Read (Some of) Your Own Books on Kindle for iPad

Charlie Sorrel | Gadget Lab | Wired: "You can now add your own eBooks to Amazon’s Kindle App on iOS devices, as well as books from Project Gutenberg and other copyright-free sources. Great news, right? Not so fast. ... "

Software Update Turns WikiReader into an eBook Reader

liliputing: "Openmoko has released an update that lets you download not just the latest version of Wikipedia to the [WikiReader] handheld device. You can also access the complete Project Gutenberg library of 33,000 eBooks. Project Gutenberg has been digitizing public domain books since long before the Kindle was a gleam in, well… anyone’s eye. The collection includes thousands of titles in dozens of languages. If you want to store the entire text of Wikipedia and the entire Project Gutenberg library, you’ll need a 16GB memory card, but you can reportedly hold just the Gutenberg books on a 4GB SD card. The WikiReader costs $99 and comes with 2 AAA batteries. Current users can download the latest update from thewikireader.com/update."

Amazon Bouncing Public Domain eBooks from the Kindle Store

This is a good thing. There's no good reason for commercial editions of PD eBooks to even exist, when quality free editions are available from Project Gutenberg, etc. The Digital Reader: "Do you recall that big story last week about Amazon charging for public domain ebooks? Did you notice how much publicity it got? Well, apparently Amazon notieced, and according to Morris Rosenthal of Foner Books, Amazon have started bouncing pd ebooks from the Kindle Store."

Project Gutenberg on Task to Digitize 1 Billion Books

Los Angeles Times: "Johannes Gutenberg may have invented modern printing, but Michael Hart invented the e-book. At least that's what Hart's e-mail signature says. Indeed, Hart is considered by many in technology and literary circles to be the creator of the electronic book. As founder of the Gutenberg Project, named for the 15th century printer credited with inventing movable type, Hart began transcribing and scanning books on July 4, 1971 -- 'technically July 5,' Hart corrected himself in an e-mail; 'it was all night.'"

OverDrive/Project Gutenberg Partnership

mediabistro.com: eBookNewser: "OverDrive, a digital library content provider, has partnered with Project Gutenberg to integrate content from Project Gutenberg to libraries that use the OverDrive platform. The Boston Public Library is the first library to take advantage of this. On Friday, Boston's library added more than 15,000 public domain eBooks from Project Gutenberg to its 'Virtual Branch' website."

Barnes & Noble Looks to Build Digital Libraries with Free Public Domain Titles

From Chris Crum at WebProNews:

Barnes & Noble is encouraging customers to build their own personal digital libraries with a promotion called Barnes & Noble Classics.

Customers will get a free weekly slate of "high-quality, special edition classic eBooks" to read on the company's Nook eBook Readers, the iPad, PC and other devices using BN eReader software, and they'll be able to keep large digital libraries of these works. They'll be able to choose from ten free eBooks each week throughout the summer until the promotion ends. ...

The promotion is no doubt a push to get people reading more digital books and thinking of Barnes & Noble as a place to get them. ...

Of course, as most know, Project Gutenberg offers an enormous collection of classic free public domain eBooks all day every day, with no promotional time limit. You can also find them at the Kindle Store, etc., etc.