By Nico Vreeland Ever since we first started ChamberFour.com, I’ve been staunchly anti-Kindle. I’ve disliked like Amazon’s DRM scheme, its reluctance to adopt library e-books, its inhuman use of “Locations” instead of page numbers, its attempt to hardball Macmillan by refusing to sell Macmillan books—the list goes on. When a Sony Reader was the only decent non-Kindle choice, I bought a Sony Reader. When the Nook Color came out, I got one of those. I’ve given my sister another Sony, and my mother a Kobo, and I’ve stayed firmly Kindle-less for more than four years now. But that changed last week, when I broke down and ordered the Kindle...

Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite is definitely going global: A few weeks ago, it was Canada, where the Paperwhite could be found in the Amazon Canada Kindle Store. Now it's (finally) not only shipping to Australia, where it's been eagerly awaited—it's also available (in both the Wi-Fi-only model and the 3G/Wi-Fi model) for shipping to countries including Madagascar, Poland, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Thailand, and to most developed areas of the world not in (cold or hot) war zones, and which don't already have their own Kindle Stores. Continue reading on Andrys Basten's A Kindle World blog......

Well, guess which Seattle-based  megaconglomerate has just bought Ivona Software (Web site here, Wikipedia entry here)—perhaps the world’s best provider of text to speech to use with e-books and other texts? That’s right, Amazon. It’s already using an Ivona voice in the Kindle Fire, and Ivona tech is also powering “Voice Guide” and “Explore by Touch.” Too bad those features aren’t available on the Paperwhite so far. Deliberate intra-brand market segmentation? Stinks either way. At any rate, even now, you can see Jeff Bezos’ corporate branding on the Ivona site. It’s too early to know how this will shake out for library users with disabilities and for other...

  By Adrian Diaconescu   Though you can fly, drive, take the bus or even walk from American to Canadian soil whenever you want, Amazon has never been as open to Canada as it has to the States. Case in point, the latest Kindle e-readers, available in the U.S. ever since September 2012, but released up north just now. The delay has been definitely disappointing, not to mention illogical, but if you’re still looking to score one of the new members of the Kindle family you’re in for some pretty nice deals. The cheapest device goes for just CAD $89, which is basically the same price...

Tim Cook to Apple Investors: Keep Calm & Stop Listening to Rumours (GigaOM) University Libraries Test eBook Sharing (uNews) Amazon Launches Kindle Paperwhite in Canada (CBC) Kobo Hired Former Apple Director to Oversee International Strategy (Paid Content) Kindle Daily Deals: Seven Best American Stories of 2012 Books (and others)...

By Juli Monroe I’ve been reading posts saying that “E-Ink is dead” for, well, years now. The general argument goes something like this: “People really want tablets. They don’t want a single-function device. E-ink is too slow to refresh and isn’t good for anything except reading books. And people don’t read anyway.” All of those things are true (well, except for that last one), but it misses the point. I’m active on Kindleboards, an online forum for Kindle lovers, and discussion, purchasing and love for the E Ink Kindles is alive and well. The Kindle Paperwhite was sold out through most of the holiday season,...

  By Juli Monroe | for Technology Tell Amazon released a software update for the Kindle Touch yesterday—Wednesday, January 10—and I’ve been trying it out. (Click here for software updating instructions.) My verdict? I really like it. There had been concern that Amazon would abandon the Touch when the Paperwhite came out, and I was glad to see it wasn’t true. I’d been thinking about the Paperwhite for two reasons: added fonts and the 'Time to Read' feature. Time to Read looked very cool, especially to someone who was coming from a Nook Color that told me how many pages were left in a chapter....

By Joanna Cabot and Chris Meadows Our friends over at Good E-Reader have come out with their holiday shopping recommendations for the e-book fan. We here at TeleRead have some holiday shopping suggestions for you as well. What's the best e-book gadget for the reader on your list? Check out our recommendations below.  * * * For the aspiring tablet owner  Kobo Arc This is like a budget version of the Google Nexus---cheaper, but about on par in terms of weight and size, and with access to the Google Play store (unlike the Kindle Fire). Early reviews are favourable, with people nothing smooth operation and a...

There's a new e-reader in the house! I had been eying the Kobo Glo with some envy ever since it came out. It seemed like Amazon's readers kept getting thicker and chunkier-looking, while Kobo's kept getting smaller and cuter and faster. The glow light was what really sold me, though. I read in bed a lot, and was growing weary of the tiny iPod Touch screen—I wanted to take a book with me again! And even with the light on, it was too dark to bring my reader into bed. We have one power outlet, and it's not on my...

One of the most common complaints about e-books is that you can’t do as much with them when the power goes out. Well, our former editor Paul Biba has been caught without power in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, and has found that, within limits, e-reading can work just fine without a steady source of electricity.  (Hat tip to Nate Hoffelder for pointing this post out to me in e-mail.) While he limited himself to paper book reading during the day, Paul found he could read from his Kindle PaperWhite after dark with the light on very easily. He reported reading...

A Novel Approach to Going DRM-Free (O'Reilly Tools of Change) Wattpad Tries Serial Fiction with Help From Margaret Atwood (Paid Content) Amazon Launches Japanese Kindle Store, Will Ship Paperwhite (The Digital Reader) Where to Sell Your Digital Graphic Novels and Comics Online (Good E-Reader) Kindle Daily Deal: The Great Crash of 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith {&} six "Maisy the Mouse" picture books * * * Follow us @TeleRead Join us on Facebook...

Patrons Frustrated With Publisher Policies Even as eBook Use Grows (The Digital Shift) Kindle Paperwhite/Kobo Glo/Nook Glowlight Triparison (Good E-Reader) Time, Inc Apps Broken Under iOS 6 (The Magaziner) Hearst Plans Holiday eBook of its Magazine Recipes (Media Decoder) Kindle Daily Deal: The Fall by Ryan Quinn {&} Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry * * * Follow us on Twitter @TeleRead Join us at facebook.com/TeleRead    ...