03:05 PM by holymadness in E-Book General | News

A few months ago I signed up for alerts about the launch of Oyster, a Netflix-like reading service. It gives you access to an unlimited number of books for a monthly fee. Today I got an email announcing that the service is live for those with an invitation (those without can join the queue to receive one). You can access it at https://www.oysterbooks.com and there is some information about the launch at http://blog.oysterbooks.com/. It's an iPhone-only reading app for now, which is a bit of a curious choice.

Here's an overview of the service from GigaOm, which includes some interesting details: http://gigaom.com/2013/09/05/oyster-netflix-for-ebooks/

• The service launches with 100,000 in-copyright ebooks (i.e., not free public domain stuff)
• Publishers participating — making at least a few titles available, not their whole catalogs by any means — include HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Workman, Algonquin, Melville House, Rodale, Open Road, RosettaBooks, F+W Media and self-publishing distributor Smashwords.
• Oyster wouldn’t get into details about how it’s compensating publishers and authors, and wouldn’t state whether newer, more well-known titles are getting better royalties than older ones.
• With Oyster, after you add a book to your reading list, you can access it offline. You only need an internet connection to download new titles.
• An iPad app is coming this fall
• Oyster currently has no “concrete plans” to launch on platforms beyond iOS.

I've taken some screenshots of the website for those without invitations. I haven't yet had time to look at the app.

EDIT: Seems like the app is only available in the US iTunes store for now. A tweet from the developers reads, "No announced plans for expansion outside the US yet but it's definitely something we want to do."

09:38 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Readers | Android Devices

Still looking for a decent e-book reader app for your Android device? Moon+ Reader Pro is a hot candidate to make all your reading wishes come true. Beside supporting a wide range of e-book formats, including ePub, Mobi, PDF, CHM, CBR, and FB2, the latest version adds full support for PDF annotation.

Changelog for version 2.1:

• New full PDF annotations support, includes free text, ink, line, arrow, rectangle, ellipse, highlight, note, etc. Create and modify annotations with size, color, thickness, comment, etc.
• PDF thumbnail function update, faster and smoother
• Update "Tilt to turn page" with sensitive control and more
• Update highlight render for epub/fb2/txt/mobi
• Update book import procedure, faster and more stable

As usual, the app is available via the Google Play store

Related: Moon+ Reader Pro Idiot Guide please

04:07 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Gather 'round, people, perk up your ears, for tales of Dr. Seuss. Born Theodor Seuss Geisel, the man is perhaps the world's most-loved creator of rhyming children's books, known for such masterpieces as "The Cat in the Hat" and "Green Eggs and Ham." And he's going digital. Random House announced (PDF) Wednesday that 41 of Dr. Seuss stories will come out as e-books, starting on September 24.

Each of the forthcoming Random House Children’s Books ebooks will preserve Dr. Seuss’s original layouts and the beloved illustrations from their print editions. They also will be published simultaneously as Read & Listen editions that feature brand-new audio recordings of the full text.

“Random House Children’s Books and Dr. Seuss Enterprises have been publishing partners for decades. I am so pleased to announce the start of an exciting new chapter in our long and thriving relationship, as we embark on expanding the Dr. Seuss reading experience together with ebooks,” says Marcus [President & Publisher, Random House Children’s Books]. “We are delighted that today’s parents, their children, and educators can now add Dr. Seuss’s classics to their digital bookshelves, joining the cherished hardcovers that we have all grown up with.”

I'm usually more tech-obsessed than traditionalist; yet, in this regard, I find it difficult to see how Dr. Seuss e-books will offer any advantage over their board book counterparts. Board books are practically indestructible. They come in convenient child size, and they can be bend, dragged, washed, sucked and thrown without much damage. Basically, they are the first books a child is really allowed to possess and explore in a concrete sense. You think that'd work with an e-book reader? Unless your e-reader comes equipped with a serious rugged case that protects it from being chewed or dropped or thrown, I'd worry. I'd probably worry so much about my device being wrecked that unwillingly I'd take all the fun away from my kid to explore Dr. Seuss stories.

But you're obviously free to disagree vehemently.

06:00 PM by hwlester in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

I got an email today for a deal that if you subscribe to select magazines from B&N, they will give you a year of back issues. The selection of magazines is:

• Cooking Light
• Cosmopolitan
• Crochet Today!
• Essence
• Food Network Magazine
• Glamour
• Good Housekeeping
• National Geographic
• National Geographic Kids
• O: The Oprah Magazine
• Popular Mechanics
• Reader's Digest
• Real Simple
• Runner's World
• SELF
• Southern Living Magazine
• The Family Handyman
• Yoga Journal

The link is here although you may have to have gotten the email to redeem the offer. Terms & Conditions are here.

Edited to note that the offer has been extended to 2:59 a.m. ET September 13, 2013.

03:02 PM by ritoroy in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

TigerDirect offers the factory-refurbished Sony 6" WiFi eBook Reader in Black, model no. PRST2HBC, bundled with a $25 eBook Reader Gift Card for $59.99. This 5.9-oz. e-reader features a 600x800 6" touchscreen display, 1.3GB internal storage, SD card slot (up to 32GB), integrated 802.11n wireless, and MP3 player. A 1-year Sony warranty applies.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?EdpNo=8528682

12:34 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Thanks to countless leaks there is hardly anything surprising left for Sony to announce with the PRS-T3. Either way, the Sony PRS-T3 is a fine device, as you can read in the press release.

It’s our highest ever resolution Reader; the paper-like E-ink screen is sharper and clearer than ever, with crisp text that’s wonderfully easy to read. Every page turn is beautifully smooth, too. Thanks to advanced page refresh technology by Sony, you can stay focused on the story with an unprecedented 4 hours of flicker-free page turns. Press forward/back page turn buttons or simply swipe the touchscreen to read on – it’s wonderfully intuitive. When you’re done, close the cover to save power and protect the screen until you’re ready to read on.

Launch date in Europe starts in September and varies by country.

Update: Now also on display on various Sony Europe websites.

11:26 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Some of us have already wondered what "Carta e-paper technology" is all about when Amazon unveiled the Paperwhite V2 yesterday. Well, here we have the answer, folks! Carta is the latest imaging film employed by E Ink for their e-paper screens. According to their website, Carta offers enhanced readability ("a dramatic 50% increase in contrast over earlier generations") and smoother page turns (supporting "the new Regal technology").

E Ink Carta specifications in detail:

• Imaging Component: E Ink Carta ePaper Display Film
• Contrast Ratio: 15:1 (min)
• White State: 74 (min)
• Dark State: 19 (max)
• Color Resolution (# Bits): 1-Bit (B&W);4-Bit (16 Gray Levels)
• % Reflectance: 44%
• Viewing Angle: Near 180°
• Image Update Time: 120 msec (1-Bit)
• Update Modes: Full & Partial Page Update, Pipelined
• Available Display Sizes: 1.44 to 13.3 in
• Display Modules: E Ink Mobius Flexible Display, as well as Glass TFT

Source: spec sheet (PDF)

Related: All-New Kindle Paperwhite V2 (accidentally) unveiled. So what's all new?

11:04 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Yet another patent application from Mountain View today. While the first one was related to adding sound triggers to e-books, which may not appeal to everyone, this application serves a more practical purpose: the synchronization of reading and listening locations between e-books and audiobooks.

While not granted (yet), the USPTO filing outlines an "e-book system" that would synchronize reading locations not only between e-books stored on different devices (perhaps even in different e-book formats), but also locations between audio/audio-video content and text content. For that purpose, the audio content is first transcoded into text and then compared to the original text version.

Oftentimes, e-books are available for consumption in a variety of different modes. For example, an e-book may be available in a traditional text-based version for consumption by reading, and also available in an audio book version for consumption by listening. The audio book version may be narrated by a human actor or other voiceover professional that reads the text with added nuance such as tone or inflection that enhances the enjoyment of the listener.

A user may desire to occasionally switch among the various consumption modes for an e-book. The user may read the text version of the e-book when relaxing at home, but desire to listen to the audio version of the e-book at other times, such as when the user is driving. However, switching among the consumption modes is difficult because the different versions of the e-book are independent. There is no easy way for the user to maintain the same reading/listening position between the text and audio versions of an e-book. Thus, the user must manually locate the correct position when switching consumption modes. This extra effort is time-consuming and detracts from the user's overall enjoyment of the e-book. [...]

The above-described and other issues are addressed by a computer-implemented method, computer-readable medium, and computer system for switching between synchronized consumption modes of an e-book.

Source: USPTO