Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), which almost never appears at industry conferences unless it is doing the hosting, will exhibit this year at BookExpo America, the largest trade book fair in the United States. The company has a large booth in a prime location, next door to Scholastic and in the same area as major publishers including Random House, Disney (NYSE: DIS) Book Group and Macmillan. BEA’s website notes that Apple will be represented by Scott Simpson from Apple’s iBookstore.

Looks like Apple is beginning to be more assertive in promoting their iBookstore. All in all, I think this is a good thing - especially in the face of strong ebook performance from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

I love my iPad, but I still find myself purchasing most of my ebooks from Amazon simply because they provide more flexibility. With Amazon, I can read the same book on either my Kindle, iPad, iPhone or desktop computer. This convenience means a lot as there is typically little or no difference in the price of the book.

It will be interesting to see what kind of value story that Apple can give to iBooks to overcome the buy once, read anywhere campaign that Amazon uses.

It is true. Kong is dead.

There were a few moments of George in a spare office yesterday, cleaning up the last bits and inserting a few new bits in longhand, while I typed the changes into the electronic files, but we are honestly and officially done.

And there is MUCH rejoicing!

Thanks to Anne Groell for the update on the Suvudu.com website.

Enough said.

Many of our partners will immediately receive inquiries about this new program, so here is a brief introduction into what can be expected when the program launches:

The Kindle Library Lending program will integrate into your existing OverDrive-powered ‘Virtual Branch’ website.

Your existing collection of downloadable eBooks will be available to Kindle customers. As you add new eBooks to your collection, those titles will also be available in Kindle format for lending to Kindle and Kindle reading apps. Your library will not need to purchase any additional units to have Kindle compatibility. This will work for your existing copies and units.

A user will be able to browse for titles on any desktop or mobile operating system, check out a title with a library card, and then select Kindle as the delivery destination. The borrowed title will then be able to be enjoyed using any Kindle device and all of Amazon’s free Kindle Reading Apps.

The Kindle eBook titles borrowed from a library will carry the same rules and policies as all our other eBooks.

The Kindle Library Lending program will support publishers’ existing lending models.

Your users’ confidential information will be protected.

The Kindle Library Lending program is only available for libraries, schools, and colleges in the United States.

On Overdrive's blog website, Karen Estrovich provides this summary of the Kindle Library Lending program resulting from the partnership between Overdrive and Amazon. This certainly is a huge step forward for Amazon and adds value to an already strong product.

It's nice to see that the institutions utilizing OverDrive for their lending platform will not have any major hurdles to jump in activating Kindle lending for their users. However, one of my concerns here is whether library catalogs will be enlarged to accommodate the new influx of users this will create.

My experience with ebook lending is that there can be extremely long waits for popular titles. A dramatic increase of people in the queue would likely exacerbate an already annoying problem. Let's hope as usage goes up, libraries will be able to increase the number of ebook copies they have available.

Barnes & Noble released a significant update for its NookColor e-reader. With it, Apple may finally have a worthy tablet competitor at an amazing price point.

With its Version 1.2 update, the $249 NookColor includes Android OS 2.2/Froyo, which offers full Adobe Flash Player Support. The device comes with its own Nook Apps store, which includes many of the most popular apps already available for iDevice owners. These include Angry Birds, Pulse News, and Epicurious Recipes.

At its price point, the NookColor offers customers, for the first time, an economical alternative to the higher-priced iPad. The fact that it includes, on day one, apps from developers already using iOS shouldn’t be discounted. It shows that the market may be ready for a cheaper tablet.

Barnes and Noble has been able to add a lot of new functionality to their device while keeping the price point the same. It's going to be really interesting to see how this plays out. Clearly, the Nook Color has already done well in the high-end eReader market. Adding tablet functionality is going to make this device appeal to an even broader group of consumers.

However, I don't think it likely that this upgrade is going to make the NookColor a real contender with the Apple iPad. It will, though, likely push it to the top in it's niche eReader space for the immediate future. I suspect this will also provide additional motivation to Amazon to get a similar color-based, app driven, eReader to the market sooner rather than later.

Albert Einstein once said: “The most beautiful thing we can experience in life is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: for his eyes are closed.”

This thought seemed appropriate for the kind of day I was having. Sometimes it's good to take a step back from all the routine tasks that demand so much of our attention and take a moment to reflect on the mysterious. More often than not it's the intangible things in life that give us so much of our contentment. Let's not forget to appreciate that this week.