May 2011
This July the e-book celebrates 40 years. How...
In 1971 Michael Hart received $100,000.00 worth of computer time with a Xerox Sigma V mainframe computer. He decided that the greatest value created by computers would not be computing, but would be the storage, retrieval, and searching of what was stored in our libraries. The first "e-book" was born—a copy of the Declaration of Independence. "The first ebook was available in July 1971, as...
Manga Farming →
Things to do with print books once everything is digital.
“We are made of books,
the ink on these pages is
the blood in these hearts.”
– Daily Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson (via tylerknott)
“Sound power can be used for various novel applications including cellular phones...”
– I would be nice to charge you e-reader by reading your kids a bedtime story…
Charge Your Phone With Your Voice - Mobiledia (via smarterplanet)
Watchdionisis:
The Bookbinder: Don Taylor
Directed & edited by Tate Young/Written & produced by Ian Daffern
“At the Egyptian city of Naucratis, there was a famous old god, whose name was...”
– Phaedrus by Plato
Plato critiques the losses sustained by writing (and reading) as a new technology over oral culture and true memory by having Socrates tell the story of the Egyptian god Theuth, the inventor of writing.
Cheap eReader could be harbinger of cultural... →
$50 eReader hits market. Ability to bring world’s library to 3rd world getting closer, could be cultural tipping point.
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EPUB 3 vs. EPUB 2.0 Comparison Chart →
This is a nice article that highlights the differences between EPUB 3 and EPUB 2.0. Among the main things are:
Support for complex content (maths, high-design textbooks)
Enriched content (audio and video)
Global language support
Accessibility
But it also goes on to highlight what was taken out from 2.0. It will be a handy reference.
Big metadata news: Library of Congress may move... →
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10 Years: From Idea to Industry by Monte Cook →
How in 2001 a digital self publishing industry was born out of Fantasy Role Playing Games.
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“Google would get an explicit, perpetual license to scan and sell access to these...”
– “A Book Grab by Google,” Brewster Kahle, The Washington Post
Tor.com win Nebula Award for digital only short... →
Tor.com won a 2010 Nebula Award for the short story Ponies by Kij Johnson (Tor.com 1/17/10) It’s important because I believe it is the first winner that is available digital only.
This is a great example of a traditional publisher adapting to the digital world. Ponies is available for the Kindle, Nook, and iPad as a $0.99 e-book and free on their website.
Amazon shows it is still the...
Ulysses Meets Twitter 2011 →
Spectacular Idea. Kind of a literary flash mob.
(though I will probably just read the first 3 words of the first tweet and then give up but tell everybody I read it…)
thelifeguardlibrarian:
What happens when the world recasts James Joyce’s Ulysses 140 characters at a time in 24 hours? Find out here on Bloomsday, 16 June 2011.
This is an experiment. It relies entirely on volunteers...
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Better eBook Ideas from…the Good Book →
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Long live the cover by Damian Horner →
The continuing evolution of the digital book cover.
In the past, the book cover has been instrumental in the way books have been positioned, sold and remembered. Indeed, the book cover provides publishers with millions and millions of pounds-worth of promotion each year. It is so potent that even paid-for book marketing still has barely evolved past the point of presenting a cover with a ...
IDPF Digital Book 2011: EPUB 3, First Look →
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Best eBook promotion for the coming Rapture... →
The end is nigh. Get APOCALYPSE SEX for 1 cent until judgement day comes ( or May 21st, which ever comes first.)
http://www.circlet.com/?p=3087
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“We will always be very mindful that we will want a dedicated reading device. In...”
– Jeff Bezos in an interview that has just been published in Consumer Reports.
NEC’s dual screen Android tablet to hit Japan in... →
“Now Amazon’s customers are “choosing Kindle books more often than...”
– Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, comparing Amazon’s 15-year heritage of selling physical books to just four years of e-book sales.
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I'm the fucking librarian, motherfucker. →
An excellent rally cry from librarians. Here is just an excerpt.
Read a dozen news stories from the past year and there has almost always been some derogatory comment about the homeless sleeping in the library, or people looking at porn or Facebookers, or DVD renters or old people doing the crossword puzzles in the paper or whatever. As if these people don’t deserve access to what...
Amazon's unconcealed Android tablets; Coyote and... →
Report reveals that Amazon is placing a massive order totaling 3.2 Billion dollars for 700,000 tablets a month with Taiwan based Quanta Computers. Amazon Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Bezos delicately suggested that there is a tablet in the works.
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“The librarian isn’t a clerk who happens to work at a library. A librarian is a...”
– Seth Godin (via bookshelvesofdoom)
The Future of Media: It’s Not Piracy, It’s... →
The book-publishing business has been in a bit of a tizzy recently over the explosive rise of a children’s book up the e-book bestsellers’ list at Amazon. But this isn’t just any children’s book. For one thing, it has an unusual title — it’s called “Go The F**k To Sleep.” But even more interesting is that the book hit No. 1 on the Amazon list, and it hasn’t even been published yet. How it...
To help sell books, publishers add a soundtrack →
Why Nook Color tablet may find its niche →
