New from Apple's WWDC: iBooks

[Kolenka]

Originally Posted by dorino

I remember reading that there was an ISO standard for a cup of tea, but I don't see Lipton being held to it... Forgive me if I'm wrong, but ISO standards just give a point of comparison, and mean nothing in terms of control.

The catch is that the ISO standard is controlled by the standards body once submitted. You can submit changes, but it doesn't mean you can get the ISO body to accept all those changes or that you can coerce developers to use your implementation when they can use the ISO standard and be more compatible. So the standard is controlled by the ISO body.

Unfortunately, while an interesting analogy (there is in fact an ISO standard for how to brew tea in a consistent manner), it doesn't apply in the same way as a technical standard. Central control is even more important in the technology game.

If Lipton brews their tea differently, it doesn't really mean anything, other than certain people might like it more or less.

If Apple produces PDFs that don't conform to the standard, then I'm not able to give that PDF to my potential employer and have them be able to read my resume. If they can't read my resume, I don't get an interview, and I stop using that product to produce my resume.

Interoperability is big in technology, although there are always 'de facto standards' that aren't real standards, but because everyone uses them, they become one (like how parts of the video community decided hacking the AVI format to support MPEG-4/DivX/XviD video and MP3 audio got turned into a 'standard' of sorts in some groups).

[dorino]

Alright, Kolenka. Thank you for explaining it to me. Though I still don't believe the PDF having an ISO standard had anything to do with Apple's delay in supporting PDFs, or in their eventual addition of it to the iBooks app.

[Kolenka]

Originally Posted by dorino

Alright, Kolenka. Thank you for explaining it to me. Though I still don't believe the PDF having an ISO standard had anything to do with Apple's delay in supporting PDFs, or in their eventual addition of it to the iBooks app.

Read my first post in this thread... I go over that.

[charleski]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

charleski --- you're assuming that no one will view anything other than photographs / pixel images on such screens.

Finer linescreens allow for finer details to show through --- stochastic screening will show (visible) improvements in image detail all the way out to the limits of output resolution (I've worked w/ imagesetters which would go as high as 3,600 dpi).

Yes, but your imagesetter is producing monochrome halftone screens, and each of the halftone cells has to accommodate the dots for each of the separations with enough density to allow at least 256 perceived levels in each channel. Additionally, digital halftoning requires higher resolution because of the sampled nature of the output (it can print 1 pixel, or 2 pixels, but not 1.5 pixels).

For a halftone process, the resultant lpi is equal to the dpi of each individual screen divided by 16 (a 16x16 cell gives 256 levels), meaning your 3600dpi imagesetter is producing 225lpi. This is certainly pretty high, but reasonable for output that will be viewed critically and needs to hold up under close scrutiny.

You'd need a higher output to display something that people might peer at from a few inches away, but if you assume the viewing distance won't go below 1 foot then there's no point going over 180lpi.

[dorino]

Originally Posted by Kolenka

Read my first post in this thread... I go over that.

Yes, and I agree with your post completely.

[CourtlyDoc]

My first post here, folks, and there's an answer I'd like to find before buying an iPad for myself - I DID just give one to a well-loved nephew for his college graduation! I've got approx. 1500 books/short stories that are nearly all in .prc format. I'm getting ready to move to a smartphone, probably the iPhone4, BUT I am perhaps understandably reluctant to abandon my library!

What formats does the iPhone, and/or iPad support? What ebook reader/s work on either or both?

(I have done some preliminary search for DRM strippers...)

[scottjl]

you might want to read the FAQ stickied in this forum, there's a nice list of formats and apps that support them. there is also nikkie's well maintained wiki page.