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Somewhere, Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) is smiling. "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" for iPhone turns the classic tale into a superb interactive e-book, one that's as much a learning tool as it is an entertaining diversion.

With all the fuss over Kindles, Nooks, and other e-book readers, I've often wondered why there's been so little focus on children's books--arguably the ideal media for a portable device.

After all, what parent hasn't wished for something wholesome to keep young kids occupied during car rides, long waits in a restaurant, endless hours on a plane, and so on?

Kids can tap a word to hear it pronounced and see it grow big.

"Grinch" offers two modes: "Read to Me" and "Read It Myself." In both cases, readers are treated to the original artwork and text, but with some clever panning and zooming that adds an animated touch.

The reader, professional actor Lee Abbott, lends just the right kind of kid-formal voice to the story. And because each word is highlighted as he reads, kids have the opportunity to learn along the way.

Another perk: each page is interactive. Kids can tap an item on the screen (such as "tree" or "Grinch") to hear it pronounced and see the accompanying word.

In short, this is exactly what you'd hope for from a Dr. Seuss book made electronic. And the $3.99 price tag is more than reasonable, especially considering that the noninteractive hardcover lists for $15.

As the parent of a learning-to-read 7-year-old who loved every bit of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" on my iPhone, I'm sold. Note to developer Oceanside Media: keep the Seuss books coming. (Can I get my order in now for "Yertle the Turtle"?)

The Colossal Short Story Collection includes more than 2,000 stories--all for 99 cents.

Great news for fans of short fiction: The Colossal Short Stories Collection just landed in the App Store packing a whopping 2,222 public-domain works.

There are, of course, other story collections available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, but this is by far the largest one.

You'll find authors ranging from H.G. Wells and Mark Twain to Leo Tolstoy and Ring Lardner. All the greats are here, along with plenty of authors known mostly in scholarly circles.

The app lists them alphabetically by last name. Unfortunately, that's the only way to peruse the collection: you can't browse by story title, and there's no search option.

On the plus side, Colossal offers a font-size slider, automatic bookmarking (meaning it returns you to where you left off in any given story), manual bookmarking (for easy revisiting of a selected page or story), and a variable-speed auto-scrolling option.

If you've balked at the idea of reading books on your phone, perhaps because you think the screen is too small or there's too much page flipping involved, this might be a great way to start.

The average story in the Colossal collection takes 10-15 minutes to read, so it's like you get to test-drive e-books without committing to (or paying for) an entire novel.

The app has an introductory price of just 99 cents, meaning it's a no-brainer for anyone who likes to read. Even after it jumps to its permanent price of $4.99, it might just be the e-book bargain of the century.

Cori sent us treats! <3

(Credit: The 404/Sadacori)

Believe it or not, the fourth host on today's episode of CNET's The 404 Podcast is the Nook, Barnes & Noble's e-book reader with a color touch screen and Wi-Fi. The device is currently sold out and on back order throughout B&N, so it wasn't easy to obtain. We had to walk 500 miles and battle a Nazgul to get it, but the in-studio demo was worth the wait. If you haven't seen a Nook up close, you're in for a treat.

Speaking of treats, the holidays come early for The 404 this year! Today's episode starts off normal enough, with another story about a crazed girlfriend who destroys her boyfriend's precious PS3 and a couple making their own paranormal activity to fund their wedding, but the real story is the package we receive halfway through the live show from dedicated 404 listener Cori (Sadacori in the chat room). We've received care packages before, but this one is definitely the best. Just check out the picture up top! Thanks a million Cori, we really appreciate all the Yuletide pounds! :)

Our ill-deserved holiday break is coming up in two weeks, and we get awfully lonely if we don't hear from you, so won't you leave us a voice mail at 1-866-404-CNET and let us know how your holiday season is going? We'd love to hear your voices, but you can also e-mail us at the404(at)cnet[dot]com or add us on Twitter and Facebook as well!

If you were interested in buying the Barnes & Noble Nook as a holiday gift, strike it off your list. The e-reader is now officially sold out through 2009, according to the B&N Web site.

(Credit: Barnes & Noble)

"The hottest holiday gift is out of stock," a message at the top of the page reads. "Order the Nook today to be first in line for the new year."

If this sounds familiar, it's because last year Amazon had a similar message on its site when it stock ran out of the Kindle. However, in the case of the Nook, the company hasn't shipped a single unit yet, and it's a little unclear what day it actually will. (We've yet to receive word when we'll get our review sample).

The New York Times' Bits blog has a quote from Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at Forrester Research, explaining what a lot of us already knew: that Barnes & Noble had rushed to announce its product to compete with Amazon and it wasn't really quite ready to begin selling its device this year--at least not in huge quantities.

"Even without specific problems in the supply chain, the manufacturing process takes time for new products--it could be three months from the time they place the orders with their factories until they actually ship," Epps said.

This is probably good news for Amazon, which should have plenty of its e-readers available. But it's worth noting that if you do want to hold out for a Nook, you shouldn't have to wait too long. The B&N Web site says that if you order a unit today, you'll get it shipped to you by January 4.

Comments?

Update: After reading our piece, Barnes & Noble spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating told us she hoped folks won't cross the Nook off their holiday lists, which is why the company created a "holiday gift certificate that can be wrapped and given to the recipient."

She also noted that Barnes and Noble is "on track to ship devices that were preordered prior to today by the holidays," and that today's update only affects orders made beginning today. Also, she said that Barnes & Noble expects to have a limited stock of devices available in its highest-volume stores during the holiday season.

Barnes & Noble Nook e-book reader--photos

Kindle book buyers can now read their books right from their PCs without having to buy a Kindle reader.

Amazon onTuesday made available its new Kindle for PC, free software that lets Kindle customers read their e-books on tablet PCs, Netbooks, notebooks, and other personal computers.

The software can be downloaded from the Kindle for PC page. The quick installation sets up the reader application, prompting you to log in and register with your Amazon account or create a new one. After logging in, you can download books that you've already purchased at the Kindle store or click on a link to buy new ones.

Microsoft had demonstrated the Kindle for PC software at its Windows 7 launch event in New York last month.

(Credit: CNET News/Lance Whitney)

Kindle for PC offers many of the options you'll find on a Kindle reader. You can increase or decrease the size of the font and change the width of the page and words per line. You can navigate from one page to another by clicking on the Next or Previous Page arrows or by using the scroll wheel on your mouse. You can jump to a specific page, such as the cover, table of contents, or last page read, and bookmark a specific location for future reference. You can also read notes and highlights created on your Kindle device, but you can't create them on Kindle for PC yet.

People with a Windows 7 multitouch PC can zoom in or out of a page by pinching it with your fingers.

Amazon has also tapped its Whispersync technology to automatically save and sync bookmarks across multiple devices. So you can read a book up to a certain page on your Kindle device and then automatically jump to that same page on your PC to resume reading where you left off.

"Kindle for PC is the perfect companion application for customers who own a Kindle or Kindle DX," Ian Freed, vice president, Amazon Kindle, said in a statement. "Kindle for PC is also a great way for people around the world to access a huge selection from the Kindle Store and read the most popular books of today even if they don't yet have a Kindle."

Amazon plans new features for the next edition of Kindle for PC. The company said it will offer the ability to create notes and highlights, search for words or phrases in your books, and click on an image to zoom in or rotate it.

With the launch of Kindle for PC, Kindle books can now be read on Kindle readers, the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and personal computers. Kindle for the PC is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, and XP. A Mac version is coming soon, promises Amazon.

The Nook

(Credit: Barnes & Noble)

Demand is so strong for the Nook that Barnes & Noble has begun telling new customers not to expect delivery of the soon-to-be-released e-reader until the second week of December.

When the nation's largest bookseller unveiled the device in October, customers placing early preorders were told they could expect the Nook to ship by the end of November; customers placing preorders now are being told they can expect shipment by December 11. The new shipping date was first reported by Brighthand.com.

A Barnes & Noble representative confirmed the December 11 shipping date but disputed the characterization of the new shipping date as a delay.

"Like with any hot, new consumer device, the sooner you order it, the sooner you receive it," said Mary Ellen Keating, senior vice president of corporate communications and public affairs. "We had high expectations for the Nook and couldn't be happier" with preorder sales. However, she declined to say how many of the e-readers had been preordered.

"We are working hard to meet demand for the holidays," she said.

Earlier this month, start-up Spring Design filed a lawsuit against Barnes & Noble, alleging the bookseller misappropriated its trade secrets in the design of the Nook. Spring Design had announced its Alex e-reader just days before Barnes & Noble formally unveiled the Nook. Both e-readers use the Android operating system and combine an e-ink screen with a color touch screen. It seeks both monetary damages and a halt to sales of the Nook.

The $259 Nook, a challenger to Amazon.com's Kindle, will join an expected boom in e-reader sales. In a report released last month, Forrester Research raised its 2009 forecast for e-reader sales in the United States to 3 million units from its previous prediction of 2 million sales. Forrester also expects Amazon's Kindle to command about 60 percent of the e-reader market in 2009, compared with 35 percent for Sony's Reader.

(Credit: Plastic Logic)

Plastic Logic and Barnes & Noble announced on Tuesday that Plastic Logic's Que proReader will be sold through Barnes & Noble's retail stores and on B&N's Web site in 2010. The Que is Plastic Logic's long-awaited e-reader that is not set to be officially unveiled until January 7 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but both companies continue to promote the device vigorously as Barnes & Noble gets set to launch its Nook e-book reader in November.

While Plastic Logic has yet to show a full profile image of the Que, it has provided some details. The device will feature a larger, "shatterproof" 8.5-inch by 11-inch e-ink display with an integrated capacitive touch screen--it's unclear whether the touch screen is a separate, smaller color LCD like the one found on the Nook or whether the entire display will be a touch screen--and have Wi-Fi and AT&T 3G wireless capabilities, like the $259 Nook does.

The slim Que (one-third inch thick), which is geared toward mobile professionals, is supposed to be able to handle PDF, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents as well as having tools for "interacting with and managing the content." Most pundits expect the Que to a more sophisticated e-reader with more processing horsepower than existing models and a higher price tag--we're guessing at least $400.

Both Barnes & Noble and Plastic Logic suggest that as such the two models won't really be competing against each other even if they'll be on display near each other in stores. The news release notes that the two readers represent a choice for Barnes & Noble's customers "based on their reading needs." Just as importantly, the additional device also helps Barnes & Noble foster the impression that its e-book platform has a strong foundation with multiple business partners.

What do you think? Is it a good strategic move or will having two readers on display at stores be confusing for potential buyers?

You may not have heard of Astak, but it's one of several non-name-brand companies that are jumping into the e-book reader space with a range of new models, including the 5-inch EZ Reader Pocket Pro.

While this model is smaller than the Amazon Kindle, which has a 6-inch screen, we actually like the size of the Pocket Pro and other 5-inch nontouch-screen e-readers, such as the Sony Reader Pocket Edition (PRS-300). This model, like the Sony, has a list price of $199, so it makes sense to compare the two units, especially since both models have Adobe Digital Editions compatibility, which allows you to read downloadable e-books in the secure ePub format that's increasingly becoming the standard--outside of Amazon's Kindle--for online e-booksellers.

So, is it any good?

Read the full review of the Astak EZ Reader Pocket Pro to find out.