kobo

A few days ago, Kobo turned 1 year old. To celebrate the anniversary, the company enhanced its iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch apps, adding Instapaper integration and new social-media features that allow you to share what you're reading with others.

All in all, the Kobo iOS apps look more jazzed up and we expect all the big e-reader players to continue building out the social-media functionality in their apps (Amazon and Barnes & Noble also feature social-media hooks in both their devices and apps). The Instapaper integration is interesting because it allows you save Web clippings as you surf … Read more

Links from today's episode of Loaded:

Borders' Kobo eReader gets a price drop too

Sprint will sell the Samsung Galaxy Tab starting on November 14

The "Rachael Ray Show" is doing a 3D Halloween special

The CNET TV iPhone App is out

CNET partners with NPD Online Research to create a consumer panel where you can tell us what you think about electronics

A color-screen Barnes & Noble Nook is expected to be announced today

The original Kobo eReader didn't exactly wow us, but it's now cheaper: Borders has chopped its price to $99.99 from $129.99.. Though Borders says the sale is for a limited time, we expect that this e-reader--if it remains on the market--will be priced at $99 during the holiday buying season.

More recently, Borders began selling a new Kobo Wireless eReader with Wi-Fi for $139.99, matching the price of the Kindle with Wi-Fi. On top of the Kobo eReaders, Borders is also offering the Android-based Velocity Micro Cruz and Velocity Micro Tablet at $169.99 and $… Read more

When it was released a few months ago, the Kobo eReader was one of the first e-readers to sell for less than $150. Alas, it wasn't all that great and it was quickly overshadowed when Barnes & Noble introduced its Wi-Fi Nook for $149 and Amazon later followed with an all-new $139 Wi-Fi Kindle. But now Kobo and Borders, which is an investor in Kobo (Kobo powers Borders' e-book store), are set to release a new, improved wireless Kobo eReader this October for $139.99.

On the outside, the new model looks almost identical to the older model, but … Read more

Borders is cutting the prices of its two compatible e-book readers.

Effective September 1, the Kobo eReader will retail for $129 (a $20 reduction), and the Aluratek Libre will cost $99.99 (down from $119). Both devices can be used to read books from Borders e-book store (which, in turn, is powered by Kobo).

The Borders price cuts come less than a week after Amazon's third-generation Kindle began shipping to consumers. At $139, the most affordable Kindle costs slightly more than Borders' offering, but it offers direct access to Amazon's e-book store via Wi-Fi. (The $149 Barnes & Noble Nook … Read more

This flashback was selected simply because of the song.

Our theme for today's show? Somebody's watching you, and it ain't just the Police. It's also Facebook and Google, and apparently some people think Net neutrality means the government will be watching you, too. Watch for the Net neutrality 101 rant at the end of the show plus a lot of singing of the "I'll be watching you" song. Because Brian Tong is on. We just hope Sting doesn't sue.

Not to be left out of the fast-growing e-reader and e-book arenas, Borders now has its own e-reader, the $150 Kobo eReader. With it, you can read e-books purchased from Borders' online store, which is powered by Kobo.

As the price suggests, the Kobo, which has the same-size 6-inch e-ink display as the Kindle and the Nook, is something of a no-frills e-reader: it doesn't have Wi-Fi or 3G wireless connectivity (and the screen has 8 levels of gray, not 16). However, it does offer a Bluetooth connection for "wirelessly syncing with select smartphones and updating your reading … Read more

Borders' new e-book store is now open for business.

The bookstore chain officially unveiled its new e-book store on Wednesday, with a million and a half electronic books, both paid and free, in a variety of formats, including ePub, mobile, and PDF.

Customers can read the e-books using free software powered by Kobo and designed for different devices, according to Borders. The lineup includes existing applications for the PC, Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and new apps just launched for Android and BlackBerry phones, all of which are available at Borders' Web site. In addition to reading the books through the … Read more

We've been waiting to see which company--Amazon or Barnes & Noble--would blink first when it came to price cuts for its e-readers, and now we get the answer.

Barnes & Noble not only introduced on Monday a new Wi-Fi-only Nook for $149, but also cut the price of the original Wi-Fi and 3G-enabled Nook from $259 to $199. The new model will be available later this week and can be preordered now.

Barnes & Noble is also upgrading the software for its Nook e-readers to version 1.4 and offering "complimentary" access to all AT&T … Read more