05:22 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | News

Has anyone noticed that most digital rights protection schemes seem to be broken pretty quickly? Especially the big boys. DVD CSS protection, MS .lit e-books, various MP3 protections like for iTunes and others. It seems that they all get broken, and I'm sure the new hi-def video standard DRM will be broken also.

Most likely this is being applied mostly for personal use of content. I would like to think that piracy is not the main usage of these utilities. But I can't even advise breaking DRM for personal use because there may be laws restricting usage depending on where you are, and how literally you interpret the law. It has been argued by famous "Jon" that DRM is not about piracy anyway, but about licensing and controlling of hardware manufacturers. And others have pointed out it's not about piracy but market segmentation -- once you adopt their standard, you don't buy from a competitor because it isn't compatible.

But what I really wanted to point out in this editorial is that the one obvious example of a DRM that isn't broken (yet) is the eReader DRM. What's remarkable about this exception is not that eReader DRM is so unbreakable that no one has been able to do it. What is remarkable is what appears to me to be the distinguishing feature that causes it to be left alone... it is remarkably user friendly!

With eReader, you can install on Palm or PPC or other eReader platforms, they have free versions of the reader software and you can even loan it to a friend if you are willing to type in your credit card number into their device. (No, the credit card number is not even stored there, it's just used on the fly to create a hash code to verify the credentials.)

So could it be that the DRM schemes that serve the customer the best, and show reasonable flexibility in their impositions, are also the ones that are less likely to become targets for avoidance. That would be another argument supporting the fact that DRM is making criminals out of the average consumer.

Well, with our knowledgeable audience here at MobileRead, I'm sure someone will find some other examples that are lesser used DRM schemes that have not been broken, and some may want to argue that the only reason eReader has not been hit is because they are not big enough yet. Certainly it's not the scale nor does it have the negative image of Microsoft.

Maybe I can't prove it, or even convinceingly argue the point, but I sure like to think that DRM schemes that come close to being fair and reasonable are the very ones that will not face the onslaught of cracking software that some of the more onerous DRM schemes will face.

I wonder what others think about this eReader exception to the rule?

P.S. No... this article is most definitely NOT a call to crack any DRM software. There's no reason to think this particular one is an especially challenging exercise, and the protection restrictions are quite reasonable relative to other protections schemes. It's the DRM I choose for purchases myself. So the only time we might really need a cracking utility is if eReader goes out of business. Let's hope that never happens, and that e-books are more and more successful every year!

10:24 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

The GPE Palmtop Environment provide a free software GUI environment for basically any handheld device running Linux (e.g. Sharp Zaurus, Simpad, modified Compaq IPAQ). GPE 2.7 includes not only hundreds of bug-fixes, but also various new applications such as a new mini-browser, a GUI screenshot tool, a new online help bowser, and a port of the popular Internet chat tool Gaim. For desktop syncronization, you can use OpenSync which now includes a plugin for GPE-based PIM apps.

The next release of GPE (V2.8) is planned for June 2006.

10:04 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Unlike most other audiobook webstores, Unabridgedbooks provides their audiobooks without any copy protection schemes. The books and stories are from the public domain, though read by professional narrators. Of most works you can download the first chapter free of charge.

[via BoingBoing]

09:54 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Whether you're a hardcore Amiga fan or just looking for a light nostalgia trip, PocketUAE is your best choice to get a blast from the past on your Windows Mobile device. It offers near-total emulation of the Commodore Amiga 500/1000/2000, and the latest build 20060121 also includes:

• Configurable buttons support
• Option to switch between GAPI and DIB video driver
• Windowed mode for Handheld PCs
• Option to rotate screen left or right
• Option to toggle debug-output
• Bugfixes in the sound output driver

Remember that the Kickstart ROM is copyrighted by Amiga International; thus it's not distributed with PocketUAE.

Related: PocketUAE - First Amiga emulator for PPC

07:57 AM by Laurens in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

From our friends over at PalmAddict a review of Quickipedia, a dedicated Wikipedia reader for Palm OS:

Another Wikipidia reader? After all we've got Genius. I can read Wikipedia in my Treo 650 browser or even use the PDA optimized Wapipedia. So what's the big deal? Well, I decided to download it and found, to my surprise, that there is a lot of value-added to this application and I certainly will keep it on my machine.

UPDATE: PalmAddcts has another article on this product.

The official blurb:

Quickipedia for Palm OS is a handheld client for accessing and reading the Wikipedia online encyclopedia. Wikipedia contains over 900,000 entries on everything from history to popular culture in a number of languages, making it perfect for educational purposes or for those seeking general knowledge.

Obviously, you need a wireless connection on your handheld to access the Wikipedia server. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be possible to fetch articles on the desktop and send them to your handheld for offline reading. Maybe in a future release?

02:33 PM by Laurens in Archive | Sunrise

As always, I'm pleased to announce a new Sunrise XP alpha!

The highlights of this release are support for non-Western language encodings and automatic updates.

• New: Support for non-Western language encodings. (Select the language in the Document Properties dialog.)
• New: Automatic updating of scheduled documents, including integration with Windows Task Scheduler for updating documents when Sunrise XP is not running.
• New: Atom feed support. (Both Atom 1.0 and Atom 0.3.)

See the full change log for more information. This also includes a roadmap for future releases.

Download page

08:47 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Don't forget this weekend to pump up your iPod with the latest podcasts from PalmAddict and 1src, as always covering the latest marvels around the Palm OS world.

Link PalmAddict podcast #30
Link 1src podcast #59

08:29 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Disregarding the fact that too much wireless noise may eventually turn us into zombies, we congratulate Belkin for its CableFree USB Hub which lets you connect high-speed USB peripherals to a PC without running wires to the computer. The four-port ultra-wideband hub will be available in early spring 2006 for $129.99 ESP.

PalmAddicts has more on it.