10:21 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

PalmPDF is the first native PDF viewer based on Xpdf for Palm OS 5.x devices. Through our favorite site Palm Addicts I discovered that Version 1.3 has been released. It includes various bugfixes and adds the ability to configure hard buttons and to add bookmarks on copy-protected PDF files.

You can download PalmPDF and its source code from here.

Related: Overview of .PDF reading options for PDAs

09:55 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

So says Franklin's chief Barry Lipsky. Remember Franklin? They distributed the Nuvomedia Rocket eBook, one of the first dedicated e-book reader devices, in the late 90s. It was followed by the eBookMan device, which boosted an awe-inspiring 200x240 LCD display, fast USB 1.1, and spacious 8MB of built-in memory. Marked by its failure to catch on, the company then sold the e-book business to Ectaco, another company who specializes in selling dictionary hardware and software.

And today, while many of us are still desperately waiting for a decent e-book reader to come out, Mr. Lipsky thinks the situation for e-books has fundamentally remained unchanged. From a recent article by Mark Evans of the Canadian National Post:

Barry Lipsky, Franklin's president and chief executive, said e-readers continue to be a tough sale because there are few benefits for consumers other than being able to carry a small library on a portable device. He said the industry has been hurt by a lack of creativity, failing, for instance, to provide such features as search capability not available in a printed book. "In general, the challenge is that e-readers are still somewhat a solution looking for a problem because paper works," he said. For e-readers to be successful, they must overcome the user-friendliness printed books have offered for more than 500 years.

The article is worth a read, not only because it discusses the various dilemma still faced by e-book devices, but also because it depicts the discrepancies among various publishers' opinions on the forthcoming launch of the Sony Portable Reader.

Not everyone is convinced the Sony Reader will be a hit. Michael Cader, president of Cader Books Inc., a Bronxville, N.Y.-based boutique book publisher, contends the Sony device will be "dead on arrival" because it is not different enough from previous e-readers except for a better screen. "Consumers have made it very clear they don't think reading is something they should pay hundreds of dollars for [for] a dedicated device where the [book reading] experience ... is not as good," he said in an interview at a recent industry conference in Toronto. "Look, there will be technophiles who will embrace it, but the Sony Reader doesn't offer any new solutions or twists."

08:22 AM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | News

We told you before that paper is no longer a mature technology. And the marketplace has now proved the point.

There is a new Bible from Thomas Nelson Publishing with pages that are "100% water-resistant," and it is "a wonderful addition to any mission trip, a weekend at the beach, hiking, or even when you get baptized!" And if that's not enough for you it's available in two color schemes. Unfortunately, it is only available in the NCV translation which seems a bit odd.

I don't know if the technology is the same one that came out of Akron, OH, but it's impressive to see waterproof pages in a mainstream product. What's next, luminescent paper books that you can read in the dark?!

Via TeleRead and Rocky Mountain News.

04:38 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Readers | Alternative Devices

With all the buzz about forthcoming E Ink devices, it's easy to ignore the alternatives. David of TeleRead reviewed the UMPC-style Pepper Pad 2 and he tested it for its capabilities as an e-book reader. To recap briefly, the Pepper Pad is powered with an Intel XScale 624 Mhz CPU, has a 8.4 inch 800x600 touch screen and is equipped with a 20GB harddisk.

On the plus side, David notes, the screen of the Pepper Pad is usable for reading e-books with enough brightness and sufficient sharpness. What he didn't like: keyboard, weight, short battery life, deep integration with Mobipocket (could be considered either good and bad, depending how much you like the Mobipocket format).

Although the market for ultra-mobile PCs is still in its infancy, I expect it to heat up fast with the emergence of the first UMPC devices. And personally, at a price of $670 (after a $150 rebate), I very much doubt that the Pepper Pad will win any hearts among e-book fans.

Related: Revamped Pepper Pad may be coming soon, Pepper Pad 2 - suitable for reading e-books?

01:43 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | News

Even with the exciting recent developments in e-book standards, we have some hurdles to overcome before we see true interoperability across the board for e-books.

I wonder how much e-book content is at risk in the e-book libraries of Mobileread readers. In other words, among us as e-book fans, how many e-books are in proprietary formats that will likely be unreadable as the technology shifts?

There is always the possibility that eReader, MS Lit or MobiPocket files might be supported by a majority of e-book hardware and software in the long run, but I'm not sure the odds are all that good. Especially, when you consider that even in their current prime of life, they are not widely supported by reader hardware and software.

I have stuck mostly to non-DRM'd books exactly for this reason. What a wonderful library of public domain classics we can get for free! There are so many books I would have purchased, but when push comes to shove, it's just way too expensive for a book that I consider to be essentially a throw-away, except for the occassional impulse buy. There's one set of about 20 novels in a series that I would buy today if there was a decent price on the set and no DRM, but with DRM it just doesn't make sense. Unfortunately, what sellers can do to sell e-books to me might not be what is in their (perceived) best interest for the marketplace in general.

As a result, the content I have purchased is mostly some eReader books, plus some Bible and Bible resources for which I paid way too much. I like the eReader DRM because it's not tied to a device, but future support of the format on new devices worries me. The eReader store also allows you to re-download your books if you lose the files, which I think is not hard to do unless you are a very diligent individual with regard to backups. But updates of the eReader software even on PalmOS and Windows Mobile devices seem to be rare, so it doesn't give a warm and gushy feeling about future support.

What about you? Have you been hesitant to buy DRM'd e-books even though you would, in general, like to shell out some money for e-books? Do you have a lot of content that may not be supported in the next generation of devices? Did you realize at purchase time that the content was at-risk, or do you feel a bit shafted now that you realize you might not be able to read the e-books in the future? How much money do you have tied up the books that are at-risk? Are you reading more and better quality classic public domain books because of DRM?

This is a hot topic, maybe I should say painful topic, but we'd love to hear your thoughts. As always, please keep them polite. Expressing frustration is fine, but please no personal attacks or gratuitous slams on e-book sellers.

And remember... as frustrated as we are with DRM'd e-books, you have to appreciate those resellers like eReader, Microsoft, Fictionwise, MobiPocket, etc because they are pathbreakers in a difficult market, and they are the only reason some of our favorite books are available in electronic form at all.

So - what do you think about all this?

08:46 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Mobile Sites

Sorry to all mobile soccer enthusiasts for not posting this link any sooner. ESPN offers a dedicated mobile page with live news coverage of the FIFA World Cup. You can access it here:

http://epl.sportev.com/world_cup/index.php?markup=xhtml

Equipped with this link, you can keep track of the latest news, results, and team statistics while you are on the go, every day.

03:51 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

An article from the Microsoft Windows Mobile web site offers some "Tips and Tricks" about using the new features of Excel that comes with Windows Mobile 5.0.

Specifically, there is information on:

* Using menu option on soft keys
* Using a keyboard with Excel menus
* Viewing a spreadsheet in full screen mode
* Using native Excel file formats
* Creating charts and graphs

Via Jim Karpen's Web Guide.

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

The e-book industry has come to agreement on e-book standard standards. Yes! Agreement by the e-book industry on standards. It's not completely finalized yet, but we appear to be on the verge of a monumental achievement that will propel the industry forward. "The combined standards efforts will result in a non-proprietary way for publishers to deliver digital books through the distribution chain to consumers, similar to the MP3 format for digital music. No patent encumbrances are expected of either new specification."

This is not just another theoretical wishlist. We are talking about a set of specifications that will actually be implemented. What an exciting new development for the industry, and for e-book lovers everywhere. Industry standards are an elusive thing, and it was looking like e-books would forever remain a tower of Babel, without any common formats. But major players in the e-book industry, including names like Adobe, MobiPocket, Motricity, iRex and eBook Technologies have all come together and it is quite possible that one of the largest obstacles for e-book adoption has been conquered as a result.

So, why is this different than any other other standard? Quite simply, due to two reasons: First of all, there is widespread support by the industry from content creation to final content resellers. Secondly, supporters are acting in line with their positions. Specifically, they are really going to implement the standards in places like the iRex Iliad e-ink book reader.

Here are some examples, from the press release, of how the industry has backed the IDPF work (emphasis mine):

"Mobipocket has been a great supporter of open standards in the eBook world since the OEBPS creation. We are excited about this new initiative, which is the right way to go to make this market mainstream. We plan to fully support this new standard in our product line," said Thierry Brethes, CEO & co-founder of Mobipocket.com, an Amazon.com company.

“OSoft intends to support the new OEBPS standards with the upcoming release of dotReader,” said Mark Carey, CEO of OSoft.com, an open source document company. “The enhancements to the standards will improve accessibility and be more publisher and consumer friendly. Of particular interest to publishers is the standardization of a master e-book format which will greatly improve document workflow and reduce e-book publishing costs.”

“Motricity's vision is to increase the adoption and consumption of premium mobile data such as ebooks," said Elizabeth Mackey (Vice President and General Manager of eReader/Motricity). "We fully support open standards and access as the cornerstones of IDPF’s efforts as we believe it's exemplary of the type of collaborative process that will build mainstream awareness and further the independence and productivity of the mobile lifestyle.”

iRex Technologies’ VP Marketing and Business Development Willem Endhoven stated, “iRex Technologies will support the development of these standards as it will accelerate the momentum in electronic reading. We believe that consumers will benefit from a more harmonized, open system approach and simplicity of use. We expect to support the IDPF standards for use in the iLiad e-reader in the future."

If you read carefully, you see that there is great support, but not quite final commitment yet. It's still early. But we're seeing great progress, and it brings great expectations.

Adobe's Bill McCoy reminds us that we are seeing rapid progress, but that there is a lot of work to be done. The highlight of the work so far is the improved cooperation among industry members and standards organizations. He "encourages cooperation across standards groups and industry consortia" and warns of the danger of splinter specifications. (Note that the IDPF is also working with other standards organizations such as OASIS and DAISY.)

The first <pdf warning> specification is for a container format, called the OEBPS Container Format (OCF). It is expected to be finalized in the next several weeks. This container format is based on zip archive technology, and supports publishers while working on document production, distribution to the sales channels, and for delivery of the final result to the end user. In each case, one document is sufficient for all the content, and potentially even multiple versions of a document. OCF is "the recommended single-file container technology for OEBPS publications." It is also "an extension of the packaging format defined by the OpenDocument OASIS Standard (ISO/IEC 26300)."

The second specification is the next generation of OEBPS (Open eBook Publication Structure). It is an XML based e-book format from the IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum). It is being developed to "focus on detailed control of content rendering, navigation and accessibility, and alignment with other standards efforts."

From IDPF press release.