Amazon unveils new Kindle DX in New York

If you thought the Kindle 2.0 was nice but too small, and have $489 you want to spend, then the just-announced Kindle DX is for you.

At a news conference today in New York, Jeff Bezos unveiled the next generation of the Kindle, which has an 8.5-by-11-inch screen. It's a significant size upgrade, as you can see from Amazon's comparison, above. The larger screen means less scrolling and zooming, but it's the only significant technological change from the Kindle 2.0, which was announced just 93 days ago.

The Kindle DX will be available this summer, although Amazon is taking pre-orders now.

A major development was telegraphed by the location of the news conference — Pace University in New York. Amazon has partnered with three major textbook publishers — Pearson, Cengage Learning and Wiley — that have 60% of the textbook market. Although the New York Times points out that this "pretty prominently" omits McGraw-Hill Education, Amazon is clearly moving to put the Kindle DX in college students' hands.

Engadget, which live-blogged the news conference, quoted Bezos as saying, "This is a dream to have textbooks on a device this small. Students with smaller backpacks, less load, easier access."

This fall, the Kindle DX will be tested by students at Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Princeton University, Reed College and the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. At the news conference, Barbara R. Snyder, president of Case Western Reserve, said, "We look forward to seeing how the device affects the participation of both students and faculty in the educational experience.”

There are about 18 million students enrolled in college now, and providing a textbook-friendly ebook reader to them would seem to be a smart move. Is it one that Apple might also be making? In March, rumors flew that Apple might be working on a Kindle competitor. Could that be the reason Amazon announced the Kindle DX now, even though it won't be available for months?

Maybe the motive for the announcement was the new partnership with three newspapers — the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post — that will provide Kindle DX discounts to long-term subscribers. Exactly how much, and exactly how long the Boston Globe will remain available, was not announced.

As a recent textbook-lugger, I can see the utility of having lots of books on one device, but I'm not sure a standalone Kindle is any better than a laptop. And you certainly can't write a paper on it. And I would worry that the nice, light, delicate Kindle DX would get crunched by one of the old-style books I was carrying around.

The bigger screen is lovely, but I'm not sure it's the perfect fit — it isn't right for newspapers, really. And it just makes me want something more: full color.

— Carolyn Kellogg

Image: Amazon.com

Arianna Huffington and others on the future of media

"Sorry we started late," James Rainey announced. "There were a lot of people who wanted to get in here once they saw Arianna’s helicopter circling."

Rainey, an L.A. Times media columnist, moderated Sunday’s panel, “Media: Where Do We Go From Here?” which featured writer Marc Cooper, editors Sharon Waxman (The Wrap) and Andrew Donohue (Voice Of San Diego) and the doyenne of new media herself, Arianna Huffington, editor of the Huffington Post.

Earlier this month, Huffington announced the new nonprofit Huffington Post Investigative Fund, which will support pieces that "range from long-form investigations to short breaking news stories and will be presented in a variety of media, including text, audio and video. And, in the open source spirit of the Web, all of the content the Fund produces will be free for anyone to publish."

Apparently, she doesn't see this as being in direct competition with more traditional news outlets; she said that newspapers and websites could coexist peacefully by "integrating the inevitability of technology."

But old media outlets -- including organizations like the L.A. Times, the N.Y. Times and the Washington Post -- were painted early on as craggy strongholds of institutionalism that deign only to let certain voices be heard. New media organizations, we were told, provide new and very necessary public forums where the gatekeepers of the press could be surpassed by citizen journalists with handy tape recorders and low-overhead websites like the Wrap and the Annenberg School's digital news website.

Sharon Waxman, who had a post up on the Wrap about the panel just a few hours after it concluded, was previously employed by not one but two "towers of arrogance." At the panel, she said, "only when you work at the New York Times do you understand how the New York Times is part and parcel of the establishment, rather than an engine for pure accountability or for transparency among other pillars of the establishment. It is the establishment."

Marc Cooper, who reviewed the "demise"of his old LA Weekly stamping grounds in January, compared the present cultural atmosphere to that of 1490, not long after the Gutenberg printing press had been invented. Cooper noted that the printing press, built nominally to distribute copies of the Bible, led directly to such non-Christian events as the creation of secular humanism and the French Revolution. Progress begets progress, it seems. “I will take mass amateurization, or the mass democratization of publishing any day,” he said.

It was Andrew Donohue, editor of the 4-year-old local news website Voice Of San Diego, who offered the most salient point of the afternoon. It's after the jump.

Barton Gellman, Jane Mayer, Tom Hayden and others talk torture

What’s more important: security or freedom? This particular question comes to mind for me every time I pass through airport security and have to take off my shoes and empty my pockets of change. 

In this time of terrorism, nuclear threat and new struggles for civil and human rights, those on the panel "Rock & a Hard Place: Security and American Ideals" on Saturday morning at the L.A. Times Book Festival sought to answer this very difficult question.

What is most important to Americans now? How far should Americans go to tackle terror?

Caught between a sound bite and a hard place

L.A. media watchdog LA Observed reports of a kerfuffle in San Francisco over the book "No Time to Think: The Menace of Media Speed in the 24-Hour News Cycle." Co-authored by Charles S. Feldman and Howard Rosenberg, former TV critic at the L.A.Times, the book is a critique of our accelerated news cycle, particularly TV news.

The authors, who were scheduled to appear on KRON-TV in San Francisco, received a call from the show's host saying that the format had changed and their interview was off. But they noticed that the format wasn't changing, so they made inquiries; the station's news director sent an e-mail to their publicist:

The format hasn't changed. We still do guests. But I am not all that interested in a book that is going to be critical of what we do as a business. So I am going to pass on this one.

Which is certainly enough to get a couple of media watchdogs riled up. "Do you really think their trust in your station will crumble if they listen to some critical comments about the television news industry?" Rosenberg replied. The authors have managed to appear on KTLA and BBC4 without bringing either outlet to its knees.

KRON later made another interview offer, which the authors declined, saying, "We will pass."

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Tell us what you really think

Imagine Jacket Copy HQ as you will: an industrious nest of desk-chained journalists, a coffee-saturated, pajama-clad blogger alone in a dark apartment, a sunny patio filled with witty literati, observed by a blogger sipping chilled rose. Maybe we are all of those things, maybe we are none. But however you think of us, we'd like to know what you want from us.

This is a blog, after all, and the comments are always open. Yesterday a commenter, frustrated by our paying heed to Carrie Fisher, wrote:

don't you feel that you are contributing to the decline in quality literature by only spotlighting on high-profile authors and big-name deals while ignoring grassroots writers and struggling authors? I think your blog could be put to better use, and really make a difference in literature, if you gave more attention to unknown authors who are struggling to have their work know.

Longtime readers of Jacket Copy might protest that this blog gives much attention to new authors and small and independent presses. As a blogger here, I'd like to think we do. But maybe we should give more attention to them. Maybe that's what you want.

To be perfectly honest, our traffic numbers show that a lot of you do want to read about Carrie Fisher. Do you want more about celebrity authors like her? (Not that there are many like her.) Do you want more short things, like clever lists? Or more longer things, like reviews? Do you want more videos? More attention paid to writers no longer with us, more focus on the academy, more highbrow literature, more chick lit, more literature in translation, more YA, more sci-fi, more publishing business, more short fiction, more nonfiction, more on L.A. events, or maybe less?

Phew. I can't even list all the directions we might go. Where would you point us? The comments, as always, are ready and waiting.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Ray Bradbury at the 2008 West Hollywood Book Fair. Credit: Carolyn Kellogg

Let book podcasts ease your travel anxiety

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving has traditionally been the busiest travel day of the year. If you're heading out, you might want to gird yourself for long lines, jostling, traffic or whiny children. The best defense, in all of these circumstances, may be your iPod/MP3 player. Just put on your headphones and imagine you're in a better, more literary place.

(Warning: if the whiny kids are yours, ignoring them while wearing headphones may be frowned upon.)

Two literary podcasts I adore are Michael Silverblatt's Bookworm and Edward Champion's The Bat Segundo Show; both focus on author interviews. That's really the only thing the two share.

Bookworm has been a radio show on public radio station KCRW for many years; while years of shows can be heard online, the podcast archives go back to June 2006. Silverblatt's delivery is arresting: He. Speaks. Slowly. As. If. Each. Word. Were. Quite. Important. While his style may take some getting used to, it is just like his reading -- careful, measured, precise. He's a tremendously insightful reader, one who brings a microscopic -- yet gentle and generous -- attention to the work at hand. Recent Michael Silverblatt interviews include Grégoire Bouillier ("The Mystery Guest") and two other French authors; Diane Johnson ("Lulu in Marrakech"), Francine Prose ("Golden Grove") and James Wood ("How Fiction Works").

The Bat Segundo Show is run independently by Edward Champion, a New York litblogger and freelance writer who has contributed to our book section. Most shows include an introduction from the louche Bat Segundo, a down-on-his heels radio host lifted from the pages of a David Mitchell novel. Then Ed takes over to do the interview; his persona is decidedly more caffeinated than Silverblatt's. Bubbling over with questions, sometimes interrupting his guests, Champion is a high-octane host driven by a passion for literature. Recent Bat Segundo shows feature actor Christopher Plummer (his memoir "In Spite of Myself" was released this month), Alison Bechdel ("The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For"), Porochista Khakpour ("Sons and Other Flammable Objects") and David Rees ("Get Your War On"). All of The Bat Segundo Show archives are online; he's got an interview with Francine Prose, too.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo of Christopher Plummer. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

The Christian Science Monitor to cease daily print publication

To reduce costs and focus on its widely read website, the 100 year-old Christian Science Monitor will cease publication of its daily newspaper in 2009, it announced today; a weekend edition will continue. It is the first major national paper to cancel daily print publication.

The paper was founded by Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, after she was attacked in the pages of Joseph Pulitzer's New York World. Despite its name, the paper has a secular, not religious, focus (and a lovely books section). What's more, the bad blood between Eddy and Pulitzer has been forgotten; the Christian Science Monitor has won seven Pulitzer Prizes.

Current Christian Science Monitor editor John Yemma says:

In the Monitor's next century, as with its first century, it is committed to finding answers to the world's most important problems, asking the questions that matter and getting the story behind the news -- all of which is staying true to Mrs. Eddy's unselfish, original vision. The Monitor's role is right there in its name. It's to monitor the world, to keep an eye on the world from a perspective of hope.

The paper's budget has been supplemented by the church, but it hopes to become self-sustaining in the future. One question: With its new online focus and diminished newsprint presence, can we call it a "paper" anymore?

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Image credit: preview of upcoming Christian Science Monitor website from CSmonitor.com

Not just for books, of course

Your attention, please: Just in case you're wondering, Amazon's Kindle is now a place where you can find a friendly, electronic version of the Times. Our tech colleagues posted the news on the tech blog today, and you can read more about the paper's arrangements there. Hopefully this will become, as it has for books, yet another way to  kindle your interest in our pages (I know, I know, I should know better than use a pun like that).

Nick Owchar

Credit: AFP/Getty Images

For Narnia

 

On Monday evening, my daughter Sophie and I went to a screening of Prince Caspian, the new Chronicles of Narnia movie that opens tomorrow. Sophie is nine, and she had just read the book a couple of weeks ago; no sooner had the film started than she turned to me and whispered, "They left a lot of stuff out."

I was willing to take her word for it because, if truth be told, I don't remember many of the details; I read the Narnia books a long time ago, when I was Sophie's age. But the film was pretty good, I thought -- fast-paced, nicely constructed ... until, that is, the last 20 minutes when Aslan saves the day.

This has always been my problem with the Chronicles of Narnia, the way  Aslan is so often absent, until, after 1,000 years or so of suffering, he decides to step in and make everything right. I understand the metaphor, understand C. S. Lewis' notion of faith and Christian humility, but (without getting into theology), I think it's a poor narrative device. What kind of beneficent force is Aslan, when he's so often negligent? And what does it do to the human agency of the characters that they get bailed out by this external power, rather than having to work things out (or not) themselves?

Sophie had a different issue. Although she liked the movie, she found its at-times-relentless violence off-putting; it's more fun to read, she told me, because you imagine what's going on in the story for yourself.

Yes, I thought, that's it exactly. No external agency.

David L. Ulin

Photo credit: Disney/Walden

Iron Man flies with comics fans

It's possible you haven't heard that Iron Man is opening this weekend -- maybe.

The first superhero movie of the season has been advertised and promoted everywhere. Although based on a comic book character, the film aspires to a certain level of seriousness: All four leads -- Robert Downey Jr, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow -- have been nominated for Academy Awards. (Paltrow, of course, has one.)

Yet it is also a superhero movie -- a CGI-filled extravaganza in which a louche but brilliant billionaire, when held in miserable circumstances, builds a really cool suit, blows stuff up and then battles bad guys. Spectacularly.

The comic book character was created by the master, Stan Lee, and first appeared in 1963. One of the Marvel Avengers crew, Iron Man has gone through many trials and tribulations in the last 35 years. But will a reworking of his history -- updating it from Vietnam to Afghanistan, for starters -- be accepted by comic fans? How would a Hollywood version of Iron Man play with people who've been following him faithfully for years?

At the comic website Newsarama, it seems Iron Man really does fly. It's run not one but three glowing reviews (1 - 2 - 3). There's a behind the scenes look and a poll in which 43% of readers predict the movie will make $50 million to $100 million this weekend and 31% think it'll take even more, $100-$125 million. Readers are logging in with such comments as "pure awesome," "effing awesome," "best superhero movie ever."

I haven't read the Iron Man comics, but I found the movie to be pretty awesome, too.

Carolyn Kellogg