List of free Prime eligible Kindle e-books

There's now an easy way to see the full list of free e-book titles available to Kindle owners with Amazon Prime.

In case you missed it, Amazon recently launched the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, which allows Amazon Prime members to check out up to one e-book a month for free with no due date.

The only problem is that it wasn't so easy to find all the more than 5,000 titles in the Kindle Store that qualify for free borrowing. However, as one might expect, a somewhat helpful link has cropped up in the blogosphere.

Click on … Read more

Report: Nook Color 2 to launch Nov. 7

With rumors flying that Barnes & Noble will soon be unveiling its next-generation Nook Color, we've been waiting to get word on just when the new device will hit. Well, according to The Digital Reader Blog, that day will be November 7--or so its sources say.

We'll soon see what Barnes & Noble has up its sleeve and whether the new Nook Color will be called the Nook Color 2 or something else altogether. The new tablet will presumably have an upgraded processor and perhaps an upgraded screen and some additional design refinements. … Read more

Crave giveaway: Iriver Story HD e-reader

It's been awhile since we've given away an e-reader, and we have a nice one on tap for you this week: the Iriver Story HD, which has the Google e-book store integrated into it.

The Story HD's key feature is its higher-resolution (768x1,024 pixels) e-ink display, which the company touts as the world's "highest-resolution 6-inch e-reader." While it's the same E Ink Pearl display that's in all the leading e-readers these days, the added resolution--Iriver says it has 63.8 percent more pixels--does provide for added detail in images and slightly sharper text. (Reader our full review here).

So, how do you try to win this Iriver e-reader? Let us enumerate the basic rules. Please read carefully; there will be a test. … Read more

Steve Jobs biography comes to Kindle early

Kindle users who preordered the Steve Jobs biography might want to fire up that e-reader ASAP.

Not long after that iconic ticking wrapped up an episode of CBS' "60 Minutes" featuring a preview of Steve Jobs' authorized biography with its author, Walter Isaacson, word broke that the Amazon Kindle version of the book was being delivered a little early.

Yes, the book is supposed to be released tomorrow anyway, and it's already tomorrow in much of the world, but Kindle users reported receiving their digital preordered copy a little ahead of schedule this evening.

This Twitter user … Read more

Sony Reader WiFi PRS-T1 review: It can't quite catch Kindle

It's hard for some people to imagine, but Sony was the first major brand to offer an e-book reader back in 2006--beating the original Amazon Kindle to market by at least 14 months. Since then, however, the company's e-book strategy has been one step forward and two steps back as it plays catch-up with upstart competitors Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Consider the 2010 Sony Readers: the models pioneered e-ink touch screens months before the Nook and Kobo, but they inexplicably omitted Wi-Fi from most models--instead requiring readers to tether to a PC and download new e-books. Those … Read more

Barnes & Noble protests Kindle deal by yanking books

What does Barnes & Noble think of the Kindle Fire? While it may not have released a statement about the device, the company's actions speak louder than its words, at least regarding an exclusive digital graphic-novel deal that freezes out the maker of the Nook.

Just after announcing its Kindle Fire tablet last week, Amazon also announced a partnership with DC Comics to sell digital copies of 100 of DC's graphic novels exclusively on the Fire.

"We're thrilled to work with the leader in digital books to bring many of the world's most beloved and best-selling graphic novels to Kindle readers," said Jim Lee, co-publisher of DC Entertainment, DC Comics' parent company, in a statement. These included superhero books starring Batman and Green Lantern, the entirety of Neil Gaiman's fantasy/horror series "The Sandman," and Alan Moore's "V for Vendetta," which has recently seen its Guy Fawkes masks revived by members of the hacktivist group Anonymous.

Barnes & Noble responded to the deal in a statement today by revealing that it has tied its physical copies to its digital ones.… Read more

Removing ads from new Kindle costs $30

There's some good news for those of you who are considering buying one of the new "subsidized" Kindles With Special Offers but are worried the ads might be too irritating: you can easily upgrade to the ad-free Kindle if you don't like it.

That's right, once you buy a Special Offers version, you can easily shut off the ads by simply paying a fee--the difference between what a Kindle Special Offers costs and what an ad-free version costs. In the case of the currently available non-touch Kindle 2011, which goes for $79 for the Special … Read more

Covers gone wild: Are Amazon, Apple and B&N selling soft-core porn e-books?

They have names like "Bent Over," "Double Teamed," "Bedded by the Boss," and "Hot Daddy Cop." They're all part of a bawdier form of romance writing that's generally referred as erotica or erotic romance, and they're all in the Amazon Kindle catalog as well as Barnes & Noble's Nook catalog.

Needless to say, most of the books feature scantily clad figures, often intertwined, on their covers. Now, we're not prudes, but when a woman's bare behind shows up in the top 100 list on the Kindle (as is currently the case with "Bent Over"), you start to wonder whether someone over at Amazon might get a little concerned about its image and what the young folks who own Kindles might come across in their browsing. (Start clicking on "related titles," and things go downhill quickly--from the risque to the downright perverse.) … Read more

Kindle Touch won't browse Web over 3G

Over the weekend, Amazon broke a bit of bad news to prospective buyers of the upcoming Kindle Touch 3G, which starts at $149: you won't be able to the surf the Web using the "experimental" browser over 3G (outside of Wikipedia). Web surfing is a Wi-Fi-only affair on the device.

Amazon, as it sometimes does, delivered the news on its Kindle message board after someone read the fine print on the Kindle Touch 3G product page and noticed the small disclaimer, "Browsing available only in Wi-Fi mode."

Here's the official statement from the Amazon Kindle Team:

We apologize for the confusion. Our new Kindle Touch 3G enables you to connect to the Kindle Store, download books and periodicals, and access Wikipedia--all over 3G or Wi-Fi. Experimental Web browsing (outside of Wikipedia) on Kindle Touch 3G is only available over Wi-Fi.

… Read more