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

Temporary Post:
Time Out!
Real Time Out for me, I will be away until Saturday for business trip/

posted by Jerry permanent link

No strings attached
Urban renewal, the wireless way
The article discusses the impact of wireless technologies have on urban design and how people see urban space.

"People talk about mobile computing as now you'll be able to leave your home and go to a cafe or park and maybe go online and check e-mail," says Eric Paulos, lead researcher at Intel's Urban Atmospheres project in Berkeley, Calif., a program designed to explore technology's potential to augment and enhance the urban experience. "But we're interested in something much bigger than that. We're interested in the social cues that people already perform in urban spaces, in the artifacts that already exist, like trash cans, park benches, and how they will be mapped or reappropriated into a playful network of digital life on the streets."
Call it the "new new urbanism," a fusion of telecommunications technology and urban design that is at once a 21st century zeitgeist and a familiar riff on the age-old interface between cities and technology. "From an urban design perspective, a lot of technologists are just discovering public space," says Dennis Frenchman, chairman of the master of city planning program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It's an old story that goes back hundreds of years." A consultant on Seoul's Digital Media City, Frenchman himself is part of a very new story. The DMC will incorporate all-digital signage, with programming capacity accessible to the public, personal positioning services, intelligent street lamps and transparent storefronts that will reveal a building's inner uses as well as real-time Web feeds from sister cities.
The overall purpose of the DMC design, Frenchman says, is to infuse life on the street with multiple layers of meaning. "We're in a transitional moment," he hastens to add. "Huge kinds of things are happening."

(No registration though it asks you to "apply" for a day pass).

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  11/29/2004

Are you a dinosaur?
New Forms of Online Communication Spell End of Email Era in Korea

The email era is coming to an end because replacement communication means such as Internet messengers, mini-homepages (dubbed "one-man media"), and SMS are wielding their power.
...
"I use email when I send messages to elders," said a college student by the name of Park. For 22-year-old office worker Kim, "I use email only for receiving cellphone and credit card invoices."

[Via TechDirt]

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Get the max
iTunes Extreme: Killer Add-ons

While the number of third-party addons for iTunes does not even come close to those available for WinAMP even in it's early days, there are several nifty add-ons available that the average iTunes user may be interested in. As a basic introduction to these iTunes addons, this article will not be presented as an in-depth "how-to" article like most of the iPod 101/201 series, but instead will read more like a tour. By focusing on breadth instead of depth, this article will present the reader with the features, prices, and locations of a large assortment of cool add-ons for both the Mac and PC iTunes user. However, as a result of this shifted breadth/depth balance, the reader will be required to consult the website of each plug-in for specific instructions for installation and use -- they will certainly differ for each item.

Covers both Mac and PC.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Noble Project
Brooklyn Digital
About the project
This project was produced by Brooklyn Public Library's Brooklyn Collection and funded by the Library and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency that fosters innovation, leadership and a lifetime of learning.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle was published from 1841 to 1955, then revived for a short time from 1960 to 1963.
Because of the enormity of the collection, the digitization of the historic Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper from reels of microfilm has been broken down into more than one phase. Phase I, which can at present be found on this site, covers the period from October 26, 1841 to December 31, 1902, representing half of the Eagle's years of publication. This period includes all of the years for which there is no index as well as the eleven years during which an index was published. Approximately 147,000 pages of newspaper in various digital formats are contained in this online repository. Access can be gained either by date of issue or by keyword searching.
How the repository was created
Through a special agreement, Brooklyn Public Library borrowed new second generation negative microfilm reels from the Library of Congress.
(Source: JWalk Blog)
These reels were sent to OCLC/Preservation Resources and were then imaged using Sunrise scanners creating Group IV Tiff images at 300 dpi. The images were then cleaned up and aligned.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Copy Damn Right
Sample the Future
Rip, mix, burn. Swap till you drop. The music cops can't do a thing - it's 100 percent legal, licensed by the bands. Call it copyright for the 21st century.
By nature, musicians are thieves. Nicking a bit of this song and a lick from that one, shaping their style on the riffs of those who came before, musicians are experts in the art of acquisition. Woody Guthrie knew this; he pinched melodies from Leadbelly - and let anybody pinch him in return. The Sex Pistols knew this; they shamelessly lifted from the New York Dolls and ABBA (yes, ABBA) and set off a teenage riot. And James Brown knows this; he accrued a large debt to Little Richard - only to become the most sampled man in showbiz, with thousands of his grunts and bridges and beats pilfered by lesser men.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Simply Wrong Prediction
Digital music a long way from displacing CDs
It's going to be a long time before digital music downloads challenge CD sales, even in the online world. That's the conclusion of a report by market watcher Informa Media Group (IMG), published this week.
Come 2010, IMG says, global online music sales will exceed $6bn. An impressive number, but still only 15.2 per cent of total spending on music worldwide.

posted by Jerry permanent link

I Am One of Them
Survey: Some iPod fans dump PCs for Macs
The research found that 6 percent of iPod users have made the switch. An additional 7 percent said they are planning to dump their old PC for an Apple machine, according to the survey.
Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray senior research analyst, said the iPod halo effect will make a difference to Apple for a while to come.

posted by Jerry permanent link

P2P4U
Music industry lashes out at Kazaa trial
Kazaa is an "engine of copyright piracy to a degree of magnitude never before seen," an attorney for the music industry said during Monday's start of the Australian trial against peer-to-peer software distributor Sharman Networks.

posted by Jerry permanent link

More iPonderings
Can You Sell Your iPod With Songs On It?
The article about the sale of the secondhand iPod raised quite another question: "...considering that the recording industry freaks out if anyone shares a song for free, let alone profits from selling a song, it certainly seems like Schwartz' colleague, Kenneth Chang, has just opened himself up to a tremendous lawsuit. If the recording industry is going after people for sharing music for free, why not selling iPods full of music for just the cost of the iPod?".

posted by Jorgen permanent link

iPondering
To Know Me, Know My IPod
After buying a secondhand iPod from a friend, the buyer found more than 3000 songs on it. That got him to think.

So eavesdropping on Ken's iPod worried me. I have read about people randomly plugging in to each others' iPods to figure out what songs are in their friends' heads, or even in the heads of strangers. (They call it "podjacking.") But this was a mind meld.
What if I hated Ken's taste? Would I lose respect for him? I'm not talking about the Paula Abdul songs; we're all entitled to our guilty pleasures. But what if it was all bubblegum, or deeply dull? It would be like opening his closet and finding Star Trek uniforms. I fretted.

Read the rest to find out.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  11/28/2004

Hidden Mobile Channels
New York Times
http://partners.nytimes.com/avantgo/main.html
NY Times Book Review
http://partners.nytimes.com/avantgo/books.html
NY Times Art
http://partners.nytimes.com/avantgo/arts.html
NY Times Business
http://partners.nytimes.com/avantgo/business.html
NY Times Technology
http://partners.nytimes.com/avantgo/technology.html
NY Times Frontpage
http://partners.nytimes.com/avantgo/pageone.html

posted by Jerry permanent link

  11/27/2004

FreeGuide
No-Guilt Downloads: Free Books, Music, and Movies
"Information wants to be free," new-media gadfly Stewart Brand exclaimed famously in 1984. Brand has yet to start giving away his own books online, but others have, in the belief that word-of-mouth marketing will yield a bigger payoff in the long run. A few brave musicians similarly post free copies of their albums online and allow people to record and distribute their concerts for free. In most cases, the creators retain copyright to the books or recordings, but they permit fans to make copies for their own use.
Many other works--books, music, and even films--are in the public domain. This means that you can download them, upload them, package and sell them--whatever. They're free, period.

posted by Jerry permanent link

P2P4ever
P2P users move to TV-Series downloading?
So lets see, first we were told the P2P craze was music as early as Napster, then we were told the pirates were turning to movies, threatening to cripple the multi-billion dollar studios. The Software Industry has long being complaining about the mass sharing of cracked software on P2P, but lawsuits haven’t come there yet. Oh yes there was also other claims made too like the RIAA's claims about P2P users spreading child pornography to try to blacken the name of P2P. So now we are being told the craze is to use evil BitTorrent to share TV episodes with each other. Let’s see what the entertainment industry has missed out on. One major thing they forgot is the spreading of educational material like Documentaries, which are very popular on sites like Suprnova.org. Also lets not forget the millions of eBooks available. So what will we hear next? That P2P is threatening the Education "Industry" by allowing users to share Documentaries and eBooks with each other? Would we actually be surprised?

posted by Jerry permanent link

Time Out!
Commercial/Propaganda Comics
The following covers have been stolen / borrowed from numerous online sources, including e-bay and various personal home pages, and are grouped roughly according to subject. Longer reviews are available for some issues by clicking on their covers. Due to the large number of images on this site, it may take a while for the entire gallery to load.
Source Jwalk Blog

posted by Jerry permanent link

DRM Watch
E-Books and DRM
Can e-books be saved from the curse of DRM? Or, perhaps better said, when will book publishers realize that loading their digital products down with rights restrictions is not in their own self interest?
There are many reasons why e-books have never really taken off, starting with the fact that many of us are quite fond of paper and print. And, judging by the gripes I've been hearing from e-book devotees, there's not going to be much reason to change our minds until book publishers cease their love affair with digital rights management.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Engadget Podcast.17

00:00 - Intro
03:15 - Treo 650, remember the memory issue? Free 128mb cards!
05:30 - The 10 million dollar bic pen, yikes.
11:45 - Bizarro world, Sony is introducing the Sony Microdrive.
15:55 - eBay, $125 Wal-Mart gift card goes for $127.51?
17:50 - Digital Signage in Retail, TV-B-Gone is looking better and better.
23:00 - More mashing, anime meets Popeye.
27:30 - NPR, file-sharing tool grows in popularity, the quiet resistance grows.
40:00 - CBC BitTorrent woes, whoops.
46:00 - BBC Arts, the culture show, thanks Adam! Props to Dawn and Drew! Torrent here.
55:30 - Go to Podcast Alley and vote for us, and win.

Format: 58 minutes, 13MB, MP3.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Buyers Guide from Pocket-PC Mag
Quick Guide: Everything you need to know about your Windows Mobile Pocket PC and Smartphone
Interesting read.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

The sky is the limit?
iPod sales expected to skyrocket

Analyst Charles Wolf (Needham & Co.) predicts Apple will sell 13.3 million iPods in 2005, with that figure to jump to 23.5 million in 2006. That’s a lot of white headphone-toting individuals waiting to happen!
One of Wolf’s more interesting predictions is the expectation that 100 million Windows users will be iPod owners by 2008.

I doubt it as there are many competetive products, some giving far better valus for money.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  11/26/2004

i4ever
King of Music Players
As Apple's iPod capitalizes on a shift in the way people enjoy entertainment, many believe its popularity will endure.
"With a lot of pop culture products, if something becomes so much of its time, then it becomes a parody of itself," said Robert Thompson, a professor of media and popular culture at Syracuse University. " 'Miami Vice' was so incredibly hip on TV and became so associated with the mid-80s, but three years later you couldn't watch it without bursting out in laughter."
BUT
Apple founder Steve Jobs said he wasn't worried that iPod might one day be considered the Rubik's Cube of the 21st century. Instead, he said, iPod is capitalizing on a fundamental shift in the way people buy and enjoy entertainment in the digital age.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  11/25/2004

What do they think?
The iPod industry reacts to iPod Photo and more

We asked a sampling of companies involved in developing iPod accessories to give us their feedback on the iPod Photo and U2 iPod. Other questions included when they will bring new iPod Photo cases to market (if any) and what they thought about our recently released iPodlounge Buyers' Guide 2004.

Interesting!

posted by Jorgen permanent link

The-Gadgeteer Guest Review
Crayton Electronics 1st / 2nd Generation iPod Replacement Battery Kit
The reviewer is not impressed - to say the least!

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Loose'em or join'em
3 Music Companies Will Use Online File-Sharing Service
Three major recording companies have agreed to make their music available to be shared and sold over a new online file-swapping service that aims to lure music fans away from services where most of the trading is illegal.

posted by Jerry permanent link

My Favorite Webcast
Inside Mac Radio
Scott Sheppard takes a lighthearted look at what's new and exciting in the world of the Macintosh computer in this two-hour weekly broadcast radio show. From the digital hub to the den of the Tiger operating system, Scott is always on top of what is happening in the world of Macintosh and has his finger on the pulse of the industry. With a tasty serving of news, reviews, information, and interviews, Inside Mac is all Mac, all the time, and one of the unique tech shows on radio today.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Singing in the Rain
Music Industry Book to be Released
The new book “Music Business: It’s all about the Music.. Right?” by A.J. Grant and LoRene` will be available to 25,000+ booksellers worldwide including Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc. It will also be available online and as an ebook early 2005.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  11/24/2004

HBR
Harvard Business Review eBooks
The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. From the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business, here are the leading minds and landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Thousand Points of DRMs
A Kinder, Gentler Copyright Bill?
On Saturday, the Senate met and passed the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2004, or SB3021 (.pdf), a revised version of the Intellectual Property Protection Act (HR2391), which had cobbled together a handful of copyright-related bills. Now the bill heads to the House of Representatives for consideration in early December.
The Senate passes a copyright bill that is not as bad as digital rights activists had feared. The bill drops language that would have banned tech that would have allowed people to skip commercials.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Paradigm Shift
Newspapers Should Really Worry
Publishers of newspapers and magazines like to corral readers when they're young. If you can shape kids' info-seeking habits when they're in their teens or twenties, so the thinking goes, you'll nab them for life.
From the perspective of publishers, the 18- to 34-year-old demographic is highly prized by advertisers -- the people who make writing, editing and working at a newspaper or magazine a vocation, not just an avocation (like it is for most bloggers.) But there is trouble afoot. The seeds have been planted for a tremendous upheaval in the material world of publishing.
Young people just aren't interested in reading newspapers and print magazines. In fact, according to Washington City Paper, The Washington Post organized a series of six focus groups in September to determine why the paper was having so much trouble attracting younger readers. You see, daily circulation, which had been holding firm at 770,000 subscribers for the last few years, fell more than 6 percent to about 720,100 by June 2004, with the paper losing 4,000 paying subscribers every month.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  11/23/2004

Latest podcast
Engadget Podcast.16

00:00- Intro
02:00- Mobile phone ads.
06:00- Engadget mention on CNN and Business 2.0, yay!
13:00- Mash-up response, and some more on that.
16:30- Nintendo DS review, they took it apart, and we found out this still works.
25:00- Fastforwarding is good, Fastforwarding is bad.
31:45- Our TV-B-Gone video, WMV and MOV.
39:20- First Treo 650 hack, use BlueTooth DUN.
43:20- Follow up, Juha is out of Macromedia.
49:00- The asteroid coming from Apple?
50:50- Engadget gets a DMCA letter.
52:40- Tech support generation; here are some free tools to tote.

Format: 1 hour, 14MB, MP3.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Parody
iPod vs. The Cassette
No Name No Slogan labs tests this years must-have device against one of the all time great audio formats..

posted by Jerry permanent link

ePaper
Paperless Paper

Electronic or e-paper is a display material that looks just like paper, but can be re-used thousands of times. The potential is not restricted to e-books but can be used in a variety of applications such as digital displays and educational kits. For instance, you could have digital libraries which charge your e-book with content in the future. You could read it just like you read an Amrita Pritam paperback today. After you have finished your e-book, all you need to do is log on to your library and download another book.

Read on about the technical aspects in the article. More about eInk can be found here and here (for more search thi blog for "eInk").

posted by Jorgen permanent link

p2p with new flavour
File Sharing Growing Like a Weed

Shared Media Licensing, based in Seattle, offers Weed, a software program that allows interested music fans to download a song and play it three times for free. They are prompted to pay for the "Weed file" the fourth time. Songs cost about a dollar and can be burned to an unlimited number of CDs, passed around on file-sharing networks and posted to web pages.
...
"Because CDs are so expensive, sometimes people don't want to take a chance (buying a full CD) with a new artist," Rose said. "The whole idea of (Weed) is really cool."

Great to see new experiments in downloads.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  11/21/2004

Cross Platform Pricing
Mobipocket Reader Pro: A Real Cross Platform Pricing
The steps of Mobipocket creating one pricing for ALL the reader pro, is one of the best pricing strategy in the industry. I got the register code when I got my Mobipocket Reader Pro for Pocket PC, and that code also works for my Mobipocket Reader Pro for Symbian (Nokia 9500). This fair pricing should be followed by ereader.com for its pro reader version. Currently ereader pro buyers should purchase for every platform pro version of its readers (palm, pocket pc, mac, and PC), which does not make sense in the age of Cross Platform. Two Thumbs UP for Mobipocket!!!

posted by Jerry permanent link

  11/20/2004

Cross Platform
Well now I really need a cross platform ebook formats. I just realize it more day after day.
I use my Mac more each day, I use my Nokia 9500 (symbian) more than my Pocket PC now. Days of my PC and Pocket PC start diminish in my computing hours.
Most of my protected ebooks are 50% in Peanutpress format (yes, I prefer called ereader/palm reader as peanutpress), 40% in MS Reader, 5% in Adobe Reader, 4% (and growing fast) in Zinio.com (for emagazines), and 1% in Mobipocket.

The problem I have with Peanutpress is, the reader is not available for Symbian yet. So I can't read most of the ebooks that I purchased in this format with my Nokia 9500.

Mobipocket is available for Nokia 9500, but the ebooks can't be read with my iMac.

MS Readers are great for Pocket PC and PC, but that stuck only with these MS machines.

Adobe Reader is THE WORST ebook format, big, clumsy, and BAD for PDA reading. I tried it that with Pocket PC, with my Nokia 9500, and don't like it AT ALL.

Zinio, THE BEST EBOOK (emagazine) READER, only available for PC and MAC. While most of my reading habits are with my PDA: iPAQ 2210 or Nokia 9500.

So which one is really cross-platform for my NEXT purchase for secured eBook?

My answer is MS Reader. Because the DRM is easily broken with convertlit.com. Then I explode the secured lit file to .htm. Then I use Mobipocket Free Publisher to publish it to Mobipocket format, so I can read it on my Nokia 9500 and my Pocket PC, a DRM Free. Or I can convert them to PDF for archiving to be read with my MAC.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Buy an iPod from Apple or from HP?
Apple iPod from HP (iPod+hp)
This and many other questions are answered in this good review from iPodLounge.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Engadget Podcast.15

00:00- Intro.
02:15- Comments about Palm… Lenn still says Palm’s CCO knows kung fu.
05:00- Mash the Planet, we need your help, mashing it.
13:30- Hunt via the web, um, yikes.
21:00- Tivo sells your fast-forward button, How-to get rid of your TiVo coming next week…
31:40- EPIC, the future with the google grid, wild.
44:30- Amazon sells used condoms, or sell your own.
46:40- Oakley MP3 sunglasses, iPodlounge reviews them.
50:00- Movies to take your pictures, how we’re fighting back.
52:50- Walmart, not good for America—beat them.

Format: 1 hour, 14MB, MP3.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  11/19/2004

Interview
Tim O'Reilly Interview, Part 3: eBooks & Remix Culture
Read/Write Web has been interviewing Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Computer Books fame and have this time ot to the topic of e-books. You will need to read the whole article!
[Link via MobileRead]

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Sorry about the bad link to the iPod Ebook Creator! This one works.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  11/18/2004

Read This Before You Upgrade
iPodlounge: iPod Updater 2004-10-20
This update includes iPod mini software v1.2 and iPod software v3.0.2, for iPods with a Click Wheel. The updater includes the same software versions as iPod Updater 2004-10-20 for all other iPod models.
New features of iPod mini Software 1.2:
Compatibility with iTunes 4.7 and iTunes Music Store
Shuffle and play song library with one click (using the Shuffle Songs item in the main menu)
Create multiple On-The-Go playlists
Delete songs from On-The-Go playlists
Select reading playback speed for audiobooks
Hear Click Wheel clicker through headphones
Sync and go with improved disconnect performance
New features of iPod Software 3.0.2 provides:
Compatibility with iTunes 4.7 and iTunes Music Store
Improved USB 2.0 connectivity
...But "And it deleted IpodDownload functionability," mikemac

posted by Jerry permanent link

Time Out!
The Worst Jobs in Science
Monitoring dumps, extracting worms, lobbying politicians: science's ugly side.

posted by Jerry permanent link

BIG BIG BIG BUSINESS II: Barbarian at the Gates
Gates vs. Jobs: The Rematch
THE history of Apple Computer can be told through its advertisements as well as its products. There was, of course, the commercial that introduced the Macintosh. It was broadcast exactly once, during the 1984 Super Bowl, and signaled the company's bid to reclaim leadership in personal computers from I.B.M. and its tiny, little-known software partner, Microsoft.
For that to happen, however, Mr. Jobs must do what he failed to do last time: prevail over his old nemesis, Bill Gates, who sees entertainment as Microsoft's next great frontier. Microsoft is working hard to make sure that the iPod is less like the Walkman and more like the Betamax, Sony's videocassette format that was defeated in the marketplace by VHS.
A few days after Apple's U2 extravaganza, Mr. Gates, Microsoft's chairman, paced around his office overlooking the rolling hills of suburban Seattle and recalled another advertisement that Apple made 25 years ago. "When I.B.M. came out with their PC, Apple ran an ad saying, "Welcome,' " said Mr. Gates. "They haven't yet run the ad welcoming us into the music business.
"Apple should," he added.

posted by Jerry permanent link

BIG BIG BIG GLOBAL BUSINESS
Microsoft Warns Asian Governments of Linux Suits
Linux violates more than 228 patents, according to a recent report from a research group, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said at the company's Asian Government Leaders Forum in Singapore.
"Someday, for all countries that are entering the WTO (World Trade Organization), somebody will come and look for money owing to the rights for that intellectual property," he added.
Singapore's Ministry of Defense last month switched 20,000 personal computers to run on open-source software instead of the Microsoft operating platform.
Other governments in the region are also looking to use more open-source software. China, Japan and South Korea this year agreed to jointly develop applications running on Linux.
... The Chinese government, in particular, sees its reliance on Microsoft as a potential threat. Conspiracy buffs believe certain patches in the Windows code might give U.S. authorities the power to access Chinese networks and disable them, possibly during a war over Taiwan.
Ballmer said the security fears some governments had about using Microsoft software were overblown.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Review
PocketMusic Bundle: A Powerful Package
You don’t need any fancy MP3 playing hardware if you’ve got PocketMind’s PocketMusic Player Bundle on your Pocket PC. This award-winning software will turn your Pocket PC into a serious music-playing machine, capable of playing MP3, WMA, OGG Vorbis, Audible Books, and HTTP streaming audio. Don’t take my word for it though, let’s look at the features!
The first thing you’ll see when you fire up PocketMusic is the wonderful, candy-like screen.

posted by Jerry permanent link

iBooks
iPod eBook Creator - convert books into notes on iPod
Web-based tool to which you upload your text file, which will be split into linked notes. Great idea!
[Link via MobileRead]

posted by Jorgen permanent link

iBasketcase?
NBA gives iPod a technical foul
If you are a professional basketball player, you may want to make a note of this:

The National Basketball Association has notified the Toronto Raptors' shooting guard that using the iPod during pregame warm-ups violates the league's dress code.

Who invents all those wierd rules?

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  11/17/2004

Free eBooks
Diesel eBook's Free section
Diesel eBooks has good collection of Free eBooks, check 'em out.

posted by Jerry permanent link

I knew that!
E-Books Blamed for Global Warming Increase

The problem, postulate researchers, is the incredible amount of energy required to successfully pay for, download, and open the e-books. "Particularly using the Adobe scheme, we found that to download a 2 megabyte e-book required a user actively participating in various logins, registrations, and downloads for an average of 12 hours, resulting in an average of 173.2 megabytes of data transfer," explained Arther, "Boiling all that down to kilowatt hours of energy shows that e-books consume approximately 18 times the fossil fuel of an equivalent published work."
...
An informal survey conducted by the researchers found that 98% of those that had downloaded an e-book only did so once. The most common reason for not repeating the purchase was "difficulty with installation."

This is of course satire, but they may actually have a point with Adobe ebooks! Eh, did someone in the background say something about MS Reader upgrades? Read the whole thing.
[Via MobileRead]

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Give and you shall receive
'Music Is Not a Loaf of Bread'

Giving away an album online isn't the way most artists end up with gold records. But it worked out that way for Wilco.
After being dropped from Reprise Records in 2001 over creative conflicts surrounding Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the Chicago-based band committed what some thought would be suicide -- they streamed it online for free.
The album's subsequent release on Nonesuch debuted higher on the charts than any of their prior releases. That success gave both band and label confidence to try new internet forays: the first-ever MPEG-4 webcast with Apple, as well as more free online offerings of live shows and an EP's worth of fresh tracks. The band's 2004 release, A Ghost Is Born, hit No. 8 on the Billboard charts -- their highest position to date.

Read the whole article!

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  11/16/2004

Power to the people
Put PowerPoint on your iPod Photo

This week’s How-To is a quick and simple one if you have an iPod Photo and use PowerPoint or Keynote and don’t want to lug around a computer—you can just plug in to a projector or a TV. This will also work with a Portable Media Center, or any other photo playing device that can be a video source. Also included in this How-To are some other ways to play your favorite slides, like using a pair of VGA goggles (that one’s for the geeks).

So, now you have the reason for upgrading, you were looking for!

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Stop, collaborate and listen
Engadget Podcast.14

00:00- Intro.
01:00-New Skype for Macs coming. No more phone lines for Lenn.
09:30-PowerPoint and Keynote for iPod photo How-To, Dec Popular Science.
13:30-Ads on p2p networks, a good thing, TiVo via RSS.
21:00-IMsmarter, great new free IM enhancer.
26:45-Lexmark spyware and DCMA case, don’t buy Lexmark.
34:00-Xbox lock outs, we propose “open class”.
43:40-Palm is losing it, go Treo all the way.

Format: 55 minutes, 19 MB, MP3.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Godfather part IV
The Godfather Returns
The Missing Years from the Greatest Crime Saga of All Time! Thirty-five years ago, Mario Puzo's great American tale, The Godfather, was published, and popular culture was indelibly changed. Now, in The Godfather Returns, acclaimed novelist Mark Winegardner continues the story--the years not covered in Puzo's bestselling book or in Francis Ford Coppola's classic films. It is 1955. Michael Corleone has won a bloody victory in the war among New York's crime families. Now he wants to consolidate his power, save his marriage, and take his family into legitimate businesses. To do so, he must confront his most dangerous adversary yet, Nick Geraci, a former boxer who worked his way through law school as a Corleone street enforcer, and who is every bit as deadly and cunning as Michael. Their personal cold war will run from 1955 to 1962, exerting immense influence on the lives of America's most powerful criminals and their loved ones, including Tom Hagen, the Corleone Family's lawyer and consigliere, who embarks on a political career in Nevada while trying to protect his brother; Francesca Corleone, daughter of Michael's late brother Sonny, who is suddenly learning her family's true history and faces a difficult choice; Don Louie Russo, head of the Chicago mob, who plays dumb but has wily ambitions for muscling in on the Corleones' territory; Peter Clemenza, the stalwart Corleone underboss, who knows more Family secrets than almost anyone; Ambassador M. Corbett Shea, a former Prohibition-era bootlegger and business ally of the Corleones', who wants to get his son elected to the presidency--and needs some help from his old friends; Johnny Fontane, the world's greatest saloon singer, who ascends to new heights as a recording artist, cozying up to Washington's power elite and maintaining a precarious relationship with notorious underworld figures; Kay Adams Corleone, who finally discovers the truth about her husband, Michael--and must decide what it means for their marriage and their children and Fredo Corleone, whose death has never been fully explained until now, and whose betrayal of the Family was part of a larger and more sinister chain of events. Sweeping from New York and Washington to Las Vegas and Cuba, The Godfather Returns is the spellbinding story of America's criminal underworld at mid-century and its intersection with the political, legal, and entertainment empires. Mark Winegardner brings an original voice and vision to Mario Puzo's mythic characters while creating several equally unforgettable characters of his own. The Godfather Returns stands on its own as a triumph--in a tale about what we love, yearn for, and sometimes have reason to fear ... family.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Survival of the shareware
The True Story of Audion
When we created Audion, our Mac-only, multipurpose MP3 application, Steven Frank and I had one goal: we wanted to listen to our music CDs on our computers while we worked, and we wanted to it be stylish. We had no indication that MP3s would one day turn the music industry upside down and have it running for cover. We certainly had no idea that something like the iPod would pop up and literally change Apple as a company. And even though we weren't really responsible for any revolutions per se — rather, we rode on the revolution-train with many others — everything that happened to Audion just fell into place, magically and unexpectedly, like so many beautiful moments in life.
But now, after many years of work, we've made the difficult decision to "retire" Audion from active development.

posted by Jerry permanent link

My Nokia 9500 Photo Gallery
Please visit and sign the guest book, cheers Jerry

posted by Jerry permanent link

Gizmodo is second-guessing Apple's moves in December (see UPDATE).

posted by Jorgen permanent link

SwitchPod
Single switch scanning control for the Apple iPod
TecSol brings a review of a device that enables a handicapped with little or no hand function to control an iPod.

The switchPod plugs into the remote control socket, and using a single switch suited to the individual, all remote control functions are available. For a person with high level quadriplegia, a switch mounted on the wheelchair headrest may be suitable.

[Via Engadget].

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  11/15/2004

No strings attached
Document reveals iPod with wireless capabilities
Jerry mentioned in August that Apple were seeking a wireless engineer. Apple filed in April 2003 according to AppleInsider a patent for an iPod with wireless capabilities. The system described in the abstract will be able to transmit to a whole range of different devices and specific recipients. Since adding wireless connectivity to an iPod in itself presumably cannot be patented, they must have found something new - or are they just trying to patent a new product? Read the whole article.
[Via Engadget]

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  11/13/2004

Quest(ions)
Performance Quest
Performance Quest is an electronic publishing company that is focused on the PDA (Palm, Pocket PC, and Smartphone) or handheld computer marketplace.
featuring:
1. HandyDocs Service
We can convert any document to be viewed on your Palm, Pocket PC, or Smartphone Device. Distribute your documents to anyone immediately and with less expense than normal publishing ventures.
2. Mobile Database Service
We can help you create a truly paperless office by converting your information into a mobile database that will always be in the palm of your hand.
Imagine having all of Your Information in the Palm of Your Hand!
3. eBook Library
Download any of our 600+ eBook publications.
eBooks include:
Covey, Tracy, Clancy, Drucker, Shakespeare, Sports, Reference, Business, Success etc..

posted by Jerry permanent link

DRBad
Turning back the copyright clock
DRM is all-but useless. Just about everyone agrees on that - except the people who are trying to get rich on it, of course, and the entertainment industry, which is trying to convince itself that it actually works as a form of product protection, and ....

But you know how it goes.

Sci-fi author Jim Kelly wondered if DRM schemes are hurting his career.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Will they call it flashyPod?
Apple to begin manufacturing flash-based iPod next month
Though nothing is certain until you see an official Apple announcement, AppleInsider seems to have inside-information about flash-based players to be produced from December and sold perhaps as early as late-January in one or more sizes between 256Mb to 1Gb and go for a price of less than $200. This confirms the rumours that have been circulating for a while.
Engadget's comments.
DigitalMediaThoughts is not impressed:

I guess lock them into iTunes at a lower pricepoint and keep them from buying music on Napster or MSN Music... Seems like a step back to me, but then again, I've never owned a flash based player.

Well, I have and they are nice and small!
[UPDATE 16/11: Gizmodo has also noted the rumours and adds:

I do think it makes sense that Apple will also announce an update to the iPod mini at the same time so that they won't leave it stranded. I would also hope that Apple would start at least 1GB of flash storage—maybe even 2GB, although that might press the price too much. Really, what would be best is an iPod 3G interface (not the click wheel) with an SD card slot so we could basically buy the interface, then add storage as we could afford. That would screw up the song index of the iPod, though, not to mention the market for larger capacity iPods, so I guess it's not really that likely.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

5 Stars +++++ Program (Highest Recommendation)
Delicious Library

Run your very own library from your home or office using our impossibly simple interface. Delicious Library's digital shelves act as a visual card-catalog of your books, movies, music and video games. A scan of a barcode is all Delicious Library needs to add an item to your digital shelves, downloading tons of info from the internet like the author, release date, current value, description, and even a high-resolution picture of the cover. Import your entire library using our exclusive full-speed iSight video barcode scanner, our Flic® Wireless Laser Bar Code Scanner, or (the slow way) entering the titles by hand. Once you have all of your items in your Mac, you can browse though your digital shelves, check stuff out to friends using Apple's built-in Address Book and calendar, and find new items to read, watch, and play using Library's recommendations.
Actually I tried to input it by hand, which is takes very fast too. I entered the 11 digits bar code to the library, the library pick all the information, and also recommend similar items that we might have. The similar items are very accurate, it allows us to drag and drop the similar items very fast, which reduce the time of re-input the bar code manually. It is very AMAZING.
And for the final bang, all the library contents are synch to the iPod's notes, which include complete information of the CD, track list, retail price, current collector price, Amazon users' rating, UPC and Amazon code.
The only problem that you might have is, the program is only available for MAC. From its FAQ:
Q: Do you plan on making a Windows version of this app?
A: We don't have any plans for this, currently. It's very unlikely given that the application is very dependent on Mac OS X-only technologies. Porting the application to Windows would require a lot of effort and we simply do not have the resources. Also, we don't like Windows very much. ;)

posted by Jerry permanent link

  11/12/2004

Virgin gets no fair play
France rules Apple's DRM denial not anti-competition

Apple's refusal to license FairPlay was on no way hampering the expansion of the digital music download market - growth indicated by the huge number of rivals popping up to compete with the iTunes Music Store.
...
VirginMega uses Windows' own audio and DRM technology - it's online music service is supplied by Loudeye's European subsidiary, OD2 - which isn't supported by the iPod. Since Apple won't build WMA compatibility into the iPod, Virgin wants Apple to license FairPlay so it can incorporate the technology into the tracks it sells, making them iPod-compatible.

Sounds like they will have to write a conversion program like Real.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  11/11/2004

LonePod
Why iPod's tune won't change
So the question commentators ask is: how soon will Microsoft crush that market share to single digits, as happened with the personal computer market? A more interesting question, asked by software developers who see those six million iPods as an untapped market for a new breed of applications, is: when will Apple open up the iPod platform to other software? I think the answer to these two questions is interlinked: the sooner Apple does the second, the less likely the first will happen; but the longer it delays the second, the more likely the first becomes.
But Microsoft and rival digital music players aren't going to take the iPod's title anytime soon. First, iPods aren't PCs: they're consumer electronics items. Microsoft won the operating system "war" because in the 1980s companies buying PCs wanted IBM or compatible machines (because then buying IBM was the "keep your job even if it all goes wrong" option). Those PCs happened to run Microsoft's operating system. Apple never had a dominant share of the PC operating system market - at least not when there was one worth dominating.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  11/10/2004

Time Out!
Popular Science: BEST OF WHAT'S NEW 2004
BEST OF WHAT'S NEW award winners, from deciding whether a shoe's cushioning is too soft or too firm, to comparing live video images of a target with recon photos in the world's most accurate cruise missile, to translating nerve signals into cursor commands in a brain implant. And the adjective — "algorithmic" — serves as an apt description of our effort to sort through thousands of inventions, wrap our brains around their implications, and whittle them down to a nice round 100.

And Guess What?, this POPULAR magazine is putting Microsoft's UNPOPULAR DRM 10 as the best of 2004 Duh. For honest customers, we know that Apple Fairplay and Palm's Reader DRM is much better system than the MS DRM 10.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Fadigital
Even Digital Memories Can Fade
So dire and complex is the challenge of digital preservation in general that the Library of Congress has spent the last several years forming committees and issuing reports on the state of the nation's preparedness for digital preservation.
Jim Gallagher, director for information technology services at the Library of Congress, said the library, faced with "a deluge of digital information," had embarked on a multiyear, multimillion-dollar project, with an eye toward creating uniform standards for preserving digital material so that it can be read in the future regardless of the hardware or software being used. The assumption is that machines and software formats in use now will become obsolete sooner rather than later.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Save the iPod
Students Fight Copyright Hoarders
College students around the country start groups to teach their peers about copyright law and how Hollywood and record companies abuse it. To fight vacant stares, they frame the issue like this: Save the iPod.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Wow
Video iPod: Wrong Time, Wrong Place
Could Apple make a video iPod today? Sure. But just because the technology's there doesn't make this the right time to sell one.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  11/09/2004

Latest Podcast
Engadget Podcast.12

Time & Topics:
Intro
01:00- First iPod Photo Podcast! Get the photos here.
03:50- Future articles on Engadget, Advertising in Technology, holding a mirror up.
10:00- MP3 player and audible giveaway on Engadget.
11:00- Skype interview, we used Skype for this podcast.
14:30- CBS says blogs are not journalism (reality TV is TV?).
21:40- Movies on SPOT watches, still need to kick up a notch.
26:00- Best Buy hates smart customers, are you a Barry or a Buzzes?
34:00- Make salad bowls out of old records, mmm, vinyl.

38 minutes, 13MB, MP3.
I never cease to wonder about CBS. CBS and NYT were in the 20th century great newssources; however, they are are today no more related to journalism than the Iraqi Information Minister were during the war in Iraq.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Glowing iPod
Merrill Lynch ups iPod sales estimates
Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Milunovich has raised his iPod sales estimates for Apple's December quarter from 3 million units to 3.5 million units based on stronger international sales and increased supply of drives. "December could be particularly strong as the new iPod Photo is getting glowing reviews, and the competition still lags in ease of use," Milunovich said in a research note obtained by iPodlounge.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  11/08/2004

iHonesty
20 million downloads and counting

RIAA take that. You might accuse all of us of being thieves. Bit Torrent usage might be exploding, but research by Ipsos-Insight shows that most of us are happy paying for tunes. The study shows that the number of paying down-loaders increased 150% In First Half Of 2004, bringing the total to a whopping 20 million Americans.

Take note of the reader comments underneath the article complaining about the price.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Librie news
Sony Librie MakeLFR - now with Graphic support

Now Sven released a new version of his little console tool MakeLFR. MakeLFR 0.3 adds text compression and graphics support

Download it at the above link.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Dealing with LLL's
How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)

With her monumental bestsellers Treason, Slander, and High Crimes and Misdemeanors, Coulter has become the most recognized and talked-about conservative intellectual in years--and certainly the most controversial. Now, in How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must), which is sure to ignite impassioned debate, she offers her most comprehensive analysis of the American political scene to date. With incisive reasoning, refreshing candor, and razor-sharp wit, she reveals just why liberals have got it so wrong. In this powerful and entertaining book, which draws on her weekly columns, Coulter ranges far and wide. No subject is off-limits, and no comment is left unsaid. After all, she writes, "Nothing too extreme can be said about liberals because it's all true." How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must) offers Coulter's unvarnished take on: The essence of being a liberal: "The absolute conviction that there is one set of rules for you, and another, completely different set of rules for everyone else." John Kerry: "A reporter asked Kerry, "Are you for or against gay marriage?" As usual, his answer was, "Yes."

Good stuff!

posted by Jorgen permanent link

The UNPresident
When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and Its Consequences
by Eric Alterman
Eric Alterman's When Presidents Lie is a compelling historical examination of four specific post-World War II presidential lies whose consequences were greater than could ever have been predicted. FDR told the American people that peace was secure in Europe, setting the stage for McCarthyism and the cold war. John F. Kennedy's unyielding stance during the Cuban missile crisis masked his secret deal with the Soviet Union. Misrepresented aggression at the Gulf of Tonkin by the North Vietnamese gave LBJ the power to start a war. Finally, Ronald Reagan's Central American wars ended in the ignominy of the Iran-contra scandal. In light of George W. Bush's war in Iraq, which Alterman examines in the book's conclusion, When Presidents Lie is a warning--one more relevant today than ever before--that the only way to prevent these lies is America's collective demand for truth.

posted by Jerry permanent link

The American President
Because He Could: Bill Clinton
by Dick Morris & Eileen McGann
Now, in the wake of Clinton's million-selling memoir My Life, Morris and his wife, Eileen McGann, set the record straight with Because He Could, a frank and perceptive deconstruction of the story Clinton tells--and the many more revealing stories he leaves untold. With the same keen insight they brought to Hillary Clinton's life in their recent bestseller Rewriting History, Morris and McGann uncover the hidden sides of the complicated and sometimes dysfunctional former president. Whereas Hillary is anxious to mask who she really is, they show, Bill Clinton inadvertently reveals himself at every turn--as both brilliant and undisciplined, charming yet often filled with rage, willing to take wild risks in his personal life but deeply reluctant to use the military to protect our national security.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Free podBook
Playing God: BiblePlayer for iPod catches on

For those seeking spiritual guidance via a handheld device, a California start-up called BiblePlayer is offering free downloads of the world's best-selling book

Other religious stuff is in the works.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  11/06/2004

iPod tinkering
iPod Photo Diagnostic Mode revealed

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Hear, not see
iPod remote doesn’t control photos on iPod Photo

We just picked up an iPod Photo and noticed that you can only use the iPod remote to control music on the new iPod, but not to advance, pause, or play photo slideshows.

Time for a ROM update, Apple!

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Pocket PC DVD
CarryDVD: Movies On-The-Go
You know that when "reliability" becomes a key factor, it's a product that is likely to deliver the goods! CarryDVD allows you to backup your DVDs and transfer them to your Pocket PC for playback, and all you need is Windows Media Player for the Pocket PC – simple! A handy feature of the software is its ability to track the progress of the backup. In the case of a power failure (or some unexpected intervention), CarryDVD recognises where it left off and continues with the backup on the next startup.

posted by Jerry permanent link

New P2P Star
BitTorrent takes over, accounts for 35% of net traffic
According to British Web analysis firm CacheLogic, BitTorrent currently accounts for an astounding 35% of all Internet traffic, that is, more than all other P2P networks combined.
Although P2P file sharing has the reputation of being widely used by pirates for distributing illegal software, BitTorrent in particular is being used nowadays to decentralize the distribution of legal downloads that go from Linux ISOs, to large game demos, popular video trailers, eBooks, etc.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Another DRM horror story
Acrobat Reader 2.0 and ebooks -- a joke on us!
A PPC user describes the trials and tribulations of trying to read Adobe e-books on a Pocket-PC. So how come that a biggie like Adobe cannot make a reader though many smaller companies succeed? The answer is the usual: DRM ends up giving grief to the honest users and giving e-books a bad name.
I still remember the attempts in the 80ies on making copy-protected software that didn't cause endless problems for the honest users. End result: people stopped buying copy-protected software and the developers were forced to remove all protection. The lesson of the 80ies should have been that it is probably impossible to make a fair DRM system that doesn't punish the users at one time or another. So far, noone has succeeded.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  11/05/2004

Podcasting yet again
Engadget Podcast.11

01:00- Intro
02:30- We mess with some with telemarketers! Way cool. Do not call list is bs. Samuel L. Jackson helps out.
09:00- Tim Russert’s Tablet PC, Whiteboard is out.
11:45- ListentoAMovie.com, listen now before it’s gone.
14:45- iPod Download How-To. Apple, we’re you’re customers too.
16:30- iPods in hotels, and spending marketing money surgically.
20:00- WindowsMobile on TREOs?
22:15- David Winer on Engadget, we make gadgets.
25:30- Some feedback from PodCat, Talk Soup for Podcasts.
27:21- Junxion, portable hotspots and our radiation project.
30:30- The GMail rss atom feed, just type your user name and password.

Format: 32 minutes, 11MB, MP3.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

iPodDownload 1.1
Come and get it, quick
In continuation of this article:

Apple tried to squash it, but our fave tool for getting music off of our iPods and on to our Macs is has turned up online again—no weird HexEdit hack needed, either, this is a new version. Just install and you can drag & drop your files right out of iTunes.

The joys of DRM!

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  11/04/2004

Time Out! Praise the Lord
Jail for junk email conman
Jeremy Jaynes, 30, was found guilty, along with his sister Jessica DeGroot, of bombarding America Online customers with unsolicited mail.
Prosecutors in America described them as modern day "snake oil salesmen". The fraud involved offering people the chance to earn money working from home.
Jaynes, who used the alias Gaven Stubberfield, was ranked by the watchdog group Spamhaus as the eighth-most prolific spammer in the world when he was arrested last December.
Jaynes sent out more than 100,000 such messages over a 30-day period in July and August last year in violation of state law, according to the charges.
Prosecutors asked the jury to impose a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for Jaynes, and to consider an unspecified prison term for his sister.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Press Release
THE FIRST PROJECT GUTENBERG CONSORTIUM CENTER IS OPEN
Today, on the one-third of a century anniversary date of Project Gutenberg, it is my pleasure to announce a site designed for the exchange of entire eBook collections--
The first of the Project Gutenberg Consortia Centers is located at a site designated by its initials: pgcc.net
The mission of the Project Gutenberg Consortia Centers:to help people legally exchange eBook collections under the various new copyright laws.
As you may know, different countries had copyright laws change drastically over the last few years, and we hear even more changes are coming at the end of this year.
Therefore, we are making this effort to help those whom these copyright extensions will effect, to insure their continued abilities to provide free eBooks within rules of their new copyright laws; such as many EU countries, and apparently Australia at the end of this year, along with various other changes we will try to help everyone keep up with.
We hope to be making similar announcements next year to let you know about more such sites under the laws of an assortment of countries worldwide.
PGCC's current eBook and eDocument Collections holdings:
Alex-Wire Tap Collection 2,036 HTML eBook Files
Black Mask Collection 12,000 HTML eBook Files
DjVu Collection 272 PDF and DJVU eBook Files
eBooks@Adelaide Collection 27,709 eBook Files
Himalayan Academy 3,400 HTML eBook Files
Literal Systems Collection 68 Mp3 eBook Files
Logos Group Collection 34,000 TXT eBook Files
Poet's Corner Poetry Collection 6,700 Poems
Project Gutenberg Collection 14,300 Files
Renaisscance Editions Collection 561 HTML eBook Files
Swami Center Collection 78 HTML eBook Files
Tony Kline Collection 223 HTML eBook Files
Widger Library 2,600 HTML eBook Files
CIA's Electronic Reading Room 2,019 Reference Files
Enjoy!

Michael Hart

posted by Jerry permanent link

Ooops
MS Reader 2.3 not compatible with HP iPaq hx4700
"Please note that latest version 2.3 of Microsoft Reader for Pocket PC is not compatible with the newly released HP iPaq hx4700 Pocket PC (4 inch VGA screen and Windows Mobile 2003SE).
Numerous users - including myself - experienced numerous problems (freeze ups, unresponsive MS Reader menu, inability to highlight text and bring up pop-up menu, etc.) after installing this product."

posted by Jerry permanent link

  11/03/2004

iPod Hotel
Surrealist fashion photographer David LaChapelle tries his hand at interior design

Rooms have plasma TVs with digital cable and iPods preprogrammed with 2,000 songs.

Mmmmmm! [Link via Engadget].
[UPDATE 5/11 At posh hotels, iPod a high-tech mint on the pillow]

posted by Jorgen permanent link

New York State of Mind
OverDrive eBooks At New York Public Library
Book lovers can now carry up to 10 books in the palm of their hands with New York City's first, portable electronic book (eBook) circulating service.
eBooks are digital versions of print books that may be read on PCs, laptops, and a variety of hand-held personal digital assistants (PDAs). New York Public Library cardholders will now have access to more than 3,000 new and popular fiction and nonfiction eBooks including best-selling and award-winning titles like Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, James Patterson's The Big, Bad, Wolf, and the ever popular Cliffs Notes. eBooks are available for free Internet download through the Library's new, site: ebooks.nypl.org.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Hardware Watch
Nokia has eBook
The Nokia 7710 smartphone will feature several mobile media applications and services, such as Visual Radio, which provides a richly interactive information channel to dramatically enhance the FM broadcast experience*. For example, listeners can see information on the song and artist currently playing on the radio or participate in competitions. The preinstalled eBook reader lets users enjoy electronic copies of their favorite titles. The eBook reader makes it possible to purchase or download eBooks from the retail site eBooks.com.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  11/02/2004

Free PDF
iPodlounge's Buyers’ Guide
For the unfamiliar, iPodlounge's Buyers’ Guide is a complete, magazine-style guide to everything iPod and iPodlounge, with trustworthy previews and reviews of the very best iPod accessories, guides to getting free iPod software and support, and much, much more. We've designed the Guide so you can print only the pages you want, and give them to your family and friends as very specific holiday "gimme iPod" reminders.
By reader demand, the Guide contains a complete report card of the over 200 iPod-related products that have been reviewed by iPodlounge, and features the incredible art and photography of iPodlounge readers from around the world.

posted by Jerry permanent link

podFixing
iPod Download can work again if you fix what Apple broke

It turns out that Apple's system for disabling the plugin uses a blacklist of disallowed iTunes additions in the iTunes binary. If you open the binary in a hexadecimal editor, like HexEdit, you can find the area where Apple has inserted the string "iPod Download" in its blacklist and simply replace the text with something else (in fact, I think you could probably just change one character) and your iTunes's original functionality will be restored.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  11/01/2004

More podcasting
Engadget Podcast.10

01:00- Intro.
02:00- Apple disables iTune downloads, BoingBoing chimes in too.
05:00- ”Genuine” Microsoft Software and PhotoStory III.
08:00- StanaPhone, VoIP for Pocket PCs.
09:30- iPod Skin for Pocket PC (Apple legal to hit—3, 2, 1…).
11:40- Engadget is big in Germany.

Format: 15 minutes, 5MB, MP3.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Time Out!
Reality Check: The Polling

posted by Jerry permanent link

Yeeah, not really
iTunes music to your Pocket PC
ppcTunes is a simple app that allows you to copy your favorite iTunes playlists to your Pocket PC.
From a tool to halve the space music files take up on your Pocket PC to our "Sync on Connect" feature (allowing you to copy music files every time you hook up your device), there's nothing we haven't put into this great little app. ppcTunes will even map your music files to your storage card so as not to fill up the main memory of your device.
ppcTunes can convert all of your MP3s into 1/2 size WMAs, saving you crucial space on your device.
It seems the program DO NOT support AAC and Protected AAC, which most iTunes users are using.

posted by Jerry permanent link

iCritique
More on Apple's breaking of the iPod

A number of you have written in regarding yesterday's post about Apple's campaign to remove features from your iPod and presenting it to you as an "update." There are innumberable utilities available to help you move your music from your iPod to your Mac, of course, but that's not the point.
The point is that Apple is devoting time, money, and lawyer- and engineer-hours to breaking your iPod and selling it to you as a "fix."

The article then enlarges on this topic.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

The Ultimate Reader
Skip The Cybook eBook, Buy A Pocket PC
And for the $738 the Cybook costs, we could buy a lot of ebooks, along with a more powerful Pocket PC. Sure, the screen would be smaller. But we'd actually be able carry a Pocket PC without straining a muscle or four.
And we'd still have an open platform for content.

posted by Jerry permanent link

PoliticWise
Read before you cast your vote

posted by Jerry permanent link