Amazon Reveals 4 New Kindles in NYC
A smarter Scribe--and color!
To hear the related 5-minute audio file that I uploaded today as my Morning Journal flash briefing for Alexa devices, please click on the play button:
After the Embargo
I’ve been up since 3 a.m. finishing today’s special episode of The Kindle Chronicles, which will be released at precisely 9 a.m. EDT. That’s when you will see coverage of Amazon’s four new Kindles here, there, and everywhere gadget hounds are gathered for hints of the future.
About 40 media reps gathered yesterday morning here in New York City for a two-hour introduction to the brand new Kindle Colorsoft and new versions of the basic Kindle, Paperwhite, and Scribe.
I had a chance to sit down with Kevin Keith, a frequent guest of the pod, for a conversation after the formal presentations and hands-on demos. He’s a smart guy who came to Amazon from Microsoft in 2012 to work on the Kindle and other devices.
Generative AI is coming to the Scribe in the form of Summarize and Refine capabilities for notebooks. The idea is you can scribble away on the Scribe and then tap for the AI to refine your words into something legible, via a new script font. You can also tap for Scribe to create a brief summary of your notes, with bullet points. These features will not be available when the Scribe ships on December 12th, but they are coming soon.
I showed Kevin how I use my AI Pin as a Book Buddy when I’m reading my Paperwhite. He’d never seen someone use the pin and was intrigued.
Panos Panay, who moved from Microsoft to Amazon a year ago to head devices and services, displayed a welcome passion for reading, writing, and all things Kindle during his remarks from the stage.
Panos said Kindle sales last year were the highest in more than a decade, and 60 percent of them were to first-time Kindle users. Fun fact: more than 20.8 billion pages are read each month on Kindle devices.
I will catch the Acela at Penn Station today at 12:30 pm and switch to the bus at South Station for the ride to Portland. Darlene says there is a freeze warning tonight in Ocean Park. Florida here we come!
Devon Corvasce and the rest of the Amazon PR team did a great job here yesterday. I had a ball, and I hope you will enjoy the show.
Here is the audio for today’s one-hour Kindle Chronicles episode, available wherever fine podcasts are given away for free:
Cool. i didn't realize what a Mega Nerd (in the Gen X still cool kind of way), you are! I felt like I was reading a professional review and one of those journals that my dad used to subscribe to like MacWorld and stuff like that..
Anyway, I really enjoyed it. Thanks again, Len!