12:31 PM by Colin Dunstan in E-Book General | News

This is huge news for all PDF skeptics among us. According to Brian Jones who works with the MS Office team, the next release of Microsoft Office, currently code-named Microsoft Office "12", is going to natively support the Adobe PDF format. In other words, in future you'll be able to use Office to convert these yucky PDF documents into more widely supported formats.

Update: Laurens correctly pointed out that "support" goes only so far as to Microsoft implementing PDF export. Not exactly what we wanted.

[via Scobleizer]

06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Missed some of our big mobile stories this week? Time to catch up:

Current E-Books Trends
Google's Library Project could help sell e-books
Reminder: Audio E-Book Expo Wednesday 9/28

E-Book Readers
A Librie for the rest of us
Video displaying Fujitsu's bendable electronic paper

E-Book Webstores
Neil Gaiman's "Anansi Boys" 75% discount

General Chat
HD DVD backed by Microsoft and Intel
Mobiles dethroning the Mighty PC

Link Swap
E-mail your voice with Slawesome
PDA Portal to be sold

New Links
Skweezer to offer mobile online translation service

Other E-Book Resources
NYC2123: A graphic novel to go

Other Gadgets
It's time for power beaming in wireless electronics
Minox DMP-1 puts photos, MP3s, e-books in your pocket
Nokia 770 delayed, coming in October
On the verge of handheld input and display revolutions?
OQO Unveils New Pocketable Windows XP Computer
Read PDFs on your PSP

Other Readers
TomeRaider 3 Experimental Released
Turn your Sony PSP into an e-book reader

Palm
Palm's "Secret Third Business" isn't the LifeDrive
Palm Treo 700w announcement teaser and live webcast
Sammy returning to his Tungsten C
Sprint to Offer BlackBerry Connect for Palm
Track Palm-related discussions on Yahoo via RSS
Zodiacs around the world, unite!

Pocket PC
Editorial - The Palm Experience on Windows Mobile
GPS Navigation: PPC vs. CarPC
iTunes for Windows Mobile 5 spotted
Various updates of important Pocket PC software

Portable Audio/Video
Grūvi™ New DRM

07:17 PM by sUnShInE in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

A spokesperson for Sprint Nextel has confirmed that the company plans to offer BlackBerry Connect software on Palm OS devices next year.

The news comes from an interview with Eric Martin, manager of business device marketing at Sprint. Sprint currently offers consumers the Palm Treo 650.

The news was largely overshadowed by Cingular's announcement that they will allow customers to access Blackberry Connect technology on the Nokia 9300 beginning in November.

Both announcements came at the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment show in San Francisco on Friday.

More here.

03:55 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Get Neil Gaiman's latest novel Anansi Boys with a 75% discount from Fictionwise. That's $4.99 instead of $19.95 if you pay by credit card. The following formats are available: Mobipocket, MS Reader, Adobe Reader, eReader. Discount is only valid throughout this weekend. Editorial reviews:

Library Journal
"Another lovely story as only Gaiman can tell it; necessary and recommended."

Sacramento Bee
"Ebullient . . . The Gaiman faithful will devour it gratefully."

London Times
"A thoughtful, atmospheric novel."

Washington Post
"Deliciously compulsive . . . Grade: A."

USA Today
"Funny and subversive . . . Gaiman’s mastery of language carries the reader through to a satisfying conclusion."

01:11 PM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Just yesterday, it was announced in an exclusive interview with Tom's Hardware Guide that Microsoft and Intel will back and promote HD DVD as a high-definition video disc standard. In my opinion this announcement does not mean that HD DVD will win over Blu-ray - it just means that Sony will have more incentive to seek a truce with Toshiba & Co. From the press release (PDF) of the HD DVD Promotion Group:

"Until now, we viewed ourselves more as a technology provider for both groups," said Jordi Ribas, Microsoft's director of technology strategy for Windows Digital Media, and a key developer of the VC-1 codec currently in use by both HD DVD and Blu-ray. He revealed that Microsoft and Intel had produced a list of what he called "key requirements for the success of next-generation DVD." For several months, while those requirements were being circulated, both companies worked on developing key standards to be implemented by both formats. Ribas said he was directly involved with implementing the VC-1 codec, and also worked jointly with Disney to produce the iHD interactive layer considered by both camps, but eventually adopted only by HD DVD (Disney is a member of the Blu-ray Disc Association.) During that time, Intel and Microsoft both maintained their public neutrality. But very recently, from the two companies' perspective, things started unraveling unexpectedly for Blu-ray.

Follow-up: HD DVD maybe not a "long-term" standard - Microsoft

11:35 AM by MatYadabyte in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

From Mat at NewsRaider/Yadabyte. Certainly worthy of front page attention. -BobR

Hi Folks,

This is a Mobileread.com excusive

The latest version of TomeRaider 3 has been released. Its a new interface that looks so yummy.

If your a TR3 user then you might want to go to http://www.yadabyte.com to see this new version.

Thanks

Mat, Yadabyte

09:23 PM by Brian in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

If you're into reading post-apocalyptic graphic novels on your portable device, then NYC2123 is right up your alley.

The first full-length graphic novel for the Sony PSP. In 2054 a massive tsunami devastates Manhattan. The island's bridges and tunnels are destroyed.

The frames of the novel are optimized for the 480X272 screen of the Sony PSP, and there's a PSP-friendly version of the website. If you don't have Sony's handheld gaming platform, you can view the JPG frames of the "book" using any device with a suitable image viewing application. Desktop users can get their fix at the main website, and several sequences provide a flip-book like experience by quickly advancing through the frames, creating an animated motion effect.

NYC2123 has been released under a Creative Commons License, and readers are encourage to "remix, mash-up, and translate." German language versions of the first two issues are available thanks to fan translations.

Related: Free Cyberpunk on Sony PSP

[via if:book]

08:31 PM by Brian in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

An anonymous programmer has posted a PDF reader with source code for the Sony PSP, bringing the handheld gaming device a step closer to becoming a viable e-book reading platform. Now the program, named PSPPDF, is in the hands of the homebrew community to improve upon it. Based on their track record to date, it probably won't be long until PSPPDF becomes an extremely useful PSP application.

Controls

• Triangle – Next Page
• Square – Previous Page
• D-Pad – Move around the current page you are on

Related: Turn your Sony PSP into an e-book reader

[PSPUpdates via MAKE:Blog]