Articles by David Rothman

How to read ebooks on a $20 cellphone: 72 Tips for the cash-strapped

2 September, 2014 // 1 Comment

When I ran across $20 cell phones on Amazon, I couldn't resist buying one to see if I could read e-books on it. Yes, I could—hour after hour. I’ll never confuse this econo-phone with an iPad Air [Read More ...]

On Tablets, Summer Reading, and Parental Role Models for Young Readers

20 August, 2014 // 0 Comments

It’s summer. Is your child reading—one way to guard against a seasonal slump? Oh, and here’s a very much related question. Are you reading? “You are a role model for your [Read More ...]

Hip Video Explains All-Digital Library in Bexar County, Texas

24 July, 2014 // 5 Comments

–Read an e-book at home or in the library, or a digital comic or graphic novel. –Maybe even read E to your visiting child if you’re a jailed mother. –Use two-way Google Hangouts video to [Read More ...]

‘Close The Libraries And Buy Everyone An Amazon Kindle Unlimited Subscription’ – Forbes

21 July, 2014 // 9 Comments

Amazon’s new subscription plan for e-book readers is already ammo for library-haters. Check out this gem in Forbes online. The headline I’ve quoted reflects the precise sentiments of the article: [Read More ...]

Amazon, please unmute the Kindle Paperwhite: No need for the workaround shown in this video, when TTS chips cost next to nothing!

24 February, 2014 // 17 Comments

At first glance, the MIT-designed FingerReader shown in this video looks intriguing for people with print-related challenges. But major catches exist, beyond the robotic voice. Using the little text [Read More ...]

Should public libraries give away ebook-friendly tablets to poor people? $38 tablet hints of possibilities

10 January, 2014 // 14 Comments

Young people love suitable paper books, ideally new, that they can own. Could the same idea work for econo-tablets that public libraries gave away to low-income families—with a big, fat, [Read More ...]

eBooks and Public Libraries vs. Cruise Ship Subsidies in Miami-Dade County, FL

22 December, 2013 // 0 Comments

Jessica Nunez and her family are just the kind of people who could benefit from well-financed physical libraries, paper books, the digital variety, loans of e-readers, and technical support along [Read More ...]

New Pew survey helps show need for full-strength digital libraries— especially if we’re to help Hispanics, African-Americans and the poor.

12 December, 2013 // 0 Comments

Should Pew researchers survey Americans on the need for a national digital library endowment and two separate digital library systems—-one public and one academic? Definitely, if you extrapolate [Read More ...]

Ouch! Text to speech is also AWOL from THIS year’s Paperwhite from Amazon

3 September, 2013 // 6 Comments

Drat! The newest Kindle Paperwhite E Ink reader from Amazon is still missing text to speech—among the very features Jeff Bezos touted when he unveiled the second Kindle in 2009. Doubt me? Just [Read More ...]

Review: Voice Dream Reader e-reading app

13 May, 2013 // 4 Comments

A Catch-22 dogs those of us who most often read e-books visually but also want to hear them when we’re exercising or driving. The usual e-bookware doesn’t always come with or work with text to [Read More ...]

Saving Barnes & Noble from itself: The DRM angle

6 January, 2013 // 22 Comments

Here’s a heartfelt suggestion for the besieged people at Barnes & Noble, in the spirit of the recommendations that Joanna Cabot and my other friends at TeleRead have offered: Rid your operation [Read More ...]

Amazon’s zapping of customer’s Kindle library shows why we need library-provided ‘content lockers’ for e-books and perhaps other media

22 October, 2012 // 7 Comments

What if Amazon wiped out all your Kindle books and refused to let you open another account? I don’t know what if any sins a customer committed, but such an Orwellian scenario is said to have [Read More ...]

All-text bold, multiple columns, other capabilities enhance OverDrive’s upgraded library app for iPads, iPhones and Touches

16 October, 2012 // 4 Comments

For years I’d hoped that OverDrive’s e-book-and-multimedia app for libraries would do all-text bolding. So many library fans have their own wish lists of accessibility features, and full bolding [Read More ...]

Good news for Stanza fans: It apparently works under Apple’s new iOS6

25 September, 2012 // 11 Comments

Stanza, one of the best e-reading apps around, was brokenwhen Apple upgraded to iOS 5. Amid the uproar from the app’s users, Stanza’s overlords at Amazon tweaked the ePub-capable app but did not [Read More ...]

No text to speech in Amazon’s new Paperwhite Kindles: Why? To push us toward Fire tablets and boost Amazon-owned Audible?

7 September, 2012 // 40 Comments

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos ballyhooed text to speech in the Kindle 2 in 2009. But guess what’s now missing from the new Paperwhite Kindles even though it’s still present in the Kindle Keyboard 3G and [Read More ...]

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