Amazon updated its Kindle application for iOS devices on Wednesday with support for PDF files as well as newspaper and magazine subscriptions. A Kindle user can now email a file to his or her Send-to-Kindle address and then access it from within the application, and the app will open Adobe PDF files sent to a computer through iTunes, from Safari or directly from an email account. Amazon also added support for viewing more than 400 newspaper and magazine subscriptions inside the application. The UI for reading periodicals was completely redesigned for the iPad, and it allows users to read newspapers, magazines and print replica text books the way they were meant to be read. The iPhone and iPod touch app also features a redesigned library for quick access to the Newsstand, Kindle Books and Docs. Ars Technica noticed however, that The New York Times currently limits its subscriptions to hardware Kindle devices only, which means anyone who pays for a subscription to that newspaper may have trouble loading it on an iOS device. The update is live now and is available for free from the iTunes App Store.

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Adobe announced on Wednesday that its Digital Publishing Suite will offer support for Apple’s Newsstand feature in iOS. Newsstand will allow users to purchase popular newspapers and magazines directly from their iOS device. “With more than 600 titles created to date, the industry-leading Adobe Digital Publishing Suite includes full support for Newsstand subscriptions, which can significantly boost sales and advertising revenue by combining greater content discoverability with flexible payment options required by readers,” Adobe said in a statement. The company noted that publishers will be able to use Digital Publishing Suite to build Newsstand applications as soon as Apple releases iOS 5 and launches its Newsstand application. Read on for the full press release from Adobe.

Publishers To Create Newsstand-enabled Applications with Full Support for Subscriptions

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Sept. 7, 2011 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that publishers will be able to use Adobe® Digital Publishing Suite to create magazine and newspaper applications that appear in the Apple Newsstand section of the iTunes App Store and the Newsstand folder on the iPad. With more than 600 titles created to date, the industry-leading Adobe Digital Publishing Suite includes full support for Newsstand subscriptions, which can significantly boost sales and advertising revenue by combining greater content discoverability with flexible payment options required by readers.

As a true cross-platform solution, content owners can use Adobe Digital Publishing Suite to target their new digital editions at iPad, Android tablets and BlackBerry Playbook devices.

“Digital Publishing Suite support for Newsstand will provide Adobe’s publishing customers the ability to deliver engaging content directly to the digital doorstep of subscribers on their iPads,” said Todd Teresi, vice president and general manager, Media Solutions, Adobe. “Adobe technology is fundamental to the transformation taking place across publishing and now readers will be able to easily obtain their magazine and newspaper subscriptions in one location and get access to the latest issue as soon as it is published, further accelerating magazine adoption on tablet devices.”

Publishers will be able to use Digital Publishing Suite to create files that are detected by Newsstand and automatically downloaded to the Newsstand shelf, eliminating long download times which can present a barrier to reading content on iPad devices. Applications built with Adobe Digital Publishing Suite and enabled for Newsstand will allow publishers to better merchandise their content with support for Newsstand push notifications and icon covers displayed on the Newsstand shelf, reflecting the latest issue of the magazine or newspaper.

“Tablet devices are changing publishing forever and Adobe Creative Suite® 5.5 software and Adobe Digital Publishing Suite helped us deliver an outstanding product in a new digital format,” said Emin Kadi, publisher and creative director at fashion and design magazine, Clear. “Now, with full support for iOS 5 Newsstand subscriptions, we will be able to further monetize our digital editions and make our content more discoverable.”

Adobe Digital Publishing Suite
Launched in 2010, Adobe Digital Publishing Suite is available in both Enterprise and Professional editions, targeting a wide range of business and media publishers. These hosted solutions allow business publishers, media publishers and advertisers to create immersive reading experiences that combine the visual impact of print design; the flexibility of the tablet format; the immediacy of touch interaction; and the engagement of interactive elements such as video, audio, animated infographics, and 360-degree views. Adobe Digital Publishing Suite tightly integrates with Adobe InDesign® CS5.5 and Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 software, empowering designers with industry‐standard page layout capabilities to create highly designed, engaging digital content that includes a new class of interactivity.

Availability
Publishers will be able to use Digital Publishing Suite to build applications enabled for Newsstand soon after Apple releases iOS 5 and the Newsstand application.

Additional information about Digital Publishing Suite is available at www.adobe.com/digitalpublishing and on the Digital Publishing blog. Connect with the team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/adobedigitalpub and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/adobedigitalpub.

Amazon has updated its Kindle for iOS application with support for magazine and newspaper subscriptions. iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users can now browse, purchase, and read from more than 100 newspapers and magazines, complete with high resolution color photos, and the company confirmed that more content is on its way. Amazon customers with existing subscriptions can find recent issues under the “Archived Items” menu inside the application. The update also removes Amazon’s Kindle Store button from the the app now allows users to share quotes and passages with Facebook and Twitter friends. Kindle for iOS version 2.8 is available in the iTunes App Store for free.

Barnes & Noble announced on Friday that it has updated NOOK for Android eReader application with access to newspapers and magazines. Users with 7-inch 800 x 480 resolution tablets running Android OS 2.1 and higher — that includes the Galaxy Tab, Galaxy Tab 10.1, XOOM, G-Slate, and others — can now view more than 120 magazines including popular periodicals such as Esquire, Maxim, Rolling Stone, and Popular Science, as well as national newspapers such as USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The Chicago Tribune. Users can choose to access the content with a free 14-day trial, a subscription, or by purchasing issues individually. The update is free and should be available in the Android Market now. Hit the jump for the full release.

Barnes & Noble Updates NOOK™ for Android™ App, Gives Tablet Users Access to Largest Digital Periodical Offering on Android

More than 140 NOOK Newsstand™ Titles Including Interactive Magazines
with Exclusive ArticleView™ Now Available to Android Tablet Customers

Optimized Reading Experience for Most 7-Inch and Larger Tablets
Including Honeycomb

Free App Now Available in Android Market, V CAST Apps,
Samsung Apps, GetJar, and AppsLib

New York, New York – May 13, 2011 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, today announced an updated version of its popular, free NOOK for Android eReading application that brings the most comprehensive selection of digital periodicals to customers with Android™ tablets including more than 140 top magazine and newspaper brands from ESPN The Magazine and The Economist to Food & Wine and Us Weekly. To take advantage of large and extra large, high-resolution Android tablet screens, NOOK for Android now offers customers an optimized library grid view and reading experience with enhanced book margins and line spacing, aswell as an improved shopping experience and more. The new app features are available for popular 7-inch and larger tablets using Android OS 2.1 and higher (Honeycomb).

Today’s announcement marks the largest digital newsstand offering for Android tablet customers to date, with more than 140 of the best daily, weekly and monthlyperiodicals, all optimized for high-resolution displays in rich color. Barnes & Noble’s interactive NOOK Magazine™ experience, previouslyavailable only to NOOK Color™ Reader’s Tablet™ customers, is now available to the Android tablet community, featuring more than 120 popular titles such as Esquire, Maxim, Men’s Health, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, Popular Science, PC Magazine, Elle, O, The Oprah Magazine, Travel + Leisure and many more. NOOK for Android customers with large tablets can also enjoyfavorite NOOK Newspapers™ including USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and The Chicago Tribune. All can be enjoyed with a 14-day free trial, via subscription or purchased in single issue form.

With NOOK for Android on larger tablets, magazine reading is easy and engaging with full-color pages in landscape and portrait mode, and Barnes & Noble’s exclusive ArticleView technology (formerly available only on NOOK Color) which features only the article’s text, customized to the reader’s favorite style, on a central panel on the display. NOOK Magazines also feature a universal, easy-to-use reading experience with a slider to jump to the desired page, pinch and zoom to enlarge images and more.

“With our free, updated NOOK for Android application, we’re delivering customers with Android tablets a great optimized reading experience and access to the largest ever collection of interactive magazines, as well as top newspapers, all optimized for high-resolution displays,” said Jamie Iannone, President of Digital Products at Barnes & Noble. “Using their Android tablets, customers can enjoy our collection of more than two million digital books, as well as their morning paper and latest magazines,delivered right to their device through their NOOK for Android app, for an amazing periodical experience which includes our innovative ArticleView feature.”

NOOK Newsstand and the optimized book reading experience on NOOK for Android will be available for customers using 7-inch and larger Android OS 2.1 and higher (Honeycomb) tablets with 800 x 480 (160 DPI or less) or higher screen resolution, and include Samsung Galaxy Tab™, Motorola XOOM™, LGG-Slate™ and ARCHOS internet tablets, among others. NOOK for Android customers on smartphones will also enjoy minor performance enhancements.

NOOK for Android gives customers with Android smartphones and tablets access to Barnes & Noble’s expansive NOOK Bookstore™, one of the world’s largest digital content catalogs, with the most NOOK Books™ priced at $9.99 or less. As part of Barnes & Noble’s promise to “Read What You Love, Anywhere You Like™,” customers can enjoy NOOK Books from their Barnes & Noble digital library on their NOOK Color, NOOK eReader devices and mobile and computing devices using free NOOK eReading software or apps.

Expanded App Availability
To make it easy for Android smartphone and tablet customers to find and download the free NOOK for Android app, Barnes & Noble has expanded availability for the free app to include Android Market, V CAST Apps from Verizon Wireless, Samsung Apps, GetJar, and AppsLib, with more to come. NOOK for Android willalso be pre-loaded or made available in future firmware upgrades for some of the current leading and highly anticipated Android tablets coming to market. Customers can learn more about NOOK for Android v2.6.1 at www.bn.com/nookforandroid.

According to Mr. Hugh Hefner’s Twitter account, his company’s iconic Playboy magazine will be coming to Apple’s iPad, beginning in March, uncensored. Since the launch of the iPhone, Apple has been fairly strict in keeping adult materal off of its digital content store. The two tweets we’re referencing read:

Big news! Playboy–both old & new–will be available on iPad beginning in March.

and in a reply to a follower’s question:

@hughmcook Playboy on iPad will be uncensored, Hugh.

This is not the magazine’s first attempt to take advantage of the digital lifestyle consumers are embracing. Several months ago, Playboy began selling an external hard drive, priced at around $300, that contained a complete digital catalog of all Playboy publications from 1953 to 2010. Any gentlemen out there plan on subscribing to the iPad version of Playboy for… you know… the articles?Read

The upset of the year is not happening on the ice or the gridirons, instead it is happening over at Time’s website. Believe it or not but a poll over at Time.com has the Peek Email device leading the list as the top gadget of 2008.  Not the sleek Flip Mino portable video camcorder, the iPod Touch, the MacBook, or the many other fantastic products that are among Time’s options, it is the Peek that is the fave amongst the Time respondents. You remember the Peek. It is that email only device that runs on T-Mobile’s EDGE network and provides unlimited email access for $20 per month. It is not just slightly ahead of the competition either. It is mopping the floor with them, garnering almost as many votes as the iPod Touch and the MacBook combined.  We’re going to reserve comment on this one and turn it over to you readers. What do think? Is the Peek really the gadget of the year or this a case of some wild online ballot stuffing? Chime in and let us know if the Peek’s rightful place is atop Time’s list, or if Time readers are crazy and the Peek belongs somewhere back around 1998.

[Thanks, Horatio!]

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