This week is SID Display week, a trade show for display makers.  The guys at Goodereader are at the show looking at the new displays for ereaders.

Sony has a new 13.3 inch prototype reader using a new Eink screen.  The device itself is only 12.6 oz (only 4 ozs more than a Kindle Paperwhite, while more than quadrupling the screen size.)  The screen by itself is only weighs 16 grams and is flexible and does not require a glass screen.

This is still a prototype but Sony hopes to commercially release a model by the end of the year.

The large screen is focused on large format PDF documents and will be targeted toward business and technical uses and education.  It also allows you to use a pen to notate the device and finger touch navigation.

(After I original wrote up this post, I saw that Goodereader had a follow up post where they interacted with the 13.3 inch ereader on their own.  The pictures are better with this one.)

Here is a video from Good Ereader with a (slightly awkward) demonstration from an Eink employee.

Overdrive is the system that most libraries uses to distribute ebooks and downloadable audiobook via the web to its patrons.  Starting last week (May 15th) until June 1st, Overdrive is trying a new pilot project, Big Library Read.

In more than 3000 library systems across the US, The Four Corners of the Sky by Michael Malone is being advertised on the main page of the library’s Overdrive system.  This is more than just advertising because the book is being offered to the libraries for free during this time.

After the focus period the book is removed from the Overdrive system for free and the libraries can choose to purchase it as they normally would.

The book is available in EPub, PDF, and Kindle formats.

h/t Goodereader

Overdrive press release

English: A Picture of a eBook (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The annual survey of publishers, BookStats, is out and like recent years there was a significant increase in ebook sales.  But total revenues are also doing quite well for publishers.  In 2012 there was a total revenue of $15 Billion, up from $14 Billion in 2011.

Ebooks now make up 20% of total publisher revenue and with that, the sales channel is continuing to move online and away from brick and mortar book stores.  Paidcontent.org has some good charts about the shift.

Something that is interesting is that total book related revenue (including the educational market and professional/scholarly publishing is down 0.9% from 2011.  So despite healthy consumer book market, the education and professional market is down.  This makes sense because those are the two areas that have been slower to adopt ebook format.

Also audiobook sales are up 22% for the year, which is also related to consumers wanting to get more formats.

h/t Ireaderreview

Image via CrunchBase

Yesterday Amazon confirmed that they bought Liquavista from Samsung.  Samsung bought them in 2011 but never did anything with the company.

E-paper, similar to e-ink (but not the same) is a very low power screen technology.  But e-paper is color, able to show video as well as color images and is a flexible screen display so it does not require a hard plastics or glass screen (so hopefully it would be more durable and less prone to breakage.)

So this might mean that Amazon is planning on using the technology in a future kindle.  But the predictions that Amazon ‘will soon have a color kindle’ have been regularly made since about 2008.

This is a good sign for those that are looking forward to a color eink (or eink like) display.  But it may also be a first step to moving away from the current eink screens that have had almost no real innovation in the last 5 years.

Liquavista announced the Pebble, a color ereader in 2010, but it has remained a concept product that has never come to market.

The guys at Goodereader.com ran through a comparison the Kobo Aura HD against all of the other major front lit ereaders. I was most interested in their comparison with the Kindle Paperwhite (since most agree that it had the best light prior to the new Kobo Aura.)

After watching their demonstration I agree the Kobo Aura HD has a more even light and a better screen. But if you have not seen a front light in action (the light is embedded in the screen and shines down at the text instead of a light behind the text shining out like on a computer screen), their demonstration is worth watching.

Here is the Paperwhite vs Kobo Aura HD

What may be interesting is this comparison against the Kobo ARC (an android tablet with a traditional LCD display). This is why I am so much in favor of an eink reader instead of an LCD based tablet to read on.

Salon posted an article (originally in Scientific American) about ereaders and reading comprehension on Sunday (h/t Marc Cortez) that I think sums up a lot of frustration on reporting on ereaders.

First, and oddly the Salon article has a picture of a first generation kindle (which is much clunkier to use than the now 6th generation kindles).

But more importantly early in the article the author suggests that studies prior to 1992 suggest that screen reading was less effective than print reading. But clearly 20 years later we have different quality of technology.   The very next line of the article suggests that more recent studies are less conclusive. But none of those less conclusive studies are commented on.

The most frustrating thing for me is that odd that most of the studies that compare print and digital text compare reading on a computer and reading a book. Studies rarely seem to compare reading on an ereader and reading a book. But the reporting on the studies almost always suggests that it was a comparison between reading a print book and an ereader.

The Salon article cites a January 2013 study, but it still compares reading on a computer (PDF files which have to be the worst type of file to read) and in print. In fact as far as I can tell, not a single study in the Salon article looked at reading on an eink ereader, even though the article mentions them frequently.

The article does make the very valid point that people often remember where something was in a print text. “I know where on the page a quote is from.” That is a real advantage to print. But the article does not at all address corresponding advantage to ereading (universal word search). So you can search for where that word or phrase was in a book in a way that is impossible with print.

On the whole, the article is unconvincing to me (admittedly I am a kindle lover) not because I don’t think that there are some advantages to print, but because the article addresses none of the advantages to eink readers.

Guardian Waterproof Case (image credit Engaget)

Last week I went on my first cruise.  I unexpectedly was the subject of a lot of pictures from strangers (seriously I noticed at least a dozen people covertly or overtly taking my picture.)

It was certainly not my good looks or my chiseled abs, it was my M-Edge Guardian Kindle case.  The case is completely waterproof, floating and virtually indestructible protection for a 2nd Generation Kindle.

One of my favorite things to do is float in the ocean (or in this case the salt water pool) and read.  I can do this only because of the Guardian case.  I bought two of these right when they came out about 3 or 4 years ago.  They were not cheap, $79 a piece, but they were the best kindle purchase I have ever made.

Continue Reading…

I am a regular reader of the Churchm.ag blog. It is a great technology blog focused on church staff and volunteers.  I even have posted there once or twice. The owner of Churchm.ag, Eric Dye, reviewed the Amazon Kindle Fire HD that he bought for his daughters.  It is a decidedly mixed review, which I think fits the Kindle Fire.  My sister-in-law who bought the 8.9 version is not happy with it six months later.  She will keep using it, but will most likely replace it with an iPad when it needs replacing.

Here is Eric’s review:

Since its arrival, I’ve had the chance to see it go through the paces and see how it performs compared to Apple’s offerings and other tablets on the market.

My first impressions were not overwhelming. The build of the Kindle Fire HD 7-in tablet is nothing special. It’s got nothing on Apple and other Android builds. The positive side to this, is you don’t feel like you’re holding such an expensive device! Then again, you’re not. On the flip-side, it doesn’t feel like you’re going to break it.

continue reading the rest of the review at Churchm.ag

This is a guest post from Sylvia Nankivell one of the owners of http://www.usedbooksearch.net, a price comparison site for used books

Books (Photo credit: henry…)

I have always been a good reader and I am working at becoming a good writer. I began by reading or memorizing my favorite story. Now my mind reads and stores text a lot easier. I want to find out what happens next. I don’t want to skip from the beginning to the end of a story. I want to enjoy the journey that the author has created. The curtain slowly opens and reveals the plot, characters or factual reasoning. I like the feel of a used book, with the slightly rough paper and the dog-eared pages. It holds the memory of the reader before me. The crease in the cover or the spine is part of the tale with its unique wear-and-tear. Used books are decorative and entertaining. Visitors to my cabin home will look at the books with a sideways glance to read the titles. The price of a used book is usually low and shipping can be free if you buy more books at one time. But I don’t always have room to store a used book, and over the years the pages can become yellow or worn.

Continue Reading…

I am a big fan of Goodreads.com.  It is the best (in my opinion) of the social networks for readers.  I have been tracking all of my book reading there for the last three years and built a nice little community.

But it looks like Amazon is buying Goodreads.com for an undisclosed price.

I love Amazon and I love Goodreads, but I am a bit concerned about this purchase.  Amazon already own Shelfari (which I never liked) and a stake in LibraryThing (which I have never tried).  If Amazon actually goes through with this purchase, Amazon will own all or part of three of the largest social media sites for readers.

That does not seem like a good idea for readers.

Here is the press release.