Month: August 2020

73 posts

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. 

Amazon discounts the Kindle Paperwhite in Canada

Amazon frequently runs sales promotions for the Kindle line of e-readers in the United States, but rarely in Canada. The company has just announced that the Kindle Paperwhite is now on sale for $114 for the 8GB model, the regular price is $139. The 32Gb model is also available for $139, regular price is $169. The entry level Kindle e-reader with a front-light is on sale for a paltry $84.99, the normal everyday retail tag is $119.

The Daily Mail Launches an Online Bookstore

The Daily Mail and the Sunday edition are the most well read newspapers in the United Kingdom, with a circulation of over a million people. They have just opened an online bookstore, that is selling all sorts of bestsellers from major publishers, with an obvious emphasis on the UK market, so they have a big section on the royals. The new bookstore is powered by Monwell, who also provides bookstores for the Guardian, Times Literary Supplement and Archant Community Media. The overall design of the store is sleek and stylish, prices are on par with the listings on Amazon.

China is unavoidable for the e-reader industry

The entire modern e-reader industry is assembled and manufactured in China. There are hardly any devices that are currently available that are not made in various factories, the only exceptions are the Kobo and Nook line of e-readers, which are made in Taiwan. The Japanese version of the DPT line of e-notes is made in Japan, but the ones that were available in the US, where made in China. Modern day China can be considered a villian, by many mainstream media outlets. They are constantly accused of implementing spyware on smartphones, televisions, routers and other enterprise solutions. Many companies are blacklisted from doing business in Canada, US and the UK. The country recently invaded Hong Kong and has received condemnation from virtually every country. Maybe the straw that broke the camel’s back was COVID, first a regional thing and now a very real global pandemic. Basically, there is lots of negative sentiment towards China and Chinese companies, some deserved, some not. I know we have received lots of emails lately about product recommendations that don’t come from China, and it is almost impossible to avoid it.

Amazon Discontinues Kindle Owners Lending Library

Amazon launched the Kindle Lending Library in 2011. This was a program where Prime members can borrow a free book once a month. Once a book is borrowed, it can be re-downloaded for free at any point in the future. Books that are included in the free lending library will have a “Prime” logo next to them and a “Borrow for free” button beneath the traditional “Buy” button. There was no expiring date for the books and it was very popular. In 2016 Amazon released Prime Reading and it basically killed Kindle Lending Library, and Amazon no longer promoted it on their website or via press releases. Today, Amazon has just discontinued the Lending Library and are now telling people to use Kindle Unlimited or Prime Reading instead.

A new Blackberry with a keyboard and 5G coming out next year

Blackberry  is making a comeback, a new smartphone with a keyboard and 5G internet access will be released next year. The Canadian smartphone pioneer has been out of the hardware business for several years but licensed the BlackBerry name to other partners. Their new partner is OnwardMobility and they will outsource to  Foxconn — a Taiwan-based company best known as the primary manufacturer of Apple’s iPhones. The new blackberry phone will be using Android, instead of Blackberry 10. It will also be bundled with all of the Blackberry Android apps that have been developed and are all available on Google Play.

Good e-Reader Android App Store and E INK Store Updated

For the first time in almost two years the Good e-Reader App…

Amazon is under fire from various publisher associations

The Association of American Publishers, Authors Guild and American Booksellers association have jointly written a letter to House of Representatives’ Antitrust Subcommittee about the power that Amazon represents to publishers and authors. 

Unboxing the new Pocketbook Touch Lux 5

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

US ebook sales were up 39.0% in June 2020

Ebook revenues have been soaring since April, when most people were self-isolating and thousands of bookstores were closed. This trend continued in June when eBook revenues were up 39.0% for the month as compared to June 2019 for a total of $110.3 million. On a year-to-date basis, eBooks were up 12.7%, coming in at $544.5 million for the first six months of 2020. Notably, eBooks revenues in the Children’s and YA category saw a 132.5% jump during the month, coming in at $14.6 million. On a year-to-date basis eBooks revenues in the Children’s and YA category were up 62.4% for the first six months of the year, generating $61.6 million.

Andy Weir has a new novel coming out next Spring

Andy Weir’s most famous book is the Martian, which sold a copious amount of copies and spawned a movie. His second novel came out in 2017 and was titled Artemis, which was a near-future thriller–a heist story set on the moon. His third novel is going to come out in Spring 2021 and is titled Project Hail Mary. Project Hail Mary will be published by Penguin Random House and according to Ballantine, the novel is about “a lone astronaut who awakens to find himself on a ship deep in space, his crewmates dead and his memories missing. All he knows is that he alone must now complete a desperate, last-chance mission to save the Earth from disaster.”

Amazon Fire HD 8 Unboxing Video

The Amazon Fire HD 8 came out a couple of months ago…