Kobo

Hey everyone, it's Michael here from GoodieReader.com and we have a number of major stories to get into today from Amazon, Pocketbook, Kobo, Onyx Books, and a myriad of others.

Our major story is the price increase on the Amazon Kindle product line.

Amazon has raised prices on its Kindle e-readers.

Not only is this the new reality for USA customers and all of Amazon's distribution partners such as Best Buy, but prices have risen internationally in countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom.

Amazon is not the only company to change their pricing in 2026.

Major manufacturer Kobo increased price hikes ranging from $10 to $30.

Onyx Books did something similar earlier this year as well.

Do ad-supported Kindles make sense now? With basic hardware now starting at $149, saving 13% by having lock screen advertisements feel less acceptable to buyers, especially when competitors like Kobo offer feature-rich alternatives.

We are going to be talking about reading specifically.

I have gotten the Kobo.

Is it the Libra color? Is the name of the thing? It's pretty new.

Clara color.

Yeah.

Yeah, the Libra is the wide one, the wider one.

So yeah, the Kobo Clara color was my e-reader of choice.

And since we recorded the last episode, which was last week, I have officially finished my paperback book that I was reading, which was Chain Gang All-Stars.

So literally, there's these things in the Lentz book where he talks about Gene's going up to strangers and pulling out a Polaroid book of naked women that he had fucked on tour.

Being like, hey, Janine from Kobo, check her out.

Melissa from Albuquerque, look at this one.

And it became like a thousand photos of Polaroids of who he had fucked on tour.

Overall, the discussion reflected a mix of intrigue and worry about systemic neglect and signal security issues.

Title: Kobo can run apps now.

Source: vanderlabs.github.io.

The post announced Cobalt, an open-source platform that allows Kobo e-readers to run apps and access an app store over Wi-Fi.

It includes a Rust SDK, a runtime that isolates app processes, and a signing system for app verification.

Users can install, update, and remove apps on their Kobo devices, and rebooting restores the original firmware.

The article explained the technical setup, supported apps, SDK features, and safety considerations, emphasizing that it keeps the device in a stock state when rebooted and does not modify the boot chain.

In the comments, the community was mostly supportive but divided on the usefulness of turning e-readers into multipurpose devices.

They've got on the wings there, and this is their starting back five.

On the wings there, you've got Kobo and Asako.

Now Asako is going to go to Melbourne next year.

And then you've got Bostock and Farnworth.

And what's very nice, it helps larger property hosts reach families, groups, looking for homes that can accommodate everyone by keeping availability sync through our hospitable tool.

If you go down to it, we have another channel slash direct booking is Kobo.

Kobo is focused in Siargao in the Philippines, but they are already expanding rapidly to the rest of the market in the Philippines.

And it helps hosts reach more travelers and generate additional bookings outside of the traditional OTAs.

And while the hospitable integration keeps availability synchronized across the channels, so it reduces manual work and also avoids double booking, what we all like.

But I'm sure he's done a bit of that, to be honest.

'Cause that's when his first Kobo broke.

Yeah, yeah.

[laughs]

Yeah.

You know, he's a bit of a diminished man when his Kobo's not working.

It's true.

It's a sad life without a Kobo.