MediaBistro’s eBookNewser and GalleyCat have been putting together a directory of good Twitter accounts to follow for e-book news. Gratifyingly, our very own Paul Biba tops their list. Thanks for the mention, MediaBistro!


Engadget reports that Amazon and ASUS are teaming up to pre-install the Kindle Reader software on some of the netbooks and laptops ASUS sells through Amazon. Engadget speculates that the pre-installation might extend to ASUS’s forthcoming Eee Pad tablet, but expects to hear more about that at an upcoming industry event.

Also found on Engadget, Amazon’s Kindle 2.5 software is now rolling out to Kindle 2 and DX devices. This update includes implementation of a “Collections” feature, improvement in how the devices handle PDFs, a new “huge” font size, and social networking integration. Still no sign of EPUB capability, alas. We covered the update’s contents in more detail a few days ago.


Found on the MobileRead forum: Stanford researchers have developed a “paper supercapacitor” to go along with paper transistors and paper displays—made by printing carbon nanotubes onto specially-treated paper.

This offers the interesting possibility that in the future, we might see cheap, disposable e-book devices made out of “e-paper”, perhaps available in vending machines or airport shops loaded with a single book much like those single-audiobook mp3 players you can find now.


The UK’s Booksellers Association put its foot in its mouth recently when it said it was going to share member information with Google as part of a deal that allows UK booksellers to sell Google Editions this summer. Subsequently, the BA has backed down and said it will allow members to opt out of the information sharing.


Amid great pomp and circumstance, the staff of George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate recently presented the New York Society Library with a copy of the book that Washington borrowed 221 years ago and never returned. The library decided not to pursue the $300,000 in inflation-adjusted late fees that would have accrued over this time.

Just think, if e-books had existed in Washington’s day, his book could have been “returned” for him automatically by the check-out DRM system.

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