Sharp isn’t the only Japanese company getting ready for the upcoming e-book wars. Tomorrow, Toshiba is throwing its hat into the ring. But unlike Sharp (which starts in Japan), Toshiba will offer e-books in the US first – with plans to expand to Japan, Europe, and other places later. → Read More
In my hands right now, ladies and gentlemen? The latest version of the Amazon Kindle, known colloquially as the Kindle 3. Here’s what’s what. → Read More
Students have another choice when it comes to electronic textbooks. CourseSmart has released an iPad App, and the company says that 90 percent of the “core textbooks” out there are available. → Read More
Making predictions about the end of this or that technology or institution must be a fun hobby — so many seem to have taken it up. It’s probably because you can’t lose: not only do such predictions promote discussion and visibility of the issue, but they are rarely proven wrong. After all, predicting something happening five years in the future allows for enough change to happen… → Read More
If you’re comfortable traveling with your iPad (and why not?), these Lonely Planet guides look pretty amazing. Regular books seem like they’d be a pain on an iPad, but picture books for kids and interactive, picture- and link-rich content like travel guides are made for it. You can search, bookmark, leave notes, link out to maps and related websites. Wish I’d had all that with my… → Read More
The Connecticut attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, has opened up an investigation into whether or not the deals Amazon and Apple have cut with publishers for the sale of e-books have violated any sort of rules of regulations. The fear is that the deals Amazon and Apple have worked out with top publishers may lock out other companies from entering the e-book business. → Read More
Borders has been rather marginalized in the e-book wars thus far, not having the primacy of Amazon nor the sexy Nookiness of B&N. I liked their official e-reader, the Kobo, but until my opinion counts for points in the market, that doesn’t really improve their position. As promised, Borders is at last rolling out their e-book store today; it’s “powered by Kobo,” which I believe translates to… → Read More
The real “winner” of the e-book wars is E Ink, the Mass.-based (it was spun off from a project at MIT) company that develops the technology behind the screens of all the top readers, including the Kindle and nook. If you’re holding a Kindle or a nook, congrats, you’re holding the same core technology: E Ink’s display. The company has announced that its next-generation display, named Pearl, will be… → Read More
You must have heard that the Nook and the Kindle, two of the world’s best-selling e-readers, have dropped their prices to below $200 — down to $149 for the Wi-Fi Nook and $189 for the Kindle. It’s bad news for e-readers that recently placed themselves at low price points to compensate for fewer features (like the Kobo I just reviewed), but of course good news for everyone… → Read More
The Sony Reader, going international. The electronic book reader, which is only available here and there, will spread to Japan, China, Australia, Italy, and Spain before the end of the year. Shocked. → Read More
Short version: This low-price e-reader is a solid performer, as long as you don’t mind the total lack of things like notes, bookmarks, and WiFi. It reads books; if you want more, you’re free to pay more. → Read More
Sony says there will be more digital book content than physical book content within five years. Or, in English, e-books will overtake “regular” books by 2015. This is terrible news for people like Devin and John, people who appreciate books not merely for the words they contain but for the form they take. It’s less of an issue for people like me, people who are, in fact, merely interested in… → Read More
We’re not going to report every instance of a famous writer agreeing to distribute via e-book, but someone like Grisham is big enough to indicate a trend that others will follow. I’m not up to date on who is and who isn’t e-book-ready; there are contracts and stuff to be worked out for the majors and I’m guessing best sellers aren’t losing too much sleep over the alleged e-book revolution. → Read More
How many e-book readers do you think are out there right now for you to choose from? If you did a little digging, I bet you’d find 50 or so. Maybe 10 really worth checking out. But right now is a bit of a weird period in e-reader history. The Kindle cemented e-readers in the consumer headspace, catapulting them from weirdo alternative technology to mainstream gadget. That’s what the… → Read More
All the Apple marks are excited about the iPad. Not me, but whatever. What I am excited about, though, is seeing consumers use the items they’ve bought in the manner of their choosing. Say you’ve bought a bunch of books from the Amazon Kindle store. (Don’t tell Devin!) Those books are only “supposed” to work with the Kindle and the various Kindle readers, but with a bit of work you can read them… → Read More
Looks like Apple didn’t learn its lesson with the whole iTunes DRM thing. I suppose that they might consider some things worth DRM-ing and some not, but I think it’s more along the lines of they’ll do it whenever they think they can get away with it. And they seem to think that’s the case with their new e-book store, which will sell books laced with delicious FairPlay DRM. → Read More
Got a Kindle? Get thee to the British Library! Not only are they giving away a ton of old 19th-century literature in e-book form, but they’re a special “first edition” e-book with the original typeface and illustrations baked in.
The 1800s encompass nearly all of my favorite literature, so this is actually making me want a Kindle pretty bad right now. Original typefaces! O lawd! → Read More
One of the major points the iPad, nook, and other e-book readers have on the Kindle is their touchability. Sure, you don’t need it to read books, but it’s nice if you like interacting with things.
Well, Amazon seems to have figured this out, and has purchased a touchscreen company called Touchco (Touchco, really?) that owns a nice, transparent, resistive touchscreen tech that could easily be… → Read More
Like them or not, e-books are here to stay. Personally, I don’t like them — but that’s mainly because e-book readers have been ugly, clumsy, and limited in function and selection. The tidal wave of readers we saw at CES, however, suggests that even die-hard curmudgeons like myself may soon be among the faithful. What this means, of course, is that e-books, while a real business already, are… → Read More
Announced today, the Alex E-book Reader is an interesting take on electronic books. The upper third of the device features a standard 6-inch electronic ink screen similar to Amazon’s Kindle and then the bottom part sports a 3.5-inch color touchscreen running Android (1.6). The two screens can be harmonized by taking a web page you’ve loaded up on the Android browser and shooting it to the… → Read More
Guys! E-Book readers are everywhere at CES 2010. You should see it here. Anyone with a Chinese manufactuering contract seems to have one. (More to come, get excited) But there are only a few that are worth your time and ours. The iRiver Story is one of these and the good news is that you’ll be able to buy one real soon. → Read More
Should Santa leave a Sony Reader Daily Edition e-reader under your Christmas tree (or maybe you just like to buy fancy things on your own), you’ll be pleased to know that you’ll have a few more sources of content to choose from. Sony has agreed to deals bringing The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News, and The Baltimore Sun (among others) to the device. And there was much rejoicing. → Read More
In-flight movies might not be the only form of airline-provided entertainment on KLM flights. The airline is considering handing out e-book readers after the idea won a contest offered up by the airline. The idea beat out Online Tax-Free Shopping and placing wind turbines under the runways. (yeah, I don’t get that either)
But as fun and exciting as free e-books seem, it would be a… → Read More
I’m in charge of writing the e-book gift guide, but it’s sorta hard to recommend items that haven’t been released yet. That IREX reader, the nook, and the Sony Daily Edition Reader are all missing in action. Thanks, guys. Today we take a minute to ask, “Where’s the Sony Daily?” → Read More
Tire maker Bridgestone isn’t the first company that comes to mind when thinking about electronic paper, but the company has been experimenting in this field for quite some time now. Today, Bridgestone claimed that it has developed the world’s first flexible e-book reader [JP]. The device, which is pictured above, uses electronic paper (instead of, say, an LCD) and will display the content on the… → Read More
Books, books, books! The American Booksellers Association, a trade group that represents small bookstores (not Barnes and Noble and the other big guys), has asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether or not Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Target have “[devalued] the very concept of the book” with their ongoing price war. Well, they’re actually asking for an investigation into their selling… → Read More
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