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

Bite-sized MobileRead for your weekend pleasure:

E-Book General - News and Commentary

• Amazon Kindle 2 Hi-Res images
• Kindle 2 shows up at the FCC
• First official Kindle 2 Accessories (lots of Cole Haan bags)
• Kindle 2 Announcement on Amazon Front Page
• Could lack of piracy be the e-book's demise?
• Moto demoes Android-powered E Ink display
• The Economist: E-books are becoming popular
• Why there isn't a perfect e-book reader (Gizmodo)

E-Book General - Deals, Freebies, and Resources

• Free eBook - The Patriot Witch
• Refurbished Sony PRS-505 on sale, worldwide shipping
• O'Reilly "Best of TOC" free e-book

E-Book Software - Reading Software

• FBReaderJ 0.2.3 for Android released

E-Book Formats - PDF

• Reading PDF files on Windows or Linux

E-Book Devices - iRex Digital Reader

• iRex DR 1000SW release - sign up to be notified

E-Book Devices - Amazon Kindle

• Could this be the future of Amazon ebooks?
• K2: Just as Good as the Original

Portable Devices - Apple iPhone

• eReader V2.0 for iPhone out
• Stanza to add support for secured ePub and PDF

Miscellaneous - Lounge

• Paper Books - a DANGER to Children!

Miscellaneous - Announcements

• MobileRead Giveaway - Win a Kindle 2!

03:52 AM by Brainphart in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

The year is 1775. On the surface, Proctor Brown appears to be an ordinary young man working the family farm in New England. He is a minuteman, a member of the local militia, determined to defend the rights of the colonies. Yet Proctor is so much more. Magic is in his blood, a dark secret passed down from generation to generation. But Proctor’s mother has taught him to hide his talents, lest he be labeled a witch and find himself dangling at the end of a rope.

A chance encounter with an arrogant British officer bearing magic of his own catapults Proctor out of his comfortable existence and into the adventure of a lifetime, as resistance sparks rebellion and rebellion becomes revolution. Now, even as he fights alongside his fellow patriots from Lexington to Bunker Hill, Proctor finds himself enmeshed in a war of a different sort—a secret war of magic against magic, witch against witch, with the stakes not only the independence of a young nation but the future of humanity itself.

Download The Patriot Witch by Charles Coleman Finlay from here

04:58 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

"Best of TOC" is a collection of writings on publishing from around the Web, including recent TOC speakers like Bob Stein, Kate Eltham, Kassia Krozser, and Peter Brantley.

Download for free: link (requires free membership)

[via TeleRead]

04:44 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Matt of Gizmodo tells us why he believes there isn't a perfect e-book reader (yet). In short:

• E-Ink is expensive, slow and "boring" ("No color, crummy contrast, crappy resolution")
• Standard LCD requires too much power and isn't comfortable to the eye
• Plastic Logic's reader, the "rosiest picture of the future of electronic paper displays", will require new fabs to produce it, it will be very expensive, and it will still be without color first
• Pixel Qi's reflective LCD displays may even overtake E-Ink technology (full color, fast refresh, no new fabs required)

Full article: Link

04:28 PM by hidari in E-Book General | News

And so it goes: "Electronic books are becoming popular. Will newspapers follow?"

More importantly, the Kindle and similar devices made by Sony and others represent only one side of the evolving e-reader market. They are for aficionados, since paying $359 for a device makes sense only if you read quite a lot of books, newspapers or magazines on it. For everybody else, such as infrequent readers and the young and cash-strapped, the mobile phone may become the preferred e-reader. ...

It is now only a matter of time until absolutely all books become available, and properly formatted, for mobile phones. Google, an internet giant that has been scanning and digitising books for inclusion in its search engine, now offers thousands of books that are in the public domain free on mobile phones. It seems likely that, eventually, only books that have value as souvenirs, gifts or artefacts will remain bound in paper. ...

Indeed, the Kindle and other e-readers could be a boon to newspapers. With rare exceptions, newspapers have accustomed their readers to expect digital editions to be free. As circulation revenue has declined, this made them dependent on advertising, just as the recession hit. On the Kindle, by contrast, the news has no ads. Instead, readers seem happy to pay for it—just as they pay for services in any other industry that offers something worthwhile.

Full article: link

12:44 PM by Alexander Turcic in More E-Book Readers | iRex

Karel of iRex has posted some (non) news for everyone who is still waiting to buy the iRex Digital Reader 1000SW (which has WiFi and Bluetooth) on their corporate blog:

Last year during the introduction of the iRex Digital Reader 1000S, we also announced the 1000SW, a model with WiFi and bluetooth connectivity, featuring a basic browser. Over the last months and weeks we have received many questions from customers about the availability of this model.

Up until to today I still can not provide a satisfying answer to that questions. However we have put up a sign up form for all those interested to be the first to hear when this model will hit the market.

You can find the sign up form here.

Related: 1000SW release date?

11:42 AM by beachwanderer in E-Book General | News

Over at Engadget you can have a look at the "Android-powered E-Ink display" proof of concept by MOTO Development Group (originally from here).

The cats at the MOTO Development Group have written a custom driver to create what they claim is the first instance of Android running on an E-Ink display. Unfortunately, there's plenty of that annoying white / black E-Ink flicker as the display refreshes.

Still a long way to go ...

Related: Znet suggests Kindroid (Android on Kindle)

08:02 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

If you're looking for a Sony PRS-505 reader, but unable to justify spending around $270 pre-tax, you may want to quickly head over to eXpansys UK and grab one of the remaining 22 refurbished silver units that are currently on sale for £133.99 (or roughly $195). Shipping is worldwide.

If you live in the US, the total price including shipping is around $210; with a coupon code I was told you can deduct further £10.

Visit this ongoing discussion for more. Thanks to MobileReaders Tripitaka and Faenad for the pointer!