Month: August 2020

73 posts

Amazon discontinues KindleGen

KindleGen is a command line tool used to build eBooks that can be sold through Amazon’s Kindle platform. Many people who used Linux or a MAC liked the ability to build ebooks and the tool is best for publishers and individuals who are familiar with HTML and want to convert their HTML, XHTML, XML (OPF/IDPF format), or ePub source into a Kindle Book. It can also generate the APNX page number file with the right input. The system was developed in 2012 and was just discontinued today, Amazon is encouraging people to use the Kindle Previewer.

The Kindle e-reader collects a large amount of data

The Amazon Kindle e-reader and their Android apps collect a ton of data from readers. Highlighting or tapping any word will send the requests with the text to Bing Translate and Wikipedia, as well as back to Amazon.  Kindle services leverage reading data to offer some nice features that traditional books can’t offer: maintaining bookmarks and notes between devices, keeping all devices synced with the last read page, and more. It also shows ads and recommendations for next books to read on the kindle. There is tons of data they collect.

E INK and TCL partner for digital signage production

E INK is the company responsible for e-paper found in almost every single e-reader and e-note currently available. The company derives 75% of their total revenue from the e-reader sector and they are looking to expand further into digital signage, which is a tremendous growth market.  By 2025 it will be worth over $31.71 billion.  E INK primarily makes its money producing the displays and then selling them to established signage vendors, who build their own shell and develop their own software. So it is good money for E INK to just make the screens. In order to ramp up production, E INK has just partnered with TCL, the company who made Blackberry phones and also televisions. Under the Agreement, TCL will manufacture 42-inch ePaper TFT backplanes using an 8.5 generation production line. This will be the first time large-size ePaper backplanes have been manufactured in an 8.5 generation facility, and it will be the largest generation factory in the world to manufacture ePaper TFT backplanes. This will not only help optimize the cost-effectiveness of the production, but will also help to increase efficiencies.

Audible is changing their subscription packages

Audible has just launched a new subscription tier called Audible Plus. It will provide subscribers access to 68,000 hours of content from more than 11,000 original productions, audiobooks, and podcasts. The new offering will be available for $7.95 per month. They are also are changing their Audible Gold program and are now calling it Audible Premium Plus, which costs $14.95 per month.

Pocketbook Touch Lux 5 e-Reader Review

The Pocketbook Touch Lux 5 is brand new e-reader that has just…

Kobo issues emergency fix for their e-readers

Last week, Kobo issued a big firmware update for their complete line…

These are all of the Color E INK e-Readers from 2020

This year E INK released Kaleido, a new form of color e-paper that was designed for e-readers, e-notes and smartphones. Most of these devices have 300 PPI to read black and white content, such as ebooks. These devices can display  4,096 different color combinations up to 100 PPI. The way the technology works, is that you can read both black and white text at 300 PPI and colors at 100 PPI, on the same page. This is useful if you are reading a biography ebook, where there are tons of pictures in the center, and also text, giving readers context. It also works using a web-browser,  or other ebooks. The B&W and Color filter have a hard time with PDF files, because they are basically big image files, although some PDF render engines can convert the PDF images to pictures AND text. CBR/CBZ, are popular formats for comics or manga, but they are basically containers for a series of jpg/png files.

Wil Wheaton is going to narrate Ready Player Two audiobook

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline is going to be coming out at the end of November of this year. This is the sequel to Ready Player One that basically lived on various bestseller lists for years. Wil Wheaton narrated the original audiobook and he has just confirmed the narration of Ready Player Two.

Google is working on a API for Digital Ink Recognition

Google is putting the final touches on a new API for digital ink recognition for Android and iOS. It will give developers the ability to create a new breed of apps where a stylus would be the the primary mode of interaction with the displays. This is not just going to be great for a new breed of writing tablets, but also give digital note taking devices that run E INK, an alternative to using a WACOM screen. Digital Ink Recognition is different from the existing Vision and Natural Language APIs in ML Kit, as it takes neither text nor images as input. Instead, it looks at the user’s strokes on the screen and recognizes what they are writing or drawing.

Amazon upgrades to Fire OS 7 on Fire HD 8, HD 7, and Fire 7

Amazon has just issued an Operating system update for the 2018 Fire HD 8, 2017 Fire HD 7, and entry level Fire 7 that came out in 2019. It upgrades to Fire OS 7, which is based on Android 9. Amazon hardly ever supports their older tablets, so this gives them a second life.

Unboxing the iFlytek EBOOK C1 Color e-Reader

The front of the iFlytek ebook is white, with royal blue accents on the side, and the back platting is royal blue. There is a speaker on the back, for TTS, music or audiobooks. Bluetooth is available so you can connect up a pair of headphones or a wireless speaker too. No buttons of any kind are on the device, everything is software driven. On the bottom of the e-reader is a USB-C port, power button and microphone.

Boyue Likebook Mars receives Android 8.1 Update

Boyue has been promising an Android update for all of their modern…

New Barnes and Noble CEO is committed to the Nook e-reader

Barnes and Noble CEO James Daunt sounds like he is ready to give Nook the attention it has desperately needed, as Amazon’s Kindle has run away with the space. “I absolutely love Nook, and I think my predecessors had fallen out of love with it,” he said. “It’s under-promoted to our customers, it became the sort of wayward child that had become embarrassing. But if you want to read digitally, the app is fantastic. I’m a champion of digital books and digital book retailing, but above and beyond that I’m a champion of reading. There are many reasons why people want to read digitally, but Nook needs to be much better supported within the Barnes & Noble ecosystem.”

Unboxing the Pocketbook Basic 4 e-reader

Opening the box for the first time, you are greeted by the e-reader sitting in a tray, front and center. It is encased in a static proof bag. Underneath the reader is your warranty documentation, a full color promo document, encouraging people to buy a case and a quick start guide. There is also a Micro USB cable contained in a little cardboard flap. The color scheme of the e-reader is black. The pocketbook logo is green. The home button is different than the Pocketbook Color or the Touch Lux 5, it is rounded with a little boarder around it, so you won’t accidently misclick on it, while reading an ebook. The page turn buttons are next to the home button. I like the overall design, it is just a shame,  it does not have a front-lit display.