Tamagotchi, the popular Japanese virtual pet from the 1990s that beeps when he needs attention, turns sixteen this year. To celebrate, NAMCO Bandai Games has released an Android app version of the little guy. The free Tamagotchi L.i.f.e. app is… Read More

A new report has shown Japan to be wary of e-books despite the country’s reputation for technological expertise. In a piece written for The Bookseller MIchael Fitzpatrick writes: Tokyo-based consumer research group Net Mile polled over 1,000 men and women… Read More

In a move clearly aimed at the international market KOBO has been acquired by Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten for a reported $315 million in cash. The ebook world todate has been very US driven, but this could change as all… Read More

In a move clearly aimed at the international market KOBO has been acquired by Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten for a reported $315 million in cash. The ebook world todate has been very US driven, but this could change as all… Read More

The news today that eCommerce giant Rakuten is to acquire Kobo Books for $315m lifts Kobo into the big leagues alongside Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Rakuten are a big Japanese player in eCommerce with a 2010 turnover of over… Read More

The news today that eCommerce giant Rakuten is to acquire Kobo Books for $315m lifts Kobo into the big leagues alongside Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Rakuten are a big Japanese player in eCommerce with a 2010 turnover of over… Read More

Top quality apps are expensive and direct-to-e-book conversions lack punch, so what’s a picture book publisher who wants to go digital to do? Editorial by Robin Birtle, Sakkam Press, Japan Robin Birtle of Sakkam Press TOKYO: The publishers of novels… Read More

The Nikkei newspaper’s report that Amazon will launch a Japanese Kindle service within 2011 ends two years of gloomy speculation across an industry nervous about the impact of the global eBook giant. The leaders of Japan’s publishing industry may wish… Read More

Another day and that great river Amazon keeps on flowing. Today three disjointed pieces of news demonstrate why Amazon continues to chart its own course and is a significant publishing force. read more… Read More

I got a real kick out of this so I thought I’d share it with  you.  From The Local: With the literary world descending on Leipzig this week for its annual book fair, one local family publisher is there to… Read More

Time for another one of those posts where I talk about the challenges facing other digital media in order to draw a comparison to e-books. In this case, I will be talking about the comparison of “pirate” media to commercial… Read More

Nick Bilton (author of I Live in the Future & Here’s How It Works…) has a piece in the New York Times pertaining to himself and his wife using their iPhones to snap photos of pages from some books Read More

Engadget has a report on another Japanese electronics vendor seeking to enter the US e-reader/tablet market. Sharp is going to be bringing its Galapagos tablets to the US in a retooled version that includes 3G data capability. It will also… Read More

MORE NEWS BITS The image at the left comes from a Wikipedia entry in Poland on the Kindle(s). I also came across a Sept. blog entry by Andrew Bolster referencing this blog's article on software update v3.0.2 (which is still… Read More