Oprah Flips for Amazon's Kindle

Oprah Winfrey is taking her book-promotion prowess to the tech world: The multimedia mogul declared the Amazon Kindle device her “new favorite gadget” on today’s show, calling it “life changing.” That should give the year-old electronic reader a boost, reports Forbes, but the Kindle may not get really popular until Amazon releases a redesigned version.

"I'm telling you, it is absolutely my new favorite thing in the world," said a post on Winfrey's website. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos appeared on the show to tout the device, and each member of the audience took one home. The company says the new Kindle will come out in 2009. Until then, Amazon will have to rely on the well-documented “Oprah effect” to push the reader through the holidays. (More Amazon stories.)