Hasta La Gadget!

You don’t need to sit down, we’re not about to hit you with any shocking news, but a recent BookExpo America convention has given publishers the chance to air out their laundry list of complaints. Seriously, do these guys ever have anything positive to say? Now they’ve managed to pinpoint a flaw in the Kindle and iPad’s resounding success, identifying the two ebook reading platforms as closed, and expressing a yearning for a universal and open format that all books can be published and consumed on. Of course, they wouldn’t be publishers if they didn’t also lust after robust DRM measures, which might explain why they’re not roundly supporting the readily available EPUB format. It has DRM options, but perhaps they’re not gnarly enough for the dudes responsible for bringing us the psychological horror of the Twilight series. We still don’t like the suggestion that the people, Amazon primarily, who popularized this market should just open it up out of the goodness of their own hearts — maybe we would if publishers ever showed themselves capable of doing similarly noble things.

Ebook publishers seek universal format, lament Apple and Amazon’s closed ecosystems originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 06:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, if it isn’t a surprise to end all surprises. Amazon’s head honcho Jeff Bezos recently grabbed a mic at the outfit’s annual shareholder meeting in Seattle, and when speaking about the “millions” of Kindle e-readers that he’s sold, he pointed out the obvious when questioned about the possibility of a color version. In addressing concerns that LCD-based tablets may seem more attractive due to their ability to showcase color images and video, he noted that developing color electronic ink remains a challenge, and while he’s seen things “in the laboratory,” the prototypes are simply “not ready for prime-time production.” He also stated that these lust-worthy, mythical displays were “a long way out,” but that the Kindle would remain focused as a dedicated e-reader moving forward. Hear that, Mirasol? That’s the ear-piecing sound of a market opportunity waiting to be exploited.

E-Ink Shocker! Amazon CEO says color Kindle is ‘still a long way out’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 May 2010 16:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon may not be rolling out its Kindle 2.5 update until later this month, but the folks at Ars Technica have already managed to get their hands on it, and they’ve kindly shared a few impressions. While the added social networking capabilities may be the most standout feature, Ars found the new “Collections” feature to be the most substantive part of the update, as it finally gives you a way to manage all your books into groups that are more easily browsed than one big list. Those social networking features do seem to welcome additions as well, however, albeit with a few limitations — while you can easily share a passage from a book with your Twitter or Facebook friends, it’s delivered in the form of a link rather than an actual quote. Other new features like password protection also work just as you’d expect, and there’s a number of more minor but pleasant surprises — like being able to pan and zoom in PDF files. Hit up the source link below for a closer look.

Kindle’s social networking-friendly 2.5 update gets an early preview originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 13:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The iPad may seem like Apple’s move to cockblock Amazon in the Ebook Wars, but Amazon’s Kindle app makes it part of Amazon’s larger ebook ecosystem. In many ways, the iPad is the best Kindle yet. More »

There are now over 1,348 approved apps for the iPad. That’s on top of the 150,000 iPad-compatible iPhone programs already available in the App Store. When Apple’s tablet PC launches, just hours from now, it will have a software library greater than that of any handheld in history — not counting the occasional UMPC. That said, the vast majority of even those 1,348 iPad apps are not original. They were designed for the iPhone, a device with a comparatively pokey processor and a tiny screen, and most have just been tweaked slightly, upped in price and given an “HD” suffix — as if that somehow justified the increased cost.

Besides, we’ve seen the amazing potential programs have on iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and webOS when given access to a touchscreen, always-on data connection, GPS, cloud storage and WiFi — but where are the apps that truly define iPad? What will take advantage of its extra headroom, new UI paradigms and multitouch real estate? Caught between netbook and smartphone, what does the iPad do that the iPhone cannot? After spending hours digging through the web and new iPad section of the App Store, we believe we have a number of reasonably compelling answers.

Update: Now includes Wormhole Remote, TweetDeck, SkyGrid, Touchgrind HD, GoToMeeting, SplitBrowser, iDisplay, Geometry Wars and Drawing Pad.

Continue reading iPad apps: defining experiences from the first wave

iPad apps: defining experiences from the first wave originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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