The latest news about Amazon may sound like an Ian Fleming plot, replete with secret labs and Q-like gadget experts. The New York Times reported that the job board for Lab 126, the division of Amazon responsible for the 
Kindle, is offering "a flurry of listings related to electronics hardware, with titles like Supply Chain Project Program Manager, Hardware Engineer and RF Systems Engineer."
While some of these new employees "will most likely work on the next versions of the Kindle," the Times suggested that "there's also a good chance these engineers will be recruited to build other gadgets that Amazon is prototyping in its secret labs."
A person "with direct knowledge of the company’s plans" told the Times that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos's "original goal for the lab was to build a range of other devices. There was talk of music players and other electronics."
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Plastic Logic has canceled plans for its much-delayed Que e-reader. CNET reported that with a proposed retail price starting at $649, "the Que was priced well above the iPad and many notebook computers, not to mention all other e-readers on the market."
In a statement, the company's CEO Richard Archuleta said, "We recognize the market has dramatically changed, and with the product delays we have experienced, it no longer makes sense for us to move forward with our first-generation electronic reading product. This was a hard decision, but (it) is the best one for our company, our investors and our customers."
He added that Plastic Logic would "take the necessary time needed to re-enter the market as we refocus, redesign and retool for our next-generation ProReader product."
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McNally Jackson bookstore in New York City will be getting an Espresso Book Machine. Owner Sarah McNally told the Observer "there have been technical issues, but I believe we are on track."
Buyer John Turner expressed enthusiasm at the prospect: "For me the biggest issue is, quite simply, as a medium-sized bookshop we can't fit every book in the world on our shelves. This will let us provide a wider variety to our customers."
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The three branches of Camden, N.J., Public Library that had been threatened with closure later this year due to budget cuts will be saved. The Camden City Council "is expected to approve a resolution allowing the Camden County library system to take over the three facilities without a citywide vote," the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
"After learning that the library board's only solution was to close our libraries, I knew I would not let that happen," said Camden Mayor Dana L. Redd.
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Dawson's Books, Los Angeles, Calif., is holding a moving sale this month (August 7 to 21). The bookshop's website notes that owner Michael Dawson "will still retain his book and photo appraisal business as well as his on-line business for fine art and historical photography (www.michaeldawsongallery.com) and rare books on photography and California history (www.dawsonbooks.com). He will also be available at a new location by appointment only."
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On October 13, author Pat Conroy will announce the National Book Award finalists during an event at Flannery O'Connor's childhood home in Savannah, Ga., the Los Angeles Times Jacket Copy blog reported.
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"An afternoon spent in downtown Brattleboro, Vt., is like a few hours in a time warp," observed Delia Cabe on Boston.com, where she highlighted a number of "independent bookstores within several blocks of each other."
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There may be more readers wanting to join book clubs than there are book clubs willing to accommodate them, but Gary Clement's Summer Book Club in the National Post welcomes everyone to an illustrated discussion of--thus far--Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, 52 Pick-Up by Elmore Leonard, I Know What I Am, but What Are You? by Samantha Bee, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein, Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby and Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler.
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Mapping the world of bookstores. Have you checked out the Millions' Collaborative Atlas of Book Stores and Literary Places lately?
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Far out summer reading on NPR. Don Lattin, author of The Harvard Psychedelic Club, recommended "Three Books to Take You on That Long, Strange Trip" and observed that on the 50th anniversary of Timothy Leary's magic mushroom experimentation, "perhaps it's time to look back at 'the high priest of LSD' and a few other men who gave birth to the psychedelic counterculture of the 1960s." Suggested titles were The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary: Outside Looking In, edited by Robert Forte, and Birth of a Psychedelic Culture by Ram Dass and Ralph Metzner.
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In a bit of Eat Pray Love counter-programming (a popular diversion lately), Flavorwire noted that "designer Sue Wong has even launched a line of Eat Pray Love-branded clothing. But since her costume-y designs are leaving us a bit cold, we couldn't help but thinking about which of our favorite literary characters might provide better sartorial inspiration." Thus: Literature's 10 Best-Dressed Characters.
The Awl subsequently raised the fashion stakes with The Truly Best-Dressed Characters in Literature.
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Book trailer of the day: Zero History by William Gibson (Putnam), which will be released September 7.
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In Buenos Aires this week, indie publisher association Alianza de Editores Independientes de la Argentina (EDINAR) is showcasing its Hot 20, for which "20 publishers chose one book each from their catalogues to be part of a Hot List, available and prominently displayed at different bookstores--these are not their best sellers, but the books that they feel deserve more of the spotlight than they’re currently getting," the Buenos Aires Herald reported.
