Archive for August, 2010
Free Books from Kaplan at the iBookstore no comments
Kaplan Publishing is letting students try some of its books for free until September 6, 2010. There are 21 free prep guides and study aids offered through the program at the iBookstore:
- Kaplan ACT Strategies for Super Busy Students
- Kaplan SAT Score-Raising Dictionary
- Sharp Vocab
- Sharp Writing
- Kaplan Portable GMAT
- Kaplan Portable GRE Exam
- Kaplan PMBR: Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE)
- Kaplan PMBR Finals: Constitutional Law
- Kaplan MCAT Organic Chemistry Review
- Kaplan MCAT Biology Review
- Kaplan NCLEX-RN 2010 -2011 Edition
- Kaplan CCRN
- Kaplan101 Algebra Practice Questions
- Kaplan 101 ASVAB Practice Questions
- Kaplan101 GRE Quantitative Practice Questions
- Kaplan 101 GRE Verbal Practice Questions
- Kaplan 101 MAT Practice Questions
- Kaplan 101 PSAT/SAT Critical Reading Practice Questions
- Kaplan101 Biology Practice Questions
- Kaplan 101 SAT/PSAT Writing Practice Questions
- Kaplan 101 GMAT Verbal Practice Question
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Borders News no comments
Borders is in the news today, and not all of it is good. Borders will be closing its King Street store in San Francisco. This at the same time as Barnes & Noble is closing its landmark store near Lincoln Center in New York City.
Both bookstore chains are struggling, though Barnes & Noble looks to be much more likely to survive. Just as the bookstore chains put many small independent bookstores out of business in the past, they themselves are now under pressure from online booksellers.
Even as bookselling chains move to digital sales they are faced with another conundrum – what to do with empty floor and
shelf space as they carry fewer physical books? Indigo Books has said it would be filling its empty shelves with trinkets. Borders is now said to be planning on replacing some of its children’s book sections with Build-a-Bear kits. These are kits for children to build and personalize their own stuffed animals. I’m not so sure that Borders’ salvation lies in becoming the next dime store chain.
Borders also announced today that it is launching a new paid “Borders Rewards Plus” loyalty program. Borders customers can now choose from a free rewards program or a paid program which costs $20 per year and offers savings on most merchandise as well as free shipping on virtually all online orders.
- Members of the free, enhanced program will receive 30 percent off the list price of hardcover bestsellers and free shipping on online orders of $25 or more.
- Members of the Borders Rewards Plus program will receive 40 percent off the list price of hardcover bestsellers, 20 percent off the list price of select hardcovers, 10 percent off the purchase price of most everything else — and free shipping on virtually all online orders.
As with Barnes & Noble’s loyalty program, the discounts do not apply to ereaders or other electronics, although it appears that you can take discounts off of some ebooks at Borders, which you cannot do with the Barnes & Noble Membership Program.
To promote the new program, Borders is offering double “Borders Bucks” to members on their purchases through September 6, 2010. Borders is also offering an additional discount to teachers:
As part of its longstanding commitment to supporting educators, Borders has made its Rewards program more teacher-friendly. Upon the program’s launch, teachers who are currently Rewards members will receive a personal shopping day where they will enjoy a 10 percent discount off the purchase price on top of the 25 percent discount they already receive on eligible items. In addition, beginning Oct. 1, parents, friends and families can donate Borders Bucks they’ve accrued to their favorite teacher. The teacher can then use the donation to buy classroom supplies.
Borders has also lowered the prices of some of the ereaders that it carries. The Kobo eReader is still $149.99, but it comes with a $20 gift card, which effectively lowers its price to $129.99. Still not a good deal at this price when compared to the Kindle 3 in my book. Borders is also selling the Aluratek Libre for $119.99, the Sony Touch for $139.99 and the Sony Pocket Edition for $119.99. Borders will also be carrying the Cruz Tablet and Reader from Velocity Micro.
UPDATE: Borders has lowered the price of the Kobo eReader to $129.99 without the gift card. The Aluratek Libre has also been lowered to $99.99.
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Staples to Carry Kindle 2 comments
Beginning this fall Amazon’s Kindle ereaders
will be available at Staples. Staples announced today that it will be carrying all three of the new Kindle models, including the Kindle DX.
Having its NOOK ereader in stores where customers can actually try it out before buying has been one of the advantages Barnes & Noble has had. Target also sells the Kindle, but from what I’ve seen doesn’t do a very good job of marketing it.
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Hands-On Video of Velocity Micro Cruz Reader no comments
Gadgetnutz has posted a hands-on video of the Velocity Micro Cruz Reader made at Velocity Micro’s headquarters.
The Cruz reader, at least from what we can see in the videos released so far, seems much more responsive and faster than the other color LCD tablets in this price range.
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Free Kindle Books – 8/30/2010 no comments
There are seven new freebies at the Kindle Store:
Winners Never Cheat: Even in Difficult Times, New and Expanded Edition by Jon M. Huntsman (4 stars/23 reviews) Ethics.
Lessons From A Younger Lover by Zuri Day (4 1/2 stars/8 reviews) Romance.
It Takes a Genome: How a Clash Between Our Genes and Modern Life is Making Us Sick by Greg Gibson (3 stars/4 reviews) Science.
Billy Boyle: A World War II Mystery by James R. Benn (4 stars/21 reviews) Mystery set in WWII.
Psych Yourself Rich: Get the Mindset and Discipline You Need to Build Your Financial Life by Farnoosh Torabi (4 stars/1 review) Personal finance.
The Truth About Making Smart Decisions by Robert E. Gunther (3 stars/1 review) Decision making, leadership.
Investing in Neglected Stocks by Scott Phillips (not yet rated) Investing.
The free ebooks have been coming and going rather quickly this month – if you see one you want better grab it quick.
For more freebies see my Free Kindle Books page or the UK Kindle Store Free Books page. To see what new ebooks are coming out this month, see the New eBook Releases page.
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Kindle DX 2 – PDF no comments
I’ve just made a video of viewing a PDF file on the latest generation Kindle DX (Kindle DX 2). The Kindle DX is the best e-ink based ereader I’ve seen so far for handling PDF files.
With its larger screen, in many cases zooming in will not be required – especially with the magnification that the landscape mode provides.
I’m really happy with the Kindle DX. I do find that I like reading on a larger screen, but in my case I mostly use my ereaders at home, so portability is not really an issue for me.
It is rather suspicious that Amazon is out of stock of the Kindle DX for several weeks. Is a new DX incoming? If so, I imagine more than a few people who purchased the “latest generation” Kindle DX will be unhappy that their generation was so short-lived.
If Amazon is about to release a new Kindle DX 3 it will probably have only incremental improvements. There will no doubt be a Wi-Fi only version that will cost less, and the PDF handling improvements introduced with the Kindle 3 (contrast adjustment, annotations and dictionary lookup on non-scanned PDFs) will also be included.
Hopefully the better PDF handling features can be ported over to the Kindle DX 2 as well – this should only be a matter of a software update.
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Cole Haan Kindle 3 Covers no comments
Since the Kindle 3 is smaller than the Kindle 2, covers made for the older model will not fit the new one. It takes time for the various cover and case makers to fit the Kindle 3 and get their covers and jackets into production.
Cole Haan is one of the first manufacturers to have its covers for the Kindle 3 ereader available for pre-order. Cole Haan makes very high quality leather goods and this is reflected in the price.
At the moment Amazon is running a Back to School promotion that includes the Cole Haan Kindle 3 covers – this will give you a $20 discount if your order of eligible goods is $80 or more. This promotion is for a limited time only – I did not see an end date, but I would imagine that it will finish at the end of this month or the first week of September.
There are currently several styles and colors of Cole Haan Kindle 3 covers,
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eReader & Tablet News 8/28/2010 no comments
A roundup of some of the news from the past few days.
Amazon is selling more of the Wi-Fi only version of the latest generation Kindle 3 than the model with 3G. This according to the Bestsellers in Electronics pages
Graphite seems to be the hot color. The white 3G + Wi-Fi is third place on the bestsellers list in the US, but not in the top 10 in the UK. In the US the Kindle DX appears at number seven on the list.
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Apple has released iWork Update 4, one of the features of which is the ability to export from Pages in the standard ePub format. More info at the Apple support pages.
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Kobo has announced that you can now import your own PDF and ePub documents and ebooks into the Kobo iPhone, iPad and iPod touch apps. This means that you can add books from other sources, as long as they are unencumbered by DRM.
Kobo also says that the Samsung Galaxy is now a supported device on which you can read your Kobo books.
Kobo has added an iPad to its various sweepstakes prizes. This particular contest will end on August 31, 2010. Each ebook you purchase is an automatic entry. For more info and other details, such as how to enter without a purchase, see Kobo.com.
Besides the new contest, Kobo also has a $2 off discount coupon code – 2dollardeal – which should work on all ebooks except those published by Hachette, Grand Central, Warner and Little Brown. This coupon will expire at midnight August 31, 2010.
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You may remember back at the beginning of the year that LG Display unveiled a large format flexible epaper display based on the same metal foil technology that the Skiff ereader was supposed to use.
PCWorld has found an SEC filing by LG Display for 9.7-inch and 19-inch flexible color epaper displays. Only speculation on what plans exactly LG has up its sleeve for these displays, but 19 inches would be large enough to display a newspaper quite nicely.
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Wireless charging coming for the iPad and Kindle? Harvest free energy from the ether? GoSolarUSA, Inc. announced that it is working with PREE Corp to configure the proprietary PREE wireless charging technology so that it can be used with the iPad and Kindle. From the press release:
The PREEcharge technology captures electrons from LAN and Bluetooth waves and converts it into power to recharge batteries for wireless devices. The technology also incorporates a small solar panel to augment the charge with solar energy. To date, the entire product development has been focused on configuration for use with smaller wireless devices such as Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone, Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android, and Research in Motion’s (NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry. Now with the funding from GoSolarUSA, PREE will be able to accelerate the development of the PREEcharge for use with wireless PC tablets.
“Why are the iPAD, Kindle and other PC tablets ideal for the PREEcharge?” asked Mr. Rohde. “The answer is simple,” he continued. “The surface area of an iPhone is 10.39 square inches, and the surface area of an iPAD is 71.41 square inches. More surface area means bigger circuit boards, more antennas for receiving wireless signals, and ultimately a lot more power. In fact, if this proportion holds, the PREEcharge could have the potential to generate seven times more power for the iPAD than it makes for the iPhone,” he concluded.
By no means is this a new idea. Products to charge our devices by harnessing energy from Wi-Fi and other signals have been in the works for some time, but don’t have a good track record when it comes to actually making it to market.
One of the relatively unsung gadgets at CES 2010 was 
the Airnergy charger from RCA. The Airnergy harvests energy whenever it comes into contact with Wi-Fi signals and stores it in an internal battery. You can then use the Airnergy to recharge your devices at your leisure.
RCA had working demos at CES and the device was said to be coming to market this summer for around $40. The last I saw about the Airnergy (sorry, can’t find it now) was that RCA was still planning to release it later this year, but I’m not holding my breath. Where’s Tesla when you need him?
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iStoryTime publishes illustrated and narrated ebooks for young children on the iPad and iPhone as well as for Android devices. A new title for the iPad and iPhone – Danny the Dragon: Meets Jimmy – is the first iPad book for the deaf. The ebook includes sign language narration. $2.99 at iTunes. (via NYT)
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Another new interactive children’s iPad book app was announced by Touchoo. Thumbelina is based on the classic Andersen fairytale and is available in English, Spanish, French, German and Japanese. Available at iTunes for $1.99 until August 31, after which time the price will go up.
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A few days ago Sony had an event to introduce some of the company’s new products. I was hoping that Sony would take the opportunity to unveil their new ereaders, but unfortunately this didn’t happen. If you are interested in what new gadgets were revealed, PCMag has a picture gallery and details.
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Kindle 3 Skins no comments
DecalGirl appears to be the first to have Kindle 3 skinsready. Initially DecalGirl has around 250 different Kindle 3 skin designs for you to choose from. The new skins are priced at $14.99 or $17.99 if you upgrade to the matte finish. I recommend the matte – I have used both finishes and the matte is the nicest in my opinion; the matte finish seems to look even better after it ages for a while. You can use the discount coupon code DECAL10 to get a 10 percent discount on your order.
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Sharper Image Branded Literati eReader no comments
There is word of yet another
lower priced LCD ereader. This one is called the Literati and carries The Sharper Image branding while being supplied by MerchSource.
MerchSource is a California-based company that specializes in the design, development, and production of consumer products to companies such as The Sharper Image, JCPenney, CVS, Rite Aid and others. A lot of the company’s prior efforts seem to have been directed at toys and games,
The Literati has a 7-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 480 x 800 and is limited to reading books and other printed content. There is no web browser, no games or video. Input is via the keyboard at the bottom of the device – no touchscreen here. The ereading software is by Kobo, and you can use the Wi-Fi connection to buy books from Kobo.
The Literati comes with a cover and will cost $159. There will be two colors – white or a black model with silver keyboard. The Literati comes preloaded with 25 public domain titles and a coupon that will let you download another 125 pre-selected public domain titles free.
Beginning in October the new ereader will be sold in the usual places: Bed, Bath and Beyond, Kohl’s, Best Buy, etc. The press release says that the Literati will be available in 7,000 stores, so this one should be pretty easy to find.
"The majority of eReaders available today are either too expensive with too many features, or the manufacturer has slashed key functionality and overall device quality to lower the price," said Kirk McLean, co-founder of MerchSource, the company that designed and distributes the Literati under trademark license from The Sharper Image. "We designed the Literati from the inside out — starting with the bookstore — to give booklovers exactly what they wanted: a simple, dedicated device that lets them get right to the book."
I would say that the Literati is going to have a hard time at this price. It is being presented as an inexpensive and simple ereader that “bypasses high prices and feature bloat, offering instead an affordable, stylish and simple device for those who just want to read.” Yet it is more expensive than the Kindle 3 Wi-Fi, which has way more features and with its e-ink screen will be much better for those “who just want to read.”
Well, you say, but it has a color display. True, true – it does have a color screen. That should come in really handy for reading all of those color ebooks over at Kobo.
There are a number of other color LCD ereaders available at around the same price range; some for more, some for less. Most of them have at least a semblance of multifunctionality.
