iBook app for iPads is a decent alternative for e-books.

Nowadays, e-readers are becoming more and more popular and some of the most popular like the Amazon's Kindle often sold out. And now with the recent launch of the iPad which has enjoyed a tremendous success, some people may be tempted to use their tablet as an e-reader. Indeed the iPad's color display and touch capabilities make the iPad's iBooks app a decent e-book reader. People who have no experience with E Ink from a traditional e-reader, may not mind the iPad's LED backlit screen. Compared with others e-book readers' book stores, the experience with the iPad's iBook app's book store is smooth and effective though it lacks the level of details past the big categories.
The iBook's books prices are competitive almost on par with those of the Kindle and the Nook though the selection may not be as wide as those. Expect for that selection to grow with new deals being made with a variety of publishers.

For more, see pcmag.com

Amazon and Facebook to offer shopping recommendations.

With 500 millions members, it is becoming increasingly difficile to find someone that he or she is not on Facebook. The fact that the social networking site has became such a central hub for so many people, makes it a natural place to turn to for more than just connecting. Now Facebook is trying to use all the wealth of information that it has about its users to be even more relevant.
The recent announcement of a shopping recommendation service in a partnership with between Facebook and Amazon, reinforce that approach.
The service is deigned so that a friend on Facebook looking for a gift for another Facebook friend, can get recommendation from Amazon based on that person profile in the social site. The service will be able to access users' accounts and look at their profiles to get a clue of their favorite movies, music, books and others interests.
It is in testing mode and users can only joint in by opting-in. To do so, they will have to go to Amazon's recommendations page and click on the Sign in and Connect button under "Tap into your Facebook Network." From there, they will connect to their Facebook page after their Amazon credentials are verified.

For more, see cnet.com

New improved Amazon Kindle DX is set to go on sale July 7 at a lower price.

It was not a very long time ago when Amazon reigned supreme in the e-readers market with its Kindle models. That what then and now the e-reader market has became very crowded with new players entering the field almost every day; those players range from well known to lesser known. And now with the release of the iPad tablet which is a multiple functions device that can serve as an e-reader and with more tablets from different manufactures to enter the market in the near future, one can only feel Amazon line of thinking: how to hold on to its market share? It's response came last week with the announcement of the upcoming release of its high end Kindle DX model loaded with new features at a reduced price of $379. It will go on sale July 7 and will joint the standard and more popular Kindle e-reader already offered at the reduced price of $189 after competitor Barnes & Noble dropped the price of its Nook e-reader.
According to TechNewsWorld, "the new Kindle DX comes with an improved screen contrast, zoom capability for handling PDF files, a collection of tools that allow readers to better organize their reading materials and offer the ability to share selections from books and periodicals via social networks using the free 3 G service that is available with the device."


For more, see TechNewsWorld.com

Sony to offer digital books in open format.

Sony announced last week that starting next year, it will offer digital books only in the ePub format which is an open standard created by a group of publishers like Random House and HarperCollins. What that means is any digital book sold by Sony will be readable not only on its own e-reader known under the Reader brand, but on any other e-reader. In another move, Sony plan to eliminate its proprietary anti copying software in favor of a new technology from Adobe that restricts how often an e-book can be copied or shared.
Sony is also planing to introduce later this year, a third Reader that will let users download e-books wirelessly just like the Amazon Kindle.

For more, see pcworld.com

Google plans to sell E-Books.

According to the New York Times, following discussions last month with publishers, Google is leaning towards introducing its own e-book program that would enable publishers to sell digital versions of their latest books directly to consumers through Google.
As opposed to Amazon's, Google e-book program is planing to let publishers set their own prices.
Another difference from Amazon's e-book program, will be the option offered to consumers to read books on the device of their choice, as long it has Internet access.
The new program is set to start by the end of this year.