Amazon keeps innovation moving forward

Amazon has been making the Kindle line of eInk ebook readers for several years now, and have come a long way since the first oddly shaped and hard to hold iteration.

On June 30th they started shipping their latest, the newest Paperwhite, and it makes another evolutionary jump towards becoming the best ebook platform imaginable.  From speed improvements in screen refresh to enhancing the front lighting and reflectivity it is without a doubt the best eInk device on the market. 

Slim, light, ridiculously long battery life and touchscreen navigation that is deceptively responsive given the inherent limitations of the screen technology combine to make this a must have if you aren't using a Kindle already, and worth a serious look even if you are.

Time keeps on ticking - The first library without books is getting ready to open...in Texas of all places

I would have expected to see this in Portland, San Francisco, or New York.  It is suprising to see it happen first in San Antonio of all places.  I love the idea, and hope it works well enough for other cities and counties to give it a try.  You can already checkout ebooks in many library systems, but why deal with the hassle of paper books when you don't need to.  In this age of smart phones, ebook readers, and tablets galore all that really needs to happen is for a format to be decided on.  Here we are hoping for EPUB, but that would cut out the millions of Kindle's amazon has alrady won the market with.

Bexar set to turn the page on idea of books in libraries - San Antonio Express-News:

Bexar set to turn the page on idea of books in libraries

Amazon to release new Kindle units over the next several months

On Wednesday, Amazon held a press announcement in Southern California to announce the roadmap for Kindle device releases through the end of November.  Coming in at a variety of price points, here is the new line-up:

1. Kindle, 6" E Ink Display, Wi-Fi - Includes Special Offers

The basic Kindle has been updated with better fonts, 15% faster page turns, and improved wi-fi.  Oh, and they improved the price....the Kindle is now just $69 and is available now.

2. Kindle Paperwhite, 6" High Resolution Display with Built-in Light, Wi-Fi

Amazon announced a new front-lit e-ink reader to compete with the Nook Glow-Touch.  From the images we've seen and the demo on Wednesday it looks like a winner, and comes in almost $30 dollars less than the Nook at $119 for the Wi-Fi version.  It is also available with 3G at $179.  The PaperWhite will ship the first week of October.

3. Kindle Fire HD 7"

Amazon announced a new HD version of their popular Fire tablet, bringing a faster processor and 720p video to the platform, while doubling memory capacity from 8GB to 16GB.  The amazing thing was the announcement that the price would remain $199, and the original Fire would be upgraded slighly while reducing the price to $159.  The 7" HD will begin shipping Sept. 14th.

4. Kindle Fire HD 8.9"

The big news of the day was the announcement that they were "Going Big".  Jeff Bezos and company announced an 8.9" tablet in the Fire line.  Boasting 1080p video with HDMI output, 32GB of RAM and a processor that it claims has 2x the performance of the Tegra 3 Chipset, the Kindle Fire 8.9" HD is making a very strong play.  The important part of this announcement isn't the specs though, it is price point.  Starting at just $299 it is going to provide stiff competition to Apple's iPad line, coming in $200 lower than the entry level iPad.  Amazon also announced a 4G LTE version of the 8.9" tablet, with the offer of 250MB of 4G data for just $50 a YEAR.  Compared to the $25 monthly charge of the lowest priced Apple tablets and you have a solid counter punch to sway budget-minded consumers your way.  While 250MB of data isn't much and there still has not been any announcement of other data plans, this could be huge for Amazon this holiday season.  The 8.9" units will start shipping in late November.

We have all 3 new units on their way, and I'll post reviews as soon as possible.