reader

Adobe mends security holes in Flash, Reader, Acrobat

Security flaws in Adobe Flash, Reader, and Acrobat could have been the cause of computer crashes recently. The software company announced today that it sent out updates for these three programs, which are meant to patch security vulnerabilities that cause such system crashes.

"These updates address a vulnerability that could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system," the company wrote in a security bulletin today. "Adobe recommends users update their product installations to the latest versions."

Adobe does not give any further detail on the security vulnerabilities but … Read more

Let TLDR summarize stories for you

LAS VEGAS--TLDR is software that summarizes Web information automatically when you don't have time to read the whole story. It's available now as a plug-in for Firefox, Chrome, and Safari, but developers Stremor say the Android and iPhone apps have been submitted to the major app stores, so you'll be able to use it on your smartphone as early as this week.

A quick demo was all it took to see how well this software works. Once you download the free plug-in for your Web browser, you simply restart and you're ready to go. The … Read more

B&N: Nook device sales shrink over the holidays

There weren't as many Nooks under the Christmas tree this year as Barnes & Noble had been hoping for.

The company this morning didn't mince words about holiday sales for its line of tablets and e-readers.

"Nook device sales got off to a good start over the Black Friday period, but then fell short of expectations for the balance of holiday," William Lynch, CEO of Barnes & Noble, said in the grim statement. "We are examining the root cause of the December shortfall in sales, and will adjust our strategies accordingly going forward."

For … Read more

Tablets more popular than e-readers among e-book crowd

More people are reading e-books, and more of them are using tablets as their primary way of doing so.

The percentage of Americans who now read e-books rose to 23 percent in 2012 from 16 percent a year ago, says a report out today from Pew Internet. Over the same time, the percentage of those who read printed books dropped to 67 percent from 72 percent.

From the poll conducted in October and November, the percentage of people who own a tablet or dedicated e-reader jumped to 33 percent from just 18 percent a year ago.

But among the two … Read more

View Microsoft Office documents

Being able to read, e-mail, and share documents created in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint on your Android device brings great advantages. Kingsoft Office Reader for Android Free makes these tasks fast and easy.

After a quick installation, this app loaded quickly on our device. It is pretty light on the resources and bug-free. The user interface is clean and simple to use. It worked well identifying and opening e-mail attachments and other Office document types we tried. Kingsoft Office Reader for Android Free is appropriate for all skill levels, and most users will find it handy. Even though it works … Read more

Press for Android wraps Google Reader in a slick package

Editors' note: Price of the app has been corrected.

Meet Press, a slick new app for keeping up with your RSS subscriptions on your Android device. It syncs to your Google Reader account and presents all of your articles in a well designed package, with an attractive typeface and dead simple navigation.

Perhaps the best thing about Press is its interface. The open layout and six different font choices make it a pleasure to look at. And just like Google Reader it's really easy to navigate.

Once you sync Press to your Google Reader account, the app opens up … Read more

RIP e-book readers? Rise of tablets drives e-reader drop

The rapid rise of tablets is driving the e-book reader market to an equally rapid fall, according to a new study.

IHS iSuppli said that after "spectacular" growth during the past few years, the e-book reader market is now on an "alarmingly precipitous decline," all thanks to the growing popularity of tablets.

How alarming? Well, the firm predicts that shipments of e-book readers will tumble 36 percent this year to 14.9 million units and then drop another "drastic" 27 percent next year to 10.9 million units. By 2016, IHS iSuppli predicts, the … Read more

Does it still make sense to buy an e-reader?

I've been an e-book fan for as long as I can remember. Ever since I found myself stuck on a slow-moving mountain train with nothing but my PalmPilot and an e-book, I've been hooked on digital reading.

Flash-forward some 15 years and e-books are everywhere, thanks in no small part to the Amazon Kindle -- a dedicated e-reader with a special "e-ink" screen that I still consider a marvel of modern technology. (Know why Kindles and other e-ink devices have such phenomenal battery life? Because every pixel on the screen is either "on" or &… Read more

Nook Simple Touch e-reader drops to $79

Barnes & Noble is dropping the price of its Nook Simple Touch e-reader by about $20 starting tomorrow, with a new price tag of $79, the company said today.

Not a full-blown tablet, the Simple Touch relies on a touch screen for flipping e-ink pages, navigating menus, and so on. CNET Reviews gave it four out of five stars and called it a "major advancement" over its predecessor.… Read more

Zite 2.0: A smarter, snappier personalized magazine for iOS

From the minute I was able to put the personalized magazine app Zite on my iPhone, it became one of my indispensable tools.

Even if I glanced at it for just a few minutes at a bus stop, it was the best portal I had to the news I cared most about because it led me to stories from a wide variety of publications and on almost any topic I could want. And the more I used it, the more it knew what I wanted to read.

That was a year ago, and today, the iOS world can get its … Read more