e-books

Amazon has launched a new Kindle bookstore to cover Spanish-speaking customers in the U.S.

Opening its doors today, "eBooks Kindle en Espanol" will offer a slew of popular English titles translated into Spanish as well as Spanish-language bestsellers.

The store is currently home to around 30,000 books, according to Amazon, including those from Nobel Prize winning authors Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Camilo Jose Cela, and Mario Vargas Llosa. Readers will also find more than a thousand free classics and exclusive Kindle Singles in Spanish from such as authors Kurt Vonnegut and Susan Orlean.

Amazon is also offering … Read more

Things might be starting to look up for booksellers, authors, and publishers. A report released today by the Pew Research Center shows that one-fifth of U.S. adults have read an e-book in the last year and that e-reader owners not only prefer to buy rather than borrow books, but they also read more books.

"Those who have taken the plunge into reading e-books stand out in almost every way from other kinds of readers," the report's authors write. "Foremost, they are relatively avid readers of books in all formats: 88 percent of those who read … Read more

Wouldn't it be ironic if Apple got tripped up by something so seemingly insignificant as an e-book? But even a Steve Jobs, if he were still around, would be hard-pressed to talk his way out of the company's current predicament.

If The Wall Street Journal's reporting is accurate, Apple has failed to reach agreement with regulators investigating charges of price-fixing involving e-book titles. Of course, this could change on a moment's notice. But if so, it won't be because the trustbusters are ready to bend.

The U.S. Justice Department, which has coordinated its probe … Read more

It appears LG is making good on its promise to bring flexible displays to e-book readers, as the Korean consumer electronics company revealed that it has started mass production of the "world's first" plastic electronic paper display (EPD).

The screen measures 6 inches diagonally and has a resolution of 1,024x768 pixels. It can bend at a range of 40 degrees from the center of the screen, and it's also about one-third thinner and half as light as current glass EPDs, LG says, meaning it'll be even easier to carry than the e-book readers today.

LG also cites durability as a benefit of its plastic EPD. The company ran numerous stress tests on the display, including dropping it from a height of about 5 feet and hitting the screen with a small urethane hammer (how do I get this job?), and saw no damage. Presumably, this means you could toss your reader into your bag sans case without fear of scratching up the display. … Read more

Suspected of collusion with intent to drive up e-book prices, Apple and some of its major publication partners are now negotiating to settle a suit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Negotiations continue, but sources close to the talks tell Reuters that Apple and its partners are looking to avoid a long litigation process by bending on some of the wording used in contracts with publishers and retailers.

The "most favored nation" clause, as it has come to be known, states that the price of an electronic book published using Apple's iBookstore cannot be higher … Read more

Among the new features in the recent Kindle Fire software update to 6.3, the ability to share passages was a highly anticipated one, as noted by Donald Bell. Kindle Fire users can now share parts of an e-book with members of the Amazon community, and with friends on Facebook and Twitter. Here's how:

Select the passage to share When you get to a part of your e-book that you want to share, select it by long-pressing on a part of the text, which will highlight it and place brackets at the beginning and the end of the highlighted … Read more

Wizards and muggles alike can now buy and download digital versions of their favorite Harry Potter books.

Starting today, the Pottermore Web site shop is conjuring up all seven Harry Potter titles in digital format, beginning with "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone" and ending with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." The first three titles in the series are $7.99 apiece, while the other four will run $9.99 each. Capturing the entire collection will cost you $57.54. Free samples of each book are also available so you can try before you … Read more

After vocal outrage from authors, e-publishers, and free speech activists, PayPal has shifted its "acceptable use" policy on e-books containing certain erotica content. The online payment company announced today that mostly books with images will be under scrutiny.

"First and foremost, we are going to focus this policy only on e-books that contain potentially illegal images, not e-books that are limited to just text," PayPal spokesman Anuj Nayar said in a statement today. "The policy will prohibit use of PayPal for the sale of e-books that contain child pornography, or e-books with text and obscene … Read more

Gone are the days of walking over to the bookshelf, grabbing an Encyclopaedia Britannica, and flipping through the pages to look up whatever piqued one's curiosity. The leather-bound print edition set of reference books is now defunct, the company announced today.

However, Encyclopaedia Britannica is also quick to say that this change isn't its swan song. Now, in the digital age, the company will focus on its online encyclopedias and educational curriculum for schools.

"In spite of our long history with print, I would like to point out that no single medium, neither books nor bits, is … Read more