Kindle Fire HD Is Better but It Isn’t the Best Color Tablet

Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD is slimmer, lighter and more stylish, but it doesn’t beat the iPad as a tablet.
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Nook Out Below: Barnes & Noble Drops Tablet Prices as Mini-Market Gets More Crowded

The bookseller is taking some proactive measures to keep its e-readers competitive.
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Make That E-Book a Venti

Got an email from a “fan” outraged that a novel I’ve been working on for two years, six days a week is $13 in ebook. Enjoy your $4 coffee.

– Author Brent Weeks, via Twitter

Feds to E-Book Settlement Critics: Haters Gonna Hate

The Department of Justice defends its deal with three big publishers it accused of price-fixing. And it previews its coming court fight with Apple.
haters

E-books Are Booming, and Still Sort of Small

Sales of e-books doubled in 2011. But books are still an analog business, by a wide margin.
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News Byte

E-book Maker Inkling Jumps to the Web

E-book maker Inkling, which had previously confined its books to the iPad, is moving to the Web — a move the company has been promising for some time. The move means that Inkling’s books should be available on most laptops, though the company says it will work best on Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari browser.

News Byte

20 Percent of Americans Say They’re Reading eBooks

One in five Americans say they’ve read an e-book in the last year, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Those numbers come from a late-January survey, they’re up sharply from a December 2011 survey. Pew says the jump coincides with a jump in e-reading devices: Ownership of dedicated e-reader devices like the Kindle and the Nook went from 10 percent in December to 19 percent in January, and ownership of tablets like iPads and Kindle Fires made the same leap.

An Apple Gift for the Holidays: Free Beatles (Book) on iTunes

You’d have to be a Blue Meanie not to enjoy this.
beatles yellow submarine

News Byte

Amazon Rolls Out Kindle Library Lending

Amazon has launched its long-promised library lending program for its Kindle e-reader, and says more than 11,000 libraries are participating. E-book competitors — like Barnes & Nobles’ Nook, and Sony’s Reader — already offer something comparable.

A Tablet Children Can Grow Into

LeapPad Explorer from LeapFrog Enterprises, a company known for its educational children’s toys, is a tablet aimed at ages 4 through 9.
LeapPad Explorer