11:45 PM by markbot in E-Book General | News

After hardcover and before paperback. In Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy's mind, this is when we as consumers should be expecting the digital copies of their favorite page turners to come out. Putting money where its mouth is, so to speak, the company has announced that for around 35 of its major releases coming early next year, the e-book iterations won't be out until four months after the physical releases.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...263227740.html

11:39 PM by pilotbob in More E-Book Readers | Interead COOL-ER

A few quotes from Interreads Press Release:

MIAMI, Dec. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Interead, makers of the COOL-ER line of ereaders, and AT&T* today announced an agreement that will deliver users of the COOL-ER 3G ereader, scheduled for release in mid-2010, the nation's fastest 3G mobile broadband experience.

Neil Jones, Interead's CEO, commented: "We have been overwhelmed by the positive reaction to the COOL-ER and the COOLER-EBOOKS.com bookstore. In selecting providers, we have actively sought those who share our vision and commitment to an ideal reader experience, and we're thrilled to team with AT&T to deliver content over the nation's fastest 3G network."

They will also be working with NewpapersDirect to deliver over 1,000 publications wirelessly on the device due to release "sometime" in 2010.

Yes, 2010 is shaping up to be the year of the eBook.

Via Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/09/i...%28Engadget%29

11:32 PM by Musicman in E-Book General | News

I just received this e-mail on Foxits' ESlick new ebook store...

Fremont, CA, Dec. 09, 2009 – Foxit Corporation, a leader in eDocument technology for mobile, desktop and on-demand platforms, announces the launch of a new eBookstore, www.eslickbooks.com, in partnership with Fictionwise LLC, a Barnes & Noble Company, for all eSlick device users.

No surprise it looks very similar to ereader.com...

09:34 PM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

Sony just announced a definite date for the Epub switchover. The announcement also mentioned that the Sony Ebook Store will be renamed to the Reader Store, with a new site address: http://readerstore.sony.com.

Next week will also bring an update to the Sony Library software. v3.1 will add support for Windows 7 and Mac OSX 10.6.

As of 11 December, LRX files will no longer be offered for download. The only files available will be DRMed Epub. If you're one of the PRS-500 who hasn't upgraded to the Epub firmware, back up your ebooks before it's too late.

Thanks to Anemic Oak for also reporting this!

06:40 PM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

The next version of FBReader is now available. Improvements include:

• New presentation of library
• Better integration with network libraries (FeedBooks, LitRes, Shucang and SmashWords)
• Image scaling has been implemented
• Better encoding/language detection. Arabic and Indonesian patterns are back
• Mobipocket, eReader and chm support have been improved

For full detail, go here. You can download the new version here.

About FBReader
FBReader is ebook reader software. It currently works on many platforms including PDAs, handhelds, smartphones, PepperPad 3, IRex iLiad, and PCs running Linux, Windows XP/Vista, or FreeBSD. It supports several ebook formats: epub, plucker, palmdoc, zTXT, HTML, CHM, fb2, TCR (psion text), OEB, OpenReader, RTF, non-DRM'ed Mobipocket, and plain text.

**********
My take:

I just tried the new Windows version. It still doesn't have full tag support for Mobipocket ebooks, so I would still rate it as better than nothing. And it still takes too many steps to add a book to the library. Oh, well.

12:15 PM by lunohod in Archive | OpenInkpot

We're proud to release OpenInkpot 0.2, free and open source firmware for eBook devices with ePaper screens.

During the release cycle nearly every piece of code was rewritten, so it's not feasible to provide a complete changelog.
Notable changes:

Device support

• Hanvon N510 and N516 devices are now supported

Functionality

• PDF and Djvu viewers
• Simple image viewer
• Simple music player (available for Hanvon N510 and N516)

UI

• Interface is now translated to 14 languages
• New look kindly provided by Azbooka
• Screen rotation
• Screen locker
• Low battery indicator

Misc

• Several puzzles have been added

Documentation

• http://openinkpot.org/wiki/0.2/InstallationGuide
• http://openinkpot.org/wiki/0.2/UsersGuide
• http://openinkpot.org/wiki/0.2/TroubleshootingGuide

OpenInkpot 0.2 can be downloaded from:
http://openinkpot.org/pub/releases/0.2/

02:05 PM by wallcraft in E-Book General | News

As noted by Musicman, Firmware Update 2.0 Build 1130 is now available:

The free eSlick 2.0 Build 1130 Firmware Update includes some fantastic new features and has enhanced many of the features from previous firmware updates.

EPUB Support
Foxit eSlick now supports EPUB format, which is an XML-based format for reflowable digital books and publications. Now you can download EPUB eBooks onto your eSlick and the text will automatically display in an optimized format to fit the screen size.

PDB (commonly known as eReader) Support
Foxit eSlick now also supports eReader format, which is widely accepted by several software formats. eReader format is commonly used on mobile devices.

Image Support
Supports viewing image files in GIF, EMP, JPEG, and PNG format.

On-screen Virtual Keyboard
With this on-screen keyboard, you can use your navigation buttons to enter alphanumeric data in any text environment, including password entering and folder naming.

Working with Folders
eSlick now allows users to fully interact with a folder management system, enabling you to create a new folder as well as copy, move, and delete folders.

My Bookmark
A useful feature that empowers users to add customized bookmarks when reading PDFs, helping users to quickly return to marked pages to resume their readings.

Rendering Text in Landscape Mode
Now the text files can be rendered in landscape mode which allows you to view the screen horizontally.

The eReader support includes the credit card number based DRM, but ePub is DRM-free only. There is (unfortunately) the possibility of Foxit-specific ePub DRM, see http://forums.foxitsoftware.com/show...7&postcount=18.

06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Bite-sized MobileRead for your weekend pleasure:

E-Book General - News and Commentary

• Ebooks and ISBNs
• 5,000 documents by American Founding Fathers now available online
• On the Media
• Txtr without WLAN
• Amazon sends out Kindle ad disguised as a press release
• Final report on ebook observatory project just released
• Aluratek Libre just got Adobe DE support
• Interview about ebook piracy on Spark (CBC Radio)
• Ebooks & academic libraries: a study
• Sherman Alexie still hates ebooks
• Introducing the Digibook ADB-106
• Hearst just announced their ebook reader
• A Glimpse into how B&N handles digital textbooks
• Pocketbook 901 announced

E-Book General - Writers' Corner

• Why Is This Hill so Steep? by Steve Jordan

Portable Devices - Other Devices

• PREVIEW: Nationite MIDnite Xpress 4.1" WinCE MID + W1060 Review Update
• Review: W1060 7-inch MID by WireLession

Miscellaneous - Announcements

• MobileRead Winter Contest - 3 PocketBooks and 15 E-Book Vouchers