05:50 PM by in |

06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Gosh we've talked a lot this week. Here's your weekly round up of MobileRead's events.

E-Book General - News

• Amazon announces Kindle Oasis

09:05 AM by pdurrant in E-Book General | News

The press embargo is over! And it's a high price for the new Kindle - US$289.99/€289.99/£269.99/CA$399.99
The new Kindle will be available from 27th April 2016.

Amazon press release:

Introducing Kindle Oasis—Our Thinnest and Lightest Kindle Ever

Designed to feel weightless—incredibly thin with an ergonomic grip that shifts the center of gravity to the palm of your hand, creating the perfect balance so you can read comfortably for hours with one hand

30% thinner on average and over 20% lighter than any other Kindle

Battery life given as 8 weeks (1/2 hour a day, light 10, wireless off). Voyage battery life is given as 6 weeks under the same conditions. Battery life of the Oasis without the case is given as two weeks. Capacities: 250 mAh for internal battery, 1290 mAh for cover battery.

The display seems to be a 300ppi Carta display (like PaperWhite and Voyage), but with the LEDs along the longer side (which explains why ten are needed), and no mention of adaptive lighting. Some reports suggest that the display uses a new thinner, more flexible glass substrate. (Possibly the Fina display technology?)

Reviews and comments from The Verge, Fortune, CNBC

Amazon US link
Amazon DE link
Amazon UK link
Amazon Canada link

Quick Start Guide pdf:

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/c...e+-+global.pdf

Kindle Oasis User's Guide pdf: (the document name says WHISKEY !!!!)

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/c...de+-+en_US.pdf

Note that the US price is "with special offers", the other prices are without special offers, which in the US is $20 more - $309.99.

At today's exchange rates, $309.99 is €274.66, £218.16 and CA$396.82

So UK price (adding 20% VAT) and the Canadian price are about the same as the US price. The Euro price is a lot cheaper!

06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Been away? Fear not! Here is your chance to check out what appeared on our frontpage this week:

E-Book General - News

• New "top of the line Kindle" details coming next week
• B&N to close Nook offices

10:33 AM by fjtorres in E-Book General | News

Via the Digital Reader Blog:

http://the-digital-reader.com/2016/0...-tech-company/

B&N announced on Thursday that it had inked a deal with Bahwan CyberTek, an Indian outsourcing firm, for BT to take over certain Nook tech services. To be more exact, B&N said that the firm would be responsible for cloud management, development support for Nook software, and other services.

"Over the last two years, the Company has done a significant amount of work to improve NOOK’s overall performance,” said Fred Argir, Chief Digital Officer at Barnes & Noble. “While we have been able to reduce costs, we still have a lot more work to do to rationalize the business. We believe that by outsourcing certain technology functions of our Nook business we will further improve Nook's performance.”

B&N also took the time to reaffirm its commitment to the Nook platform, and add that as a result of the deal it is closing both its Taiwan and Santa Clara, Calif. offices by July 2016.

The Nook platform, however, will remain open as B&N adopts benign neglect as its digital business model.

And yes, benign neglect is the best term for today's news; had B&N really been interested in rebuilding Nook then they would have invested capital rather than outsourcing key functions.

(Bold mine.)

Note that the performance they are referring to is their cost structure, not the quality of the hardware, software, or user support.

Nate's verdict:

That B&N is choosing not to invest tells us all we need to know about their plans for the Nook platform.

Now would be a good time to get your ebooks out, if you can.

More at Nate's, including links to the proud press release.

02:53 PM by Dazrin in E-Book General | News

From Jeff Bezos' twitter:

Heads up readers – all-new, top of the line Kindle almost ready. 8th generation. Details next week.

Found via Engadget.

I kinda wish I had waited to purchase my Voyage, but then I would have gone crazy trying to read on a phone for 3 months. I will wait to see the new specs before I decide if I have buyer's remorse!

Edit: It is just details / formal announcement next week not the device release. I can't change the title though, sorry for getting hopes up if you need one next week.

06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Bite-sized MobileRead for your weekend pleasure:

E-Book General - News

• Star Trek eBooks Now DRM Free

E-Book General - Reading Recommendations

• April 2016 Book Club Vote

02:22 AM by Apparition B5 in E-Book General | News

In honor of Star Trek's 50th anniversary, CBS & Pocket Books will release more than 700 Star Trek eBooks DRM-free.

Beginning today, Star Trek fans will be able to read their newly-purchased Pocket Books Trek novels on the devices of their choice.

“Pocket Books is thrilled to make this iconic series widely available and accessible for the many readers who have enjoyed them, and to introduce Star Trek novels to a whole new universe of fans. We’re excited to re-introduce many classic stories and to enable discovery and ease of purchase that DRM-free provides,” said Louisa Burke, President and Publisher of Pocket Books.”

The DRM-free library can be purchased here, or at most other sites where ebooks are sold.

In addition, the popular Mirror Universe and Vulcan’s Soul trilogies are now $0.99 each. “New visitors to the site will be eligible for a free digital copy of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock movie tie-in novelization when they join the mailing list.”

As a very long time Trekker, that is some fantastic news. IDW already made the Star Trek comic book PDFs available DRM-free, so it's good to see the eBooks now will be as well. Hopefully this will start a trend.