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Barnes & Noble launches the $179 Galaxy Tab 4 Nook
Barnes & Noble has officially kicked off a new era -- one in which it doesn't manufacture its own tablets. The struggling book outlet announced last summer that it would work with other manufacturers going forward and Samsung is first in line. The Galaxy Tab 4 Nook is the fruit of this partnership. It's a tablet built for reading first, as opposed to gaming or web browsing. While the device is undeniably Samsung, the software still retains some of that Barnes & Noble flair. Anyone who's used the previous Nook tablets will immediately recognize some of the features baked in here. The default homescreen has a widget showing recommended and recently read titles. Naturally, too, Barnes & Noble's Nook store is the primary content source, rather than the Play Store or Samsung Hub. But it's obvious that Sammy is in the driver's seat. Key features like multi-window mode are even included for some multi-tasking (say, if you want to tweet a quote from your favorite novel). B&N is pitching it as "the first full-featured Android tablet designed for reading." Then again, the company has said the same about every other Nook tablet.
Amazon's quietly doubled the storage on its Paperwhite e-reader
Head on over to the Amazon product page for the Kindle Paperwhite and you may spot the message telling you that there's a newer version of the glow-in-the-dark e-reader available. That's because the retailer has quietly doubled the internal storage of the device from 2GB on the 2013 model to 4GB on this year's edition. In a statement to our friends over at The Digital Reader, the bookseller admitted that the storage had increased, but that it doesn't consider this new Paperwhite to be a new product. So, if you were finding that 2GB simply wasn't enough to hold your enormous e-book collection, you know where to go.
Kids Making Healthy Choices: An app with lifelong positive consequences
Kids Making Healthy Choices is a US$2.99 app based on an award-winning set of children books designed to promote healthy eating, teach tolerance of overweight friends (so bullying can be avoided), and instill a respect for health and well-being through fun and educational games and activities. The app includes the complete e-books (one for boys, one for girls) that are designed to inspire kids to eat right and keep the weight off. There is a discussion section in the app where parents and kids can talk about the concepts presented. A Fun Activities section offers up fun puzzles, Word Scrambles and Connect the Dots exercises. Also included are recipes, online tools and resources, with links to articles, news headlines, and other stories for parents to read. The e-books are self-contained and don't require web access, while some of the other features do require internet service. If you can get your child to participate -- no small feat -- this information should be valuable, especially for younger and more impressionable children. The material is well organized, and the book never talks down to readers. The recipes offer good ideas, covering the normal three daily meals and some recipes for smacks. Those recipes lack illustrations, and it would probably be easier to get a kid excited about something good to eat if you could show them a picture of it. The other problem with the Kids Making Healthy Choices app, which I see all too often, is that it works only in portrait mode. Especially on the iPad, that's a problem. Many people use their iPads in landscape orientation and the app just won't work that way. Being able to use an app in landscape mode is important because some iPad cases with stands are only designed to to work in that orientation. App creators should not force customers to hold their device in a particular way -- it's just lazy programming or a lack of awareness of how people use iDevices. Still, Kids Making Healthy Choices is a good app. It's loaded with information and resources that will help parents and kids both get a needed awareness of nutrition and health. It's worth the price being asked, especially since the included books cost more on their own than this app. The app requires iOS 6 or later, it's universal, and optimized for the iPhone 5.
Amazon wants you to ask Hachette's CEO for lower e-book prices
Amazon's fight with Hachette over e-book pricing just got extra-personal. Hot on the heels of writers attacking Jeff Bezos' "retaliation," the Amazon Books Team has posted a Readers United site that calls on you to email Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch and ask him to lower the costs of e-books. The online retailer doesn't want you to mince words, either -- it wants you to bring up his "illegal collusion" and claim that he's using authors as "leverage." Some writers aren't on his side, Amazon says.
Barnes & Noble launches its Nook GlowLight e-reader in the UK for £89
Barnes & Noble isn't exactly a household name in the UK, but in the States it's a book-selling behemoth, with hundreds of stores complimenting a vast library of e-books, as well as a line of readers to consume them on. In autumn 2012, B&N expanded its reach to the UK (if only in website form), challenging the likes of Amazon and Kobo with its Nook range of tablets and e-readers, including the first with a front-lit display. We've seen minimal activity from the company since, but after almost two years without fresh hardware, the new Nook GlowLight launches in the UK today. The second-generation GlowLight e-reader, with significantly improved 6-inch display, is now available for £89 at various retailers including Argos, Currys/PC World, John Lewis, Sainsburys, ASDA and bookshop chain Foyles.
Sony is getting out of the e-reader business
Sony announced the closure of its own Reader store in favor of Kobo's platform earlier this year, and now it seems the company is nixing e-readers entirely. BBC reports that the Japanese outfit doesn't plan to release another device with last year's PRS-T3 serving as the most recent option. Thanks to Amazon's Kindle lineup and a growing number of tablet options, dedicated reading slates have seen declining sales since 2011. [Photo credit: Akio Kon/ Bloomberg]
Judge Denise Cote isn't happy with Apple's $450 million e-book settlement agreement
Apple agreed two weeks ago to a conditional $450 million settlement with plaintiffs over allegations that it colluded with book publishers to artificially raise the price of e-books. Under terms of the settlement, Apple will only have to pay the full amount if its appeal of U.S. District Judge Denise Cote's original ruling proves unsuccessful. The $450 million figure is of course much lower than the $840 million originally sought by plaintiffs, but hey, it's why it's called a settlement. But, surprise surprise, there's one person who seems to have a problem with the settlement agreement -- Judge Denise Cote. Last week, Cote explained during a teleconference that she found the settlement agreement troubling. Why? Because if her original decision is partially reversed or if a new trial is warranted, Apple will only have to fork over $70 million. If the decision is reversed outright, Apple won't be on the hook for anything at all. Cote also added that she's not too thrilled that Apple's potential $450 million settlement payout isn't subject to interest during the appeals process. Reuters reports: Speaking on a teleconference, Cote questioned if that would be fair and what might happen if the appeals court reversed her ruling on a minor issue. She also took issue with the lack of any requirement for Apple to pay interest while the appeals go forward. "I'm concerned about the terms of the settlement," she said. What really seems to be the issue here, I think, is that Cote seemingly has a personal vendetta against Apple. Cote's stance on Apple's alleged culpability is clear and her behavior during the e-book trial, I think, reflected an overwhelming amount of anti-Apple bias. So more than being worried about her ruling being overturned on a technicality, she seems troubled by the fact that Apple won't be punished to the extent she was hoping. If attorneys for 33 U.S. states deemed the settlement agreement to be fair, it shouldn't really matter if Cote herself is troubled by it. If Cote's decision is outright overturned, why then should Apple still be on the hook for damages? It's really a bizarre thing for Cote to be "troubled" by and hardly the response one would expect from a truly impartial adjudicator.
Amazon unveils iOS-compatible Kindle Unlimited service; all the books you can read for $10/month
With subscription plans for music having taken hold in recent years, Amazon figured it might as well get in on the action and roll out a similar service for e-books. Earlier today, the online retailing giant announced Kindle Unlimited, a new service that lets users read anything and everything they want from Amazon's 600,000 strong e-book library for just $9.99 a month. In an effort to get as many users signed up as possible, the service will not be limited to Amazon devices. On the contrary, most anyone with a smartphone, tablet, or computer can sign up for the service via the free-to-download Kindle reading app. Indeed, supported smartphone devices include the iPhone, Android devices, Windows Phone, and even BlackBerry. Users who sign up for Kindle Unlimited also receive a free three-month membership to Audible, which is great because it allows users to seamlessly transition from reading an e-book to listening to the audio book of that same title from the precise place they left off. If you're at all curious about the service, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial. As it stands now, the service is only available to U.S. consumers, though Amazon indicates that they'll be expanding into other countries soon. With music subscription plans all the rage now (all hail Spotify), it'll be interesting to see how the market reacts to a subscription service for e-books. Of course, the cynics among us might readily point out that you can just as easily get a free Kindle Unlimited subscription with something the old folks like to call a library card.
Amazon's Kindle Unlimited offers all-you-can-eat e-books for $10 a month
After teasing us with a possible launch, Amazon has confirmed Kindle Unlimited, its all-you-can-read e-book subscription service. For $9.99 per month, Kindle Unlimited offers 600,000 books and "thousands" of audiobooks across a range of devices. As expected, many of the major publishers aren't fully represented, but there are number of popular titles listed, including Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and the Hunger Games, as well as a whole catalog of Kindle exclusives. Like Prime, Amazon initially offers a free 30-day trial to draw you in, but it's also throwing in a three month subscription to Audible and access to 2,000 audiobooks via its Whispersync service (which lets you seamlessly switch between reading and listening whenever the mood takes you). For a service that bills itself as "unlimited," there's a few constraints on Amazon's Netflix-for-books service. In addition to the fact that it doesn't have the support from all of the major publishers, of course, there's also the small matter that it's only available in America. At least, for now.
Apple conditionally agrees to $450 million settlement in e-book price fixing suit
Apple's ongoing e-book antitrust saga has been nothing short of a headache. Accused of colluding with publishers to artificially raise the price of e-books, Apple had the opportunity to settle the matter early on and avoid a trial altogether. But as Tim Cook explained, Apple felt it did nothing wrong and wasn't going to cop to something it didn't do. For Apple, it was a matter of principle. And now that principled stance looks like it's going to cost Apple to the tune of almost half a billion dollars. Reuters reports that Apple yesterday agreed to pay a cool $450 million to consumers and States in order to settle class action charges stemming from alleged price fixing. That's a lot of dough, but still decidedly less than the $840 million plaintiffs were seeking. The hefty payout, however, is contingent upon the outcome of Apple's current appeal. The settlement, which would provide $400 million for consumers, is conditioned on the outcome of a pending appeal of a New York federal judge's ruling last year that Apple was liable for violating antitrust laws. A ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York reversing the judge could, under the settlement, [would] either reduce the amount Apple pays to $70 million, with $50 million for consumers, or eliminate payments altogether. Apple's statement regarding its potential payout reads as follows: Apple did not conspire to fix ebook pricing, and we will continue to fight those allegations on appeal. We did nothing wrong and we believe a fair assessment of the facts will show it. The iBooks Store has been good for consumers and the publishing industry as a whole, from well-known authors to first-time novelists. As we wait for the court to hear our appeal, we have agreed to a settlement which is contingent on the outcome of the appeal. If we are vindicated by the appeals court, no settlement will be paid. Of course, Apple certainly has money to spare (and then some), but one can only imagine that they'd like to put this whole e-book price fixing scandal behind them once and for all. Recall that Apple's trial with the DOJ last year resulted in Judge Denise Cote assigning Apple an external monitor who Apple quickly accused of overstepping his bounds and charging exorbitant fees.
Apple agrees to $450 million dollar settlement in e-book antitrust case
Apple has resisted settling with the government over charges that it conspired with publishers to fix e-book prices. While its alleged co-conspirators have already opted to pay up and move on, Cupertino has been steadfast in maintaining its innocence. Though, it seems the tech giant has grown weary of the constant court battles and is ready to settle. The Department of Justice and Apple have a agreed to a preliminary settlement of $450 million, $400 million of which would be set aside and returned to consumers. There is still an appeal pending, however, which could either reduce the penalty or eliminate the payment entirely. But if Apple loses the appeal (and its success in court has been mixed at best in this case) it will be on the hook for the entire $450 million.
Amazon testing Netflix-style subscription service for e-books
Ever heard of Kindle Unlimited? Us either, at least not until now. Originally spotted by kboards, a forum site that welcomes Kindle chatter, this previously unknown service appears to be an upcoming all-you-can-read subscription service from Amazon. For $9.99 monthly, as described by the image above, Kindle Unlimited is said to offer access to more than 600,000 books and "thousands" of audiobooks. Not surprisingly, that healthy digital library doesn't appear to include any of the major US publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Shuster) -- something e-book subscription service Scribd is very familiar with, since it only carries titles from two of the "Big 5." Amazon has yet to announce Kindle Unlimited, but after seeing these ads slip through the cracks, we can safely say it's only a matter of time before it becomes official.
Amazon appeals directly to authors in ongoing e-book dispute
Despite sounding like a rogue militant organization from G.I. Joe, Hachette is actually a book publishing group. Tame as that may sound, Hachette is currently engaged in a high-stakes game of Chicken with a juggernaut in the book sales world: Amazon. It's all part of a long-running dispute between book publishers and "the everything store"; even the book titled after Amazon's moniker was involved in the dispute. It goes like this: Amazon wants to price its e-books one way, and publishers want things another way. While the negotiations occur, Amazon pushes back by slowing delivery of physical books by publishers involved in negotiations or, sometimes, carrying limited stocks intentionally so the books are unable to be ordered. Another tactic Amazon's now employing in the dispute? Appealing directly to authors. With cash.
US book publishers now make more money from online sales than physical stores
Brick-and-mortar book stores have clearly been on the decline for a while -- just look at Barnes & Noble's rocky finances. However, there's now some tangible evidence that the pendulum has swung in favor of internet-based sales. BookStats estimates that US publishers made more money from online orders and e-books in 2013 ($7.54 billion) than they did from old-fashioned physical retail ($7.12 billion). While the difference isn't huge, it suggests that a large chunk of the American population is content with buying books that it hasn't seen in person.
Wallpaper lets your friends borrow e-books from real-world shelves
As convenient as e-books may be, lending them to friends is a headache; copyright woes notwithstanding, it's simply hard to show what you have on offer. Vodafone Romania just made things a bit easier, though. Its new Digital Library Wallpaper gives you real-world (if very flat) bookshelves to showcase your digital wares. As the library owner, you order a custom adhesive wallpaper that reflects the free e-books you've chosen at Vodafone's website. Once the print is on display, visitors to your home just have to scan QR codes to borrow titles and start reading.
Amazon admits it's limiting Hachette book sales to get better deals
Tried to pre-order JK Rowling's forthcoming The Silkworm on Amazon, only to find that no such option exists? The title is one of several victims of the company's very public spat with publishers Hachette, which Amazon is holding to ransom for cheaper pricing on e-books. Until now, however, the company remained tight-lipped on the tactic, but in a blog post, admitted that it was playing hardball with its rival. What that means for customers is that the retailer is only buying bare-minimum quantities of existing stock and will only offer new books for sale after their publication. In its mind, Amazon is fighting for better (i.e. cheaper) pricing for its customers, but we imagine that someone's forgotten about the poor authors who are likely to sell even fewer copies while this rages along. Update: Hachette, the victim in this stramash, has made a public statement saying that "Amazon indicates that it considers books to be like any other consumer good. They are not." It adds that it won't accept any cash to form an "author pool," a fund to compensate writers who are losing out during the conflict. In fact, the publisher has said that it'll wait until a fresh agreement is made, and then "discuss with Amazon its ideas about compensating authors for the damage its demand for improved terms may have done them." Full statement's after the break, but yes folks, this one is clearly going to run and run.
While Apple is taken to task for e-book antitrust violations, Amazon wields true monopolistic power
Last summer, Judge Denise Cote found that Apple colluded with publishers to artificially raise the price of e-books across the board. As a result, Cote imposed rules constraining Apple's ability to negotiate with book publishers while also appointing an external monitor tasked with ensuring Apple refrains from antitrust abuse in the future. Indeed, the only winner in the Apple e-book saga appeared to be Amazon, despite Judge Cote's assertion that punishing Apple would restore competition to the e-book space. Recent negotiation tactics from Amazon, however, serve to highlight that the real company prone to wielding monopolistic power in the e-book space is Amazon. The New York Times last week highlighted some of the discouraging antics Amazon has engaged in during the course of heated negotiations with Hachette book publishing. Taking drastic measures, Amazon has delayed delivery of some Hachette titles (in some cases from a few days to a few weeks) while removing others altogether from its online store. Amazon, under fire in much of the literary community for energetically discouraging customers from buying books from the publisher Hachette, has abruptly escalated the battle. The retailer began refusing orders late Thursday for coming Hachette books, including J.K. Rowling's new novel. The paperback edition of Brad Stone's "The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon" - a book Amazon disliked so much it denounced it - is suddenly listed as "unavailable." In some cases, even the pages promoting the books have disappeared. During the course of Apple's e-book trial, Apple stressed time and time again that the iBookstore provided consumers with more choice and operated to "break Amazon's monopolistic grip on the publishing industry." While Amazon's power in the e-book space certainly doesn't give Apple a free pass to do whatever it wants, many have long questioned the DOJ's strategy of pursuing aggressive legal action against Apple when the real 800 pound gorilla in the e-book space is and has always been Amazon. As writer John Moltz comically and snarkily wrote of Amazon's actions, "Time for more ebook sanctions against Apple."
Navy develops dubiously named secure e-reader
Somewhere in between developing seafaring lasers and electromagnetic railgun, the Navy found time to design an e-reader especially for deployed sailors. As you'd expect, it was designed with security in mind, so it runs custom firmware, has no WiFi connection, SD reader or any other means to connect to an external storage or computer. Its creators, the Navy General Library Program (NGLP) and ebook company Findaway World, even made its hardware tough to tamper with. Since users won't be able to download anything new, it already comes preloaded with a catalog of reading materials from classics to contemporary best-sellers. It might sound extremely limited, but this device gives personnel the means to carry around the Navy's library, whereas they only used to have limited access to those digital tomes. Sound great? Sure does, but its designers probably ran out of creative juices when it was time to name the device. Because that's the only reason anyone would name it NeRD, right? ...Right?
McDonald's partners with Kobo to give UK kids free e-books
Forget race cars and Disney princesses. Kids in the UK are getting something a little more digital with their McDonald's Happy Meal: an e-book. The golden arches is partnering with Kobo to include a download code for one of Enid Blyton's Secret Seven children's mystery books with every meal purchased between now and June 3rd as part of its annual "Happy Readers" program. Over the past two years, the annual initiative has passed out millions of books, and is touted as quite a success (although we're not quite sure how "happy" we'd be about getting an e-book rather than a toy). However, this is the first time Ronald has gotten a digital retailer like Kobo in on the action. Enthusiastic kids who still want to fill the bookshelf in their room can also snag a £1 coupon with their meal to pick up a traditional copy of the books. If only the child detectives could forever solve the mystery of what's actually in McDonald's chicken nuggets. Image credit: Steve Daniels
Harper Lee okays 'To Kill a Mockingbird' e-book on her 88th birthday
An important piece of American literary history, and one of the few missing selections in digital libraries, is finally becoming an e-book. On her 88th birthday, Harper Lee agreed to let her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird be released in electronic form. Lee notes that this is "'Mockingbird' for a new generation," and the title still sells a million copies a year thanks in large part to its popularity in classrooms across the US of A. Here's to hoping we'll get the e-book version of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye soon too.
