books

An ebook firm has suspended sales of all self-published books in the United Kingdom, regardless of their content. It follows a media scandal over titles involving explicit material. The scandal began when a national newspaper ran a front-page story ... accusing a major retail chain, WH Smith, of carrying particularly illicit material. The headline of the story turned out to be something of an exaggeration. The material wasn't being sold in stores, but was available online. It also turned out to involve the content of books rather than images or movies. eBooks Unappetizing But Not Illegal The ... (view more)

Have you ever purchased a physical book from Amazon? Then you may soon be eligible to receive a cheap or even free Kindle version of that same book. The new feature is called 'Matchbook,' and applies to any book that a customer has ever bought on ... Amazon (at any time) that is also available for the company's Kindle e-book reader. So far more than 10,000 books have been enrolled in the scheme, largely because of the involvement of publishing giant Harper Collins. Amazon is hoping to get other publishers on board soon. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) Once the system launches in October, users will be able ... (view more)

The law firm that accused Apple of conspiring to fix the prices of electronic books has made new allegations, offering quotes from key Apple executives, including former Apple boss Steve Jobs, as evidence of collusion. Hagens Berman has filed a ... class action suit on behalf of everyone who bought an electronic book during a particular period, alleging that Apple offered two different pricing systems: a 'traditional' and an 'agency' model. The traditional model originated with Amazon for its Kindle books, and copies pricing for printed books: the publisher charges retailers a fixed price, ... (view more)

Amazon is said to be considering a library-style subscription service that will allow users to read multiple books on its Kindle e-reader for a single fee. However, it appears publishers may not like the idea. It's reported that Amazon is currently ... in talks with publishing firms about the service, which would be offered to Amazon Prime customers. Originally, Prime (which costs $79 per year) simply entitled members to free two-day shipping across the US on all items, no matter their value. Amazon has since added access to a limited range of online streaming movies and television shows, so book ... (view more)

Five universities are being sued for their part in scanning millions of copyrighted books. It's an unexpected development in the ongoing legal wrangling over Google's Book Search service. Google began scanning books and first made them available to ... the public in 2004, with the idea of making it possible to search for phrases in printed books in the same way as on web pages. However, this led to legal action from groups representing both authors and publishers who complained that Google had scanned books without permission. Deal Brought Into Question The two sides eventually reached a ... (view more)

Download Google Books Google Books offers a vast library of books and magazines. Some books and magazines are provided as full digital copies that can be read online while others are only available as previews or summaries. Download options are not ... provided on Google Books which leaves users with no other choice than to read the books and magazines online or use a third party tool to download them. http://userscripts.org Dual Monitor Tools Dual Monitor Tools is a software package for Windows users with dual or multiple monitor setups. All the tools are open source and free, and each tools is ... (view more)

Amazon appears to have blinked first in its stand-off with publishing giant Macmillan over the pricing of Kindle books. The online retailer had even briefly stopped selling printed Macmillan books over the dispute. The disagreement centered on ... Amazon's policy of charging a flat rate of $9.99 for the electronic edition of virtually all new titles it stocks. Macmillan demanded that it be able to set its own pricing, with most major books priced between $12.99 and $14.99. Royalties Replace Fixed Fees At the moment, Amazon pays publishers a fixed fee for each digital sale worth roughly half the ... (view more)

The U.S. Justice Department says it has legal concerns over a proposed deal between Google and American book authors and publishers. While not a killer blow to the deal, the comments significantly decrease the likelihood that it will ever receive ... court approval. The deal would settle a long-running case in which the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers sued Google for scanning books without permission. Pages from these books then appeared as results in the Google Books search service. The proposed settlement would include setting up a registry of copyrighted books, ... (view more)