The Kindle and its ilk may be taking the newspaper and book worlds by storm, but they’re not going to revolutionise the way we read magazines anytime soon: the screens, formatting and lack of interactivity just aren’t up to the task.
E-reader
The next big e-reader
US book retailer Barnes & Noble has launched its own e-reader. Called the “nook”, it’s a purty-lookin’ dual screen little gadget, but the real thing that sets it apart from other readers is that it lets users share e-books with each other
Arrr! Prepare ye landlubbers for book piracy
With the arrival of the Kindle around the world, the publishing industry is preparing for an onslaught of black-market e-books, as people share them illegally online. Will it be the mp3 wars all over again?
E-paper: the real “Kindle Killer”
Everyone (and by “everyone”, we mean “geeks and the media”) is fixated on what the Next Big Thing in e-readers will be. But what if e-readers aren’t the Next Big Thing at all? Check out e-paper, which allows hi-res, full-colour imagery.
Kindle not the book’s iPod moment
The release of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader in Australia has impatient early adopters crying “about time”. But don’t get too excited, says Matthia Dempsey: you may not actually be able to read anything on it.
Bye-bye Borders: the Kindle finally comes to Australia
Amazon’s heavily-hyped e-reader, the Kindle, has finally released an international version and will be available in Australia this month. Why would you want one? Imagine buying, downloading and reading a new-release book, without getting out of bed. Exactly.
Creating an iTunes for print
Magazine publishers are worried Apple’s upcoming tablet computer could do to their industry what the iPod did to music, taking away their control over the product and cutting into their profits. Can the industry band together to create a united “shop-front” as its content goes digital?
A tale of two tablets
As Apple and Microsoft race to release their own tablet computers and get a foothold in the emerging e-Reader market, new leaks and rumours reveal what each party will be offering.
leaked Microsoft’s top-secret tablet
Images and details of a new tablet computer by Microsoft have been leaked online. We won’t lie: it’s mostly interesting because Apple is also releasing one, but both could be potential “Kindle killers” in the e-reader market.
Publisher: e-readers will kill books
CEO of French publishing group Hachette Livre, Arnaud Nourry, says digital books could kill off the market for print editions, with retailers selling electronic titles at a loss to keep prices so low, hardback books can’t compete.
Sony unveils its Kindle killer
Sony has unveiled its new e-reader, hoping to regain back some of the market from Amazon’s Kindle. It costs more, but has a touch screen and supports a more open book format. Yet Apple’s mythical iTablet — which hasn’t been made yet — is still being touted as the real potential threat. Poor Sony.
Reading by Kindle light
Will Amazon’s Kindle — and other e-readers of its ilk — spell the death of books and newspapers? WH Chong weighs in.
A news revolution in the palm of your hand
The iPhone has meant I no longer need to buy a newspaper for anything at all, says Alan Kohler, and the launch of Apple’s much-hyped new tablet computer — the iPad — may put Steve Jobs’ name alongside Johannes Gutenberg, John Walter and Giambattista Bodoni as a news revolutionary.
Australian newspapers reject Amazon’s Kindle
Tens of thousands of Americans now read their news via Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, but as Australian newspaper publishers gear up to deliver their content digitally, both Fairfax and News say they’re looking at other brands and models, with Sony and Apple;s products now more likely contenders.
Gartner predicts tech’s hot-and-not
Market research company Gartner has released their 2009 “Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies”, declaring what the next big things in tech will be — and what’s yesterday’s news. Amongst their predictions: Twitter is on the way out, e-books have hit their peak, and internet TV is on the up-and-up.
Manga on your mobile: the future of comics?
Comic books made to be read on mobile phones, e-readers and iPods are big business in Japan, but will the take off with a western audience? Big comic publishing houses like DC and Dark Horse venture into the potential goldmine — or money pit — of digital comics.
Once upon a time, books had pages and fonts
Are e-readers — like the Kindle — really the future of reading? For Nicholson Baker, words in “greenish, sickly… postmortem gray” on a screen just aren’t the same.
Doubleplusungood: Amazon goes Orwellian on e-readers
Amazon has been deleting e-books directly from Kindle e-readers, with hundreds of Kindle owners making the bitterly ironic discovery that their paid-for copies of 1984 and Animal Farm had disappeared. At least they experienced a good taste of the plot…
The newspaper still beats the Kindle
E-readers may have some price advantages over newspapers in the US, but they lack what print newspapers such a perfect delivery vehicle for news: graphic design.
TechCrunch set to build e-reader prototype
Step aside Kindle and Cool-er, TechCrunch is creating their very own e-reader.
