Wired - Archive

Keith, of tech blog BIT-101, got himself a new USB-microscope. And like any nerd with a new toy, he started pointing it t the things around the house. Happily for us, Keith avoided magnifying the dog’s fleas and instead turned his high-powered eye on the screens of his twin tablets, Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPad. [...]

Just days after updating the hardware Kindle with a smaller, cheaper model, Amazon has updated the Kindle app for iOS devices and it remains the same size and the same price (free). This release brings something for everyone in the form of iOS4 compatibility and general improvements. There are a few dull but worthy additions: fast [...]

Jeff Bezos has survived the iPad. Predictions that Apple’s bright tablet computer would be a Kindle-killer haven’t quite come to pass: Amazon CEO Bezos says that the growth rate in sales of his e-reading device has tripled since June, when he dropped the Kindle price to $189. (Clearly increased competition from other e-readers, like...

Not to be outdone by Kindle for iPad, Apple has updated its iBooks e-reader app to handle audio and video. Version 1.1.1 is ready for any iOS device. The rivalry between Amazon and Apple clearly shows how competition benefits the consumer, with Apple making updates to iBooks much more frequently than it makes them to its [...]

E-books are, in both price and size, still in their hardback stage. Author, blogger and all-round clever-thinker Seth Godin thinks it’s time for a “paperback” e-reader, a cheap Kindle which would be completely bare-bones but also put e-books into the hands of just about anyone who can read. Godin suggests that Amazon forget...

If you’re one of the people around the world buying an iPad today, you might want to check out Apple’s iBooks e-reading app (you might also want to call in sick to work, as you won’t be getting much done today). But when you flip the virtual bookcase to enter the store, you’ll be disappointed: [...]

Barnes & Noble has released its e-reader software for the iPad, adding yet another way to buy and read e-books. It’s as slick as we’ve come to expect, but suffers from several minor flaws and one fatal problem: Unlike iBooks, where you can buy easily and seamlessly from with the application, the B&N reader boots [...]

Yesterday, the international iBooks stores were almost empty. In Spain, there was a single, dusty volume on the shelf: “Les vies encloses” by Georges Rodenbach. It was in French. Today, the shelves are groaning under the weight of dull, beige-covered tomes from Project Gutenberg, all of which are available free. To see and download...

Stanza, our favorite iPhone e-reader application, has not yet been updated for the iPad. Maybe it’s coming soon and will be awesome, or maybe the current owner, Amazon, has killed it to reduce competition for its money-making Kindle app. Either way, unless you want to read your e-book collection on a blocky, pixel-doubled screen,...

When Apple opens up its iBooks Store for business on the iPad, the shelves will be fully stocked. According to a screen-shot posted at iPhone software blog App Advice, iBooks will contain many free, public-domain titles from Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg takes out-of-copyright texts and, using an army of volunteers, turns them into free...