Barnes and Noble reveals e-book pricing 'sweet spot' with new self-publishing tool
Book retailer Barnes and Noble on Monday launched its independent e-book publishing platform Pubit! to attract independent and do-it-yourself publishers to the Nook e-reader.
Books released through Pubit! can be priced as low as 99¢ and as high as $199.99, but there's definitely a sweet spot where Barnes and Noble encourages publishers to list their e-books. That spot is between $2.99 and $9.99, where publishers take 65% of the money collected. Titles priced less than $2.98, and more than $10.00 only earn publishers 40% of the list price.
New plugin turns Adobe InDesign into Amazon Kindle publishing tool
Amazon on Friday launched the beta of a new plugin for desktop publishing software InDesign which converts InDesign project files (.indd and .indb) into Amazon Kindle books.
The plugin lets InDesign book and document files keep their font styles, and text and paragraph alignment after being converted to Kindle Format, and allows links, images, tables, and lists (bulleted or numbered) to be embedded as well.
Microsoft says Motorola's Android phones are patent infringers
Microsoft has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the Western District of Washington against Motorola, Inc, a statement from Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft's deputy general of IP and Licensing said today.
The suit accuses Motorola of infringing on nine Microsoft patents with its Android-based smartphones.
Blu-ray faces a solid five years of growth thanks to 3D, says research
Blu-ray player sales for the full year 2010 will total 24 million, well over double the total sales of 2009, Futuresource Consulting said in its annual Blu-ray and DVD Hardware Performance report today, and the growth is only expected to continue.
These figures suggest that Blu-ray still has a solid footing, despite the growing chorus of dissenters who think that Blu-ray has no future. In an interview last week, Microsoft UK executive Stephen McGill said, "Blu-ray is going to be passed by as a format. People have moved through from DVDs to digital downloads and digital streaming, so we offer full HD 1080p Blu-ray quality streaming instantly, no download, no delay. So, who needs Blu-ray?"
How zombies inspired a new kind of set-top box
On-demand streaming video will eventually replace disc-based media and linear broadcast media. As high-tech consumers, we've been hearing about it for years, and there are literally hundreds of set-top boxes and TVs available today that are equipped with broadband connections to prove it.
But getting movies and television into our living rooms is only one use for streaming video, and Hollywood veterans Anatoly Fradis and John Vulich have debuted a new product called Aurora CineStreem that is the first streaming set top box we've seen that is designed to be used by professional filmmakers.
Android App Store from Amazon: potential game changer
Amazon is rumored to be working on its own app store for Android that would compete with Google's Android Market. Though Amazon has not announced it or made any statements confirming the rumor, SlashGear today got its hands on the store's terms and conditions for developers, and they seem to sync with the rumors from earlier this week.
Included in these terms are the royalties for developers, which would be 70% of an app's purchase price or 20% of its list price; and conditions for listing applications in other app stores, (apps must be released in the Amazon store at the exact same time as in other app stores, or earlier.)
Nintendo's 3DS handheld console launches Feb 26 in Japan, internationally in March
Video game company Nintendo today announced launch plans and pricing for its forthcoming 3D handheld gaming unit, the 3DS.
The 3DS will hit retail in Japan on February 26, 2011, just before the end of Japan's fiscal year. It will cost ¥25,000 (approximately $300 USD) and will be launched in North America, Europe, and Australia in March. At a press conference in Chiba, Japan today, Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata said further details will be announced by Nintendo's regional subsidiaries as the date approaches.
MetroPCS' second 4G LTE network launches in Texas
Just over one week ago, the first commercial LTE network in the United States launched in Las Vegas under regional carrier MetroPCS. Today, the carrier's second LTE deployment has launched in the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area.
Like its Las Vegas LTE network, MetroPCS has monthly plans for $55 and $60, and its only LTE-compatible handset is the $299 Samsung Craft.
Roku set top boxes, TiVo DVRs get Hulu Plus this fall
Confirming recent rumors, streaming media hardware company Roku announced it has partnered with major Web-based content service Hulu to bring the premium Hulu Plus service to Roku set top boxes later this fall. A surprise announcement came from TiVO, however, which said TiVo Premiere users will have access to the service as well.
Last week, Roku unveiled its new line of set top boxes which really put the heat on competitors AppleTV, Boxee, and even GoogleTV. Roku effectively defined how an over-the-top streaming set top box should work with its first generation of Netflix streamers, which combined an extremely simple interface and an agreeable pricetag with an ever-growing library of content. With these new devices and content partnerships, it continues to lead the pack.
AOL acquires TechCrunch sites: It's all about advertising
AOL announced Tuesday that it will be acquiring popular blog TechCrunch and all of its subsidiary sites, which includes MobileCruch, CrunchGear, TechCrunchIT, GreenTech, TechCrunchTV, and Crunchbase. The sites will be incorporated into AOL's Technology Network of publications.
AOL's Technology Network already includes the blogs Engadget, Switched, The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW,) and DownloadSquad. The inclusion of TechCrunch and its related sites will make AOL the owner of two of the most popular tech blogs according to news aggregator Techmeme.
Sony Ericsson LiveView: Part Android Watch, Part Android 'Nano'
Sony Ericsson today announced a unique new accessory for Android, a Bluetooth-connected 1.3" screen called LiveView which can be used to control and interact with applications on your phone remotely.
Similar to the new iPod Nano, LiveView is a small square screen with a clip on the back. Unlike the Nano, however, the tiny 1.3" OLED display is not touch-enabled. Instead, the border of the screen acts as the touch pane, and the chassis has action buttons on it. It is not a standalone device, and must be paired with an Android 2.0+ smartphone (not necessarily just with the X10 series.) Once paired, it can then access dozens of applications.
RIM unveils PlayBook, the long-awaited BlackBerry tablet
At Research in Motion's BlackBerry Developer Conference Devcon 2010, CEO Mike Lazardis unveiled the rumored BlackBerry tablet, which is going by the name PlayBook.
PlayBook has a 7-inch screen, 1GHz dual-core Cortex A9 processor, 1GB of RAM, Front (3 MP) and rear (5 MP) cameras, HMTL5 and Flash 10.1 with hardware acceleration, BES and BBM support, e-reader software, 1080p HD video; H.264, MPEG4, WMV with HDMI video output, as well as a totally revamped browser.
Windows Live Spaces shutting down, WordPress.com takes on users
Microsoft's blogging platform Windows Live Spaces is being decommissioned, and the users are being absorbed by WordPress.com, Microsoft and Automattic Inc. announced on Monday.
Beginning today, Windows Live Spaces users have the option to automatically migrate their entire blog over to WordPress.com when they sign up to create a new WordPress blog, otherwise their content will be removed from Windows Live Spaces when it shuts down in six months.
Android Market paid apps coming to more countries
Android Market, the app store built into most Android-powered mobile devices, is opening up its for-pay section in more countries, mobile analytics startup Distimo said today.
Currently, for pay applications in the Android Market are only available in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, UK, and US. Google recently alerted developers that support for more countries would be rolling out over the next few weeks, and according to Distimo, this has already begun to include Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Finland, Hong Kong, Israel, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Singapore and South Africa; doubling the current total.
Sharp unveils Galapagos e-readers to support Japanese XMDF e-book, e-Manga format
Consumer electronics company Sharp on Monday announced its plans to launch an E-reader business in Japan under the name Galapagos which will include two Android-based E-book readers and a cloud-based bookstore with about 30,000 pieces of content.
The two Galapagos devices Sharp unveiled today are the 5.5 inch "mobile" model and the 10.8 inch "home" model, and they both come equipped with 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi. Outwardly, the devices are similar to a number of Android-based tablets that straddle the line between mobile tablet and e-reader, but internally, Sharp's products offer a major differentiator: support for the next generation XMDF e-book format.
Tim's Bio
Tim Conneally was born into dumpster tech. His father was an ARPANET research pioneer and equipped his kids with discarded tech gear, second-hand musical instruments, and government issue foreign language instruction tapes. After years of building Frankenstein computers from rubbish and playing raucous music in clubs across the country (and briefly on MTV) Tim grew into an adult with deep, twisted roots and an eye on the future. He most passionately covers mobile technology, user interfaces and applications, the science and policy of the wireless world, and watching different technologies shrink and converge.
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