An interesting report is circulating the book blogs, alleging that e-book sales in Canada are down almost five percent. I've seen reporting on the Booknet Canada report on at least 3 blogs (for example, here and here and here, but nobody seems quite sure what to make of it. We're selling lots and lots of devices here in Canada, aren't we? We're Kobo's number one country! So what, exactly, are we reading? Are e-book sales on the decline? Here are a few thoughts about what may be going on here: 1. Device Availability is Limited This is partly because the retail scene is limited! We've only just gotten Target here, and it opened...

As already noted in TeleRead, author Ted Heller has recently been bemoaning his woes as a self-publisher in Slate. He's now followed up with a further bulletin on his tribulations as an e-reader, first run on The Weeklings and also aired since on Slate. In particular, he cites the demise of that mobile billboard, the book jacket. Heller takes issue with the fact that Kindles and their ilk never show others your reading choices. "The Kindle tells you nothing about the book that’s being read and therefore nothing about the person reading it," Heller observes—though I'd object that this comes down...

I hope you'll pardon me as I jog my ocean air- and sun-addled brain back into something resembling normal functioning with a story from my just-ended honeymoon. On Saturday, my newly minted wife and I got back from Tulum, Mexico, where we spent a week on the beach relaxing and—if we're being completely honest—recovering from the exhausting, months-long process of planning and throwing, as a friend described it, the biggest party we'll ever throw. In anticipation of this rare week-long block of reading time (electricity is limited in Tulum and, as a result, so, gloriously, are televisions), I'd loaded up my Nook...

Honestly, I've got mixed feelings about Kobo's announcement of their new e-reader. On the one hand, I'm glad to see someone releasing a high-end E Ink reader. The specs on this one look good, with a pixel resolution that is better even than the Kindle Paperwhite. Lots of people on various e-book forums are saying they read more on their tablets because of the better resolution. I definitely notice it when I go from Nexus 7 to Kindle Touch. The Aura's resolution should be a selling point. As to performance, we'll have to see what it's like in person. Pre-orders start...

I woke up this morning to the news that Kobo is launching a new HD reader! The 'Aura HD' has the same glow technology as the excellent flagship Kobo Glo, but has a bigger 6.8 inch screen with 1440 x 1080 resolution and 265 dpi, which they claim is the highest on the market. It features the same user interface as the Glo as well, with font customization options aplenty, and access to the Kobo store. I think Kobo's strategy is a smart one. They already have the technology developed (for the Glo screen and user interface), so why not deploy it on...

E Ink Remains Committed to E-Readers Despite CEO Change (Good E-Reader) The deal Goodreads should've struck (hint: it wasn't with Amazon) (Paid Content) Are the French preparing an e-book revolution? (Media Shift) The e-book continues to slowly but surely gain ground in France (Rude Baguette) Kindle Daily Deals: Chasing Rainbows by Kathleen Long (+ 3 others)...

By Stephen Silver Of the many constant pet peeves associated with modern-day air travel--from inexplicable delays to intrusive security measures to really, really bad food--I think the one that bothers me most is needing to turn off electronic devices during landing and takeoff. This was bad enough years ago, when the flashing of the “turn off electronic devices” sign meant needing to turn off your Discman before you finished listening to your Barenaked Ladies CD. Now, in the age of the smartphone and tablet, it’s downright oppressive. Roughly eight out of 10 people I’ve seen on airplanes in the last two years...

  If you had a pile of 300 books in your house waiting to be read, what would you do? Would you go out and buy any more books? I doubt it, even if you could battle your way to the front door. Yet if you’d got 300 books on your Kindle/iPad/other e-reader, would you stay in and click on any more ‘Buy It Now’ logos? More than possible. Because you probably wouldn’t even have noticed how many books were on there. Never mind 300, you can put 3,000 books on an e-reader and it’ll look and weigh just the same as if...

I mentioned earlier that it's been spring cleaning week here. Well, in amongst one of those random boxes of this and that, I unearthed this gem: my first-ever e-book reader! Back when I purchased this puppy for $50 plus shipping off eBay (a fortune!), it was 2005 and I was living in New Zealand for a year, doing a graduate program. The town I lived in was the fourth-largest in the country, but to my jaded North American city girl eyes, it was hardly a bustling metropolis. There were cows five minutes up the road from me. There was a sheep...

The $13 txtr beagle eReader is Coming Soon, Will Cost the Same as the Kindle (The Digital Reader) Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs E-Book Experiment Explains Why We Use the Internet (Crunchy Roll) Random House accused of 'predatory' contracts for new ebook imprint (The Guardian) Like Amazon, Apple wants to create a marketplace for used digital goods (Paid Content) Fahrenheit 451 Design Includes Match & Striking Paper (Mediabistro) Kindle Daily Deals: Eight Ramona Quimby books! (and 3 others) ...

E-book stores tend to have their apps on multiple platforms: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, etc. But the discerning e-book reader wants more features than those apps usually provide, so we start looking for third-party apps. And then we run into an issue. Think about some of the better-regarded e-reading apps. Many of them are only on one platform. Marvin is only on iOS. Moon+ Reader, Mantano and Aldiko are only on Android. (Also, what's with the letter "M" and e-reading apps?) It's almost enough to make you want to buy multiple tablets. Oh wait, I do own multiple tablets... I was curious, so...

Pyrus Mini eBook reader Review (The E-Book Reader) Publisher Pulls Jonah Lehrer's "How We Decide" From Stores (The Daily Beast) Unglue.it and Open Book Publishers Announce New Crowdfunding Campaign (Info Docket) As tablets boom, e-readers feel the blast (CNN) PressBooks Goes Open Source To Let Authors Create Book Sites In Seconds (TechCrunch) Kindle Daily Deals: Deck Z: The Titanic by Chris Pauls ...