Cody Taylor

PL/SQL Guy writes “The Kindle has a number of “remote kill” flags built in to the hardware that, among other things, allow the text-to-speech function to be disabled at any time on a book-by-book basis. ‘Beginning yesterday, Random House Publishers began to disable text-to-speech remotely. The TTS function has apparently been remotely disabled in over 40 works so far.’ But what no one at Amazon will discuss is what other flags are lurking in the Kindle format: is there a “read only once” flag? A “no turning the pages backwards” flag?”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Twice this week, I’ve engaged in conversations about Apple missing the boat on potentially sweet markets that would have fit right into its iTunes growth strategy. Amazon’s Kindle-DX and the announcement by Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser of a forthcoming product, code-named Facet. Real’s DVD-ripping technology is should be available in iTunes.

theodp writes “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what’s the noblest Amazon Kindle DX project of all? While other universities announced similar programs, Princeton is boasting its project is unique in that it will focus on sustainability by reducing the amount of electronic-reserve course materials that students print. Under the pilot program, ,000 will reportedly be used to provide 50 lucky Princeton students with 9 Kindle DX devices loaded with materials for three courses. In a FAQ, students are told not to worry about ‘this time of severe economic constraints’ — Princeton and Amazon have managed to tap into a fund specifically endowed to support sustainability projects to provide Kindles at no cost. In addition to a ,000 grant from the High Meadows Foundation, which is headed by Princeton alum Carl Ferenbach (who, coincidentally, serves on the Board of Trustees of the Environmental Defense Fund with the wife of Amazon Director John Doerr), a matching amount will be provided by Princeton alum Jeff Bezos’ Amazon. The E-reader Pilot Program has more information.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Amazon’s e-reader gets bigger and better with the debut of the Kindle DX.

The event hasn’t yet started, but just as with the Kindle 2, Amazon’s web monkeys have jumped the gun and posted the Kindle DX product page live a little early. 9, are they serious?

Amazon as promised announced the Kindle DX, its extra-large version of its e-book reader. The device centers on a 9.7-inch E Ink display that provides a larger view of newspapers and also has an iPhone-like accelerometer, twice as much storage, and (finally) native PDF support.

theodp writes with news that details for the Kindle DX are now available. “Specs-wise, the big changes are a larger 9.7-inch screen that rotates to landscape display, a PDF reader, and more storage space. The Kindle DX carries a 9 price tag (compared to the 9 Kindle 2).” Engadget has a series of pictures from Jeff Bezos’ presentation, and the Amazon product information page has further details and a video. According to the press release, Amazon has worked out a deal with The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post to “offer the Kindle DX at a reduced price to readers who live in areas where home-delivery is not available.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader writes “One day before Amazon is scheduled to unveil its widescreen Kindle aimed at newspaper readers, the e-commerce giant has been awarded its first US patent for an e-book reader. The new patent, D591,741, is a design patent which protects the look and feel of the Kindle shell, not for fundamental technologies. Those patents are mostly held by E Ink Corp., which makes the ‘liquidless paper’ display. Sony, IBM, and the Discovery cable TV network also have e-book patents. Amazon, though the leading e-book seller, has none, but the patent award indicates they’ve applied for at least four recently.” Also in Kindle news, PC World has a brief article up on the larger-screen Kindle DX (expected to launch Wednesday), including pictures first spotted on Engadget.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

We just got some blurry photos and specs for the new, decidedly more newspaper- and college textbook-friendly Amazon Kindle DX. Here’s what we know: it’s got a 9.7-inch display (as opposed to the current six-inch unit), a long-requested built-in PDF reader, and the ability to add annotations in addition to notes and highlights.

Go ahead and grab the salt shaker, ’cause this one’s nowhere near carved in stone… or is it? A breaking report from The New York Times has it that Amazon will introduce a larger version of its Kindle e-reader “as early as this week,” one that’s tailored for “displaying newspapers, magazines and perhaps textbooks.”