Daily Bits

Arnold Zafra

Kindle App for Android to Let You Buy Books In the App

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With Amazon Kindle apps already available to major platforms – PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad and BlackBerry, the only one left for now is an Android app.  Well, Android fans, your wait will soon be over as Amazon is launching its Kindle App for Android phones. In fact, it’s already slated for a summer release.

Guess what’s so different about the Kindle App for Android? Something which the iPhone, iPad and BlackBerry apps won’t let you do. Yes, you guess it right, the app will let you buy books directly right in the app itself. Other Kindle apps kicks you out of the app whenever you want to score an ebooks from the Kindle Bookstore.

This is of course, over and above all the other great features that you’d love from other Kindle apps including access to your Kindle books even if you don’t have your Kindle with you, automatic synchronization of the last page you read and annotations between devices through Amazon’s Whispersync, text size adjustment, bookmarks, portrait or landscape reading and tap to flick through ebook pages.

Amazon tells us:

“Kindle for Android is the perfect companion application for Kindle and Kindle DX owners, and is also a great way for customers to enjoy over 540,000 books in the Kindle Store even if they don’t yet have a Kindle,” said Jay Marine, director, Amazon Kindle. “We think customers are going to love the convenience and simplicity of having instant access to a massive selection of books from Amazon on their Droid, Nexus, Incredible and many more Android devices.”

Kindle for App would certainly be a good addition to Android phones’ stable of useful apps. With the high-resolution display  and large screens of most Android phones, ebook reading would certainly be a pleasure plus of course the convenience of buying ebooks you fancy right away.

MySpace to Unveil New, (Better than Facebook?) User Privacy Settings

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MySpace is not going to take the issues confronted by Facebook with regards to privacy settings just like that. And so, to indirectly add injuries to the many problems faced by Facebook, MySpace has just announced that it will soon roll out a new and simpler privacy settings for MySpace users.

The first few lines of MySpace announcements clearly states what its goals are by this announcement. MySpace tells us:

The last few weeks have been fraught with discussion around user privacy on social networks. We want to take this opportunity to discuss our view of user privacy on MySpace and some of the core features that made MySpace unique from its inception.

It was short of saying, “…discussion around user privacy on Facebook.”

Anyway, according to the announcement, MySpace’s new and simpler privacy settings that will give users greater control over their information. The site is will provide setting options that include public, friends only, or public to anyone 18 or over.  In the coming weeks, MySpace will put the default settings for all users to – “friends only.” Of course, you’ll be free to change this option anytime.

And guess what? MySpace had this planned out for quite some time now.  And admittedly, the only reason why they are rolling these new setting options now is because of the recent issues hauled by media to social networks concerning privacy.

The question here is, will these in any way convince Facebook users who are dissatisfied with how Facebook has been handling privacy issues, to use MySpace for social networking instead? What are your thoughts?

Browsers Leave “Fingerprints” as You Surf the Web

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Common now folks. Is it really possible that as web browse and leave a website, that we might be leaving “fingerprints” behind, enough for hackers to track us as we surf the web? Well, according to the latest research conducted by Electronic Frontiers Foundation, web browsers have digital signatures that create fingerprints that can be used your web browsing habit.

EFF conducted an experiment whereby volunteers were asked to visit the site http://panopticlick.eff.org. This site apparently logged users’ browser configurations and version information anonymously. Information were gathered by the site from user’s OS, browser and browser plug-ins.  EFF’s study revealed that 84% of the configuration combinations were unique and identifiable that leads to the creation of idenfiable browser “fingerprints.”

EFF also found out that there are some browsers which we less likely to contain unique configurations, especially those which blocks JavaScript. Likewise, some browser plug-ins can also be configured to limit the information that your browser shares to the websites you visit.  Unfortunately thought, in general it’s very hard to reconfigure your browser to make your identify less identifiable. EFF suggest that new privacy protections should be built into the browsers themselves.

EFF Senior Staff Technologist Peter Eckersley tells us:

“Browser fingerprinting is a powerful technique, and fingerprints must be considered alongside cookies and IP addresses when we discuss web privacy and user trackability,” said Eckersley. “We hope that browser developers will work to reduce these privacy risks in future versions of their code.”

So, there. Let this serves as a warning for us to be cautious of what browsers we are using and make sure that these offers really offer privacy protection, like what they claim they do.

Wikipedia Sports an Easier to Use and Edit Site Interface

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For a huge website with contents and edited by millions of people, it will definitely take a long time before a site overhaul is implemented. Such was the case for Wikipedia which just rolled out its new design and interface for its website – wikipedia.org. In fact, it took Wikipedia more than a year to redesign its site after a year of usability testing and consultation with everyday Wikipedia users. It was certainly a long and hard work, but if there’s one consolation that the folks at Wikipedia should have, it’s the fact that they’ve done a great job!

So, have you checked out Wikipedia? Did you notice the following enhancements:

  • Look and feel – Wikipedia now sports the “vector” theme which makes it easier to find the site’s essential functionality.
  • Navigation – Tabs at the top of each Wikipedia page clearly identifies whether you are reading or editing a page. A collapsible navigation was included on the left sidebar that you can use to hide items that you are not using.
  • Editing improvements – The editing toolbar is no easier to use. Formating pages is simpler and more intuitive. In addition, a table wizard was introduced to make it easier for you to create tables as well as a new find and replace feature that simplifies page editing.
  • Link wizard: An easy-to-use tool allows you to add links to other pages on Wikipedia, or to pages on external sites.
  • Search improvements – Improved search suggestions that easily gets you to the page you are looking for.
  • Pediapress book creator: – Use the Book Creator from selected Wikipedia articles. This will be saved as a PDF so that you can read it anytime, anywhere.
  • Updated Puzzle globe and wordmark – The Wikipedia globe and wordmark have been enhanced and improved.

    • There you go. What can you say about the new interface of Wikipedia. Will you using the site more now?

    Study: Consumers are Willing to Pay for Content on E-Readers, iPad, Tablets

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    Call it a spark of genius from the part of Apple. But undoubtedly, the  iPad has certainly awaken an otherwise sleeping e-book and tablet market.According to a recent Boston Consulting Group Study which showed that more than half of surveyed consumers plan to buy an iPad, Kindle or similar device in the next three years. More important than that is the findings that these consumers appear willing to pay for content to be consumed on those devices.

    The survey was conduced to nearly 13,000 consumers in 14 countries including India, China, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States. The study found out that 28% of these respondents and 51% of those familiar with this devices plan to purchase them within the next few year. In three years time, 49% of the respondents and 73% of those familiar with them are also planning on a purchase.

    What do these figures tell us? Well, if these numbers are to push through, e-readers and tablets would soon established themselves as another category of consumer products in the likes of  TVs, PCs and mobile phones.

    Another positive impact would be injecting fresh hope to the otherwise dying publishing industry.

    John Rose, the global leader of BCG’s Media Practice said:

    “The survey suggests that e-readers and tablets are not a niche product for early adopters but could become the MP3 players of this decade. Grandmothers will soon be carrying them around.”

    There is one catch though. For e-readers and tablets, such as the Kindle and iPad to succeed in infiltrating the consumer market, a significant price drop should happen. Right now,  the Kindle, iPad and other tablets and e-readers are relatively priced similar to other established consumer electronics products. Considering that their features are limited as compared to a traditional computing machine, price should naturally be cheaper.

    Hopefully, both the Amazon and Apple folks are reading this or would get hold of the BCG Report.