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Amazon Kindle app for iPad
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Books, Free Apps
Just like the Barnes & Noble iPad app that we talked about previously, an Amazon Kindle app that is specifically made and formatted for the iPad is also on the way. The folks over at the New York Times were able to get a look at it, and it sounds fairly similar to what we saw from Apple with their iBooks app. You can control the speed of a page turn with your finger, and it has a couple of new ways for people to view their entire eBook library. One of those, above, shows books covers with a background of someone reading a book under a tree. The position of the sun in the background changes depending on the time of day, which is fairly cool.
We find the whole things with both B&N and Amazon rushing to get their eBook reader apps ready for the iPad to be very interesting. In a nutshell, the iPad is now the only mobile device that will let you read eBooks purchased from Apple, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble. All the other devices are tied to one store. Between the eBook stores, and apps like Instapaper, the iPad is prepped to be the most feature-rich eBook reader on the planet, and that doesn’t even take any of its other features into account.
Read More 
| NYT
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Barnes and Noble readying iPad app in time for launch
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Books, App Store News, Free Apps
Looks like Apple isn’t the only company looking to capitalize on the iPad hype in order to sell eBooks. Barnes & Noble has just made it public knowledge that they plan on releasing an iPad-optimized version of the B&N reader app, with the goal being to have it ready in the App Store on day one. We must say, we like it. In fact, this may cement the iPad as the best reader device around, because you’ve got the B&N app, the Kindle app, and of course, the Apple iBooks app as well (among others.) This means that you can purchase a book in any of those three ebook marketplaces, and read them all on your iPad. That’s something you just can’t do with a Kindle or nook. Let’s just hope that Apple doesn’t give these apps the same treatment that they’ve given to others, like Google Voice.
Giveaway: 10 FastPencil Book Publishing Packages
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Features, Internet
If you’re an aspiring author who’s been wanting to publish a book, or if you’ve got a blog that you think would be fantastic as a printed work, pay attention. FastPencil has hooked us up with 10 giveaway packages that will let you take your work and put it into a physical, published form, for free. In case you aren’t aware, FastPencil is a super-simple way for anyone to write, organize, sell, and distribute physical books, as well as ebooks. Ten of you will win:
- A free printed book
- A free eBook
- Free shipping and handling
In order to redeem, you’d just put in your original work in the FastPencil system, or if you have a blog, it can be automatically imported. Seriously, it’s very cool, and we’re gonna hook up 10 of you with the prize package. How do you enter? Simple. Just leave a comment here on this post, or over on the Gear Live Facebook page. We will choose ten people randomly a week from today!
Barnes & Noble nook review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Design, Handhelds, Product Reviews
We’ve been anticipating the nook for about a month-and-a-half now, even since Barnes & Noble announced the nook back in October. Seeing a potential, real competitor to the Amazon Kindle sporting both an e-ink screen alongside a capacitive color LCD touchscreen just about made us drool. Oh, and it runs Google Android too, so, there’s that whole thing. Well, we’ve finally got the Barnes & Noble nook into our hands, and we’ve done some testing, some reading, and some playing, all in the spirit of letting you know how the nook stands on its own, and how it compares to the Amazon Kindle. We think we’ve done that, and we invite you to continue reading for the full Gear Live nook review.
Click to continue reading Barnes & Noble nook review
Nook e-reader shipments pushed back to December
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Handhelds
The nook e-reader, Barnes and Noble’s supposed Kindle killer, just hit it’s first speed bump with the delay of the ship date. Originally, the nook was set to ship to customers on November 30th. However, B&N says that because sales were higher than expected, they are pushing the ship date to December 11th—a full 11 days later. Luckily, if you got your pre-order in early, yours should still ship on November 30th. However, if you are placing a pre-order at this point, don’t expect to see your device until mid-December. If you were thinking about picking up a nook for someone for the holidays, your best bet might be to buy one sight unseen.
Read More | Brighthand
Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader: $260, color touchscreen, pre-order now
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds
Someone over on the Barnes & Noble web team seems to have jumped the gun, because the official Nook site was up for a few minutes, before quickly being pulled down. Luckily, we were able to get in, and even pre-order a unit, before things got pulled. The B&N Nook e-reader runs Android, and looks like it’ll give the Amazon Kindle a run for its money.
The device features a 6-inch screen, with a 3.5-inch color touchscreen beneath it. This gives you a quick method to browse your library, the store, and input text into the device. Definitely much easier than the Kindle’s hard keyboard. The device measures in at 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.5-inches, and weighs 11.2 ounces. You get 10 days of battery life if you turn off wireless, and the battery takes 3.5 hours to go from empty to full when plugged into a wall outlet. Speaking of wireless, the Nook actually sports both a 3G connection from AT&T, as well as built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g. Definitely an advantage over the Kindle, because even if you have poor cell reception, you can just connect to Wi-Fi to download a book. The Nook also includes 2GB of internal storage (enough to hold 1500 books,) a microSD slot for adding even more storage, MP3 playback, built-in speaker, headphone jack, and micro USB port for charging and syncing.
So, aside from the above, what sets this thing apart from the Kindle? For starters, you can lend books to friends for up to two weeks at a time, and they don’t even need a Nook of their own. They can access the Nook book content on an iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, PC, or Mac. The lending of literature is one thing that went away with the Kindle, and we are happy to see it return with Nook. The Barnes & Noble store also has over a million titles available for download, with more than 500,000 of those being free ebooks. The Nook can also read PDFs, something the Kindle 2 can’t do.
The Barnes & Noble Nook is available now for pre-order.
Read More | Nook
Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader set to launch tomorrow, color touchscreen, $259
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Rumors
Looks like Barnes & Noble is set to take the wraps off of their ebook reader tomorrow, and according to the Wall Street Journal, it’ll be the Barnes & Noble Nook that they’ll be unveiling. The Nook, pictured above (thanks Giz,) is unique because it has a standard e-ink display like the Kindle, but also sports a color touchscreen beneath the traditional display. Why? Well, try typing anything of length on an Amazon Kindle, and you’ll quickly realize that even that task could use some help. The Barnes & Noble Nook will sell for $259 (same price as the Kindle,) and will also allow users to lend e-books to friends. Obviously, we can’t wait to see it. We’ve got one more image for you after the jump.
Read More | WSJ
Sony announces Reader Daily Edition: Touchscreen, free library ebook checkouts
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds
Earlier this morning, Sony announced their Reader Daily Edition, which sits at the top of the line of the Sony Reader ebook reader family. The Sony Reader Daily Edition boasts a seven-inch touchscreen with 16 shades of gray, and like the Amazon Kindle, it has 3G access built-in for purchasing books from the Sony eBook Store. The 3G connection is provided by AT&T.
You’ll be able to get your hands on the Sony Reader Daily Edition this December for $400, and it’ll be compatible with the new eBook Library 3.0 software, which now supports Macs. Even better though, and what sets this apart, is that there is a built in library finder services, and it lets you check out ebooks from local public libraries, at no cost. You just need a library card, find the books you want, and go to the library to get them loaded onto the Reader Daily Edition. The New York Public Library is one of the big launch partners, but “thousands more” will be available as well. When you check out a book, you get between 2-4 weeks to read it before it expires on the device. A huge advantage over what the Kindle offers, which is 100% paid content.
I don’t know about you, but we are fairly excited about this one.
Read More | Sony Reader Daily Edition Release
eReader Lowers Prices
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Misc. Tech
Fictionwise, in an effort to compete with Amazon, has lowered its pricing in its company eReader. While Kindle customers pay $9.95 for newly released books, Fictionwise, now owned by Barnes & Noble, promises no e-book priced over $12.95, all new and New York Times best sellers will be $9.95 or less and buyers will get a 15% reward on all purchases. Now if they could find a way to incorporate “book smell” we might consider the expense.
Read More | jkOnTheRun
Amazon Kindle 2 unboxing gallery
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Galleries, Handhelds, Miscellaneous
It’s a happy day here at Gear Live HQ, what with the arrival of both the Amazon Kindle 2 and Resident Evil 5, thanks to UPS. We figured we’d tear right in to the Kindle 2 upon arrival so that we could bring you another unboxing gallery full of e-book reader goodness, and we think we succeeded. We’ve got 30 images of the Kindle 2 available for you to check out in our Kindle 2 unboxing gallery, showing off all aspects of the device, the packaging, and the included USB cable and charging add-on (which, we think, is pretty neat.) Go ahead and check out all the images yourself, and give your thoughts. Also, any questions on the device itself that we can answer for you?
You can purchase an Amazon Kindle 2 now.
Read More | Kindle 2 unboxing gallery via Amazon Kindle 2
Gallery: Amazon Kindle 2 unboxing gallery
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