Hasta La Gadget!

The tale of Google and Frommer’s famed travel guides has taken another twist this evening. Associated Press writer Beth Harpaz reports Arthur Frommer confirmed over the phone that he has retaken control of the brand from Google, and plans to continue publishing them in e-book and print formats, as well as maintaining the Frommers.com website. This comes after Google acquired the brand from publisher Wiley in 2012, followed by Skift.com’s revelation last month that it apparently intended to shut production of the books down.

We’re told by a Google spokesperson (check after the break for the full statement) that it has integrated the content acquired from Frommer’s and Wiley into its products including Google+ Local, but returned the brand to the founder and will continue licensing “certain content” to him. Why things took this circuitous route right back to the man who started it all back in 1957 is unknown and terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but we’re sure fans of the budget travel how-tos are happy to see Frommer’s keep going.

[Image credit: Frommer’s, Facebook]

Filed under: Google

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Via: Skift

Source: Associated Press

The Raspberry Pi is all about low-cost computing, which makes this particular hack quite fitting, as it allows you to make a terminal for your lil’ Linux machine out of something you may already have at home: a Kindle Paperwhite. Displeased with the glare from his laptop’s screen on a sunny day, Max Ogden was inspired to find something better and ended up with this Paperwhite hack. It builds on the original “Kindleberry Pi” method for the Kindle Keyboard, although Ogden had to massage it for the newer model and added some extra hardware to make the setup as wireless as possible. You wouldn’t call the end result a monitor, as such — the Paperwhite logs into an SSH session running on the Pi, so it “pretty much only works for terminals.” That’s probably for the best, as Ogden guesses the lag between wireless keyboard and e-ink screen is around 200ms, but at least it has portability, battery life and sunlight readability in the ‘pros’ column. Details of the project can be found at the source below, meaning only time (and probably, a few peripherals) stands between you and the ultimate hipster coffee shop machine.

Filed under: Misc, Software, Amazon

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Via: Raspberry Pi

Source: Max Ogden

Sure Barnes & Noble’s already promising you the ability to download the “most popular and bestselling top 100 app titles for tablets available anywhere,” but what happens when you want to buy something in those apps? Fear not, the bookstore-turned-hardware-maker will be bringing in-app purchases to its line of slates “soon,” thanks to a partnership with Nook developer Fortumo. That company’s bring single click payment to the Nook ecosystem and offering dashboards and analytics on consumer buying habits for developers. Thanks to the offering, B&N feels certain that, “thousands of the most-requested games and apps featuring in-app purchasing will be available for customers to experience on NOOK’s award-winning line of tablets” in the months to come.

Filed under: Tablets

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Via: The Next web

It’s not often that we hear of Samsung suffering from buyer’s remorse, but it looks like it should have kept e-ink manufacturer Liquavista’s receipt in the box-file marked “Important.” Bloomberg’s Person Familiar With The Matter(TM) believes Samsung is trying to flog the Dutch electrowetting display outfit it bought two years ago — back when such technology was the holy grail of screens. Now the Korean giant is looking for a sub-$100 million sale to Amazon, which might be able to use the tech in future iterations of the Kindle. When asked, a Samsung spokesperson said that the acquisition didn’t meet its expectations, which makes us sad for the future of e-ink devices beyond e-readers — now the folks at YotaPhone are our only hope.

Filed under: Samsung, Amazon

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Source: Bloomberg

Back when Txtr first revealed its enthusiastic scheme to enter the low-end e-reader market, the idea was that it would be doing so by offering the Beagle at an extremely cheap rate. Fast forward to today, and it looks as if the Txtr Beagle will undoubtedly be hitting shelves in the US, but just not at the price we had hoped — the e-reader itself is set to be carrying a $70 tag, making it a lot more costly than the $13 device that was originally planned. If you’re still interested despite the unexpected outcome, then pay our source link a visit, where you’ll find the Txtr Beagle now available for pre-order and ready to take your cash.

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Via: TG Daily

Source: ShopEreaders