Books

iBooks is offering exclusive sneak peek from upcoming ‘Becoming Steve Jobs’ biography

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 22, 2015

The new Steve Jobs biography by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli is launching on iBooks this Tuesday and Apple is now offering an exclusive sneak peek into the prologue and first chapter, including Schlender's first interview with Jobs when he moved to NeXT, as noted yesterday be the official iBooks Store account on Twitter.

'Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader' should appeal to everyone who — like CEO Tim Cook — felt that Walter Isaacson's official biography did Apple's legendary co-founder a great disservice.

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Interesting excerpts from ‘Becoming Steve Jobs,’ upcoming Apple-endorsed biography

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 17, 2015

Penned by the The Wall Street Journal and Fortune reporter Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, Executive Editor with Fast Company, ‘Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader’ is slated for release on March 24 and already whole sections have been posted online. Endorsed by Apple execs, it's fairest portrayal of the famous inventor who co-founded and led Apple to become the world's top corporation.

Unlike Walter Isaacson's much maligned biography, Becoming Steve Jobs offers an insight into the side of Steve Jobs you didn't know: kind, patient and human.

Leaked excerpts offer Tim Cook's reflections on working for such a demanding boss, the secret projects they discussed doing and not doing, tidbits on Jobs' thought process and the events leading up to Jobs's passing on October 5, 2011, including the story of Cook offering to give Jobs his liver.

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EU rules e-books can’t be subject to lower taxes

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 5, 2015

The top court of the European Union has determined that e-books shouldn't be treated like their printed counterparts when it comes to taxes and therefore should be subject to higher tax rates, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

“But the European Commission signaled it may change the rules next year to allow for equal taxation of books in any form,” reads the report.

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Pre-order ‘Becoming Steve Jobs,’ a new book on Apple and its mercurial co-founder

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 2, 2015

Though it may seem the world doesn't really need another book on Steve Jobs, I beg to differ given Walter Isaacson's disappointing biography on Apple's famous co-founder and late CEO.

Written by the The Wall Street Journal and Fortune reporter Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, Executive Editor with Fast Company, Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader promises to be the Steve Jobs book that true fans deserve.

Scheduled to arrive on March 24 via Crown Publishing Group, it's now available for pre-order over at Apple's iBooks Store or Amazon's Kindle Store for $15.

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Apple puts into effect 14-day return policy on digital purchases in Europe

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 29, 2014

Apple typically handles refunds of digital purchases on a case-by-case basis and with an “All Sales Final” provision. But now, Apple's reportedly switched to a 14-day return policy for movies, TV shows, music, books and apps in most European markets, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and France, German blog iFun.de [Google Translate] reported Monday.

Apple's updated policy in these countries states that customers can now cancel their digital purchase within fourteen days from when they received their receipt “without giving any reason,” with the exception of iTunes Match, Season Pass, Multi-Pass and iTunes Gift Cards and Allowances that can't be refunded once you have redeemed the code or activated the service.

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Apple promoting music, movies, TV shows and books via new iTunes blog on Tumblr

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 22, 2014

As first noted by 9to5Mac, Apple has expanded its social presence with a brand new blog dedicated to iTunes content and hosted on Yahoo-owned Tumblr platform.

Now available at the itunes.tumblr.com URL, the blog highlights a curated selection of movies, television shows, music and books carried on the iTunes Store.

A special emphasis is given to Apple's Best of 2014 charts that were published on iTunes last week. If memory serves me well, this is Apple's second official blog on Tumblr following odd iPhone 5c web adds and Tumblr presence which was supposed to resonate with the blog platform's younger audience.

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Massive Kindle update adds Book Browser on iPad, Goodreads integration and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 15, 2014

Just in time for the holidays, Amazon on Monday issued a massive update to its Kindle mobile client for the iOS platform, bringing out integration with the Goodreads recommendation engine, an all new Book Browser allowing iPad users to retrieve additional information about the books with personalized book sample suggestions to download and read.

Other highlights of this update include the ability to start playing Audible audiobooks as they're downloading with progressive playback, book details in the Library, the Next In Series information and so forth.

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Apple posts iTunes Best of 2014 charts

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

Like in years past, Apple ahead of the holidays published its list of the best and most popular apps, movies, TV shows, music and books available on iTunes. In the category of the top paid iPhone app, Heads Up! came in first. Facebook's Messenger is Apple's top free iPhone app and Clash of Clans emerged as the top grossing iPhone app, respectively. On the iPad side, Minecraft, YouTube and Clash of Clans have been rated as the App Store's top paid, free and grossing apps, respectively.

Without further ado, here's the rest of Apple's most popular apps and media in 2014.

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Amazon updates Kindle for iOS with in-app support for Audible content

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Amazon today issued a nice little update to its Kindle iOS app to make it easier to enjoy Audible content.

Previously, listening to Audible audio books required opening a separate apps, but the new Kindle version 4.3 for the iPhone and iPad now includes support for Audible content.

As a result, you can listen to Kindle books enriched with their respective audio companions right within the Kindle app itself.

Audible, for those unfamiliar with it, is owned by Amazon. Your changelog and additional information can be found right after the break...

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Designer’s book ‘Keep it Simple’ highlights early Apple phone and tablet prototypes

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

In a follow-up to his 2012 book 'Design Forward,' industrial designer Hartmut Esslinger released 'Keep it Simple' late last year. The book talks about the collaboration between Esslinger and Steve Jobs during the mid-80s, which led to the creation of several iconic Apple products.

For a little context, Esslinger founded the design firm 'Frog' in 1969, which was contracted by Apple in 1982. Most notably, the firm developed the 'Snow White' design language for Cupertino company, but it was also responsible for designer a number of lesser known prototypes...

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Eddy Cue calls out inaccuracy in new post-Jobs Apple book

Cody Lee ∙ March 19, 2014

Early reviews are out for former WSJ writer Yukari Kane’s new book on post-Jobs Apple: 'Haunted Empire' ($14.99 in the iBooks Store), and they aren't good. Many readers believe that Kane fails to make her obvious preconceived point that Apple is doomed, and doesn't even appear to try.

Even Tim Cook had something to say about the book, telling CNBC yesterday that "this nonsense belongs with some of the other books I’ve read about Apple." And today, another executive has spoken out. SVP Eddy Cue says that the epic 'pen' story Kane tells in her book never happened...

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