Month: August 2020

73 posts

Hummingbird Digital has been sold to 360 Media

Hummingbird is not a household name, but it was a service that allowed users to sell audiobooks and ebooks in their online store and earn a commission whenever something was sold. If you wanted to do business with the company, you had to be a US resident. Hummingbird was sold to 360 Media Direct, the marketing and fulfillment agency with roots in the magazine publishing world. 360 Media Direct was founded more than 30 years ago and has expanded to include a range of digital services, including lead generation tools, customer loyalty platforms and targeted advertising media programs

Readmoo suspends relationship with Alipay

Readmoo is the largest digital bookstore in Taiwan and they have just ended their relationship with Alipay, which is located in China. Alipay demanded the removal of politically sensitive books from the platform. Rather than capitulate, Readmoo decided to simply terminate the agreement.

Remarkable 2 Marker Plus Pen Review

The Remarkable 2 comes with a free white stylus, but the company…

E INK is developing 2nd generation color e-paper

E INK has confirmed with Good e-Reader that they are developing a second generation model of their Print Color E-Paper or the better known marketing name of Kaleido. It will be launched sometime in 2021 and will be able to display more colors and the front-light doesn’t always need to be on to display proper color accuracy. The screen size of 2nd generation colored e-paper will be further enlarged, and the scope of applications will also be expanded to include advertising billboards and ID cards in addition to current ones such as electronic shelf labels (ESLs) and e-book readers. This will pave the way for larger screen devices such as e-notes, that have larger screens.

Amazon Kindle will support the Microsoft Surface Duo

The Microsoft dual screen Surface Duo is coming out on September 10th. This device is running Android 10 and should be good for reading. Amazon has just updated their Android app with full support for reading ebooks on both screens at once. You will get a two page spread, where each page is on a single screen. So it will function like reading a real book, once you have finished reading both pages, you can swipe or tap and both pages will automatically turn, populating both screens with the next two pages.

Amazon issues new update for the Kindle Paperwhite 3

Some of the new features it received today was a new search experience making it easier to navigate through your search results in the book without losing the page you were reading. To get started, simply search for a term in your book and tap on a search result. They have also updated the Page Flip experience that shows recently read pages as dots on the progress bar, including your most recent page read from another device. If you have a Freetime Unlimited subscription, kids will see a new layout, improved search, book details, and Audible support. In supported marketplaces, kids with access to Amazon FreeTime Unlimited will see rows of recommended eBook and Audible content that are age-appropriate.

Will E-books Make Real Books Disappear?

In the modern era of technology, we can barely imagine our day-to-day activities without electronic devices. Devices with Internet access have become the source of information, entertainment, and even work, making remote jobs more and more popular. The latter is especially important now because of the governments’ preventive measures in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak: most people with office jobs can efficiently work from home using just their laptops. In our spare time, we make use of our screens as well as watching movies and TV-shows. The same trend of digitalization came to the book industry leading to the rise of electronic books, or shortly e-books. Whereas many people predict the extinction of printed books, book shops are still open, and their owners do not seem to plan closing businesses anytime soon. This question is complex, and both material and electronic books have plenty of pros and cons.

Powell’s Books will stop selling books on Amazon

Powell’s Books is one of the most iconic indie bookstores in Portland and many people in the United States place orders with them online. They have announced they will no longer be selling their books on Amazon.

Avalue and E INK partner for white labeled Sony DPT-RP1 solution

E INK has announced that they have got their hands on a white labeled version of the Sony Digital Paper DPT-Rp1 and have partnered with Avalue. These two Taiwanese companies will not only sell the units, but also provide software enhancements and technical assistance. This is because it is running Android, so it is quite easy to load in a few apps, or develop custom functionality. I do not know if they are sharing the entire kernel to customers who want to develop their own software, but I assume they will. I have reached out to both companies to find out pricing, MOQ and how much software development costs. This might be ideal for other startups or established players to jump into the e-note field, with a product with an extensive track record.

Ebooks and Audiobooks Usage In Schools Exploded in 2020

Teachers in the year 2020 have had one heckuva year trying to…

Remarkable 2 Hands on Review

The Remarkable 2 is one of the best e-notes on the market, it has the most advanced note taking features, handwriting recognition, can view and edit PDF files and ebooks. There are very few devices that can successfully compare against it. The main competitors against the Remarkable 2 is the Onyx Boox Note 2, which might not have all of the advanced note taking things, it does hold its own, it has a microphone, so you can even do audio to text, in addition to handwriting recognition. The Supernote A5 also competes against it, but is older, slow, and their handwriting software has been broken for years. I would really recommend the Remarkable 2 to someone who has an older e-note and wants to upgrade to the latest and greatest. The only barrier right now is the pre-order system, you can’t just buy it and have it delivered in a few weeks. If you order today, it will take 3-4 months for it to be sent out and this depends on stock availability. Hopefully in 2021 the stock situation stabilizes and can be purchased right away, ditto with standalone accessories, cases, stylus and nibs.

Remarkable 2 delayed by another couple of weeks

The first batch of the Remarkable 2 was delayed by a couple of months and people were getting excited that pre-orders placed in April and early May were finally going to ship out soon. Remarkable has confirmed with Good e-Reader that the device has been delayed again, but only by a couple of weeks. 

Onyx Boox closes down their forum

Onyx Boox has been operating their online forum for a number of…