• Bing made an early debut, but Microsoft’s new search service is about to test new social and legal limits in its presentation of video clips. On Bing, “thumbnail”-sized video clips play automatically when a cursor hovers over them. That might be as far as any major company has gone to test the limits of the “fair use” defence to copyright infringement when it comes to video content.
• Prime View International, the Taiwanese maker of screens for Amazon’s Kindle e-book readers, aims to consolidate its hold on the nascent “electronic paper” industry by acquiring E Ink, the US company that owns key technology for making the screens. Continue reading "techfile 2.06.09"

New York media correspondent Kenneth Li reports:

Not all subscribers are born equal.

Imagine my surprise when I, a faithful subscriber to The New Yorker on Amazon’s Kindle, was denied full access to the NewYorker.com.

That’s what happened yesterday after I tried to pull up a copy of the much-discussed Carlos Slim profile in the latest edition of The New Yorker from its website, but was denied access. It is restricted to print subscribers.

Like other periodicals eyeing a bleak print advertising future, The New Yorker has begun restricting full website access to those who pay for the print copy or pay specifically for the right to access the site. Continue reading "The price of Kindle subscriptions"

A new e-reader entrant is pitching itself as cheaper, lighter and more open than Amazon’s Kindle or Sony’s Reader, and with a larger selection of titles.

The Cool-er is the brainchild of Neil Jones, an avid reader and entrepreneur, whose company is based, appropriately, in Reading, in the UK. Continue reading "Cool-er e-reader takes on the Kindle"

The FT’s Lex column examines why the Kindle is no panacea for newspapers.

Newspaper executives increasingly believe gadgets such as the Kindle, Amazon’s sleek e-book reader, might fix their industry’s malfunctioning business model. This week, the New York Times, Boston Globe and Washington Post announced plans to subsidise the cost of new Kindles to win electronic subscribers in certain markets. Even Rupert Murdoch, chief executive of News Corp, is making noises about handheld gadgets. If enough people bought them, the NYT, for example, could theoretically save up to 35 per cent of its flagship paper’s operating costs if it sold only paperless subscriptions.

One problem is how to reach the point whereby electronic subscriptions make up for lost newspaper sales.

Continue reading “Newspapers and the Kindle”

Gadget Guru Paul Taylor has been covering the launch of Amazon.com’s new Kindle DX. Today he takes a historical view of the product, arguing that Amazon is in fact a latecomer to the e-book game.

Based on the buzz around Amazon’s latest Kindle wireless electronic book reader – the big screen Kindle DX, which will cost $489 – it would be easy to think that the US online book and electronics retailer invented the e-book reader category.

Amazon was rather late to the game. E-book readers began appearing at the end of the 1990s.

Continue reading “Amazon late to e-book game”

• Amazon launched the Kindle DX, expanding its dominance in the e-reader market while offering a more attractive platform for publishers of textbooks and newspapers. The Kindle DX received complimentary reviews from many critics, who appreciated its large display and enhanced capabilities. Others however, were unconvinced that the DX was a big breakthrough.
• Microsoft has stirred up fresh complaints of anti-competitive behaviour with its release this week of a late-stage trial version of the next Windows PC operating system. The complaints, from some of the leading makers of web browsers, look set to intensify the software company’s regulatory headaches just as it is seeking to head off swingeing anti-trust action from the European Commission over a related issue. Continue reading "techfile 07.05.09"

Amazon is claiming to offer newspapers a new lease of life with the larger-screen Kindle DX, which transforms reading the printed versions of publications into an easier-to-carry internet-delivered digital experience.

The trend is towards a more literal and fixed digital representation of newspapers, likely to appeal to older audiences. However, in many ways, the more interesting experiments in new media are happening elsewhere, and have more to do with changing the fundamental reading (and writing) experience. Continue reading "A richer first draft of history"

• The US Federal Trade Commission is looking into the close ties between the boards of Apple and Google, according to the New York Times. The regulators are looking at whether the fact that Apple and Google share two directors, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and former Genentech chief executive Arthur Levinson, while also competing in several areas, falls foul of anti-trust laws, the New York Times said.
• Amazon is on Wednesday expected to announce a large-format device similar to the Kindle that is optimised for reading textbooks, newspapers and magazines. Amazon has taken the lead in the rapidly emerging market for e-book readers with its Kindle and Kindle 2. Continue reading "techfile 05.05.09"