01:05 PM by zelda_pinwheel in E-Book General | News

The new Sony : the old one with wifi on top, or an e-reading revolution ?

The answer in New York on the 2 October...

http://www.actualitte.com/actualite/...e-New-York.htm
(article in french)

Very mysterious indeed ! So what do you think ?

The speculation has already begun over here.

Thanks to Bellonius for spotting the french article !

12:52 PM by dottedmag in Bookeen | Gen3 Developer's Corner

Some of the Cybook Gen 3 source code has been released by Bookeen:

Bookeen is pleased to make available to you for download an archive file of the ebook reader source code ("Source Code") corresponding to modified software packages used in the Cybook device.

Available here: http://www.bookeen.com/support/ebook-gpl.aspx.

Related: GPL violation?

04:51 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Readers | Amazon Kindle

From the WSJ today:

Amazon.com Inc. struck a deal with a midsize publisher to offer separate biographies of the two potential first ladies on an exclusive basis to users of Amazon's Kindle electronic-book reader. The two titles, "Cindy McCain: Elegance, Good Will and Hope for a New America," by Alicia Colon, and "Michelle Obama: Grace and Intelligence in a Time of Change," by Elizabeth Lightfoot, are being published as e-books by Lyons Press, an imprint owned by Morris Communications Co.'s Globe Pequot Press publishing unit, based in Guilford, Conn.

Link: Full article

Question: How much of an impact does exclusive content have on your decision to buy a particular e-book reader?

04:21 AM by igorsk in E-Book General | News

New versions to be released on September 22.

Adobe Content Server 4 improves file security and flexible permissions, as well as retail and library lending support, which directly benefits aggregators, online distributors and publishers of eBook content through copy protection. eBook files can be hosted in existing Web infrastructures and business processes, providing easy and seamless integration with media servers, databases and e-commerce systems. The software features a pay-as-you-go pricing model for content distribution, and quick downloads for consumers.
Adobe Content Server 4 is fully compatible with Adobe Digital Editions 1.6 software, a free, lightweight desktop application that allows users to manage and read documents and rich, interactive digital content in an intuitive user interface created using Adobe Flash® software. The software delivers enhanced flexibility through named activation and enables users to move content across platforms and supported mobile devices like the new Sony Reader Digital Book.

http://www.sonyinsider.com/2008/09/0...books-for-all/

04:20 AM by rhadin in E-Book General | News

According to Sara Lloyd's blog at panmacmillan,

Anecdotally, Waterstones store staff report a great deal of interest from customers, and the rumour mills (or well-planned leak??) put a 6 figure number on the Sony Readers sold by the morning of Thursday 4th September.

She also wrote:

As I’m sure all of those working in the digital publishing departments of trade publishing houses will agree, it’s nice finally to have a major high street bookselling brand pitch itself into the ebook ring so wholeheartedly – and the Sony device is the most compelling (and competitively priced) there is of the dedicated devices so far available here in the UK. I must say it did make my heart leap just a little bit to see huge POS displays promoting the Sony Reader and the associated ebook catalogue from Waterstones in the Tottenham Court Road and Picadilly branches, and it was fun to go in and do some underground detective work to discover that the Waterstones staff seemed quite clued up about it all.

There has certainly been an uplift on direct sales of ebooks from our own web site over the weekend, although this may well have something to do with our our promotion of eight non-drm’d SF books which started last week.

Lloyd's The Digitalist blog is available here: http://thedigitalist.net/?p=220

Related: A UK publisher is happy with Waterstones ebook sales, Waterstones Ebook store to Launch midday 04/09/08

01:28 PM by RWood in E-Book General | News

According to an article in TG Daily, Plastic Logic has formally announced their new flexible screen 8.5" x 11" reader. About the size of a pad of paper, the new reader the unit "can withstand getting hit with a shoe." It also features a wireless interface.

Here is the link from their website.

07:59 AM by lhdz12@sbcglobal in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-...ag=mncol;title

As reported on CNET Crave....
Just got an invite to a Sony Reader event in New York on October 2. No word on whether this involves promoting Sony's existing second-generation electronic book reader, the Sony Reader Digital Book PRS-505, or whether Sony's going to tout some new capabilities for the current Reader as we head into the holiday buying season.

Either way it seems clear that Sony isn't quite ready to cede the e-book market to Amazon's Kindle. Sony's got the better design, but the wireless download capabilities of the Kindle clearly give it an advantage. Anybody wanna predict what Sony's next move is?

06:33 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | News

One of the most common discussions about e-books centers around (non-protected) PDF files. Everyone generally tries to avoid them for e-book reading, or convert them into another format where possible with programs like PDFRead.

Sure there are many reflowable formats like txt, rtf, ePub and so forth. But when you want to read technical manuals or tutorials or scanned documents, what do you do?

Let us know in the poll associated with this post!

My solution so far has been a combination of several methods:
1) Read it on my Lenovo x61t tablet PC. This method never fails. I get color full-screen documents and lots of reading options. I can use Adobe Reader or FoxIt or whatever program I choose. And the tablet PC form factor means I can lay it on my lap and turn pages with the d-pad next to the screen. But it's heavy, gets warm, has limited battery life (maybe 4-6hrs), is tiring for the eyes, and requires me to carry around a very expensive computer just to read the documents.
2) Convert the pdf file using one of the many pdf document processors. I use PDFRead, but there are others. One of the new ones for Python folks even uses a fancy algorithm for splitting lines in the middle where there is white space between words. My method is simply to run the default PDFRead settings for my Sony Reader PRS-500, which results in each pdf page becoming two landscape Reader pages. I need glasses to read the resulting document, but it does get the job done reasonably well. This method is my solution when I want to read on the e-ink device, which is very convenient to carry around.
3) Extract the text from the pdf file and load it up on my favorite e-book reader. The problem with this is that text doesn't come out of scanned documents, and the text doesn't seem to come out nicely even for text-based documents. I've gotten to the point that I don't even try this most of the time. On the other hand, it has the advantage of getting the document onto my Treo smartphone, so it's always with me.