Archive for the 'e-books' Tag
November 11th, 2009, 11:57 am by Jayson Peters
Opposition seems to be growing to the use of Amazon’s e-book reader in an academic setting.
 Two universities this week said they will shun the device unless Amazon makes changes to make it more accessible to the visually impaired.
In June an ASU student, backed by the National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind, sued Arizona State University over the use of the Kindle DX for textbooks, saying its lack of a nonvisual user interface locks the blind out of the new technology and puts them at a competitive disadavantage.
Not long after that, Amazon made waves (and provoked a lawsuit) with its decision to yank purchased content from users’ Kindles because it consisted of unauthorized editions of literary classics. (Amazon later settled the rights issues and attempted to make it up to consumers.)
See also:
Posted in: Books • Business • Technology • Amazon • e-books • Kindle • lawsuit • Litigation | Post a Comment »
October 22nd, 2009, 2:04 pm by Jayson Peters
 Amazon announced today that it will release a free software application for Windows PCs that will read the same e-books as its $259 Kindle device.
The application, which was announced the same day Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system debuted at the company’s first retail store in Scottsdale, will be available in November, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Books • Business • PC • Technology • Amazon • e-books • Kindle | Post a Comment »
October 8th, 2009, 1:08 am by Jayson Peters
 Amazon has lowered the price of its Kindle e-book reader to $259 and unveiled an international model, according to PC World … but Canada is still Kindle-less due to a lack of wireless distribution agreements for the device’s bookish content, reports the Globe & Mail.
If you’re reading this, O Canada, here’s some of the fun you’ve been missing:
Posted in: Books • Geek gear • Holidays • Technology • Amazon • e-books • Kindle | Post a Comment »
September 4th, 2009, 1:49 pm by Jayson Peters
Amazon is trying to pacify those Kindle owners who were outraged when George Orwell novels were ripped away after the company discovered it did not have the rights to distribute the works.
 According to The Associated Press, the e-tailer — which now says the rights issue has been resolved — is offering free books or $30 to customers who lost their copies of 1984 and Animal Farm in July.
Later that month a high school student sued, claiming the content’s removal also destroyed notes taken for school assignments.
From Friday’s AP report:
In an e-mail sent Thursday to Kindle owners whose books were erased, Amazon offered to redeliver the titles to their e-readers for free, along with any annotations users had made. Or the customers can get a $30 Amazon.com gift certificate or a $30 check - which could be worth much more than two Kindle books, because many of them cost $10 or less.
The Kindle is no stranger to controversy. In June, Arizona State University found itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit when advocates for the blind alleged discrimination because the school was offering textbooks in the Kindle format. While the device has the ability to read to the blind, its interface has no audio or Braille functionality to let them navigate the menus.
Posted in: Books • Business • Technology • Amazon • e-books • George Orwell • Kindle | Post a Comment »
August 25th, 2009, 10:38 am by Jayson Peters
I know it’s a cheesy name, but I’m sticking with it until something better comes along, OK?
• Microsoft has started hiring for its first two retail stores, one of which will be at Scottsdale Fashion Square (story).
• If you don’t have a smart phone, Microsoft wants you to feel smart anyway with access to “apps.”
• Yahoo may have given in and accepted Bing as its search-engine lord, but that won’t stop the Web portal from rolling out a series of upgrades before the end of the year, months before Microsoft takes over powering Yahoo’s search results.
• Barnes & Noble recently announced a partnership with a Dutch firm, iRex, to provide e-books for a new reader device, hoping to steal some of Amazon’s Kindle thunder (story). And now Sony plans to offer an e-reader with wireless download ability.
• Nokia is joining the netbook bandwagon, announcing Monday it will produce a small, light laptop similar to those that PC manufacturers are selling through wireless carriers.
• Who owns the copyright to the Unix operating system? The matter is heading to trial.
• Apple’s Snow Leopard OS goes on sale Friday.
Posted in: Apple • Technology • e-books • Microsoft • Tech Bytes | Post a Comment »
August 24th, 2009, 10:38 pm by Jayson Peters
E-book readers like Amazon’s Kindle are going to get some more competition later this year when Dutch company iRex, partnering with Barnes & Noble for content, launches its own e-reader.
Posted in: Books • Technology • Barnes & Noble • e-books | Post a Comment »
August 10th, 2009, 12:32 pm by Jayson Peters
 The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple is joining Amazon in the digital textbook business.
CourseSmart, which provides e-book subscriptions for college students, is making its 7,000-plus library available on Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch devices. An app will allow subscribers to access full electronic textbooks, keep digital notes and search for specific words and phrases.
Textbooks Offered for iPod, iPhones — Wall Street Journal (subscriber content)
Recently, after Arizona State University launched a pilot program to provide textbooks via Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, advocates for the blind sued because the Kindle, while it has a reading function for the vision-impaired, lacks such accommodation in its navigation menus.
Apple’s iPhone, it seems, doesn’t have the same problem.
Image: Apple
Posted in: Apple • Books • Technology • e-books • iPhone | 3 Comments »
July 31st, 2009, 11:20 am by Jayson Peters
Talk about an ability to kindle up controversy.
A high school student has filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com for deleting an e-book he bought for the e-tailer’s Kindle device, according to a report by The Associated Press. The lawsuit seeks class-action status and unspecified damages for all buyers of e-books that Amazon deleted, plus a ban on future deletions.
Amazon pulled the George Orwell books Animal Farm and 1984 from its e-book inventory July 16 because the particular editions sold were basically bootlegs, and the works are not yet in the public domain here in the United States.
The lawsuit alleges that the student’s notes for a school assignment were “rendered useless” when the content disappeared.
In June, Arizona State University found itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit when advocates for the blind alleged discrimination because the school was offering textbooks in the Kindle format. While the device has the ability to read to the blind, its interface has no audio or Braille functionality to let them navigate the menus.
Posted in: Books • Business • Sci-Fi & Fantasy • Technology • Amazon • e-books • Kindle • lawsuit • Orwell | Post a Comment »
July 25th, 2009, 11:27 pm by Jayson Peters
We’ve already reported that at least one e-tailer has proved it has both the ability and the guts to snatch back content you thought you wanted (Amazon embraces the Orwellian spirit and UPDATE: Orwell e-books yanked from Kindles were bootlegs, July 17).
Now the U.S. government appears to be on the verge of establishing a squad of truth police if not Thought Police, if Tribune columnist Austin Hill is to be believed (Obama appointee wants control of web speech, July 25).
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Books • Business • Hmmmmm..... • Internet • Nerd rage • Piracy • Politics • Technology • Television • Amazon • Barack Obama • Big Brother • e-books • George Orwell • Kindle • PDF | Post a Comment »
July 17th, 2009, 11:12 pm by Jayson Peters
 Image courtesy of Amazon Time for an update on the latest Kindle controversy, mentioned earlier today in this blog by Chris:
Imagine this: You go into your favorite bookstore and purchase a book. You take it home and begin reading it. That night the bookstore sneaks into your house, takes the book back and leaves the money you paid for the book in its place. That would be pretty messed up, right?
Well, that’s fairly close to what Amazon has done to Kindle users who had purchased copies of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and “1984.” After the publisher changed their minds about selling electronic versions of the books, Amazon remotely deleted the books from the electronic reading devices.
The latest information from Ars Technica sheds some light on Amazon’s motives. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Books • Business • Internet • Technology • Amazon • e-books • Kindle • Orwell | Post a Comment »
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