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

DRM Buster
HotRecorder for Media
Allows you to easily record and convert iTunes* and Yahoo! Music Unlimited** files into universal formats that are now playable on an iPod and on any other MP3 players.
You can now play your iTunes* and Yahoo Music Unlimited** where and when you want .
The conversion process is easy. Quality is perfect.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Audiobooks Sale $9.95 at iTunes
Selected titles only including current bestseller

posted by Jerry permanent link

Hardware Watch iPod
iDJ Mixing Console for iPod
The iDJ is a 2-channel mixer that enables mobile DJs and iPod enthusiasts to seamlessly integrate their portable music libraries with other music and sound reinforcement systems—transforming the iPod from a personal music player into a source playback device. With its compact form factor, comprehensive feature set, and a blue on white aesthetic appeal that blends perfectly with the iPod, the iDJ makes the music more accessible and the party better than ever.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  10/21/2005

Slashdot
Why Have PocketPC Failed In The iPod Video Era?
As the owner of a PocketPC PDA I am a very happy camper, with wifi internet access, Skype Voip, video playback, and of course the ubiquitous mp3 playback. In an era were everyone seems to talk about the Video iPod, and the next generation of mobile devices, it leaves me wondering - I already have all those abilities in a PDA that costs about as much as an iPod. My question for Slashdot: Given that modern PDAs have almost all the functionality of these separate devices, how has Palm and Microsoft/PocketPC developers failed in making PDAs a force in this new era of portable media devices? It is the poor marketing, bad media apps, public perception, or do people simply not want an all-in-one for mobile media?"

posted by Jerry permanent link

  10/20/2005

GoogleBooks Watch
All the books that fit--Google Print
The Association of American Publishers filed suit against Google this week, saying its Google Print Library program violated copyright.
The publishers' group said it filed the lawsuit after talks with Google broke down, noting that the search giant rejected a proposal to use ISBN numbering system to identify works under copyright and get permission from publishers and authors to scan these works. Google requires publishers to opt out of the program if they don't want their works included.
Google defended the program, saying its use of the works falls under the Fair Use doctrine, and noting that it "this policy is entirely in keeping with our main Web search engine."
Many bloggers sided with Google, citing the "information wants to be free" meme. But a few legal commentators pointed out there were some flaws in the company's arguments, noting that just because Google has public opinion on its side doesn't mean that it has the law on its side as well.

posted by Jerry permanent link

iPorn
Video iPod gets a little sexier
Independently produced content made for Apple's new video iPod is beginning to appear online--and as with any new technology, it may be sex that sells first.
Pinup site Suicide Girls said Thursday that it had launched a new, free feature: downloadable videos of interviews and photo shots with its models, all configured for the video-capable iPod. At least one unambiguously adult site, Povpod.com, has also released content for the device.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  10/19/2005

HOWTO Rip DVD Movies To Your iPod
Download MacTheRipper and Handbrake.
Then...

posted by Jerry permanent link

FlashBack Wired: June 97
101 Ways to Save Apple
1. Admit it. You're out of the hardware game. Outsource your hardware production, or scrap it entirely, to compete more directly with Microsoft without the liability of manufacturing boxes.
4. Gil Amelio should steal a page from Lee Iacocca's book - work for one year without a salary, just to inspire the troops.
5. Straighten out the naming convention.
7. Don't disappear from the retail chains. Rent space in a computer store, flood it with Apple products (especially software), staff it with Apple salespeople, and display everything like you're a living, breathing company and not a remote, dusty concept.
8. Buy a song.
15. Dump (or outsource) the Newton, eMate, digital cameras, and scanners.
19. Get rid of the cables. Go wireless.
23. Create a new logo. The corporate graphic of the multicolored apple was tired in the 1980s, now it's positively obsolete.
25. Portables, portables, portables.
34. Port the OS to the Intel platform.
50. Give Steve Jobs as much authority as he wants in new product development.
59. Invest heavily in Newton technology.
64. Team up with Sony
71. Become a graphic design company
100. Build a second graphics/video product based on the connection with Pixar (and therefore with Disney). Steve Jobs and Michael Eisner should define it.
101. Don't worry. You'll survive. It's Netscape we should really worry about.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  10/17/2005

Video as a Bonus Dept.
NY Times: iPod Won't Do For Video What it Did For Music
Richard Siklos, writing for The New York Times, addresses the buzz surrounding last week's introduction of a video-capable iPod and then declares: "At first blush, the video iPod is not about to revolutionize Hollywood in the way the iPod revolutionized music."
Why? For one reason, Mr. Siklos says, "studios are not rushing to make their most popular movies and shows available for the video iPod." For another, "mobile gadgets with access to everything that is already on television are on the way."

posted by Jerry permanent link

New Software
AsiaReader for MS Smartphone released
There are many Asians living in western countries (USA and Europe) and there are also people who wish to view Chinese and Japanese documents because they know or learn these languages. With AsiaReader it becomes possible also because with it you can view Chinese & Japanese documents (ebooks) on your Smartphone and you even Don't need any Chinese OS or Japanese OS installed

posted by Jerry permanent link

GoogleBooks
Leggo My Ego
Did you know you can search television? That you can type in "yada yada yada," and find the exact frames where George Costanza's girlfriend Marcy said it first? Weird as it may seem, you can do it with one of Google's little-known products, "Google Video." It's part of Google's not-quite-secret master plan—to make as much of the "offline world" searchable online as humanly possible.
Google is the company that wants to be loved, and it is invariably shocked when people object to what they are doing. That, recently, has amounted to a lot of shock. Earlier this month, the New York-based Author's Guild filed charges against Google, calling the company both "brazen" and a "massive copyright infringer." The lawsuit capped a year in which Google has been called "arrogant," "greedy," "stretched," and even, by the French, "un ogre."
Tough going for a company whose motto is "Don't be evil."
...
We must remember, looking to the future, that books, as a medium, face competition. If books are too hard to find relative to other media, all authors of books lose out, and authors of searchable media like the Web, win. And that's too bad for those who love books—those who still like a slow read better than the blustery urgency of blogs.
I believe that everyone who considers themselves an author or an author's advocate should take a deep breath and, at least this time, praise Google Print. In the end, it is just a search, not a replacement product. We readers need help finding what exists, and we authors also need help being found. There is here, as anywhere, such a thing as too much control. It may be time for the offline media to learn something from online media—namely, the virtues of letting go.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  10/12/2005

Two More Things
iPod 5G & iTunes 6.0
New iPod announced -- video playback capabilities, 2.5-inch display, 320 x 240 resolution, MPEG-4 support, and video out. 30GB model is 31% thinner than current 20GB, 60GB is 12% thinner than old 20GB. New software features (World clock, stopwatch and screen lock). Will be available in 20GB and 60GB versions in white and black for $299 and $399, respectively. Come with carrying case. Both ship next week
iTunes 6 announced -- 2000 music videos available, $1.99 each. Select TV shows also available for $1.99. ABC a partner (Desperate Housewives, Lost, etc.). Current episodes next day. Ad free. One episode 10-20 minutes download time. Current season and past seasons. 320 x 240 native videos. Size of 6 songs. All videos under FairPlay. No burning of videos on CD or DVD. Play on 5 devices. You can gift videos too.
(source: ilounge.com)

posted by Jerry permanent link

  10/10/2005

iPod Reader
NY Times: 'Print Needs its Own iPod'
The iPod saved the music industry from death by illegal download, and now the newspaper business "needs its own iPod" to stave off a similar fate. That's the argument put forward by The New York Times' David Carr on Monday.
...The search for the Holy Grail of electronic print technology -- a tablet-PC-like device that displays books, newspapers and magazines -- grows closer to success, Mr. Carr noted, but technical and economic hurdles must still be overcome.
"It looks simple to come up with a tablet that works, but it is not," he quoted consultant Esther Dyson as saying. "In order to have the power and portability you need, you need power. The screen is the part of the device that uses the most power."
Economic issues are also a factor when one considers the much-cited axiom that consumers don't want to pay for stuff that they can find on the Web for free. "Maybe not," Mr. Carr wrote. "As iTunes has demonstrated, there is a vast swath of consumers who are willing to pay for what they want and avoid the moral taint of unauthorized use."
He concluded: "In a frantic age where the quality of the information can be critical, being a reliable news source humming away in everyone's backpack sounds just useful enough to be a business."

posted by Jerry permanent link

  10/07/2005

Whatever
My Songs, My Format
There are many pocketsize digital music players available, but they fall into two groups: Apple's iPod products and everything else. That split, rooted in technology as well as style, poses a challenge for music lovers who want to upgrade their devices.
...The bottom line is that no single music player offers everything, and no one can say what next year's models will provide. To keep their options open, some users spend extra time managing the format of their collections.
...
Some iPod owners, for example, use a program called JHymn (hymn-project.org/jhymndoc) to remove the copy protection from iTunes music downloads to convert or otherwise modify them without restrictions. The software also makes possible the sharing of copyrighted files, a use that JHymn's creators say they do not condone.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Tell it to the Big Bro
Any DVDs, Games You Want Cracked?
If there's some digital media you'd like to see cracked -- a copy-protected DVD, say -- then now's the time to tell the U.S. Copyright Office.
The Copyright Office is conducting a periodic review of anti-cracking provisions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and is seeking submissions from the public.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  10/05/2005

World Sound
Smithsonian Global Sound
Smithsonian Global Sound delivers the world's diverse cultural expressions via the Internet in an informative way for a reasonable price. It also helps encourage local musicians and traditions around the planet through international recognition, the payment of royalties, and support for regional archives.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  10/04/2005

Deep Thoughts
Why Digital Download Should be Cheaper than CD?
1. Lower quality Audio
2. No hardware/printing/distribution cost
3. No Collectible/Re-sale value as Investment for Collectors
4. DRM that could be invalid over time period
5. Required Extra cost to archieve it (Hard Disk, Backup, CD Burn, Etc).

posted by Jerry permanent link

Greed Dept
RIAA Takes Shotgun to Traders
Hundreds of people are being wrongly sued by the Recording Industry Association of America for illegally trading music online, legal experts say.
Attorneys representing some of the 14,000 people targeted for illegal music trading say their clients are being bullied into settling as the cheapest way to get out of trouble. Collection agencies posing as "settlement centers" are harassing their clients to pay thousands of dollars for claims about which they know nothing, they say.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Yahootoo
In Challenge to Google, Yahoo Will Scan Books
The effort is being led by Yahoo, which appears to be taking direct aim at a similar project announced by its archrival, Google, whose own program to create searchable digital copies of entire collections at leading research libraries has run into a series of challenges since it was announced nine months ago.
The new project, called the Open Content Alliance, has the wide-ranging goal of digitizing historical works of fiction along with specialized technical papers. In addition to Yahoo, its members include the Internet Archive, the University ofhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif California, and the University of Toronto, as well as the National Archive in England and others.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Micro Soft Blow
GoogleSun
Sun Microsystems and Google plan to announce a collaborative effort that some analysts speculate could elevate the profile of the OpenOffice.org and Java software packages.
Details won't emerge publicly until Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Sun CEO Scott McNealy take the stage on Tuesday at a news conference in Mountain View, Calif. But one strong possibility is a partnership that could help shift personal computing out of Microsoft's domain and into Google's.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Platinum Digital Single
"Hollaback Girl" first song with one million commercial downloads
For the first time since the advent of commercial digital music downloads, a recording has passed the 1,000,000 mark in download sales. The song, former Billboard #1 “Hollaback Girl” from Gwen Stefani’s debut album Love. Angel. Music. Baby., had sales of approximately 995,000 downloads as of Friday, September 30. The recording has averaged 15,000 downloads per week since it’s release on November 25, 2004.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Failed Business Model Dept.
Microsoft ends licensing talks with music labels
Microsoft has broken off licensing talks with the four global music companies, placing the company's plans to start a subscription-based music service on hold. The labels were reportedly seeking royalties of $6-$8 per user per month, similar to what other services currently pay for licensing fees... however, other reports have indicated that Microsoft has also been in talks to acquire a stake in Time Warner's AOL service, which has a music subscription plan.

posted by Jerry permanent link