M-Edge Touring Kindle Sleeve

Available in a half dozen colors, the M-Edge Touring Kindle Sleeve fits the Kindle 2 and at $25 seems like a fantastic sleeve. I prefer sleeves to cases, since I like holding my eReader in my hands while I read - it's lighter to boot. That said, I inevitably end up with a case, since I haven't found the right sleeve for me.

The M-Edge is unique, as it incorporates three zippers. One gives you access to an outer pocket where your charger, USB cable and booklight might stow. The second opens up the sleeve to allow you to completely remove the Kindle. The third zipper is the ingenious part - it provides access to the charging port, allowing you to charge your Kindle at night without leaving it unprotected on a nightstand.

It seems lately when an intriguing case or sleeve hits the market, more often than not it's from M-Edge. Here's hoping they continue turning out great products, and expand to support other readers besides Sony and Amazon.

Hearst intends to take on the Kindle

Lest you think the Skiff prototype introduced at CES was a one-off, Business Week reports that they'll be introducing multiple devices, incorporating color, implementing advertising (hopefully to reduce or subsidize the cost of the devices), and develop unique features for schools and businesses.

Chief Marketing Officer Kiliaen Van Rensselaer predicts that “Color will be ubiquitous in the next 12 to 18 months,” which is a pretty hard statement to argue with.

The Technology Behind mirasol

Betanews has a pretty good article on the technology behind Qualcomm's mirasol displays. It uses interferometric modulation (IMOD), which is a reflective technology. The display is a practice in biomimetics, or the imitation of things found in nature.

All in all a very interesting read if you're interested in how things work.

iRiver Story Video

Engadget gets some video of the new iRiver Story. Earlier reports pegged it at about $300 without wireless connectivity. It certainly has the look of a Kindle, albeit with a seemingly better keyboard. Book loading time seemed slow, which is always a concern, although Barnes and Noble fixed that pretty quickly through a software update, so one can never say how the final product will turn out.

I just worry that there are too many pedestrian, $300 readers hitting the market from names that aren't exactly on the tip of the tongue of the average American consumer. When you have the Kindle, which everyone has heard about and now seen some fairly extensive TV ad campaigns for, plus readers sold in Sony Style, Barnes and Noble, Borders and other retailers, all for $250 to $400 - what's going to help iRiver sell a few hundred thousand?

SlashGear Gets Hands On With Mirasol

SlashGear gets a little hands on time with a Mirasol prototype and came away fairly impressed. I especially was taken by this quote:

Based on the same properties that make a butterfly’s wings shimmer iridescently, the panel requires no backlighting and in fact performs better in stronger ambient light.

If that doesn't make it sound high tech (iridescent shimmering) - what does? Qualcomm claims battery life of similarly equipped eReaders would increase by about 20% - not bad for adding color and a faster screen update rate. Current prototypes are 5.7 inches and run 1024x768 placing it in the realm of existing readers from Amazon (DX not included), Barnes and Noble and Sony.

Qualcomm themselves have a fairly interesting page up on the technology.

Philips $1,000 Reader

PC Magazine reports on the Fujitsu FLEPia. They lost me at $1,000:

Be prepared to set aside around $1000, which is roughly what it cost during the April 2009 launch in Japan.

Waterproof Kindle Case: Not a Zip Top Bag!

Seattle's Tech Flash found the M-Edge booth's display of the Kindle 2 Guardian, an actual waterproof case for your Kindle. They had a great way of displaying it's effectiveness - they submerged a Kindle (in their case) in the bottom of a fish tank. Good to 1 meter deep, so deep sea divers need not apply, but great for boaters, or someone who is tired of having to sing in the shower and would like to try reading instead!

Available Spring of 2010 in six colors, there's no word yet on unit pricing. M-Edge has some great products for Kindle and Sony users - I'm hoping they roll out some nook products as well.

Demy, the 2,500 Recipe Holding Gadget

Demy, a strange, 5x7 shaped device that seems way to thick is a $299 device that holds 2500 recipes, as if that's a lot of storage. BigOven's iPhone app holds 170,000 and costs $299 less. My laptop holds seemingly endless numbers. I'd like neither of those devices near my kitchen while I'm cooking - this is still a great case for having a printer and some cheap copy paper handy.

What's really strange are the claims of being "Kitchen Safe":

The splash-resistant design and sturdy plastic exterior make it easy to clean. Spills easily wipe off the sealed touchscreen with a damp cloth.

That's great, but then why does it say at the bottom right corner of the site:

Psst: If you would like to order Screen Protectors or a DemyCare policy click here.

If you really want to go electronic - buy a $300 eReader, a $12 bookstand and borrow a large zip top bag to protect against splashes. If you have a Kindle, email a few recipes to yourself. Other devices, just sync a PDF of your recipe. Or buy a cookbook or two for your reader.

MSI Dual Screen "eReader"?

Engadget grabbed some video of the MSI Dual Screen prototype "eReader". I have to stick that in quotes, since I'm not sure about a LCD backlit screen replete with glare as an "eReader", especially a relatively heavy metal box. With some refinement, it makes for an interesting tablet, however.

Browsing in Barnes and Noble for nook Books

One frustration tonight. I was in a Barnes and Noble (still no coupons for free cookies or coffee, it's been explained to me that not all stores are "turned on yet") looking for a new book. I still have a huge backlog of Kindle books, but it was time to go ahead and buy something (no more samples). I'd bought a newspaper and a couple of magazines to try, but it's hard to resist trying something new, and it behooves me as an eReader gadget blogger to go through the process.

I was in the store with my father, also a gadget guru (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree), he had his Kindle DX tonight. At home was his Kindle 2 and his nook, as well as an old Sony eReader. Hmm, maybe he should be blogging about eReader technology instead of me.

Anyway, while browsing the new non-fiction releases, we decided to compare and contrast the two devices. For starters, the nook is tremendously faster to get on the Internet and complete searches, no doubt thanks to the WiFi connection versus the Kindle's 3G connection.

There were four books we ran across that seemed interesting:

Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank - A fascinating look through history about people perceptions about pregnancy and childbirth, including being encouraged to drink red wine, or taking morphine.

Sadly, neither Kindle nor nook carried this book. Sony and Kobo do not carry this book either. Barnes and Noble lists the publication date as 1/11/2010 for this book which is to say perhaps it will be available next week when that date actually occurs!

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea - Barbara Demick writes this comprehensive look into life in North Korea. Demick, a LA Times foreign staffer spent time as their Seoul, South Korea bureau chief. She started her research in North Korea, where she was handled so effectively by the communists that she really got to conduct no interviews and see no real life. She concluded her research back in South Korea speaking to a series of defectors.

Both Kindle and nook had this book, published on December 29th, 2009 and both had it for $14.82. Interestingly, while this is a considerable savings over the hardcover list price, Amazon sells the book for $15.60 in hardcover. Kobo has the book for $15.59 and Sony does not carry it. Ultimately, this was the book I grabbed for my nook today.

From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time - If you're interested in the science of time, this is a great book. If you're interested in the science fiction of time, I'd recommend Doctor Who DVDs. Sean Carroll has an intriguing look that time owes its' existence to events that occurred before the Big Bang, and if that doesn't sound heavy you're more of a physicist than I.

Once again, both Kindle and nook had this book, and both for the same $14.82. It sells for $17.79 in hardcover at Amazon, but again, in fairness, it's $21.56 at Barnes and Noble, so the eBook does represent decent savings versus the local retail price. Kobo sells this book for $16.19 and Sony for $18.86. Given the heavy nature, I opted for a sample of this book and if it seems approachable without a doctorate, I may grab it.

Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It) - The last new release that grabbed me is a fascinating look into the psychology of value and pricing of products. One example is how Steve Jobs convinced millions of people who downloaded music for free to pay to do the same (by charging 99 cents). Another cited example is the stocking of a few obscenely expensive items in a Prada store to make the rest of the inventory seem like a "bargain" (that one may only work on women).

This book was unavailable from either device, and Sony and Kobo both failed to carry it as well. The author, William Poundstone had one book available via nook, three via Kindle, one via Sony and two from Kobo.

What can you take away from this? For one, while there's no question you can save a significant amount of money on bestsellers when buying in eBook format thanks to the $9.99 normal selling price, some other titles are barely cheaper than Internet mail order prices - but still 30-45% cheaper than your local retail store. Also, it shows that just because you want to read it doesn't mean you can - there's still a lot of work left to do on book availability.

Both books in question that were unavailable had January, 2010 release dates, so it may be premature to assume they are being artificially held back from their publishers - time will tell. It is becoming a rare book that I'll buy in hardcover rather than wait, so I hope publishers realize they are driving sales to competitors when they delay. While I intend to read both the unavailable books ultimately - it's all predicated on remembering to check back on availability - failing that, someone loses a sale. A lot of books come out weekly that interest me, after all...

Terrific Resource for Free eBooks

Paul Biba spots this post which is essentially a free chapter from 50 Benefits of Ebooks: A Thinking Person's Guide to the Digital Reading Revolution, a $4 eBook or $20 paperback. I would find it strange to hear of many people buying a printed edition of a book on the benefits of eBooks, by the way!

BeBook Prototype with Liquavista (Color) Display

David Rothman, writing for TeleRead is first with a screenshot of a prototype BeBook eReader with a color display. Between being a prototype and a slightly fuzzy picture it's hard to comment on the picture, although it appears somewhat washed out to me.

Free Kindle Health Books

A Kindle Word blogs about some (temporarily) free health related books for Kindle users, including one from CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Skiff Hardware Specifications

Some additional hardware specs on Skiff, courtesy of ArsTechnica:

• Display: 11.5" diagonal touchscreen, flexible E-Ink
• Resolution: 1200x1600 (UXGA)
• Weight: under 1 pound
• Thickness: just over 0.25 inches
• Battery: "over a week of average use between charges"
• Wireless: Sprint 3G, WiFi

Copia: The Social Networking eReader

The United Kingdom's Register reports on the Copia which will reportedly expand upon existing wireless connectivity to expand into the social networking realm. That's right, now your device can tweet to all your friends what page you're on, or create a Facebook group to discuss a book or let you share notes and annotations.

With little details available, it's hard to have too much of an opinion, although I will say that I find Facebook to rival running a blog in terms of time you can waste rather than work during the day!

Kindle 2 Screen Cracking Lawsuit Settled

In a story that shouldn't surprise anyone, Seattle's Tech Flash is reporting that Amazon has agreed to refund anyone who paid $200 to replace a Kindle that cracked with a Kindle cover (the one with the metal latch) installed, as well as replace the covers themselves. In addition, they will reach out to anyone who owns such a combination to notify them of their rights under the proposed settlement.

The only surprise here is the terms of payment to the attorney's: $50,000 - a number that actually seems reasonable rather than egregious!

QuokkaPad: Kindle Killer

It seems the eReader market is mirroring the Smart Phone market in one way: "product killers". How many iPhone killers... haven't? Now we're starting to see the phrase "Kindle Killer". Enter QuokkaPad, from an Australian company.

The device is purportedly to sell for about $500, and Australia's itnews wants to know if the Kindle and the (unannounced) Apple Tablet are a match for the product.

Australia's Bleeding Edge kind of answers that question for us:

The Quokkapad will cost around $500. It’s aimed at the corporate, education and government marketplace, rather than consumers, to take advantage of the fact that large organisation can save millions of dollars a year by distributing their documents on electronic devices, rather than printing them.

So no, it won't displace the Kindle, seeing as it's a consumer marketed device and QuokkaPad is not. Also:

Powered by a 400MHz MIPS processor with 64MB of ROM and 128MB of flash memory, which can be expanded up to 500MB internally, the Quokkapad is a Linux tablet PC, running version 2.7 of GPE Linux. That means it ships with Web browsing and email, calendar, to do, contact management and notetaking capabilities, in addition to audio playback and image viewing.

At $500, with a slow processor, less RAM than an iPhone and virtually no internal storage, I can't imagine it's going to knock off an Apple tablet offering... if there is such an offering really about to be unveiled!

Mirasol Coming Soon... to Kindle?

FoxNews and many others are reporting that Mirasol is getting ready to ship working products that may help redefine the way an eReader screen works. When asked who it's upcoming partner was, a spokesman replied:

You know that device that everyone reads books on? Well, it's going to be a game changer on a device we all know."

Now I have both a nook and a Kindle 2 in house, but let's face it, if you're going to put it that way, it sounds like they are either working with Amazon, or want you to think that - right now, Amazon has the #1 mindshare in the industry.

Samsung eReaders at CES

I haven't really talked about Samsung, I guess mostly because I don't expect them to make a dent in the US marketplace. They are releasing a 6" and 10" reader, at $399 and $699 respectively, and without built in 3G (WiFi is included).

The competition is at $259 for the 6" and the Kindle DX at $489. Granted you don't get handwriting capability at that price, but I'm not sure that's a major selling point for a book reader. Plus, with the exception of Sony's low and mid priced units, the competition has 3G wireless. Sony's Daily Reader Edition matches the $399 price point, and the touch interface - and has 3G!

USA Today has a blurb on the Samsung announcements.

Corporate Mail coming to QUE via Good Technology

The Symbian Developer's Journal is reporting the recently announced, very expensive and corporate geared QUE Pro Reader from Plastic Logic bringing email (including Exchange ActiveSync support) to the platform.

While that's a good move for a device geared towards business users, I still wonder how this will play out. It's tablet size (much thinner, obviously) - but still an eReader at it's heart, with all of the benefits and drawbacks (slow screen redraws) that come with that. It's very expensive, and sits close to the price point of a Tablet PC or well featured notebook - but has functionality that seems a bit more like an iPhone (no full desktop apps).

It's more featured than the Kindle DX, with similar book support - but costs more!

Forbes "Guide" To Buying an eReader

Forbes has a new guide to buying an eReader but I'd read it with a grain of salt. By the way, buying guides were so Christmas shopping season - why wait till now? Mike Schaffner who pens the article sees two types of readers:

I sense that over time e-readers will fall into two broad categories: single- or mult-purpose devices. The Kindle and Nook appear to be a single-purpose device, simply trying to be the best e-reader devices for books, magazines and newspapers.

He continues:

The Sony Reader and the Apple device (as rumored) appear to be multi-purpose devices--e-readers, music players and possibly more. With multi-purpose devices you may not get the best e-reader but instead get a pretty good e-reader combined with a pretty good music player.

Sorry Mike, last I checked every device you mentioned plays music. Well, except the Apple device. I assume it will play music if it exists - but as an unannounced product, it's hard to be sure. If Apple does release a tablet, it's no more a "Kindle Killer" than any other Tablet PC. Besides, if it runs a modified version of the App Store and it's easy to modify apps for it, presumably you can download the Kindle reader on your tablet, as well as the Barnes and Noble version and hundreds of other apps related to reading... I'm just saying!

Anyway, look for a better guide... maybe one that offers some information on how it's like to read on the device, or how much books cost for the platform on average... or, I don't know: how much the actual readers cost?!

Spring Design Pricing Unveiled

iTWire (more strange capitalization) reports some more interesting Alex news - the price has been set at $359, a cool hundred books more than Kindle 2 and that other dual screen device (nook), but still cheaper than the other big name wireless device the Sony Reader Daily Edition which clocks in at $399.

Also of note: it's due to ship on February 22nd, according to Spring Design.

Spring Design Official Press Release re: Move to Borders

The official press release of the before-linked news about the Spring Design Alex dumping Barnes and Noble and moving in with Borders/Kobo. Change the topic from eReaders to people and we'd have a soap opera here!

enTourage eDGe

I don't get it. I'm not sure I like the look, I know the 6 hours of battery life does not make for a great eReader experience, I doubt Android will help me replace my existing computer (yet), and I can't imagine the price being competitive.

Also, between eThis and iThat we already have enough annoying ways to spell things. I'm not a big fan of the "capitilize-random-letters-to-be-hip" movement.

Skiff: Not Just an eReader

Harry McCracken talks Skiff. Apparently he got a sneak peak of Skiff running on a Tablet PC and word that WebOS and Blackberry apps are under development as well. While I can kinda see skipping Windows Mobile or whatever it's called these days - where's the iPhone and Android love?

To me, Skiff sounds like the platform that Blio should have been. Improved formatting (which is still more important for newspapers and magazines than books - although I see the textbook argument as well), and wide platform support including eReaders. Blio doesn't seem to think it's important - me, I figure most hardcore eReading folks are reading on eReaders. But that's just me...

Spring Design Moving to Borders/Kobo

The Spring Design Alex, a very cool, somewhat similar to nook device that they claimed Barnes and Noble ripped off after signing a deal to have them help design an eReader is moving. After failing to gain an injunction, it looks like they're moving (literally) on. No longer intending to utilize the Barnes and Noble eBook store, they are relocating to Borders and will take up shop in their forthcoming branded KoboBooks store.

It's certainly a sleek looking machine, although as always one has to wonder if they are going to hit a price point that won't scare away consumers. I'm not quite sure why there's only one next and one previous page button. I've heard people prefer the nook to Kindle because it's as easy to go forward and back for lefties as it is righties. To be honest, I find it easier myself, and I'm a righty - sometimes I'm holding it one handed, with my left hand.

Barnes and Noble Holiday Sales

Beth over at nookverse.com found this press release from Barnes and Noble regarding their holiday sales.

Interesting:

Barnes & Noble store sales were $1.1 billion, a 5% decrease over the same period a year ago, with comparable store sales decreasing 5.4%. Barnes & Noble.com sales increased 17% for the holiday selling season and totaled $134 million. Barnes & Noble.com sales include nook™ revenues recognized since the product began shipping after Thanksgiving.

While I wouldn't be surprised to hear any bricks and mortar retailer with a large online presence showing a continued shift towards online sales, those numbers seem to indicate that the nook had a huge impact on online sales - and why not - the margin must be way higher than that of the average web site book order.

What would be real interesting to learn is how they will account for sales of nook books to customers browsing via Wi-Fi in a retail location.

Plastic Logic Que Revealed

Plastic Logic's Que has been introduced and is now available for Pre-Ordering through Barnes and Noble. While it looks absolutely gorgeous, I'm not sure there's a large market for $650 to $800 eReaders. While I firmly believe eInk is a better choice versus LCD for book reading - for that price, I'd settle for a tablet, hopefully one about to be introduced by Apple.

There's a market for eReaders, a market for NetBooks, a market for Notebooks and I believe there's about to be a serious market for tablets/slates/etc. But if your eReader or NetBook creeps up on a tablet or notebook price point - I suspect the market will leave you in the dust.

Engadget has been all over CES and has some video.

20% of KoboBooks

KoboBooks, the firm that's partnering with partnering with Borders has a 20% off coupon good through January 11th. Just use the coupon code "Kobo20" at checkout.

Sony PRS-900 Review

Paul Biba over at TeleRead which is a great eReader blog spotted a video review of the newest member of the Sony Reader family:

AudioVox eReader at CES

Engadget mentions AudioVox's forthcoming RCA branded eReader. In a wise move, it's both cheaper than the nook ($229) and compatible - it uses the B&N store front, plus supports PDF and ePub. No word on wireless capability, but if it does - and is nook-compatible, they may have a decent chance to grab a little marketshare.

Engadget has more details, including the press release.

Liquavista Premiering at CES

What might make me one day replace my nook? This sure might:

That's assuming it really shares the same qualities as a eInk style screen (long battery life, crisp, sharp text, no eyestrain from backlighting/refresh rates).

Blio Site Live

"Nate the Great" over at MobileRead notes that the Blio eReader site is now live. While I love Ray Kurzweil's books for amazingly interesting reads into what the future will bring (note: I treat them as 100% fiction), I'm not sure this is the future of eBooks, and agree with Nate... the hardware requirements sound too stiff to expect an eReader.

People who think the "tablet" or "slate" will replace the eReader are wrong. In the near future, people will continue to appreciate the lack of eye strain with the more-like-paper-less-like-a-backlit-LCD eInk screens, as well as the week or more of battery life versus a few hours.

Software will soon be available for PCs, netbooks, tablets and mobile devices.

You know what's missing? eReaders. ePub is the way to go. Then you can support two of the top three manufacturers of readers - Sony and Barnes and Noble. Amazon can continue playing all proprietary and junk... I think long term it's bad for the industry and ultimately bad for their marketshare... I really think they will be overtaken.

Right now, Amazon's format works. They were the second mainstream offering, but quickly took marketshare from Sony, no doubt thanks to the built in wireless and dirt cheap prices for books ($9.99 for most new releases and mainstream releases). They seemingly have at least hundreds of thousands, and probably a couple of million Kindles shipped in their various iterations (nobody really knows, but the number is a lot relative to the competition, for sure). Sony realizes proprietary wasn't working for them (amazing to use the words Sony, proprietary, realizes and wasn't working for them in the same sentence given their history) and switched to ePub. Barnes and Noble realized they could enter the market with similar standards support and their built in brand - nobody has a bigger brand name for book sales than Barnes and Noble. Not Borders, and not Amazon. But Blio? Kurzweil? Looks neat, but does not look mainstream to me.

Free Samples on nook: Broken Functionality

The Barnes & Noble nook allows like many other wireless enabled eReaders the download of samples from virtually any book available in their store. Unfortunately, this functionality is broken.

It's bad enough that they followed Amazon down the path of allowing for the storage of hundreds or thousands of books without allowing sorting via either tags or folders - hopefully this will change soon. But from the nook - there's seemingly no way to remove a downloaded sample. Worse, you can't archive a sample. You can delete the free sample from their website - but when you share multiple nooks under one account with other family members this is not ideal - how do I know if someone else was also done with that sample?

Kindle DX International

Shipping January 19th, the International wireless version of the Kindle DX has been announced by Amazon. Andrys Basten of Kindle World has a nice list of which countries are supported for wireless delivery.

1400 Newspapers and Magazines for the Kindle

Apparently you will soon be able to subscribe to a service offering over 1,400 newspapers and magazines on your Kindle. Delivery will be via USB not wireless, and if the screenshot is representative of the service it's looking like a PDF-ish display that may not translate perfectly to the screen of an eReader.

15% of Barnes and Noble eBooks - MasterCard Only

I received an email alerting me to a 15% discount on all eBooks purchased through www.barnesandnoble.com or purchased directly from your nook - as long as your default credit card is a MasterCard. This deal runs through January 8th, and there's more information over at the Barnes and Noble forums.

Skiff to Debut at CES

Some pretty amazing specs, although no telling how large their bookstore will be and if they will support Adobe Digital Editions. Oh yeah, also no word yet on price. It certainly looks fantastic - bendable eInk just seems like a nifty thing, although the size of this device doesn't scream portable (it makes the Kindle DX seem svelte). It's a sleek looking machine, for sure, and the first newspaper-that-looks-like-a-print-newspaper. Hat tip: MobileRead Forums via user Dulin's Books.

nook / Barnes and Noble Customer Service

One person's experience is obviously not indicative of a company's customer and technical support - but I did have occasion to contact Barnes and Noble for an issue with my nook, and can relate the experience.

When I received my nook, there was a small spot of maybe 3-4 pixels that were "stuck on". It was barely visible, but obviously made my nook less than perfect, so I was determined to fix or replace it. I went ahead and turned the nook completely off and back on, and then opened some books and paged forward a few times which refreshed the screen a bit, to no avail. With my finger I gently touched the screen to make sure it wasn't dirt or something stuck on the screen (it wasn't), and I set out to call Barnes and Noble.

My call was answered pretty quickly (I do understand this was not the case on December 26th, no doubt thanks to the tens of thousands of new nook owners unwrapping their gifts on that date - but this was a few days before Christmas). I was immediately transferred to a nook-specific help line, with the friendly (and seemingly American based) customer service rep both giving me their toll free number for future reference, and transferring the call for me.

This wait was also just a couple of minutes, and the (again seemingly American based) representative was very helpful. He did one thing that many tech support representatives don't do - he listened! When I explained I had already rebooted my nook he didn't make me do it again anyway (Dell, I'm looking at you). He asked if the nook was near anything metallic and especially magnetized, as he said that can affect the screen. Once I confirmed that it was not, he created an RMA.

Their RMA process is excellent. They do an "advanced replacement", which works as follows:

1. They take a credit card number "in case you don't return your old nook". Feel free to use a debit card as they don't pre-authorize or put any holds on the card, they merely take the information.
2. They issue you a return label via email to allow you to return the nook at their expense.
3. The send out a new nook and promise a turnaround time of 3 business days. Mine took a bit longer, but in fairness, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's day were all a factor here. The turnaround time of 3 days seems to be to ship, not receive your replacement, and mine was shipped UPS Ground (hence the extra time).

Ironically, my initial Kindle had a screen blemish as well, and their process is extremely similar.

1.5 Million Free eBooks

Teleread brings word of a new initiative from the Internet Archive consisting of some 1.5 million free eBook formatted documents. Just about all of the material can now be read online, downloading in text format, as a PDF, or in formats suitable for most any eReader including Kindle (Mobi), Sony and nook readers (ePub) and many more!

Access the massive archive here.

Calibre 0.6.32 Released

Unless you do nothing with your eReader except purchase books over the air via a built in cellular or WiFi connection, you should be using Calibre. It supports every major eReader, makes managing books a breeze, and also lets you download information from popular websites (news, sports, politics, etc) and sync it straight to your reader in the form of a hyperlinked eBook.

Calibre 0.6.32 has been released, with the following new features:

• Users can customize where books go to (useful for eReaders that support folders).
• Browse your books by tags.
• Sort your books by tags.
• Support for new readers: Hanvon N516, Binatone Readme and the Longshine ShineBook.
• Several bug fixes.
• Several new news sources.

Download Calibre for Windows, Mac or Linux.

nook Freebies Versus Kindle...

The list of bestsellers on nook comprises far fewer free books than that of the same list on the Kindle store. Is that because Barnes & Noble features fewer "free" books (seems hard to believe given the huge number of Google free offerings), or is the bestseller list on nook perhaps also taking print sales into consideration?