Bantam and Del Rey STAR WARS novels Come to eBook Format

Lisa Mason
from: http://www.swtorstrategies.com/

Today the library of Bantam and Del Rey STAR WARS novels will be available in all eBook formats at Random House. Beginning today, just as it was previously announced, you can get the entire catalog of Random House’s Star Wars novels on digital format. This is a great opportunity to enjoy all of your favorite books on your e-reader or even on your computer.

Amazon's downloads work on the company's Kindle reader, as well as on any smartphone or tablet with a Kindle app. Barnes & Noble digital purchases are compatible with B&N's Nook device. In celebration of the news, Del Rey's Star Wars Books Facebook page has a fun trailer that’s really worth the view:

Kindle readers can now borrow ebooks from libraries

Amazon has sanctioned the use of its e-reader – complete with note-taking facility – for ebook library loans in the US

• Alison Flood
• From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/
  


Kindle users in the US, like these Massachusetts book club members, can now borrow ebooks from public libraries. Photograph: Mary Knox Merrill/Getty

Scribbling in the margins of library books will soon be permitted, after Amazon.com announced yesterday that it would allow Kindle users to borrow ebooks from more than 11,000 American libraries.

The deal follows similar agreements from the Kindle's rivals, the Sony Reader and Barnes & Noble's Nook, and will enable Kindle users to check out and read ebooks from their local libraries. "We're doing a little something extra here," said Jay Marine, director of Amazon Kindle. "Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we're extending our Whispersync technology so that you can highlight and add margin notes to Kindle books you check out from your local library. Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them."

The move was welcomed by American librarians. "Anyone who works with the public has encountered the discouragement people feel when you have to tell them that Amazon does not allow library ebooks on the Kindle," blogged librarian Bobbi L Newman, a manager at the Richland County Public Library in Columbia SC. "It's SO exciting to see that Kindle users will now have access to library ebooks (especially when we know that library books usage actually drives sales up). Plus that note-taking ability they mentioned is a big reason I bought my Kindle! Very excited to see it on library books."

Roberta A Stevens, the president of the American Library Association, told the New York Times that Amazon's move into library lending was "all but inevitable". "I can't say that I'm surprised," she said. "They were just shutting off a whole part of the marketplace. It's just logical that this would happen."

A recent report from the American Library Association revealed research showing that 72% of public libraries offer ebooks and 5% of American adults own an ebook reader. The ALA said that ebooks account for only a small percentage of borrowed items from most libraries, but they are the fastest-growing segment: the Chicago Public Library, it said, doubled its circulation of ebooks from 17,000 in 2009 to more than 36,000 in 2010.

Librarians are currently grappling with an announcement last month from HarperCollins stating that the publisher will not allow any single copy of one of its ebooks to be checked out from a library more than 26 times. The ALA said that librarians fear other publishers could adopt a similar model. "When we purchase a print copy, we get to keep it for as long as we want," said Audra Caplan, president of the Public Library Association. "It may eventually wear out or not circulate, but that's our choice."

The Kindle Library Lending programme launches later this year, but Amazon.com did not give a precise date.

Kobo Wireless eReader landing at Walmart

• By: Geoff Duncan
• From: http://www.digitaltrends.com/

Kobo's Wireless eReader will be landing at 2,500 U.S. Walmart stores next week...and it'll be cheaper than the Nook or the Kindle.

Walmart stores in the United States are picking up another eReader for the upcoming holiday season: starting next week, some 2,500 Walmart stores will be offering the Kobo Wireless eReader. The announcement comes just one day after Barnes & Noble announced the Nook would be going on sale at Walmart next week, but Kobo is promising to do one better by being the “opening price in the eReader category.” Although neither Kobo nor Walmart has announced pricing, that means Kobo plans to undercut every other ereader available at the discount retailer.

“We are thrilled to see the Kobo Wireless eReader receiving mass distribution,” Kobo wrote on its company blog. “This partnership further validates our promise and vision of making ereading available to everyone.”
The Kobo Wireless eReader will also be available at Borders bookstores throughout the Unites States; the deal builds on a distribution deal Kobo had in place with Walmart in Canada.

The Kobo Wireless eReader features a 6-inch E Ink display, integrated Wi-Fi wireless networking, USB connectivity, an SD slot that can handle up to 32 GB of removable storage, and supports ePub (with DRM), PDF, and Adobe DRM, so users can handle books from a variety of standards-based digital bookstores as well as Kobo’s own ebook ecosystem. The units ship with 100 free eBooks (classic public domain titles), and reader applications are available for smartphones, PCs, and Mac OS X so users can read at whatever device they like and sync their bookmarks.

The Kobo Wireless eReader carries a suggested retail price of $139.

LG Display Reveals News-Worthy, Flexible E-Paper

• Source: Korea IT Times  •

LG Display revealed its new flexible e-paper display.

LG Display Co., Ltd., a leading innovator of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) technology, announced it has developed the 19-inch flexible e-paper – the world’s largest.
The 19-inch wide (250×400mm) flexible e-paper is almost as big as a page of A3-sized newspaper. Approximately eight times larger than e-books of 6-inch class, the product is optimized for an e-newspaper and able to convey the feeling of reading an actual newspaper. Additionally, as the product measures 0.3 millimeters thin, the e-paper weighs just 130 grams despite its 19-inch size.
LG Display arranged TFT on metal foil rather than glass substrate, allowing the e-paper display to recover its original shape after being bent. The use of a metal foil substrate makes the e-paper both flexible and durable while maintaining excellent display qualities. In particular, LG Display applied ‘GIP (Gate-in-Panel)’ technology which integrates the gate driver IC onto the panel. This improves flexibility by removing driver-ICs which are attached to the side of panel and hinder the bending of the display.


E-paper is being hailed as a promising new form of public display for offering various advantages compared to conventional LCD or PDP displays. E-paper faces fewer spatial constraints because of its ultra-thin and lightweight form, and reduced maintenance costs due to significantly lower power consumption. Furthermore, e-paper’s flexibility and bendiness enable a wider choice of applications like advertising signs as it can be easily wrapped around pillars and other locations.
CTO and Executive Vice President of LG Display, Dr. In Jae Chung said, “Our development of the world’s largest flexile display has opened up a new market in the next-generation display sector of e-paper. As the e-paper market is growing at a rapid pace, LG Display will continue to deliver new value to customers and the market through industry-leading technologies and differentiated products.”
Meanwhile LG Display plans to launch mass production of an 11.5-inch flexible e-paper display in the first half of 2010. According to market researcher DisplaySearch, the e-book market will grow from approximately USD370 million in 2009 to USD1.73 billion in 2011 and to USD1.73 billion in 2015.

New Asus Color E-Reader Folds Like a Book

• By Priya Ganapati

Computer maker Asus, known for its line of Eee PC netbooks, is working on an e-book reader that will have two touchscreens and when laid open will resemble a hardcover book.

Asus showed a prototype of the device at the CeBIT trade show in March. But now additional details have trickled out.

An Asus representative confirmed to Wired.com the company will probably show the device at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

Asus’ e-reader will likely have color touchscreens, a speaker, a webcam and a microphone, along with the capability to make inexpensive Skype calls. Despite all those features, Britain’s Sunday Times reports, somewhat unbelievably, that it may be priced lower than its competitors from Sony and Kindle.

The e-reader market is one of the hottest consumer product categories this year. Just the last few months have seen a slew of new product announcements. After introducing Kindle 2, the updated version of its e-reader, Amazon launched a broadsheet reading device called the Kindle DX. Last month Sony introduced a $400 wireless e-reader with a 7-inch screen and cut the price on its older models to offer the cheapest e-book reader in the market. Meanwhile, two other companies — iRex and Plastic Logic — plan to offer new large-screen readers later this year or early next year.

But all e-readers, available and planned, are black and white. Asus’ product will likely be the first to offer a color screen. The move, coupled with unexpected features such as speakers and mic, is the only way the company can stand out in a crowded market.

With dual screens, the new Eee e-reader could give readers a user experience similar to paper books. The device could also offer readers the option of using the second screen to browse a web page. The best part about the device, though, would be the price tag, says the Times report. The cheapest version of the Asus Eee reader could lost about £100, equivalent to $165.

While Asus has a well-deserved reputation for making extremely inexpensive computers, that price may be too low for even it to match, given the promised feature set.

For Asus, getting this mix of features and price right is essential if it has to make a dent in the e-reader market at this stage.