One of my Oberon Design Kindle covers
If you are as much of a fan of Oberon Design’s exquisite Kindle covers as I am, then I have big news for you. For the first time, Oberon Design will allow pre-orders for their new Kindle (K4) covers. Over the next few weeks, the site will add a pre-order page for the product. As yet, there has been no announcement regarding what designs and colors will be available.
You can also follow Oberon on both Twitter and Facebook for more information.
Amazon’s Press Conference at Stage 37 in New York is scheduled to begin at 10 AM, eastern time. If you are as eager as I am, here’s a guide to those who are live blogging the event:
Len Edgerly of The Kindle Chronicles will be live blogging for Kindle Nation Daily at http://bit.ly/LEN-LIVE-FROM-NY-ON-KTAB.
CNET’s David Carnoy will be live blogging for the tech site at 10AM at http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33198_7-20112398-286/amazons-press-event-wed-7-a.m-pt-live-blog/?tag=mncol;txt.
Harry McCracken will be covering the event for Technologizer at http://technologizer.com/amazon/.
BGR will be covering the event at http://www.bgr.com/2011/09/28/live-from-amazons-kindle-fire-tablet-event.
Find any more? Please leave them in the comments.
The internet has been buzzing with speculation about whether or not Amazon’s press conference this Wednesday will anounce the long-awaited Amazon tablet. Acccording to Techcrunch, that’s exactly what will be announced. And the name of the device? The Kindle Fire. Check out the article here.
Woot.com had some refurbished models of this on sale today. The Woot reviews were not very kind…. It definitely seems complicated to operate. Thought I would share the review.
PS: Think this one is no longer being made…..
When the dreaded Agency model for ebook pricing first appeared, many Kindle owners expressed hopes that someone would investigate Apple and the five major publishers involved for anti-trust issues. While this didn’t happen on the federal or state level, there is now a class action lawsuit pending.
The Seattle law firm of Hagens Berman has filed suit against Apple, HarperCollins Publishers, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Group Inc. and Simon & Schuster Inc. for “illegally fix[ing] the prices of electronic books.”
The complaint alleges that:
While free market forces would dictate that e-books would be cheaper than their hard-copy counterparts, considering lower production and distribution costs, the complaint shows that as a result of the agency model and alleged collusion, many e-books are more expensive than their hard-copy counterparts.
According to the complaint, the prices of e-books have risen as much as 50 percent since the switch to an agency model.
Most Kindle owners would probably agree with that assessment.
You can click here to read the full statement on the class action lawsuit. There’s also a form on the site for potential plaintiffs to contact the attorneys.
Google has announced their own eReader device that will work with Google Books, according to an article in Galley Cat. The device will debut at Target for 139.95 and has Wi-Fi and a QWERTY keyboard. The device is manufactured by iriver.
Google is entering late into a field that is already extremely crowded. It will be interesting to see thow the Google eReader fares.
DC Comics is making publishing history by offering a Print-Digital combo pack starting with Justice League 1 on August 31, 2011.
This follows on the heels of DC’s announcement that they are renumbering all of their comics, ditching the old numbering system and rebooting so that all the series will start with number 1.
DC Comics’ new pricing strategy addresses several of the issues that eBook consumers have asked for, such as a print-digital package and digital-only pricing discounted proportionately to the print-only version. The fact that the price reduction is scheduled is also a bonus. DC will regularly reduce the price on products at four weeks; currently, ebook customers have no idea when prices will be dropped on any particular book.
Many will see this as a step forward for ebook consumers, especially if other publishers follow suit. Are you listening, Big Six?
This post composed while listening to The Complete Billie Holiday.
Effective June 2nd, PDFs of reports that are currently for sale on the National Academies Press (NAP) Website and PDFs associated with future reports* will be offered free of charge to all Web visitors.
According to the site:
NAP produces more than 200 books a year on a wide range of topics in science, engineering, and health, capturing the best-informed views on important issues.
We invite you to visit the NAP homepage and experience the new opportunities available to access our publications. There you can sign up for MyNAP, a new way for us to deliver all of our content for free to loyal subscribers like you and to reward you with exclusive offers and discounts on our printed books. This enhancement to our free downloads means that we can reach out even further to inform government decision making and public policy, increase public education and understanding, and promote the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge.
*There are a small number of reports that never had PDF files and, therefore, those reports are not available for download. In addition, part of the series, “Nutrient Requirements of Domestic Animals” are not be available in PDF and future titles in this series will also not have PDFs associated with them.
There has been a real lack of academic books available for eReaders (free or paid), so this is great news for readers searching for academic materials in an ebook format.
As expected, Barnes and Noble today announced a new Nook. The wi-fi only device has a touch interface (no buttons) and is available for pre-order for $139. It is scheduled to ship in time for Father’s Day. You can read the press release here.
There is a PDF of the device features on Barnes & Noble’s website. There are also more images and video of the new device on the site.
Just yesterday, Kobo announced its new touch reader, which will sell for $129 and is also shipping in June.
This means lots more choices for consumers. Currently, Amazon is rumored to be working on an android tablet to compete with the Nook Color. It will be interesting to see if Sony responds with price changes or new devices of its own.
This blog entry composed while listening to Ballads & Blues by Odetta
I seem to get quite a few visitors looking for bargains on eReaders, so I thought I would pass these on.
Woot.com frequently has eReaders on sale. Like many of their items, these are refurbished, but the prices are quite reasonable. Today (May 23rd, 2011) there are several deals, probably because Barnes and Noble is scheduled to make a big announcement tomorrow that most experts are guessing will be about a new, improved eReader. Here are today’s deals:
Refurbished second generation Kindle – With 3G for only $89.99 plus $5 shipping
Refurbished Nook at deals.woot.com from dailysteals.com – Original Nook 3G and Wi-fi for only $85.00 plus $5 shipping
You can also find bargain eReaders on eBay. Today’s dailydeal is a brand new Nook Wi-fi for $99.00 with free shipping. Barnes & Noble also sells books, Nooks, the Nook color and various accessories for the Nook in their eBay store.
This blog entry composed while listening to Best of Leadbelly
The eBook Evangelist 