Archive for the ‘times newspaper paywall’ tag

eReader & iPad News – 7/20/2010   1 comment

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.

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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.

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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.

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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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