The Kindle Chronicles

Latest Episodes:

TKC 453 Bufo Calvin in Virtual Reality Apr 08, 2017

Show notes

Creator of I Love My Kindle and The Measured Circle

Interview starts at 6:14 and ends at 43:10

"It would also be able to know what your preferences are--that's one of the biggest things about what we'll see eventually with Virtual Reality. So for myself as a vegetarian, I could walk down that virtual aisle and have things that were for vegetarians maybe have a green outline on them, so that I could tell what was what."

News

"Amazon exec steps in as CEO Jeff Bezos's new 'shadow'" by Rachel Lerman at The Seattle Times - March 14, 2017

Jeffrey Helbling on LinkedIn

"Amazon will start collecting sales tax nationwide starting April 1st" by Nick Statt at The Verge - March 24, 2017

"Amazon to hire 5,000 remote customer-service reps, part of drive to add 30,000 part-timers" by Angel Gonzales at The Seattle Times - April 6, 2017

Info on Nights & Weekends part-time Customer Service Associate jobs at Amazon

Amazon info page for AmazonCash

"Amazon allows customers to add cash to their accounts at brick-and-mortar retailers" by Angel Gonzalez at The Seattle Times - April 3, 2017

Tech Tip

"Pogue's Basics: Make Amazon Echo tell you when it's transmitting" by David Pogue

Interview with Bufo Calvin

Bufo's I Love My Kindle blog

Bufo's The Measured Circle blog

"Videos in VR: Hulu vs. Netflix" By Bufo Calvin at The Measured Circle

Samsung Gear VR headset

vTime

Chimera Reader VR app

Oculus Rift VR headset

HTC Vive headset

The Fourth Transformation: How Augmented Reality & Artificial Intelligence Will Change Everything by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

"Virtually Mike & Nora on Hulu" (YouTube)

Play Cardboard apps on Gear VR (Google Play store)

SideloadVR for GearVR (Google Play)

Content

Readly app at Amazon

Readly AT&T terms

"Readly Launches Exclusive Program with AT&T Thanks" at Crossroads Today - March 28, 2017

Outro

"Will Virtual Reality Replace Skype" - April 6, 2017. This is my Medium essay about the interview with Bufo Calvin in vTime.

Music for my podcast is from an original Thelonius Monk composition named "Well, You Needn't." This version is "Ra-Monk" by Eval Manigat on the "Variations in Time: A Jazz Perspective" CD by Public Transit Recording" CD.

Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

TKC 452 Timothy DeLizza Apr 01, 2017

Show notes

Author of "Jerry (from accounting)"

Interview starts at 14:56 and ends at 45:09

"I love what Amazon is doing in terms of giving access to a platform in a kind of populist way. I think that is incredibly helpful. I think the distribution is amazing. It creates new readers. I love the $2 price point for a novella. I think that's definitely expanding who can have access to the writing and quality writing. Historically speaking the Big Five were very focused on content and less on how the distribution was happening, and that was what they were pretty good at. Amazon's strength was in more distribution and being ahead of the curve on the eBooks. I think Amazon now is catching up and really focusing on content across the board."

News

"Amazon's Ambitions Unboxed: Stores for Furniture, Appliances and More" by Nick Wingfield at The New York Times - March 25, 2017

"Amazon, the world's most remarkable firm, is just getting started" at The Economist - March 25, 2017

"Amazon could become our leading physical retailer before very long" by Mike Shatzkin - March 21, 2017

"Busy Week for Amazon Ends with Stock Surge to Record Close" by Angel Gonzalez at The Seattle Times - March 31, 2017

Tech Tip

Is your Amazon Fire HD 8 sluggish? Try shutting off some apps.

Interview with Timothy DeLizza

Day One Magazine (send submissions to dayone-submissions@amazon.com)

Jerry (from accounting) by Timothy DeLizza

Goodreads page for Jerry (from accounting)

My Medium post which mentions Jerry (from accounting) - March 8, 2016

The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens

"Spiritual and Menial Housework" by Dorothy Roberts at Yale Journal of Law & Feminism - 1997

Growing Up Absurd: Problems of Youth in the Organized Society by Paul Goodman

Latham & Watkins

Amazon Publishing's Little a imprint for literary fiction and nonfiction

Books Timothy DeLizza is currently reading: There Are More Beautiful Things than Beyonce by Morgan Parker, Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones, Human Acts: A Novel by Han Kang

Outro

"Dr. Ruth Readies for Blast Off!" (video released by Amazon Publishing for April 1, 2017)

Next Week's Guest

Bufo Calvin of the I Love My Kindle blog and I will rendezvous in Virtual Reality via an app named vTime to discuss how Amazon may get involved in VR this year.

Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

You can follow my essays on travel, authors, technology, politics, and daily life at Medium.

Right-click here and then click "Save Link As..." to download the audio to your computer, phone, or MP3 player.

TKC 451 Patrick Coggins Mar 25, 2017

Show notes

Co-founder of Ask My Buddy

Interview starts at 18:45 and ends at 41:25

"In terms of users or penetration, I would say that Google Home probably represents about less than 10 percent on our network. [Alexa has the rest.] That's just time out there, the commercials. They're just more widely known. Also, I would say the reduction in price, coming out with the Dot for 49 bucks--that was an end all. There were millions that went out. I would say that the price point developed a stronger user base for Amazon."

Audio and links from South By Southwest

PARCO shopping mall in Japan

"Facebook debuts its first dedicated virtual reality app, Facebook 360" by Lucas Matney at Techcrunch - March 8, 2016

Ana Benitez, President, Storyrocket

Khushi Baby health monitor in India

Felix & Paul Studios (interview with Robin Lippman, content coordinator)

"Is this the future of movies?' by Len Edgerly at Medium - March 14, 2016

"At 40 minutes, Miyubi is the first VR movie to feel like a real film" by Adi Robertson at The Verge - January 24, 2017

Deen Wright, founder of BASE, Buy and Sell Everything

Tech Tip

My Medium post which explains how to set up and use Ask My Buddy on Alexa

Interview with Patrick Coggins

Ask My Buddy website

Ask My Buddy smartphone/tablet apps for iPhone (iOS) and Android

Alexa devices from Amazon: Echo, Tap, and Dot (2nd Generation)

Google Home

Mycroft open-source platform

4AFart Alexa skill

Google's api.ai tool

Alexa web portal

"Amazon plans to release new Alexa devices that can make phone calls and work as intercoms" by Jason Del Rey at Recode - March 3, 2017

Next Week's Guest

Timothy DeLizza, author of "Jerry (from accounting)"

Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

TKC 450 South By Southwest Interactive Mar 18, 2017

Show notes

David Measer of RPA Advertising and Lisa Pecot-Hebert of USC

Interview starts at 25:08 and ends at 49:15

I expected the smaller cities in the U.S. to be places where eventually trends made their way there and that they'd be listening to music that I listened to 10 years ago, or wearing fashion that was old. And it wasn't like that at all. These places, cities that I couldn't even identify on a map before I went--Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Fargo, North Dakota; Moorehead, Minnesota; Omaha, Nebraska--were actually places that were thriving in their own way. They really had an identity of their own, and they felt like they were leading the charge. They weren't drafting off of the big coastal cities. (David Measer)

Shorter Interviews at SXSW (with times at which they start)

Steph Hay, head of conversation design at Capital One. (5:32)

Scott Totman, head of mobile technology, payments and innovation at Capital One (10:40)

"The Urgency of Now: Launching the Biden Cancer Initiative" - Joe Biden's talk at SXSW (13:03)

Omar Siddiqui, CEO of Kiwi Inc., creators of Sequel, a bot-creation platform. He was a presenter at "Best Bot Practices" session. (17:31)

Facebook Messenger

Romance Now, a bot available on Kik

Interview with David Measer and Lisa Pecot-Hebert

"One Hundred Million People You Don't Know But Should" - event description at SXSW. Click here for my liveblog of the session. You will need to click again on the post headline to see the individual liveblog entries.

David Measer

Lisa Pecot-Hebert

Vice

Next Week's Show:

More from South By Southwest

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TKC 449 Patricia Cornwell Mar 10, 2017

Show notes

Author of Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert

Interview starts at 10:27 and ends at 41:38

"Billie Jean King is very aware of my Ripper book, and we talked about it when I began all this investigation in 2001, because Billie Jean had been a friend of mine for many years. We talked about this, and she said, 'You need to talk to the people at Amazon about this, because this is a really unusual project.'" (Photo Credit: Ecclesine)

News

Author Earnings report for February 2017

"Amazon could hammer the final nail into the iPad's coffin" by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes at ZDENet -n March 6, 2017

Interview with Patricia Cornwell

Patricia Cornwell's books at Amazon.com

Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert by Patricia Cornwell

Next Week's Show

Interviews and new ideas from South By Southwest Interactive in Austin. Click here for a link to the events I have favorited and may attend.

Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

TKC 448 Michael Anderle Mar 04, 2017

Show notes

Author of The Kutherian Gambit series

Interview starts at 10:15 and ends at 43:51

"When I originally put out Book 1 I had no idea if anyone cared about my stories. I didn't want to invest a lot of time, money, and effort if nobody wanted to read it."

News

"Site of Amazon's Cloud glitch made it especially disruptive" by Angel Gonzalez at The Seattle Times - February 28, 2017

"The embarrassing reason behind Amazon's huge cloud computing outage this week" by Brian Fung at The Washington Post - March 2, 2017

"Summary of the Amazon S3 Service Disruption in the Northern Virginia (US-EAST-1) Region" - Amazon Web Services statement

"Amazon Cloud Snafu Snarls Web Traffic" at WSJ What's News podcast - March 1, 2017

"Amazon Unveils First East Coast Bricks and Mortar" by Alex Green at Publishers Weekly - February 28, 2017

"Amazon plans to release new Alexa devices that can make phone calls and work as intercoms" by Jason Del Rey at Recode - March 3, 2017

Tech Tip

Lazy-Hands grip for tablet and e-readers

Interview with Michael Anderle

The Kutherian Gambit series by Michael Anderle

Stephen Campbell's interviews with Michael Anderle at The Author Biz on November 15, 2016 and January 25, 2016

Trader's Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series by Nathan Lowell

Her Royal Runner (The Courier Chronicles Book 0) by Joey Anderle

Next Week's Guest

Patricia Cornwell, author of Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert

Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

TKC 447 Stephen Campbell Feb 25, 2017

Show notes

Author of Four Seasons of Reno Hart and Creator of The Author Biz podcast

Interview starts at 10:33 and ends at 42:30

"The power of Amazon Publishing--if you've written a good book and the people at Amazon support the book--there are so many levers and knobs that they can turn to put it in front of the people who will like it. It is astonishing. There's nothing like it."

News

Amazon discount to celebrate Harris Poll ranking - press release on February 22, 2017

"With Amazon Books, Jeff Bezos Is Solving Digital Retail's Biggest Design Flaw" by Noah Robischon at Fast Company - February 13, 2017

"9 Statistics Writers Should Know About Amazon" by Jane Friedman at JaneFriedman.com - February 16, 2017

Tech Tip

Wool Omnibus Edition (Wool 1-5) by Hugh Howie with Kindle in Motion update

Interview with Stephen Campbell

The Author Biz website and podcast

Four Seasons of Reno Hart by Stephen R. Campbell

The Hardy Boys Starter Set (5 Volumes) by Franklin W. Dixon

Cozy Mysteries (new releases in 2016) at Amazon.com

Mysteries by Agatha Christie

The Taylor Stevens Show podcast

Books by Taylor Stevens

Books by Paul Levine

Mysteries by Harry Bingham (99-cent sale ends February 24, 2017)

Books by Barbara Nickless, and her website

The World's Best Cat Litter

Content

Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert [Kindle in Motion] by Patricia Cornwell

"Jack the Ripper: Patricia Cornwell 'Proves' Walter Sickert Was the Killer in Second Book" by Sara C Nelson at Huffington Post - February 21, 2017

Next Week's Guest

Michael Anderle, author of The Kurtherian Gambit series

Outro

My talented niece Fran Betlyon sings my father's favorite song on his 90th birthday on February 18.

Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

TKC 446 Brady Dale Feb 17, 2017

Show notes

Technology Reporter at Observer.com

Interview starts at 10:30 and ends at 42:19

"That's why I call this whole printed book thing fetishism. What's more important? Is literature and writing important or is this object more important? I think literature is more important, and writing is important. I don't really care how people read it. I just really want to push back on this idea that there's something sad that we've lost because print books are fading, when what I care about is not print or first editions. I care about people reading and the act of writing and that creative work."

News

"Amazon Alexa Voice Service Coming to DTS Play-Fi" - September 28, 2017

"Why Amazon is the World's Most Innovative Company of 2017" by Noah Robischon at Fast Company - February 13, 2017

"Amazon.com Takes Aim at Victoria's Secret With Its Own $10 Bras" by Khadeeja Safdar and Laura Stevens at The Wall Street Journal - February 10, 2017

"AWS Announces Amazon Chime" - press release February 14, 2017

Amazon Chime

Tech Tip

"Owners of first and second generation Kindles can't register them" by Andrew Liptak at The Verge - February 11, 2017

"Amazon Tap's new hands-free Alexa update means it's actually useful" by Lauren Goode at The Verge - February 9, 2017

Interview with Brady Dale

"Despite What You Heard, The E-Book Market Never Stopped Growing" by Brady Dale at Observer.com - January 18, 2017

"Titans of Kindle" series by Brady Dale

Podiobooks

"How to reach me secretly and securely" by Brady Dale at Medium - February 12, 2017

"On Twitter, Users Shouldn't Need a Name" by Brady Dale at Observer.com - February 14, 2017

Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

TKC 445 Betty Anholt Feb 10, 2017

Show notes

Historian at the Sanibel Public Library

Interview starts at 3:01 and ends at 34:30

[On Anne Morrow Lindbergh:] "Going up and learning how to fly--I mean, in that era was pretty impressive. I'm kind of struck by the fact that a lot of times when we look back and say 'Gee, in the 50s it was kind of daring of a woman to do that." It may have been as a wide generality, but there have always been daring women. You can go back to Cleopatra, and there's plenty of them around."

News

"Amazon hunts for London shops" by Aimee Donnellan and Simon Duke at The Sunday Times - February 5, 2017

Tech Tip

"Amazon's Tap Speaker gets a hands-free update in defiance of its name" by Brian Heater at TechCrunch - February 9, 2017

Interview with Betty Anholt

Sanibel Public Library

Sanibel's Story: Voices and Images from Calusa to Incorporation by Betty Anholt

Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum

Poetry by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Listen! The Wind by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, winner of the 1939 National Book Award

N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge

Sanibel Island Light House

Next Week's Guest

Brady Dale, of Observer.com, author of "Despite What You Heard, the E-Book Market Never Stopped Growing" on January 18, 2017

Outro

The Author Biz hosted by Stephen Campbell

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Right-click here and then click "Save Link As..." to download the audio to your computer, phone, or MP3 player.

TKC 444 Thad McIlroy Feb 03, 2017

Show notes

President of The Future of Publishing

Interview starts at 8:19 and ends at 44:04

"I'm convinced that if you want to retain your job in publishing moving forward, unless you're demonstrably technology adept, you're going to lose your job. Yeah, there's room for 100 amazing editors who can't even use a computer, but that's not the run-of-the-mill worker in publishing today. They need to be imbued with a knowledge of technology."

News

Amazon's earnings (Forbes) - February 2, 2017

Amazon press release on earnings

Walmart going after Amazon Prime (Recode) - January 31, 2017

David Frum in The Atlantic's March issue

Jeff Bezos statement on immigration executive order

Give Trump a Chance debate

Interview with Thad McIlroy

The Future of Publishing website

"An Authoritative Look at Book Publishing Startups" by Thad McIlroy

Shelfie

"Shelfie Closes" by Jim Milliot at Publishers Weekly - January 31, 2017