It seems that after updating the iPhone to iOS4 the shelf of your iBooks app is empty, even if you already bought some ebooks. If you want to redownload these books, the store recognizes that you already purchased them but wants you to buy them again at full price.

Just to remember: with  my Kindle I can redownload any book I bought on Amazon at anytime anywhere for free! Well actually you can do this with all Kindle applications on any device, but at the Kindle itself even the 3G connection is for free. It goes even further, I actually can download any mobipocket ebook for free from the internet from any site i.e. from google docs.

Also with the Kindle you can read any  ebook purchased at Amazon on any of your devices with a Kindle app running, no matter if its a Kindle, a PC, a Mac, Android device and so on! Any device with an internet connection can instantly download your books, sync the last read position as well as bookmarks and annotations.

The conclusion: “Forget about iBook, and use Amazon Kindle and Stanza for your reading needs.”

Read the hole story over at www.baekdal.com

Just a few months ago, there seemed to come an alternative to the iPad – Microsoft Courier. While Apple released the iPad  in April the Microsoft Courier will never make it.

Microsoft has decided to stop the project and focus other projects. The MS Courier could have become a real iPad killer. But obviously MS has other plans, rumors say the will concentrate their efforts on the netbook market.

Microsoft’s Frank Shaw:

At any given time, we’re looking at new ideas, investigating, testing, incubating them. It’s in our DNA to develop new form factors and natural user interfaces to foster productivity and creativity. The Courier project is an example of this type of effort. It will be evaluated for use in future offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.

There is no explanation why Microsoft gave up on Courier project. Maybe the resulte would just be too expensive compared to the iPad.

It is sad, since the Courier could have been that different kind of  e-reader to challenge the iPad and other e-readers on the market.

Last Friday night, a Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team of California irrupted into the home of Jason Chen while he was not present. The police seized his four computers and two servers.

They where using a warrant by Judge of Superior Court of San Mateo.

Gaby Darbyshire, COO of Gawker Media LLC, claimed the search warrant to remove these computers was invalid under section 1524(g) of the California Penal Code.

It is illegal to seize journalist’s computers, because they must not be forced to uncover their sources.

Jason Chen is an editor for gizmodo.com and recently reported about a lost and found iPhone 4 prototype.

more on [ gizmodo ]

The iPad Camera Connection Kit has finally shown up. It consists of a pair of two white dongles. One is just a simple SD card adapter. It adds one-touch image and video import to the iPad. If you take your pictures in RAW format you might be interested in the fact, that it also imports RAW pictures complete with the EXIF data.

The second dongle provides a USB port with some new functionality. It is reported, that you could connect a USB-keyboard and actually type on the iPad via this USB keyboard. Also there are rumours, about USB audio. The dongle should enable you to make Skype calls after connecting a USB headset. It is said though that the USB and SD image transfers are one-way only, and not all peripherals are supported. For instance you can not connect an external hard drive to the iPad using the Camera Connectivity Kit. Camera Connection Kit shipments are two to three weeks out.

Demo movie:
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