Light My Kindle

Last week Amazon announced “Frustration-Free Packaging.” This week, Best Buy appears to be following in their footsteps. Just in time for the holiday season, companies like Best Buy, Sony and Microsoft are taking Amazon’s lead and providing more eco-friendly, less intense packaging.

Several blogs (including this one) have been hinting at the possibility that President-elect Obama will choose a prominent person in the technology field to be his chief technology officer in his cabinet.

Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos is on the short list, as is Steve Ballmer and Mitch Kapor (Microsoft and Lotus, respectively). This person will deal with issues such as expanding the country’s wireless network and network neutrality, among others.

American author Michael Crichton passed away last week from cancer. He was a fantastic author, having written the novels Jurassic Park, Andromeda Strain, and Rising Sun, among others, as well as being the creator of the television show ER.

Many of his novels are available on the Kindle, some for as low as $4.99. You can find his Kindle editions by searching for Michael Crichton at Amazon.com.

Amazon has released what they call “frustration-free packaging” which is,

a multi-year initiative designed to alleviate “wrap rage,” features recyclable boxes that are easy to open and free of excess materials such as hard plastic clamshell cases, plastic bindings, and wire ties.

While this initiative doesn’t yet include the Kindle, it does include 19 other products which can be found at Amazon.com.

Having opened many a Christmas present for my nephews that seemed to have more twist ties than I could count, this is a welcome step in reducing the waste caused by consumer goods.

[via Engadget]

Breaking news! Thanks to the Oprah-induced discount on the Kindle, the Kindle is currently sold out for the first time in months.

Another Kindle-related blog broke the news earlier today. This is huge news for Amazon, and a bigger response than I ever imagined Oprah could cause with her support of the Kindle as her favorite gadget.

At this point it looks like Kindles are shipping in 2-3 weeks, so you might want to order one now if you’re planning on giving one as a Christmas gift.

As mentioned before, Oprah chose the Kindle as her new favorite gadget. As a gift to potential Kindle customers, Oprah and Amazon have provided a $50 discount through November 1st. According to Engadget, if you enter the code OPRAHWINFREY at checkout, you’ll receive a $50 discount.

This is an excellent promotion for Amazon. Not only did Oprah tell her legions of fans that she loves the Kindle, but the $50 discount will seal the deal for hesitant buyers.

The official Amazon Kindle blog announced that through the end of today you can download Stephen Windwalker’s The Complete User’s Guide to the Amazing Amazon Kindle for free. The book explores all the wonderful things you can do with your Kindle, such as access your email, use Google Notebook, and even publish your own Kindle books.

A site called the Boy Genius Report claims to have pictures of the second generation Kindle. While Amazon hasn’t announced anything yet, the photos appear real, and the device itself doesn’t look like a fake.

Assuming the pictures are real, however, there seems little reason to buy the new one if you already own a Kindle. It’s approximately the same size as the original Kindle, maybe even a smidge bigger. The buttons are all pretty much the same, except the keyboard is now one continuous keyboard (rather than having the break in the middle) and the scroll wheel has morphed into a joystick (what for?). The back of the thing is awful - it looks like the back of an iPhone: silver, fingerprint-attracting, and probably really cold while waiting for a train in the middle of December.

The one improvement that I do appreciate is the addition of rounded corners. Sometimes when I’m reading my Kindle outside of the included case, the corners poke into my palms. It wasn’t enough to hurt, or to dissuade me from using my Kindle, but it is enough to annoy me. However, I won’t be buying a second generation Kindle just for rounded corners.

While the pictures appear legitimate, I am worried about a slight smudge that appears just to the left of where the Amazon Kindle logo appears on the current Kindle. Check out the bottom row of pictures in their gallery to see what I mean.

Check out the article and the photo gallery for yourself.

As a current Kindle owner, would the changes entice you to upgrade? If you don’t currently own a Kindle, are the changes enough to convince you to buy one?

Despite rampant speculation about a new Kindle before the holiday season and a bigger Kindle designed for college students to replace their heavy textbooks with, Amazon spokesman Craig Berman confirmed there will not be a new Kindle in 2008.

He spoke to The New York Times and said,

Don’t believe everything you read. There’s a lot of rumor and speculation about the Kindle. One thing I can tell you for sure is that there will be no new version of the Kindle this year. A new version is possible sometime next year at the earliest.

Kindle owners can breathe a sigh of relief knowing their fancy new technology won’t be replaced for at least another four or five months.

In addition to the new Kindle request button being included on books that don’t currently have a Kindle version, Amazon is also including a “read this on your Kindle” button on books that do have Kindle versions available. Check it out under The Mist below: