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November 19, 2007

Kindle Images And Video

Michael Arrington

78 comments »

I just bought the new Amazon Kindle and it should be here by Thanksgiving. I figure if I’m going to continue to mock its appearance I should at least get an actual device in my hands. Amazon has the above overview video and images on the main product page. Much better than the original images that surfaced a while back. But I still argue it’s ugly as hell.

Read CrunchGear’s Kindle Koverage here.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 4:34 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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    November 19th, 2007 at 6:15 pm

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Comments

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  1. syed

    November 19th, 2007 at 4:40 pm

    hey michael, the image isn’t loading…

  2. Don Wilson

    November 19th, 2007 at 4:42 pm

    Looks like they spent more money on marketing than on product design…

  3. Michael Arrington

    November 19th, 2007 at 4:45 pm

    hmmm. Are people seeing the video? works fine for me.

  4. Benarsi Kaka

    November 19th, 2007 at 4:46 pm

    Do you think I can attach that to my Amiga?

  5. Borris

    November 19th, 2007 at 4:54 pm

    nope, no video, just a big empty white space… but that still makes it look better than the original images

  6. Dillon

    November 19th, 2007 at 4:55 pm

    No images or video loading :(

  7. Daniel

    November 19th, 2007 at 4:56 pm

    Nope.

  8. Joel

    November 19th, 2007 at 5:01 pm

    Not getting it either. Safari is saying the the swf(http://anon.amazon.speedera.net/…) is forbidden.

  9. Pete

    November 19th, 2007 at 5:02 pm

    Yeah definitely no video.

  10. techcrunchreader

    November 19th, 2007 at 5:05 pm

    @1, 6, 7 and 9

    Go to Amazon.com
    Click on “Kindle”

  11. Michael

    November 19th, 2007 at 5:08 pm

    Video and images are loading fine for me.

  12. Vijay

    November 19th, 2007 at 5:15 pm

    not for me..

  13. Thomas

    November 19th, 2007 at 5:22 pm

    Launched at the right time.. how many of you guys would like to get this as a Christmas gift?

  14. Michael Neel

    November 19th, 2007 at 5:25 pm

    If I got this an an XMas gift I would seriously reevaluate my relationship with that person.

  15. Zoli Erdos

    November 19th, 2007 at 5:33 pm

    I can see it: nice … big .. white … blank :-)

  16. blerf

    November 19th, 2007 at 5:37 pm

    Referral Denied
    You don’t have permission to access “http://anon.amazon.speedera.net/anon.amazon/upload/amplayer/rich-app/kindle24.swf” on this server.

  17. Darren

    November 19th, 2007 at 5:48 pm

    its worse than I thought, to read your own documents you have to email them to amazon and they convert them for you for a price. How arse backwards is that.

    Ok and it looks worse in use than it does in the pictures. Looks like something casio would have made 20 years ago.

    I think they have missed a trick on it by not letting you browse amazon.com and do “normal shopping”

    I just can’t believe that a forward thinking company like amazon has gotten it so baddly wrong.

  18. The Hater

    November 19th, 2007 at 5:49 pm

    What’s there to argue? It’s ugly as hell; almost as if Google designed it!

  19. Darren

    November 19th, 2007 at 5:50 pm

    @18 at least if google had designed it you could of accessed google stuff and it would have been just the screen not the nasty buttons etc

  20. danny

    November 19th, 2007 at 6:14 pm

    >But I still argue it’s ugly as hell.

    Curious to know who you think you are arguing with? I don’t know anyone who disagrees about the appearance.

  21. Tito

    November 19th, 2007 at 6:34 pm

    Is there any way to back up your books on the computer or a server somewhere? If not and you lose your Kindle (brrr), there goes your book collection.

  22. Adam

    November 19th, 2007 at 6:37 pm

    it’s ugly. I like.

    Amazon’s understands that complexity (in wireless) can kill a product. This is good for all of us.

  23. Dave

    November 19th, 2007 at 6:37 pm

    Were I interested in a product solely based on looks, this would not be what I would choose.

    However, I’m interested in adding extrinsic value to my life while at the same time reducing cost of living over time. Because I believe this device will do both well, I have ordered it. I think that this is a new convergence machine that will make consuming readable media cheaper over the life of the device than if I were to purchase the media in paper form.

    There are any number of benefits of owning this– off the top of my head, I can think of reduced paper clutter around the house, the ability to “recall” old publications that I may otherwise have recycled, and the biggest plus, the reduced cost of new books & periodicals compared to their printed kin. I expect the Kindle to pay for itself well within 2 years based on my current physical media budget.

    Having not received the Kindle yet my comments are pure speculation. But if it delivers what it promises, I will be a very happy early adopter of a relatively ugly, retro-styled product.

  24. Jon

    November 19th, 2007 at 6:46 pm

    Once people become comfortable with holding a digital device rather then one made of wood… I see this taking off big time… the only drawback is that this won’t be happening with todays generation. Great technology maybe a decade or so from now when a smaller “expandable” form factor is introduced.

    Jon

  25. Alaska Miller

    November 19th, 2007 at 6:49 pm

    How is it ugly? It’s designed to address most of the problems in designing the Sony Reader. A keypad, functional keys on the sides, a wheel system that isn’t reliant on the e-ink technology. I’m selling my Sony Reader to pick this up.

  26. Hsalf

    November 19th, 2007 at 6:59 pm

    The design is primitive retro chic, you know, in the same geeky way that Flash Gordon is?

    This ones a winner with one caveat: EVDO wireless.

  27. Julian

    November 19th, 2007 at 7:09 pm

    Honestly it looks like one of those old Apple ads for a 1st gen iPod. I’ll keep my mouth shut until I’ve actually got in touch with one of them though.

  28. Ryan G

    November 19th, 2007 at 7:13 pm

    Amazon obviously could have spent a little more money on the design of the product but as far as funtionality goes…Phenominal! I think that its a great idea that will definitely catch on. As an avid reader myself I would definitely use this product. A few things that I would be skeptical of though:
    -durability
    -accessibility (internet connection)
    -cost of content (book, magazine, newspaper, blog)
    If they can keep consumers happy with those aspects of the product they will have a hit on their hands and make a lot of money.

  29. JC

    November 19th, 2007 at 7:13 pm

    This is a winner. I’ve been waiting for this for years. The reason all the other ebooks failed is publishers were afraid of people copying files using PCs. That’s not an issue here. 90,000 titles is a good kick start. yea, so it’s not as good looking as an ipod, who gives a crap? You download a book. You read it. The end.

  30. Robby

    November 19th, 2007 at 7:16 pm

    I think one huge advantage the iPod has over the Kindle is the fact that I can digitize my old CDs and play them on my iPod. With Kindle I’ll have to repurchase anything I want to read again.

  31. Chris

    November 19th, 2007 at 7:43 pm

    From everything I’ve read about this thing, I’ve yet to see anything about whether or not it can connect to my computer and load up things like PDF’s and Word Documents…

    Does it have this capability or is my only option to grab things via wireless from Amazon’s store?

  32. Chris

    November 19th, 2007 at 7:49 pm

    nm, finally got that video to work. I think the answer to my question is no. It requires reformatting of everything for a fee through Amazon…

    That’s useless…

  33. Honor Gunday

    November 19th, 2007 at 7:53 pm

    Looks like it’s designed in Seattle. You can wear your über-stylish REI, Patagonia, Eddie Bauer clothes, drive up in your Subaru car to some gloomy WiFi cafe to sip some coffee and read your Kindle. Presto! You are 100% Green, you’re not wasting any paper anymore. You can celebrate with an Organic Granola Bar…

    My question is, is this thing recyclable?

  34. Hsalf

    November 19th, 2007 at 7:54 pm

    “With Kindle I’ll have to repurchase anything I want to read again.”

    How often do you revisit old books, honestly?

    The ones that I do are few and far between, and worth their weight in gold, so repurchase is not a biggie.

  35. Arjun

    November 19th, 2007 at 8:05 pm

    It seems that you are using an “embed” tag to include the video. (which I am pretty sure is a Flex app) Mozilla based browsers will render this with no problems, but IE will not. You will have to use an “Object” tag so IE users can see it. Unfortunately because of all the security BS that IE has built in users have to click to activate the Object embed unless you use a javascript wrapper. Overly complicated, but Adobe has a pre-written wrapper at http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex.....01579.html

    Hope that helps.

  36. Jon K.

    November 19th, 2007 at 8:25 pm

    Ok.. just one question: how dare you launching such an ugly device at a time when people are dazzled by iPod & iPhone usability and design ??!Although Kindle can be useful (which I doubt), the touch and feel is going to pose a serious problem.
    Please someone tells Amazon to focus on its core business i.e. selling books, CDs over the Web.. do not to try to reinvent usability through some devices escaped from the 70’s .. Jeff sorry to say you are no Steve ..

  37. Michael Osborne

    November 19th, 2007 at 8:27 pm

    Agreed that the design looks odd, almost retro by today’s standards, but the big win here is LOWER PRICES for eBooks and the connectivity. Both are new models for this type of content and Amazon is creating a new channel for what it has a handle on - books. I think this is step zero of the digital paper revolution and like the first iPod will be criticized, claimed to be a huge failure, and eventually prove to be a genius move.

  38. www.CARversation.com

    November 19th, 2007 at 9:10 pm

    that is pretty sick, but why does it look like something from stone ages. would go great with those caveman from geico.

  39. Allison

    November 19th, 2007 at 9:15 pm

    It reminds me of a gigantic blackberry. The idea is nice, but I have to wonder how large the market really is for something like this.

  40. Voice Of Reason

    November 19th, 2007 at 9:15 pm

    Some people are missing a MAJOR PART OF THE DESIGN…

    It was designed with that color and ‘finish’ (i.e. plastic) so it doesn’t REFLECT LIGHT. i.e. so it doesn’t shine and distract your eyes from reading the content area. When reading a lot of text for long periods of time, it’s critical that the eyes are able to relax and can focus solely on the text itself — not be distracted by any potential reflections and shine that’s within a few inches on either side of the text (like a nice, shiny frame would create.)

    Have you ever read *a lot* of text on an iPhone? The screen is small which definitely makes it hard, but it’s also difficult for very long periods of time (think 40-100 pages) because of the reflective surface of the iPhone and it’s mirror-like silver frame. If the Iphone was made of similar material (and a light color) like the Kindle, it would be a lot easier to read a lot of text. YES, it wouldn’t be very sexy looking, but usability-wise the Kindle’s design is to make it easy on the eyes for long periods of time.

    With so many people jumping on the “environment” bandwagon, well, now’s your chance to really make a difference. If a device and content ordering system like the Kindle becomes wildly used, it will be a great start for reducing ’some’ (certainly not all) of our paper usage.

    People need to keep in mind that this is Version 1.0. Give them some time to improve the device and functionality. It’s only a matter of time before you can plug-in your own USB device or card and transfer documents without using Amazon’s transfer system. And I’m sure many other improvements are on the way.

    The bottom line is, this concept (and how Amazon is attacking it) is pretty revolutionary if you really think about it. For that alone they should be give some respect. At least their making an effort to change the way we consume paper publications.

  41. Florian

    November 19th, 2007 at 9:20 pm

    The only thing that annoys me is the dark blinking of the screen when a page is turned. That is pretty weird…

  42. Will

    November 19th, 2007 at 10:14 pm

    This is for reading text. It’s not backlit, which means it will probably never have color. I think the device is simple and intuitive, and provides a really good start. I’m sure its just a matter of time before some hack corporation (Apple) comes up with an alternative for the mainstream masses and proclaims originality. Then you will hear all these deuchebags talk about the new Apple reader and how its such a good idea (not unlike MacOS X, which is no more than a copied, proprietary version of Linux), which will have just been a counterfeit extrapolation of a really good, original idea.

    Kudos, Amazon, for finally getting this whole “reader” concept right! I really like the minimalist interface; it’s designed for displaying text, not providing a distraction. Anything more (fancy) would only serve to distract the user from the contents of the book.

  43. Will

    November 19th, 2007 at 10:26 pm

    Also, this is not supposed to be a PDA, smart phone, or laptop. It’s for reading books. Would you try to check your email on a copy of War and Peace? No? And why would that be? Because it doesn’t have internet, perhaps?

    My big question is whether or not this can be used to display the content of college textbooks. I would have a massive orgasm if I could just carry this around with me rather than 150 lb of books.

    Another advantage this has, that would appeal to publishers anyway, is the proprietary format of the book data. There is no real market for pirated books. It would be nice to be able to upload PDF documents to it though, so one could peruse white papers, spec sheets, etc. when on the go (subway, bus, elevator, etc.)

  44. Michael Vu

    November 19th, 2007 at 10:54 pm

    Wow, this thing is incredible. I’m sold. Just ordered one too and can’t wait to get it. I feel that $399 is a very attractive price point, especially considering all the other high priced gadgets out there. The Kindle is a revolutionary product that will sell very well.

    All the people who are speculating now will be users later. I can’t believe they are offering free broadband connectivity. I was at expecting at least $9.99 a month or something.

  45. Bloobeard

    November 19th, 2007 at 11:01 pm

    WTF is EDVO? I could Google it but I am guessing it is some type of 3G like HSDPA?
    I suppose that Amazon will eventually expand the service worldwide using local standards and matching unit architecture. Hopefully by the time it gets here (HK) it will look a bit better or a competitor will have come up with something more aesthetically pleasing. Functionally, it seems great.

  46. Louis-Eric

    November 19th, 2007 at 11:07 pm

    Way too expensive; a lot more than the other free book-reading platforms I was born with (my hands). Give the razor, Amazon, and make money selling the blades; you are repeating the early mistakes of TiVo.

    On the big WhisperNet mystery: my guess is that this is a per-use plan. If so, that’s a very smart move for cell carriers to consider.

    Why does this thing have a USB port, and what will happen if connected to a PC ? Will this let me run around the ridiculous proposal that I e-mail my sensitive company reports to Amazon for reformatting just so that I can take them on the road with me ?

  47. MP

    November 20th, 2007 at 12:18 am

    And why has the Kindle a headphone jack? Will it have a built-in text to speech engine? I’d rather use an iPod for listening to an audiobook…

    And I see too many resemblances to the Rocket eBook readers of the past, which have been designed to the very point of ebook reading, but just were not used. (Note: I have been an avid ebook reader for years, as I wanted it to happen, but even for a tech person like me it never took off. Switched back to paper, gladly)

  48. Everett

    November 20th, 2007 at 12:27 am

    I’d buy it if it was touch screen and had iphone’s shrink and expand pictures and articles feature.

  49. Yulia

    November 20th, 2007 at 12:34 am

    Most of the good books are not available for digital view. From my experience only 1 in 4 books I am interested has an option to upgrade to media library for instant reading, does that mean -that with this advice all amazon.com book stock is digital? If yes-then I see the value.

  50. Yulia

    November 20th, 2007 at 12:47 am

    “device” not advice, too late

  51. Thomas

    November 20th, 2007 at 1:05 am

    Just one small comment: on 00:48 in the video on the product page there’s a glimpse of a techcrunch logo, so this should make up for the “ugly as hell” judgement (seems to make into a catchline: “ugly as hell but working”)

  52. n2

    November 20th, 2007 at 1:44 am

    In Berlin we have a beer called Kindle: http://www.berliner-kindl.de/c.....r/737.html
    Cheers!

  53. JustMo

    November 20th, 2007 at 2:28 am

    Call me old fashioned but nothing beats a good paperback. Nothing is more homely than a room full of books. I read ebooks from time to time, and PDF’s are great for reference, but man, does everything have to go digital?

  54. I Am Not Posting To Spam My Blog

    November 20th, 2007 at 4:03 am

    *sigh* I expect that for the next week we’re not going to be able to get away from glowing reviews by people who haven’t had to fork out $400 for this doorstop.

    @54: This isn’t meant for us, it’s meant for people like #23 who look at a lovingly arranged bookshelf, the physical manifestation of a lifetime’s worth of acquired knowledge and fantasy, and see nothing but “paper clutter”. They also use sentences like “I’m interested in adding extrinsic value to my life while at the same time reducing cost of living over time” with a straight face.

  55. jpappo

    November 20th, 2007 at 4:09 am

    It’s sure ugly as hell, it looks like the first Nintendo DS, just rushed out of the production lines. I can imagine how thumbs are gonna hurt on those keys on the bottom. It looks just awful.

  56. JD

    November 20th, 2007 at 5:23 am

    I was really looking forward to this but $400 is too much…

  57. Will

    November 20th, 2007 at 5:47 am

    Agree with JD, price is way too steep for such a big kinda clunky device.

  58. asp indir

    November 20th, 2007 at 6:07 am

    device not advice, too late

  59. Dave Zatz

    November 20th, 2007 at 7:29 am

    I did confirm blogs listed n the Kindle are part of a revenue sharing program. Not sure why no one’s mentioned it. Here’s the email address to request inclusion:
    digitalpublications@amazon.com

  60. Chad

    November 20th, 2007 at 9:12 am

    For such a good idea, it’s really too bad it’s so damn ugly… that thing looks ridiculous and the usability is crap

  61. PJ

    November 20th, 2007 at 9:30 am

    They should get the guy from Reading Rainbow to promote it: “But don’t take my word for it!”

  62. out-smarts

    November 20th, 2007 at 10:09 am

    Another piece of junk to carry around….

  63. Azam

    November 20th, 2007 at 12:47 pm

    This is sort of along the lines of one lap top per child almost. Who cares if its ugly? This isn’t a cellphone you’re going to hold up in the night which will have flickering neon lights. This is about the improvement of YOUR knowledge. Maybe the ugliness is good because then it forces you into your solitary hole and focus on its purpose instead of perched in Starbucks trying to draw attention to pink macbook.

    I’m not sure if technologically it could be touch screen, because of the way touch screen works. I love the fact it is light on the eyes.. that’s a HUGE plus.. because thats essentially the biggest drawback to reading online, except for the fact you may be confined to the locale of your desktop.

    Why repurchase your old books? I see a sense of frantic, cult-like obsession forming in some of the comments I read above. Just do both. Just because you read blogs doesn’t mean you can’t read a printed newspaper. You can do both things damnit.

    This can be good for young people, maybe if the government can endorse/subsidize this. I think this is a space well worth competing for. You don’t necessarily need access to amazon, the blogosphere and independent publications might be good enough, for a cheaper price. I’m guessing something like google android could even appear here.. Google Reader ?!?!!??!?!??!

    The future lies in wearable glasses not anything being held.

  64. dev

    November 20th, 2007 at 3:11 pm

    Does this thing (sorry, the Kindle) have a touch screen?

  65. Dave

    November 20th, 2007 at 4:42 pm

    My Kindle arrived today, and I’ve got to say that I’m absolutely impressed how fast the books I ordered downloaded. For fun I sent a PDF book as an attachment to my @kindle e-mail address (the management of this is pretty slick, you designate “trusted” e-mail address from which you can receive conversion attachments). The PDF is text-based with some images. The text converted perfectly, and the images displayed appropriately in the correct positions, with no overlapping of text.

    Another plus is that the unit feels very solidly built.

    The bad is that the screen is smaller than I expected, the buttons feel very cheap, and the side scroll LCD is so reflective that it is hard to see. I would have preferred a plain black color to a silver color.

    #65 - no touch screen. You select stuff on the screen using the scroll wheel which moves a cursor up the right hand side LCD (which is silver and kinda hard to see, which kind of surprised me).

    #55 - I definitely overthought the wording of my post :) Just the same, I see this not *just* as a replacement for my books. That’s the point I was trying to get across– the value is not *just* in a cheaper way to get books. And if you’re as voracious a reader as me, you would have many more than one bookshelf to “lovingly arrange.”

  66. Ryan M

    November 20th, 2007 at 6:10 pm

    Impressive Etch-a-Sketch skills! Trying this on a Speak&Read…drunsen.com/sr.jpg

  67. Nik S

    November 21st, 2007 at 5:00 am

    Looks like E-Ink will be getting an upgrade within the next 2 years which will make these type of devices more appealing :

    http://www.technologyreview.co.....19736/?a=f

  68. Ben S.

    November 21st, 2007 at 6:02 am

    It looks really dated to me and I think they missed out on not including a touch screen. I like the idea of getting blogs and newspapers but still can’t adjust to the idea of reading books. I reckon Amazon should push it heavily amongst college students. I hated lugging around heavy textbooks or fighting for library copies of books when I was at college. Would be great for them and most college students could afford it (or their parents can afford it).

  69. Nader

    November 21st, 2007 at 3:23 pm

    @45
    EDVO means Evolution-Data Optimized. It is a telecommunications standard for the wireless transmission(broadband) of data through radio signals.

    from http://www.factolex.com/EDVO

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