06:32 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

E-Paper is great but there is still plenty of room for improvements. Think of a better, more paperlike contrast, faster response times, the introduction of color without sacrifice in display resolution, just to name a few. Christopher Mims of Quartz muses that following the acquisition of Liquavista, Amazon could be working on a new display technology "with unique properties—like long battery life and amenability to being used outdoors and in natural light - which not even Apple and Samsung could match".

The answer lies in a recent acquisition by Amazon of a company called Liquavista, which makes full-color displays that are reflective, like e-ink, but fast, like the LCD screens in our phones, tablets and televisions. The technology works on a principle called electrowetting, in which each pixel on the screen consists of tiny capsules of an oil that respond to electrical charge. [...]

This means there is no way of knowing when, or even if, Amazon will unveil a reflective, full-color display of its own devising. Amazon has demonstrated in the past that it will go as far up the technology pipeline as it needs to in order to accomplish its goals, and even once considered getting into the business of making its own microchips.

Link to the article: here

05:17 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | General Discussions

If you haven't already heard, like you know, about a gazillion times why paper books are supposedly better than e-books, then the following list of 10 reasons (via BuzzFeed) will be completely new to you. Otherwise feel free to skip in its entirety.

1. You can read books in the bath.
2. No need to turn off your book on a plane!
3. You can read in the sun.
4. They fill your shelves.
5. Antique books are amazing.
6. You can’t get an e-book signed.
7. Libraries and bookstores!
8. Finishing a long book is more rewarding this way.
9. They inspire tattoos!
10. Books don’t die.

[image by Luca Mascaro via Flickr]

08:23 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

The title is a pretty innocuous phrasing of a great big bombshell. A coalition of e-reader manufacturers consisting of Amazon, Kobo and Sony, filed a petition requesting the FCC waive its rules requiring e-readers to be accessible by people with disabilities.

According to the Coalition petition (PDF):

The public interest would be served by granting this petition because the theoretical ACS ability of ereaders is irrelevant to how the overwhelming majority of users actually use the devices. [...]

Granting the petition is in the public interest because rendering ACS accessible on e-readers would require fundamentally altering the devices to be more like general-purpose tablets in cost, form factor, weight, user interface, and reduced battery life, and yet the necessary changes, if they were made, would not yield a meaningful benefit to individuals with disabilities.

According to the letter (PDF) supplementing the petition, e-readers are a distinctive class designed primarily for reading, because they all share the following characteristics (that make them different from, let's say, tablets):

• they have no LCD screen;
• they have no camera;
• they are not offered or shipped to consumers with built-in email, IM, VoIP or other similar ACS client applications and the device manufacturer does not develop ACS applications for them;
• they are marketed to consumers as reading devices and promotional material about them does not tout the capability to access ACS.

Anybody care to bite?

03:44 PM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Lounge

What do you hate more: spam or CAPTCHAs? At MobileRead, we've been using CAPTCHAs to prevent spammers from creating hundreds of fake accounts - every day! It doesn't stop all spam, but generally it does a good job of detecting the bad guys. Unfortunately, CAPTCHAs may also hinder people with disabilities, such as vision impairments, to the point that they cannot use a website. In Australia, various disability groups have now began to set up a petition encouraging major companies to get rid of CAPTCHA tests. From the petition:

They’re frustrating for all internet users, but for me and millions of other people who are blind or vision impaired, CAPTCHA tests prevent us from engaging on the web and accessing online government services, because they can't be read by screen reading software

I have been blind for about seven years and CAPTCHA has fast become one of my most hated aspects of the web. [...]

It is time to kill CAPTCHA once and for all.

I hope you will join my organisation, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) and fellow non-profit disability advocacy groups such as Blind Citizens Australia, Media Access Australia, Able Australia and the Australian Deafblind Council in calling on organisations big and small to phase out the use of CAPTCHA.

To be debated in parliament the petition will require 10,000 or more signatures.

[via IT News]

09:16 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

E-book aficionados from South Korean, rejoice! As we heard earlier this morning, Seoul-based Kepub is introducing the Crema Shine, the first E Ink e-reader in South Korea that features a frontlight.

Specifications:

• Display: 6" E Ink
• Resolution: 1024x758 (16 grey levels)
• Storage: 8GB (expandable with Micro SD)
• RAM: 512MB
• CPU: 1GHz
• OS: Android 4.0 (ICS)
• Battery: 1500mAh
• Connectivity: WiFi
• Formats: ePub, PDF
• Dimensions: 169x116x9.5mm
• Weight: 185g
• Prize: KRW149,000 (~US $130)

[Edit: This device looks similar to the tolino reader, which is distributed by Deutsche Telekom and various German booksellers. Thanks manfred63!]

You can pre-order it through various booksellers and channels like Yes 24 and Aladin. Official launch date: August 26th.

To see the Crema Shine in action check out this Youtube video:

[via Betanews.net]

07:46 AM by sufue in E-Book General | News

I heard this on the way to work this morning. It is part of an NPR series on libraries. It was pretty interesting, but I already knew a lot of it thanks to our MR forums and discussions.

E-books have changed the world of publishing in fundamental ways. The business model that encouraged publishers to support the work of public libraries has changed to such an extent that this relationship has been stressed to the point of non cooperation.

Link to the piece (audio) is here: http://www.npr.org/2013/08/05/209114...lishing-houses

[related: Library skips publisher, goes directly to author, image by Wonderlane via Flickr]

07:41 AM by PageLab in E-Book General | News

No specific release notes this time. There are some discussion on twitter about improvements in font management and even support for media queries, but I couldn't make it work in some tests I did.

http://www.adobe.com/br/products/dig.../download.html

07:23 AM by fjtorres in E-Book General | News

Jeff Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon.com, entered an agreement with the Washington Post Co. Monday to buy its newspaper publishing businesses for $250 million, including its flagship newspaper.

The purchaser is an entity that belongs to Bezos and is not Amazon.com. [...]

In a letter to Post employees, in which Bezos acknowledged that many would greet his purchase with apprehension, he noted that the paper's editorial leadership would continue to lead day-to-day activities, as he remains focused on his "day job" at Amazon.

Link: Amazon's CEO to buy Washington Post for $250M (CNet).

The deal does not include Slate. (Too bad; it would have resulted in a spectacular explosion of brains.)

[image by Adam Glanzman via Flickr]