"Friction" is why e-books adoption is slow - Page 14

NatCh · 08-31-2007, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

And if each card looks like modern art, imagine how popular they'll be at the supermarket endcaps!

I wonder if they could encode the book in the cover art ....

As "dense" as that medium was supposed to be, they could probably incorporate it into the cover art, or put it on the back of the card (cover art on the front) underneath the blurb. I'm likin' this idea a lot!

Steven Lyle Jordan · 08-31-2007, 05:41 PM

It's just a shame there seems to be a lot of disagreement over whether it really works as advertised. Still, it is clearly capable of storing enough for a book per card, which would work for our needs. And if not, the 3-d barcode method might do the trick.

igorsk · 08-31-2007, 08:55 PM

Actually, 2D barcodes are pretty big in Japan. They use a variation called QR Code, which is an open standard. AFAIK most current phones come equipped with a QR code scanner, and for other phones there are freeware applications which extract the information from camera shots. The most common information encoded is mobile site URLs and contact details.

mocelet · 09-01-2007, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kilarney

How expensive could a 1mb SD card be?

Not much cheaper than a 1GB memory stick. There is a finite cost for the PCB, plastic housing, gold contacts, packaging, shipping, and other logistics. That is why you cannot buy small memory sticks any more, they can't make them cheap enough to be worth buying.

Both Smart Cards and Mag stripe cards (according to http://java.sun.com/products/javacard/smartcards.html) have insufficient storage for books, and cost about $2 per card - I guess banks absorb this cost when they send you a new card, although these are all unique. Mass produced idenitcal smartcards in the same physical format, but with more storage might work for books, but the cost is probably higher than for the production of a p-book!

nekokami · 09-01-2007, 10:13 AM

There's a cool article about these codes in MAKE's sibling publication Craft, vol 02. People use them to swap Creative Commons t-shirt ideas at http://cshirt.sargasso.jp/ -- you can scan the code on a real-life tshirt created there, go to the site, find the same shirt, and print it as-is or make a remix. The site is in Japanese, though, which can be somewhat problematic for gaijin such as myself (I read a little bit of Japanese, but not much or quickly). I think I could probably figure out how to create a shirt, though. Too bad the QR-enabled phones aren't sold here.

Back to the subject of the thread, I don't think the QR codes hold enough data for a whole book-- YET. Possibly they could, in the future. It's an interesting idea. They could certainly hold enough info to identify a CC type book on a site like this, though. It could easily be combined with a POD system for those who like physical books, or the card identifying the book could be sold with a PIN covered by scratch film. If QR phones or their equivalent were common in other countries, one could buy a card, the recipient could use the QR phone to scan the book ID, the ebook site would ask for the pin, then deliver the ebook to the phone (which is where a lot of people read their books, I guess). An account would also be created that would allow the same user to download the book again to other devices. One side of the card could hold the QR code and a bit of blurb about the book, the other side could be printed with the book's cover illustration. I think this could work quite nicely -- if QR phones worked here.

Of course, one could simply type in the ISBN from the card and get the same effect.

Steven Lyle Jordan · 09-01-2007, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nekokami

Back to the subject of the thread, I don't think the QR codes hold enough data for a whole book-- YET. Possibly they could, in the future. It's an interesting idea. They could certainly hold enough info to identify a CC type book on a site like this, though. It could easily be combined with a POD system for those who like physical books, or the card identifying the book could be sold with a PIN covered by scratch film. If QR phones or their equivalent were common in other countries, one could buy a card, the recipient could use the QR phone to scan the book ID, the ebook site would ask for the pin, then deliver the ebook to the phone (which is where a lot of people read their books, I guess). An account would also be created that would allow the same user to download the book again to other devices. One side of the card could hold the QR code and a bit of blurb about the book, the other side could be printed with the book's cover illustration.

That sounds like a good way to do it with cards that cannot yet hold a book... the QR holds the link, the card has an additional PIN to manually enter, and you get your book. If people already commonly had QR scanners (or if QR conversion SW is freely available for existing flatbed and handheld scanners), you could sell books in that fashion today.

Ultimately, if someone can work out a way to encode the entire book onto the card, that would go one better (no need for an internet connection). I would love to lease space at, say, a Sci-Fi convention, and sell my books on cards.

igorsk · 09-01-2007, 01:37 PM

Free QR Code Readers for your Cellphone

Steven Lyle Jordan · 09-01-2007, 01:50 PM

Thanks for the link... I'm building a research base right now, to see if this is something I can use practically.

nekokami · 09-01-2007, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Ultimately, if someone can work out a way to encode the entire book onto the card, that would go one better (no need for an internet connection). I would love to lease space at, say, a Sci-Fi convention, and sell my books on cards.

While coding the entire book on the card would be especially cool, I think you could do this now with gift certificate equivalents, if your payment method supports them.

Steven Lyle Jordan · 09-01-2007, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nekokami

While coding the entire book on the card would be especially cool, I think you could do this now with gift certificate equivalents, if your payment method supports them.

I suppose I could simply sell a card for a buck ("convention special" discount), with a cover on one side, story detail and a hard-to-guess link (as a QR code, or plain text) on the back.

But that means you still need an internet connection. It would be nice to make that optional.

DMcCunney · 09-01-2007, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Agreed. USB and WiFi are also pretty widely supported protocols, including under Windows. Put those together, and you should have a fairly comprehensive transfer protocol specification that every reader or handheld device can use.

In point of fact, the protocol is simply the delivery mechanism. If it provides a way to get a binary file from one device to another, it's all you need.

I can get ebooks or other files on my PalmOS PDA via Hotsync over USB cable, Bluetooth or Wifi, SMB via Wifi, or by dropping the file on an expansion card with a USB card reader.

The exact method used will vary by device. What is important is that a method exists, and the user knows how to do it.

The existing methods are all largely standardized, so they aren't an issue.
______
Dennis

DMcCunney · 09-01-2007, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

That's probably why it didn't work for me: I wasn't loading it onto an iPod, but a different brand's MP3 player, and iTunes won't play well with others.

Doesn't matter. The conversion happens on the desktop, before you actually copy the converted tunes to a device. At that point, iTunes doesn't care.

I'm not sure what happened, but it's a straight-forward process.
______
Dennis

DMcCunney · 09-01-2007, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

As people think about the different protocols and formats that might reduce friction, how about this for a crazy twist. What if we standardized by storing the e-books on paper. Paper vs e-book could take on a whole new meaning! (See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7689)

Yes, it's sweet, but ultimately, it's another storage mechanism. I don't see a particular reason why the medium has to be paper. The question is the theoretical information storage density. (The referenced Wikipedia article does not support the original claims.)

With folks like IBM working on "vertical" magnetic storage techniques for a theoretical quantum leap in storage capacity, stuff like that looks like a niche technology at best.
______
Dennis

DMcCunney · 09-01-2007, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatCh

I wonder if they could encode the book in the cover art ....

Look up steganography...

Quote:

As "dense" as that medium was supposed to be, they could probably incorporate it into the cover art, or put it on the back of the card (cover art on the front) underneath the blurb. I'm likin' this idea a lot!

Unfortunately, I doubt the medium is (or can be) that dense.
______
Dennis

Steven Lyle Jordan · 09-01-2007, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Doesn't matter. The conversion happens on the desktop, before you actually copy the converted tunes to a device. At that point, iTunes doesn't care.

I'm not sure what happened, but it's a straight-forward process.

What happened is this message:

"X could not be converted because protected files cannot be converted to other formats."

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08-31-2007, 05:41 PM	#197
Steven Lyle Jordan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,478 Karma: 5171130 Join Date: Jan 2006 Device: none	It's just a shame there seems to be a lot of disagreement over whether it really works as advertised. Still, it is clearly capable of storing enough for a book per card, which would work for our needs. And if not, the 3-d barcode method might do the trick.

08-31-2007, 08:55 PM	#198
igorsk Wizard Posts: 3,442 Karma: 300001 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Belgium Device: PRS-500/505/700, Kindle, Cybook Gen3, Words Gear	Actually, 2D barcodes are pretty big in Japan. They use a variation called QR Code, which is an open standard. AFAIK most current phones come equipped with a QR code scanner, and for other phones there are freeware applications which extract the information from camera shots. The most common information encoded is mobile site URLs and contact details.

09-01-2007, 10:13 AM	#200
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	There's a cool article about these codes in MAKE's sibling publication Craft, vol 02. People use them to swap Creative Commons t-shirt ideas at http://cshirt.sargasso.jp/ -- you can scan the code on a real-life tshirt created there, go to the site, find the same shirt, and print it as-is or make a remix. The site is in Japanese, though, which can be somewhat problematic for gaijin such as myself (I read a little bit of Japanese, but not much or quickly). I think I could probably figure out how to create a shirt, though. Too bad the QR-enabled phones aren't sold here. Back to the subject of the thread, I don't think the QR codes hold enough data for a whole book-- YET. Possibly they could, in the future. It's an interesting idea. They could certainly hold enough info to identify a CC type book on a site like this, though. It could easily be combined with a POD system for those who like physical books, or the card identifying the book could be sold with a PIN covered by scratch film. If QR phones or their equivalent were common in other countries, one could buy a card, the recipient could use the QR phone to scan the book ID, the ebook site would ask for the pin, then deliver the ebook to the phone (which is where a lot of people read their books, I guess). An account would also be created that would allow the same user to download the book again to other devices. One side of the card could hold the QR code and a bit of blurb about the book, the other side could be printed with the book's cover illustration. I think this could work quite nicely -- if QR phones worked here. Of course, one could simply type in the ISBN from the card and get the same effect.

09-01-2007, 01:37 PM	#202
igorsk Wizard Posts: 3,442 Karma: 300001 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Belgium Device: PRS-500/505/700, Kindle, Cybook Gen3, Words Gear	Free QR Code Readers for your Cellphone

09-01-2007, 01:50 PM	#203
Steven Lyle Jordan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,478 Karma: 5171130 Join Date: Jan 2006 Device: none	Thanks for the link... I'm building a research base right now, to see if this is something I can use practically.