07:46 AM by sufue in E-Book General | News

I heard this on the way to work this morning. It is part of an NPR series on libraries. It was pretty interesting, but I already knew a lot of it thanks to our MR forums and discussions.

E-books have changed the world of publishing in fundamental ways. The business model that encouraged publishers to support the work of public libraries has changed to such an extent that this relationship has been stressed to the point of non cooperation.

Link to the piece (audio) is here: http://www.npr.org/2013/08/05/209114...lishing-houses

[related: Library skips publisher, goes directly to author, image by Wonderlane via Flickr]

07:41 AM by PageLab in E-Book General | News

No specific release notes this time. There are some discussion on twitter about improvements in font management and even support for media queries, but I couldn't make it work in some tests I did.

http://www.adobe.com/br/products/dig.../download.html

07:23 AM by fjtorres in E-Book General | News

Jeff Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon.com, entered an agreement with the Washington Post Co. Monday to buy its newspaper publishing businesses for $250 million, including its flagship newspaper.

The purchaser is an entity that belongs to Bezos and is not Amazon.com. [...]

In a letter to Post employees, in which Bezos acknowledged that many would greet his purchase with apprehension, he noted that the paper's editorial leadership would continue to lead day-to-day activities, as he remains focused on his "day job" at Amazon.

Link: Amazon's CEO to buy Washington Post for $250M (CNet).

The deal does not include Slate. (Too bad; it would have resulted in a spectacular explosion of brains.)

[image by Adam Glanzman via Flickr]

07:10 AM by hamisertvurdu in E-Book Readers | Amazon Kindle

Hey all,

I recently realized that Kindle DX is on sale at Amazon for just $239. Is it worth buying it at this price? I am looking for your advices.

I know its technology is pretty old and there seems to be no update in the future. But I am looking for an e-ink reader with large screen to read academic PDFs. As I know, Sony will release an 13.3 inch reader next year but I think they will set a price around $400-$500, which seems a bit expensive for me. Should I wait for Sony (maybe its price would be lower than I expected) or buy a Kindle DX? I am also thinking about buying 10 inch tablet but I wonder whether tablets are better than e-ink readers to read PDF files for couple of hours without eye strain.

I don't have any device (neither tablet nor reader) and would appreciate your help.

10:11 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Speaking of stock clearing: Amazon is currently selling their Kindle Fire HD 16GB and 32GB for $159 and $189, respectively. That's a $40 discount off the regular price.

Related: Rumor: Next-gen Kindle Fire HD tables - specs are in!

[via The Digital Reader]

09:36 AM by Feher in E-Book Readers | Onyx Boox

Via The Digital Reader:

The i63ML Maxwell is available now with a retail of 6990 rubles (~ $211 USD). It’s based around a 6″ HD E-ink screen, and it has an IR touchscreen, frontlight, and Wifi. It ships with 512RAM, 8GB Flash storage, a microSD card slot, 2 page turn buttons, and a joystick below the screen. The Maxwell weighs in at 238g and is the size of a 6″ ereader.

Like previous Android devices from Onyx, the Maxwell is running Android 2.3 on a 1GHz CPU. But unlike earlier models the Maxwell is also going to ship with access to Google Play. Yes, the press release says that this tablet will be able to install apps and buy books from Google Play.

For more see here. (Russian)

09:34 AM by Alexander Turcic in Barnes & Noble NOOK | Nook Developer's Corner

Itching to make the most of your Nook HD reader? You're in luck: Both, the Nook HD and the Nook HD+ are now officially supported by the CyanogenMod team. The compiled firmware isn't available yet at the time of writing, but meanwhile, feel free to take a look at the freshly uploaded sources:

https://github.com/CyanogenMod/andro...bn_hummingbird
https://github.com/CyanogenMod/andro...ice_bn_ovation

Remember: Custom flashing and rooting your Android device is not for the faint of heart. Remember to read, read, read before you make the attempt.

[related: How can I root my Nook HD+ via microSD card?, via Android Police]

05:10 AM by kennyc in E-Book General | Writers' Corner

Libraries have complained publishers aren't always willing to sell e-books to libraries. When big publishers do, they often charge high prices, especially compared to discount rates libraries get for traditional books. [...]

Enter Jamie Larue. He runs the eight libraries in Douglas County, south of Denver. Larue came up with an idea that could revolutionize the publishing world. His libraries have begun buying books directly from authors and publishing them as e-books.

Audio of the show at:

http://www.cpr.org/category/colorado...ome_Publishers

[image by mendhak via Flickr]