Hasta La Gadget!

Amazon isn’t content to limit its attention to hardware today. It just introduced Kindle Serials, a way of consuming a steady stream of content: buy once and you get all future issues of a text, with new segments appended to the old as they arrive. Only eight titles are available to start, but Amazon is promising a modern take on history by offering Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist and The Pickwick Papers for free, serialized the way they were many decades ago. Episodes will cost $1.99 a pop, which makes them tempting for readers who just want a small literary snack — and authors that want to start seeing income in weeks rather than months or years.

Follow the Amazon liveblog here!

Filed under: Software

Amazon intros Kindle Serials: buy once, get them all originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 14:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s Amazon day! Greetings from sunny Santa Monica, CA, home of rusty Ferris wheels and namesake of at least one Everclear song we can think of off the top of our head. We’re expecting big news from the online mega-retailer today — after all, we flew across the country to be here. What can we look forward to today? The sequel to the Kindle Fire? Some new e-reading devices? A Kindlephone? Find out today at 1:30PM ET!

Filed under: Tablets

Live from Amazon’s Santa Monica press conference! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 13:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As the saying goes, it’s all in the timing. But look at it this way: Kobo could have announced its new line of devices the day after Amazon’s big reveal. Instead, the outfit’s looking to take some wind out of Amazon’s sails a few hours before its big event. And while the chances are extremely slim that the company will manage to undercut the looming Kindle news, there’s no question that it’s coming out of the gate swinging, with the announcement of not one, but three new readers: one glowing, one mini and one slathered in Ice Cream Sandwich. The mini and glowing Glo Comfortlight will arrive in October, with the Android-based Arc arriving in November. All told, they’ll range in price from $80 for the Kobo Mini to $250 for the top-end tablet. That’s the short version, but if you follow past the break we’ve got a full rundown of the specs, along with additional photos.

Continue reading Kobo announces three new readers: one glows, one’s small, one runs Ice Cream Sandwich

Filed under: Tablets

Kobo announces three new readers: one glows, one’s small, one runs Ice Cream Sandwich originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 02:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week may belong to Amazon and whatever information the mega-retailer decides to drop on our heads tomorrow at its press conference in Santa Monica, but Barnes & Noble’s apparently won’t be letting the Kindle maker hog the spotlight for too long. We’ve been tipped off from a reliable source that there is, in fact, a successor to the Nook Tablet heading our way this fall. The device is said to be “super light,” while packing an “incredible display,” rocking 243 ppi. Industrial design on the apparently forthcoming tablet will be handled by Barnes and Noble favorite, Robert Brunner of Ammunition, who’s already got some Nook design under his belt. All of this is said to coincide with a brand new video store from the company, in an attempt, no doubt, to take advantage of the aforementioned “incredible display.”

That’s about all we’ve got for the moment, but we’re told more information will be forthcoming from more official channels soon.

Source: Barnes & Noble prepping Nook Tablet followup with ‘incredible display’ for fall release originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 13:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Singularity & Co aims to rescue near-extinct 20th century sci-fi titles to ensure they still exist in the next one. Established from a Kickstarter campaign, the small team has already digitized and published A Plunge Into Space and The Torch, both with new cover art, while its third title required a thousand-mile journey to scan its contents from a university archive. While Mr. Stranger’s Sealed Packet is out of copyright, many education establishments weren’t willing to let anyone scan its edition of such rare books. Talking to Ars Technica, Ash Kalb added: “If you’re part of that university or that consortium then you have access to that book. If you don’t then you don’t.” The republishing group, which ensures it doesn’t tread on any existing copyright toes, also offers up a better deal to authors and author estates, in addition to reviving interest in long-gone books. Singularity and Co’s now opened its bricks-and-mortar doors in Brooklyn, or you grab more details and updates on their progress at the source below.

Filed under: Internet, Alt

New York bookshop launches rescue mission to digitize out-of-print sci-fi titles originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Sep 2012 21:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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