e-books

SEO Tutorial offers tips and history on how to get the most visibility out of a Web site. Focusing on search engine optimization, this ebook is a brisk, useful read.

The program's interface was surprisingly good. We'd tested ebooks before and were not impressed, but this was written in a very readable tone and made it simple to jump to specific topics. The book primarily consisted of short, one- or two-paragraph explanations on various aspects of improving Web site visibility through search engines. The program featured chapters on the history of search engines, search engine basics, common mistakes, … Read more

Like e-books, but hate paying those exorbitant prices? E-bookseller Fictionwise (which was recently acquired by Barnes & Noble) is offering a deal that's pretty sweet: a 100% rebate on all New York Times bestsellers.

Let me clarify: You get a 100% Micropay rebate. What's Micropay? One way to buy e-books from Fictionwise is to set up a Micropay account, which is basically just a debit account (not unlike Microsoft's Points system for Xbox and Zune).

Basically, you add funds to it (in $5 increments via check, credit card, or PayPal), then draw on those funds each time … Read more

If you're an avid reader, and you don't want to pick up a Kindle or a book from your local library, several Web sites let you read while you're surfing the Web.

Admittedly, the experience is less than ideal. Those of us who already spend time staring at a computer screen for work don't necessarily want to stare at a screen to read a book. I should also note that not all the books the sites offer will feature the kind of content you love. Many of the services offer many out-of-print books or classics due to copyright disputes. That said, using these sites, I still think you will find at least some titles that will suit your fancy.

Alex Catalogue of Electronic Books: As someone who focuses much of my time reading history and philosophy works, Alex Catalogue of Electronic Books is an ideal site for me.

The majority of titles on Alex Catalogue of Electronic Books includes great literary works over the past few hundred years. The site also has prominent titles on Western history and philosophy. They range from books by Niccolo Machiavelli to Ralph Waldo Emerson. When you click on a title you're interested in, the site quickly delivers the text.

I was generally impressed by the Alex Catalogue. Although I would have liked to see more historical content on the site, the books that are available were worth checking out. And thanks to a quick load time, it made the site all the more useful. You can also print the texts so you don't need to sit at your computer screen to read them.

AskSam: AskSam is an interesting site. It doesn't feature nearly as many books as I would have liked (in fact, it has just a handful of classics), but it makes several documents available that make it a viable alternative for those who aren't necessarily looking to read an e-book online.

When you first get to AskSam, you'll see a listing of some of the "classics" it has available. When you click on those titles, you can typically read them on the site. A few books require you to download the text, but those are few and far between. Overall, the selection is poor. I would have liked to see more books. But in the end, it didn't detract too much from the service.

I found that AskSam's extras provided the most value. They include several interesting documents, like a collection of all the speeches President Barack Obama has recited, legislative texts, transcripts on important political events, and more. It's a nice collection to sift through. And if you don't want to read them online, they can all be printed out from your browser.… Read more

Back in August we wrote about the impending arrival of a new, touch-screen, wireless-enabled e-reader from Irex, and now the company has officially unveiled the product, the DR800SG, which boasts a 8.1-inch screen and costs $399.

While Sprint provides the Amazon Kindle's wireless service, the Irex e-reader will use Verizon for its 3G wireless connectivity. As with the Kindle, the "free" wireless plan offers unlimited e-book and periodical downloads and is included in the price of the DR800SG.

Irex reps previously said that they would be pairing their new e-reader with a large e-book retailer, and not surprisingly, the DR800SG has a tie-in with Barnes & Noble's e-bookstore. For newspaper and other periodicals, Irex continues an already established partnership with NewspaperDirect, which serves up "1,140 newspapers from 87 countries in 41 languages in their original layout."

Just as importantly, Irex has brokered a deal with Best Buy to sell the DR800SG in Best Buy stores nationwide. According to the New Times, this week "Best Buy is training thousands of its employees in how to talk about and demonstrate devices like the Sony Reader and Irex, and adding a new area to its 1,048 stores to showcase the devices."

Here are the DR800SG's highlights:… Read more

The tech industry buzzes a lot about e-book readers. But how widely are they actually used?

Among 1,529 consumers who responded to a July 2009 questionnaire from research firm In-Stat, only 5.8 percent currently own an e-book reader. And only 11 percent of those questioned said they planned to buy one in the next 12 months, according to the In-Stat report released this week.

Those low results may be even more significant given that In-Stat's survey audience consisted of high-end consumers who typically adopt new technology earlier than the general public.

Another study released last week by … Read more

When it comes to e-book readers, the jury is still out on what screen size is ideal. Until recently, consumers were pretty much limited to choosing between 6-inch models from Sony, Amazon, and a few lesser-known manufacturers. But now new e-readers are cropping up in both larger and smaller sizes, and Sony's 5-inch Reader Pocket Edition (PRS-300) is making a bid to capture a chunk of the nascent e-reader market.

As the entry-level model in Sony's 2009 e-book lineup, the comparatively diminutive PRS-300 has neither the touch screen that's found on the $300 PRS-600 Reader Touch Edition … Read more

Another Amazon Kindle competitor has unveiled its plans for the future. And like Plastic Logic's e-reader, the device will feature Barnes & Noble's e-book store.

When Irex Technologies unveils its consumer e-reader later this year, it will include Barnes & Noble's e-books, Irex said in a statement Monday.

Barnes & Noble's store currently features more than 750,000 titles, and it expects that library of available titles to increase to more than one million within the next year. The full library will be available for download on Irex's e-reader.

That news followed a report earlier this month that Irex's new e-reader will sport an 8.1-inch touch screen and 3G wireless connectivity. The device's touch screen will be controlled with a stylus instead of a user's fingers.… Read more

The Amazon Kindle world just snuck up on me and removed $45.13 from my wallet. And the experience turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

I'm not technophobic, but I honestly was planning on sitting on the sidelines for this particular episode of the digitization of the world. I figured electronic books would arrive in good time as Net access expanded, devices grew more sophisticated, publishers and distributors hashed out the business issues, and legal complications of Google Books ground themselves through the courts.

I'm not opposed to reading text on a screen, though print is easier on the eyes. I just figured that--judging by the digital convulsions in the movie, TV, and music businesses--the San Francisco Public Library would be my safe haven for two or three more years.

During that time, e-book readers would get better displays, battery life, network access, and other features, and Amazon's Kindle book readers or some equivalent would grow up to become worthwhile.

What I hadn't counted on was a free Amazon iPhone application that converted me to the new order in a matter of minutes. E-books doubtless aren't for everybody, but one idle moment when I had time to kill showed they are for me. … Read more

Dear e-book publishers: stop gouging us.

Look, I'm your biggest fan. I've been reading digitally distributed fiction and non-fiction since the early days of the PalmPilot.

The most frequently used apps on my iPhone, bar none, are Kindle, eReader, and Stanza.

But I'm getting increasingly frustrated with e-book prices, which rarely represent a savings over their print (aka dead-tree) counterparts.

Case in point: I just read a glowing review of Jonathan Tropper's "This is Where I Leave You." I'm sold; I want it. But something's amiss here: Amazon's hardcover price is $15.57, while the Kindle edition sells for $14.01.

Now, I understand books cost money. There's editing, publishing, and distribution. Paper, ink, trucks, gasoline. Storage, shipping, shelf space, sales staff. And the countless people involved in all those transactions.

E-books, on the other hand, consume zero trees. They weigh nothing, occupy no physical space, and don't get shipped in the traditional sense. Middlemen are few and far between. So you're left with, what, editing costs and the pittance you pay the authors?

Explain to me, then, why the e-book edition of "This is Where I Leave You" sells for $14.01. The $.01 suggests there must be some calculation at work, some formula you use to determine that Kindle and iPhone owners get to save all of a buck-fifty-six when they read green.… Read more