Allen Weiner

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Entries from September 2009

IREX Teams with Verizon, B&N For Its Latest E-Reader Offering

September 23rd, 2009 · 1 Comment

IREX Technologies has announced a new entry into the e-reader space that is sure to turn some heads and offer yet another competitive alternative to Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s new product lines. Additionally, the new, 8.1-inch IREX DR800SG, adds Verizon to the list of carriers who sense an opportunity in this emerging space. Verizon will [...]

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Tags: Amazon · Microsoft · Mobile · Newspapers · Publishing

Is The Courier Microsoft’s Xbox for the E-Reader Space?

September 23rd, 2009 · 1 Comment

Word is leaking out (no doubt from Microsoft itself) on the Courier tablet. Looks very cool but it raises more questions that offers answers. If it’s the device that supports cool Silverlight applications for content providers, it will be quite interesting. So far, Apple has little to worry about if it intends to offer a [...]

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Tags: Amazon · Google · Microsoft · Publishing · directories

Publishers See Apple Ruling the E-Reader Market

September 22nd, 2009 · 1 Comment

A recent survey from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC)  of its U.S. and Canadian newspaper, magazine and business membership to learn more about publishers’ current mobile initiatives and strategic plans underscores the hope publishers see in e-distribution. Close to 58% of all newspaper publishers format their content for viewing [...]

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Tags: Amazon · Google · Mobile · Newspapers · Publishing · economy

U.S. Justice Department Sour on Google Book Deal

September 21st, 2009 · No Comments

The latest installment in the Google-Amazon drama. Continued negotiations to follow.
“The current settlement proposal would stifle innovation and competition in favor of a monopoly over the access, distribution and pricing of the largest collection of digital books in the world, and would reinforce an already dominant position in search and search advertising,” said the Open [...]

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Tags: Amazon · Google · Publishing · directories

Google to Offer “Real Books,” Putting Amazon in Its Crosshairs

September 17th, 2009 · 2 Comments

I met a few folks on my recent European travel who scoffed at the pervasive power of e-books as a replacement for the touchy-feely experience of holding a print book in their hands. “You can’t read an e-book in the bath,” one naysayer told me a few weeks back. To that romantic reader, I say, [...]

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Tags: Amazon · Google · Publishing · citizen media

Google’s Fast Flip Offers Publishers an Olive Branch

September 15th, 2009 · 2 Comments

First off: Google’s Fast Flip is absolutely nothing special. The service allows readers to rapidly skim through electronic reproductions of news web pages to get a comprehensive view on a topic (or person or place…) of interest and then drill down by clicking to get a full view of an individual story. It will work [...]

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Tags: Google · Newspapers · Publishing · economy

Live from Nokia World: Nokia Booklet 3G, First Look

September 2nd, 2009 · 1 Comment

Nokia has just announced details of its new netbook, the Booklet 3G. It will be available in Q4, be priced at 575 Euros (>$800 U.S.) but it will be subsidized by many carriers. In the U.S., however, many netbooks are already practically given away by carriers ala the combo of phone plus service plans. The [...]

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Tags: Conferences · Nokia