Amazon has rolled out an update to their iOS application today. Along with being able to view the books in portrait mode, you’re now able to view two pages at a time when the iPad is held in landscape mode. You know, kind of like a real book. We’re a little bit surprised that it has taken this long for the application to do it, but what can you do.
The landscape is cool and all, but the big news is that the Kindle App now comes with “Book Extras,” which are a glorified cheat sheet for the digital age. Books now come with character lists, plot summaries, and series information. Heck, you can even turn on a spoiler mode that will drop you upcoming plot hints. Somewhere students are devising new ways to cheat on their Lit exams.
The Book Extras feature isn’t available on all Kindle books yet, but it’s probably only a matter of time before Amazon starts rolling out their Shelfari.com services in its entirety. If you’re the type of person who thinks that the iBooks and Kindle lack social features, you’re going to want to pay attention over the next couple of years. Shelfari is a social network for people who love books, and Amazon owns them. It looks like Shelfari could be Amazon’s Ping. It’s shaping up to be quite an interesting year for book readers and the digital devices they choose to read their e-books on.
