Amazon has filed several patents that reveal possible realities coming soon to Kindle, their popular (and expensive) e-book reader.

The abstract says:

Access to an electronic version of a physical work is provided to a user. The electronic version of the physical work comprises images of the physical work that, when visually displayed, appear the same as the physical work. Access to the electronic version of the physical work is based on user ownership of the physical work. Access to a portion or all of the physical work may be provided in accordance with one or more access rules. A user may own a physical work by virtue of purchasing the physical work or purchasing an item that the physical work normally accompanies. A flag may be set for later reference to indicate user ownership of the physical work.

In simple terms, if you purchase a physical book from Amazon, then you’d also get a free electronic version of the same book for your Kindle, albeit littered with ads to either significantly reduce the cost or make it free altogether.

It’s not a bad idea, though I would rather see e-books offered for free without the need of purchasing an actual, physical copy. Ad-supported books may seem like the beginning of the end for human culture, but if Amazon can work it so more people are reading without going bankrupt, then that is something I can get behind.

More details at CNet.

Another week, another royal screw-up at Apple when it comes to fairly approving submitted iPhone apps. In this week’s episode we have Eucalyptus, a new e-book reader that specializes in accessing public domain works, much like Stanza, which is popular and long-approved. Why was Eucalyptus refused entry? Prepare yourself:

Because you can download a Victorian-era translated edition of the Kama Sutra. What’s extremely important here is that Eucalyptus doesn’t ship with a copy of the book. Instead, the user would have to search for the book and initiate a download. You know, like how Stanza works. With this logic, Apple should be pulling their own Safari browser off the iPhone as you could potentially type  ‘midget porn’ into Google search.

This whole debacle is well-documented at the developer’s site. He’s quite upset, having spent a year of his life on the project and he has every right to be. Apple needs to get their act together.

Head here for the full story.

If you own an iPhone and don’t want to shell out ungodly sums of money for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader, then you’ll want to grab the Kindle app for iPhone that came out a few weeks ago. While it was a pretty nifty app, it needed a few cosmetic and functionality improvements, and that’s exactly what has occurred, as Amazon has released version 1.1.

What’s new? Well, the biggest improvement is the app’s ability to rotate into landscape mode for those of you who prefer wide margins. You’ll also find a new color scheme with the ability to change text colors for improved low-light reading. Additionally, you can tap either side of the screen to turn pages and use the good ole pinch technique to zoom in on images.

Best of all, the app is free, though you still have to pay for the books.

Get it here!