09:44 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

PalmAddicts reader Aaron gave the popular e-book software eReader a spin on his Symbian-based Nokia 6620 handset. His verdict:

Overall ereader functions exactly the same as it does on Palm OS... Pleased that yes, I can do much of what I was used to, and hey, all of my books work. But the full screen issue, the lack of notes, and the omission of screen rotation drop my enthusiasm down a few notches. It's worth the $10. You're just not getting as much for that ten as you are with PPC or Palm though.

Related: eReader on the verge of being discontinued? (Symbian first)

09:07 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

The BiblioRoll looks flat-out slick. It's a design study of a device that makes it easy to reach your digital fingers through a virtual bookshelf and pluck whatever e-book you need (which can be more than one at once). From the BiblioRoll website:

BiblioRoll is a handy-in-sized device shaped circular cylinder, with a display divided into three tiers. The users can see the information on a display inside the body as they rotate a circumference of the cylindrical body. It is possible to display different information on each tier. With these interfaces of the device, they can put unique metadata on the book data to relate with the information dealt with this device. The users can manipulate physically and browse with this cylindrical input/output interface.

If you have difficulty grasping what this is all about, check out the BiblioRoll prototype in action in these Tube flicks:

• BiblioRoll, e-books bookshelf
• BIblioRoll Ver.2 Demo Video
• BiblioRoll Prototype Using Viodeo

Thanks for the tip, erwin!

05:28 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Read/Write Web dug up some screenshots of the Times Reader, the software Microsoft and The New York Times have introduced in April 2006 that will soon enable readers to download an electronic version of the newspaper and view it on a portable device. The reader builds on Windows Presentation Foundation, Microsoft's advanced display technology in the forthcoming Windows Vista operating system, and allow to customize the display according to personal preferences, such as font size and content relevance (I know, doesn't that sound innovative?).

In the demo Arik showed me on his Tablet, I saw Times Reader resize and reflow content (including images) to best fit the screen or the reader's tastes. I was impressed with the slickness and smoothness of the re-sizing - it definitely will make reading text on a screen a lot easier. Another interesting thing is that the advertising is automatically re-sized according to the dimensions of the page - which is a great feature for media companies like the Times, because they can now assure advertisers that their ads will be optimally presented in Times Reader at all times.

Visit the NYT First Look blog to sign up for a free Times Reader beta. Since it's so tightly integrated with Microsoft's new technologies, don't expect it to be available on non-MS platforms any time soon.

Related: NYT gets in bed with Microsoft to deliver e-content

[via jkOnTheRun]

05:44 AM by Stuart Young in E-Book General | News

And so said Eddie Izzard - Ok now I have you attention, you might be pleased to know Google have launched there own ebook search site - books.google.com. All the texts fall into the realm of "Public Domain" and they come in PDF format. If you come across any gems among the titles on offer, please be sure to let us know!

Original story via cnet here.

06:52 AM by Stuart Young in E-Book General | News

First announced way back in Sept 2005, Mobilemag.com has video of the Phillips Readius device in action. For those of you new to the Readius, it's a roll-up 5" inch QVGA device which uses our beloved E Ink technology.

The mobilemag article and video are available here, the original Phillips Readius press release here.

Related: A mobile screen to drool over, "Concept Readius": rollable electronic paper ready for prime time, Rollup e-book readers to ship summer 2006

11:24 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Readers | Which one should I buy?

For newspapers the promise of a reusable electronic paper device has always been that it would offer the ease and interactivity of electronic publishing while giving the customer a device as light as a magazine and as easy to read - unlike lumpy notebooks or low-res handheld devices.

But Dr. Stig Nordqvist, project leader of the Ifra eNews 2008 incentive, is rather dismayed at the current status quo of e-reader devices. From the latest Ifra "newspaper techniques" magazine:

"E-Readers have been hyped quite a lot in the press this past spring. In the last year we have seen a promising development in e-paper displays, black and white with rich contrast, good improvement in speed, for example, the E Ink v2.5 and Bridgestone QRP technology. We have also seen good enough color filter solutions from Toppan and iRex Technologies, and interesting new alternatives from, for example, Fujitsu. Despite all this, I still think the e-reader devices so far are disappointing."

Specifically, Nordqvist finds that the iRex iLiad reader doesn't live up to the hype. It's still too slow and impractical to be turned into consumer marketplace reality. This comes quite as a surprise since iRex is also an Ifra technology member.

So what's your opinion? Should we still wait for better alternatives or are current e-paper readers adequate for our daily consumption?

08:42 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

The WSJ has a quick write up of how New York-based HarperCollins is exploring new business opportunities for selling books in China. Despite rampant piracy and lack of stricter regulation - you can buy pirated copies for 20 Chinese Yuan (that's around USD $2.40) down the bustling street, with print quality that can be mistaken for the real thing - the publisher giant has a certain interest to invest in the potentially huge Chinese market. While China's legitimate book sector is not get-rich-quick industry, a long-term approach may prove fruitful as China becomes a full participant in the international economy.

Ms. Friedman [president and CEO of HarperCollins] said that as publishing becomes more of a global industry, there is no reason that books couldn't be regularly published simultaneously around the world. "The world is without a doubt smaller. There is no emotional reason for books not to be published around the world," she said.

Whether China has a future particularly for paper books or e-books, the article didn't address. We'll know more tomorrow when HarperCollins gives a press conference with more details about its China plans.

04:42 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

It seems Aussies have a different relationship to their paper books than most other folks do. The Age has an exceptionally interesting article where Monica Dux talks about the pleasures of reading paper books versus e-books. On the one hand, she envisions a rosy future for e-reader technology, with screens that resemble normal paper, download access to unlimited content, and intelligent user interfaces. On the other hand, she maintains that for most people, including herself, "the idea of replacing traditional books is as unthinkable as taking the body out of the sex act, so carnal is their attachment."

The author mentions various pro-paper book sentiments:

• Emotional attachment: you must be able to feel, smell and (uhm...) listen to books
• Separation anxiety: readers cannot be more than five minutes away from a real book without developing a stomach ache
• Location flexibility: the "3 B's" - bed, beach and bath
• Bookshops: you got to worship the temples in which books are housed.

But Mrs Dux doesn't stop here. In fact, she explains that most of these emotional aspects could be addressed by further technical improvements of e-readers (why has no one yet considered a clear waterproof slim-case for the iRex iLiad?). And she summarizes very nicely:

It is likely that printed books will persist and even thrive. Yet it's wise to be clear about what it is that motivates our desire to retain them. Otherwise we dedicated readers leave ourselves open to the danger of becoming literary anachronisms, as the mainstream world embraces the new technology and we who exalt the book as well as the text are ironically left with an inferior way of consuming our beloved words, blinded to the grander purpose to which books are dedicated: reading.