09:02 AM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | News

Libraries are in crisis as they wrestle with new book technologies, and the availability of inexpensive books which leads many people to buy rather than borrow. But many librarians are thinking about how they can apply technology effectively.

In the latest 1SRC podcast, Alan Grassia sits down with two librarians in Connecticut, and talks about ebooks and how technology is being used in local libraries.

The direct mp3 download is available here. Show notes here.

08:35 AM by CommanderROR in iRex | iRex Developer's Corner

The title says it all, iRex has finally complied and is offering all the sources for it's device. Still no consumer reflash option as far as I can tell, but maybe that will follow.

Discuss the news here

10:00 PM by NatCh in E-Book Readers | Alternative Devices

Lenovo is recalling more than 200,000 Thinkpad batteries
after some caught fire when owners dropped their laptops.

The firm alerted America's Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) when it got four reports of notebooks catching fire, following a forceful impact to the corner. One owner suffered "minor eye irritation" as a result, the CPSC said today.

Apparently this one isn't the Batteries themselves (made by Sanyo this time), but they aren't very clear as to what, exactly, the problem is, and the fix still seems to be a battery replacement.

The CPSC said the fire hazard from the Sanyo-made packs was "not an internal battery cell defect". Last year Lenovo got burned by the enormous Sony laptop battery recall, affecting more than 500,000 Thinkpads. In that case, the cell itself was responsible for overheating.

This time around, the Thinkpad models affected are the R Series (R60 and R60e), T Series (T60 and T60p) and Z Series (Z60m, Z61e, Z61m, and Z61p). About 100,000 notebooks were shipped with the incendiary defect, and another 105,000 of the extended life 9-cell batteries were sold as accessories between November 2005 and February 2007.

<snip>

The CPSC recommends users stop using their Thinkpad until Lenovo ships a free replacement battery.

09:47 PM by NatCh in E-Book Readers | Alternative Devices

Full story at Reuters.

Verizon Wireless, the second-biggest U.S. cell phone provider, said it launched the country's first commercial mobile television service in 20 states with full-length programs and picture quality similar to regular TV.

09:39 PM by NatCh in E-Book General | News

Berners-Lee offers thoughts on Net neutrality, DRM:
Legendary Web originator weighs in

Mr. Berners-Lee was speaking to a U.S. House of Representatives in support of prohibiting ISPs from slowing access to content from providers that aren't allied with that particular ISP.

Toward the end he also comments on DRM, this seems to be the crux of his DRM comments:

While Berners-Lee didn't hear a lot of opposition to his Net neutrality comments at the hearing, Representative Mary Bono, a California Republican and the author of the copyright-extension clause often referred to as the "Sonny Bono" or "Mickey Mouse" Copyright Extension Act, challenged his assertion that digital rights management (DRM) copy protections could hinder the growth of some parts of the Web.

Berners-Lee called for open standards instead of closed DRM technologies. Instead of DRM, copyright holders should "allow people to do the right thing" by providing the information on how to legally use the material, he said.

Bono questioned if his idea would prevent mass stealing of copyright materials. "Is that not the equivalent of having a speed limit but not enforcing the speed limit?" she asked.

But Berners-Lee suggested DRM limits the market for digital music downloads, echoing recent statements by Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs.

"What is the enforcement for speeding?" he said. "The enforcement for is not that the car grinds to a halt. [Instead of DRM] I'm inclined to make software to allow people to do the right thing first."

But Bono said strong protections for digital content are needed. "With great respect to Steve Jobs, he's trying to sell hardware, first and foremost," she said. "I wonder if he would feel the same way about his patents being on the Internet free of patent protection."

10:28 PM by NatCh in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

It looks like Sony thinks the Credit was a good deal for them too. If you have a look at their dedicated Reader Page, under item #9, Promotions (I can't link to it directly, 'cause it's a Flash element), they're offering the $50 credit again for the next 2 months (March & April). So if you haven't authorized your Reader to an Account yet, wait 'til tomorrow (03/01) and you can get the credit.

The same page is also touting the $100 credit for opening a Sony Credit Card account, so apparently they aren't too upset by the idea of it being used to defray part of the Reader's cost.

07:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Here it is again, our weekly roundup! Enjoy!

E-books, News
Possible merger of Borders with Barnes and Noble
Tower(s) of e-Babel

11:21 AM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | News

How many newpaper reader applications do you need to read newspapers? According to a recent post by Kevin Tofel at JKonTheRun, it's more than you think!

David Rothman has popularized the phrase "Tower of e-Babel" to refer to the nightmarish incompatibility of e-book formats. It is a phrase that captures the frustration of every e-book fan, because nothing seems to be compatible. You can't read an eReader book on a Sony Reader. You can't read a Connect store e-book on a Palm device. The list goes on and on with all the ways you can't read various formats.

But we really might be better off thinking of it as TowerS of e-Babel, especially with electronic newspapers. Consider the Times Reader software that was announced by Microsoft and the New York Times back in April. Against every last bit of logic with regard to satisfying the consumer, we now learn that Microsoft is releasing additional reader software - one application per newspaper. The latest papers to join are the Seattle-Post Intelligencer, Forbes, and the Daily Mail tabloid from the UK.

I can't help but wonder if this is a control issue. Newspapers may be trying to keep control of their newspaper and give it a sense of independence by giving it a new container with it's own application instead of just being another bit of content in the same reader software that can display other papers as well. Maybe they are trying to keep the physical paper newspaper paradigm as best they can in an electronic world. They may hope to create the illusion of being a "real" object as opposed to becoming just content.

Sure, they want to control layout and navigation, but isn't this taking it a bit too far? What happens when e-paper becomes cheap and common? Are we going to be bound by a particular New York Times e-paper hardware for that paper? And then have to go pick up our Washington Post e-paper hardware if we want to read the Washington Post? That sounds like a mangled retro-future-tech paradigm if I've ever heard one! With any luck, this silly approach is not in our future.

See Kevin's reaction at JKonTheRun.