10:13 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Announcements

We can scarcely believe it ourselves, but this week we've past the 4,000 uploads mark in our e-book section! Big thanks to everyone out there who has been involved in the project and who has been so meticulously converting, formatting and sharing with us some of the most outstanding literary works of human history.

My utmost respect!

• Feb 19, 2008: 4,000 uploads
• Jan 08, 2008: 3,000 uploads
• Nov 02, 2007: 2,000 uploads
• Sep 04, 2007: 1,000 uploads

09:45 AM by coleman in More E-Book Readers | iRex

ArsTechnica has posted a review of the iRex iLiad. Their conclusion:

The Good

• Annotation works well
• US/UK charger included
• USB mass storage device
• Accepts CF, SD, flash drives, Ethernet, and USB connections
• Excellent screen

The Bad

• Handwriting recognition software is $70 extra
• Not quite as attractive as the Kindle and the Reader

The Ugly

• The huge premium for paying in euros

09:25 AM by Nate the great in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

The first alpha release of Steal This Book Today has been released to the public and is available for download. This is an easy way to have an offline guidebook copy of the Steal This Book update for your computer or PDA, it is also what you need to print your own hard copy. It is split into four volumes and is over 500 pages of the most useful street and homeless survival combined with plenty of ways to fight oppression of all sorts. An alpha release is the first test release, some features are not complete or polished. Download it, print it, share it, edit it, steal it Today!

http://wiki.stealthiswiki.org/wiki/Main_Page

08:08 PM by sirmaru in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

I usually only read non-fiction books which I had purchased in MS Reader format.

However, I looked at Sony eBook Library and picked 7 books I'd like to read for the rest of the year. All were published from 1997 to 2007. Prices for most were reduced to $ 8.96. A few were priced up to $ 11.20.

Most were not available in MS Reader format. One which was available in that format was cheaper by $ 1.00 in the eBook Library.

It appears Sony is now competing agressively with Amazon Kindle in books available and in price.

I usually read two books at one time - one in eBook Library and the other in MS Reader format. I've decided both of my two selections will now be in eBook Library format.

I do most of my reading on my 24" HD Monitor on my PC and only SUPPLEMENT it with occasional reading on my Sony PRS 505 Reader.

Amazon does not allow their books to be read on a PC. That is a significant flaw for someone with my reading habits.

04:33 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Thought you guys would like this if you haven't seen it already.
http://jeff-duntemann.livejournal.com/136476.html

Here's a sample...

I follow Mobileread, which now has about 3,800 free ebooks online for download, the bulk of them pre-1923 works, some well-known (they have Dickens' complete works now) and some pretty obscure, like the Scottish Psalter of 1650. Mobileread is interesting because people are creating versions in the popular small-screen ebook reader formats like Ebookwise, MobiPocket and BBeB rather than raw text—nor formats used primarily on PCs, like PDF and MS Reader.

I continue to boggle at people reading Thackeray on their cellphones, but boggle or no boggle, it's being done. The classics are coming back. I can't entirely explain it, but I have some hunches:

* Many of these ebook editions are beautifully done. The Dickens canon is the work of one man named Harry in the UK, and they include some of the nice old 19th Century woodcut illustrations plus color covers where those were available. (Oliver Twist, yes. Martin Chuzzlewit, no.) They are not shot full of OCR errors and gaps like some of the stuff I've downloaded from other places, including the venerable Project Gutenberg.
* They are free and they are easy to get. There are no hurdles to jump, nothing to sign up for, no money to lay out, and no DRM to drop sand in the gears of the experience.
* There are no ethical issues involved in obtaining them or passing them on. I still think people are basically honest, and they do consider the rights of copyright holders.
* They're classics because they have withstood the test of time. They're good.

Very nice.

08:12 AM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

According to the Times of London, the Sony Reader and the Amazon Kindle will be available soon in the UK.

The two biggest publishers in Britain are to offer dozens of likely bestsellers to read on a hand-held screen this autumn in a sign that, after many false dawns, the electronic “ebook” may finally have arrived.

Random House and Hachette, which together control just over 30% of the British book market, are to offer downloadable versions of titles by authors ranging from Delia Smith to Ian McEwan and Michael Parkinson. Every other major publisher is drawing up plans to follow suit, pitching the books at just below the price of a hardback.

Look at that last sentence. "pitching the books at just below the price of a hardback"

The publishers have made the move to ebooks to follow the launch of two rival devices due to come on sale in Britain over the next few months – Sony’s Reader and Amazon’s Kindle.

They allow hundreds of novels to be downloaded from publishers’ or retailers’ websites into a lightweight, pocket-sized device costing about £200. Pages are turned by touch rather than by fiddling with buttons, and words consist of black chemical “e-ink” showing through a white surface rather than light glaring from an ordinary computer screen.

“The traditional book will not be dead, nor will bookshops, but this is a major change, with so many titles from now on available as ebooks and with the technology so much better,” said Fionnuala Duggan, head of the digital division at Random House, whose imprints include Ebury, Hutchinson and Century.

It is hoped that, as in America, it will be possible to download books to any of the handsets, rather than exclusively for the Reader or the Kindle. This would avoid the battle between Sony and Amazon turning into a “format war” of incompatible technologies similar to the 1980s struggle between VHS and Beta-max, the rival video formats.

“We hope that there will be inter-operability,” said Duggan, “in other words, that the ebook will work on any device.”

Publishers are being cautious about how far ebooks will displace the paper version, partly because of the many false dawns for computerised books. Numerous titles were published on CD-Rom in the 1990s, but the market declined as the technology was superseded by the internet.

Seven years ago the horror writer Stephen King self-pub-lished his book The Plant online. He offered it chapter by chapter, but abandoned the project after the sixth instalment.

Some other books have been published online, but they have remained a minority, mainly because the technology has been inconvenient, requiring the viewer to scroll down a computer screen to read a page. But publishers believe the public may at last be willing to accept computerised books following the success of the technology in America.

Delia Smith’s How to Cheat at Cooking, published last week by Ebury, will be available as an ebook later this year. So will most of the novels of Terry Pratchett and recent books by Joanne Harris and Ian McEwan.

Two celebrity autobiographies, by Michael Parkinson and Julie Walters, are expected to be published in downloadable versions by Hodder & Stoughton and Weidenfeld & Nicholson, which are owned by Hachette.

In America, the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle have been on sale since last autumn and about 90,000 titles are now available on them. Customers can order through Amazon, which then downloads the books from its website to the Kindle. It takes less than a minute to receive an average-length book.

The first device to be launched in Britain will be the Sony Reader, probably in late spring. The manufacturer has been working with the Borders bookshop chain in America so shoppers can both buy the device and download books at branches. In Britain, it is understood to be in discussions with Waterstone’s.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle3382159.ece

08:11 AM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Alternative Devices

Okay, so the image is for a video iPod. But it's only $50 at Woot today, and illustrates a new possibility for smart phones that I long for - the portable inexpensive dock. If they can do this for such a low price, why not just adapt it to a smart phone and add the keyboard? In fact, with all the incredible hacks being done on the Asus Eee, I wonder if maybe someone experienced could combine this iPod device with a keyboard component and a custom cable to create a smart phone dock.

Why do we care? Well, what are the primary innate shortcomings of a smart phone?
1) Tiny display
2) Limited keyboard
3) Small battery
4) annoying sync problems
5) Slow and limited web browser
6) Buggy operation

The last two items will basically go away in the upcoming years as progress is made on hardware and software. But how about that. The first three items are solved with a portable clamshell mini-laptop dock. Well, "dock" is probably the wrong word because going forward, the connection will probably be more likely by high speed tether or wireless technology.

Whether you realize it or not, momentum for this type of device is building. There are already quite a few serious rumored and real attempts in the market. And it makes sense. It may make real the dream of never having to sync data again, and being able to choose your form factor in a split second while having the always-present smart phone there when you need it.

Here is a collected list of the related rumors and devices. I hope that both interest and solutions continue to expand as smart phones get better.

#1) Remote Control
First, we know that computer devices that can act as terminals for the smart phone. It is simply a software solution to let you control your USB-tethered PalmOS or WinMob smart phone with your existing laptop (or desktop). PDAReach is a PalmOS solution, and SOTI Pocket Controller seems to be an example of a WinMobile solution.

#2) Foleo
Palm, Inc's attempt at a similar Linux-PalmOS device to do the same thing was the ill-fated Foleo. But Jeff Hawkins, inventer or the Palm Pilot, said it was his best idea ever so clearly he had more in store than the limited functionality Foleo, which never did make it to market. Supposedly, there is a Foleo II on the way when it can share the new Linux based PalmOS with the new generation of handhelds, but there's a new investment group that might have something to say about that, and one can't really tell if Palm is seriously commmitted to it or if it's just a gesture to save face. It could be sort of like when a guy gets humiliated after a sporting contest, and he says "I'll get you next time" when he really means "I'll never pick up a tennis racket again in my life!"

#3) RedFly Companion
The Celio RedFly is creating a lot of buzz. It has some of it's own computing power under the covers, but the user can only use it to control the smart phone. It connects wirelessly or by USB tether, and (with the exception of video playback, I think) it lets you use your Windows Mobile device like a laptop... full keyboard, touchpad mouse, long lasting battery and higher resolution screen. Price is it's biggest drawback right now.

#4) I-Mate Shell
It has been reported that iMate is working on a shell for it's Ultimate line of high powered WinMobile smart phones. As Engadget puts it, it has "1024 x 768 display, larger keyboard, and 80-hour battery. Unlike Palm's charming folly, however, the i-mate shell won't contain any processing power of its own, instead serving more as an extended dock for the Ultimate devices themselves." Unfortunately, those rumors have been quiet recently. Probably because I-Mate seems to have its hands full just getting the smart phones to market.

#5) The Sonic iPod Dock
The retail price was $150, but today I see it on Woot for only $50. That's sure a lot less than the $500 range we have been seeing for companion devices. It has a clamshell form with a screen and extended battery. Add a keyboard with integrated thumbstick and you have something perfect for use with smart phones.

Such a device might need industry standards for compatibility (lest this happen to it), or might have to be tied to a particular smart phone line of products, but the hardware shouldn't be a leap. Even Dell's Axim line has the hardware to provide the external video output. (Based on design documents for the internal hardware, I was even tempted to pop open my Axim x50v and create a custom clamshell myself, but my days of having the time to try that sort of thing are long gone.)

So why aren't docks becoming the "talk of the town" yet? They are still almost completely unknown, other than the Foleo which died a quick death. Businesses should love this concept because it makes enterprise management a lot easier than a phone and a separate laptop. And, personally, I'd love to be able to use my smart phone as a computer. With a better browser capability and strong remote desktop software, I could do anything that I could do on my home computer anyway. Now that's a dream come true!

10:55 PM by ricdiogo in E-Book General | News

European internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy today announced his intention to propose to the College that the term of copyright protection for European performers be increased from 50 to 95 years. Summarising the main thrust of the proposal, Commissioner McCreevy stated: "I strongly believe that copyright protection for Europe's performers represents a moral right to control the use of their work and earn a living from their performances. I have not seen a convincing reason why a composer of music should benefit from a term of copyright which extends to the composer's life and 70 years beyond, while the performer should only enjoy 50 years, often not even covering his lifetime It is the performer who gives life to the composition and while most of us have no idea who wrote our favourite song – we can usually name the performer."

On the same day that the commission announced its intention to boost artists incomes from royalties, it also said it would have another look at the levies applied to blank compact discs, cassettes, hard drives, printers and other equipment used to copy artists' works.

(Via Europa and EU Observer.)