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Apple debuts two new iPad Mini ads: Books and Photos
Posted by Jason Diaz Categories: Apple, Handhelds, Videos
Apple has released a pair of new iPad mini ads: Photos and Books. Apple's theme is that the iPad mini is every bit an iPad for both creating and consumption. Check out the videos below.
Click to continue reading Apple debuts two new iPad Mini ads: Books and Photos
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Apple announces iBooks 3.0, available today
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Software
Apple has announced a new version of iBooks this morning at its iPad mini event. iBooks 3.0 features vertical scrolling on a page, negating the need to turn pages. It also has Facebook and Twitter sharing, where you can just select a passage, and share it to one of these social networks. iBooks also supports 40 languages now as well. It's a free update, available today. Download it now.
StoryBundle launches its next e-Book pack focused on crime and thrillers
Posted by Ponzi Black Categories: Hot Deals, Misc. Tech
We talked about StoryBundle back in August, when their first bundle launched with 7 Sci-Fi indie books. Now they're back with 7 more crime and thriller books.
The concept is still the same as last time. They take the indie game bundle model and bring it to ebooks. You can pay whatever you want for five DRM-free books, but if you pay more than the bonus price of $7, you get two bonus books. You decide how much to give to the authors, how much to give to StoryBundle to keep the business going, and you can choose to donate part of your purchase to one of two charities. That's good enough to make it our Deal of the Day.
Click to continue reading StoryBundle launches its next e-Book pack focused on crime and thrillers
Apple releases iOS 6-compatible app updates
Posted by Jason Diaz Categories: Apple, Cell Phones, Software
With the today's expected iOS 6 release, Apple has started to roll updates to its downloadable apps in the App Store to capitalize on the new firmware update and the new iPhone 5's screen size hotness. Don't be timid and get to tapping. One notable update is Find My Friends, which now includes location-based alerts, geofencing, friend suggestions, and favorites.
e-Book publishers shell out $69 million in price-fixing allegation case
Posted by Jason Diaz Categories: Apple, Corporate News
In the midst of Apple and ebook publishers collusion allegations brought forth by the Department of Justice (DoJ), Massachusetts Attorney General, Martha Coakley (Democrat), is tossing in her hat by filing a civil antitrust lawsuit. Three book publishers are shelling out over $69 million, $2 million of which is going to Massachusetts customers, to settle out of court. The ongoing lawsuit alleges that Apple got together with publishers and devised a plan to raise ebook prices in Apple's own iBookstore, which is in direct competition with Amazon's Kindle ebook store. Amazon is known for selling it's ebooks at rock-bottom prices, often at the expense of publishers and authors. So, although it appears that the DoJ's lawsuit greatly benefits consumers, who it really benefits is Amazon. Look at it this way: Amazon makes its lion share of money from many different sources, therefore, it can afford to sell ebooks at a loss since consumers buying through Amazon Kindle are exposed to advertisement promoting everything else they sell. Meanwhile, other booksellers are going out of business unable to compete, inadvertently creating a monopoly where Amazon reigns supreme. In the long run, who is this really benefiting? The way I see it, the DoJ lawsuit, although good intentioned, will eventually have the opposite effect of what its trying to achieve; and while now it appears to benefit consumers, in the end, Amazon wins.
Ebook publishers Macmillan and Penguin have not settled and Apple vowed to fight the allegations in court.
Read More 
| Boston Globe
StoryBundle: Pay whatever you want for DRM-free indie ebooks
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Hot Deals, Misc. Tech
Do you like deals? Reading? Supporting a good cause? Here's something that's got all three in one.
StoryBundle is a new site that's selling indie bundles for whatever you want to pay. It's just like the indie game bundles you've heard about before, like Humble Bundle, and allows you to get five books (or, seven, if you go over the bonus price of $7,) that works on any ebook reader you have. That means that you can load 'em up on on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Kindle, Nook, Android device, and just about any other ebook platform you can think of. You get to decide how much you want to give to the authors and how much you want to give to StoryBundle, plus you can donate part of your purchase to two charitable causes as well.
If you're looking for a cheap and easy way to get books for your tablet, smartphone or ereader, this is it. All these books are hand-selected by StoryBundle and they all have good reviews on Amazon, so you're getting quality reads.
Read More | StoryBundle
iBooks Author 1.1 released, supports iPad Retina Display
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds, Software
Apple released a bunch of software updates today to bring all of its services and devices in parity with each other, and that includes iBooks Author. iBooks Author is the free software that allows you to create rich eBooks for the iPad. WIth the new Retina display iPad being launched today at the iPad event, it's only natural that iBooks Author would see Retina display support. You can grab the update from the Mac App Store.
Apple sells 350,000 iBooks Textbooks in three days
Apple iBooks 2 was released to the public just a few days ago and the support for it has been astonishing. Within the first 3 days of the new iBooks being available, 350,000 iBooks Textbooks were downloaded from the iBookstore. Alongside this, 90,000 copies of Apple’s iBooks Author e-book creation software were downloaded from the Mac App Store in the same period of time.
iBooks Textbooks are seen by Apple as the future replacement to the current bulky classroom textbooks that cost a small fortune to make. Apple’s iBooks can reduce the cost of producing a textbook by up to 80%. This means cheaper books for students, as well as a more available book source.
iBooks Author allows you to create and publish books for the iPad
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Software, Videos
Alongside the release of iBooks Textbooks this morning, Apple has also released an app called iBooks Author. Available for free on the Mac App Store, iBooks Author is a tool that allows anyone to create a textbook, storybook, or any other kind of book with relative ease. These books aren't just text either--you can add videos, 3D objects, photo galleries, web widgets, and more. Once you're satisfied with your book, you can then export it for personal use, or publish it to the iBookstore for sale or as a free download. Check out the video above for a full rundown of how it all works.
Apple looks to change education with iBooks Textbooks
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Handhelds
Today Apple took the stage in New York City to unveil its education initiative, and at the heart of it all is the release of iBooks Textbooks. Textbooks require an iPad running iBooks 2, and Apple hopes this will open up a whole new world of learning to the masses. Bringing with them dynamic, interactive, and updateable content, textbooks on the iPad become instantly relevant and engaging. Apple also made sure to point out that an iPad is much lighter than a backpack full of heavy books. The video above demonstrates Apple's vision for the future of the textbook. iBooks 2 is available now, as are a handful of textbooks from publishers like DK, Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, focusing on the K-12 market for now. Textbooks are $14.99 or less, which is another breakthrough (although you won't be able to sell these back when you're done with them like you can an actual book.)
Apple also released iBooks Author, a free Mac app that lets anyone create an interactive book for the iPad. It's available now on the Mac App Store.
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