03:11 PM by mtravellerh in E-Book General | News and Commentary

In something of a surprise move, Vodafone Germany, one of the biggest players in the German mobile market, seems to have decided to take the eBook market seriously.
German magazine Wirtschaftswoche announced today that Vodafone might bring to market a new e-ink eBook-Reader with a big screen (A4) in fall. It seems that the new reader is already being tested. The device will not be produced by Vodafone itself, but will be branded. The screen size will probably be 9.7-inch which puts it in the Kindle DX range. There will also be some kind of mobile connectivity. We don't know who the producer of the device will be - for now.
Vodafone is also thinking of selling its device in combination with newspaper or magazine subscriptions.
It seems that Vodafone will not establish its own e-book store but will try to strike a cooperation with an existing German portal.

Thanks to Johannes from lesen.net for bringing this up!

06:01 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Here it is again, our weekly roundup! Enjoy!

E-Book General - News and Commentary

• Amazon Kindle not coming to Germany any time soon, says report
• MobileRead hits half million posts milestone!
• Borders UK introduces new reader
• Bridgestone set to make major push into e-paper business
• Macmillan Ebook Poll

E-Book General - Reading Recommendations

• July 2009 Mobile Read Book Club Vote

Miscellaneous - Announcements

• Reminder : Paris, France meetup this saturday ! (4 July 2009)
• Winner of the MobileRead Summer Giveaway!
• Welcome netseeker to the MobileRead gang
• Become a MobileRead Fan on Facebook!

02:30 PM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News and Commentary

I just got an email form Macmillan with a link to a survey. Most of the questions are about ebooks. I'd really appreciate it if everyone would participate. Hopefully if they get enough of a positive response they'll finally get around to selling ebooks. Here is the link:

http://click.mail.macmillan.com/?qs=...785260f923a098

05:54 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Announcements

Fan of MobileRead? Already surrendered your soul to the Mighty Facebook? Then why not join our newly launched MobileRead Facebook Fan Page.

It's easy, it's free, and is guaranteed to make you more attractive*. So join today!

Click here to join the MR Facebook Fan Page

*the truth is, we like friends, we really do, they make us feel popular and cool.

05:32 PM by kaas in E-Book General | News and Commentary

from endgadget.com:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/01/b...aper-business/

Bridgestone's already showed off some fairly impressive e-paper displays, and gone into mass production with displays for inventory tags and whatnot, but it now looks like the company is now set to make its biggest push into the market yet. According to Tech-On, Bridgestone will be announcing details of its plans in July or August, but it appears that the announcement will concern e-paper displays for e-book readers, at least one of which will be A4 in size. That particular screen was making the rounds of exhibitions back in April, and makes use of the company's proprietary "electron powder and granular material" which, among other things, lets the screen rewrite in just 0.8 seconds. Of course, there's no word on any actual devices using the e-paper just yet, but we're hoping that'll be among the details announced in the next month or so.

the more the merrier, I say

cheers,
kaas

10:27 AM by Elsi in E-Book General | News and Commentary

On the last day of June, Borders UK announced a new reader for the UK market. Named "Elonex ebook", the device can be purchased in all of the chain's stores. The price of £189 makes it a cheaper alternative to the Sony Reader, and it supports ePub and Adobe formats -- suitable for the e-books being sold on Borders website.

Peter Newbould, commercial director at Borders, said: "... by launching the Elonex e-book at a retail price of £189, making it available in all of our UK stores and ensuring it is easy to shop the 45,000 titles at www.borders.co.uk, we hope to bring new customers into the market."

Please join the ongoing discussion here --> http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49981

08:32 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Announcements

MobileRead is proud to welcome netseeker as the newest addition to our roster. I've had the pleasure of meeting netseeker and he really is a courteous person. Without doubt, he will support us with unlimited supplies of blood, sweat and tears and will toil in the fields of MobileRead until he can toil no more.

Please join me in welcoming netseeker!

06:35 PM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Announcements

We received many, many fine entries for our Summer contest, but sadly, there can only be one winner. This time that (randomly selected) winner is Over, a fellow MobileReader from Portugal. Congratulations Over, you've just won a brand new e-book reader of your choice. Rock on!

Since there were so many unbelievably good entries, we couldn't resist but to hand out some extra prizes to those whose entries totally blew our mind. Congrats to Jellby, cassidym, mjh215, VivaldiRules and Moejoe -- you won yourself a $30 e-book voucher each. Please get in contact with us so we can work out the details.

To everyone who gave it a shot, thanks for entering. Oh, and always be on the lookout for more MobileRead contests!

05:47 PM by zelda_pinwheel in Miscellaneous | Announcements

Following quick on the heels of our recent Melbourne (Australia), Frankfurt (Germany), and Northern Virginia (US), this saturday will see our next Paris meetup ! But, not only can we expect a delightful evening in charming company and many many geeky gadgets (as usual), this apéro will be extra special because it marks the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the very first MobileRead meetup ever (give or take a few days ) !

It's wonderful to see how the phenomenon has really taken off in the 12 months since it was launched and I will personally raise a glass this saturday to toast everyone who has attended one of the meetups we've seen organised in France, the UK, Germany, Australia, the US, Canada (coming soon !) and all the future ones as well ! Hm, maybe we should have cake !

All the more reason not to miss this extra-special event on Saturday, if you're anywhere in France / Europe / the Milky Way Galaxy. Here are all the details :

When : Saturday, 4 July 2009

from about 18.00 (6.00pm)

Where : Le Décalé (previously "LA TROTTINETTE")

23, rue de la Fontaine au Roi
Paris 11th arrondissement
Métro Goncourt (line 11)
or if you prefer Parmentier (line 3) or République (lines 3, 5, 8, 9, 11)

EDIT : Announcing special guests from Bookeen and exclusive hands-on avant-première of the new Bookeen liseuse, the Opus, just for MobileRead !!! see post 10 of this thread for details.

__________________________________

Suivant de très près les rencontres en Australie, Allemagne, et aux US de ces derniers jours, nous sommes ravis de vous rappeler que ce samedi nous nous retrouverons de nouveau pour de passionnantes discussions techno-littéraires (entre autres ) à Paris ! Et, tenez-vous bien, en plus, cet apéro marquera le premier anniversaire de notre tout premier apéro MobileRead, il y a pile un an (à quelques jours près...), à Paris !

C'est franchement épatant de voir à quel point ce phénomène a pris de l'ampleur en si peu de temps et je compte personnellement lever un verre samedi pour trinquer à tous ceux qui ont participé à l'une des rencontres MobileRead qui ont eu lieu en France, Grande Bretagne, Allemagne, Australie, aux US, au Canada (bientôt !) et toutes celles à venir aussi ! Hm, qu'en dîtes-vous, ça mériterait un gâteau non ?

Encore une raison (comme si elles manquaient ! ) de ne surtout pas rater cet événement extraordinaire samedi, si vous vous trouvez en France / Europe / La Voie Lactée. Voici tous les détails :

Quand : Samedi, le 4 juillet 2009

à partir de 18h30 environ

Où ça : Le Décalé (anciennement "LA TROTTINETTE")

23, rue de la Fontaine au Roi
Paris 11ème
Métro Goncourt (11)
ou Parmentier (3) ou République (3, 5, 8, 9, 11)

à samedi donc ! J'ai hâte !

EDIT : Je vous annonce en plus la présence d'invité(s) surprise(s) de Bookeen, avec une démo en avant-première de leur nouveau modèle, l'Opus, en exclusivité pour MobileRead !!!! Voir le poste numéro 10 de ce fil pour plus d'infos.

09:08 PM by pilotbob in E-Book General | Reading Recommendations

For for the July 2009 eBook for the Mobile Read Book Club. The poll will be open for 7 days. We will start the discussion thread for this book on July 26th. Select from the following books.

My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
In this 1919 short story collection, P.G. Wodehouse’s beloved star characters, the very silly Bertie Wooster and his unflappable valet Jeeves, must face the perils of pushy relatives, swooning debutantes, and the hare-brained schemes of well-meaning friends.

This collection also features the fictional hi-jinks of another favorite Wodehouse character, the hapless Reggie Pepper, whose piles of money never seem to make up for his utter lack of intelligence. Wodehouse will keep every reader giggling at the wild adventures in which Reggie manages to find himself and the ridiculous dilemmas from which the lucky Bertie is rescued, without fail, by the ingenious Jeeves.

Topper by Thorne Smith
It all begins when Cosmo Topper, a law-abiding, mild-mannered bank manager, decides to buy a secondhand car, only to find it haunted by the ghosts of its previous owners--the reckless, feckless, frivolous couple who met their untimely demise when the car careened into an oak tree. The ghosts, George and Marion Kerby, make it their mission to rescue Topper from the drab "summer of suburban Sundays" that is his life—and they commence a series of madcap adventures that leave Topper, and anyone else who crosses their path, in a whirlwind of discomfiture and delight.

Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of The Dog) by Jerome K Jerome
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), published in 1889, is a humorous account by Jerome K. Jerome of a boating holiday on the Thames between Kingston and Oxford.

The book was initially intended to be a serious travel guide, with accounts of local history along the route, but the humorous elements took over to the point where the serious and somewhat sentimental passages seem a distraction to the comic novel. One of the most praised things about Three Men in a Boat is how undated it appears to modern readers, the jokes seem fresh and witty even today.

Augustus Carp, Esq. - Being the Autobiography of a Really Good Man by Henry Bashford
It is customary, I have noticed, in publishing an autobiography to preface it with some sort of apology. But there are times, and surely the present is one of them, when to do so is manifestly unnecessary. In an age when every standard of decent conduct has either been torn down or is threatened with destruction; when every newspaper is daily reporting scenes of violence, divorce, and arson; when quite young girls smoke cigarettes and even, I am assured, sometimes cigars; when mature women, the mothers of unhappy children, enter the sea in one-piece bathing-costumes; and when married men, the heads of households, prefer the flicker of the cinematograph to the Athanasian Creed -- then it is obviously a task, not to be justifiably avoided, to place some higher example before the world.

For some time -- I am now forty-seven -- I had been feeling this with increasing urgency. And when not only my wife and her four sisters, but the vicar of my parish, the Reverend Simeon Whey, approached me with the same suggestion, I felt that delay would amount to sin. That sin, by many persons, is now lightly regarded, I am, of course, only too well aware. That its very existence is denied by others is a fact equally familiar to me. But I am not one of them. On every ground I am an unflinching opponent of sin. I have continually rebuked it in others. I have strictly refrained from it in myself. And for that reason alone I have deemed it incumbent upon me to issue this volume.

The Silence of Colonel Bramble by by André Maurois
Translated from the French by Thurfrida Wake; Verses translated by Wilfrid Jackson. Whitlock writes in the Introduction about The Silence of Colonel Bramble: Every English officer one met was chuckling over it, and pointing out Old So-and-so in its pages as the original of this or that type. It was a picture not only of the Lennox Highlanders, but of every regimental and brigade mess in the army.