Thu September 05 2013
Moon+ Reader Pro 2.1 released, adds PDF annotation support (Android) |
08:38 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Readers | Android Devices Still looking for a decent e-book reader app for your Android device? Moon+ Reader Pro is a hot candidate to make all your reading wishes come true. Beside supporting a wide range of e-book formats, including ePub, Mobi, PDF, CHM, CBR, and FB2, the latest version adds full support for PDF annotation. Changelog for version 2.1:
As usual, the app is available via the Google Play store Related: Moon+ Reader Pro Idiot Guide please |
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Should children tip their hats to a digital Dr. Seuss? |
03:07 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News Gather 'round, people, perk up your ears, for tales of Dr. Seuss. Born Theodor Seuss Geisel, the man is perhaps the world's most-loved creator of rhyming children's books, known for such masterpieces as "The Cat in the Hat" and "Green Eggs and Ham." And he's going digital. Random House announced (PDF) Wednesday that 41 of Dr. Seuss stories will come out as e-books, starting on September 24.
I'm usually more tech-obsessed than traditionalist; yet, in this regard, I find it difficult to see how Dr. Seuss e-books will offer any advantage over their board book counterparts. Board books are practically indestructible. They come in convenient child size, and they can be bend, dragged, washed, sucked and thrown without much damage. Basically, they are the first books a child is really allowed to possess and explore in a concrete sense. You think that'd work with an e-book reader? Unless your e-reader comes equipped with a serious rugged case that protects it from being chewed or dropped or thrown, I'd worry. I'd probably worry so much about my device being wrecked that unwillingly I'd take all the fun away from my kid to explore Dr. Seuss stories. But you're obviously free to disagree vehemently. |
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Wed September 04 2013
Barnes & Noble magazine deal - Subscribe and get a year of back issues |
05:00 PM by hwlester in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No... I got an email today for a deal that if you subscribe to select magazines from B&N, they will give you a year of back issues. The selection of magazines is:
The link is here although you may have to have gotten the email to redeem the offer. Terms & Conditions are here. Edited to note that the offer has been extended to 2:59 a.m. ET September 13, 2013. |
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Refurbished Sony Reader PRS-T2 w/ $25 Gift Card for $60 |
02:02 PM by ritoroy in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No... TigerDirect offers the factory-refurbished Sony 6" WiFi eBook Reader in Black, model no. PRST2HBC, bundled with a $25 eBook Reader Gift Card for $59.99. This 5.9-oz. e-reader features a 600x800 6" touchscreen display, 1.3GB internal storage, SD card slot (up to 32GB), integrated 802.11n wireless, and MP3 player. A 1-year Sony warranty applies. |
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Sony PRS-T3 officially announced |
11:34 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News Thanks to countless leaks there is hardly anything surprising left for Sony to announce with the PRS-T3. Either way, the Sony PRS-T3 is a fine device, as you can read in the press release.
Launch date in Europe starts in September and varies by country. Update: Now also on display on various Sony Europe websites. |
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The secret behind the new Paperwhite: E Ink Carta |
10:26 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News Some of us have already wondered what "Carta e-paper technology" is all about when Amazon unveiled the Paperwhite V2 yesterday. Well, here we have the answer, folks! Carta is the latest imaging film employed by E Ink for their e-paper screens. According to their website, Carta offers enhanced readability ("a dramatic 50% increase in contrast over earlier generations") and smoother page turns (supporting "the new Regal technology"). E Ink Carta specifications in detail:
Source: spec sheet (PDF) Related: All-New Kindle Paperwhite V2 (accidentally) unveiled. So what's all new? |
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Google aims to sync reading and listening locations between e-books and audiobooks |
10:04 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News Yet another patent application from Mountain View today. While the first one was related to adding sound triggers to e-books, which may not appeal to everyone, this application serves a more practical purpose: the synchronization of reading and listening locations between e-books and audiobooks. While not granted (yet), the USPTO filing outlines an "e-book system" that would synchronize reading locations not only between e-books stored on different devices (perhaps even in different e-book formats), but also locations between audio/audio-video content and text content. For that purpose, the audio content is first transcoded into text and then compared to the original text version.
Source: USPTO |
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Google seeks patent to add "triggered sounds" to e-books |
08:54 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News Next time you read Homer's Odyssey, don't be embarrassed if your e-reader suddenly outputs seductive songs, in particular when you're somewhere in the middle of the book where Odysseus approaches the island of the lovely Sirens. Google has applied to patent a system that plays sounds that are associated with a user's reading location within an e-book.
In one variety of the implementation it's the responsibility of a remote "sound server" with a "sound database", which is connected via WiFi or 3G to the reading device, providing sounds in response to specific trigger points. In another implementation, trigger points don't need to be specified individually in every book; rather, a book would receive a unique identifier and a client could access a remote trigger point database to fetch the related sound information. The concept is simple enough that we wouldn't be surprised to find it in future reading apps. |
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