A Judge in the county, Nelson Wolff, is pushing for the construction of an entirely bookless public library. He says it will be called BiblioTech, which is a play on biblioteca, the Spanish word for library.

While some public libraries across the country offer ebooks to their readers, none operate as completely paperless. Wolff wants to change that. He reportedly got the idea after reading the Walter Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs.

The BiblioTech will resemble an Apple store, says Wolff. Readers will be able to go in and read ebooks on site or take them home either on their own device or on rentable ereaders.

“We wanted to find a low-cost, effective way to bring reading and learning to the county and also focus on the change in the world of technology,” Wolff said. “It will help people learn,” he said.

He estimates that the first 10,000 ebook titles would cost around $250,000.

To Wolff, it wouldn’t only benefit residents intellectually, but the county would benefit financially. As of right now, Bexar county doesn’t have its own public library system. They actually pay $3.7 million a year to give residents access to San Antonio’s public libraries. But that cost may nearly double, says Wolff.

The BiblioTech would be the nation’s first public library to go completely no-paper. Other places have considered it, even making proposals to begin construction – but none have been realized. There are also bookless academic libraries, but no true bookless public libraries.

[My San Antonio via Mashable]

“We value our partnership with WHSmith and are excited to have dedicated, knowledgeable staff members who will educate WHSmith customers and introduce them to the benefits of Kobo.” said Mike Serbinis, CEO of Kobo. “We know that in partnership with WHSmith we will deliver an engaging in-store experience that will demonstrate our expertise, best-in-class design, easy user experience, and innovative product line.”

Focused on helping customers embark on their eReading adventure, WHSmith stores will have a dedicated team of Kobo experts to help introduce consumers to eReading and the best eReading device for their reading style. At each of the WHSmith stores, customers will find an experiential center designed to help them discover the full line of Kobo eReading devices and an even larger selection of the latest, stylish accessories and eReader covers. Outfitted with WiFi and PCs, knowledgeable Kobo experts will provide an immersive in-store experience for customers and fans alike. Now, shoppers will have the chance to experience Kobo, learn about eReading, purchase the devices, browse the Kobo eBookstore, and activate their Kobo account before leaving the store.

The Kobo experiential shops, commonly known as a “store within a store,” are designed to provide WHSmith customers with a personal, informative Kobo eReading experience.

Aggressive International Expansion for KOBO in 2012

This announcement further strengthens Kobo’s international strategy focused on delivering eReading on a global scale that encompasses an end-to-end eReading experience, award winning eReaders, and a world-class content catalogue. The ‘store within a store’ initiative builds on Kobo’s continued partnership with WHSmith and its increasing focus on the UK marketplace.

Kobo endeavors to lead in new markets around the globe and since Kobo’s acquisition by the e-commerce leader Rakuten, Kobo has the resources, network and capacity to scale quickly around the world and to deliver a solution that meets and exceeds our customer and partner needs.

Kobo has had tremendous success both through its localized online eBookstores that offer content in 60 languages across 190 countries, as well as through its network of premier retail partners. With country-specific, localized stores and retail partners in United Kingdom & Ireland, Canada, The Netherlands, United States, France, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland, and Hong Kong – Kobo delivers a tailored country experience that appeals to unique cultural interests and tastes of that country.

In addition to these countries, Kobo eReaders are also available via online stores in Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, and Austria. Kobo’s international online partner network includes stores like Buy.com, Play.com, PriceMinister.com, Walmart.com, Comtech.de, Redcoon, and Informatique.

The Kobo Vox

Perfect for families on the go and those who want to blend tablet functionality with their eReading experience, the Kobo Vox offers a seven-inch, FFS+ multimedia touchscreen for a dynamic reading experience in vivid color. Optimized for outdoor reading and with an extra-wide viewing angle for shared reading, the Kobo Vox makes the rich content offered at the Kobo online bookstore pop.

Unique to Kobo, readers can take reading to a whole new level with Kobo Pulse™ sharing ideas on passages and recommending books with other readers. The seamless integration with more than 15,000 apps, including family favorites like Facebook, Twitter, The Weather Channel and Cut the Rope, make the Kobo Vox the perfect device for families on the go – and with its new price point at £149.99 at WHSmith stores, it’s budget friendly too!

The Kobo Touch

Built by booklovers for booklovers, the Kobo Touch offers a best-in-class reading experience, with an amazing touch experience that uses Infrared Touch Technology, allowing readers to easily swipe or tap to turn pages. With the intuitive touch interface, readers can highlight a phrase, lookup a word, zoom into an image, increase the font size, or quickly navigate through a book and an entire library. Plus, finding that next read is also quick and easy with Wi-Fi and a virtual keyboard.

The Kobo Touch eReader now available for £79.99 at WHSmith is also the first eReader to be available in multiple languages and offers a localized experience, including content, recommendations, and the Kobo store. Readers may choose from English, French, Canadian French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch.

About Kobo, Inc.

Kobo Inc. is one of the world’s fastest-growing eReading services offering more than 2.5 million eBooks, magazines and newspapers– and counting. Believing that consumers should have the freedom to read any book on any device, Kobo has built an open-standards platform to provide consumers with a choice when reading. Inspired by a “Read Freely” philosophy and a passion for innovation, Kobo has expanded to nearly 200 countries, where millions of consumers have access to localized eBook catalogues and award-winning eReaders, like the Kobo Touch. With top-ranked eReading applications for Apple, BlackBerry, Android, and Windows products, Kobo allows consumers to make eReading social through Facebook Timeline and Reading Life, an industry-first social experience that lets users to earn awards for time spent reading and encouraging others to join in. Headquartered in Toronto and owned by Tokyo-based Rakuten, Kobo eReaders can be found in major retail chains across the globe.

If you were looking to purchase a year’s subscription to one of the most venerable newspapers in the country and have yet to purchase the device on which to read it, you’re in luck. Barnes & Noble is giving a free Nook Touch to anyone who purchases 1 year of the New York Times.

That subscription will run you $19.99 a month.

Doing the math here, that means that you’ll be paying roughly $240 for the year of the Times. The Nook Touch’s standard price is $99. A free Nook is a sweet deal, but in order to really feel like you’re saving on this promotion, you probably have to have already wanted a NYT subscription.

If you feel like upgrading, you can also snag the Nook Color for $99 with the purchase of the subscription. That’s $100 of the original price.

“We are excited to work with The New York Times to present this unique offer that, for the first time ever, gives readers a chance to get a one-year subscription to our top-selling digital newspaper with an award-winning NOOK Simple Touch at no cost, or a NOOK Color at a $100 savings,” said Jonathan Shar, vice president and general manager of digital newsstand at Barnes & Noble. “Our customers love to have their newspaper automatically delivered to their NOOK device each morning, ready to read anytime and anywhere.”

If celebrity gossip is more your thing, you can also buy a 1-year subscription to People and you will be rewarded with $50 off the Nook Tablet, which will shoot the price down to $199. The People subscription win cost you $9.99 a month.

Kobo is backed by Indigo Books & Music, Borders, REDgroup Retail, Cheung Kong Holdings, and others. In July, Borders launched its own branded eBook store powered by Kobo. At that time, Border CEO Mike Edwards said, "The race to emerge as a retail leader within the digital category is just starting." 

Since then, Samsung has unveiled its Android-powered Galaxy Tab, and Kobo announced that it would be supplying the e-reader technology for it. Kobo has apps for the iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Android, and Palm Pre. 

Today’s announcement, however, only applies to the reader, the iPhone and iPad apps at this point. Publications include: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Scientist, The Seattle Times, Wilson Quarterly, Foreign Affairs, American Scholar, China International Business, Columbus Dispatch , Guideposts, Harvard Business Review, National Review, New York Observer, PC Magazine, Publishers Weekly, Reason, The Christian Science Monitor Daily Briefing, The Nation, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, National Post, Ottawa Citizen, Regina Leader-Post, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, Vancouver Province, Vancouver Sun, Victoria Times-Colonist, and The Globe & Mail.   

The company says it will continue to expand its offerings in this area. The newspapers’ and magazines’ formats are emulated on Kobo’s offerings. Still, readers can customize text sizes.

"Kobo continues to build on our commitment of making sure that consumers have the best reading experience on any device with the largest selection of content worldwide," said Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis. "We’ve had tremendous success with eBooks and we’re very excited to expand the Kobo offering to include newspapers and magazines with a two-week free trial, allowing consumers to try first without any obligation. We continue to bring on top publishers to ensure that Kobo’s newspaper and magazine offering meets our customers’ highest expectations."

After the two-week trial, monthly subscription prices start at $13.99 for newspapers and $2.99 for magazines. Kobo also claims to have over 2.2 million eBooks available.

• 41 percent of adults who live in E?Reader Households visited a broadcast television website during the past month
• 41 percent of adults in E?Reader Households visited a newspaper website during the past month, compared to 27 percent of total adults
• This consumer group is 125 percent more likely to have watched or downloaded a movie online during the past month
• Adults in E?Reader Households are 86 percent more likely than the average adult to spend 20+ hours online weekly
• E?Reader Households are almost three times as likely as all adults nationally to be among the highest spenders online (spending $2,500 or more annually)
• Demographically, adults in E?Reader Households are more likely than average to be ages 25?54, and married with children. They are in higher income brackets and slightly more likely than all adults to be male

Additionally, in those four weeks, customers ordered more Kindles on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk combined than any other product. That makes Kindle the bestselling product across all products on Amazon for two straight years.

"Kindle is the best-selling product on Amazon.com for two years running and our new generation Kindles are continuing that momentum," said Steven Kessel, senior vice president, Amazon Kindle. "Readers are excited about all that the new Kindle has to offer—50 percent better contrast, 20 percent faster page turns, 15 percent lighter, up to one month of battery life—and a new price of only $139."

The new Kindle has a new electronic-ink screen and a new design with a 21% smaller body, while keeping the 6 inch screen of the old Kindle. It has built-in Wi-Fi, a graphite color option, and double the storage, holding 3,500 books.

As an added bonus for all of those people that ordered the new Kindles, Amazon also announced that they began shipping today, 2 days earlier than previously announced.

"Completely new, the next-generation NOOK for iPhone application delivers the most personalized and easy-to-use eReading experience for iPhone and iPod touch owners," the company says. "NOOK for iPad adds customer-requested, in-app content rating and other improvements to the company’s popular iPad app, and NOOK for PC brings new branding to the company’s desktop software.

"We are committed to offering an easy-to-use, comfortable, and fun NOOK eReading experience across multiple platforms. NOOK for iPhone users can shop Barnes & Noble’s vast catalog of eBooks, while enjoying new, customization features and sharing their favorite eBooks with friends for free," said Douglas Gottlieb, VP, Digital Products for Barnes & Noble.com. "NOOK for iPhone puts thousands of eBooks in your pocket, and the reading experience is fantastic. It’s another way that Barnes & Noble’s NOOK offering makes it truly easy to read what you love, anywhere you like."

Barnes & Noble has been making a lot of moves to advance the Nook’s position in the e-reader competition (particularly with Amazon’s Kindle). In the last month alone, the company has launched NookStudy, an Android app, and perhaps most significantly it announced plans to install Nook boutiques in all of its brick and mortar stores across the country.

Earlier this summer, Barnes & Noble and Amazon got into a bit of a price war, in which both lowered the prices on their respective e-readers. Amazon has since announced a new generation of Kindle.

The Kobo eReaders are available at select properties in the U.S. and Canada for people staying on Fairmont Gold, a private area offering personalized service and upgraded amenities. The eReaders feature a variety of fiction and non-fiction eBooks. When customers return the eReader they will receive an offer for $2 off on select Random House titles.

"Travelers are a great fit for the Kobo offering and a group that is eager to engage in eReading," said Michael Serbinis, CEO of Kobo.

"We know that travelers do not want to carry heavy books in their luggage, and vacations provide the perfect time to relax and catch up on reading. This partnership allows Kobo to expand our reach and offer our service to an important segment of our customer base."

Customers can trial a Kobo eReader by joining the free Fairmont Presidents Club which offers improved levels of service. The program includes private check-in, complimentary room upgrades, and high-speed and wireless Internet access.

In addition to the Random House library, Fairmont guests can access Kobo’s eBook store to browse and purchase from Kobo’s collection of over two million titles, thousands of which are available for free. Kobo also offers free eReading apps for most devices, such as iPhone, Blackberry, Android, and tablets, including iPad.
 

Original Article: Amazon’s Kindle has been making a lot of headlines lately, and now the company has introduced a new generation of Kindle devices. The new Kindle is smaller, lighter, faster, and has 50% better contrast than any other e-reader on the market, according to Amazon.

It has a new electronic-ink screen and a new design with a 21% smaller body, while keeping the 6 inch screen of the old Kindle. It’s 15% lighter at 8.7 ounces. Amazon claims it has 20% faster page turns, up to a month of battery life, built-in Wi-Fi, a graphite color option, and double the storage, holding 3,500 books. The price is $189, and still comes with free 3G wireless.

Amazon has also introduced the Kindle Wi-Fi, which doesn’t come with 3G, but is only $139.

"Kindle is the best-selling product on Amazon for two years running. We lowered the price to $189 and sales growth tripled," says Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Readers are going to do a double take when they see Kindle’s bright new screen and feel how remarkably light the smaller 8.7 ounce design feels in one hand."

The new devices will ship in 140 countries and 30 territories on beginning August 27.

Over the past three months, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, the company has sold 143 Kindle books, Amazon says. In addition, over the past month, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, the company has sold 180 Kindle books.

This is across Amazon.com’s entire U.S. book business and even includes sales of hardcover books where there is no Kindle edition. It does not include free Kindle books.

"The Association of American Publishers’ latest data reports that e-book sales grew 163 percent in the month of May and 207 percent year-to-date through May," Amazon says. "Kindle book sales in May and year-to-date through May exceeded those growth rates."

Five different authors have sold over 500,000 Kindle books. These include Charlaine Harris, Stieg Larsson, Stephenie Meyer, James Patterson, and Nora Roberts. James Patterson has sold 1.14 million e-books to date, 867,881 of which were Kindle books.

During this quarter, Amazon launched Kindle for Android, which should further fuel the service as Android itself continues to grow rapidly in market share. Kindle does face increasing competition, however. Barnes & Noble’s Nook, which just launched an Android version today recently got into something of a price war with Amazon’s Kindle.

According to Amazon, the U.S. Kindle Store has over 630,000 books, including new releases and 106 of 110 New York Times Best Sellers. Over 510,000 of them are $9.99 or less.