Hasta La Gadget!

Welcome to Engadget’s Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we’re here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we’ve got our optical viewfinders set firmly on digital cameras — and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back — at the end of the month we’ll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides — and hit up the hub page right here!

Most of us are still walking around hunchbacked from years of carrying heavy textbooks in our overstuffed backpacks. Thankfully, an e-reader can significantly lighten the loads for students everywhere. Sure, we’ve still got a ways to go before electronic devices can replace textbooks altogether, but in the long run, it’s a purpose that could significantly impact the postures of backpack wearers all over. Jump past the break for our recommendations, and another opportunity to enter our back to school giveaway. Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win, and head over to our giveaway page for more details.

Continue reading Engadget’s back to school guide 2011: E-readers

Engadget’s back to school guide 2011: E-readers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not depressed enough yet about the impending death of print? This might help: Brewster Kahle, the fellow behind the Internet Archive, is in the process of gathering together every book ever published for safe storage against a future where the prevalence of digital media has utterly devalued physical texts — it’s a perhaps unreachable goal, he admits, but Kahle’s warehouse is currently at 500,000 books and growing fast. The Associated Press describes the undertaking as something more akin to The Svalbard Global Seed Vault than the Library of Congress — these books aren’t being saved for lending, they’re being stored for the future. If you’re reading this Brewster, we recommend signing up for an Amazon Prime account. Those shipping fees can really add up fast.

Internet Archive founder wants to collect every book ever published originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Typically, when a new gadget makes its way through the FCC, we have to do a fair amount of digging to get to the juicy details, put Pandigital’s latest 8-inch tablet / e-reader, the SuperNova, isn’t holding anything back. This Android 2.3-powered slate follows in the footsteps of its 9-inch predecessor, the Novel, acting more as a glorified e-reader than a real-deal tablet. Like the Novel, it comes with B&N’s Nook app pre-installed and lacks access to the Android Market — apps can be downloaded via SlideMe. What’s more, it’s got front (0.3 megapixel) and back-facing (3 megapixel) cameras, 4GB of internal storage, HDMI and mini-USB connectivity, support for 32GB micro-SD, and an 8-inch capacitive touch screen. Just about the only things missing from this FCC filing are price and availability, but we have a feeling the pair isn’t far behind. If SAR reports and tablet entrails are your thing, you can peek even more SuperNova details at the source link below.

Pandigital’s SuperNova Android tablet gets its FCC on, leaves little to the imagination originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jul 2011 23:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Heat waves aside, this last weekend has proven to be a fairly rough one for e-book sellers. In spite of backing off a bit from its initial demands, there have apparently been some major changes afoot in the iOS App Store, with a number of apps scaling back access to their online e-book markets or being pulled from the store altogether. Kobo, one of the former, told The Wall Street Journal (which also reported on its own iOS woes) it was informed on Saturday that it needs to stop selling books through its app. The Google Books app, meanwhile, has been removed altogether, though Google has yet to comment on the matter, possibly revamping the app to comply with the stricter rules. While the adjustments will certainly be a nuisance for the companies involved, selling books through Apple devices will not be an impossibility, so long as customers can still access the markets through Safari.

Update: You can now add Amazon to the list as well. The latest version of the Kindle app removes the Kindle Store button that previously allowed you to purchase e-books on your iOS device.

Google Books, Kobo, more get iOS App Store shakedown (update: Kindle too) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jul 2011 10:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Having a hard time parting ways with a certain plucky, lightning-scarred orphan? J.K. Rowling feels your pain (as she counts her money) and has teamed up with Google to help you fall in love with the world of Hogwarts all over again — e-book style. The voluminous tomes will be making their exclusive electronic debut through Google’s eBooks platform as part of the Sony-backed Pottermore site launching this October. El Goog’s open format plays nicely with “more than 80 ereaders” — we’re looking at you iRiver Story HD — and can also be downloaded in app form for iOS and Android smartphones. But the integration doesn’t end there — under terms of the agreement, Google Checkout “will be the preferred third party payment platform” for all the site’s Harry Potter knick knacks your credit limit will allow. It’s ok, you don’t have to let go of the dream just yet. There’s still a little wizard inside us all.

J.K. Rowling, Google to bring Pottermania to your e-reader originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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