ebook technology

Dell Mini Inspiron Priced at $399

Dell Inspiron Mini is going on sale today.  The price for the 2.28 lb device with a 8.9 inch screen is $399 for the Windows XP and $349 for the Ubuntu processor.  It has about 3 hours of battery life and comes in 4, 8, and 16 GB SSD options.  There is built in Wi(…)

The Elements of a Perfect eReading Device

Amazon is banking on the idea that dedicated eBook readers are what will drive paper book readers to the digital format. A recent article in September’s Searcher magazine argues that it is not. Nancy K. Herther, an anthropology and sociology librarian at the University of Minnesota Libraries, took a look at the history of ebooks,(…)

No New Amazon Kindles This Year Says Amazon

I’ve had the opportunity to purchase a gently used Kindle from a friend of mine but I’ve held off, thinking that there might be a new Kindle coming out in October. According to a report to the Times, though, Amazon says that there are no new Kindles slated for release in 2008. Update to Add:(…)

The Mini PC As an Ebook Reader

The Mini PC As an Ebook Reader

I mentioned last week that one of the devices at RWA that was being flaunted about by a certain blogger about whom I have already mentioned being jealous (she is smart, funny, has a book deal, and I swear knows everyone) and a certain ebook publisher of whom I am also jealous (she owns an(…)

Amazon Hosts Another Kindle Exclusive

Amazon is attempting to lure new readers (and perhaps existing ebook readers) to the Kindle by offering exclusive fiction. Samhain Publishing has had three free book giveaways for the Kindle only. There was another Kindle exclusive announced a few weeks back (the name of the book I cannot remember). Now, the first novel of Terry(…)

The late 2008 E Ink Readers

The late 2008 E Ink Readers

When I was at RWA, I had the opportunity to see the Kindle and the new Sony Reader with booklight and the Asus EEE PC. These are all viable ebook readers that you can purchase today, along with my personal favorite, the iTouch/iPhone. Neither the Kindle nor the Reader is a perfect device and frankly,(…)

Harlequin Digital Team Wants to Hear from You

Harlequin Digital took a number of the bloggers out to dinner at RWA with the express purpose of asking us how to make Harlequin Digital better. Is that incredible or what? I guess a cynical way to look at it is that they are trying to curry favor with us for the price of a(…)

The Library in an E World

The Library in an E World

Last week, Sony announced two new features to its ebook reader that makes it one of the more attractive options for ereading. First, it announced a book light overlay that mimics the LightWedge. I’ve always thought that eink devices were physically missing an important feature – a backlight. E-ink technology actually prevents a backlight so(…)

Sony Reader Sells with an Integrated Booklight! Am I Tempted? OMG Yes

Sony Reader has released a cover for the Sony Reader that contains an integrated light. It’s like the Light Wedge and runs off two AA batteries. It’s a beautifully elegant solution and I would love to see one of these suckers in person. Click on the MobileRead link to see the picture. One thing that(…)

Sony Reader Update Reads Encrypted PDFs

This is really, really good news for ebook readers. The Sony Reader will now accept and read encrypted PDFs and the new ePub format. I believe that you should be able to access prior purchased Adobe PDFs and future purchases of Adobe PDF on the Sony Reader. Opening up the reader to accept other DRM’ed(…)

REVIEW: Ereader and Bookshelf App for iPhone

You may not have heard, but Friday saw the release of the newest iPhone. It’s a 3G phone that sold for $199 (8 GB) and $299 (16 GB). Also released on Friday was the newest firmware for the iPhones and iTouches which made available third party applications for the first time*. Two of the third(…)

Call for Reader: If You Like Series . . .

I would like to develop an “If You Like Series” here at Dearauthor. Essentially, I want to build a library of cross referenced authors so that if a reader is searching for a particular read and likes a particular author, she might find a new author to glom onto. I’m trying to do a better(…)

CNN Gives the Rundown on E-book Devices and the Ebook Challenge

CNN digital biz takes a look at the growing ebook phenomenon and cites the advantages such as instant gratification and disadvantages such as the inability to easily rip a book into a readable e-format. Most of the article is nothing that we haven’t heard before. The part of the story that I found most interesting(…)

The Publishing Industry Needs to Embrace Technology

During Book Expo America, ebooks were the hot topic. A report from the New York Times signaled that there is some within the industry who are fearful of the rise of ebooks in general and the increase of Amazon’s market power in particular. There seems to be a lot of resistance to ebooks in the(…)

Jeff Bezos Does a Q&A with Walt Mossberg

Jeff Bezos refuses to divulge how many Kindles Amazon has sold but he claims that the Kindle sales make up more than 6% of total Amazon book sales. In response to questions from Mossberg about why ebooks, Bezos talks about the value added component of ebooks such as dictionary lookup or change in font size(…)