Electronic reading devices that you can take anywhere and read your favorite books
Mobile, desktop and web apps for reading, managing and converting electronic books
Websites and communities where you can find and share books or publish your own
10.02.2025


Amazon has released software update 5.17.3 for the 2022 and 2024 Kindle Scribe. This update introduces a new way to scribble notes in ebooks and Word documents, which is great and an ever-present, immovable icon on the screen, which is... less great. The note-taking feature itself is rather clever—you can summon a panel that politely overlaps your book’s text or forces the words to rearrange themselves like panicked commuters making room for an oversized suitcase. This panel can be resized with the kind of flexibility one expects from a budget airline seat: two options in portrait mode, three in landscape. However, the real pièce de résistance is the icon that calls forth this panel. It’s always there, lurking in the margin like an uninvited dinner guest who refuses to take a hint. You can shift it from left to right, but no amount of logical reasoning, button-pressing or whispered pleas will make it disappear entirely. It is, in every sense, the literary equivalent of a pebble in your shoe—except you can’t take the shoe off.
05.02.2025


Bookshop.org is an online bookstore that has invented an interesting scheme to compete with Amazon, Kobo and B&N. It's promote by thousands of local (indie) book stores in the US via QR codes. Why? Because when user comes to this store's page on Bookshop.org, it places a cookie in users' browser that identifies him/her as that store's customer and the local store will get the full profit from all this users' purchases (30% of the book's list price). Until now Bookshop.org was selling only paper books (that can be delivered by local stores) but recently it launched e-book section. Empowering local bookstores to sell digital products and earn 100% of the profits from those sales highlights Bookshop.org’s ongoing commitment to supporting local bookstores in the digital age.
27.01.2025


AI story writing platform Squibler has significantly improved the quality of image generation with the new AI Visualize tool. Users can now enter unlimited text-prompt for visualization and have greater control over output styles, aspect ratios and more customization options. Besides the developers added the ability to generate full-length screenplays. You can simply provide an idea, choose the desired length and within minutes, a complete screenplay will be ready to review and refine. Also from now new users signing up for the first time can now access upfront discounts on the annual plan during the onboarding process, making it easier to get started with premium features.
22.01.2025


Amazon Kindle Colorsoft debuted with the kind of fanfare that quickly turned into an awkward cough, thanks to unsightly yellow bars skulking at the bottom of its screen—especially glaring when the front light was on, as if the device wanted to spotlight its own flaws. This prompted Amazon to hit the pause button on sales while they hurriedly tinkered with their newfangled E Ink Kaleido 3 tech, which involved a custom display stack of oxide backplanes, nitride LEDs and coatings that sounded more like ingredients for a futuristic smoothie. After firmware updates and an SOS to Foxconn, the refreshed Colorsoft emerged, now faster, brighter and mercifully yellow-free. Amazon assures buyers of the latest batch via their site, but those venturing to other retailers like Best Buy might still be gambling on which version they'll get.
17.01.2025


Azure GPT-3 on Onyx Boox devices was silently replaced by a Chinese large language model by Bytedance, the company behind TikTok. It's not a big surprise because Onyx International is also Chinese company. But this new AI assistant is propaganda-based. It refuses to mention anything remotely negative about China (or it's allies, like Russia, the Assad regime and North-Korea). But is happy to do so about any other country on earth. The LLM in question is Doubao, which is offered as an API under ByteDance’s cloud services division Volcano Engine. But the model is only meant to be used within China’s mainland. Boox launched the AI assistant feature last summer. It's available in the Naviball and Control Center, ready to answer any of your questions.
11.01.2025


Crunchyroll Manga has revamped its reading app. It will be accessible later this year as an independent app on iOS and Android, launching in Canada and the United States. The app enhances Crunchyroll subscriptions and will be available as a premium upgrade. Web browser support is also anticipated for the future. The original Crunchyroll Manga app had existed since 2013 but was discontinued in late 2023. Before that, the app had not been refreshed in years. They also removed all of the digital manga from their platform and it seemed, at the time, that they were stepping away from manga and centering their brand on streaming anime. Prominent publishers will contribute to the new app in the manga market, but the company has not disclosed exactly who will supply its new digital manga collection. Since they predominantly focus on English titles, it will likely originate from Viz Media, Kodansha USA, Seven Seas and possibly Dark Horse.
06.01.2025


Smashing, a new application curating the finest of the web from Goodreads co-founder Otis Chandler, is now accessible to the public. Like Goodreads, the app aims to build a community around content. But this time, instead of books, the emphasis is on web content — such as news articles, blog posts, social media updates, podcasts and more. Additionally, Smashing is unveiling an AI Questions feature that enables you to interact with the content being shared in various ways, including by viewing a news story from alternate perspectives or asking the AI to critique the story, among other things. By exploring different facets of a story, you can see how both the political left and right perceive the topic. Or, in the case of a company’s stock, you might be shown both the optimistic and pessimistic viewpoints.
25.12.2024


OverDrive has recently announced the introduction of its inaugural publishing company and first series. Rooted in OverDrive’s Cleveland base, Heights Press embodies the company’s profound mission to assist schools and libraries in fostering literacy and a passion for reading. Heights Press premieres with “Hickory Hollow,” a six-book collection for middle-grade readers and a lineup of video shorts. The initial titles are now accessible exclusively for public libraries and schools globally for readers utilizing the Libby, Sora and Kanopy Kids apps and platforms. Each book in “Hickory Hollow” will be initially offered in e-book format in five languages—English, Chinese, German, Vietnamese and Korean—ensuring extensive reach and enhanced accessibility. The first title is provided at no charge to all OverDrive schools and libraries as part of the “Everyone Reads: Kids and Teens Collection” for readers on Libby and Sora, while the remaining books are available for purchase in the OverDrive Marketplace.
20.12.2024


PodToo, a platforms for hosting and distributing audio content, has entered into a collaboration with Kobo Books. As part of the agreement, audiobook publishers associated with PodToo will now be able to showcase their audiobooks on Kobo Books. This will benefit both parties, as audiobook publishers with PodToo will gain access to a fresh market segment comprising the Kobo userbase worldwide. PodToo also announced it had introduced the new groundbreaking SecureRSS technology, which will allow audiobooks to be sold directly through Podcast 2.0 players. Buyers will be able to access or even acquire audiobooks using conventional payments (FIAT) or Bitcoin (Sats). This is going to be achievable only with those platforms that have embraced the SecureRSS technology. This will provide buyers with a smooth listening experience while creators will be able to monetize their content efficiently, all thanks to the SecureRSS innovation.
13.12.2024


Onyx Boox has introduced the new Note Air4 C E Ink tablet, which has several improvements over its predecessor. It has the same 10.3-inch display (2480 x 1860) with a Kaleido 3 panel for color effect. The accompanying stylus, which Onyx refers to as the Pen Plus, offers a natural paper-like writing feel as it supports 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity. Thanks to the new high-powered processor, Boox is claiming an outright 50 percent improvement in performance. It runs the more recent Android 13 that allows better organization of notes with the help of folders and tags. The new Outline feature lets you outline your notes in a clear structure. The Link tool connects all your notes, other documents and online information to be more accessible when needed. The device has 3,700 mAh battery which should last a week or so. The price is $500.