Today Apple raised the bar on interactive textbook publishing, with the introduction of a revamped iBooks app for the iPad and a free textbook publishing app for the Mac. If you’ve got an iPad, a fairly new Mac, and a big pile o’ knowledge to share with the world, you can now create a really [...]
hardware
Amazon Silk, or Amazon Browses the Web So You Don’t Have To
The Kindle Fire doesn’t come with a normal web browser, but with something Amazon is calling Amazon Silk, which is Amazon’s attempt at improving page rendering speed, browser responsiveness, and hardware limitations. Amazon has launched a blog about Amazon Silk, but so far the blog just displays a PR-written post and a Googlefied “here’s how [...]
Amazon says, “Kindles for everyone, even the poor!”
Someone at Amazon must have figured out that things aren’t looking good for the middle class, because the four new Kindle models announced today are all ridiculously cheap, both compared to previous Kindles and the competition. Before the end of this year, someone shopping for an ereader device will be able to choose from five [...]
Erotica publisher Ellora’s Cave plans to launch its own ereader device
I recently interviewed Susan Edwards, the COO of Ellora’s Cave, about news that the publisher is about to launch its own ereader device. Dubbed the ECave C71, the ereader is a Chinese-made LCD model that will be branded by the publisher and sold directly to customers. Like the genres of romance, sci-fi and fantasy, erotica [...]
Librarian shares opinion of Espresso Book Machine after two years of using it
Here’s a librarian’s account of the Espresso Book Machine after two years of using it. It’s the best, most detailed real-world account I’ve come across—most things you’ll find online about this book-on-demand printing machine are either press releases or cursory reviews like my hands-on account last spring. The tl;dr summary: it’s only fast if it’s [...]
Want to see ConsumerReports.org’s ereader reviews and ratings? Free access today only
Consumer Reports is one of the original paywall publications, and for good reason—they don’t take outside advertising or have corporate sponsors, and they are complete geeks when it comes to thoroughly testing every product they review. (Believe me, I’ve visited their home office before.) Because of this, it’s nearly impossible to find the details of [...]
PCMag calls Nook Touch the new king of ereaders
Has the Kindle 3 been beaten by Barnes & Noble’s elegant new touchscreen Nook? Yes, says PCMag: it’s smaller, lighter, and more user friendly, with the same Pearl E Ink screen.
CleverWraps: $5 freezer bags for your Kindle or Nook
At first glance, CleverWraps are just glorified freezer bags, but they bring some nice features you won’t find with any product from your supermarket.
Sterling Publishing giving away free Nook Color via Twitter
Sterling Publishing wants some free social media marketing to your Twitter followers, so it’s giving away one Nook Color to a randomly selected person who publishes a special tweet before 11 p.m. ET on February 25th: ["Three Seconds"] focuses on split-second life and death decisions, and the contest asks readers: “What can you do in [...]
What Neil Gaiman likes about the Kindle, and why you should care
Hopefully you don’t need a Famous Author to validate your purchasing decisions, so I’m not posting about Neil Gaiman’s opinions on the Kindle just to make you feel better/worse about your new ereader. Instead, I thought it might provide some useful things to think about when you shop for your next device, or when you [...]
M-Edge to launch MyEdge personalized Kindle covers
As of today it’s just a placeholder page, but in the coming weeks (months?) M-Edge plans to introduce MyEdge, a new service that will let you design a custom case for your Kindle, Nook or iPad. You start with a base of black or brown spine and stitching accents, add optional text, then select design [...]
Amazon and Barnes & Noble push apps to more device platforms
Both companies have been rolling out or announcing new versions of their reading apps over the past several days. First, Amazon promised that it plans to release Kindle apps for future Android and Windows tablets that come to market (this week is the annual Consumer Electronics Show, where such devices usually first appear). Then it [...]
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