Technology, E-book | featured news

The Bible might be ancient, but that doesn't mean it has to be old fashioned. A free, digital platform has launched the Christian text into the 21st century. The Digital Bible Platform is a free service that allows users access to digital recordings of the Bible in hundreds of languages. Started three years ago by Faith Comes By Hearing, a New Mexico-based recording company, the free platform can be accessed through streaming, direct downloads from the company website, podcast downloads in the iTunes store or on mobile devices via the Bible.is apps.

As the only remaining defendant in the U.S. government's e-books antitrust case, Apple Inc appears headed for a high-stakes trial that could significantly increase the personal computer company's liability in related litigation.

... Yes, the words are the same, whether perceived on paper or on a small, illuminated screen. But the experience is not. One can read “One Hundred Years of Solitude” on a Kindle or an iPad, but one cannot see, hear, feel and smell the story in the same way. I’m unlikely to race to the sofa, there to nuzzle an electronic gizmo, with the same anticipation as with a book. Or to the hammock with the same relish I would with a new magazine. Somehow, napping with a gadget blinking notice of its dwindling power doesn’t hold the same appeal as falling asleep in the hammock with your paperback opened to where you dozed off.

After a Justice Department investigation into e-book price-fixing, the cost of buying an e-book was supposed to plunge, but sales of e-readers and the content for them have stalled.

Wikipedia this week created a new feature that allows readers of that online encyclopedia to create their own e-books with its content.

Cheaper e-books from three publishers could return within one to three months, in the wake of a judge's approval this week of the antitrust settlement between the publishers and the Justice Department.

Amazon.com Inc. is expected to unveil a new Kindle Fire on Thursday as it seeks to take a bigger bite of the tablet computer market and boost sales of digital goods like e-books and movies.

Wednesday was a dark day for the future of books. The Department of Justice charged Apple and five large book publishers with conspiring to raise e-book prices. Three of the five publishers quickly capitulated rather than face the risk and expense of a protracted legal battle.

The pleasure of reading endures in the digital age, a USC Dornsife/L.A. Times poll shows. Six in 10 people say they like to read 'a lot,' and young adults read about as much as many of their elders. Reading habits may be fundamentally changing, but a new survey shows that the printed word remains fundamental.