Category Archives: News

New Kindle Oasis official

Posted on by

oasisAmazon has officially announced its new Kindle Oasis. The device will cost $289.99, includes the special leather battery charging cover and will begin shipping on April 27, 2016.

Now, for the details. According to the Amazon press release, the Oasis is:

All-New Design–The Thinnest and Lightest Kindle Ever

The new Kindle Oasis is unlike any Kindle you’ve ever held. With an incredibly thin display and an ergonomic grip, Kindle Oasis weighs just 4.6 ounces and is just 3.4 mm at its thinnest point–30% thinner on average and over 20% lighter than any other Kindle. To achieve this, Kindle Oasis has a featherweight polymer frame that is plated with metal by structural electroplating–this makes the device incredibly light while ensuring it has the strength and rigidity of metal so it is resilient enough to take anywhere you want to read.

Designed for Comfortable and Extended Reading

Kindle Oasis is designed for extended reading sessions–with an entirely reimagined shape, Kindle Oasis shifts the center of gravity to your palm, to rest in your hand like the spine of a book so that the device feels balanced for one-handed reading. Effortlessly turn the page with either the touch display or physical buttons. Oasis is comfortable to read on with either hand–a built-in accelerometer detects whether you are reading with your left or right hand, and automatically rotates the page and page turn buttons to match.

Dual-Battery Design Delivers Months of Battery Life–Our Longest Ever

Kindle Oasis introduces a new dual-battery system–as soon as you connect the cover to Kindle Oasis, the battery in the cover begins recharging Kindle Oasis automatically. The battery in the cover uses a custom cell architecture that optimizes power and energy while keeping an incredibly small and light form factor and delivering months of battery life. You can charge the device and cover simultaneously while both are snapped together and plugged in. Plus, a new hibernation mode minimizes power consumption when your Kindle is inactive.

The included charging cover is made of high-quality leather and is available in black, merlot, or walnut. The cover opens like a book and fits closely around the bezel, waking Kindle Oasis when opened and putting it to sleep when closed. Twelve magnets form a secure and solid attachment between the device and cover, while ensuring it is easy to detach when you choose to read without the cover.

Next Generation Paperwhite Display

Kindle Oasis features the latest generation high-resolution 300 ppi Paperwhite display for crisp, laser-quality text. A redesigned built-in front light features 60% more LEDs for our brightest Kindle display ever and leverages new cylindrical diffractive patterns to increase the consistency and range of screen brightness for improved reading in all types of lighting. The new Paperwhite display on Oasis is the first Kindle display designed using a ground-breaking 200 micron display backplane that is as thin as a single sheet of aluminum foil, but is robust enough for you to throw in your bag and take with you on-the-go, combined with a custom cover glass engineered from chemically-reinforced glass.

Most of this information (save for the shipping date and price) had already leaked online. You can find more detail on the device here.

Comparing the Kindle Oasis to the previous Kindle models, this one is thinner, lighter, has better LED lighting and a totally unique design. Here is the chart comparing the features on the various models:

Oasis_comparison

Click = big

There is evidently quite a bit of interest in the Oasis.  Already, I am seeing “Due to popular demand, some configurations will ship after April 27th. See the latest shipping dates at checkout” listed on the item page.  I am also seeing an offer to purchase this for 5 monthly payments of $58.00,  but I am a prime member, so I don’t know if everyone sees that offer. It will be interesting to see if this sells out. Hint: Don’t delay too long if you are interested.

I will be back later with some thoughts about the new device, including talking about some of the features some of us were hoping for but didn’t get.

So, does this model interest you?

Apple appeal rejected by Supreme Court (Round up)

Posted on by

supreme-court-546279_1280Here is a round up of some of the coverage from today on the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Apple books appeal:

Supreme Court summary decision (PDF)

Supreme Court rejects Apple’s appeal (Publishers Weekly)

Apple rejected by US High Court in $450 million e-book case (Bloomberg)

Supreme Court will not hear Apple antitrust appeal – lower court decision stands (Teleread)

Apple is On the Hook for the $450m Settlement after Supreme Court Rejects Apple’s eBook Conspiracy Appeal (The Digital Reader)

Apple loses e-books price-fixing appeal in U.S. Supreme Court (Techcrunch)

Over the next few days, there will be a lot of discussion about lessons learned, what happens from here and when consumers will see credits from their ebook retailers. Apple’s damages are over double the damages paid by the Big 5 publishers and released back in 2014, so it should be interesting.

I, for one, am glad that it’s over. How about you?

Lenovo installs adware on pcs

Posted on by

lenovo y-50Lenovo, a computer company that last year had one-fifth of the world computer market share, had been installing adware on PCs. The adware came pre-installed on new PCs shipped between October and December 2014. It hijacked encrypted sessions, leaving the affected computers vulnerable to attack. The adware uses a fake security certificate called Superfish which can circumvent HTTPS encryption.

Ars Technica has a detailed piece here on the adware and how it works. I recommend giving it a read.

Given the size and scope of Lenovo’s market share, this story was obviously going to be big news.  To make matters worse, in a pretty callous statement, Lenovo said that the adware was included “…to help customers potentially discover interesting products while shopping.”

Yeah, right. (Ars actually wrote an article called “Lenovo honestly thought you’d enjoy that Superfish HTTPS spyware” based on that one!)

The company is now backtracking, with Lenovo’s CTO is now saying that “… we didn’t do enough.” There are also promises to wipe Superfish off the affected PCs.

So the company is sorry. Sort of. < /sarcasm>

Lenovo’s complete statement, along with affected model numbers and instructions for removal is here.

Just a couple of days ago, I was eyeing a Lenovo tablet for a upcoming project. I am really glad now that I didn’t make that purchase.

Stay tuned. There is going to be a lot more news on this in the days to come.

 

Valentines Day Deals on Fires and Kindles

Posted on by

az-valAmazon is offering discounts on select Kindles and Fires in their Valentine’s deals. There are discounts on the Fire HD 6, Kindle Paperwhite, basic Kindle with Touchscreen Display, and the Fire HD 6 Kids Edition.

It is worth noting that when I was logged in under my Prime member account, the page also showed offers for 5 monthly payments for the various devices. I didn’t see these when I was logged in on my other account.

The sale ends February 15, 2015.

 

Deal of the Day: Walking Dead Books

Posted on by

Walking Dead NovelFor those of you who are looking to fill up those new Kindles and tablets, Amazon’s Bonus Deal of the Day  has some great prices today on Kindle books: they are priced from $1.99 to $2.99. Titles include books by authors such as Jeffery Archer and Sandra Brown, with a few bestsellers in the mix such as Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin and Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg (the book that was the basis for the film Angel Heart).

I picked up the Sand Omnibus by Hugh Howey and also found the first books in The Walking Dead series by Robert Kirkman. BTW, these aren’t the comics, these are the new novels exploring the origins of characters in the series.

 

Verizon Connection Day

Posted on by

verizonToday, Verizon Wireless is giving away free digital gifts for their  Connection Day promotion. Many of these free gifts are geared towards holiday travelers.

Among the offerings:

  • Free digital content from Amazon and books from Audible.
  • A full day of iTunes radio with limited interruptions.
  • Free airport wi-fi from Boingo.
  • The latest editions of select Conde Nast magazines, including titles such as Wired, Vanity Fair, Vogue and many more.
  • 30 free minutes of Gogo in-flight wi-fi.
  • Free Fl-Fi for select Jet Blue flights.
  • Stream ad-free Pandora One radio.

You don’t have to be a Verizon customer to take advantage of the free offers, but there is a bonus offer of exclusive access to movies and TV if you are an existing Verizon FiOS customer. There are terms and conditions which apply, so read the fine print. The offer is only valid until midnight!

You can get more info at the Verizon Connection Day page.

 

Fire Phone now 99 cents with two-year contract

Posted on by

amazon fire phoneThe Amazon Fire Phone has been reduced in price. It is now available for 99 cents with a two-year contract or for $449 for an outright purchase of the unlocked phone. The purchase includes a free one-year subscription to Amazon Prime. That’s a savings of $200 over the original price.

There have been a lot of rumors that the phone has not been selling well in the US, even among die-hard Amazon aficionados. The fact that this phone is only available for AT & T and the original sticker price of $649 for an unlocked version are the two most common reasons listed on the Amazon forums for passing on a purchase. I have also seen quite a few complaints about a lack of apps (and the Google Play store) for the phone.

Daily Deals: Iris Johansen mysteries and William Gibson’s Neuromancer

Posted on by

iris_Johansen_coverAmazon has a couple of great Daily Deals today.

First, there are twenty of New York Times best-selling author Iris Johansen mysteries and thrillers on sale at Amazon for $2.99 each. This is a super deal if you are trying to fill in some backlist titles. 🙂

Also, for sale today, William Gibson’s Neuromancer, the now-classic book that started the cyberpunk genre for only $1.99.

An Online Historical Images Bonanza

Posted on by

14782842204_eaee417787_mThere have been an amazing number of historical images released for public viewing online. Here are just a few of the ones I have discovered recently:

The New York Public Library has released over a hundred and fifty years worth of restaurant menus that date from 1851 to 2008.

Yale University has launched an archive of over 170,000 images documenting the Great Depression. There is a informative article on the photos with links at Open Culture.

At Monoskop, a site for the study of arts, media and the humanities, there is a collection of avant-garde and modernist magazines from 1890 to 1939 available online.

Want to see what the Google Books project would look like if it scanned images? At Flickr, there is an archive of over  2 million images, all in the public domain,  The photos, from books, magazines and newspapers, span a 500 year period and were originally scanned as part of the Internet Archive project. Eventually, the archive will encompass over 14 million images.

 Image from the Internet Archive: Image from page 327 of “Handbook of the trees of the northern states and Canada east of the Rocky mountains. Photo-descriptive” (1907)

 

 

Daily Links: Heirs get digital access to accounts

Posted on by

From Ars Technica, Heirs get digital access in Delaware 

Tom Hanks’ typewriter app a hit, from Techcrunch.

From Lifehacker, Paranoid Paul monitors terms of service and alerts you to changes

Apple promote free magazines for UK Bank holidays, from Talking New Media

Daily Links are interesting links I discover as I go about my online day. The frequency and number of links posted depend upon the daily news.