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Kobo e-reader news
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Rakuten Kobo is one of the largest companies currently making e-readers and selling audiobooks and ebooks. Learn about the Kobo Elipsa, Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra, Kobo Nia.
Kobo e-readers now get Kobo Forma functionality
Kobo has just issued a new firmware update for their complete lineup of e-readers, and most of the functionality came from the new Kobo Forma. The Kobo firmware 4.12.12111 is compatible with the Kobo Touch, Kobo Glo, Kobo Glo HD, Kobo Touch 2.0, Kobo Aura, Kobo Aura HD, Kobo Aura H2O, Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2, Kobo Aura ONE, Kobo Aura ONE Limited Edition, Kobo Aura Edition 2, Kobo Clara HD, and the Kobo Forma. It has not been released to the Kobo Mini The firmware will be pushed out to all e-readers in the next couple of days via WIFI.
2018 Rakuten Kobo Book Report for Canada
Canadians read on the road, with the busiest reading time being during the morning and evening commute, as well into the evening hours.
Sunday is the day where most of the reading (magic) happens. Our theory: it’s the best way to beat the Sunday blues, by relaxing and enjoying your favourite book.
Globally, Canadians are our most active readers, having read on average 73 hours this year, with some of our top customers reading eight hours a day–it’s a full time job!
The best ebook and e-reader Cyber Monday Deals
Cyber Monday puts a heavy emphasis on digital content to populate your new e-reader. There are dozens of retailers that are offering discounts on ebooks, but there are still a few hardware deals around. During the next 48 hours, this post will be constantly updated once more companies announce their plans for Cyber Monday. If you hear about a new deal we have not published yet, drop a comment below.
Amazon
The Kindle Paperwhite 3 is on sale. The regular price is $139 and the deal price is $79 without Special Offers. The Kindle Paperwhite 3 Essential Bundle comes with a case and a charger. The regular price is $179, and it is on sale for $119. Best Buy is also selling the Kindles at the same price as Amazon, so you can buy one at the store or on their website, available in both black and white.
In Canada, the Paperwhite 3 is retailing for $99, which is $40 off the regular price. The Kindle Oasis 2 is on sale for the first time, only in Canada. The regular price is $389 and the sale price is $329, which is $60 off, this is a good deal.
Amazon is running a series of Kindle book sales in the States. You can get over 350 titles that are 80% off. They are also running a sale on a couple hundred of indie books that range from $1 to $3. There are just over 2,000 books in Kindle Countdown deals. They are offered directly by the authors. The countdown mechanism is that the price of the book goes up gradually. At the beginning it’s usually $0.99, after a couple of days it’s raised to $1.99, and so on.
If Kindle Unlimited is something you want to try, there is no time like the present. You can save 96% on three months of Kindle Unlimited – the deal is active through November 30, 2018. You can get the 3-month subscription for $0.99 instead of $29.97. It means you save as much as 96%. Existing Kindle Unlimited subscribers are not eligible to take part in the promotion,
Amazon Alexa to get a special Newscaster Voice
Amazon is developing a customized Alexa Voice to read the news. Currently Alexa reads the news, but uses the same voice when you issue it commands or search results. Amazon has created a special version of the voice that sounds the same as a quintessential evening newscaster.
Everyone is familiar with the “newscaster” voice style; it has a unique flow and emphasis atypical in ordinary conversations. The newscaster voice makes it immediately clear that the user is hearing a news report while helping emphasize key points, break up the information, and state everything clearly.
Amazon says the new speaking style is enabled by by the company’s development of “neural text-to-speech” technology or NTTS. This is the next generation of speech synthesis, that use machine learning to generate expressive voices more quickly. Currently, Alexa uses uses concatenative speech synthesis, a method that’s been around for decades. This involves breaking up speech samples into distinct sounds (known as phonemes) and then stitching them back together to form new words and sentences.
Kobo Forma 32GB now available on the Kobo website
Kobo released the Forma e-reader last month and the only model available was the 8GB edition. The 32GB version was only available in Japan, but that has changed. Kobo is now selling both models directly on their website for customers in Canada and the United States. You can choose what storage option you want during the checkout process.