Steve Ballmer had some interesting things to say in this Washington Post interview, echoing outgoing Bill Gates thoughts on print vs digital media: within 10 years, there will be no print based newspapers or magazines. It will be delivered in electronic form.

Is Mr. Ballmer right? Well, I can tell you that I have not subscribed to a newspaper in about 5 years. I read all my news online via the paper's website or RSS feed. My wife, though, still loves reading print magazines. However, that model is changing for her due to the Amazon Kindle, and I expect that, given some time, she would make a switch to digital magazines on the Kindle, too. In my opinion, the death march for newspapers and magazines has already begun.

What do you think?

via SeattlePI.com

We have quite the talented group of readers here at GottaBeMobile.com. One of our readers, Aaron Walker, just started his own eBook publishing company, Walk Broad Publishing and has published his first children's picture book, "Good Morning, Friend Moon".

I recently had the pleasure of reading "Good Morning, Friend Moon" to my children the other night and they absolutely loved it. The illustrations really brought the story to life. It is available via download for only $4.99

Here's the great part: "Good Morning, Friend Moon" was written and illustrated entirely using a Fujitsu 4010D Tablet PC. I recently had the opportunity to talk with Aaron about this project and wanted to share some of that with you.

Where did the idea for "Good Morning, Friend Moon" and Walk Broad Publishing come from?

Walk Broad Publishing got started because I wanted to be able to share ebooks with my 6 year old son at bed time story time. I searched and, whereas I found a few, they usually used some sort of additional software or required an internet connection to view.

I figured there had to be a better way.

The story really was inspired by my son asking me why was the Moon still up one morning while the Sun was in the sky. Not knowing the scientific reason, I did what any parent would do, I made up a good story to tell him :) That was the germ of the idea that produced "Good Morning, Friend Moon" and started Walk Broad Publishing.

You are quite the artist! My children loved your illustrations. What hardware and software did you use to illustrate the book?

I am a committed tablet pc user. The entire book, and website, was done on a Fujitsu Lifebook 4010D. The drawing application I used was Corel's Painter Essentials. The drawings were then imported into Microsoft Publisher 2007 for layout and scripting, then converted to pdf using PDFCreator. Everything was done on the Fujitsu.

When reading the book to my children the other night, I was using the Dell Latitude XT. The flexibility of eBooks are the number of ways in which they can be read. How has the book been optimized for reading?

The reason "Good Morning, Friend Moon" is formatted with pictures on top and words on the bottom is to facilitate helping children with word recognition while also allowing them to still see the pictures. While reading with my 6-year-old son, I like to point to the words as I'm reading and see which words he has learned. It makes things a bit more interactive.  Some picture books have words top, bottom and middle which takes away from the presentation of the book page as a whole while still helping with reading. 

The book is best viewed on tablets (IMHO) using Adobe's Digital Editions in portrait mode.

I've also been following the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, iRex iLiad and the rest. Whereas I don't have any of those devices yet, it occurred to me that parents who did, would probably appreciate good, wholesome picture books to share with their children.

They can let their children read the book in the back seat while traveling with the Kindle for example.

I know the book will lose something in the translation going from full-color to black and white, but there isn't anything else out there. One day e-ink displays will be in color but, in the meantime, parents should have good picture books to share.

Or, if they are tablet users like myself, they can have them for their tablets or devices like the HTC Advantage and any of the UMPCs that support portrait screen rotation.

I try and make it clear on the FAQ on the website that it is not recommended to be viewed on a smartphone, although I'd be interested in finding out about how it would view on an iPhone or other small device with a larger screen, and if there is a way to tweak the setting for a passable reading experience.

 

As an author and publisher, what are your feelings about Digital Rights Management (DRM)?

I currently have no DRM on the books. I believe that people are basically honest and those that can will pay the modest fee for the books I am offering.

They can then transfer it to any device that reads a pdf file and I've tried to optimize the file for the Reader and Kindle as much as possible while not actually owning either device.

Each person who buys this book (or any book from Walk Broad Publishing for that matter) can download the book up to four times at no additional cost.

Being an ebook reader, I know how important it is to be able to transfer a book on my tablet to my phone or read it on my desktop. When people get a new computer or new device, I don't believe readers should be penalized for wanting to keep the book they've already paid for.

Do you have any other books in the works?

I am already at work on the next book "Natty McGumm and the Lazette Street Gazette" that was written and edited in OneNote using only the pen.

And there will probably be at least two more books featuring Friend Moon, Friend Sun and Friend Star.

How can folks stay up with what you doing?

Of course, they can visit Walk Broad Publishing to view current books for sale. I also have a blog where I write about upcoming projects and more.

I know I'll be following your blog as my children will want to know what Friend Moon and Friend Sun are up to. Keep up the great work.

Prior to leaving for St. Louis, I had wonderful images in my mind of sitting back in a chair next to Maggie's hospital bed and reading. There is nothing more relaxing than getting lost in a good book, and a hospital room is a good place to do just that.

Well, something happened between those dreamy scenes and actually getting to St. Louis. My wife, Kathi, got a hold of my Kindle and I haven't held it since.

What you have to know about my wife to really appreciate this story is that she is as close to anti-gadget as anyone I've ever met. She just started using a cell phone last year for goodness sakes. She used my Kindle during the holidays and liked it a lot, but never really took to it if you know what I mean. It didn't become a part of her daily routine of reading.

That all changed during this trip.

Four hours in to our trip, Kathi had just finished reading a Sherlock Holmes paper-based book and was really interested in reading another. She lamented that she didn't bring any others with her. Always one who enjoys bringing happiness to my wife, I picked up the Kindle and handed it to her, and told her to search the Kindle Store for one. I was sure they had converted some. You should have seen the look on her face when she found several listed. She clicked "buy" and within 30 seconds to a minute, they were downloaded to the Kindle, and she was off and reading some more Sherlock Holmes books. All done from our car traveling on I-70 in the middle of Kansas.

Every now and then, I glanced over and could tell she was " in to the book ". During a gas break, I asked her how she was enjoying the Kindle. She told me that she was surprised at how she was able to connect with the story and not get distracted by the gadget. It wasn't long before she consumed that book and was back on the Kindle Store, with no help by me by the way, looking for more books.

From that moment on, the Kindle was in her purse everywhere we went: MEG testing center, hotels, hospital room, and traveling back home. When we were not taking care of Maggie, she was reading. When we were sleeping in a hotel, I would find her snuggled up in bed reading just like she does with paper based books. On one occasion, a nurse came in to our room, and we naturally started talking about books we were reading. She mentioned a book that sounded intriguing to my wife, and within minutes of the nurse leaving, Kathi had found it on the Kindle Store, purchased it, and was already glancing through the forward. I think Kathi bought 4 - 6 books during our trip, and was frequently browsing the Kindle Store while we were traveling home.

Not all is wonderful and glorious in Kindle-land for her, though. First of all, my wife likes to read at night, and has noticed that it is a little difficult in poor lighting. She wants some back-lighting bad. Secondly, although she likes the location and feel of the Next Page button, it does get accidentally pressed more times than she would like. Third, not all the books she wanted to read were available in the Kindle Store. For example, a friend called during the hospital stay and mentioned a book. We went to look for it in the Kindle Store, but couldn't find it. Unfortunately, there was no Kindle Edition yet.

I knew that the Kindle had changed ownership without my consent, when I started hearing her say things like "Can you hand me my Kindle?", "Did you charge my Kindle last night?". The last nail in the coffin occurred after we got home. I walked up stairs to put away some things and noticed that the charger was on her side of the bed with the Kindle already plugged in. Nothing much has changed in the days after getting home and being settled. She's still reading at night and still calling it her Kindle. In fact, she's purchased 3 - 4 more books since getting home.

She connected with the Kindle for multiple reasons. First of all, when she wanted to look for something different to read, she could. And, for the most part, she could instantly buy it and begin reading it no matter where we were. Second, she was able to get in to the book and not get distracted by the gadget itself. As ugly as the Kindle is, the layout and design allow a reader to get lost in a book much easier than say a Pocket PC or UMPC. Third, the battery life is outstanding. She read and read without worry of the current battery charge. The only caveat to that was the wireless. Because the wireless is a major drain on battery, she had to remember to turn off the wireless when not using it. Those three things are huge and are the major reasons why I no longer own a Kindle, and why my anti-gadget wife owns it instead.

Wow. Amazon certainly seems to be shaking things up in the digital media space: first MP3's, then the Kindle, now acquiring Audible, the king of the audio book space. I wonder when we will see audio books on the Kindle?

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Audible Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBL).

Audible.com is the leading online provider of premium digital spoken word audio content, specializing in digital audio editions of books, newspapers and magazines, television and radio programs and original programming. Through its web sites in the US and UK and alliances in Germany and France, Audible.com offers over 80,000 programs, including audiobooks from well-known authors such as Stephen King, Thomas Friedman, and Jane Austen, and spoken word audio content from sources including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Fresh Air and Charlie Rose.

"Audible.com offers the best customer experience, the widest content selection and the broadest device compatibility in the industry," said Steve Kessel, Amazon.com's senior vice president for worldwide digital media. "Working together, we can introduce more innovations and bring this format to an even wider audience."

  One of the best things I've purchased in quite some time was an e-book reader, namely the Amazon Kindle. Being new to the electronic book area, I have found the experience to be quite enjoyable. Sierra, on the other hand, has been using an e-book reader for a long time, namely the Sony Reader Digital Book, and has picked up on the subtle differences between Sony's Reader Digital Book and Amazon's Kindle. She used my Kindle for several weeks, and came away with some interesting observations. By the way, it is worth mentioning that I almost didn't get my Kindle back....

In this InkShow, Sierra and I take them both on a head-to-head comparison, looking at screens, navigation, buttons, contrast, and the book buying experience.

• Download the high res version ( wmv, 13:30, 103mb )
• Watch the embedded version below

Click To Play

My wife has taken a sudden interest in my Kindle, after buying Jan Karon's latest book "Home to Holly Springs" last night. She began reading it right away, and that experience in itself sold her on the value of the Kindle. She was reading in to the night, and told me this morning that she likes it. Yes!!

So, anticipating a potential gift for Christmas, I emailed Amazon about the ability to share books among multiple Kindles. According to this email I received from their support department, Amazon allows you to share books on up to 6 different Kindles registered to the Amazon.com account from which the purchase was made. Very cool!  My wife and I ( and potentially my four kids, if I suddenly came in to some money ) can read the same book at the same time, and only pay one price.

The licenses associated with books and other non-subscription content purchased from the Kindle Store allow you to download and view(at the same time) each item from up to 6 different Kindles registered to the Amazon.com account from which the original purchase was made.

Subscription items can only be downloaded to one Kindle.

If you register a new Kindle to your Amazon.com account, you'll be able to use the Content Manager or Your Media Library on Amazon.com to download content you've purchased from that account. You will not be able to view content on a Kindle that is not registered to the Amazon.com account from which the original purchase was made. You cannot share books you purchase with other Kindles that are not associated with your account.

In part 3 of our Amazon Kindle series, we get up close and personal with some book reading and web browsing. In addition, to doing some requisite book reading and notetaking, I show everyone what kind of web browsing will work, and what won't work. Hint: Javascript isn't supported, so there won't be any Google Reader browsing going on. Still, being able to browse the web for free over the included Whispernet / Sprint EVDO service is a great bonus.  As I point out in the video, I'm not sure how long we'll be able to do it for free, but I'm going to enjoy it while I can. In addition, I show two documents that got automatically imported by sending them to my @kindle.com email address

Be sure to watch Part 1 and Part 2 if you have not seen those videos yet. All three videos give a more complete overview.

So the question to be answered after all three videos: would I buy one again? Yes. Having instant access to over 90,000 books is the kicker for me. Version 1 of the Kindle can definitely be improved, but free web-browsing over EVDO ( for now ) and instant access to all of those books wins me over. The Kindle is a great experience that could be improved upon with handwriting annotation. I would definitely take this places I wouldn't bring a Tablet PC or UMPC due to its non-intrusive nature. My wife wouldn't buy one because she is more of a purist. My kids, though, would eat it up, especially if they could get their text books on it. Amazon needs to lower the price to at least half to make it attractive to the non-geek market. I have a nagging feeling that more $200 of the price is going to Sprint to cover the EVDO access. So, I'll be keeping the Kindle and enjoying until version 2 comes out. Join me in welcoming me to the eBook world.

Here are some initial impressions from my family after using the Kindle tonight:

• Without showing any of them how to use it, they instinctively wanted to touch menu options rather than use the scroller to navigate and select.
• My 13 year-old son, Dax, and 11 year-old daughter, Maggie, immediately commented how useful it would be in school if they could get all of their text books on it.
• My wife didn't think she would use it - she is an avid reader. She prefers real books
• Everyone remarked how small and light it was, and how crisp the screen was.
• My step-father told me that it wouldn't be a good solution for doing a research, since he prefers to lay a lot of books out on the table at once. For me, though, it would be a good solution for that.
• I told my wife it was a great device for taking somewhere like church, since it was quiet and I had the Bible on it. She asked me why I would want to do that.

For what it is worth - impressions from non-techie folks - folks I think Amazon is trying to reach with the Kindle.

Watch Part 1 and Part 2 of the Amazon Kindle videos.

ok - Here it is - The GottaBeMobile Amazon Kindle Unboxing video. We'll get you more coverage in the coming days and weeks, but hopefully this will get everyone a little insight on what to expect out of the box and how it works from a navigation standpoint. The Kindle is not ugly at all - it is actually really attractive looking and feels good to hold. The experience is really seamless for sure - although it took a few minutes, the books I purchased a couple of hours ago downloaded automatically to the Kindle without my having to get online and associate id's or whatever...pretty cool.

By the way, after I recorded the video, I experimented with notetaking - there is a noticeable lag when typing notes, which is a little bothersome. What I am liking about the Kindle already is how quiet it is, which will make it a perfect device to take somewhere when you don't want to be intrusive.

In the video, the initial boot of the Kindle was kind of slow. However, subsequent boot-ups have taken about 5 seconds.

Browsing the web: since the video, I've navigated to GBM's site using the included Experimental Web Browser and it loads up just like viewing it over Internet Explorer in Windows Mobile. The pictures are all gray scale. From what I remember ( need to check to verify ), web browsing is free using the included Sprint EVDO - pretty cool.

After watching the unboxing, be sure to check out Part 2

Click To Play

Here are some pictures of the Kindle carrying case, which clips in using the back rubber grip. The cover feels like a very nice leather bound journal:

I've been watching Amazon's Kindle Demo video while impatiently waiting for UPS to deliver my Kindle. I've also purchased three books, while waiting, to see how Kindle handles the automatic download. Gadget arrival day will certainly try your patience.

It struck me while watching the video, how similar it is to the early Tablet PC videos, and last year's Origami videos - a guy walking around carrying a small tablet, using it in personal places - an extension of himself.

Another thing I picked up on is how much the scrolling wheel is used to select, navigate, etc. I can already tell that the lack of a touch screen and an active digitizer is going to bother me. Isn't a logical extension of reading a book being able to annotate it and mark it up using your own handwriting? Taking in to account the known battery life and outdoor screen readability issues, Tablet PCs certainly have the leg-up in the annotation department. Amazon would have really scored a coup had they implemented personalized notetaking and annotation. Maybe version 2 of Kindle will bring us that. Microsoft needs to get Amazon on the horn and begin talking up ink.

This is exciting - my first experience with a dedicated eBook device. What could be better - a Tablet PC enthusiast checking out eBook device - a match made in heaven!

My Kindle should be here any moment, and I'll be posting up a quick-look video after it arrives....stay tuned.

I ordered our Amazon Kindle for GBM today, and promptly received the following email from Amazon Kindle Support. Pretty cool. Notice that you can go ahead and start buying books right away for the Kindle, even before it arrives.

Such a shame - this has missed opportunity for Tablet PC all over it.

Thank you for your purchase and welcome to Amazon Kindle.

We built Kindle with the goal of creating an exceptional and hassle-free reading experience. As such, we wanted to point out a few details before you get started on Kindle.

Your Kindle is automatically registered to the same Amazon.com account you used to make your purchase. This enables you shop, purchase, and download books, newspapers, and magazines wirelessly from your Kindle device right out of the box. Your Kindle purchases are made using your existing default 1-Click payment method at Amazon.com. If you wish to change the payment method associated with your Kindle, you can do so by visiting Manage Your Kindle on Amazon.com.

If you purchased your Kindle as a gift for someone else, you should deregister your Kindle device from your Amazon.com account. You can deregister your Kindle from the Settings page on the device or at Manage Your Kindle on Amazon.com.

You can start building your library before your Kindle even arrives by shopping for books, newspapers, magazines and more at the Kindle Store on Amazon.com.

Newsweek has more details on Amazon's Kindle device and service, which begins shipping tomorrow for $399. Looks very similar to a Tablet PC and UMPC, huh? I doubt it supports ink, but it sure would have been nice. Like Scoble, I wish Microsoft would have gotten their Tablet PC team on to this. It screams tablet. Oh well....

• 30 hours of use per charge
• Weighs 10.3 ounces
• Holds 200 books
• Purchase books via EV-DO through Whispernet - more details to come on price, if any

 I might give this one a try, just for the heck of it.

via Gizmodo

I love reading ebooks on my Tablet PC, so when I disccover a new source for free ebooks I pass it on. ManyBooks.net takes project Gutenberg titles into different formats for reading on Palm Devices, ebook readers, and iPods, has a great selection of titles. You can choose your format from a variety of choices including Adobe .pdf.

Link: ManyBooks.net.