TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Archive for July, 2007

By Robert Nagle

Dusan Dragovic mentions a new Web application to let readers read ebooks. BooksoniPhone.com. He says:

It is a Web site optimized for reading books on iPhone. It is native iPhone application so it supports all iPhone commands (tap on screen to go to next page, share button, virtual keyboard etc.) You can access thousands of books for free. It supports different setting for font size, speed of reading, reading multiple books, adding (and sharing) notes and much more. Next version will allow users to upload their own texts, poems, books or whole e-libraries. TextoniPhone.com will (for FREE) prepare them to iPhone so it could be read on iPhone immediately.

Important note: The booksoniphone.com site will only be accessible to people surfing there on iPhone (I haven’t checked with a Safari browser on Windows). (more…)

By David Rothman

In just 48 hours, pirates released e-books based on illegally photographed images of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. So how did they do it?

Alex at MobileRead found out that the DSB pirate group drew more than 100-150 volunteers for the Potter project, with perhaps 10-15 actually helping.

The photos weren’t good enough for OCRing, but that was hardly a problem—not when the volunteers could simply type out the material.

Worked 8-9 hours a day

“We started Monday morning and by Tuesday night we had our first 10 chapters done,” a DSB leader said. “We only worked for about 8-9 hours a day. After that, we received much more help and got the remaining 26 chapters plus epilogue done by Thursday morning and finally released it on Thursday afternoon…

“We decided that if each one of us takes a chapter from 1-10, we could all read the book in a nice format and only put in a little work. From there on we decided it wasn’t right to keep this to ourselves. We wanted to keep the release within the group but realized we wouldn’t be able to finish in time if we only had our 7 people.”

And guess what? The DSBers seemed less worried about the law than about competition from rival pirate groups. Together, the various pirate efforts made it a snap to catch up with illegal copies in popular formats such as eReader.

Give up, J.K.

So what does this little initiative say about J.K. Rowling’s odd belief that she can help discourage piracy by not doing an e-book edition? Furthermore, even had there been an e-book, DRM would have hardly have gotten in the pirates’ way. (more…)

By David Rothman

Update, 11:40 p.m.: The best solution may be the JAP program. Keep reading.

Okay, so I like Wowio, the home of good ad-supported books, such as Sophie’s Choice or Kurt Vonnegut novels.

But there’s a problem, a big one, with the PDF that Wowio spits out.

The type is just too small on the Sony Reader. So why not convert the PDF to RFT or TXT, which the Reader can digest via its Connect software.

And that’s exactly what ABC Amber PDF Converter v3.18 can do, as the partial screenshot suggests. You can try a demo, with limited functionality (conversions of just five pages or so) or you can gamble a whopping $12.95 on AAPC.

Please note that the results will be far from perfect, with many line breaks in the wrong places, as well gratuitous listings of pages. Still, with enough jiggliing around in Word, you might be able to fix that.

Furthermore, if need be, you can blow the words up. You also might use the Sony in the landscape mode (hold down the size control), which gives you larger characters. For good measure, you can do other customization such as bolding. (more…)

By David Rothman

Michael Moore—the movie maker and political activist behind such satirical gems as Roger and Me and Fahrenheit 9/11 and the new SiCKO—is the target of a subpoena from the Bush administration in the wake of his visit to Cuba. What a troublemaker. For the SiCKO movie, he took sick 9/11 rescue workers to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in hopes of getting them the same level of free care that the prisoners do. The Bushies are after Moore for allegedly representing himself falsely as a journalist.

Now, for free via the ad-supported Wowio service, you can read Emily Schultz’s Michael Moore: A Biography from ECW Press. Son of a Michigan autoworker, Moore briefly edited Mother Jones Magazine, only to get fired—just one incident in his love-hate relationship with the American liberal establishment, which he’s often scolded for not being gung ho enough. Scultz masterfully analyzes both his life and work. I read the biography—published about two years ago and one of at least several about Moore—almost without interruption on my DT 375 tablet: it was that compelling to me and might be to my fellow political junkies, liberal and conservative alike. Just remember to import Wowio’s PDF into Mobipocket Desktop first, rather than opening up the file, an action which might render the book unusable by Mobi. Let’s hope that Wowio can pick up some of Moore’s own books, such as along with more conservative titles. (more…)

By David Rothman

…you see a black, booklike object on the floor near the bed and worry it might be a lot more than just a p-book. Anyone else get the same feeling?

I have yet to step on a single e-book device, but in that respect, I’ll never feel as comfortable with the Reader as with my old PEG NX60/U Clie with a rugged metal case (now for sale).

Coming by 1 p.m. Washington time today: Info on two timely political books online for free, including one with a Hollywood angle, too—plus another Wowio tip for Sony Reader owners.

By Robert Nagle

In his presentation on copyright on July 5, 2007, Richard Stallman took a stand against e-book devices.

TeleRead is reproducing parts of the speech (taken from Slashdot and verified from watching the ogg-theora video). If an official transcript becomes available, we’ll let you know.

Most of the talk is familiar to those who have followed Stallman’s work, but he singled out e-books and e-book devices specifically as a target of scorn. He concludes, “So we’d better spread the word now: … we better build up the opposition to this repeat attempt to make us accept e-books. We’ve got to value our freedom.”

(more…)

By David Rothman

Here’s an 18-minute Cybook Gen 3 video in French—featuring the founders of Bookeen, Laurent Picard and Michael Dahan. The contrast and speed of the Vizplex screen come through, and, yes, if I heard correctly, the Cybook can cope with at least nonencrypted PDF, as we all had been expecting. Video was posted by Jean-Michel Billaut, a well-known blogger in France. So, gang, what do you think of the details? Discuss them here.

Update on the exact PDF situation (7:11 a.m. Washington time, July 7): “There will be PDF, but we don’t think we’ll be able to release the PDF support in the first software version,” Michael Dahan has e-mailed me. “As the software will be upgradeable, we will add PDF support later. We have no plan to support DRM with PDF.” The Cybook’s Mobipocket, however, will support DRMed books; significantly, Mobi is much, much better for small-screened machines than PDF.  I’ve also submitted to Bookeen questions about the interface.

Related: It’s official: New Cybook will offer Mobipocket and improved E Ink in September, with 50,000 titles available.

By David Rothman

Remember the MedisonCelebrity laptop, said to be the world’s cheapest at $150? No telling what will happen, but after reading the most recent messages from a related Yahoo group, I say, “Scam!”

One of the skeptics has just received a note from Clevo Mobile Computing saying: “We do not have any relation to the Medison company.” What’s more, the photo of the laptop is said to resembles one from another OEM.

Bottom line: Don’t risk $150 just to indulge your curiosity—not unless Medison actually rolls out its hardware and keeps it coming at the advertised price.

By David Rothman

Imagine elegant, booklike devices that fold out like books and change the images when you tap in the right places.

That’s long been the vision of the developers of E Ink-style technologies, and now a French video dramatizes the possibilities, not just for books but for other applications such as maps. “Possible … ou Probable” is the intriguing title.

So how long until the dreams—coming to us courtesy of the publishing consultants at Editis —become realities? Or are you shaking your head and just thinking, “When will the e-paper guys deliver on their promises?”

Hello, Bill J? Your territory.

Related: Jon Noring’s commentary on the above, via the eBook Community list. Jon notes that the interactivity shown here goes far beyond the old paradigms for e-books. Notice how the people in the video can vary the presentation? That’s in the spirit of the new IDPF specs, which let text flow gracefully even if you change the size of the type. Going beyond the specs, however, the video show the capability to deal gracefully with nonlinear content such as Web sites.

By David Rothman

The old e-book-optimized Cybook, the one with the LCD, is dead. But you may be in luck if your heart’s set on a Web tablet more powerful than either the Cybook or the DT375 refurbs now going on uBid for $155.

New Web tablets, including some beauts that use solid-state storage and can run the XP operating system rather than just CE, are available from DT Research, maker of the discontinued 375. Notice the physical specs for the more recent WebDT 310, weighing just a little over two pounds, including the bumperlike protective rubber? Most Web tablets should be much more comfortable on your lap than the bigger, heavier Tablet PCs in traditional form. Prime possibilities for e-book lovers?

What’s more, with the right machines and software, you can use Web tablets to control your desktop PC, opening up zillions and zillions of possibilities for e-book software. As a bonus, “Web pads” tend to be fanless—absolutely silent. The sharp drop in the price of solid-state memory makes Web tablets all the more intriguing. It’s too bad that new, full-strength Web pads easily cost well over $1,000; in fact, the WebDT 310 may set you back more than $1,800.

WebPad TX-3000 hitting market

I don’t know the price, alas, but a Taiwan-headquatered company called Tatung is introducing the WebPad TX-3000 with a 10.4 inch screen (photo), about the size of a Cybook’s. The chipset is the AMD Geode platform, LX800, the processor speed is 500Mhz, the supplied storage card is a 1G CompactFlash, WiFi is 802bg, and the OS is XPe.

The 500Mhz won’t suffice for, say, demanding graphics programs, but the processor should easily be powerful enough for, say, Mobipocket or Adobe Digital Editions. More specs are here.

Screen res is 800 by 600 with a 1024 x 768 available as an option. Especially in the deluxe version, the TX-3000’s video from afar seems to be at least adequate for e-reading—especially if used with programs such as uBook, which enhance the perceived res. More specs are here. (more…)

By David Rothman

From Arthur C. Clarke (photo) to Ursula Le Guin and Jerry Pournelle, well-known sci-fi authors have made freebies available on the Web. Find many of these works via Free Speculative Fiction Online. I’ve probably mentioned this incredible site before, but the new twist is an RSS feed with recently added sci-fi and fantasy gems.

Among the offerings are Michael F. Flynn’s Eifelheim, Vernor Vinge’s Rainbow’s End and Peter Watts‘ Blindsight, all nominated for the best novel in the 2007 Hugo competition.

The Hugos, by the way, are named after sci-fi pioneer Hugo Gernsback. TeleBlog contributor Michael Banks, a sci-fi novelist who also has written technical books and biographies, including a recent one on two radio entrepreneurs, will be publishing some thoughts on Gernsback in the near future.

(Via Tartuffe Reviews.)

By David Rothman

Is this the cheapest laptop in the world, at $150, as one news report says, and how will it fare as an e-book-reader? Or is it a scam, maybe even a Ponzi scheme?

The Medison Celebrity laptop reportedly comes from Swedish company called Medison and can be ordered via 2Checkout.com in Ohio. No, I haven’t tried it. Maybe the screen quality is horrid despite the ballyhoo, and beyond that, tablets and PDAs are more comfortable to read long texts from than laptops are.

If, however, you want to do many things, not just read E, perhaps this laptop is worth finding more about. The ballyhoo says the machine comes with a widescreened 14-inch WXGA display. Just right for a two-page display via a uBook-style program? (more…)

By David Rothman

So, gang, what do you of the new Cybook screen, as shown in this photo from Bookeen? I’ll leave it to others to comment on the shot.

Presumably no amputations were performed or suffered in the line of duty.

Meanwhile, separately, congratulations to RWood for his work producing the Harvard Classics in Sony’s BBeB—and also in MobiPocket, one of the formats that’ll work on the Cybook.

The Mobi version will be done in the next week. Download the Sony version of the HCs here.

I love the dedication that RW showed in producing this nonDRMed collection and look forward to sampling the Mobipocket version. Of course, let’s hope that e-book standards will soon be for real, so that one size, so to speak, fits all and the volunteers don’t have to work quite as hard.

(Via MobileRead, after which RW is naming his collection.)

By Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti

Moderator’s note: Sadi Ranson-Polizotti, the TeleBlog’s book editor and main podcaster, will release an audio of this essay in the next few days. Also enjoy her memories of Saul Bellow.

Hans Koning was one of the foremost writers living in the United States, having written thirteen novels as well as numerous works of nonfiction on topics as varied as China, Che Guevara, Russia, and so much more.

If you’re a well-read American, it’s likely you’ve seen Koning’s work many times in The New Yorker or The Atlantic Monthly. He was a “reporter-at-large” for The New Yorker and his work was published to great critical acclaim. George Plimpton said, “One of America’s most accomplished writers.” All told, Hans Koning wrote more than forty works of fiction and nonfiction. He died on April 13, 2007, at his home in Easton, Connecticut, from melanoma. He was eighty-five years old.

I had the great honor and pleasure of not only being an editor to Hans at one point, but most importantly, being a good friend, and that to me means everything. A card bore news of his death, and it read: “I want to set up a whispering in the Universe” (America Made Me, 1979).

He is missed. He will always be missed. (more…)

By David Rothman

Bookeen’s new Cybook will offer Mobipocket—in effect making more than 50,000 titles available, or far more more than the Sony Connect store now offers in its BBeB format. Nothing against Sony. This is just an illustration of what happens when eBabel prevails rather than a common standard, like the one on the way from the IDPF. The basic version of the machine is to sell for $350 and appear in September. Meanwhile here’s the official press release.

Paris, France – July 26, 2007 – Bookeen is proud to announce its new Generation 3 Cybook. Based on the latest groundbreaking Vizplex™ epaper technology from E Ink, this ebook reading device offers an impressive 6″ screen showing off a 166 dpi resolution.

Bookeen’s new product looks stunningly thin: it is the size of a paperback, the thickness of a magazine, for a weight of only 6.1 ounces (174 g). It boasts an impressive battery life of 8,000 page flips, allowing for an average reading time of 1 month without recharging. (more…)

By David Rothman

“Should E Ink machines have a boldface mode for better viewability?” the TeleBlog asked on Tuesday.

And based on a very small unscientific poll so far, the answer is yes. Here are the results:

1. Yes–either through heavier type or in other ways. 12 Votes or 48 percent.

2. No. There’s already enough contrast between the words and the background on the screen. 6 votes or 24%

3. Neutral. 7 votes or 28%.

Hardware-makers have big egos, but even based on the small sample, a message is coming through that jibes with my own experiences. E Ink offers many good points, but for many user, it can be hard to read in dim light. (more…)

By Robert Nagle

Book clubs from DearReader.com let you receive chapter/excerpts from recent books by email, either for yourself or a book club. Here’s the sign-up page for a branch library.

Daily segments are about 5 minutes long—here’s a sample e-mail. A clever idea, although really I’ve whined before reading stuff in browsers; I shudder at the idea of people using MS outlook to do pleasure reading.

But what about e-books? I was delighted to find on my new Sony Reader excerpts from various bestsellers (even if I chose not to read them). If I were to dream up a magical feature, it would be having my e-book device grab chapter excerpts from new e-books (and occasionally swapping them out). Ok, I’m not interested in reading Da Vinci Code or celebrity bios, but companies like Netflix and Amazon have already developed taste-prediction algorithms; it wouldn’t be too hard to fathom my tastes. (more…)