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

New eBook

Anderson Cooper's Dispatches from the Edge
Few people have witnessed more scenes of chaos and conflict around the world than Anderson Cooper, whose groundbreaking coverage on CNN has changed the way we watch the news. In this gripping, candid, and remarkably powerful memoir, he offers an unstinting, up-close view of the most harrowing crises of our time, and the profound impact they have had on his life.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Fictionwise's Six-Year Anniversary: 25% Storewide Sale!
We're celebrating Fictionwise's six-year anniversary! To thank you all for your support, we've prepared something special -- we're having our biggest storewide sale ever with 25% off all unencrypted MultiFormat titles and a 25% Micropay Rebate on all encrypted Secure eBooks.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Torrent Raid
Swedish police shut Web site "Pirate Bay" in music piracy raid
"Three people ... have been taken in for questioning on suspicion of breaking copyright law or abetting the breaking of copyright law," Stockholm police, who carried out raids at 10 locations, said in a statement.
"The preliminary inquiry is related to so-called file sharing and concerns The Pirate Bay Web site," said the statement.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  5/26/2006

Google RSS Reader Now Available in Mobile-Optimized Format
If you have never used this free service but are interested trying it out yourself, simply sign up for your own Google Homepage here and then customize it to include the Reader Homepage Module. This is definitely a nice feature if you're often connected (or have access to a connection) and don't want to manage disparate RSS applications across both PC and mobile device. Enjoy!

posted by Jerry permanent link

  5/22/2006

iLost
iDont.com (by SanDisk)
"Calling all free thinkers, contrarians, and malcontents. The time has come to rise up against the iTatorship,” the site’s manifesto reads. “To resist the monotony of white earbuds and reject the oppressive forces of cultural conformity. Now is the time to break free from restrictive formats and a single source for music. Its time for choice, for freedom, for self expression—and for independent spirits to stand up and say ‘iDon’t’. You don’t need to follow. There is now an alternative.”
The “iDon’t” website proudly links to anti-iPod websites like Cyber Rodent, Anything But iPod, and iPod’s Dirty Secret. SanDisk is also selling T-shirts and offering free downloadable posters and desktop pictures featuring artwork such as iSheep, iChimp, iFollow, iHerd, iSchackle, iDroid, and iPuppet.
Discuss it at iLounge

posted by Jerry permanent link

iVodka
AllofMP3's downtime worked out as effective advertising
The most common way a website promotes itself is through the use of advertising. However, when a very popular website runs into legal issues or goes down for a few days, this leads consumers to the belief that it has been shutdown and thus the news about this goes widespread. Well, according to the Register, this seems to be just what happened with the controversial Russian music download store AllofMP3.com.
Just recently, the Russian authorities seized several of the AllofMP3 servers and then all the sudden the website went down with a basic message saying it is down for maintenance. After a few days, this lead people to believe that they were ordered to shut down and thus there was widespread news about this downtime just before the website came back up again. While this downtime meant an inconvenience for its customers and lost sales during those few days, it also doubled up as effective advertising for the site, since statistics by Alexia shows that traffic to the website has over doubled from around 600 per million to around 1,300 per million; exceeeding that of even Napster.
Unlike DRM based music services like iTunes, Napster, Yahoo and so on, AllofMP3 allows its customers to purchase music encoded in a choice of a wide range of audio codecs, with some songs offered up to CD quality. However, unlike other music services, they charge by the Megabyte and only appear to pay royalty charges for "broadcasting" the music instead of by the song, since they are relying on a loophole in the weak Russian copyright law.

posted by Jerry permanent link

iSmorg
Hillary Clinton Reveals Her iPod Playlist
"I've got everything -- a total smorgasbord," Clinton said.
Songs from the 58-year-old senator's youth figure heavily in the selection of about 1,000 songs, said Clinton, calling herself "a child of the '60s and '70s."
The mix includes Aretha Franklin's "Respect," The Beatles' "Hey Jude" and "Take it to the Limit" by the Eagles, she said.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  5/18/2006

iTunes Wannabe
Synchronizing with Windows Media Player 11
Fortunately for us Windows Mobile users, Windows Media Player 11 isn't just eye-candy. Beneath the player's visually appealing interface is an improved sync experience with portable media devices that rivals what most consider to be the benchmark in today's digital age - that is, the iTunes + iPod partnership.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  5/16/2006

new jargon: ipodiophiles
Audiophiles Become Ipodiophiles
Veteran audiophiles would scoff. The iPod is relatively inexpensive, costing only a fraction of the $10,000 to $100,000 some will spend on big-rig audio gear. And it plays -- gasp -- compressed audio.
Audiophiles demand only the highest fidelity and detail. For some, digital music in any form, especially highly compressed MP3, is contemptuously unacceptable. To purists, only old-fashioned vinyl platters cut it.
But remarkably, the iPod is exceptionally well engineered, boasting circuitry to rival much more expensive stereo components.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  5/15/2006

Creatively Dead
Creative sues Apple for violation of "Zen Patent"
Creative claims that their NOMAD Jukebox was on display at CES in January 2000, and there displayed the user interface that has since been copied by Apple and others. This user interface is covered in August's "Zen Patent," and sounds vaguely defined enough to have some weight in court, as silly as it seems. Creative of course wants a cease and desist order to be issued, and basically a complete death of the iPod unit in general, but that's no surprise. All we can do now is sit back and watch the sparks fly.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Forum Watch
SlashDot's The Future of Digital Books
Tabercil writes "The New York Times has an article about the mass scanning of books, which argues that actions such as Google's Book Search project are an inevitable outgrowth of the internet." From the article: "Scanning technology has been around for decades, but digitized books didn't make much sense until recently, when search engines like Google, Yahoo, Ask and MSN came along. When millions of books have been scanned and their texts are made available in a single database, search technology will enable us to grab and read any book ever written. Ideally, in such a complete library we should also be able to read any article ever written in any newspaper, magazine or journal. And why stop there?"

posted by Jerry permanent link

Forum Watch
Kevin Kelly's eBook Forum
Discuss with Kevin Kelly whether digital technology will replace the printed book.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Must Read Dept.
Scan This Book!
by Kevin Kelly
The universal library and its "books" will be unlike any library or books we have known. Pushing us rapidly toward that Eden of everything, and away from the paradigm of the physical paper tome, is the hot technology of the search engine.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  5/13/2006

Right On
New from YouTube—Mobile Video Uploads!
You can now upload videos directly from your phone or PDA to YouTube. All you need is a mobile device that can take video and send MMS messages, and an Internet access or data plan from your service provider. We currently support uploads from Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Real Nuts
Real CEO: iPod users steal music
Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser says that iPod owners steal music. The majority of music on the average iPod is obtained illegally, with relatively few songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store, Glaser said in an interview with The Guardian. “If you want interoperable music today, there is a very easy solution: it’s called stealing,” Glaser said. “The average number of songs sold for the iPod is 25, and there are many more songs on iPods than 25. About half the music on iPods is music obtained illegitimately either from an illegal peer-to-peer networks or from ripping friends’ CDs, which is illegal. But it’s the only way to get non-copy protected, portable, interoperable music.”

posted by Jerry permanent link

eBooks Trend by Google

posted by Jerry permanent link

  5/07/2006

iProof
Is your iPod breaking the law?
Copying music is illegal in Britain, writes Guy Clapperton, but you're probably safe for now - as long as you pay up for it upfront.
...However, it is not clear whether all music download websites are operating legally. The Russia-based allofmp3.com - which is the second most popular download site for Britons after iTunes, selling single tracks for between 2p and 5p - is the most controversial. Users are unlikely to be prosecuted for downloading the occasional track from the site, but the British Phonographic Industry, the trade association for UK record companies, is adamant that the website is illegal and the international equivalent of the BPI is conducting an investigation.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  5/06/2006

New York Times Best Seller - Non-Fiction
The Jesus Papers
eBook by Michael Baigent
What if everything you think you know about Jesus is wrong? In The Jesus Papers, Michael Baigent reveals the truth about Jesus's life and crucifixion. Despite--or rather because of--all the celebration and veneration that have surrounded the figure of Jesus for centuries, Baigent asserts that Jesus and the circumstances leading to his death have been heavily mythologized. As a religious historian and a leading expert in the field of arcane knowledge, Baigent has unequaled access to hidden archives, secret societies, Masonic records, and the private collections of antiquities traders and their moneyed clients. Using that access to full advantage, Baigent explores the religious and political climate in which Jesus was born and raised, examining not only the conflicts between the Romans and the Jews, but the strife within the different factions of the Jewish Zealot movement. He chronicles the migrations of Jesus's family, his subsequent exposure to other cultures, and the events, teachings, and influences that were most likely to have shaped his early years. Baigent also uncovers the inconsistencies and biases in the accounts of the major historians of Jesus's time, including Josephus, Pliny, and Tacitus. The enduring influence of these accounts in forming our most common conceptions of Jesus reveals that spin is not a new phenomenon. Taking us back to sites that over the last twenty years he has meticulously explored, studied, and in some instances excavated for the first time, Baigent provides a detailed account of his groundbreaking discoveries, including many never-before-seen photos. The evidence he has uncovered has lead him to make shocking new assertions that threaten the conventional account of Jesus's life and death and shake the very foundation of Western thought, based as it is upon the assumption of Jesus's divinity. Ultimately, his investigation raises the hope that we may gain a new understanding of Jesus.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  5/05/2006

iFlo
Microsoft and Qualcomm to integrate WM into Qualcomm Chipsets
QUALCOMM Incorporated and Microsoft Corp. today jointly announced a collaboration to enable the porting of the Microsoft® Windows Mobile® operating system to QUALCOMM’s Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chipsets. The companies’ collaboration will enable device manufacturers to develop affordable, feature-rich and attractive Windows Mobile-powered phones with MSM chipsets while shortening their product development times. Support for the Windows Mobile platform on QUALCOMM’s highly integrated MSM solutions also gives users extended battery life while running a wide variety of business and entertainment applications, such as Microsoft Office Mobile and Windows Media® Player Mobile, along with third-party offerings.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  5/04/2006

iPod Ole
World Cup guide for iPods
The World Cup is without a doubt the World's greatest sporting event. Coolgorilla have come up with the ultimate World Cup guide for your iPod featuring:
Details of every player from every team
A full break down of the schedule
Every score from every game from every World Cup ever!
Country details
Stadium details
Manager Profiles
This game will transform your iPod into an interactive football encyclopedia. It unleashes the power of your iPod by using a clever system of menus so that all the information you want is only a few clicks away. Astound your friends with your knowledge of the beautiful game.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Tagging to Buy
Apple patent covers wireless iTunes
"The invention appears to be a way for Apple to capture revenue from music fans with short attention spans. For example, cell phone users on the go who hear a song might want to purchase that tune right away, but by the time they get back to their PC, they've forgotten the name of the song or the artist. According to the application, the invention would allow cell phone or wireless-PDA users to essentially bookmark a song or video on an online music store. Then, they return to their PC, they could download it over a fast network. If bandwidth permits, they might be able to download the song or file directly to their phone."

posted by Jerry permanent link

Excellent!
Apple patents iPod audio navigation tags
In another filing revealed today, Apple patented a system for automatic generation of audio navigation tags for an iPod. The tags would provide audio cues to navigating and selecting songs without viewing the iPod display. The tags could be used while driving, jogging, or during other activities when the iPod is not easily or conveniently accessible.
"By dynamically generating audio tags in iTunes on your computer when song is downloaded or playlist is created and then synchronizing it with the iPod, Apple is able to make audio navigation as easy to use and update as current text navigation system," according to the report. "And since no hardware and navigation control changes are necessary, audio navigation can be added to current iPods through simple software update."

posted by Jerry permanent link

  5/03/2006

Anywhere Anyplace Anytime Anylawyer
Hollywood to Slingbox: Our Lawyers are Waiting
"Hollywood is not happy about the SlingBox, and that displeasure is becoming increasingly visible. The SlingBox is a device that "place-shifts" your television programming by streaming it across the Internet for remote viewing on a laptop or portable device, but the ability to watch your TV anywhere in the world is making some broadcasters nervous. HBO's Bob Zitter was the latest in a long line of television executives to make ominous rumbling noises about the legality of the new technology. No one has yet come out of the litigation closet to announce plans to sue the new company, but plenty of people are willing to question Sling's business model. Is this just FUD on the part of content owners, or does it have some basis in law? Sling, after all, has claimed repeatedly that it believes its system to be legal because it simply allows a consumer to watch their existing television channels on the road. A SlingBox does not broadcast to multiple users, and it does not record or archive video for later use."

posted by Jerry permanent link

Pardon My French
Report: French DRM law gutted
The French interoperability bill that would have forced Apple to open its FairPlay copy-protection technology used by the iPod and iTunes Music Store appears to have been gutted in committee. According to reports, most of the original provisions, which Apple said would result in “state-sponsored piracy,” have now been removed or rewritten. Ars Technica reports: “Previously, ‘information needed for interoperability’ covered ‘technical documentation and programming interfaces needed to obtain a copy in an open standard of the copyrighted work, along with its legal information.’ Now this has been changed to ‘technical documentation and programming interfaces needed to obtain a protected copy of a copyrighted work.’ But a ‘protected’ version of the work can’t be played back in a different player, which means interoperability won’t be attained with this clause.”

posted by Jerry permanent link

  5/01/2006

Ole Ole Ole
World Cup Mobile 2006 Released
Experience this year's World Cup on your Pocket PC. Keep in touch with every match, watch online scores and results from an authorized provider, get always fresh news and commentaries right from the stadium. Easy-to-use navigation ensures fast data access, modern design and style raise user's satisfaction."

posted by Jerry permanent link

Coming into your house
RIAA Targets LAN Filesharing at Universities
"The RIAA has sent letters to 40 university presidents in 25 separate states informing them that students are engaging in filesharing on their campuses using the local network. Apparently, the RIAA wants to get universities to use filtering software on their networks to detect student filesharing. The RIAA did not disclose the methodology they used to determine that filesharing is occuring on those local networks, but it probably didn't involve asking permission. The article goes on to predict that the RIAA will eventually try to get the government to require use of anti-filesharing filtering technologies at universities."

posted by Jerry permanent link

Gorog's another another another Blunder
Napster's back to basics: Free tunes
All the songs on Napster are free again.
In a bid to gain traction against Apple's dominant iTunes online music store, Napster over the weekend shifted to an advertising-supported model. Visitors can listen to any of the 2 million tunes in its catalog without having to fork over a credit card or download the Napster software application.
But there is a catch. You can only listen to a song five times. After that, you have to either buy it for 99 cents or sign up for a monthly subscription.
Still, "This is the closest we have ever come to the original vision of the Napster service that swept the world in 1999 — except now, it's legal," says Napster CEO Chris Gorog.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Strike again and you are out
Sony to take another swing at the iPod
Sony is preparing to take another swing at Apple Computer's iPod digital music player, a top Sony executive said last week.
The company is developing a new music player that will go on sale in the US and other markets over the next year, alongside a companion download service and software, senior vice-president of Sony, Takao Yuhara, said.
The player will be typically Sony, he said, drawing on the company's strength in areas like design and long battery life.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Fixed
Apple sets tune for pricing of song downloads
Apple Computer on Monday revealed it had renewed contracts with the four largest record companies to sell songs through its iTunes digital store at 99 cents each. The agreements came after months of bargaining, and were a defeat for music companies that had been pushing for a variable pricing model.
The music industry's big four - Universal, Warner Music , EMI and Sony BMG – were not immediately available to comment.

posted by Jerry permanent link