As he is wont to do, author George R.R. Martin is taking his sweet time writing The Winds of Winter, the next epic in his A Song of Ice and Fire saga that HBO has been adapting into its hit series A Game of Thrones. Via Paste Magazine, Martin on Thursday gave fans something to quench their thirst for new material by posting a new chapter from The Winds of Winter that revolves around Sansa Stark, the Stark daughter that fans of the series hated at the beginning and have slowly grown to pity as her fortunes have gone from bad to worse. More →
There are times when I’m amazed at how easy it is to sucker people into giving you their money. Whether it’s zany weight-loss schemes, get-rich-quick programs or penis-enlargement devices, I find myself stunned that any of these products can make enough money to stay in business. Nothing, however, can separate fools from their money quite as efficiently as religion. More →
Amazon officially announced its eBook and audiobook subscription service Kindle Unlimited on Friday after an accidental leak revealed the details of the service less than 24 hours earlier. Subscribers will have access to over 600,000 eBooks and thousands of Audible audiobooks on Kindles as well as iOS, Android and other devices for $9.99 a month. More →
Amazon is about to change the way we acquire books once again. According to Gigaom, members of the Kindle Boards discovered a page on Tuesday which appears to reveal an upcoming eBook subscription service called “Kindle Unlimited” which would allow subscribers to access over 600,000 titles and thousands of audiobooks “on any device” for $9.99 a month. Although the test pages have since been removed, you can still find them on Google Cache. More →
If you’re a hefty reader who isn’t overly attached to physical books then you may want to check out a new app that promises to for books what Spotify has done for music and what Netflix has done for movies. Per Android Police, a new app called Oyster has just launched on Android that offers an all-you-can-read book subscription service that will cost you just $10 per month. More →
Given what digital media options have done to CDs and newspapers, you probably assumed that the rise of eReaders such as Kindle and Nook would be doing the same thing to printed books… but you’d be wrong. Per The Guardian, a new survey of people between the ages of 16 to 24 shows that 62% of young adults prefer reading printed books over eBooks. More →
Barnes & Noble remains in dire straits, which is no surprise. What does come as a shock is that the bookstore chain has abruptly decided not to split its retail operations from its star-crossed Nook division. The company has mulled over the split for 18 months, but opted not to pull the trigger. B&N is pretty much a text-book case of a corporation paralyzed by steep and apparently irreversible decline. Nook sales, which were once the only hope for future growth, are now declining at a disastrous 32% clip. Amazon’s Kindle product range is simply devouring the Nook alive. More →
Amazon is reportedly working on a new Kindle Paperwhite model, which should arrive at some point in early 2014, according to TechCrunch. The flagship feature of the new reading device is said to be a new high-resolution display that will have a 300 pixel-per-inch (ppi) density. The publication also reports that it has seen a prototype of the e-reader, which has a display made of matte glass instead of plastic and which seemed “flush with the edges” rather than recessed. In spite of using glass, the new device is lighter than its predecessor. More →
Even some people who relish having the latest cutting-edge gadgets have had a hard time giving up their large collections of old-school paper books. Amazon is aiming to fix that, however, by unleashing its new MatchBook service that offers cheap digital copies of physical books that users have bought through Amazon in the past. There are a couple of caveats here: First, you can only get the eBook discounts on new books that you’ve bought through Amazon and not used books. And second, not every book you’ve ever bought through Amazon will be available at first, although with 70,000 books enrolled so far Amazon is certainly offering an impressive library. The company’s full press release follows below. More →
Barnes & Noble has finally slashed the price of its moribund Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight to $99. The entire eBook reader industry received a fatal blow when Amazon launched its Kindle Fire, a fairly impressive tablet at $199. All eBooks on the market were simply priced too high to prevent consumers from being seduced by slightly more expensive tablets with fancy color touchscreens and more expansive feature sets. Not even $79 was cheap enough to prevent buyers from bolting. More →
When people buy an E Ink eReader instead of one of the many affordable tablets available on the market, they’re likely looking for a somewhat pure eBook reading experience. As Barnes & Noble’s Nook business continues to flounder, however, the book seller will soon bank on new tablet features to help boost interest in its Nook Simple Touch lineup. According to a purported leaked email obtained by TechCrunch, Barnes & Noble plans to issue an update to its Simple Touch eReaders that will add a Web browser, email and a new store app to the devices. No other details were provided, though the update is expected to begin rolling out over the air (OTA) on June 1st. A copy of the leaked email follows below. More →
The European Union accepted a settlement offer from Apple (AAPL) and four other book publishers on Thursday that will end an antitrust investigation over eBook price gouging. European regulators had alleged that Apple, along with Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette Livre and Macmillan, were conspiring to fix eBook prices to prevent Amazon (AMZN) and other online bookstores from undercutting books in the iTunes library. Per the terms of the settlement, publishers have agreed that they will avoid limiting retailers’ pricing of eBooks for five years and will continue to allow retailers to discount eBook prices for two years. The publishers and Apple have also agreed to terminate all existing pricing agreement. More →
