Find eBook Readers Blog » eBook Readers & Textbooks

Kno Secures New Financing

Richard — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 05:31:24 +0000

A few months ago Kno, Inc., a startup based in Santa Clara, announced a rather improbable new tablet computer that it plans to launch before the end of the year.

I say improbable because of the size and weight of the Kno. In fact the specs of the Kno look quite good and this should prove to be a very capable device. The thing is, the Kno will need to displace over five pounds of textbooks in your book bag to reach equilibrium. This is a device that would definitely benefit from plastic-based displays.

Today Kno announced that it has secured $46 million in its latest round of financing. Andreessen Horowitz (Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz’ VC firm) is the lead investor.

The Kno will have twin 14-inch multitouch screens, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and the support of the major textbook publishers. The tablet will run Linux with a Webkit browser. Each screen has its own battery, so battery life is expected to be six to eight hours. The Kno is expected to have a Tegra 2 graphics chip from Nvidia. With its large 14-inch screens textbook pages can be displayed full size.

If all goes well, Kno should begin accepting pre-orders in October or November and start shipping by the holiday season 2010. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but should be below $1000.

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Free Books from Kaplan at the iBookstore

Richard — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:10:33 +0000

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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Take an eTextbook for a Test Drive

Richard — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:51:36 +0000

Follett Higher Education Group announced today that it is extending its popular Try Now, Buy Later program through the fall 2010 semester. The program lets students and professors download and use eligible etextbooks for seven days before deciding whether or not to buy the title. Currently more than 10,000 titles at Follett’s CafeScribe online digital textbook shop are eligible for the Try Now, Buy Later program.

All notes and annotations made in an etextbook during the trial period will remain intact if the title is purchased.

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Inkling Digital Textbook App

Richard — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:17:31 +0000

Inkling has launched its iPad textbook reading app. Inkling offers interactive textbooks with social collaboration and integrated multimedia. Students are able to buy individual chapters or entire books for less than the price of the print textbook.

"Inkling uses multitouch interactivity to create engaging learning experiences," said Matt MacInnis, Founder and CEO of Inkling. "Rather than replicating a book on a screen, Inkling puts 3-D objects, video, quizzes, and even social interaction right at a student’s fingertips inside the textbook."

Students using the Inkling app can share their notes and highlights with each other and see comments from other students and professors alongside their own notes.

Inkling is a free download from iTunes.

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CourseSmart Partners with AccessText and Alternative Media Access Center to Make Digital Textbooks More Accessible

Richard — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:25:10 +0000

CourseSmart,which makes claim to being the world’s largest digital course materials provider, announced today that it has formed a partnership with AccessText Network (ATN) and Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC) to improve the accessibility of its digital textbooks.

ATN is a national organization that facilitates and supports the delivery of alternative electronic textbooks to the Disabled Student Services offices of colleges and universities throughout the US. AMAC is an initiative of the Georgia University System and works to improve services for students with print-related disabilities in the US.

CourseSmart will work with ATN and AMAC to optimize the digital versions of approximately 80 percent of its most popular etextbooks to increase their functionality with accessible technologies.

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Textbook Finder App for iPhone & Android

Richard — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:14:10 +0000

CampusBooks has released free apps for the iPhone and Android powered devices that can help students to find the best prices on their textbooks.

The new app lets you scan the barcode of a textbook and then, using the phone’s geo-location feature, find the availability and prices at nearby bookstores and libraries.

From the press release:

"Our goal is to help students find the textbooks they need, online, in store or from the library. The student can then make the choice where they want to buy." says CampusBooks CEO, Jeff Cohen. "The CampusBooks Android and iPhone applications are the best on the market. Other apps offer barcode scanning, but our app is the first technology to offer students textbook prices and availability from websites, college bookstores and libraries."

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Silly Computer Could Find No Related Posts

eReader & iPad News – 7/25/2010

Richard — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 02:12:06 +0000

The announcement last week by the Wylie Agency of its Odyssey Editions and the exclusive distribution of content through the Kindle Store may have made Kindlers happy, but the move has resulted in a firestorm of protest from other publishers.

The main points of contention are that:

Competition: Wylie will now be competing with other publishers.
Possible conflict of interest: Wylie is a literary agent; being a publisher at the same time could result in conflicts of interest.
Content is restricted to the Kindle Store rather than being device agnostic. This is less of an issue for readers now that the Kindle reading applications are available on many platforms, but it is of course an issue for Amazon’s competitors.
Disputes over ebook rights: Older contracts between authors and publishers (such as those governing the titles released by Odyssey Editions) were made before ebooks were around. The authors of the Odyssey ebooks had pbook contracts with other publishers. Whether or not these older contracts also apply to ebooks is still unsettled and is probably the major reason we don’t have more backlist and out-of-print books published digitally.

Random House, which usually seems to have a relatively progressive approach to ebooks, questioned Amazon’s legal right to sell the Odyssey titles. Random House also says that as Wylie is now a publisher and therefore a competitor they will not conduct any new English-language business with Wylie on a worldwide basis.

There is a possibility that the Odyssey Editions may end up being pulled from the Kindle Store. As an avid reader, and since ebooks are my delivery method of choice, I want to see all of the backlists and out-of-print and hard-to-find titles available for me to buy and read. At the very least, Wylie has put the issue of ebook rights of these older books on the front burner. Most publishers do not seem to be much interested in doing this, even though digitizing their backlists and out-of-print books would be a way for publishers to monetize these titles and better serve their customers.

For further reading see: the Guardian – here and here, John Sargent at the Macmillan Blog and Konrath at A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing.

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Arrow Publications, LLC, which is the publisher of MyRomanceStory.com, has announced that their romance graphic novels will soon be available through LongBox, Inc.

LongBox will provide comics and graphic novels to readers on computers, ereaders, gaming systems and other handheld devices via its forthcoming LongBox Digital ereading application. Currently LongBox appears to still be in beta, but should be open for business soon.

Graphic novels from Arrow can currently be read on your computer and iDevices and are available from the above link and at iTunes.

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The iPad continues its takeover of the educational market. XanEdu, which claims to be the leading faculty-preferred provider of CoursePacks and custom textbooks, has launched an iPad publishing application.

Instructors will use the XanEdu CoursePack Management System to publish materials that students will then be able to access on an iPad. This capability is in addition to being fully integrated into popular learning management systems on campus. XanEdu’s iPad platform also enables students to take and share notes for a more collaborative, engaging learning experience.

“XanEdu, as the largest independent provider of Harvard Business Publishing material is a trusted partner and consistent innovator,” said Maureen Bestes, VP of Higher Education of Harvard Business Publishing. “In the fall, we’re launching interactive spreadsheets for financials cases with XanEdu.

XanEdu publishes over 15,000 titles annually at over 2,000 institutions and is the largest provider of custom coursepacks in North America.

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eReader & iPad News – 7/20/2010

Richard — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:40:35 +0000

Sharp Announces eReader

At a press conference today Sharp announced two new ereaders that should be available later this year. Both are color LCD devices – one with a 5.5-inch screen and a larger model with a 10.8-inch display.

Akihabaranews reports that Sharp plans to introduce its ereaders into the US market and suggests that Sharp will be looking for a carrier to partner with. There are also a few photos there to check out.

Sharp will apparently be using a proprietary ebook format that also has multimedia capabilities. From Sharp’s press release:

Sharp Corporation has developed XMDF, a next-generation e-book format (hereinafter “Next-generation XMDF”) with advanced features that allow users to enjoy video and audio content, in addition to current features such as texts and still images. With next-generation XMDF as a core technology, Sharp will within this year provide digital platform to promote e-book distribution service and launch compatible reader devices to enter the e-book market. Various publishing houses (newspaper, magazines, catalogs), printing and agent companies in Japan and overseas market will be supporting Sharp to launch this e-book business.

Sharp’s next-generation XMDF is an advanced version of the current XMDF format. The current XMDF format has been commercialized in 2001 and is used in e-book contents including Japanese novels and manga comics. The next-generation XMDF enables easy viewing of digital contents including video and audio, and allows automatic adjustment of the layout to match and meet publishers’ needs. With this digital platform, Sharp plans to enhance users’ e-book lifestyle with more sophisticated user interface technology, and at the same time will contribute to expand the e-book market. XMDF allows users to browse the same content on multiple terminals including smart phones, PCs and TVs and also streamlines publisher’s e-book contents production.

* * *

The Times Paywall – the Glass is Still 1/3 Full

The Financial Times is reporting that visits to The Times website have fallen by two-thirds since Rupert Murdoch decided to add a paywall to the site. While this is a large drop, it is better than the 90 percent drop in traffic that some had expected.

Murdoch’s hope is that combining subscription fees with more targeted advertising can generate more revenue.

* * *

enTourage Systems Partners with Cengage Learning

enTourage Systems has steadily been announcing new digital textbook content that is being added for its enTourage eDGe ebook reader. Today enTourage announced an agreement with CengageLearning to add its catalog of etextbooks as well.

* * *

FileMaker Go for iPad and iPhone

FileMaker, Inc announced today that its FileMaker Go apps for iPhone and iPad are now available. The new apps allow users to easily view, edit and search for information in FileMaker databases from their iPhone or iPad.

From the press release:

Ideal for mobile teams, FileMaker Go provides access to databases created with FileMaker Pro and hosted on FileMaker Server or FileMaker Pro. FileMaker Go can access databases residing on a Mac or PC using a local wireless network or over the Internet via Wi-Fi or 3G. All changes are instantly updated in the hosted file. FileMaker Go users can also copy databases between their desktop or laptop computers and FileMaker Go via File Sharing in iTunes, perfect for single user databases. Databases may also be downloaded by email, popular file sharing sites, or the web.

“Imagine being able to check inventory levels, update the status of a project or add a new customer contact and share it with your remote sales team – just a few of the many workgroup tasks made easy with FileMaker Go for iPhone or iPad,” said Ryan Rosenberg, vice president of marketing and services for FileMaker, Inc.

FileMaker Go for iPad is $39.99 and the iPhone version is $19.99.

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Barnes & Noble Partners with Blackboard

Richard — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:19:24 +0000

Barnes & Noble today announced another initiative aimed at the higher education etextbook market. B&N will collaborate with Blackboard to make it possible for students to access and use etextbooks and other course materials from within Blackboard Learn. From the press release:

Under the partnership, the companies will work to enable students to access and purchase e-textbooks and other course related materials directly in Blackboard Learn(TM), the leading Web-based teaching and learning platform. The effort will help streamline the ability for instructors to assign content from Barnes & Noble’s vast catalog of over one million titles, including e-books, e-textbooks, relevant study aids, test prep guides, periodicals, and hundreds of thousands of trade and professional titles.

The partnership will also create greater interoperability between Blackboard Learn and NOOKstudy(TM) by Barnes & Noble, a free, feature-rich software application that delivers a superior digital reading experience and enhances the academic experience through unique and customizable study features. NOOKstudy was built by students for students and works on the computer device they rely on the most, their PC or Mac. Among NOOKstudy’s critical features include enabling students to navigate e-textbooks as they would printed ones, to view multiple books and sources at once, and to access complementary content. Students can also highlight and take notes that are searchable and customizable.

The integration with Blackboard Learn should be in place later in the year. NOOKstudy should be in place for the fall 2010 semester.

Barnes & Noble’s strategy to sidestep the accessibility and usability problems that Amazon experienced in its own collegiate trials seems to be to promote digital textbooks on the nook as an alternative or secondary way to access your textbooks rather than as a total replacement. Digital textbooks and other materials from B&N can also be accessed on a computer, which at this point can be made more accessible for those with vision impairments.

In related news, Blackboard today also announced a similar agreement with Follett Higher Education Group. This will not only enable students to purchase and use Follett’s etextbooks directly in Blackboard Learn, but will also provide access to Follett’s CafeScribe. CafeScribe is a digital textbook and social networking platform that allows students and instructors to form study groups and share notes and annotations.

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Barnes & Noble Introduces NOOKstudy

Richard — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:07:19 +0000

Barnes & Noble today announced the introduction of a new program for college students dubbed NOOKstudy (great – more camel case). From the press release:

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, today announced that it has developed an integrated software solution for the higher education market. Called NOOKstudy, the feature rich, free software application is the ultimate study tool, enabling students to manage all their digital content – eTextbooks, class materials, and notes – on the computing device they rely on most, their PC or Mac. NOOKstudy, developed with input from students and leading higher education institutions, delivers a superior digital reading experience and is the first digital textbook application that enhances the academic experience through unique and customizable study features.

NOOKstudy is a revolutionary, easy-to-use study tool that offers instant downloads of a large, versatile selection of eTextbooks and academic and trade titles. Among the innovative features developed with extensive feedback from college students, professors and administrators, NOOKstudy lets students view multiple books and sources at once and offers access to complementary content (e.g. toolsets, reference materials, etc.), as well as the unprecedented ability to highlight and take notes that are searchable and customizable. This comprehensive software solution also provides students access to all of their materials – eTextbooks, lecture notes, syllabi, slides, images, trade books and other course-related documents – all in one place, so their digital library goes wherever they go.

Barnes & Noble seems to be taking a different approach to the educational market than Amazon did. By promoting the nook ereader as a tool and accessory rather than as a total replacement for paper textbooks B&N should be able to avoid the accessibility issues that knocked the wheels off of Amazon’s attempts.