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

Bite-sized MobileRead for your weekend pleasure:

In the News
Add your voice to the new e-book standard

iRex iLiad
iRex iLiad invites for every (European) MobileReader
iRex iLiad invites for every MobileReader from the US

Mobile Sites
New beta of Reuters Mobile goes online

09:02 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Creating the perfect e-book format is no walk in the park, but let's face it, we're happy to take anything that's not proprietary and is easy to consume. Nick of the International Digital Publishing Forum informed us that the first draft specification of the OEBPS unified container format has been published, and now he would love to hear your comments.

This standard is going through a public review period and we would like input from your more technical readers on the specification before it gets sent to our members for a vote. The review period lasts for 30 days and ends on August 4th.

Related: Industry adopts new e-book standards

09:20 AM by CommanderROR in More E-Book Readers | iRex

Hot on the heels of yesterday's announcement that iRex has started to give out invites to our European readers, we're happy to inform you that now they've also agreed to hand out invites to our fellow readers from the US. The procedure is the same:

1. In this thread, you simply state that you acknowledge the fact that the development of the iRex iLiad isn't finished yet, and that you know that its software is still being developed before it can be considered as fully functional as advertised. Please don't forget this step!
2. You then send me your email address and a short note that you're a US citizen via private message.
3. I'll compile a list and send it to iRex. Your invites should arrive soon after.

Again, I'm not working for iRex nor do I get paid; I'm doing this in my own free time. Let's try to keep this thread uncluttered.

08:41 AM by CommanderROR in More E-Book Readers | iRex

Boy have I got good news for all of you! Today I contacted iRex about some matter, and in the answer they sent me, they made this interesting offer: Anyone who is a fellow MobileReader and happens to be from Europe can receive an invitation - remember, an invitation is currently obligatory if you want to purchase the iLiad iRex e-book reader.

"We have got requests from several consumers to have access to the shop. We have no problem in doing so when they mention they are aware that the iLiad is not yet fully functional and that they do not mind that functionality is coming in sw releases.

They also need to register with iRex technologies in order to get access to those sw upgrades (enclosed a description of the process).

If you wish to collect a list of emails at your forum, we do not mind to give them access. (remember, no shipping outside Europe yet - US expected second half of July)"

News: US residents can get their invites by signing up here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6933

So this is what I'll do:

1. In this thread, you simply state that you acknowledge the fact that the development of the iRex iLiad isn't finished yet, and that you know that its software is still being developed before it can be considered as fully functional as advertised. You also state that you live in a country within the EU.
2. You then send me your email address via private message.
3. I'll compile a list and send it to iRex. Your invites should arrive soon after.

Depending on the amount of interested people and the time frame during which your replies arrive, I'll put you all in one list or collect the e-mail addresses for two days and then send the list, and make another list later for the "latecomers".

So go ahead...get your invites!

PS: I don't get paid for this nor do I get any privileges from iRex. I'm doing this for this forum and its members during my private time. Also, shipping is set to start on Thursday, because - quote - "iRex is implementing an interface between SAP and the logistics partner that unfortunately is not ready yet. iLiads should be expected next week."

01:20 AM by Harpgliss in Archive | Mobile Sites

Try the new beta version of Reuters US Mobile. It delivers breaking news and business developments, as well as the biggest entertainment, sports, technology, health stories and more to your mobile phone. You can also check weather and airport delay information, view US market performance and access stock information.

It's rather nice, and includes photos, more detailed stories, and a link to Reuters UK.

Related: Older version of Reuters Mobile: http://mobile.reuters.com/sprint

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

It was the week that was. Here's what MobileRead's been talking about since last Sunday:

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

In the News
Flexible display design concepts from Plastic Logic
GUI desktop emulates papers and books on physical desktop
Intel sells off its XScale processor unit
StarForce DRM to threaten e-book aficionados?
Win for Google book-scanning project in Germany
World record mobile phone throw

iRex iLiad
First iRex iLiad units to ship in 1st week of July
iRex iLiad hands-on videos posted
Video of iRex iLiad screen in sunlight

Lounge
Connexion by Boeing hits turbulence

Mobile Sites
Find Tour de France mobile news

Others
And what about the downside of UMPC's?

Palm OS
Engadget scoops with Treo Nitro and Treo Lennon

Sunrise
Sunrise XP beta 10 released

Windows Mobile
Sprite backup free for Treo 700w owners

08:54 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Here is some good news for Google and for fans of the Google Books Library Project. In the fight over digitizing books, the search giant won a court battle against German publisher Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, who, after a judge told them that they were unlikely to get a preliminary injunction, decided to drop the case. The court also ruled that there was no copyright violation stemming from the project. From the Official Google Blog:

It's our belief that the display of short snippets from in-copyright books does not infringe German copyright law. Today the Court indicated that it agreed, drawing a comparison with the snippets used in Google web search. And the Court also rejected the WBG's argument that the scanning of its books in the U.S. infringed German copyright law.

The German court decision has no influence on lawsuits in other European countries. In France, for instance, publishing group Le Martiniere is still suing Google for "counterfeiting and breach of intellectual property rights" and asking them for USD$128,000 for each of the about 100 books involved and for each day's delay. And since we all how much French officials love Google, it's probably not going to be as easy a win as it was in Germany.

10:34 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

There must be something slightly out of whack about a company who promotes digital right management as being a convenience to the consumer. StarForce Technologies, the company who achieved dubious fame, by selling intrusive Rootkit software to protect electronic PC games and by threatening popular blogs, broadens their product line with the "latest content protection technology" for e-books. From the press release:

Integrating StarForce system code and libraries allowed selling PDF documents in a special PPDF (protected PDF format). Now publishers that use PDF format for e-publishing have an easy and effective way to sell files in protected format. The system is very convenient for the customer as well. The client transfers the payment via WebMoney and instantly receives a serial number and files for downloading. The new technology significantly simplifies the publication process for the sellers. The whole procedure of publication is designed in the form of an automatic upload master - you specify the theme, the price, the synopsis and the file path. The file then is automatically transferred into protected format and placed at www.publicant.ru. The integrated technology allows to sell books, articles or magazines and newspapers issues. Especially for this project StarForce developers created a file viewer and a content protection system that functions in a most usual way.

Oh yes baby, considering that we never get enough of new proprietary e-books, it comes just natural that we'll embrace StarForce's technology with a happy smile, though perhaps some of us may remain slightly puzzled about the fact that e-books still haven't managed to catch up.