eReaders

Search and Replace Meets the Kindle, the NOOK, and Tolstoy

Public domain titles are a tricky area for ebooks. On the one hand, a bit of digging can get you a free copy of a title easily. But paying a nominal amount sometimes means a better quality copy, with typos and other issues properly corrected. Unless, of course, you bought “War and Peace” for your NOOK. According to Poynter, a company named “Superior Formatting Publishing” put out a copy of “War and Peace” for the Kindle. Then they made one for the NOOK. In a mind-boggling bit of sloppiness, they did an automatic search and replace every time “Kindle” appeared,…


Speck FitFolio Case for Kindle Fire Review

I love my Kindle Fire and use it regularly, nestled in the Oberon ‘Celtic Hounds’ design case. I am very happy with the feel and utility of that case, so anything else has a tough road against the incumbent. Speck recently sent us a FitFolio case to review for the Kindle Fire, so let’s have a look! The Hype: FitFolio is a Kindle Fire case that combines the fit of a precision-molded hard shell case, with the cover-to-cover protection in a book-style folio. The form-fit hard-shell cradle keeps your Kindle Fire securely in place, so it doesn’t slip or slide,…


AViiQ Portable Charging Station with Cable Rack System Now Avaialable

We reviewed AViiQ’s portable travel station last August (read the review). It is a great way to charge and sync numerous devices from one wall outlet. It also is a convenient and “clean” way to carry a charge/sync hub in a compact accessory. It was not, however, without it’s faults. Primary among the issues I found was the fact that the cable management system, consisting of overlapping fabric slots, wasn’t the easiest way to keep everything neat and tidy. Now AViiQ is back with an updated version. It costs a bit more than the original (which appears to still be…


Where Is the Future for Bookstores?

I was at a wedding over the weekend, and I tried making small talk with the gentleman seated next to me. As it turned out, he was from Chicago; we started chatting about the last time I was there for a work conference, which was held above a Barnes and Noble. He laughed and told me the Barnes and Noble is closed. In fact, between B&N tightening stores and Borders going bankrupt, Chicago is down to just two Barnes and Nobles to serve the large-scale bookstore needs for the city. This was quite a disappointment to my new buddy, as…


Amazon to Offer the Entire Harry Potter Series Through PRIME Lending

Harry Potter arrived in ebook form earlier this year, which was exciting all by itself. At the same time, if you already purchased the HP series in book form, it can be hard to pony up again for the ebooks. Amazon has come up with a solution, by offering the entire series through their Kindle Prime Lending Library! From the press release: Read all of J.K. Rowling’s iconic Harry Potter series for free on your Kindle Kindle Owners’ Lending Library now includes more than 145,000 books, including over 100 current and former New York Times Best Sellers SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May. 10,…


SNL Parodies Amazon and the Kindle (NSFW!)

Sarah and I started watching “Saturday Night Live” again recently because one of our favorite sketch comedians, Kate McKinnon, joined the cast. Thank goodness for DVR, as it lets us skip the less entertaining sketches easily. It also allows us to re-watch the truly hysterical ones, like their flat-out brilliant parody of Amazon and “50 Shades of Gray“.


Barnes & Noble NOOK with Glowlight Breaks into Television

Now that it is May, and we are in the Mother’s Day/Father’s Day/Graduation season, Barnes and Noble is unleashing a huge ad campaign to promote the NOOK Simple Touch With Glowlight. They’ve put together a cute video that highlights the benefits of being able to read in bed with the lights off, but still have the benefits of an eInk device. The video is below, and B&N already has spots running in prime time. I know this because I sat down to read Barnes and Noble’s press release and clicked on the YouTube video roughly 2.5 seconds before the commercial…


Target Ends Their Kindle Chapter

  Amazon and Target used to be good buddies. Amazon helped run Target’s website, Target was the first place outside of Amazon.com to sell Kindles. It looks like that friendship is over, as Target has announced rather abruptly that mid-May they will be dropping the entire Kindle line from Target stores due to a “conflict of interest”. However, arch-rival NOOK will be still be carried by Target, making it clear this is specific to Amazon. So what changed? Target isn’t saying, and neither is Amazon, but it isn’t hard to read between the lines here. Amazon was the big winner…


Are eInk Holding’s Earnings a Sign of a Non-Tablet Reader Slowdown?

Here’s some news to file under the “maybe a concern” category. It looks like eInk Holdings, the company that makes those beautiful eInk screens for NOOKs and Kindles, had a bad quarter. According to DigiTimes, this was their first set of poor earnings in over two years, and the company is saying it was due to “inventory adjustments”, aka they had fewer orders for new screens. This isn’t good news, but I wouldn’t hold a funeral for eInk just yet. Yes, we are coming off a holiday season where the hot items were the NOOK Color and Tablet and the…


Tor Goes DRM-Free, but Does It Change Anything for eBooks?

The big news in ebooks this week is that Tor, a division of Macmillan, is going DRM-free on their whole catalog (including books sold at Amazon and B&N). Needless to say, everyone who follows ebooks is very excited, and for good reason. This is a big step in chipping away at the “walled garden” style eBookstores we have now, where B&N books have different DRM than Kindle books, etc. But who really benefits here? Obviously, we as consumers win here. If this succeeds, ebook libraries will become portable. You won’t need to stress about picking a Kindle and missing out…


DEEP BASS Active Control Headphone Amplifier for iOS Devices Review

Last week we took a look at the latest iOS app from SRS labs. The app takes the audio coming from the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad and enhances it in remarkable ways. The main downside with the app is that in order to get the audio enhancement you need to use the app for your music. Try to listen to music from any other source, for example Spotify, and you are out of luck. There is, however, a way to enhance ANY audio coming from your iOS device and it comes in the form of a new audio adapter…


What’s Next for eBooks after the DoJ Settlement?

Today was a big, big day for eBook fans! The Department of Justice agreed with everyone who has been screaming for three years that the “agency model” was unfair, anti-competitive and anti-consumer. They settled with several publishers, though Apple and Macmillan are still fighting the DoJ in court. So, what did the settlement today do? And how will it impact the future of ebooks? Read on for my thoughts! The Settlement: I am going to defer to Wired here, as they quickly had an excellent breakdown of what the settlement states: Terminate its current contracts with Apple within seven days…


Mahjongg Artifacts Chapter 2 for the Kindle Fire Review

Not long ago I reviewed the Kindle Fire version of Mahjongg Artifacts. Now we get a look at the sequel, which had found tremendous success as one of the most popular PSP Minis. Ironically the sequel was released before the original game on that platform, but on the Kindle Fire both were released together. The original game was excellent on the Fire, let’s see how the sequel plays! The Hype: Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 is highly addictive tile-matching game with millions of players on PC and other platforms. It takes tile-matching games in an exciting new direction! Pair up tiles…


Youda Survivor Kindle Fire Game Review

Youda Survivor joins games like Civilization Revolution, Jack of All Tribes and Tiny Token Empires and other casual strategy games that have journeyed to handheld tablets. These games all work well with the touchscreen interface, present more than a trivial experience, and are still playable in small time increments. All of those games are available on the iPad … but Youda Survivor is the first one to venture to the Kindle Fire! Let’s take a look! The Hype: For all real fans of time management games – the most frenzied adventure yet! Can you survive on a mysterious island as…


Amazon Kindle Newsstand Versus Zinio on iPad

I took the plunge recently and bought a new iPad! One of the first things I looked into was Zinio, based on the exuberant reviews of the other Gear Diary editors. Then I realized I hardly read magazines. So while I peeked at a few prices and poked around, I didn’t really give digital magazines much thought. Today I was doing my usual Amazon Kindle browsing to find some new reading materials, and I stumbled on the price for “Running Times”, one of the magazines I had considered on Zinio. The price was $20/year on Zinio, but only $0.83 an…


Mahjongg Artifacts for the Kindle Fire Review

The Hype: Escape from the rush of modern life into the immersive ancient atmosphere of Mahjongg Artifacts®! The prequel to Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 and a new fan-favorite comes with three gameplay modes which take you through five exotic cultures. It also comes with innovative gameplay twists, like Special Tiles that allow you to use new strategies to clear layouts, Bonuses for skillful play and Trophies for special accomplishments. Story Mode features an epic quest for lost relics, Classic mode allows you to choose the layout you want to play, and Endless mode allows you to remove tiles from an…


The Magician’s Handbook: Cursed Valley for Kindle Fire Review

Hidden object adventures continue to evolve on smartphones and tablets, with PC games being ported that are more complex, more interesting and have better stories. The success of games from folks like G5 Entertainment has resulted in an explosion in the category. The latest one to try to capture the Kindle Fire gamer’s interest is the Magician’s Handbook, which I already reviewed for the iPad. Let’s see how it does! The Hype: Remove the evil curse in this captivating adventure by finding hidden objects in the dark and mysterious Cursed Valley! The fabled “Magician’s Handbook” has fallen into your hands….


Hey Amazon, Can You PLEASE Let Me Change the Paragraph Justification in Your Apps?

Image courtesy of (believe it or not!) furnitureconsignment.com So as you’ve probably heard–Michael posted about it, for example–J.K. Rowling’s latest cash cow, the Pottermore web site, finally went live today (a mere 6-9 months after it was originally promised, but that’s a whole different ranty post).  For me what this meant was that, finally, I would be able to actually buy the eBook version of the Potter books.   Yay! There was a catch, though:  the books aren’t available via iBooks, but only through the Pottermore web site for Kindle, Nook, or straight ePub format.  Which is okay, I guess…


Staples Asks, ‘How Fast Can You Read?’

It’s no secret that I love to read. Even as a kid I was an avid reader, and my parents had trouble finding books to keep me occupied for long periods of time. When I was in 5th grade my mom gave me “Gone With the Wind”, and I finished it in three days. Basically, I read a lot, and very quickly. Still, when Staples sent their “Speed Reading” test, I was surprised to see my results:


How To Replace a Kindle Keyboard Battery

On a recent game day, I charged up my Kindle in anticipation for the long trip since it was not my turn to drive. I planned on staying relaxed before we played while following the adventures of Katniss Everdeen fighting to survive in the arena, but when I laid back with my neck pillow, the Kindle refused to let me into the depths of the Hunger Games. It would be another long, boring ride without the comforts of the Kindle Keyboard. Upon arriving at home, I plugged it back in and once again charged overnight only to discover it would…


Virtual City Playground for Kindle Fire Delivers City Builder Goodness!

Recently I reviewed Virtual City for the Kindle Fire, finding it the first mis-step in the franchise for me – while the content was there, the performance was laggy on my Kindle Fire even compared to the normal Android version. Since I had loved the Android version of Virtual City Playground, my big concern was that Virtual City playground would suffer the same fate – so let me assure you that it does NOT. Virtual City Playground brings the full Virtual City experience, and is a pleasure to play! Let’s take a look! The Hype: Virtual City Playground allows you…