Kindle dev kit announced, 'active content' coming to Kindle Store later this year
By Ross Miller 
posted January 21st 2010 12:14AM
posted January 21st 2010 12:14AM
posted January 21st 2010 12:14AM
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this is cool, but i think this apps craze is going to have to stop eventually..
@astroman
Yeah, apps pretty much died out for PCs and Macs awhile back, I expect the same with all these app stores soon enough.
But seriously it's not really a problem, the market will correct itself. When people stop buying a billion apps for every device they own then developers won't make them anymore. I think it's a good thing that you can extend the functionality of your devices in ways the maker may have not even thought of.
@astroman
you think Applications on, what are essentially portable computers is going to ... stop?
thats like saying "man, when are people going to stop hosting websites.. damn.."
@Antialias "apps pretty much died out for PCs and Macs awhile back"
I've read some pretty bizarre things in my time, but woah, that's right up there.
@scottishwildcat
your sarcasm detector is off today right??
build an app to read cbr files and I'm all over that!
@astroman I would like to make my Kindle fart...hopefully someone will do that.
@amneziac I'll do it if I'm in the beta.
All I ask for is a good Tic-Tac-Toe game that you can adjust the computer difficulty level.
@Steve2000 But tic tac toe is so easy. As long as you have the first move you would win every time. Chess I could see. Even checkers, tic tac toe really?
@Murphys Law (He was being sarcastic.....)
Things that will be done first
-Telnet client
-email client
-solitaire
-twatter and facebook
@Extinction
Dude, keep it classy; it's Twitter. That's just not cool.
@ch3burashka
No, I think that "twatter" pretty much describes the service accurately.
I mean, if it's named after the people who use it, that is.
Oh, and minesweeper please.
@Extinction Kindle already has Minesweeper. Press Shift-Alt-M.
another platform for Need for Speed mobile I guess
@JeremyBenthem Gross!
This might be good for the color Kindle. I seriously don't see myself playing black and white games on my Kindle when I can play color ones on my iPhone, PC or maybe Apple Tablet if its any good.
I'll stick to my nook.
@TSIG tell me honestly, from someone that owns it. Is it cool? Does it work? Was it worth it? I love a reply
@TSIG
I just bought a nook. I wish b&n would hurry on up and give the nook some content like games, facebook, twitter. Maybe they arent going to do it until they can boost the nooks battery life. They could add a feeder though for now, and put it in the daily. I think think they could also add a browser maybe next year when they get the battery up or they could make and extended battery so instead of the regular nook mili-amp hour battery,upgrade the juice in it. That would work.
@TSIG
I just got a nook yesterday. Seems like a nice device with lots of potential. And the Nook hacker community has shown that it is capable. Here's hoping they take Apple's approach to backporting the OS when new versions are released.
No room for multiple numbers in a single box? Screw that. Paper rules.
Wow...Amazon is REALLY fearful of this upcoming Apple tablet! First a new publishing pricing structure and now (semi)open development? Right....they were going to do this all along...
@(Unverified)
It's almost horrifically sad isn't it? In the meantime though it would be hilarious if someone were to develop a web browser that would work over the kindle's free 3g service.
@Olternaut my Kindle has a web browser, it's under the "experimental" menu. It kind of sucks though.
@(Unverified)
Do you really think that it only takes a little to release a dev kit, and that it was knee jerk to the apple tablet?
I'm pretty sure this has been in the works for a while, as I've seen job postings starting more than a year ago for SDK developers.
How is this not tagged with 'breaking'? This sounds pretty huge, and I don't think I've seen another post with a similar announcement. Get up on it Mr. Engadget.
A good chess and checkers game would be nice. A lot of graphically simple boardgames would probably work well and appeal to the Kindle's demographic.
if their idea of "innovative active content" is sudoku, then i'll pass.
@Phil
hehehe... 500 dollar Kindle or... 2 dollar Sudoku book at the cash register... hrmmmm
Active with a screen the refreshes slower than a turtle fart, I am sure the "active" content will be more "passive". Please get with the Mirasol Amazon, and ditch this silly slow e-ink in your overpriced black and white screened e-readers!
Let's see.....Too bad men can't carry around pocketbooks, or whatever you call those bags women have, since I have a Kindle 1.0, a Peek, a cell phone, my Lenovo S-10, my real paper calendar, notebook (real with paper not computer) and my wonderful Motorocola V195 cell phone. Now, they tell me my Kindle will now have apps, so I do not need the S-10 netbook, or the Peek, since my Lenovo will do email and browsing, but, it will do it slowly, but my netbook has the Kindle application, so maybe I don't need my Kindle. But, books are easier to read on the e-ink display, but I could get an iPhone, but they are expensive and I spent my money on a good digital camera, but the iPhone has a camera, but I have t-Mobile and I hate AT&T's service and the monthly fee, and I like Sandisk music players, but, my computer and Kindle play music. Wait! What time is it? I no long wear a watch, the Kindle says it is 8:20 AM, the Lenovo says 8:21, the cell phone says it is 8:19, the camera's clock says 8:20, the Sandisk music player says 8:22. And, where do I put all the chargers? I need a separate bag for that.
@Dr Yusuf AlKindi
In Europe, the man-purse is not unusual.
Eventually, with all these gadgets, America and other nations will have no choice but to accept men carrying around satchels and purses again (they did in the old days... But that custom died out long ago).
I don't think the Kindle has the hardware specs to replace other handheld devices, and I would think that Gmail or Twitter apps wouldn't change the game.
The Kindle is for reading ebooks and developers should focus in improving the reading experience. The Nook is one step ahead thanks to its book lending feature, I believe that the Kindle Store would benefit from an Ebookcrossing App that could use GPS, or some app that would let users share ebooks or put them at stake in literature quizzes or comps.
I wrote a blog post describing these ideas, please let me know what Kindle App you'd like to see on http://www.bealoud.com/technology/kindle-development-kit/ :)