New from Apple's WWDC: iBooks

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

My guess is iBooks update will be released to coincide with iOS 4's release.

I'm going for tonight.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by stustaff

I'm going for tonight.

We shall see if you are correct.

[scottjl]

sorry, but they said the next ibooks would be released with 4.0..

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by scottjl

sorry, but they said the next ibooks would be released with 4.0..

We'll see oops

[Bluebaize]

I hope they get iBooks out quick, like now - if it's ready

I also hope that PDf support has a zoom function and one that stays when you turn a page too.

[leebase]

<sigh> I don't have budget for the iPhone 4 -- and I didn't think I'd want one -- but I DO want one. More than 300dpi screen! 300dpi is what the average human eye can resolve. No more jaggies!

Have to remind myself that I read on my iPad these days anyway.

Lee

[Rique]

Originally Posted by kjk

Hard to buy anything with their atrocious navigation too...the store seriously needs an overhaul.

A big +1 on that comment - I'm still buying books from Sony or Amazon - (and at least I can free Sony titles from DRM lock-up - haven't figured out how to do that with Amazon titles).

Apple needs selection, competitive pricing, improved navigation... and did I mention selection?

App store is not much better - a pretty bad UI, IMHO.

-- Riq

[scottjl]

i have a feeling the new version of ibooks needs functionality only found in ios 4.0. which could mean a delay getting it to the ipad which isn't supposed to get ios 4.0 until this fall. note jobs only discussed it on the iphone today and made no mention of it being available for the ipad.

[WillAdams]

leebase, the human eye can resolve much finer than 300 dpi --- 400 dpi is where fonts start to look nice on a laserprinter and imagesetters are easily differentiated by their output at 1,270 ppi vice 2,540 ppi (and there are models which go higher) --- see the book _Counterpunch: Making Type in the 16th Century, Designing Typefaces Now_ by Fred Smeijers for electron micrographs and a discussion of this.

Granted, the iPhone screen is 326 _pixels_ per inch, so one gets anti-aliasing, yielding a higher effective dpi, but screens need to get better yet.

[scottjl]

Jobs said "there's a magic number around 300dpi, if you hold something about 10-12 inches away from your eye, it's the limit of the human retina to distinguish pixels."

from apple's web site

To achieve this, Apple engineers developed pixels so small — a mere 78 micrometers across — that the human eye can’t distinguish individual pixels.

ymmv.. or is that yemv?

[kjk]

The question is are PPI(LCD) really the same as DPI (print).

[leebase]

There are devices that print smaller than 300 dpi, but that's been the gold standard for "photo quality" forever

Lee

[scottjl]

true, but are all those extra dots actually distinguishable by the human eye? what jobs is basically saying is that a 1' distance (where you'd likely hold the phone) the new screen has the finest resolution the human eye (and I'm guessing he means average person) can distinguish. maybe we need an opthamologist to chime in here.

[joblack]

Originally Posted by kjk

Interesting, the PDFs are listed in a separate bookshelf.

Wow, now it can acquire and view PDF files. This is cutting edge technology ...

[kjk]

Originally Posted by joblack

Wow, now it can read and view PDF files. This is cutting edge technology ...

It's a useful feature for me, although Stanza has it already for the iPad. No one is claiming its cutting edge technology, though. Just another nice feature to have in iBooks, and on the iPad.