08:31 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

The Economist runs an interesting story according to which Google is scanning the staggering number of 27'000 books on average per day:

Google will not divulge exact numbers, but Daniel Clancy, the project's lead engineer, gives enough guidance for an educated guess: Google's contract with one university library, Berkeley's, stipulates that it must digitise 3,000 books a day. The minimum for the other 12 universities involved may be lower, but the rate for participating publishers is higher. So a conservative estimate has Google digitising at least 10m books a year. The total number of titles in existence is estimated to be about 65m.

With the immense amount of digitized books, the author contemplates how people will read the book in the future.

As books go digital, new questions, both philosophical and commercial, arise. How, physically, will people read books in future? Will technology “unbind” books, as it has unbundled other media, such as music albums? Will reading habits change as a result? What happens when books are interlinked? And what is a book anyway?

At the end of the day, he doesn't believe that e-books will replace print books, but that, like paperbacks and audiobooks, they are a form that is here to stay.

07:06 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Brick and mortar store die-hards who prefer to being able to flip through a book prior to purchasing it won't be happy to hear this. Borders, who released less than satisfactory earning results for Q4 2006 today, have announced that they will disengage from most of their 73 superstores overseas and nearly half of the nationwide Waldenbooks outlets, and instead focus resources on revitalizing domestic superstores and launching their own online Web store in early 2008. Until now, Amazon handled Borders' online business with Borders only receiving a commission on the revenue generated.

In addition, Borders said they would add new "Digital Centers" in their stores which will allow customers to buy not only old-fashioned paperbooks but also products in digital formats, such as e-books, audiobooks and MP3 audio. Quoting WSJ:

George Jones, Borders' recently named CEO, now declares online to be "a necessary component of our business." He says that launching the business "won't be a slam dunk" but that it will complement the company's bricks-and-mortar stores and will enable Borders to partner with a variety of companies.
...
To make its U.S. stores more attractive, Borders is working on a prototype of a new superstore design that will include a digital center. The centers will enable customers to purchase a variety of digital products, including music and audiobooks, and provide such services as personal publishing. The first of the new concept stores will open next year.

Related: Bookstores: Digital or paper? Or both?

[via TeleRead]

06:42 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Sammy of PalmAddicts, the one and only Palm site you should visit every day, reminds us that right now you can use a 10% discount when you buy e-books from eReader. If your device supports the eReader format (PDB), and if you need some more reading material, don't miss this deal.

Punch in this week's Promo Code KNOW to receive a 10% discount off any eligible book that you purchase. Offer good through March 27, 2007 on all books priced more than $3.00. This discount cannot be used with any other special offers.

06:06 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

M. D. Benoit sent word in that she is going on a virtual tour to promote her latest book Synergy. In case you haven't heard about virtual book tours (I don't blame you, first time I heard about it myself), it consists of an author "stopping" at a given number of blogs where she is being interviewed and her book reviewed, just the same as what would happen at bookstores during a real tour. Mrs Benoit will be "on the road" from 28 March to 11 April, and if you want to find out where she is during that time, make sure to follow her blog.

Anyways, Synergy sounds like a good read for all you SciFi fans out there. Edward Willett, author of Lost in Translation, said:

In Synergy, M.D. Benoit has crafted a compelling tale of mayhem and mystery whose breakneck plot twists and turns like the double helix of DNA that drives the story, set in a not-so-distant future at once strange and frighteningly believable. Action, suspense, murder, compelling characters and fascinating scientific speculation combine to make this book a winner. Highly recommended.

Available @ Fictionwise.

05:02 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Seriously, I have no clue what he is talking about, but this guy seems to have reasons (at least valid to himself) to believe that E Ink technology may eventually replace holography. From the Holography Forum:

One possible future is that E-paper will merge with computer-generated holograms. The pixels in E-paper are seen by reflecting light rather than having backlighting. Nano-scale organic transistors may take the role as interference patterns. Within years, E-ink may essentially become hologrammatic.

To make his point, "Dr. Otto Oberon Outlier" posted this self-explaining video on YouTube.

01:37 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Well, that some bright scientists from Fujitsu are working on their own electronic paper isn't exactly a secret being kept under lock and key (see related links below). But it's always enough reason to put on a happy face when a new e-paper prototype makes some kind of public appearance. CNet reports that Fujitsu showcased colored electronic paper last week at the Fujitsu North American Technology Forum 2007:

For the first time, researchers released a hand-built prototype outside the Japanese labs where it's been incubating since 2004.

Similar in form factor to an e-book reader, the Fujitsu version displays color--not mind-blowing color, but still more visually appealing than standard black and white--and is aiming for more commercial applications. Fujitsu's version is "green" and also appeals to the wallet: there is no power required to show an image. That means the technology can eventually be used for signage without having to replace batteries.

Just what we'd expect from e-paper, Fujitsu's prototype is flexible and maintains an image without power supply. The last prototype we heard of was an e-book reader with a 7.8" VGA passiv-matrix, reflective type cholesteric liquid crystal display, capable of displaying 4096 colors.

Related: Fujitsu e-paper Wiki entry, Fujitsu - prototype Color e-book reader, Fujitsu's color e-paper is still too slow, Fujitsu pushes color e-paper technology

07:40 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

The Washington Post reports (free reg req) that Politics and Prose, one of the most enduring independent bookstores in Washington DC and participant in the Caravan Project, has started to sell e-book titles in-store.

Imagine you're a customer looking for a book you don't find on the shelf. As you would now, you'll likely ask a bookseller to check the store computer for it. As is not yet possible, the bookseller will say: "We can order you a print copy or we can sell it to you in other formats, some of which could be ready for downloading by the time you get home. How would you like it?"

Well, e-books and bookstores, these two totally go together, I think. But HarperCollins and another unnamed big-name company quoted in the article disagree, and they believe it's going to be irrelevant for publishers. On which side are you?

[via TeleRead]

10:01 AM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Here's an offer any great Windows developer might have trouble ignoring... write a great program for UMPCs and you can win one. Have you got that application idea that you've been sitting on? Maybe this is the time to write it.

"Today’s apps must work in an increasingly mobile environment and must allow new means of input: ink, touch, and more. Build a great application that encompasses these needs, write an article about what you’ve done, and you may win one of three cool Samsung Ultra-Mobile PCs. One winner per month, 3/15/07–6/15/07. Check out www.CodeProject.com for more details."

But don't surrender yourself entirely in the hands of a few judges. I'd suggest that you make sure it's an application you already have the desire to write, and that you don't have to give up rights to the application to the contest owners. Otherwise, if you don't win you might be left being nothing but free labor for someone else that gets your program and idea.

Update: In case you are wondering, it turns out that there are two apparent weaknesses to the contest:

It is a condition of entry that you grant to The Code Project a royalty-free, non-exclusive, transferable, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide license to reproduce, and otherwise use and publicly display your entry (in part or in its entirety) in any and all media for any purpose. All entries submitted and judged as winners may appear on The Code Project Web site(s). All articles submitted by you will retain your copyright and will be attributed to you.