TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized or off-topic’ Category

By David Rothman

New BlackBerry models from RIM offer 480×320 screen resolution, double the previous stat. Hello, iPhone? RIM doesn’t just want to roll over dead. No touch screens, though. And the screen size isn’t optimal for e-reading.

But this is the era of multiuse devides, and besides, BlackBerry smart phones can run Mobipocket e-bookware, giving you legal access to DRM-infested bestsellers. Try that, Steve Jobs—well, assuming you think books are worth the trouble, which of course you will when you have the right apps and/or hardware out there.

E-reads apps ahead, helped by $150M venture fund?

Meanwhile I’ll be curious what e-book-related apps if any will result from the creation of a $150M fund that RIM, The Royal Bank of Canada and Thomson Reuters are creating for BlackBerries and other mobile devices.

In RIM’s shoes, I’d rush to join the International Digital Publishing Forum and lobby for open source e-reading apps that used the ePub standard; exec director Michael Smith is himself Canadian.

Consistent with companies’ biz goals

Remember, the main businesses of RIM and Thomson Reuters—hardware, services and content. Good e-read apps, free or at least cheap, would open up new opportunities consistent with the companies’ business goals.

Related: Joe Wikert’s post full of BlackBerry love in an e-book context—plus his just-made one advocating multiuse devices.

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By David Rothman

Don’t want water in your automobile’s gasoline tank? Then fuel up at a busy gas station.

And the same’s true with Wikipedia. Generally, not always, entries on popular topics are more reliable than those on more arcane ones. Just be careful about entries which could draw a steady stream of partisan edits.

Such thoughts came to me while I was reading a Wikipedia-related column from Paul Gilster, an author, blogger and contributor to the Raleigh News  & Observer, who pointed out the popularity-reliability correlation. Originally he was a Wikipedia skeptic, but he has since come around around—while, appropriately, warning that you still need to be wary. Paul also suggests going to the source sites mentioned in citations.

At the same time, as the author of Centauri Dreams, a blog on deep space, Paul points to the value of Wikipedia for keeping up to date on arcane scientific subject—on which it can be more timely than, say, the Britannica.

Related: Free subscriptions and widgets for bloggers—from Encyclopedia Britannica.

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By David Rothman

Bugged by delays in seeing new pages on your Cybook Gen3, after your press a button?

Then download a just-announced fix (password protected). I’ll also be curious to see if the new firmware lets you read DRM-protected library books in Mobipocket format.

More new wrinkles on the way

A full list of improvements–thanks, Bookeen!—appears ahead. Plus, future goodes are coming: a “new directory view,” “improved Mobipocket, PDF, HTML & TXT support,” “new user interface features” and “user interface translations.” I’m rooting for the ability to switch buttons around, so the raised button in the middle of the diamond can move me a page ahead.

Also of interest to hardware fans: The official availability of the Sony Reader in Canada, although you can get only the silver model.

OK, now here’s the information on the Cybook fix:

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By David Rothman

You know about chick lit. Could “crone lit” be the rage someday? It actually makes sense. Other than the movie and music businesses, New York-style publishing just might be the one with the most age discrimination. And yet elder people, at least those with their vision intact, are among the book world’s most eager fans.

So I like the spirit of Tessa Duder’s story collection, Is She Still Alive?, as depicted in the New Zealand Herald:

“Heads turn as the three women at the table by the window pump up the volume. One is constantly on her Blackberry, another touching up her scarlet mouth with her lippy and eyeing up the young men. They are talking so loudly we can’t help but overhear: families, men, sex … They order yet another bottle of wine. Blimey, that’s the third and these dames must be pushing 70.”

Notice the Blackberry mention? Perhaps Isabelle Fetherstone of Senior-Friendly Libraries needs to catch up with Tessa Duder to talk up the possibilities of using E to read crone lit in large print?

(Via LISNews.)

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By Paul Biba

I was in New York City today and took a shot of this iPhone sign with my iPhone. Stores like this are cropping up all over the city. It just testifies to the incredible demand for the iPhone. If you can’t read the sign it says, “Apple iPhones Unlocked In Stock.”

Such sights made me think about e-books and the relative lack of demand for them. Is it DRM, is it eBabel, is it expensive readers—just what is keeping the demand down? Clearly, as the iPhone shows, if consumers want something, they will demand it and get it. I see nothing like this demand for e-books. Is is just us techies who want them? Does the public even know about them? Do they really want them? I don’t have any answers, but I found the iPhone signs pretty depressing in that regard.

Just how do we get this thing rolling? If the iPhone shows anything it seems to me that this whole thing won’t take off until some really savvy marketing wiz takes it on - Sony and Amazon don’t seem to have cut the mustard in this regard. Why not? Or is it that e-books are only a niche product?

Moderator: See Making Social DRM work for e-books—with maximum privacy protection, as well as Library books you can KEEP forever—and other ideas to help public libraries survive the digital era. - D.R.

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By David Rothman

Odds and ends:

–Cellulose electronic paper promises superior display qualities (MobileRead). So what do you think, gang? What about the screen contrast issue?

–Sony Germany wants the Reader as quickly as possible (MR).

–New Kindle firmware? (MR)

–Audible to offer exclusive digital sci fi titles in new imprint (PW).

–An Author’s case against Amazon’s new POD demands (TeleBlog comments).

–Report backs PDF variant for long-term archiving in the U.K. (LISNews).

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By David Rothman

Congratulations to Michael Chabon, author of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, for nominations for the Edgar, Hugo and Nebula within relevant categories. In fact, as noted in Media Bistro’s Galley Cat blog, he’s already a Nebula winner.

Now here’s the e-book angle. TYPU fits not just within the mystery genre (the Edgar) but also the SF-and-fantasy area (the Hugo and Nubla). It is, after all, alternate history. During World War II, the U.S. donates land for a temporary Jewish settlement in the then-territory of Alaska; and within the settlement, a murder takes place. Couldn’t e-help, since it’s a lot easier to juggle around electrons than the atoms of a multi-genre book?

E-stores vs. p-stores

At an old-fashioned paper bookstore or library, just where do you put TYPU? On the mystery shelf? The SF-and-fantasy-one? Perhaps both, but then you’re taking away space from other books.

But at an online e-book store? TYPU can show up in a number of categories without this problem. Of course, there might be less space for other titles on the Web pages for most-featured titles, but the hassles are fewer—you would not be reducing the number of titles carried. Same for e-libraries.

The medium for hyphenated books

E-books, in fact, as shown by the abundance of vampire-romances, SF-thrillers and so on, are the medium to think about for hyphenated genres.

HarperCollins, Chabon’s publisher, should be making hay with E, right?

Now the kicker–no e-book of TYPU, apparently.

And now the kicker: So far I can’t find an e-book edition of TYPU, not even in the Kindle format. Am I missing something? What’s taking HarperCollins so long? Is Chabon or his agent resisting, or the problem in-house? Strange. Isn’t HarperCollins supposed to be open to experimentation? In fact, timely releases of e-books at this point are hardly just an experiment at many publishers. Come on, HarperCollins. Get with it or at least explain the apparent delay in releasing Chabon’s TYPU in E.

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By Aaron S. Miller, CTO of BookGlutton, a Web-based community of readers

Between Google and Amazon, a lot of books are going on-line every day, and while these two are not the only companies doing it, they’re the biggest and the most aggressive.

While many smaller outfits expect people to download a book and read it on the platform of their choice, both Amazon and Google fully expect you to read the books from the Amazon.com or Google.com domains, preferably on their Web sites. Google Booksearch and Amazon Online Reader are both fully functional web-based reading systems which allow you to read paginated text, annotate, communicate with other readers, bookmark and share, all in a browser. And despite Amazon’s offering of the Kindle they are still a Web company, built on Web principles, and we can expect the Kindle won’t forsake their web properties. The Amazon Online Reader is a core product in three of Amazon’s other moneymakers: Amazon Advantage, Search Inside, and the Digital Text Platform, which is itself linked to the Kindle and uses the Online Reader as a preview device for Kindle uploads.

As for Google, well, there’s no doubt as to where Google stands on the Web as platform. They already have us reading PDFs in one of the ugliest interfaces book readers have ever known.

Dictating how books are read

The two big lessons here are:

1. Major players are dictating that books must be read on the Web, and
2. Major players are dictating the experience of reading books on the Web

These two things should worry everyone, because even though many people are disappointed and angry at Amazon’s approach to the market, and plenty are unhappy with Google’s quality control, it’s taken far too long for the rest of us to offer alternatives.

My own company has put out its best first effort: a paginated, networked way to read books called the Unbound Reader. Since we launched it sites like Manybooks, Goodreads and even Gutenberg have added features that allow a user to “page” through texts instead of scrolling them.

Unfortunately this is not on the agenda of the most vocal supporters of digital books. Among e-book lovers, there’s skepticism and even contempt for the idea of reading a book in a browser.

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By Aaron S. Miller, CTO of BookGlutton, a Web-based community of readers

Tim O’Reilly is a publisher and web entrepreneur who has proved himself in both worlds, and I always admire his dead-on observations of Web technology and its possibilities for entrepreneurship. Before this last Web 2.0 Expo, he did some nice checks and balances on the hype. It’s always bittersweet to have someone reminding us that we have a long way to go. As an entrepreneur, this is the constant joy and lament.

In the interest of getting past both hype and disdain, we should all take a minute to speculate about what Web 2.0 means for books.

Some might say we missed the boat, but let’s be more hopeful than that. And set aside, for a moment, privacy concerns. Those revolve around critical issues, but they require sustained metaphysical wrangling, and for our purposes, as representatives of the big medium which definitely missed the 7:32 express, it’s better to learn something from the innovation that has already taken place. As O’Reilly wisely points out, we’re not at 3.0 yet.

Looking past the “distractions” issue

How about the “interruptions” and “distractions” that Web 2.0 supposedly brings to books: advertising, twitters, chat, graffiti, or other 2.0 trappings? These things are actually part of the hype, and therefore also objects of disdain. We need to look past both.

The book/screen device/laptop convergence is an imminent catalyst. We need to realize that first. And the Kindle embodies the first major dilemma on the path to the really big changes. Will locked-down architecture and content be the industry standard, or will there be a Book 2.0 approach to things? For most book-lovers, both of these choices are reprehensible, yet one must be chosen.

Apple to break into E?

Don’t equate the Kindle with other e-book devices. The Kindle is a product of a company which came into the world proclaiming “Earth’s Biggest” Web catalog. This device comes to us from a Web company, founded on Web technologies, fed by Web communities and Web shoppers. There’s no doubt Kindle is going to evolve faster than those jellyfish from hardware manufacturers with relatively undeveloped Web properties. For Amazon to step into the hardware space is huge–so huge that I don’t need to spend many more keystrokes on it. The next huge thing would be for Apple to step into the e-book space, something more imaginable now, given Amazon’s monopolistic decrees to publishers and Apple’s good relationships with content distributors. The arena for the big battle will be the Web.

And while much of what we think of as Web right now consists of so-called “social networks,” many of which may seem to have nothing to do with books (or when they do, nothing to do with the actual texts of the books), the core innovations of these properties can still be applied to our own enterprises. And being at the back of the pack, we have the advantage of foresight for the pitfalls.

Here’s a brief map of where “Web 2.0″ is taking us:

• E-book devices will be web-enabled. They’ll be using modern browser engines, like Webkit. They will be open, so that book authors and vendors can reach people the way they want to. They will be on-line as much as we need them to be. They will function offline, even when accessing web content. They will, by default, offer access to the whole Web, not just one vendor’s content.

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By David Rothman

Sounds pretty arcane, no? Simon & Schuster and the U.S. arm of HarperCollins want to keep global digital rights even when they sell paper rights to U.K. houses. That’s the word from TheBookseller.com, across The Pond. Boringly “Inside baseball”? Nope, read on—especially if you’re a discerning reader who hates globally commoditized books.

I’ll unpatriotically side with the Brits. What about localized e-covers? Not to mention payback for promoting the book in U.K. media? Jeeze, the downsides of globalization.

No need to colonize the Brits in retaliation

Here’s to national differences! British and U.S. book-buyers have separate tastes despite overlaps. For example, many British readers are more partial to character-driven books than Americans tend to be, and many Brits go for quieter, less busy covers. Below, look at the examples of the same hardback as sold by different arms of HarperCollins in the U.K. (left) and in the U.S. (right), as dug up by Carol Pinchefsky for Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show.  No need for Americans to colonize the Brits just because they did it to us even after we lost our fondness for it, and I speak with a little authority in this case, being a native of Virginia, “Give me liberty or give me death” country. Don’t impose American editions on the entire planet, at least not in place where local publishers are willing to promote the books and charge fair prices.

One U.K. publisher, reports TheBookseller.com, “described HC US’ position as ‘crazy,’ saying: ‘To reduce our publishing companies to mere distribution centres is not something I would like to see.’” I agree. Moreover, what happens when a U.K. publisher wants to bundle a free e-book download with a hardback edition?

Ironically, in the end, by keeping their mitts off the U.K. publishing trade, the American publishers may fare better since Brits are better at selling to Brits, and it isn’t as if the Yanks will be giving away rights for free. Keep in mind, too, that people in the U.K. with U.S. tastes in covers and the rest can still buy from American editions from U.S.-based companies such as Fictionwise.

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By David Rothman

FBReader software and the Cybook Gen3 and Sony PRS 505 E Ink readers are among the porting priorities of three student volunteers, chosen for the independent OpenInkpot project under the Google Summer of Code.

 OpenInkpot is creating a “free and open-source Linux distribution” for E Ink machines. Among other things, OpeInkpot is aiming for dual-boot capabilities in time, so you can either enjoy the new programs or fire up the readering software the manufacturer supplied.

Open Inkpot’s ports of the summer: An ePub angle and more

The three coders are:

• Alexander Egorov—porting FBReader for OpenInkpot linux.  Significantly, FBReader can display  nonencrypted ePub, among other formats. Now if only the major publishers will back off from DRM in a major way to enable FBReader fans and others to enjoy best-sellers in ePub, perhaps with social DRM embedded.
• Ondřej Herman—porting the OpenInkpot’s Linux to the Cybook Gen3.
• Wenjie Zhang 张文杰—porting the operating system to the Sony PRS-505.

The Hanlin eReader v3 E Ink device (shown here—more or less the same as the lBook, Apolo-Hanlin V3 and Walkbook) has been among OpenInkpot’s other targets.

The V3 can already run FBReader.  But it’s good to see other machines potentially capable, via the ports to OpenInkpot.

Also planned are OpenInkpot ports to the Sony PRS-500, the Jinke Hanlin V2 and 6, the iRex iLiad and—get this!—the ultimate closed machine, the Kindle. Just what will Jeff Bezos think of that? Will Amazon’s Terms of Use Police start lining up hackers before a firing squad?

The bottom line for users

You don’t have to be a hacker to be cheering on OpenInkpot, which I hope will try hard to make its work accessible to civilians who are willing to experiment.

As an owner of  the Sony PRS-505, I can say Sony’s software is a bit of a disappointment. I can’t even bold DRMed text to compensate for the less-than-ideal contrast between text and background on the E Ink display. With FBReader, by contrast, that’s a snap. As for the Cybook, I love the bolding option, but the machine for now does not handle large collections of books as gracefully as the Sony does. With OpenInkpot-endabled software as an alternative for users, perhaps the vendors will be faster to address deficiencies like the ones I’ve mentioned.

And for vendors

Meanwhile, if vendors are sufficiently smart and flexible, they just might be open minded about OpenInkpot since some of its ideas can be picked up for use in company-supplied software.

The negative for vendors is that freeware could speed up the coming of the $99 E Ink Reader—which already may be closer than some people think anyway.

But then again, if savvy companies pick up the best wrinkles from the freeware and add their own wrinkes, they can still earn a profit—just so they understand that the days of the $300-$400 reader are numbered.

Other ways for vendors to profit

Vendors  can also collect premiums by simply by coming up with easier-to-use hardware and looking ahead to the time when cellphone-eReaders such as the Readius (video) will be common.

When can be done to integrate the cellphone and e-book features, as some have suggested?

The most radical and logical step of all

Also, how about the most radical and logical step of all in many cases—working closely with Open Inkpot to create the best-possible operating system for the E Ink reader industry, while playing the openness angle to the hilt?

Are any well-known vendors out there with the guts to do this?

If the usual suspects don’t act, then I wouldn’t be surprised if makers of commodity E Ink readers, especially on the Chinese mainland, arranged on their own for this to happen.

Related: Closed E Ink readers vs. OpenInkpot: Unshackled OSes, better e-readerwrae and maybe even WiFi?

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By David Rothman

When will the IDPF get serious about interactive e-books—letting readers and writers talk to each other via annoations, forums, blogs and the rest.

Otherwise the ePub standard won’t hold up in the long run.

In this vein, I see that Harlequin has just signed up with LibrieDigital for the handling of all its e-book projects (with OverDrive the loser in some respects at least?).

“Ways we’ve never imagined before”

“Now, we can talk to our readers and have them interact with each other in ways we never imagined before,” PW qutoes Brent Lewis, Harlequin’s v-p of Internet and Digital. How much of this interactivity will happen within books?

Meanwhile Lewis says that LibrieDigital’s DRM is “first class technology.” Ugh, it had better be superior to Adobe’s. With DRM, of course, comes eBabel. Beware of DRM traps, Harlequin. Same for your customers.

IDPF-LD cooperation?

Ironically, Mike Smith, the IDPF’s executive director, comes from Harlequin. Is it possible that LibrieDigital, an IDPF member, can at least work with the group toward nonproprietary standards for interactivity? I’d love to know if that’s happening already. If not, it needs to.

Related: News release with many other details, such as mention of widgets and digital preview capabilities. I’ll repro it ahead. Also see a discussion on the ePub list about about ePub and scripting, including the interactivity angle.

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