There’s a particular thread over at XDA-Forums that I’ve been following today, and I’m a little astounded by what I’ve seen. the thread was started by a guy who’s hacking his Nook Touch, and every so often he posts another update. BTW, that’s the thread where I got the Nook Kindle video I posted earlier (via Mike Cane).

Zonyl has just posted that he has ADW Launcher running on his Nook Touch, which is great. It’s going to make it a lot easier to run apps. But that’s not all. he’s discovered that the Nook Touch appears to have a Bluetooth chip installed and it appears to be working. He hasn’t paired the NT with anything yet, so we don’t know for sure if it works. But this is a very good sign.

Can you believe how many features B&N buried in their ebook readers?  The NC had Bluetooth and the NT had a hidden web browser as well as Bluetooth. At this point if someone told me that the NT also had a laser built in, I think I’d believe them.

BTW, that Bluetooth feature isn’t mentioned in the FCC paperwork. I double checked.

Update: There’s a reason why the Bluetooth isn’t mentioned in the FCC paperwork. The Nook Touch doesn’t actually have a Bluetooth chip. All it has is the software for the chip.

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Mike Cane beat me to this one, but given that he had to be up at 3am to do it, I really have no problem with that.

You’re looking at the first Nook Touch to be hacked and run the Amazon Kindle app. It’s nowhere near ready for the average user, and even when it is I’m not sure you’d want it. This app has been tweaked to look good on an LCD screen and frankly the animation is almost painful to watch on the NT. I kinda wanted the NT as an E-ink Android tablet, but as I watch this video I think I’ve changed my mind.

But you have to admit that this a rather odd use of a $139 ebook reader.

via XDA Forums

Kobo has quietly jumped the gun and started offering ebooks in multiple languages. There’s been no official announcement, but one clever MR member clued me in.

Kobo announced a few months back that they were working on local ebookstores for Europe, it looks like I found the early pre-launch testing. What’s even more interesting is that apparently the prices are being converted to Euros for a German MR member.

I’ve already found listings for Spanish, German, French, Italian, and Dutch. The Dutch ebooks appear to only be free ones from the Internet Archive, while the other languages have paid ebooks. I’d give you numbers, but the search listings don’t quite match with what my Kobo contact said they have.

Yes,  I have checked with Kobo and they are doing some early tests with the new selection and the new localized ebookstores. BTW, I’d say that we now know why Telefonica were in such a hurry to announce their ereader this week. They knew that Kobo were almost ready to launch.

This might not seem like a big deal, but it is. Kobo didn’t exist 18 months ago and they’re about to beat Amazon into several European markets.

You know that ebook apps have been in itunes ever since the app store launched, right? Well, that might not last much longer. Apple is pushing ebook app developers to instead submit an ebook to iBooks instead of submitting an app to iTunes.

I’ve come across a number of reports today from developers who had one or more apps bounced by Apple. It’s been happening for at least the past 7 months (I’ve heard from one dev who fought with Apple in November-December). I won’t be naming that dev; it was a private email. But I saw screenshots from that developer’s app and trust me, it would not work well in iBooks.

There’s more. A friend on Twitter tipped me to this 4 month old post on a public forum, and the story is much the same. The ebook app had text, background music, and sound effects, but that wasn’t enough for Apple. Also, a second dev chimed in about a month later on that thread; he had the same experience.

I also have a 4th case, and this one from the Baker Framework community. (BF is a pre-written library of code that helps you build ebook apps for the iPad.) One dev reported that his app was rejected because it wasn’t app enough. Apple told him to submit it to iBooks, even though it’s not clear that you could translate the design of his app into Epub.

On the other hand, the devs who maintain the Baker Framework have heard back from a bunch of developers who succeeded in getting their app into iTunes, which suggests that the rejected apps might be a minority. It looks like approval depends on who reviews the app.

So here’s the problem, folks. Most of these apps have complex formatting that doesn’t work well in iBooks. That’s why they were submitted as apps.

Even if they do work, I wouldn’t want to have them as ebooks. iBooks forces you to experience a number of faux-book effects that I really don’t like.  It inserts a fake crease down the middle of the screen and as for the fake page turn – ugh!

P.S. Apple does have a rule for this, but it’s not being applied consistently.

* 2.21: Apps that are simply a song or movie should be submitted to the iTunes store. Apps that are simply a book should be submitted to the iBookstore"

What is a book?

P.P.S. If you have heard of other ebook apps being rejected, please let me know.

Last week I reported about how Kobo and Borders had reorganized their partnership, and that it looked like Kobo were going to put their logo on the Borders ebookstore. Ithought they were doing this to buck up the investors and reassure everyone that Borders owe money to (collectively known as "the publishing industry").

It looks like I was wrong. Kobo didn’t just put their logo on the site; they took over the Borders ebookstore completely. Borders are out of the ebook business.

If you try to buy an ebook from borders, you’ll get the pop-up window at right. Before you buy the ebook you’ll have to transfer your account to Kobo.

This is worse than I thought. It’s not a measure to prop up Borders; Kobo are planning ahead for the inevitable collapse.

If you’ve bought ebooks from Borders, I would go there now and move them over to Kobo. Do it now, before it’s too late.

via MobileRead

Google has deprecated a total of 18 of their APIs this week, and there’s a good chance you might feel the bite.

First, let me explain a deprecated API.  An API (in this instance) is a body of code that a developer can integrate into an app. You might have used Google News search, Google Translate, or other parts of Google’s websites, yes? An API lets a developer integrate that service into the app. Eighteen APIs have been deprecated, which means Google won’t be continuing to develop them.

For the most part this won’t affect users – except for the Google Translate API. That one is going to shut down in 6 months, and any app that relies on it will stop working. There are 11 APIs that have been deprecated but will continue to function for 3 years. If you have a news fetching app, it might rely on either the Blog Search or News Search APIs.

• Blog Search API
• Books GData API – replaced by a new Books API
• Books JavaScript API – replaced by a new Books API
• Image Search API
• News Search API
• Patent Search API
• Safe Browsing API version 1 – replaced by a new Lookup API
• Translate API – deprecated now, shut down December 1st
• Transliterate API
• Video Search API
• Virtual Keyboard API

There are 7 more APIs that have been deprecated but don’t have a shut down date:

• Code Search API
• Diacritize API
• Feedburner APIs
• Finance API
• Power Meter API
• Sidewiki API
• Wave API

The Feedburner API is another one that could hurt, but I’m not sure anyone’s using it. Feedburner runs so slow most of the time that I would suspect that mostr developers have junked it in favor of something else.

A few weeks ago I showed you PV’s new concept design for their smartphone with a foldable screen. A couple days ago they uploaded a new video which show their latest working sample of a new 6″ rollable screen. It’s designed to last 25k uses  and can be rolled around a dime.

This screen has the same resolution (800×600) as E-ink’s other 6″ screens, which is new. All the previous prototypes had a lower resolution or they were much smaller. It’s after the break.

This isn’t as interesting as the demo they had back in 2008. That was a rollable color E-ink screen. Of course, it was only a (much smaller) early prototype.

I just got an email from a pr contact with Barnes and Noble. They know what Amazon did today and they’re not taking it lying down.

I was sent the following quote:

With up to two months on a single charge, the All-New NOOK has the longest-battery life in the industry and superior battery performance to Kindle 3. In our side-by-side tests, under the exact same conditions, continuous use of the device resulted in more than two times Kindle’s battery life. While reading at one page a minute, the All-New NOOK battery lasts for 150 hours where the Kindle battery, using the same page-turn rate, lasts for only 56 hours (both with Wi-Fi off). We’ve also done a continuous page turn test and at one page turn per second, the All-New NOOK offers more than 25,000 continuous page turns on a single charge.

-Jamie Iannone, President of Barnes & Noble Digital Products

According to B&N, the new Nook has 3 times the practical battery life of the K3. B&N pretty much called Amazon a liar for manipulating the battery life claims.

Oh, this promises to be so much fun!

I’ve just added a new netbook to my collection. The 100CT is a 10 year old, 2.5lbs brick, but mine isn’t in nearly as good cosmetic condition as the one above.

It’s running Windows 2000 on a 166MHz CPU with 64MB RAM, 4GB hard disk, and a 7.1” screen. It also has 2 PC card slots, a small speaker, and mike and headphone jacks. Mine came with an external floppy drive and a docking station (which provided access to a VGA, a serial, a parallel, and a PS2 port). The screen is 7”, which should give you an idea of the general dimensions.

If you look at the photo you’ll see a small circle to the right of the screen. It’s a trackmouse. There are also a pair of mouse buttons on the backside for the screen. If you put your thumb on the trackmouse and grip the screen then the mouse buttons should be right under your fingers.

It is surprisingly zippy for such an old system. I’m not going to try to install anything new, but it’s a little surprising how much WinXP software will work on such a limited CPU. So far I’ve installed Mobipocket Desktop, MSReader, and a few other basics. Lucky for me it came with a lot of the usual apps you’d expect to see on a laptop (Opera even), which saved me from having to go looking for them.

I got it because I didn’t have a Win2k system nor did I have one of the old Librettos. I wanted to get it so I can use it as proof of how bloated modern OSes are. I’ve got a full desktop OS running on a 166MHz CPU and it’s only slightly more out of date than WinXP. Can you imagine what would happen if I tried to run Win7 or Android on this? *snicker*

Edit: I’m looking at some of the kobo people’s twitter feeds and they’ve already announced the new Kobo Touch. Folks, if you’re going to break your own embargo then there’s no reason for me to follow it.

Kobo has just announced their new ereader, and it’s a doozy. It’s based on a 6″ Pearl E-ink screen and it uses the new touchscreen tech from Neonode (like on the new Sony Readers). It has Wifi, 1GB Flash, and a microSD card slot.

Do you see that button below the screen? That’s the Home button, and it’s only one on the front of the device. Kobo have gotten rid of the 4 buttons on the edge as well as the d-pad that was on the front. Everything’s done on the touchscreen now. This new ereader was developed in partnership with Freescale and IDEO. Like the Kobo Wifi, the Kobo Touch is running on a Freescall CPU.

BTW, they’re not killing the old model. It’s staying around with a suggested retail of $99.

I was a little disappointed that this wasn’t a tablet style device, but in retrospect it makes sense. Anyone who wants a tablet style Kobo ereader can get an Android tablet (or the iPad). The new Kobo Touch moves into a niche that Kobo hadn’t occupied before.

The new ereader should show up for pre-order at Best Buy (Canada), Walmart (Canada), Indigo, and Borders (US) some time today. It’s also going to show up with Kobo’s Australian partners, but they don’t have a date on that.

If you’re in the market for a NookColor then you might want to keep an eye out for the latest production run. According to Engadget, Barnes & Noble have screwed around with the internal storage. If you find a NC with a little blue dot on the box, it means that you’re holding a  buggered tablet. B&N have cut the user accessible storage to only 1GB. They’ve decided to reserve the other 4GB for content you bought from them.

I suppose it doesn’t matter much; if you hack it and install CM7 (or some other firmware) that restriction won’t mean diddly. But it’s the principle of the thing that bothers me. Barnes & Noble think that they should have more control over your property than you.

via Engadget

Boy Genius Report had another hot scoop last night, only this one is about Apple. They’re reporting that Apple are in the middle of a big push to get training materials out to Apple Stores as part of some event for the 10th anniversary of Apple’s retail operation. Said anniversary happens on 19 May 2011.

BGR think this is a sign of a new product launch. I agree, but only because I know something no one else knows (at least it hasn’t hit the tech blogs yet). Apple will be at BEA 2011 next week as an exhibitor.

I hope you were sitting down for that; it’s that important.

I don’t know the last time that Apple exhibited at a trade show; they don’t even go to CES. In fact, I seem to recall that they’ve even skipped some of their own development conferences (correct me if I’m wrong, please).

My best guess is that Apple will be there as a surprise. I don’t know what it is yet, but this is trade show/conference related to ebooks, so that might give us a clue.

An Apple rep just emailed me and pointed out the corrections given to PaidContent, the first blog to pick up the story. The BEA listing for Apple has changed and no longer suggests that Apple are an exhibitor. Now the listing says that Apple will only be meeting with publishers privately.

I’d like to point out that Laura of PaidContent was told that Apple were a first time exhibitor, which she confirmed with the listing. It’s not my mistake, nor hers.

I’m just back from the CES On The Hill event this evening and I have good news, bad news, and fan-fricking-tastic news about about Mirasol. I think I’ll lead with the good news.

How do you light a reflective screen?  I’d go with a clip on light, myself, but the only real way to integrate a light source would be to embed a front light. That’s what Qualcomm did with their new Mirasol demo. And this is indeed their new demo; it’s the first time it’s been shown off.

I wish I were going to SID Display Week next week; they promised to have one with an ambient light sensor. This one had a pair of buttons on the back to increase and decrease the brightness.

The bad news is that the finished products won’t hit the market until fall. Yep, it’s delayed again, darnit.

And the really great news is that Qualcomm offered to fly me to Taiwan next time that they have a sponsored trip. (I can feel the waves of  jealousy from here.) I’m definitely going to take them up on it; there’s no way I could afford it otherwise.

Last week’s story about Yudu and their payment service dredged up some rather interesting details about Apple, ITunes, and the rules that app makers are forced to live with.  I kept waiting for someone to notice but it seems to have slipped by most (edit: but not Mike Cane).

The old rule was that if you sold ebooks outside the app you had to sell them inside the app, too.  Apple lately added a loophole to this rule: don’t sell ebooks outside the app and you won’t have to inside.

I’m sure you know that (for example) the Kindle iOS app uses an ebookstore that’s in a browser, not the app. The app only contains a link to the ebookstore, not the store itself.

As I understand it, if you remove the links leading from the app to the website then the app will be perfectly fine under Apple’s current rules.

Edit: My source pointed out that I neglected to mention a important detail. You can still sync the app with the ebookstore which means you could buy a Kindle ebook on the website and download to your iPad from inside the app. I had assumed everyone would figure that out, but perhaps it’s better to state it.

This is newsworthy because Apple created this loophole only in the last couple months. It marks Apple’s third shift in policy since this started 6 months ago, and this is the rule that will let the ebook apps stay in iTunes.

But don’t take my word for it; go download the bol.com reading app. It was approved on 15 March and it’s missing the link to the Bol.com ebookstore. I’m told they had to remove it in order to get Apple’s approval.

I’m a little surprised that hardly anyone noticed (aside from my source and a Dutch ereader blog). And I really mean it when I say that this was largely unknown; I ran this by a couple app developers and it was new to them.

Barnes & Noble have just told investors that they plan to announce a new ereader later this month. They even filed paperwork with the SEC, which is how I know it happened.

Here’s the total sum of the announcement:

In a meeting with investor analysts on May 4, 2011, Barnes & Noble, Inc. (the “Company”) indicated it expects to make an announcement on May 24, 2011 regarding the launch of a new eReader device.

That’s it. Let the speculation commence!

May 24 is right in the middle of BEA 2011, which would be an excellent time to announce their latest gadget. They announced the Pandigital Novel at about the same time last year.

My guess is that this could be the Mirasol ereader. I have no proof, but it fits with the "before summer" release date promised by Qualcomm.

P.S. This could be why the original Nook kept going on sale this past month. They’re clearing out the stock.

Update: Mike Cane reminded me about the trademarks. B&N have filed for a couple different names that could be used for this new device:  “Nook2? and “Nook 2?, as well as “The Simple Touch Reader.” I’m leaning towards Nook2, but who knows.

via B&N