Amazon wants authors to deliver their books directly to readers by cutting out the middleman: Large publishing houses. The largest online retailer has been doing just that for a few years now by allowing authors to self-publish their ebooks and sell them in the massive Kindle ebookstore.

But Amazon is getting into the “traditional” publishing game. They are scouting for authors, offering them contracts, and then promoting and selling their books. Amazon is the agent, publisher and bookseller – all wrapped up into one.

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Ebooks are taking libraries by storm. After all, why buy an ebook, read it once and then archive it when you can “rent” an ebook at no cost. And forget about checking out an actual print book. Those things are like dinosaurs.

Okay, I might be exaggerating a little, but not much. According to Mediabistro, ebook checkouts from libraries are up significantly from last year:

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Blackberry maker Research In Motion has been under fire the last few days for the worldwide service outage, that appeared to be resolved early this morning. While it did affect me, I’m not a super-user, so I was able to get through the outage unscathed.

Almost a year ago I traded in my 1st generation iPhone for a Blackberry Pearl. My reasons for leaving the iPhone boiled down to a lot of features I didn’t use and buying a lot of apps that also went unused. To a lesser extent, I also wanted to experiment with something new.

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While ebooks have surged in popularity over the last few years, there’s one group that has adopted ebooks the quickest than any other group: Romance fans.

The romance genre has always sold a lot of books. And the consumers of romance are all too eager to eat up the latest titles. One big reason why, I think, romance sells so many books (aside from the “sex sells” factor) is because so many books are a part of a series. You read one, you have to read more.

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There’s a new children’s tablet computer on the market. This one is from Vtech, called the InnoTab. In early September I wrote about the LeapPad, a similar tablet with similar features.

The Innotab has a small-ish 5″ touch screen and runs of four AA batteries. It’s also built with a rugged plastic case that can withstand all the temper tantrums a kid can throw.

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The world lost a creative genius and visionary today. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple and the man behind some of our most beloved gadgets like the iPod, iPhone, iPad and Mac computers, has died.

The Apple website posted this short message:

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

If you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@apple.com

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Amazon’s new Kindle Fire seems to be just one more tablet in a world filled with tablet computers. Most aspire to compete with Apple’s iPad, but we’ve already seen a few fall off the market due to sluggish sales.

The Kindle Fire though, has a few interesting things that sets it apart from all the others, even the iPad. Some are obvious, some are more hidden.

I recently read this article from Techcrunch that talks about what sets the Kindle Fire apart:

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Apple is dominating the headlines today with the introduction of the new iPhone 4S.  It’s their latest addition to the popular iPhone family of smart phones. As usual, the newest gadget from Apple comes packed with new features.

Here are a few of the highlights:

• Supports GDM and CDMA networks (making it a true world phone).
• Improved battery life: 8 hours of 3G talk time, 14 hours of 2G talk time and 6 hours of 3G web browsing.
• 7x faster graphics
• Much improved camera
• Support for “Siri” a smart voice assistant that can take commands and queries.

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Harry Potter fans will have to wait a little longer for the ebook edition of the series to be released, originally scheduled for October 2011. The Pottermore website that JK Rowling unveiled earlier this year as her platform for all-things Harry Potter, has received more activity than it can handle.

According to this Guardian article, Harry Potter fans will be waiting until 2012 for the ebook release:

As a result, Potter’s debut in the digital book arena has been delayed until the first half of 2012, while general access to Pottermore will be in phases from the end of October. “We’ve seen really high levels of activity, and interaction with the site has been phenomenal. This affects how quickly we can give everyone access,” said the site’s official blog. “Access may be granted quickly, but please note it could also take some weeks or months, depending on demand.”

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There’s not much to add here. I should note, however, that I bought my Kindle at my local Target. It will be interesting to see how the Kindle and Nook compete head-to-head at Target.

Here is the press release from the B&N website:

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