Kindle Fire

My Kindle Fire has shipped and will reach a destination in the US. Unfortunately, I won't be able to get my hands on it till about the end of December.

Ah well.

New Year's gift I suppose.

So, a quick run down on the Kindle Fire. It comes with a 7" screen and priced at $ 199 (approx Rs. 10000). The tablet features the Andriod OS. Other notable tablets that feature this OS include Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom etc...

How to get it sitting here in India. Order from Amazon, and get it shipped to some you know and then they will ship it to you. or Or you ship it to an importer who will then ship it to you. Sites liek IndiaPlaza also source the Kindle for you.

Coffee Table Books - Part Un - Motorcycles

We are looking to move into our new house sometime late next year. Apart from the all the furniture, furnishings, appliances et al. We were also looking to expand our library. As avid readers, my wife and I already have a bookshelf full of books. We wanted to add some coffee table books to the lot. So like all things these days, we researched and researched. We must have gone through literally hundreds of books. So I decided to draw up a list of Coffee Table Books that we really liked (but did not necessarily buy).

The list became a little ponderous, so I broke it up into categories. This first list of many is on Motorcycles. They are in no particular order or preference.

• Superbikes of the Seventies - Roland Brown : Features the most amazing bikes from the 70's. An era of fantastic performance, unecumbered by pollution controls & efficiency ratings, and evolving style.

• Cafe Racers of the 1960s: Machines, Riders and Lifestyle - Mick Walker : The pictures are in Black & White and there is a lot of text. Cafe Racing (which was about racing from a cafe and back) is back in vogue. Perhaps the right time to pick up a book like this.

• The Harley-Davidson Motor Co. Archive Collection - Darwin Holmstrom : There cannot be a list of Motorcycle books without one a Harley Davidson. This one is a visual treat for The HD fan. Over 400 pages of mostly photographs and an efficient history of HD with info sometimes not found anywhere else.

• Legendary Motorcycles - Luigi Corbetta : Due to be released later this year and talked about a lot in the trade press pre-release. The book features hundreds of photos and talks about different manufacturers like Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Moto Guzzi, Triumph, and Yamaha amongst others.

More screen shots of Amazon's new look

Some of you may have been following the story on Amazon's new look, where there was a screen grab of the new home page. Here are some more screen shots of the upcoming look. Contrary to speculation it doesn't seem to be very tablet friendly. But maybe they have other things in the works.

This is what happens when you click on the search bar. The free stuff and deal of the day shows up front and center.

See a larger version

 Then this is the rich menu that they are going to show and it is... WOW!
If there ever was something designed to sell this is it.

See a larger version

Another variant of the menu, this time with Kindle.

See a larger version

Looks good. Let's see if we can get some more.

Anna

There was a man called Anna,
who was perpetually on Dharna;
Alongwith Bedi and Kejriwal,
He fought for the Jan Lokpal;
While on fast he survived on Mango Panna.

West Bengal

There was a state called West Bengal,
which had debt worth a googol;
They decided to call it Poshcim Bongo,
as in the second cousin of the drum called bongo;
All while didi was having a ball.

The Spy

There was once a spy,
named Ghulam Nabi Fai;
He was a Kashmiri
who committed hara-kiri;
while working for the notorious ISI.

Paschim Banga

There was a state called Pashcim Banga,
as in the western cousin of Vindi Banga;
But the bongs called it Poschim Bongo;
as they related themselves to the state of Congo;
and that was the fate of Paschim Banga.

The PM

There was a PM called Manmohan,
He didn’t know Lindsay Lohan.
Unlike the motormouth Gandhi,
He was silent yet handy.
That was our man Manmohan.

Amazon in India

If the news of Amazon imminent entry has any truth in it. It is the most significant announcement in the e-commerce space in the country.

It is also time for Indian e-commerce to take a bow. It has performed yeoman service to the country. But now, Like MacArthur once said about old soldiers, it is time for them to fade away.


From the Times of India

CHENNAI: World's largest online retailer, Amazon.com is set to enter India, riding on the second wave of e-commerce boom in India. Amazon is in discussions with leading Indian e-commerce players like Flipkart.com, LetsBuy.com and Exclusively.in, among others and may enter the market as early as the first quarter of next year.

Acquiring Indian players has been the dominant theme for foreign majors looking to enter Indian market with eBay acquiring Baazee.com and Groupon picking up SoSasta.com to enter the market. But sources say that Amazon is looking to set up operations on its own as its discussions with many players on acquisition front haven't seemed to work out. "Indian players see the huge potential in the e-commerce segment here and so have so far been resistant to being bought out easily," said another source. Amazon is likely to ramp up through inorganic ways later, depending on market growth and their performance relative to competition.

Hiring is currently on in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai to fill up the various positions in this team, say sources. "A team of over 200 people is being built, though all of them might not end up in the core retail arm," said another source.

The earliest indications came from the hiring of Madhu M, a senior executive at Landmark (retail chain), by Amazon to head its India operations. Madhu is an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus and is currently holding the position of SVM at Amazon. He is based out of Chennai where Amazon's Kindle development team is also based.

Amazon is also establishing a warehouse in Mumbai, a standard step before entering the e-commerce space going by what Amazon has been doing globally. Another interesting development has been the buying of 80,000 sq ft by Amazon at SP Infocity, promoted by Shapoorji Pallonji & Co Ltd, in Perungudi in Chennai. The company already has a development centre in Chennai.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Amazon-set-to-launch-services-in-India-next-year/articleshow/9364346.cms

PSN Store is back

Finally, the PSN store is back. No sign of the welcome back offers. But still