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Author Archives: blueZhift

Amazon Brings The Pain With KDP Select!

By blueZhift | December 9th, 2011

As a runner, I was always taught to never look back at the competition. Keep moving forward, never slow down. With its introduction of the KDP Select program for self-publishers, Amazon clearly intends to add to its already commanding lead in the eBook market. KDP Select adds a number of new features that self-publishers on […]

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Runners in Different Races: Amazon Fire vs iPad

By blueZhift | December 7th, 2011

As expected, Black Friday sales of the Kindle Fire were very good and some analyst project that Amazon will sell 4 to 5 million Fire tablets before the end of the year. While there have been some indications that sales have cooled a bit, right now there’s no reason to believe that the Fire is […]

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New Nook Tablet Plays With Fire At High Price

By blueZhift | November 7th, 2011

Barnes & Noble unveiled their new Nook Tablet today, boasting higher specs than Amazon’s Kindle Fire in nearly every measure, including price. The new Nook weighs in at $249 versus $199 for Amazon’s tablet. Barnes & Noble also announced immediate price cuts of the current Nook Color to $199 and the Nook Simple Touch to […]

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Amazon Fires Up HTML 5 In Kindle Format 8 To Replace Mobi

By blueZhift | October 22nd, 2011

Amazon has announced HTML 5 support in the upcoming Kindle Format 8. Kindle Format 8 (KF8) will replace Mobi 7 in the Kindle Fire and eventually the entire Kindle line of eReaders. Amazon has a complete list of KF8 enhancements here. For me the main excitement is the fact that my very HTML centric method […]

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Goodbye Steve And Thanks For All The Cool Stuff!

By blueZhift | October 6th, 2011

As most people know by now, Steve Jobs passed away yesterday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. If I had to name one person who’s had the most influence on what technology I use and how I use it, it would have to be Steve Jobs. This site and the Learncrest venture exist and […]

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JManga Announces Sale And iPad App In The Works

By blueZhift | October 5th, 2011

Online legal Japanese manga site JManga launched back in August with a lot of titles never before available to English speaking readers. One could see from the number of titles and the scope of the site that it was indeed an ambitious undertaking involving most of the major manga publishers in Japan. But early reports […]

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Amazon Lights Kindle Fire, Nook Color May Get Burned

By blueZhift | September 28th, 2011

In probably one of the worst kept secrets in tech history, Amazon unveiled its much anticipated new color Kindle today, the Kindle Fire. In addition to the Fire, Amazon is releasing 3 new eInk Kindles, a $79 non-touch model and two touch screen Kindles. One with WiFi and the other 3G. While this Bloomberg report […]

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A Riggatron Model For Education

By blueZhift | September 25th, 2011

One of the current controversies in Chicago is Mayor Emanuel’s proposal to add 90 minutes to the school day. The idea is to use the additional time for reading and math. Needless to say, the teachers are not happy with the largely unilateral way this was introduced, ignoring the collective bargaining agreement with the Chicago […]

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Let’s Burn Down The Great Library of Alexandria Again!

By blueZhift | September 17th, 2011

I first learned of the Great Library of Alexandria as a kid watching Carl Sagan talk about it on his show, Cosmos on my local PBS station. Like Sagan, I was greatly saddened by the story of its destruction and the great setback to human progress that represented. Books were my greatest treasure growing up, […]

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Free eBook: Rolled Up Dimensionality

By blueZhift | September 12th, 2011

Everyone likes free stuff! Now through the end of the year, Rolled Up Dimensionality: Short stories from a forgotten life, is free on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod! The book is a collection of SciFi short stories inspired somewhat by the great pulp classics of the 1950’s and 60’s. If there’s enough interest, the good […]

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