08:21 PM by anurag in E-Book General | News

Replaces mobigen.

Amazon is releasing today a new version of our command line tool to build Kindle books: KindleGen 1.0.

KindleGen 1.0 can be downloaded from http://www.amazon.com/kindlepublishing and is available for Windows and Linux systems. KindleGen 1.0 includes various fixes and new features, including:
- Improved image compression algorithm for small to medium size images
- Support for Macintosh encoding
- Better NCX handling

KindleGen 1.0 replaces Mobipocket's Mobigen 6.2 as our command line tool. It is a recommended download for anyone involved in building Kindle books.

From http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000234621:

07:42 PM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Borders Group Inc does not plan to develop its own electronic book reader because of the cost and time it takes to do so, its chief executive said on Friday.

Earlier this week, Borders announced a deal with electronic download service Kobo Inc, a spin-off of Canadian bookseller Indigo Books & Music Inc, that would provide Borders with e-book sales services by June 2010. Borders holds a 20 percent stake in Kobo.

"I don't anticipate us doing our own e-reader for a whole variety of reasons, not least of which is that we're not a technology company. We're booksellers," Borders Chief Executive Ron Marshall told Reuters in an interview.

from:http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BH4H820091218

08:53 AM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

Microsoft just released a 202 page PDF which describes all the new features in the next version of Microsoft Office (currently in beta).

http://cid-d7229b252a0ad6f2.skydrive...93876ebook.pdf

08:01 AM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

I found a couple articles yesterday, and they were quite a pleasant surprise. The articles are neither Kaufman's "ebooks are a digital holocaust" nor are they the usual "smell of books" nonsense. I had trouble summarizing them because they both use the word e-reading, which for me is pain akin to nails on a chalkboard.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2009/...ure-of-reading

http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2...ading-emerson/

07:50 AM by grimo1re in E-Book General | News

I guess EFF likes Sony! Full article here.

07:43 AM by anurag in E-Book General | News

From http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a3963166-e...nclick_check=1

A key technology supplier to the Amazon Kindle electronic reader plans to launch a lightweight plastic screen next year that is expected to make the products less likely to break and pave the way for their large-scale introduction in schools and colleges.

Prime View International, a Taiwanese company that is the biggest supplier of the screens used in e-readers - and which are currently based on glass - intends to introduce a plastic-based screen in the spring that it would make available to all its customers including Amazon.

The US internet retailer yesterday said it did not want to comment on any plans it might have for introducing a plastic-based version of the Kindle.

...

(via http://kindleworld.blogspot.com)

06:44 AM by anurag in E-Book General | News

Via Engadget:

...
it looks like it's managed to get the first ones out the door on the early end of its December 18th to January 8th estimate, with the initial batch of pre-orders shipping today.
...
an additional 16 publications that will be offering wirelessly-delivered subscriptions on the Daily Edition, including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News, The Baltimore Sun, and The Denver Post.
...

Related: PRS-900 release date

05:03 AM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

I have a modest proposal. Every large library in the state - heck, in the country - should buy 10 electronic book readers and allow patrons to check them out for two weeks, just like real books.

I know that money is tight in Libraryworld, and that acquisition budgets are slim. It would be nice if Amazon and Sony donated their respective e-books, Kindles and Readers, to libraries as a good-will gesture, but there is no evidence they plan to do so.

Why do this? Because this is where libraries need to be. I worry that libraries, even the newest ones, risk becoming fortresses buttressed by books, protecting Gutenberg’s technology for reasons of principle rather than pragmatism. Librarians need to educate themselves, and us, about the possibilities and limitations of digital books.

from:
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/artic..._want_to_read/
********

There is a significant flaw in his argument, and a simple cost-benefit analysis will demonstrate it.

If a library focuses on 10 ebook readers and has 1k ebooks, only 10 people at a time can use those thousand ebooks. That's a significant capital investment which will boost the user base by 10 people. On the other hand, if a library focuses on the ebook itself and has a 1k collection of public domain ebooks, an infinite number of people can use them.

There is a vast storehouse of free ebooks out there. And that's why libraries should get into ebooks, not hardware.