| Take 200 books along with Amazon's new electronic reading device
Amazon.com Inc., the world's largest Internet retailer, introduced an electronic reading device as it seeks to do for books what Apple Inc.'s iPod did for music. The portable device, called Kindle, sells for $399 and is about the size of a paperback. More than 90,000 books are available electronically, including best-sellers and new releases, many of which cost $9.99 each, Seattle-based Amazon.com said Monday. "The product is innovative and has the capacity to re-create the e-book business," Scott Devitt, an analyst at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. in Manassas, Va., wrote Monday in a research note. He recommends investors buy the shares. The Kindle wireless system uses EVDO, the same high-speed data network as high-tech cell phones, and doesn't require a PC to download content to the device.
Apple's latest iPhone software revealed
Apple's updated v.1.1.2 software for the iPod touch and the iPhone is available for download now, as the device goes on sale in Germany and queues form outside Apple retail stores across the UK. The software introduces international language and network support to the iPhone, and the much-desired ability to both add and edit calendar events to the iPod touch. .
Book of the future has batteries included
Amazon.com changed the way the world buys its books and now it wants to change the way the world reads them. The US-based web retailer has launched a new wireless $US399 ($NZ528) electronic book reader dubbed the Kindle, a name intended to evoke a sense of igniting knowledge. The device is the latest attempt in a decade-long quest to deliver an electronic consumer gadget that will allow users to download, store and read digital books. And the always-connected technology opens up a new range of opportunities for authors and publishers to experiment with electronic books, or e-books. Comparisons are already being made between Kindle and Apple's iPod digital music player. Launched in 2001 at the same $US399 price, the iPod has gone on to radically change the music industry.
iTunes offers v1.1.2 for iPhone, iPod touch
Apple today officially released the iPhone v1.1.2 and iPod touch v1.1.2 firmware and software updates via its iTunes software. The software, which was found on Apple's own servers last Thursday and shipped with iPhones in the UK and Germany this past weekend, will not appear in the computer's Software Update application, or in the Apple Downloads site, the Cupertino-based company noted. Apple officially acknowledged that the update closed a critical security flaw that affected previous versions and has been exploited to allow users to "jailbreak" the devices to gain access to the file system and install third-party applications. Over the weekend, however, hackers found yet another method to hack the OS software to install third-party applications, offering both a tutorial and software to help users "jailbreak" the devices.
Pioneer Spin-Off SyncTV Launches Test Of Online Video Service
The subscription model is different than traditional cable TV in that customers have more options for buying only what they want to see, and not having to purchase packages of channels. Content can be downloaded to a maximum of five home devices, which could include a home computer or set-top box; or up to 10 portable devices. Initially, downloads will be to a home computer, but SyncTV expects supporting portable devices to start showing up next year. To access the service, subscribers must first download the software, with versions available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Content is wrapped with digital rights management technology called Marlin, developed by Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, and Sony. In supporting Marlin, SyncTV content won't be playable on Apple's iPod or iPhone, nor will it play on Microsoft's Zune portable player.
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