Amazon.com announced today that it is lowering the price of its Kindle. The Amazon Kindle has been wildly popular in recent years. And although Amazon does not release numbers of Kindles sold, most agree that it is the most popular e-book reader on the market (see this e-book reader comparison).

Amazon also introduced a Kindle with U.S. and International wireless capabilities. The can pre-order Kindle and it will ship on October 19.

The Kindle store now has over 350,000 books in its catalog. Most books are $9.99 or less and they download wireless within 1-minute. See all the new features of the Kindle.

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Amazon just recently released its newest Kindle, called the Kindle DX. Here’s a summary of the new stuff:

• Larger screen
• Stores more books (3,500)
• Better Handling of PDFs

The new kindle is priced at $489. You can get more info about the Kindle DX here.

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Tax day is right around the corner and if you haven’t finished them yet, you need to file an IRS extension form. Anyone that’s ever tried doing their own taxes knows how complicated it can be. As it turns out, there are 3.7 million words in the many thousands of pages in our tax code.

I discovered this quirky fact the other day after reading a very interesting article in the Wall Street Journal by IRS National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Cooper (see We Still Need a Simpler Tax Code). Naturally, I started thinking:

How long would it take too read the entire U.S. tax code?

• It would take 13 days (308.33 hours) of non-stop reading

This assumes the person is reading 200 words per minute (wpm) - the average reading speed. This also assumes the person reads the entire time and does not slow down, which is a little unrealistic.

Let’s assume that it is your sole job to be informed about the U.S. tax code. If you read 8 hours per day (9am-5pm), Monday-Friday, and you started your reading voyage on April 15, you would not finish until June 4. It would take 38.5 days of work to do this.

So that’s what accountants do in the off-season.

By the way… if you accomplish this feat, you deserve something more than a CPA. Maybe an official designation as Tax Czar or Tax Oracle. At the very least you should get a certificate of some sort to hang on you fridge.

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President Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus was passed by the House on Friday. Now I’m no politician, but how are all the members of the House supposed to read the 1,071 pages of the bill? That’s an 8-inch paper stack (sorry tree).

So how long would it take the average person to read the economic stimulus? First we need to know the average reading speed, which is 200 words per minute (wpm). Now we just need to know how many words are in the document.

This is a long, tedious process that you probably shouldn’t do. So I took the liberty of doing it for you (you’re welcome).

There are 207,421 words in the economic stimulus bill.

The average person, reading at 200 wpm would take 17 hours and 17 minutes to read the entire bill (without blinking or bathroom breaks).

You can see the latest updates on the stimulus package on the following website: ReadTheStimulus.org.

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Today marks Charles Darwin’s 200th Birthday. Darwin revolutionized biology by showing that life evolved over time from common ancestors through a process called natural selection. His controversial and groundbreaking work, On the Origin of Species, was published in 1859.

Here is the official Darwin Day celbration page.

If you’re looking to learn more about evolutionary biology, here is a list of the Best Evolutionary Biology Books.

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Amazon introduced the 2nd version of its popular Kindle today, calling it Kindle 2.

Amazon’s original version has been out of stock for months after Oprah Winfrey endorsed it before the holiday season. This is the second time demand has outpaced the supply. Can this new Kindle generate the same amount of excitement?

New Features in Amazon’s new Kindle 2:

• Improved Battery Life: 25% Longer. “…read for up to two weeks on a single charge.”
• Better Designed: thinner - 1/3 of an inch and more sleek design.
• More Storage: 2GB Internal. Holds over 1,500 books.
• Faster Page Turns: 20% faster page turns.
• Read-to-Me: New Text-to-Speech feature. Will read books out loud to you.

Click see all of Amazon Kindle 2’s specifications

Here are some of the nice advantages of the Kindle that have stayed the same:

• Free Internet: No monthly bills. You can browse the internet using their basic browser.
• Over 230,000 Books: …and counting
• Low Cost Books: New York Times Bestsellers are still $9.99
• Quick Downloads: Most of the books download wirelessly within 1-minute.
• Free Samples: You can get free samples, usually a chapter or two, for each book.
• Email Your Kindle Personal Documents: You can send PDF or Word Documents.
• Listen to Music: Probably not a replacement for your iPod however.

I’ve been using the Kindle for over a year now and have been very pleased. Unfortunately, the version I have now is officially the “old version.” I’ll probably be tempted into getting this version eventually - that is, if they don’t end up selling out again.

If you’re like me and do a lot of random reading on a variety of subjects you’ll love the Kindle. I used to carry 2 or 3 books in my bag everyday and now I just carry the Kindle. Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon) is probably alleviating thousands from future back problems. Thank you Jeff.

So what would you like to see in the next Kindle, Kindle 3.0? Feel free to post your comments on new features you’d like to see…

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President Bush read 95 books in 2006, 51 in 2007 and 40 this year. The information comes from an interesting Op-Ed piece that I read in the Wall Street Journal today. The article was written by Karl Rove, President Bush’s former chief of staff.

So what’s President Bush’s trick to reading so many books each year? Is it speed reading? Is it children’s books with lots of pictures?

According to the article, titled “Bush Is a Book Lover,” Karl Rove explains it was not only a love for reading, but also a competition. Bush and Rove were competing to see who could read more books in a given year.

Numerous U.S. presidents have been known to be active readers. John F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter were famously known for their ability to speed read. But even if you don’t like the President, reading 95 books in a single year is pretty impressive. Most people don’t ever come close to that in a year.

So how many books does the average person read? A 2007 Associated Press-Ipsos poll reported that one in four adults read no books during the year. According to most polls done on the subject, the average American adult reads 5-7 books per year.

Is this a problem? Most definitely. Are there reasons for it? Absolutely.

So how many books did you read this year?

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Even if you aren’t looking for a job at the moment, it’s always a good idea to know about the best career sites. For example, LinkedIn allows you to build up your connections in a way similar to MySpace or Facebook. Here are my top career sites for students and professionals:

• LinkedIn.com - Remember the concept of six degrees of separation? This site is the MySpace/Facebook for business people. It allows you to easily to see who your friends are connected to. Is very helpful if you’re looking for a new job and need an introduction. Feel free to connect to me here to see who I’m connected to.
• GlassDoor.com - Allows you to see ratings, reviews and salaries for over 14,000 employers. Ever wondered what it would be like to work at a certain company? This site provides an easy way to get some insights.
• Startuply.com - Have you always wanted to work for a startup? Then this website is for you. This website lists positions with top startups such as Digg, StumbleUpon and many others.
• AfterCollege.com - Did you just graduate? Or are you graduating soon? This website provides listings to many entry level jobs and internships.
• Vault.com - This website has been around for a while and is very comprehensive. Has a variety of resources for those looking for jobs.

How about you? Are there any others out there that you would recommend? Please add to the comments.

Paul Nowak

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The last post I wrote mentioned a website called LibraryThing.com which helps you organize all your books online. It had a lot of interesting functions, but I recently came across a very similar website that may be better. GuruLib.com also allows you to organize your collection of books online, but has more of a web2.0 feel to it. You are able to drag and drop things, label them with tags, add them to “Shelves.” You can even import a list of books from a spreadsheet and it will automatically find them.

One of the most impressive features, was the option to view your books in a “cover view” style, an obvious takeaway from the iPhone, but impressive nonetheless. Below is a screenshot of that view.

Like LibraryThing.com, GuruLib.com draws its information from Amazon and other places so you can easily find your books. Both of the sites offer a great way to organize and catalog your books.

Know of any other websites that might be interesting to readers? Share them with us by adding them to the comments.

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Think about all the books you’ve read throughout your life. Wouldn’t it be nice to organize them all? If you love reading and are looking for a way to catalog your books online then LibraryThing.com is definitely for you.

I came across this site recently which allows you too easily search for books you have read or plan to read and add them to your catalog. The site’s search goes through Amazon and even the Library of Congress to find the book you specified.
The site allows you to tag your books, see what others are reading and make notes to your book. There are many other functionalities that I am still exploring, but from a first impression LibraryThing.com seems great for anyone that loves to read and wants to keep track and organize their books.

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