Sometimes you just want to read. Digital's best answer for that simple urge is the now venerable E Ink e-reader. These monochromatic devices are not only holding on in the face of stiff LCD-based tablet competition, they're innovating. The latest update comes from Barnes & Noble, which added an LED-based "GlowLight" to its Nook Simple Touch e-reader.
For consumers, the news that the Department of Justice is suing Apple and several publishers, accusing them of price-fixing, boils down to one kitchen-table question: Will this mean my e-books will get cheaper?
E-Reader or iPad
updated: Thu Apr 05 2012 05:34:00
Which one is right for you? HLN's Jennifer Westhoven visits Consumer Reports to find out.
E-books aren't just becoming increasingly popular. They also appear to be promoting reading habits among American adults.
When it comes to tablet computers, size matters -- a lot. But these devices are definitely not one-size-fits-all. And like Alice in Wonderland, the "right size" for tablets keeps shifting.
Finally, fans of the world's most famous boy wizard can follow his fight against the evil Lord Voldemort on their e-readers.
When Apple holds a press event Wednesday, everyone who's paying attention expects to see the much-anticipated iPad 3.
With a surprise appearance by Steve Jobs, Apple debuts its iPad 2, the company's successful tablet computing gadget.
Barnes & Noble will sell a cheaper version of its Nook Tablet for $199, the same price as Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet.
Amazon set out to win the tablet market by beating Apple the way no one else could: pricing the Kindle Fire at just $199.
Amazon's fourth-quarter sales results weren't awful, but investors went ahead and punished the stock severely anyway.
A new report from one of the Web's leading researchers spells out what news reports have suggested: that tablet computers and e-readers made a huge leap in popularity this holiday season.
Barnes & Noble is considering spinning off its Nook business, the company said Thursday in an announcement that sent investors reeling.
As the tough economy drags on, cost remains a leading consideration that people use to decide which mobile devices and wireless services they'll purchase.
Digital gifts may be tough to wrap. But they can be more convenient for both givers and recipients.
Kindle Fire, the stripped-down tablet computer that is emerging as perhaps the most popular rival to Apple's iPad, will be getting an update soon to address some early user complaints, Amazon said.
Amazon's Kindle Fire is a solid tablet, and a relative bargain at $199. But, Apple's iPad is still ahead of the field.
Although it has been on the U. S. market for just three weeks, Amazon's Kindle Fire is expected to become the second-most popular tablet in the world by the end of this year, according to the research firm IHS.
If you view a tablet as a guilty pleasure, like I do, then buying the Kindle Fire should make you feel a little less guilty.
Amazon is rumored to be making a phone.
Amazon's Kindle Fire launched Tuesday with only six weeks left in the year, but analysts still think 5 million of the tablets could sell by the end of 2011.
The iPad is one of the most disruptive technologies of the past 5 years. Along with the iPhone, it birthed a new era of touch computing that does away with the mouse and keyboard altogether. And yet the iPad's undisputed dominance of the blossoming tablet market may not last forever. In fact, the iPad is about to get some stiff competition -- finally.
Barnes & Noble is charging into the cut-price tablet wars with the Nook Tablet, a $249 lightweight tablet optimzed for reading e-books, streaming movies and browsing the Web.
The rivalry is so intense that Barnes & Noble actually spoke its competitor's name:
Ever since Amazon unveiled its 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet in September, a lingering phrase has been attached to the low-cost, high-profile device: "the iPad's first true Android competitor."
Amazon unveils its iPad competitor tablet, the Kindle Fire.
Barnes & Noble will launch a new member of the Nook family of tablets and e-readers, the Nook Tablet, on November 16 for $249, according to leaked presentation slides published by Engadget.
Owners of iPads and other tablet devices tend to be news junkies who are wealthier and more highly educated than than the general population, according to a new report.
Smaller tablet computers that are significantly more affordable and portable than the iPad are finally starting to hit the United States -- and they could hit a crucial sweet spot in the consumer market.
Amazon's third-quarter earnings sharply missed Wall Street estimates, sending shares 17% lower in after-hours trading on Tuesday.
Don't share with Barnes & Noble, and you'll face the book behemoth's wrath. One week after DC Comics handed over exclusive digital rights for some of its comic books to Amazon, B&N fired back by yanking physical copies of those books off its store shelves.
Amazon has clarified that the next generation of its 3G Kindle, the Kindle Touch 3G, will not be able to browse the Internet without a WiFi connection. Users will still be able to use 3G to sync book and document purchases, but anything beyond Wikipedia will be off-limits.
CNN's Nina dos Santos talks to Sarah Shearman on Amazon's release of the Kindle Fire.
Steve Jobs made it clear what he thought of 7-inch tablets in October 2010. They're "too small," and as good as "dead on arrival." But the announcement of and anticipation surrounding Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet may soon have Jobs eating his words.
When Amazon launched the first ad-supported Kindle in May, it was something of an afterthought -- a cheaper alternative. But last week, Amazon made clear that ad-supported Kindles are the new standard.
Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos borrowed from Dr. Evil's master plan for the technology behind his newly announced Kindle Touch e-reader: It uses frickin' laser beams.
After months of speculation, it's here: Amazon's tablet, the $199 Kindle Fire, was unveiled Wednesday.
It's an e-book perk that often flies under the radar: Many bricks-and-mortar libraries are now lending out electronic editions.
Amazon's stock jumped more than 6% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company reported second-quarter results that topped analyst forecasts.
Amazon, the online retailer that ignited demand for electronic readers with its Kindle, might be entering the increasingly crowded tablet computer market.
Google has announced its plans to launch a Google eBooks-optimized e-reader on July 17.
Amazon's recent ad-supported Kindle isn't just the future of e-readers. It may also be a look at the future of how people buy electronic gadgets: with a reduced price, subsidized by advertising.
A Florida high school is outfitting its students with Kindles instead of traditional textbooks.
Big changes are coming to Apple's App Store on Thursday -- and they could mean big trouble for e-book sellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Ads touting Apple's iPad seem to be everywhere, but e-readers such as Amazon.com's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook are actually more popular with consumers, according to a new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling will, for the first time, release the famous children's stories in e-book form in October through a new website called Pottermore.
The new Nook is barely better than the Kindle.
Apple and Amazon are barreling toward a showdown -- and neither side wants to talk about it.
There are no two ways about it: E-books are here to stay. Unless something as remarkable as Japan's reversion to the sword occurs, digital books are the 21st century successor to print.
Amazon and Barnes & Noble are duking it out over the respective battery lives of the Kindle and the new touch-screen Nook.
As further proof of how digital media dominate today's entertainment, Amazon announced Thursday that its customers now buy more e-books for its Kindle device than all print books -- hardcover and paperback -- combined.
Amazon's stock fell 5.7% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company reported first-quarter earnings that fell by one-third compared to a year earlier -- and sharply missed Wall Street forecasts.
Barnes & Noble has released a major update to its e-reader, Nook Color, which pushes the device far into tablet territory.
Want to check out e-books from the library and read them on your Kindle? That will be possible later this year as Amazon announced Wednesday that it would join a library loan program for electronic books.
The publishing tide is shifting fast: E-book sales in February topped all other formats, including paperbacks and hardcovers, according to an industry report released this week.
We wrote a story on Tuesday about a new version of the Kindle that will be $25 cheaper because it's supported by ads.
Seeing ads on portable devices is nothing new. Open a smartphone app, and you're likely to get hit with ads on the screen. Same for mobile browsers.
Amazon has sold loads of cheap Kindles ever since it decided to introduce a WiFi-only model and drop the price to just $139.
Would you buy a Kindle with on-screen ads in order to knock $25 off the price? Amazon hopes so.
I have just returned from the morgue.
Kindle users who dislike the popular e-reader's lack of page numbers are getting some relief.
E-books are revolutionizing the publishing industry and reader preferences, and Amazon might be in a unique position to hasten that change -- if they decide to start giving away their popular Kindle e-reader for free.
Are immigrants to the U.S. more likely than the general American population to adopt tablet computers? New research from Rebtel, a global mobile VOIP provider, indicates that this might be true.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson called Amazon's Kindle e-reader app the "gutsiest and savviest business decision of the past decade" during a keynote address on Tuesday.
If it seems like nearly everyone you see these days, from kids to seniors, has some kind of tech gadget handy, it's not just your imagination.
Apple is tightening its App Store policies on e-books -- a move that has the stalled the release of Sony's e-reader app and threatens trouble ahead for Amazon's popular Kindle app.
Apple has responded to the furor over its supposed App Store policy changes that many believe could affect the popular Kindle, Nook, and Sony Reader apps.
OK, bookworms, now you can declare Armageddon: Kindle e-books have overtaken paperback books as the bestselling type of content in Amazon's bookstore.
When this year began, we were feverishly speculating about an Apple tablet, looking forward to 3-D TV sets, and optimistically waiting for the end of the cable companies' cruel grip on our wallets.
This holiday season, many people received e-book readers as gifts -- but what about the books?
Google on Monday launched what it says is the largest digital bookstore on the internet -- a site called the Google eBookstore.
Every holiday shopper has at least one uber-elitist gadget nerd on their list -- and this is perhaps the most stressful stereotype to shop for.
Just in time for holiday shopping, CNN.com tech writer John Sutter shows off the latest gadgets and technology.
Well, well, well. What could Samsung be planning to do with this 10.1-inch LCD panel?
Newspaper publishers no doubt long for the days of black-and-white packages on most doorsteps and corporate earnings "in the black," as they say.
E Ink screens, which are designed to be easy on the eyes, are used widely in electronic book readers like the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader. But they never featured color displays until now.
Barnes & Noble unveiled a new full-color, touchscreen version of its Nook e-reader Tuesday in New York City.
Stocks ended in slightly positive territory Tuesday after seesawing throughout the session, as investors weighed readings on consumer confidence and housing against a slew of earnings reports.
Will Barnes & Noble fire the latest shot in the escalating e-reader battles with a color version of the Nook?
CNNMoney: Amazon sales jump 40%updated: Thu Oct 21 2010 18:10:00
Amazon is still keeping mum about how many Kindles it has sold, but the online retailer's business boomed last quarter.
Amazon's new commercial for its Kindle e-reader is using some exposure to go after Apple's iPad -- and not just the bikini-clad actress in the ad.
Sony updated its line of e-readers Wednesday, a move that brought a touchscreen to its cheapest version but also hiked its price by almost $30.
Amazon.com's new Kindle is outselling previous versions in the first month of its launch, the company said Wednesday. But Amazon still won't reveal sales figures for its popular e-book reader.
Amazon unveiled its long-awaited Kindle 3 on Thursday, slashing the price to $139 and setting the tech world abuzz about what the move means for the ongoing e-reader wars.
Prices in consumer electronics tend to fluctuate wildly.
Several years ago, I was invited to Amazon.com headquarters. After signing a legal promise of secrecy, I was taken into a special room. Someone came in carrying a package containing Amazon's secret weapon ... the Kindle.
Amazon has sold out of its least expensive Kindle, perhaps providing further evidence of the e-reader's popularity or signaling a new device in the offing.
The iPad is about to have its academic chops put to the test this fall in a number of programs around the country.
Amazon recently has been touting the growing popularity of its Kindle e-reader and mobile apps.
Amazon shares plunged 13% in after-hours trading Thursday after the company's second-quarter earnings came up far short of analyst expectations.
Watch out AT&T, Sprint and Verizon: A whole host of super-fast wireless services could be coming down the pike.
Call them the new hardcovers -- without the covers.
In the latest sign that readers are flocking to e-books, Amazon.com said Monday that it is now selling more Kindle books than hardcovers.
It takes longer to read books on a Kindle 2 or an iPad versus a printed book, Jakob Nielsen of product development consultancy Nielsen Norman Group discovered in a recent usability survey.
In its latest move in the e-reader wars, Amazon slashed the price on the supersize version of its Kindle by more than $100 on Thursday.
Price wars may be great news for consumers but they are the worst enemy of investors. Just ask any shareholder of an airline.
Google will begin selling digital books through an online bookstore in the middle of the year, according to a company spokesman.
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