Archive for July, 2010
Copia’s $99 eReader no comments
A couple of days ago the WSJ wrote about a change
of plans at Copia. Instead of offering six different ereaders (which never made any sense, but they didn’t ask me) Copia will now offer two ereaders: a 5-inch model for $99 and a larger 10.1-inch touchscreen model for $299. Both of these ereaders have LCD displays.
Actually this is not new. Copia revealed their changed strategy at least a month ago, although the Copia website is still only showing the original ereaders – I can find no mention of the two new LCD models.
Pardon my skepticism, but I’m really starting to doubt that we will ever see anything from Copia. The company is taking so long to launch their product that by the time it arrives it will be old news and irrelevant. The only interested parties will be those users – said by the WSJ to number in the hundreds – invested in the program through their participation in the beta.
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Books from RFB&D Now Available on Intel Reader no comments
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D) is the largest provider of educational audio textbooks in the US and has more than 270,000 members. RFB&D has announced that members can now use the Intel Reader to access its entire collection of DAISY-formatted audiobooks. From the press release:
Getting started with the Intel Reader is easy for RFB&D members. They can simply log into their online accounts on the RFB&D website to obtain a free User Authorization Key (UAK), install it on the device, and download their DAISY audiobooks. The content can then be transferred to the Intel Reader and listened to anytime, anywhere. The device stores members’ third-party content access keys for their convenience. For more information on the RFB&D UAK process, visit http://www.rfbd.org/intelreader/.
Users will also need to download the Intel Reader 1.0.1 software upgrade to enable their device to access RFB&D content.
The Intel Reader scans printed text and
converts it to audio which can be listened to immediately or stored for later. It is designed for use by those with visual impairments with easy-to-use buttons and intuitive menus with both audio and video navigation.
This is all well and good, except that the Reader itself costs $1500, and may not therefore be accessible to some of those who need it.
Intel does seem to have formed alliances with some advocacy groups, and there are programs to help put assistive technology such as the Reader into the hands of those who are in need but cannot afford it.
For scanning large amounts of text there is the Portable Capture Station, which is a docking and scanning platform for the Intel Reader. The cost for this accessory is an additional $400.
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Barnes & Noble Expanding NOOK Presence in Stores 1 comment
Barnes & Noble announced today that it is 
expanding the in-store NOOK (B&N has decided to improve its ereader by capitalizing all of the letters in the name now – reminds me of this) displays to full-service NOOK Boutiques. This is how you celebrate the one-year anniversary of the NOOK ereader if you are B&N.
The NOOK Boutiques will be about 1,000 square feet and feature demonstration tables and multiple working NOOK demos. There will also be flat panel displays featuring NOOK demo videos and a wide range of NOOK accessories for sale.
This does make more sense than Indigo’s recently announced plans to fill less-full bookshelves with trinkets – especially as B&N says that the majority of NOOK ereaders have been sold from stores rather than online.
B&N also says that Barnes & Noble Members who have bought a NOOK have been spending around 20 percent more after their ereader purchase. Additionally, the NOOK has expanded B&N’s customer base: 25 percent of NOOK users are said to be new to BN.com.
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Chegg Sweepstakes no comments
Chegg rents textbooks online and is currently running a promotion with lots of different prizes, including an iPad. You are entered automagically when you rent a textbook from Chegg. There must also be a way to enter without a purchase, which will no doubt be described at the Chegg Website. Chegg’s site seems to either be down or too busy at the moment – I cannot get there from here.
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Kobo iPad Contest no comments
In its latest contest Kobo will be giving away an Apple iPad. The contest is running today through August 2, 2010.
Every time you purchase an ebook from Kobo you are entered, or you can send an email to contest@kobobooks.com with your full legal name, city or town of residence, age, daytime telephone number with area code, email address and a description in approximately 35 words why you like Kobo. There is a limit of six entries per person.
For the rest of the fine print visit Kobo.com.
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More Kindle 3 News no comments
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) today released a press release commending Amazon on the accessibility features of the new Kindle 3 ereaders. The new Kindles come with a voice guide that reads all menu options aloud which will make it easier for those with vision impairments and print-disabilities to use.
Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "We commend Amazon on the unveiling of a new Kindle that blind and print-disabled people can use. In order to compete in today’s digital society, blind and print-disabled people must be able to access the same reading technologies as the sighted. The National Federation of the Blind has long been urging Amazon to make its reading device accessible, and we are pleased that our efforts have come to fruition."
In June 2009 the National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) filed suit against Arizona State University (ASU) to prevent the university from deploying Amazon’s Kindle DX electronic reading device as a means of distributing electronic textbooks to its students because the device cannot be used by blind students. The Kindle DX featured text-to-speech technology that can read textbooks aloud to blind students. The menus of the device were not accessible to the blind, however, making it impossible for a blind user to purchase books from Amazon’s Kindle store, select a book to read, activate the text-to-speech feature, and use the advanced reading functions available on the Kindle DX.
Besides the new and improved font technology, the new Kindle 3 ereaders will also support Chinese (both Traditional and Simplified), Japanese, Korean and Cyrillic character sets.
This could be pretty big, as it could help Amazon to greatly expand the Kindle’s market share internationally. The ereader market is big in China, and I’m thinking that the build quality and feature set at the new prices will make the Kindle 3 competitive in the Chinese ereader market. There is the issue of ebook piracy (there have been estimates that over 90 percent of ebooks read there are pirated) in China, so I’m not sure how Amazon will fare at selling Kindle books there.
The Japanese ebook market is still nascent, but it could well take off there as well. Several companies are forming to digitize and distribute content. Korean language support should also be welcome in Korea. The iPad currently does not support Korean, though it does support Chinese and Japanese.
Amazon will also be selling the Kindle 3 ereaders in the UK directly from the Amazon UK website, so no longer will buyers there need to order from the US and pay with dollars. The 3G + Wi-Fi Kindle 3 UK will cost £149 and the Wi-Fi only version will be £109. As in the US the new Kindle 3 will be released on August 27, 2010. Shipping will be free in the UK via Super Saver Delivery.
The Bookseller reports that in the UK Kindle Store ebook prices will be set by Amazon, not by publishers. No agency pricing model there.
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New iClass Action no comments
There they go again – another class action has been filed against Apple. This time against the iPad for allegedly overheating when used under normal operating conditions.
“The iPad was touted as a revolutionary invention — a product that Apple claimed could be used inside or outside and for purposes such as playing games and reading e-books,” claim the attorneys at Scott Cole & Associates, the law firm that filed the action. “Books and board games don’t close up after a few minutes of use and require you to stick them in a refrigerator to cool off.”
While the lawsuit alleges technical problems with the iPad, the focus of the action is on Apple’s advertising of the product. “Had the company told consumers about this issue, at least they could make informed decisions whether to buy it. That’s the crux of the case,” explains Scott Cole. The lawsuit seeks damages, including punitive damages, and restitution for the alleged false advertising scheme.
I’ve seen reports of the iPad shutting down due to overheating, but I’ve not had it happen with mine as of yet. And I live in the desert. I’ve also skinned the back panel of my iPad, which might have a small negative impact on the aluminum panel’s heat dissipation characteristics, but in spite of that and even when using the device in 100+ degree weather I have had no problems. Most of the reports I remember seeing mentioned that the iPad shut down while being used in the sun – I normally don’t use mine outdoors in direct sunlight because the screen is too difficult to see in those conditions.
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Kindle 3 Announced 2 comments
Apparently the 6-inch Kindle being out of stock 
for the last few days was in preparation for the introduction of a new Kindle, which Amazon has just announced. The new version is a “21 percent smaller and 15 percent lighter design, with 50 percent better contrast, 20 percent faster page turns, up to one month of battery life, double the storage, and more–only $189, and still with free 3G wireless.” Wi-Fi is also built in, and there will additionally be a Wi-Fi only Kindle for a lower price of $139, which is $10 lower than the price of the Wi-Fi only nook ereader.
The smaller size is achieved by slimming down the bezel and rearranging the buttons. The page turning buttons are thinner as well.
As expected, the new 6-inch Kindle will make use of the new Pearl e-ink display, just like the new DX graphite. As for the faster speed, it apparently does not come from the faster processors we’ve been hearing about over the last six months or so, but sounds more like it is the result of fine tuning and optimization:
Kindle’s all-new, high-contrast electronic ink display is further optimized with Amazon’s proprietary waveform and font technology to make pages turn faster and fonts sharper. Waveform is a series of electronic pulses that move black and white electronic ink particles to achieve a final gray level for an image or text. Amazon tuned the new Kindle’s waveform and controller mechanism to make page turning 20 percent faster. In addition, this waveform tuning combined with new hand-built, custom fonts and font-hinting make words and letters more crisp, clear, and natural-looking. Font hints are instructions, written as code, that control points on a font character’s line and improve legibility at small font sizes where few pixels are available. Hinting is a mix of aesthetic judgments and complicated technical strategies. Amazon designed its proprietary font-hinting to optimize specifically for the special characteristics of electronic ink.
Some other feature upgrades:
- More built-in storage: new model will store up to 3,500 books.
- Quieter page turning buttons. The older model makes a small clicking sound when you flip pages.
- New Web browser: The new Kindle uses a WebKit-based browser, which is faster and easier to navigate. The new browser also has an “article mode” feature, which condenses Web pages into the main textual content for easier reading.
- Better Accessibility: New Text-to-Speech (TTS) enabled menus enable navigation of menus without having to read menu options. All menu options, content listings on the home screen and item descriptions are TTS enabled.
The new Kindle 3G + Wi-Fi comes in both graphite or white, while the Wi-Fi only model is available in graphite only. I do like the graphite color better than the white myself – it adds to the perceived contrast. The Wi-Fi only model also weighs slightly less – 8.5 ounces vs 8.7 ounces for the Kindle 3G + Wi-Fi (and 10.2 ounces for the older model).
The new lighted leather cover for 
the Kindle 3 sounds kind of neato. It has a built-in retractable light that draws power from the Kindle’s battery via gold plated conductive hinges that also hold the Kindle 3 securely in the cover. The new lighted cover
Well, there is nothing really groundbreaking with this release, but the improvements are somewhat more substantive than the Kindle DX graphite’s improvements over its previous model. I really wish we could have gotten more durable plastic-based displays but, after the iPad’s release, pricing has become the primary focus. I’m hoping that the color Kindles, when they arrive, will have flexible screens.
The newest members of the Kindle family of ereaders will be shipping on August 27, 2010. Amazon is taking pre-orders
UPDATE: Amazon has put up a copy of the Kindle 3 User Guide – I’ve posted a link to it on my User Guides and Manuals page.
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Free eBooks – 7/28/2010 1 comment
A few more freebies at the Kindle Store:
Face of Betrayal (Triple Threat Series #1) by Lis Wiehl and April Henry (3 1/2 stars/179 reviews) Political thriller.
The Goddess of Fried Okra by Jean Brashear (5 stars/8 reviews) Contemporary fiction.
A Flower Blooms on Charlotte Street: A Novel by Milam McGraw Propst (4 1/2 stars/4 reviews) Young adult historical fiction.
eHarlequin is having a 25 percent off saleon new ebook releases to celebrate their website makeover. You will need to use the coupon MAKEOVER during the checkout process. eHarlequin ebooks are available in ADE, PDF, Microsoft eBook (LIT) and Mobi.
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M-Edge Introduces New Designs for Kindle New Yorker Jackets no comments
M-Edge has introduced a trio of new designs for its popular Kindle jackets featuring covers from the New Yorker magazine. The jackets are made of leather, while the image has a fabric appearance. The Kindle hinge along with an elastic corner strap are used to secure the ereader in place. This cover is also compatible with the M-Edge e-Luminator 2 booklight.
The New Yorker covers
