downloadstory.com: Latest News http://www.downloadstory.com/ Latest news from downloadstory.comen downloadstory.com: Latest News http://www.downloadstory.com/EXT:tt_news/ext_icon.gif http://www.downloadstory.com/ Latest news from downloadstory.comTYPO3 - get.content.righthttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssMon, 26 Oct 2009 16:54:00 -0400 E-readers and their impact on the environment http://www.downloadstory.com/article/e-readers-and-their-impact-on-the-environment/ The theory that ebook readers are en eco-friendly alternative to paper books has been creating some...The theory that ebook readers are en eco-friendly alternative to paper books has been creating some debate. According to a recent study, the carbon footprint of a paper book is 7.5 kg of CO2. Only in the US 120 million trees are cut every year to obtain paper for books, magazines and newspapers. That makes it pretty obvious how you can save the planet by choosing ebooks over the printed word.

Some environmentalists however claim that e-readers cannot represent a much “greener” alternative to printed books because of all the energy and plastics that are used to build these devices.

In order to make an accurate observation regarding the impact of both paper book and e-readers on the environment you must take into consideration such factors as raw materials, energy consumption, waste disposal, water and air pollution. Solid waste, packaging and ink are also important for a complete study.

While we cannot deny the environmental impact of an e-book reader, results show that carbon emissions from electronic readers are four times lower than those created by a paper book. Also, e-books need 78 times less water consumption and 3 times less raw material than print books. It seems that using an ebook reader for four years while reading three books per month is likely to save over a ton of carbon dioxide compared to reading the same number of printed books over the same period of time.

Now we know for sure that reading electronically is greener than reading on print.

]]> Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:54:00 -0400 E-book readers - pros and cons http://www.downloadstory.com/article/e-book-readers-pros-and-cons/ More and more people today are choosing ebook readers over paper books. While some of us will...
More and more people today are choosing ebook readers over paper books. While some of us will probably never give up reading print books, others have long forgotten how it feels to flip through a book.  Let's take a look at what are the advantages and drawbacks of using such an electronic device.

It seems that people will choose to buy an e-reader based on the fact that it's trendy, portable and allows you to save money on books. Not to mention that reading on this kind of device is also greener than buying printed books. The obvious advantages of electronic books are choice and convenience. You can fit an entire library of eBooks on one ebook reader. Plus, your ebook reader will weigh less than a book which makes it much easier to carry around.

However, like it would have been expected, an electronic reader is far from being an ideal solution. First of all, in order to get your hand on one of these you'll have to make quite an investment - $300 is not a small price to pay for eReading. However, the electronic texts are pretty cheap, not to mention that you can get a number of books free of charge, like for example any fiction book from before the year 1900. There will always be people out there who are reticent in using an electronic reading device, claiming that such a machine only cheapens the experience of reading a quality book.

]]> Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:52:00 -0400 Amazon Kindle vs Sony Reader http://www.downloadstory.com/article/amazon-kindle-vs-sony-reader/ Choosing a wireless e-book reader can get really tough. If you're interesting in purchasing an...Choosing a wireless e-book reader can get really tough. If you're interesting in purchasing an ebook reader you may want to be aware of the best products available on the market. The real competition right now is between Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Reader as each of these devices has its strong and weak points.

 As far as the design goes, the Amazon Kindle is fairly ugly. It has strange button placements, sharp edges,  angular shapes and a shell made of plastic. Therefore at least in the looks department Sony is a clear winner.  Both products have 600 x 800-pixel screens and use the same E Ink technology. At 9 ounces, Sony's Reader weighs about an
ounce less. The Kindle  is also bigger, measuring  5.3 inches wide by 7.5 inches high by 0.7 inch deep.

When it comes to battery life both provide more than one week of continuous use though if you're using the Kindle with the wireless enabled you may need to recharge it every two days. The WhisperNet connection and the fact that books can be downloaded in less than a minute are crucial featured to most users. Kindle's wireless access to Amazon's bookstore allows you to add content on demand which can be translated into freedom from the PC. Both devices are compatible with a number of file types, but with Amazon's Kindle you'll need to undergo a file conversion in order for the device to recognize them.

Overall, chances are you will be happy with any of these devices, it all comes down to what exactly matters to you.

]]> Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:50:00 -0400 Sony Digital Book Readers http://www.downloadstory.com/article/sony-digital-book-readers/ While up to a few years ago these devices were at the stage of a beautiful dream, nowadays we find...While up to a few years ago these devices were at the stage of a beautiful dream, nowadays we find quite a competition on the emerging market for digital books. Being one of the most important companies in the field, Sony couldn’t have missed the opportunity of providing the world with their own range of digital book readers.

Just like any other ebook reader available today, the Sony Reader Touch Edition carries both pros and cons.

Oustanding features include: battery life of 2 weeks, 512 MB of flash memory that can be increased with memory card slots, abillity to support  Microsoft Word documents, the ePub standard, BeB format and Adobe’s PDF, compact size, extensive number of books available for download. The reader also accepts pictures in  BMP, GIF, PNG and JPG formats.

Drawbacks include: slow page turning, no support for Audible audio books, less than ideal controls.

An upgrade to Sony's original version of this device brought a faster refresh speed, more shades, stylish, elegant exterior, auto-syncing and USB mass storage support. A 6 inches touch display with 8 levels grayscale and 800x600 pixels resolution sounds pretty spot on. Weighing around 10 ounces you can see how this device also scores big on portability. Performance wise Sony's ebook reader doesn't disappoint.

The Sony Reader Touch Edition comes with a price tag of $299 which sounds like a reasonable price for the quality provided.

]]> Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:49:00 -0400 Amazon presents: the Kindle http://www.downloadstory.com/article/amazon-presents-the-kindle/ The Kindle is a revolutionary product that was developed and introduced by Amazon to show the world...The Kindle is a revolutionary product that was developed and introduced by Amazon to show the world that e-books don't necessarily have to be stupid. The main goal of this product was to ease the access to eBooks, blogs, magazines and newspapers. Amazon's wireless reading device saves you the hassle of running to a traditional bookstore or to the PC each time you're interested in a new title.

Up to this point three models have been released in this family of electronic products: the Kindle, the Kindle 2 and the Kindle DX. The upgraded versions are much thinner, lighter and sleeker which only increase this gadget's ultra-portability. The original version came with a storage capacity of only 256 MB that was later on increased to 2 GB.

Cool features include: huge capacity, battery life, fast search feature, font and text size adjustment, wireless connection to Amazon's online bookstore, annotations backup, built-in dictionary, ability to read chapters for free, portability and convenience.

Drawbacks include: lack of back light and color, lack of telephone service and simplistic Web browser, slow page turning.

So for 400 bucks you're getting instant wireless access to Amazon's bookstore, a wireless Web browser and an audiobook player. The device is a bit on the expensive side but hopefully Amazon will eventually drop price on this great product so it can be accessible to a lot more people.

]]> Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:44:00 -0400 Overview on iPhone's book reader app http://www.downloadstory.com/article/overview-on-iphones-book-reader-app/ Every time we go on long trips we feel like taking several good books along with us. Carrying books...Every time we go on long trips we feel like taking several good books along with us. Carrying books around can be a problem and that's what makes us so crazy about ebook readers. Yet who would have thought we'll ever be able to  carry a wide selection of e-books on our iPhone?

Today you can choose from a number of amazing applications that let you turn your phone into an ebook reader.  One of the most popular ebook apps is probably Stanza. The  best part about this app is that it can be downloaded for free. You'll find that all the content available on expensive dedicated devices such as the Amazon Kindle is also available on the iPhone.

What makes this Iphone app stand out from other e-book readers is the large amount of free and fully available books. You can now download your favorite books directly in to your iPhone from a collection of more than 100,000 titles. E-book sources at your disposal include  Gutenberg Project, Book Glutton, Munseys.com, Random House Free Library, Feedbooks and Fictionwise. Fictionwise will charge you money for your downloads but the rest of the material is free.

Stanza is an extremely straightforward app that takes full advantage of the precise iPhone touch display. It also lets you read RSS feeds from newspapers and magazines. Did we mention this is a free app?

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