reading

Let's get something out of the way right off the bat. I have an iPad. The original. I use it as an e-reader. I like it as an e-reader. I consider it a very good e-reader. But it's not perfect.

Like a lot of other people, after the lines died down last Friday, iPad 2 launch day, I took a trip to my local Apple store to mingle with the crowds and handle the object that has been getting so much attention. My mission, however, was a little more focused than some people's. Sure, I took the Web browser for a spin and tried to get a feel for how much zippier the thing might be. But I largely ignored the built-in front and back cameras and other new features such as the Garage Band app because plenty has already been written about that stuff.

What I was most curious about was how the iPad 2 performed as an e-reader and whether Apple had done anything to the screen to make the reading experience better. … Read more

Hot on the heels of yesterday's iPad 2 announcement, Barnes & Noble is now offering (via eBay) the Nook Color e-book reader for $199 (plus sales tax in most states). That's after applying coupon code CBARNESDD at checkout.

Update: Sigh. Sold out. I'm having the worst luck this week! My apologies, folks. I had no idea B&N was pulling this so soon.

These are new units, not refurbs, which makes me think a permanent price cut is coming (though maybe not, as Apple didn't lower prices for the iPad 2, much to my surprise).… Read more

Like most parents, I'm concerned that my kids get too much "screen time," what with the TV, computer, Wii, iPod/iPad, and so on. But if that time is spent reading, or at least flipping the pages of a book, I don't mind it one bit.

That's why I continue to be a relentless fan of children's e-books, which are increasingly abundant for iOS devices. Indeed, in the last couple of weeks alone, nearly a dozen new and noteworthy titles have arrived in the App Store. Here are the ones I think make for worthwhile screen time.

"Horton Hears a Who" and "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back": Two of my favorite Dr. Seuss titles just arrived in Oceanhouse Media's ever-growing catalog. Both on sale for $2.99, and in fact all the Seuss apps have been discounted from 25-75 percent off (this week only) in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday.… Read more

When you view the "Disk Activity" section in Activity Monitor, you can see the read and write speeds of the system's hard disks both in current values and in a small history graph. Some people have wondered if current SATA II hard drives included in modern Macs have 300 MB/sec transfer rates, then why when using them the drives only transfer at around 25-35MB/sec, even when copying large files.

The 300MB/sec transfer rate for SATA II drives is in actuality the maximum speed of the SATA bus, and not the true speed of the … Read more

Every so often, Amazon.com rolls out an e-book freebie that's perfect for the business crowd. Here's the latest: "The Career Survival Kit (Collection)."

Available for the Kindle reader or any device that can run a Kindle application (including Android and BlackBerry devices, iPhones/iPods/iPads, PCs, and Macs), this download contains three e-books.

(Note: The links below are to the individual titles so you can read their summaries and see their ratings, but use the link up top to access the free collection.)

1. "Four Secrets to Liking Your Work: You May Not Need to Quit to Get the Job You Want&… Read more

One of the major problems faced by our generation is how to read safely while walking, driving, carrying a baby, and so on.

After all, with your eyes glued to your iPhone's screen, it's just a matter of time before you take a header down the stairs or plow into a tree.

Thankfully, there's one app that's looking out for you: MegaReader. As you may recall, MegaReader is an e-book viewer that provides access to a whopping 1.8 million free books.

The latest version adds something called Walk n' Read Heads Up Display technology, which … Read more

Enter OverDrive Media Console is an app that cuts out the middleman (i.e., your PC) when it comes to getting free epubs on your mobile device. With OverDrive, you can download library e-books (and audiobooks) directly to your iOS device.

That's the good news. The bad news is that getting the app set up is a major pain, and as e-book readers go, it's mediocre at best. Plus, the selection isn't what we'd call extensive, at least from our test library.

To download books, you must first "Add a Website" (meaning choose your … Read more

Back in November I told you about Bluefire Reader, an iOS app with support for the ePub e-book format used by many public libraries.

In other words, you can use it to check out books free of charge--but you had to do a lot of desktop hoop-jumping to make it happen.

Enter OverDrive Media Console, an app that cuts out the middleman (i.e., your PC). With OverDrive, you can download library e-books (and audiobooks!) directly to your iOS device. I just grabbed "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," and I have "The Help" … Read more

For people who love to read but don't have a lot of extra cash to spend on books, nothing beats the public library. (Thanks Ben Franklin!) Even better, in recent years, many libraries have started offering e-books that you can check out for a few weeks, just like the real thing. Unfortunately, despite the plethora of e-book readers in the App Store, you couldn't read these DRM-protected library titles on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad.

Until now, that is. Bluefire Reader supports not only ePub and PDF formats, but also the Adobe DRM used by most libraries. During … Read more