11:27 AM by Adam B. in More E-Book Readers | iRex

Edit 2/12/08: The most recent port of FBReader can be found here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20490

I'm releasing 0.8.4 as an Ipkg package as defined here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10585

Let me know how the install goes. Everything should be very simple now that there is one version for all memory cards.

One of the biggest changes is that the Options dialog now has arrows, so that all of fbreader's options can be changed. (see attached screenshot)

Other changes since last iLiad release (0.8.2b)

Version 0.8.4 is released (June 5, 2007).
Changes:

* Interface localization is now supported. All text resources has been moved to XML files. Resources for English and Russian are included in the package.
* CHM support has been improved.

Version 0.8.3d is released (May 18, 2007).
Changes:

* For mobipocket files (e.g., for files from the free Baen library) TOC building has been improved.
* OEB support has been improved.

Version 0.8.3c (for Windows, Linux/gtk desktop and PepperPad) is released (May 14, 2007).
Changes:

* In Windows version, the BMP image format support has been added.
* In Linux desktop (gtk) version, the problem with 'maximize-fullscreen-unfullscreen' sequence has been fixed.

Version 0.8.3b is released (May 12, 2007).
Changes:

* Mobipocket format support has been improved.
* Qtopia: selection has been fixed.
* PdaXRom (gtk): infinite loop during startup has been fixed.

Version 0.8.3 is released (May 9, 2007).
Changes:

* Text selection and copying to the clipboard have been added.

You can download it here: http://projects.mobileread.com/iliad...readerinst.zip

Simply extract it to your memory card and run from the contentlister. It should automatically upgrade if you have a previous version installed as well.

10:33 AM by Steven Lyle Jordan in E-Book General | News

Shelf Awareness presents an optimistic article on Digital Reading, including comments by Bill McCoy of Adobe Systems, Dan Albohn of Sony, Willem Endhoven of iRex Technologies, and Brent Lewis of Harlequin Books.

Each (understandably) addresses a different area and perception of e-books: Adobe emphasizes getting the content out there; Sony is shooting for the right price to make e-books popular, and wants the reader not to associate e-books with "just computer and cell phone screens"; iRex echoed the "content is king" idea, downplaying specific devices; and Harlequin reminded everybody that e-books aren't just dominated by "the nerds," that female romance readers are the fastest growing segment, and emphasized letting the customers pick favorite formats.

They saved the best quote for last:

Lewis said that ultimately the readers will decide what works best: "All great technology is invisible to the end user. The key is that consumers want a device they don't have to think about."

Hear, hear.

Read the article here.

Thanks to Rita Toews for pointing me to this article!

10:15 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

So you thought electronic paper that resembles normal paper is all en vogue? What about electronic paper that actually talks to you when you're touching it? Some Swedish university whizzes had the ingenious idea to equip a large billboard with a pressure-sensitive electronically conductive ink that, when it is touched, delivers embedded digital informations back via "printed speakers."

The same technology has been used in a prototype for a 'music display board.' On this slightly bowed board, a number of music albums are printed directly on paper. Just as with a regular sound system, you can sample music by touching the front of the album. The sound is then streamed right out of the paper. The board can easily be replaced as soon as there are new recordings to be marketed. This new display technology is inexpensive, combining images, sound, and space in a new an environmentally friendly way. After use, the displays can be tossed into the recycle bin. View a video of a large display board at http://mkv.itm.miun.se/projekt/paperfour/.

Direct link to the video (mp4): download

[via Engadget]

04:57 AM by Alexander Turcic in More E-Book Readers | iRex

Eagle-eyed MobileReader vampyre notified us that a new firmware release for the iRex iLiad is out. We don't have access to the changelog yet, so if you guys know what's new in firmware 2.10, you're more than welcome to report here. Thanks!

Changes (thanks, tribble!):

• WPA secured wireless connection
• define archive locations in settings (news/books/docs/notes can point to folders on cf, sd or usb now)
• bug fixes (stability PDF-viewer)
• image quality improvements (only in some cases, whatever that means )
• diversification of iLiad into two language sets (ER0100/002 for Latin countries and ER0100/010 for chinese market)

Link to full release notes: PDF Download (thanks, yokos!)

04:25 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

Adobe finally got around to issuing an update for Adobe Reader to make it compatible with your shiny new Vista installation.

Features added in Adobe Reader V8.1.0:

• Vista Preview Handler: Preview Handler is a new user interface for viewing PDF files in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 on Windows Vista and Windows XP, as well as in Windows Explorer on Windows Vista. Preview Handler must be turned on in both applications.
• Microsoft Office 2007 support.
• PDF printer driver in Vista supports high quality PDF creation.
• PDFMaker Office 2007 PDF Creation.
• Option to create Quick and Simple PDFs from Word 2007.
• New PDFMaker Ribbon UI in Office 2007.
• Mac OS X version now includes Flash MPP for improved support for Flash files with multimedia on Mac OS.
• InDesign Plug-In update supports communication with InDesign for Creative Suites 3.
• Option to print documents to a FedEx Kinko’s office in the USA. English only.
• Direct render of Dynamic forms.
• FIPS 140 Support.
• Multiple bugfixes.

Link: Download Adobe Reader

02:25 AM by Tenkian in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

Got this announcement with my weekly Sony Connect newsletter :

Important Message about your Reader's battery indicator! Click here for details.

It's only something we have known about for ages.

05:33 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

BBC commentator Bill Thompson asks what tomorrow's mobile devices will look like, and utilizing exceptional far-sight, he sees a place for the Sony Reader and other similar devices with new screen technologies.

LG Philips and Universal Display Corporation have their own full-colour flexible screen, with a 320 by 240 pixel display, while Cambridge Display Technology continues to develop its own flexible screens based around polymer LEDs.

We're also seeing devices with new displays built in to them, like the Sony Reader, or the new Readius from Polymer Vision which has a screen that wraps around and unfolds to let you read from its greyscale display.

Researchers in the US have managed to solve one of the problems facing these displays, which is that while the displays themselves can be made transparent the electronics which control them are opaque.

We now have see-through transistors made with zinc oxide and indium oxide 'nanowires', making it possible to build displays into glasses or car windscreens.

Link: Full article

06:55 PM by igorsk in Sony Reader | Sony Reader Dev Corner

Well, I finally got this more or less working.
Included:
1) an import library for Fsk.dll (MSVC format)
2) a header file with definitions of enough Fsk functions to implement a simple text viewer
3) a sample of said viewer

How to install the sample:
1) Copy testviewer.dll next to "CONNECT Reader.exe"
2) Add the followings line to kconfig.xml (make sure to backup it!)
after <extension href="[applicationPath]FskDocumentViewer"/>:

<extension href="testviewer"/>

after <subtype name="plain" extension="txt"/>:

<subtype name="plain2" extension="txt2"/>

to see the debug messages, after </environment>:

<debug>
<console visible="true"/>
</debug>

To test the sample, make a simple text file (if you use any non-ASCII symbols, make sure to save it as UTF-8) and give it a .txt2 extension. Then just open it in Connect.

I'm sorry that there's no documentation, I'm not really a doc writing type. I hope the code is more or less self-explaining. Feel free to ask about anything and I'll try to explain. Also check fsk.lst file for the list of all Fsk functions. Let me know if there's any one that looks interesting to you and I will try to find out how it works.

TODO (in no specific order):

• Fix bookmarks so that the view doesn't shift after switching between font sizes
• make and test port for Reader
• implement save/load of layout info and bookmarks
• implement bitmap display
• document more Fsk functions.
• implement links
• implement spans

Current version: 0.1
http://projects.mobileread.com/reade...FskSDK-0.1.zip