| The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Aura HD are have reached the apex on what the current generation of e-Readers can do. These two devices are released by companies who both sell the hardware and digital content. The big hyping factor behind these two electronic readers is the ability to read in the dark via the front-lit display and the high resolution. Today, we pit these head to head in a video comparison, to give you a sense on what they both bring to the table. The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite features a six inch e-ink Pearl display with tremendous resolution. You are looking at a very solid 1024×768, which makes pictures looking very crisp. It runs on a 800 MHZ CPU processor and has 512 MB of RAM. There is 2 GB of internal storage and most purchases you make are stored in the cloud, one of the drawbacks is there is no expandable memory. Amazon has one of the deepest ecosystems in the world, and has over 1.2 million books that are mainstream bestsellers and thousands of self-published titles. The Kobo Aura HD features a 6.8 inch touchscreen with a resolution of 1440×1080 with 265 DPI. This e-reader is seriously the best in the business with its high-definition display. The Kindle Fire HD 7 has 1280×800 and the Nook HD has 1440×900. What this means is that as an e-reader, it actually has better image quality than the majority of mainstream tablets on the market. The Aura HD also has a built in comfort light, which allows you to read in the dark with a front-lit display. It is powered by a 1 GB processor and has 4 GB of internal memory, which can be expanded via a SD Card. People choose e-Readers because of their minimal distractions and is the closest you can get to reading a real book. The Aura edges out the Paperwhite in terms of screen resolution, screen size and brightness of the front-lit display. Pictures, text and UI elements tend to look better on the Aura, and the extra 1 inch screen size really enhances your experience. Over the course of this video comparison we check out the eBook reading experience with purchased books and also PDF files. You can get a sense on what type of augmentation options you can employ via fonts, linespacing, margins, highlights, dictionaries and annotations. We also dive deep into the core features both bring to the table and by the end of the video you should get a strong sense on what e-Reader is perfect for you. Kobo Aura HD VS Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is a post from: E-Reader News |
Friday, April 19, 2013
Kobo Aura HD VS Amazon Kindle Paperwhite
Amazon Expanding into Russia
| Amazon may be setting up shop in Russia in the near future. The company intends on opening up a new office and has filed for new Kindle patents. Former ABC-Atticus publishing head Arkady Vitrouk has been hired and will leading the Russian Kindle content division. Not only has Amazon hired Vitrouk to spearhead the entire program, but the company is actively hiring for three new positions for the Russian office. The listings are for a senior product manager for Kindle content pricing, and a principal for content acquisition for Kindle Russia, and another content acquisition manager position. Amazon has filed for a number of technology patents in Russia, which is a huge indication that it will begin selling e-readers and tablets. Amazon has recently filed the ability to storae and deliver goods; the storage of electronic texts and media files; and book publishing. This means that not only will Amazon be selling devices and ebooks in Russia, but also launch its self-publishing program, Kindle Direct Publishing. Russia is a very large untapped market with over 61 million online users. There are a bunch of e-reader companies, such as Wexler, Pocketbook, and Ectaco, which do well in that market, but are considered minor players. Amazon Expanding into Russia is a post from: E-Reader News |
Use your desktop or laptop screen and keyboard with your Pi
| Meltwater has come up with a nice little trick which allows you to use your laptop or desktop’s display and keyboard as the display and keyboard for your Pi. You won’t need to do any soldering or to buy any special equipment: all you need is a network cable. You’ll be using the network port to do this, so if you were relying on it to get internet connectivity you’ll need a wireless dongle too, but using another device’s keyboard and display means that you can cut right down on the kit you need to carry around if you’re bringing your Pi somewhere to show off your latest project. Meltwater has made an exhaustive guide to setup for beginners available, alongside a cut-down version for advanced users who don’t need quite so much help. |
Goodreads Almost Purchased by Apple
| Online digital book club Goodreads was to be purchased by Amazon a few weeks ago for $200 million dollars if performance goals are met. When the whole deal was going down, Apple was actually in negotiations to buy the company. Amazon insisted that Goodreads break off talks with all of their potential suitors, while a deal was being done. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that “Over the past year, Apple and Goodreads had begun discussing integrating Goodreads' service, which allows users to share and rate what they are reading, into Apple's iBookstore, which sells digital books, according to people familiar with the matter. Goodreads had proposed its reviews and ratings appear within iTunes when users searched for a title, one of the people said. ITunes has already integrated Rotten Tomatoes movie ratings in such a way. Apple was entertaining the idea, but talks didn't progress much, two of the people said.” Amazon promises to run Goodreads as an autonomous entity and still allow other companies to use its API to fetch book reviews and ratings. Kobo and Sony both currently use this system, instead of developing their own solution. This whole situation is a shot in the arm for many online booksellers that depend on the Goodreads API to fetch all of the book review data. Sony announced yesterday a new agreement with idreambooks to replace Goodreads on its site for ratings and book reviews. It is unclear on what Apple’s next gambit will be, as the company is competing with Amazon now more than ever. Goodreads Almost Purchased by Apple is a post from: E-Reader News |
Speakaboos Partners with Industry Leaders on Children’s Literacy Platform
| As digital entertainment becomes more accessible and mobile devices become more commonplace, a number of parents are taking advantage of the safety and the confidence that comes from a subscription to ebooks. Companies are beginning to take notice of a need in the marketplace for access to engaging, entertaining content that parents and educators don’t have to search through app stores to find. One such subscription-based company for children’s content that will launch its application next month is Speakaboos, a content developer whose titles are aimed specifically at the two- to six-year-old preschool student. Speakaboos has collaborated with a number of leaders in children’s education and entertainment to create one of the largest catalogs of titles available. The service is already at use by thousands of students internationally, and the user data demonstrates that students on average read around fifty titles per month, and an average of two and a half hours reading. "We're thrilled that so many industry leaders have joined with us to build the leading children's literacy platform. Our partners view Speakaboos as an opportunity to produce digital content and reach more readers while growing their revenues," said Neal Shenoy, CEO and Co-Founder of Speakaboos, in a press release on the collaborations. Speakaboos assembled a team of experts whose backgrounds brought them from Nick Jr, Hooked on Phonics, Nook Kids, Scholastic, and PBS, to name a few. Publishers like DK, ABRAMS, and Jim Henson and Company have already signed on to provide content for Speakaboos digital catalog. Speakboos is currently available for all web browsers and is offering a free trial of the service. Its iPad app will be available in May, with Android and iPhone apps coming out soon after.
Speakaboos Partners with Industry Leaders on Children’s Literacy Platform is a post from: E-Reader News |
