Amazon

The Future of Reading?

by dldamore

The Future of Reading?

Recently, Amazon released new Kindle models. With this introduction Amazon is beginning a push to integrate their Kindle e-books with their Audible audio books. Recently, I’ve noticed that if you buy the Kindle version first, you can purchase the corresponding audiobook version for a greatly deducted price. As I recall, the deal would be about $16. The idea is that you can read an e-book and switch to the audio version for listening on the go. The beauty is that the version are synced. Meaning, the versions can pick up where you left off in the other format. 

How will combination ebooks and audio books change the face of learning? Some people find it hard to sit for long periods of time reading a book. If, after an hour of reading it might be useful to get up and go for a walk… and, while you are out, continue listening to the book you were reading.

 

Bottom Line

This is an idea that will shape the future. 

 

Notes:

This is a quick post. There may be some incomplete thoughts and other typographical errors. This was written while listing (live) to Amplified, the 5by5 podcast with Dan Benjamin and Jim Dalrymple. iOS 6 comes out later today.

 

Harvard Business Review, do you want to sell more articles?

by dldamore

July 19, 2012

12:39 PM

While reading a book on a Kindle electronic reader, it came to me that there is not an easy way to order, buy or read the reference materials at the end of each chapter. It would be great if there was a way to get a preview, order, buy and read the article inside the Amazon ecosystem.

Harvard Business Review, do you want to sell more articles?

Notes: The book is The Innovator’s Solution. There are a lot of articles that interest me in the chapter end notes. There seems no easy way to order and buy them yet.

Original title for this post: Reading Resources – Increasing Sales

Lubricity of Commerce

12:46 PM

Postal Service to test lockers, following Amazon’s lead

by dldamore

Fascinating article.

 

Postal Service to test lockers, following Amazon’s lead:

 

Credit: Courier Express & Postal Observer

The U.S. Postal Service plans to start testing its own locker system for packages, similar to the lockers that Amazon.com has been rolling out on a trial basis, according to a report this week by the Courier Express & Postal Observer news site.

USPS will test the system at a variety of locations in Northern Virginia under the name “gopost,” according to the site.

 

(Via GeekWire)

Questions:

What if the USPS placed these lockers in high density areas, areas that had access to a warehouse nearby?

Could the USPS do same day delivery of items from a warehouse a few miles away to a locker close to where you live or work?

What kind of premium could be charged for such speedy service?

Would people value it enough for the USPS to make money?

Other thoughts

Time will tell if something like a more centralized delivery system could work. For a while I’ve thought that the USPS would put some sort of locker-box (Like the ones apartments have) up the street for the 50 or so house on this block. Mail could probably be delivered in less than 15 minutes for the whole block rather than what is probably an hour now. Certainly there would be much less walking for carriers. The USPS delivery vehicle could probably be parked less than 25 feet from the locker-box and perhaps as close as 5 feet.

Four Firms to Watch in Consumer Technology

by dldamore

The four consumer technology and Internet firms to watch over the next five years and possibly beyond are, in no particular order.

  • Apple
  • Amazon
  • Facebook
  • Google

These firms are starting to have overlapping products and services.

  • Books
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Social Services
  • Content Consumption … (New types may be created in the not to distant future)
  • Communications (Phone, IM, Email …)
  • Images / Photography
  • Community (similar to Social Services) [sort of like Meetup.com]
  • Cloud storage – Apple – iCloud, Google – Gdrive (?), Amazon – Cloud Drive

 

Notes:

These firms have been competing in similar spaces for a while now. Apple has been selling music in the iTunes Music Store since April 2003 and Amazon has been selling MP3’s since September 2007. Google recently introduce Music Beta by Google.

Will Facebook get into streaming movies? They recently added Spotify integration to make their music offering more robust.

Amazon has a streaming movie service, Amazon Instant Video, and Google has YouTube. What will happen to Hulu? Will one of these four players make a move to buy it or create a strategic partnership?