The Digital Reader

New firmware available for the K3

Nate the great — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:13:59 +0000

Amazon have uploaded a software update for the K3. They’re calling it an early preview, and it will only be available for a limited time. Apparently this isn’t an official release.

If you miss the chance to download it don’t worry. I can’t see that they’ve changed anything.

Amazon

P.S. I have a copies of the update, so if you desperately have to have it drop me a line.

4 Calif. school districts launch iPad pilot program

Nate the great — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:02:21 +0000

From THE Journal:

Education publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has launched a new algebra curriculum delivery system for Apple’s iPad. Dubbed “Fuse,” the system is being piloted for a one-year period in middle schools in four California school districts.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt said the Fuse: Holt McDougal Algebra 1 app is the first full-year algebra curriculum application for the iPad. In addition to Holt McDougal content, the app’s interactive tools provide feedback on practice questions, allow students to take notes and save them for later use, give students access to video-based lessons, and provide guided instruction. It also offers tracking tools focused on student comprehension, as well as real-time reporting tools for teachers.

I made a vow to be less negative on this blog, but this is such a bad idea. We’re talking about a $600 piece of electronics running a custom app (which was probably pretty expensive to develop).Does anyone really think there are any school districts who can afford expand this program to cover a whole school district? I don’t.

I don’t see any value in even trying these pilot programs if there are no funds to expand upon it. And so long as a school district asks parents to send in supplies to be used by the teacher, no, there is no money to spare.

Telecom Italia unveiled their ebookstore

Nate the great — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:28:31 +0000

Telecom Italia supposedly announced their ebookstore today, but I’m having trouble getting specific details like number of titles, e-reader price and availability, and format support.

Right now it appears to be in a private beta at a festival, Festivaletteratura 2010. They’re using Wifi devices at the festival, but according to their website they will be selling 3G equipped e-readers when the store is officially launched.

In case you were wondering, yes the e-reader pictured is the same hardware as the Thalia Oyo.

ebook.telecomitalia.com

Qualcomm to demo Mirasol screen device at CES 2011

Nate the great — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:32:41 +0000

Pocket-lint are reporting:

Qualcomm has confirmed to Pocket-lint that it will launch, in connection with a partner, a device, probably an ebook reader, that features its Mirasol colour screen technology in the first quarter of 2011. An announcement is expected at CES in Las Vegas in January.

…The company wouldn’t tell Pocket-lint which partner would be making the announcement, but did confirm that, after months of waiting, shoppers would be able to get their hands on the revolutionary technology.

I wonder who Pocket-lint are talking to at Qualcomm? I can’t get anyone at Qualcomm to respond to my emails, much less pass along a hot tip like this.

India’s $35 to ship in January

Nate the great — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:37:33 +0000

Techpp.com are reporting that Indian $35 tablet has gotten a name, manufacturer, and ship date:

The highly anticipated $35 tablet from India, Sakshat is set to arrive in January 2011, as the government of India has handed over the manufacturing contract to HCL Technologies.

HCL Technologies Ltd is a well known Indian computer services firm and will help manufacture 100,000 low-cost computers under a government project which is aimed to boost the role of technology in education. Last month, when the IT minister, Kapil Sibal ran a hands-on demo, things were clear that the tablet is for real and will definitely see its light sooner than later.

Medion P6101 e-reader launched in Germany (video)

Nate the great — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:15:53 +0000

Medionsat down yesterday with Johannes of lesen.net so they could share their newest e-reader. The P6101 is a Netronix design based on a 6″ E-ink screen (Vizplex, not Pearl) with Wifi and touchscreen. It comes with 2GB Flash and a microSD card slot. Ebook support includes ADE and the usual broad selection of formats.

Johannes reported that the firmware isn’t complete yet, but the e-reader should be available in December for 200€. A 3G equipped version is planned for 2011.

I’ve seen the hardware before (kinda). Do you recall the post about a month ago about the Pocketbook 602 clearing the FCC? This particular Medion model was named in the paperwork. Of course, Pocketbook has since changed the 602 so it’s now a different piece of hardware.

Review: Kobo Desktop Reader

Nate the great — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:38:15 +0000

So Kobo announced a new version of their reading app today. There was only one major change, and that was the new support for third party e-readers (Sony, Aluratek, etc). BTW, the rebranded Borders app can use this update. If you’re using the Borders app then all you have to do is run the app and let it download and install the update.

I have the older Borders app open alongside the new Kobo app, and I can’t see any new features. They’re basically the same basic reading app. The library view continues to make the same mistake as most apps. They show a bookshelf, not a catalog. If I imported my complete ebook collection then this library would be unusable. There’s also no way to check the metadata for a title, or to see which title was read last.

There’s no support for active reading (bookmarks, highlighting, notes). There’s no support for changing line spacing, margins, justification or other basics. You’re limited to just the one column of text (half my screen is wasted).

The app is tied into the Kobo ebookstore and I can’t see a way to add my own ebooks. I really expected more from Kobo. I’m disappointed by how little this app can do.

HTG, this is the first time that I’ve ever downloaded a reading app that was a waste of time. Really. If you don’t use this ebookstore then there is no reason to get this app.

Kobo just updated their Desktop Reading app

Nate the great — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:53:53 +0000

Ah. I’d heard rumors that Kobo were going to launch an updated version of this app.

From the Kobo blog:

Kobo, a global eReading service, today announced the Kobo Desktop Application, a free, downloadable application now available from www.kobobooks.com that enables users to read, build a digital library, and shop for eBooks directly from their computer or laptop. The new application also allows Kobo customers with 3rd party eReaders, such as the Sony Reader, to easily connect to Kobo to download or purchase content.

You can download it here. (My download is still in process.) I’ll post an early review later today.

FYI: Kobo also have apps for iOS, Android, and BlackBerry, as well as the Kobo e-reader.

iBooks only have 33k titles, and other embarrassing details

Nate the great — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:23:52 +0000

An interesting article was posted on Monday about the relative sizes of the various ebookstores. It took me a couple days to think about and double check his methodology. I’m now confident that I can tell you the data is not valid and I can show you why.

The author didn’t go far enough. I found the error in the data because I checked more stores than he did. He only checked 4 ebookstores, and among the ones he skipped were Borders, Kobo, and Smashwords. There are others, yes, but most all of the smaller ebookstores are honest about the number of titles they sell so there is little reason to double check.

I’m going to take you through the methodology and and the results, then I’ll explain why the results are invalid.

First, a word about Smashwords. This was the one honest site of the bunch. Their about page says 18k titles and I found 22k. Obviously they’ve grown since the last time that page was updated.

Methodology

I used Google to search the ebookstore sites. In this day and age, a professionally made site should be set up so Google can find every page. (If it’s not, then it’s the fault of the developers, not me.) The Google searches fell into 2 types. Some sites (Kobo, Sony, Smashwords) had their ebooks organized in a particular location. Other sites required me to identify and search for a particular term found on each ebook listing. Here are the searches, if you’re interested:

You might have noticed that I left Amazon out of the mix. If you ran a similar search for them you’d get around 700k titles.That’s about the number they claim to have (even though most of the titles are in the public domain).

Results

Sony (57k)
Kobo (128k)
Borders (92k)
Smashwords (22k)
iBooks (33k)
B&N (29k)

Analysis

Smashwords were the key to finding out the results were invalid. You see, Smashwords are both an bookstore and a distributor. Their titles are available from Sony, B&N, and iBooks.

Think about it. If Smashwords are providing 20 thousand titles to B&N then all of B&N’s other distributors account for only 9k. Does that make any sense? The same applies for iBooks. Do you really think that all of the Agency 5 only account for 13k titles?

It was an interesting idea, but unfortunately this method doesn’t work.

Hanvon to expand to Taiwan

Nate the great — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:49:07 +0000

I don’t know about you, but this story caught me off guard. Hanvon are already active in Europe, USA, Japan, and China; I’m a littl surprised to find out that they don’t already operate in Taiwan.

From english.Cri.com:

The Chinese mainland’s biggest e-book maker Hanvon is set to open a branch in Taiwan at the end of the month and launch its e-book readers here in October.

The branch office will market e-readers and look to work with the island’s content providers, said Hanvon’s General Manager Chen Shaoqiang Tuesday.

Chen talked with Xinhua on the sidelines of a forum on digital content industries attended by business people and experts from both the mainland and Taiwan.

A Hanvon will also open e-book stores in Taiwan just ahead of its e-reader launch, Chen said. The company would unveil several new stylish models of e-readers for Taiwan consumers.