01:59 PM by Prospect in E-Book General | News

According to the presentation Laurent Picard made at Digital Book 2009 last week, Bookeen will launch a new device named Opus. Here are the details:

Lightest device: 5.3 oz
▪  Highest def.: 200 dpi (does this mean a 5" screen?)
▪  Storage capacity: 1GB
▪  Fits in a pocket
▪  One handed operable
▪  Adobe ePub/PDF
▪  12 different font sizes
▪  Customizable layout
▪  Folder management
▪  Motion sensor

Does anyone have more information on this?

via Teleread

07:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Been away? Fear not! Here is your chance to check out what appeared on our frontpage this week:

E-Book General - News and Commentary

• TechCrunch: Rampant Piracy Will Be The Kindle DX's Savior
• Princeton University Kindle Pilot Program
• An e-textbook competitor for Amazon
• Color up your Kindle 2 with style
• Congressional candidate uses Kindle to promote campaign
• Pirates targeting print books, writes NYT
• Pixel Qi's 3Qi hybrid e-paper not in May, maybe in next two months
• Sony Reader with embedded ads soon?
• Kindle Publishing for Blogs opens to everyone
• First video footage of BeBook 2 and BeBook mini
• Carve your own wooden Kindling device
• Cool-er: light, trendy, inexpensive e-book reader
• Kindle offers remote kill switch for text-to-speech function?

E-Book Devices - iRex Digital Reader

• iRex releases Firmware 1.6 for Digital Reader

E-Book Devices - Amazon Kindle

• Kindle: Text-to-speech disabling has arrived

Miscellaneous - Lounge

• Who says going electronic necessarily is going green?

Miscellaneous - Announcements

• Get MobileRead via Twitter, Member tracking via RSS

05:16 AM by thibaulthalpern in Miscellaneous | Lounge

There is an often used argument in the digital realm that going digital and thus replacing certain material products such as paper, books, magazines, CDs and so forth necessarily translates to the reduction of waste.

Unfortunately that argument is a bit simplistic. At the root of the problem is really the problem of excess consumption and thus leaving a much bigger footprint (or footprints) in the world than is necessary. Electronic gadgets don't solve this problem. The problem of the environment isn't one about digital/virtual versus material. It's the problem of excess consumption.

New York Times has an article today entitled "Global Gadget Habit a Threat to Efficiency?" This begins to speak to the problem of excess consumption and linking that human behaviour to electronic goods which for a while now have been shielded from that connection, as if that connection was only to be made to other material goods such as paper, books, magazines, and so forth.

05:50 PM by electristan in More E-Book Readers | Interead COOL-ER

iPod moment for ebook readers (Engadget)

Homepage: http://www.coolreaders.com/

Looks like a great little device. Seems to only support EPUB, PDF and TXT, but that is better than nothing (or introducing a new DRM type).

Also let me say well done on announcing it just before the release in the next two weeks. I prefer this much more to teasing us for months.

EDIT: Now with video walkthrough by Techcrunch (thanks soilwork)

Cool-er Classic - Dimensions (Excluding Case)
Height (mm) 183.00
Width (mm) 117.74
Depth (mm) 10.89
Volume (litres) 0.23
Weight (g) 178.00
Screen Size 6"
DPI 170 pixels per inch
Levels of Greyscale 8
Type E Ink® Vizplex
Touchscreen No
Manufacturer PVI
Operating System Linux
Storage 1GB
Memory 128
Processor Samsung® S3C2440 ARM 400MHz
Battery Li-Polymer battery (1000 mAh)
Battery Life (single charge) 8000 page
Memory Expansion SD (up to 4GB)
Wireless No
PC Yes
Mac Yes
Formats JPEG, PDF, EPUB, TXT
Languages 8
Content DRM PDF. EPUB
Bookstore (Titles) Over 750,000
Accessories included: White USB cable, Quick Start Guide
Optional Accessories: Headphones, SD memory cards, mains charger, protective cases

12:13 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Yesterday one of our members reported that Amazon has began to disable the text-to-speech (TTS) feature of the Kindle on a book-by-book basis. Today I read in the news that apparently Amazon can go even so far as to remotely disable the TTS function of these books already stored on your personal device.

Meredith Filak writes on her blog:

Update, 13 May: Beginning yesterday, Random House Publishers began to disable text-to-speech remotely. The TTS function has apparently been remotely disabled in over 40 works so far. Affected titles include works by Toni Morrison, Stephen King, and others. Other notable titles include Andrew Meachem's American Lion, and five of the top ten Random House best-sellers in the Kindle store. As a former English major, a teacher, and a lover of books, I can't see how anyone can justify eroding access to popular and classic literature.]

Beside the fact that it's probably not very difficult to enable TTS again (not with Amazon's or the publisher's blessing of course), the question needs to be asked if Amazon has the legal right to remotely change files on your Kindle device aimed at decreasing its functionality.

Can anyone confirm that there is indeed a remote switch?

[via /.]

06:18 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Kindling: 1. a Kindle entirely made out of wood

I wish I had more to say about this but I don't. Sometimes, words just aren't needed.

For more photos check out this website.

PS: You can buy the Kindling (and also find more photos) on eBay.

[via Engadget]

06:00 AM by Moejoe in E-Book General | News

From Techcrunch:

One of the neat little sub-features of Amazon’s Kindle is being able to subscribe to blogs on it. You have to pay for the privilege, but for heavy Kindle users, it makes sense as you can get the content delivered to you wirelessly for your favorite blogs. You know, like TechCrunch.

But the biggest limiting factor of this so far is that only the big blogs have been included in the blog directory. Starting today, anyone can make their blogs available via the new Kindle Publishing for Blogs Beta program.

Link: Kindle Publishing Now Open To All Blogs

05:50 AM by ebookreaders in E-Book General | News

A video has surfaced on a Dutch website, in which the BeBook mini and BeBook 2 (with wifi and 3g) are discussed:

http://www.dik.nl/c/bebook

The interview is with the BeBook ceo, unfortunately it's in Dutch. The BeBook mini offers exactly the same specs as the first BeBook, but only with a 5" screen. Price: EUR 199,-. The device should become available after the summer.

BeBook 2 will offer wifi and 3g connectivity. The BeBook guys are negotiating with wireless carriers about mobile plans, but no details were given. Expected price tag of BeBook 2 will be somewhere between 350-400 euros.

Update: the BeBook 2 will also feature text2speech (via BeBook twitterfeed)