Amazon

Amazon Kindle Lending Library home page image

For Amazon, December 2011 will go down as a highlight of the year, with record-topping Kindle sales and now, the successful launch of the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, which put 295,000 KDP Select e-books into the hands of readers last month.

Amazon released that statistic, as well as information about its Kindle Direct Publishing program, which allows for self-publishing in the Amazon Kindle Store for 70 percent in royalties. KDP authors earned $1.70 per borrow in December.

The company has set up a fund for the authors which it increased by $200,000 this month, to $700,000.

It seems to be an area with potential income possibilities for self-published authors, as described by Amazon:

The top ten KDP Select authors earned over $70,000 in the month of December from their participation in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, a 30 percent increase on top of the royalties they earned from their paid sales on the same titles in the same period. In total (paid sales plus their share of the loan fund), these authors saw their royalties grow an astonishing 449 percent month-over-month from November to December. The list of top 10 KDP Select authors includes Carolyn McCray, Rachel Yu, the Grabarchuk family and Amber Scott.

McCray, who writes "paranormal romance novels, historical thrillers and mysteries," earned $8,250 from the fund last month, while 16-year-old Yu made $6,200.

Some popular titles readers may recognize are in the library, including 100 former and current New York Times bestsellers. 

The lending library launched Nov. 2, and now has more than 75,000 titles. Amazon Prime members can borrow a book a month, with no due dates.

Amazon's popular e-readers practically flew into consumers' hands this winter, with weekly sales of over a million of the devices throughout the month of December, including the newest, Kindle Fire.  

More stories:

• Amazon’s plagiarism problem
• Amazon Kindle line sets new mark, topping 4M in December sales
• Amazon sold over a million Kindles per week in Dec.
• Amazon Kindle Fire software update now available

Check out Technolog on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the Google+ stream.

David Friedman/msnbc.com

Worried that your Kindle e-reader will run out of juice before you manage to finish reading the latest bestseller? You could certainly reach for a power cord and charge the gadget's battery the old-fashioned way — that'd solve your problem. Or you could try an eco-friendly solution — a solar-powered cover.

The SolarKindle has a solar panel which will siphon the power of the sun to keep the cover's built-in reserve battery charged up. And that reserve battery will in turn keep your Kindle alive longer.

According to SolarFocus, the maker of the SolarKindle covers, a fully charged reserve battery could provide "up to 80 percent of backup power to the Kindle." The company explains that given that the battery takes eight hours of direct sunlight to charge, this means that each hour of charging gives you almost three days of Kindle use. (Of course you'll get less reading time if you use the SolarKindle's built-in pop-up reading light.)

The SolarKindle will set you back $80 and can be ordered now.

Related stories:

• Kindle iPad app now offers magazines, textbooks
• Amazon Kindle Fire software update now available
• Easiest way to watch for Amazon price drops

Want more tech news, silly puns or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Amazon

The Kindle iOS app — which can be used on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch devices — has received a nice little update on Wednesday. One of the most noteworthy changes? On the iPad version, users are now granted access magazines, newspapers, and textbooks — just like Kindle Fire users.

According to Amazon, all iOS users — iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad — can now sync compatible documents to read on the app, either via iTunes or by emailing files to their Send-to-Kindle addresses. A built-in PDF reader means that you don't have to use a separate app for non-book reading.

The updated (and free) app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store right now. 

But on the iPad, the app has even more. It allows users to access over 400 magazines and newspapers — the same ones that are available to Kindle Fire users — including Martha Stewart Living, Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Popular Science, and more. It'll be possible to buy single issues or subscriptions thanks to the Kindle Newsstand feature (not to be confused with the iOS Newsstand, of course).

Electronic textbooks that preserve the layout and graphics of the original printed versions will also be available for purchase or rental.

And frankly, the magazine service surprises us a bit. Not that Amazon would bring it to the iPad, but that Apple would allow it in an app. Amazon is blatantly trying to get into magazine subscriptions on the iPad, and Apple has made it clear that it wants to dominate this business — especially on its own turf.

We've reached out to Apple to see why it let things go, at least for now. I will update if there is any comment.

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Want more tech news, silly puns or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Amazon

Good news if you own a Kindle Fire: Amazon has issued a software update for the device. It'll take a bit of time to download and install, but it's worth it thanks to a pile of performance and bug fixes.

According to Amazon, you can either grab the update manually or directly over-the-air. No matter which option you choose though, make sure your device is fully charged before going through the update process. (Oh, and don't forget about making sure you're connected to Wi-Fi if updating over-the-air, of course.)

If you prefer to grab the software update — which is version 6.2.1, by the way — over-the-air, you just need to reach for your Kindle Fire, tap the "Quick Settings" icon in the upper right corner, press "Sync" and wait. The update will be automatically downloaded in the background and installed afterwards (while the device is asleep).

The manual approach to the update is a bit messier, but Amazon's got detailed instructions to get you through the process. All you're basically doing is downloading the new software to your computer and then transferring it to your device. (Keep in mind that the micro-USB cable you'll need to do this is sold separately from the Kindle Fire, but is conveniently the same cable that comes with most non-iPhones these days.)

Once you're done updating your device — whether manually or over-the-air — you should be left with enhanced fluidity and performance, improved touch navigation responsiveness, the option to choose which items are displayed on your Kindle Fire's carousel, and the ability to add a password lock on Wi-Fi access.

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• Kindle Fire review: Yes, it's that good

Want more tech news, silly puns or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Amazon.com

Amazon.com is rolling out a new “Kindle Owners’ Lending Library” — a virtual book-borrowing service for its Kindle devices. Not for Kindle apps on other devices, but only for Amazon’s own Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fire tablet.

It’s a no-extra-charge addition to the company’s existing Amazon Prime subscription service, adding digital-book lending to streaming video and free shipping as a benefit of the $79/year subscription.

Amazon says the available library for lending consists of more than 5,000 titles, including more than 100 current and former New York Times bestsellers.

In his traditional note on the Amazon home page, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos touts examples including "Water for Elephants," "Moneyball," "Fast Food Nation," "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and "Kitchen Confidential."

Bottom line, it’s a big move by Amazon in an attempt to give its Kindle devices an edge against Apple’s iPad and Barnes & Nobles’s Nook, and boost Amazon Prime subscriptions at the same time.

Here’s how it works, via the help page for the new service: “One book can be borrowed at a time, and there are no due dates. You can borrow a new book as frequently as once a month, directly on your registered Kindle device, and you will be prompted to return the book that you are currently borrowing.”

In other words, only one book at a time, and only one new book a month.

Sounds pretty good, at least to the ears of a Kindle-owning Amazon Prime subscriber. The major book publishers don’t like the idea as much.

“None of the six largest publishers in the U.S. is participating,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “Several senior publishing executives said recently they were concerned that a digital-lending program of the sort contemplated by Amazon would harm future sales of their older titles or damage ties to other book retailers.”

The announcement follows Amazon’s rollout in September of a U.S. public library lending program for Kindle e-books.

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Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

A Kindle tablet is tested at the launch of Amazon's new tablets Sept. 28, 2011.

Kindles can load up thousands of books, all without adding any weight as they do so, right? Well ... yes and no.

It seems the leading e-reader — and others — do add weight as they add digital books. A University of California, Berkeley computer science professor says the amount, however is "very small, on the order of an atogram."

A New York Times reader question about "when an e-reader is loaded with thousands of books, does it gain any weight?" resulted in the answer from professor John D. Kubiatowicz.

“In principle, the answer is yes,” he said.

What's an atogram? The amount, 10^–18 grams, or "a unit of mass equal to 0.000 000 000 000 000 001 grams," is "effectively unmeasurable," says Kubiatowicz, as even the most sensitive scientific scales have a resolution of only 10^–9 grams.

Now, no matter what fluffy romance or goth novel you're reading on your Kindle, when your friends asking what you're reading, you can just say with honesty: "It's heavy. Really heavy."

— Via The Next Web

Related stories:

• Nook Color sequel likely to be announced next Monday
• Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet vs. the iPad
• Kindle Touch is $99 e-ink touch-screen reader (and there are two more)

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Barnes & Noble

We just got an invitation from Barnes & Noble to attend "a very special announcement" on Monday, Nov. 7. Our best guess? An ambitious yet competitively priced update to the Nook Color.

Nook Color surprised the world by becoming the best selling Android tablet to date — even though neither Barnes & Noble nor Android's keeper, Google, will attest to this widely acknowledged fact. By running a modified version of the OS, it doesn't behave like Android phones or official Android tablets, but it does offer books, games and email, for a reasonable price.

Now that Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet is on its way, for an even better price, it's time for B&N to up their ante. Since the bookstore chain already updated its e-ink line — putting it ahead of Amazon's (see video below) — Nook Color 2 is the only logical move.

We're predicting the same 7-inch screen but a faster (perhaps dual-core) processor and some kind of streaming video deal — for the same $250 price or even cheaper, at $199. Perhaps it will ship with Netflix. The video service is already available on Android devices, and a team-up with B&N would be good synergy, as both companies are trying their darnedest to compete with the Amazon juggernaut.

More on Barnes & Noble (and its competition) from msnbc.com's Gadgetbox:

• The new Nook: Small and cheap with two-month battery life
• Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet vs. the iPad
• Yes, Amazon's Kindle Fire is a $199 Android tablet
• Nook Color gets apps, email, Flash and more
• 3 million Nook Color readers shipped

Catch up with Wilson on Twitter at @wjrothman, or on Google+. And join our conversation on Facebook.

Amazon

Press invites just went out for an Amazon press conference next Wednesday in New York. Timing is perfect for the launch of the Kindle tablet, and Amazon doesn't go to New York for anything but the biggest of product launches anyhow. So we're going to assume that the long-awaited tablet is finally here. And if the rumors are true, boy, will it be an earthshaker.

Rest assured we will be covering this event live, so stay tuned.

More on Amazon's coming Kindle tablet:

• Next Amazon Kindle is $250 7-inch Android reader, says TechCrunch
• Why Amazon's tablet will threaten the iPad
• Amazon tablets expected by October

Catch up with Wilson on Twitter at @wjrothman, or on Google+. And join our conversation on Facebook.

Amazon

We first heard about Amazon's plans to allow you to check out Kindle books from your local library several months ago, but now the service is finally live in over 11,000 U.S.-based libraries.

This means that you can now skip the hassle of carrying regular books back and forth — and simply borrow them by visiting your library's website. Assuming that the location is one of the over 11,000 libraries offering Amazon's Kindle book lending service, you'll be able to select a title and check it out using your library card. A few clicks later and the book will be delivered to the device of your choice.

Kindle books borrowed in this manner will come with all the features of regularly purchased Kindle books such as:

• Whispersync technology wirelessly sync your books, notes, highlights, and last page read across Kindle and free Kindle reading apps
• Real Page Numbers let you easily reference passages with page numbers that correspond to actual print editions
• Facebook and Twitter integration makes it easy to share favorite passages with your social networks
• Popular Highlights show you what our community of millions of Kindle readers think are the most interesting passages in your books
• Public Notes allow you to share your notes and see what others are saying about Kindle books

Note that in order to take advantage of this service you'll need to use any generation Kindle device, a web browser with Kindle Cloud reader, or the Kindle app for Android, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry or Windows Phone. You will also need to create an Amazon account to be able to send the books to a device of your choice.

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• Next Amazon Kindle is $250 7-inch Android reader, says TechCrunch
• Amazon Kindle gets local deals
• New Kindle feature lets readers quiz authors from inside books

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Amazon.com

Would you like a discount on ice cream along with your daily read? That’s one of the questions Amazon.com’s Kindle will be asking its users as the company brings AmazonLocal to its popular e-reader — integrating the deals service into the discounted "Kindle with Special Offers” devices that the company launched earlier this year.

Amazon announced the plan this week, saying the integration will start in New York City and expand into other AmazonLocal markets later this year.

Deals from the AmazonLocal service will appear on the Kindle screensaver, tailored to the user’s city. The strategy shows how Amazon's broad technological footprint can differentiate the company from rivals, in this case daily deal giant Groupon.

Users will be able to purchase a deal directly on the Kindle, without re-entering their credit-card information. They’ll then then be able to show the voucher on the Kindle’s home screen when they go to a store, or they can print a copy of the voucher at www.local.amazon.com/purchases.

Kindle with Special Offers is an ad-supported version of the device, selling for $114 or $139 with 3G mobile wireless.

AmazonLocal launched earlier this year, working in partnership with LivingSocial, the daily deals company in which Amazon.com is an investor. AmazonLocal is now in 30 locations and 10 states, according to the company. Other major markets include Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Amazon's hometown of Seattle.

GeekWire's Todd Bishop can be followed on Twitter and Facebook.

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Giving you yet another reason (Amazon.com hopes) to buy its Kindle e-reader, the company Monday announced its Kindle Textbook rental program for students.

"Students tell us that they enjoy the low prices we offer on new and used print textbooks. Now we’re excited to offer students an option to rent Kindle textbooks and only pay for the time they need — with savings up to 80 percent off the print list price on a 30-day rental," said Dave Limp, vice president, Amazon Kindle, in a press release.

Amazon says "tens of thousands of textbooks" are available from publishers including John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier and Taylor & Francis. 

Students can rent textbooks for up to 360 days, and will only pay for the "specific time they need a book," the company said. Rental times can also be extended day by day.

Amazon.com

Renting a textbook is a great idea, but what about all those notes and highlighting students need to do in books?

"Normally, when you sell your print textbook at the end of the semester you lose all the margin notes and highlights you made as you were studying," Limp said. "We're extending our Whispersync (wireless) technology so that you get to keep and access all of your notes and highlighted content in the Amazon Cloud, available anytime, anywhere — even after a rental expires.  If you choose to rent again or buy at a later time, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced."

Kindle textbooks are also "rent once, read everywhere," so they can be accessed via the Kindle reading app on PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, Android, BlackBerry and Windows phones.

Many universities let students rent hard-copy textbooks as well offer e-textbooks. San Diego State University's bookstore, for example, was one of the first in the country to offer an e-textbook program through CourseSmart, a group of textbook publishers, starting in 2008.

To learn more about Amazon.com's program, visit Kindle Textbook rentals page. You can search for the textbooks by using the search bar or by checking Amazon's Textbooks Store. If a Kindle edition is available for rent, you'll see an option in the "Formats" section on the textbook page.

Renting may not be the way to go for everyone, but it's a welcome option in a time of tight finances, with college tuition and expenses a burden for many families.

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• Soon you'll check out Kindle books from your library
• Amazon selling Kindle with ads for $114

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Google

The iRiver Story HD e-reader

By Todd Bishop
GeekWire

Will this device give Amazon’s Kindle a run for its money? Probably not, at least not on its own, but it’s a notable step for Google’s digital books initiative, as the first dedicated device with the search company’s eBooks platform integrated into the experience out of the box.

The price of the iRiver Story HD is $139.99 — 99 cents more than the standard Kindle. It goes on sale Sunday at Target stores. It comes as digital reading moves further into the mainstream — with ownership of e-readers rising to 12 percent of the U.S. population as of May, up from 6 percent last November, according to a recent Pew Internet Project study.

Up to this point, people wanting to read Google eBooks on dedicated e-readers needed to download them to a computer and transfer them to the device with a cord. The integration of the Google eBooks platform will let users browse, buy and download directly to the device over Wi-Fi.

In the post announcing the device this morning, the company said more integrated Google eBooks e-readers are on the way. Amazon’s Kindle currently dominates the e-reader market.

Drawing an analogy to the PC market, Google could be said to be following the Microsoft Windows model, planning to offer its e-books platform on e-reading devices from a variety of hardware manufacturers. In the realm of dedicated e-readers, Amazon is in some ways following the Apple model, offering its own software platform on its own e-reading device.

However, the Seattle e-commerce company also offers Kindle apps on a variety of multi-purpose devices, including smartphones, PCs and tablets. 

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