Hi kids. Here is today’s Lesson from Totalitarians, brought to you by “The Unquiet Ghosts: Russians Remember Stalin” by Adam Hochschild, as highlighted on my Kobo Libra Colour

IT IS TIME.

What @profgalloway.com was to the fall of WeWork - doing the math over and over and it never adding up - there’s a good chance @edzitron.com is going to be the same for AI.

People of the Book: I’m at Frankfurt Book Fair this year. We don’t have a booth. We do throw an absolutely kick-ass party - the best at the fair. Because dark times call for German cover bands and an open bar. Want to come? DM me.

As we say here at Kobo HQ -> "Kobo: Read anything on the thing that is the best thing to read things on". (And yes, it's time to switch.) www.express.co.uk/life-style/s...

Happy Skynet Day to all who celebrate 🤖

Filling my never-ending love of validation, @nymag.com's the Strategist said nice things about Kobo Libra Colour, calling it the best "smaller all-digital notebook" ☺️. And that was without even delving into its sumptuous ereader-ness or its Seattle-free adorability ❤️ nymag.com/strategist/a...

Frog Sauna is the name of my next band

Manga is so much about using the whole page as a creative field, so a big screen with the Kobo web reader is blowing me away as a reading surface. 🤯 (Works so well on a laptop too.) We just keep pushing on that question of “Can you make an experience that’s better than paper?” 👍✅ Amazing.

How stylish is your ereader? Does it augment your personal aura of Sprezzatura? Of La bella Figura? We are happy to announce that Kobo has been designated by Vogue Italia as compatible with a stylish reading life: www.vogue.it/article/raku...

those damned outdoor pigs can't keep getting away with this

Canada’s the only country having over 60% with a tertiary education. This isn’t a numbers competition: it explains Canada’s values, “Education can promote gender equality, reduce child marriage, promote peace” Education promotes decency. #CanadaNice worldpopulationreview.com/country-rank...

I love this article on the set design of Sesame Street and how it was influenced by Jane Jacobs’ ideas about vibrant urban spaces like the “sidewalk ballet” and “eyes on the street”. [kottke.org]

Heard the latest news from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration? We detected the collision of the most massive pair of black holes so far: #GW231123 weighing in at ~137 + ~103 times the mass of the Sun! So to celebrate, here’s a handy chart ✨ Just how chonky are these black holes? 🤔

My friends in Seattle just announced a colour ereader for the same price as the 7" Kobo Libra Colour with a six inch screen, half the storage, no page turn buttons and no stylus support. Love that for you! 👍

For all of the Kobo read-it-later fans: we have a new partnership with @instapaper.com that should be showing up on our ereaders by the end of the summer. 🧵1/

Fascism isn't a menu. You don't just get to pick the bits you like, that let your business move more quickly. You get all of it: the erosion of rule of law & property rights, loss of talent and pure research, unpredictability of investment and regulation. It's bad for business.

The trophy case at Kobo World Headquarters is getting packed! Thanks to @nymag's The Strategist for bestowing on Kobo the following accolades 👏 🏆 Best Colour eReader -> Libra Colour 🏆 Best Travel-Friendly eReader -> Kobo Clara Colour 🏆 Best eReader for Taking Notes -> Kobo Elipsa 2E

Thanks @maggieadhami for the @globeandmail Kobo Clara Colour shout-out! Seatback video for inflight entertainment 👎 Bringing All. The. Books. when you fly 👍 (And all CEOs should read Careless People, just for the "Here's what not to do" if you achieve globe-spanning power 😃 )

It’s never too late reading friends

If you're feeling feisty, this week is Prime time to walk away from Seattle for good. Kobo is waiting with a getaway car full of ereaders, soft blankets, pets, snacks, cute Canadians, and in US, UK, and Canada, discounts on Kobo Libra Colour to make the switch even easier ❤️ (Ends tonight!)

Podcast day! I had such a good time talking to Eliza Reid, author and former First Lady of Iceland about both her mystery Death on the Island and her nonfiction book about why Iceland is the greatest country in the world for women, Secrets of the Sprakkar. Listen here: www.kobo.com/blog/eliza-r...

Kobo takes Paris! With our friends at Fnac, we are in Metro stations, store windows all over the City of Lights in our never-ending quest to recruit more readers to Kobo. Vive la Liberté de Lecture!

I'd like to give a special shoutout to @mashable.com for calling out Kobo Clara Colour as Best Overall eReader and Kobo Libra Colour for Best Colour eReader of 2025. We applaud your discernment, good taste and generosity of spirit. Thanks! mashable.com/roundup/best...

To distract from your diet of terrible online happenings, and to support theraputic summer escapism, here is some good news from Kobo: 👏 New 👏 Kobo 👏 iOS 👏 App! We tore our app down to the foundations and rebuilt it, making some improvements along the way. Read on for highlights... 1/ 🧵

The world is full of horrors, but we can still answer Kobo questions. Today: how long does Kobo support its ereaders? And by support I mean, how long do they get the updates, security patches, and bug fixes they need to keep working? Short answer: a really long time. More about elder Kobos below…

Newsletter: It's time for a radical new approach to tech CEOs: mocking them, because they talk like idiots and provide little value to society outside of their dedication to shareholder value. They sound stupid, they do nothing, and it's time to fight back. www.wheresyoured.at/make-fun-of-...

Canada Day Sale! Kobo is the only ereader that is designed, engineered, software’d, and bookstore-curated in 🇨🇦 Canada 🇨🇦 and it is on sale now! Support the hard work of lovable Canadians who care about books, reading, authors, and libraries as much as you do. ❤️ ca.kobobooks.com/products/kob...

Totally agree. Buy all of Waub’s books asap.

Love seeing Kobos that are 10+ years old still bringing reading joy. That’s fantastic.

Kobo Tip for Managing In Difficult Times: if your meeting cancels, go across the street to the grocery store and buy SO MUCH ICE CREAM, and set up a sundae bar in the office kitchen. Because Toronto just cracked 35C/95F and it's the first Monday of summer and ice cream rules.

Our family's rule: you are allowed to complain about one season. This is not mine. Bring it.

Some days, Kobo allows me to do really cool things. Hosting the 11th Kobo Emerging Writers Prize is one of the best. Giving $20,000 each to three amazing debut Canadian authors is an honour and so. much. fun. #BigChequesAreFun 1/ 🧵

The Kobo office at a glance: Drag Queens meet a Kobo Service Dog during a packed in-office Pride Brunch on Thursday. That's who we are. Make your bookstore choices accordingly ❤️

The page turn buttons are dead. But Kobo says LONG LIVE THE BUTTONS! www.techradar.com/tablets/erea...

Had a great chat with Elyse Graham, author of "Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War Two." If you have been waiting for the tap on the shoulder where someone tells you that you should be a secret agent, you'll love this. www.kobo.com/blog/elyse-g...

So many lessons learned in the last 24 hours here at Kobo, but the most heartwarming is how many people want help finding gay vampire cowboy fiction. Noted.

Follow Helen to Kobo Plus!

Lots of questions about Kobo, #kobowritinglife and how, when and why we are using AI. Putting "AI" in the same sentence as "authors", "books" or "publishers" makes a lot of alarm bells go off, and for good reason. 1/

Everyone should read all of Nick's books. Right now. Don't do anything else. Start with this one. (How's that @harkaway.bsky.social ? 😀)

Kobo Clara Colour is back in stock in the US! 🕺🪩 🌈 Global trade is a little more complex these days, but our supply chain team is excellent. We brought a lot of Clara Colour to the US in advance of tariffs but blew through them thanks to our new Kobo fans. Should be smooth sailing from here. 😃

This is the kind of thing that makes me extremely happy

move over spielberg i have ideas: thread

Proof that Viking explorers made it at least as far as Cornwall Ontario

Please note the intense real-world testing that Kobo ereaders undergo to ensure that they meet your most extreme reading scenarios. Feel free to share your own #extremereading report.

This is a very enjoyable, super-informative use of your time. Great discussion between Paul Krugman and Barry Ritholtz. open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Want some good news? Gender parity in leadership roles (and income) is found in Canadian publishing. Presentation and report here: bnctechforum.ca/sessions/can...

A couple of thoughts on Pocket as we wait to see if anyone (Digg, etc.) will pick it up. We're taking a look at other web clipping options too, so as far as Kobo goes, one way or another we'll get this figured out. Have been receiving lots of "you should buy it!", "make your own!" and I love... 1/