Textbook trade-ins + Kindle to add features for vision-impaired

Textbook trade-in is not a Kindle post, but the 2nd and 3rd items are.

Amazon announced Dec 3 their new Textbooks Trade-In program, which allows customers to exchange used textbooks in return for an Amazon.com gift card.  Available year-round, the Textbooks Trade-In program will offer students the ability to trade in textbooks they no longer need for what Amazon describes as a great price, with an easy-to-use interface.  They add that students can avoid long lines at the bookstore and trade in their textbooks from their dorm rooms or from home.

At the text-book trade-in page, linked above, they can search for the books they want to trade, print a pre-paid shippig label and drop the package in the mail.

"Once the book is received and verified by a third-party merchant, an Amazon.com gift card will be deposited into the student’s Amazon.com account ... the gift card can be used toward the purchase of next semester’s books, or the millions of other items on Amazon.com."

The Textbooks store offers "...savings of up to 30% off the list price of more than 100,000 new textbooks and up to 90 percent off the list price of millions [?] of used textbooks."


A KINDLE 'TEXTBOOKS' SEARCH
These are not your usual textbooks, but there are a few that get high ratings.

Also, it appears some McGRAW SAT practice books are rated highly.


KINDLE TO ADD AUDIO MENU AND SUPER-LARGE 7TH FONT SIZE
MSNBC site's AP piece reports on Amazon's press release announcing they'll be making the Kindle more accessible to vision-impaired users by adding optional audio to its menus and a 7th, much larger font.  (Tweeted by alexebowman.)

  Two colleges not part of its DX pilot-program announced they wouldn't be using the Kindle because blind students cannot use the audio read-to-me feature, as just turning it on requires navigating through screens of text menus.
  Federal monies available to colleges require equal access to educational materials, and there are scanners available for the printed textbooks.

  AP adds "The audible menus would let the Kindle speak menu options out loud. It's also working on an extra-large font for people with impaired vision. The additions should reach the Kindle next summer, Amazon said."

  No one, including National Federation of the Blind, knows enough about how the new features will work (due by summer) to say whether this will fill the bill.


HERE'S AN INTERESTING PORTABLE GADGET FOR THE BLIND
Engadget's Nilay Patel writes Squibble portable Braille interface is clever, beautiful.  Says it "allows users to operate mobile phones and other technology over Bluetooth, using 779 ultrasonic motors to lift illuminated caps against a silicon cover and form Braille letters and other easy-to-understand icons.  There's also audio feedback, and a grip that allows for use without having to set it down flat like other Braille readers"   This is in "advanced" development stage, designer Andrew Mitchell said.

  The story also cites a November '09 article that will be of interest to many with macular degeneration - British surgeons using radiation beams to halt macular degeneration. 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!

How to get documents onto the Kindle, and online sources

A very informative posting about getting files onto the Kindle was made by B. Tackitt.   It's from a document Tackitt made, to keep on the Kindle for reference.

(Also see Amazon's help section on how to use the USB cable to transfer files.)

The forum thread is titled "Helpful information to add to your Kindle," and the following topics are covered:

  . Multiple ways to get information onto your Kindle.
  . Some programs to convert e-books to Kindle format
        - added by Kurt G. Schumacher
  . A listing of items in the popular forum thread that T. Beck began,
        on How to download a million or so books, mostly for free,
        to your Kindle.  Has good detail and includes resources.      
  . E-textbook stores online are also listed.

UPDATED 6/10/09 - Original posting, 6/10/09 at 2:19 PM
Changed "Free E-textbook stores" to E-textbook stores. 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!

Big Screen Kindle announcement Wednesday?

Well, that's what several papers are reporting.  This was more or less announced some months ago about Bezos' conversations with textbook companies and the goal of a larger unit for textbooks and periodicals coming out by Xmas. But the announcement in only April will likely involve more details already (and a possibly earlier release date?).  Maybe to get ahead of Plastic Logic's goal for early 2010?  And before all the newspapers fail?  Hearst has been putting heavy money behind E-Ink (see previous articles).

Huffington Post's Dave Burdick reports that the announcement is likely to be about the big-screen Kindle's "arrival at universities."

While mulling the more lucrative margins of textbook sales, he quotes the New York Times article today:

As early as this week, according to people briefed on the online retailer's plans, Amazon will introduce a larger version of its Kindle wireless device tailored for displaying newspapers, magazines and perhaps textbooks ...

In total, six universities are involved in the project, according to people briefed on the matter. They are Case Western, Pace University, Princeton University, Reed College, Darden School at the University of Virginia, and Arizona State University.

Some would hope it also entails some improvements on the Kindle 2 requested, but there's been no mention of that so far.

Also, pricing will be interesting.  Other big-screen units planned and some already available (iRex) but without wireless, search capabilities, and inline-dictionaries (all strengths of Amazon's Kindles) are charging from $600 to $1000+.  Will newspapers subsidize some of the cost for their readers, when they are already losing millions per year?

The announcement timing is intriguing seeing that Apple's June announcement had been getting the headlines in that their hoped-for MediaPad (no hard news on that yet) might be released via Verizon, with a wished-for larger screen and wider range of offerings but only via WiFi vs Amazon's always "On" wireless.

And then there is EFD or Electronic Fluid Display (Electrofluidic Display Technology, involving color) on the horizon but still very much in development including improving the contrast and then getting it integrated into actual devices.  But apparently it could support the Kindle someday.

UPDATE: OTHER RUMORS:
ENGADGET posted some info from the Wall Street Journal as well as the NYTimes and is offering preview photos, though they ask if it will be 9.7" units, so the photos may be iffy.  
The one on the right looks out of proportion, with the current unit 8" and the new one said to be 9.7"...
  SeekingAlpha reminds us that Engadget pointed out the NYTimes is lowering its subscription price from $14 to $10 (that would include Sundays and many have requested this before subscribing - so natural customer resistance has an effect).  They say in order for amazon to keep the price close, for the larger screen, they'd have to cut out something like wireless, but the college communities are filled with wi-fi spots, so wireless is superfluous there.  WiFi feature rather than 24/7 Wireless?  They add Amazon seems to be doing a front-run around the rumored iPod mediapad/tablet, with the spiffed up web browser and larger screen but still with a [smaller] keyboard.
  The Moderate Voice has an interesting set of thoughts. 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!