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Engadget RSS Feed http://www.engadget.com Engadget http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif Engadget http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2013 AOL Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ <![CDATA[Barnes & Noble relabels PubIt! as Nook Press, adds web-based publishing tool]]> http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/09/barnes-and-noble-relabels-pubit-as-nook-press/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/09/barnes-and-noble-relabels-pubit-as-nook-press/ http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/09/barnes-and-noble-relabels-pubit-as-nook-press/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments

Barnes & Noble relabels PubIt! as Nook Press, adds webbased publishing and Nook HD channel

Barnes & Noble's PubIt! self-publishing conduit has been active for well over two years, but you'd be forgiven for overlooking it with that somewhat forgettable (if very emphatic) name. The company might just know what you're thinking, as it's giving the service a considerably more memorable title, Nook Press, while upgrading features at the same time. Although the royalty structure remains the same, Nook Press now incorporates a web-based authoring tool: would-be Hemingways can write and preview their work through one online hub, sharing their drafts with others in a secure space. Those who commit should also get more exposure through an upcoming Nook Press channel on Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets. There's no guarantee that the rebranding will lure potential bestselling authors away from Amazon, but they may have a better sense of their options.

Via: PaidContent

Source: Barnes & Noble

]]> authorbarnesandnoblee booke-booke-booksE-bookStoree-readere-readersnooknookpressPublishingself-publishing Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:32:00 -0400 21|20535282 <![CDATA[Alt-week 9.15.12: The ultimate wind machine, Egyptian Lego and the office of our dreams]]> http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/15/alt-week-9-15-12-the-ultimate-wind-machine-egyptian-lego/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/15/alt-week-9-15-12-the-ultimate-wind-machine-egyptian-lego/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/15/alt-week-9-15-12-the-ultimate-wind-machine-egyptian-lego/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.

Sometimes we wonder, what would we have ended up doing if we didn't spend our time trawling the web for the week's best alternative tech stories? We could have been paleontologists, novelists, engineers, or if we were really lucky, worked for Google. Instead, here we are bringing you some of the more colorful tech-tales from the last seven days, which we're really not complaining about. That said though, at least on this occasion, we got to taste a bit of all the above. This is alt-week.

Filed under: Misc, Science, Alt

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]]> altalt weekalt weeklyalt-weekAltWeekAltWeeklyancient egyptAncientEgyptauthoregyptian mummyEgyptianMummygooglegoogle docsgoogle officesGoogleDocsGoogleOfficeshorhurricanelegolive novellingLiveNovellingmummyNational Science FoundationNationalScienceFoundationnovelistNYCvideowind machineWindMachinewriting Sat, 15 Sep 2012 19:00:00 -0400 21|20323849 <![CDATA[Ray Bradbury dies at 91, our world is that much poorer]]> http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/06/ray-bradbury-dies-at-91/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/06/ray-bradbury-dies-at-91/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/06/ray-bradbury-dies-at-91/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments

Ray Bradbury dies at 91, our world is that much poorer

It's a sad day for science fiction fans everywhere, as Ray Bradbury has passed on at the age of 91. We'll always know him best as the author of Fahrenheit 451, but it's really massive legacy in short stories that defined his role in technology. Collections like The Illustrated Man and The Martian Chronicles made it a point to illustrate technology's impact and to never let our gadgetry trample human nature. Appropriately, for all of his ability to envision the future, he was actually rather cautious about embracing it: he only reluctantly allowed e-books and was worried the world was rushing too quickly towards devices. The irony of paying tribute on a technology website to this trepidation isn't lost on us, but we sincerely appreciate Bradbury's literary legacy -- he kept us honest (and entertained) in an industry that sometimes needs a reality check. He'll be missed.

[Image credit: Alan Light, Flickr]

Filed under: Alt

]]> authorauthorsbookse-booke-booksfahrenheit 451Fahrenheit451fantasynovelsobituariesobituaryray bradburyRayBradburysci fisci-fisciencescience fictionScienceFictionSciFithe illustrated manthe martian chroniclesTheIllustratedManTheMartianChronicles Wed, 06 Jun 2012 11:17:00 -0400 21|20252811 <![CDATA[iBooks Author gets new EULA, aims to clear writer's block]]> http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/06/ibooks-author-gets-new-eula/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/06/ibooks-author-gets-new-eula/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/06/ibooks-author-gets-new-eula/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments

We've waxed lyrical about iBooks Author at the technological level, but a good self-publishing platform counts for nothing if authors are put off by its terms and conditions. A particular source of antagonism so far has been the notion that, if an author decides to charge a fee for their iBook, then Apple will claim exclusive distribution rights and prevent them from publishing their work anywhere else. Check out the More Coverage links below and you'll see that a number of writers tore up Apple's licensing agreement and flung it into the proverbial overflowing trash can. Now though, Cupertino has done some re-writing of its own and come up with a new EULA. It clarifies that Apple will only demand exclusive distribution rights over .ibooks files that are created with iBooks Author, rather than the book's content itself. It states that "this restriction will not apply to the content of the work when distributed in [another] form." So, there it is -- writers everywhere can happily go back to tearing up their own work again.

]]> angerAppleauthorbookscontractdistributionebooksEULAiBooksibooks 2iBooks AuthorIbooks2IbooksAuthorioslicensing agreementLicensingAgreementpublishingrightsself-publishingTerms and ConditionsTermsAndConditionswriterwriting Mon, 06 Feb 2012 02:03:00 -0500 21|20164691 <![CDATA[Apple's iBooks Author hands-on (update: video!)]]> http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/apples-ibooks-author-hands-on/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/apples-ibooks-author-hands-on/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/apples-ibooks-author-hands-on/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments

Inside every frustrated journalist is an even more frustrated author, and self-publishing is an evil that many of us have succumbed to over the years. Still, much as we may want to resist it, we couldn't help ourselves when it came time to test Apple's iBooks Author app, designed for educators to push out textbooks to students for a fraction of the cost, time and energy it would traditionally take.

So, how does it feel when you're working inside the software? Could you use it to prepare seminar materials for the class of 2015 or, more importantly, launch your own career as Stephanie Meyer's successor? Head past the break to find out!

Gallery: Apple iBooks Author hands-on

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]]> AppleauthorHands Onhands-onHandsOnibooksibooks 2iBooks AuthorIbooks2IbooksAuthoriosios 5Ios5video Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:36:00 -0500 21|20152123 <![CDATA[Apple announces free iBooks Author OS X app for publishing books to the App Store]]> http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/apple-announces-ibooks-author-app-for-os-x/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/apple-announces-ibooks-author-app-for-os-x/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/apple-announces-ibooks-author-app-for-os-x/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments

We're here at Apple's education-themed event at the Guggenheim museum in New York City, and the company's just followed up its long-awaited textbook announcement with something unexpected: iBooks Author, a free OS X program for creating books. The intent is really for teachers and other educators to produce educational materials, but Apple says the format can apply to any genre. Aside from the free part, the real story here is ease of use, with the ability to drag and drop photos, videos and even Microsoft Word files into various templates. If you use Apple's own suite of office apps, in particular, you can drag and drop a Keynote presentation into the doc, and it'll live on as an interactive widget. (You can whip up other widgets, too, though you'll need to know Javascript or HTML.)

Moving beyond the main text, authors can also arrange glossaries by highlighting and clicking words, and clicking again to add a definition. In a surprise move, Apple also said authors can publish straight to the store, though we're waiting for clarification that textbook writers and other scribes are actually exempt from Cupertino's notorious approval process. In any case, the app is available now in the App Store (for OS X Lion only, sadly) so you can cracking on that definitive Kurt Vonnegut glossary you never knew you had in you.

Update: We've got our hands-on up!

Update 2: Apple has confirmed some key approval and revenue-sharing details. First, authors will be subject to the same App Store approval process as developers. Writers can offer their books for free, or for as much as $14.99 -- the same price cap for textbooks sold in the store. And, like developers, authors must agree to a 70/30 revenue split, with writers pocketing 70 percent after Apple takes its share.

Gallery: iBooks Author

]]> App StoreAppleAppStoreauthorauthorsEducationEducation EventEducationEventeducatoreducatorsfreefree appfree appsFreeAppFreeAppsLionNew YorkNewYorkOS XOS X appOS X LionOsXOsXAppOsXLionpublishingself-publishself-publishingteacherteacherstextbooktextbooksvideowriterwriters Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:21:00 -0500 21|20152033 <![CDATA[Google wants you to add writers on Google+, so do writers]]> http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/24/google-wants-you-to-add-writers-on-google-so-do-writers/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/24/google-wants-you-to-add-writers-on-google-so-do-writers/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/24/google-wants-you-to-add-writers-on-google-so-do-writers/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments

Find an interesting article, add its author. That's the very simple idea behind a very simple feature that Google has just begun testing. As TechCrunch recently noticed, Big G has started rolling out a new "add to Circles" button within some search results, allowing readers to more easily and instantaneously follow their favorite web authors on Google+. Writer profiles have already been integrated within search pages, but until now, users had to actually click on author pages before following them. This new circle button, on the other hand, cuts out that middle click and seems like a logical next step in Google's ongoing integration. It also seems like a great way to help writers feel better about themselves, which we always support. And if you're not seeing it, you're not going crazy -- Google's just rolling it out to only a few users.

]]> add to circle buttonAddToCircleButtonauthorbuttoncirclecontentfollowgooglegoogle plusgoogle+GooglePlusmediaminipostnewssocial networksocial networkingSocialNetworkSocialNetworkingwebwriter Mon, 24 Oct 2011 05:00:00 -0400 21|20087949 <![CDATA[Amazon's @author lets you tweet, pester your favorite writers via Kindle]]> http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/01/amazons-author-lets-you-tweet-pester-your-favorite-writers-vi/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/01/amazons-author-lets-you-tweet-pester-your-favorite-writers-vi/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/01/amazons-author-lets-you-tweet-pester-your-favorite-writers-vi/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments

If the Amazon Kindle's passage-sharing Twitter integration wasn't social enough for you, the outfit just unleashed a new option: @author. The new feature uses Twitter as a springboard to connect writers to their fans, giving users a chance to nitpick their favorite authors line-by-line. If you've ever shared a quote using the Kindle, you know the drill: highlight some text and type out your tweet -- just make sure you preface it with the @author marker. This limited beta is launching with only a handful of writers, but between Robert "Rich Dad" Kiyosaki and Brad "Identity Crisis" Meltzer, we're sure you can find something to ask.

]]> amazonAmazon authorAmazon KindleAmazonAuthorAmazonKindleauthore booke bookse readere readerse-booke-bookse-readere-readersEBookEBooksEReaderEReadersKindleminipostTwitterTwitter integrationTwitterIntegration Thu, 01 Sep 2011 09:40:00 -0400 21|20032054 <![CDATA[Self-published Kindle author breaks one million in sales, legs might have something to do with it]]> http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/21/self-published-kindle-author-breaks-one-million-in-sales-legs-m/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/21/self-published-kindle-author-breaks-one-million-in-sales-legs-m/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/21/self-published-kindle-author-breaks-one-million-in-sales-legs-m/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments

Our big, bad digital era's been caught red-handed overturning media industry business models before, so it comes as no surprise that publishing houses have a new headache on-hand. Straight outta sunny Seattle comes word that Amazon has welcomed its first self-published author to the "Kindle Million Club." John Locke (so this is where he wound up after going to that quasi-'heaven') is the lucky dude who gets to claim the prize, and that's not all -- Mr. independent-author-from-Kentucky now shares bold-face status with the likes of Stieg Larsson and Nora Roberts. By churning out action / adventure novels on the $0.99 cheap and making heavy use of some leggy lady models, Locke easily blew past the one million mark, and even has a book to tell you how he did it. Take that evil publishing overlords. Hit the break for Amazon's official PR spiel.

Filed under: Alt

]]> amazonamazon kindleamazon kindle 2amazon kindle 3amazonkindleAmazonKindle2AmazonKindle3authorauthorse booke bookse readere readerse-booke-bookse-readere-readerskindleKindle Direct Publishingkindle self publishingkindle2kindle3KindleDirectPublishingKindleSelfPublishingself-publishing Tue, 21 Jun 2011 17:46:00 -0400 21|19972756 <![CDATA[Switched On: E-readers drive to digital distraction]]> http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/19/switched-on-e-readers-drive-to-digital-distraction/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/19/switched-on-e-readers-drive-to-digital-distraction/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/19/switched-on-e-readers-drive-to-digital-distraction/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Spring proved cruel for the sparse population of products that combine e-paper and LCD displays. Startup Entourage announced that it was discontinuing its Edge dual-screen e-reader / tablet combo. And then Barnes & Noble closed the book on the original Nook to introduce a successor that had only one screen and one button. In doing so, it leaped over (or is that under?) even the Kindle's minimalism.

E-readers have followed an unusual demographic adoption curve for a consumer electronics product. The first buyers were, like those of many other tech products, more affluent, but the majority of them were also older and female in keeping with the book-buying habits of physical books. They were attracted to the crisp display and high contrast of e-paper displays. And many were (and continue to be) attracted by a focused product that allowed them to concentrate on the text without distraction of other media type, the Web or thousands of apps.

]]> authorbookcolumne booke bookse readere readerse-booke-bookse-readere-readersreadreadingswitched onSwitchedOntablet Sun, 19 Jun 2011 18:15:00 -0400 21|19970610 <![CDATA[Stieg Larsson becomes the first author to sell a million Kindle e-books]]> http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/27/stieg-larsson-becomes-the-first-author-to-sell-a-million-kindle/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/27/stieg-larsson-becomes-the-first-author-to-sell-a-million-kindle/ http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/27/stieg-larsson-becomes-the-first-author-to-sell-a-million-kindle/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments

Given the lovingly detailed descriptions of early-2000s computers and technology the late Stieg Larsson peppered into The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, we're pretty sure he'd love to know that he's just become the first author to sell over a million Amazon Kindle e-books -- and we can only imagine what kind of trouble Larsson's Lisbeth Salander would have gotten into with a Droid X or an iPad. Considering the dominance of Amazon's platform and company's recent announcement that Kindle titles are now outselling hardcovers we'd guess that also makes him the first author to sell a million e-books period, which is fairly notable -- and with the upcoming Hollywood adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, we'd guess these numbers aren't going to slow down any time soon. Too bad we don't know the breakdown of where these million books went -- we'd love to know if Kindle devices are as popular as the Kindle apps on various other platforms.

Filed under: Alt

]]> amazonauthore booke bookse readere readerse-booke-bookse-readere-readerskindlekindle million clubKindleMillionClublarssonlisbeth salanderLisbethSalanderMillennium TrilogyMillenniumTrilogymillionstieg larssonStiegLarssonThe Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nestthe girl who played with fireThe Girl with the Dragon TattooTheGirlWhoKickedTheHornetsNestTheGirlWhoPlayedWithFireTheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:53:00 -0400 21|19570266 <![CDATA[CyberLink's PowerProducer 5 available to author Blu-ray Discs]]> http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/16/cyberlinks-powerproducer-5-available-to-author-blu-ray-discs/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/16/cyberlinks-powerproducer-5-available-to-author-blu-ray-discs/ http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/16/cyberlinks-powerproducer-5-available-to-author-blu-ray-discs/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments

Although CyberLink's PowerProducer software has been certified to author Blu-ray Discs since 2006, the latest and greatest version is offering up a few niceties for those who just can't resist the urge to upgrade. PowerProducer 5 Ultra enables users to create both BDs and DVDs, and even adds in support for the AVCHD video format. Furthermore, it's BD-RE 3.0 certified, supports 5.1-channel Dolby Digital audio and on-disc editing, and includes a "simpler, re-styled interface and new design tools for creating customizable disc menus with imported photos and videos." For new customers, PowerProducer 5 Ultra will run you $79.95 (versus just $49.95 for the non-Ultra edition), while existing owners can make the leap to Ultra for $49.95.

Filed under: Blu-ray, Other formats, HD

]]> authorauthoringAVCHDblu rayblu-raybluraycyberlinkhdother formatsotherformatspowerproducer 5Powerproducer5software Sun, 16 Mar 2008 05:16:00 -0400 21|1140298 <![CDATA[sofatronic's Kaleidoscope software creates interactive applications for Blu-ray]]> http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/23/sofatronics-kaleidoscope-software-creates-interactive-applicati/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/23/sofatronics-kaleidoscope-software-creates-interactive-applicati/ http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/23/sofatronics-kaleidoscope-software-creates-interactive-applicati/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments

Now that Blu-ray is the last format left standing, we're definitely hoping that it ups its own game in regard to interactive content. Thankfully, sofatronic is looking to make the development of interactive applications on Blu-ray Discs a good bit easier. Essentially, Kaleidoscope -- not to be confused with Kaleidescape -- enables users to work in a visual authoring environment and create "user interfaces and advanced interactive features without having to write Java code." Additionally, the program's framework "supports all available Blu-ray player models and automatically handles performance differences and compatibility issues," which sounds pretty impressive, we must say. Click on through for the full release.

Gallery: sofatronic's Kaleidoscope software creates interactive applications for Blu-ray

Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray, Other formats, Others, HD

]]> authorauthoringbd-jbd-javablu rayblu-rayblu-ray authoringBlu-rayAuthoringblurayhdinteractiveinteractivityKaleidoscopeother formatsotherformatsotherssofatronicsoftware Sat, 23 Feb 2008 01:40:00 -0500 21|1122086 <![CDATA[Author taps out 384-page book using mobile]]> http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/author-taps-out-384-page-book-using-mobile/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/author-taps-out-384-page-book-using-mobile/ http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/author-taps-out-384-page-book-using-mobile/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments

We're usually pretty proud when we're able to crank out a few emails -- or mediate a discussion gone wrong in the comment section -- on our morning commute. Italian author Robert Burnocco has us trumped in style by actually using T9 and his mobile to cobble together a 384-page book in just 17 weeks. He was inspired to write his mobile opus, Compagni di Viaggio (Travelling companion) on the bus as apparently "In public transport, I realized that my imagination was productive and that the ideas abounded." We aren't sure what the buses are like in Italy, but we are usually just surrounded by lunatics and screaming schoolkids on our morning ride, hardly a top spot for creative endeavors.

[Via textually.org]

Filed under: Handsets, Messaging, Mobile

]]> authorbookbusCulturemessagingmobileT9writing Sun, 24 Jun 2007 12:25:00 -0400 21|923810 <![CDATA[Pioneer's BDC-202 "combo" 5x Blu-ray drive]]> http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/pioneers-bdc-202-combo-5x-blu-ray-drive/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/pioneers-bdc-202-combo-5x-blu-ray-drive/ http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/pioneers-bdc-202-combo-5x-blu-ray-drive/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments

At Pioneer's CES press conference it announced both its new plasma display technology and a new half height Blu-ray drive for PCs. Titled the BDC-202 combination Blu-ray disc drive it unfortunately isn't quite the "combo" drive we might have expected. No HD DVD compatibility is in store from Pioneer but this drive is still special, able to read BD-ROM, BD-R and BD-RE discs at 5x, dual layer recordable Blu-ray discs at 2x while also service as a DVD/CD read/write drive. As long as Blu-ray is your format of choice this is the type of drive that is most likely to end up in the PC of someone who wants to watch Blu-ray movies on their PC, but doesn't need to be able to author them or back up large files. Also, by forgoing Blu-ray burning capability it should (hopefully) be significantly cheaper than current Blu-ray burners (pictured) on the market. No price yet, but the drive should be available in the second quarter of this year.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Media PCs

]]> 5xauthorbdc-202burnercdcombodvdhdtvmedia pcmedia pcsmediapcmediapcspcpioneer Tue, 09 Jan 2007 06:30:00 -0500 21|732355