04:39 PM by Alexander Turcic in More E-Book Readers | Legacy E-Book Devices

Tech-On (via I4U) has more specifics on Matsushita's prototype of the next Sigma e-book reader. It uses a 5.6" LCD XGA screen with a crystal-clear resolution of 210 ppi. The reader can not only display text, but also supports images and video as well as audio (voice and music). The Li-ion battery is good enough for a 6-7 hours lifespan. It is expected to become available in July 2006 for under ¥40,000 (~ USD $360).

Click here to read Colin's original news on this reader.

03:38 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

llium Software released an highly anticipated update for NewsBreak, a news feed and RSS client for Windows Mobile. NewsBreak V1.1 adds custom icons, Today Screen support, and many other usability improvements and fixes. In addition, the update adds new features for users of Windows Mobile 5.0.

The upgrade is still free for existing registered NewsBreak owners and can be downloaded from here.

I am still torn between Egress and NewsBreak - both are wonderful feed clients for Pocket PCs.

09:41 AM by pruss in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

I've added one or two font new Alethe font sizes to my FontSmoother and released it as version 1.46:
http://www.palmgear.com/index.cfm?xyz=90288

I then updated my supplemental Fonts4OS5/FontSmoother Alethe font package--it now has 69 font packages (it used to have 36):
http://www.palmgear.com/index.cfm?xyz=103428

The animation below shows some of the new Alethe fonts sizes in FontSmoother, and a bunch of other fonts, some included with FontSmoother and some converted with Quick Font Make.

09:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Official photos from the PalmSource Mobile Summit & DevCon 2005 event are now available:

http://www.palmsource.com/events/dev...=ind&day=pics1

08:51 AM by Colin Dunstan in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Noel L. Griese is not happy with the current eReader Everyday in July promotion. In the ebook community he lists several points of what he thinks went wrong with the promo:

1. Difficult to find the free eBook offer because poorly promoted on site home page.
2. Even at the free eBook page, it's difficult to find the hyperlink to the offer.
3. Offer requires a convoluted registration process.
4. Requirement for a credit card number to download the book likely to make customers leery.
5. Download won't work if you've set your browser to block cookies.
6. PR person who wrote the announcement took a week's vacation immediately after the release was issued, leaving no one to answer queries form the press or customers.
7. The free eReader version doesn't automatically open the downloaded eBook when the eBook is clicked.
8. Unlocking and opening the free eBoook requires another convoluted process involving credit card entry.
9. Neither the free nor the premium eReader is anywhere near as good as the Microsoft or Acrobat readers. Biggest defect in my opinion is lack of powerful justification. Regardless of what legible typestyle used, many lines of type leave big gaps that slow down the reader.
10. Process for downloading the free version of eReader is not easy to find or understand.

My comments:

1. Promo shows in the first top banner on the eReader frontpage. It was also previously announced in a press release.
2. A click on the book cover brings you to the offer.
3. Any suggestion to make the registration process easier?
4. Requirement for credit card is necessary for publishers to enter the promotion. The downloaded e-books are tied to the hash code of your credit card, which makes it less likely for someone to pirate them later.
5. It's easy to enable cookies for selected sites.
6. Cannot comment.
7. I am glad it doesn't. Took me a while to find out how I turn off Adobe PDFs inside my browser when attempting to download PDF files.
8. See my comment in 4. why this is necessary.
9. Many users would disagree with you here. I don't know of many who use Microsoft Reader or Adobe Acrobat on their e-book reading devices and prefer the two over eReader. Anyways, what does this comparison have to do with the promotion?
10. A pair of reading glasses might help. Also see my answers to 1. and 2.

Don't forget that Mobileread offers a RSS feed for the current eReader Summer Promo.

07:41 AM by Colin Dunstan in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

Remember the OpenBerg project? The OpenBerg Reader is an open-standards-based, multi-platform eBook reader, based on Mozilla technologies. It'll be available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, as well as other platforms if enough people are interested.

David Teller has announced in the ebook community that the first alpha version for OpenBerg Reader Milestone Release 1 is now complete. You can already download the current source code from the cvs tree; installers and binaries will be made available soon.

05:32 PM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Lounge

In a press release Motricity, the parent company behind eReader, PalmGear, and PocketGear, announced today that it received an additional USD $30 million in venture funding, the company's second such funding after having received USD $27 million in October last year. Quotes from the release:

"This funding will accelerate our rapid global expansion as we continue to establish strength in Europe, Asia and other regions where market demand for wireless data services is exploding," explained Ryan Wuerch, chairman and chief executive officer at Motricity. "Consumer demand for personalized content on mobile devices is creating significant opportunities for Motricity to support the growth being experienced by wireless carriers, content providers, media companies, portals and other partners in the mobile ecosystem."

"The mobile industry is seeing demand for consumer-specific mobile content grow at a significant pace, driven by the increasing availability of quality content and reliable services. This has given traditionally non-mobile brands cause to quickly adopt mobile strategies," said Keith Daubenspeck, chairman of Advanced Equities. "Advanced Equities believes that Motricity has the right technology, the right approach, the right relationships and the right management team to address this emerging market and achieve exponential growth in coming years."

03:11 PM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

CBS News has just announced a cable bypass strategy with "plans for a major expansion of CBSNews.com, creating a 24-hour, multi-platform digital news network, bypassing cable television in favor of the nation's fastest-growing distribution system -- broadband."

They "will move from a primarily television and radio news-based operation to a 24-hour, on-demand news service, available across many platforms, drawing on the experienced, worldwide, award-winning resources of the network."

A "Public Eye" blog will be written by journalists to form "a candid and robust dialogue between CBS News journalists and the public." (Coming late this summer.)

Maybe a few major news scandals are just what they needed as a reason to make some radical changes and make a move toward shaping the future of mainstream news. It will be interesting to see how well it works.