Kindle Review – Kindle 3 Review, iPad Review

Various snippets though we can’t link to Stephen Pinker referring to Malcolm Gladwell as a minor genius since there’s a pay wall -

Kindle

1. Sci-Fi writers – There’s a contest from MedGadget for a free Kindle. They only have a few entries so far so it’s definitely worth a shot.
2. Meghan Duffy of John Jay’s Center for Advancement of Teaching received a $249K grant (over two years) from the US Department of Education to use customized Kindle eReaders to create a virtual learning community. Hope for electronic textbooks amidst the NFB led Kindle DX boycott.
3. Instapaper adds USB transfer support since its emails to people’s Kindles weren’t working half the time.

eReaders and Shift to eBooks 

1. Fox Business asks - Are eBooks the next iTunes?
2. Venture Beat writes about how SmashWords have taken independent authors worldwide by signing up with ShortCovers. Guess the Kindle Store doesn’t count.
3. The Vancouver Sun reports that Indigo Books (Shortcovers, etc.) think there will be a 10% shift from hard books to ebooks in the next five years. This is based on Indigo’s Shortcovers eBook offering approaching one million downloads (in the 8-9 months it has been out).
4. Billionaire Ronald Burkle doubled his stake in Barnes & Noble to 7% – He must like the nook.
5. Nook shows up at #4 on Time’s Top 20 gadgets for the Holidays List while Kindle and Sony are missing.
6. Sony Reader Daily Edition is sold out (backordered) as soon as its released. Thanks to Bic for the update.

Newspapers and Paying for Content 

1. Pat Purcell, publisher of the Boston Herald talks about ‘no way to put the genie back in the bottle’ unless everyone stops giving away news for free.  
2. Boston Globe (part of NY Times Company) has launched the BlogReader which charges $4.95 per month (free for print subscribers). MediaPost has details. 
3. MediaBuyerPlanner talks about the Boston Globe plans and also about Cablevision’s Newsday which started charging $5 a week for access although it has added local news and other features.   

Another round of Apple Slate speculation

CNN Money goes a bit overboard – One tech gadget for all.

“This will be the next big thing,” said Laura DiDio, principal analyst at ITIC. “Apple is going to wow everybody with the tablet.”

Dan Ackerman, senior editor at CNET. “Instead of taking along a Kindle and an iPod, that [tablet] could become the device you carry with you.”

“The Tablet will be awesome, and my guess is that it will be an instant hit for people who loved Kindles and people who want netbooks,” said David Wertheimer, executive director of the University of Southern California’s Entertainment Technology Center.

At the end they throw in a little hope for eReaders -

“What we’ve found in the past with these multi-function devices is that they’re better for ad-hoc purposes, like quick and dirty tasks,”

“If you want to sit and read a book, the ergonomics of a device that’s specifically designed for reading are going to be better.”

Wondering what eReader deals we’ll see for Black Friday.