EReaders Archives - All Star Press

The Amazon Tablet is Real

Tech Crunch reports: “…not only have I heard about the device [Amazon Tablet], I’ve seen it and used it. And I’m happy to report that it’s going to be a big deal. Huge, potentially.

First of all, before every commenter asks, no, sadly, I don’t have any pictures to share. That was the one condition of me getting this information. So instead you’ll have to rely on my prose to draw a picture of the device in your head. Or you can just look at a BlackBerry PlayBook — because it looks very similar in terms of form-factor.

“So here’s what I know and what I saw – READ THE TECH CRUNCH PREVIEW

NY Times Writer analyzes various e-readers

Here is the critical question for us avid readers: Which e-reader or tablet is the best for reading books?

“So I set out to try them all, reading a chapter on each: the Amazon Kindle, the first- and second-generation Apple iPads, the Barnes & Noble Nook, an iPhone, a Windows Phone, a Google Android phone, a Google Android tablet and a laptop computer. To be fair, I also read a chapter in that old-fashioned form — a crumply old print paperback.”

READ THE ANALYSIS

Daily Deals on Kindle Books

Amazon is now offering “daily deals” on Kindle books. Competing against the likes of Groupon, this idea seems long overdue and welcome news to avid readers.

Yes, let’s hope that Amazon continues to offer book deals across a wide range of genres.

Click here for More details on the new Amazon program. Here is a link directly to the Kindle Deals page.

Are eReaders taking over?

On a recent Go bus trip from Hamilton to Toronto, more than half the approximately 50 passengers had their noses buried in something.

Two of them were reading books. A handful of people were busy texting or using an app on their smartphones. One young kid, who looked to be about seven, played a video game and at least eight people seemed to be just staring at their electronic devices.

They were… [READ THIS COMMENTARY]

War is On! Kindle Cloud Reader to combat Apple iTunes

On July 26 of this year, following pressure from Apple that it would begin strenuously enforcing its 30 percent commission rate, Amazon and Barnes & Noble announced they were shutting down their in-app sales. Customers were instead instructed to go to the Internet and buy directly from their respective websites.

Amazon just released the new Kindle Cloud Reader for quick and easy reading right in your web browser.

There are already free Kindle apps out there, but Kindle Cloud Reader extends the popular digital book store and library to PCs and tablets that run browsers based on HTML 5. This includes Safari on iPad and desktops as well as the desktop version of Google Chrome.

[full story here]

Amazon Tablet to debut in October

ipad_offgoogle — Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

Currently not much is known about Amazon’s tablet. What is known is that it will feature a 9” – 10” touch-screen, a powerful application processor and will be based on Google Android operating system. It is expected to be released in two months.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the device will be designed by one of the contract manufacturers of electronics, but its successor due in 2012 will be developed by Amazon itself.

[More details here]

E-books Gaining in Popularity with Book Clubs

A 2011 survey found the majority of book club members still prefer the printed book, 25.5 percent reported using an e-reader in 2010, compared to 15.6 percent in 2009. The Amazon Kindle leads the way among e-reading book club members, with 59 percent owning Kindles. The Nook ranked second at 29 percent. Almost 20 percent read e-books on tablets such as the iPad.

An interesting fact noted by… [GET THE STATS HERE]

Review of the Google eReader, the iRiver Story HD

The iRiver Story HD is the first e-reader to be integrated with Google’s eBookstore. Unlike the Amazon Kindle bookstore, Google’s offering is open to all publishers, retailers, and manufacturers. It can also be accessed from any device on any platform with an internet connection. You simply create a Google Account and log into it via the app or the web browser from your smartphone, tablet, or PC to access the ebooks you’ve purchased or to browse and download new ones. In this way, your Google ebooks are always synced across all your devices. However, no e-reader has yet to make accessing the Google eBookstore simple until now.

There is no… [READ THE FULL IN-DEPTH REVIEW]

Google E-Reader to Take on Kindle

Big news as Google has teamed up with device manufacturer iriver to release a Google-branded eReader. The iriver Story HD will be the first eReader integrated with the Google eBooks platform. The Wi-Fi enabled device has a 6″ eInk screen and a QWERTY keyboard. It goes on sale this coming Sunday at Target for $139.99, the same price as the Kindle.

Do you think the eReader will be competitive? [READ ON]

E-Reader Adoption Crushing Tablets

E-reader ownership among U.S. adults has surged in the last six months, doubling from 6% to 12%, according to a survey released today by the Pew Research Center. That remarkable rate of adoption surpasses even tablets, which are owned by just 8% of adults 18 and older.

That’s great news for Amazon and Barnes & Noble, whose e-readers, the Kindle and Nook, are flying off shelves (e-shelves, rather). But it might also come as a surprise to consumers inundated with ads for the iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, and Motorola Xoom that e-readers are outpacing tablets. [read the full story]