Hasta La Gadget!

Hardbound books, apparently, are soooo 20th century — at least for the upcoming BiblioTech library in San Antonio, Texas’ south side. When the shiny, new public library opens its doors to bookworms this fall, visitors will notice something important missing: actual books. Instead, the facility will be serving up ebooks — about 10,000 digital titles or so — in an attempt to supplement the area’s traditional library system with some new-school cool. To help users partake in its content, BiblioTech will also carry actual e-readers for users to check out. Footage of the media event shows what appears to be a Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch as the facility’s e-reader of choice. Checked-out ebooks are also programmed to be accessible by the borrower for a two-week period. Going the digital route has certainly been a growing trend — 3M recently launched a Cloud Library lending service while one Austrian town kicked off its own unique e-book repository based on stickers equipped with QR codes and NFC chips. As ongoing issues involving Penguin show, however, digital lending sadly still has some hurdles to overcome.

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Via: Gizmodo

Source: San Antonio Express-News

Apple has negotiated a deal with European Union regulators that will result in the company avoiding a potential investigation on antitrust violations. However, in return, Apple is letting Amazon set their own prices for ebooks, which will most likely be lower than what Apple offers in their iBooks store.

Reuters is reporting that the European Union is about to accept the offer from Apple and four major book publishers: HarperCollins, Hachette Livre, Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, and Simon & Schuster. The proposal by these five companies was made back in September, and the EU is said to make a decision soon.

However, it probably won’t be until next month until we hear from the EU about their decision, but one source says that they will “likely accept the offer” from Apple and the publishers. The EU antitrust authority was investigating Apple’s ebook pricing, which some said prevented Amazon and other retailers from undercutting Apple’s prices.

However, this agreement is good news for Amazon, as well as consumers. Apple originally made a backroom deal with book publishers that would force Amazon to raise prices so that they wouldn’t hold a price advantage over Apple’s iBooks. However, this new deal with the EU will see Amazon ebook prices most likely going back down soon.

[via Reuters]

Apple avoids antitrust investigation by allowing Amazon to lower ebook prices is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

With all the hubbub surrounding today’s Microsoft event, who can blame Amazon for wanting to get in on the action? The mega-retailer used the opportunity to announce the Windows 8 version of its popular reading app. Interested parties can download the thing for free from the Windows Store, giving them access to the company’s selection of 1.5 million titles. The app is available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese and offers up good old Amazon features like Whispersync. Amazon also used the opportunity to announce that Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung will be pre-loading the app on their devices. More information can be found in the source link below.

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Amazon debuts Kindle Windows 8 app originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 12:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With the update of the Apple universe comes the push for apps that keep the Apple ecosystem strong, thus the event today came running with 1.5 million books on the iBooks book store. This update from Tim Cook came in with 400 million downloads from the iBooks book store. These numbers came with a brand new update for iBooks that starts in with Continuous Scrolling, iCloud, and new sharing abilities.

Facebook and Twitter have been integrated into iBooks here with this newest version of iBooks, as are several new languages. Korean, Chinese, and Japanese have been added to the iBooks family of books, all of them working in a free download available in the App Store right this minute. This is a pre-cursor to the iPad mini, we must expect, as its perfect book-sized shape will lend itself to the new version.

If you’re ready to take on the new version of iBooks, you can head to the iTunes app store right this minute and download away. The full update includes a new wave of books added in several countries – noted earlier this week – and we’re expecting the line to expand through the week. Stay tuned to this big Apple event throughout the day for more updates to the whole Apple family!

iBooks app updated with Continuous Scrolling is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

iDevice owners in New Zealand and 17 Latin American countries are no longer restricted to a diet composed of free content when it comes to their respective iBookstores. A quick search of the storefronts will reveal virtual shelves stocked with paid-content that haven’t yet found their way to the shops’ homepages. Reside in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru or Venezuela? Head on over to the appropriate store and books with price tags will be available for purchase. If this is any sign of what Apple has up its sleeve for tomorrow, we suspect that “a little more” will involve a bit of reading.

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iBookstore lines its shelves with paid content in New Zealand, 17 Latin American countries originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Oct 2012 21:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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