04:45 PM by Brian in E-Book General | News

Zinio, the digital magazine and textbook editions company, recently launched their Zinio Global Network portal, allowing publishers to offer digital editions of foreign and domestic magazines in the currency and language of participating countries including Denmark, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, the UK, and US.

Zinio recently added over 60 new digital titles, including Redbook, Red Herring, and Playboy. In addition to these new offerings, Zinio issued a press release today announcing that the company is acquiring Blue Dolphin Group after securing $7 Million in venture capital funding.

"Magazine readers are going to love the delivery choices resulting from this merger," said Blue Dolphin Group President and CEO Andrew J. Centauro. "We will also be a showcase for publishers and distribution partners interested in using digital to offer greater flexibility to readers."

Zinio readers are available for Mac OS X as well as Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, and Windows XP (Professional, Home, and Tablet PC editions). A list of free Zinio magazine subscriptions can be found here.

It looks like Zinio is quickly becoming the leading digital magazine reader for people who prefer reading their magazine subscriptions on their desktop, laptop, or Tablet PC computer. If you're a Zinio user, please provide feedback in the discussion thread.

[via PaidContent.org]

12:21 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Although Tapwave has closed its doors, its fan community is not going to give up that easily. Since the company never bothered to open the signing system or distribute the DAA to allow unsigned applications and games to run on the Zodiac, it was only a matter of time until some evil Russian hackers managed to crack the system. ZodAttack offers a link to the download that includes a 5Kb app (DevAccess2.0.prc) and all the sources (the bypass code is written in assembler).

Bonus: Zodiac taken apart.

[via Tam's Blog]

11:12 AM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

I suspect very few people are using email encryption. Yet, for all I know, it may not be expensive or difficult to put into place.

Why does it matter? The bottom line is that if there is any sensitive information traveling in unencrypted emails, you can't guarantee that it will remain private. And in the case of China, it can even be a significant issue.

Wondering where to learn more? I am. Plus I have the obvious questions like what software is best, what do you need, does the receiver have to have the same software to read your encrypted emails, and so on.

Here's a few sites that popped out for me. Hopefully, they have some answers that are useful...
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Crypto/emailencryption/
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/18860.html
http://www.businessbureau-uk.co.uk/e...yptography.htm
http://www.internet-guide.co.uk/email-encryption.html
http://www.networkworld.com/techinsi...ider-mail.html

Let us know if you have any good tips or sources of information.
I wonder -- is anyone using encryption on email?

10:32 AM by Brian in E-Book General | News

The Johnson County Kansas Library has become one of the first public libraries to join the OPAL, Online Programming for All Libraries. OPAL is a library consortium that provides live, cooperative web-based training events and programming for library users and staff worldwide.

These live public events are held in an online auditorium where participants from any location with a computer can interact via voice-over-IP, text chatting and synchronized browsing. OPAL programs can include book discussions, interviews, special events, workshops, virtual tours of special digital library collections and other online events sponsored by libraries across the nation including the Library of Congress.

Upcoming programs include:

Wednesday, September 21, 2005
The History of the Mystery: An Exploration in Project Gutenberg
This program will explore the roots of the mystery novel, with emphasis on the free, downloadable e-mysteries available at Project Gutenberg. Presented by Melora Norman of the Outreach Services of the Maine State Library
This OPAL event will be held in the Auditorium.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Second Annual Audio EBook Expo: One Book, Many Formats: The Magic of Multimedia
The Expo will be held at Alliance headquarters in East Peoria and as an online conference. Speakers and participants will explore all the exciting new formats for ebooks and audio books which create a personal and customized reading experience for all those who have trouble with regular print because of visual, physical, or learning disabilities. Books in these new formats also benefit and make reading more fun for children and adults who have trouble reading, who are learning English as a second language, or who just want to listen to audio books for entertainment.

Be sure to check out these upcoming online events about e-books. All OPAL public events are free and available to all library users worldwide. Archived events are available as podcasts.

[Source]

08:40 AM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

According to TheInquirer Ebay has just confirmed the acquisition, for $2.6 billion in cash and stock. USA Today reports that EBay said "The total value of the deal may climb to $4.1 billion based on whether Skype meets a series of performance targets over the next three years" and "the acquisition of privately held Skype will create 'an unparalleled e-commerce and communications engine' for Internet users worldwide."

Forbes is reporting that Deutsche Bank Securities noted "Skype has about 53 million active users globally of its free peer-to-peer product, but far fewer paying customers. An eBay deal could push Skype's free service as a tool for auction customers, and then aggressively push fee-based calling and other existing services..."

This would certainly be an interesting communications tool for EBay, but I wonder if they don't have other ideas. Personally, I don't think I would want to talk with other EBay customers or sellers by Skype call, but maybe not so bad when you don't need external microphones and speakers, so I will keep an open mind.

08:22 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

On the off-chance that you've spent the last few days living under a rock, let me be the first to tell you that Apple has released the iPod nano, a mini-mini-version of their current iPod color line. iLounge had a hands-on, and their conclude:

We love our nanos, and are betting that this will be a big success for Apple, quite potentially the basis for both higher and lower-capacity models. Hopefully, new colors will also be in the cards for 2006. Until then, we'll be playing with our white and black ones, and just waiting to see the next tricks the company has up its sleeves.

We should also tell you that they were not so happy about the fact that virtually all top-mounting iPod and iPod mini accessories are incompatible with the iPod nano.

Related: iPod nano stress test (not for the faint-hearted! - anyways thanks for the link Laurens!)

07:26 AM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Wired.com tells us the story how scientists at Oregon State University equip songbirds with cell phones to monitor their migratory routes.

The mobile cellular devices will weigh 0.07 ounces and will be attached to birds captured in nets in North American breeding grounds. They will allow the scientists to track their locations within a radius of 2 to 3 miles, an unprecedented degree of resolution.

Only don't tell PETA (thinking about radiation hazards).

03:08 PM by Brian in E-Book General | News

The La Vista, Nebraska Public Library will soon add 7,000 Netlibrary titles to its current online collection of approximately 20,000 e-books. A $250 grant was awarded by the Nebraska Library Commission to purchase an expanded subscription to the Netlibary service.

Each e-book title has an associated list of keywords in an electronic database to allow library patrons to easily find e-books of interest using keyword searches. E-book titles are free to registered library card holders, and can be downloaded to their personal computers and "checked out" for a period of two weeks.

[Source]