Editorials | Gear Diary

Where Is the Dedicated eBook Reader Market Headed?

(photo courtesy Engadget) Kobo today announced they will be selling a lower-end, dedicated ebook reader for $149 at Indigo in Canada and Borders in the USA. The unit itself is pretty basic; you transfer your books via USB, and it has some nice UI flourishes, but that’s about it. All day various websites have crowed that this is the start of the slide to a magic $99 ebook reader, and I agree. The bigger question, though, is what market does a cheap ebook reader serve? Kids: This is a fairly easy one; you wouldn’t necessarily expect a child to take…

Editorials

Will High News and Magazine Pricing Hurt iPad Adoption?

Everyone and their cousin is reporting that a subscription to theWallStreet Journal on the iPad will run around $18. Ouch. While it is certainly cheaper than the current “dead tree” , is much more than people are usually used to paying for digital content. Think about it this way, if you get the 3G iPad and a subscription to the WSJ, you’ve just added about $50 to your monthly nut. That’s not peanuts. Moreover Engadget is reporting that when prices are announced for iPad content, “magazines to be at or near newsstand prices”. All this raises a few thoughts/questions for…

Editorials

Dear AT&T, I’m Going To Purchase One of Your New Microcells, but Let’s Not Act As If You’re Doing Me Any Favors, Okay?

AT&T’s Microcell. You get great reception. AT&T gets to double dip. As you may have read elsewhere on the web AT&T is rolling out Microcells that will solve many of the reception issues people have at home. That is, assuming they already have a highspeed Internet connection. You see, the Microcell will allow you to connect to your high-speed Internet service and then have your iPhone or any other AT&T cell phone jump on the data connection from your cable company and route calls through it. This will, in turn, improve your cell reception because you won’t be using AT&T’s…

Editorials

The Approval of Readdle’s Scanner Pro 2.0 Raises Questions…

Scanner Pro is a powerful iPhone app that “transforms the device into portable scanner”. Just updated to version 2.0, the app adds GoogleDocs integration, camera stabilization, automatic edge detection and passcode protection. It costs $6.99 in the App Store but is a free update to existing users. With Scanner Pro 2.0 comes in handy when a hard copy document should be scanned and there is no scanner nearby. It lets people scan multipage documents, email them and even upload to Dropbox, Evernote, MobileMe iDisk or any other WebDAV enabled server. The application incorporates special algorithms to enhance image quality and…

Editorials

Two Reasons I Hate the Slacker / Pandora / etc Internet Radio Apps

As if by amazing serendipity, I had just started writing this when I read Carly Z’s “Adventures in Internet Radio” talking about traveling with Pandora and Slacker. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of reasons to love these apps! Loads of music, tons of choices, affinity selection with ‘learning’ system that allows you to help the apps do their job better. In fact, since before Christmas not a week has gone by that we haven’t used either Slacker or Pandora on either my Droid or iPod Touch to play music for the whole family, and when my younger son…

eBooks, Editorials

Amazon, the iPad, and Why iBooks Might Not Be So Great

Amazon has been proudly showing off their iPad app today and made it clear they’re looking to develop for tablets as a category. Since there’s really only one category of Apple tablet-esque devices, it’s safe to assume devices like the HP Slate, and possibly, hopefully, Android tablets, will also be blessed with a big-screen and finger friendly version of the Kindle. Compare this to the iBooks app, which, if it has any portability at all, will most likely only move between the iPhone and the iPad, and possible on Macs. If you had to tie your data up in a…

Editorials

Adventures in Internet Radio!

Driving to Maine from New Jersey is a looooong drive. Even breaking it up with a stop in Boston for a few days, we quickly ran through an audiobook and couldn’t find a decent radio station on the drive. Luckily, I had my Droid handy, and we gave Pandora and Slacker a spin. Slacker…I want to like it, I really do. But on the free version, it doesn’t seem to hold onto a music stream well. It gets four or five songs in and then seems to be stuck, requiring the app to be exited and restarted. It’s a huge…

eBooks, Editorials

Alex Reader’s Price Yo Yos Up and Down and Up Again

The Alex Reader was announced for pre-order this week, and I reached out to their public relations representative for an explanation of their pricing. If you recall, back in January at CES the following announcement was made (it is also worth noting this is the most recent press release on their site, where you can read the whole thing). An excerpt: “Our agreement with Spring Design represents another step in our digital strategy, which continues to focus on offering book lovers—including our more than 35 million Borders Rewards loyalty program members—high quality content on the device of their choosing,” said…

Editorials, Game Diary

The Video Game ‘DLC Double-Dip’ Debate Rages on with New Bioshock 2 DLC!

One thing that came along for the ride with the introduction of the XBOX360 is late 2005 was the ability to add post-release ‘downloadable content’, or DLC. DLC was different from the ‘expansion packs’ PC gamers were familiar with as it was smaller and more focused, and able to be delivered much more quickly and at a lower price. The system is attractive to publishers since it allows fast turn-around on the product as well as higher profits, but through the reuse of existing assets; it is attractive to gamers because it allows for frequent and inexpensive updates to favorite…

eBooks, Editorials

Ides of March eBook Edition

Welcome to this week’s “State of the ebook”. As usual, we’re diving in with news, then looking at a few major stories that have been floating around the ebook world. Apparently the eInk/Android mashup is becoming very attractive these days, as on the heels of the Entourage Edge and the Alex Reader we have yet ANOTHER similar device. This one is the 1Cross Tech MIDHybrid, and it has an LCD screen with Android and a QWERTY on one side, and an eInk on the other. Sort of like the cousin of the Entourage Edge. There’s no info on pricing, but…

Editorials, Game Diary

The Two Things It Would Take for Me to Support UbiSoft’s New (draconian) PC Game DRM

Comic courtesy of Penny Arcade I have already talked about the new DRM system Ubisoft has implemented in their games starting with Assassin’s Creed 2 – basically even for single player offline games you need to be constantly connected to the internet or the game boots you out and you lose all progress since the last checkpoint. While I bristle at the thought of such a system, I do accept that publishers need to find a way to protect their property from improper use and outright theft. I started writing this with a few quick ideas about how to make…

eBooks, Editorials

eBook Bundles, Interactions, and More!

I recently started re-reading one of my favorite books of all time: “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping“. It was my bible when I worked for Borders, and even on the consumer side of retail, I find it fascinating. The author, Paco Underhill, runs a company that studies how people shop. Everything from how much time people need to acclimate to entering a store to sightlines, signage, and spacing of aisles is scrutinized and tweaked for maximum impact based on Underhill’s team’s observations and suggestions. In this newer, updated version, he also touches on the internet and e-commerce. Somewhat…

eBooks, Editorials

eBook Readers Ahoy!

While the last few months have been dominated by publisher drama, it looks like things are quieting down, and we’re starting to hear more about upcoming readers (hardware and software). We have a lot to cover, including the (supposed) upcoming release of a much-anticipated reader, so let’s get started! First, let’s start with the big picture. eBook sales increased 176.6% in 2009, showing they are easily the fastest growing segment of the publishing market. Not to be outdone by Amazon’s constant crowing about the Kindle being their best-selling item ever, Barnes and Noble is making the same claims about the…

eBooks, Editorials

Publishers, Pricing, and Pretensions

Friday afternoon The Consumerist reported on a comment made by Michael Cader on a publishing industry site. Essentially, he said that if you can afford an ebook reader, you can afford higher ebook prices. Needless to say, many of us at Gear Diary vehemently disagreed. Each of us had our own take on the publishing industry, high prices, and our general frustration with publisher’s attitudes towards ebooks.

eBooks, Editorials

eBook State of Confusion

(image courtesy banklawyersblog) I thought this week might be a good time to step back and just review a few big themes/ongoing news in the ebook world. Some of these have been covered before, but since it can get very confusing very quickly with the changing landscape and players in the ebook world. So bear with me, as we run through a few major ebook areas that have been in the news and muddying the ebook waters this week!

eBooks, Editorials

Alternative eBook Sources for Your Kindle, Plus Bonus Book Review!

(image courtesy Motherinchief) I mentioned in my post about Macmillan, Hachette and HarperCollins pushing new agency model pricing on Amazon that there are alternatives outside the Kindle store. Since these aren’t as easy as just “flip on your wireless and go”, I thought I would give a quick rundown on a few of these options, along with how you can have them on your Kindle (or ebook reader of your choice).

eBooks, Editorials

eBook Copyrights, DRM, and Amazon Versus Macmillan

Well, it’s time for another State of the eBook. Of course, this week was under the iPad shadow, but-gasp!-there’s other news out there too! Plus, with Apple landing smack in the ebook game, plus the final “Google Books” settlement, it has led to some interesting discussion about the nature of ebook digital rights management and how we, as consumers, can either accept or challenge the status quo. Not to mention the argument between Amazon and Macmillan books! All of these really touch upon many of the issues surrounding ebooks; as their popularity increases, questions about how they should be treated…

eBooks, Editorials

Did Apple Change the eBook Market?

(photo courtesy Engadget) Weeks of rumors and fevered speculation are finally over, and the iPad has been released. You can check out Gear Diary’s liveblog, and listen in as Judie, Dan, Larry and I discuss the iPad in our podcast. Of course, there was one area of the iPad announcement that, while rumored, is still a bit shocking: Apple will be opening an iBookstore on the iPad. But what does this mean for ebooks? Should Amazon be sweating bullets? Has the whole ebook market changed with the sweep of a keynote slide? Read on to find out!

eBooks, Editorials, Events

CES eBooks News and Analysis

Welcome to the special CES Edition of State of the eBook! As everyone has reported, there was a huge onslaught of eBook reading devices this year, from dedicated e-ink devices to tablets! What does this mean for the eBook market? Let’s find out!

eBooks, Editorials

Is Text to Speech Copyright Infringement or Accessibility?

Famously, the Kindle 2 debuted with Text to Speech enabled, only to see it yanked for many books after the publishing companies complained it violated audiobook copyrights. This debate is becoming an issue all over again because of devices like Intel’s Reader for the blind, which uses a scanner and text to speech to allow a visually impaired individual to “read” a written passage.

eBooks, Editorials

Skimming through 2009 eBooks

(image courtesy of petitinvention) Welcome to the final State of the eBook for 2009! It has been a big year for eBooks, and I am going to do my best to cover a timeline of the high points, as well as a few things to look forward to in 2010. Rather than do a traditional timeline of events, I thought I’d break it down by the year in highlights per company/platform, and then a few predictions and news items to look forward to in 2010!