Saturday, August 15, 2015

The Pocketbook CAD will soon be available in Europe

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Pocketbook has begun the process of making a few dedicated webpages on their corporate site to sell the 13.3 inch Pocketbook CAD e-reader in Austria and Germany. No pricing is available yet, but they do have an add to cart button that is setting the stage for a full commercial release.

The Pocketbook CAD was initially unveiled in  January 2014 at CES. It featured a 13.3 inch screen and utilizes an e-paper called Fina. This is basically super lightweight glass and is easy to hold with one hand. It is cheaper than the Mobius edition, which is currently unavailable.

Underneath the hood was a 1GHz dual-core CPU with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage. It has built-in Wi-Fi and an optional 3G module. You will be able to use this device for a few days with its large 8000 mAh battery. It also has full support for a Wacom digitizer which will allow for pin-point procession in editing documents.

It will be interesting to see how consumers react to this device, since it can be considered a direct competitor to the Sony Digital Paper.

New Kobo Firmware 3.17 May Cause Rebooting Issue

Kobo released a new software update for their line of ebook readers this past week. The new firmware version is 3.17.0. It’s available for the Kobo Glo HD, the original Glo, the Kobo Touch, the Kobo Aura, Aura HD and Aura H2O—so basically everything except the Kobo Mini. Like usual, Kobo doesn’t provide a changelog […]

Poland Wants the VAT on Books and e-Books to be the same

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Poland is getting fed up with the VAT between print books and e-books and are doing something about it. A number of Polish judges have asked European Court of Justice to look into the matter.

Currently print books in Poland have a 5% VAT but e-books carry a hefty surcharge of 23%.  The main reason for this is because the EU classifies  e-books are a “service” and not a “product.”

Not only are the judges now involved, but the Minister of Culture MaƂgorzata Omilanowska called on the European Commission to immediately start working on a directive that would make electronic and traditional books legally equal.

The high cost of VAT on e-books is stagnating the entire digital publishing industry in Poland. Schools, libraries and corporate bodies are still going with print, because the digital editions are not budget friendly.