There’s a new children’s tablet computer on the market. This one is from Vtech, called the InnoTab. In early September I wrote about the LeapPad, a similar tablet with similar features.

The Innotab has a small-ish 5″ touch screen and runs of four AA batteries. It’s also built with a rugged plastic case that can withstand all the temper tantrums a kid can throw.

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Harry Potter fans will have to wait a little longer for the ebook edition of the series to be released, originally scheduled for October 2011. The Pottermore website that JK Rowling unveiled earlier this year as her platform for all-things Harry Potter, has received more activity than it can handle.

According to this Guardian article, Harry Potter fans will be waiting until 2012 for the ebook release:

As a result, Potter’s debut in the digital book arena has been delayed until the first half of 2012, while general access to Pottermore will be in phases from the end of October. “We’ve seen really high levels of activity, and interaction with the site has been phenomenal. This affects how quickly we can give everyone access,” said the site’s official blog. “Access may be granted quickly, but please note it could also take some weeks or months, depending on demand.”

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There’s not much to add here. I should note, however, that I bought my Kindle at my local Target. It will be interesting to see how the Kindle and Nook compete head-to-head at Target.

Here is the press release from the B&N website:

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Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, unveiled two cool new products and lowered the price of their flagship Kindle to $79 (damn, I bought mine at the beginning of June for $139).

Amazon also unveiled the Kindle Touch (both in 3G and WiFi-only) and the Kindle Fire, the long awaited Amazon tablet. I’m guessing they are changing the eReader and tablet game, not in terms of technology, but price.

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Sigh. I’ve thought I’ve seen it all in the petty arguments against ebooks. I’ll admit that the author of this one at least tries to make an academic case that ebooks are ruining the world. But it still falls short in many ways. Even worse, the author reverts back to the petty arguments against ebooks that I see all the time.

The article, Will E-Books Destroy the Democratizing Effects of Reading? from the website Technology Review basically says ebooks are bad because you can’t share them like print books, ebooks are going to destroy libraries, blah, blah, blah.

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Starbucks is now offering a “Free Ebook of the Week” through Apple. Though as some angry customers discovered, Starbucks is using the word “free” a little too liberally.

The offering is pretty much in line with the free song they offer each week, also through Apple. There’s just one difference: The song is actually free.

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Amazon might be poised to throw yet another game changer into the world of ebooks. There are rumors that the largest online retailer wants to offer a Netflix-style subscription service for ebooks.

For a monthly and/or annual fee users can access Amazon’s library of ebooks and read a limited number of books. This subscription-based ebook store idea has been floated around for a while, but no one has yet to implement it in a way that has really connected with consumers.

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The end of print books is near. Very near. At least, that’s what the Swedish maker of cheap, near-impossible-to-assemble furniture company Ikea is predicting.

That’s why the furniture maker is re-designing some of their bookshelves to feature glass doors, on the assumption that print books will soon be relics to be displayed in museum cases.

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Sony appears to be taking on Amazon directly with a shiny new eReader. The Sony Reader WiFi is the latest ebook reader offered by the electronics company, and it’s packed with features.

The Reader has a nifty touch screen. You can pinch and spread your fingers for easy zooming. And turning the pages is as easy as swiping your finger across the screen, which according to this article, is pretty smooth.

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A new start-up service called Instebooks is turning everyone with a cell phone into an author. If you have a mobile device, you can be an ebook author with relative ease.

Writing ebooks via cell phone is nothing new. Back in 2009 I wrote a post about how popular these kind of novels are in Japan. It appears that finally, this type of self-publishing might catch on here in the west.

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