Archives: September 2010

Yesterday’s launch of Blio, a new eReading software designed by inventor Ray Kurzweil and KNFB Reading Technology designed for a better reading experience that includes a text-to-speech feature, went off with some problems.

Publisher’s Weekly reports: “On the first day of its free downloads, even savvy tech users complained of difficulty installing the software. Others complained of wildly varying prices and a lack of for-pay titles to buy as well as a poor functioning text to speech feature that was much hyped in Blio’s many demos. And to top it all off, Hadrian Gardeur, founder of free e-book site Feedbooks.com, complained on Twitter that Blio was offering downloads of the Feedbook catalog without their permission (‘Hey Blio, next time that you add our OPDS catalog to a commercial product, send us an e-mail first.’)”

In the PW story, Peter Chapman, an executive at KNFB Reading Technology, is quoted as saying they were in the process of signing a deal with Feedbooks.com, but just hadn’t given Feedbooks the exact launch date.  But The Digital Reader followed up and found out that Gardeur did not know. From the Digital Reader blog: “…they were not asked, they were  told by Mike Angelo that Feedbooks would be included. When Hadrien protested, he was ignored….This is actually worse, if you ask me. It’s one thing if you forget to ask, but asking and ignoring the ‘no’, well, in terms of business ethics I think it falls just short of piracy.”

Want to learn how to optimize search results? Google’s got a new eBook out called the SEO Starter Guide 2010 to help you do so.

The book was first published two years ago in 40 languages. The new version has been updated to include new tips on search strategy, new glossary of terms, examples of images to help understand content and advice on ways to optimize search for mobile devices. The eBook is free and can be downloaded as a PDF here.

Now you have no excuse not to learn how keywords work and how to best optimize your natural search results. This cute little Google bot will guide you through the text. He looks way less annoying than Microsoft’s Clippy.

This has been a busy month for tablets. BlackBerry just announced its upcoming PlayBook, Samsung unveiled its Galaxy tablet and now there are rumors that Dell might have a new tablet coming out, another one.

Dell just released its Streak tablet this summer, but rumor has it that they may have more to come. Tech Crunch reports on the rumor: “I love me some Dell Streak. It is, in short, one of the best slates I’ve seen since the iPad (I haven’t seen the SamGalTab yet, but Greg liked it). Well, Dell is at it again with another 7-incher in the next few weeks and a 10-inch model in the next few months. This is obviously all rumor and innuendo right now but it seems in line with Dell’s current tablet roll outs.”

We’ll have to wait and see if this is accurate, but it is really an exciting time to be in the market for a tablet. And with rumors of an iPad 2 coming down the road, we are worlds beyond the choice we had when the iPad first came out.

Flatland: a romance of many dimensions by Edwin Abbott Abbott is today’s Free eBook of the Day.

This sci-fi themed novel satirizes the social hierarchy of Victoria England and its school system. Here is an excerpt: “I call our world Flatland, not because we call it so, but to make its nature clearer to you, my happy readers, who are privileged to live in Space. Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about, on or in the surface, but without the power of rising above or sinking below it, very much like shadows–only hard and with luminous edges–and you will then have a pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen.  Alas, a few years ago, I should have said “my universe”:  but now my mind has been opened to higher views of things.

Project Gutenberg has the free download.

For more free eBooks, check out our Free eBook of the Day archive.

Despite the growth of eBooks, according to a new study published by Scholastic and Harrison Group called the 2010 Kids and Family Reading Reporttrade. The study found that 66% of kids ages 9 – 17 agree with the statement, “I’ll always want to read books printed on paper even though there are ebooks available.”

Still, digital is growing with kids. In the study, which examines looked at the reading habits of children 6-17 across the country, only 25% of kids have read a book on a digital device, but 57% of kids say they are interested in reading an eBook, and a third of children age 9-17 say they would read more books for fun if they had access to eBooks on an electronic device.

Interestingly, the found that kid’s view of reading is pretty broad. According to the report, 25% of kids aged 9-17 think that texting back and forth with friends counts as reading and 28% of them think that reading comments on social networking sites counts as reading.

Via NYTimes.com.

Watch out Kindle, Kobo has a new $139 eReader. The new Kobo Wireless eReader and comes WiFi-enabled, so that readers can shop directly from their device. Compared to earlier Kobos, it also has upgraded hardware, a new battery and a new eInk screen.

The new eReader is available directly from Kobo, as well as from Borders, Indigo Books & Music and Walmart in Canada.  The eReader is available for preorder today and the devices ship in October.

As part of the release, Kobo has partnered with Random House of Canada to give away two free eBooks to customers who pre-order the device from either Kobobooks.com or at Indigo Books & Music in Canada. The titles include Linwood Barclay’s suspense novel Fear the Worst and When My World Was Very Small by Ruth Rakoff.

Ray Kurzweil’s Blio eReading software has arrived. The application was developed by the inventor Ray Kurzweil and K-NFB Reading Technology through its partnership with distributor Baker & Taylor.

The software was developed to enhance the visual experience of eReading. Lifehacker has more: “You can read in a variety of styles including page at a time, side by side, with intelligent zooming, or even a 3D book view. Voice to text support allows Blio to read aloud to you while highlighting the text. Blio also supports direct insertion of notes, highlighting, links, and images to heavily annotate the text for future study.”

You can download the free software here. It is currently available for PCs and Toshiba laptops. Users can shop for books, as well as access a library of public domain titles through the Blio bookstore.

Toshiba’s Libretto W105 comes with the app already installed. In the coming months, Blio will be rolled out worldwide through device manufacturers, retailers, mobile carriers and educational institutions.

Yesterday BlackBerry unveiled its plans for a new tablet computer called the PlayBook and since then it seems that all of the eReader app companies are getting into the action.

Kobo released a social eReading app for the new tablet, which is expected out in early 2011. Amazon announced their Kindle app for the tablet. And now eBook community site WattPad has their app ready to go.

The WattPad app for the iPad and the iPhone is often in the Top 10 free apps in the book category of the App Store. As of 2:35 PM ET today, the app is No. 7.

We’ll expect to see other tops reading apps like Barnes & Noble’s Nook app, Borders’s eReader app and Lexcycle’sStanza on there too.

Sony put out a press release today naming the first 30 libraries that will participate in its Reader Library Program. Participating libraries span from San Diego to Brooklyn.

As part of the program, Sony will give participating libraries Sony eReaders, as well as host training programs for librarians and library patrons. The program will roll out over the next couple of weeks.

Inaugural Participants in the Reader Library Program include:

* Mastics Moriches Shirley Community Library (Shirley, NY)
* Kent District Library (Comstock Park, MI)
* Santa Barbara Public Library (Santa Barbara, CA)
* Fairfield Public Library (Fairfield, CT)
* Delaware Division of Libraries (Dover, DE)
* Plainfield Public Library (Plainfield, IL)
* Lake Oswego Public Library (Lake Oswego, OR)
* Hillsboro Public Library (Hillsboro, OR)
* Somerset County Library System (Bridgewater, NJ)
* Cliffside Park Free Public Library (Cliffside Park, NJ)
* Upper Saddle River Library (Upper Saddle River, NJ)
* Pasco County Library System (Hudson, FL)
* Springfield Greene County Library District (Springfield, MO)
* Library Connection (Windsor, CT)
* Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library (Presque Isle, ME)
* New Rochelle Public Library (New Rochelle, NY)
* River Edge Library (River Edge, NJ)
* Falmouth Memorial Library (Falmouth, ME)
* Princeton Public Library (Princeton, NJ)
* Macon County Public Library (Franklin, NC)
* Scottsdale Public Library (Scottsdale, AZ)
* Liverpool Public Library (Liverpool, NY)
* Omaha Public Library (Omaha, NE)
* Denver Public Library (Denver, CO)
* Westchester Public Library (Chesterton, IN)
* San Diego County Library (San Diego, CA)
* Holbrook Public Library (Holbrook, MA)
* Jefferson Country Public Library (Monticello, FL)
* Lavenia McCoy Public Library (Bayfield, CO)
* Brooklyn Public Library (Brooklyn, NY)

Today’s Free eBook of the Day is Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith #2: Skyborn by John Jackson Miller. The eBook original short story is No. 3 in Kindle’s Top Free eBooks today.

The story addresses the story of the Sith castaways from the Star Wars trilogy and their mission to conquer the galaxy. Here is more from the book’s description: “Jedi ambush leaves the Sith ship Omen marooned on a remote alien world, its survivors at the mercy of their desolate surroundings and facing almost certain death. But Sith will no more bow before the whims of fate than they will yield to the weapons of their enemies. And Omen-s cunning commander Yaru Korsin, will let nothing keep him and his crew from returning to the stars and rejoining the Sith order-s conquest of the galaxy.”

Amazon has the free download.

For more free eBooks, check out our Free eBook of the Day archive.