Kindle ebooks: How to buy and install them now that the store is gone

Kindle ebooks: How to buy and install them now that the store is gone -

Since Amazon acquiesced to Apple's onerous rules and removed the one-click buy button from the Kindle apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, a couple of mainstream websites have whined that it's "too hard to buy ebooks on your iPad now." Yes, it is horribly difficult -- you now have to click or tap twice to buy and download a book instead of just once. I'm going to take you through this back-breaking and time-consuming process, just to show you how hard Apple has made it for us to buy ebooks from anywhere but the iBookstore.

To start, launch Safari on your device and navigate to the Kindle bookstore. To keep from wearing yourself out doing this in the future, add a button to your iPad or iPhone home screen by tapping the Share button in Safari and then tapping the "Add to Home Screen" button. Make sure you're logged in with the account that you use for your Kindle purchases, and then find the book you want to purchase in the Kindle Store.

Now, here comes the hard part, so be sure to pay attention. Over on the right side of the screen is a button marked "Buy now with 1-click." Just below it is a drop-down menu listing all of your Kindle devices, which in my case consists of the Kindle app on two Macs, an iPad 2, and an iPhone 4.

Select the first device you want to have the ebook delivered to, and then click (or tap) the Buy now button -- that's the first tap, and in the old days before Apple made our lives difficult with their burdensome rules, that would be the only tap you'd have to make. Instead, now a new page appears thanking you for your purchase. In my example, I picked my iPad 2 as the target for the book, and the web page asked if I wanted to open Kindle for iPad to begin downloading the book.

With a tap of the "Go to Kindle for iPad" button, the Kindle app launches and the ebook is downloaded. What??? I have to make a second tap to download my book? I demand that Apple make retribution for this oppressive over-control of my life!

It's not as easy as just tapping one button in the Kindle app and having the ebook automagically appear on your bookshelf, but once you've found the book, it just takes two taps for it to show up. And yes, I am being totally sarcastic with this post.

(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)

Rumor: Apple May Buy Barnes & Noble

Rumor: Apple May Buy Barnes & Noble -

BGR reports that an "unproven source" delivered a tip that Apple is considering buying Barnes & Noble for approximately $1.5 billion. Interesting idea, as Apple could absorb B&N's vast ebook library into iBooks, and possibly convert several of the retail stores into new Apple stores.

Apple certainly has the money, could this be one of the "strategic opportunities" Steve Jobs was alluding to? A move like this makes a lot of sense and would tie in nicely with growing the iBooks platform, particularly if it would expand the capabilities to buy and rent textbooks.

Again, BGR makes it clear that the source is unproven, but is allegedly someone claiming to have knowledge of discussions within Apple regarding this deal.

(Via Mac|Life all.)

How to Install and Set Up Mac OS X Lion Server

How to Install and Set Up Mac OS X Lion Server -

Apple's offered the gift of Lion Server to anyone who's willing to drop an extra $50. Previously, you could only get OS X Server bundled on your Mac mini Server or Mac Pro, or pay $499 for Snow Leopard Server. By lowering the price, now more end users can afford Apple’s server offerings. In this article, we’ll show you how to download and set up Lion server on your Mac.

What You Need:

>> Mac already running Lion
>> Always-on internet connection (DSL, Cable, etc.)
>> Mac App Store account
>> (Optional) Custom domain name with DNS hosting

Difficulty: Hard

A note about running Lion Server on your Mac: With Lion server, you can either purchase a new Mac mini server or Mac Pro with the Server installation already on it; or, you can download the Server application from the Mac App Store for $50, and run Lion Server on any Mac that you own that can run Lion (this includes Core 2 Duo Macs and up).

(Via Mac|Life all.)

iMac vs. Mac mini: Which One Is Right For You?

iMac vs. Mac mini: Which One Is Right For You? -

Now that eighty percent of Apple’s five Mac product lines have been souped up with Intel Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt I/O ports, desk-bound consumers may find themselves in a bit of a quandary as to which one to buy. Does it still make sense to buy an iMac with such a fully featured Mac mini now available? Read on to find out.

Since its introduction in 1998, the iMac has remained the “go to” all-in-one desktop computer for most Mac users. After all, one price gets you a large, bright display that also happens to house the computer and many peripherals, complete with a wireless keyboard and mouse to make the package complete. Why would users who don’t need internal expansion slots look elsewhere?

That logic made sense -- the Mac Pro is too much computer for many users, and the Mac mini introduced in 2005 was woefully underpowered for all but casual internet and word processing duties. That is, until last year, when the Mac mini got a sexy new look that made desktop fans stop and take another look.

(Via Mac|Life all.)

12 Mac Apps We Can’t Live Without

12 Mac Apps We Can’t Live Without -

The day you get a new computer can be an awesome day. Everything smells like an Apple store, your computer’s body is flawless, — even the keys are more click-y. But it’s also a day where you find out how much your computer was customized and personalized, tailored to your use. We took a look at our current computers and decided which apps we couldn’t live without it.

(Via Mac|Life all.)

Apple TV Focuses on Sales, Competition Focuses on Refunds

Apple TV Focuses on Sales, Competition Focuses on Refunds -

Apple TV may be a hobby for Cupertino, but Google TV devices are a nightmare for manufacturers. 

Logitech, manufacturer of the Google TV enabled Revue, recently admitted to "very modest sales" of the set top device in the last quarter. So modest, in fact, that numbers were actually upside down during the quarter, with returns outpacing new sales. Which is never good. Logitech is countering by reducing the price of the Revue from $249 to an Apple TV-ish price of $99; this massive price slash will cost Logitech $34 billion in one time charges, which is really never good. 

One possible ray of hope for the once-heralded "Apple TV killer" is that Google plans to upgrade Google TV with Honeycomb by the end of summer. This timing, however, sort of coincides with the scheduled release of iOS 5, which is rumored to include Apple TV with some fierce new features.

Steve Jobs has explained why Apple uses the phrase "hobby" when describing the Apple TV: mainly, he blames it on the theory that the market is ruined because TV viewers do not want to buy boxes for viewing, they want them as part of a monthly bill. Without a viable "go-to-market" strategy, Apple TV remains something neat and fun for a niche market segment, like, well, a hobby.

For now. 

(Via Mac|Life all.)

Amazon tablet seen as a Nook Color rival, not iPad

Amazon tablet seen as a Nook Color rival, not iPad - Amazon's upcoming Android tablet may just be a competitor to the Nook Color rather than an iPad rival. Insiders added Thursday that it would really just be an "advanced e-reader" that, like Barnes & Noble's hardware, had a color screen and some apps. The focus, SAI heard, was on filling a hole where the Kindle was "most vulnerable." ...

(Via MacNN | The Macintosh News Network.)