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11-22-2007, 02:45 AM | #1 |
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Missing features: Gutenberg, Google Books, Google News, open RSS aggregator
Shouldn't Amazon add direct access over EVDO to the following online content:
- http://gutenberg.org - http://books.google.com - http://news.google.com - Any RSS feed pulled in the RSS aggregator Amazon can then charge whatever price they want per megabyte for the EVDO bandwidth consumed for accessing those services. It is awesome that Amazon provides built-in access to Wikipedia for free. Probably that they are going to charge for Wikipedia at some point, unless they specifically state that Wikipedia access will remain free, thus I guess wikipedia pictures are compressed and the contents reformatted to save bandwidth by only send one page at the time to the device. I believe that if there are other online book stores, Amazon could also open up access over the EVDO to those competing bookstores. Thus DRM-infected Mobipocket and DRM-infected PDF should be supported, or at least some interoperabillity API should be provided by Amazon to make those competing DRM formats interoperable. For example a mobipocket or PDF DRM-infected file should be converted to the Kindle DRM format. |
11-22-2007, 08:13 AM | #2 |
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I would much prefer that Amazon keep the internet access limited. At this point an Eink display isn't the best for web surfing and most importantly I don't want another recurring monthly charge. I'd rather by more books!
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11-22-2007, 08:22 AM | #3 |
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charbax...
Wish I had mine, but from testimony by owners there is a free web browser on it, so you could visit those sites but could not "shop" there.. Not as well done or integrated as the amazon store. Amazon is in this to make money, and the purchases pay for their own transactions over EVDO. They see the EVDO as a shipping mechanism and only offer limited browsing and wikipedia as enhancements to the reading experience. Actually, the wikipedia access seen as an isolated integration similar to YOUTUBE on the iphone is extraordinarily clever. I don't see why we would assume they would offer up free EVDO for free book sites, but you can transfer them from your PC to your kindle over USB (or pay 10 cents to email it to your kindle) as long as the book is in the right format (non-DRM mobi for example) -d |
11-22-2007, 08:23 AM | #4 |
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They don't need to add a monthly charge, but they could for example sell Internet access per megabyte, for example $0.10 per megabyte or less, just as that is what they charge per document that is converted and sent to the Kindle email.
So for example you could add something like $5 of bandwidth to your account to access for example 50mb of books from Gutenberg.org, Google Books, from any RSS feed in the RSS aggregator, a smart personalized version of Google News and that per-megabyte charge would probably be the one to use for browsing using the browser when it's not experimental anymore. Hopefully $5 could give much more than 50mb bandwidth on EVDO, on HSDPA in Europe for example, I would expect 5€ give access to at least 1GB of bandwidth. Just as Amazon is used to charge for bandwidth on their Amazon S3 service, this is the same deal here. Downloading a book conveniently from Gutenberg.org in a nice optimized interface, if the book is for example 200KB would thus cost $0.02 if the price per MB is for example $0.10. Last edited by Charbax; 11-22-2007 at 08:29 AM. |
11-22-2007, 08:28 AM | #5 |
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Thats a good idea. Maybe one day they will add a gutenberg.org subscription, something that would integrate well on the kindle and in a well-supported kindle format (ie: look as good as amazon books) and be reasonable to cover the EVDO.
That would be very cool -d |
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11-22-2007, 08:37 AM | #6 |
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Yup, that would be a good selling point for Amazon for the platform. And the more hardware is sold, the more the whole Kindle store service would also be used.
An ebook optimized and personalized access to Google News, maybe developped in cooperation with Google to provide the news providers with ebook optimized advertising as a monetization would be nice. For example the ebook optimized ads could take the bottom couple of inches of the page. As well as micropayments integrating so reading one article ad-free through Google News could cost just $0.01 for example. And the open RSS aggregator could have a huge potential also. They could display feeds in a personalised way, suggesting blog posts and suggesting feeds using the Amazon recommendations algorithms. But also displaying feeds in the same kind of river mode as Google Reader. And integrating that also with Google Blogsearch to read other related blog posts from around the web. |
11-22-2007, 09:13 AM | #7 |
Sir Penguin of Edinburgh
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I agree with you on PG. I can access the site, but it doesn't work very well. I was able to download a txt file.
Next stop, blackmask.com! |
11-22-2007, 09:19 AM | #8 |
Feedbooks.com Co-Founder
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We'll add Mobipocket support and create a mobile edition of Feedbooks. This way, with the EVDO+browser it'll be easy to download books and feeds from our service.
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11-22-2007, 09:25 AM | #9 |
Sir Penguin of Edinburgh
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PM me when you have it ready to test. I will help you get past the several oddities with this browser.
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11-22-2007, 06:17 PM | #10 |
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11-22-2007, 08:22 PM | #11 |
Feedbooks.com Co-Founder
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Mostly because LRF is strictly limited to the Sony Reader 500/505.
Plus the fact that the Sony Reader will have DE support in the future, and we already have epub support, which will be much more flexible than LRF. PDF is still the best way to get correct formatting on a mobile reader, as long as you configure the right settings for your taste, the experience is great. Adding Mobipocket support does feel like a step backward too, it's based on OEB, an old standard (1999) compared to epub (2007), with less features. But the fact that the Kindle strictly use Mobipocket and that Mobipocket Reader is available for PDA/smartphones too makes this format an interesting choice. As long as the browsing on the Kindle is free, a full service creating Mobipocket files out of RSS feeds could be very attractive for most Kindle owners. Feedbooks isn't limited to a few feeds, and unlike the blogs on Whispernet, it's free. |
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