Kobo has introduced their Pulse social media feature into their latest update to their Android App. This allows users to comment to each other about a particular book you are reading and even see how many other people are reading the same one.

Kobo Pulse has been a huge success for the company and was originally featured in the release of their Vox Tablet last year. It basically gives you a ton of statistics on how many people are reading and completed the book. You can chat with authors and other users in real time, which creates a book club type vibe. One of the cool features is that you can turn off the spoilers feature, so you will not read any comments by users who are further along in the same book as you are reading.

Another new feature that has crept into the 4.2.22 update was Facebook Timeline sharing. You can share books you are reading or particular passages of the books. One feature I find that is quite unique is being able to add multiple bookmarks, dubbed ‘dogears.’ This is very useful because if you are reading a book for school or the bookclub you can make sure you can dogear as many pages as you want.

Finally, there is improved tablet support which makes icons and menus more easy to interact with via the touchscreen. There was also the proverbial ‘enhancements’ and ‘bug fixes.’

You can download the latest version of Kobo for Android from our app store HERE.

Kobo Pulse for Android featured in new Update is a post from: E-Reader News

Cisco enjoys a strong presence in the enterprise segment and had hoped a suitable tablet device would further augment its position among the entrepreneurs. The company had developed the Cius tablet with exactly that intention, though it has bombed so miserably that Cisco is forced to pull the plug on the Cius.

“Cisco will no longer invest in the Cisco Cius tablet form factor, and no further enhancements will be made to the current Cius endpoint beyond what’s available today. However, as we evaluate the market further, we will continue to offer Cius in a limited fashion to customers with specific needs or use cases,” the SVP at Cisco, OJ Winge, stated in the company blog.

Cisco had dreamt big with the Cius, hoping the Android powered tablet will emerge at the top of the heap among business community at least. Apple’s iPad dashed all such hopes, just as it did to the BlackBerry PlayBook.

Cisco’s decision is based on a finding by Cisco IBSG Horizons Study on virtualization and BYOD that revealed a whooping 95 percent of companies they collected data from allowed employees to bring their own device while 36 percent companies even provided full support to the employee owned device. With this being the scenario, Cisco was left with no other option than to shut down their Cisco operations. The company isn’t quitting the lucrative tablet business entirely, but won’t invest in hardware anymore.

“We will leverage key learnings and key collaboration experiences native to Cius in our other collaboration products,” Winge revealed.

The Cius tabled featured, among other things, Cisco software which includes WebEx, Cisco Quad, Cisco Show, along with a proprietary messaging app while also supporting Cisco Telepresence video conferencing.

via blogs.cisco

Cisco Cius Tablet Is No More is a post from: E-Reader News

People have been waiting a long time to jailbreak their new iPad and other devices running iOS 5.1.1. With the Apple tablet, jailbreaking is not a popular choice, but then there are always some for whom to be on the other side of law is fun. For this exclusive group, the combined efforts of the Chronic Dev team and the iPhone Dev Teams have come up with the Absinthe 2.0 jailbreaking tool that promises to give users unrestricted acces to any device running iOS 5.1.1. What this means is that even the new iPad 3, along with iPod and iPhone is within its ambit.

Of iOS jailbreaking tools, while there are and will be many to choose from, Absinthe 2.0′s claim to fame is being the easiest of them all so far. In fact, it can be pulled off in 5 easy steps. All users will have to do is plug in an USB cable and press a button. However, the programmers recommend backing up all data and then deleting everything from the iPad’s memory. They claim this will speed up the jailbreaking process. Also, users can always fall back on the restored data just in case anything goes wrong.

The Absinthe 2.0 is not applicable to iPad 2.4 or iPad 2 based on 32nm chips. You also don’t want to upgrade to 5.1.1 via the iPad’s Wireless Updater. You have to make sure you have the 5.1.1 version pulled directly via iTunes. The coders have stated a version of Absinthe 2.0 that will be able to jailbreak iPad 2.4 will be released later in the year. Until then, happy jailbreaking with the other models of iPad.

Absinthe 2.0 Jailbreaking Tool for iOS 5.1.1 Now Available is a post from: E-Reader News

The Galaxy Tab 2 range of tablets has just been made all the more tempting thanks to a new Dropbox initiative to give you 50 GB of free cloud storage. The generosity will however last for only a year, at the end of which, the free storage space will shrink to just 2 GB for any free account. The company will also offer a upgrade solution to make it more alluring to sign on for a longer term and at a discount.  If you choose to stick with the free access Dropbox will give you another free 1 GB at the end of the term.

The offer is valid for both the 10.1 and 7 inch versions of the Galaxy Tab 2 devices. Both the Samsung tablets are essentially the same as the Galaxy Tab devices Samsung had launched earlier but are still in the reckoning thanks to a software upgrade to Android ICS and a very affordable price tag. The 7 inch version is selling for $250 while the 10.1 inch version will set you back $400. Add to that the Dropbox offer and you have plenty of storage in excess of the 8 GB of on-board memory.

Free 50 GB Cloud Storage For Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 Owners is a post from: E-Reader News

A few months ago we wrote about the growing divisions between Amazon and The Independent Publishers Group.  The two sides failed to reach a wholesale licensing renewal because Amazon wanted to augment the existing terms and offer less money for the books.  It seems the two companies reached a new licensing agreement and 5,000 of the IPG eBook titles are available again via Amazon.

When the IPG originally lost their ability for eBooks to be listed on Amazon they sent out a mass email informing their users. Today they released another one and apologized for the entire situation. To sweeten the pot they have said for the period from June 1 through August 31, 2012, IPG will not take a distribution fee on Kindle sales, and 100% of the revenue for these sales will flow through to our publishers.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed by Mark Suchomel or the IPG.

IPG and Amazon reach a new Licensing Agreement is a post from: E-Reader News

The Barnes and Noble Simple Touch with Glowlight has been quite the popular e-reader since it came out earlier this month. The first e-reader you can read in the dark proved to be so desirable that their was a Nationwide shortage during the last four weeks. This resulted in many peoples per-orders before they even released the device to not even be shipped yet. Most retail locations only get allocated five per week on average and most are reserved for people who bought them online. We have confirmed reports that the Nook Glowlight shipments should stabilize by the end of next week.

We have talked to various Barnes and Noble store managers in Washington State, Oregon, California, Atlanta, Florida and New York about the lack of e-readers in the store. Most confirmed that B&N was not prepared by the demand for these new gadgets and most stores did not get allocated many units per week. The units they got were normally held behind the counter for people who per-ordered them before they were even officially released. These same managers have told us today that a massive amount of e-readers have been shipped and that the average store amount should quadruple by next week.

Many customers were expressing concern that they ordered the Nook Glow about five weeks ago and still have not had them shipped out yet. Peter Carotenuto of Shop e-Readers claimed that they have had over 500 ore-orders for the device and just managed to ship out half of them, due to the availability.

Barnes and Noble to Stabilize Nook Glow Shipments by Next Week is a post from: E-Reader News

Apple has just launched a new program in its iOS App Store to give a free app every week. The company obviously has seen some of the success that Amazon and Google has garnered by offering a free app every day!

The first free app for this week is ‘Cut the Rope – Experiments’. This app normally costs a paltry .99 for the iPhone version and $1.99 for the iPad version. You can now get this app for free all week long!

Amazon has been offering their daily free app for about a year now and has seen critical success with it and has helped solidify their Android App Store as a force to be reckoned with. When Google launched their revised Google Play market, they began to offer daily free apps and massive deals on eBooks and Games. Apple is obviously late to the party on offering free apps but I find it an interesting coincidence that when the new iPad Jailbreak came out today, the company launched their free app initiative.

Apple has also scrapped their “Staff Favorites” section and created a new category called “Editors Picks.” This terminology basically falls inline with most other app stores and builds some consistency across various platforms and services.

Apple Launches Free App of the Week is a post from: E-Reader News

The Sony Reader WIFI or PRS-T1 originally went on sale in Europe back in October 2011. Since that time they have sold close to 500,000 units in the UK, France, Spain, Germany and other major  markets. It is said that Sony now controls around 35% of the entire eReader market in Europe.

Sony has been making great inroads in Europe to stimulate sales of its sagging e-reader lineup. Although their e-reader has been on sale for six months they only launched their UK bookstore in April.  The company recognizes that Europe is a focal point for expansion and is one of the key aspects of their business going forward.  “There is still much to do in these territories  and  in the UK market competing with Amazon, is working out pretty well, “confirms the company. Sony has formed partnerships with Libri.de NSAIDs in Holland, with Bol.com. “This is very strong local partners, while the competition is also directly with Amazon, but that bring us great satisfaction,” says Sony.

One of the allures about Sony right now is the compatibility of their eReader with the new Harry Potter eBooks. The Pottermore store actually is powered by Sony and has their logos all over their website. Each Sony PRS-T1 sold actually comes with a free Harry Potter eBook now but the offer is only good in the USA and Europeans are out of luck.

via Actualitte

Sony Sells 500,000 e-Readers in Europe is a post from: E-Reader News

When Dell CEO Micheal Dell recently revealed they would be in the position to launch a tablet running Windows 8 as soon as Microsoft launches the OS. Things are painfully clear that Dell is already in advanced stages with the tablet’s development, though details of the upcoming tablet has been kept under wraps so far.

That has changed with the recent leak by Neowin of the Dell Latitude 10 tablet running Windows 8 OS. There isn’t any surprises though in the spec sheet, which speak of an Intel Atom Clover Trail processor, 2 GB of DDR2 800MHz RAM, and up to 128 GB of SSD. The front is dominated by the 10.1 inch capacitive multi touch display having a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixel. A 2 and 8 megapixel webcam are included in the front and rear of the tablet that also boasts of an audio in and out port as well as an integrated fingerprint scanner.

Connectivity options include bluetooth, Wi-Fi along with mobile broadband options. The tablet measures 10.8 x 7 x 0.4 inches and weigh about 1.6 pounds. The tablet will be available with a 2 cell 30Whr or 4 cell 60 Whr user removable battery options with backup times of 8 and 12 hours. Low battery life has been the bane of all Windows tablet we have seen so far and the improvement is a huge welcome step.

However, Dell’s Latitude range being typically comprised of business oriented devices, its likely the Latitude 10 discussed here might also be for the enterprise segment. Still, a nice aspect with the tablet is that it being based on the x86 processor, running legacy Windows applications on the tablet won’t be a problem. Also, with the tablet being compliant with new Metro style features, it will also be able to run two Metro style apps on the same screen and at the same time.

Meanwhile, the Neowin leak also mention of a convertible tablet named XPS 12. The convertible with a 12.5 inch display would be launched in late 2012 and is much on the lines of the Inspirion Duo that Dell had launched last year.

One of the great aspects of the Windows 8 line of tablets is showcasing the new Microsoft investment in Barnes and Noble. This will provide deep integration of the Nook eReading software and allow people worldwide to tap into an expansive ecosystem to download tons of books.

via the verge

Dell Latitude 10 Windows 8 Tablet Leaked is a post from: E-Reader News

Acer has stated it plans to showcase its new generation of tablet devices running the Windows 8 OS during Computex in June. The company isn’t giving away anything about the upcoming tablet just yet, though its likely the tablet would sport a 10 inch display and based on the Intel Clover Trail chip. Acer’s tablet lineup is based exclusively on Google’s Android and it will be the first time they would be offering a Windows tablet.

However, apart from the tablet itself, a sore point for Windows 8 tablet could be its price. More so after Microsoft dropped enough hints of its intentions of raising licensing fees, something that will only add to the production costs.

Meanwhile, Acer isn’t going through the best of times as far as tablet devices are concerned, with sales of its Iconia Tab A510 put on hold following some defects with the tablet that freezes the device.

Computex starts June 5 and continues till June 9. We attended this event last year but will miss it this year due to our week long coverage of Book Expo America.

via digitimes

Acer To Reveal Windows 8 Tablet During Computex Next Month is a post from: E-Reader News

ELLEN M. BANNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Over 100 people protested the annual Amazon shareholder meeting and some people bought a single share to attend to get CEO Jeff Bezos ‘s ear. They were calling on Amazon to pay more state taxes and to address working deaths at some of their USA factories.

The rally mainly was organized to call attention to the paltry sales tax that Amazon pays in the Seattle area where they are based. “This is part of a national effort to go after some of the worst corporate tax dodgers,” said John Sellers, founder of an organization called The Other 98 Percent. “Amazon is one of our hometown corporations, so we’re saying to them, ‘You should pay your fair share.’ ”

The Seattle Times said that Amazon has come under public scrutiny for its treatment of workers after newspapers, including the Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call and The Seattle Times, revealed harsh conditions at some of its U.S. warehouses. The Allentown stories described temperatures above 100 degrees last summer in Pennsylvania. The CEO then showed pictures of a new air conditioner being airlifted to the factory and said it would be retrofitted to incorporate better worker conditions.

At the meeting, Bezos also reported that 145,000 e-books can be borrowed free on its website and the company saw an overall growth of 41% in 2011.

Amazon Shareholder Meeting Enveloped in Controversy is a post from: E-Reader News

The Transformer Pad from Asus can be considered the budget version of the Transformer Prime. It is one device that has generated a lot of interest among tablet enthusiasts and the good news is that the tablet has made it past that all important FCC stopover which is the last major hurdle before a product makes it to the market in the US. The tablet is listed at FCC with the model number TF300TL, with the L in the end signifying its LTE capabilities.

Unfortunately, FCC listings does not reveal much and the same is equally applicable to the 4G version of the Transformer Pad as well. With this being the scenario, the one thing that consumers are keen to know the most is what powers the LTE version of the tablet. This since Tegra 3 does not support 4G in its native form and hence the only option for Asus will be to opt for a different CPU. Or Asus might resort to using a separate chip to allow for data transfer at 4G speeds.

Interestingly, NVIDIA during its recent conference call has unveiled a chipset that has also been authorized for operation on AT&T’s 4G network. The Icera 410 LTE mulimode data modem chipset has been designed to operate in conjugation with the Tegra 3 quad core CPU though its not known how soon we can see Tegra 3 + Icera fortified devices making the best of 4G networks worldwide.

Asus Transformer Pad TF300T 4G Reaches FCC is a post from: E-Reader News

Overdrive is working on a developer solution for e-reader and tablet companies that want to incorporate digital library lending into their devices. The company is working on a full suite of API solutions for companies to augment the library borrowing experience and even make new apps.

The OverDrive Developer Portal will serve as the online gateway for approved developers to gain secure access to OverDrive APIs. To date, dozens of OverDrive partners—including ILS vendors, mobile app makers, library partners and others—have expressed interest in the new tools. Via the Developer Portal, interested vendors can apply for access. Once approved, they’ll find software, documentation, test scripts, and technical support information to enable rich integration with OverDrive digital content.

The API release by Overdrive will be staggered and their is three major features to employ. The first is Metadata API – which allows access catalog information such as title, author, description and title samples.The second is the Availability API – which  provides unique title-availability information from library holdings including number of units or copies, units available for lending, number of copies on hold, etc. The last and most important one is the Search API – Allows a variety of third-party platforms and applications to search OverDrive digital collections.

The most exciting part of the new development tools will be for e-reader companies to bundle their device with the ability to borrow digital books from your library. Companies like Kobo, Sony and Amazon will eventually offer the ability to borrow books instantly and have them delivered to your e-reader, without having to jump through a ton of hoops. What this equates to, is more control over delivering a branded experience and the flexibility to make changes without having to rely on Overdrive to fix any problems.

Overdrive is basically providing a ton of tools over the next six months that will allow most people to write their own apps with library lending functionality built right into it. I envision many savvy programers to make a great app to read, borrow and return books and deliver a cool social media experience.

Overdrive Launching Developer Portal in July is a post from: E-Reader News