If you've got one of the new Kobo Touches, there's a new firmware update available that will give you greater control over how pages are displayed on the device. To update, visit kobosetup.com and download the most recent Kobo Desktop Software, then connect your Kobo to your PC via the USB cable; the update should start automatically. Here's a quick overview of the new features, from Kobo's announcement: * Personalize Your Reading Experience by Adding New Fonts: The new firmware allows users to add their own fonts easily and quickly for total personalization. Simply create a new Font directory on the...

Update: Macworld just posted that an unnamed Apple source says Apple is currently working with developers to bring their apps in line with the new guidelines, and that we can expect to see modified app updates appearing in the coming days or weeks. [Original post follows.] Despite all the threats, blog outrage, and speculation around Apple's new rules for content apps over the past several months, as of this morning the three major ebooksellers' apps already available on Apple's App Store—Kindle, Nook, and Kobo—remain unchanged and available for download. (Sony never got a chance to play.) Kindle and Nook both offer a...

TechCrunch reports that Kobo is introducing a new model touchscreen e-reader priced at $129, dropping the price of its earlier model to $99. This new model has the same ultra-sharp Pearl e-ink display as the current generation of Kindle, a better processor, a touch-sensitive screen (with gestures such as swiping and zooming), and a built-in dictionary. The touchscreen is neither capacitive nor resistive, but uses zForce infrared, so it shouldn’t suffer from the hazy look common to prior touchscreen readers. This looks like it could be a very useful alternative to the Kobo or Kindle for people who don’t...

You can find small-press books and e-books in some of the strangest places. Yesterday, I took a ride with my parents and some of their friends on the Arkansas Missouri Railroad, a small rail operation that operates cargo and passenger excursion runs between Springdale and Van Buren, Arkansas. Twice a year, it makes a special run out of Seligman, Missouri, traveling four hours and about a hundred miles down to Van Buren, Arkansas and the same length back, allowing passengers to spend three hours at a Van Buren arts and crafts street fair in between. I found a couple of used book...

I purchased a Borders-discounted Kobo Reader for my father at his request and set it up for him a few weeks ago. Now he has contributed a review of his experience with the device. –CM I have been using my new Kobo electronic book reader for a month now, so it is time for me to ponder what I do and do not like about it and how it compares with reading the old fashioned way from a book with paper pages. Apparently the e-book reader has evolved from more primitive forms. I have been exposed to various e-readers which our e-book...

On her blog Words About Words, Charlotte English takes a look at the notion that e-book readers are the province of the wealthy, or at least the well-off. There is a perception, she notes, that the readers are expensive, and filling it with e-books is more so if you buy at full price. However, this isn’t quite true in practice. English suggests that the sort of people who would be likely to buy e-books at full price are the same sort who walk into bookstores every weekend and come out with four or five new books each visit—and nobody...

I’ve been using my Kobo reader for a while now, and will get into my own experiences with it soon. But for this review I’m going to concentrate on the experience of getting my Dad set up with his Kobo today. I went down to visit over the weekend, and took the opportunity to get it all set up for him.(He had already ordered a smart tough zipper case for it.) Dad found the set-up instructions rather confusing—he said after reading them he didn’t know anything more than when he’d begun. But since he had me...

Usually these posts are for questions by readers, but I had a burning e-book-related question that I need answered, and I can’t figure out a better place to do it than here. I’m just about to start preparing the Kobo Reader my Dad asked me to buy for him, and as I mentioned before he’s a huge fan of Anthony Trollope. I’d like to load the Kobo up with every Trollope work I can, and there are 76 of them on Project Gutenberg—but downloading them one at a time could be rather time-consuming. And Project Gutenberg does not keep...

This weekend I went down to my parents’ house, spending half of Saturday and most of Sunday visiting with my parents, brother and sister-in-law, and two-month-old niece, and blogging from home. (That’s me at left, blogging from my parents’ kitchen table with my Kobo and iPad visible in the background.) When I went, I took my new Kobo Wireless reader and the Literati I was reviewing with me. While the Literati didn’t last long, the Kobo made a lasting impression on my father. (I wish I’d remembered to photograph him reading it.) A longtime fan of Anthony Trollope,...

As a preliminary to my “main event”, reviewing the Kobo Wireless Reader I bought yesterday, I’m going to spend a few paragraphs reviewing the protection plan. Actually, to call it just a plan is a misnomer, as it includes a zipper case, a screen protector, three anti-static wipes, and coupons for a free small coffee and 15% off an item at a Borders or Waldenbooks. No wonder it’s officially called the “Borders eReader Protection Plan Pack”. I got it for $20, marked down from $50, and figure I probably broke even on the deal. It was the only one they...

Not all Borders bankruptcy bargains are bogus. We actually mentioned this earlier, but I thought it worth mentioning again for personal considerations relating to me: Borders has Kobo Wireless e-readers on sale for $60, 57% off its original asking price of $140. The Sony Reader is marked down to $108 from $180—not quite as good a deal. Also worth noting is that the 2-year e-reader protection plan package is marked down from $50 to $20. Ordinarily I wouldn’t buy those on anything less than a HDTV (and after having worked tech support for HDTVs, I definitely would recommend...

Borders continues to flounder—comic book/graphic novel distributor Diamond Book Distributors is the latest to suspend book shipments—but it doesn’t seem to be giving up. I received an email circular today noting that the Kobo Wireless wi-fi-equipped e-reader, normally priced at $139.99, is on sale for $99.99 to Borders Rewards members through January 17th. (Borders Rewards is Borders’s free marketing/discount program.) Of course, the Kobo Reader isn’t the Kindle, and Borders’s e-book store might not be around for much longer. (Though I would expect the reader to still work with Kobo’s own store in any event.) It looks like...