Take the Geek Time Trip to…The Jungle Book

Take the Geek Time Trip to…The Jungle Book

The latest version of The Jungle Book, a mixed live action/CGI (Computer Generated Images) version from Disney with a voice cast including Bill Murray as Baloo, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, and Christopher Walken as King Louie, opens in the USA (and Canada, China, the UK, and others) tomorrow.

Of course, it all goes back to a book. 🙂

It’s a long road back to the 1894 release of the original book by Rudyard Kipling…a Disney musical animated movie, an anime, a sequel by Kipling, a non-Kipling sequel, videogames, and more.

I thought I’d take this opportunity to explain how you could use my

 The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project

to learn more about the beginning…and even read it for free.

Before I do, I want to get this oldie out of the way:

Q. “Do you like Kipling?”

A. “I don’t know…I’ve never kippled.”

😉

The History Project is in a growth phase. They’ve been getting more funding and more partners…for example, the AP (Associated Press) recently partnered with THP.

TMCGTT is also just starting. I’ve been “retrofitting” early entries I did to make them a lot more useful. I’m happy with what I’ve done, although there is a lot more to do (and there will always be more). I’m looking forward to future features from THP, especially in the area of collaboration. Even though that’s the case, I’d be happy to get a collaborator or two at this point. If you are interested, let me know.

I bring that up because one of the things they don’t have at this point is a global searchbox. You can’t go to THP and just search for all of the references to “The Jungle Book”. I’m sure that will come in the future, though.

Here’s how you could get to where you could read The Jungle Book:

1. Go to https://www.thehistoryproject.com/projects/view/1433 on a tablet, SmartPhone, or computer (the website is, I think, too sophisticated for a Kindle EBR…E-Book Reader)
2. Since there are so many images, it may take some time to load
3. It currently defaults to “Memories”…click or tap “Timeline”. I can understand why people like seeing the images first, but the Timeline is a much simpler view, and therefore, easier to search
4. I  think you’ll find it easiest if you click or tap “Show All  Events”, but you can also just navigate to 1894. When you find “The Jungle Book published >”, click or tap on it

The “>”  is my symbol to tell you that there is content you can get to easily in that entry. In this case, it’s a book you can read. In other cases, it might be a movie you can watch, a radio show to which you can listen, and (I haven’t actually done one of these yet) a videogame you can play.

I only put the symbol there if there is a free version available through a link in the entry that does not require a membership.

When you get to The Jungle Book, you’ll also see an image of the original cover. As regular readers know, I’m quite careful about copyright. I make an effort to find out if an image is in the public domain (not under copyright protection) before I put it in TMCGTT. If I’m really not sure, you’ll see a placeholder image instead…text I format.

You’ll generally see a location in entries. Those also appear on a map on the “all events” view.

Next, you’ll see a description. This is what’s there so far for The Jungle Book (reformatted to work in this blog):

===

Fuzzy date: year known

read online or download at Manybooks

at Archive.org

find at public library with Worldcat

at ISFDB.org

at Goodreads

at Wikia

at Wikipedia

YouTube search

Twitter search

Timestream ripples:

* sequels
** The Second Jungle Book
** Just So Stories
** The Third Jungle Book (not by Kipling)
* movies
** 1942 with Sabu
** 1967 Disney animated version
** 1994 Disney live version with Jason Scott Lee
** 2016 Disney live action/CGI version with all star voice cast
** 2018 Andy Serkis version
* comics
* anime

===

There certainly could be more information about The Jungle Book,  but that’s a lot!

The order of the links goes roughly like this:

First, the most easily accessible ways to get to the content itself. I don’t, by the way, link simply to a place to buy something. For books, I do link to Goodreads which in turn has the links, but TMCGTT is not a direct money-making project for me.

Generally, for books in the public domain, I start with ManyBooks.net. On a computer (including most tables), you can read the book online. You can also download the book, then send it/transfer it to your Kindle. This is in the USA…there may not be a free version where you live.

I like the ManyBooks interface..I think it’s easy to use and well thought out.

In the case, the book is also available at Archive.org.

Next level? Searching public libraries. You probably need a library card, but you may have one already. 🙂

As we get down to references (as opposed to the book itself), the flow tends to be from more specific (where there will be fewer entries, probably) to more general. The ISFDB is the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. That’s more specific than Goodreads, which is more specific than Wikipedia.

You probably know most of these. I was surprised at how much book-related content YouTube has…there may be book reviews, for one thing, and audiobooks (which may also be available at Archive.org). The Twitter search tends to find pictures of book covers, which is cool. 🙂 I think it may be people selling the copies…and that likely falls under Fair Use.

You might not know Wikia…anybody can start a Wiki there, and they tend to be pretty fan-focused.

Since a new movie is about to be released, much of what you find may relate to that movie…but I do try to narrow it down.

In the future, I would want to add entries for each of the movies and each of the book sequels. That’s where collaborators could come in handy, in addition to them contributing their own items I haven’t entered yet.

Those would be connected through “tags”, which are also on this page. There is a “tag cloud” on the All Events view.

Tags for The Jungle Book include right now:

• literature
• short stories
• Rudyard Kipling
• The Jungle Book
• talking animals
• ferals

Most of those are practical. I like finding odder trends (for one thing, in the early Twentieth Century, there were a number of stories about “bodiless heads”…living heads which don’t have, and may never have had, a body (which is why they are “bodiless” rather than “disembodied).

Ferals (humans, generally, that have “gone wild”) include not only Mowgi, but Tarzan, of course. There are significant differences, but the similarities are clear. So, did The Jungle Book inspire Tarzan, or did Tarzan inspire The Jungle Book? Which came first…the Lord of the Apes or the Man Cub? As you’ll be able to see from the timeline, it’s The Jungle Book…which is part of why the timeline part is fun and enlightening.

There you go! I hope that helps explain The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip more…and since I ported the links over to this post, you don’t even need to go there this time to start reading The Jungle Book now.

If you have any questions or comments for me and my readers about TMCGTT, feel free to comment on this post. If you do go to The History Project, I think it would help for you to share your experience and your ideas with them at

hello@thehistoryproject.com

Enjoy!

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

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

*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.

Kindle Oasis is available for preorder for April 27

Kindle Oasis is available for preorder for April 27

Update: I posted this earlier today in a somewhat fragmentary manner, due to some technical issues (dead Fire Phone, flat tire in one car, and the other car was already in the shop). I’m going to clean it up, and add a bit more.

First, here is a link to the User’s Guide:

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/customerdocumentation/EW/Kindle+Oasis+Users+Guide+-+en_US.pdf

I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but that will answer a lot of questions.

Second, I generally would be surprised if this is a big hit and becomes the most popular Kindle EBR (E-Book Reader) model. Amazon doesn’t have a great track record with luxury versions. The Fire Phone was a flop (although I had one for some time), and was introduced at about $200. The original large screen Kindle was never the most popular, although that had some other factors. The Voyage hasn’t been as popular as the Paperwhite.

If you want 3G+Wi-Fi, no ads, and a wall charger (which is not included), it costs just about $400! That’s a lot of money for an EBR…and you can get an entry level Fire each for all nine members of a baseball team for that price! Oh, I’m assuming you can still get the six-pack for $250 when I say that.

I’m sure some people will buy it and be happy with it…but I don’t see revolutionary features.

Sorry this will not be a very fancy post at this point. I am sitting in my car with a flat tire. 🙂 My Fire Phone also died yesterday, so that is complicating things.

I wanted you to know though that the Kindle oasis has been released for pre-order today. Here is the press release

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413005921/en/

It does appear to be what was leaked yesterday. If the only choice is to get it with a leather cover, I will not be getting it.

Update:

I did get a response from Kindle customer service quite quickly, which I appreciate. Due to this situation, I will not be ordering the Kindle Oasis. I have informed Amazon of that fact.

—

Hello,
Thank you for you interest in purchasing a Kindle Oasis.
I’ve researched and see the Kindle Oasis device comes with leather cover. I’d like to inform you that we have included leather charging cover to boosts battery to last months. Unfortunately, we are unable to ship Kindle Oasis device without the leather cover.
As you don’t use animal leather, I’d suggest you to order the Kindle Oasis device and remove the leather cover once you receive the device.

Please visit the below link to order Kindle Oasis:

I’ve checked and see at this time, the option to purchase Kindle Oasis without leather cover isn’t currently available. Although this option isn’t available, I’m forwarding your comments as a feedback to our Kindle team who’ll review your comments very carefully as we continue to plan further improvements to your Kindle experience.
I’ve let the Kindle team know that you don’t use animal leather and always prefer to order Kindle device without leather cover. I have requested the Kindle team to offer this Kindle device without leather cover. They are looking for ways to improve our service and maybe able to introduce this feature soon in future.
—

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

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

*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.

“Leaked” new Kindle?

“Leaked” new Kindle?

In a very unusual move last week, Jeff Bezos tweeted that a new Kindle was coming this week. How rare? It was only the Amazon CEO’s (Chief Executive Officer’s) 32nd tweet since joining Twitter…in 2008 (the year following the end of the year release of the first Kindle). I wrote about it here:

Jeff Bezos tweets: 8th gen Kindle being announced next week

Now, according to this

Business Insider post with pictures by Eugene Kim

the Kindle has been leaked on Amazon’s Chinese-localized website (and then was removed).

This

Reddit thread

has supposed translations…and says that the Amazon Canadian site also leaked it in a comparison table.

First, do I think this is real?

I think that’s very likely. It’s not unbelievable that something gets released early…that happens sometimes, especially when international datelines and time zones can be involved in a global company.

I figure we’ll know for sure today or tomorrow. When I managed a brick-and-mortar bookstore, Tuesday was the big release day. Hypothetically, the stores would get messed up over the weekend (which you would have to straighten), and you’d get a bunch of deliveries on Monday (since they couldn’t be delivered on Sunday), so you’d be too busy to pay much attention to new releases.

If these images and translations are reasonably accurate…

The biggest change for most people would be the shape of the device…it’s a wedge, thicker on one side than the other. While people are reporting this as revolutionary, it would be of a return to the 1st gen model, which was also a wedge. I do think having a thicker side to sit in the middle of your palm makes it easier to hold.

It reportedly has Voyage-level pixels.

It reportedly has both a touchscreen and buttons.

Interestingly for me as an ambidexter (“both handed”, rather than right or left), it supposedly rotates the image 180 degrees, so you could flip it (it’s supposed to do it automatically, like a tablet) to use the buttons on either side.

It also is supposed to have more frontlights, which would make the screen perhaps more evenly lit.

Looks like both Wi-Fi and 3G, although it’s possible there would be a Wi-Fi only model as well (the “leak” only shows one model…there could be several).

The big talk is about the “rechargeable” cover. It would attach with magnets, and could give you months of battery life.

If the cover is the big draw, and if the “leak” is correct, I’ll be disappointed. Supposedly, there are three colors of cover…but they are all “real” leather.

Like some other people (admittedly, a small minority), I don’t use leather. I wouldn’t buy a leather cover, so that would let me out of that benefit.

Here are some things which are NOT mentioned (although even if this is real, that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t happen):

• No mention of water resistance
• No mention of audio…so no text-to-speech
• No mention of processor speed or more/expandable on-board storage
• No mention of solar-charging (which was rumored)
• No price (well, the Canadian site reportedly said $999.99, but that would likely be just a placeholder price)

This would be buzzy, but I think price would have lot to do with how much it would sell.

One more thing: I saw a date of April 14th mentioned. That could make it Wednesday in the USA for pre-orders…which could possibly mean an announcement today.

Oh, and the name I’m seeing mentioned is the “Kindle Oasis”…although it’s unclear to me if that’s the name for the device or the cover. It makes sense for the case…it would be a way to get a “drink of battery charge” in possibly a charging desert, such as when camping.

I’m likely to buy one, to have one to write about for you. Again, though, I wouldn’t buy the cover if it is leather.

What if you don’t buy one?

A new hardware model often means new service enhancements. It could be that the enhancements don’t come to older models right away, but often come to at least the most recent models within a few months.

I’ll be interested to see what actually gets announced, and I expect to write about it when it does. 🙂

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

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

*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.

 

Recent price drops…and do you still care as much?

Recent price drops…and do you still care as much?

Note: my apologies, but I inadvertently left off listing some recent price drops, which I intended to do from the start of this post! You’ll find them towards the end of it.

My Significant Other is a big fan of Fannie Flagg’s writing…although when you say “Fannie Flagg” to me, I still think first of The Match Game. 😉

It was interesting to get an e-mail from Amazon announcing a new Fannie Flagg novel:

The Whole Town’s Talking (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

Interesting…and then exciting!

Why that progression?

I had to go to Amazon to see if text-to-speech (TTS) access was blocked.

We don’t buy books where the publisher has chosen to insert code into it to block TTS access, as regular readers know. It’s not so much for us, although I typically use it for hours a week. It’s more because I think it disproportionately disadvantages those with print challenges and disabilities.

In fact, my SO wouldn’t have wanted me to mention the book to them if the access was blocked…but it wasn’t!

Others had been, but in writing this post, I see that at least one of them which was blocked no longer is…more good news!

Still, we didn’t pre-order it (it comes out October 25, 2016 in the USA).

What was the issue now? 😉

It’s more expensive than we usually pay for an e-book now: $14.99.

That’s not out of range for New York Times hardback-equivalent bestsellers, which this is very likely to be. This was what I recorded in my April 1st Snapshot:

—

Price Point Analysis of New York Times Hardback Fiction Equivalents

April 1, 2016

14.99 14.99 13.99 9.99 13.99 12.99 13.99 14.99 13.99 14.99
13.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 13.99 10.99 12.99 14.74 11.99

Average: $13.48 (+0.04) 1 title under $10

—

Three of those were $14.99…and by October, there may be more.

We just don’t usually buy current Big 5 bestsellers for ourselves any more.

As happy members of

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

we pay $9.99 a month (well, we took advantage of being able to get it on sale, when that was possible). That, and gifts, are how we tend to read current books from tradpubs (traditional publishers).

This is a book we’d especially like to read, though…actually, my SO will really want to read it, and I like to read what my SO reads. 🙂

What’s the answer?

Listing the book at

eReaderIQ

That way, I’ll get a free e-mail if the price drops an amount I specify. I expect this one may have price drops, because retailers will compete on the price (as much as they can under the current agreements with publishers).

How much would we pay for it?

When a book is more than $2.99, it feels like a luxury. 🙂 I think we might pay $9.99 for this one, so I’ll set that as the level.

Well, actually, what I ended up doing, since it looks like more of the books may not have TTS blocked, is tracked Fannie Flagg the author…so I’ll find out if any of the books go down in price. You do that here:

http://www.ereaderiq.com/track/authors/

Again, though, I used to do this much more often. We just aren’t that emoionally tied up in current tradpubs any more.

There are so many more options that cost less and can be equally satisfying, at least for us. I don’t mind reading older books in KU, or  new indies (independently published books).

How about you? Do you still care as much about when a tradpub books goes on sale as you used to care?

Let’s do a quick poll. If you can’t find a good choice between the options, you can always comment on this post:

The e-book is price considerably lower than the hardback, by the way. The hard-covered is list priced at $28, and Amazon has the pre-order discounted to $22.21.

Huh, that’s interesting! The trade (larger size) paperback is the same price as the hardback…and not discounted. So, you can pre-order it this (from cheapest to most expensive):

• E-book $14.99
• Hardback $22.21
• Trade paperback $28.00
• Audiobook on CDs $40.00

These prices may (and likely will) change before it is released, and they are just the prices I see now for the USA.

I see that they do have a “Pre-Order Price Guarantee”. When the publisher sells the book, they don’t technically have to do that, but they generally do.

Update: here are some recent price drops…(prices can change at any time and may not apply in your country)

• The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy from $9.60 to $2.99
• The Left Behind Collection by Tim LaHaye from $47.39 to $21.99
• Dragonbane: A Dark-Hunter Novel by Sherrilyn Kenyon from $14.99 to $8.99
• Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin (I strongly recommend it) from $10.99 to $2.99
• How to Succeed in Business without Really Crying by Carol Leifer from $18.99 to $2.99

What do you think? Do you care less about  Big 5 books being discounted? Do you think that will be increasingly true? What are the factors which effect that? Will we see popular tradpubbed books go up farther in price? Alternatively, will begin to lower the prices if the sales go down (they’ve generally been having good sales on hardbacks, but it could happen)? 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!

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

*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.

For National Poetry Month: original poems from authors, courtesy of Amazon

For National Poetry Month: original poems from authors, courtesy of Amazon

First, a special heartfelt thanks to Amazon for contacting me and giving me permission to share these with you! Thanks, Amazon! They originally appeared here:

Omnivoracious: “Our Favorite Authors Write Poems for National Poetry Month”

April is the

Academy of American Poets’ National Poetry Month (since 1996)

Poetry is a special form of literature. I have really loved some poetry books, although they probably aren’t the ones which most people would name. In fact, I can be very sure of that. 😉 Here are a couple, neither of which are available from the Kindle store:

• The Birds and the Beast Were There (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) edited by William Cole
• Stoogism Anthology (at AmazonSmile*) edited by Paul F. Fericano

The Cole book was simply brilliantly edited. The basic theme was animal poems, but it went to so many styles, and included animals you won’t find in your zoology book. Even though I first read it as a child, I still remember some of the poems. I did get the book again as an adult (you can buy it for a penny at time of writing).

The other one is a bit of a rarity. It’s an anthology of poems where yes, many of them are about The Three Stooges. It has my favorite poem, which is free verse and just a couple of lines. It has to do with a fear of acrobats, but I don’t have permission to reproduce it.

I’ve never written much poetry myself, outside of song lyrics (and those have mostly been song parodies). Poetry and song lyrics aren’t quite the same thing, although there are obvious parallels.

I did write this once…I don’t know why, and I still don’t know what it means. 🙂

“Grunk a nile,
Stay awhile,
Sip a bit of tea.

Have a knife,
Take a life,
Do it all for free.”

Nope, I don’t know what “grunk a nile” means, and it’s an odd sentiment for a pacifist. 😉

I don’t think we can extrapolate from that that writing poetry is hard, but let’s take a look at what famous writers wrote for Amazon:

—

KATE DiCAMILLO, author of Raymie Nightingale

I read like I breathe.
I need the inhale of words
the exhale of hope.

L.S. HILTON, on her book Maestra

There once was a woman from Liverpool
Who was took by her boss for a fool.
So she travelled the Med
And left many men dead
And did things they don’t teach at school…

CHUCK PALAHNIUK, author of Fight Club 2

“Blondes!”

Switch the initials
Donald Trump, Tyler Durden
No coincidence.

CYNTHIA D’APRIX SWEENEY, about her book The Nest

There once was a family named Plumb,
Though book-smart, their choices were dumb.
Now they are broke
And Leo’s their hope
But can his heart (and pocket) be won?

RICK RIORDAN, channeling Apollo from The Trials of Apollo

Reading’s pure pleasure
If the subject is awesome.
Like me, for instance.
—Apollo

CHUCK KLOSTERMAN, author of But What If We’re Wrong?

It’s the juice of life
To write as if from Japan
Home of Godzilla

DAVID DUCHOVNY, author of Bucky F*cking Dent

There once was a Yankee named Bucky
Whose name rhymed with words quite unlucky
He beat the Sox
And New England’s jocks
And made D. Duchovny quite lucky

JOE HILL, author of The Fireman

Buy my book and you’ll have my thanks
And what’s more (to be terribly frank)
I’d be wild with glee
If you bought three
And picked up my Amazon sales rank

RICK YANCEY, on his book The Last Star

Sunlight falls away
from the land, and a single
star crushes the dark.

RICH COHEN, author of The Sun & the Moon & the Rolling Stones

Best thing to say
On that first trip back home
Is “Sorry I missed you,
But I was traveling with the Stones.”
26 and writing for a great music magazine
Having fallen into the record
like waking in a dream.
Mick, Keith, Charlie, crazy Ron Wood
And me dancing “Satisfaction” in the wings
like every fan should.
Years later I’ve turned it all into a book
The tours, the music, the history
and don’t forget the look
Keith gave me when he discovered I was born
A year before the death of Brian Jones.
“You’ve never known a world without
the Sun and the Moon and the Rolling Stones.”

ANGELA DUCKWORTH – poem written by her daughter, age 8, about Grit

Angela Duckworth studies grit;
Sticking to things,
Not throwing a fit.
Working real hard,
Practicing well,
If you are gritty,
Angie can tell.
Trying until you have it right,
Just like Edison and his light.
Grit will help you,
Later in life.
“Grit is good” says Jason’s wife.
Messing up sometimes is okay.
But not trying at all?!
We give it a nay.
Being gritty might not be that fun,
But when racing, you’ve already half won.

AMAZON BOOKS EDITORS FRIENDS

If there’s one thing I know that I need
It’s a great and spectacular read
When I don’t have a book
My brain’s stuck on half-cook
Like a horse who’s gone off her feed
—Sara Nelson

Double-stacked in the book case
How can I find one more place?
For another favorite tome
That must have a home
I think I just need much more space…
—Seira Wilson

lost: small white haiku
notebook, lined, half empty, half
full—if found, please read
—Jason Kirk

A book is a wonderful thing
As we see what an author can bring
To our spry active minds
Though we sit on behinds
Our brains and our hearts take wing
—Chris Schluep

One day I met Margaret Atwood
And nervously babbled more than I should
She was quite witty
Patient, as I was giddy
Until security parted us, for good
—Erin Kodicek

—

There you go!

What do you think? How do you generally feel about poetry? Are there poets you would particularly recommend? I find I tend to like whimsical, funny poetry, as opposed to dark and epic…how about you? Feel free to tell me and my readers what you think by commenting on this post.

Thanks again, Amazon, for  the permission to reproduce these for my readers!

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

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

*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.

 

Barnes & Noble outsources NOOK development, cloud management

Barnes & Noble outsources NOOK development, cloud management

It’s the end of an era.

In this

press release

Barnes & Noble announced that they are outsourcing “…cloud management and development support for NOOK software” to

Bahwan Cybertek (BCT)

a very experienced company in many countries and with major partnerships, including with Oracle and Microsoft.

As a result of this, B&N will be shutting down a couple of offices, in Santa Clara and Taiwan, at the end of this July.

This could  be a very good thing for NOOK owners…and by extension, a good thing for Kindle owners.

It was always a risk for Amazon to do hardware and software…and a bigger risk for Barnes & Noble. It’s just not their area of expertise…you know, like publishers trying to figure out how to price books for consumers. 😉

Amazon had muuuuuch bigger resources to bring in people with the expertise, and in other ways to find the resources.

Barnes & Noble just didn’t.

Turning over this work to BCT will conceivably mean a more mainstream, reliable approach. It’s possible it will be less innovative, but that’s not necessarily the case.

Yes, it means that the development will not be driven by a bibliocentric company…but tech companies do things all the time for other industries.

If, and I’m just speculating, it makes for a better NOOK line, that could drive Amazon to better Kindle/Fire products through competition.

My guess is that it might make the Amazon devices even more out of the box…while still needing to be competitively reliable.

We’ll see what happens.

By the way, to give a sense of scale, Barnes & Noble says

“In the first quarter of fiscal 2017, the company expects to record severance charges and transition related costs of approximately $6 million.”

I think Amazon sneezes six million dollars. 😉

Overall, I feel good about this. It seems to mean that NOOK users will not be hurt…that the platform won’t simply disappear, but will not only survive but thrive.

How does this affect the Barnes & Noble stores, and the NOOK Books?

Certainly, in the short run, it helps them. The NOOK has been a major anchor on the stores, and this cuts that ballast loose. It lets B&N concentrate on other things…like games and toys.

What do you think? Is this a good decision by B&N? What does BCT get out of it? Will this make a difference for Kindle/Fire owners? 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!

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

*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.

 

Jeff Bezos’ 2016 letter to shareowners

Jeff Bezos’ 2016 letter to shareowners

Every year, Amazon CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Jeff Bezos writes a letter to shareowners of the company. It’s available through the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)…here is this year’s:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1018724/000119312516530910/d168744dex991.htm

These letters tend to be well-written, high levels thoughts, more on the philosophy and culture of Amazon, rather than specific numbers on production.

This year is no exception. 🙂

A lot of it is about how Amazon will inevitably face risks.

I find that refreshing, and I think it’s a wise thing to do.

I’m a former actor, and there is a theatrical tradition that can surprise outsiders if they observe it.

You’ve all heard of people saying, “Break a leg,” which is a way to wish someone a good performance.

It’s really partially about not “jinxing” it. 🙂

Similarly, there is usually a night during preparations for a play, the night when the set is first up, where the actors walk around the stage…and talk about bad things that might happen.

“Somebody could fall stepping from that set piece to that one.”

“That tower could tip over and fall on someone.”

“The curtain’s probably going to catch that wheel when that wall gets pushed out.”

Now, that might just sound negative, but it has a practical purpose.

When the actors are doing that, the stage crew is also there.  The crew doesn’t talk…they just listen.

This is done soon enough so that changes can be made.

That doesn’t mean that everything every actor says results in a change. The stage crew may know that what the actor says is not going to happen…that it’s already been anticipated and remedied.

By the way, that reminds me of something many people seem to…misunderstand.

That’s “Murphy’s Law”.

Many people can quote that: “If anything can go wrong, it will.”

They use that as an excuse…to say there was nothing that could have been done.

As I recall, though, there actually was a Murphy. My recollection is that Murphy worked at the White Sands missile testing base, but I’m not going to look it up first. 🙂 I’ll probably look it up afterwards, but I like my recollection.

As  I remember it, the actual “law” is, “If anything can go wrong, it will…so fix it now.”

It’s the second part people don’t seem to know. 🙂

The point is, if there is a one percent chance something will go wrong, you can’t just ignore it because there is such a small chance…you need to get as  close as you can to a zero percent chance, since if that one percent event can happen, you have to act as though it will happen.

So, I like that Jeff Bezos recognizes that there are risks to success.

I would say this was my favorite line this year:

“I believe we are the best place in the world to fail (we have plenty of practice!), and failure and invention are inseparable twins.”

There aren’t any real clear indicators of Amazon’s plans, and Bezos doesn’t even mention the Amazon Echo (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) or new models of Kindles/or Fires…even though we expect new Kindles to be announced next week.

I recommend you read the letter…and compare it to the 1997 letter, which, as usual, is included.

Feel free to let me and my readers know what you think by commenting on this post.

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

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

*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.

 

 

Jeff Bezos tweets: 8th gen Kindle being announced next week

Jeff Bezos tweets: 8th gen Kindle being announced next week

As I reported yesterday, Amazon is offering Prime members big discounts on their current Kindle EBRs (Kindle E-Book Readers):

• Seventh generation entry level Kindle” (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) (my review) $49.99 ($30 off)
• Kindle Paperwhite 3 (at AmazonSmile*) (Kindle Paperwhite 2: first impressions and menu map) $89.99 ($30 off)
• Kindle Voyage (any configuration) (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) $149.99 ($50 off)

Those are great prices! The Voyage, in particular, has rarely been discounted. This says it is for a limited time.

One of my regular readers, Robert Anderson, speculated that it might mean new models were coming.

I was ready to write a reply explaining that, while discounts can precede a new model release, the majority of the time they don’t. Amazon isn’t likely to need to clear out warehouse space for a new model, and it can be just as effective for them to discount it after a new model is released. I would have been technically correct…but Robert’s intuition was born out with this

Jeff Bezos tweet

It says that a new, top of the line Kindle is, “almost ready”.

It was amusing to me that people immediately responded to the Amazon CEO (Chief Executive Officer) with features they would like to see…I’m afraid that the design and development process takes more than a few days. 🙂

Hopefully, people have regularly been suggesting to Amazon what they would like to see in later Kindle models. You can e-mail

kindle-feedback@amazon.com

That said, there’s nothing wrong with speculating about what we might see or what you would want to see. 🙂

For me, the biggest thing is not what we might see, but what  we might hear. 😉 Regular readers won’t be surprised to learn that I’m talking about text-to-speech (TTS). TTS is software which reads a book (or other item with text) out loud to you.

I use it for hours a week in the car, although I currently do it with my now discontinued Kindle Fire HDX. Amazon killed all audio in EBRs some time back…and I regularly see comments from people who miss it.

So, I do think that’s a possibility. I’ve seen a speculation that the new device might have Bluetooth…what would the purpose of Bluetooth (short range paired wireless connection between devices) do on an EBR if not connect audio? I suppose it could be for file transfer  between devices, but that would really upend the current model of keying a file for a specific device.

There are a couple of other features which I would see as possible.

In my annual predictive/speculative post

The Year Ahead 2016

I figured that a water resistant Kindle was likely, since that is playing catch up with competitors. That seems probable. By the way, I also suggested that the Supreme Court would decline to hear the Apple case, resulting in an effective loss, and that Amazon would shutter Shelfari…both have happened. 🙂 Knock virtual wood, no guarantee for anything else I said in that post.

The other big thing (and there is speculation about that), is that Amazon would finally introduce a Liquivista screen. Amazon announced they were buying the company back in 2013. It would be a way for us to have color on non-backlit screen.

Interestingly,

Liquavista

is hiring right now, which suggests a business expansion.

Generally, Amazon has done better with affordable models rather than top of the line…but a color EBR might be considered a new type of device, and Amazon has made that work (the Kindle wasn’t the first EBR in the USA, but was different enough ((especially with its wireless connection)) to perhaps be considered a different device). The Amazon Echo (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) appears to be an  unqualified success, for example, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed my first day out with my new Alexa Tap (at AmazonSmile*) yesterday (I’ll write about that in my The Measured Circle blog within the next few days).

Could this mean more than just a top of the line model? Could the entire line be refreshed?

Yes, that’s possible.

As I noted in

Kindle and Fire Generations

“generations” are different from models.

All three of the current Kindle EBRs are 7th generation…the 3rd Paperwhite, the touch screen least expensive version, and the current Voyage all have basically the same software.

Generations are based on software, not just hardware, really.

That also means we could see improvements to the Kindle service.

We just had a big interface update to Kindle EBRs, so I’m not sure how much we’ll see on the devices themselves. We might see a lot more at the Manage Your Content and Devices page…I’m hoping we would get much better content management (being able to see which book is currently on which device, for example).

The Alexa Voice Service doesn’t need direct connection to individual devices, generally. It can read a book to me based on the Cloud, not on where it is on my Voyage or Paperwhite. I suppose it could have better knowledge and purchasing. For example, I might be able to say, “Alexa, how much time is left in The Martian on Proteus?”

We’ll have a better idea on all of this next week. 😉

One more thing: some of the first comments to Jeff came from people upset because they just bought a Kindle EBR.

I never quite understand that.

If your device was a good buy before, it’s a good buy now. 🙂 Just because someone else might get something with more features, that doesn’t affect what features you have.

If you are within thirty days of purchase from Amazon, typically, you can return your Kindle for a refund. If it was performing as advertised, you would be expected to pay the return shipping, which should be no more than a couple of dollars.

What do you think? Are you ready for a new model? What features would you like to see? What  would be enough to induce you to upgrade? 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!

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

*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.

Heads up, Prime members: up to $50 off Kindle EBRs

Heads up, Prime members: up to $50 off Kindle EBRs

I’m on my phone, but this is a limited time offer for Prime members, so I wanted to get it out right away.

The least expensive Kindle is on sale for $49.99, the Paperwhite fit $89.99, and the Voyage for $149.99…$30 off the first two $50 (!) off the Voyage.

• Seventh generation entry level Kindle…I call it the “Mindle Touch” (it replaces the old “minimum Kindle”, and has a touchscreen) or the “K7” (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) (my review)
• Kindle Paperwhite 3 (at AmazonSmile*) (Kindle Paperwhite 2: first impressions and menu map)
• Kindle Voyage (any configuration) (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

 

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

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

*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.

Monthly Kindle Deals for $3.99 or less each: April 2016

Monthly Kindle Deals for $3.99 or less each: April 2016

Amazon does the Kindle Daily Deal (at AmazonSmile…benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*), which used to discount four books a day (often general fiction, a romance, a science fiction/fantasy book, and a kids’ book). Now, it seems like it is generally more books than that, and not categorized.

They also do Monthly Kindle Book Deals for $3.99 or less each (at AmazonSmile). There used to be about 100 of them, but there are ten times that now: 318 at the time of writing…21 fewer than last month. They are up to 85% off…but in a return to form (and continuing last month’s trend), none of them are more than the normal $3.99 top limit.

Those prices only apply to the USA, and one weird thing is that some of the books seem to sell out at that price sometimes (or become unavailable for some other reason).

Another thing is that 115 0f them (19 fewer than last month) are available through

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

Amazon lists that information prominently…and it’s now commonly a filter in search results. If they are, then you need to consider whether it is worth buying them…even at these low prices. While they are in KU, you can, if you are a subscriber (and there’s a free month available right now), read them at no additional cost. There are, of course, advantages to owning books, especially if you want to re-read them. A book could move out of KU at any time. Even if you think you want to own it, if you are a KU member, you could always read it first to make sure. 😉 I will mark them with KU.

By the way, in the new version of the

eReaderIQ advanced search

you can make KU a filter. So, you can search for books by an author, a keyword, an average customer review which you can read as part of your KU membership…nice! I’m not associated with eReaderIQ except as a user (we have had some correspondence), but I do think it is the most valuable website for Kindleers.

I’m going to list some of the books in this sale that caught my eye…I’m not necessarily recommending them, but I do think they are interesting.

The ones I link (if I actually link to specific books) also don’t block text-to-speech access**…but I think blocking it is becoming rarer.

• The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements (Perennial Classics) by Eric Hoffer [a significant book]
• The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King–The Five-Star Admirals Who Won the War at Sea by Walter R. Borneman
• The Fringe Hours: Making Time for You by Jessica N. Turner
• The Time Is Noon by Pearl S. Buck
• Two for the Dough (Stephanie Plum, No. 2): A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich
• I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne and Chris Ayres
• The Hollywood Book of Death: The Bizarre, Often Sordid, Passings of More than 125 American Movie and TV Idols by James Parish
• Anna’s Crossing: An Amish Beginnings Novel by Suzanne Woods Fisher
• Taming the To-Do List: How to Choose Your Best Work Every Day by Glynnis Whitwer
• 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life by Don Piper and Cecil Murphey
• Whispers by Lisa Jackson
• Pride and Pleasure by Sylvia Day
• Black: The Circle Series by Ted Dekker
• Black & Decker Complete Guide to Wiring, 6th Edition: Current with 2014-2017 Electrical Codes by Editors of Cool Springs Press
• Eating Purely: More Than 100 All-Natural, Organic, Gluten-Free Recipes for a Healthy Life by Elizabeth Stein and Bobbi Brown
• Boundaries with Kids: When to Say Yes, How to Say NoMay 18, 2009 | Kindle eBook
  by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
• Boundaries with Teens: When to Say Yes, How to Say NoMay 18, 2009 | Kindle eBook
  by John Townsend
• Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day by Leanne Brown
• Unlocked: A Love Story by Karen Kingsbury
• Think Better: An Innovator’s Guide to Productive Thinking by Tim Hurson
• Quick and Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes by Nancie McDermott and Alison Miksch
• G.I. JOE: G.I. Joe: First Salvo (Kindle Worlds) by Bill Nedrow
• The Mercy Falls Collection: The Lightkeeper’s Daughter, The Lightkeeper’s Bride, The Lightkeeper’s Ball (A Mercy…by Colleen Coble
• Pedro by Pedro Martinez and Michael Silverman
• Let’s Hear It For The Deaf Man (87th Precinct) by Ed McBain (KU)
• The White Magic Five and Dime (A Tarot Mystery Book 1) by Steve Hockensmith and Lisa Falco
• The 10-Minute Dog Training Games: Quick & Creative Activities for the Busy Dog Owner by Kyra Sundance
• The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways by Earl Swift
• Edge of Apocalypse: A Joshua Jordan Novel (The End Series Book 1) by Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall
• German Aces Speak II: World War II Through the Eyes of Four More of the Luftwaffe’s Most Important Commanders by Colin D. Heaton and Anne-Marie Lewis
• The Secret Lives of Bats: My Adventures with the World’s Most Misunderstood Mammals by Merlin Tuttle
• Driving Mr. Yogi: Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, and Baseball’s Greatest Gift by Harvey Araton
• Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist (New-trade science series) by Guy Consolmagno
• Healthy Happy Vegan Kitchen by Kathy Patalsky
• Spymistress: The True Story of the Greatest Female Secret Agent of World War II by William Stevenson
• Forget Me Not by Fern Michaels
• Crucial Conversations Skills by Kerry Patterson and Joseph Grenny
• The Lost Tribe of Coney Island: Headhunters, Luna Park, and the Man Who Pulled Off the Spectacle of the Century by Claire Prentice (KU)
• West Point 1915 by Michael E. Haskew
• The Autobiography of James T. Kirk by David A. Goodman
• The One Percenter Encyclopedia: The World of Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs from Abyss Ghosts to Zombies Elite by Bill Hayes
• Shakespeare (Eminent Lives) by Bill Bryson
• The Banished of Muirwood (Covenant of Muirwood Book 1) by Jeff Wheeler (KU…also available through Kindle Unlimited)
• Battle Cruiser (Lost Colonies Trilogy Book 1) by B. V. Larson
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen series Book 1) by Joanne Fluke
• Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger
• BrainWeb by Douglas E. Richards (KU)
• The Broken Window: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel by Jeffery Deaver
• The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook: A Quick Reference Guide to Nearly 100 Tools for Improving Quality and Speed by Michael George and John Maxey
• The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore
• Max: Best Friend. Hero. Marine. by Jennifer Li Shotz
• Slash by Slash and Anthony Bozza
• Wishes (The Montgomery/Taggert Family Book 7) by Jude Deveraux
• World of Warcraft: War Crimes by Christie Golden

It’s definitely worth looking at the list: I’d be surprised if you couldn’t find a gift for somebody here (e-books from the Kindle store can be delayed until the appropriate gift giving occasion).

If there were others you’d like to mention for me and my readers, please comment on this post.

Prime members, don’t forget to pick up your

Kindle First books (at AmazonSmile*)

You can get one of the six (same as last month…previously, it had been four) books to own (not borrow) for free…these are books which will be actually released next month. The choices this month are:

• Blood Defense (Samantha Brinkman Book 1) by Marcia Clark (thriller)
• Deliver Her by Patricia Perry Donovan (suspense)
• Golden Age (The Shifting Tides Book 1) by James Maxwell (fantasy)
• The Secret Healer by Ellin Carsta, Terry Laster (historical fiction)
• The Eagle Tree by Ned Hayes (literary fiction)
• Star Sand  by Roger Pulvers (war ficion)

People like to know which one I pick…and this month, I decided to go with the Marcia Clark (yes, the prosecutor from the O.J. Simpson murder case) book. I don’t expect that it is necessarily the best written of these (although it might be), but I’d say it’s the curiosity factor, both for me and for other people who might be on our account in the future.

Enjoy!

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

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

* 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!  By the way, it’s been interesting lately to see Amazon remind me to “start at AmazonSmile” if I check a link on the original Amazon site. I do buy from AmazonSmile, but I have a lot of stored links I use to check for things.

** A Kindle with text-to-speech can read any text downloaded to it…unless that access is blocked by the publisher inserting code into the file to prevent it. That’s why you can have the device read personal documents to you (I’ve done that). I believe that this sort of access blocking disproportionately disadvantages the disabled, although I also believe it is legal (provided that there is at least one accessible version of each e-book available, however, that one can require a certification of disability). For that reason, I don’t deliberately link to books which block TTS access here (although it may happen accidentally, particularly if the access is blocked after I’ve linked it). I do believe this is a personal decision, and there  are legitimate arguments for purchasing those books. 

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.