Interesting-sounding free Kindle book for next 3 days. Barnes and Noble's CEO resigns. A coming smartphone with LCD -and- eInk screens

A free Kindle book that was recommended to me

For Tuesday through Thursday ONLY,(July 9-11) "
BEAST - A Slightly Irreverent Tale About Cancer (And Other Assorted Anecdotes)," by James Capuano, is being offered free and has an unusual mixture of reviewers.

Capuano is a Sr. VP for Reuters, and his book about fighting the Beast (the dreaded C) has, so far, 10 customer reviews (including a couple of them by people who know him) and several reviews or blurbs by others.  Here are a few of them.

1. "The funniest book about cancer you will ever read. Capuano manages to humanize his harrowing journey without bathos and yet I still walked away crying, with tears of sadness and laughter.  No mean trick. ... A memoir both tender and hard for the healthy and the sick." - David Duchovny, actor (THE X FILES, CALIFORNICATION)

2. "Nothing about cancer is funny – so why did I laugh so hard at James Capuano’s personal story about his struggles with Stage 4 colon cancer?  Simply put; because it’s hilarious.  Never one to run away from the truth, his in-your-face account tells it like it is, providing valuable insight into how this disease affects not only the body and the mind, but also family and friends.  As he addresses key issues associated with cancer treatment we learn how his life experiences prepared him to face this devastating disease head on, presenting the reader with valuable insight into the human condition in a surprisingly life-affirming tale." - Susan Sarandon, Actress


FROM MONDAY'S NEWS
Barnes and Noble's CEO
William Lynch Jr., the CEO of Barnes and Noble, resigned on Monday.  He'd led the development of the Nook products, which as of Winter 2012 have not been selling well and B&N announced they'd be halting production on those and looking for a partner to take on the costs of manufacturing them.  Several articles mention Microsoft has shown some interest in doing this.

An article at marketintelligencecenter lists and describes what author Michael Fowlkes sees as several bad choices by Microsoft in partnering recently.  It'll be interesting to see what Microsoft decides on the Nook tablet situation.  They've already given support of $600 million there.


Dual-screen YotaPhone announced in Russia (as its first smartphone)

Bloomberg's Mark Milia reports on the announcement, by Yota Devices, of Russia's first Smartphone, a combination of the usual LCD screen and a separate e-Ink screen (the latter promising less eyestrain in daylight and certainly better battery life plus the ability to hold a desired image on the sleep-screen. However, Milia adds:

' The YotaPhone packs both screens into one, bulkier phone. That could make it a tough sell as companies brag to consumers how thin their smartphones are. The YotaPhone is thicker and heavier than the 3-year-old iPhone 4.
...
The YotaPhone, which runs on Android, is expected to cost between $400 and $500 before any carrier subsidies, Martynov said.
"Initially, we'll go for the Russian market because it's our home," Martynov said. "But we are talking already with several European and North American carriers." '

  More details at Bloomberg's site.

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Current Kindle Models for reference.  Note the current KindleFire HD 7" sale.

US: Updated Kindle Fire 2 Basic  7" tablet - $159 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$229 * Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $269/$299 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $399/$499 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $99 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web Kindle DX - $379 $299 (Yes)

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - ~£89 Refurb'd Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire 2, UK -  £129 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK - £159/199 Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$ Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $79 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $129 Kindle Paperwhite, 3G - $199 Kindle Fire HD 7" - 214.00 KFire HD 7" $214,  8.9" $284

*OTHER Int'l pages* Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199 KFire HD 7" $214,  8.9" $284 France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle Brazil - Amazon Brazil China - Amazon China [?] Japan - Amazon Japan

* $30 off, 6/30/13, for a limited time.

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Kindle News 10/25/11 - UPDATE - 39 free Kindle books Tuesday. Also, Kindle Fire, Amazon customer service, Steve Jobs's cancer.

KINDLE FIRE SELLING FASTER THAN EXPECTED BY J.P. MORGAN

Mobile Entertainment's Zen Terrelonge writes today that J.P. Morgan is "eating its words" that the Kindle Fire wouldn't do well relative to the iPad, and the financial services firm's hardware team now projects that Amazon will move 4.5 to 5 million devices in the 4th quarter.

  This is based on checks of supply chains that show production on this model has increased due to a large number of pre-orders and vendors reporting "an abundance of rush orders over the past fortnight."

  Douglas Anmuth, an internet analyst there who monitors Amazon, anticipates several models in 2012, including 7" and 10" devices with 3G and WiFi.

  One J.P. analyst disagreed saying the tablet is under-featured, something that was said about the iPad last year too.  Consumers seem to have different requirements from those with a largely technical focus, from what has been seen in pre-orders.  Other articles have explained that the minimum iPad cost of $500 has been more than some want to spend, and some want a smaller, maybe more personal style tablet for web browsing and email.

  Considering the streaming media content that Amazon offers (12,000 streamig-videos, including more current PBS ones, that come with Amazon's Prime package of free two-day shipping on most products for $79/yr ($6.58/mo.), it's not a surprise that this new, smaller tablet is doing so well on pre-orders.

  Amazon currently has over 100,000 movies and tv shows at a time that Netflix has lost about 800,000 subscribers due to their pricing decisions.  Despite better earnings than expected, Netflix stock plunged.  I'm a fan of Netflix's streaming video library, though, which works well through my Comcast.  At least we have several options these days.


Amazon expected to to show a profit dip this quarter due to low margins (if any) on the Kindle Fire
Slashgear's Chris Davies reports that some believe Amazon is taking a loss on the Kindle Fire, relying instead on resulting digital media sales to be enjoyed on the tablet.

Geeky-gadgets's Roland Hutchinson writes that Google's Andy Rubin has said there were around 6 million Android tablets out there, so if Amazon sells as many the next quarter as most analysts are expecting, the Kindle Fire would be the most popular Android tablet released so far.

  In the meantime ViewSonic will launch the 7" ViewPad 7e tablet soon, with several more features but an inferior display (800x600) and touchscreen ("resistive").  While Amazon should welcome the release of more tablets that can access their content, I imagine they'll be customizing (beyond the special accelerating features of the Silk browser on the Fire) content for their own tablet.


Reviews of Steve Jobs book by Walter Isaacson (Fixed link)
SecondAct's Patrick J. Kiger has a good summary round-up of reviews of Isaacson's book, which Amazon thinks could be the year's bestseller.

A couple of observations from the roundup:
  His summary of NY Times critic Janet Maslin ends,"Isaacson also explains that Jobs' mean streak, unpleasant as it was, also helped drive Apple to its phenomenal success."

  Salon's Mary Elizabeth Williams focuses, he writes, on Jobs's controversial decision of postponing conventional medical treatment for a tumor in 2003.  As a cancer survivor, who knows how unpredictable cancer can be (and how unnecessarily destructive some treatments), I noted her sensible, "Jobs lived eight years after his initial diagnosis.  Anyone with experience of cancer will tell you that five is considered a relative triumph."

  I've known many who obeyed all the doctors' recommendations, and even when after the requisite operations their lymph nodes were diagnosed to be free of spread beyond the local area and they were announced to be cancer free, they were given chemo for 'prevention' and were dead in a few months to two years.  Others fare well.  It's just not utterly predictable as has been presented by too many about Jobs' cancer.

  I think people should get off his case, post mortem, for his personal decision though of course he would wonder what would have happened had he had the operation.  Not only did he survive 8 years with the less aggressive form of pancreatic cancer, he led a quite productive life during those 8 years.


CBS News story on Amazon's good customer service noted on Reddit (Link fixed)
CBS News's Chenda Ngak writes about a Reddit thread and Ngak's own experience with customer service.  I've posted a link to a recent customer support forum thread on the Kindle forums.


Tuesday's free Kindle books
UPDATED on Wednesday to show each book link for Tuesday, since most will stay free for a few days.  These will be shown on the 'next' page showing "More", so that those wanting to go through the details can do so by: clicking on "MORE" just below)
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Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

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