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The Best e-Readers Compared: Kindle, Kobo, Nook and Reader Throw Down

Jon Chase — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:45:00 EST

With Amazon's recent announcement that digital e-books outsold hardcover books for the first time, and paperbacks destined to a similar fate in the near future, we can safely say the e-book revolution is upon us. That doesn't necessarily mean, however, that the devices upon which we read those books -- digital e-readers, tablet computers, smartphones -- are anywhere near their final form. Last December, we took a look at the most popular e-readers on the market, and, while many companies have made only incremental alterations to their lineups since then, a few new additions and serious price-drops among others have vastly changed the landscape.

And, oh yeah, there's that whole iPad thing.

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How E Ink Makes E-Reading a Pleasurable Experience

Terrence O'Brien — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Columns, Back to School

What is E Ink?

"E Ink," although often used to refer to any low-power, high-contrast display like that found on e-readers, is actually a specific brand of displays. The question you should be asking is: "What is e-paper?"

Alright then, what is e-paper? Jerk.

E-paper is a type of display designed to mimic the appearance of ink on paper. While there are exceptions to these rules, most e-paper displays are black and white, lack a backlight and require electricity only to update the image on the display. This makes e-paper ideal for low-power gadgets, and situations where neither color nor full motion (like in videos) are necessary.

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NOOKstudy Wants to Be the Future of the Classroom: Hands On

Terrence O'Brien — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:20:00 EST

Filed under: Reviews, Back to School

When Barnes & Noble announced NOOKstudy a few weeks back, we were cautiously optimistic that it was an early salvo in the war on traditional textbooks. We were "really excited, less about NOOKstudy itself than for the future that it portends." Well, NOOKstudy has hit the Web, and we've given it a good once over. Does it fulfill the hype? Or, does it at least offer a tantalizing glimpse at the (hopefully very) near future of educational texts? Keep reading after the break to find out.

Gallery: NOOKstudy

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Choose Your Own iAdventure With New 'U-Venture' iPhone and iPad App

Lee Bains — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:30:00 EST

Filed under: iPhone

When we were wee-little bloggers, nothing piqued our interest in books more than the Choose Your Own Adventure series. In retrospect, the series (which was launched in 1979) and its interactive storylines presaged the role-playing video games that would later engross millions. Having changed publishers' hands over the years, Choose Your Own Adventure has found a still newer venue -- albeit under a different name -- on the iPhone.

One of the genre's pioneering authors, 79-year-old Edward Packard, has joined forces with Simon & Schuster to claim his rightful place, alongside the game developers he surely inspired, in Apple's App Store. Under the title "U-Ventures," his first revamped story, "Return to the Cave of Time," is already available for both the iPhone and iPad, and can be had for a mere $3.99. We not only recommend it to nostalgic nerds, but also to those parents who, on those long summer road trips, struggle to find backseat diversions for their brood. [From: New York Times]

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Amazon Now Selling More Kindle Books Than Hardcover Ones

Amar Toor — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:20:00 EST

Filed under: Computers, Back to School

The Kindle may be facing stiff e-reader competition from Apple's iPad, but, when it comes to printed books, at least, Amazon's reader seems to be dominating the market pretty handily. The company says it sold approximately 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books sold over the past three months, and that gap is continuing to widen. Last month alone, for example, Amazon sold 180 Kindle books for every 100 hardcovers -- thanks, in large part, to the company's decision to lower the Kindle's price tag from $259 to $189. "We've reached a tipping point with the new price of Kindle," Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says. "The growth rate of Kindle device unit sales has tripled since we lowered the price."

TechCrunch speculates that the Kindle's recent rise might have something to do with Amazon's e-book prices, as well. The retailer now boasts over 630,000 books available on the Kindle, roughly 510,000 of which are priced at $9.99 or less. Books sold on Apple's iBookstore, on the other hand, tend to be more expensive. Kindle users also have access to more than 1.8 million, pre-1923 books that are now out of copyright, and are totally free.

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James Patterson Becomes First Author to Sell 1 Million E-Books

Terrence O'Brien — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 17:45:00 EST

Filed under: Celebrities

James Patterson doesn't exactly write what you'd call "high literature." His thriller novels, often about a psychologist named Alex Cross, are basic bestseller tripe in the vein of Dan Brown. Patterson is far more prolific than most of his contemporaries, though, having penned 65 novels in his 33-year career. That body of work has put him in a position to be one of the foremost forces behind the e-book revolution.

Patterson's publishing company, The Hachette Book Group, claims that his novels have now moved 1.14 million copies in electronic form, making him the first author to sell over 1 million e-copies of his books. There are no third-party monitors of e-book sales, so Hachette relied on its own numbers and compared them with the sales of other prominent authors. Patterson will likely soon be followed across the million copy line by other bestselling authors, but we won't lie; we're shocked that he wasn't beaten to the punch by more geek-friendly authors like Stephen King or Douglas Adams. [From: L.A. Times]

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Official BlackBerry Twitter App Finally Leaves Beta, E-Reader Prices Keep Dropping

Warren Riddle — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:41:00 EST

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines....

The absence of a legitimate RIM Twitter app has allowed services like Uber Twitter, Tweetcaster and Open Beak to enjoy great success among BlackBerry owners. After three months of waiting, RIM's official BlackBerry Twitter offering finally seems ready to exit the Beta stage, as an official version just appeared in BlackBerry's App World. [From: Engadget]
Time magazine has been incrementally shifting toward an online paid subscription model for over a year. It appears the site is now officially implementing that system, but only for material specifically published in its print edition. Online readers frequently demonstrate their disdain for firewalls, registration processes and fees, but Time could circumvent that trend by keeping its strictly online material free to the public. [From: All Things Digital]
The highly competitive e-reader war continues to escalate, and consumers keep reaping the benefits. Borders will soon provide an assortment of highly affordable models, and the company is also launching its own eBook store today, reportedly with 1.5 million titles. PC and Mac apps are both currently available, and Android and BlackBerry versions should arrive soon. [From: Engadget]
Sony has responded to the expanding catalogs and dwindling prices of competing e-readers by dropping the costs of its own various tablet devices. The price cuts range from $20 (for the now $149 Pocket Edition Reader) to $80 (for the $169 Touch Edition Reader). [From: Reuters]
Woot's assertion that the AP needs to adhere to its own supposed standards by paying for recently referenced material has seriously rankled the Columbia Journalism Review. The CJR lambasted Woot, and particularly Tech Crunch, for perpetuating a "zombie lie," and then condescendingly dropped patronizing terms and phrases likes "dumb," "cheap," "embarrassing," "BS," and "let me put this as clearly as I can." Wow, the view must be pretty sweet from that virginal, ivory tower of elitist nerddom. [From: The Columbia Journalism Review]
A month ago, the U.S. military detained soldier Bradley Manning for his alleged role in leaking classified material to Wikileaks. Authorities have now charged Manning with a variety of crimes, including violations of both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Espionage Act. According to CNET, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange claims his site "will defend" Manning, who has also inspired a website in his defense. [From: CNET]

Official BlackBerry Twitter App Finally Leaves Beta, E-Reader Prices Keep Dropping originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is Illegally Downloading an E-book After Buying the Hardcover Ethical?

Amar Toor — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:40:00 EST

Filed under: Web, Back to School

The launch of the iPad may have opened the door to an entirely new world of media consumption, but it's also opened up a whole new set of questions about how enhanced, e-reader consumer behavior will fit into pre-existing legal frameworks. In his New York Times ethics column, Randy Cohen entertains a particularly compelling question from a reader who asks whether downloading a pirated copy of a book would be ethically sound, if done after having already purchased a hard copy. In response, Cohen acknowledges the illegality of piracy, but goes on to say that in this case, it would not be unethical. As he argues, "Author and publisher are entitled to be paid for their work, and by purchasing the hardcover, you did so. Your subsequent downloading is akin to buying a CD, then copying it to your iPod."

The problem with Cohen's argument is that it rests on an implicit equivalence between e-books and hardcovers. As he says, "buying a book or a piece of music should be regarded as a license to enjoy it on any platform," digital or paper. Cohen's theory, though, doesn't exactly conform to economic reality. Buying a book for an iPad may deliver the same content, but it also entails an experience specific to the platform, and one that the consumer, presumably, is aware of when making a decision. While there's no way to truly quantify this experiential gradient between traditional and digital media, it is implicitly accounted for in the price distribution. Digital, animated and extra content is often included in the iPad purchase. The $9.99 e-reader price, unlike the $20 hardcover, will also include a percentage devoted to Amazon, Apple or any other platform provider. You could subjectively argue that Amazon or Apple don't need the extra cents on the dollar in the same way that publishing houses do. But any sound ethical assessment should at least consider these third party interests. Under Cohen's moral framework, they're left out entirely.

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Amazon Threatening to Boot More Publishers From Kindle Store

Terrence O'Brien — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:45:00 EST

Filed under: Web

Back in January, Amazon tried to strong arm Macmillan into abiding by its e-book pricing rules. When the publisher demanded the ability to set its own prices in the Kindle store, Amazon simply yanked its books off the virtual shelves. Macmillan held fast to its demands, however, and, in the face of an impending challenge from the iPad, Amazon relented.

Now, other publishers have begun demanding yet more freedom. Amazon, meanwhile, is threatening to use the same failed tactic again. In exchange for the pricing concession it made in January, Amazon has since sought to impose other limitations, such as locking publishers into three-year contracts and banning publishers from offering cheaper prices to competitors (like Apple). The publishers, understandably, want the freedom to adapt to a marketplace clearly entering a period of significant change, and want the ability to wield pricing as a negotiating tool.

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MacMillan DynamicBooks Let Profs Edit Textbooks, Open Room for Abuse

Terrence O'Brien — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:50:00 EST

Filed under: Web

Publishers and educational companies are struggling with how to best utilize emerging technologies for addressing the needs of schools while staying relevant in an increasingly post-print world. Macmillan thinks it has a solution in DynamicBooks, a new subsidiary that sells editable, electronic textbooks.

DynamicBooks allow professors to customize educational tomes by reordering chapters and uploading additional course documents, such as a syllabus. More importantly, and perhaps more worrisome, is their added ability to edit, delete, or replace entire sections of text in order to better customize it for an individual class. Made-to-order textbooks are nothing new, but they're often prohibitively expensive. By making the texts electronic and teacher editable, Macmillan has made custom educational resources accessible to schools that lack deep pockets.

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Apple iPad Takes on Kindle With iBooks Store

Terrence O'Brien — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:35:00 EST

Filed under: Computers

Apple is never one to sit on the sidelines of any market niche for too long, so it's no surprise that it envisions the iPad as not just a Web-browsing device or over-sized iPod touch, but as an entry into the over-saturated e-book reader market, as well. To that end, Apple has unveiled the iBooks Store, a "print " media companion to the iTunes store loaded with publications from Harper Collins, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Hachett. The shopping experience looks incredibly similar to its musical predecessor, and, while prices vary, most books in the brief preview appear to be priced between $12.99 and $14.99.

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Forget Kindle, CellStories Has Free Short Stories for Your Phone

Leila Brillson — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 08:10:00 EST

Filed under: Cell Phones, Web

Aspiring authors, take note. In response to the popularity of Amazon's Kindle and the Sony Reader, a journalism professor from Chicago's Columbia College decided that books on the Net might help out the little guy, too. "Thankfully, the death of print meant discovering something much more valuable: mobile publishing," Professor Dan Sinker wrote on his site, CellStories.net. Sinker (who also, when he was 19, founded the seminal underground zine Punk Planet) told Reuters he thinks it's "delusional" to believe that the Kindle will still be around in three years. With the iPhone and other smartphones becoming the all-in-one gadgets, instead of just players and phones, users are going to want their reading to mesh seamlessly, as well. But iPhone screens are small, so Sinker thinks small screens work best for, well, small stories.

Sinker launched CellStories earlier this week, as a mobile-friendly, cross-platform site that lets Web-enabled phones read a daily story. An amazingly simple interface allows a short piece of writing, usually around 1,500 to 2,000 words, to load on screen quickly, and then refreshes with a new story the next day. Best of all, CellStories is free, and, while it isn't an application, Sinker has said that he's interested in pairing with publishers in the future. In the mean time, most stories are user-submitted.

The increasingly mobile world is giving power to anyone that has a server and a Web address, letting Sinker and Co. receive submissions and select great content for readers to peruse. Furthermore, nothing fits into an on-the-go, intelligent lifestyle like a thoughtful short story, perfect for the train ride home from work. Virtual 'book' club, anyone? [From: Reuters]

Forget Kindle, CellStories Has Free Short Stories for Your Phone originally appeared on Switched on Sat, 05 Sep 2009 08:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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'CSI' Creator Releases Book-Video-Web-Site Mashup

Caleb Johnson — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:31:00 EST

Filed under: TV, Web

When compared with music, television, and movies, books haven't really changed all that much over the years. But 'CSI' creator Anthony Zuiker is about to shake up the written word by rolling a novel, Web site, and video clips into an innovative experience for readers.

According to Reuters, Zuiker's first 'digi-novel,' dubbed 'Level 26,' will be released on Tuesday. It's a crime story, of course, but the format, not the plot, is where the innovation comes into play. After reading 20 pages of the actual text, you can enter a special code on the 'Level 26' Web site that accesses exclusive three-minute clips, which Zuiker wrote and directed, called 'cyber-bridges' that further develop the story. Zuiker says the 'digi-novel' is intended to give a breath of fresh air to traditional publishing, not replace it entirely.

He shouldn't worry, either. Because, if you ask us, there's no way this will catch on. No one wants to read 20 pages, put down the book, type in a URL, enter a code, watch a video clip, and start reading again. It's just not practical. On a positive note, at least this project can't be put into eternal syndication as Zuiker's TV show has been. The only place you'll see 'Level 26' years down the line is the bookstore bargain bin. [From: Reuters, via Silicon Alley Insider]

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=498701&pid=498700&uts=1252194740

http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf

Authors Who Love Tech

Centuries ago, a German fellow named Guttenberg got hold of some technology, and some texts, and started a revolution. These days, more and more, it seems that the Internet may be doing to the printing press what the printing press once did to calligraphy. Here, we'll take a look at a few writers who are embracing the change.

Getty Images

Authors Who Love Tech

1. Stephen King 'Kindles' the Flames of Writing Tech
This week, Stephen King -- along with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos -- unveiled the Kindle 2 e-book device by reading his Amazon-exclusive story 'Ur,' which features -- believe it or not -- a possessed Kindle. We are undecided as to which is more boring: the Kindle 2's built-in "Read to Me" robotic voice, or King's New England monotone.

2. Michael Crichton Brings Pop Lit to Gaming
Back in 2000, recently deceased, best-selling sci-fi author Michael Crichton helped to design the 'Timeline' PC game. Based on his novel of the same name, the game features a modern-day archaeologist who travels through time to feudal France.

3. Clive Barker Pens Video Game Novels
British horror novelist Clive Barker has proven to be a sort of morbid renaissance man over the years, dabbling in creepy films, creepy art and -- notably -- creepy video games. His 'Clive Barker's Undying' and 'Clive Barker's Jericho' were released for PC and Mac in 2001 and for PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2007, respectively.

4. Writer Malcolm Gladwell Twitters (Thankfully, Not Novels)
Canadian writer and sociologist Malcolm Gladwell has been characteristically plugged-in over the course of his career, not surprising as he worked the Washington Post's science beat for just shy of a decade. Extremely accessible, Gladwell consistently maintains a blog and Twitter page.

5. Log on to Help Thomas Friedman Finish His Book
Author, journalist and political columnist Thomas Friedman has garnered plenty of attention for his writing and commentary, most notably in the form of three Pulitzer prizes. Recently, Friedman has enlisted online help for the completion of his latest work 'Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - And How It Can Renew America' by asking folks to leave thoughts and suggestions on his blog.

'CSI' Creator Releases Book-Video-Web-Site Mashup originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon Apologizes For Its 'Big Brother' Move on Kindle

Leila Brillson — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:57:00 EST

Filed under: Computers

When Amazon.com went into Kindle devices across the country to delete unauthorized copies of 'Animal Farm' and '1984' by George Orwell, the irony was certainly not lost on users. A Big Brother move, no doubt, especially because no one was informed of the invasion of privacy -- and customers thought the reclaimed content had been legally purchased. Amazon did issue refunds, but the blogosphere earlier this month took the story up en masse. Customers, feeling betrayed, came out of the woodwork to express their frustration. Charles Slater, an exec with a Philadelphia sheet-music company, told the New York Times, "I never imagined that Amazon actually had the right, the authority or even the ability to delete something that I had already purchased."

Although Amazon released a lackluster apology on July 17th (its explanation was that a distributor uploaded the material without permission), the online mega-retailer did little to stop the bleeding. The anti-digital rights management (DRM) crowd protested the remote deletion and claimed this type of infraction was the core problem with rights-controlled media.

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New Kindle DX to Be Given to College Students for Textbooks

Chad Mumm — Tue, 05 May 2009 10:48:00 EST

Amazon is hosting a press event in New York City on Wednesday, which means there's a new Kindle on the way. Our colleagues over at Engadget dug up some spy photos and basic specs of the new device, which is being called the Kindle DX. Improvements over the current Kindle 2 include a larger, 9.7-inch display, a built-in PDF reader, and the ability to add annotations (as well as notes, as before). Word has it that the New York Times subscriptions will be $9.95 a month, compared to the current $13.99, and the Wall St. Journal is reporting that the new device will be distributed to students at Case Western Reserve in Ohio next fall -- for textbooks (let's hope that e-textbooks are a lot cheaper on the Amazon Kindle store than they are in real life at most college bookstores). [From: Engadget and Wall St. Journal]

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Amazon to Reveal Big-Screen Kindle Wednesday?

Terrence O'Brien — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:10:00 EST

Amazon made us wait for over a year between the Kindle and the updated Kindle 2.0. But a scant three months after the unveiling of the newer e-reader, online rumors are already saying that we may see a bigger-screen Kindle as soon as this week.

Amazon has begun to send out invitations to a press event, scheduled for this Wednesday, May 6th, where many expect that a larger-screened device, targeted at readers of newspapers and magazines, will be announced. The Kindle and Kindle 2.0 have had some success as formats for reading books, but their six-inch screens, which cannot display video or color images, have not hooked the readers of online news sites. Web visitors to the New York Times, for instance, can get those perks without paying the $14 monthly subscription fee that Kindle requires for access to the paper's site. There are also dedicated free readers for the New York Times and other newspapers on mobile devices such as the iPhone and the BlackBerry.

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Amazon Kindle Discriminates Against the Blind, Says NFB, in Protest

Terrence O'Brien — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:42:00 EST

Filed under: Computers, iPod, iPhone

Who knew that that the Amazon Kindle would prove to be such a flash point for controversy? The device's text-to-speech capabilities rankled the Authors Guild, which then pushed Amazon to disable the feature, or at least allow publishers to opt out of it. This has, in turn, gotten the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) up in arms.

Today, the NFB is taking to the streets outside the Authors Guild's headquarters in New York, asking the guild to retract its demands that Amazon disable the feature. According to the NFB, the Authors Guild's stance discriminates against the blind, dyslexic, and others who have disabilities that make reading printed material difficult or impossible. When first asked by the NFB to reconsider their demands, the guild responded by proposing a Kindle registration process, by which a disabled person would be required to prove her disability in order to unlock (or pay for) the text-to-speech feature.

The NFB balked at the idea -- not surprisingly, since many Kindle owners already think that Kindle e-books are overpriced. A loosely organized group of 250 customers has been labeling books in the Kindle Store with the tag "9 99 Boycott" due to its belief that the e-books should cost no more than $10. It's a reasonable argument when you consider that most paperback books cost about $10 and are much more versatile than their e-book counterparts.

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Amazon Kindle Discriminates Against the Blind, Says NFB, in Protest originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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'Mein Kampf' a Best Seller on Kindle Store?

Terrence O'Brien — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:46:00 EST

Filed under: Computers

Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' is, for both noble and despicable reasons, one of the most read books in history. Since its original publication after Hitler's release from jail in 1924, it has been available in several editions. When he was at the height of his power as Führer, there was a "people's edition," a "wedding edition" (given as a gift to all newlyweds), and the "Tornister-Ausgabe," which was a compact version intended for soldiers on the front line. It has been translated to dozens of languages, bound in leather, handed out for free in some countries, and outlawed in others. So it was only a matter of time before 'Mein Kampf' made its way into electronic form.

There's not one, but two versions of 'Mein Kampf' available in Amazon's Kindle store. Both are dirt cheap (though not free), but one version undercut the other by two cents and recently climbed its way to the top of the legal thriller best-seller list for the price of $1.58.

The Führer's reign at the top didn't last very long, however. Only minutes after CNET grabbed the screen shot above, it was gone. [From: CNET]

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Sony Reader Gets 500,000 New Book Titles From Google

Peter Mychalcewycz — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:04:00 EST

It's a good time to be a Sony Reader owner.

Google has just made 500,000 titles from its massive public-domain book collection accessible to users of Sony's popular e-book reader. This is the first time Google has made these resources available to such a device, effectively pushing Sony's Reader past Amazon's Kindle (which offers about 240,000 titles) in terms of books available for the device.

All of the public-domain titles were published before 1923, but include many classics of fiction and non-fiction. It's a big day for literature lovers everywhere, since you can now finally unfetter H.P. Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu" from the Google-hosted PDF version and take it with you in the new Electronic Publication Format (EPUB). Your move, Amazon. [From: thestreet]

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Fujitsu Shows Off FLEPia, the First Color e-book

Paul Miller — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:37:00 EST

After years of teasing -- FLEPia was first announced in April of 2007, and first proven in 2006 -- Fujitsu has at last released its color e-book (or e-paper mobile terminal, as they'd like you to call it) to the masses. Featuring an 8-inch XGA screen capable of displaying 260,000 colors, along with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and up to 4GB of storage via SD card, and measuring less than half an inch thick, FLEPia's not just getting by on color alone. Fujitsu promises 40 hours of continuos use, and the unit can be operated by its touchscreen or the assortment of function buttons. Naturally you can do the regular e-book thing, but the Japanese version of the device also includes full-on Windows CE 5.0, which would probably be a bit of a chore to use with the relatively slow screen refresh times of e-ink (1.8 seconds for a single wipe), but undeniably retrofuturistic. FLEPia ships on April 20th in Japan for 99,750 Yen (about $1,010 US).

[Via Engadget Japanese]

Read - English press release
Read - Videos of FLEPia in action

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Hype Check: Amazon Kindle 2 (Hands-on Review)

Tom Samiljan — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:01:00 EST

Filed under: Editor's Picks, Green Tech, Switched Video, Reviews

We were able to get our hands on an Amazon Kindle 2 a few days before today's ship date. The next-generation e-book reader is lighter and thinner, has a longer battery life, and now includes text-to-speech capability, but for $359, is it worth upgrading from the original? More importantly, is it ready to replace your books? (Possibly, if you plan on reading or buying 72 books in the next year.). Check out our video above to see what's new and what we think of it.

View Poll

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Amazon Kindle 2 Out on February 9?

Joshua Topolsky — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:53:00 EST

It could mean anything that Amazon is hosting a press event Monday morning, February 9th at the Morgan Library here in New York City. Maybe they just want to talk about how much they enjoy huge archives of original manuscripts and the smell of aged paper. Whatever the case may be, the last time we went to an Amazon event, they ended up launching the Kindle, so it's not crazy to speculate that we very well could see the introduction of a new iteration of the successful e-book. We've pinged the company for more solid word, but it's been radio silence thus far. Of course, we'll be there live covering any news as it breaks, so just plan on being here... or being square.

Amazon Kindle 2 Out on February 9? originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oprah-Approved Content Oddly Lacking on the Oprah-Approved Kindle

Terrence O'Brien — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:14:00 EST

Filed under: Celebrities, Handheld Devices

That Oprah, she's a wily one. She's constantly selling something or giving something away in an effort to tighten her grip on the throat of the world. Which is why we're a little confused that when she decided to endorse the Kindle, she neglected to make sure she had any content to sell on it.

After the TV talk show queen threw her hefty cultural weight behind her "new favorite gadget" last year, legions of fans ran out and bought the hideous-looking (but admittedly useful) Kindle, only to find that less than half of the books in the Oprah Book Club were available for download on the device. Oddly enough, neither of Oprah's magazines ('O' and 'O at Home') were available for the eReader. It turns out that this is still the case.

We're a little surprised at such a lack of planning from someone clearly trying to take over the world. On the plus side, it may mean we'll be able to find a lot of low-priced, slightly used Kindles on eBay from disgruntled Oprah fans. [From: The Register]

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Oprah-Approved Content Oddly Lacking on the Oprah-Approved Kindle originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Famous New York Hotel Offers Kindle During Your Stay

Laura June — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:23:00 EST

Filed under: Computers

Manhattan's Algonquin Hotel has a long tradition of nurturing the literary-minded -- Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, even Harpo Marx hung out there in its heyday. Keeping up with the times, the folks running the Algonquin today apparently still have literature on their minds, and are offering Amazon's Kindle pre-loaded with a book of their choice for guests of the hotel during their stay. If they don't have all seven volumes of À la recherche du temps perdu loaded up and ready for us when we get there we're totally heading to the Holiday Inn. [Via Kindle Boards]

Famous New York Hotel Offers Kindle During Your Stay originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon's Kindle 2 Coming Early Next Year

Kaiser Hwang — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 09:14:00 EST

Filed under: Computers

Remember those leaked Kindle 2 hardware shots from a while back? Well, they're real, but the rumored release date of sometime this past October is obviously wrong. Well, it was rumored to be correct, but sources are now reporting that the new release date is Q1 2009 due to Amazon head Jeff Bezos wanting a few changes in the software.

The Kindle is one of those strange devices where the high concept is fantastic: an eBook reader that ties directly into Amazon's huge selection of ebooks with a built-in (and free) 3G connection, courtesty of Sprint. Hell, even Oprah loves it. But the questionable design, lack of support for open and common ebook formats, charge for converting files not sent to your default Amazon email, and useless cellular connection when abroad (or in Montana or Alaska, strangely enough) have limited its appeal. Oh, and it costs $400.00.

We've personally been using Sony's eReader, both the PRS-505 and the new PRS-700. While they both lack a data connection and have a smaller selection of books available in Sony's online store, the ability to freely copy over PDFs and other document formats, as well as including support for everything from Adobe Digital Editions to the standard ePub format, makes Sony's readers a bit more palatable. Plus, the PRS-700 has a touchscreen and built-in LED lights for about the same price as the Kindle.

The ebook market is only going to grow as time goes by, so Amazon better have an ace up its sleeve if it wants to be the king of digital reading. [From: Engadget and TechCrunch]

Amazon's Kindle 2 Coming Early Next Year originally appeared on Switched on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 09:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Random House Digitizing Thousands More Books

Peter Mychalcewycz — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:50:00 EST

E-book sales are booming and Random House Inc. is reacting appropriately by digitizing thousands of tomes, increasing its digital library to around 15,000 titles.

Matt Shatz, Random House's vice president for digital operaions, points to triple digit increases in e-book sales in 2008 as the reason for the company's ramped up digital efforts. The new e-books will be available in the coming months with novels by John Updike and Harlan Cohen among the featured titles.

Ebooks still only account for 1% of the overall market, but the times they are a' changin'. Of that there is little doubt. [From: USA Today]

Random House Digitizing Thousands More Books originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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miBook Electronic Cookbook Offers Step-By-Step Video Recipes

Terrence O'Brien — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:57:00 EST

Filed under: Audio/Video, Computers, Celebrities, TV, Holiday Gift Guide 2008

Companies has been trying to dream up a "kitchen computer" for years. HP has been pitching itsTouchSmart as a cook-friendly information center, computers have been crammed into refrigerators, and we've even tried out the OLPC as a 21st-century replacement for the cookbook.

The problem is, all these items merely put words on a screen, and don't actually offer anything that a physical cookbook doesn't -- until now. The miBook (pronounced "my book," don't ask us) is dragging your culinary tomes into the modern era, and all without asking you to drop a month's rent on a new gadget. The miBook has a 7-inch screen for displaying video instructions to guide you through the creation of a meal and stops automatically after each step, giving you a chance to replay the action. So, if you don't know how to, say, chop peppers for some sort of dish, then you can just copy what the miBook's video shows you.

The miBook also offers "how-to" multimedia videos -- which come on a little SD memory card -- on gardening, home repairs, pregnancy, parenting, and travel. It's $130, though, which you'll presumably get back by saving money on all those cookbooks you won't have to buy (or so the theory goes....).

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miBook Electronic Cookbook Offers Step-By-Step Video Recipes originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google to E-Publish Out-of-Print Books Online

Terrence O'Brien — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:42:00 EST

Filed under: Computers, Google

Google Book Search, while an impressive tool, has faced numerous roadblocks and lawsuits that have prevented it from reaching its full potential. Many books that have no existing copyright are available from the search giant's library, as are textbooks from many universities.

Things may finally be turning around for the company, which has a stated goal to index all of the knowledge in the world. Last month, Google settled its long-standing lawsuit with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers for $125 million. Now, Google has struck a deal to offer electronic versions of copyrighted books that are out of print.

This means that the contents of the New York Times Best Seller List still won't be available for free perusal via Google, but many hard-to-find books that have fallen out of print will once again be available for sale.

The landmark deal is still awaiting approval from the courts, but seemingly overnight Google Book Search has gone from a good (if naive) idea, to what Neill Denny (editor of trade publication The Bookseller) called the largest bookstore in the world. [From: New York Times]

Google to E-Publish Out-of-Print Books Online originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Yorker Magazine Offers Digital Edition

Lee Bains — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:10:00 EST

Filed under: Computers

Last week, the editors of The New Yorker unveiled an online, digital edition of the magazine, PaidContent.org reports.

While The New Yorker has been offering excerpts of the magazine in digital form for some time now, those articles were only made available online to coincide with the print edition's arrival in mailboxes and on newsstands. As of the most recent issue, the digital edition will arrive in e-mail inboxes just after press time.

A payment of $39.95 will get you a one-year subscription to the digital edition, which includes access to The New Yorker's online archives, dating back to 1925, the year of the magazine's founding.

That the 83-year-old publication, a bastion of traditional magazine journalism, has so fully embraced the digital age could very well be described as nothing less than momentous. We're just waiting to hear about the newest run of The New Yorker cartoons, complete with Flash animation. [From: PaidContent.org]

New Yorker Magazine Offers Digital Edition originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google to Publish Books Online

Will Safer — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:22:00 EST

Filed under: Computers, Google, Downloads

Google's next foray into content delivery won't be video or music but books - and the Web search company isn't talking about selling the latest Nicholas Sparks best-seller to be read on a dedicated digital reader. Instead, Google will be working with publishers and authors to produce online-only books that will be read on the computers that consumers already have.

While Sony and Amazon would have you believing you need a special device just to read a digital book, Google co-founder Sergey Brin says a computer monitor does the job just fine. "You don't have to look at it at a funny angle, and today's monitors have better resolution than ever."

Four years ago, Google's Book Search project began scanning out-of-print books - a seemingly smart thing to do and a good service for people trying to track down some old, maybe unpopular tomes. But publishers responded with lawsuits, claiming Google was infringing on their copyrights. Since then, Google has also scanned in-print books and included links for consumers to buy the whole book when they find a work they like.

This time around, after agreeing to settle the suit for $125 million, Google is working with the publishers to make sure everyone involved gets their due. Court approval of the settlement is expected for summer of 2009, and that's when authors who have registered with Google will be able to make their books available. The authors will set the price and get about 50-percent of the sale. Out-of-print books still under copyright will be easier for publishers to arrange for sale on Google Book Search, so you might not have to dig so hard at the used book store or the library for a missing novel or poetry compendium. [From: USA Today.]

Google to Publish Books Online originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is Oprah Ditching Books for the Amazon Kindle?

Terrence O'Brien — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:11:00 EST

Filed under: Computers, Celebrities, TV

After making sure that Obama will win the next election with her golden touch, Oprah appears to have made it her task to sell an overwhelming amount of Amazon Kindle e-book readers. Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder, will be the guest on today's episode, in which Oprah will apparently talk about her new favorite gadget, and we don't think she's gonna be talking about the rabbit.

A trailer on Amazon features clips of Oprah talking about her "new favorite gadget," which she called "life changing." The video doesn't actually say what the gadget is, but the Financial Times's Chris Nuttall says it could be the Kindle, which makes sense since Oprah is an avid reader and whatever she recommends on her show or puts in Oprah's Book Club usually sells through the roof.

Tune in at 4pm today for confirmation that Oprah has bestowed her grace upon the device. Hey, maybe she'll give out a free Kindle to everyone in the audience. Oh, and Amazon, please don't ever use the phrase "what it is" ever again. Thanks. [From: Financial Times, via Silicon Alley Insider]

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Is Oprah Ditching Books for the Amazon Kindle? originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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'Moby Dick' Shows Up on Twitter -- 140 Letters at a Time

Tim Stevens — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:09:00 EST

Filed under: Computers, Back to School 2008

Twitter, the social networking site/service with a strict, 140-character limit for status messages (known as "tweets" in Twitter-speak), has sprung to huge popularity lately as more and more people want to share what they're up to right this minute. We've also seen how the service/site has helped some people to share information about disasters, but now one Twitter user has come up with a rather interesting use for the service: He is twittering the entirety of Herman Melville's classi novel 'Moby Dick' -- 140 characters at a time.

'Moby Dick' clocks in at a little over 200,000 words. Each tweet (a single Twitter post) is coming in at around 20 words or so, meaning something like 10,000 tweets will be required before (spoiler alert!) Ishmael and the whale have their mighty confrontation. No Cliff's Notes here. [Source: Twitter]

'Moby Dick' Shows Up on Twitter -- 140 Letters at a Time originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Watch Out, Kindle -- Dual-Display E-Book Mimicks Reading

Joshua Fruhlinger — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:20:00 EST

Filed under: Computers

It's no surprise that more displays is always better, but when it comes to mimicking the act of reading a book, dual displays is a clear step forward. Researchers at Maryland and Berkeley Universities developed a prototype dual-face, modular e-book reader that allows readers to fan pages to advance in a book or via trackball.

If you're doing some serious research, the displays separate from one another, allowing one to display in landscape mode while the other runs in portrait. To complete the book meme, the device can be folded over to run in a more compact manner, and a simple flip changes the page. Possibilities for future e-book readers are endless here, so we applaud Maryland and Berkeley for using those research dollars. [Source: New Scientist]

Watch Out, Kindle -- Dual-Display E-Book Mimicks Reading originally appeared on Switched on Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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German Publisher to Publish Print Version of Wikipedia

Will Safer — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:57:00 EST

Filed under: Computers

Make room on your bookshelf for Wikipedia.

German publisher Bertelsmann will publish in September a printed, bound version of the German Wikipedia, compiling and condensing the most referenced entries on the German version of the popular collaborative reference Web site.

"The One-Volume Wikipedia Encyclopedia," will carry a price tag of 19.95 euros, or about $32.

The German version of Wikipedia has about 750,000 separate articles. 'The One-Volume Wikipedia Encyclopedia' will have about 25,000 entries, each about 15 lines each, and the whole book will be about 1,000 pages.

Wikipedia online is a constantly updated, collaborative effort, so the book version is intended to be a snapshot of the current interests of German users. Bertelsmann assigned a staff of 10 people to identify which articles would be included, condense them, and then do a round of fact-checking. This last point may be interesting to readers who know that Wikipedia is sometimes criticized for allowing bad information to appear on its pages. The German Wikipedia site, however, is regarded as the most accurate of all the Wikipedia sites.

Bertelsmann will give one euro to to Wikipedia for every copy of the book that is sold. [Source: The New York Times].

German Publisher to Publish Print Version of Wikipedia originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Darwin's Complete Works Now Available for Free Online

Blake Besharian — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:12:00 EST

Filed under: Computers

Thanks to the U.K.'s Cambridge University, Charles Darwin's complete works are now available for free online at the Web site Darwin-Online.org.uk. The venerable institution has digitized more than 50,000 pages of text and 40,000 images by Darwin, and made them all searchable. Only about 50% of the materials that will ultimately be available in 2009 -- the bicentennial of Darwins' birth -- are currently online.

Some of the materials on the site have never been published or transcribed before, such as Darwin's field notebook from his voyage to the Galapagos. The original notebook was stolen in the 1980s, and the version online has been transcribed from microfilm. Other works first published by the site include the 'Journal Of Researches' (1839), 'The Descent Of Man' (1871), 'The Zoology Of The Voyage Of HMS Beagle' (1838-43) and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th editions of the groundbreaking 'Origin Of Species.' In addition to Darwin's own writings, the online catalog will feature supplementary texts about Darwin, including contemporary views, references, obituaries and recollections of his life.

All of this is impressive and points toward the future of digital libraries and digitized resources. However, we hope that online resources of the future won't look like a public library homepage circa 1995. While we don't judge a book by its cover or anything, we think such a monumental undertaking deserves a bit more flash, and we mean that in every possible sense. [Source: Darwin Online, via BBC]

Darwin's Complete Works Now Available for Free Online originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon Kindle Hacked, Leading to More E-Books for Readers

Tim Stevens — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 08:54:00 EST

Filed under: Computers, Gift News, Holiday Gift Guide

Just a few weeks after its release, the Amazon Kindle has already had its DRM cracked. DRM is of course Digital Rights Management, the bane of many legal digital music download users. DRM is applied to the Kindle's files to keep users from simply sharing digital versions of books, magazine, and newspapers with friends.

Surprisingly, the new DRM-breach doesn't enable enable users to subvert that DRM and share those files. Instead, the development has expanded the library of file types that are readeable on the Kindle. Currently, the Kindle uses a modified version of the MobiPocket file format, created by a French eBook company that was purchased by Amazon back in 2005 when the Kindle was just a twinkle in Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' eye.

But Reverse Engineering's Igor Skochinsky, the developer behind the DRM-crack, has discovered is that it's possible to take existing MobiPocket files and modify them to be viewable on the Kindle, something that was previously not possible thanks to the MobiPocket DRM. This means that the already reasonably impressive library (90,000 titles) of Kindle titles is now even greater. This is good news for readers, but some of the steam of this discovery was let out with word that Fictionwise, a major e-tailer of MobiPocket eBooks, is also now letting you directly download files in Kindle format, even for books you've bought in the past!

Anyhow, for other MobiPocket files that aren't going to be converted for you, Reverse Engineering provides a few scripts you can try to get them Kindle-ready

So what does all this tech-developer intrigue mean for you? More digital books for you early-adopting e-readers ou there -- -- assuming you managed to get one of the things to read them on.

From Reverse Engineering

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Amazon Kindle Hacked, Leading to More E-Books for Readers originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 13 Dec 2007 08:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scratch-n-Sniff 'Old Book Smell' for E-Books

Terrence O'Brien — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:26:00 EST

Filed under: Computers

We're fans of good old tactility, feedback and honest to goodness sensation -- all commodities in today's increasingly digital world. That why it's always been hard for us to jump on the e-book bandwagon. Digital versions of books stored on computer-like readers lack any pages to turn or binding to break in. They certainly lack that musty aroma you soak in when cracking open an older book, which may be more important to the overall reading experience than most of us realize. After all, smell is the sense most closely tied our memory sensors.

But now, e-textbook-peddler CafeScribe is working on a solution. Beginning in September, every e-textbook purchased through the newly-launched service will include a scratch-n-sniff sticker that smells like a musty old book. The gimmick is part of a slightly bizarre attempt to woo students and universities to its e-textbooks and away from traditional paper. In a survey of 600 college students, CafeScribe found that 43 percent identified smell as the thing they most love about books as physical objects, while 30 percent associated "mustiness" with the books they most loved.

Though certainly a marketing gimmick, this is an entertaining marriage of old and new technology, and one we'd love to see packaged with more of our digital goods. Imagine if a new song downloaded from iTunes smelled like the unwrapping a new cassette tape?

From Engadget

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Scratch-n-Sniff 'Old Book Smell' for E-Books originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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