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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 54 declined, 35 accepted (89 total, 39.33% accepted)

Submission + - Amazon is now sending postcards to remind Kindle owners to update their devices (the-digital-reader.com) 1

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: Amazon's getting serious about a recent required firmware update. Last month Amazon sent out emails, asking everyone to update, and this week they stepped up their game. Several Kindle owners say they've received postcards from Amazon with reminders to update their Kindles. Sure, this is an important update which adds security certificates, but don't you think this is overkill?

Submission + - How to set up a Pirate eBook Store in Google Play Books (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: Most ebook pirates simply upload ebooks to a one of many pirate sites, but the entrepreneurial ones have opened storefronts in Google Play Books. They invent an author's name, and then upload dozens if not hundreds of pirated ebooks under that name, The names can range from Devad Akbak to Ispanyolca, but the really clever pirates choose a legit sounding name like Bestsellers — Books USA Press or Fort Press and then start selling ebooks.

Thanks to Google's indifference, the pirates can continue to sell ebooks no matter how many times copyright holders might complain. If Google takes a pirated ebook down in response to a DMCA notice, the pirates simply upload another copy of the same title.

Submission + - Japanese Publishers Lash Out at Amazon's Policies (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: Amazon is in a bitter contract fight Hachette in the US and Bonnier in Germany, and now it seems the retail giant is also in conflict with publishers in the land of the rising sun. Amazon has launched a new rating system in Japan which gives publishers with larger ebook catalogs (and publishers that pay higher fees) preference, leading some to complain that Amazon is using its market power to blackmail publishers. Where have we heard that complaint before?

The retailer is also being boycotted by a handful of Japanese publishers which disagree with Amazon offering a rewards program to students. The retailer gives students 10 percent of a book's price as points which can be used to buy more books. This skirts Japanese fixed price book laws, and so several smaller publishers pulled their books from Amazon in protest in May.

I know that businesses are out to make money and not friends, but Amazon sure is a lightning rod for conflicts, isn't it?

Submission + - Why the Public Library Beats Amazon - for Now (and Forever) (the-digital-reader.com) 1

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: The launch of Kindle Unlimited last month has many questioning the value of public libraries, with one pundit on Forbes even going so far as to proclaim that the UK could save money by shuttering all its libraries and replacing them with Kindle Unlimited subscriptions. Luckily for libraries, they're safe for now because they still beat Kindle Unlimited and its competitors in at least one category: content you want to read. As several reviewers have noted, Kindle Unlimited is stocked almost entirely with indie titles, with a handful of major titles thrown in. Even Scribd and Oyster only have ebooks from two of the 5 major US publishers, while US public libraries can offer titles from all 5. They might be expensive and you might have to get on a waiting list, but as the Wall Street Journal points out public libraries are safe because they can still offer a better selection. That is true, but I think the WSJ missed a key point: that public libraries beat Amazon because they offer services Amazon cannot, including in-person tech support, internet access, and other basic assistance. The fact of the matter is, you can't use KU, Scribd, or Oyster if you don't know how to use your device, and your local public library is the best place to learn.

Submission + - Sony Tosses the Sony Reader on the Scrap Heap (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: Sony has revealed that it had decided to follow up closing its ebook stores in the US and Europe by getting out of the consumer ebook reader market entirely. (Yes, Sony was still making ereaders.) The current model (the Sony Reader PRS-T3) will be sold until stock runs out, and Sony won't be releasing a new model.

This is a sad end for what used to be a pioneering company. This gadget maker might not have made the first ebook reader but it was the first to use the paper-like E-ink screen. Having launched the Sony Librie in 2004, Sony literally invented the modern ebook reader and it then went on to release the only 7" models to grace the market as well as the first ereader to combine a touchscreen and frontlight ( the Sony Reader PRS-700). Unfortunately Sony couldn't come up with software or an ebook retail site which matched their hardware genius, so even though Sony released amazing hardware it had been losing ground to Amazon, B&N, and other retailers ever since the Kindle launched in 2007.

Submission + - Apple Acqui-Hires "Pandora for Books" Booklamp for $15 million (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: Apple stunned the tech world Friday night when news broke that the gadget maker had acquired a little known ebook company called Booklamp, a small Idaho-based ebook startup which is best known for the Book Genome Project. First shown off to the world in 2008, this project was conceived by Booklamp founder and CEO Aaron Stanton as a way of analyzing a book's pacing, dialog, perspective, genre, and other details in order to identify a book's unique DNA. Booklamp has been using the tech to sell various services to publishers, tech companies, and the like, but Booklamps's existing contracts were apparently cancelled earlier this year.

According to one industry insider the deal happened in April, but Apple managed to keep the news under wraps until just last night. No one knows for sure how Apple will use booklamp but there is speculation that Apple could launch an ebook subscription service similar to the week-old Kindle Unlimited, or they could just use Booklamp to drive ebook recommendations in what some are speculating is the world's second largest ebookstore.

Submission + - Chromebooks are outselling iPads in Schools (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: Apple thrilled investors earlier this week when they revealed that they had sold 13 million iPads to schools and claimed 85% of the educational tablet market, but that wasn't the whole story. It turns out that Apple has only sold 5 million iPads to schools since February 2013, or an average of less than a million tablets a quarter over 6 quarters. It turns out that instead of buying iPads, schools are buying Chromebooks. Google reported that a million Chromebooks were sold to schools last quarter, well over half of the 1.8 million units sold in the second quarter. With Android tablets getting better, Apple is losing market share in the consumer tablet market, and now it looks Apple is also losing the educational market to Google. Analysts are predicting that 5 million Chromebooks will be sold by the end of the year; how many of those will be sold to schools, do you think?

Submission + - Amazon is testing a $10 a month ebook service called Kindle Unlimited (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: Details are still scarce but it looks like Amazon is going to be launching a competitor to Scribd and Oyster. Earlier today new pages leaked on the Amazon website which mentioned Kindle Unlimited, a new subscription ebook service. The pages were quickly removed, but not before we got some screenshots. If the screenshots are to be believed KU is going to offer a catalog of over 600,000 titles for $9.99 a month. The news hasn't been confirmed by Amazon but those pages were seen by any number of authors and bloggers, including indie authors who confirmed that the new service is mentioned in their sales reports.

Submission + - Google Reader: a year later (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: Just over a year has passed since Google closed Google Reader; have your reading habits changed? When Google announced in March 2013 that Google Reader would close, a number of pundits saw it as a sign of the imminent death of RSS feeds as redundant tech. But 15 months has gone by and I can't see that very much has changed. Former Google Reader users fled to any number of smaller competitors, including Feedly, which as a result quadrupled its userbase from around 4 million users to around 15 million users and 24,000 paying customers in February 2014. I can't speak for you but I am still getting my news from RSS feeds, just like I did before the Readerpocalypse. Zite might be gone and Pulse might belong to LinkedIn but RSS feeds are still around.

Submission + - Want to resell your ebooks? You'd better act fast (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: Here in the US it is legal to resell your MP3s on Redigi, and thanks to the UsedSoft decision you can resell downloaded software in Europe. But if you want to resell your ebooks you had better act fast. Tom Kabinet launched last week in the Netherlands to offer a marketplace for used ebooks, and it is already getting legal threats. The Dutch Trade Publishers Association (GAU) says that the site is committing piracy and if it doesn't shut down the GAU plans to take it to court. Citing a ruling from a German court, secretary general of the GAU Martijn David said that the question of legality had already been settled. Would anyone care to place a bet on whether the site is still in operation in 6 months?

Submission + - Barnes & Noble to spin off Nook Media, will take it public (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: It looks like the recent rumors about B&N splitting up were true. Along with could-have-been-worse financial news, Barnes & Noble just announced that it's going to spin off its two year old ebook subsidiary into a new publicly traded company. The move won't be finalized until 2015, but when it happens the new company is expected to have both existing parts of Nook Media, including the less than successful ebook division and B&N College, which is still managing to turn a profit. Barnes & Noble hasn't revealed the price Nook Media stock will be selling for but I would bet that it will be valued at far under the $1.8 billion value B&N assigned when Nook Media was created in April 2012.

Submission + - Microsoft building an 'Xbox Reading' app for Windows 8 (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: Microsoft has already sunk $600 million into Nook Media, the ebook division spun off from Barnes & Noble in 2012, but I guess that's not enough for the Redmond tech giant becasue news broke today that they have a 3rd ebook effort in the works.. A new job listing discovered by the Chinese tech blog LiveSino has revealed that Microsoft is hiring an ebook developer to work on "a groundbreaking interactive reading app on Windows, which incorporates books, magazines, and comics." The position was posted by the Xbox Music, Video, and Reading unit, which had already released 2 apps for Windows 8 (video, music) and is clearly going for a trifecta. This new app shows all the signs of being completely unrelated to the Office Reader app which leaked last year. That app reportedly focused more on PDFs, textbooks, and office docs, with the "Xbox Reading" app mentions magazines and digital comics.

Submission + - Adobe's new ebook DRM will leave existing users out in the cold come July (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: Whether it's EA and SimCity, the Sony rootkit scandal, or Ubisoft, we've all read numerous stories about companies using DRM in stupid ways that harm their customers, and now we can add Adobe to the list. Adobe has just announced a new timeline for adoption of their recently launched DRM, and it's going to take your breath away.

In a video posted to Youtube, Adobe reps have stated that Adobe expects all of their ebook partners to start adopting the new DRM in March. This is the same DRM that was launched only a few weeks ago and is already causing problems, but that hasn't stopped Adobe. They also expect all the stores that use Adobe's DRM to sell ebooks (as well as the ebook app and ebook reader developers) to have fully adopted the new ebook DRM by July 2014. That's when Adobe plans to end support for the old DRM (which everyone is using now). Given the dozens and dozens of different ebook readers released over the past few years, including models from companies that have gone under, this is going to present a significant problem for a lot of readers. Few, if any, will be updated in time to meet Adobe's deadline, and that's going to leave many readers unable to buy DRMed ebooks.

Submission + - Digital Textbook Startup Kno Was Sold for $15 Million (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: Intel didn't mention how much they paid for digital textbook startup Kno when they announced the acquisition last week but inside sources are now saying that the digital textbook startup was picked up for a song. GigaOm reported earlier today that their sources told them that Kno sold effectively for pennies on the dollar:

Well placed sources who were in the know told us that the company sold for $15 million with some retention bonuses for the employees. Intel bought the company mostly for its hardware-related intellectual property and the employees. Intel also was one of the largest investors in the company — having pumped in $20 million via its Intel Capital arm.

Kno had raised $73 million in venture capital since it was founded 4 years ago, and it picked up another $20 million in debt. This deal was nothing less than a fire sale, and that does not bode well for the digital textbook market or other startups in this niche. Inkling, for example, just raised $20 million dollars this summer in order to compete in a market that where one of their competitors failed.

Submission + - Self-pub erotica is being deleted from ebookstores in sweeping ban (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: The Kernel started an uproar last week when they "discovered" that the Kindle Store and other ebookstores sell adult content in the erotica category. None of the content is actually illegal, but it is icky enough that the major ebookstores decided to respond by removing anything even vaguely questionable. Unfortunately, they went to far, resulting in an act of censorship the likes of which we haven't seen since Paypal went after the indie ebook distributor Smashwords. The Daily Mail reports that WH Smith went so far as to shut down their website with the promise that it won't reopen until all self-published titles have been removed, and according to BBC News B&N is also deleting content. But that's not the whole story.

Numerous authors have reported on KBoards that Amazon and B&N have removed far more than just the titles that feature questionable content like pseudo-incest; they appear to be running keyword searches and removing any title that mentions innocuous words like babysitter, sister, or teenager. And they're not the only ones; there's a new report that Kobo has jumped on the ban wagon as well.

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