If you have an iPad, you should download the free Kobo ereader app and check it out. Whether it offers a better basic reading experience than the other ereader apps is probably a matter of taste, but it offers so many bonus features that it’s hands down the best–and most entertaining–iPad app for ebooks. I’m about three weeks late to writing about this, because I ignored the news when it first hit. In general, I’ve been pretty unimpressed with Kobo for the past year or so. It’s not that the company is bad–the reader is fine if not great; the ebook prices, though...

Lately, social networking has often been hailed as a kind of great equalizer to help writers connect better with fans and sell more books. It’s a way to connect with fans, show that you’re a real person, and show the human face behind your stuff so they might be more inclined to support you. But, as guest writer Daniel Kalder notes in a Publishing Perspectives editorial, too much emphasis on social networking as a sort of publicity cure-all is fundamentally misguided for several reasons. For one thing, it runs the risk of turning into specious “magical thinking”. ...

Amazon is giving away a Kindle 3G a day until the end of September in a Facebook sweepstakes. To enter, just go to Amazon’s facebook page, “like” it, and enter your name, email address, and phone number. Note that it is only open to US citizens over the age of 18. (Found via E-Reader-info.com.)...

Though her original “apology” was nothing of the sort, and her subsequent one still left something to be desired, Cooks Source editor Judith Griggs has since expressed what sounds like more real remorse for using work by Monica Gaudio without permission, in an interview with the Daily Hampshire Gazette. However, it may be too late. After the deluge of negative publicity her small regional magazine received after her comments circulated on the Internet, the future of the magazine is in some doubt. Looking back, Griggs said she regrets her use of language and appeared deeply remorseful...

The editor of Cooks Source magazine, which made waves on the Internet this past week by using a writer’s work without permission and then acting smarmy about it, has finally posted a sincere apology (which states she has also made the donation the author requested to the Columbia School of Journalism). It sure took her long enough. And John Scalzi, who had snarky words to say about the original non-apology, is still highly critical of this new one, noting that the pattern of unauthorized content uses uncovered on Facebook (not to mention her earlier stance that anything posted on...

A lot of people completely misunderstand the nature of copyright and the Internet. It’s a common misconception that anything posted to the Internet is free for the taking. It’s even been used as the “innocent infringement” defense in peer-to-peer piracy lawsuits. But it’s less common to find a publishing-industry professional—in this case, the editor of a regional food magazine—who holds that opinion. But that’s exactly what happened to writer Monica Gaudio, who was startled to discover that Cooks Source magazine had republished one of her old essays, entirely without permission. Gaudio wrote to the editor, complaining about...

Lawrence Lessig has a piece in the Huffington Post stemming from a presentation he gave last week at an award ceremony. Lessig was a judge for a video remix contest put on by web video host Vimeo, and as part of his participation on a panel he gave a speech relating to the importance of remixes, and how they relate to copyright and fair use. (Lessig is known for his expertise in this field, given that he has written entire books about remix culture and related matters.) I bring this up not to touch upon Lessig’s statements about...

That's according to a report in The Bookseller this morning. According to research and consulting organisation YouGov's TabletTracker report, exclusively seen by The Bookseller, 78% of iPad owners with wi-fi and 3G contracts have downloaded the iBooks app. This is more popular than the app for social networking sites Facebook (52% of wi-fi/3G owners have downloaded) and Twitter (34%). Despite the presence of other reading apps on the iPad such as Amazon's Kindle or Stanza, those who have downloaded iBooks use it frequently. The report found around half of users are using iBooks at least three times a week. Almost a quarter...

On O’Reilly Radar, Hugh McGuire has made an interesting and provocative post that suggests that e-books may become more than just “digital versions of print books”. In fact, he suggests that “the line between book and Internet will disappear.” The thing is, I just can’t see why that should be right. McGuire explains that, as digital information, there should be a lot more that we can do with e-books than we actually are doing with them now. The idea that e-books should be confined to being simply digital representations of paper text without additions or improvements, he feels,...

One of the more controversial e-reading apps to hit in recent days is Flipboard, the free app that aggregates content that friends have shared on social media. I’ve previously reported on the controversy it engendered by its potentially copyright-violating aggregatory nature. Lately, I’ve finally had the chance to examine the app itself. In summary: wow. Flipboard is one of the prettiest things I’ve seen on the iPad yet. And it’s free. If you have an iPad, and are on Facebook and/or Twitter, you have absolutely no excuse not to go and download it. Even if you’re not on social media,...

To cut back on expenditures, Newsweek is making some changes to the way its website is hosted. MediaWeek reports that the magazine is ceasing to host its own website, instead moving to the “cloud”—outsourcing web hosting to Amazon. Newsweek estimates this move could save them $500,000 yearly. But that is not the only change Newsweek is making. It is entirely redesigning its website, getting rid of huge banner ads and changing to a more vertically-oriented format that MediaWeek compares to Facebook. [Newsweek vp, general manager Geoff] Reiss acknowledged that the redesign, by Hard Candy Shell,...

Back in July 2008, I launched the Digital Publishing Network (DPN) at LinkedIn. This free group enables professionals and enthusiasts in the digital publishing universe to connect, network and communicate. DPN has had explosive growth since then, and currently has over 2500 members. If you are a digital publishing/e-book industry professional or enthusiast (and this term is very broad), you are invited to join DPN. Let me know if you need any help in joining the group. (P.s., if you are on LinkedIn and would like to personally connect with me — any reader of TeleRead is my colleague! — send me an...