Kobo has a free ebook page here at Top Free eBooks. This page contains in-copyright free ebooks, as opposed to public domain classics.  The "free ebook" link at the top of the Kobo page just points you to public domain stuff.  You need to go to their Top 50 Ebooks page and then to the Top Free eBooks page to get current stuff.  Not very intuitive. Today's top free ebook is The Penguin Holiday eSampler. The Kobo site doesn't seem to have a deal of the day, or at least I can't find it.  When I go to their Great Reads under $4.99...

Nothing to do with ebooks, but too fascinating not to mention!  More in the article. For the last six months, three orangutans at the Milwaukee County Zoo have had the pleasure of playing with a donated iPad a couple times a week, and guess what: They love it. "We show them the iPad, and read them stories or let them have different apps," said Jan Rafert, curator of primates and small mammals at the zoo. "We don't let them hold them, but they can do some of the paint apps by sticking their fingers through the mesh." The orangutan iPad program, known as...

...

I'm late in my daily Woot lookup, but when I went to the site I saw this.  This is a great buy.  I picked up my DX at an earlier Amazon sale and it has become my favorite ereader.  Something about the large size screen makes it a pleasure to read on.   Also it is thin and light, unlike my iPad, so it is easy to hold.  It has a 9.7" screen and 3G (no WiFi). Amazon is still selling it at $380. It makes a fantastic PDF reader and I've put all my PDF manuals on it for easy...

From a Report Summary on Telecompaper: Worldwide digital books market will grow at an average rate of 30 percent per year between 2010 and 2015 to reach EUR 5.4 billion in 2015, or 12 percent of the total book market, according to a report by Idate. E-Book readers will also develop from 3.3 million units sold in 2010 to 29.8 million units sold in 2015, representing a 24 percent growth rate per year. North America will see an average annual growth rate of 13 percent between 2012 and 2015. At that time, sales of e-books are expected to generate a turnover of around...

Hachette have "leaked" a memo explaining why they are necessary. One of the many germane comments about the article is this, from Linton Robinson: BTW, anecdotally, of the writers I know who are making decent livings from published books, about half are either letting contracts lapse or heavily considering it, while putting out books on their own. This is what will kill Hachette and the rest. They cannot compete with the independent author on price. It is as simple as that. The indie has no back office to support. He makes more from an ebook at $3 than he would through Hachette were...

This is an important matter that has created quite a bit of controversy in the industry.  From the press release: The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) announced today the publication of a new Policy Statement detailing best practices for assigning ISBNs to digital products. Developed over the past 18 months within BISG's Identification Committee, BISG Policy Statement POL-1101 addresses the critical need to reduce product identification confusion in the market place in order to provide the best possible consumer-level purchasing experience. BISG encourages all member companies and other industry stakeholders to download the Policy Statement online at http://www.bisg.org/what-we-do-cat-4-policy-statements.php and work toward adopting the suggested...

From Paid Content: Digital publisher Open Road Integrated Media is getting into e-singles with a new program, “Short Shots,” which will publish short-form fiction and nonfiction. The first title in the program is Fall of the Birds, a novella by Bradford Morrow about “a man who tracks an inexplicable plague of bird deaths, and the mystery’s effect on his family.”  The book is available today as a Kindle single, and also through other e-bookstores, for $1.99. “We look forward to working with all etailers on this new format,” said Jane Friedman, co-founder and CEO...

That's according to GoodEReader.  Here's part of the story: The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is offering a great incentive to travel, free ebooks! They are partnering with the Broward Country Library to provide patrons books with no catch. No library card will be required to borrow the books and you just need a QR Code in order to install the app on your tablet or smartphone. These codes are available at twelve different book stations setup around the baggage claim area. One of the benefits of this program is all of the books do not expire!...

From Moconews: Releasing out-of-print titles as e-books can bring them new life, attention and readers. In its new imprint, Macmillan Bello, UK publisher Pan Macmillan is teaming up with literary agency Curtis Brown UK to release hundreds of the agency’s authors’ older titles as e-books for the first time. Macmillan will release 120 titles in November, and 400 more in 2012—all by Curtis Brown authors. The books will be available in digital and print-on-demand formats. Some of the authors whose books are being re-released: Gerald Durrell, a zookeeper and conservationist; playwright and crime novelist...

From the Frankfurt Book Fair, via The Bookseller: Retailers will need to develop and market their own dedicated e-book readers if they are to compete with Amazon, delegates at Frankfurt Book Fair have been told. Speaking at a Google panel about e-books, Bloomsbury executive director Richard Charkin said: “Essentially a huge proportion of e-book sales goes through the obvious internet retailer. Whilst the others have dabbled with offering e-books without a reader to go with them, they don’t seem to have made any significant inroads to Amazon’s market.” Charkin referred to Waterstone’s own e-book device, which is...

I was sitting down to do a review of my new Kindle and then I came across Julie's review in the Gadgeteer today.  To be honest, she has covered the Kindle just as well as I could and is about as comprehensive as one could want.  After her work, no need of anything from me. However, I will say that I am rather pleased with the "Special Offers" version of the Kindle.  This is the first time I've had such a thing.  The special offers "screen savers" have been rather tasteful, so far - the one for headphone discounts was actually...