e-books

Amazon has updated its Kindle iPhone app to add embedded audio and video to its e-books, a feature that can now be seen and heard in a small sampling of titles, from "Rick Steves' London 2010" to "Best of the Beatles for Acoustic Guitar."

People who use the free Kindle app on their iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad devices can choose from 13 different e-books, all priced at $9.99, to get a taste of the new video-and-audio feature.

The titles released Sunday include five travel books from author Rick Steves and publishing house Avalon Travel, … Read more

Apple's iBooks app includes a storefront of thousands of titles, many of which are free, public domain books. But if you really have a thing for free books, online repositories, such as Project Gutenberg and Google Books offer a vast selection of e-book titles that users can download to their computers.

These same files are also compatible with Apple's iBooks app, but it isn't exactly obvious how to load them onto your device.

The following CNET How To walks you though the process of downloading an online EPUB book file, loading it into iTunes, giving it cover … Read more

Before the iPad, it was often said that there has never been a successful electronics device in a screen size between the cell phone and the laptop. Indeed, the form factor and functionality of such devices have been tough nuts to crack, but there have been a few successes.

While the most widely adopted of these was the so-called "portable" DVD player embraced by many top-tier consumer electronics brands, a more modest success story has been the digital picture frame.

Cleverly branded, overgrown multimedia players that had undergone battery removal surgery, the digital picture frame was a star … Read more

Otterbox is known for its ultraprotective iPhone cases. Now, M-Edge, which specializes in Kindle cases, is doing the same for the Kindle, with an announcement that its first waterproof Kindle is now shipping.

The company says the Guardian is made of molded plastic and protects your Kindle in all water environments up to 1 meter deep, whether you're in the pool, ocean, or just soaking in the tub. Your e-reader is totally sealed in the case, but you can still access all the buttons through "flexible sealed button cutouts." Even better, the case turns your Kindle into … Read more

Two major publishing houses have been questioned about electronic book pricing by the Texas Attorney General's Office, according to two reports Wednesday.

Hachette Book Group and HarperCollins both told The Wall Street Journal that they had been contacted by the Texas AG's office, but did not elaborate on the subject of the inquiry. Earlier, book industry publication Publishers Marketplace reported that Apple was the target of the state's questioning.

Hachette and HarperCollins are two of the six major book publishers who publish digital books on Apple's iBooks platform.

Apple is relatively new to e-books, but it … Read more

China's Hanwang Technology has teamed up with chipmaker Marvell to create a new line of inexpensive e-book readers powered by the latter's Armada processor.

Hanwang, which is also known as Hanvon and is China's largest e-reader maker, already sells devices such as the Wisereader N516 and N518 in China and internationally.

Marvell's Armada 166E system-on-a-chip includes an integrated e-paper display controller. It is designed to offer quick display of high-resolution PDF and ePub electronic documents, according to Marvell. It also features a hibernation mode to conserve power.

Hanwang's new e-reader line will hit the market … Read more

With the Apple iPad's international launch on Friday, consumers worldwide gained access to Amazon.com's Kindle app and Kobo's e-reader--apparently ahead of Apple's own iBook store.

Amazon's free Kindle iPad app is now available to all countries where the iPad is offered, Amazon said. The app lets people download and read e-books from Amazon's online bookstore without need for Kindle hardware.

Meanwhile, Kobo announced Friday that it has expanded the reach of its free iPad app to Canada, the U.K., and Australia. The regional versions offer local content and merchandise, according to Kobo. … Read more

Sony is getting ready to send its e-book reader on a worldwide trip.

The company announced Thursday that it will introduce its Reader digital book device into several new global markets this year. Sony plans to hit the Asia-Pacific market with launches in Japan, China, and Australia, and expand throughout Europe by reaching countries such as Italy and Spain.

The company said it will use existing relationships with retailers, publishers, and distributors to help push the Reader and make sure local e-book content is available for consumers in each region.

"In the years since we unveiled the first eReader, … Read more

Though it's taken a little longer than we expected, Barnes & Noble has announced that this summer it will launch PubIt, a new DIY publishing option for independent publishers and self-publishing writers to distribute their works digitally through BN.com and Barnes & Noble's e-book store.

The new service will compete with Amazon's pioneering Digital Text Platform (DTP), which many writers have turned to for distributing their works to the Kindle and other devices that run the Kindle Reader software. Sony, too, has a DYI option for its Reader Store, and Apple is now allowing self-publishers to … Read more