Nook Touch screen contrast shots, font sizes. Kindle for Android on Nook Touch

IMAGES BY AN OWNER OF THE 2 E-INK NOOKS

*Click* on the top image or here to get the larger and clearer original photo that was used by mykoffee {MK), a BN forum member, to illustrate her message, which is still there although the accompanying photo isn't.  She tried to get the current font face and size as close as she could, and this was as close a match as she found.

Since I own a NookColor, which is stunning for color magazine reading, I am often in the Barnes and Noble Nook forums and am a B&N member.

  While I'm mainly interested in the NookColor messages there, I also saw the Nook Simple Touch at B&N the other day and reported in a blog entry Sunday that I felt the overall text for all books on the 2-page listing of the Nook Touch there struck me as too grayish and not dark enough for my eyes, which are used to the Pearl Screen as implemented for the Kindle 3.

 The two images here are by the Nook owner mentioned above in a posting at the B&N Nook forum.

This 2nd image here of the two Nooks is as it appeared in that B&N Nook forum message thread.

  When trying the Nook Touch on June 4, I tried all font faces at normal sizes to try to get a darker one.  The salesman said that what I saw was fine and the way it is.

  MK took these pictures for the B&N Nook Forum to illustrate that the new Nook text didn't appear as dark on the older E-Ink Nook when the font is the size MK prefers for reading.

  The reason the text of MK's old Nook-1 appears darker overall than what MK sees with the Pearl screen of the Nook Touch is that the older Nook text, although not quite as sharp as for the newer Nook, is a Fatter basic font which was implemented to be darker.

  MK tried to get the newer Nook's font-face and size as close to the older Nook as possible, but this was as close as MK could get with the font choices.
  To make the newer Nook text as dark as it appears on the older Nook, MK had to go to the next size up, but as I saw when visiting B&N, the NEXT step is *much* larger and MK doesn't want to read with a font that large.

  You can see the jump in font-size to get the darker appearance wanted if you go to the two photos, one above the other, at the message thread.  MK explains, "With the new Nook when you jump up to the next larger size font (second A from right) the jump is too big"...

  You'll also see that most people probably would not be bothered by this and that the large majority of those posting at the Nook forum say they really love this touchscreen model.

  One other customer, English Butterfly [EB], in that message thread had very much the same reaction as MT: "Thanks for the pictures,-  I am glad I am not the only one who feels this way- hope they can correct it!", and I saw that in another thread EB mentions the following:

' I have all 3 nooks- the first edition, nook color, and the 2nd edition.  Between the 1rst and 2nd edition [NookColor], I am partial to the first one... I like the fonts sizes better on the first nook, - it seems like the new fonts are either too small, or too big- seems like there is an error.  I am quite fond of my first edition nook, and think it is classier with colored books on it.  I also like the 3 G factor.  I may buy an additional 3 G Nook version 1, in case anything happens to my current one.  If I go on a trip, I depend on the 3G . The only upside for me on the new nook, is that it is lighter...'

  Again, by far, most postings I saw were by people who love the new Nook, including the screen contrast.  But I get asked about this a lot these days, and so I thought that in addition to my "Features comparison," which detailed the pluses of the Nook Simple Touch and then the missing features, and also the article on the not-visible and not-ready web browser, I should report this.

  At the Nook e-Ink forums' message topic listings, you'll see there also are problems right now with being able to "sync" the new Nook with other devices.  B&N Forum discussions for the Nook e-Ink readers are: General Discussion and Technical Support.

  Many of us were somewhat bothered by some Kindle 2's having lighter screen contrast (and I wrote about that quite a bit), to the extent that Kindle customer Ted Inoue made a set of darker fonts that could supplement the Kindle 2's fonts, and this user-addable font-set made all the difference for Kindle-2 customers who were sensitive to less-strong contrast - it's a good read.

Update
More online screen comparisons with e-Ink touchscreens (Nook, iriver)
See Business Insider's look at Kindle 3 vs Nook screens, which includes a link to the thorough PC World (Melissa Perenson) review of iriver, another e-Ink touchscreen, which mentions the Nook touch screen also.

Update July 2011 - Nick Bilton of the NY Times described Amazon's TouchCo's challenges with making a touch screen that doesn't lose some degree of screen contrast.


ROOTING THE NOOK TOUCH - What's it like?
The ever-investigative Mike Cane has an interesting article on the (not intuitive) 'rooting' of the Nook Touch and what the "Kindle for Android" app is like on the e-Ink, Android-based Nook.  It's illustrated with a video by zonyl.  The black flashing is something to behold, and you can see that with this app, Cane points out, "page shifting is done by showing pages sliding across the screen," which isn't handled well by e-Ink displays.

---

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Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($139)   DX Graphite Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Apple's New Rules for Bookstores Match "Clarification" statement Feb 1. Update

APPLE'S NEW RULES AND AMAZON

   Every online news site has a different take on this, so I'll list the statements from Apple's  clarifications on February 1, 15 and March re Sony's new developer's app for iPad which was rejected by Apple due to the app including an  option to purchase books from Sony outside the app but VIA a link, In-App to Sony's online bookstore.

  (The proposed rules for Subscriptions were more onerous and have been softened today, but the new rules for bookstore-purchases that begin in-app are as explained by Apple earlier.

As reported for the 2nd time, in my blog article of February 24, 2011 which explained why I felt that Amazon Kindle books would remain readable by iPad owners no matter what (see details in that article):

'PREFACE
What Apple has actually said about One-Off E-Bookreader apps so far and what it has said about Subscription-Content apps
. . .
[This is]  "a clarification" given by an Apple media rep about the reason for Sony's eBook-Reader app being rejected -- it was given in response to media questions:

1.  QUOTE FROM APPLE REP TRUDY MULLER ON SONY'S *E-BOOK READER APP REJECTION
In response to the Sony rejection on its e-reader app, Trudy Muller said, on February 1:

' "We have not changed our developer terms or guidelines," Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller told Ars. "We are now requiring that if an App offers customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app with in-app purchase." '

  [That means an alternative option to purchase via Apple rather than just accepting an in-app option to leave the app to buy at the bookseller's store.  Again, this quote is for an e-reader app, not a subscription one.] '

 Compare that to the rule today (from All Things D's column by Peter Kafka, emphases mine) that will affect Amazon and its Kindle app:

' 11.13 Apps that link to external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions to be used in the app, such as a “buy” button that goes to a web site to purchase a digital book, will be rejected.

11.14 Apps can read or play approved content (specifically magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video) that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app, as long as there is no button or external link in the app to purchase the approved content.

  Apple will not receive any portion of the revenues for approved content that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app. '

Their wording -is- clearer now but, in essence, no different from what Muller said February 1.

  The new rules say that a book-reading app can 'read' material purchased ... OUTSIDE the app AS LONG AS there's no button or external link in the app to purchase that content (as there is now, because Amazon does currently link to Safari to the book in the Kindle Store from within the app, and that can no longer be -- unless Amazon and Apple make a deal.

  Apple should deal, as much of the draw for their book-buyers with iPads is the ability to buy from Amazon's far greater selection of contemporary books and to read them ON Apple's iPad as well as on the Kindle or other device.

  What Apple said February 1 was that if there IS a button or external link IN THE APP to purchase an item outside, then the publisher would have to also offer an option to purchase that item from Apple INSIDE that app (and Apple would take what would have been an unseemly cut (100% of book-vendor profit for Big 6 ebooks).

  Many of us said, at that point, "Then don't have the external links to purchase." Kindle book owners mainly want to read their e-books on any device.
  That's the scenario we have today.

The terms for subscription publishers as described February 15 sounded worse.  Steve Jobs took the time to issue a statement at that time to 'clarify' the press release having to do with subscriptions.


2.  QUOTE FROM STEVE JOBS in that February 15 press release, the entire focus of which was on Subscription-content apps whether by publishers or subscription-content providers in general (the bracketed comments are mine]:

' Apple® today announced a new subscription service available to all publishers of content-based apps on the App Store℠, including magazines, newspapers, video, music, etc.  This is the same innovative digital subscription billing service that Apple recently launched with News Corp.’s “The Daily” app... [subscription-based, of course]
...
“Our philosophy is simple -- when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

  “All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app. '

3.  QUOTE FROM EDDY CUE ABOUT APPLICATION OF RULES RE SUBSCRIPTIONS, reported March 5, 2011.  (Subscription rules proposed were tougher-sounding and softened today.)

'...what Business Insider's Yarrow reports about a meeting between Berstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi and Apple execs during that week.

  The article's headline is "Maybe Apple's New App Subscription Rule Won't Hammer Amazon."  Excerpts:

' Apple's new in-app subscription policy might not affect Amazon after all.
Berstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi met with Apple execs last week and pressed them on how the new subscription policy would affect Netflix and Amazon.

Eddy Cue, Apple's Internet services boss, wouldn't comment on either company, but said, the announcement only applied to subscriptions.

Well, Amazon Kindle books aren't subscriptions, so they shouldn't be affected, no?

We've been pressing on Amazon trying to get a comment and the company is just ignoring us.  But, we think there's a chance that it's just not going to be affected by Apple.

Why?  Beyond Cue's comment, we've heard from a source that Netflix would not be affected by Apple's new policy.  We're not sure of the exact reason why, but it now seems reasonable to think it's because Netflix isn't a publishing business.

Don't forget Steve Jobs reportedly said in an email, "We created subscriptions for publishing apps, not SaaS ["software as a service"] apps." (Amazon, for the most part, isn't a publishing company.)

Another reason for Netflix to be exempted: Apple needs Netflix to make Apple TV a success, and keep iPad owners happy... '

Yarrow then speculates on the lack of comment by Apple re Netflix and Amazon and also on the silence from those companies on Apple's recent moves and reminds us that no one knows what will happen on all of this.  I'll repeat that Apple would suffer more from the Kindle app not being available on the iDevices since they WILL be on all the new Android devices and a real pull for consumers trying to decide on tablets in 2011.

But the statement by Apple's Eddy Cue is somewhat encouraging and a sign of sanity.  Signs are only signs though.

So, today the situation for Amazon IS as clarified Feb 1 by Trudy Muller while the new Subscription-Publisher rules omit the once-planned pricing-restrictions for subscription publishers.

QUESTIONS:
  . Will Apple want something like 3-5% (rather than 30%, Amazon's total profit on a Big6 book) to allow Amazon a "BUY button" linking to the Kindlestore?

  . Will Amazon prefer to deprive Apple of the Kindle App for iPad if they can't have a BUY button linked to their store?  They'd have the app on all Android tablets, the Blackberry and HP Web OS devices as well as Windows Phone 7 and also on desktops.

  . (UPDATED to include this)   Amazon could even, actually, offer the option in-app WHILE charging the 30% 'share' Apple wants, on TOP of the book's cost to iPad-using book-buyers to buy it in-app. Apple could give those loyal iPad users some kind of bonus credit.


MOST LIKELY - but only likely
I think both Amazon and Apple profit from having the Kindle App for iPad (and iPhones/iPod Touch) and they'll work something out.

I read several of the articles today and feel that All Things D's Peter Kafka had the most knowledgeable view of all that's been involved.  He asks several good questions, explains how the various publishers may choose to comply (or not) and worries a bit re the Amazon app, but Amazon's book customers certainly know how and where to buy an Amazon book they want while on their iPads, etc.

Do read Kafka's full report today.  I'll be interested in any reader reactions although I'll be gone for about 8 hours and any Comments will be posted when I get back.

---

Meanwhile, re daily free ebooks,
  check the following links:  (Also, Low-priced Sunshine Deals through 6/15)

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics - USA: by: NEW:  Apr  May  June 2011    Publication Date   Late-listed    Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"? Highly-rated e-books under $1

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad,   99c Calculator,   99c CalendarPro,   99c Converter

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

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Kindle Tips: Web 'Article Mode' / Nook Touch's "hidden" web browser.

  Click on 1st image to get Nook Touch web browser story with video.  Click on 2nd image to get the larger version of the Kindle 3 web pic.

Nathan of The EbookReader found that the Nook has a "hidden" web browser.

  As he points out, it's hidden for a reason.

' Scrolling, zooming, and activating hyperlinks are hit-or-miss, and pages don’t load half the time. I tried downloading an EPUB from Feedbooks, the download worked, but the ebook would not open...
...Overall, though, it needs a lot of work—probably why Barnes and Noble never mentioned it. '

  In fact, in their current Nook comparison chart, Barnes & Noble actually marked that the Nook Touch doesn't have a web browser.  By that, I guess they mean it doesn't have a correctly functioning one.
  Some see that as a challenge to "root" the device though it's a tad risky or frustrating with B&N doing unannounced firmware upgrades as they have.

  Nathan says the menu system, otherwise, "seems to work well" and it shows "promise."

The Nook Touch uses the Android operating system, as does the much faster LCD NookColor.  Both of them will find websites if you start a device Search while specifying a website or URL like "google.com" for that search.

  Many of us suspect that's a basic Android OS feature which can be built on when developers want.  At Mobileread forums, there's an interesting discussion on this, and Antioch says:

' It could just be an artifact of using Android. The Android search functionality will take you to the web to find things so maybe this is just that. Unless it's not the native Android browser... '

  Definitely boosting that theory is what's explained at the android developers webpage on their Guide to the Basics, "What is Android?"

' Developers have full access to the same framework APIs used by the core applications. The application architecture is designed to simplify the reuse of components...
  Underlying all applications is a set of services and systems, including:

  . A rich and extensible set of Views that can be used to build an application, including lists, grids, text boxes, buttons, and even an embeddable web browser... '

As for its incomplete functioning, Mobileread Forum's tom e reports being at B&N trying it out, and he wrote:

' ...You seem to have to know the web address you want.  You can get to google.com easily, but when you try to 'google' something you get knocked out of the browser. '

trescenzi agrees that

' There is a really good chance this is an artifact from it being android based.  The browser has the usual android browser features and if you swipe down it brings up the address bar and options.  Also when you go to search the button labeled "search" switches to "go" making me think it recognizes addresses as such.

Update:
Looks like even though you can use the address bar it wont actually connect to addresses entered there.  Just got onto my gmail account and everything works great.-Scratch that looks like any attempt to send mail crashes the browser. '

tom e adds to his earlier report:

' ...I did view my own blog on it though, by typing the URL, and I did see the main page for the google online apps.  I think I even saw a hint of multitouch capability (did the opposite of the 'pinch' on the screen)  It did appear to zoom in, but only barely and then got stuck.  Maybe the refresh rate was too slow?  Maybe I imagined it. (?) '

  He mentions Nathan's video (on Nathan's page, linked above) and seeing Landscape mode at one point. The (Android-based) NookColor, which I have and which definitely has a smooth browser, does have Landscape mode active for Web, although B&N programmers don't enable Landscape for non-children's books for some reason, nor for PDFs.
  The video shows the web browser to be, otherwise, pretty smooth and responsive.  It could be that the e-Ink screen can't keep up with what the enbedded Android browser needs.

trescenzi adds a positive note:

' With respect to RSS if you use google reader to read RSS the mobile app is awesome and worked great when I tried to use it on the nook touch's browser. '

forkyfork writes:

' It's neat from a "look, it's something we didn't expect" perspective, but DO NOT BUY THIS MODEL IF WEB BROWSING IS AT ALL IMPORTANT TO YOU. '

And tom e adds,

' Yep I totally agree that it's not a browser that is sufficient on its own, as is.  I wouldn't buy it just now (at least not with the belief that it's going to be more than they advertise) nor would I recommend anyone else do so.

  On the other hand I think it shows us that it's plenty able to do some simple things that I want...
  I do not think it's very capable for real web browsing though, no matter what people root and put on. Basically, it flashes so much just trying to load most pages (or scrolling down them YUCK!) that it would make me crazy... '

  At the pace of Barnes and Noble's updates for my NookColor (and even REMOVING highlight, copy, paste from the web browser, I don't know how much energy they'd put into working on the Nook Touch e-Ink web browser while on the verge of being bought by Liberty with the stipulation that the current BN head, Leonard Riccio, would join the buyout.  There are concerns about voting by other stockholders and the fact that Ron Burkle and Aletheia Research and Management own almost 31% of the stock between them and may have a say in things.

  As the NYTimes put it, B&N "faces some difficult choices about the company’s second-largest shareholder while simultaneously managing a conflicted sale to Liberty Media and the bookseller’s largest shareholder."

  As B&N has been stressing and analysts explain, in this technewsworld article,

' The market may now be ready for that type of simpler device for a crowd that isn't willing to invest in a complex personal device.

  "There is a group of people who are using traditional computing technologies today, and then those who say, 'This is too complex for me, I need a simple solution.' That audience is looking for a device that does one thing and does an excellent job at that, and the e-reader does that by being a replication of the book-reading experience and removing the complexity of that," said Orr. '

But I think B&N would be smarter to enable fully and develop the functioning of the e-Ink web browser and eventually unhide it, as the current gadget world just expects at least a simple web browser if only for emergencies, and their biggest competitor, Amazon, has a working one.

  Not only that, the Kindles (UK: K3's) have, as I've stressed, a truly unique and valuable feature, free 3G web-browsing almost anywhere you happen to be and this is possible in 60 of 100+ countries, while the 3G itself is enabled for Amazon book downloading plus free Wikipedia 3G web access in over 100 countries.

  If B&N Nooks had those capabilities, the press would probably be whooping it up, but the many features that Amazon has given the Kindle are given short shrift, as there's "nothing new" in any of that :-).  All Kindles have had that since 2007. Slow, but faster than zero, and other ereaders enable any 3G web browser for bookstore-sites only.

KINDLE WEB BROWSER TIP
I've found that almost no one I know personally is aware of the web-browser feature added in August that makes the Kindle 3's web browsing more pleasurable and they're using instead only the Zoom feature, which I find awkward.  I'll illustrate the steps in another blog entry later, but here's, basically, what you do.

  1. Go to a website, which will default to 'fit width' of the screen, which means the fonts will be tiny and nearly unreadable.

  2. Use the Aa type/font key to choose 150% or more to zoom into a specific box-framed area of the display that you want to explore -- a given article, usually.

  3. Click to get the article.

  4. When the article's settled in (e-Ink is not speedy),
      Press Menu button and select "Article Mode"

  5. This will make it very readable by getting rid of extraneous ads, polls, side-columns, etc., while increasing the font size considerably.  The effect is similar to what you get when using "Readability," "Instapaper" or "SendToReader" web tools that show you just the article's text.

  6. If the font still is not large enough for comfort, you can press the Aa font/text key to choose to increase the size of the text.

  7. If you want to see more on a line than you can in Portrait mode, the Kindle 3 lets you use Aa font/text key to rotate the Kindle to Landscape, which gives you even more readable text across the screen, but working the next-page button or the scroll down cursor is a bit more awkward that way.

At any rate, it ends up VERY readable and the text reflows very nicely to fit the screen margins, etc.

  When I use (often) the step-by-step directions from/to a place on a Kindle (see Driving directions), using Google Map's text directions, the instructions are easy to read on the Kindle 2 or DX (or even Kindle 1), but they're tiny on a Kindle 3. Why, I don't know.

But you can treat the results for driving directions the way you do any article. Press Menu and select "Article Mode" and that'll make them easily readable.

MOBILE-DEVICE OPTIMIZED SITES IN "KINDLE BOOK" FORM
Remember that you can download this mobiweb.azw file at any time, to your Kindle, from the Kindle.

  The file is explained (if you can stand any more verbiage) here.

  ONE Correction - With the GMAIL URL I recommend, SENDING an email reply required, I thought, exiting by moving the cursor down to the bottom of the reply box, and going to the SEND field.  It's actually EASIER to move UP to the Subject field and over to the SEND field at the top of the reply.

  It's times like that when we would prefer a touch screen.

---

For daily free ebooks, check the following links:  (Also, Low-priced Sunshine Deals thru' 6/15)

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics - USA: by: NEW:  Apr  May  June 2011    Publication Date   Late-listed    Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"? Highly-rated e-books under $1

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad,   99c Calculator,   99c CalendarPro,   99c Converter

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

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Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Web articles to your Kindle w/ images. 'SendToReader' & 'Readability'

EASIlY SEND WEB PAGE ARTICLES TO YOUR KINDLE

Am doing follow-up info on SendtoReader (for Kindle), which offers a BookMarklet for that, and I'm introducing Readability's newer offering of a SendToKindle button.   Both of these tools strip unnecessary side-info, links, ads, polls, etc., and send only the body of an article to your Kindle upon the click of a button.

The Readability tool also displays only the body of the article in your web browser when you click on "Read Now."

Both offer free basic send-to-Kindle service, but Readability has a Premium $5/mo. program if you also want special features, such as "Read Later" (on the Readability webpage) or a History of what you've done.   70% of the income goes to the publishers/websites providing the articles for your Kindle-sends, though I don't know how they do that.

SENDtoREADER, a FOLLOW UP
Basic info on this was given in the March 29 blog entry but I'll include that info here to make it easier:   It promises the following:

' SENDtoREADER  is a simple web application that allows you to send any webpage to your Amazon Kindle Reader instantly.

This gives your Kindle the flexibility to be your work or leisure time companion with a simple click of the mouse.  SENDtoREADER is a simple web application that allows you to send any webpage to your Amazon Kindle Reader instantly.
 ...
Our web app is extremely easy to use. It's just a bookmarklet (or favlet) which works well in all modern browsers including: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Opera.  Version for Internet Explorer is coming soon.  Once it's added to your favorites, you can start sending web pages to your Kindle with a single click.  By default, Kindle is a book reader, but with SENDtoREADER you can also make it your personal Magazine.

In order to protect your privacy, our system requires you to register first. '

The comments section for the earlier article has mainly raves about how this SendToReader works.

Norti was the first to report in the Comments area:

' Accented international characters in titles ('őűóúíáé') - and in text, of course - and pictures are well preserved with this, so it's already better than any other other page-sending service out there ... those are likely to fail on accented titles). '

  Early mentions were of images coming through well, good general layout, and "a great feature: history of your sent articles (linked) in your account at sendtoreader.com with an option to resend." Thanks to phelcq and Elmo.

Corneliu Dascalu said,

' This tool deserves all the attention it can get. It's absolutely wonderful. '

Leigh wrote,

' This tool is perfect. Thank you for making me aware of it!  When I could not get for the life of me RekindleIT or Send to Kindle to work, this came along and works flawlessly.  It's nearly instantaneous and the formatting is really nice and it titles the document correctly.  I love that it gives you a history of the articles you've sent, and the little note that shows that your article has been sent when you've pressed the button is nice too.  There is no confusion or wondering for 15 minutes if your article is going to arrive. '

My2¢worth wrote, re a solution to an initial problem he reported to SendtoReader developer Sergey Pozhilov:

' Yesterday the developer asked me to try the new and improved SendToReader with "Atlantic" magazine.
  If the user selects "Print" mode from the web page before clicking on the SendToReader applet it transmits multi-page articles with all photos intact perfectly.
  I think I will be using it frequently. '

I ran a comparison of the same article with both SendToReader and Instapaper and found two significant differences:

1) Pictures on Instapaper were smaller and converted to black and white. (Only an issue for non-Kindle readers, of course).

2) Instapaper articles in the Kindle iPad app did not permit highlighting of text or note-taking, while the SendToReader articles operated just like regular books. I haven't had any periodicals sent to my iPad yet, but I suspect that this may be a an inherent limitation of that sub-format. I may have to fire up my ol Kindle DXG and find out.

So, while it appears that both web converters may work well for Kindle readers, SendToReader would be the preferred choice for the Kindle iPad app.

UPDATED to include this earlier feedback from Elmo Glick
Elmo Glick added a comparison between Instapaper and SendToReader when used in the Kindle iPad app:

' I ran a comparison of the same article with both SendToReader and Instapaper and found two significant differences:

1) Pictures on Instapaper were smaller and converted to black and white. (Only an issue for non-Kindle readers, of course).

2) Instapaper articles in the Kindle iPad app did not permit highlighting of text or note-taking, while the SendToReader articles operated just like regular books.  I haven't had any periodicals sent to my iPad yet, but I suspect that this may be a an inherent limitation of that sub-format. I may have to fire up my ol Kindle DXG and find out.

So, while it appears that both web converters may work well for Kindle readers, SendToReader would be the preferred choice for the Kindle iPad app. '

Pozhilov has updated the page quite a bit since I last saw it. Benefits of using the tool listed on the page include:
  . "Retains all images"
  . "You can send blog posts from Google Reader to Kindle instantly.  And when you send a post, our system visits the source page and sends the whole thing, so you get everything, not just the bit that you see in G. Reader."
  . "You can keep track of every single item you have sent to your Kindle from any other source and can always resend items if necessary"  [which means you can delete them from your Kindle and still get them again later -- and it's part of the free package].

I have no affiliation with the site but have been impressed with the feedback in the blog's comments area.  I asked Sergey P. if his History feature was included free, and he said it was.  He considers this project a "work in progress."


BY THE WAY: There are small discussions in the blog's Comments section, as I reply to feedback and questions.  Am often busy there but that doesn't show up in the normal RSS feeds nor in the Kindle edition of the blog.  If you want to keep up with what's being discussed, I think this link will work.  It may ask you if you'd like to 'Add the [comments] feed' to the web-based reader (in this case, Google's).  You can always delete the feed easily.


READABILITY'S NEW SEND-TO-KINDLE BUTTON FEATURE
The button is easier than setting up a "BookMarklet" for some reason (but Internet Explorer can be done only with a bookmarklet for now) while the button's usable for other popular browsers.

I tried this yesterday and once you set it up it works very smoothly.
  Readability offers "Read Now" and "Send To Kindle" buttons, and their instructions say that if you set up the "Read Now" button, both buttons will show up -- but in my case I had to set up the "Send to Kindle" button separately (which meant just repeating the steps for the 2nd button).  Again, any History or Read later features are part of the premium $5/mo. package.  The Read Now and Send-to-Kindle features are free.


GENERAL KINDLE-SEND CAVEAT: With older Kindles than the Kindle 3, there is no WiFi, only the cell phone network "3G" access, which Amazon pays for although that's an option that on a smartphone costs the user about $15-$35/mo on top of basic charges.  Since Amazon pays for that network access, Amazon has a fee for sending personal documents via its servers to your Kindle if you use the 3G instead of WiFi access, and you'll see that detailed below.


HOW TO ALLOW A SITE TO SEND YOUR KINDLE ARTICLES YOU'VE CHOSEN
  You can specify that the content of a webpage you're on be sent to your Kindle at [you]@free.kindle.com.
  That Kindle address avoids the 15 cents per megabyte charge for sending a personal document over 3G Whispernet instead.  The [you]@free.kindle.com Kindle-address is designed for free delivery to the Kindle over WiFi, as WiFi access doesn't cost Amazon anything.

  (If you don't have the WiFi capability (older models) but you don't want to get the article by computer and move it to the Kindle via the USB cable, the 3G cellular network capability of earlier Kindles can be chosen instead by using the [you]@kindle.com address but the delivery would cost 15 cents per megabyte [99 cents per megabyte for non-U.S. Kindle owners]).

  See my article today about Amazon's changes to its Manage Your Kindle pages today, as it explains how to use the no-cost [you]@free.kindle.com address for free delivery to your Kindle (UK: K3) and earlier Kindles.

It's an important read, if you want to avoid fees for delivery of personal documents.

  Essentially, to use the Send to Kindle feature, Kindle users need to give permission to the sender to put something on their Kindle, so you enter the sender's official sending email address to the "Approved Personal Document E-mail List" at the new Personal Document Settings page.


OTHER article-sending tools like these, reported earlier
1. Granddaddy of them all: Instapaper
  But there was a problem with sending to [you]@free.kindle.com for awhile

2. SendToKindle - a Google CHROME add-on.

---

For daily free ebooks, check the following links:  (Also, Low-priced Sunshine Deals through 6/15)

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics - USA: by: NEW:  Apr  May  June 2011    Publication Date   Late-listed    Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"? Highly-rated e-books under $1

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad,   99c Calculator,   99c CalendarPro,   99c Converter

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

---

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CHANGES to the "Manage Your Kindle" pages + Personal document settings.

REPEAT: BIG CHANGES IN THE AMAZON MANAGE YOUR KINDLE PAGES :-)

Where we once had one confusing page for managing our Kindle(s), we now have a multitude of pages.  These may seem confusing also, but ultimately they're much clearer.

While almost finishing a blog entry on sending personal docs or articles to the Kindle today, I found that the Manage Your Kindle pages have changed in a huge way.

You can now find your Kindle Receiving-Email-Addresses (for receiving personal docs) in TWO areas:

  1. at the new Manage Your Devices page in a column titled "Kindle E-Mail Address."

    In order to EDIT these, you have to click on the Title and then a little "Edit" shows up, which you click in order to edit the address (and even your device nickname).  Amazon assigns these initially, from what I remember, but we can change them.

  2. AND, more importantly, you can find your Kindle Receiving-Email-Addresses more conveniently at the Personal Document Settings page.

    There, you can see more easily where you can click to Edit them.  USE THAT SETTINGS-PAGE FOR PERSONAL DOCUMENT CHANGES OF ANY KIND.

  That Kindle address for receiving personal documents is of course protected from spammers and from anyone you don't give specific permission to place documents on your Kindle -- so we don't tend to give out that Kindle address to others.
  Even then, there's protection because we have to approve the sending-addresses.

  The Kindle receiving-address is in the form:
      [you]@kindle.com

CAVEAT - That [you]@kindle.com receiving-address can carry a charge on earlier Kindles that don't have WiFi access, and MOST OF THE TIME the address you should use, instead, is [you]@free.kindle.com.

TO HAVE SITES SEND ARTICLES YOU'VE CHOSEN TO YOUR KINDLE
You need to specify which delivery-website-SENDing-email-addresses are approved for sending documents direct to your Kindle via the Amazon servers.

  GO TO the Personal Document Settings page.

  You can enter, into the box labelled "Approved Personal Document E-mail List," any email addresses that you want given permission to send documents to your Kindle.

  If you send -- or if anyone whose sending-email-address you approve sends -- a personal document to the [you]@kindle.com address, the document will be sent by Amazon servers to your Kindle over the 3G cellular network and, in the U.S., that is 15c per megabyte of a file. Outside the U.S., that's 99c per megabyte of a file.

  USE THE KINDLE 3's WIFI ACCESS INSTEAD OF "3G" WHISPERNET THEN.
  With a Kindle3 (these models have a WiFi component), you'd normally want to get the document via WiFi (instead of 3G), as it's free to you for the sending of personal documents to Kindle via Amazon servers (because Amazon doesn't pay for your WiFi access -- they do pay for any 3G cell phone network access).

  For WiFi-sends instead of 3G, then, you email a document for your Kindle address by addressing it instead to

      [you]@free.kindle.com.

  Amazon will send an email to your normal-correspondence email address (the one you registered with Amazon), and the email will include a link to your completed file, which you can:

      EITHER

- 1. download to a computer for transfer to your Kindle's "documents" folder via the USB cord (this is called "sideloading" -- the USB cable is attached to your Kindle and to the side of your computer for the connection and transfer of files

      OR YOU CAN WAIT AND

- 2. accept the personal doc on your Kindle3 when you are connected to a WiFi network somewhere.  If you don't have a WiFi network at home, then #1 above is the way you'd more quickly put it on your Kindle rather than wait until you're near a WiFi network.

  With 3G, we are almost always connected, no matter where we are. But '3G' delivery of personal docs isn't free..

NOTE: If you have no WiFi capability and you don't want to pay a 3G fee for personal doc emailings, then you choose Option 1 above.

That's the only 'catch' to the 3G service -- the sending of personal docs to the Kindle, emailed via Amazon servers.  It's very confusing to most though.


TIP TO AVOID 3G CHARGES OR TO MINIMZE THEM
At the Personal Document Settings page, there is a Maximum Personal Document Charge section, where you can specify "Maximum Charge Limit"

  Set this to "0" (ZERO) if you don't want any charges ever.  Personally, it's worth 15c for me to send a doc under 1 meg (1 meg is larger than the average novel) via email than it is to hook up the cable and do the file management transfer.
  It's best to enter the limit so you don't inadvertently incur little 15c charges or a large one for a big PDF with images when forgetting to use the "free" in [you]@free.kindle.com


B A C K G R O U N D  info on "3G" and "WiFi"
3G CELLULAR WIRELESS AND WIFI
  The word "wireless' here pertains to both 3G and WiFi networks.
If the e-reader is not attached to a computer but it can access online sites, it's using a "wireless network."  I've seen that many use the term "WiFi" when they mean "3G" mobile-wireless, as it's a confusing area to most who have had no reason to even think about these words before.

3G  WIRELESS
As the image at the left indicates, 3G Wireless involves huge wireless networks that cover very long distances -- our cellphones access these networks.  This is often referred to as 'mobile wireless' -- or wireless on the go.  Coverage involves very large areas and involves cell towers.

WI FI  WIRELESS
This involves very "local" and ultra short-range wireless networks -- usually in effect for a home or an office or office building, set up by the individuals using them, but increasingly, cafes and shops are offering customers use of their own WiFi networks while there.

The picture on the left is of my 7-year old Netgear WiFi network router.   Mine takes a signal from Comcast's high-speed cable internet service and routes that cable-modem signal via a wire to my main computer and then broadcasts the signal "locally" around my home so that it's accessible without-wires by my printer/scanner and my laptop.
 My neighbors have WiFi networks in their apartments as well, and we all use the normal security of some kind of passkey so that others can't "steal" access to our wee networks and slow us down by sharing them without permission.

 If you're getting a WiFi-only reader and expect to download books directly to the e-reader without having to hook it up to a computer, you'll need to have a WiFi network set up.  They're very inexpensive these days -- it costs about $40 for a good router -- but someone will need to set it up and understand how to maintain it.  Friends can help.  It's not difficult (except for those without experience with computers), and software that comes with the small router can make it almost automatic.

BOOK-DOWNLOADS DIRECT TO KINDLE
I think the reason that the Kindle reader 'took off' when other e-readers received much less interest is the capability that Amazon built into the reader so that owners can access the cellphone or mobile networks wherever they are (except in some remote areas) to just download a new book on the spot upon hearing about it.

Amazon has said they wanted customers to be able to use the Kindle without need for a computer.
  With 3G mobile wireless, it doesn't matter where you are -- you can usually download a book you want or do a look-up online.  As Amazon's pages point out, there's no need to look for a "hot spot" -- a place that offers a WiFi network that is sharable by customers, whether for a fee or for free (Starbucks and McDonald's WiFi networks are free).

NOTE
"WHISPERNET" is a term that Amazon first used for Amazon's 3G wireless, and it's been used since then for the 3G wireless service at Amazon.  However, sometimes they use the word for WiFi wireless as well now. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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PDFS on the Nook Touch and the Kindle 3

FROM E-READER CONFUSION THREAD AT MOBILEREAD FORUMS

I couldn't be here for most of the weekend, but am back and just saw a thread at Mobileread Forums about PDFs and how these are handled by the new NookTouch and the Kindle 3. Their message threads tend to be extremely informative and are often more technically focused than you'll see on most e-reader forums, but this one was just about which e-reader will handle PDFs better.  I've added my reply there and thought I'd include it here as well, while I catch up on other Kindle matters.

' From thuya1991

"Hi, everyone
I am just new to the e-reading community. I am thinking about buying below $200 e-reader with eink. Considering kindle but by reading all the threads here, I am so confused which one should I buy.

Reason to buy e-reader
- I have all of my books that I want to read in .pdf files (no need to access their stores or whatever)

  My other concern is that I could be able to copy my .pdf files to the e-reader and read it without buying them again."

[My reply]
1. ROTATION option
  The Kindle has a rotation option so you can read in Landscape mode, which makes most PDFs somewhat readable if they have special layouts, as the Landscape mode has more space and there is room to make the fonts larger and the margins are decreased as a Kindle feature for PDFs.

  For layouts in word, academic documents and for PDFs that are manuals or guides, the Landscape rotation mode is the difference between whether you can even read the document on a 6" screen or not.

2. PDF SCREEN CONTRAST ADJUSTMENT
  The Kindle 3 allows you to make the text darker, important because many PDFs are originally using color fonts for effect and these, and colors that are translated to B&W, can be almost too light to read -- in any case it can be very hard on the eyes.
  The Nook doesn't have this feature

3. OVERALL GRAYER B&W TEXT FONT
  In my viewing of a Nook Touch the other night, the fonts are too gray for my eyes, w/o the kind of screen contrast I'm used to with the Kindle 3 and DX. The crispness is missing. (I was surprised as I had not read any reaction like mine in press reviews yet, but today I was told of two (Len Edgerly and Instapaper's Marco Arment) who had noted it.

    The Kindle Chronicles: nooktouch-pell
    Marco.Org: Nook Touch review

  However, anyone who's not used other Pearl screens probably won't notice any problem at all, and basically, the fonts are clear. Just not dark enough for me.

4. ZOOM IN - Yes, with Kindle, No, with Nook Touch
  The Nook Touch can't Zoom in on an image. Illustrations cannot be zoomed.

  With the Kindle, you can move the cursor to the center of the photograph, which gives you an option to click on it and zoom to full screen. On -higher- resolution images, this can be invaluable, especially for maps or diagrams.

  [ I should have added that Kindle PDFs have zoom-in boxes
    although I often find them awkward. ]


5. RE PDFS THAT ARE JUST BOOKS IN ONE COLUMN
  Portrait mode will do fine with those, with either the Nook or the Kindle.


You can also see my Features comparison: Nook Touch and Kindle 3 '

---

For ongoing free ebooks daily, check the following links often:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics - USA: by: NEW:  Apr  May  June 2011    Publication Date   Late-listed    Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"? Highly-rated e-books under $1

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad,   99c Calculator,   99c CalendarPro,   99c Converter

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

---

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Nook Touch screen plus Pixel QI 's coming one

Larger photo at CNet (CBS Interactive).

I visited Barnes and Noble last night to see the Nook Simple Touch.
  In November I visited the store to see the NookColor, and when I saw that unit, I bought it immediately because its display made a big, positive impression on me and I wanted an ereader for color magazines (National Geo especially, which is spectacular on it) and very-portable color web-browisng.

  I had a different reaction to the Nook Touch last night, and I was really surprised after reading so much about it.  The font/text for books was lighter than I expected -- I tried several books, some of them public domain so that I could see the default-text look using several font faces at almost every size.

  I asked the salesman if there was any way to get the font to be less gray looking, as it was less crisp and dark than is the current Kindle.  No, he said.  With the salesman encouraging me to try a few books, I opened several of them.  At first I thought it was because I had chosen books which were originally done with color fonts and therefore the text seemed gray instead of black.  But the screen contrast with text was the same for the normal public domain books.  He said that is the way it looks and it looked fine, but I preferred the Nook 1 text I have seen.  It looked good, but it just wasn't what I'm used to, with crispness but that screen contrast is what I've liked about the Kindle.

  So, in my view, there is probably an effect from the touch-screen technology.  It probably doesn't bother others the way it does me, and if one isn't used to the Kindle 3 version of the Pearl display, people will be very happy with this one.  It has a clean look, and the unit is nicely small, if a bit squarish, and will more easily fit into a big pocket.

  The image of the Nook Touch here is from CNet. I reduced the size of the photo because the reduction process sharpens it from the actual shot at CNet, which you can see by clicking on the image.

  The touch screen is VERY responsive. I liked its response more than I like the touch screen of my NookColor eReader/Tablet, which is oversensitive and will activate a link if my finger is just hovering over it and is therefore not ideal for writing email.  But I love the NC display, which has fantastic resolution and gorgeous, natural, while vivid, colors.  I don't use it for novels, as serial-character reading (vs quick-browsing in random style when web browsing) on an LCD screen, even when dimmed to 5% of max, is not that relaxing to my eyes. However, with material that involves the relief of associated color images and with the degree of screen contrast on the NookColor, it's excellent.

I enjoyed being able to sit at B&N and read, in-store, portions of photography books I was thinking of buying.

(Especially for the photography-inclined)
  Looking at several, and seeing more than I can with Samples usually, I found the Revell book especially well produced as a digital book, because I could compare it with the considerably larger paper-bound book in the store, page by page.  The NookColor does not zoom pictures in a book (though it does with magazines and with web-pages, beautifully) nor does it show them in Landscape, except with children's books for some reason.

  The publishers of the digital copy choose to make two versions of the photographs -- one that showed the size of it the way it would appear in the book (but then the text would be too small to read) and one that involved closeups of each segment of the photo so you could read the advice that goes with each section of the photograph and you can page left and right to see it all.  They also made the fonts a comfortable size.

  The translated-to-gray colors of course won't look very good on an e-Ink Kindle.  Although I've read text of a few photography books on the Kindle, I don't recommend it for viewing the photos. However, the free Kindle for PC and Kindle for Mac apps will show them in color on your laptop or desktop.  At any rate, a sample is always available.

  I wound up buying it after 15 minutes of browsing it in-store, but a few minutes with other books convinced me not to buy them.  At any rate, a really nice feature of Barnes and Noble - a free hour with a Nook book in-store and you can resume next time you visit.

So there I was, with the paper-bound books, the NookColor-viewing of same books, and with my Kindle showing Amazon Kindlebook reviews of each book :-).  True story: a guy who was browsing wanted to know what each device was and thought the NookColor looked great.  Then he picked up the Kindle and he said (really), "It looks like this...," pointing to his books.  He said he'd choose that one because the 'print' looked like a book (obviously he wasn't seeing my color paperbacks that were open) and I told him I liked both ereaders, for different reasons.

  But to get back to my original reason for writing, I was really surprised that the Nook Touch was just not contrasty enough for my eyes.  The touch can't be beat. It was nigh perfect. However, the black refresh that comes only every 5 or 6 pages is then a tiny shock and seems to last longer because you don't have a chance to get used to it with the other pages just shifting text-content by fading in.   The black seemed to last longer as a result but I think that was just an illusion because the other pages didn't have the flash.  Outside of that, they did a very nice job on the non-flashing page turns, which are smooth although not noticeably faster than on the Kindle.

  The mildly surprising, when intermittent, black flash was noted by CNet's Carnoy also, but he feels the touch screen is enough, alone, to put the Nook Touch ahead of the Kindle in his view, as other features aren't that important to him (and others will feel the same way as he does).  I saw no noticeable ghosting as some have reported.  I liked the way the page contents faded into the next.

  I recommend that those trying to decide between the two units go to Best Buy and see both units together and make a decision that way, especially if you don't need the features that are missing in the Nook Touch but which had been included in the older e-Ink Nook-1.


PIXEL QI is developing a new screen for the Notion Ink Adam
GoodEreader.com was able to get a demo by Pixel QI folks at a Computext.  The current Notion Ink Adam Tablet's Pixel QI screen has been a disappointment for those waiting for what is essentially a good piece of hardware.  You'll see an example of that in the comments. Goodereader writes:

' John Ryan the COO of Pixel Qi told us that the new screens were in development and they were relying on Notion Ink to adopt the new technology into future manufacturing.

  The screens themselves looked tremendous compared to the previous iterations and even with trade-show lighting there was no glare at all.  The display models they showed us at Computex was a new film layer they had on-top of the screen.

We have to hope that the Notion Ink is going to adopt this new technology into future Adams because their current crop of Pixel Qi screens has been received with a lukewarm response. '

I can't say that the images shown on the webpage are all good indications of what they describe, but it's an interesting story, especially if you've followed the long development of and the anticipation involved with the release of the Adam.

---

For daily free ebooks, check the following links:  (Also, Low-priced Sunshine Deals through 6/15)

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics - USA: by: NEW:  Apr  May  June 2011    Publication Date   Late-listed    Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"? Highly-rated e-books under $1

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad,   99c Calculator,   99c CalendarPro,   99c Converter

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

---

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-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

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Follow-up article on ePub for Amazon rumor

STATEMENT ON EPUB FOR KINDLE, BY AN EXPERT IN EBOOK FILE FORMATTING

Re the rumor about Amazon switching to ePub soon which seemed to me to have a shaky basis (although, further down the road, Amazon might do it), the many possible alternate scenarios were described in detail in that blog article of May 20  The basis for the rumor, which seemed to involve wording of "submitting" e-books in ePub format was soft, because as documented, publishers have been allowed to submit ebooks in ePub since September 2010.

No more has been said about it in the news since that week,  although many ePub advocates have still been hoping that it was true.

However, I noticed the following paragraph in a well-written article by Eric Hellman, "EPUB Really IS a Container" :

' Although Amazon still uses the aging MOBI format on its kindle devices, it seems only a matter of time before the infrastructure accumulating behind EPUB pushes them into the embrace of the IDPF [International Digital Publishing Forum].  Already, most of the content flowing into the Amazon system is being produced in EPUB and converted to MOBI.

  Don't expect this shift to happen soon though; in his IDPF presentation, Joshua Tallent of eBook Architects described rumors that this would happen soon as "bunk" -- but it will happen sometime. '

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Kindle news 6/3: Kindle public-library date? Small Kindle Touch in Fall?

ODD KINDLE NEWS BITS
Library Amazon's Kindle Director, Jay Marine, had mentioned in the Kindle Chronicles podcast that the public library lending would be in place "by the end of the year."

Remembering that Kindle-owner lending was not announced as ready until December 31 last year, I wasn't too hopeful about the public library date being earlier than the end of the year.  More and more, though, libraries have been mentioning that Kindle lending will be ready soon.  Yesterday, the Moorestown Patch, in an article titled "Library Keeping Up with Technology," said:

' (Attention all Kindle users -- Amazon will be making their e-books available on Overdrive starting this fall.) '

I hope they're right.

Smaller E-Ink Kindle?
In the blog article of May 24, I quoted David Carnoy as saying, in a live blogging of the Nook Touch announcement, "Everyone should be aware that Amazon will [likely] do this same device within the next few months.  Just an FYI. There will be a smaller Kindle this fall IMHO (with a touch screen)."

In another CNet article, today, a very positive one about the new Nook's advantages (mainly the touch screen, the deciding factor for Carnoy), he mentions this again:

' Of course, how long those advantages last will depend upon when Amazon releases its own touch-screen e-ink Kindle, which we suspect will arrive as soon as September. '

Nook Touch's missing features vs its new Touchscreen
Carnoy feels the Nook is a 'better' piece of hardware because it has a touchscreen and therefore it's easier to get around and has a 'cleaner' look -- no keyboard 'buttons.'
 For Carnoy, that one capability makes it worth losing:
  . a basic web browser
  . an audio player for mp3's or Audio books Nook),

and not having
  . the ability to zoom into a section or image
  . Landscape mode ('move a page around') which can allow you to actually read the text of a PDF when too much is squeezed into the Portrait mode orientation
  . any Nook apps (the Kindle's apps include some very useful ones -- see box below)
  . text-to-speech for personal docs and books (when publisher allows it)
  . the ability to adjust screen contrast on PDFs
  . support for Microsoft WORD doc files
  . 3G cell phone network access for times when a hotspot is not available.


Carnoy also mentions

' Ideally, it would be a tad narrower, so people with smaller hands could more easily hold the whole device in their hands like they would a smartphone.
  ..the downside to this type of finish [soft-touch paint] is that it does show finger smudges, so you'll regularly have to wipe down the back of the device unless you buy a cover (plenty are available).

  ... Barnes & Noble has made a big effort to reduce the flashing effect of e-ink when a page is refreshed.  Instead of the screen flashing every page turn as it does with the Kindle, the screen flashes about every fifth page turn.
  However, it should be noted that in our side-by-side comparison with the Kindle, the two e-readers turned pages at essentially the same speed. '

There's one feature I do wish the Kindle had.  When holding down the page-turn buttons, you can fast-forward (flip through) or rewind.

Despite Carnoy's heavy leaning toward touch screen navigation as the one shining feature on an e-reader, his review is very thorough.

' ...we did experience one period where we noticed significant ghosting--the previous screen's image still visible after it refreshed a new page.  The problem persisted for a couple of minutes, but once we cycled the power, we were unable to repeat the issue.  If it's common, we assume that B&N will fix it with upcoming software updates. '

For daily free ebooks, check the following links:  (Also, Low-priced Sunshine Deals through 6/15)

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics - USA: by: NEW:  Apr  May  June 2011    Publication Date   Late-listed    Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"? Highly-rated e-books under $1

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad,   99c Calculator,   99c CalendarPro,   99c Converter

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

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SUNSHINE DEALS - Amazon & publishers test lower pricing for 2 weeks

AMAZON ROLLS OUT 'SUNSHINE DEALS' FOR PUBLISHERS TO TEST E-BOOK PRICING


Paid Content's Laura Hazard Owen reports on Amazon's quiet launch of the Sunshine Deals program, a two-week promotion, pricing over 600 books "from numerous bestselling and award-winning authors" on sale for $0.99, $1.99, and $2.99

  Side note: Temporarily free Kindle books out in the last 24 hours will be found in the current free-book links in the bottom links-box.  This special promotion that Amazon and some publishers are experimenting with lasts until 11:59 PM June 15, 2011, PDT.

The promo is being run not by individual authors or publishers but by Amazon in collaboration with book publishers, per Paid Content.

The books on sale fall into the following categories set by Amazon:

  . Customer Favorites: Reviewed with Four Stars or More
  . Editors' Picks
  . Mysteries and Thrillers
  . Literature and Fiction
  . Nonfiction
  . Health, Body and Mind
  . Romance

They already have a "Bestsellers" list for the Sunshine Deals.

On the right-hand column of the Sunshine Deals page, they include other genres or sub-genres:
  . Business and Investing
  . Teens
  . Children's Books

SPECIAL LINKS for Specific Pricing on Sunshine Deals
$0.99,   $1.99, and $2.99

Owen writes that as far as Paid Content.Org can tell, no e-books published by the Big6 publishers using Apple's "Agency" model (which sets fixed prices for their e-books at all online stores allowed to sell their e-books) are included in the sale.  At the time she wrote her article June 1, in the afternoon:

' The books included in Sunshine Deals are all from small- to mid-sized publishers like Candlewick, Bloomsbury, Sourcebooks, and Tyndale House.   Also included is Open Road Integrated Media’s edition of William Styron’s Sophie’s Choice.  Chelsea Handler’s My Horizontal Life, published by Bloomsbury in 2008, is currently the bestselling Sunshine title.

Most of the titles are at least a year old.  However, Amazon is offering Sunshine Deals for pre-order on two romance books published by Sourcebooks: Soldier by Grace Burrowes, which will be released June 7, and Wish You Were Here by Philippa Ashley, which will be released June 14.

Most book publishers have little experience experimenting with e-book pricing or marketing books directly to customers.  We’re guessing that this promotion is serving as a test case for them to try out a range of low prices, particularly on older e-books (or, as in the case of the two books above, on books approaching their publication dates).
  Update: This is correct.  Sunshine Deals is “an opportunity for publishers to test compelling pricing coupled with on-site merchandising,” Sarah Gelman, PR Manager at Amazon, told us. “We’re excited about the number of publishers who are participating.”

'... If the books in the Sunshine Deals promotion do well, we may see more publishers offering sales on their e-books—or working with Amazon to run more promotions.  (It’s unlikely that we’ll see any data from Amazon or the publishers themselves on how well the books sold. But we’ll be watching the Amazon Kindle bestseller list to see how many Sunshine Deals titles cross over onto it.) '

So, for those of you who are looking for more reasonable pricing on contemporary books that have been popular as print books, take a look at this particular sale, and if you're interested in any of the books included and you feel the price is fair, this is one way to let them know, since it will have a larger effect than a mere boycott of higher pricing or insistence that we'd buy contemporary books (rather than waiting only for free ones) if the pricing made sense for us.


In the meantime, for the ongoing free ebooks, do check the following links often:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics - USA: by: NEW: Last 30+ days  May 2011    Publication Date   Late-listed    Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"? Highly-rated e-books under $1

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad,   99c Calculator,   99c CalendarPro,   99c Converter

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

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-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

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Qualcomm Mirasol E-Reader "Canned," Qualcomm head confirms.

Qualcomm boss confirms Mirasol ereader canned

Pocket-Link reports that the head of Qualcomm, Paul Jacobs, has confirmed that an ereader originally scheduled for release in the first quarter this year, was cancelled as he wasn't happy with it.

 We know that it wasn't released, since we're already ending the 2nd quarter.

They'd planned to "launch a low volume ereader product" but decided against a product they "didn't really like." The article mentions that it had been rumored that Amazon "could be on board" but most of us have seen Jeff Bezos say often that the technology wasn't ready.

Now Jacobs sounds as if he's refocusing on the battery-eating LCD OLED tablet arena, although it's clear that Mirasol colors are not nearly as vibrant.  That's an understatement.  I had thought they'd be acceptable as eReader screens because they'd be compared to b&w e-Ink screens.  Even if you can read these in daylight, the cost of a tablet is considerably higher, and people will compare the Mirasol effect to an LCD OLED's vivid colors, while already having a daylight-option with e-Ink readers.  So, I'm personally not convinced re the re-focus to tablet hardware.

 However, Jacobs adds, ""We don't today have as vibrant colour as an OLED display - but we have a roadmap that gets us to a much brighter colour."

In the meantime, he mentioned a "billion dollar investment for the plant" in Taiwan, currently a 'small operation,' so we'll see, but I can't see that anyone can expect that much very soon.

UPDATE Engadget has a more positive spin on this.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!