Notion Ink to have competition to encourage development for Adam reader, might release two versions originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Nook now in stock online and in stores, with new 'More In Store' content

Nook now in stock online and in stores, with new 'More In Store' content originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

So, we already assume Amazon's thinking touch for the Kindle, what with that recent Touchco aquisition and word of similar behind-the-screen touch tech being on PVI's roadmap. PVI owns E Ink, and is naturally bullish about its upcoming products, but what about E Ink in the new Kindle? If you're into reading the tea leaves of job postings, Amazon might be telegraphing its intentions. It's looking for a "Hardware Display Manager" who, among many other things, is supposed to have "Significant exposure to high volume manufacturing environments; you will know the LCD business and key players in the market." That might have you thinking the next Kindle will go LCD, but the requirements also mention a "deep knowledge of current display technology and potential future technologies," and nothing about the role seems exactly prescriptive of an LCD expertise -- more of a general focus on displays and product design, whatever tech might come. Pixel Qi or Mirasol, anybody? Amazon's also looking for all sorts of software expertise, including a "Software Design Engineer" who will be reponsible for radio stacks "including but not limited to" 3G and WiFi. Again, these are requirements (among many) for a role, not necessarily implications of a Kindle 3 spec sheet, but there's one thing clear: Amazon's gearing up for something.

Amazon job postings ask for display and wireless experts, hint at Kindle things to come? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Update: Turns out B&N will be rolling out an OTA update to customers in a few days, but the manual download is all ready for collection from right here. You'll find the full list of changes after the break

Update 2: Now with video, after the break.

[Thanks, Doug].

Continue reading Nook firmware 1.2 ready for download now (Update: video!)

Nook firmware 1.2 ready for download now (Update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 03:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Love your Kindle? How about your Sony Reader? Good then lean in close because your electrophoretic display (EPD) maker wants to have a word. Prime View International (PVI) chairman Scott Liu says that his company (the owners of E Ink) will be introducing a wide variety of new e-reader displays this year including color, flexible, and touchscreen EPDs. PVI also says that response times have been improved enough to allow for animation support on products in 2010. Of course, flip books provide animation as well but we wouldn't want to use one for any considerable amount of time -- but let's wait and see what they have before coming to a conclusion.

Interestingly enough, PVI says that it's developing pressure touch sensors that sit behind the display rather than using conventional touch-panels that can obscure the display's brightness. Funny, that sounds a lot like the Touchco technology just purchased by Amazon two days ago. Kindle 3, we're waiting... unfortunately for Amazon, the rest of the industry isn't.

Kindle display maker PVI promises touchscreens, color and flexibility in 2010 models originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 05:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

[Thanks, Mark]

Kindle dev kit now rolling out in limited beta originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple held most of the music industry virtually at knifepoint for years, and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if you were a consumer who wanted a legal way to get popular music at a fairly reasonable price. It was only about a year ago that iTunes let go of its dollar-store policy and allowed for a little leeway in its pricing. True, that leeway amounted to only a few cents per song, but the point is, for a very long time, it was the distribution channel dictating prices, not the publisher.

Geoffrey.landis writes "Many book lovers were surprised this week when Amazon.com removed books from the publisher Macmillan from the shelves (later restored), including such popular imprints as St. Martin's, Henry Holt, and the science fiction publisher Tor. But readers shouldn't have been surprised, according to the Author's Guild. The Author's Guild lists a history of earlier instances where Amazon stopped listing a publisher's books in order to pressure them to accept terms, dating back to early in 2008, when Amazon removed the 'buy' buttons for works from the British publisher Bloomsbury, representing such authors as William Boyd, Khaled Hosseini, and J.K. Rowling. In response, the Author's Guild has set up a service called Who Moved My Buy Button to alert authors when their books are removed from Amazon's lists."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Macmillan printed books and eBooks began to return to Amazon last night following a dispute over Amazon’s $9.99 eBook pricing scheme. Under the agreement, publishers can now raise prices to up to $14.99.

Macmillan, which was later joined by fellow publisher Hachette, requested the price increases over fears that Amazon would undercut its hardcover sales.

Amazon reacted by pulling all Macmillan books, but later conceded to the publisher’s demands. Under the agreed agency model, Amazon will receive 30% commission on sales.

Will you pay up to $14.99 for eBooks? Let us know in the comments.

[via The NYTimes]