Amazon has announced a new version of the very popular Kindle eBook reader, officially called the Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device. The new version of the device has access to Global Wireless services and is available in over 100 countries.

The major difference between the new product and the older version is the size of the screen; it was upgraded from 6 inches on the earlier Kindle to 9.7 inches on the DX. It has storage capacity for over 3500 books and lots of other really cool features. The 6-inch Kindle is already the bestselling product across all of Amazon, and I expect that the Kindle DX will also be extremely popular.

The 9.7″ Kindle DX with Global Wireless is available for pre-order for $489 at www.amazon.com/kindledx and starts shipping on January 19th.

There are over 400,000 Books in Kindle eBook format available for download at Amazon!

This thing is great!  I found it after reading Joe McNally’s most recent blog post (if you don’t read his blog, you should; not only is he a great photographer, he’s funny as hell too!).  Joe often presents the details of the lighting setup that he used for the pictures he presents on his blog in the form of a lighting diagram.  He usually scribbles them on the nearest piece of paper that he finds lying around, such as a notepad from the Hotel he’s staying at.  He also uses napkins or any other piece of available paper. 

So it was hilarous to realize that he now has a spiral bound Napkin Notebook to sketch out his lighting setups.  These notebooks are perfect for anyone who needs to jot down their thoughts and ideas, no matter where they are.  If you are an engineer or an artist, or anyone else that that needs to be able to remember the ideas that fly in and out of your head, this product is for you!

Speaking of Joe, if you’re a photographer you really have to check out his two books, “The Moment it Clicks” and “The Hot Shoe Diaries“.  These have become instantly classic volumes on photographic lighting and on being a photographer.  They are easy to read and contain hundreds of valuable nuggets of incredibly useful information….

I get asked all the time to recommend some good books for new photographers wanting to learn how to be a better shooter. This is very easy for me to do since I have literally read dozens of photography books over the last couple of years. In my mind there is no doubt that every beginner photographer (and even some that are more seasoned in the craft) should read two books: “The Digital Photography Book” by Scott Kelby and “Understanding Exposure” by Bryan Peterson.

“The Digital Photography Book” is a very quick and easy read. It is written in a very simplistic format with the idea being that if you were to ask the author how to make a particular shot in a given situation, he would tell how to do it in a simple and straightforward answer. Not a ton of theory, just a simple “do it like this” kind of answer. This book is actually the first in a series of three books (the 3rd is coming out soon), each of which continues from where the previous one left off and gets progressively more advanced. Kelby is a prolific author and the reason fo his huge success is that his books are very easy to read while still being extremely useful. This is a must read for all new photographers.

“Understanding Exposure” is a classic. It’s actually somewhat out of date since it was written before digital cameras were common, and therefore makes very little reference to ISO, but that hardly matters given the rest of the content. It is an excellent guide to getting the right exposure using the basic creative controls within the camera, while also discussing creativity and composition. Almost everyone that reads this book immediately feels that they have become a better photographer. It’s as simple as that. Read it.