04:37 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

With all the fuss around the latest Harry Potter novel and the fact that Mrs Rowling has always spoken against the release of an electronic Potter release, it comes to us as a surprise that Apple now managed to secure exclusive rights for the official audiobooks on iTunes. That's definitely cool; but where is my e-book?

[via Yahoo and DigitalTechLife]

09:21 PM by Brian in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

The first episode of NerdTV, Robert X. Cringely's weekly downloadable TV-show-and-podcast where he interviews notable nerds, is now officially available for download .

What is NerdTV?

NerdTV is a new weekly online TV show from PBS.org technology columnist Robert X. Cringely. NerdTV is essentially Charlie Rose for geeks - a one-hour interview show with a single guest from the world of technology. Guests like Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy or Apple computer inventor Steve Wozniak are household names if your household is nerdy enough, but as historical figures and geniuses in their own right, they have plenty to say to ALL of us. NerdTV is distributed under a Creative Commons license so viewers can legally share the shows with their friends and even edit their own versions. If not THE future of television, NerdTV represents A future of television for niche audiences that have deep interest in certain topics.

In Bob's first episode, he interviews Andy Hertzfeld, the first Macintosh programmer. Andy talks about the history of the Mac and what led him to embrace Open Source Software.

NerdTV is available in MP4 video format, and MP3, Ogg Vorbis, and AAC audio formats.

06:40 PM by Brian in E-Book General | News

The Naperville Public Library, located in suburban Chicago, announced today the expansion of their 24/7 Digital Services. According to the press release, the expanded services which are available through the library's website, include the following new formats:

-- eAudiobooks -- unabridged books that may be enjoyed on PCs and hundreds of portable devices such as compatible MP3 players. They can also be burned to CD for use on any standard CD player, so you can listen to these downloadable books anywhere -- car, home, while exercising!

-- eBooks -- digital versions of print books that include all the pictures, text and graphics. They can be downloaded onto PCs, Macs, laptops, supported PDAs, and other portable devices. Titles include fiction, non-fiction, children's and adult popular fiction. Authors include Jonathan Kellerman, Catherine Coulter, Douglas Adams, the "Frommer's Guides" and "Nolo Press."

Currently, 343 eBook titles are offered in Adobe PDF format, and 45 titles are offered using the Mobipocket Reader format. The 362 eAudiobooks titles currently offered use the Windows-only DRM protected OverDrive Audio Book format. While the expansion of digital content in public libraries is a good thing, the use of proprietary or non-standard formats is not.

05:58 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Never a big Symbian fan myself, I am delighted to see Russell Beattie finally making the move to Linux on his search for the perfect mobile OS. In The Future of Mobility is Linux he argues that,

Linux is inexpensive, has no strategy tax (like Microsoft) and it's got a great developer community around it. Mobile Linux is already ascending in Asia (the reason PalmSource bought China MobileSoft), Motorola and Yahoo! are working on providing services for their upcoming Linux based phones, and even Nokia is looking at it as well. Plus, the current growth of Linux is astounding - listen to this DDJ interview with Montavista Linux to hear the numbers.

05:39 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Before you buy the next SD card for your Palm handheld, go to Palm's knowledge library to find out the maximum card size your model supports. Newer devices such as the Treo and Tungsten T5 were successfully tested with 2GB cards, while older devices such as the Tungsten T3 and Zire 71 only support a max of 1GB due to file system limitations.

And what about 4GB SD cards? Did Palm run out of cash or why did they stick to testing 2GB units? And how come they didn't talk about differences in transfer speed, even though their title suggested they would?

[via Palm Addict]

05:15 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

Our favorite Apple rumor machine Think Secret claims that Apple's iPod mini will soon lose its harddrive in favor of 4GB, 6GB, and 8GB flash media. Prices could be around $199, $249 and $299, respectively. The new release will be 20 to 25 percent smaller than the current version, and also feature a color screen. More details over at Think Secret.

04:36 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Since the MDA pro aka HTC Universal is already on sale in Germany, it doesn't surprise us that one of the first in-depth reviews comes from a German news site. Even if you don't understand Deutsch, you should check them out for all the nice photo shots. Overall the reviewer seems pretty excited about the clamshell form factor and the 640 x 480 65K color display. A more extensive battery test should follow.

10:54 AM by Brian in Miscellaneous | Lounge

As mobile phones become the primary communication and computing devices in developing countries, a new project called MobiLed - Mobile phones in informal and formal learning in developing countries aims to use handhelds to help educate the masses.

Smartphones, multimedia phones, and internet tablets like the upcoming Nokia 770 will be used for project-based learning, problem solving, and inquiry learning using resources like Wikipedia and MediaWiki.

According to Teemu Leinonen from FLOSSE Posse, Nicholas Negroponte's Hundred Dollar Laptop project for developing countries isn't the answer for the Digital Divide.

For more information about how mobile phones are helping people in developing countries, see this article from The Economist, and this article from the Center to Bridge the Digital Divide.

[via Smart Mobs]