Pocket PC eBooks Watch - eBook and beyond  
 http://cebooks.blogspot.com 

iSlate
Can Microsoft Beat iTunes With a Store of Its Own?
With the opening on Thursday, Microsoft will land itself in a market that Apple Computer pioneered more than a year ago with its iTunes online music store, in much the same way that it took on Netscape in the Web browser business and Sony in the market for console game machines. As a storefront on the MSN online service, Microsoft's music service will offer song tracks for downloading to personal computers and portable music players.
Granted, the market for online music today is tiny, accounting for less than 2 percent of all music sales in the United States. Even five years from now, online sales are expected to account for 12 percent of a $1.7 billion domestic market.
"For Microsoft, it's like Slate, not Xbox," said David Card, research director of Jupiter Research, referring to Microsoft's foray into online magazine publishing, which is considered a tiny business within the company. "It's a pretty small opportunity right now."

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/29/2004

9-11 F - (free)
NT Times Review on 9/11 report
review by Richard A. Posner
...So the report ends on a flat note. But one can sympathize with the commission's problem. To conclude after a protracted, expensive and much ballyhooed investigation that there is really rather little that can be done to reduce the likelihood of future terrorist attacks beyond what is being done already, at least if the focus is on the sort of terrorist attacks that have occurred in the past rather than on the newer threats of bioterrorism and cyberterrorism, would be a real downer -- even a tad un-American. Americans are not fatalists. When a person dies at the age of 95, his family is apt to ascribe his death to a medical failure. When the nation experiences a surprise attack, our instinctive reaction is not that we were surprised by a clever adversary but that we had the wrong strategies or structure and let's change them and then we'll be safe. Actually, the strategies and structure weren't so bad; they've been improved; further improvements are likely to have only a marginal effect; and greater dangers may be gathering of which we are unaware and haven't a clue as to how to prevent.
Download Free Multiformat The 9/11 Commission Report

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/28/2004

Trend Watch
Muscling down college textbook costs
Back behind the cellphones for sale, away from the lines, behind the tight-tight shirts and the short-short shorts with "ASU" emblazoned in attention-grabbing places, is the ASU Bookstore's reason for existence.
For many students, those books might as well be vacuum cleaners, sucking money out of their pockets.
The University of Phoenix is trying to change that.
The Phoenix-based online and distance university is using its financial muscle to push publishers to provide sections of textbooks for its students.
Since 2001, more than 95 percent of texts for classes have gone online.
University of Phoenix officials say that it saves their students about $50 a course.
Other universities are exploring digitizing books, but in Arizona, it is hit and miss.

posted by Jerry permanent link

MSTrust
Distrusted systems
Stefik and Xerox began filing patents on his ideas in about 1994. In 1998, Xerox and Microsoft teamed up to launch the fruits of Stefik's ideas as ContentGuard; the launch, held at PARC, featured presentations from Steve Ballmer and various Microsoft folk showing off how comfortable it was to read ebooks on Pocket PCs. By then, Stefik had moved on to other things to such a degree that the PR person arranging things didn't even know his name. The patents that he and Xerox filed now, of course, belong to ContentGuard.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/27/2004

French Revolution
French investigators probe copy-protected CDs
French authorities have launched an investigation of EMI France and music retailer Fnac over anticopying technology included on CDs that allegedly renders them unplayable on some systems.
A magistrate judge on July 31 ordered the investigation following a review of consumer complaints by a local division of the Bureau of Competition's antifraud unit (DDCCRF).
The move is among the most threatening actions yet taken in Europe against record labels and retailers over anticopy technology.

posted by Jerry permanent link

It's my turn
Have e-books turned a page?
After more than a decade of false starts and empty promises, publishers may finally be starting to understand what consumers want from electronic books.
Although revenues remain tiny, industry surveys show encouraging signs of growth in e-book sales over the past year. Publishing executives and analysts say the industry is finally coming to grips with the most significant issues that have stalled e-book adoption to date.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/26/2004

Say Please
Microsoft Sought iPod Support For Online Music Store
One source close to the matter says that Microsoft has made several overtures to Apple to make its store compatible with the industry-leading iPod but has been rebuffed. (Apple declined to comment.) Manufacturers of players that support Windows Media -- essentially all of them except the iPod -- are excited about the new site. "Any store selling music that our machines support is a great thing," says Gary Byrd, a spokesman for iRiver, a top-selling manufacturer. "When it comes to the market with Microsoft's might, that's a double bonus."
Source: iPodHacks

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TimeOut!
Can a person who is blind from birth "see images" in their dreams?
Nevertheless, blind people do dream and often describe their dreams in terms of places and surroundings. An article from the University of Santa Cruz notes that blind dreams feature a "very high percentage of gustatory, olfactory, and tactual sensory references," something very unusual for sighted dreamers to experience.

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Not Again
Music Industry Sues 744 More for File Sharing
The trade group representing the U.S. music industry has filed a new round of lawsuits against 744 people it alleges used online file-sharing networks to illegally trade in copyrighted materials, it said on Wednesday.
The Recording Industry Association of America said the various suits, filed in courts across the country, cover "John Doe" defendants whose true identities are unknown to the group. There were also suits against people who were identified but did not agree to an out-of-court settlement with the RIAA.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Digital Forrest
Archive.org
The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.
Thanks to Brian Wang for pointing the site

posted by Jerry permanent link

Read it then watch
The Manchurian Candidate
As compelling and disturbing as when it was first published in the midst of the Cold War, The Manchurian Candidate continues to enthrall readers with its electrifying action and shocking climax....

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Free Fantasy
Don Ysidro by Bruce Holland Rogers
A small Mexican village has rediscovered the pot-making skills of their ancestors. They have also revived some other ancient customs, and some of the tourists who come to the village to buy pots may be going home with much more than they realize.
World Fantasy Award Nominee

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/22/2004

If You Build It, They Will Buy
Pirates as Market Researchers?
"I suggested that savvy publishers could look at the books that were traded illegally as an indicator for titles for which there already existed a market demand. I mean, people care enough to trade it, right? It's not perfect, but as a first approximation I'd make the assumption that this would correspond to a willingness of people to download it for pay."
(source: Teleread)

posted by Jerry permanent link

Biassed Poll?
Textbook Luddites at it again with vanity research
"The majority of students prefer a traditional textbook to an electronic version, according to the most recent StudentWatch(TM) research from the National Association of College Stores(NACS)." - PR from the group.
The TeleRead take: Oh, nothing like impartial research. NACS didn't just pay for the study, those people did it! I'd love to know the questions asked.
Even with the odds stacked against e-books, the Luddites unwittingly compiled evidence for our side. The younger the respondent, the greater the enthusiasm for e-books. Truth is that the study stinks royally as science and as common sense.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/21/2004

Really?
Beta of RealPlayer for Pocket PC 1.1 Now Available
Real Networks has posted on its web site a Preview Release (a.k.a. a Beta) of RealPlayer for Pocket PC 1.1.
The most significant new feature in this version is support for video stored in RealVideo 9 format. Of course, it continues to support Real Networks' other audio and video formats.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Unwired
Another sign that the iPod is going wireless?
Read into this what you will (and we’re so tempted to refrain from our usual banter on this one), but a job posting has shown up on Apple’s website looking for a hardware engineer to work in their iPod division who has experience in a variety of wireless protocols, including “GSM, Bluetooth, [and] IEEE 802.11”. Some sort of wireless iPod in the works?

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/20/2004

Right2Copy
File-Sharing Sites Found Not Liable for Infringement
A court ruled that the distributors of software used by millions of people to exchange music files over the Internet cannot be held liable for aiding copyright infringement.

posted by Jerry permanent link

OurTunes
Fired up over file sharing
As hackers conjure up a new method for trading songs over Apple Computer's iTunes, an appeals court rules that software developers are not liable for file swappers' actions.

posted by Jerry permanent link

No Free Lunch
Making Free IPods Pay Off
Unless you're extremely gullible, the promise of getting a free iPod from FreeiPods.com looks extremely dubious.
But surprisingly, the site appears to be legitimate. The program almost certainly isn't a dodgy pyramid scheme; it's a new form of online marketing supported by companies like eBay, AOL and Columbia House.
Here's how it works: FreeiPods.com promises an iPod or a $250 gift certificate to anyone who signs up for various online promotions and persuades five other people to participate.
Subscribers are given a choice of 10 different offers, including a 45-day trial of AOL and a two-week trial of Ancestry.com's genealogy service. Typically, the offers are free and easily canceled.
Once the trials are over -- for both the main subscriber and the referrals -- the free iPod is dispatched.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Oh God
Cell Phone Users Are Finding God
phone owners are blessed with more than just free weekend minutes, as religious institutions and telcos roll out new services to help the observant practice their faith.

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Trend Watch
Wireless, handhelds and tech house latest on WFU's connected campus
The new network, with 600 access points across campus, replaces Wake Forest's original wireless network installed in 2000. Running at 54 megabits per second, the new network places Wake Forest among a small group of colleges and universities that offer high-speed wireless Internet access in every campus building.
Each computer also comes with VitalSource EBook, an electronic reference book compilation that includes the entire works of William Shakespeare and the Oxford English Dictionary, among other resources. Dominick said the electronic textbook will provide students with a valuable resource of supplemental materials for their classes.
The university continues to explore the educational and communication uses of mobile computing devices. This fall, the university has provided 30 Wake Forest Army ROTC students with handheld computers. When there is a change in meeting location, uniform color or drill requirements for ROTC cadets, they will not be caught unaware. Wake Forest developed a software program that alerts students to important squadron developments via handheld computer.

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About LOTR eBooks
The Magical Worlds of Lord of the Rings: The Amazing Myths, Legends, and Facts Behind the Masterpiece
by David Colbert
By bringing to light the legends that influenced J.R.R. Tolkien, David Colbert answers readers' large range of questions about Middle-earth
Meditations on Middle-Earth
by Karen Haber
The fan base devoted to J. R. R. Tolkien's work is growing. Here, to tie in with the release of the first Lord of the Rings film, is Meditations on Middle-Earth, a collection of original essays written by today's top fantasy and science fiction authors on the importance of The Lord of the Rings to their lives and work.
The Lord of the Rings' Metaphors
by Rolf A. F. Witzsche
A six-part exploration of the metaphors in J.R.R. Tolkien's mythical tale, The Lord of the Rings. The exploration covers not only events and physical features, but also the meaning of names and their background in history and in the politics of our modern world.
J.R.R. Tolkien University
by David Bischoff
Bilbo Baggins Goes to College--well, sort of.
The J.R.R. Tolkien Trivia Quiz Book
by William MacKay
What does the name "Tolkien" mean? To what nighttime activity does The Hobbit owe its origin? How many years did Tolkien devote to the writing of The Lord of the Rings? Which of his works did Tolkien consider the most important?

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/19/2004

GoJapan
Vindigo sold to Japanese content company
Mobile device content provider Vindigo Studios has been sold to For-side.com for $36.5 million as the company looks to expand its reach globally.
Vindigo will remain a wholly owned subsidiary of For-side, one of Japan's leading content providers for mobile devices. While widely known for its city guides service on handhelds, Vindigo has been focusing on making other services, such as movie guides, maps and news, available on cell phones for the last two and a half years.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/18/2004

DRM Watch
Publishing industry tackles digital rights
There's no Napster for books yet, but creators of text and images still have to deal with a lot of the same digital rights management issues perplexing the movie and music industries.
Publishing industry experts at the Seybold 2004 trade show here considered a variety of digital rights management (DRM) challenges during panel discussions on Wednesday, beginning with the proliferation of schemes for securing digital wares.
eReader, a leader in electronic books, uses a homemade licensing scheme for its downloadable books, with the encryption key for each book based on the credit card number used to purchase the book. Vice President Mike Violano said the system pretty much eliminates public swapping of license keys, while giving broad rights to the purchasers.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Time Out: Campaignz
Maybe ebookz are good for something
An unlikely place for campaigning: in the subject lines of pirate ebook titles. From alt.binaries.e-book.technical
Source: Teleread

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/17/2004

Middle E
The Fellowship of the Ring - Movie Transcript
See the differences between the book and the movies.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/16/2004

The Choice is Yours
RealNetworks kicks off "Freedom of Choice" campaign
MacMinute.com reports "in a move aimed squarely at luring iTunes customers, RealNetworks today announced that it has slashed song pricing to 49 cents and album pricing to $4.99 for a limited time. The price cuts are part of the company's new "Freedom of Choice" marketing campaign to tout its Harmony technology, which allows songs purchases from the RealNetworks Music Store to be played on Apple's iPod... In addition, RealNetworks has launched a very anti-Apple blog.

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New eBook
Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House
eBook by James Taranto & Leonard Leo
What makes a president great? Two of America's most prominent institutions, The Wall Street Journal and the Federalist Society, with the help of a wide array of eminent scholars, journalists, and political leaders, tackle this question in Presidential Leadership, the definitive ranking of our nation's chief executives.

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Slate
July edition of Slate’s eBook Club: 2004 Poetry Annual
Last summer we presented readers with a pair of downloads that collected nearly every poem that had been published in Slate. The response we received from our subscribers was tremendous, and inquiries about an update began to come in as early as January. As requested, we’re proud to present the 2004 Poetry Annual as our July eBook Club edition.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/13/2004

Diet Yeah
Angus Diet
This book is a work of fiction (albeit a darned snazzy work of fiction if we do say so ourselves). Speaking of fiction, Dr. Angus is not a real doctor. He isn’t even a real person (we know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true). And The Angus Diet isn’t a real diet – it’s a product of Dr. Angus’ “imagination.” In fact, all names, characters and incidents within this book are products of Dr. Angus’ imagination as he has a very lively imagination even though, as we’ve established, he isn’t even a real person. Any similarity with real people, living or dead, places or actual events is unintentional and purely coincidental. In summation, then, consider that this book has been written for entertainment purposes only. Have fun reading it and remember to always be fulfilled.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Rotten Apple
Hacker cracks Apple's wireless music streaming technology
Jon Lech Johansen released on his Web site—defiantly named "So Sue Me"—a software key that helps to unlock the encryption Apple uses for its AirPort Express, a device that lets users broadcast digital music from Apple's online iTunes Music Store on a stereo that's not plugged into a computer.

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Ooops
Commissioner is accomplished bibliophile
Hunt has no use or respect for the modern day electronic book industry. He says he has never tried an electronic book and furthermore states, "I believe it will ruin the art of reading."

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/11/2004

1,000,000 of "fair" play
iTunes Music Store Catalog Tops One Million Songs
“The iTunes Music Store offers the world’s most extensive collection of downloadable music with over one million tracks available,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Applications. “With more than one million songs, over 600 independent labels and dozens of innovative features, iTunes is the ultimate destination for discovering and downloading music.”
The iTunes Music Store is available in the US, UK, France and Germany, has Apple’s legendary ease-of-use, pioneering features, personal use rights and breakthrough pricing, and is the best way for PC and Mac® users to legally discover, purchase and download music online. The iTunes Music Store gives users the ability to play songs on up to five personal computers, burn a song onto CDs an unlimited number of times, burn the same playlist up to seven times and listen to their music on an unlimited number of iPods.

posted by Jerry permanent link

That's Why We Need ConvertLit.com
New computer? Forget Microsoft Reader
...like all the machines before it I installed MS Reader and set about activating it. This activation is required to unlock the ebooks that are DRM protected (most of them) and without going through this process the ebooks are just worthless files. Turns out you are only allowed to activate 6 devices accumulatively under the same passport account and then you are denied, meaning no access to your purchased library. Once you hit this limit you have little recourse- you submit a request for an extra device and then MS tells you they will review it and get back to you. In my case 30 seconds later I was notified my request was denied. End of the road.
source: teleread.org

posted by Jerry permanent link

Needed ASAP: Law to protect libraries' right to lend
What if Hollywood wrote public libraries out of the script for the digital revolution? Suppose libraries lost their right to lend materials--because the big studios bought up the tech-standards-writing committees, not just the DRM companies. Good-bye to the fair use and first sale doctrines of standard copyright. Hello to contracts without an ounce of regard for the Carnegie tradition and those other pesky little details that Hollywood regards as obsolete.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Welcoming Jorgen Dybdahl.
Jorgen will be our new contributor to Pocket PC eBooks Watch (+ iPod).
Thanks to him for the contribution in the future.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/10/2004

Shop This
Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholics Series
Sophie Kinsella is a writer and financial journalist. She is the author of the bestselling 'Shopaholic' novels.
Shopaholic Takes Manhattan
Shopaholic Ties the Knot
Can You Keep a Secret?
and
Confessions of a Shopaholic

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/07/2004

Last Page
Remember Me When I'm Gone
by Larry King
Larry King, world-famous radio and television personality, has asked the talented, the beautiful, the wise, and the rich a question all of us have pondered: How would you like to be remembered after your death? The result is Remember Me When I'm Gone, an entertaining and eloquent collection of "last words" from people in the arts, in politics, in sports, and in business, mostly still alive. In telling and moving reflections, often leavened by self-deprecating humor, these celebrities look back on their lives, their ambitions, their mistakes, and their accomplishments. The contributions range from pithy one-liners by Yogi Berra ("It's over."), Dave Barry, George Carlin, and Liz Smith ("Excuse my dust!"); to inspired sketches by Stephen King and Peter Falk; to candid reflections from Don Shula, Fred Rogers, and Chevy Chase; to hilarious rants from Margaret Cho and Tommy Lee; and a last request by Arthur Hailey. Often surprising and always memorable, Remember Me When I'm Gone is a timeless collection by stars who will live on forever.
mine: "No DRM, Multiple Formats"

posted by Jerry permanent link

iGod
iPod Bible
This is simply a free collection of specially formatted text files of the King James Version of the Holy Bible for viewing on the iPod.
Created by Steve Sugrim of Active VR, these files can be viewed on the iPod mini and iPod (with Dock Connector) models running iPod 2.0 software or higher.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/06/2004

Virgin Sue-cide
Virgin: Apple's not playing fair with iPod
French online music store Virgin Mega has filed a complaint against Apple Computer, claiming that the company's refusal to license the copy protection technology used in its iPod is harming competition.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Virgin Sue-side
Virgin: Apple's not playing fair with iPod
French online music store Virgin Mega has filed a complaint against Apple Computer, claiming that the company's refusal to license the copy protection technology used in its iPod is harming competition.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/05/2004

anothergo software
Repligo v2.0 Reviewed
Repligo is a universal document viewer along the lines of Acrobat, i.e. convert any source document to the Repligo format and then view it in read-only mode on any device that has the viewer application installed.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/03/2004

Freeebook 9/11
The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.
Get your copy of the official 9/11 Commission Report absolutely free. Available in all 8 unencrypted MultiFormats (the PDF version has all images and illustrations). Plus we've put many 9/11 related eBooks on sale, receive 30% Micropay Rebates on selected 9/11 titles for a limited time.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/02/2004

iDown Under
Click at your own risk
More than 100,000 Australians listen to music on such digital music players. Retailers cannot stock them fast enough. There is just one problem.
Most people know it is illegal to download songs from the internet without paying. But far fewer people know it is illegal to copy music from a CD you have legally bought.
Anyone who has copied songs from a CD onto an iPod or computer hard drive has fallen foul of Australian copyright laws, which critics argue are failing to keep pace with technological change. Copying music for personal use is generally OK in the US and Europe. But not in Australia.

posted by Jerry permanent link

iGreed
Use iPod, go to jail? Keep your eyes on Congress
(This could apply for Pocket PC too)
Millions of people could soon be carrying illegal devices in their pockets.
That's the message from the ``Save the iPod'' campaign. Holmes Wilson, an organizer of the Web-based movement, warns that the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act now pending in Congress threatens to silence the popular music player. In other words, your right to bear beats is in danger.
Crazy?
The Induce Act would give the music industry and other copyright holders new legal grounds to sue any business that profits from encouraging people to illegally distribute songs, movies, software, games and other copyrighted works. The proposed law targets popular online file-swapping services such as Kazaa.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco digital liberties group, argues that music player makers like Apple Computer also could be held liable under the act. In an academic, pot-stirring exercise, EFF attorneys drew up a hypothetical lawsuit the record labels could bring against Apple.
``A substantial element of the iPod's commercial viability can be traced to its ability to play infringing music files, whether downloaded over the Internet from peer-to-peer (``P2P'') networks or the result of promiscuous hand-to-hand copying of sound recordings among friends and acquaintances,'' wrote EFF attorneys in the fake lawsuit.
Given that the iPod holds up to 10,000 songs -- more than most people's CD collections -- ``Apple knew and intended that iPod owners would be getting their music from elsewhere, including P2P networks.''

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/01/2004

inBox Reader
Free Forwarding email from Yahoo
Yahoo! Mail gives you even more flexibility with two free features! As a Yahoo! Delivers member (you asked to receive special offers via Yahoo! Mail when you registered with us), you can take advantage of email forwarding and POP access. Each one is free, exclusively for Yahoo! Delivers members.

posted by Jerry permanent link