Latest Stories
Latest Stories
Apple is planning on bundling subscription services
Apple is planning on unveiling a new tiered approach to subscriptions, by offering bundles. It is likely they will be announced in October, along with new iPhone and iPad models. The bundles, dubbed “Apple One” are designed to encourage customers to subscribe to more Apple services, which will generate more recurring revenue.
Unboxing the 13.3 inch Quirklogic Papyr E-Note
The Quirklogic Papyr is a new 13.3 inch e-note that is using the Sony Digital Paper shell and internals, but using the software in new and innovative ways. They have the standard note taking app, and also Google Chrome to browse the web. The device provides integration into the Inkworks platform by QuirkLogic enabling real-time collaboration with a paper-like writing experience.
Barnes and Noble issues new update for the Nook
Barnes and Noble has just published a rare firmware update for many of their Nook e-readers. Software update 52.0.78 is being pushed out and includes a number of bug fixes and enhancements. One of the most notable is author names always showing as their first and last name. This is useful if you like reading ebooks by the same author, it is easier to sort in your library. There is also a progress bar on your library, letting you know how far you are in various ebooks and also there’s now a line beneath completed books showing completed date. There is likely other aspects of this update, but Barnes and Noble does not publish changelogs anymore.
Microsoft Surface Duo Android 10 Smartphone comes out soon
The Microsoft Surface Duo is one of the most eagerly anticipated smartphones of the year. It features twin 5.6-inch OLED displays with a resolution of 1800 x 1350 with a 4:3 aspect ratio that connect together to form a 8.1-inch overall workspace (2700 x 1800) with a 3:2 aspect ratio.
Penguin Random House to release Audiobook Study Guides
Kids are going to go back to school soon. Some schools are opening their doors to students, while others are going to be doing distance learning. English classes tend to have classic books in their curriculum and Penguin Random House has developed audiobook study guides for titles such as Studying Dracula, Studying The Great Gatsby, Studying Wuthering Heights, and Studying Tess of the D’Urbervilles. They contain unabridged audio narration of the novels and supplementary material written by teachers. The material features in-depth analysis of characters, themes, structure and form, in addition to chapter summaries and useful quotations.
Xiaomi Mi Reader Review
The Xiaomi Mi Reader features a 6 inch E INK capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels at 212 PPI. It has a front-lit display, which has a slider bar in the drop down menu, you can configure how bright you want the display. There is no color temperature system that is available on this model.
Xiaomi Mijia Hygrometer Thermometer Pro Review
The Xiaomi Digital Thermometer Hygrometer measures both the temperature and humidity of the room and the parameters are displayed on a screen. The device features an 3.7 inch Ink display which ensures it conserves battery power, it will last up to a year on a single charge.
Steve Jobs sabotaged the Amazon Kindle app on iOS
Steve Jobs made it his mission to sabotage Amazon to prevent them from selling ebooks within their app. According to new emails between between Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller, Eddy Cue, and various other senior Apple executives, disclose the exact thinking behind how Apple approached Kindle on iOS. The current precedent was outlined by Steve Jobs, who stated that “I think this is all pretty simple — iBooks is going to be the only bookstore on iOS devices. We need to hold our heads high. One can read books bought elsewhere, just not buy/rent/subscribe from iOS without paying us, which we acknowledge is prohibitive for many things.”
Scribd vows to cleanup SlideShare piracy
Linkedin Slideshare is a hotbed of piracy, there are thousands of ebooks available on the platform, in a myriad of formats. The repository for documents has been around for 14 years and so far, Linkedin has been ambivalent to the growing epidemic. Over the next several months, Scribd will be integrating their BookID system into the SlideShare platform to scan all uploads for potentially unauthorized content and will be removing anything that violates their TOS.
Onyx Boox is developing a color e-reader based on the Nova 2
Onyx Boox has submitted a letter to the FCC, letting them know that they will be using the same internals as the Nova 2, except they are calling it the Nova 2 Color. The company has just launched the Poke 2 color today, but they only produced 100 units and were sold out in a few hours. They have not submitted any documentation to the FCC for the Poke 2 Color, which leads me to believe this was a test to see if people would respond to a color e-reader, which they did. It looks like Onyx is now taking color seriously.
Kobo introduces ebook discovery
Kobo is pushing out a new firmware update 4.23.15505 to the Kobo Touch A/B, Kobo Touch C, Kobo Glo, Kobo Glo HD, Kobo Touch 2.0, Kobo Aura, Kobo Aura HD, Kobo Aura H2O, Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2 v1, Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2 v2, Kobo Aura ONE, Kobo Aura ONE Limited Edition, Kobo Aura Edition 2 v1, Kobo Aura Edition 2 v2, Kobo Nia, Kobo Clara HD, Kobo Forma, and the Kobo Libra H2O. It has not been released to the Kobo Mini. This new update adds a number of features such as better ebook discovery and new clock!
Onyx Boox Poke 2 with Color E INK Screen is sold out in a day
Onyx Boox has just released the Poke 2 color e-reader. This device had a very limited production run and less than one hundred got made. The company wants to run an experiment to see if there is a market for this type of product. This is due to the limitation of E INK Kalidio, which is able to display over 4,096 different colors. The front-light has to be on for the colors to display properly, and they tend to look muted with a glass layer, so Onyx is using a sunken screen and bezel, which is what Pocketbook did with their color e-reader. This device is sold out in less than 24 hours.
E INK debuts new design for their foldable e-note
The new iteration of the foldable e-note now features a dedicated housing unit, to protect the display, when it is completely folded shut. When you open it, it now has 3-4 new gears that work in conjunction with the hinge system, to make sure there is enough torque when opening and closing it. The Wacom later has been refined, which is making it easier to make notes, highlights and annotations in a PDF file or the dedicated note taking app.
There are now five dedicated buttons on the right hand side of the device. You can turn pages of an ebook forward or back. You can access the home menu, more and settings. On the top of the device are two new lighting bars that are built into the chassis and can be folded down, to project light evenly across the screen. Current front-lit technology found on the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite or the Kobo Forma, do not have flexible screens, so E INK had to find a new solution.
Here are all of the modern Hisense E INK smartphones
The Hisense A5 and Hisense A5 Pro use the traditional black and white e-paper display. The A5 came out last year and the Pro is the better buy, due to a higher version of Android and better hardware specs. The Hisense A5C and A5 Pro CC both came out this summer and are the first phones to employ color e-paper, the same technology that the Pocketbook Color brought to the table. I think the Pro CC is the better buy, it has a better processor, a fingerprint scanner, a dedicated speaker, and better hardware specs.
The Hisense A6L is a bit of an anomaly, it is similar to the Yotaphone, with one screen having an LCD display and the other E INK. This device has been lost in the shuffle, even though it has great hardware, and a modern version of Android, it is very underrated.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite vs Pocketbook Color
Pocketbook basically allows users to have more flexibility and control, users will have to sideload there own things to the device, or access Dropbox from the internet browser. A full color screen is a major selling point, Amazon will likely not do color for a few years. Amazon is more user friendly, you can do everything right on the reader, without really needing to sideload, although you can sideload in your own ebooks, you can’t do it with audio files.
What are people reading and listening to on Overdrive Libby?
One of the best apps that Overdrive ever release, was Libby. This is an app that focuses the listening and reading experience, and that’s it. It is a simplified approach that caters to people who grew tired of the main Overdrive app, which was designed not only reading, but watching videos and listening to music, or reading magazines. Libby was released in 2017 and since then, millions of readers have borrowed hundreds of millions of digital books from public libraries around the world. What are the most popular audiobooks and ebooks have been the most popular? Read the entire list on goodereader.com
HarperCollins ebook sales are up 26%
One of the bright spots for the quarter were ebook sales, which were up 26%. The big genre sales within the digital division were children’s and general fiction. Audiobook and ebook sales represented 29% of consumer revenues for the quarter, which are higher than average. In the past, digital normally accounted for 21% on a quarterly basis
Indigo Books revenue dropped by 30%
During the second quarter, Indigo Books has experienced a net loss of about $31.6 million for the 13 weeks ended June 27th, compared to a net loss of about $19.1 million in the same quarter the previous year. This was basically a 30% drop in revenue, primarily due to all of their book stores being closed during the pandemic and online sales were not strong enough to offset it.
Simon & Schuster ebook sales increased by 51%
Simon & Schuster has just recorded their second quarter financial results for April, May and June 2020. The publisher reported that there was a 51% increase in ebook sales and a 34% increase in sales of physical audiobook. CEO Jonathan Karp said that there is “no reason to believe the new consumer behavior will change any time soon.” And while that will likely keep online sales strong, brick-and-mortar stores remain vital.