Over on Moby, there’s a bunch of speculation related to some off-topic, pro-Kindle commentary that has been coming in as blog post commentary through their queues. Given that a whole string of these appear to have listed the same exact URL, despite coming from various IP addresses, I have little doubt that they were indeed being astroturfed (a term for individual reviews or comments which are actually orchestrated by a single entity in order to achieve the illusion of spontaneity or grass-roots support). What I do doubt, however, is that Amazon would be behind such a campaign.

As somebody who used to manage the customer review process for Amazon (many moons ago) and with significant knowledge (I worked there 9.5 of the last 12 years) of the internal policies and practices of the company, I will state unequivocally that there is no way that any Amazon employee found “fostering” spurious astroturfed reviews, let alone submitting them themselves, would keep their job. I’m not going to say that it couldn’t happen because, hey, let’s face it, some people are incredibly clueless – but I will say that there is no way that this would be condoned. In my opinion, anybody perpetrating that offense, or paying somebody to astroturf on their behalf, should realize that their job at Amazon is in jeopardy.

Oh, and by the way, I love my Kindle 2. ;^)

I always think it’s a bit *ahem* manufactured when the Top 100 books of 2009 are announced with 16.66% of the year still left to go, but I guess that’s how you help drum up holiday sales. Anyways, Amazon announced its top 100 Books of the Year today.

The full list is here.

Here are the top 10:

1. “Let the Great World Spin” by Colum McCann
2. “Strength in What Remains” by Tracy Kidder
3. “Wolf Hall” by Hilary Mantel
4. “Brooklyn” by Colm Toibin
5. “Beautiful Creatures” by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
6. “Crazy for the Storm” by Norman Ollestad
7. “The Girl Who Played with Fire” by Steig Larsson
8. “The City & The City” by China Meiville
9. “Stitches” by David Small
10. “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” by William Kamkwamba

As usual, most of those book are totally unknown to me. The only one I’ve read is “The City & The City” by China Mieville and I’d highly recommend that as a very novel melding of speculative fiction and mystery. In the top 100, the only other book I’ve read (I’m actually about 2/3 of the way into) is “Inherent Vice,” by Thomas Pynchon – but you’d probably expect that of me seeing as how I will buy every Pynchon novel the minute it comes out and swallow the thing down like a python and a small child.

Take a look at the list of Amazon’s Top 100 Books of 2009: Editor Picks
and tell me what I need to read next. What am I missing out on?

You deserve a break to click this:

Whole rabbit

Please read the customer reviews and check out the customer uploaded images. They’re great.

Three Wolf Moon and Tuscan Whole Milk, here it comes again!

Possibly the best Customer Video Review on Amazon I have ever seen. Professionally done and funny.

Just remember, you saw it here first!

Amazon today announced that the Kindle iPhone app supports purchasing of Kindle e-books. This should bring a compelling e-book offering to the more than 35 million iPhone and iPod touches already in the marketplace. In one simple update, the market for ebooks just got a whole lot bigger.

I’ve seen a lot of sites discussing the move but nobody had really posted photos of how simple it is so I thought I’d grab some screenshots to share with you all. Enjoy!

Fire up the Kindle application

Click Get Books button on the home screen

Decide how you want to look for books (search, browse or product recommendations)

In this example I navigated to one of the best seller lists

The page where you make your purchase and send to one of your devices

Disclaimer: I am an employee of Amazon.com although I do not work on the Kindle or on e-books. I’m just an avid reader and really love the device.

Here’s a trend I think Amazon should push – hotels offering Kindles loaded with classic books to their guests during their stay.

I stayed at a hotel last year that offered Sealy Posturepedic mattresses, you know the ones with “your sleep number.” While I didn’t rush out to purchase one after the experience, I thought it was a really great way to try one out. I mean, you can’t really go to a mattress shop and ask to try out a mattress for a night’s sleep, can you?

Similarly, if staying at the Algonquin Hotel gets people to try out Kindles for free and to see for themselves the wealth of literature available (much of it free via sites like Feedbooks then I’d consider that a great boon.

Disclosure: I love my Kindle and am currently reading “War and Peace” for free from Feedbooks.

[found via TeleRead]

Well, not a huge shocker but it appears that Oprah’s “favoritest ever” and “life-changing” gadget being teased on Amazon’s homepage and on the Oprah site is indeed (drumroll please) the Kindle.

I believe I’ve endorsed this product on this site here as well but I’m not quite as powerful or well-followed as Oprah, so… now that she’s endorsed it, step right up and buy one!

Use the code: OPRAHWINFREY to get $50 off the purchase price through November 1st!

P.S. While the Financial Times and GigaOm are still showing speculation as to whether the Kindle will be the featured device, I scooped it by watching Oprah’s site and finding the feature page. I apparently have no life.

Some of the folks at Amazon.com have been working on a new, multi-sensory, multi-media shopping experience. It’s called Windowshop and I think it’s pretty intriguing and led me to several products I probably wouldn’t have found otherwise.

Give it a look-see and let me know what you think!

If you’ve been waiting for the price to lower on Kindle before you pick one up, wait no longer. Amazon has just dropped the price from $399 to $359 (and it still ships to you free via 2-day air). It may be a while before you see any further price drops…

I picked up a Kindle about a month and a half ago. While I have not yet written a comprehensive review, suffice it to say that I love mine so far. I’ve read a couple of books, peruse the New York Times daily, and have downloaded a couple of samples from new authors I may try out. It’s all integrated quite nicely and reading is very pleasant.

As I sat organizing hundreds of books at home yesterday, I actually decided to get rid of the vast majority of them since I could always get them for the Kindle; inexpensive much of the time and free for others. Any book that’s part of the public domain, and most of the older classics are lumped in that category, I can get for free via Project Gutenberg.

Any of you folks planning on purchasing a Kindle? What’s it going to take for you to switch?

The Kindle is finally back in stock at Amazon. The flood gates are open.

Watch the promo video for more information on the device.

I’ve now ordered a Kindle twice and canceled my order prior to shipment, both times after waiting more that 4 weeks. I was really close to a delivery on one of those shipments. It’s difficult to decide whether or not this is the device I want or whether I should wait for a v2. Thoughts? Any Kindle owners out there want to weigh in in the comments? Your help and knowledge are appreciated.