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.

06:35 AM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | News

Some large investors can have significant impact on how businesses are run. After all, large corporations are supposed to be operated in the best interest of the stockholders. This can often be quite a headache for CEOs when "outsiders" decide they have a better business strategy and start to push. Such strategies can also be very short sighted, focusing on short term stock price gains at the expense of long range health.

Apparently, Borders and Barnes and Noble may be facing such pressure to merge. "Pershing Square Capital Management, known for its activism, holds a 11.5 percent stake in Borders and a 9.2 percent stake in Barnes & Noble and could argue that a combination of the two retailers would strengthen the businesses."

Some questions come immediately to mind as a consumer:
1) Would this mean sales locations of the Sony Reader would be expanded or contracted?
2) What will the online book and e-book strategy become?
3) Will selection and prices suffer if the two become one?

From Seeking Alpha and The Book Standard.

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

If you missed our frontpage news at any point this week, here is the best way to catch up:

E-book Devices, Future E-Book Devices
Polymer Vision Readius - first photo from 3GSM
Polymer Vision Readius - first video from 3GSM

E-book Devices, Sony Portable Reader
Sony Reader named Travel + Leisure's "Best Travel Gadget" in their 2007 Design Awards
Do you still love your Sony Reader?
New Sony Reader light accessory introduced

E-books, News
IDPF to host Digital Book 2007 event on May 9th
"Read an E-book Week 2007" event, this March
Zinio sold and acquired by FIJI Water founder

E-books, Reading Software
Adobe Digital Editions Beta 3 released

Miscellaneous, Announcements
MobileRead Newsletter, Act Two

Mobile Devices, Handhelds and Smartphones
Open source Linux phone will beat iPhone to market

12:04 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

Sony has now added a battery powered light accessory for the Sony Reader. Price is set at $14.95. The light is made by Great Point Light, and appears to be equivalent to the black version of this model (GP-02), which shows a price of only $9.99.

Correction: The equivalent light is model GP-02-1164, which is also $14.95 at BiggerAndBetter. It features a different texture for better protection and coloring that matches the Sony Reader.

The 2-LED light is Sony model PRSLIGHT01, and has a flexible neck which is important in order to properly position for coverage and minimum glare. I can confirm that light positioning is important after using a Z-light purchased at Borders. That light works well, but I do find myself desiring more flexibility in light placement.

The product description from Sony states "Say goodbye to strained eyes and hello to the PRSLIGHT01 Flex-Neck 2 LED light. The PRSLIGHT01 is ideal for the Portable Reader, notebook computers, books and just about anywhere you need extra light. Featuring a flexible metal neck and a strong soft-touch clip, this light can grip to most surfaces and bend to precise positions for all your needs. For added convenience, the head of the Flex-Neck fits into the clip and stows easily for travel. Two bright LED lights illuminate a large area, making tasks more enjoyable. Replaceable CR2032 lithium batteries are included and provide up to 20 hours of bright light."

Features:
* 20 Hours of Bright Light with included CR2032 lithium batteries
* Two LEDs
* Flex-Neck Design

The Sony Style site also indicates that the light is "in the process of being shipped to our retail partners. Please visit sonystyle.com or a Sony Style store near you to pre-order or purchase this product now." However, it's not clear if this is a default web page artifact at the store, or an indication that it will show up in non-Sony retail outlets.

The store also gives some "remarkable" extended warranty offers for this $15 light! These rates are obviously standard tier pricing, and it doesn't make much sense for this product:
* Standard Limited Warranty [$0]
* 2 Year Replacement Plan with Accidental Damage from Handling [$17.99]
* 3 Year Replacement Plan with Accidental Damage from Handling [$24.99]
* 2 Year Replacement Plan [$10.99]
* 3 Year Replacement Plan [$14.99]

While I wouldn't recommend the extended warranties, this looks like a nice option for a Sony Reader light. If you want to save a few dollars, you might consider checking out the Bigger And Better link above, but we do not yet have any confirmation that the products are equivalent. As indicated above, the cheaper light is not equivalent.

Thanks to Xtremegene for finding the accessory at the Sony Style site, and Karen for pointing out the product equivalencies! (Btw, the product mismatch in my original post was my error, not Karen's.)

12:20 AM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

Now that the Sony Reader has been available for almost half a year, I'm curious to hear how we early adopters feel about the device after lots of reading. Let us know in the poll how you feel (you will need to click through on the article title to see the poll).

Personally, I find that I like it just as much in many ways. I have to admit I almost take it for granted as an e-book reading device because it's very comfortable. Paper is now my third choice... Sony Reader is first choice when I have a lighted situation or want something easy on my eyes, my Treo is best when I want the book with me at all times or am reading in a dark place, and paper books are my last resort if the e-book is not available.

I think that the value of my Sony Reader only goes up as I learn how it fits into my life style most naturally. The quality continues to impress me, and the display is still spectacular. At the end of last year, I even told my eye doctor that reading on the Sony Reader reduces the amount of eye strain that I experience.

But surely there are a range of experiences, from those that have stopped reading on it, to those that are all the more excited because of the cool applications posted at MobileRead, or because of finding all the best sources of e-books and how to put them on the Reader. Let us know what you think!

06:01 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

FIC's Neo 1973 phone will go on sale for $350 online starting March 11, 2007 and has already shipped for free to prominent open source developers. It is hoped to be an iPhone killer. More phones in this family are expected to become available in the future.

The hardware is GPS enabled, and has no keypad. It is quad-band GSM/GPRS and will charge via the USB cable. The first model will not have wi-fi or bluetooth, but "is based on a Samsung S3C2410 SoC (system-on-chip) application processor, powered by an ARM9 core" and has 128 meg plus 64meg flash and a 64MB MicroSD card. The touchscreen is VGA 2.8-inch, which is quite high resolution for a phone.

Despite the "1973" model designation, this phone seems thoroughly modern! Read more at LinuxDevices.

05:38 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

This one gets much tastier with every new release. Adobe Digital Editions is an alternative to Adobe Reader, supporting PDF as well as OEB, an XHTML-based format designed to represent dynamic content that can be easily adapted (i.e. reflowed) to different sized displays.

Changes in the third release of Digital Editions include:

• Support for consumable rights for both printing and copying
• Support for expiring books, both absolute and relative. Note that metered expiration is not supported.
• Additional user interface (in the additional info dialog) to display the amount of consumable rights left for a book
• Support for JBIG2 image encoding has been added. But note that JPEG2000 encoding is still not supported. Adobe intends to add that support in the next release.
• Many bug fixes for DRM support
• Many minor UI fixes
• Some performance improvements

Link to the download: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/d...tions/install/
Link to the sample library: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/d...tions/library/

Related: Adobe has new hope for e-books with Adobe Digital Editions, Adobe launches Digital Editions for Mac, updates

11:59 AM by NatCh in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

It seems that Travel + Leisure have given their 2007 Design Award for Best Travel Gadget to the Sony Reader.

They had this to say about it:

The astonishing, high-resolution Sony Reader can store a library's worth of books and documents in a device the size of a paperback, and is perfectly legible in bright daylight.

"The Sony Reader is going to save a lot of trees; it might even save the world, actually." —Yves Béhar

Also of potential interest to Reader ... um, readers (and iLiadites too!), is the runner up in the same category: The Solio solar charger.

I haven't seen that particular charger before, but it looks nice and robust. It's Tech Specs would seem to suggest that it can even be used to charge the Reader! We were looking for something like this a while ago, so this is a particularly welcome bonus tidbit.