Amazon has directly challenged the iPad in their latest commercial. The premise of the ad is that a man cannot read his iPad in direct sunlight due to the glossy screen whereas a women with a Kindle can read perfectly fine. There is also the suggestion Amazon believes the iPad is too expensive. Click here to view the commercial for yourself.

While the problem is a real problem (trust me, it can be very frustrating), iPad users can be comforted by the fact they can access the same array of Kindle books via the app. Also, if you flip the situation to low light, the iPad is easily viewable whereas the Kindle is not.

Today Apple released an update for their iBooks app, bringing it up to Version 1.1.1. Normally such updates include a mundane list of bug fixes, however, the update notation offers one very intriguing update, audio and video support.

This update will be of particular interest to Textbook, STM (Scientific, Technical and Medical) and non-fiction publishers as it would offer a greater level of interactivity to their material. This update has me excited about the possibilities of what such a simple addition could bring to an area in the iBookstore which is currently rather lifeless.

The other updates are listed here:

• Double-tap an image within a book to view it in greater detail.
• Experience books that include audio and video.
• Enjoy substantial performance improvements when reading PDFs.
• Look-up definitions to English words inside books without a specified language.
• Addresses an issue that may have caused some book downloads to not complete.
• Includes many stability and performance improvements.

For those that are having trouble getting the new iBooks (Version 1.1+) to mix with PDFs, here’s 2 really simple ways to activate the “PDFs” tab and sync PDF files in iBooks on the iPad.

Sync PDFs as iBooks on iTunes

1. Update iBooks to 1.1 if you haven’t done so yet
2. Open iTunes and click on the “Books” tab under Library section
3. Drag & Drop your PDFs right in iTunes while you’re in the Books tab
4. Connect your iPad to your computer, click on “Books” within the iPad data sync window
5. You’ll see the PDFs you just dragged and just simply Sync ‘em to your iPad

PDF via Email Method

1. Send yourself an email with the PDF(s) attached
2. Go to the Mail app (Not the browser) on the iPad and open the email you just sent
3. Tap the PDF file listed to download
4. Tap on it again to view the PDF
5. Tap on the “Open In…” button on the top right and choose iBooks
6. You now have the “PDFs” tab in iBooks

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to put them in the comments below or feel free to shoot me an email about it. And if you liked the the guide, please bookmark us or subscribe to our RSS feed (Or do it via Pulse News Reader) for future iPad news, guides, accessories review, giveaways and more!

Here’s a picture guide if you’re having trouble following:

While the iPhones and iPod Touches are enjoying the highly anticipated iOS 4 that was released earlier this afternoon, iPad users that wishes for native Multitasking, Folders, etc, features that comes with iOS 4, will have to do with Jailbreaks a couple of more months(iOS 4 for iPad hits this Fall)…

But one good news for iPad users today is that an update for iBooks is available for download now in the app store.

Here’s the change log for iBooks 1.1 for iPad:

• Open and read PDF documents from Mail. PDF documents will be added to your library and appear on the PDF bookshelf. You can even search PDFs for words or phrases and bookmark your favorite pages.
• Take advantage of new ways to bookmark. In addition to highlighting a word or a passage, you can now also add notes or bookmark an entire page with the new page ribbon.
• Keep your bookmarks, notes, and your current page wirelessly in sync between iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with the new automatic bookmark syncing feature.
• See your book pages in a new font, called Georgia.
• Read your books on white or sepia colored pages.
• Choose left or fully justified text layout from Settings.
• Read pages with greater ease by increasing to even larger font sizes.
• Enjoy greater stability and better performance.

Apple will begin to distribute material from self-published authors in their iBookstore on the iPad and when the iPhone O.S 4.0 is released, the iPhone and iPod Touch as well.

Self-publishing has been steadily moving away from it’s stigmatized beginnings as being the route to authorship for the talentless and vain to the point where it is commanding respect from the big publishing companies. Many of whom use the self-publishing market as a cost-free testing ground for the best authors, looking for those who sell and then signing them up. This is obviously a huge incentive for those looking to publish.  Up to this point, the route for those looking to self-publish would be to use a print-on-demand service (which is becoming increasingly prevalent), enlisting the help of a self-publishing company who command fees of around $1000 or to self-publish an ebook. Now there is a fourth option, to publish an iBook.

Authors will be able to have their books published on the iBookstore without the need for an agent or publisher. It appears as if Apple is following on from it’s successful App Store model in which virtually anyone with an idea can be successful. Apple is allowing authors near total control with writers being able to set prices and global distribution locations for their work, much like they do with developers for the App Store. What isn’t clear at this point is whether Apple will carry over the model of taking 30% of the profits as they use in the App Store. Another point of uncertainty is whether there will be a reviewal process of any kind and if so, how strict will it be? Apple has come under pressure due to it’s app reviewal process, some describing it as totalitarian in nature. The guidelines set out by Apple stipulate the book be in EPUB 1.0.5 format and have an ISBN. They also state that payments will only be made once an author has sold a certain amount of books; Apple has not stated what this amount is as of yet.

It is hard to know at this point how this move will pan out. Will the iBookstore be filled with the half-hearted attempts of those with a slow Saturday afternoon? Will Apple operate a stringent reviewal process? Or will those who are genuinely talented who have been given a chance to shine be successful and championed? I for one hope so.

[Submit iBooks > iTunes Connect]

As the title suggests, you can go ahead and grab the iBooks app now for your iPad tomorrow. And if you didn’t know, iBooks won’t come pre-loaded on your iPad, you have to download it from the App Store.

Just 4 more days before the iPad gets in customers hands, Apple has released iTunes 9.1.0, the 97 MB update brings support for iBooks and iPad syncing.

iTunes 9.1 comes with several new features and improvements, including:

• Sync with iPad to enjoy your favorite music, movies, TV shows, books and more on the go
• Organize and sync books you’ve downloaded from iBooks on iPad or added to your iTunes library
• Rename, rearrange, or remove Genius Mixes

Last week, Amazon finally released the long-awaited Kindle application for Mac users. Today, Amazon launched a preview page for the iPad Kindle App.

The Kindle App for the iPad will include numerous features that you already enjoy with the iPhone, Mac or Windows Kindle app and more:

• The ability to adjust the screen brightness right from within the app to reduce eye strain.
• Shown in the image below, turning a page with your finger will replicate a ”Page turn animation” just like the iBooks app.
• “In cover-navigation view, the sky behind the silhouetted figure will change according to what time of day it is.” says TUAW.

The Kindle App and iBooks App will be competing to live on your iPad, since the iBooks app will not be preloaded on the iPad, but rather you’ll have to get it from the App Store like the Kindle app.

Penguin Group CEO John Makinson revealed some of the company’s forthcoming titles that’s coming to the iPad at the FT Digital Media & Broadcasting Conference in London yesterday [paidContent:UK].

“We will be embedding audio, video and streaming in to everything we do. The .epub format, which is the standard for ebooks at the present, is designed to support traditional narrative text, but not this cool stuff that we’re now talking about.”

As shown in the video below, the “books” resemble more like applications than traditional e-books, just what we would imagine books to be on the iPad, “very interactive learning experiences.” In fact, Makinson says that most of the “books” will be sold through the App Store as opposed to the iBooks Store.

“So for the time being at least we’ll be creating a lot of our content as applications, for sale on app stores and HTML, rather than in ebooks. The definition of the book itself is up for grabs.”

When asked about the 30/70 Split with Publishers, Makinson replied with, “this is better than the equivalent print agency model, in which publishers let retailers keep 50 percent.”

As we approach late March for the Wi-Fi iPad launch, Apple readies to ramp up marketing for the iPad and prepares Apple Store employees for iPad training. According to a new report on examiner, Apple Store training for the iPad will begin around March 10. The actual iPad release date has not been set in stone yet, but we’ll looking at a very likely March 26 launch. It was also noted that the 3G iPad may see an April or May release now, we reported that there may be an iPad shortage yesterday.

In addition, we learn that iPad commercials will start to air on March 15, with focus to show off the iBooks Store and the iPad’s capability as an E-Reader with the iBooks App.

Lastly, folks camping out for the iPad at launch day will receive a “special gift.”