Earlier today I wrote about how didn't think it would be too long before content companies and retailers gave away hardware like tablets and ereaders.

Well Barnes & Noble are not quite giving away their Nook range just yet, but they almost are.

The company has just announced some price rejigging and the Nook Simple Touch ereader has dropped to a pocket-money price of £29, which is down from £79. It is now by some distance the cheapest ereader from a name brand for sale in the UK.

Other ereaders have also been reduced in price too including the backlit Nook Simple Touch GlowLight which is now £69, and the company's pair of tablets the Nook HD and Nook HD+ now costing £129 and £179 respectively.

The prices are for a limited period only, so if you want one you need to get on to it pronto.

Jim Hilt, Managing Director, Barnes & Noble said

"We have a passion for everyone to experience digital reading affordably, anytime and anywhere. It was a perfect fit when we had the opportunity to partner on the 'Get London Reading' campaign. We hope to further enrich the minds of readers of all ages across the UK and give them affordable access to the books they love."

More details here.

Nook has brought its video service over to the UK this week, which will allow those with Barnes & Noble's range of eReaders to watch movies and TV shows from their tablets.

The service, called Nook Video, will offer content from HBO, NBC Universal, BBC and Warner Bros as well as many more channels and production companies over the coming months.

Nook Video is different to similar services because it's the first of its kind to include UltraViolet integration, a cloud solution that's offered up to customers when they buy DVDs and Blu-Rays, which provides them with digital versions of the content they've already purchased.

Jim Wuthrich, International President of Warner Home Video and Digital Distribution, said:

"Barnes & Noble becoming the first UltraViolet retailer in the UK is going to change the way consumers purchase and enjoy their digital movie libraries.

"With UltraViolet-enabled movies, consumers know their collection is stored securely in the cloud and can be accessed across numerous devices, including the NOOK HD and NOOK HD+. This convenience, combined with the ability for consumers to share their digital libraries with up to five family members, makes NOOK Video a very compelling destination to purchase movies."

Nook Video will also be available on numerous other devices as an iOS and Android application.

After 75 years in print, children's comic The Dandy has now gone from real life paper to a digital edition today on its anniversary. But should we all be getting excited about its bang up-to-date online transformation or sad that this really does mean the death of the comic?

Developed by Leeds-based Dubit, the new digital Dandy will be a fully interactive motion comic, complete with games and digital pets, which still follows the adventures of characters like Desperate Dan and Keyhole Kate in a panel-by-panel format to stay close to its roots.

Craig Ferguson, Editor of the new Dandy said:

"We all know how popular digital devices have become with children so we're drawing on our traditional heritage and updating our product to make it relevant for today's children.

"With this weekly digital edition, The Dandy is once again blazing a trail by launching a unique, interactive, motion comic. We're giving The Dandy a whole new dimension and bringing a new lease of life to our characters."

Low sales figures and rising costs of printing the paper version of the comic forced publisher DC Thomson to make the move online. However, many have been commenting today that they can't help but feel kids of the future will miss out on the fun of buying and collecting the printed versions they all grew up with. Of course most of them have just been sat in a box under the stairs and haven't been opened since the day they were first purchased, so maybe it's really not really a tragedy we should all be getting worked up about.

Let us know what you think in the comments below, will you miss the comic or feel happy about a future without wasted paper and inky fingers?

Visit www.dandy.com to to check out the new-look comic. Today's "Issue Zero" is available free. Each issue going forward will cost £1.99 with an extra £1.49 needed to access the weeky standard content package update for the full experience. Subscriptions cost £85 a year, with a year's worth of content packages costing £29.99.

Check out: www.Dandy.com

It's been a long awaited launch, but this week Barnes & Noble's Nook eReader range has finally come to UK shores. Both the Nook Simple Touch and Nook Simple Touch Glowlight with built-in lights are on sale now for £79 and £109, available from John Lewis, Argos, Blackwell's, Waitrose, Asda and Sainsbury's.

The brand new UK-orientated Nook site has also launched over at uk.nook.com, and reveals that the company's tablet line will also hit the UK by November. Through the dedicated page you can pre-order a 7-inch Nook HD for £159 or a 9-inch Nook HD+ for £229.

Jamie Iannone, the President of Nook Media, said:

"We're thrilled to be able to bring our award- winning products and expansive NOOK Store to the UK's discerning customers.

"The Nook brand was created for people who love literature and reading, which is why the UK was a natural place for us to begin our international expansion. Our extensive content catalog, intuitive shopping and reading experience, and breakthrough discovery tools like Nook Channels are a perfect fit for UK digital book readers."

The Nook readers will face stiff competition in the UK at the moment, with Cybook and Amazon both offering back-lit eReaders, as well as new cheaper tablets being launched from the big contenders Google, Amazon and Apple.

Related: REVIEW: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (Wi-Fi and 3G)

[Via Tech Digest]

Online retailer and king of the Kindle Amazon has revealed that, for the first time ever, more people are now buying eBooks from its website than printed books.

It's only been two years since Amazon introduced its first Kindle eReader device and in that time we've witnessed huge changes in the publishing industry, from ways established and up and coming authors release their work to ways the public choose to buy and consume them. According to The Guardian, Amazon customers are now buying more eBooks than both hardcover and paperback real life actual books combined. Figures released by Amazon today reveal that since the start of the year, for every 100 books sold from the site, customers downloaded 114 ebooks.

However, this shift doesn't necessarily mean that we're all ditching printed books in favour of modern Kindle equivalents (although we'd imagine a lot of you are), as Amazon also revealed that British Kindle owners are now buying four times as many books as they were before they owned the popular eReader. But are we all actually reading the eBooks we're downloading, or just filling up the Kindle in a spending frenzy because it's just so easy?

An Amazon spokeswoman told The Guardian:

"As soon as we started selling Kindles it became our bestselling product on Amazon.co.uk so there was a very quick adoption ... [And they] are buying four times more books prior to owning a Kindle.

"Generally there seems to be a love of a reading and a renaissance as a result of Kindle being launched."

Whether it's because they're small, convenient or hide our saucy/embarrassing/child-like reading habits, Kindles are clearly not the faddy gadgets many suggested they were around Christmas time, but if Amazon's recent stats are anything to go by it looks like they're taking pride of place in our front rooms, handbags and briefcases over the boring paperback.

Related: Fifty Shades Of I DON'T CARE: 10 Alternative eBooks fit for your Kindle

[Via Guardian Image via Annie Mole's Flickr]

You did it. It's OK. We all know.

We're human beings after all and if the rest of the nation is engrossed in a tacky, badly written piece of erotica then even the most defiant are going to eventually cave, take a sneek peak and see if it's really as filthy/life changing/incredible as they've been led to believe.

However, no matter how into the whole Christian Grey fantasy thing you may be, there comes a time when you realise that this just isn't right anymore. Whether it's the haphazard inclusion of exclamation marks that really grinds your gears, the fact you've spent so long reading about pretend sex you've forgotten that real life sex exists or just the use of the phrases "inner goddess" and "his considerable length", you need to move on and we're here to help you.

The problem with moving on from Fifty Shades of Grey is that so many people seem to love it because they know it's a little bit wrong to be reading erotica (can we call it erotica with terrible euphemisms like "his considerable length"?) on the bus or on the tube or in the canteen on their Kindles. Yeah we agree, that's a little sad. But if that's the case then what's going to fill the hole (sorry) that Fifty Shades of Grey will leave behind? Well, it'll have to be something just as filthy, shameful or embarrassing and failing that you could just try some actual porn:

Mills & Boon

If you're looking for a simple writing style, an abundance of strange adjectives and a healthy dose of fairly tame misogynistic fantasies then look no further than the ultimate in cheesy erotica and predictable romance from pretty much everything published by Mills & Boon.

You can download many of the Mills & Boon collection from Amazon for your Kindle and some are even free. Yes, that IS pretty indicative of the writing, plot, characters, etc.

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence

It may seem rather tame by today's standards but Lady Chatterley's Lover was banned, deemed an obscene publication and back in the day contained words that were considered completely "unprintable". The ultimate in early 1900s filth.

Available from Amazon for the Kindle for only 77p.

Bared To You: A Crossfire Novel by Sylvia Day

Another title that's high up on the most popular Kindle eBook charts right now, which is being hailed as "the next Fifty Shades of Grey". According to reviews it's the perfect remedy for those who have finished reading Fifty Shades (or FSoG for die-hard fans) and now feel like they've lost a limb or a lover and need another fix. The writing is marginally better, the sex scenes a little hotter and there's less awkward and immature inner monologue from the story's saucy female, Eva.

Available from Amazon for the Kindle for £3.49.

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey

For those who like what one reviewer describes as "a lovely erotic undercurrent" rather than anything too extreme in their reading material. Expect love, sex and sadness all set in some weird fantasy-like Middle Ages.

Available from Amazon for the Kindle for £5.41.

The Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A. N. Roquelaure / Anne Rice

A series of novels written by Anne Rice (Interview with a Vampire) under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure. It's one for the BDSM lovers and if you're looking for something a little more extreme you'll be happy to know that one reviewer said the characters "make Christian Grey look like a choir boy".

Available from Amazon.

Classic novels with FSoG sex scenes

If you thought Fifty Shades of Grey was bad, just wait until you read the number of literary classes that have been ripped apart so that Grey-style sex scenes can be added in for more "scorching passion." The novels that have been ruined amended include Northanger Abbey, Pride & Prejudice and Jane Eyre.

Available from Clandestine Classics for around £2 as eBooks.

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

Now we're not saying you should be ashamed of ever reading A Game of Thrones or being into the board games and the HBO series and the card game and the role playing game, but it has become a bit of a fantasy geek's favourite, so indulge in a bit of incest, battle and dragons from the safety of your Kindle.

Available from Amazon for the Kindle for £3.99.

Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer

Yeah, yeah, it's been and gone, it's only for kids, it sucks, Robert Pattinson GLITTERS for goodness sake, but if you've avoided it up until now and have only recently got your hands on a Kindle then that's the perfect excuse to get into it without anyone else EVER knowing.

Available from Amazon for £4.99.

There are also a tonne of great suggestions if you're into the whole erotica thing (but you're sick of Grey and his considerable length) in the comments section of 'Fifty Shades' of STFU over on BitchBuzz.

[Image via Mike Licht]

Research has found that Brits aren't just using eReaders because they're handy and compact, but because it's easier to disguise the filthy books they're reading.

eReaders may be a new big tech trend, super convenient to carry around and compact enough for the tiniest of bags, but according to a new study, many of us have them so we can disguise the fact we're reading erotic novels. Ahh, so that's why commuters get all hot and bothered on the tube.

The study, carried out by discount website MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, has found that 71% of people with an eReader said it was more convenient to read on the move, which is hardly surprising. However, 58% of Brits polled admitted that they use the device so that other people can't see what they're reading and 34% of those confessed that it's because they can devour erotic novels wherever they are without any shame. So considering we don't like to talk openly about sex much here in the UK we imagine that's much more like 60% or 80%.

Those polled were asked if there were any other genres they were keen to hide and a less lusty 57% said that they used their e-reader to disguise the fact that they were reading children's books, whilst 26% said they used theirs to disguise their insatiable sci-fi habit.

The survey was carried out in 2012 by www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk and 1,863 people with an eReader were polled.

[Image via Annie Mole]

A few months ago Amazon launched a service for Windows users that allowed them to quickly and easily send documents to their Kindle devices and now HOORAY there's a new app for Mac users that does the same thing. And the good news is it's even more simple.

Send to Kindle for Mac is a new application that allows Mac users and Kindle owners (you lucky little devils) to send documents to their devices by simply dragging and dropping them onto a dedicated icon in the Dock or within the app itself.

Kindle owners have always been able to send various files and documents to themselves from a computer, but it relies on you finding out your Kindle's email address and sending things over like a regular email. So this way there's no need to use an email client and it doesn't have to even go to your Kindle device either, you can send files to the Kindle app on your iPad or mobile phone too.

Once you've downloaded the app there are a tonne of new options to make it easier to send things Kindle's way, you can select 'print' from any Mac app and see the 'Send to Kindle' option, or when you're in Finder you can press 'control-click' on one or more documents and choose 'Send to Kindle' again.

If you're one of the many people who jumped on the Kindle bandwagon earlier in the year or got given one for Christmas and haven't really made the most of it yet, then being able to view documents as well as novels, magazines and blog posts could be the extra incentive to ensure you and your Kindle become BFFS.

Download Send to Kindle from Amazon for free.

Every few weeks some researcher comes out and says that we're a nation of celebrity gossip consumers, we don't read properly anymore and our attention spans are the same as a gnat's, so why then are 1.33 million more of us now in possession of a shiny new Kindle?

That's right, an estimated 1.33 million eReaders were unwrapped on Christmas day in Britain, with many referring to it as a "Kindle Christmas."

We're not suggesting everything on a Kindle is insightful and a joy to read, you can still download trashy eBooks and magazines, but they also open up a whole new world of easier (and often cheaper) access to all kinds of novels, reference books and news publications. So maybe we're not going to all get dumber and forget how to string together a sentence because of Twitter after all.

According to YouGov's Technology and Telecoms analysts, 1 in 40 adults received an eReader for Christmas (or bought one for themselves), with 92% of the devices being of Amazon's Kindle brand.

Despite the digital jump, the gift recieving demographics seem to fall in line with regular book buying habits, with 61% of Kinde's received by women, and over 55 year olds twice as likely as 18-24 year olds to receive one.

Check back soon for our top recommendations about how to carry, protect and look after your lovely little Kindle.

[Via our sister site Tech Digest]

We love Spotify here at Shiny HQ and spend far too much time putting together playlists to match our mood. Luckily it can sneakily be filed under research! There is an upbeat one, an indie one and an angry one...

Yet again the conversation moved on to music today and more precise motivational songs. We got onto this topic as we've just finished reading this new book called Stop Thinking Start Doing which is all about... well stop putting things off and following your dreams. If you want to do something but secretly fear you're never going to do it, whatever that might be, then this book might help you (it's only in paperback now but will be available on the Kindle very soon!)

So we set the Shiny team to the task of collating a motivational Spotify playlist for those times when you need a bit of uplifting music, whether it is a 20 mile jog in the freezing cold, keeping your blog up to date or just doing whatever it is you've been putting off for weeks.

Check out ShinyShiny's cheesetastic motivational Spotify playlist here.

Now the list is nowhere near complete so have a listen and let us know what is missing. And yes we are well aware that there are some cringe-worthy choices in there... Motivational music might make you cringe at times, but there is nothing like a bit of Bon Jovi or Survivor to lift your spirits.

Today high street favourite WHSmith announced it would be selling its first eReader range, the cutely named Kobo.

The popular stationery and book shop has added a new page to its website which claims it's been looking for the right fit for some time now and thinks Kobo is the best option for browsing, buying, reading and storing eBooks.

WHSmith now sells two versions of the new eReader, both with an anti-glare eInk screen and adjustable fonts, the touchscreen Kobo Touch, as well as the basic Kobo Wi-Fi,

Both eReaders will give users wireless access to the Kobo online store which has more than 2.2 million titles (1 million of which are apparently free) and it'll come pre-loaded with 100 classic titles too.

They look a little different to other eReaders on the market and although we can't quite decide whether we love or hate the pearlescent finish and quilted back, it's nice to see something that looks more unusual.

The devices will be available from the 17th of October and The Kobo Touch will be £109.99 and the Kobo Wi-Fi will be £89.99.

As you already know Amazon is set to ignite the tablet PC market with its very aggressively priced 7inch Kindle Fire.

As you already know too the Fire is US-only for now. There are however ways of getting your mitts on one when they arrive on November 15th. One is to grab one from eBay - cheapest price so far is a model with a buy now tag of £179.99 (plus a whopping £39.99 for postage).

The other is to buy one from Bundlebox, a company that specialises in getting US products like the Kindle Fire to the UK. BundleBox basically provides you with your personal USA parcel forwarding address. With your BundleBox address, you can shop at any USA website, using your BundleBox address as your delivery address. No one knows for certain if you'll be able to download apps or even access your Amazon content on it for now. But at the very least you'll be able to use the web browser.

Britons who bought the iPad before it launched in the UK were able to access some apps (essentially free ones and those designed for the iPhone) so maybe it will be the same for the Kindle.

Sony's new e-Reader, the Reader Wi-Fi or PRS-T1, has just been announced at IFA. Sony is dubbing it "the world's lightest e-Reader" and at a mere 168 grams no one's arguing with them just yet.

As well as being light, it's super thin at 8.9mm and boasts Wi-Fi connectivity alongside the ability to borrow ebooks directly and wirelessly from local libraries.

The e-Reader has an "enhanced" touchscreen, although we're not quite sure what that means just yet, as well as an even more advanced kind of E Ink Pearl electronic paper, for clearer reading.

Like Sony's older eReader model, the PRS-350, there's choice when it comes to colour (black, white or red) and according to Engadget, it'll be available in the UK and most of Europe at some point this year. Let's begin that Christmas list...

There's not been any definite indication of price just yet, but the PRS-T1 has popped up on the Sony website already, so expect it to follow soon.

[Via Engadget]

Hard at work on your novel? Angling for a book deal? Well now there's another place online where you can share your wise words with others. Movellas is a Danish based start up that has expanded its offering to include English language books. The format is simple - you write your novel - or at least part of it - upload it to the site and then share it with others on the site as well letting all your friends know via Twitter and Facebook.

It is not a new idea. In fact you can also upload your wise words to Figment, Protagonize, WeBook and WritersCafe too. Or there's also Amazon's self-publishing options too and Lulu also has an ebook facility.

The big question though is whether publishing your book online or creating an ebook will ever mean that your book is read by more than just a few like-minded literary fans. There are of course some very high profile examples of authors who hit the big time after self-publishing. Amanda Hocking's sold millions of ebook via Amazon which ultimately lead to her securing a big money deal with an established publisher. Similarly thriller writer John Locke recently announced he had sold over a million ebooks via Amazon and then produced another ebook, How I Sold 1 Million eBooks, to explain how he did it.

The bit that must start to worry the publishing industry is the plans of writers like Barry Eisler,who turned down a six-figure contract earlier this year as he felt he would make momnoey and have more flexibility if he published the books himself.

Eisler won't be the last either. There is something very attractive about not having to pay money to agents and publishers while at the same time not having someone pushing you to finish a book.

Which brings us neatly back to Movellas and its rivals. I do think it could turn into a kind of MySpace for books. That means two positive things. Firstly anyone who has an idea and can string a sentence together can share their content in the same way that bands do/used to do on MySpace, which is great as it gives would be writers a platform for their work. The sites then might yield a few high profile success stories as publishers pick up on new talent. Perhaps more likely will be people developing ideas and then self-publishing successful ebooks.

The book industry not surprisingly remains sceptical about self-publishing. One of the big criticisms of the format is that it negates the opportunity for an editor to brush up the author's manuscript. This is standard practice within the industry and I am sure that many thousand of novels have been massively improved in this way.

However what about the wisdom of the crowds. Could sites like Movellas mean that readers help shape the work of aspiring novelists? In some ways no one knows better than what is likely to sell and how books can be improved than by people who are likely to buy the books themselves.

E-readers don't fit very snugly in the back pocket now do they, but that may be set to change with the invention of the bendy e-reader.

Researchers at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan have figured out a way to make bendable electronics out of silk, with the potential of incorporating this into displays. The technology turns liquid silk into membranes that function as insulators for flexible thin-film transistors, and the inventors are now in talks about commercialising the system.

"We didn't know at first that it would be the best material, but after a few months of tests we realized it was quite viable," said university professor Hwang Jenn-Chang. "No one else has thought to try this, or at least no one else has succeeded."

A company called Eleksen a few years ago tried to make electronics controllers out of fabric, but failed to gain traction for the idea despite initial excitement. But technology changes quickly, so maybe the time has come to get bendy.

Sony has just announced that they are launching a reader for both iPhones and Android next month.

The app will bring the same functionality of the Sony eBook to your phone, and has a number of familiar features. You get access to books that you have already purchased from the reader store or can purchase new ones, as well as making bookmarks, notes and highlights on your mobile device.

The reader does not bring anything new to the table and is really just Sony's attempt to play catch up with competitor Amazon, who already has e-reading apps for the Android and iOS platforms .

What? you thought there already was a UK Kindle store? Well actually no there wasn't. Before today UK Kindle owners get routed to the US store when they wanted to buy books. They had to pay in dollars and they didn't have access to the full selection of titles available, only a smaller number that were importable to Britain.

That changes today as the UK Kindle store goes live.

It will mean pricing in pounds, a greater selection and access to some British books that wouldn't be on sale in the US store. We can expect Amazon to start opening country-specific stores all over the world.

Add in the Kindle store Android app that lets you import your books to your phone, and it would establish Kindle as the number one platform for book sale internationally. That's a left hook aimed straight at Apple.

If there's one thing Amazon know how to do well it's sell things internationally so this could see them become the dominant world platform for eBook sale.

These are some sample book prices from the UK Kindle store:

Below are Kindle book prices for a selection of Amazon.co.uk's current Bestsellers:

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest Stieg Larsson £2.70
The Help Kathryn Stockett £2.79
One Day David Nicholls £2.79
The Lost Symbol Dan Brown £3.41
The Legacy Katherine Webb £3.35
Eclipse Stephenie Meyer £3.14
I Shall Wear Midnight Terry Pratchett £8.54
Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex Eoin Colfer £5.84
Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert £3.58
The Third Man Peter Mandelson £11.25

Related: Amazon's new Kindle: cheaper & better

Techie gadgets are often seen as the preserve of the young and hyperactive. But eReaders could be really good for the older generation, even though they're the ones that probably are most attached to the paper and card format.

Apologies to the eagle-eyed, wired-up, Nexus One toting oldsters - but a couple of features on the new electronic readers like the Kindle could make them easier for more elderly readers. They could actually benefit more from the technology than younger people.

Advantages of the Kindle for older people:

Large Text. Of course, a pair of glasses will sort this out too, but one advantage of an electronic reader is that you can make the text as large as you like. If you need large text to read books then limited supplies of large text books in libraries does restrict you to quite a small selection.. An eReader means you can read whatever book you want in whatever size you want.

Text to Speech. The Kindle has an experimental text-to-speech feature which means that the Kindle can read you any English language book out loud. We're not saying it will be good, and of course will come across more like the robo voice on your GPS than like a good audio book, but it's still a nice option for those who tire of reading.

Then add in the e-Ink screens - which means reading from the screen should be as nice as reading off paper and the fact that you can download any book from a vast selection - not limiting you to the local library.

Commenter StephSchriff mentioned the benefits of the simple web browser on the Kindle too - for using as GPS or a quick reference point.

Someone with a smartphone would find that a bit less useful - we'd already have a GPS on the phone, but if, say, you didn't, it's a nice little extra. Bigger screen than the iPhone too..

[thanks to Richard of BBC Northumbria]

This new Kindle. It's half the price it was a month ago and going by the specs, it's way better. What can we say except that we're seriously considering it.

I only wish the exchange rate with the dollar were better so it dipped below £100. The two American versions are priced at $189 (with wifi+mobile internet on 3g) and $139 (just wifi) with the British ones coming in at £149 and £109.

The price drop significantly differentiates it from the iPad, which obviously has more functions but is several price brackets ahead at £429 for the cheapest model. However it's likely that the new cheap Kindle will hit smaller-name brands hardest, particularly where their main advantage was the price.

It's now £10 cheaper than the Barnes&Noble Nook for example.

Why's it better than the old Kindle? With the same screen size, it's smaller and lighter. Books will download quicker - in 60 seconds and pages turn quicker. The battery lasts longer, Amazon promises up to a month if you keep the wifi receivers off and

There's now a web-browsing kit onboard too which will let you look at websites on the easy read screen, read articles for example.

Quick specs:
All-New, High-Contrast E-Ink Screen - 50% better contrast than any other e-reader
New Sleek Design - 21% smaller body while keeping the same 6" size reading area
17% Lighter - Only 241 grams, weighs less than a paperback
Battery Life of One Month - A single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off
Double the Storage - Up to 3,500 books
Built-In Wi-Fi - Connect at home or on the road
Books in 60 Seconds - Download books anytime, anywhere
20% Faster Page Turns - Seamless reading
Enhanced PDF Reader - With dictionary lookup, notes, and highlights
New WebKit-Based Browser - Browse the web over Wi-Fi (experimental)

New Kindle released on 27th August, £139, register on Amazon.co.uk

We may be lukewarm about them over here, but eReaders could revolutionise education in Africa.

A batch of Kindles has been shipped out to a school in Ghana as part of a test by Worldreader.org, a European charity that aims to use Western technology to boost literacy in tropical and third world countries.

When it comes to teaching classes in this Ghanian school, Kindles have big advantages.

1) Kindles are capable of holding up to 1500 digital books. Instead of buying several different text books per student, it can hold books for different subjects and different classes. More for less money.

2) Books can be kept up to date because of the digital download facility.

3) Textbooks can reach new audiences and books by local authors, often in local languages can be read and used. Paper publishing costs make that difficult.

4) Long battery life and negligble amount of electricity needed to charge mean it's a practical gadget

The founders of Worldreader.org believe that e-readers could follow the example of mobile phone which have leapfrogged landlines in developing countries.

Worldreader.org say: the initial Kindle e-readers for the trial phase have been donated by Amazon. However, in order to progress the project, worldreader.org believes that the critical price for the e-readers would need to be around $75 and the foundation is actively seeking corporate partners to help subsidise the cost of the early units.

See also: