Kindle News: Goodreads acquisition, background + interviews. Cloud Reader for Web.

AMAZON'S ACQUISITION OF GOODREADS

When the news hit, The Kindle Chronicles podcast and blog by Len Edgerly posted an interesting story on it right away giving some of the background of Goodreads.


Otis Chandler's announcement for Goodreads and comments from their user base
Goodreads' own announcement and comments from their audience is of course a key read.

  Another essential read is ' "First do no harm:" My interview with Amazon and Goodreads on the future of Goodreads ' by Laura Hazard Owen for paidContent.

One essential point made in the interviews:

' ...[Amazon's] Grandinetti says Goodreads will be an independent subsidiary of Amazon, like Zappos or IMDB. The site will remain based in San Francisco. Chandler remains CEO, reporting to Grandinetti.  Chandler said that Goodreads’ entire team is staying on (and that the company is hiring). To the question of a redesign, he said there is “nothing specific to mention in relation to the acquisition.”'

With regard to a merging of Amazon reader reviews and Goodreads' reviews, Russ Grandinetti [RG] says he thinks there aren't any "specific plans to do that at this time" and that "Our mentality here is to first do no harm, and make sure that if we’re going to do integrations, users genuinely find it to be a big benefit.”

I've liked that I'm never particularly aware that Amazon has done anything to stifle IMDB, Zappos, or DPreview (cameras) insofar as feeling that editorial control or operating styles have been affected in any bad way with these sites that I've enjoyed for some time.

While Chandler [OC] felt that links to other retailers like Barnes & Noble and Indiebound might be retained "if users really want those links," I think that's highly unlikely!, even for books Amazon doesn't have, as they would probably not want a wholly-owned subsidiary to drive traffic to the another store like B&N, which sells the same mainstream books.

A benefit for Goodreads customers, OC said, was the ability to bring a book "into Goodreads and enabling people to just start reading right there from the Kindle Cloud Reader.  We’ve never had a good book preview feature.”

RG said that the international aspect for both Goodreaders and Amazon are "an area of opportunity for both of us to work on."

OC mentioned that, re the public API or applications interface, that "we're not going to shut [the Kobo feed] off."

There's a lot more from the interviews of course, at paidContent's site, so go there to read the rest of it and the comments.

If after reading at the sites linked above, you want to read more reactions to this merging, see this set of news results.


Earlier articles explaining Cloud Reader
. Kindle Cloud Reader arrives
. Reactions to Kindle Cloud Reader

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Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links.

  NOTES on newer Kindles.

US: Updated Kindle Fire 2 Basic  7" tablet - $159 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$249 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 Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued

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 - $89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $199

*OTHER International* Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199 France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle Brazil - Amazon Brazil China - Amazon China Japan - Amazon Japan

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Kindle News: Kindle Touch back in U.S. lineup + Amazon adds XRAY today to top TV show - how it works. UPDATE

Kindle Touch (w/ audio and Text-to-Speech) returns to lineup in U.S., and Amazon expands XRay feature to its top TV shows

  Eagle-eyed blog contributor Tom Semple discovered that the e-Ink Kindle Touch WiFi eReader has quietly been returned, unseen, to the Kindle Family lineup (it isn't shown in the usual Kindle models header).

  For some months, the International model product page had shown a sign-up box for notices if that model became available again, but now that International or Global model wording has been replaced with "We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."

  In the meantime, the U.S. model, with Special Offers activated (they can be turned off for a small fee) is once again available.  While it is the earlier model without built-in lighting, as the Paperwhite has, the Kindle Touch WiFi has audio (audio books, text-to-speech feature, basic mp3 playing) and double the storage space, the latter of importance to those who want to keep books with a lot of graphics on the device.  This should hold up to 3,000 novel-sized Kindle books (but holding that many slows down the Kindle and isn't really advised) while the Paperwhite holds up to 1,000.

  An audio feature was a requirement in earlier talk of contracts for schools and libraries, and maybe that's another reason for its return.

  The Kindle Touch U.S. is Prime-shipping eligible, and one-day shipping is available at checkout.  The current pricing shown is $99.00, with Special Offers, the only way it comes, new.  Again, that lock-screen display of Special Offers can be de-activated, if wanted, by unsubscribing from these via the manageyourkindle page.  The Paperwhite cost for doing that is about $15, and it's probably similar for the Kindle Touch.

  The Kindle Touch just received a software maintenance update and, in January, it was given a user interface similar to the Paperwhite's, with a choice of cover-images for the home page or the old text-listing (faster and with more books shown on a page).

UPDATE - 3G version of Kindle Touch
Nate Hoffelder of TheDigitalReader located the page for the 3G model, which is available only as a REFURBISHED unit when available, at this time but is described as "Certified Refurbished" and with 3G that is available globally (which means free 3G cellular network access to the Kindle store and to Wikipedia 24/7 internationally).



Amazon expands XRAY feature to its TV Shows video area
Powered by IMDB (owned by Amazon), Kindle Fire HD Tablet users "can discover the names of the actors appearing on the screen and what they’ve been in."

Amazon's press release adds:

' Available today for the most popular TV shows on Amazon, X-Ray will quickly expand to even more shows...  X-Ray for TV is also available as part of the free Amazon Instant Video app on Wii U. '
  ...
  ...Kindle Fire HD...combines an exceptional viewing experience with the unbelievable power of the over 100 million pieces of data in IMDb’s catalog.”
  ...
  ...IMDb Founder and CEO. “Can’t remember where you’ve seen the actor playing Lord Grantham in Downton Abbey?  No problem.  Simply tap on the screen and you’ll see a full filmography, where you’ll realize that Hugh Bonneville was also in Notting Hill.  Our vision is to make X-Ray available on every movie and TV show -- we’re excited to make another big step forward today, and we are working hard to add X-Ray to more TV shows and movies in the future.”

  X-Ray for TV is available starting today on the most popular TV shows from Amazon Instant Video, many of which are also available as part of Prime Instant Video: Justified, Downton Abbey, The West Wing, Sons of Anarchy, Falling Skies, American Horror Story, Grey's Anatomy, Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Lost, Glee, Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. '

They've really expanded Instant Video (at no add'l cost with Prime-shipping program, which is $79/year or $6.58/mo. in effect).  A few are "day-after-air" TV (I think this is includes some PBS news documentaries).

  Other tablets just don't offer anything similar to the XRay feature when watching movies and TV.  For me, it's a real boon, much as I may complain at times about things they've not included.

How
Here's an earlier blog article on how XRay works when viewing Amazon videos and the Kindle Fire HD.



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Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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(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!