which I also made at work when we were asked for low-cost give ideas.

You could go to

Project Gutenberg

and download legally free public domain books you like, especially if you liked them when you were a child. You could then write something about why you liked them…and give them to a child in your life. It’s like a mixtape, but with books…a “littape”. 😉 That would be a gift which would never be forgotten.

Have a great holiday!

What do you think? Do you have other suggestions? What “accessory” for an Amazon device has been the best gift you’ve gotten…or given? 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 #313: what kids’ authors read as kids, lots of sales

Round up #313: what kids’ authors read as kids, lots of sales

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

Fire tablet accessories sale

Yes, there will be people getting their first Fire tablets this year (especially the Fire, 7″ Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB – Includes Special Offers, Black (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) ), but a lot of people already have them.

Not to worry: Amazon is having a sale on

Fire tablet accessories 50% off and more (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

There are a lot of cases and covers (including the origami cover, which is my daily use cover…I like it a lot). Check to make sure it is the right generation for the device.

In addition to that, though, they have other things including screen protectors, and some adapters…hypothetically, you could display a 4th Gen Fire on a computer monitor, for example.

Amazon devices are still on sale

While the least expensive Fire tablet is not on sale right now (but remember, it’s only about $50), a lot of Amazon devices are!

Amazon Device deals (at AmazonSmile*)

The one that is ending soon is the

Amazon Fire TV (at AmazonSmile*)

for $84.99 ($15 off), which ends Saturday (December 12th).

There are tablets on sale, and EBR (E-Book Reader) bundles.

Amazon’s best-selling Kindle books of 2015

I may do a whole post on this, but I thought I’d go ahead and include a link in this round-up:

Amazon’s Best Sellers of 2015 in Kindle Books (at AmazonSmile*)

I think most of you will have heard of most of the top 20.

This is different from what’s linked in this (which is what the post might actually cover…I’m asking for some clarification from Amazon first):

press release

at

http://www.amazon.com/bestsellingbooks2015 (http://www.amazon.com/bestsellingbooks2015

That list only includes books released in 2015…and combines e-books and p-books (paperbooks).

Amazon dominates this part of the literary world…

According to this

The Guardian article by Alison Flood

Amazon’s imprint for translated works

AmazonCrossing (at AmazonSmile*)

“…published three times more translated fiction in the US this year than its nearest competitor.”

Yes, this is a British paper, but they are writing about the USA.

They seem to be bucking a trend of possibly declining sales in translated works…which would surprise me.

I would think people would be more interested in reading books from other cultures…but perhaps they are reading them more in the original languages…but maybe not. 😉

Some of the

Kindle First books (at AmazonSmile*)

have been translated.

Translating books is a real art unto itself…which is part of why a new translation qualifies for a new copyright in the USA.

Children’s books authors’ favorite books they read as children

I loved this

Publishers Weekly article compiled by Diane Roback

It showed the deep and sometimes quirky connection that the authors had with books.

I wonder, though, how different that is from most people.

Their relationship to books feels familiar to me. 🙂

I wish all children could have that connection to books, but I know it doesn’t happen. Some of it has to do with opportunity, and some of it has to do with family culture.

I do think books are becoming more available to those with less, but I still fantasize about a world where every child reads, and loves, books.

I think that will be increasingly possible because of e-books, but…

Take 25% off any p-book

Amazon has a special promotion where you can take

25% off a p-book (at AmazonSmile*)

…pretty much any p-book (although the most you can get off is $10, but that’s still a lot!).

You enter this code: 25OFFBOOK

The sale ends at December 14, 2015 at 02:59am EST.

I know many of my readers read both e-books and p-books. Honestly, I don’t…I do sometimes pick up one  of the roughly 10,000 p-books I have on shelves in our house to check something, but I don’t read them cover to cover.

It’s just much easier for me to read e-books…easy to carry, easier for my vision.

If I could digitize all the books, I’d donate the ones I could. Some are rare, and should go to someone who will preserve them. Not valuable, for the most part, but rare.

Would I keep any of them?

Maybe…and it’s hard for me to think about getting rid of any of them! 🙂

8 Most Controversial Novels Ever Published

Open Road may be my favorite publisher right now.

Not only do they publish important backlist titles as e-books, and with features readers want (including text-to-speech access and often, availability through Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)), but they clearly love books.

Take a look at this

Open Road article by Jessica Ferri

about controversial books.

I wouldn’t fault this list…I think you’ll generally think that the books on here are reasonable choices. Sure, you can argue most controversial, but this is a list written by someone who understands books.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite translator? How did books affect you as a child? 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.

Amazon unplugs cable…and recent e-book price drops

Amazon unplugs cable…and recent e-book price drops

Snip!

That’s the sound of cable cutters leaving their $100 a month and more cable subscriptions thanks to what was announced yesterday in this

Amazon press release

It’s called the “Streaming Partners” program, and it enables

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

members, who can already watch thousands of movies and TV shows as part of their $99 a year membership, to subscribe to additional video services.

There are a few particularly interesting elements to this, and why I think it is really significant.

First, it’s the appeal to people who are already Prime subscribers.

Many Prime members are already satisfied with the service. People who subscribe tend to stay subscribed…in marketing parlance, it’s “sticky”. Among the benefits:

• Free two-day shipping on many items (and reduced faster shipping)
• Prime music: stream lots of music, including currently popular songs
• Prime video
• Free storage of photos
• The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library…if you are a Prime member and you have a hardware Kindle, you can borrow up to one book a calendar month from over a million titles. I get reminded when I go to the Prime page above that I am not using that benefit, but it’s because we pay to be Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) members
• Kindle First: get one book a month (to own) out of a few soon to be published titles

All of those benefits (and that’s not all of them) are why it’s also good to

Give the Gift of Prime (at AmazonSmile*)

If you are already a member of Prime, you don’t really think about the roughly $8.25 a month you pay for it (and there have been some opportunities to get it at a reduced price). If you start paying $4.99 a month for an add-on  subscription, you aren’t going to think of that as $13.24…and you shouldn’t, unless you don’t use any of the other benefits ever.

I was hoping to just find a simple list of the add-on subscriptions with prices at

Amazon’s add-on subscriptions page (at AmazonSmile*)

but from what I could see, I had to click on the services and then click on the trial subscription button to see the details.

These are some of what was listed (from high cost to low):

• Gaia $9.95 a month
• Showtime $8.99 a month
• Starz $8.99 a month
• Qello Concerts $7.99 a month
• Curiosity Stream $5.99 a month
• hooplakids $5.99 a month
• Acorn TV $4.99 a month
• ConTV $4.99 a month
• Screen Junkiez $4.99 a month
• Shudder $4.99 a month
• Tribeca Shortlist $4.99 a month
• Comedy Central Stand Up Plus $3.99 a month
• Lifetime Movie Club $3.99 a month
• Dramafever Instant $3.99 a month
• NatureVision TV $2.99 a month

There are quite a few others, generally of specialized interest.

If you were already paying for Prime, might you pay $8.99 a month more to get Showtime and drop your premium cable package?  Sure. Might you also want to get foreign drama series (including Boys Over Flowers, based on a popular Japanese manga series)? Yes, I think you might want to get that for a family member…or ConTV, based on geeky cons, but including movies, TV series, and more.

They all seem to have free trials (I saw both seven days and fourteen days), and it looks to me like it is month to month (no commitment). That is a huge option! You could pay $8.99 for a month, and binge watch, say, Outlander.

The second thing about the program is the attraction to get new Prime members. I’m not sure how many people would join just to get the video services, but if they were considering Prime, they could drop cable and pay for the year…with about what it costs for a month of Premium cable. 😉

Oh, by the way…one reason people get cable is to get local channels. Another option is an HDTV antenna…

Amazon suggests this one:

HDTV Antenna (at AmazonSmile*) $23.99 for a 35 mile range

You don’t pay anything a month to use these antennae…

The third thing, and this is something that has been integral to Amazon’s strategy, is the appeal to content producers (and/or distributors).

Have your own video channel? Start here

http://www.amazon.com/streamingpartners

Amazon handles the streaming infrastructure, billing, and does some level of promotion…similar to what they do with Kindle Direct Publishing.

I didn’t see much about the requirements…I assume it’s not an exclusive deal, even if you aren’t a big name like Showtime.

Here’s a wild speculation: would Netflix join this?

I’m already a Netflix subscriber, but I’d much rather have it be just part of my Prime subscription as an add-on…especially if it was a bit cheaper, but even if it was the same, it’s just easier to have one bill.

Commentators on the news noted the possible impact on Netflix, but I think Dish TV, Comcast, and those places should be more concerned. Netflix has original content…but I would say most people who subscribe to premium Comcast cable do so for just a few channels. That get a whole lot of others, and they may watch them from time to time, but they’d let that go, in many cases, I think.

This has the potential to reshape the TV market…there will be winners and losers out of it. Here’s one reason, and I’m going to coin this new slogan: “It’s easier through Amazon!” 🙂

I don’t like to do a post without giving something to my readers who are really all about the books (and the EBRs…E-Book Readers), so here are some books which have recently dropped in price (they are all at least 30% off…check the price before you click or tap that “Buy” button, since the prices can change at any time):

• Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain $3.50
• A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley $6.99
• The Ghost House (Annie Graham #1) $3.99
• Midnight’s Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India’s Partition by Nisid Hajari $9.99
• Luring a Lady by Nora Roberts $3.99
• Rickey & Robinson: The True, Untold Story of the Integration of Baseball by Roger Kahn $4.99

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.

Why don’t people write reviews of Kindle books?

Why don’t people write reviews of Kindle books?

I wrote last year about a neat trick I’d found:

New search tip: sort by Most Reviews

Recently, a reader, jubunam, noted that Mockingjay had fewer than 20,000 reviews, and wanted to know why.

It’s a reasonable question.

Back in 2012, it was being reported that 9 million copies of the book had been sold…and it’s continued to sell well since.

Not only has it sold, but it has been a popular title in

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

and presumably, many more people have read it than copies/licenses have been sold.

That’s true even with Kindle books (although reviews combine formats…paper and electronic reviews both  show up on both).

If I “buy the book” from the USA Kindle store (really, I license the reading rights), many people on my account could have read it…and with p-books, it’s been big in the used book market and checked out of public libraries (at least, that would be my assumption).

So, I think we can reasonably say that fewer than 1% of people who read Mockingjay posted a review on Amazon.

My guess would be that the percentage of readers posting reviews is typically much higher on one with fewer sales, especially indies (independently published books).

My sibling’s book,

One Murder More (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

has 63 customer reviews (with an average of 4.7 stars out of 5) at the time of writing…and I’ll say confidently that it hasn’t sold 63,000 copies/licenses. 🙂

So, I think since writing a review is so rare, it’s like a green sheep. The question becomes not, “Why are other sheep white?” but, “Why is that sheep green?” 😉

The question is, why do people write a review?

I think there are a few main reasons.

One is to support the book. That would seem like the most obvious one…you like the book, you want others  to read it, you write a review.

There is also the flipside: you want to warn people about what you think is a bad book.

You may also want to support the author or the publisher. This might not be the best book from that author/publisher, but you want to promote them more generally. I see this in reviews, “If you want to read a great book by so-and-so, read ‘X’…this is a good book, but not the best.” Similarly, if it’s a publisher with personality, you may want to promote them.

People write reviews to support (or oppose) a cause as well. The book is a symbol of something for you, and you take the advantage of the platform to voice your opinion.

Reviews may be written to support or oppose something that’s less of a cause, more of a policy…like the price of books, or the lack of the ability to lend a book.

Some people just like to write. 😉 Book reviews are one form of expression, and they are one that people see. On Amazon, you can get feedback on your reviews. You can have your review show up as a “most useful” review, for example.

There are people who see writing reviews as a kind of fame.

People also write reviews so that publishers will send them other books to review.

Some reviews are written because people have a financial interest in the book, or otherwise personally gain from the book selling. Those aren’t supposed to happen, and Amazon has gone after people who sell good reviews on Amazon (“For $5, I’ll give your book a 5-star review”).

For some people, it becomes a habit. They review every book they read.

I think those are probably the main reasons.

I’d say the main reason people don’t write reviews is…inertia, basically. It takes an effort to write a review, and if you do nothing, the net result is that you haven’t written one. That’s the default.

Let’s do a quick poll:

What do you think? Are there other reasons people write reviews? Do the number of reviews on a book influence you? Why have you or haven’t you written a review? 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.

New! Fire HD 8 Reader’s Edition (available for pre-order)

New! Fire HD 8 Reader’s Edition (available for pre-order)

Amazon just announced a new choice (shipping December 9th):

Fire HD 8 Reader’s Edition (Fire HD 8 Reader’s Edition)

They sent me this

press release

They list it as part of a bundle, but it’s not a bundle I would buy (it includes a leather cover, and I don’t use leather). However, I tested it: I put the bundle into my cart, and then I could delete the cover from the cart.

The tablet is $149.99.

A year’s membership in

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

(Amazon’s subser…subscription service. I’ve been a happy member since it started) is listed at $119.88.

That leather cover is listed at $79.99.

The total of those is $349.86.

The bundle is $249.99, so that’s just about a $100 savings.

The big new feature they mention is “Blue Shade” (no relation to Zoolander’s “Blue Steel”,  I assume). 😉 We had a big discussion about this recently, in the comments to this post:

Scientific study compares bedtime reading risk from iPad, iPhone, PW1

One of my readers, Dr. Alan Church, was  kind enough to share expertise on the impact of blue light on sleep.

This new feature claims (in what I considerable to be plausible terms) to switch out the blue, so that your device won’t tend to disrupt your sleep patterns.

That feature by itself will get some people to buy this model.

I think, based on a careful reading of the press release, that it will come to all of the Fire OS 5 Fire tablets (and possibly the now discontinued Fire Phone, which is my daily use personal phone). The press release says:

“…an exclusive Fire OS “Bellini” feature…”

There’s no Amazon Help Page on it yet, but my guess is that it will come to the other models (running Fire OS 5…and that list will increase with updates to some older models) pretty quickly…perhaps after the first flush of sales for the “Reader’s Edition”, maybe even sooner.

I checked my

Fire, 7″ Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB – Includes Special Offers, Black (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

It’s not on there yet. 🙂

As I mentioned, they list this tablet at $149.99…and the current version of the

Fire HD 8, 8″ HD Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB – Includes Special Offers, Black (at AmazonSmile*)

is $20 less than that right now at $129.99.

That’s not necessarily because of the new model: there are other Amazon devices on sale right now for the holidays:

• Fire HD 10, 10.1″ HD Display, Wi-Fi, 16 GB – Includes Special Offers, Black (at AmazonSmile*) $179.99 ($50 off!
• Fire Kids Edition, 7″ Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB, Blue Kid-Proof Case (at AmazonSmile*) $89.99 ($10 off)
• Amazon Fire TV (at AmazonSmile*) $84.99 ($15 off)…this is a good way to get the Alexa Voice Service…and it’s the main way I watch TV

It’s definitely a time of year to get good deals!

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.com’s Chinese storefront

Amazon.com’s Chinese storefront

书籍是这里

Amazon.com now has a

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

It has 16,039 titles at this point.

That may not sound like much (the USA Kindle store started with about 80,000 title back in 2007), but this is a milestone.

Amazon.com has always had sections for different languages, and still does

Foreign Language E-Books (at AmazonSmile*)

It shows these counts:

Foreign Languages
Chinese (18,283)
French (116,602)
German (264,492)
Italian (91,008)
Japanese (46,434)
Portuguese (50,852)
Russian (21,982)
Spanish (154,250)
Other Languages (17,392)

The Other Languages section further breaks down like this:

Show results for
Kindle Unlimited
Kindle Unlimited Eligible  Kindle Unlimited Eligible (4,437)
New Releases
Last 30 days (455)
Last 90 days (1,315)
Coming Soon (43)
Kindle Store
Kindle eBooks
Foreign Languages
Other Languages
Afrikaans (3,424)
Alsatian (17)
Basque (397)
Catalan (4,583)
Croatian (1)
Danish (979)
Dutch (3,611)
Galician (472)
Greek (3)
Hindi (60)
Hungarian (1)
Icelandic (447)
Irish (430)
Luxembourgish (9)
Manx (11)
Norwegian (698)
Polish (1)
Provençal (4)”>
Scots (45)
Scottish Gaelic (8)
Swahili (103)
Swedish (898)
Welsh (420)

Now, those aren’t all the foreign languages in the store, of course…as I’ve written about before, there are even books in Klingon. 😉

However, having books in the store, or having a section in the store…those two aren’t the same as having a storefront.

In the Chinese storefront, the interface is largely in Chinese. The book description was in Chinese.

The reviews that I’ve seen so far are in English.

Amazon does have a store in China

http://www.amazon.cn/

and that is different…there are more than 20,000 titles there just in the fiction section.

The difference mostly has to do with licensing, which in turn is based on copyright.

Just because a publisher as the right to sell a book in China doesn’t mean that it has the right to sell that same book in the USA.

It’s not surprising that more publishers would pay for the rights for a book in Chinese in the Chinese market.

This Kindle Store USA storefront recognizes the large number of Chinese readers in the USA, and I think that’s important.

Amazon can both continue to expand to other markets (they just released the Fire tablet  in China), and further serve the USA market.

Admittedly, a move like this is a challenge to local Chinese language brick-and-mortar bookstores. They won’t be able to exist just by having books in Chinese, but I don’t think many of them do. Generally, they are destination shops, in some cases with a cultural familiarity, in others, more of a community connection.

This makes the part to thriving for Chinese language bookstores in the USA essentially the same as the path for English language bookstores: make people willing to knowingly spend more money just to support you.

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.

Delivery by Amazon

Delivery by Amazon

Amazon continues to expand its investment in being the infrastructure of the internet…which includes how things ordered on the internet get around in the real world.

According to this

Business Insider story by Jillian D’Onfro

and other sources, Amazon is buying thousands of trailers…the big part of the trucks you see on the freeway that attach to the “tractor”.

That means you are going to see that familiar Amazon smile on the road with you (and, in the picture in that BI story, something that cleverly looks like the tape they put on packages). Yep, the new speed limit might be 65 smiles per hour. 😉

Now, these trucks probably aren’t going to be delivering directly to your house (they are too big for that)…they are likely to be taking things to and from the fulfillment centers.

For now, other companies will be providing the tractors…but I would certainly think that Amazon is looking at doing it all, warehouse to home, in the not too distant future. Once self-driving cars are fully licensed in the USA (which I think, unfortunately, may be some time after some other parts of the world have reaped the benefits of safer, more efficient transportation), I would absolutely expect Amazon to be one of the companies investigating that fully.

That puts Amazon on the roads.

I also think Amazon is going to be on the sidewalks. 🙂

I’ve been seeing stories recently about delivery robots, including the Starship:

Wired UK story by James Temperton

The story asserts that the last mile of delivery is the most expensive, which makes some sense. It’s a bit like landing a plane: that’s the hard part. There are things to avoid, and a lot more starts and stops.

The idea is that a truck gets your package close, then a little robot rolls out (sort of like the Chariot on Lost in Space leaving the Jupiter II), and brings the package to your door.

Is that less expensive than a human being doing it?

Probably…a human being has a lot of expenses outside of that block or two…sick pay, vacation pay, and so on.

Even if the robot was marginally more expensive, they would have a big cool factor…and that’s important in this scenario.

Then, of course, there is the air…and Amazon’s proposed drone program.

The biggest thing holding that up (besides propellers) 😉 , clearly, is regulation.

This is an interesting

Forbes story by Ryan Mac

about Amazon’s patent for their “sense and avoid” system for drones.

While people could presumably still shoot them down (that has happened with other drones), they might be able to avoid birds, which could be a real issue. Now that is a demo video I would want to see! Picture a big raptor, like an eagle, diving after an Amazon drone while it autonomously avoids the attack!

Step aside, Millenium Falcon! 😉

Oh, and while we are talking about videos, Amazon released this

YouTube video

The performance that they show for their drone is so advanced that they have the words “ACTUAL FLIGHT FOOTAGE NOT SIMULATED” on the screen for most of the flight footage.

Let’s see…land, air, and Jeff Bezos is sending rockets to space…the only thing we’re missing is Maritime Prime! 😉

Gee, would that mean that one day Amazon would have to worry about pirates of the non-digital kind?

Let me just wrap this up by pointing out that Amazon already does a lot of fulfillment for third party vendors. If I was at FedEx of UPS, I’d be worried about Amazon getting on the road and in the air…but I’m guessing they’ve been worried about that for some time.

Eventually, we may see Target’s packages delivered by Amazon…

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.