reading

According to a new study, older people are able to read text off the iPad much faster than if they were using a "real" book. In fact, the iPad proved easier for reading than even e-readers like the Kindle. The study was performed by a research team ... from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, in Germany. "E-books and e-readers are playing an increasingly important role on the worldwide book market," the researchers said in their report. "However, readers can be particularly skeptical when it comes to e-books and electronic reading devices. The objective of the study was to investigate ... (view more)

Last week's report that thousands of U.S. libraries were set to receive Kindle eBooks marked a major step ahead for digital reading devices. But a new app-based copy of a book written by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is not only changing the ... approach to commercialized reading, but also the very definition of what we consider a "book" to be. Push Pop Press, a company established by former Apple employees Kimon Tsinteris and Mike Matas, has published an app version of "Our Choice," the popular 2009 book about global warming. Apple Features Alter Book Layout The app is said to take full ... (view more)

It's one of the most important and yet difficult questions of our time: does the Google Internet search contribute to our understanding of the world, or does its frantic quest for quick and easy answers make us less likely to seek out better, more ... in-depth responses to our questions? In short, does the Internet make us dumb, or not? According to a recent study, the answer appears to be 'no'. Internet Search: Skimming Versus Reading The study's roots reach back to summer 2009, when in an article for the publication Atlantic Monthly analyst Nicholas Carr asked himself the very same question. "I ... (view more)

Asus is working on an electronic reading device that could change the digital book industry. Not only is the product expected to be much cheaper than those already on the market, but it will include two screens -- allowing books to be read in ... traditional two-page format. The firm is reportedly planning two editions of the reader. First, a budget version featuring two fixed screens, allowing users to see a left-hand and right-hand page. It might not sound like a big deal, but the idea could have a strong psychological effect by making the experience of reading on a machine closer to reading a ... (view more)

Reading, at least in the conventional way of leafing page by page through a book, is at risk and the blame is being placed squarely on the shoulders of the Internet and (of course) television. The decline of reading has fueled a massive national ... debate not only about 'if' we read but 'how' we read. The debate began in 2002 when the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) found that the number of non-reading adults had increased by 17 million to 89 million adults, roughly one out of three adults. According to the NEA, only 47% of American adults read 'literature', including poems, plays, ... (view more)

European mobile phone users should see the cost associated with 'texting' other countries on their continent drop by around two-thirds if regulators have their way. The European Commission is to crack down on network carriers which charge 'rip-off' ... prices when sending a text message (also known as an SMS) to somebody in another country. According to the European official in charge of telecoms, Viviane Reading, texts from one country to another cost more than 10 times as much as those sent domestically. She says the fees carriers impose are around 32 times the actual costs they incur in ... (view more)

Last week, HarperCollins, publishers of popular authors Paulo Coelho, Ann Patchett, and Wally Lamb, announced that it will begin to offer some of its newer releases online for free. The company hopes to duplicate on its website what customers have ... done for decades in brick and mortar store. (Source: nytimes.com ) Visitors will be able to view the entire contents of some books for a limited time. The initial titles include: Paulo Coelho's The Witch of Portobello; I Dream in Blue: Life, Death, New York Giants by Roger Director; Mark Halperin's The Undecided Voter's Guide to the Next President: ... (view more)

Email newsletters, like infopackets.com, are historically the method I use to keep up with technology information. Once my email address is subscribed, the newsletter publishers deliver their information to me on a predefined delivery schedule. In ... addition to email newsletters, I'm finding myself reading more content from news feed channels, called RSS. What is RSS? RSS stands for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication (depending on who you ask), and is a markup language similar to HTML code used to construct a web page. RSS works by organizing text information in a way which makes ... (view more)