ebooks

AT&T announced they're going to help San Francisco and New York with data coverage, but then blamed the children for all their bandwidth problems. We also take Facebook to task for their privacy handling. Nothing new there. And is the Apple Tablet coming in the spring? Will it be $1,000?

Facebook details new privacy settings http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10411418-2.html

… where the default setting is “everyone” http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20091209/facebook-rolls-out-new-privacy-settings-encourages-users-to-abandon-privacy/

Apple tablet set for spring … Read more

About a year ago, we shared with you the miBook, an innovative, interactive cookbook. Just in time for the holidays, the miBook has been upgraded, and the price has dropped.

The miBook is like an e-book reader on steroids. Instead of pages of plain text, miBook offers video and audio clips. So when you pull up a recipe, instead of an instruction like "cut up your chicken," you get a video clip with narration: "Slice your chicken tenders into bite-size chunks." You can see the knife being used and the size of the pieces. And the … Read more

Great news for fans of short fiction: The Colossal Short Stories Collection just landed in the App Store packing a whopping 2,222 public-domain works.

There are, of course, other story collections available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, but this is by far the largest one.

You'll find authors ranging from H.G. Wells and Mark Twain to Leo Tolstoy and Ring Lardner. All the greats are here, along with plenty of authors known mostly in scholarly circles.

The app lists them alphabetically by last name. Unfortunately, that's the only way to peruse the collection: you can'… Read more

Believe it or not, the fourth host on today's episode of CNET's The 404 Podcast is the Nook, Barnes & Noble's e-book reader with a color touch screen and Wi-Fi. The device is currently sold out and on back order throughout B&N, so it wasn't easy to obtain. We had to walk 500 miles and battle a Nazgul to get it, but the in-studio demo was worth the wait. If you haven't seen a Nook up close, you're in for a treat.

Speaking of treats, the holidays come early for The 404 this year! Today's episode starts off normal enough, with another story about a crazed girlfriend who destroys her boyfriend's precious PS3 and a couple making their own paranormal activity to fund their wedding, but the real story is the package we receive halfway through the live show from dedicated 404 listener Cori (Sadacori in the chat room). We've received care packages before, but this one is definitely the best. Just check out the picture up top! Thanks a million Cori, we really appreciate all the Yuletide pounds! :)

Our ill-deserved holiday break is coming up in two weeks, and we get awfully lonely if we don't hear from you, so won't you leave us a voice mail at 1-866-404-CNET and let us know how your holiday season is going? We'd love to hear your voices, but you can also e-mail us at the404(at)cnet[dot]com or add us on Twitter and Facebook as well!

If you were interested in buying the Barnes & Noble Nook as a holiday gift, strike it off your list. The e-reader is now officially sold out through 2009, according to the B&N Web site.

"The hottest holiday gift is out of stock," a message at the top of the page reads. "Order the Nook today to be first in line for the new year."

If this sounds familiar, it's because last year Amazon had a similar message on its site when it stock ran out of the Kindle. However, in the case … Read more

Kindle book buyers can now read their books right from their PCs without having to buy a Kindle reader.

Amazon onTuesday made available its new Kindle for PC, free software that lets Kindle customers read their e-books on tablet PCs, Netbooks, notebooks, and other personal computers.

The software can be downloaded from the Kindle for PC page. The quick installation sets up the reader application, prompting you to log in and register with your Amazon account or create a new one. After logging in, you can download books that you've already purchased at the Kindle store or click on … Read more

Demand is so strong for the Nook that Barnes & Noble has begun telling new customers not to expect delivery of the soon-to-be-released e-reader until the second week of December.

When the nation's largest bookseller unveiled the device in October, customers placing early preorders were told they could expect the Nook to ship by the end of November; customers placing preorders now are being told they can expect shipment by December 11. The new shipping date was first reported by Brighthand.com.

A Barnes & Noble representative confirmed the December 11 shipping date but disputed the characterization of the … Read more

Presentation Wizard is a versatile program that allows users to create executable multimedia slideshows. Although we like the simplicity of its design, we do wish that the instructions were a little briefer.

The program's interface is uncluttered, with a small handful of buttons and menus. For the most part, the program is intuitive, and it's not hard to get started even without reading the instructions. However, users who don't read the instructions are likely to miss some important features, such as options for customizing backgrounds and other characteristics throughout the slideshow. And that can be a bit … Read more

Could a legal challenge threaten the launch of Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader?

In a new lawsuit, start-up Spring Design is seeking not only monetary damages from Barnes & Noble, but also is looking to get an injunction barring sales of the Nook, which it says misappropriates its trade secrets.

Spring Design said in a statement Monday that it had filed a lawsuit against Barnes & Noble, but the statement did not specify what damages it was seeking.

However, it turns out that the lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Jose, Calif., seeks both monetary damages as well … Read more