ereaders

The New Yorker just released its iPad app and it already has fans, especially those iPad users who were waiting for this electronic version of the venerable mag. But complaints about magazine titles on the iPad so far seem to center on the lack of a subscription service, which means buying the iPad version of your favorite magazine at issue prices close to newsstand offerings.

If you are a print subscriber, you may feel like paying $5 or $6 for something you already own is a bit much. So what if you want to choose between those glossy pages or the iPad download? After the break, a list of some popular magazines that offer iPad versions of their print issues, and what sort of extra content you can expect if you choose to go the electronic route. Check out the list when you read more.

The Kobo ereader is the perfect gadget for book fans on a budget, but it will soon be used as a luxurious offering from one of the top hotels in the world. Fairmont hotels has partnered up with the Kobo to offer free ereading to its President's Club members who stay in its exclusive Fairmont Gold rooms. Fairmont Gold is like a hotel within a hotel consisting of plush rooms and world-class amenities. Adding to the already long list of extras is a loaner Kobo reader that's packed with fiction and nonfiction titles, which guests can use during their stay. Michael Serbinis, CEO of Kobo, says that travelers are "a great fit for the Kobo offering" because they "do not want to carry heavy books in their luggage, and vacations provide the perfect time to relax and catch up on reading." True that!

However, if you're a traveler who happens to be staying at a Fairmont that isn't offering Gold status rooms, you can still request to use a Kobo through the hotel's Royal Service. Royal, indeed.

With the increasing presence and diversity of gadgets — from netbooks to tablets to smartphones and ereaders — it's hard to peg them into any one category. I don't think an iPad counts as a computer, but I'm sure that others feel differently (Yankee Stadium officials, for example). But when one New York Times writer was told he couldn't use his Kindle at a coffee shop, he was first confused, then angry — and I don't blame him!

See what I have to say about this and share your own opinion after the break.

Geek community member morganashley shared this hilarious story in our Funny Tech Stories group:

I finally caved and bought a WiFi Nook over the weekend. After scanning the many (many!) pages of free yet oft-smutty titles, I started an eWishList so I could figure out which books I wanted to buy and load on my new device first. Today I was IMing with my mom and shared my new purchase story with her when we hit a bit of a techie lost-in-translation situation.

Find out what happened after the break.

Although there has been a raging price war on ereaders recently, Amazon may have a leg up on the competition with a new patent it was awarded yesterday. Filed back in 2006, this patent describes a dual-screened ereader, coming with one larger area to read from, while supporting a smaller LCD display. Obviously, this was the original Kindle design.

Since the Barnes & Noble Nook comes with just that — a large e-ink screen and a smaller LCD display — the company could be sued for patent infringement. You may be wondering why no one knew of this patent until now. Seems that since Amazon didn't file any foreign patents on the product during the approval process, they didn't have to publish the application. Will Amazon sue for infringement? Only time will tell.