Armand's book on hypertextuality

Exploring the boundaries of one of the most contested fields of literary study - a field that in fact shares territory with philology, aesthetics, cultural theory, philosophy, and even cybernetics - this volume gathers a body of critical writings that, taken together, broadly delineate a possible poetics of the contemporary.

In these essays, the most interesting and distinguished theorists in the field renegotiate the contours of what might constitute "contemporary poetics," ranging from the historical advent of concrete poetry to the current technopoetics of cyberspace. Concerned with a poetics that extends beyond our own time, as a mere marker of present-day literary activity, their work addresses the limits of a writing "practice" - beginning with Stephane Mallarme in the late nineteenth century - that engages concretely with what it means to be contemporary. Charles Bernstein's Swiftian satire of generative poetics and the textual apparatus, together with Marjorie Perloff's critical-historical treatment of "writing after" Bernstein and other proponents of language poetry, provides an itinerary of contemporary poetics in terms of both theory and practice.

The other essays consider "precursors," recognizable figures within the histories or prehistories of contemporary poetics, from Kafka and Joyce to Wallace Stevens and Kathy Acker; "conjunctions," in which more strictly theoretical and poetical texts enact a concerted engagement with rhetoric, prosody, and the vicissitudes of "intelligibility"; "cursors," which points to the open possibilities of invention, from Augusto de Campos's "concrete poetics" to the "codework" of Alan Sondheim; and "transpositions," defining the limits of poetic invention by way of technology.

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Benefits of eBooks

What are the benefits of eBooks


1. PORTABILITY
It's always convenient to carry your handheld computer with you. Whenever you're at the dentist office, waiting at a café, on a weekend getaway, even at home -- you can open your book and pick up where you left off.

2. FLEXIBILITY
Want to read that book on your Windows or Macintosh computer too? Well, of course you can.

3. YOU CAN'T LOSE YOUR BOOK
What do you do if your paper book was ruined because Johnny spilled his milk all over it, or because Rover suddenly decided it was his new toy? Since eReader.com maintains your personal library on our servers, you can always reinstall your eBooks without charge at any time.

4. READ IN THE DARK
Have you had much success with those small lights that attach to a book? What a pain. However, your handheld computer has a built-in backlight so you can be engrossed in your eBook instead of fiddling with the position of a teeny tiny book light.

5. YOU'VE GOT 10 BOOKS IN YOUR POCKET
Storing multiple eBooks on your Mobile Device or PDA doesn't make it heavier or bulkier! Whenever you wish to take a short break from The Power of Positive Thinking in Business, just open up the latest Stephen King novel -- your personal favorites are always with you.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Companion eBook for a paperBook

Author of the upcoming book The Power of Less Leo Babauta offers now a companion ebook that's free to download now.

Thriving on Less—Simplifying in a Tough Economy tells you how to do just that.

The 27-page PDF describes advice garnered from Babauta's own journey from clutter, debt, and scarcity to a simpler, frugal lifestyle that focuses on the essentials and cuts away the extras. Like Babauta's popular Zen Habits blog, this book offers calm, peaceful straight talk that makes the super-busy and overwhelmed think "I want to live like that." Looks like a great preview of what's to come in his print volume, which gets released in four days. Think Babauta's approach is possible in today's world or too idealistic? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Free Ebook: Thriving on Less - Simplifying in a Tough Economy

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Mobile-ready version of Gutenberg content

Project Gutenberg, the longtime home of free eBooks on the web, has just introduced a mobile-ready version of their hosted content.

Called PG Mobile, or Project Gutenberg's Mobile Edition, the software transforms the plain text of the files on the Project Gutenberg web site into a format that can be read easily on mobile devices with small screens.

About PG Mobile

In case you're unfamiliar, Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort where contributors digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. Because of copyright law and restrictions, the majority of the site's content comes from public domain books. Unbelievably, the project was created in 1971, when founder Michael Hart keyed in The United States Declaration of Independence and informed the first 100 internet users.
Given the popularity and ubiquity of mobile phones, it's somewhat surprising that Project Gutenberg didn't already have a mobile edition until now. We suppose it's better late than never, though. And considering the vast size of their catalog, any effort to transform the books into mobile formats was surely not something they took lightly.

The PG Mobile software is based on the common Java file format (JAR) readable on nearly all handsets. The mobile books are downloaded as a Java applications and can be installed either using WAP (over the air), Bluetooth, serial connection, infrared, or data cable. There's no size limit to how many you can store - you are only limited by the storage capabilities of your handset. To access these books, just visit Gutenberg.org and click on the JAR link to have the mobile book installed on your phone.

What, No iPhone App?

In our world, it's perhaps hard to imagine that someone would choose to launch a Java-based app instead of (or perhaps prior to?) an iPhone version. However, that choice was certainly made based on the fact that Java runs on billions of phones worldwide where Apple, although strong in terms of revenue and growth, only represents 2.3% of the global handset marketshare.
However, iPhone readers already have several options for accessing eBooks on their mobile phones, including the popular Stanza eBook reader (iTunes link) as well as the other options we noted before. The trick is delivering that same access to large parts of the world where literature and educational materials are less available than they are for us. That's clearly what Project Gutenberg hopes to do with this mobile offering, and we have to applaud them for that.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

2009 Year of the eBook

Will 2009 be the year of the eBook?

Will 2009 see mass market adoption of electronic book readers such as the wonder that is the Sony Reader?

For those of us on TechRadar that have had the pleasure of living with a Sony Reader in 2008, we can only hope that the coming years will see these wonderful gadgets find their ways into the hands of the millions of avid readers worldwide.

Robert McCrum, respected literary editor of The Observer, is also a huge fan of the e-book, posing the basic (but fundamentally vital) question this week: "will people carry on buying books?"
"Framed like that, it's a no-brainer," writes McCrum.
ePoetry and human DNA
"Of course we can't stop reading. Of course there'll be a market for books. But what kind of books?" is what McCrum wants to know.

"People who read books will not give up the habit of spending a modest sum on a highly praised new novel or a fine new collection of poems any more than novelists and poets will stop writing fiction or composing verse. The marginal cost of all these activities is comparatively slight, and the passion for narrative, and for poetry – well, it's part of our DNA."

On an even more positive note, McCrum adds that: "Digitisation has yet to affect book consumption, but it will eventually. Ebooks are here to stay."

The "iPod moment" for eBooks

While TechRadar largely agrees with McCrum's assertion that e-readers are currently "the kind of gizmos the trade will use to lighten its load (literally)" and that "the reading public has yet to make the switch" he is surely bang on the money when he claims that "the iPod moment" for books, while it has not yet occurred, is on the near future horizon.
"Again, none of this will be bad for writers. The delivery system will change, but the need for "content" (ghastly term) will be as strong as ever, perhaps stronger: the signs are that we turn to good books for consolation in tough times."
Thank goodness for that then! Books aren't going away. They are just going to get better, cheaper and become far more widely available to greater swathes of humanity than ever before.
Long live the electronic book revolution !

By Adam Hartley

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

eSlick

The eSlick will sell for $229 when it first goes on sale in January from Foxit's site (and eventually in retail stores), then for $259 afterward.





It is about the size of a medium paperback, but at 0.4 inches, it's much thinner. Its 6-inch, 600-by-800-pixel "electronic paper" screen is made by the same company that makes the Kindle's; it has the same easy-on-the-eyes, grayscale reflective screen (light is reflected off of words and images on the screen, rather than blasted at you with a backlight). You can resize text, and the device will reflow your document (rather than simply magnifying what's on the screen). Those are all features that make the Kindle such a great device on which to read books, magazines, blogs, etc.



Available in black, gray, or white, the device will have 128MB of internal memory, plus USB and an SD Card slot (it'll come with a 2GB card, too). Because its screen draws very little power, battery life should be extremely long; Foxit says it'll go for 8,000 page turns between recharges; it recharges via either USB or an included AC adapter. It uses an embedded Linux operating system, too.
However, at least in its initial version, the eSlick won't have wireless connectivity, so you won't be able to sync newspapers or blogs unless you convert them first on a PC (using included PDF conversion software, which Foxit is better known for) and copy them over manually. It'll read PDFs and text files, and you can convert any printable document for viewing using the PC-based software. You can download digital books, of course, from online libraries and eBook stores, and transfer them to the eSlick.



You can also play MP3s on the eSlick; it has a headphones port and ships with a set of headphones. Foxit says it anticipates adding wireless, an even better screen, and/or perhaps content syncing in a manner similar to AvantGo at some point in the future.
But until then, the question is whether you'd be okay with firing up your computer in the morning, culling your own content, converting it to a eSlick-readable format, and transferring it yourself. At least that process is free; automatic newspaper delivery to a Kindle costs at least $10 per month--each. Blogs cost $1 to $2 per month--each. At least with the eSlick, you don't have to email your own documents to yourself, as you must with the Kindle.
I like reading electronic books, and doing so on a lightweight device that I don't have to hold open, without eyestrain, would be a great thing. For books and my own documents, it doesn't matter whether the device I use has wireless capability, so if that's your anticipated use, the eSlick might be a great inexpensive alternative to the Kindle.



But I think the Kindle--as expensive as it and its subscriptions are, and as flawed as it is (in its initial version)--set the ground rules for this kind of device. I'm too cheap to pay its multiple monthly subscriptions, but with the way that newspaper outfits are going, we may all be forced into reading the news on Kindle or Kindle-like devices one day very soon.

From PCWorld

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Geographic browser on classic works of literature

Classic works of literature to be browsered .

Gutenkarte is a geographic text browser to help readers explore the spatial component of classic works of literature derived from the Gutenburg projects.
Project Gutenberg claims to be the first and largest single collection of free electronic books (eBooks).

“Gutenkarte downloads public domain texts from Project Gutenberg, and then feeds them to MetaCarta’s GeoParser API, which extracts and returns all the geographic locations it can find. Gutenkarte stores these locations in a database, along with citations into the text itself, and offers an interface where the book can be browsed by chapter, by place, or all at once on an interactive map. Ultimately, Gutenkarte will offer the ability to annotate and correct the places in the database, so that the community will be able construct and share rich geographic views of Project Gutenberg’s enormous body of literary classics.”

Gutenkarte was developed by MetaCarta - well known for its unique technology that combines traditional text (keyword) search with powerful geographic search so you can find content about a place and view the results on a map. You can read more about O’Reilly Radar article on Gutenkarte and its Geo annotation of Gutenberg texts. You can always volunteer to proofread Project Gutenberg Ebooks.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor
Labels: browser,

Etat des lieux Livre numérique Décembre 2008

Les supports de lecture de livres numérisés se multiplient et les catalogues s'allongent. Nous sommes résolument entrés dans l'ère du livre numérique...du moins aux Etats-Unis et au Japon ! Car sur le vieux continent, les éditeurs continuent de faire de la résistance et Europeana, le projet de bibliothèque virtuelle, est toujours en panne... L'Europe va-t-elle encore perdre une guerre mondiale, sur le terrain du numérique ?

Le carton des personal readers

Le Wall Street Journal l'annonce : Sony rafle la mise avec son Sony Reader vendu à 300 000 exemplaires depuis sa mise sur le marché américain, en octobre 2006. Avec près de 3 millions d'e-books téléchargés pour 57 000 titres disponibles sur le portail maison, Sony espère proposer 100 000 ouvrages d'ici à la fin de l'année.
Idem du côté de l'iPhone qui s'enrichit d'une nouvelle application conçue par l'éditeur Penguin. Cet outil permettra aux utilisateurs l'accès à des versions électroniques enrichies de certains classiques du catalogue de l'éditeur sans toutefois qu'ils puissent accéder à l'ensemble du catalogue. En parallèle, Random House, autre éditeur majeur transatlantique, s'associe à Stanza, l'application de lecture de e-books la plus répandue sur iPhone, pour offrir de télécharger gratuitement l'intégralité de certains titres. Et la maison d'édition Houghton Mifflin lance ScrollMotion, une autre application de lecture numérique.

Malins, les éditeurs américains ont compris que la révolution numérique est inévitable et qu'ils doivent trouver le moyen d'en profiter. En prenant l'initiative, ils contrôlent l'intégrité de leurs titres et peuvent utiliser le e-book comme un outil promotionnel. Bref, en donner un peu pour finalement gagner beaucoup.

L'Europe à la traîne

Ce que ne semblent pas comprendre les éditeurs européens. Outre le fiasco d'Europeana, qui prolonge son chômage technique jusqu'en janvier, la résistance purement idéologique au niveau de l'offre risque d'être pénalisée par une demande inéluctable... qui ira voir ailleurs!
De leur côté, la Fédération des éditeurs européens (FEE) a fini par se positionner vis à vis de l'accord que Google a négocié avec les éditeurs américains. Le dit-accord ne concernant pas uniquement les Américains, mais aussi les ayants droit européens des ouvrages présents dans les bibliothèques américaines et numérisés par Google, la FEE a rappelé que "si les ayants droit ne demandent pas à sortir de l'accord, ils abandonnent toute possibilité de poursuivre Google pour ses activités de numérisation, même en Europe." La FEE fustige ainsi l'introduction du principe de "l'opt-out" dans l'accord, qui "affaiblit significativement les régimes existants de droits d'auteur et contraste fortement avec les solutions européennes, particulièrement le projet Europeana", que la FEE soutient ardemment !

Des initiatives existent cependant, notamment en France, avec l'accord Sony-Hachette-la Fnac et le projet autonome de Gallimard de numériser son catalogue et de le rendre accessible sur son site de librairie en ligne.

(par Mélanie de Fluctuat.net)

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Fighting domination of Kindle and Sony's reader

There are currently two eBook readers fighting for domination of the high-tech literary scene: the Amazon Kindle and Sony's line of readers.

There's about to be a third:
The iRex Digital Reader 1000S boasts the largest screen of the bunch at 10 inches and even uses a Wacom touch surface as its primary input method. It doesn't have a 3G card like the Kindle, but it's definitely got a lot of tech inside. It does, however, retail for a suggested $750..
The Kindle runs around $360 while the Sony's run from $300 to $400 depending on the model. While many people avoid reading nowadays, an eBook reader is a great high-tech way to get your literature on.

The iRex does not have access to an eBook store, but will display many formats. Amazon and Sony both have eBook stores that work for their respective devices.

Personally, I own this Sony eBook Reader and absolutely love the thing.

It's simple and does what I need it to do: display books. The Kindle's 3G and keyboard is fun and all, but I'm not an impulse book buyer. I don't need to buy books on the go. The Kindle's internet features are redundant for iPhone owners like myself and the battery life is much lower than the Sony.
This iRex reader just feels like overkill. A 10" screen seems great, but that's pretty large for a convenience device. The Kindle and Sony's are sized well and can easily be tucked into a laptop case or small bag.
Do you have an eBook reader? Which one?

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Ebooks and mobiles

It seems that e-book readers are going to be technology’s next big thing.

With the Kindle being named Oprah’s favorite gadget and other e-book reading devices battling for pole position, the e-book reader is populating daily culture. But who wants to pay that much money for a dedicated reading device that is admittedly limited and still has no true standard format?

Insert iPhone. We all know that the iPhone does a great job in converging multiple devices, why not add being an e-book reader to its capabilities? Obviously we won’t have any e-ink technology in the iPhone but the e-book readers in the iPhone, Classics and Stanza, offer ease of use and a great free selection—plus you don’t have to plop down an extra 400 dollars to read a book !

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Ebooks from Random House for iPhones

Since the Kindle is sold-out, maybe you can read books on your iPhone.

Free eBooks, are now available for iPhone or iPod touch from Randon House and Ballantine.Random House and Ballantine will be the first major book publishers to make full-length books available for free on iPhone through Lexcycle Stanza, Apple iPhone and iPod Touch book reader app.

The authors list includes Alan Furst, Julie Garwood, Charlie Huston, David Liss, Laurie Notaro, Arthur Phillips and Simon Rich. The initial offerings will be drawn from each author's backlist and will include excerpts for any new hardcovers coming in 2009. Stanza users already have access to a public domain library which sees nearly 40,000 downloads a day.

Random House is providing links to retailers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com, Borders.com, Powells.com and IndieBound.org to encourage readers to purchase more books by these authors.

"A free eBook is a great way to sample a new writer, and help spread the word," says Charlie Huston, whose novels 'Caught Stealing', 'Six Bad Things', and 'A Dangerous Man' will all be available on Stanza.

"Besides, it's good to give things away. They're books. We write them for people to read them." Random House and Ballantine titles will be available beginning today to all iPhone and iPod Touch Stanza users. Stanza for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch is available as a free download from the iTunes App Store or from http://www.lexcycle.com/.

Penguin is offering Penguin 2.0 and Penguin Mobile. There is a Penguin US iPhone application, as well as website for mobile phones. The app can download the app from iTunes here, or just visit the mobile-optimized site.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Incredible Kindle sold-out !

The Kindle eBook reader is sold-out and won't be available until February of next year.

Hey didn't Kindles sell-out last year also? Mmmnn, it seems strange in such poor economic times that so many people shelled out $359 bucks for Kindles. Maybe Amazon wants to blow them out so that there is more demand for the new version due out next year.The Amazon website says: Price: $359.00 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.

Details Availability: Expected to ship in 11 to 13 weeks. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.Due to heavy customer demand, Kindle is sold out. Please ORDER KINDLE NOW to reserve your place in line. We prioritize orders on a first come, first served basis. This item will arrive after December 24. Note that Kindles cannot currently be sold or shipped to customers living outside of the U.S.

There's probably no need for gift wrap this year. However, there are independent sellers on Amazon selling used Kindles for $500 or more. At it's one year anniversary, 250,000 Kindles were sold. Kindle texts account for 10 percent of Amazon's book sales.The Sony Style Store may have sold-out/recalled the Xperia X1 but they do offer their eBook readers that come with 100 free "classic" books for $299 and $399. Books are downloaded through a USB Cable.

eBook readers

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Kindle Sold-Out - Sony eBook Readers Alternative Choice.

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Immersion experience in a digital book

On November 18, 2008, Sourcebooks launched the first of their enhanced digital books.

These are innovative digital products that allow the reader an immersion experience in the book—a digital book powered by DNAML’s DNL eBook Reader that delivers an enhanced reader experience, integrates audio, video, and images into the text, and creates for the reader a greater theater of the mind.

The first title is Country Music: The Masters—a photographic love letter to the founders and legends of country music by four time Grammy winner, master musician and storyteller Marty Stuart.On sale now, the p-book (physical book) is a revolutionary photography and history experience of nearly 400 photos. Country music's renaissance man Marty Stuart opens the vaults of his studio and his private collection of more than 20,000 items of memorabilia. A born storyteller and host of XM Radio's "Marty Stuart's American Odyssey," Stuart recalls nearly an hour of eye-opening, heart-warming, often hilarious stories behind the photos, included on one audio CD. In this unique book-and-CD pairing, Stuart's enhanced CD—available only with this book—also includes the first release of the song and video of "Dark Bird," his tribute to Johnny Cash. This new recording may well be the first time that a song has been released first in a book. It is an incredible gift that retails for $49.95.

On November 18th, Sourcebooks launched the digital version of Country Music: The Masters, which integrates and expands the experience. The book has:All of the nearly 400 photographs—many available to enlargeMarty Stuart telling the story behind the photographs on 21 audio tracks—one full audio CD. But now the audio is integrated into the pages of the photographs.Plus the never-before released song “Dark Bird,” Marty Stuart’s poignant tribute to Johnny Cash integrated into the book along with the music video.Plus a 13-minute video on the making of Country Music: The Masters, evoking the mood, rhythm, and ambience of the country music experience. This video is not available in the physical book.Customers can experience this innovative enhanced digital experience for $19.95.

To preview the ditigal book, visit http://www.sourcebooks.com/spotlight/country-music-digital-book.html“Sourcebooks has been the leading publisher of mixed media books for over a decade with bestselling titles such as We Interrupt This Broadcast and Poetry Speaks,” says Dominique Raccah, publisher of Sourcebooks, “We believe digital books can be an even larger canvas from which immersive experiences explode. Country Music: The Masters is the first of these experiential digital books and it’s getting incredible response.”“This project is very exciting; the content we have been developing with Sourcebooks is pushing the envelope of the evolving multi-media eBook concept,” says Adam Schmidt CEO and Founder of DNAML, “DNAML’s DNL eBook technology is now regarded as the pioneer of the multi-media eBook and we look forward to the release of the rest of the Sourcebooks titles.”The digital version of Country Music: The Masters will be released first on http://www.Sourcebooks.com, and then through other distributors and retailers who will make them available to libraries, corporations, academic markets, and consumers.The next digital titles in line for release are the New York Times bestselling children’s picture book, I Love You More by Laura Duksta, and Macbeth, part of the Sourcebooks Shakespeare series of plays that include an integrated audio CD with 25 performances by different actors throughout the twentieth century, narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi.

About DNAMLHeadquartered in Sydney, Australia, DNAML Pty Limited is a software development company specializing in e-publishing solutions.Over the past ten years DNAML has created innovative products in the field of electronic publishing, based around its document-authoring system, Desktop Author. Desktop Author can be used to create multi-media empowered, interactive and secure eBooks in the DNL eBook format.Contact: DNAML - Asia PacificAdam Schmidt+6128485111adam@dnaml.comFor further information please visit www.dnaml.com

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Mibook is the one

Electronic books are the persistent wallflowers of the gadget world.

Consumers have snubbed them again and again in favor of a 500-year-old technology: ink printed on paper.

Mindful of the dominance of paper, devices for reading electronic books so far have focused on providing an experience that's as close to traditional books as possible. But there is one that takes a completely different tack, so different that it brings into question the definition of "book."
This is the MiBook (pronounced "my book"), a book-sized white slab with a 7-inch color screen. Its "books" are memory chips with instructional videos. There are books available on cooking, home projects, gardening and child care.

For instance, the "Amazing Party Food" book shows the steps to making 150 different dishes, including a raspberry souffle, accompanied by voiceover from the MiBook's speakers. After each step, the video pauses, waiting for you to hit a button and go on to the next one.

Is it still a book if it's a chip with videos on it? That depends on your viewpoint. But it's quite possible to consider it a book if it does what a book used to do.

The MiBook, from Ohio-based startup Photoco Inc., is also considerably cheaper than Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle or Sony Inc.'s Reader, which start at $300. The list price for the MiBook is $120, but it's available for as little as $75 online, including two books. Extra books are $20 each.

The MiBook lacks the single greatest feature of the Kindle, which is wireless access to Amazon's e-book store, for near instant buying gratification. But both the Kindle and the Reader are limited by their "electronic ink" screen technology. It consumes very little power, but it can't show colors, and doesn't even do a good job of showing photos in shades of gray. Video is out of the question, because the display is very slow to update.

The MiBook uses a very conventional liquid-crystal display. Since it uses much more power than electronic ink, the MiBook is designed to be used at home, connected to a power supply. It has a fold-out stand, so it can be placed upright on a kitchen counter, and comes with a small remote.
But it also has a rechargeable battery, so it can be used untethered. Curiously, though, there's no indicator to tell you how much juice is left in the battery, or when it's fully charged. The manufacturer says the MiBook can show video for two hours on a charge, and cursory tests support that.

The books are Secure Digital memory cards, used in digital cameras and other gadgets. The slot on the MiBook will accept SD cards with pictures, music, text and homemade videos on them, meaning it can double as a digital picture frame and music player, or even, yes, as a regular e-book reader.

Sadly, the MiBook fails to fulfill its potential here, because its screen is of poor quality. Nothing looks really sharp, and it flickers. This doesn't matter so much when showing video — the screen is certainly no worse than an old tube TV set — but the idea of reading a novel or even a short story on it is unappealing. Family pictures don't look very good either.
Still, we can't dismiss the MiBook, particularly at $75. Despite its lack of buzz, it's certainly the most interesting e-book reader to come out since the Kindle, which is now out of stock thanks to an endorsement by Oprah, and unavailable until next year. The MiBook could be a good gift for someone who wants easy-to-follow directions for cooking or home projects.

With a better screen and some attention to the battery issue, the MiBook could have a better shot. With a color screen, it will never have the battery life of the "serious" e-book readers, but it would last for some hours of reading around the house or on the commute. And is it too much to ask for Wi-Fi? That would open it up to book downloads from the Internet, and let it work as an Internet radio player. Oh, and keep the price under $100. Please, Santa. I'll expect it in your bag next year.
On the Net:
http://www.mibook.com/

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Convergence of print and digital publishing

Rosetta Solutions (www.RosettaSolutions.com) is a leading provider of digital publishing solutions based in Seattle,

WA. Rosetta’s products deliver agile solutions that offer publishers a streamlined and automated manuscript-to-market™ service. Rosetta Solutions offers solutions and services that automate publisher workflow and capitalize on the convergence of print and digital publishing.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Ebooks with eBookstarter

If you're looking for a great way to publish your ebooks, look no further than eBook Starter.

This ebook compiler software will enable you to give your ebooks the look and feel of a real book, notebook, manual or report. Use the exclusive ebook templates or your own files!

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Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

What is Tumbywood?

Welcome to eBooks Just Published.

My name is Mark Gladding and I’m the founder of a small software startup, Tumbywood Software, based in Melbourne, Australia. Over the last couple of years I’ve become an enthusiastic reader of eBooks. During this time I’ve read many books from sites like Project Gutenburg and The Baen Free Library. I’ve also stumbled across gems from the likes of Cory Doctorow (Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town & Little Brother), Bob Walsh (MicroISV Sites that Sell), Stephane Grenier (How to Generate Traffic to Your Website), Seth Godin (Unleashing the Idea Virus), Zen Habits (Zen Habits Handbook) and Steve Jordan (As the Mirror Cracks) to name but a few.

I’ve discovered there’s a lot of great eBooks being published all the time by independent authors. Unfortunately they’re not always that easy to find. Doing a search for ‘new eBooks‘ returns results for a few eBook sites, many of which don’t have new eBooks at all. Instead they are full of expensive, DRM-protected eBooks that are locked to your PC or mobile reader device. There are many reasons why DRM is a bad idea but personally I don’t like DRM because it prevents me from converting my eBooks to speech so I can listen to them on my iPod.

I wanted an easy way to find out about new DRM-free eBooks as they’re released. So I created this site where authors can announce their eBooks and readers like myself can subscribe and keep up to date with all the latest eBook releases.

The other reason for this site is to direct potential customers to my commercial product, Text2Go, software to convert text to speech and transfer it to your iPod or MP3 player. I figure that some readers of eBooks are like myself and find it convenient to listen on the go rather than read. If you’ve been wondering why there’s only one ad on this site and how it was chosen, this is the reason.

I hope you find this site useful.
Mark GladdingFounderTumbywood Software.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Browsing Ebooks

Independent ebook authors, and adventurous readers looking for their work, should without fail check out eBooks Just Published, a recent venture by Mark Gladding of Tumbywood software.
This site allows authors to submit announcements of their new work. The books are categorized according to genre, and readers can vote for their favourites.

Browsing eBooks Just Published feels a bit like browsing a book store - except that all the books on offer are electronic and, most importantly, DRM-free. The format allows each book to be presented in its best light, showing jacket art, blurb, and any other text the author feels appropriate, up to a limit of 400 words.

By subscribing to the RSS feed, readers can have details of new releases sent automatically to their email client.I can attest that Mark is very helpful to authors like me, who are not particularly computer-savvy. He quickly resolved a problem I had with registering; from then on, the whole process was smooth and easy.It’s a great idea and, so well executed that I think it will soon become an established feature of the ebook landscape. Thanks, Mark!

Editors note: Richard Herley is an English author and a frequent contributor to TeleRead. The above is from his blog: Richard Herley, An English Author’s Blog.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Platform for Ebooks

We can observe how potentially capable the Apple iPhone is as a platform for ebooks, with its native support for reflowable text (including, potentially, IDPF's ebook format, .epub).

But with Amazon pushing Kindle hard, how much attention is being paid to alternative channels, such as the iPhone, or the not-quite-here-yet promise of Google's open stack, Android?

Quick show of hands: how many publishers out there are actively engaged in discussions with Apple to ensure that the iTunes store stocks and promotes ebooks? Making sure that the iPhone has the right technology to facilitate reading ebooks? Or heck, any other kind of text? How many of you are making your voices heard when it comes to making certain that iPhone customers are able to download and read books on their phones?

With the bevy of press starting to ride herd on the new generation of dedicated readers, I've begun to try to think through how I feel about their potential success or failure, with the inevitable comparisons to the iPod and the music industry.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Ebook experience with video?

Booksquare today had an interesting muse about what makes the ebook experience potentially viable, and it is not the kind of DRM-laden entrapment that many vendors are providing now.

Rather, the model should be that developed in other content areas, such as video.

"With the expectation that media -- whatever kind -- will be accessible on demand. For my money, no matter what cool this or that is launched by major entertainment media, it's the YouTube model that exemplifies today's environment. Love it, hate it, don't understand it, YouTube works. You don't have to do anything special to access programming. This "just works" ability is what today's consumer desires ... and it's the base level expectation of today's youth."

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Kindle as favorite new gadget

Oprah Winfrey has named the Amazon Kindle her “favorite new gadget”, and with it likely catapulted the wireless-enabled ebook reader into the top-seller list.

Rumors had been circulating for the past week or so that Winfrey would be promoting an electronic device, and with Amazon running preview videos on their homepage it seemed likely that it would be their ebook. There’s good news, though, if you’ve been thinking of buying a Kindle yourself: a $50 discount on all new purchases of the device.

It’s not quite as good as being part of the Oprah studio audience and getting things totally free, but enter OPRAHWINFREY into the coupon code box when purchasing a Kindle and Amazon will knock $50 off the sticker price. That brings the Kindle down to $309.

The coupon is valid until November 1st 2008, but the halo around the Kindle will likely last a whole lot longer. Oprah’s book club is known for making the careers of the authors she picks, so Amazon are probably hoping her affirmations will do the same for the ebook reader.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Kindle sold out

Amazon have either underestimated the Oprah-effect or merely messed up on their stock management: shipping on the Kindle ebook reader is currently listed as in 11 to 13 weeks time, overshooting Christmas and pegging deliveries as sometime in Q1 2009.

That makes the second year in a row that the retailer could not meet demand.

Last year, Amazon could at least use the excuse that they were ramping up production on the newly announced device. Based around a monochrome e-ink display, the Kindle includes EVDO connectivity to wirelessly download books from the company’s store.

Oprah Winfrey warmly endorsed the Kindle on her show back in October, in a move that was predicted to see sales of the ebook reader rapidly rise. However Amazon are also rumored to be preparing the Kindle’s replacement, once expected to be on the market by this holiday season, but now believed to be delayed until Q1 2009. It’s unclear what sort of overlap, if any, existing Kindle orders will have with shipments of the new device.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

What is DRM?

Digital rights management (DRM) is an umbrella term that refers to access control technologies used by publishers and copyright holders to limit usage of digital media or devices.

It may also refer to restrictions associated with specific instances of digital works or devices. DRM overlaps with software copy protection to some extent, however the term "DRM" is usually applied to creative media (music, films, etc.) whereas the term "copy protection" tends to refer to copy protection mechanisms in computer software.

Digital rights management has and is being used by content provider companies such as Sony, Apple Inc., Microsoft and the BBC.

The use of digital rights management has been controversial. Advocates argue it is necessary for copyright holders to prevent unauthorized duplication of their work to ensure continued revenue streams. Opponents, such as the Free Software Foundation, maintain that the use of the word "rights" is misleading and suggest that people instead use the term digital restrictions management. Their position is essentially that copyright holders are attempting to restrict use of copyrighted material in ways not covered by existing laws. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, and other opponents, also consider DRM systems to be anti-competitive practices.

In practice, all widely-used DRM systems have been defeated or circumvented when deployed to enough customers. Protection of audio and visual material is especially difficult due to the existence of the analog hole, and there are even suggestions that effective DRM is logically impossible for this reason.


Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -
PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Ebooks and ownership

What does ownership mean when it comes to DRM-locked items?

From the outset, ownership seems like a very cut and dry concept. To own an item means to have it in your possession. Few would deny that you have complete control of the items you own. Merriam Webster states that to own is to “to have or hold as property” or “to have power or mastery over.” Given this definition, one can safely say that an owner is entitled to use his property freely and as he so chooses: to manipulate, alter, lend, duplicate, or destroy are all at his discretion. And until recently, this concept has not been questioned.

Within the past several years, digital rights management (DRM) technology has emerged. This technology seeks to limit the usage of digital media (ebooks, music files, DVDs, etc.), often preventing owners from using their property as they wish. Proponents of DRM claim that it is necessary to protect copyright owners from unlawful dissemination of their works. Yet to many others, the approval of this technology flies in the face of the concept of ownership.

Ownership is an essential concept in a mixed economy like the one we have here in the United States. Capitalism, one aspect of our mixed economy, relies on an individual’s right to own property. Yet DRM technology destroys the power of ownership. Individuals are no longer able to truly “own” property if it is protected by DRM technology. The owners are not free, the property is not genuinely “owned” by the individual, and ownership is now more like a rental. You can use your property, but in limited ways. You may listen to your music, but only on approved operating systems. You can read your ebook if you read them on specific readers. Forget about sharing. You cannot lend your ebook to your neighbor like you may lend him a cup of sugar. DRM-protected media have become a different class of property.

We should be increasingly worried as DRM technology essentially steals our property. DRM technology strips us of the true rights of ownership we once enjoyed. When we can no longer use our property as we like, when we no longer have the freedom to make decisions about how our property will be used, ownership becomes meaningless.

What can we do about this DRM infringement? DRM.info has four tips for us here(http://www.drm.info/fsfe/todo), and tip number one is absolutely the most essential.Do not buy it. Do not purchase DRM-locked technology and devices. Purchasing these products only encourages the violation. As Georg Grev correctly proclaims, “The main motive for DRM promotion is financial.” When you won’t purchase, companies will take notice. Protests may draw media attention, but lost profits will evoke real changes. Allow yourself to be a true owner. Buy non-DRM. Use your property as you like. You deserve it. You own it.

Justina White

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Kindle with cellular wireless integrated

Amazon are “tentatively” preparing to launch their Kindle 2 ebook reader in early Q1 2009, according to the latest rumors.

Leaked shots of the second-generation device emerged back in October, with a launch tipped to take place before the holiday season, but Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos apparently postponed the release to allow for last-minute software tweaks.

Meanwhile a version of the Kindle 2 with a larger display is planed for the first half of 2009, targeted at students who want to view textbooks on the device. The Kindle 2 has a sleeker, less angular casing than the original ebook reader, with new circular QWERTY keys, a joystick and smaller page-turn controls to minimize accidental movement.

Like the first Kindle there’ll still be integrated EVDO cellular wireless for downloading ebooks directly to the device. Storage has apparently been boosted to around 1.5GB, while the SD slot has been removed.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

KindleFeeder for Kindle Ebooks Reader

Now here is a new product for the Kindle.

This new product is blog's feeds, which Amazon is now selling for 99 cents per month.

People was never asked to participate in the program, so they are assuming it's the result of a blogging syndication deal they signed a couple of years ago. Thanks to the world of syndication you never know where your content might appear, and you really don't have much say in the matter. This is not for complaining, and they certainly don't anticipate many (any?!) subscriptions to materialize via this service; even if they do, I'm getting a slice of a slice of a pretty tiny (99-cent) slice, so it's not changing our world.

The bigger question is "why?". Why is Amazon bothering with adding these blog feeds? The rankings they are seeing for most of them is pretty low. More importantly, we have found that once Kindle owners discover free blog feed services like Kindlefeeder, they feel the paid feeds are a ripoff.
It would be better off redirecting their efforts to increase the number of available paid blog feeds. For example, they still only have 18 magazines for sale on the Kindle and loads of technology and business titles are noticeably absent from the list. Every minute spent adding another blog to the service is time that should have been spent building up the magazine base, IMHO...

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Classics makes it better for eBooks

A Kindle or an iPhone can never duplicate the heft or the texture of a book or the smell of the paper. Is that a fetish? Maybe.

But mark my words: When the lights go out for good one day, and phones stop ringing and batteries die and we’re reduced to torch- and candlelight— when the new Dark Age arrives, I’ll be holed up in a mountain enclave surrounded by books, just like the European monks who saved Western Civilization during the Middle Ages.

I believe that. Mostly. But Classics from developers Andrew Kaz and Phill Ryu shook my belief a little. It dawned on me the other week, as I spent a solid hour reading—and actually enjoying!—Paradise Lost on my iPhone. I hadn’t read Milton since college, and then it was a real slog. Classics made reading Milton’s epic pleasurable in ways I hadn’t considered or taken seriously before.

The 1.0 version of Classics blew people away with its gorgeous GUI. Classics certainly looks beautiful. But the earlier version was plagued with typos and had a huge bug: A few of the books, including The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Hound of the Baskervilles, and Paradise Lost, were missing vast swaths of text. The last four chapters of Twain’s masterpiece were left out of the app, leaving readers to wonder if Huck Finn defeated the robbers and made it home. I could just imagine what Mark Twain would say.

Upon learning that his printer’s proof-reader was “improving” his punctuation in Huckleberry Finn, Twain later recalled: “I telegraphed orders to have him shot without giving him time to pray.”

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

New app Classics for Ebooks

In many iTunes App Store categories, there exists significant overlap–competing apps vying for the same place on your iPhone or iPod Touch. One of these categories encompasses eBooks. We previously reported on Stanza, which is now facing some competition.

A new app called Classics, priced at $2.99, offers elaborate page turning graphics. However, although it looks pretty it falls short on content.

The simulated bookshelf only contains 12 literary classics: Alice in Wonderland, Gulliver’s Travels, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the Time Machine, Robinson Crusoe, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Jungle Book, etc. Its page in iTunes states that more books are coming via free App updates, but nearly a month after its release, the same titles remain.

The content provided is not as extensive as Stanza’s and there is no means for creating and adding your own books or other documents. There isn’t even any mention of the format the books come in, or if Classics will support all the different eBook as Stanza does.

Regardless, the app has some nice touches. It remembers your place in a book using a simulated satin book mark and there is a progress bar showing you at a glance how far along you are in the book. Page turning is accomplished on the touch screen by flicking left or right to go back and forth in the book. You can use the table of contents for quick navigation.
Based on these observations we still feel that Stanza is the best eBook reader when it comes to content diversity and feature-set.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

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PRS-700

According to MobileTechReview’s editor-in-chief Lisa Gade, the PRS-700 “does all those things admirably”:

It’s much less cumbersome to switch to a different book and you can change pages with a natural motion finger-swipe. Sony increased zoom from 3 levels to 5 and sped up the screen refresh with each page turn (the page blanks white for a second between page turns). Like the older models, the Reader is about the size of a trade novel but much thinner (0.38 inches without the included leather flip cover), and it can hold thousands of books thanks to expansion card slots.


Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts
-PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor