The v3.01 update is now final and ready for download from Amazon servers, for all Kindle 3's.  Apparently, their private feedback was as good as feedback seen on the Amazon forums. See yesterday's original report of the v3.01 update for the details that were in that. At the linked page (above), Amazon also states: ' We're excited to announce that a new, free software update is available for the latest generation Kindle 6" device.  This software update adds the ability to create a new Amazon.com account directly from your Kindle, as well as additional performance...

Amazon wants feedback on an "early preview of the next software update" for Kindle 3 and refers to this update-preview as software update version 3.01. They stress this is offered so that "Customers who want to try this early release of the software and provide feedback can download the update from their servers." Amazon explains that this update will add ' the ability to create a new Amazon.com account directly from your Kindle, as well as additional performance improvements. After installing this update, please share your feedback with us at kindle-response@amazon.com.  We look forward to hearing about...

 I’m chairing an absolutely amazing panel of speakers this weekend at the Mountains To Sea book festival. The discussion is about books, readers and writers in the digital age. I’m including the description below and tickets can be booked HERE Readers, Writers and the Digital Revolution Recently, Jeff Bezos reported that Amazon now sells more e-books than new hardbacks. What does this portend for the future of reading? Are traditional bookshops, the paperback, the novel itself facing extinction? A stellar panel of experts debates the question – how will we be reading in the year 2020? Tim...

 You can add Iowa Western Community College (IWCC) to your list of libraries going “bookless” or “all electronic.” The article linked below quotes IWCC president, Dan Kinney, saying it’s all cyber from this point forward and the college will stop acquiring books. We’re not sure if this means all printed material but from the extremely positive tone about the electronic world that Kinney shares in the article, it sounds like no paper at all. The article mentions the time it took to get materials from another library. Kinney says, “Now, it’s right there,” he said. “They want...

 With Andrew Wylie “threatening” (via FT.com, Registration Required) to expand his exclusive book deal with Amazon.com (OdysseyEditions) we thought some of you might find it both useful and interesting to review the Wylie Agency client list. The only thing we don’t know is how current this list is. It’s long, contains the names of MANY well-known authors, or their estates. Access the Complete List From the Financial Times: Wylie theatens broad digital expansion (Registration Required for Full Text, Free) Andrew Wylie, the literary agent whose exclusive deal with Amazon.com last week stunned the publishing world, has threatened a broad...

 Where I buy a print book often comes down to convenience (which store is closest), pricing, availability (is the book in stock?) and loyalty programs (e.g., member discounts).  The choice of a brick-and-mortar vs. an online store adds in the component of urgency; do you need the book today or can it wait till tomorrow? I'm buying ebooks almost exclusively now.  In fact, I can't even recall the last print book I bought for myself.  Although I ditched my Kindle on day one with my iPad, I do most of my book reading in...

Donna Fasano’s first novel was published by Harlequin Silhouette in 1990, and it was chosen by the Romance Writers of America as a finalist for its Golden Hearts Award. In the twenty years that followed, Fasano–sometimes using the pen name Donna Clayton–published over 30 novels via the traditional publishing route, won the HOLT Medallion three times, and sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide. In December 2009, however, she tried something different: she self-published her new book The Merry-Go-Round, which had at one time been in the hands of a large publisher (more on that below), through Amazon’s Kindle Store. Now it’s...

Jason Davis at Book Bee is certainly the most insect-friendly ebooker I know. He's just incubated and hatched Ebook Ant, a new ebook search and comparison site. Currently they've indexed 270,000 non-public domain ebooks from "the likes of ebooks.com, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and more. There are also almost 40,000 emagazines, from emagazines.com and others, eTextbooks from eCampus.com and CengageBrain, newspapers from wherever we could get ‘em, and even eChapters." Take a look. Actually, if I had done it I would have tried to be a bit more Australian about it all and would have named the site Ebook Tobacco...

I so wanted to say something nice about Barnes & Noble, the Nook, and its new B&N eReader App for the iPad. I've been a little harsh at times in the past, I'll admit: even as recently as yesterday. So, after reading early reviews of the iPad app from a couple of colleagues, and seeing how, as in the above screenshot, it had already soared to the top of all free apps in the iPad App Store, I was ready. I had even written a headline in my mind for the post: New Reading App from B&N Advances iPad Experience At the very...

Probably my favourite assignment for Teleread this year was having a chance this week to sit down this week and talk shop (for over two hours!) with Michael Serbinis, the CEO of Kobo Books. I got to sample the Kobo app for iPad in its full big-screen glory, got my hands on a demo model of the new Kobo Reader, and had all my ebook questions answered, straight from the top. I had been a long-time Fictionwise customer and watching the decline in their customer service over the last year has really been sad for me. I was feeling like an...

Screen size of the new PocketBook 360 is five inches, and  supposedly the price will be $300. But here’s the real news. A $400 model with a six-inch touch screen, Blue Tooth, GPRS and 3G will follow in October if all goes as planned. The more expensive model, at least, is to let you connect a keyboard via Blue Tooth. Possibilities for note-taking? What’s more there’ll be an RSS reader. Salvation for news junkies on the go? Check out the page-changing interfaces for both models shown in the videos. What do you think? Beyond the PocketBooks: The e-reader as a commodity At the macro level,...