For Kindle 2 Review, Kindle DX Review …

Posted on April 19, 2009 by switch11

Filed under: reviews | Tagged: , | 9 Comments »

Kindle Thanksgiving – Giving Thanks for Readers and eReaders

Posted on November 26, 2009 by switch11

It’s almost two years for the Blog (and the Kindle) and there’s a lot to give thanks for -

Readers and People who link to the Blog 

  1. Readers and comments. Above all else. The blog now helps a lot of people make decisions and get more out of their Kindle and that’s the #1 thing I’m thankful for.
  2. People who like the blog and posts enough to link to it and/or email their friends. 
  3. People who care enough to disagree. It still bothers me when people get really angry – much prefer measured disagreement. However, every comment is appreciated.  
  4. People who have very specific questions or comments that lead to new posts or make a post better.  
  5. The opportunity to answer comments – it’s still a top priority.  

There’s no doubt in my mind about what the biggest opportunity for the blog is (and what is the most fun) – It’s being able to help a ton of people get what they want and make intelligent decisions.

Perhaps my focus should be on monetizing better – However, growing the blog and helping more people increases the value I get back anyways.

So that’s my focus for 2010 – To Grow the Blog 100 times and the amount of value the blog provides to each reader 10 times.

Kindle, Amazon, eReader companies

  1. Amazon most of all – for making the Kindle and for making the Amazon associate program.
  2. Everyone involved with the Kindle for staying true to books and reading.
  3. Sony for pushing Amazon to cut prices. 
  4. Nook for pushing Amazon to add a ton of features.
  5. Competition and the hurried progress in eReaders.
  6. All the companies that are entering, even ones with wonky eReader names, since it validates the space.
  7. Google for finding the highest profit, lowest effort niche in the market and doing it all legally. You have to appreciate the strategy.

eReader companies have done the unthinkable – They’ve made reading and books hot again.

The Giants overseeing the Internet 

  1. Google for sending me 40% plus of my traffic.
  2. For all the other sites that link to me.
  3. TechMeme for getting me excited every time it links to the Kindle Review.
  4. For the Microsoft search engine and Twitter and Facebook and other sites that send me some traffic.
  5. Google again.

Most of all – for being halfway to the point where the Kindle Review isn’t dependent on one source of traffic.

There is currently a type of censoring on this Blog that’s dictated by Google’s complete ownership of search i.e. Don’t write things that would get Google upset. Am just tired of that.

Which brings us to my 2nd aim for 2010 – To be like Twitter and Wikipedia and Craigslist i.e. the search engines need this blog more than the Kindle Review needs them.

People who read books and love them

  1. People who read books. 
  2. People who pay for books.
  3. People who care about books.

It’d be a much poorer world without books and people who read books and care about them are saving us.

Authors, Publishers, Newspapers

  1. For being in it for the love of it. For the most part.  
  2. All the indie authors who believe in their books enough to take on the infinite abyss of the Internet. 
  3. For the Kindle Store and what it’s doing for independent authors. 
  4. For Publishers. Mixed feelings here.  
  5. For newspapers finally getting Amazon to set up associate links and Microsoft to offer them money for indexing.  

It’s just strange – there’s no reason to have any kinship with Publishers and Newspapers – they obviously don’t see things as they really are. However, they love books and they might not be replaceable.

Algorithms and crowd-sourcing will not replicate the quality and polish of human publishing and human news editing.

Personal

  1. Gratitude for my Parents.
  2. My Friends and Family – especially the ones who came to visit in the last year.
  3. The opportunity to do what I love – the intersection of People, the Internet, and communication.
  4. For finally having a home after 13 years of searching. Even if it’s the coldest country in the world ;) .
  5. For experiences that help me appreciate right now.
  6. Jack Welch for pointing out things like See Reality As It Is and not as it was or as you want it to be.

Most of all – For being able to see reality as it really is.

For the promise of 2010 and Beyond

  1. For the promise of 30-40 million eReaders a year by 2013.
  2. For the promise of Color eReaders.
  3. For Pixel Qi, and eInk, and Mirasol, and SiPix.
  4. For the Mirror, the Apple Slate, and all the reading tablets.
  5. For the Kindle 3.
  6. For the Kindle DX 2.
  7. For the Vook and Video Books and other evolutions of the book.

2010 is definitely going to be the year of the eReader. We are in the beginnings of a HUGE transformation in Publishing. It’s transforming every single aspect of reading and it’s awesome to have court side seats.

After all of you (readers) the thing that I’m most thankful for?

There’s finally hope for books and reading – What more could someone who loves people and books wish for?

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Syntron Mirror Tablet Reader

Posted on November 26, 2009 by switch11

Mike Cane has the scoop on the Syntron Tablet that’s based on Android, has an 8.9″ screen and fits the description of reading tablet perfectly.

Take a look –

Things to Love about the Syntron Mirror Reading Tablet

  1. Mirror is a cool name.
  2. Multi-touch capacitive touch screen.
  3. They show a Vook – they call it a video book.  
  4. They show a news article and a news video in a CoolIris style navigation interface.
  5. The size is great – 8.9″ is a very good size for reading.  
  6. Color Screen.
  7. The user interface is very well done – gadgets, multiple windows and a lot more.
  8. Cover flow to browse books by cover.
  9. File Management and searching with menus.

The Syntron website is rather stark. It does disclose some interesting details -

  1. Jan 2010 release date for the Mirror. 
  2. Syntron branched out of Sunlet International Limited in 2007.  
  3. Its based in Hong Kong.  
  4. The Mirror comes with Open Office and supports Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.
  5. Syntron have a dolphin in their name and the Mirror’s tag line is ‘Reflecting the Truth’.

Thoughts on the Mirror Tablet Reader

It took me quite by surprise -

  1. The screen size works very well. 
  2. Seeing the Video Book on it was the highlight. Vooks might have more of a future than we realize. 
  3. The CoolIris style user interface is great. CoolIris do it for photos – a nice twist to do it for videos, articles and photos.  
  4. The iPhone’s ‘one app at a time’ design philosophy means people now advertise ‘multiple windows’ – quite amusing.

There’s quite a stream of reading tablets and slates lined up for 2010.

Which leads to an interesting question -

Is 2010 going to be the year of the eReader or is 2010 going to be the year of the death of the eReader?

Filed under: kindle | 1 Comment »

The touch and feel of a real book

Posted on November 26, 2009 by switch11

Finally beginning to understand what people mean when they talk about the touch and feel of a physical book. Why people think the Kindle or Sony Reader cannot replace physical books.

It’s important for eReader companies to understand this and address it -

  1. The Olswang survey says that over 50% of people love holding a real book and don’t want to give it up.
  2. It’s the #1 reason holding people back from buying an eReader. 
  3. It’s not very well understood.

This post will talk about why the bond to paper books is so strong.

Years and years of holding and loving books

This is worth acknowledging before we get into the level of the senses.

Association of Books with Reading

Most of us have been reading for a long time -

  1. The physical book was the channel and all the value got linked to it.
  2. All our love for reading is tied up with physical books.
  3. The joy of reading gets associated to the smell, the touch and the feel of a physical book.

This is definitely one element of people’s love for ‘real books’.

Familiarity and Liking

  1. We tend to like and even over-value things we are familiar with.
  2. If we like something, we are very, very resistant to changes in it.

Books were reading and we are very familiar with reading in the form of physical books.

We liked books and are comfortable with books and it bothers us, and perhaps even scares us, that we might have to give them up.

The line between physical books and the reading experience

There is a line between loving the sensation of holding a book and associating the experience of reading with physical books.

We’re not quite sure where that line exists.

Basically, our love for books is split between -

  • Our love of reading. 
  • Our love of physical books.

Let’s investigate all the benefits a physical book provides.

What benefits does a Physical Book Provide?

The Book is a physical real object and we can hold it

One of the biggest benefits of a physical book is the solidness – it’s something you can hold and feel.

  1. We like to have something we can hold in our hands.  
  2. There is a very real ‘feeling of touching the material of a book’. 
  3. It’s an object – it occupies space.

As opposed to an ebook, which is just invisible bits, a physical book is an object and an object we are used to holding and valuing. 

The Senses and Layering of Sensory Experiences

Consider the senses that get activated by a book -

  1. The smell talks of the book’s freshness or its antiquity. 
  2. The touch of the cover, of the paper and the book’s weight are all tangible things. 
  3. The type setting and font type and the illustrations paint a picture.
  4. There are so many hints of the book’s secrets.

Plus they all get activated at the same time -

  • It’s not some sequential, boring process. 
  • You get the touch and the smell and the feel and the visual delight of the book at the same time.

A Book’s Uniqueness and Character

Each physical book has -

  1. A unique cover. 
  2. It’s own cover design.
  3. A choice of material for the book.  
  4. Different paper.
  5. Different fonts and typesetting.
  6. A smell based on age and material.

And so many other things that make up its character and set it apart from every other book.

Yes, there are books that fail to do this. However, a lot of publishers and authors do set their physical books apart.

Where does that leave eReaders?

 There are three parts to the equation -

  1. Love of reading.
  2. Love of Physical Books.
  3. Benefits eReaders have over Physical Books. 

While eReaders have done a good job of providing a good reading experience (good battery life, great screen, etc.) and of pushing benefits physical books can’t match (huge storage, portability, text to speech, etc.) they are completely missing one crucial fact -

  • Physical books don’t disappear into the background straightaway.  
  • Actually, books set the stage - They involve the senses and help create a unique experience and they keep the senses involved.
  • The physicalness of the book makes it easier to get lost in the book and stay lost. 

That’s something that’s completely missing from eReaders.

Whether it’s on the Kindle or on the iPhone or on the Sony Reader Touch – ebooks just don’t pull you in the way physical books do.

  1. There is no smell that tells you how long this book has travelled.
  2. There is no unique crinkle in the paper and no oddity in the print style.
  3. There are no cover images and every book has the same cover and its devoid of character.

Basically, every ebook has the same story behind it. They’re all clones – all with the touch and feel and smell of a 1-year-old Kindle 2.

Amazon need to fix this to pull in the 50% of people addicted to physical books.

Filed under: books | Tagged: , | 8 Comments »

How personalized and customized can eReaders be?

Posted on November 26, 2009 by switch11

Martyn Daniels at Brave New World talks about the various ‘exclusive’ and limited edition Sony Reader offerings in the UK -

  1. Mills and Boon Exclusive Edition. 
  2. Harlequin Romance Limited Edition. 
  3. Danielle Steel Limited Edition. 
  4. John Lewis Exclusive (John Lewis is a store).  
  5. Michael Connelly limited edition.
  6. Debbie Macomber limited edition.
  7. Ian Fleming and James Bond Limited Edition Sony Reader.
  8. James Patterson Sony Reader. 

Perhaps 8 is a bit much. However, Sony do have the right idea.

Readers want choice – they want something that suits them and can be personalized

Consider all the criteria on which people choose devices (beyond the functionality) -

  1. How does it look? 
  2. Is it cool?
  3. Is it in fashion?
  4. Does it suit me?
  5. What does it say about me? 

Sony is providing a lot of options – the colors, the limited edition devices. It increases the chance readers find a version that uniquely suits them.

Beyond Choice, we want personalization and customization

After buying anything we personalize it -

  1. Covers and sleeves for the eReader. 
  2. Stickers and magnets on the Fridge.
  3. Themes and wallpapers for our computers.

The device becomes an extension of us.

We want to be able to customize it and personalize it and make sure that it fits.

Which brings us to eReaders

We have already lost all the benefits books had i.e.

  1. We could tell people who we were via our libraries.
  2. The book we carried was an instant advertisement.
  3. Each book had its own character and its own message.
  4. We could share books and capture imaginations.

What can eReaders do to give us back  our signalling options?

Actually quite a lot. To be fair they are doing some of this already -

  1. Special Back Covers like Nook has.
  2. $110 Cole Haan covers like Kindle has.
  3. Designer covers.
  4. Limited Edition and Exclusive eReaders.
  5. Kindle Skins.  
  6. Higher end eReaders.

However there is a lot more that can be done -

  1. eInk back screen that changes according to the book.
  2. Laser etching and casing customization.
  3. Author and Book specific editions that are completely built around the author – not just a different color.
  4. A ton more customization options in the eReader itself – fonts, themes, screensavers.

There are a lot of other things that probably need more thinking or more evolution of eInk.

The big opportunities in personalization

Whatever companies comes up with -

  1. A high-end model that just screams coolness.  
  2. An add-on that instantly signals identity.

Will make a killing.

If analysts are right and eReaders are a 20-30 million units a year business by 2013, some company is going to be selling a lot of eInk back-covers and premium leather cases.

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Why do blogs want to save newspapers?

Posted on November 25, 2009 by switch11

There is a lot of hue and cry amongst bloggers about how Mr. Murdoch is committing harakiri by talking about blocking Google.

  1. The way search works is that if newspapers leave the search engines blogs will rise and become more powerful.
  2. Blogs will make more money, get more readers, become more trusted.  

Why then are Blogs trying to save newspapers?

Perhaps Blogs really care about newspapers and want to save them.

This is the rationale that will appeal most to people who believe that people are fundamentally good (no one has proven good or evil exists so how could we know).

  1. Blogs see newspapers are jumping off the cliff. 
  2. Although it helps blogs, they still want to do the right thing and let newspapers know. 
  3. Blogs are newspapers’ knight in shining armour. Saving them from a terrible, terrible mistake.

Let’s say there’s a 75% chance that this is what it is – Blogs care deeply about newspapers and journalism and they want quality competition and that’s why they are so critical of Mr. Murdoch’s idea.

That still leaves 25%.

Perhaps Bloggers care more about arguing and railing against Mr. Murdoch than doing what’s best for them

This is possible too. Perhaps Blogs do want newspapers to die.

  • They are just so intent on being right that they’ll save newspapers just to win the argument.
  • Perhaps they don’t just want newspapers dead. They want newspapers to be dead and to be able to say - ‘We Bloggers, we tried to save them. Yet they wouldn’t listen. It’s so unfortunate.‘

Let’s say there’s a 20% chance that this is what it is – Bloggers realize that newspapers dying is good for them and yet they want to have their cake and eat it too.

Which leaves us with just the 5% chance.

Could it be that blogs are wrong?

The current opinion has shifted from -  ‘Mr. Murdoch’s plan could never work’ to ‘All the major newspapers would have to join’.

Could it be that it will shift even more.

Are we suddenly discovering that newspapers aren’t the worthless doddering dinosaurs we thought they were?

  1. The Washington Post-Amazon tie-up is far more crucial than people realize.
  2. It’s as crucial as the potential Microsoft-News Corp. tie-up (which would be hugely important).

Suddenly newspapers are in demand. The same content that was worthless a few weeks ago suddenly has dual value -

  1. Microsoft is ready to pay for the content itself.
  2. Amazon wants to pay for traffic from newspapers – traffic that comes for the content.  

The ugly duckling has turned into a swan.

Perhaps Bloggers aren’t wrong – just evil.

Perhaps the 5% chance isn’t that Bloggers are wrong. It’s that Bloggers don’t want to pay for the news content they get for free.

‘Information wants to be Free’ empowers people and allows for a ton of possibilities - It also lets you fool newspapers for a really, really long time.

Eventually though, you realize P. T. Barnum was right. You can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

Both in the US and in the UK newspapers are realizing their content isn’t worthless and advertising isn’t the answer. Amazon and Microsoft are providing newspapers a lifeline – Will newspapers be able to open their eyes and step away from the delusions that have plagued them to this point?

Filed under: publishing | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

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