08:31 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Some of you may have come to realize that you're not buying your e-books. In many cases you are in effect just renting them, controlled by digital-rights management and subject to tough rules buried in small print. Legal issues put aside, Digital Trends names five reasons why you might want to free your e-book collection.

1. Leave the country, lose your ebooks
2. Anger Amazon, lose your ebooks
3. Own too many devices, lose your ebooks
4. Switch to a different book store, lose your ebooks
5. Bookstore shuts down, lose your ebooks

Related:

• Renting textbooks from Amazon? Do not dare to cross state borders
• Australian Parliament recommends consumers be educated on circumventing geoblocking
• Kindle store: Indies avoid DRM to reach wider audience
• Anti-piracy group wants to catch e-book pirates; vendors now required to help them

Image: peasap/Flickr

07:42 AM by tubemonkey in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Amazon Gold Box Deals for today are refurbished Kindle Fires and accessories.

see Current Tablet Specials for sale prices on new Fires

Deal of the Day -- exp 22 Aug

• Fire HD 8.9 refurb 16GB ($239) --> $179
• Fire HD 8.9 refurb 32GB ($269) --> $199

Lightning Deals -- exp 22 Aug

• 12am PDT -- Amazon 5W USB Charger ($20) --> $5
• 6am PDT -- Fire HD refurb 16GB ($169) --> $119
• 6am PDT -- Fire HD refurb 32GB ($199) --> $149
• 10am PDT -- LifeForm Capacitive Stylus ($15) --> $7.50
• 11am PDT -- Fire 1st Gen refurb 8GB ($119) --> $89
• 2pm PDT -- Kindle Fire Zip Sleeve ($10) --> $7
• 3pm PDT -- Fire HD 8.9 4G refurb 32GB ($349) --> $249
• 3pm PDT -- Fire HD 8.9 4G refurb 64GB ($449) --> $299
• 5pm PDT -- Fire HD 8.9 Leather Case ($45) --> $35

Terms

• valid only during time frames listed above
• must be purchased from Gold Box page
• while supplies last
• limit one per customer

09:04 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Here we have three delicious e-book readers, all to be launched in Russia this fall. Manufactured by Hong-Kong based QUMO, the e-readers go by the name Libro Basic, Libro Lux, and Libro TouchLux. Down to the details:

QUMO Libro Basic (= entry model)

• Display: 6-inch E Ink Pearl
• Storage: 4GB
• Dimensions: 162x110x8mm
• Retail price: RUB 2890 (~$90)

QUMO Libro Lux

• Display: 6-inch E Ink Pearl, with build-in lighting
• Additional features: audio player, FM radio
• Storage: 4GB
• Dimensions: 174x113x9mm
• Retail price: RUB 4490 (~$136)

Libro TouchLux

• Display: 6-inch E Ink Pearl 1024x758, touch-sensitive, with build-in lighting
• Additional features: audio player, FM radio
• Storage: 4GB
• Dimensions: 162x113x9.5mm
• Retail price: RUB 5990 (~$181)

[source: The-Ebook, via TDR]

08:40 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

It's been almost half a year since Apple last updated its popular iBooks e-book reading app. While this update doesn't introduce anything dramatically new, it does improve compatibility with iOS and iCloud, according to the changelog.

I could wax poetics here on about the features that iBooks has (or lacks) compared to other e-book reading software, but possibly the most important factor in determining its worth is whether you want to read e-books tied into Apple's iBook ecosystem.

iPad and iPhone users can give the update a try by following this link.

08:20 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Just as predicted the updated version of the OverDrive Media Console app is now ready for the masses.

From the official changelog, here's what's new in V3.0:

• New look. Simplified menus put everything a swipe and a tap away.
• Sync across devices. Sync recent position and bookmarks across devices. (Titles must be downloaded to both devices for this to work).
• First-time user guidance. The app now provides some guidance to help new users get started.

Links to the free download: iOS and Android

10:44 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

There are many ways to view PDF documents on Android devices, but the free EBookDroid app has a few extras that make it worth your consideration. For instance, it allows you to automatically or manually crop margins and instantly zoom to a column's content. It's also super-fast.

Since V2.0 EBookDroid is a closed-source application. Earlier versions can be downloaded from Google Drive.

V2.0.6 includes the following changes and fixes:

Common changes

• Assembled APKs and source code for PDF and DJVU standalone decoders are available on Google Drive
• Tatar localization added.
• Width of navigation tabs in action bar is restricted

Book viewer features

• Manual crop view is re-styled and works in all view modes.

Bug fixes

• Attempt to fix black screen on return from settings
• Attempt to fix action bar padding
• Exit confirmation fixed.
• Menu button processing fixed
• Various crashes fixed

09:52 AM by fjtorres in E-Book General | News

Nobody likes curve busters, not even library directors. After 9 year old kid, 5-time champ of library summer reading contest, reads 63 books in six weeks, the library director suggests he should stop competing. Alternately, she suggests picking names out of a hat.

Everybody, it seems, but Gandron, who was surprised to learn Katie notified a Post-Star reporter about her son being a longtime winner. During a phone call Tuesday to Gandron, the library director said Tyler “hogs” the contest every year and he should “step aside.”

“Other kids quit because they can’t keep up,” Gandron said.

Gandron further told the reporter she planned to change the rules of the contest so that instead of giving prizes to the children who read the most books, she would draw names out of a hat and declare winners that way. She said she can’t now because Katie has come forward to the newspaper.

Nice way to "encourage" excellence!

This comes to mind:

09:17 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Tuesday morning Barnes and Noble reported earnings for fiscal Q1 2014, and while a majority of analysts expected a loss, it was larger than expected. Net loss for the three months ended July 27 totaled $87 million, compared to a loss of $39.8 million in the prior year.

The NOOK business (which includes NOOK devices, accessories and digital content) didn't do too well either. Total revenues fell to $153 million (that's 20 percent less than last year). Revenue in device and accessories sales decreased by 23 percent, while revenue in digital content sales declined by almost 16 percent. B&N was able to make up some of the losses by reducing expenses.

On the positive side, the company noted that it intends to continue its NOOK business and that it plans to launch a new NOOK device this fall.

“Our top priority in our operating strategy is to increase all categories of our content revenue. We are working on innovative ways to sell content to our existing customers and are exploring new markets we can serve successfully,” said Michael P. Huseby, President of Barnes & Noble, Inc. and Chief Executive Officer of NOOK Media. “The company intends to continue to design and develop cutting-edge NOOK black and white and color devices. We will continue to offer our award-winning line of NOOK products including NOOK Simple Touch®, NOOK Simple Touch® with Glow Light®,NOOK® HD and NOOK® HD+ at the best values in the marketplace. At least one new NOOK device will be released for the coming holiday season and further products are in development. All NOOK devices will continue to be backed by world-class pre- and post-sales support in Barnes & Noble stores, as well as ongoing software upgrades and improvements to the digital bookstore service.”