iBookStore

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

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.

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

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.

OS X Yosemite Interactive Starter Guide

Looking for a a quick way to get up to speed on all of OS X Yosemite's most outstanding features? Our OS X Yosemite Interactive Starter Guide is a visual tool to help you become quickly acclimated with some of Yosemite’s most notable new additions, improvements, and changes.

Each item showcased includes a hand-crafted video walkthrough with guided voice over. More importantly, it’s designed to be easily digestible.

You may have noticed that over the past few weeks, we've posted excerpts from the guide right here on iDB. In fact, you can read all of its excerpts by visiting the guide's tag page. Of course, you also have the option to buy the OS X Yosemite Interactive Starter Guide directly from the iBooks store for only $0.99. Not only do you get a guide that you can take with you and reference while offline, but you also get to support iDB in the process. It's a win-win scenario. Check inside for more details.

Apple releases iBooks version of its ‘iOS Human Interface Guidelines’

Last night, Apple published an iBooks version of its 'iOS Human Interface Guidelines.' The move is notable because until now you could only access the user interface guidelines for iOS 7 via the developer portal, which required a $99-per-year membership.

For those unfamiliar with the document, the guidelines are essentially Apple's suggestions to developers for designing their iOS applications. The goal is to ensure that all 3rd party apps share similar UI principles, so that they're both cohesive and intuitive...

How to set up an iTunes and App Store allowance

I recently found out there is a feature in iTunes that allows you to set up an allowance for someone to have access to a pre-determined amount of money to spend each month in the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBooks Store.

A perfect illustration of this feature would be the case where parents would be able to set up an allowance for their kids. This way, kids have access to a credit they can spend each month, either on apps, movies, musics, books, etc.

In this post, I will show you how to set up an iTunes allowance so you can send a monthly iTunes Store credit to anyone...

Apple enables gifting for iBooks in time for the holidays

If digital books are on your Christmas shopping list, then you'll be happy to hear that you can now do at least part of your shopping in Apple's iBookstore. The company has enabled gifting for iBooks just in time for the holidays.

Gifting in the iBookstore works exactly like it does in Apple’s iTunes and App Stores. Once you've chosen the book you’d like to gift, then simply tap on the drop-down arrow next to the price on your Mac, or the Share button in iOS...

New Jony Ive bio book hits iBooks Store, here are juicy bits

I've been following Leander Kahney for quite some time now, going all the way back to his Wired and The Guardian years. Kahney now runs the Cult of Mac Apple blog and he's already published three books about technology and Apple's culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs, Cult of Mac about the creation of the Mac and Cult of iPod which chronicles how Apple's music player came to be.

Building on the experiences in writing these books, Kahney has now taken a crack at demystifying Apple's arguably most powerful executive after Tim Cook, the guy who put sexiness in Apple's gadgets and flattened all your icons - 46-year-old British industrial designer Sir Jonathan Ive.

I've skimmed through the book and cherry-picked a few interesting anecdotes...

Apple patents new iBooks gifting choice

Unlike other media Apple sells, such as music and video, you've not been able to gift e-books - until now (perhaps). As we head into the holiday season, the iPhone maker has filed for a patent on sending to friends the e-books you've already purchased through the iBookstore. The patent filing would enable you to select a passage in an e-book that reminds you of someone, then gift the book, complete with a personalize message...

Apple updates iBookstore for authors with larger in-book images and more

Apple sent out an email to authors and publishers last night, announcing that it has updated the iBookstore with a number of backend improvements including versioning support and increased pixels limits for book images.

While the changes won't be readily noticeable to iBooks users, they will eventually lead to an enhanced shopping experience once content providers begin utilizing them in their content. We've got more details after the fold...

Apple posts iOS 7 user guides for the iPad and iPod touch

With each new iOS release, Apple typically makes available the accompanying user guide through the Manuals section of its website. With the advent of iBooks and the iBookstore, the company started reformatting these manuals for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices, making them available as free downloads on the iBookstore.

As we count the remaining hours until today's iOS 7 release, we've just spotted the official iOS 7 manual on the iBookstore...

In proposed settlement, customers could receive up to $3 per e-book downloaded

While much recent discussion regarding Apple's guilty verdict on e-book price-fixing charges, we're now getting the first glimpse at how consumers may benefit. Based on a proposed $162.25 million fund established by the five publishers who earlier settled, consumers could receive up to $3.06 per New York Times bestselling e-book they downloaded to their iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

The exact amount depends on whether your purchased e-book was listed on the NYT bestseller list, with a smaller $0.73 disbursed if your e-book did not make it on the list...

Publishers file objection to DoJ’s e-book settlement proposal on Apple’s behalf

The Wall Street Journal is reporting this evening that the five book publishers who settled with the US government in the e-book antitrust case have filed an objection with the court on Apple's behalf.

In the filing, the companies argue that the Department of Justice's settlement proposal for Apple, which it submitted last week, would violate their settlement agreements they had before the trial began...