Many folks will consider the latest update to Kindle for iPad and iPhone to be a big yawn but I’m quite excited by it, for a couple of reasons.
Category Archives: eReaders
Kindle for iPad Begins Feature Parity with Kindle Devices
Review: AnyBizSoft PDF Converter (with Giveaway!) [Update]
When Stevie J. unveiled the iBooks application for iPad, I was quite excited. Not just because I could buy and read books from the iBookStore (though, nice) but because I could transfer any ePub-formatted book or document to my iPad and read it in the iBooks app. This was exciting to me partly because I’m writing an eBook for distribution on many eReader platforms (including the iPad) and was glad for the ability to test pilot the document, but also because I just enjoy that silly “page flipping” animation. 
Read on for a full review, screenshots and a giveaway.
Kindle App Updated to Version 2.1, New Fonts and Search Options [Updated: Screenshots]
Amazon has updated their Universal Kindle App for iPad and iPhone. The iPad gets the addition of bigger fonts and more font sizes along with easier and faster navigation between home and archived items on iPad.
The iPhone gets the ability to search inside the book – iPad users will have to wait for this feature.
Announcing the Zinio “Summer of Reading” Giveaway
Have you seen the Zinio app for iPad and iPhone? Have you seen the gazillions of digital magazines that the app lets you read anytime, anywhere?
The iPad app has been downloaded so often that it was the #1 iPad News app in the App Store for weeks and has since remained in the Top 10. It’s also a top News app for the iPhone which, given the number of available of applications, is saying something.
Zinio has decided it’s time to celebrate – not just their excitement about being a popular app, but about Summer and all the reading you can do on the beach, in the country or just relaxing in your home.
iTunes 9.1 Now Available; Supports iPad, Books
If you haven’t checked Software Update in a while, you may not have found the newly released iTunes 9.1 software.
Ready for Saturday, the software supports the iPad including the new iBooks eBook content and software. What’s interesting about this update is that the Audiobooks media type has been removed and replaced with the Books media type. Under that item, you’ll find your current audiobooks and presumably, when they’re ready, your iBooks.
Kindle for iPad Announced
iPad or Kindle?! Kindle or iPad?!
You no longer have to struggle with that decision as Amazon has revealed it’s plans for tablet computers, including the upcoming iPad.
Kindle for iPad takes advantage of the device’s large LED screen, allowing you to view your library in new and interesting ways. (It looks sort of like the iBooks bookshelf but then, that’s nothing really new, I guess.) Slow page turns are also a feature, letting you “flip” the page slowly with the digit of your choice.
Win an iPad from Zinio!
The folks at Zinio are giving away a dozen or so iPads to celebrate the launch of their upcoming iPad app. The app will let you read thousands of magazine titles in digital format on the device.
There’s more than one way to win one of these iPads, though. You can make a YouTube video, tweet about it on Twitter or become a fan of Zinio on Facebook. While you have an opportunity to win using any of the above methods (all are free, of course) you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck using YouTube.
What Magazines Will Look Like on iPad (Video)
This is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the upcoming edition of ViV Magazine, available only as a digital title. Alexx Henry, the studio that produced the work, used some the new RED cameras along with lots of green screens and 3D rendering. The production values are amazing but I wonder, can they keep producing these month after month? I sure hope so. Videos after the jump.
Barnes & Noble eReader Software Coming to iPad
Not only will Apple have it’s own iBookStore selling titles in ePub format, but it will allow any unprotected ePub formatted eBook to be installed and read on the iPad using the company’s iBooks app.
Amazon already offers its Kindle Reader for iPhone and iPod Touch, so it will be no surprise when they announce their eBook Reader software for iPad. The company also continues to offer the Stanza eBook reader software for iPhone that it acquired last year.
Beating them to the proverbial punch it seems, Barnes & Noble has announced the upcoming availability of its own B&N eReader software “to be released around the time of iPad’s expected availability.”
Sony Creating Gadgets to Compete with Apple (Video)
Sony is preparing a line of products to compete with Apple’s growing stable of portable devices with an attempt to leverage their PlayStation and PlayStation Portable brand, infrastructure and ecosystem.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the new lineup will include a smartphone capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games and a portable device that “blurs the distinctions among a netbook, an e-reader and a PlayStation Portable.” The former squarely targets the iPhone while the latter, the iPad. The new products will launch in 2010. More, including video after the jump.
