Amazon has started to offer its short-form Kindle Singles in the United Kingdom. The ebook novellas, with word counts below 30,000, are already available in the online ebook store to purchase, with the initial offerings covering subjects such as video games, Christmas holidays, and an exploration into the history of James Bond.
Google has updated its ebook app for Android with a feature that reads books aloud for the user. Updated yesterday, Google Play Books (Google Play) also adds the ability to pinch or double-tap to zoom, text-editing features for notes, as well as recommending other titles within the Play bookstore, using the already-owned book collection and popular titles to offer potential titles to purchase.
Sony may be set to release a new e-book reader sometime next month, according to a leaked advert. According to The Digital Reader, the Sony Reader PRS-T2 appeared in an advertisement by MCX Brands, a company that operates stores on US Marine Corps bases. The Reader is claimed to weigh six ounces and have a six-inch 800x600 E-Ink touchscreen with included stylus, as well as a two-month battery life.
Publishing Perspective reports that Apple is pushing Spanish and other Latin America publishers to get ready for the launch of the iBookstore, but may be making it difficult for booksellers to comply. According to unnamed sources, Spanish-language e-book distributor Libranda is requesting Spanish publishers to update metadata by August 30 to conform to Apple's stringent, and possibly variable, standards ahead of the rollout.
Judge Denise Cote of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has set the e-book antitrust bench trial, which pits the Department of Justice against Apple and two of the five major book publishers, to June 3, 2013. The date is much later than Apple wanted, but much earlier than the Department of Justice wanted. Apple was hoping to get the trial underway as soon as possible, citing a cloud over the industry and damage to its reputation. The DOJ had pushed for a much later start date, claiming that Federal investigators needed until March 2013 just to gather evidence, and that Apple was rushing the case.
Amazon has taken another step toward establishing the Kindle Lending Library. Announced in April, the system appears to have moved to beta testing at the Seattle Public Library and King County Public Library in Washington. The service is provided by OverDrive, which has agreements to manage ebook lending with 11,000 libraries in the US.
