There are certain brick and mortar outlets that simply refuse to go down without a fight. Barnes & Noble is one of them and they are partnering with a powerful force to help them make up ground with their Nook eBook reader: Microsoft. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="216" caption="Image via CrunchBase"][/caption] As subsidiary that is currently unnamed will see and investment of $300 million coming from Microsoft to help eBook and educational book sales. In return, Microsoft receives 17.6% equity, valuing the company at $1.7 billion. For B&N, it’s an opportunity to have…

Fair use. If you buy a device and decide later to switch to a different one, should you be forced to buy the exact same media over again? Such was the case with the DRM-tainted Amazon Kindle… until now. The geniuses over at Too Smart Guys made a video showing us how to remove DRM from your Kindle. The intro is fun to watch, but the real meat starts just passed the 2-minute mark. Free your books! You bought them. …

While the ebook market sometimes seems like the least sexy segment of the digital world, it’s still a huge deal. After all, last time I checked, books were still a pretty big deal, whether in terms of how many people read or how many people many money off that fact. So while the arrival of Google’s new electronic bookstore may seem a little blah, it’s actually pretty important. Because, although it’s true a group of high school students could have arrived at a better name than the Google eBookstore, Google’s new cloud-based approach is not just their challenge to Amazon and Apple – it’s also part of…

The news that Google will be launching their own Google Editions cloud bookstore this summer promises a welcome shake-up for the world of ebooks. Because, while it’s true the nascent technology has gotten a lot of attention recently, especially with the launch of the iPad, it’s not exactly setting the world on fire either. In fact, even diehard readers are yawning at it a bit. Sure, Google’s new service that will allow you to read a book from anywhere you can log into your account sounds promising – but more needs to be done. Here are 5 things that the ebook world needs if it wants to really excite people…

The Kindle just got some competition Part of designer David Garcia’s Archive series, which showcases some of his truly alternative designs for book-shelves (I think it’s pronounced ‘buhk’. I hear they’re like a series of LCD screens that only display one thing, or something), Archive 2 enables you to bring your entire library with you. For real. This isn’t a Photoshop, this is a man walking inside a freaking bookshelf. He is so going to accidentally murder his cat. In case inquiring minds want to know, Archive 1 is a bookshelf on a seesaw, and Archive 3 is a stand that snaps the book shut as soon as you…

Yesterday The Apple Blog announced that the new iPad was going to be offering 30,000 free eBooks. The thing is, the free books are all hosted at Project Gutenberg (and have been for years) so any device with a web browser can access these eBooks, even a Blackberry. The headline, “iPad to Offer 30,000 Free e-Books at Launch” actually downplays their generosity. In point of fact, you can go read the 30,000 books RIGHT NOW on whatever machine you are reading this article! Apple’s offer is so downright selfless that you don’t even need to buy the iPad, you can still get the 30,000 books anway by clicking…

Amazon and Apple may be actively engaged in an eBook war, but that hasn’t stopped Amazon promising a Kindle eBook app for Apple’s iPad. Details of Amazon’s iPad land grab first emerged this morning at the New York Times, which also reports Barnes & Noble to be hatching similar plans – releasing new digital readers and stores for the iPad, in addition to those already offered for the iPhone and iPod touch. …