Glenn Fleishman reviews the Kindle Fire for The Economist : “The Fire is not an iPad killer. But nor does it need to be. ”

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Kindle Fire reviewed

In a move that should come as no surprise to anyone except the very, very old who still can’t believe electric car windows exist, Amazon announced its color-screen Kindle today, the $200 Fi-ya (technically ‘Fire’, but I like to say it like that). People are speculating how much it’s going to affect iPad sales EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE SPECULATING WHERE THEIR NEXT MEAL IS COMING FROM. Priorities, folks, that’s the really lesson here. Haha, I’m teaching — I’m actually doing it! *soaks pants in front of class* FUFUFUFUUUUUUUUUUUUU. Product highlights: 7″ multi-touch display with IPS (in-plane switching) technology and anti-reflective treatment, 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors. Dual-core processor running Android Own Amazon Silk web browser, Flash support 14.6 ounces (9/10-lb) 8GB internal storage. Enough for 80 apps, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books. Free cloud storage for all Amazon content Up to 8 hours battery life of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback Wi-Fi only I’ve never actually owned a Kindle. I like book-books. Something about the smell and being able to wipe boogers between the pages. Amazon is also releasing a new and improved 6″ ‘vanilla’ Kindle for $79, and two 7″ touchscreen versions for $99 and $150 (3G). What they are NOT releasing is the collection of nudie photos I took of myself and tried to sell in their app store for a million dollars. YOU DIRTY COMMIE CENSORS! Amazon Product Site Thanks to everyone who sent this for thinking I must live under a rock or something. BURN! No but seriously, keep those tips coming.

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Amazon Officially Announces Color Kindle

The Kindle is finally to get global wireless internet , spots Engadget. But a new challenger appears: iRiver, with a surprisingly unappetizing clone that’ll have a hard time against Sony’s Digital Edition and B&N’s Nook. Myself, I’ll take the Skiff, an 11.5″ monstrosity with a 1600×1200 resolution display , just announced by Heart Publishing. It’ll have 3G internet via Sprint, but no pricing details are out just yet. This Burj Dubai of e-readers doubles as a baking tray and will be featured in a new remake of The Omen , sliding off a truck and decapitating David Warner.

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e-Readers: Kindle goes global, iRiver plays catchup, and Hearst is just damned crazy

The end-user license agreement is up at McSweeney’s: Congratulations on purchasing the newest iteration of our electronic readers, the Kindle Genius Browser. We have made this new device compatible with all previous versions of the e-book, but there are some new features we’d like to introduce.

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Introducing the Kindle Gutenberg Bookreader

BustedTypewriter makes and sells these unusual Kindle-holders. More . Product page via Book Patrol ]

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Kindle hidden inside a book

Reuters : Prime View said on Monday it would pay about $215 million for E Ink, whose flexible digital displays are used in Amazon’s Kindle and the Sony Reader. … E Ink Vice President Sriram Peruvemba said the deal would provide the financing and manpower needed to fuel development of color displays, slated for mass production at the end of 2010. Previously: ⌦ Fujitsu Flepia is slow, expensive, but heralds a color e-paper age … ⌦ Fujitsu's Prototype “FLEPia” Color ePaper eBook - Boing Boing Gadgets ⌦ Warmer, warmer: e-paper with sub-second refresh - Boing Boing Gadgets ⌦ “Readius” Fold-Up e-Paper Reader is Now a Phone, Too - Boing Boing … ⌦ Steven Johnson on eBooks - Boing Boing Gadgets

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E Ink acquisition sets stage for color epaper by 2010

Amazon’s Kindle DX has a 9.7″ e-ink display with 1200×824 pixels, 16 shades of gray, and faster page transitions. 10.4 inches long and 7.2 wide, it is 0.38 inches thick and retains the basic capabilities of the standard model: EVDO internet and the Amazon store. New features include native PDF support and 4GB of storage, two line-items that Sony’s Reader can no longer claim as advantages over Amazon’s model. The Kindle DX also does automatic orientation adjustments when you rotate the tablet, like the iPhone and other accelerometer-equipped gadgets. The giant screen does it for me. The price — $490 — is a challenge. Kindle DX Offers 9.7 Inches of E-Ink for $489 [Gizmodo]

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9.7-inch Kindle DX brings big screen to e-book reader

Steven Berlin Johnson in the Wall Street Journal on eBooks and eReaders , which is large part another paean to the Kindle: On another occasion, I managed to buy and download a book on a New York City subway train, during a brief two-stop stretch on an elevated platform. Amazon’s early data suggest that Kindle users buy significantly more books than they did before owning the device, and it’s not hard to understand why: The bookstore is now following you around wherever you go. A friend mentions a book in passing, and instead of jotting down a reminder to pick it up next time you’re at Barnes & Noble, you take out the Kindle and — voil! — you own it. While I can’t disagree that the wireless downloads are part of the Kindle’s special magic, there’s one thing that I noticed whilst sitting outside with my Kindle and pulling my fiction pud with a little Conan this weekend: The best thing about the Kindle is that it isn’t a computer. It has the convenience of wireless internet, but the calm of a proper book. Sure, it has a web browser and a dictionary, but I so rarely use them because of the shoddy interface and slow refresh of the screen that I don’t conceptualize the device in my head as a computer, but just a fancy book. That’s actually going to go away here soon enough, with fast, color epaper wedded to better touchscreen interfaces. I’ll then have to train myself to do something herculean like turn off the wireless. But in the meantime, I enjoy having a pleasant reading device that doesn’t whoop and bloop every five seconds with email and IM alerts.

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Steven Johnson on eBooks