Apple cripples iBooks for jailbreakers – Updated

**** Updated 1/15/12 **** Most of you are coming into this post with the latest 5.0.1 jailbreak because it broke your iBooks app just like the 4.2.1 jailbreak in 2011. Thankfully, there’s a fix for you too. Just today, @saurik put out an update to Corona in Cydia. Version 1.0-4 is the latest edition of Corona and it’s supposed to fix your iBooks issues. Try that and you should be good to go. I just recently updated my iPhone to 4.2.1 thanks to the greenpois0n jailbreak. Yes, I jailbreak… and I’m proud of it. There are many benefits to jailbreaking your iPhone like SBSettings, Activator, Infinifolders, etc. The real reason I jailbreak: because I can. I wouldn’t consider myself a rebel but I do like having the opportunity to install whatever I’d like onto my iPhone. Jailbreaking has received negative feedback from Apple since it gained popularity in 2007. They claim it voids the device’s warranty but anyone can easily restore the device to factory state via iTunes. Up until this point, the game has always been cat and mouse. Hackers exploit code, Apple fixes said code. Today marks a new realization for me as a jailbreaker: Apple deliberately crippled [...]

The Kindle app’s days are numbered

In a surprising chain of tweets this morning, we heard news that Apple rejected the Sony Reader app from the App Store due to the process which customers purchase eBooks. We did a little searching and found this MacRumors article detailing the issue. Apple denied the Sony app because it allowed customers to purchase content directly from Sony and circumvented the typical in-app purchasing that we’ve come to love and loathe. Instead of sharing the customary 30 – 70 split between Apple and the developer, their app handled purchasing books through Sony’s systems. That’s obviously a no-go. The real cause for concern is a new trend Apple has been sharing with ‘several’ developers: no purchases can be initiated from an app without it being an ‘in-app purchase.’ The New York Times reports that this restriction only applies to eBook transactions… but why? Apple is obviously competing in the eBook market with the iBook Store… do they really need to frustrate would-be customers by limiting their ability to use whatever content they’d like? Supposedly, any iOS customer will be able to view content purchased outside of the iOS application, but any new purchases initiated from the device have to follow the [...]

Paper books should come with digital copies

This holiday season, I faced an unexpected, challenging dilemma: I had a few books to buy but I didn’t know where — or how — to buy them. First there was the argument of digital or old-fashioned paper. On the paper side, you have to choose between hardcover and paperback… that’s not too difficult. The digital side has the option of buying through the iBook Store — this assumes that Apple’s iPad will continue to be the best digital reader on the market — or play it safe with Amazon and download the book in the Kindle app which is available on nearly every digital platform. There’s also the Barnes & Noble Nook but I don’t have one and have no idea if books are transferable to other devices. While the debate continued for quite some time, I ended up buying a paperback copy for the bookshelf and a digital copy for the iPad… for each book on my list. I still like the idea of having a paperback or hardcover (let’s just say old school) book for a lot of reasons. There really is nothing like physically turning a page and feeling how close you are to the end [...]

iBooks may be non-transferable

But that’s only if the publishers choose to go that route. Apple will be allowing partnered publishers access to FairPlay DRM for the books that make it into the iBooks Store. This means that Apple’s surprising use of the ePub format amounts to very little. Publishers could literally choose to wrap their books in FairPlay so that we could never transfer our iBooks to other book readers. Lame. To give a brief history: Apple developed the FairPlay DRM scheme for the music industry and has since adapted it for their TV shows, movies and applications. Considering the last three are still DRM-laden, it’s not surprising that Apple is extending the option to the publishers. Does that mean all publishers will use it? Hopefully not, but there’s no way to tell at this point. As time progresses, the publishers appear to be getting more and more wary of tossing their content into the iTunes store. Magazines and newspapers don’t seem to like the Apple distribution techniques — some publishers aren’t even considering the iBooks Store for eBook distribution. Resourceful people have never had issues grabbing illegitimate copies of eBooks… but what’s to stop the average Joe from going the “free” route [...]

Textbooks are definitely coming to the iPad

In fact, they’ve broken through the flood barrier. According to the Wall Street Journal, McGraw-Hill Education, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12, Pearson Education, and Kaplan have all reached iBook deals with Apple this week. Some are also in negotiations with ScrollMotion to develop their interactive textbooks. We predicted that the introduction of the iPad could change how we see digital textbooks and the education industry as a whole. We also think that education has the most potential for this product. If you think about it, the average college student spends $400+ on textbooks every semester. Going digital would help save money across the board and make the hippies a little happier, too. No, really, the environmental effects could be masterful, and depending on what kind of deals we’re looking at here, college students might actually have a little more money for beer. Just imagine the headlines: “Apple’s iPad allows students to remain drunk longer,” “The iPad is why I flunked out freshman year,” “I don’t need a girlfriend; I have my iPad!” Hopefully that last one is a little extreme… hopefully. High school, junior high, elementary school (maybe): a one-time $499 investment for each child is less than what a school [...]

iPad Analysis Part One: The Software

Let us first preface this post with the statement that we’ll probably still buy an iPad because we do find it revolutionary… in software, not hardware. Part One of this editorial will focus on the amazing software that Apple included in the iPad. The mainstream media has put too much focus on the hardware and not enough on the magical software that they have developed. We’ll tackle the hardware in Part Two because we think it’s important to address. Think of it this way, Apple’s new iPad is a batter at the bottom of the 9th, 2 outs and a full count — he has to score in order to win the game. We don’t know what will happen yet because the last pitch (iPad product launch) hasn’t been thrown. So, we’ll leave the world of hardware for a moment and talk about the software that will make this device amazing. Steve Jobs said in the keynote that, if a tablet is to succeed, it has to be better than its two closest competitors — the smartphone and laptops. “Those devices are going to have to be far better at doing some key tasks€¦ better than a laptop, better than [...]

Walt Mossberg asks Steve Jobs the hard questions… sort of

The video below shows Walt Mossberg talking to Steve Jobs right after the event on Wednesday. Mossberg asked Steve some interesting questions that hinted to the belief that 10 hours isn’t enough battery life for an eReader… we’d disagree. I’m not going to read for 10 hours at a time and that’s exactly what Steve gives as a response. He also addresses the pricing of eBooks on the iPad… Steve says that “the prices will be the same.” It also becomes apparent that the iPad will have 140 hours of music playback. Wow. Steve also confirmed that we have iWork to Office format conversions directly on the device. We’ll be able to create, save and email our documents to anyone directly from the device. The questions start near the 1:50 mark. Enjoy!