Category: News (Page 75 of 130)

      Kindle heads to Blackberry

      February 19, 2010 /

      Blackberry gets Kindle.Amazon is starting to see the writing on the wall, it seems. There isn’t a compelling reason for people to buy a Kindle anymore. Other ereaders offer the same price on books with more features and the latest wave of tablet PCs make the hardware look obsolete. So what does Bezos do? He releases a Kindle app for yet another piece of hardware: the Blackberry.

      Amazon recently opened the floodgates with Kindle support for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and Windows machines. Today we get Blackberry support and the company says it’s headed for Macs and iPads next. If that doesn’t sound like admitted defeat, I don’t know what does. It’s funny too, considering the publisher problems Amazon has had since the iPad announcement.

      “Since the launch of our popular Kindle for iPhone app last year, customers have been asking us to bring a similar experience to the BlackBerry, and we are thrilled to make it available today,” said Amazon’s Kindle VP, Ian Freed. There is at least one difference between the two; the Blackberry version doesn’t support creating annotations from within the app.

      Official Site

      Apps, ebooks, Mobile, News

      Apple may have more ebook control than we think

      February 18, 2010 /

      iBook Store on the iPad.An article in the New York Times today suggests Apple may have a little more control over low ebook prices than initially thought. Publishers were turning to Apple and its iPad to save them from the clutches of Amazon and the $9.99 Kindle price point. While Apple does offer more flexible pricing options, it has also made provisions for lowering the prices of the most popular books, back to that $9.99 figure the publishers so hate.

      The Times cites “at least three people with knowledge of the discussions,” as the source for the news. It’s not just bestsellers, either. Apple expects publishers to reflect discounted book prices, books sold below the typical $26 hard cover price, in their ebook pricing as well, regardless of bestseller status.

      This has to make you wonder what really had the publishers upset with Amazon. Obviously they’re aware of the things Apple laid out in its contract, so what’s the issue? Do they just want some extra income from less popular titles? Are there other Amazon policies that turn publishers away or is it really just a lack of flexibility?

      Apple, Digital Media, ebooks, News

      Three Tesla employees die in plane crash

      February 18, 2010 /

      Tesla Roadster.Keep the families and friends of Tesla in your thoughts today – three of the company’s employees were recently killed in a plane crash in East Palo Alto.

      The plane, a small, twin-engine Cessna, took off from Palo Alto airport and got caught in electrical wires, causing a power outage in parts of the city. The plane was registered to senior engineer Doug Bourn, though there’s still no word if Doug was actually on the plane himself.

      Tesla sent the following statement to TechCrunch regarding the incident:

      “Three Tesla employees were on board a plane that crashed in East Palo Alto early this morning. We are withholding their identities as we work with the relevant authorities to notify the families. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. Tesla is a small, tightly-knit company, and this is a tragic day for us.”

      Fortunately, no one on the ground was hurt.

      Source: TechCrunch

      News

      Steve Jobs biography to be penned by Einstein/Franklin author

      February 16, 2010 /

      Steve Jobs looking excited.The world has long tried to understand Steve Jobs. There have been several biographies written about him, though none of them were authorized and most have lacked the kind of personal material that make a biography really great. Luckily for all the fanboys (and the haters) Jobs has agreed to an authorized biography.

      Jobs struck the deal with former Time Magazine managing editor Walter Isaacson. Isaacson has written two other bestselling biographies on historical figures that show a bit of Jobs’ hubris: Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin. Criticisms aside, the book should be very interesting. Jobs has invited Isaacson on a tour of his childhood home according to the New York Times.

      Jobs has never been a fan of those other biographies, either. He’s been known to pull books by those publishers from Apple Store shelves in spite.

      Source: New York Times

      Apple, ebooks, News

      Windows Phone 7 Series: Ballmer’s gambit

      February 16, 2010 /

      people_wpFor all the talk of the Windows Phone 7 Series, you’d think it was going to save Microsoft in the mobile market. That may be true, but it’s going to be an ugly transition. I’m sure few people missed the fact that Windows Phone 7 means everything that came before is obsolete, least of all the current Windows Mobile users. It’s gone. Kaput. None of the current Windows Mobile software will function in the Windows Phone 7 ecosystem.

      A lot of people say it was necessary. I tend to agree. Windows Mobile was butt ugly and ran about as fast as an 80 year-old with an artificial hip. It had no evolutionary cycle, not to stay competitive anyway. But doing away with the old has left Windows Mobile with an 8-10 month lame duck period. Development is going to grind to a halt, likely within the week. That’s going to leave a lot very unhappy users who have been loyal to the brand to this point. I guess Microsoft expects that they’ll be willing to wait until the holidays for a phone with any new features.

      The message from Microsoft today was clear: Windows Mobile is dead. We’re looking at an eight month grieving period at the very least.

      microsoft, Mobile, News

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