English
Perfect e-reading application for iOS
Stanza’s functionality
+ iBooks’ interface
+ Kindle’s offer
iBooks: how to add books without connecting to iTunes
Adding third-party books to iBooks is painful. You need to cable your device (iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad) with a computer to sync books between iTunes “Books” folder and the application. I personally feel stressed every time I connect a device to iTunes. Syncing is slow and when it’s finished app icons are messed up almost every time.
Comparing to Kindle’s 60 seconds, a cable connection is just outdated. The other thing is that with the iBookstore offering such a little selection of books, many people try to download their own book libraries collected before.
Two tips listed below apply only to pdf documents, so probably only iPad owners will want to try it. You can’t use them to send ePub files to iBooks. I hope it will change soon. So far only Stanza is capable of opening external ePubs (as well as pdf docs as you’ll see in the screenshots). »»»
Use Dropbox as a cloud bookshelf for Stanza
By now Stanza is the most robust e-reading application for iOS. It’s packed with features other apps, like Kindle or iBooks are missing. However it has one big disadvantage: no cloud-based bookshelf.
The application is associated to a device not an account. There is no way to sync books and bookmarks like in Kindle. It’s fine when you have one device. Things get complicated to those iPhone or iPod Touch users who are buying iPads. They realize that to read books they collected in Stanza, they need to download them again.
There are a few ways to transfer books to Stanza. I’d like to add to the list a simple solution, which gives at least part of cloud bookshelf functionality. It’s Dropbox (AppStore link), an application available for both iPhone and iPad. Sure, no sync is possible, but at least you can manage you book library from a single place. »»»
Comparison of Kindle and Nook apps for Android [video]
QBook – interactive iPhone book for kids [video]
Found at Teleread.com
E-reading applications: my feature wish list
Currently to read e-books I’m using two devices (iPhone and iPad) and three apps (Kindle, Stanza and iBooks).
I don’t have any problem with using either iPad or iPhone. The devices are perfectly complementary. I read on iPad mostly at home and when on the move an iPhone is a perfect reading companion.
It’s not that easy with applications. They all have their pros and cons, some of them have features the others are missing. This is easily leading to disappointment, as a personal e-book library is split in three places and sometimes I get lost where is a book I feel like reading right now.
So here is a wish list of features a confused reader would love to have in one application to stick to it. The list only contains features which are not available in all three apps. Is there anything missing? Please leave your tips in the comments. »»»
Weekly links on mobile e-books & self publishing 24.07.2010
- A $20 eReader For NGOsJuly 21, 2010A $20 eReader? Humane Informatics has designed a new low cost eReader for NGOs called the Humane Reader. It uses a TV screen as a display device and books and text are stored on a simple SD memory Card. The device can hold up to 5,000 books on a 2G card and it does not require an Internet connecti...
- 30 Million People In U.S. Will Own eReaders By 2015July 21, 2010By 2015, 29.4 million US consumers will own eReaders. This is according to a new report from Forrester Research called, "How eReaders Will Fare In A Tablet PC World," by analyst James L. McQuivey. According to the report, eReaders are facing challenges with the rise of tablet PCs. From the report...
- Shanda To Release eReaderJuly 22, 2010Chinese social writing network Shanda Literature, a company owned by Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited, has plans to release an eReader called the BamBook sometime in the next couple of weeks. The eReader will come in two versions, both of which will be equipped with Wi-Fi and a 3G network....
- eReaders Beat iPad For PopularityJuly 22, 2010While iPads are challenging eReader sales, eReaders still beat the iPad, according to Forrester Research. In a report called, "How eReaders Will Fare In A Tablet PC World," analyst James L. McQuivey found that more consumers want an eReader than an iPad. Kindle was the winner in terms of eReader s...
- Nook for Android Is HereJuly 22, 2010Nook for Android hit the Market for free download today, and it has some nifty features that make e-book reading easy and clean, even for someone who would much rather breathe in the dust of a library book than stare fixedly at her Droid X.A little less than a month ago, the Kindle for Android app c...
- Write.fm Makes Sharing Text and Files Amazingly SimpleJuly 22, 2010I love simple solutions to common problems. Write.fm is one of those services that manages to reduce the number of steps to do a task — in this case, sharing simple text messages and files of any kind — to the absolute minimum.Hailing from Anthony Feint, the same developer who brought us the sim...
- Sharp To Enter eBook MarketJuly 20, 2010The Sharp Corporation announced today a new version of its XDMF eBook formatting functionality, which will include the ability to embed video and audio content into an eBook. Sharp plans to release this "next-generation eBook format" sometime this year. Sharp also plans to build digital eBook dis...
- Top 10 Worst Self-Publishing Mistakes—Explained!July 21, 2010I learn a lot from the comments readers leave on the blog. People have pointed out errors, shown me resources I hadn’t heard of, and made connections that had never occurred to me. It’s a big web out there, and one of the things I enjoy most is this sharing of knowledge, resources and experience...
- Penguin Releases Amplified EditionsJuly 20, 2010The Penguin Group is making its books interactive, beginning with The Amplified Edition of The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. The publisher partnered with entertainment company Starz to make the interactive version of the print title. The "Amplified Edition" of Follett's work includes video...
- Would You Pay More For A Video Enhanced E-Book?July 20, 2010That is the question that Penguin wants answered, and they are running a test to get an answer. Teaming up with Starz, Penguin is launching an e-book on iPad that contains video from a television mini-series based on the same tract. The company plans to price the book at $12.99, a steep rise over t...
- Adobe to Roll Out New Publishing Software for TabletsJuly 19, 2010Adobe is working on a new kind of creative software specifically intended to help you publish digital magazines for tablet devices such as the iPad, the company revealed today.This new software, which will soon take its place in the Creative Suite pantheon, will be downloadable from Adobe Labs and w...
- The Importance Of Social Networking To Authors And ProfessionalsJuly 19, 2010With a title like The Importance Of Social Networking To Authors And Professionals, you could expect to have a book, or volumes written to cover all the ways social media has become an indispensable tool for marketing your business. Well, I am not going to write a book here, but I am going to share...
- Simon & Schuster Unveils Mobile SiteJuly 7, 2010Today Simon Schuster unveiled a mobile edition of their site, bringing shopping capabilities, full search, author pages, book excerpts, and video to smartphones. You can see the iPhone version in the image embedded here. The site will also feature a video hub collecting videos from the publisher...
- Publishing & Self-Publishing: Where Is the Tipping Point?July 16, 2010Another interesting day in the world of publishing. I picked up on this story by Yoree Koh from the Wall Street Journal’s Japan Time from an alert early this morning: One of Japan’s best-known novelists and film makers, Ryu Murakami, has announced he’s cutting his pretigious publisher (Kodans...
- Major Japanese author to release iPad-only bookJuly 15, 2010From the Wall Street Journal Japan blog: Novelist Ryu Murakami plans to release his latest novel exclusively for digital bookworms through Apple Inc.’s iPad ahead of the print version. Mr. Murakami, the acclaimed author of over 15 novels including “Coin Locker Babies” and “In the Miso Soup
Technologically processed thoughts on technology #6 [audio]
What is it? Read a description here.
#1picstory :: A new startup
#1picstory :: The wildest place
About the author
Recently updated tech-absurdist and mobile fiction writer 3.0 beta. Addicted to ebooks and technology. Guest writer at Publetariat, Fiction Matters and TeleRead. Read more »»»
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Currently on Twitter
- 4つの方法読者に電子電話に向ける携帯 http://ow.ly/2icqG 56 mins ago
- @jeroenvduffelen double page spread in iPad & general book-like feel in reply to jeroenvduffelen 1 hr ago
- Perfect e-reading application for iOS :-) http://ow.ly/2ibcO 2 hrs ago
- Keep going » Multimedia E-Books, Adorned With Video Extras - NYTimes.com http://ow.ly/2iabO 3 hrs ago
- What a boring day - no updates in AppStore. 3 hrs ago
- パスワードが間違って" -テクノ短編小説。今すぐダウンロード無料で #feedbooks http://ow.ly/2hUAD 16 hrs ago
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