ebooks

Review: SpeakText for eBook loads and reads out eBook files on your phone

SpeakText for eBook is another in a long line of SpeakText apps that offer a useful text-to-speech tool in a dated and often confusing interface. While the core functionality of the app works well, it is often frustratingly hard to navigate and there are a number of limitations that will make the app less useful in certain situations.

There are two functions in SpeakText for eBooks. You can load an eBook into the app directly, choosing from anything in your documents folder, or you can type text into the interface and it will be read by the system voice. Both … Read more

It was Apple's way or the highway, e-book execs say

NEW YORK -- Two publishers testified this week that their e-book deals with Apple played a key role in their decisions to change digital book terms with Amazon and other retailers, giving weight to the government's antitrust case against Apple.

David Shanks, CEO of Penguin Group USA, and Carolyn Reidy, CEO of Simon & Schuster, said the price-matching clause in their contracts with Apple would have hurt them financially had they not also moved all other e-book retailers to a model where publishers set prices. The publishers had previously sold books at a heavily discounted rate on a wholesale … Read more

Here's the Justice Department's case against Apple

The Department of Justice has just released the 81-slide deck of its opening statements against Apple, as the two sides begin their first day in court.

The trial, which is expected to run about three weeks, kicked off Monday with opening statements from both sides. The DOJ says Apple colluded with publishers ahead of the 2010 launch of the iPad and iBookstore to raise prices on e-books. Apple is the staunch holdout among the others that the DOJ originally named in its complaint, but that have since settled.

Included in the slide deck are numerous e-mails between executives, pullouts from … Read more

Set up Reading Mode on the Galaxy Note 8

Using a tablet as an e-reader can save you money and lighten your load while on the go. Unfortunately, a lot of tablets aren't optimized for reading text for long periods of time (like e-books, RSS feeds, or just long Web posts) and may cause mild eyestrain. Luckily, the Galaxy Note 8 comes with a feature to help solve this issue: Reading Mode.

However, Reading Mode isn't turned on for all of your apps by tapping on the icon in the notification panel. Why doesn't this mode work in all apps by default? No idea, but fixing … Read more

Name your own price for fantasy e-book bundle

Read any good books lately? I know, e-book prices can make it tough to indulge your love of the printed word. That's why I'm jazzed to see that the folks at StoryBundle have cobbled together another great batch of books for whatever price you want to pay.

It's true! The Indie Fantasy Bundle includes six full-length novels (actually, eight, as two of the selections include the first two books in their respective series), and you get to decide how much you want to pay.

As you might suspect from the "indie" designation, these aren't … Read more

How to participate in the open-government movement

Four years from now, the government will still be partisan, public agencies will still operate out of public view, and citizens will still be excluded from participating in the decisions made by their representatives at all levels of government.

But just maybe, when the 45th president takes the oath of office in January 2017, political factions will be more willing to compromise for the good of everyone, agencies at all levels of government will be more transparent, and our elected and appointed representatives will be more willing to listen to and act upon our opinions and ideas about the challenges … Read more

Freebook Sifter finds Kindle freebies

E-books are all kinds of awesome. E-book prices? Not so much.

That's why I'm always on the lookout for freebies, relying on sites like Hundred Zeros to help me find gratis reading for my Kindle.

Lately I've been exploring another source: Freebook Sifter, a new site that lists over 35,000 no-cost books available from Amazon. It's not the prettiest site I've ever seen -- all links and text, no cover art or images -- but it definitely delivers on its promise.

When you first visit the site, you'll see a random listing of … Read more

Share Karma's Wi-Fi, get free data

Friday's CNET Update is counting megabytes:

Today's tech news roundup looks at the Karma hotspot, which rewards owners with free data for sharing access with others. Karma gives 100 megabytes of data for every person who taps into the network, plus the owner gets another 100 megabytes that do not expire. Adding more data costs $14 for 1 gigabyte. Frequent travelers might find Karma appealing. FreedomPop is offering a similar concept for home broadband, giving free data every month and adding more to those that recommend friends.

Another startup wants to change how we watch broadcast television. Aereo … Read more

Read through many book formats on your iDevice with Stanza

Stanza is a reader for books, available in apps for most devices. We downloaded Stanza from iTunes, and it installed quickly. The app is free.

Stanza lets you read books on your iDevice using a simple, elegant interface. Notably, compared with other reader apps, Stanza supports a wide range of file formats from PDF to EPUB, including those with DRM and without. In fact, we tested Stanza with almost a hundred different books over the space of a couple of months of commuting, and it opened every file we threw at it from different sources. When launched, Stanza shows a … Read more

Preorder e-books from Google Play

Popular Web sites that sell e-books like Amazon and Barnes & Noble allow you to preorder titles with your credit card. Google Play Books now offers the ability to do the same, from the Web or your Android device.

To allow preordering of titles, you'll need to make sure you have a payment option available in Google Play, like Google Wallet or carrier billing.

Step 1: Open Google Play Books in your Web browser or on your Android device. When using an Android device, just open the Google Play Store and tap on Books.

Step 2: Search for the … Read more