Drew Herdener

Consumers looking forward to never paying more than $9.99 for an e-book may have to wait longer than anticipated.

Now that Amazon has the power to control more of its Kindle e-books’ prices, it will lower them slowly and strategically, according to a books-industry analyst from Forrester Research, Inc.

The Kindle Fire, Amazons heavily promoted tablet, is less than a blazing success with many of its early users. The most disgruntled are packing the device up and firing it back to the retailer. A few of their many complaints: there is no external volume control. The off switch is easy to hit by accident. Web pages take a long time to load. There is no privacy on the device; a spouse or child who picks it up will instantly know everything you have been doing. The touch screen is frequently hesitant and sometimes downright balky. All the individual

With the launch of Amazon.com’s “Amazon Fishbowl with Bill Maher” earlier this month, the Internet-based retailer made its first foray into the realm of original, episodic entertainment webcasting. The new half-hour program is a talk show produced by Amazon. “Amazon Fishbowl” can be found exclusively on its Web site home page. It features conversations between Maher and a variety of guests who come on to promote recently-released books, music and movies. A new episode of the show premieres each Thursday night 8 p.m. PST throughout the summer, while host and executive producer Maher, best known for his edgy political humor and pop culture observations, is