Actualités du livre numérique

Mac Tablet

2009-09-11T08:49:00.002+02:00

Apple Mac Tablet killed twice by Steve Jobs

Apple Mac Tablet: watch out there's a Jobs about Steve Jobs' legendary eye for detail has led to two Apple Mac Tablet designs being scrapped. According to the Wall Street Journal, Jobs just wasn't happy with the finalised versions and shelved them.

The first Apple Mac Tablet was binned because of poor battery life while the second attempt was killed due to a lack of memory.

Since his return from medical leave, Jobs has apparently been hyper-hands-on with the tablet project. The move is reported to have not gone down too well with employees who've grown used to more freedom in his absence.

Excitingly Jobs has replied to the Wall Street Journal's speculation. Less thrillingly, his response numbers a curt 6 words: "Much of your information is incorrect." Hang on though, just "much" of it. That's daring close to confirming the existence of the Apple Mac Tablet. But maybe that's just wishful thinking.

Check out our list of things we want the Apple Mac Tablet to include and let us know what features you want to see in the comments.

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

Apple Mac Tablet

2009-09-10T12:03:00.002+02:00

Steve Jobs on iPod Touch cameras, ebook readers and the iPod Nano 5G

Steve Jobs: he's back!We're happy to see Steve Jobs back in the black polo neck and on stage in San Francisco and it seems he's even up for interviews. The New York Times's David Pogue got a few minutes with him and it was quite illuminating. If, like us, you're reeling a little from the lack of a camera in the latest iPod Touch, Jobs has an explanation. For him, the iPod Touch has become a pocket gaming device and it needs to be affordable.He said: “We don't need to add new stuff – we need to get the price down.” Don't be surprised if we get a camera in the iPod Touch eventually though.

On the subject of the iPod Nano 5G and its new video recording smarts, Jobs blamed the lack of stills snapping skills on the sensor: “Sensors for doing video are fairly thin. The sensors for doing a still camera…and we'd really like to have autofocus…are just way to thick to fit inside the Nano.”Pressed for his opinion on ebook readers, Jobs was rather dismissive of standalone devices pointing instead to the convenience of general-purpose devices. It was a broad statement but could point to Apple's potential plans for the mysterious and possibly non-existence Apple Mac Tablet.

Another interesting hint on the future of the Apple Mac Tablet came in Jobs discussion of what went on at Apple in his absence: “A lot of things that were started before I left…were continually worked on…and there are some things I'm focusing a lot of attention on right now.” ??Steve, you tease! He continued, noting that the new products needed “polish” and that he doesn't think Apple will “miss a beat”. If you were disappointed by yesterday's announcements, I have a feeling you won't be next time.

(via The New York Times)

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts-Enter Jean-Philippe Pastor
Labels: apple, device, ebook, reader
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Google struggling to get ebooks

2009-09-08T22:51:00.001+02:00

Thousands of aspiring authors from around the world can now totally sympathize with Google—because the search giant is also struggling to get a book deal. Well, okay, so mostly they’re struggling to get regulatory approval of a book deal, and said book deal is more about licensing and ePub than actually breaking into the industry—but close enough, right?

Anyway, Google looks like they’re getting to the point where they’re willing to give up just about anything to get this book deal through the EU. The latest concession is to allow two non-US members onto a board to administer its digital books settlement. Bloomberg also reports that:
Books that are commercially available and under copyright in Europe won’t be considered out of print under a proposed settlement with U.S. publishers over the company’s book-scanning project, Google said in a letter to several publisher associations in Europe.

The deal is supposed to pertain to works that are out of print (but still in copyright) as well as public domain works. The European Commission “is seeking precise details on the exact scope of the settlement” and “how many European works or publications will potentially be affected.”
Coming up on eleven months after the agreement was first announced, Google is still facing widespread regulatory scrutiny, as well as some protests from author groups, Amazon (via the Open Book Alliance) and others.

However, Google continues to pursue the deal (even in the face of the DOJ in the US). I think this is more than just Google not wanting to back down from their deal—I think this is a sign of just how serious Google is about their pending eBook foray.

They already have deals with Sony and Interead, and either of those deals could also lead in to the hardware side of eBook readers. Now they need the content to back up those deals and really make a push to take on Amazon.
If they get the necessary permissions for the nearly 500,000 books they’re proposing, Google could stand to take on Amazon—but Amazon would still have an advantage in current bestsellers.

What do you think? Can old books from Google match up to Amazon? Just how much will Google concede to get the deal through?

Jordan McCollum

Google's Ebook revolution

2009-09-02T19:59:00.003+02:00

This year, Google has made no bones about the fact that they’re looking to take on Amazon in the eBook arena.

First, they made a deal with Sony (maker of the Sony eReader, top competitor to Amazon’s Kindle reader) to provide more than half a million public domain titles. Then in June, Google “signaled its intent to introduce a program by that would enable publishers to sell digital versions of their newest books direct to consumers through Google.” A couple weeks later, Google Books came out with new viewing and embedding features, including mobile-compatible features.

But still, all the embedding and viewing features in the world aren’t much competition for the eye-strain–preventing, ultra portable, WiFi connecting Kindle. Without some awesome hardware, Google’s eBook revolution would probably remain just a pipe dream.

So it’s a darn good thing they’ve partnered with Interead, makers of COOL-ER eReaders. Designed as a cheaper eReader, the COOL-ER is an up-and-coming Kindle competitor. Of course, Google’s partnership with their parent company only extends to the public domain books in Google’s repository (the first such deal that will have effect outside the US).

The COOL-ER is a cheaper alternative to the Kindle—both in price, and, according to the reviews I’ve watched, in quality and durability. (If I’m going to plonk down $250 for an eReader, I might as well spring for the full-featured Kindle.) However, the COOL-ER has the greatest file compatibility range—19 in all, from PDF to EPUB to MP3. (And I’m most inclined to wait at least one more generation on any eReader, at the very least.)

The next logical step might very well be Google influencing the COOL-ER itself—and in keeping with the Google way of doing things, keep it affordable, make it accessible and make it quality. Also in keeping with the Google way—get someone else to do your hardware.

What do you think? Will this be Google’s back door into the eReader industry? Or are they only interested in selling the books themselves?

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

Sony has eventually found the clue with Ebooks

2009-08-28T14:26:00.002+02:00

After letting Kindle dominate the e-book reader market for two years, Sony has fired a huge salvo in return – at least in the US.

The new Sony Reader Daily Edition adds wireless 3G, increase the size of the touchscreen to seven inches and supports a feature called Library Finder that will let users borrow e-books from their local libraries, at no cost.

The Reader Daily Edition will cost $400 and is expected to be in US stores in December. A spokesman for Sony said today that it intends to launch the device in the UK "when the market is right", but it has not yet planned a release date.

Reception for the new device in the US was very positive. "Sony has given the market what everyone was waiting for in terms of a wireless device," says Sarah Rotman Epps, a Forrester analyst who has been covering e-readers. "Not only that, they have gone one step further, and shown their latest product is no copycat of the Kindle."

Since Amazon introduced the Kindle to the US market in 2007, e-readers have become a surprisingly hot consumer product category. Though Sony was the first to launch an e-reader, the company has lagged behind its biggest rival. One key missing feature was wireless connectivity: until now, Sony Reader users who wanted to purchase or download books had to connect their e-reader to a PC using the USB connection. By contrast, the Kindle has always offered free over-the-air wireless book downloads. Amazon also aggressively pursued publishers, enabling the company to offer a wide selection of popular books for download.
Now Sony is fighting back on both the features and the content fronts.

The Reader Daily Edition offers portrait and landscape orientation. In portrait mode, about 30-35 lines of text are visible, offering an experience similar to that of a printed paperback book, says the company. The device has enough internal memory to hold more than 1,000 standard e-books, says Sony, and it has expansion slots for memory cards.
The Reader Daily Edition is the third new e-book reader in the company's line-up. The other two, which will be available for pre-order in the UK later today, will be a five-inch-screen device called the Sony Reader Pocket and a six-inch touchscreen model, the Sony Reader Touch. UK pricing is yet to be confirmed, but in the US they cost $200 (£120) and $300 (£180) respectively.

Aside from technical specifications, Sony Reader's second big weakness compared to the Kindle has been access to content. Amazon's position as a leading online retailer of books helped the company offer a wide selection of e-books to Kindle buyers that were competitively priced and easy to download.
To match that, Sony has partnered with OverDrive, a distributor of e-books to libraries, to offer its customers easy access to the local library's collection of e-books. Sony Reader customers can use the company's Library Finder software and check out e-books with a valid library card. Users will have to download the books to a PC first and then transfer them to the Reader. The e-books will expire at the end of the 21-day lending period.

Sony has also said it will adopt the open EPub format in a move that allows consumers to purchase or download books from the Sony store and read them on any EPub-compatible device. In contrast, Amazon uses a proprietary file format that only allows users to read books they've bought using the Kindle, or Amazon-sanctioned Kindle software.
"From the beginning, we have said that an open format means more choice for consumers," says Steve Haber, president of Sony's Digital Reading Business Division. "Now, readers can shop around for what interests them rather than be locked into one store."
Still, it won't be easy to beat Amazon, says Epps.

"Sony is number two in the market and though they are in a strong position to close the gap with Amazon over the holiday season, I expect Amazon to still be the market leader in early 2010," she says.

"Amazon has built a very strong relationship with e-book buying consumers that were the first wave of adopters of electronic readers," says Epps.

"Consumers are now split between the small pocket-sized devices with five-inch or six-inch screens and the larger screen eight-inch to ten-inch screen readers," says Epps. "But it is not over yet. The market is still evolving."

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

E-book with 3G Wireless

2009-08-27T15:30:00.004+02:00

Sony Unveils Daily Edition E-Book With 3G Wireless

by Carol Mangis

Sony on Tuesday unveiled the newest version of its eBook Reader, the Daily Edition, which will have built-in free wireless capability via AT&T's 3G mobile broadband network.

The new Reader, introduced during an event at the main branch of the New York Public Library, will hit SonyStyle stores and sonystyle.com in December and will retail for $399.
The Daily Edition will feature a seven-inch touchscreen, and a high contrast ratio with 16 levels of grayscale; you can read in either portrait or landscape orientation. It will have enough onboard memory to hold over 1,000 standard ebooks and is also expandable via Memory Stick/Duo and SD card slots.

Sony also had a number of its newly available Pocket and Touch Readers available to try out. Those readers, priced at $199 and $299, respectively, are available now for purchase. Each of the Sony Readers employs the E Ink Vizplex electronic paper display.

Steven Haber, president of Sony's digital reader business division, emphasized the importance of access, content, and affordability for ebook readers. He mentioned that Sony is moving from a proprietary ebook format to ePub's format, which will streamline the publishing process immensely.

Sony also announced its Library Finder app, developed in partnership with Overdrive.com. Users of Sony's eBook Store will be able to easily locate their local libraries online and download free ebook content using their library cards. When the lending period is up, the content simply expires.

One of those libraries will be the New York Public Library, which currently offers about 40,000 downloadable titles, with the goal of goal of digitizing over one million titles. That effort has been facilitated through the library's partnership with Google's book-scanning initiative.
"We believe it must be delivered free," said Dr. Paul LeClerc, president and CEO of the NYPL.
Also new is a Web site for book lovers called Words Move Me, a social networking site of sorts where readers will be able to connect and post favorite passages from literary works. Eventual Facebook and Twitter integration is promised.

For images from the event, and a video interview with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who will be participating in a panel on ebooks at the NYPL later today, head to Gearlog.
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

French language Ebook

2009-08-26T21:13:00.002+02:00

ARCHAMBAULT Launches First French-language ebook Site in North America

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Aug. 26, 2009) - Archambault today launched Jelis.ca, its new French-language ebook site, the first engine of its kind in North America. Archambault announced its new digital strategy at a joint press conference with Sony Canada, which unveiled its new Pocket EditionTM and Touch EditionTM digital reader models.Archambault is pleased to join forces with digital pioneer Sony for the introduction of the Jelis.ca site and the new Sony Digital Book models.

The Jelis.ca download engine, combined with the new Sony Readers, will give Archambault's customers a new way to enjoy books. Puneet Jain, Director of Marketing, Sony Canada, said: "Sony is happy to partner with Archambault for the Quebec launch of the new Reader models. Working with Archambault, an established and respected retailer, we are making digital reading and ebooks more readily available to Canadians." That goal is a common cause for Archambault and Sony.Jelis.ca, a unique service"Archambault has always been focused on meeting its customers' needs," said Denis Pascal, Senior Vice President, Retail Group, with Archambault Group. "Jelis.ca, the first French-language ebook downloads site in North America, opens the door to digital reading for Quebecers." With more than 20,000 titles currently available for download, the new Jelis.ca service will offer Francophones a broad selection of books of all kinds: novels, Quebec literature, general literature, travel books, cookbooks.

Jelis.ca also provides an excellent opportunity for Quebec publishers to position themselves in the digital landscape and offer their audiences a new reading experience at an advantageous price.Users of the Jelis.ca download engine and the Sony Readers will be able to take hundreds of French-language books with them wherever they go, without having to worry about their bulk or weight. The new technology promises to boost business for publishing houses, to make the works of Quebec authors more accessible, and to increase the amount of time Quebecers spend reading. Imagine being able to consult your entire library anytime, anywhere. Archambault is determined to be the first to offer Quebecers this world of new possibilities. Archambault's two literary spokespersons, Christine Michaud and Caroline Allard, agreed to be ambassadors for the new way of experiencing literature by downloading files to their Sony Readers at the press conference. During the next month, they will share their impressions of digital reading on Archambault's http://www.coteblogue.ca/ blog.In the digital age, Archambault is taking literature to new places in order to serve consumers who are excited about both reading and hi-tech.

And since Archambault cares about all of its customers, it is taking advantage of the service launch to support new learners as well. For every digital book sold in the next year, Archambault will donate a physical book to the Literacy Foundation, which will distribute the volumes to organizations involved in basic education. "We are very grateful to Archambault for this initiative, which will help promote literacy education," said Maryse Perreault, CEO of the Foundation.Archambault, the culture of entertainmentArchambault, a Quebecor Media company, is a leading provider of cultural entertainment products. Archambault is the largest retailer of CDs in Quebec and a major retailer of books, DVDs, newspapers, magazines, musical instruments, sheet music and gift ideas. For 10 years, Archambault's http://www.archambault.ca/ e-commerce site has been the largest French-language online store in North America. Archambault's http://www.coteblogue.ca/ site is a meeting place for people interested in all things cultural.Archambault operates 15 stores across Quebec. For more information on Archambault Group,

visit http://www.archambault.ca/.

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 battle

2009-08-25T13:26:00.002+02:00

The e-book battle heats up as e-readers take sides

by Don Reisinger

Another Amazon Kindle competitor has unveiled its plans for the future. And like Plastic Logic's e-reader, the device will feature Barnes & Noble's e-book store.

The Kindle has even more competitors.(Credit: Amazon)
When Irex Technologies unveils its consumer e-reader later this year, it will include Barnes & Noble's e-books, Irex said in a statement Monday.

Barnes & Noble's store currently features more than 750,000 titles, and it expects that library of available titles to increase to more than one million within the next year. The full library will be available for download on Irex's e-reader.
That news followed a report earlier this month that Irex's new e-reader will sport an 8.1-inch touch screen and 3G wireless connectivity. The device's touch screen will be controlled with a stylus instead of a user's fingers.

"With our comprehensive e-bookstore and feature-rich e-reader application, Barnes & Noble is delivering not just a product, but a promise: to provide people with access to the books they love--on any platform, in any place, and at any time," Barnes & Noble President William J. Lynch said in a statement.

Barnes & Noble's strategy focuses on maintaining its store and partnering with hardware makers. Aside from availability on the Irex e-reader, as well as the iPhone and iPod Touch through Apple's App Store, Barnes & Noble's store will also come bundled in Plastic Logic's upcoming e-reader.

Amazon offers its own e-reader software in Apple's App Store, allowing both iPhone and iPod Touch users to read its e-books on their handsets. And of course, Amazon's e-books can also be found on the company's market-leading Kindle.

The success of the Barnes & Noble e-book library will largely depend on whether or not the devices using its store will boast the same level of usability as the Kindle. If they do, it's possible that Barnes & Noble will be able to capture significant market share, thanks to its availability on so many e-readers. If they don't, Barnes & Noble's store might lose its stride. And all that fails to consider Sony's Reader--another contender that could emerge as a major player as the market matures.

Suddenly, the e-book market is becoming an exciting space to keep an eye on.
Check out Don's Facebook profile, Twitter stream, and FriendFeed.

Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET.

Ebook reader problems

2009-07-01T13:01:00.002+02:00

Sometimes words really do matter

Category: Library Leadership NetworkPosted on: June 30, 2009 12:31 PM, by Walt Crawford

Here's another little post about the Library Leadership Network (LLN)--naturally suggesting that you might want to go look, but also thinking about how it develops and some of the recent content.

Some weeks, most new content goes into existing articles. Some weeks--this past one, for exmaple--most goes into new articles. And some weeks (also including this past one), a new article emerges from pieces of old ones.
For the record, the new articles for the week ("week" being last Monday-Friday, June 22-26, 2009):
Advocacy and marketing begins with thoughtful commentaries on advocacy from Leigh Ann Vrabel and char booth.
In the interests of coherence and article length, commentaries on problems with ebook readers now appear in Ebook reader problems and issues--including a major new section on DRM and how it's biting some Kindle fans.
Charging for services offers a new take on a long-standing issue, along with a fair number of comments on "Freemium" services.
What makes an innovative idea actionable? Nina Simon offers a thoughtful new perspective on that issue in a new addition to Innovation and control.
That's three new articles and one updated article. What does this have to do with words and their meaning?

Advocacy, marketing and ebooks

In the case of the Charging... article, not much. Discussions of whether and how public libraries can or should charge for "premium" services date back many years. I've always had the same response: "Premium" is a slippery slope for a public institution, with "standard" likely to become worse and worse as tax dollars get scarce--and that worsening baseline hurts the people most that public libraries specifically need to serve. Hmm. Maybe that does have something to do with words: what does "premium" (or, Gaia forfend, "freemium") really mean in a public library setting? Is it possible to charge for some services (or faster access to existing services) without directly or indirectly damaging those who can't afford the premium?

But two other articles are the focus of this post.

Advocacy and marketing discusses advocacy for libraries by librarians--and, oddly, is the first article in LLN with advocacy in the title, although I'd guess at least half a dozen of the 39 articles in the Marketing category are primarily about advocacy, not marketing.
Is there a difference? I think so. I don't see how you could call arguing for the use of one particular brand of deodorant over another "advocacy," but you can certainly advocate for the worth of libraries and need for their support. I don't think advocacy requires branding, much less the tendency to regard everything (including ourselves) as brands. The first of the two commentaries in thenew article doesn't find huge differences between "marketing" and "advocacy," but I believe the difference is significant--not only in the lack of pure commercial intent where advocacy is involved, but also in the nature of support. And that's enough for here--go read the article.

The other case is a little different. Ebook reader problems and issues combines some commentaries that were previously in other articles with a new commentary on Kindle-specific DRM issues. The key here, though, is "Ebook reader"--an explicit recognition that a fair amount of confusion is caused by the use of one word for two concepts. Ebooks--let's call them "book-length texts delivered digitally" (although in past years many so-called ebooks have been article-length texts delivered digitally) don't require dedicated reading devices. Ebook readers--dedicated reading devices such as Kindles and Sony Readers--can be used to read things other than, well, ebooks.

But most of the time, in most media (mainstream or otherwise), "ebooks" (or e-books or eBooks or E-books or...) is used to describe both. That's not helpful and can get in the way of understanding.

I'm trying to disambiguate the term, at least at LLN.

I think that's more feasible than any foolish attempt to get people to stop using "leadership" when they mean "management." One of the recent Leader's Digest items summarizes an article about leadership failure--and, as far as I can see, it's really an article about why some managers fail to be leaders. But the magazine in which the article appears has consistently used "leaders" and "leadership" when it means "managers" and "management," and I don't think that's likely to change any time soon...

Anyway, that's this week's musings about how LLN works and changes. (I did mention that it's free and not restricted to librarians, didn't I?)

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

Irex

2009-06-23T21:22:00.001+02:00

Beyond the Kindle: Talking eBooks and eReaders with iRex
Written by Frederic Lardinois / June 22, 2009 3:43 PM /

When it comes to eReaders, Amazon's Kindle is obviously the largest player in the U.S., with Sony's eReader being a distant second. A few days ago, though, we got a chance to talk to Hans Brons, the CEO of iRex. IRex is a company worth watching closely, as it is a spin-off from the e-ink research group at Philips that developed the screen technology that is being used by most current generation eBook readers. Philips decided that it didn't want to pursue this line of research in 2005 and decided to license the technology to other vendors.

B2B

Unlike other eReader vendors, iRex made the decision to focus almost exclusively on the B2B market early on and focused on this market instead of going directly after consumers. As Brons told us, part of the reason was that the price for first generation eReaders was simply to high for consumers, and in order to jumpstart the business, going after the B2B market was simply a strategic decision. IRex's eReaders, are, for example, often being used as Electronic Flight Bags by private pilots. Brons also stressed that there is a huge market for books for professionals, including manuals, guides, and similar texts.
Today, iRex is also looking into the textbook market and electronic newspapers, though for the time being, the company is still focusing more on the professional market than on the consumer market.

Taking Notes

We think iRex's top-of-the-line Digital Reader 1000 devices are especially interesting because they actually feature the ability to take notes directly on the screen (with a pen - no touchscreen yet, but the company is working on this). When we looked at the Kindle DX and its role in the textbook market, we noted that the absence of easy to use note-taking features made the Kindle less useful in a school setting than Amazon made it out to be.
One thing Hans Brons stressed during our interview was that iRex puts a premium on the brightness of its screens. Adding a touchscreen would mean adding an additional layer over the actual screen, which would reduce brightness.

Brons also told us that iRex has approached (and has been approached by) a number of newspaper companies that are looking to provide their readers with eReaders. iRex is not ready to announce any new deals in the U.S. just yet, though the company is working with a number of large European newspapers already, and the Washington Post and USA Today are also available through iRex.

Color

IRex made a bit of a splash a few weeks ago when it announced (PDF) that it was working on full color readers. Brons told us that iRex was getting ready to commercialize color readers, but that this was indeed a hard problem to solve as iRex doesn't want to sacrifice screen brightness for color, which isn't necessarily a feature that most users would need.
Services for Publishers, But no Store
Brons also told us that iRex is providing publishers with a full range services to get their books onto the iRex platform, though iRex itself is not looking into starting its own store.
We think there is a chance that iRex is missing some opportunities here, though. Publishers might be able to put their books up in an iRex powered store on their sites, but consumers don't go to publisher sites to buy a book. After all, who knows (and wants to know) whether their favorite book was published by a Random House imprint like Knopf or Crown, or by Penguin (itself a part of Pearson)?
Brons acknowledged that Amazon's size must have surely helped it to gather (force?) publishers around its eBook offering, and the integration between the store and the hardware device, bundled with the Kindle's wireless capabilities, surely helped the company to make eBooks and eReaders more palatable for consumers.
It is important to note, too, that the Kindle and Amazon's eBook store isn't currently available in Europe, where iRex has its headquarters and its strongest presence. If iRex could gather enough publishers around its platform and set up a large store, the company would definitely have the potential to challenge Amazon in this market when and if it decides to bring the Kindle to Europe.

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New app on Apple Store

2009-05-28T11:47:00.002+02:00

Random House has launched an ebook reader on the Apple App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Users of the app will be able to download digital editions of titles from authors such as James Patterson, Ben Elton and Richard Branson.

They can turn pages, make notes on pages and change font style and size.
Jonathan Davis, digital publisher at Random House Group Digital, said, “This is the first time a major UK publisher has made mass-market books available via the Apple App Store. The iPhone and iPod Touch are fantastic convergence devices and we’re delighted customers can now enjoy digital versions of some of our bestselling books on a device which fits neatly in their pocket.”
The ebook app costs £7.49.

Last week the publisher launched a community site for book lovers (nma.co.uk 22 May 2009). Users can set up their own profile page and rate and review books.

Affiliate programs

2009-05-27T18:44:00.001+02:00

Smashwords, an online Ebook store for independent authors and their publishers, is launching a new affiliate program that will allow external sites to generate revenue by linking to Ebooks that are being sold on the Smashwords store.

Self Publishing

2009-03-31T19:44:00.002+02:00

Free eBook Shows You How to Self Publish using a Book Template

Become a Published Author on Amazon!

Download the free ebook here: http://book-template.com/51231dsaaADS43SDFd32register.html

A new ebook shows you step by step exactly How To Publish your Ebook as a Paperback on Amazon. The ebook comes with a Bonus Video that shows you exactly how to submit your book to Amazon for free.

Leigh Burke said "Hot off the press is my latest Ebook, ’How To Publish your Ebook as a Paperback on Amazon’.

I guide you step by step through the process of getting your book in the correct format for submission to Amazon, then submitting it and promoting your book on the world’s biggest virtual bookstore. And the best thing of all is submission to Amazon is free, and I show you how"
The ebook is 30 pages, and contains detailed instructions and screenshots guiding you step by step through the entire process.

With your ebooks for sale as physical books on Amazon, you’ll create another stream of income and increase your credibility as an author overnight.

There are a number of other distinct advantages to being a published author.
* You will be quoted in both the media and other books. * You can add the book to your CV, biography and other marketing literature. * You can purchase your own books at a heavily discounted price from the printer, and sell them yourself at seminars, conferences, training events, to customers, loved ones and friends. * When you publish more than one book in your niche you gain credibility and become an expert in your field. This will increase your customers trust in you, and will lead to many indirect sales and consulting engagements.

You can grab your free copy here: http://book-template.com/51231dsaaADS43SDFd32register.html

Once you register free, you will be automatically redirected to the download page.
If you’re looking to self publish your own book then you will also need a book template to layout your book.

You can get one here: http://www.book-template.com/.

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 couleur

2009-03-29T19:30:00.002+02:00

Alors qu’Amazon souhaite relancer le marché avec un second "Kindle" équipé de niveaux de gris pour faciliter la lecture, le constructeur japonais Fujitsu fait encore mieux en commercialisant au pays du soleil levant, FLEPia, le premier ebook couleur. Embarquant la techonologie "e-ink", l’encre numérique, le modèle ne nécessite pas de rétro-éclairage et offre des économies d’énergie.

La révolution apportée par Fujitsu offre un écran tactile 8 pouces XGA à 260 000 couleurs pour une définition de 1024 x 768 pixels. Le tout se présente dans des dimensions 24 x 16 cm pour 1,25cm d’épaisseur. Poids du FLEPia : 385 grammes. Le modèle est complété par 4Go de capacité interne, un port pour carte SD, le WiFi et le Bluetooth 2.0. Il est compatible avec un grand nombre de formats (PDF, TXT, HTML, Word, Excel pour les textes mais aussi JPEG, BMP ou encore PNG pour les images). Une autonomie de 40 heures est annoncée.

PHONEREADER Iphone

2009-03-12T09:34:00.002+01:00

All ebooks on www.phonereader.eu
All books for smartphones since1998
Microsoft OS can be downloaded with XenDesktop software from Citrix.
Download Reader Microsoft on your Iphone and read ebooks phonereader.eu on your Iphone (free of charge).

See le Journal de l'Hypertexte in english (different today's posts)
Connect hypertextual.net l'Hypertexte Principal de la Solution -
See Phonereader.GoogleBooks
Enter the library Phonereader.eu

Jean-Philippe Pastor

FictionWise sold

2009-03-07T15:51:00.002+01:00

Barnes & Noble has acquired e-book seller Fictionwise.com for $15.7 million, as it makes another attempt at running an e-book store.

The cash deal, announced Thursday, is part of Barnes & Noble's plans to launch its own e-book store later this year, despite its lack of success with a previous attempt years ago.
Back in 2000, Barnes & Noble teamed up with Microsoft to launch an e-book store with the help of Microsoft Reader software. But three years after its launch and investing at least $20 million into the project, Barnes & Noble discontinued sales of e-books.

Although the company did not disclose the reasons for halting its e-book store efforts, a Nielsen/NetRatings analyst speculated at the time that sales had been minimal.
Barnes & Noble spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating said Friday that the time wasn't right earlier this decade.

"Consumers were not as quick to embrace the technology, the pricing set by the publishers, or the reading devices," Keating said of the previous effort. "We did have growth in our e-book sales, but the growth was not significant enough to support the business at the time."
Apparently, however, consumer tastes and the technology have advanced enough over the past six years to give it another shot.
"The market has changed since then, and we see this as a growth area," Keating said.
Last month, archrival Amazon.com released Kindle 2, the second version of its e-book reader. And earlier this week, Amazon unveiled its Kindle app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Fictionwise, which Barnes & Noble will run as a separate business unit, offers its own eReader app for smartphones, other handheld devices, desktop computers, and laptops. Likewise, competitor Lexcycle has its Stanza app for e-book reading.
While consumer interest in e-books has increased over the years, they have yet to attract a mainstream market. Analysts attribute price as the major barrier to the adoption of e-books.

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 Bebook

2009-03-02T16:38:00.003+01:00

The new model of the Bebook has been redesigned to include 3G cellular and/or a WiFi data link, touchscreen navigation and RSS support, said the company in a posting on its Web site.

The device will also get ePub DRM (digital rights management) support over the next few months and is due to be launched in the middle of this year. No other details were immediately available.
The electronic book market recently saw the introduction of the second-generation version of Amazon.com's Kindle e-book reader. That device also includes cellular support but is only available in the U.S., where Amazon has a tie-up with a network operator.
Sony has also seen some success with its "Reader" e-book tablet and has been adding support for a wider variety of data formats to better compete with the Kindle. It supports the BBeB and ePub formats with DRM and unprotected text files in the BBeB, ePub, TXT, RTF, PDF and Word formats. Additionally it can show several types of image files and play MP3 and AAC audio files.
The first-edition BeBook, which was launched in 2008, has won praise for its ease of use and inclusion of around 20,000 classic books with each 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

Long tail phrases naturally

2009-02-26T07:51:00.001+01:00

As Web Searchers Increasingly Use Longer Keyphrases, Clever Ebook Gives Copywriters 11 Ways to Include Long-Tail Phrases Naturally

ELGIN, SC - The length of search engine keyphrases continues to grow. Rather than a single keyword, searchers are now using three- and four-word phrases as the standard, according to newly released information in February 2009 by Web analytics-company Hitwise.com. These increases make the task of writing natural-sounding search engine optimized (SEO) copy increasingly difficult. Now, SEO-copywriter Karon Thackston has a quick-read ebook that details 11 clever and legal ways to include long-tail keyphrases without destroying the flow of the copy.
In the last 12 months, one- and two-word search-phrase use decreased by as much as 5%, while four-, five-, six-, seven- and even eight-word search-phrase use increased by as much as 19%. What does this mean from a copywriting standpoint? Writing with a single keyword in mind is easy. Using two-word terms is a bit more of a challenge. But, when three- and four-plus-word phrases come into play, the risk of sounding stiff and awkward increases substantially.

"The biggest mistake I find search engine optimization (SEO) copywriters and website owners making is attempting to substitute every generic term for a specific keyphrase," recounts Thackston, who has been at the forefront of SEO copywriting for 10 years. She continues, "This makes copy sound very amateurish and clunky. The reason for this repeated mistake is because copywriters and site owners use the keyphrases the same way every time. They don't realize they have other options. There are numerous ways to make SEO copy sound natural."

Thackston's ebook outlines 11 clever and legal ways to use keyphrases of practically any length without sacrificing the quality of the copy. Complete with real-world examples and screenshots, this quick-read ebook is currently in its 4th edition.
If the trend continues as it has in the past, search phrases will get even longer in the not-so-distant future. However, getting creative with keyphrase use is one way to ensure that longer search terms can be used without sounding awkward.

"Writing With Keywords," published by Marketing Words, Inc., is a 37-page ebook available for immediate download online in PDF format for $39 US. For more information or to purchase, visit http://www.WritingWithKeywords.com. For media interviews, contact Karon Thackston at 803-438-4088. Contact Information:
Karon Thackston
803-438-4088
Email Contact http://www.WritingWithKeywords.com

Just a single click for ebooks

2009-02-23T14:42:00.002+01:00

Austin, TX – Reading a bestseller on the Apple iPhone just got significantly easier.

Two major barriers to eBook adoption collapsed today with the public launch of BooksOnBoard’s new Qik Clik(TM) technology for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

“With this advance, format guesswork and long checkout forms go the way of analog TV, truly making eBooks available anytime and anywhere for iPhone owners,” said Bob LiVolsi, CEO of BooksOnBoard (http://www.booksonboard.com/). Qik Clik(TM) technology gives iPhone and iPod Touch customers a quick, one click checkout experience at BooksOnBoard, and takes only three clicks from eBook selection to download, automatically doing the format selection for them. And registered customers have no checkout forms to complete after their first purchase – no credit card information, no name and address, just a single click.

According to Neelan Choksi, Lexcycle/Stanza COO, “I am very impressed. The BooksOnBoard team deserves a huge amount of credit. They have taken the Stanza catalog format to a new level and greatly improved and streamlined the eBook customer experience.” To access their eBooks, customers must have Lexcycle’s free Stanza application downloaded from the iPhone App Store. “Our Qik Clik technology provides a secure, customer friendly eBook experience on the iPhone and iPod Touch – with the fewest possible clicks,” says Marwan Hassoun, BooksOnBoard CTO. “This is only the beginning. Our eco-friendly technology roadmap will continue to make eBooks easier for customers to access and read. We plan to expand the technology and make it available on almost all mobile devices very soon.”

Harlequin Enterprises Vice President of Digital and Internet , Brent Lewis, said, “We know that more and more readers value the convenience of their mobile device, so BooksOnBoard’s launch of a user-friendly mobile website for iPhone is a timely and welcome addition to eBook purchasing options” Bestselling author Jess Dee reflected the response of many authors when she said, “I’m thrilled to be a part of this innovative venture. Congratulations to BooksOnBoard for the launch of their new iPhone interface.” Jane Porter, acclaimed author of Flirting with Forty, said, "An exciting new way to buy your books today! I’m a fan" Added Renee Bernard, popular author of A Rogue’s Game, “With BooksOnBoard and my iPhone, there isn’t anything else I need to take with me! It’s the best of both worlds and I’m thrilled to have the world’s largest selection of books at my fingertips wherever I go!”

According to Mike Smith, Executive Director of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), the trade and standards association for the digital publishing industry, “It is good news for customers that non-DRM format EPUB titles are also part of the BooksOnBoard offering for the iPhone, allowing readers to experience the interoperability of EPUB between devices and reading applications.” More iPhone instructions can be found here: http://www.booksonboard.com/index.php?F=iPhone_ebooks

Shopping downloadable eBooks

2009-02-21T18:45:00.003+01:00

We are now living in a digitalized era.

With anything and everything going digital, the books are no exemption. These electronic books have made life convenient than ever before. Now anyone can read the any books without going to the libraries. These downloadable books makes reading so convenient that you can get any book with just a few mouse clicks. The ebooks have gained huge popularity through the recent days as they can be retained for a lifetime without any damage. Moreover, the usage of ebooks saves thousands of trees that are cut down for making paper” says Mr. Mac of Ninjuh.com

Speaking about the features of Ninjuh.com, Mr. Mac said, “Ninjuh is a one stop shop for shopping downloadable books. The site is designed in such a way that even novice Internet users can download the ebooks that they are looking for with just a few mouse clicks. Readers will find it really easy to search ebooks through Ninjuh. You will be well aware of the fact that Internet is the largest library. However, finding the books that you are looking for in this largest library is a neck breaking job. This is where Ninjuh comes into play. Ninjuh has categorized the Ebooks available all over the Internet and have attached them with appropriate tags so that the surfers can find them with ease. Ninjuh is equipped with the most advanced search technology so that you can find the ebooks by just keying in a few keywords. Unlike other ebook searching sites which need the whole title of the ebook to be known, Ninjuh can find you the ebook with just the keywords. If you are an Ebook writer, you can also submit your ebooks at Ninjuh.”

Speaking about the advantages of Ebooks, Mr. Mac said, “The use of Ebook has many advantages. The main advantage is that online shopping of these downloadable books is very much convenient than heading all the way to a book store for buying them. Buying ebooks will also save a great deal of money. If you are interested in writing you can also earn a great deal of money by writing and selling ebooks.”About NinjuhNinjuh is a new search site to find ebooks, ebook, ebook store, Electronic books, Downloadable books, Shopping, Online shopping And More. With the latest technology of ebook search, shopping ebooks through Ninjuh is just a breeze.

Linking

2009-02-19T13:07:00.000+01:00

According to Jeff Jarvis, there is a new rule now on the web : Cover what you do best. Link to the rest.

Try this on as a new rule for newspapers.

That’s not how newspapers work now. They try to cover everything because they used to have to be all things to all people in their markets. So they had their own reporters replicate the work of other reporters elsewhere so they could say that they did it under their own bylines as a matter of pride and propriety. It’s the way things were done. They also took wire-service copy and reedited it so they could give their audiences the world. But in the age of the link, this is clearly inefficient and unnecessary. You can link to the stories that someone else did and to the rest of the world. And if you do that, it allows you to reallocate your dwindling resources to what matters, which in most cases should be local coverage.
This changes the dynamic of editorial decisions. Instead of saying, “we should have that” (and replicating what is already out there) you say, “what do we do best?” That is, “what is our unique value?” It means that when you sit down to see a story that others have worked on, you should ask, “can we do it better?” If not, then link. And devote your time to what you can do better.
In the rearchitecture of news, what needs to happen is that people are driven to the best coverage, not the 87th version of the same coverage. This will work for publications and news organizations. It will also work for individuals; this is how a lone reporter’s work (and reputation) can surface. We saw that happening with the Libby trial and Firedoglake’s liveblogging of it. As Jay Rosen said at our NPR confab last week — and I’ve heard this elsewhere — theirs became the best source for keeping up on the trial. Reporters and editors knew it and were using it. So those same reporters and editors should have been sending their readers to the blog as a service: ‘We’re not liveblogging it, but they are. We’ll give you our analysis and reporting later. Enjoy.’ That is where the architecture of news must go because links enable it and economics demand it.There’s another angle to this: News is not one-size-fits-all. We don’t get all our news from one source anymore. We get bombarded with news all around us. So we all knew that Anna Nicole Smith was dead (or, in Jack Cafferty’s immortal words, still dead). So that means that not every newspaper needs to cover that story in depth.
It certainly means that The New York Times needn’t. So why did the Times devote considerable space and reporting and editing talent to the Anna Nicole story this week? They added nothing more to the story. It’s not what they do best. At the least, if they felt they really needed to cover it, they should have used the AP. Online, they certainly should have just linked to the many, many other sources that are covering it. And then the paper could have used its resources for news that matters and news that they can do uniquely well.
So why did they do it? They didn’t want to be left behind. They perhaps even didn’t want to seem snotting (as if the Anna Nicole story were below them and their readers). But that’s not the issue. Making the best use of their resources and talent it. They need to take advantage of the link.
Newspapers are getting more comfortable with linking out even to competitors. This takes it farther. It says that the best service you can perform for yourself and your readers is to link instead of trying to do everything.
And once you really open yourself up to this, then it also means that you can link to more people gathering more coverage of news: ‘We didn’t cover that school board meeting today, but here’s a link to somebody who recorded it.’ That’s really no different from saying after a big news event, ‘We weren’t there to take pictures, but lots of our readers were and here they are.’So you do what you do best. And you link to the rest. (Jeff Jarvis)

That is the new architecture of news.

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

Savings with e-books

2009-02-15T16:26:00.002+01:00

The economy is in the tank, and people are looking to cut costs any way they can. An Amazon Kindle pays for itself after the purchase of 20 or 30 books, then starts paying dividends. You save big on books, magazines and newspapers. These savings will grow even more attractive as the recession deepens !

Licensing models: razors and blades

2009-02-14T10:55:00.003+01:00

The problem with eBooks remains the content, and its licensing models.

Bookworm is a nice open source reader, but the question remains how big is its book library, and what are the terms under which you access the material?

The Amazon Kindle has found a niche because Amazon makes certain that channel is filled, with the books people want to read. Despite this success only 500,000 of the original Kindles were sold.
Compare that to the number of human readers and it’s clear that eBooks remain at the very front of the demand curve. We’re still with the gadget freaks and the hobbyists, not the mass market.
Before the mass market grabs any eBook reader, whether open source or not, the business model has to become acceptable to book readers, and comparable in value to real books. These eBooks must also become ubiquitous, as real books are.

The short version is we’re still focused on the razors, when we need to look at the blades.

Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

Email Dana Blankenhorn

Amazon Kindle 2

2009-02-10T13:43:00.000+01:00

Amazon is excited to introduce Amazon Kindle 2, the next generation wireless reading device.

With a sleek and thin design that makes Kindle 2 as thin as a typical magazine and lighter than a paperpack, the new Kindle has seven times more storage and now holds over 1,500 books. It has a longer battery life and faster page turns. An advanced display provides even crisper images and clearer text for an improved book-like reading experience. And Kindle 2 even reads to you, with “Read to Me”, our new Text to Speech feature.

With Kindle 2 we kept everything readers love about the original Kindle—the convenience of reading what you want, when you want it, the immediacy of getting a book wirelessly delivered in less than 60 seconds, and Kindle’s ability to “disappear” in your hands so you can get lost in the author’s words. We’re also excited to announce that the Kindle Store has over 230,000 ebooks available.

You can earn 10% in referral fees on Amazon Kindle 2! To link to directly to Kindle 2 and earn referral fees on the subsequent following purchases, use the following link format.

Let your readers know that Kindle 2 is available for pre-order starting today for $359 at http://www.amazon.com/gp/r.html?R=3A8MF42032MW4&C=PR7WP9DIS7C5&H=8gUxsPuYyXDP925VA6Omo9mvFuIA&T=C&U=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00154JDAI/ref%3Dpe_1130_11277190 and will ship later this month . We also have a wide variety of Kindle accessories available, including new covers from Cole Haan, Patagonia, and Belkin and more.

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

Google and iPhone

2009-02-07T15:02:00.001+01:00

Like reading on your mobile phone?

Well, Google just added 1.5 million books to your library, with the launch of a new mobile site that optimizes the text of Book Search’s public-domain (i.e., non-copyrighted) works for reading on your iPhone or Android device.

There are some drawbacks to the site right now. For one thing, since all of the texts consist of printed pages that were scanned using Google’s optical character recognition technology, there are inevitable errors — but if the text doesn’t seem right, you can view the scanned page itself. For another, you won’t be able to read any of the latest bestsellers, and by “latest” I mean anything from the last century. Finally, the iPhone interface doesn’t hold a candle to other iPhone eBook readers like Stanza — there’s too much vertical scrolling, and it’s hard to flip back and forth between pages. (Actually, Stanza-maker Lexcycle’s Neelan Choksi told me the company might sell versions of Stanza to which companies can add their own branding and content. Maybe Google should look into that.)

Basically, this is perfect if you happen to be “buying your postage” (to quote Google’s blog post) and want to read “Moby Dick.” Which happens all the time, right? Yeah, okay, so I’ll probably stick to reading shorter stuff on my phone, like the articles in my Google Reader.
Still, the fact that Google bothered to create this site is another sign that smartphones are becoming a viable format for eBook reading. The new version of the Kindle may not be threatened anytime soon, but as these applications get better, I think that’s going to change. I don’t need both an eBook reader and a smartphone anymore than I need an iPod and an iPhone. (Yes, I know some people have both, but they’re crazy.)

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 a real success

2009-02-05T13:43:00.001+01:00

Amazon sold 500,000 units of its Kindle ebook reader last year and could be on track to generate a $1.2 billion business from the device by 2010.That's the view from Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney. He's delved deep into the latest SEC filings from mobile operator Sprint, which has an EV-DO network used by Amazon to download content to the Kindle device.

Amazon has yet to say officially how many Kindles it has sold and will only say publicly that it's pleased with uptake.Mahaney's revenue figure is based on the public adopting Kindles at a similar rate to the very early days of Apple's iPod, with people buying at least one digital book a month.Last week rumours circulated that Amazon is going unveil version 2.0 of its ebook reader on February 9th.

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

Words are things

2009-02-04T13:05:00.002+01:00

With the development of print, Western culture moved even further away from a hearing dominated sensory world to one governed by sight.

More than writing, "print suggests that words are things" says Walter J. Ong's in his book Orality and Literacy. With the interiorization of this view writing/printing was no longer done with the intent to recycle knowledge back into the spoken world (as it was in, for example, Medieval university disputations); things were no longer necessarily written in order to be read out loud.

In addition, print embedded the word in space more absolutely than did writing . Through print, words become things that can be arranged on a page as they are in indexes, tables of content, lists and labels (an extreme example being the arrangement of w ords in the poetry of e.e. cummings).

Finally, Ong suggests that print encourages closure, a feeling of finality that was never present in, for example, oral storytelling.

Ebooks with freebooks only

2009-02-03T19:11:00.000+01:00

Electronic books (ebooks) are becoming more and more popular with Brits, says Hitwise.

Research by the company, which monitors trends on the Web, revealed that searches for the digital devices such as the Sony Reader and the Amazon Kindle, which allow users to read books in an electronic format, have increased by 100 percent since January last year.

The Sony Reader was the most-searched eBook, closely followed by Amazon's Kindle, which is not currently available in the UK, the Iliad and the Cybook.
Hitwise research director Robin Goad: "Searches have followed similar patterns in the US and UK. Interest has been building since September 2008 and there were peaks in November and December in the build-up to Christmas".

Goad also revealed that UK ebook users were keen to get their hands on free files to use on the devices.
"As you would expect, eBook searches are always on the look out for free stuff and the second-most popular search including the term 'ebooks' is 'free ebooks'."

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 e-distribution

2009-01-29T17:49:00.001+01:00

Arthur Attwell

Ebook distribution and the problems of aggregation

The internet, and particularly the ebook industry, is littered with debates about aggregation and monopoly, and in many of those debates the two concepts are confused. Let’s be clear: aggregation is good, monopoly is bad.

For instance, a serious discussion is finally emerging over the Google Books settlement, a discussion that recognises the value of Google’s aggregation of book content and warns about the dangers of giving Google a monopoly over the control of that content, thereby potentially corrupting power (Tim O’Reilly gathers some of the best discussions on O’Reilly Radar, and Chris Castle is interesting in The Register). What are aggregation, monopoly and power in this context?

Google already pretty much controls Search on the internet, and Search is right now the key to power online. The usefulness of Search is a combination of massive aggregation of content and the ability to return good results to the searcher. Google runs this show not only because you and I use Searches to find what we’re looking for, but because every time we search for something, our search gets recorded, forming over time an immense dataset of people’s interests and contexts, often tied to individual users’ online identities. That dataset is then analysed and sold on in the form of contextual advertising, individualised search results, trend analysis and other kinds of analytics. By searching, we’re adding to Google’s brain, it’s knowledge of us as individuals and as a culture. As Kevin Kelly put it in his TED Talks presentation “Predicting the next 5,000 days of the web” in 2007: “who is searching who?” When everyone is using Google, our searches are microscopic components of a much greater view of the world, gathered in Google’s eye. When I search, I’m Frodo putting on the ring, Sauron suddenly alive to my whereabouts. Because of its massive ability to aggregate content and searches for it, Google has immense power. (So far, thankfully, it has no Nazgûl to unleash. I don’t think it will under its current management, but discussions like the one over the Google Books settlement aim to keep that door closed just in case.)

Google does not, however, have a monopoly. It leads Search because no one else does search as well as Google does it, but Yahoo and Microsoft and others do get a little piece of the pie, and no one’s stopping them from trying for more.
So now Google is adding books to its searchable content and therefore the usage stats from book searches to its brain. The settlement adds a new dimension to this: Google will be involved one way or another in the sale of the books listed in its searches as ebooks and perhaps eventually printed formats too. Much of the discussion around the Google Books settlement is about whether the settlement grants Google too much power by law, where till now its power has largely been earned by its ability to aggregate and filter content well. (For instance, the settlement may give Google undue influence over the book registry whose creation the settlement mandates, and in theory Google could list certain books higher in its search results, in relation to Google’s commercial stake in their sale.) Power granted by law starts looking like a monopoly. The settlement must allow for aggregation, but avoid granting any kind of monopoly.
We like aggregation, even if it leads to one company having a lot of power. In print books, Amazon is effectively the greatest aggregator of content and, as such, offers us a one-stop search for most books. iTunes offers the same for music. A one-stop search is not only useful, it’s critical, because in online retail, convenience and speed are half the value you’re selling. The value of aggregation is often worth the risk of corruptible power. But monopoly, imposed by law, is hard to break down and leads to slack business practices. Monopoly is less common in software and online than in physical goods and, when it emerges it’s often stamped out before long (the best example is perhaps the EU’s tough stance on Microsoft’s bundling Internet Explorer with Windows).

A monopoly of any sort in ebooks would be terrible, even if run by Google, the internet’s benevolent dictator. But the ebook industry desperately needs real aggregation. Ebook distribution is highly fragmented, despite the presence of large distributors like Ingram and OverDrive or distributor-retailers like Ebooks.com. As a user, I cannot go to one ebook store and know with any measure of certainty that I’ll find the book I’m looking for. This means that ebook shopping is all browsing-based shopping: browse around till something looks interesting, then maybe buy it. Online shopping, however, is about instant gratification, about search–find–buy in three clicks: no one has time to browse about any more.
Why has this happened? This are several contributing factors and I’m doubtless going to forget some in this list:

Problem: Distributors of ebooks make it expensive for retailers to list their ebooks. By expensive I mean they often charge set-up fees, in addition to a cut of sales. This (a) forces retailers to choose between distributors, at least when starting out, and (b) discourages small start-ups from entering the bookselling market. Solution: We need more automation in the distribution process, something like an open API for retailers to list and sell a distributor’s ebooks. It’s only a matter of time before a distributor drops the retailer set-up fee and provides a quick self-help facility for low-tech retailers, and in so doing encourages a surge in small ebook retailers with instant catalogues. (Interestingly, this is more or less possible already for print books, using a combination of wholesale book suppliers and Amazon’s Marketplace Sellers.)

Problem: Distributors are naively hoping they can become the Amazon or iTunes of ebooks, centralising ebook aggregation to themselves. As long as they’re battling over market share like this, they cannot allow just anyone to sell their ebooks (recently, OverDrive pulled its catalogue from retailer Fictionwise for reasons still unknown but much speculated about). Distributors end up in camps that hamper an end user’s ability to find and buy the ebooks they want. Solution: see point 1.

Problem: Publishers are too concerned about protecting their content with DRM (digital rights management), seemingly oblivious to the music industry’s hard learning experience. DRM adds to distributors’ costs and is almost always detrimental to customers. Publishers’ obsession with security (as opposed to convenience for customers) also forces distributors to gate keep (often with retail set-up fees or laborious registration processes), so that they can monitor the conduct of a manageable number of retailers. Solution: follow Pan Macmillan’s example and start dropping DRM.

Problem: In these early days of digitisation (early for book publishers at least), digitisation companies and distributors often make more money from services to publishers than from ebook sales, so their attention is not focused on competing for end-user ebook buyers. Solution: This is a teething issue and a chicken-and-egg situation: further aggregation of ebook catalogues, easier ebook-buying processes, standardised formats, and inevitable changes in reading habits will create more competition for ebook sales.
Problem: A plethora of ebook formats makes it hard to provide a one-stop shop. Solution: Thankfully the format wars look solved, with only PDF and epub left standing. The next step is solving the DRM debate (or admitting that it’s already over).

The raw power of Google, or an ebook Amazon or iTunes, would provide a useful centralised aggregator of ebooks and would go some way towards solving these problems. But the solutions would come far more easily if we could decentralise aggregation. By this I mean that publishers and distributors could make it possible for anyone to list and sell their books: if anyone could open an online retail store and instantly sell ebooks from any savvy distributor – no set-up fees or overnight processes involved – then we wouldn’t need Google for most of our ebook purchases. All retailers would carry almost all ebooks. And a retail store’s usefulness, and therefore its success, would be determined not by its catalogue but by the convenience and support it offered its customers.

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

Mobile readers

2009-01-28T12:37:00.002+01:00

Uing the T-Mobile G1 as an eBook reader

by Chris Gampat posted on January 27, 2009 11:39 am

Recently, a company name atrus123 started to release eBooks for the G1 via the Android App Market. I downloaded Dracula and Alice in Wonderland the other day for a test drive to see how they work and how the G1 functions as an eBook reader.

The G1 works out to be an excellent e-book reader on low power settings providing that you keep your finger on the screen and read fast (or set it to not time out.) The text looks great, even better than E-Ink. Users may set the size of the text depending on their preference. With a dimmed screen, text is still very readable.

Users can always keep their power management settings optimized for reading, but their battery may not last long enough to do other things like making a call. In this case, turning off Wifi, 3G, Bluetooth, and GPS could work to the user’s advantage.

Turning pages is as easy as flicking your finger across the arrows along the bottom of the screen. There is even a sound built in for pages being turned. This can be turned on or off. Don’t flick through pages too quickly though as the app may crash your G1 or make it force quit.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to turn the page without using the touchscreen although scrolling through pages can be done with the ball. Users will get a different experience opening up the keyboard and reading the books horizontally. It’s not quite as nice as reading it vertically, but it does allow a user to pause for a longer period of time without having to scroll down often.
Whenever you exit the app and restart the book, you can immediately pick back up from where you were as the app remembers where you left off. This is nice when you need to switch back and forth between IMs, email, or browsing the web if you’d like to look a word up. If not, the books have a table of contents and you can select whatever page you would like to view. Additionally, users can share their opinions about the book with other users.
It’s not all perfect though, the app can be slow to load at times and also can be laggy. Android may also force quit the app at any time for no real reason.

It is extremely pleasing to use the G1 as an eBook reader though, if it is plugged in then users can get even more power to their screen without having to worry about draining battery.
I’m not sure if this is a problem with the touchscreen or the app, but sometimes scrolling through a page can be a pain to do. The app (or the screen) doesn’t always seem to be very responsive. My guess would be that it is the app as it can be faulty at times.
The main drawback to using your G1 as an eBook reader is (as I’ve mentioned) battery drainage. It isn’t terrible, but if you’re using the power manager app you’ll steadily start to see the power level go down.

There are only three eBooks out at the time of writing this article for the G1: Dracula, Alice in Wonderland, and Call of the Wild. All of these books are public domain, so that means that more public domain titles should be coming to the G1. As far as other books go, we have yet to see if they will be available for download in the App Market as the market only allows for free downloads.

2009 Year of the eBook

2009-01-25T21:55:00.002+01:00

Is 2009 finally the year that the eBook comes of age?

For too long it has been regarded as the spotty faced upstart but now with slicker software and greater distribution channels it appears to have finally grown up.

Caffeine Nights Publishing is pleased to announce the publication of its first eBook. Tripping is now available in electronic format and available to download from www.cnpublishing.co.uk and a number of Internet bookstores. Caffeine Nights Publishing have used the latest page turning software for their eBooks to give the reader as real an experience as they can have while reading from a screen.
The publication in this format follows the Kent based company's announcement last year that their books will be available later this year to download direct to mobile phones. Darren E Laws, author of Tripping, is excited with the prospect of these digital editions. 'I am pleased that we are being innovative with our books and looking at new delivery platforms. It does seem that 2009 might well be the year eBooks finally come of age and be accepted in the mainstream. More and more people know of devices such as the Kindle from Amazon and Sony's eReader, and the technology available now to make eBooks is definitely bringing another level of experience to readers everywhere. Multimedia aspects such as video and audio/mp3 files will broaden the whole book reading experience.

'One of the key benefits eBooks brings is also an environmental bonus with trees being spared the axe and thousands of road miles of transportation being removed from the equation. eBooks also bring a price benefit and in these times of economic worry readers can still subscribe to their favourite authors at a fraction of the price as many eBook are up to 50% cheaper than their paper equivalent. Many publishers are also offering parts of the books for free as tasters.Tripping is now available for only £3.99 with the first 30 pages free-ENDS-Caffeine Nights PublishingBased in Kent and publishing contemporary and crime fiction. We aim to make you laugh, thrill you, scare you, have you on the edge of your seat with your fingers gripping the pages tightly, but most of all, we want to entertain you with fiction aimed at the heart and the head-

Editorial Enquiries for Caffeine Nights Publishing & Darren Laws info@cnpublishing.co.ukwww.cnpublishing.co.

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

iPhone once again

2009-01-11T17:16:00.001+01:00

Shortcovers to make an ebook reader out of iPhone

Shortcovers is a division of the Indigo Books & Music based in Canada.

The company has announced that they are soon going to launch their application on the Apple App Store which would enable the iPhone users to read books on their mobile devices.
The application would provide access to content such as books, short stories and other written works.

The app would be free. The company aims to generate by charging 99 cents a chapter. The first chapter of these books would be free to let the user device which ones are worth reading.
The company said: “People aren’t reading less, they are reading differently. Their attention spans are shorter.”

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

I curse DRM

2009-01-10T14:02:00.002+01:00

DRM Screws Users Again: eBooks About To Disappear Due To DRM Provider Shut Down
from the don't-buy-anything-with-DRM dept.

Around here, it's basically preaching to the choir, so most of you probably recognize this already, but buying anything with DRM on it is basically asking for trouble down the road. The latest example? An eBook seller named Fictionwise has realized that one of the companies that provides DRM for some of its books has announced that its shutting down at the end of the month. Because that DRM has to check in with an authentication server that's no longer going to be there, everyone who "bought" (really: incorrectly thought they bought) eBooks that used this DRM will discover that the books they paid for no longer work (Update: as noted in the comments, this DRM doesn't authenticate every time -- just any time you try to move the content to a new device. Also, Fictionwise is working to get replacements and has done so for many of the eBooks impacted already).

It's as if a publisher could retroactively erase the text from within a physical book that you bought. Since Fictionwise is just passing on the eBooks from third party aggregators, it has no means of replacing the "disappeared" eBooks. Has anyone found any thing that DRM is actually good for yet?

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

Wi-Fi eBook Reader

2009-01-08T15:04:00.002+01:00

E-Book connectivity should be free within existing plans unless some high usage metric is exceeded.

It should support Wi-Fi gracefully. Most people use these things in their own homes, in coffee joints and in other places where Wi-Fi is available. And it appears that Amazon.com is working on a Wi-Fi Kindle.

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 MiBook?

2009-01-03T19:12:00.001+01:00

TECH TEST: MiBook is cheap, colorful e-book reader

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 harder to get thanks to an endorsement by Oprah. 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.

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

Perfect eBook reading

2009-01-01T17:52:00.002+01:00

Another eBook reader- BeBook: phones work better

The race to produce the favorite dedicated eBook reader is going strong with word of the release of the BeBook Reader. This reader has the standard fare with some corner cutting to keep the price down. It is going up against a gaggle of readers, not the least of which are the two major ones, the Sony Reader and the Amazon Kindle.

We have long been ebook lovers and have tried nearly every dedicated reader to come along but don’t use any of them in the real world. We still find our phone to be the perfect eBook reading platform simply because it’s already with us everywhere we go. We have long used Windows Mobile phones, Blackberries and currently the iPhone to consume massive amounts of the written word.

BusinessWeek is becoming aware of this phenomenon given a recent article they published on the same subject. The author points out the same thing we’ve been saying for years:
Adam Parks is an avid reader of digital books. But you won’t find him downloading the 20 or so titles he reads each year onto an electronic book device like Amazon’s Kindle. Instead, Parks flips through pages—Web-site design manuals and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War are recent favorites—on his trusted iPhone.
Parks is one of a growing number of people getting their book fix via mobile phone, a method he considers more convenient than using a dedicated e-book reader like the Kindle or Sony’s Reader Digital Book. “I travel a lot in Asia and in the U.S.,” says Parks, a marketing executive who resides in Palm Beach, Fla. “If you are running from airport to airport and from city to city, bringing an extra piece of equipment loses some of its value.”

We couldn’t agree more and every new dedicated reader we try gets put up on the shelf in short order. Devices like the Kindle or Sony Reader provide a better reading experience with the bigger screen no doubt, but the phone is always in the pocket when reading time presents itself. Plus you don’t have a major disappointment when you travel and discover you left the Kindle at home. The phone is always available to sit down and relax with a good book.

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

Armand's book on hypertextuality

2008-12-29T18:48:00.002+01:00

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.

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

Benefits of eBooks

2008-12-28T19:05:00.001+01:00

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.

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

Companion eBook for a paperBook

2008-12-27T12:36:00.003+01:00

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

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

Mobile-ready version of Gutenberg content

2008-12-24T10:53:00.001+01:00

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.

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

2009 Year of the eBook

2008-12-22T16:12:00.003+01:00

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

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

eSlick

2008-12-19T11:12:00.002+01:00

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

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

Geographic browser on classic works of literature

2008-12-18T09:24:00.001+01:00

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.

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
Labels: browser,

Etat des lieux Livre numérique Décembre 2008

2008-12-15T09:54:00.002+01:00

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

2008-12-14T11:17:00.003+01:00

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

2008-12-12T09:28:00.002+01:00

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

2008-12-11T14:18:00.002+01:00

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 !

2008-12-09T10:23:00.002+01:00

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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Immersion experience in a digital book

2008-12-08T18:15:00.002+01:00

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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Mibook is the one

2008-12-07T19:12:00.003+01:00

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

2008-12-06T11:11:00.001+01:00

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

2008-12-05T15:59:00.001+01:00

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!

Exclusive ebook creation system is unlike any other ebook compiler software on the market -- Guaranteed!

Design, edit and create your ebooks from start to finish all within one, easy to use ebook compiler software program...

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

What is Tumbywood?

2008-12-04T08:52:00.002+01:00

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.

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Browsing Ebooks

2008-12-03T11:44:00.002+01:00

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.

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Platform for Ebooks

2008-12-02T15:14:00.000+01:00

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.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Ebook experience with video?

2008-12-01T16:06:00.000+01:00

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."

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Kindle as favorite new gadget

2008-11-30T13:11:00.000+01:00

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.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Kindle sold out

2008-11-29T11:35:00.000+01:00

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.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

What is DRM?

2008-11-28T14:37:00.000+01:00

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.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Ebooks and ownership

2008-11-27T10:41:00.000+01:00

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

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Kindle with cellular wireless integrated

2008-11-25T17:51:00.000+01:00

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.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

KindleFeeder for Kindle Ebooks Reader

2008-11-23T11:23:00.000+01:00

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...

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Classics makes it better for eBooks

2008-11-22T14:17:00.000+01:00

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.”

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

New app Classics for Ebooks

2008-11-21T20:29:00.000+01:00

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.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

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PRS-700

2008-11-20T22:11:00.000+01:00

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.

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-PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Must-Have Stanza

2008-11-18T22:17:00.000+01:00

Time magazine featured the Stanza reader in their "Top 11 iPhone Applications" article,

and the New York Times recently included it in their list of "Seven Must-Have Offline Apps For Your iPhone/iPod Touch". With a reading interface, which is unprecedented in its clarity and ease of use, Stanza is bringing the eBook revolution to the pockets of over half a million readers worldwide. And that number is growing daily.

Jean-Philippe Pastor

Books under minute

2008-11-16T17:13:00.000+01:00

People absolutely love the ability to think of a book and get it in under minute.

That is the key feature that really causes people to think about Kindle as a new way to read. Whether I’m at a friend’s house and they mention an interesting book, or I run out of things to read when I’m waiting to get on an airplane, I can literally think of something and get it in under 60 seconds. That seems to be the common theme that we hear from customers all the time.

Now with Kindle, we’ve had really great response from the periodicals. We didn’t know how that would work. No one has ever really delivered a newspaper instantly to your night stand. Particularly since you can deliver everything from the New York Times, which you can actually get delivered to your house, to Shanghai Daily, which is an English language paper published in China. It was never available before ... That part of getting the newspaper, any newspaper, every morning has been a pleasant surprise.

All eBooks on Phonereader.GoogleBooks Library on Phonereader.eu
Jean-Philippe Pastor

Iliad Reader in the UK

2008-11-13T16:44:00.000+01:00

iRex Iliad Book Edition £500

http://www.iliadreader.co.uk/

Bigger and more expensive, but with an 8.1in touchscreen for navigating and annotating. It has a simple-to-use page-turning rocker bar all down one side which we like and, among other formats, it’s compatible with MobiPocket, which has more than 80,000 ebooks in its library.

4 stars

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

All eBooks on Phonereader.GoogleBooks
Lbrary on Phonereader.eu

Jean-Philippe Pastor

Premier online eBook Shop

2008-11-11T12:57:00.000+01:00

BooksOnBoard, the premier online eBook and Audio Book shop, has announced a massive discount of all current New York Times Bestsellers.

These titles – which generally retail for $20-$30 – are now priced at $9.79 until Saturday, November 15. A full list of discounted titles is available here: http://www.booksonboard.com/index.php?F=NY_Times_979

“Our customers want to read New York Times Bestsellers,” according to BooksOnBoard CEO Bob LiVolsi. “Right now, customers are more price-sensitive than they may have been a few months ago. We care about our customers and we want them to be able to purchase eBooks.”

Discounted titles include A Most Wanted Man by John le Carre, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max, Rough Weather (Spenser Mystery Series #36) by Robert B. Parker, I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass, Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks, Testimony by Anita Shreve, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella, and A Wallflower Christmas (Wallflower Series Book 5) by Lisa Kleypas.

“These are extremely hot titles, and our customers appreciate the discount,” says Nathan Johnson, Director of Operations at BooksOnBoard. “We are glad to be able to offer this to our eBook customers, and we plan to do something similar for Audio Book customers in the near future.” Other discounted titles include the phenomenally popular Living With the Dead by Kelley Armstrong, The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly, From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris, Skinny Bitching: Thirty-Something Women Mouth Off About Age Angst, Pregnancy Pressure, and the Dieting Battles You Never Win by Jenny Lee, Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler, When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris BooksOnBoard (http://www.booksonboard.com/) is an online retailer of eBooks and downloadable audiobooks. Known for strong customer support, its free online tutorials, and aggressive prices, BooksOnBoard has the largest eBook catalog online with over 200,000 titles.

For the latest from BooksOnBoard, subscribe to the RSS feed: http://www.booksonboard.com/rss/bob_rss.xml

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

BookShelf for iPhone

2008-11-10T15:46:00.000+01:00

BookShelf is an easy to use electronic book reader for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Available through the iTunes AppStore, BookShelf installs easily on your mobile device. Paired with the the WebScription ShelfServer or the ShelfServer application for your desktop, you can easily download books from the internet or your computer to your device via WiFi and start reading instantly.

You can download BookShelf from the Apple App Store. Visit the BookShelf author's site http://www.iphonebookshelf.com/ for details on use and ShelfServer for your Desktop.
WebScriptions is now hosting a ShelfServer so you can download your WebScription books directly to your iPhone or iTouch via the internet. Once you've installed BookShelf on your device you can use the Mobile Safari web browser to setup your connection to WebScriptions.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Baen Books: the right reader for the right book

2008-11-09T16:38:00.000+01:00

Baen Books is proud to announce that Night Shade Books has joined Subterranean Press and E-Reads as one of the lines of electronic books being distributed by Baen.

Beginning October 31, titles will be available both individually and as part of a separate Night Shade Books program available at Baen's e-publishing site, www.webscription.net.

"In little over a decade, Night Shade Books has become one of the top independent genre publishers," said James Minz, Director of Baen's expanding e-books program. "Their stated mission is to 'find the right reader for the right book,' and we're excited to help expand their mission into the electronic books market."
Jeremy Lassen, Editor-in-Chief of Night Shade Books, added, "I'm extremely proud to be working with one of the leading independent publishers in the SF and fantasy genres. Baen has successfully led the industry into the future with its DRM-free electronic publishing program. This canny insight into the e-book market is just one of the many reasons Night Shade has chosen to partner with Baen for the launch of its e-book line."

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Harvard library reconsiders its stance with Google

2008-11-08T09:55:00.000+01:00

Google has scanned more than 7 million books for the Google Book Search, and will likely scan millions of other titles in the future.

The service is especially useful for any book titles that are now out-of-print, with all public domain books available to download as PDFs for free. Even though the Harvard library is an original supporter of the project, it seems the $125 million monetary agreement Google reached with book publishers leaves the library frustrated.

The Harvard university let Google scan books that are out of print and no longer copyrighted, but has been hesitant to give the Mountain View, CA-based company full access to its library.The U.S. District Court in New York must finalize the settlement, and university officials said they would reconsider their stance if the court chooses to change the financial agreement for more "reasonable terms," school officials said.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Flip style Ebooks

2008-11-05T16:14:00.000+01:00

With the click of a button, new PDF converter POKATreader from iOMM, Ltd creates 'flip style' ebooks for convenient, neat document management.

Users are able to simply drag and drop PDF files into POKATreader software and instantly view documents as an ebook on the screen.
The days of contracting professional to produce fancy interactive publications are over. Until now, the process of creating great looking interactive brochures, catalogues, newsletters, and other publications, vital to the corporate image, took long hours and often ended up with a high price tag.

A valuable feature of the easy-to-use PDF converter software is the Auto Library, which allows users to effortlessly access and backup PDF files from one location. Any PDF opened in POKATreader is automatically added to the POKATreader library. From then on, irrespective of where the document may reside on the computer, users can browse documents within POKATreader. The free software also offers in-page, one-click zoom, different visual customizing details, various printing options, and much more.
A perfect presentation tool, POKATreader contains a Goto (specific) page feature, as well as the ability to tailor background and skin colors. Users can also print specific pages, a range of pages, or an entire document.

Because of the unique 'flip style' reading design, ebooks are ideal for newsletters, books, reports, magazines, catalogues, product guides, business plans, annual reports, periodicals, journals, legal works, and more.

POKATreader 1.3 is free for download at http://www.pokat.net/

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Publishers to accommodate small screens

2008-11-05T08:01:00.000+01:00

Falbe Publishing of Chico, California launched its new mobile-optimized website specifically for internet browsers using mobile devices such as Pocket PCs and smart phones like the iPhone or Blackberry.

The strong internet browsing capabilities of new generation mobile devices have increased demand for online mobile content, and the free ebooks normally available from Falbe Publishing’s main websites can now be easily obtained by mobile device users at http://mobile.falbepublishing.com/

To create a positive and useful experience for mobile internet browsers, the new mobile website presents a very brief and simple version of the publisher’s offerings in order to accommodate small screens. Only brief messages and directions on how to access content are on the mobile website so users do not have to be bogged down with unnecessarily lengthy pages that require a lot of scrolling. The free ebook choices available to mobile users mirror those available at the publisher’s other websites. First, fantasy readers can access the original novel Union of Renegades: The Rys Chronicles Book I that enjoys a worldwide readership.

The second free ebook is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, which serves to introduce readers to the growing list of classics being produced by Falbe Publishing. Both of these novels can be downloaded in the visitor’s choice of six DRM-free ebook formats. The third free publication is a short how to play craps guide based on the publisher’s best-selling title Get Dicey: Play Craps and Have Fun. This guide is directly viewable at the new mobile website without having to download a file. Producing the mobile website was deemed important by the publisher because of the increasing amount of web traffic occurring via mobile devices.

As an ebook publisher, Falbe Publishing was particularly motivated by evidence that iPhone users are interested in reading ebooks on their phones. The ebook reading application for the iPhone, known as Stanza, was downloaded over 395,000 times from the iPhone App store in only a three-month period. And, according to the August 2008 Mobile Metrics Report from the advertising company AdMob, users of smart phones accounted for 23 percent of U.S. internet traffic in August – a rise of 3.5 percent since May. The publisher hopes that reaching out to the mobile users will provide a convenient avenue for them to access free ebooks. The promotional titles from Falbe Publishing typically introduce readers to the full book and ebook catalog available at the main website http://www.falbepublishing.com/ the portal to all the company’s products and online publications.

Falbe Publishing is the publisher of the fantasy fiction imprint Brave Luck Books (TM) of Chico, California. Falbe Publishing produces fiction and non fiction trade paperbacks, ebooks, and numerous web publications.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Google transforms our lives

2008-11-02T13:19:00.000+01:00

Is Google good or is it evil?

Is the company an all-knowing behemoth that is hubristically "transforming our lives", Big Brother-style, with its intrusive technology? Or is it a plucky, selfless Silicon Valley start-up that is "audaciously" organising all the world's information for all of our benefit? Is Google Orwell or is it Disney?

The answer might depend on whether you trust the marketing instincts of English or American publishers. Last week, I was in London to do a debate at the ICA with the New York Times reporter and prolific Silicon Valley-based author Randall Stross, who has just written a highly informative and strictly unbiased new book called Planet Google. His main point is that Google – through its ubiquitous search engine artificial algorithm, Google Earth and Google Sky maps, G-mail email service, YouTube videos, Google Book Search, Google's Android mobile phone, and myriad other knowledge initiatives – has one simple goal: to manage all the world's information. Stross even notes that Dr Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO and PhD-in-chief, has done the maths and concluded that it will take the company exactly 300 years to index and search all the information in the world.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Google to sell digital books

2008-10-30T08:53:00.000+01:00

Amazon has sold digital books (eBooks) for over five years now with an operating margin of 15% - 20%, compared to 4% - 5% for physical books.

While actual sales figures on eBooks are nearly impossible to come by from Amazon, it’s expected to be a growing market, much like the conversion from music CDs to MP3s and the like, albeit at a much slower pace.

Google has announced their own plans to sell digital books.
Apple can’t be far behind.

Prediction: Between now and the end of Macworld 2009 (January 5-9) Apple will offer, or at least make an official public announcement to offer, eBooks for sale via iTunes.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

DNL Ebooks

2008-10-28T08:20:00.000+01:00

Macmillan Publishing Solutions (MPS) Global Reader Announces Digital Sales Partnership with DNAML.

Coming out of talks held during the recent Frankfurt Book Fair, DNAML’s DNL eBooks and MPS Mobile’s Global Reader are joining forces to accelerate publisher adoption of the DNL eBook format (.DNL) and the Global Reader mobile format worldwide.

DNAML has over 110 million DNL readers currently active on laptops and computers in the world market while Global Reader is on 80 mobile carriers in over 160 countries and can be potentially accessed by over 3.3 billion mobile handsets worldwide.Publishers are being encouraged to submit either a PDF or XML file (preferably EPUB) to Macmillan Publishing Services who can then produce a bundle of products at a special price that will include immediate access to both the DNL eBook and Global Reader sales platforms.

"Macmillan Publishing Solutions has been providing high quality conversion work to DNAML. Working with the MPS team on market penetration is a natural progression of our relationship as DNL eBooks and Global Reader complement each other so very well," says Adam Schmidt CEO of DNAML. "We feel the DNL eBook solution is a great solution for publishers to quickly get their books to market in a high quality eBook format. One that can take advantage of all the multi-media capabilities eBooks can give, while not sacrificing security and control. Working with both mobile and DNL formats as outputs also insures that we can provide publishers with a high quality, consistent yet inexpensive EPUB product they can use elsewhere," says Bob Kasher Director of Sales for MPS Mobile and Macmillan Publishing Solutions New Media Division.DNAML and Global Reader’s DRM (Digital Rights Management) solutions are considered the most secure eBook DRM in their respective markets giving publishers the security to protect and control their copyright effectively anywhere in the world.

Both systems also allow territorial rights to be respected giving publishers the option to turn on and turn off rights to their products in any country in the world. This provides publishers with new effective options to the two biggest potential media markets – the laptop computer and the smart phone – available to them. This partnership helps publishers enter the eBook market for minimal cost and maximum market accessibility. It also gives publishers real time information on customer sales and direct access to reselling that customer without the mediating influence of third party vendors keeping that information to themselves.About MPS Mobile and Global ReaderGlobal Reader is available on over 75 Mobile Carriers worldwide in over 160 countries. You can receive it on any Internet enabled mobile device including the iPhone, Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung, Motorola and Sony Ericksson Smart phones as well as over 800 other devices. You can access it on your mobile device via http://www.wap.global-reader.com./MPS Mobile is a wholly owned subsidiary of Macmillan Publishing Solutions (MPS), a leader in providing publishing services to international publishing and media companies for over 30 years.

MPS Mobile is the Global Platform and software solution enabling content providers to reach mobile phone audiences worldwide.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 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. The DNL eBook format embeds the payment gateway system internally of the ebook allowing the ebook to be purchased from within the ebook.

The DNL eBooks are protected with the DNL DRM system which also allows for the DNL eBooks to be sold on a try before you buy basis. In all DNL eBooks can be considered to be floating shops.DNAML has over 48,000 DeskTop Author customers around the world and over 110 million DNL eBook readers on Desktop’s PC’s and Laptops.DNAML is the owner of eBook.com For further information please visit http://www.dnaml.com/

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Wi-Fi connection with Ebook reader

2008-10-27T10:37:00.000+01:00

The Kindle ebook reader is sold by Amazon for $359. The electronic book reader offers a free Wi-Fi connection. Kindle can hold over 200 books.

Oprah Winfrey has recommended the Amazon Kindle ebook reader. She says the wireless device is life changing. The book gadget offers instant access to over 190,000 books, blogs, newspapers, and magazines.

The Amazon Kindle ebook reader was featured on NewsOXY's latest computer technology Web site on Friday. At first glance, I thought the $359 price was a bit steep. However, after further review, the electronic book reader does offer many features.

Kindle comes with a free Wi-Fi connection. The ebook reader offers instant access to over 190,000 books, blogs, newspapers, and magazines. Here's more information from the article:
"The ebook reader is sold by Amazon.com for a price of $359. The electronic book reader features free WiFi connection. Users can connect using the Wi-Fi connection to preview or purchase electronic books. Book titles can be auto-delivered in less than one minute."Moreover, Kindle has a high-resolution digital display that is easy to read. Kindle comes with a power adapter and a USB 2.0 cable to plug into other devices. I was also surprised that it offered a cheaper rate ($9.99) for online magazines. It's worth a look. The article has more information on the page.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Sucess story

2008-10-25T15:59:00.000+02:00

Ebooks are a true success story in the US and now Europe and Sony belongs to a group of the first big companies that kicked off the race for electronic reading.

Now, the company introduces the ebook Sony PRS-700, a new model to join the PRS-505. The digital book is slightly bigger in size and weighs in at just 235g. To give the feeling of a real book it comes wrapped into a protective soft cover. The most remarkable feature is its 6 inch touch screen display, which allows to flip pages with a gentle move of the finger.

Features of the Sony PRS-700 ebook. The 6 inch screen provides a quite comfortable size to read through digital books, documents and notes. It has a virtual keyboard to add personal notes, which can be highlighted too using a stylus pen. Sometimes there’s need to glance a document at once, another time the text is to small and has to be enlarged; the PRS-700 therefore offers 5 text-sizes by default to find the most comfortable one.

While former ebooks didn’t provide any background lights, the Sony Reader is the first one to have a LED reading light built-in. It has been a much requested feature to use the digital reader on the go or in darker surroundings too. On the other side, bright sunlight is not the problem for the PRS-700 thanks to a high resolution and high contrast paper display technology. According to Sony, the user will be able to read a crisp text and sharp graphics.

The reader comes with a for Sony typical Memory Stick Duo. With that expandable storage almost 350 average sized ebooks can be stored on the PRS-700. As its relative the 700 model is able to flip about 7,500 pages in one go. There’s is also support of music files or documents such as PDF, Microsoft Word, BBeB or EPUB.

The new Sony PRS-700 ebook will be available in the US from November at a price of $400 (£210). Included in the delivery is an USB cable, e-Book Library PC companion software and a protective soft cover. More information about digital reading at Sony’s eBook store.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

So fast the e-literature is changing

2008-10-24T15:50:00.000+02:00

As Grigar points out, "one of the most difficult aspects of e-lit is the ability to talk about it fast enough, so fast is the landscape changing".

Since its inception, e-lit has been struggling to free itself from its generic limitations and now seems to be on the verge of doing so. At long last. Although interesting, its early manifestations were hardly groundbreaking. Collaborative narratives are as old as literature itself. Generative poetry simply adds a technological twist to Tzara's hat trick, the surrealists' automatic writing or Burroughs' cut-ups. Interactive fiction has its roots in Cervantes and Sterne. Hypertexts seldom improve on gamebooks like the famous Choose Your Own Adventure series, let alone BS Johnson's infamous novel-in-a-box.

Besides, if you really want to add sound and pictures to words, why not make a film?

French National Library

2008-10-23T17:33:00.000+02:00

Bibliotheque Nationale de France:

Some have suggested that the French National Library is a bit too modern, creating a sterile space too cold for people and unfriendly to books.
While not all would agree, the library does attempt to create a wholly modern approach to library space, focusing on computers more than books, including services from four super computers. Of course, it does have quite a few flaws as well, as the ultra modern building designed by Francois Mitterrand isn't easy to navigate and none of the services offered by the library are available without a cost.

If anything, this building is a lesson in creating modern spaces that aren't just focused on design but on function as well.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Reading Revolution

2008-10-20T07:58:00.000+02:00

BY Ashley GoetzPUBLISHED

Sony’s digital literary movement attempts to digitize National Book Month. Their campaign calls for a “Reading Revolution” that would spread eBook libraries and handheld digital reading devices to schools and readers nationwide.

The Sony Reader has a 6 inch black and white touch screen and a battery life of up to two weeks. Sony hopes that its device will instill the positive experience of reading in Americans by removing any human element of the physical book and replacing it with a shiny, warm, thin piece of plastic.

Readers can get the illusion of turning the page with the slide of a finger and will be able to carry hundreds of books with them at all times. If you have trouble finishing one story, you can easily change to a new one in seconds or download fresh ones from an online library. The screen will captivate every human emotion in one page that will never be tainted with that musty book scent, or a deceased Grandmother’s perfume. The Sony Reader will even ward off monsters with the eerie glow of its backlight.

To enhance the joke Sony has made out of National Book Month, they have placed world record speed reader, David Farrow, on display in a New York City store front for the entirety of October. For each page Farrow reads, Sony will donate 5 Digital Readers and a library of 100 classic eBooks to schools around the nation — schools that likely already have physical versions of these books. Nevertheless, Farrow’s month in captivity, with the supplement of a bed, chair and Sony Reader, will surely demonstrate the excruciating joy of reading, via web cam, to all of America.

Digital reading devices are on par with the experience of watching an award winning movie on a portable black and white DVD player, with no audio, no ambience and no popcorn. The purpose of the book, rather, is to be the theatre for the novel, giving each word its very own place on the page, a visual and aesthetic memory for the reader.
The engineers behind this digital marvel must have assumed that since the iPod worked for music, the same would work for literature. Wrong. Music is auditory, intangible and environmental. The iPod did not ignite inexistent passion for listening; it simply made music more portable.
Reading, however, is a tangible, physical and personal experience that is already portable. How will an inferior option grasp the attention of an uninterested population? If the audience that these devices are directed at doesn’t spend a dollar on books now, why would they suddenly spend 400?

The beauty of the physical book carries two stories in its spine: The story printed in ink on paper and the story of the hands that have carried it, the hands that have left memories and traces of themselves, their thoughts, their environment, their lunch, the scent of their houses, the mark of their highlighters, the scribbling ideas and revelations of their pens, the stains of pressed flowers, bashful puckers from the rain, the sticky tabs of resonant pages and nostalgic hints of their experience. The tangible book intrigues the senses. The tangible book can be hugged, savored, sniffed, flipped, flapped, shared, gifted and remembered. It contains value and meaning. It is a respite from the chaos and monotony of everyday life. It does not need a cord or a three-year warranty.
If Sony thinks digitizing books will spark a new interest in reading, Sony needs to rethink its approach. America has made a task out of reading, stereotyping it as boring and time consuming. Maybe we need a revolution in parenting, in teaching, in cultural values. Maybe we simply need to read more.

Ashley welcomes comments at agoetz@mndaily.com.

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Leading provider of solutions for reading

2008-10-17T18:33:00.000+02:00

iRex Technologies BV have been instrumental in pushing the frontiers of digital reading since 2001 when their team developed the electronic paper display for the Sony LibriA(C) the first commercially available e-reader launched in 2004.

Following the formation of iRex Technologies in 2005 as a spin-off company from Royal Philips Electronics their focus on open innovation and co-operation has seen them become the world's leading provider of solutions for reading written digital content with the ease and comfort of print on paper. This is combined with the interactivity, flexibility and up-dating functionality provided by digital information.

Located on the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, the Netherlands iRex serves the B2B market as well as the consumer market and works closely with companies and publishers to enable them to offer their content (newspapers, books, documents) digitally to clients, subscribers and employees. www.irextechnologies.com

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 EPub standart?

2008-10-17T08:53:00.000+02:00

Global digital distributor OverDrive ( http://www.overdrive.com/) will join Sony Reader, Random House UK, and the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) to present initial experiences with EPUB eBook distribution at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

The session titled "Digital Publishing and the EPUB Standard" is part of the Frankfurt Book Fair Digital Lunch program and takes place at noon on Thursday, Oct. 16 in Hall 4C - Alliance Room.
As a 20-year veteran of the eBook marketplace and early advocate of the EPUB format, OverDrive brings its unique perspective of working with publishers, booksellers, end users, and hardware and software developers to the panel. OverDrive is the first distributor to provide EPUB eBook fulfillment services for online retailers including Waterstone's ( http://www.waterstones.com/), WHSmith Online ( http://www.whsmith.co.uk/), Books on Board ( http://www.booksonboard.com/), A1Books ( http://www.a1books.co.in/), and others. OverDrive also expects to offer EPUB eBooks to its network of more than 8,500 public libraries in the near future.
EPUB is a reflowable, XML-based format for eBooks and other digital publications developed by IDPF ( http://www.idpf.org/) and adopted by leading publishers and technology firms as the industry standard. OverDrive will release a white paper on preparing and distributing EPUB titles and optimizing files for the Sony Reader Digital Book later this month. Publishers can send requests for the EPUB white paper to EPUB@overdrive.com.

"The launch of Adobe Digital Editions and the Sony Reader Digital Book with EPUB-reading capabilities provide great opportunities for participating in the digital marketplace," said Steve Potash, president and CEO of OverDrive. "OverDrive's global distribution network and expansive catalog of digital audiobooks, eBooks, music, and video is enabling channels for publishers adopting the emerging EPUB format."

OverDrive is distributing eBooks in the EPUB format for some of the largest trade publishers including Simon & Schuster, Hachette Livre, HarperCollins, Harlequin, Penguin Group, Random House, Summersdale Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Taylor & Francis, Faber & Faber and Bloomsbury Publishers.
OverDrive provides digital download distribution for hundreds of publishers and e-retail solutions for Borders.com, eFollett.com, Papyless (Japan), hundreds of college bookstores, and other online retailers. It is the co-developer and operator of ADEPT, the hosted application service designed to protect digital publications, including those in the EPUB format, for use with Adobe Digital Editions. OverDrive is also a strategic partner to Microsoft (including Microsoft Reader eBook distribution), Mobipocket, and other leading technology firms.
OverDrive also powers download media catalogs at thousands of libraries worldwide, including institutions in New York, Singapore, Boston, and Toronto. To see if your public library is a member of the OverDrive network, visit http://search.overdrive.com/.

About OverDrive

OverDrive is a leading full-service digital distributor of eBooks, audiobooks, music, and video. We deliver secure management, DRM protection, and download fulfillment services for hundreds of publishers and thousands of libraries, schools, retailers, and aggregators serving millions of end users. Founded in 1986, OverDrive is based in Cleveland, OH. http://www.overdrive.com/

Contacts:
David Burleigh
OverDrive, Inc.
216-573-6886 x218
Email Contact

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

Preferred reading method

2008-10-15T09:19:00.000+02:00

INSIDE MOBILE: Why eBooks and eBook Readers Will Eventually Succeed Reading eBooks from eBook readers similar to the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader will eventually be the preferred reading method for millions worldwide, predicts Knowledge Center analyst J. Gerry Purdy.

He predicts we'll see 75 percent worldwide adoption of eBook readers in less than 10 years from when eBook readers contain the right set of technologies. Here, Purdy explains what features will someday make eBooks and eBook readers ubiquitous.
Someday, we are all going to be reading books with some form of eBook reader. While some may doubt this prediction, let me explain why. And I hope, after you read what I have to say, that you just may agree with me.

First, let’s counter the prediction with an observation about reading books on current eBook readers: it’s not an enjoyable or “better” experience than reading a paper-bound book. Hence, that’s why very few people actually use eBook readers today.
Let me make another prediction: eBook readers are not going to be successful until they offer book lovers a better, more worthwhile and enjoyable reading experience than traditional paper-bound books do today. To be sure, all of this hinges on what providing a “better” experience actually means. While it’s easy to say eBook readers today do not provide a better user experience, it’s more difficult to describe what must be done in order to make the user experience “good enough” (so that most people reading a book would prefer an eBook reader than a paper-bound book).

It seems to me that someday, someone should be able to make an eBook reader that would be really slick--so cool that, emotionally, seeing this new eBook reader would be like seeing the iPhone for the first time. You’d feel as if it was really right and that you’d “have to” have one.

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

Problems of content

2008-10-14T10:05:00.000+02:00

We are entering an age of scarcity for news resources.

What we need urgently now is for the Times to focus on the economic crisis and the Post to focus on government policy. Each can excel in their given area of expertise, and link to the other to round out what they offer their users.

On a national, and eventually international level, this is how we can save the best of our media companies from going extinct. But do I think anyone in a position to implement this strategic shift will do so? Of course not. Pure hubris prevails at the tops of all old media companies, as well as at plenty of new media companies.

Nevertheless, media orgs following the broad outlines of the strategy outlined above, while simultaneously embracing “hyper-local” development of the news within their area of influence could find a future where now, there is only hazy uncertainity and gloom. It’s not a bad time to be in journalist, but it is a bad time to be a journalist without a vision.

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

Reading devices

2008-10-13T15:08:00.000+02:00

By Janne Terfruechte, Frankfurt - Relaxing on the couch and browsing through a weighty tome - for many, that sounds like paradise. Trying to drag that book along in your pocket to be read on the train or bus is less fun, though. Digital alternatives to printed books or e-books have been available for a while. But until now they've only enjoyed a niche existence. That might be about to change.

"Reading devices developed especially for e-books should provide a pleasant reading experience," says Gudrun Bolduan from the German Publishers & Booksellers Association. The problem: only a few of the devices have been widely available to date, and with prices of around 500 dollars, they were anything but cheap. Experts predict that ebook readers like the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader, currently on sale in the United States, will also soon be available on markets around the world, Bolduan says. One indicator of this was Sony's presentation of its Reader at Berlin's IFA electronics show this past August. The company did not name a price or a precise release date, however. Until then, the PC will remain the prime platform for electronic books. Those who prefer a more mobile approach can often also reach for their PDA, Smartphone or even Nintendo's DS mini-console.

Users should check the website of their e-book provider to see which book will work with which player. At least there's no lack of places to get e-books. Many online sellers like Ciando (http://wwe.ciando.com) or ebooks.com sell nothing but electronic books. Yet "traditional" online booksellers now also offer paper-free variants. "Many e-books are also offered directly from the publisher's website," Gudrun Bolduan notes. Bookworms unsure whether reading on a computer or mobile device is worth a try can visit Mobipocket, a Paris-based e-book seller and software maker. Readers can also visit http://mobipocket.com/freebooks to peruse a variety of downloads in different languages. E-books are offered in several formats. PDFs are generally the easiest to use, says Werner-Christian Guggemos from ciando.com. All that's needed to read PDF files is Adobe Reader, available for free download from Adobe's website. For e-books not available as PDF files, readers need some extra software, such as the Mobipocket reader or eReader. e-books are sometimes cheaper than their printed variants - in some cases, by as much as 20 per cent. The bulk of the e-book catalogue currently consists of textbooks and scientific publications. "That's because scientific publishers have been moving to electronic texts for some time now," Bolduan says. One reason for this is the authors' vested interest in seeing their work distributed worldwide. The target audience tends to be download-friendly as well. Novels and lifestyle books remain less frequent, although their ranks are growing as well. Most e-book providers work directly with the publishers.

There are exceptions, however. "Private authors can also enquire with us about distributing their e-books on the platform," Guggemos says. Half of the profits then go to the author, the other half to the company. The seller, in turn, advertises the electronic titles not just on its own home page but on partner sites as well. "If, however, an author has already assigned copyright to a publisher, then the text cannot then simply be offered privately," says professor Thomas Hoeren from the Institute for IT, Telecommunications, and Media Rights at the University of Muenster. Many amateur authors are not focused on earning money through their stories and books; they simply want to put them out on the web. They are well advised, however, to take certain precautions to ensure that nobody else steals their work and publishes it under their own name. This can be achieved with a free Creative Commons license.

"The Creative Commons Web site (http://www.creativecommons.com) provides a license toolbox for establishing usage rights," says Markus Beckedahl from the non-profit organization's Berlin office.

Touch-sensitive display with Ebooks

2008-10-12T12:47:00.000+02:00

Despite public indifference, the promoters of eBooks persist in believing – as was the case with music downloads – eventually people will see the light.

But, although the Amazon Kindle has made some progress, the shift has been mostly slow going. Of course, that hasn’t stopped companies from trying. Sony Corp. will release its latest model eBook reader at the end of the month.

The PRS-700 differs from previous Sony readers (and the Kindle) primarily because it features a built-in light and touch-sensitive display. It has the dimensions of a slender paperback, includes a textured black casing and, weighing in at only 10 ounces, it’s actually a good deal lighter than most books. The six-inch touch-screen display enables readers to flip through pages with the slide of a finger, search terms within a document or book, create notes using the virtual keyboard and highlight text or doodle in the margins with an included stylus pen. Five pre-set text sizes are available and readers can zoom in further by tapping on the screen. Like its predecessors (and the Kindle), the PRS-700 features a high resolution, high contrast electronic paper display technology that attempts to recreate the experience of reading from paper. The screen is designed to be readable even in bright sunlight, and Sony is quick to note the PRS-700 is the first eBook reader to offer a built-in LED reading light. Unlike laptops or cell-phones, e-ink displays cannot be lit from behind. As a solution to this problem, the PRS-700 includes LEDs that illuminate the screen from the sides.
The expanded memory of the PRS-700 offers enough capacity to store about 350 average digital books, and, with an appropriate memory card, that number can be raised to well over a thousand books. But, even though it boasts a number of new and useful features, the PRS-700 still lacks the major selling point of the Amazon Kindle - wireless access to book downloads. Instead, the PRS-700 needs to be connected to a PC to load content.

On the plus side, while the Kindle only works with eBooks from the Amazon store, Sony is working with multiple vendors to increase the amount of eBook content available to consumers. In an effort to promote its new reader (and eBooks themselves), Sony is unleashing a team of “reading revolutionaries” to stores and events around the country to demonstrate the PRS-700. And, throughout the month of October (in conjunction with National Book Month), Dave Farrow, a world-record holder for his memory abilities, will read digital books on the PRS-700 in a Manhattan storefront around the clock. For each page Farrow reads, Sony is providing an eBook library of 100 classics to a school - with the ultimate goal of giving away 15 million eBook titles.
While such attempts to promote reading and education (and, of course, the PRS-700) are noteworthy, most people remain torn on the concept of eBooks. On one end, it really is a pretty cool technology and great strides are being made to improve both eBook availability and the quality of readers. It’s also a more environmentally friendly option than traditional books (if eBooks were to take off, just think how much paper and, thus, how many trees could be saved). On the other hand, people like books. These physical objects serve as many things – displays of knowledge, treasures to be passed along, even small personality reminders. And, honestly, no matter how “paper-like” companies make eBook readers, most people don’t want to be staring at computer screen anymore than they already are (whether for business or pleasure). While such hindrances set up a heavy blockade, they probably won’t stop companies like Amazon and Sony from keeping at it. And, who knows, maybe they’ll even eventually crack the market and people will begin flocking to eBooks. For now though, even with the advancements of the PRS-700, that seems unlikely.

The Sony PRS-700 will be available in November for around $400. The reader can currently be pre-ordered from the Sony Style Store.

Borders with Sony only

2008-10-11T14:24:00.000+02:00

Borders builds on its e-book strategy in exclusive deal with Sony.

Taking aim at Amazon.com and its Kindle electronic book reader, Borders Group Inc. will offer Sony’s new PRS-700 e-book reader in most of its 520 superstores in time for this year’s holiday shopping season as well as in-store downloads of e-books. In addition, Sony is redesigning the Borders-Sony co-branded e-book site this month with new merchandising and a streamlined checkout.

"E-books are a part of our business now and will be a part of our future as a bookseller," says Borders CEO George Jones. Borders sells the Sony e-book readers in “eBook Store from Sony” sections of Borders stores. After customers responded positively to the e-book sections during a pilot, Borders decided to roll them out in nearly all of its 520 large-format stores, a spokeswoman says.

Borders and Sony are competing directly against Amazon.com Inc., which sells its own Kindle e-book reader and about 140,000 e-book titles. Amazon is No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. Borders, which operated its e-commerce through Amazon.com until early this year, is not included in the Top 500 Guide, which is based on 2007 web sales.

Sony and Borders also operate a co-branded web site, ebooks.borders.com, which is linked directly from the e-books tab on the Borders.com home page. The e-books site allows shoppers to download Sony’s free e-book library software, which enables shoppers to browse, download and purchase e-book content.

The site redesign will offer more prominent book cover art to provide for a more visual shopping experience combined with improved search and navigation and a streamlined checkout process.
Borders is also planning to allow shoppers to download e-book content from in-store kiosks with access to Borders.com. Each Borders store has about five kiosks that are currently used for tasks such as locating a book in the store.
Borders says it will also offer e-book downloads in its digital centers in 13 Borders concept stores and eight regular stores. The digital centers already support downloads of audio books and music files.

The in-store digital centers, which cover about 400 square feet of floor space, also include co-branded sections with such partners as Lulu.com for custom book printing and Shutterfly.com for managing digital photography.

iPhone applications

2008-10-10T14:42:00.000+02:00

There is no doubt that Apple has hit a home run with its wildly popular and profitable App Store. Apps for the iPhone are popping up at a very impressive rate.

There are probably many programmers out there who would like to be able to develop applications for the iPhone, but aren't sure where to start.

Pearson has announced that developers can get online access to its new eBook called the iPhone Developer's Cookbook. The book promises to deliver the skills that developers need to build applications for the iPhone. Recipes are presented to the developer to help them speed programming rather than read documentation.

The book can also be purchased as a downloadable PDF in addition to online access. People with a Safari account with Pearson can get access to the book there.

Via Pearson

Commerce des livres

2008-10-06T19:00:00.000+02:00

Selon Laurent Soccavo ("Gutemberg 2.0 le futur du livre"), le commerce des livres va inévitablement devoir se développer sur les modèles du e-marketing qui sont en train de se mettre en place dans l’après Web 2.0.

Traçons synthétiquement l’évolution du Web par rapport à ce qui est véritablement important. Qu’est-ce qui est véritablement important ? L’expérience de l’utilisateur.

Dans ce sens, nous pourrions dire que :

Le Web 1, c’était de la retranscription.
Le Web 2 de la participation.
Le Web sémantique, de la simplification.
Et le Web 3D sera de l’immersion.

Pour certains, le Web 3.0 serait le Web sémantique. Un Web plus intelligent, ordonnant et appelant grâce à des métadonnées l’information précise, utile pour un internaute X à un moment T.En fait, il s’agit ni plus ni moins que d’une amélioration inévitable du Web 2.0 : un Web 2.1 pour répondre à la surcharge informationnelle dont nous ressentons de plus en plus les premiers contrecoups. Le Web 3.0 sera un Web 3D. Celui qui est en train d’émerger de l’univers des jeux en ligne et de l’expérience grandeur nature de Second Life, et qui trouvera son plein épanouissement dans un Web 4.0 : un Web sémantique en 3D, qui au-delà de l’interactivité développera une interface immersive entre avatars et internautes, avatars et avatars, internautes et internautes. L’écran des écrans disparaîtra.