10:12 AM by Adam B. in More E-Book Readers | iRex

I have gargoyle compiled and working on the iLiad. This looks and works pretty well.

Gargoyle is an IF player that supports all the major interactive fiction formats.

Most interactive fiction is distributed as portable game files. These portable game files come in many formats. In the past, you used to have to download a separate player (interpreter) for each format of IF you wanted to play.

Right now, you will need to edit run.sh in order for it to open a different book. I've included the original Zork game as a sample.

I'll admit, I've never gotten into interactive fiction before. I played Zork a little bit when I was a kid, but that's because it was included in a larger game pack I had bought. I also read those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books when I was really young. I'm not sure if that's the same thing though. Maybe someone who knows more about gargoyle and interactive fiction can help out...

05:51 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Announcements

This coming weekend we will upgrade the MobileRead forum and migrate it to a new physical location (a bigger, faster machine). To avoid database discrepancies we will have to close the site during the migration procedure.

Scheduled migration time: Sunday morning (June 3rd) between the hours of 4am and 10am (EDT).

08:13 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Alternative Devices

For those of you that find the Foleo disappointing, maybe this device will strike your fancy. It's the Raon Digital Everun. You can find some pictures here, and it is a full Windows XP computer with the following delightful specs:

* LX900-based (600Mhz AMD Geode)
* 4.8" 800x480 screen (Touch)
* HDD and SSD options
* Full qwerty keypad
* Wifi and BT2.0
* HSDPA integrated
* 7 hours of battery life with the standard battery.
* 500g (with standard battery)
* 170mm x 25mm x 83mm

It even fits (sort of) in one hand! Availability is expected for July delivery, at an expected price of around $1,000 when imported.

From UMPC Portal.

02:25 PM by Xenophon in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

Calling All Mac Users...

Kovid Goyal's libprs500 is almost ready for prime time as a library manager for non-Windows-using PRS500 owners. The conversion features are in pretty good shape (especially for HTML conversion), but some GUI glitches remain to be fixed. This is great news for all Mac/Linux/FreeBSD/etc. users who don't want to run Windows.

So why am I calling Mac users in particular? Well... some of the remaining GUI glitches show up only on Mac OS X, and Kovid doesn't have access to a Mac machine for debugging. He can't fix the outstanding problems, because he can't duplicate them for debugging. An important additional piece that requires a Mac for development is a standard OS X installer for end-users who don't understand how to build from source in order to use the tools.

I'd like to arrange to provide a Mac for Kovid, so all of us Mac users can have a nice piece of library management software. I see two alternatives:

1. Someone who has a spare machine around loans it to Kovid for a long-ish period of time.
2. A bunch of us Mac users kick in some $$ (or Pounds, or Euros, or whatever) and buy an inexpensive used Mac that Kovid can debug on.

Obviously, the first choice would be ideal -- as long as the owner of the machine can afford to do without it for quite a while. Any volunteers? I don't have a spare machine (or I'd volunteer it), but I would be willing to cover shipping (up to $75) if someone else has the hardware.

The second choice requires raising money. I'll start the ball rolling by pledging $75. I figure that there's no point actually collecting any money unless and until enough people have volunteered to kick in enough money to do the job. Depending on model and prices, that'd be in the range of $275-400 or so. It has to be enough of a machine to run the Mac OS X 10.4.9 (at least), but need not be super-fast. In fact, if it's on the slow side, that'll lead to a leaner GUI implementation.

Xenophon

P.S. I originally posted this idea over in the "Reader Developer's Corner," where it has met with resounding silence. I guess that means either that no Mac users read that forum, or that no one else thinks it's a good idea. With this posting in the main forum, we'll find out which it is.

08:33 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Alternative Devices

With recent events, I can't help but think about the Foleo announcement, the stagnancy of the Treo line, the lack of new Palm standalone PDAs, the withering ecosystem of PalmOS, the inevitable bugs and issues with PalmOS on Linux as a new emulated version, etc, etc.

Years back, Palm Pilot was the most exciting thing going in the mobile computing world. They did it again to some degree with the Treo. But the Foleo has limited appeal to tech fans. There is obviously not much in the way of product innovation left, and there's no longer a Sony Clie to push things forward.

So let me ask some very simple questions...
1) Do you have great expectations for Palm's future?
2) Do you still expect great products from Palm?
3) Do you think your next smartphone will be a Treo?
4) Is Palm even relevant to the future of mobile computing?

To be honest, while I've been a huge fan of Palm for years (even in uncertain and lean times), I don't really know how I feel anymore. I am disappointed that we haven't seen more from Palm, and my expectations are crashing. The Foleo is clearly not what tech fanatics were hoping for, even if it can succeed on the market financially. Maybe this is only the tip of the iceberg, and we'll love future versions?

But really - is there any magic left at Palm? For the first time, I seriously wonder. Maybe their day is past, and we only have the fond memories.

So what do you think? Anyone else feeling let down and disappointed by Palm? Is it just a reaction to Foleo, or is it years of frustrated hope? Or maybe you are just as excited as ever about Palm.

Tell us what you think.

04:52 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Alternative Devices

The response in the mobile online community is pretty consistent. Generally, people say they find it intriguing, but they are really disappointed and it's not what they need. My first impression is very similar. I want very much to like it, but it seems more like a limited function toy than something I would really use.

But the more I think about it, the more I think it might succeed. Especially after looking at the Engadget notes on the Hawkins presentation.

Here's why: We tech freaks are missing the whole point. We think that we are early adopters, so we much be the market for a crazy new piece of hardware that comes out from the creator of the Palm Pilot. After all, we are the ones that jumped on a PDA when no one really knew what to do with it.

But this product, while it is a creation generated by the same person, is a whole different ball game. Hawkins is looking for mass market appeal. He wants to appeal to the low-tech businessman and the common guy on the street. As much as it pains us, he is not after the tech freak.

So imagine just the scenario that Hawkins alludes to - everyone carrying around a smartphone. They really don't know how to do anything complicated on it. And they are finally advanced enough that people can sort of do email and look at documents. Plus, everyone wants to browse the web. But it's very complicated and hard on a smartphone. You have all that potential that's being wasted because it's hard on a tiny screen. So how do you open up all that potential to the average businessman or businesswoman, or the average Joe/Suzy on the street? You give them a Foleo!

They don't care about the latest features. They don't care about touchscreen. They don't care how many applications are available. They just want an easy way to do email, office documents, pdfs and web browsing. Remember that, as Michael Mace has pointed out, the zen of Palm is the simple approach to providing solutions. That's exactly what the Foleo does. Simple maintenance for enterprises or families. Simple usage and setup. And the primary activities people want are covered. It's cheap, well-sized and has "decent' battery life. It could be a hit.

You can hate Palm for releasing a product that doesn't meet your high tech needs (and mine), or you can consider how much larger the low tech audience of consumers will be. Just imagine, as everyone has a smartphone in the days to come, and they all wish they had a simple way to use it. What's the answer. Hawkins and Palm are hoping Foleo is the answer.

The only problem is that it's a hard acceptance curve to climb, and convincing the average phone user to get one is tricky. By then, there will be lots of competition. Can Palm make it a success? That's the question of the day.

04:41 PM by TadW in More E-Book Readers | iRex

Stumbled over this post today:

Amazon.com and iRex Technologies, the manufacturer of the iLiad e-reader have concluded their talks without result. Sales manager Mr Willem Endhoven of iRex Technologies said that the open system of the iLiad, which can handle PDF, XHTML and simple text, was a problem. Amazon.com prefers a closed system like the Sony e-reader, so that only books of their format can be read on their e-readers with their closed system. No mention was made of the price of 649 euro; personally I think that the price might have been a problem too. Amazon.com will announce their choice soon.

Huh? Did you know that iRex was looking to shape a partnership with Amazon? Isn't Amazon already putting all its efforts into releasing their own (Kindle) reader? And as to why iRex was supposedly turned down... doesn't the iLiad support protected Mobipocket files now, the same files that are offered by Amazon? Weirdness...

03:30 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Take a look at Palm Addicts for coverage of the new Palm Foleo. It looks like a mini laptop, but it's a smartphone companion. 5hr battery life, instant on, and PalmOS on Linux. Seems to be aimed at MS Office documents and email and web browsing. Will eventually have more applications, and will work with more types of smartphones than just the PalmOS and WinMobile Treos.

It may have a while to go until is satisfies many users. Those that want a convenient form factor and reasonable price might be interested for email and document viewing or editing. But it's not a laptop or tablet pc replacement, so don't plan on doing heavy computing on it. Will it sell? I guess we'll find out over time.

Related: Palm Foleo - Will it be another step for e-books?