The Canadian Media Research Corp. recently released the results of a survey. To the surprise of no one, a vast majority of the 1,682 respondents to this poll would rather find a different free source of news than pay for it.

Respondents were quite firm when asked if they would pay for the news they get online, and 81% reported that they would rather abandon a preferred site than pay.  Only 4% said that they would pay, with about 15% not sure. In comparison, a significantly higher percentage already pay for music (26%) and games (19%). This does not bode well for anyone planning to survive on the fees generated by a paywall.

The report goes on to note that if there were no other option, some respondents would be willing to pay, with about a third preferring to pay by subscription.

report

In December 2010 the Sesame Workshop, makers of the Sesame Street TV show, launched an eBookstore where you could read 150 different eBooks featuring characters from the show.

The Sesame Street eBookstore was expanded to the iPad this week, which means you can now read eBooks on your iPad than span a wide selection of age level and ability. The Sesame Street eBookstore has eBooks both with and without narration and animation, as well as eBooks with sound effects and music.

This eBookstore is subscription based, with a single month’s subscription starting at $4 and a year’s subscription will set you back $40. Any current subscription to the Sesame Street eBookstore will work on both the website and the iPad. The iPad app also supports downloads, making the eBooks accessible any time, any place without an Internet connection.

iBuildApp has announced a new easy way to make a digital magazine or eBook app for the iPad.

According to iBuildApp, this new setup is quick and easy to use. It should only take a few hours for the non-expert to assemble the content and then copy/paste it into the pre-made templates. iBuildApp is also promising that it will later provide integration  with other digital publishing platforms such as WordPress, Drupal and Joomla.

You can find out more here.

Do you remember the dark ages when printing a file required actually plugging a printer into your computer with an actual cable? Those days just receded a little further into the past.

HP announced today that its line of ePrint printers would now work with Google Cloud Print. You can now print a document from any where in the world to any ePrint machine. You’ll need to setup the printer with a Google account first, and right now Google Cloud Print only works from certain mobile Google apps (Gmail, Google Docs, etc). but even so this is a big  improvement in usability.

You can also set up Google Cloud Print with other printers, but it will require an attached computer running Chrome browser.

via HP

Queens College ran an eBook survey last year as part of its annual Student Technology Survey, which covered how students’ interact with technology.  Around 1700 students participated, and out of that number 398 have used eBooks. The number of responses represent about 8% of Queens College student body.

The survey found that 63 students had used an eReader, and another 335 have used eBooks without an eReader. The survey then goes on to ask about which eReaders students owned and 46% reported owning a Kindle, with the Nook coming in second place.

Putting that data into perspective shows that while 82% of students own a laptop, only 3.3% own an eReader.  On the other hand, eReader adoption might be low, but eBooks are clearly gaining popularity faster. Nearly a quarter of respondents use eBooks.

One other interesting bit of data was the 42 respondents who didn’t know what an eBook was. This number is remarkable because it is so low; similar surveys of consumers in France and Germany showed a significantly larger percentage of respondents who knew nothing about eBooks.

via ALA

image by ozvoldjj

Here’s some good news for those of you who have taken the trouble to hack your NookColor.

The latest version of the CyanogenMod open source Android firmware now includes improved support for the NookColor. The latest build has a number of bug fixes and it also has an improved video playing ability.

The firmware is available now on the CyanogenMod website, but it’s a nightly build, not a stable release. Only download this if you are willing to accept that it will have bugs. Also, if you download it you could break your NookColor and you will most certainly void the warranty.

Caveat Emptor.

The French retailer Fnac has just released a reading app for Android gadgets. It’s Fnac’s second reading app following an iOS app back in December (iTunes).

The Fnacbook app supports buying and reading eBooks from Fnac eBookstore over 3G or Wifi, where you can choose from among 80 thousand titles. All eBooks purchased through this app can of course be loaded on to the iOS app and on to the Fnacbook eReader.

In related news, Fnac also recently released a firmware update the Fnacbook eReader (download it here). This eReader is based on the new 6″ Sipix screen, and it has Wifi, a SD card slot, 2GB Flash, a capacitive touchscreen, web browser, and it supports Adobe DE DRM.

via Android Market

With little fanfare, Archos’ latest Android tablet has shown up on Mertado.com with a retail of $199.

This 10″ (1024×600) tablet is the latest budget model from Archos. It’s running Android 2.1 on a low power Rockchip CPU and it has a resistive touchscreen, WiFi, an accelerometer, VGA camera, SD card slot, built in microphone and speaker.

Underneath the Archos label lies a tablet designed by Rockchip, the Chinese CPU maker.  The price might make you think this is a cheap junky tablet, but Rockchip designs are usually quite capable. This tablet should have excellent video and media abilities.

Mertado.com via Liliputing

The indie eBookstore AReCafe is running a contest this weekend. The contest rules are straightforward but a little unusual. Mystery author Joanne Fluke is giving you the chance to pick what baked good should be the focus of her next book. Cannoli? Angel food cake? Pecan pie?

You can enter the contest by naming the pastry, but you can improve your chance of winning if you include a recipe and also encourage others to participate. The prize for this contest is an eBook bundle worth $20.99. The APPLE TURNOVER MURDER BUNDLE includes 5 mysteries written by Joanne Fluke.

The contest ends on April 3rd, so time of the essence. For full details, click here.

Today Google unveiled a +1 button that allows readers to show their support for a Google search result.

The video embedded above explains the upcoming service. What do you think–is it a cool new tool or another thing to worry about online?

Here’s more: “The +1 button is a shorthand for ‘this is pretty cool’ or ‘you should check this out.’ Click +1 to publicly give something your stamp of approval. Your +1′s can help friends, contacts and others find the best stuff when they search.”