11:10 AM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | News

Have you been writing a book and wondering if you want to choose a Creative Commons license for it? It's your work of art and precious baby, so you want to choose the right license terms to protect yourself, but also get it out to your readers in a fair manner. Or maybe it's photos or music or other types of artistic work?

If you have no idea how to get started, or how to think about the Creative Commons licensing alternatives, there's a nice resource at Digital Inspiration which provides the basics at a high level. It's a great introduction for the licensing, and includes some sample real-life scenarios to help cut through the confusion.

Now all you have to do is finish that book!

10:50 AM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Announcements

We are absolutely delighted to announce that MobileRead has been chosen as the winner of two coveted Palm Addict Reader Awards for 2006: "Best Mobile Technology Blog" and "Best Palm Blog of the Year." To receive these awards is a great honor, especially with the great number of wonderful sites out there that cover mobile technology.

Palm Addict is, of course, the grandfather of Palm web sites. The site continues its successful ways to this day, and even celebrates its 8th birthday this month.

We say a heartfelt thanks to Sammy McLoughlin, the rest of the Palm Addict's staff, and to all the great Palm Addict readers who all together make it the place to go for a friendly and comprehensive look at all things Palm. If you have a Palm device, be sure to go and check them out.

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

If you've been too busy to check out MobileRead this week, check out our usual roundup:

E-book Devices, Future E-Book Devices
New Sharp color e-book reader with 4.3" screen
An odd take on digital-enabled books

E-books, Elsewhere on the Net
The Shepherd's Prayer:Free Christmas novel and audiobook
Free eReader e-books Dec 18-21
Top 10 publishers in America

E-books, News
What does it mean to be a bestselling book? Nothing, actually.

Mobile Devices, General Talk
How to build Linux 2.6 kernels

Mobile Devices, Handhelds and Smartphones
Rumors of an amazing new HTC Athena Win Mobile 5 smartphone

Mobile Devices, Others
NEC to release waterproof laptop next month

10:42 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Michael Hyatt, the President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, has provided a list of the top ten trade publishers in America. One might think that this is commonly available information, but he says of his new monthly list, "As far as I know, we are the only publisher in world who has this information." Their numbers were collected over the last few months and are "a proprietary database made up of various point-of-sale databases."

Here's the top 10 publishers and their shares:

1) Random House (17.2%)
2) HarperCollins* (13.3%)
3) Simon & Schuster (9.2%)
4) Penguin (8.7%)
5) Hachette (5.9%)
6) Thomas Nelson (4.8%)
7) St. Martin’s (3.2%)
8) Tyndale (1.9%)
9) John Wiley & Sons (1.7%)
10) Scholastic (1.6%)
Total Top Ten: 67.5%

*Includes Zondervan

Thomas Nelson Publishers is the largest Christian publishing company, and so they also compiled a separate list aimed at the top ten Christian publishers. That list is also available at Michael Hyatt's blog, which also has other interesting articles such as this post on how top sellers remain at the top for shorter durations than in previous decades.

07:33 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

It's been a long time since I saw a new smartphone that got me excited. And I've been waiting for a decent Win Mobile VGA smartphone for along time. But the new HTC Athena rumors are enough to make any gadget lover drool.

Judie over at GearDiary has collected some great information about the rumored device, including pictures and specs. While it's unsubstantiated, it's pretty exciting. Here's the bottom line goodness:

* 5″ VGA 640×480 screen (Woot!)
* Detachable keyboard
* GSM/GPRS/EDGE and UMTS
* Bluetooth 2.0
* Wifi b/g
* 624 MHz CPU
* 8 GB drive
* 3 megapixel camera with flash
* GPS
* 2200 mAh battery
* G-Sensor
* VGA out
* Stereo speakers
* miniSD

The keyboard is multi-functional as keyboard, stand or cover. It's partly clear plastic, so when used as a cover, you can still see part of the screen. It is kept in place with magnets.

As long as we're dreaming, I'd love to see next generation smartphones have specs like these as a baseline. But it's unclear whether this will ever come to market, or simply remain a rumor. And if it does come to market, will it be >$2,000?

And, finally, let me reiterate in case you didn't notice... it's still just a rumored device!

07:10 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

NEC will be releasing a waterproof laptop computer next month. Waterproof and weatherproof. IntelliAdmin has a translation of the NEC Japanese site, but here are some of the highlights:

* Withstands 20 degree weather
* Can handle drops from one foot off the ground
* Waterproof
* Dustproof
* Lightweight
* Priced at 300,000 Yen or $2,700 dollars

Like so many devices from Japan, we may not see it in the U.S. or other parts of the world. And why did they bring out such a laptop? "Simply, the personal computer for the outside has become monopoly." Can't argue with that! But how about a waterproof e-ink reader for those who like to read books in the tub?

From IntelliAdmin.

05:13 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | News

A new digital book technology called TUI (Touch User Interface) is meant to allow "a reader to press the pictures and words on the regular printed ink and paper page and retrieve digital content or launch communication applications like email, IM, and VOIP from a digital appliance like a computer. This technology, in essence, turns the printed material into a remote control to digital content."

So the idea is that with a TUI-enabled book attached to some sort of computing device, you essentially enable it by allowing users to touch links to additional content. I'm not sure if this is just in a virtual book on a computer screen, or if it's actually added to a physical book, but I suppose it could have a place in some niche markets like for catalogs.

Read more at Coolest Gadgets.

Via Palm Addicts.

05:03 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Yikes, we seem to have missed the first two days of the latest eReader giveaway, but it's still not too late to grab a couple of freebies. The giveaway page today is listing a romance, Melting the Icy Tycoon by Jan Colley, but maybe tomorrow they will have a "real" book.

No, no, no. Please don't spam me for that. I'm just kidding! There are so many fans of romance novels. I might tease here and there, but it's a force you can't deny. And romance readers include some of the nicest people, so we surely don't want to offend you folks!

Thanks to PDA24/7 for finding the giveaway.