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

Happy Birthday!
Renaissance E Books is celebrating their second "birthday!" Renaissance E Books went online September 1, 1999! They want to appreciate the customers and authors who have helped make these two years exciting and a period of healthy growth!

posted by Jerry permanent link

Time Out!
‘Porn’ sites feature Harry Potter
Three words guaranteed to make parents of bookworms squirm, editors at Scholastic wince and attorneys at AOL Time Warner snap to attention: Harry Potter porn.
It’s doubtful, however, that Warner Bros., Scholastic or J.K. Rowling will have much sympathy for fans who say they’re entitled to write about the sex lives of underage magicians as a psychological tool for exploring their frustrated sexuality. With the first of a planned franchise of movies set for release this November and the publicity campaign already in full gear, Warner Bros. is more likely to greet Harry Potter slashers with more takedown orders than tolerance.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Killroy Was Here
Microsoft code cracker shuns publicity
Anonymity means no fame, but also no jail sentence...
Speaking to Technology Review, published by the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), the program's creator said: "I wanted to circumvent the two-persona- limit, a rule built into Microsoft Reader at the behest of publishers that allows purchasers to read the same e-book on up to two devices, but no more."

posted by Jerry permanent link

eReaders Unite!
Protesters declare war on copyright law
"This is a war being waged by copyright interests who see each opportunity on the Internet as an opportunity to change the meaning of copyright law," said Lawrence Lessig, director of Stanford University's Center for Internet and Society and author of Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace.
"For 200 years, copyright law has been a small limited monopoly granted from the government to the people," he continued. "It has never been understood as a permanent property protection giving them absolute control of their work."

posted by Jerry permanent link

Belated Birthday Wish
MemoWare Celebrates 5 Year Anniversary!

posted by Jerry permanent link

Furious
Fury by Salman Rushdie
Fury is a work of explosive energy, at once a pitiless and pitch-black comedy, a profoundly disturbing inquiry into the darkest side of human nature, and a love story of mesmerizing force. It is also an astonishing portrait of New York. Not since the Bombay of Midnight's Children have a time and place been so intensely and accurately captured in a novel.
In his eighth novel, Salman Rushdie brilliantly entwines moments of anger and frenzy with those of humor, honesty, and intimacy. Fury is, above all, a masterly chronicle of the human condition.
You can read this ebook with your Pocket PC via a free Palm Reader

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/30/2001

PTL :-)
Breaking Microsoft's e-Book Code
As reported in today's Wall Street Journal, Technology Review, MIT's Magazine of Innovation, reports that an anonymous programmer has found a way to decrypt Microsoft Reader e-books, adding fuel to the already hot digital rights debate.
The decryption program enables purchasers of "owner-exclusive" Microsoft Reader titles—Microsoft's most highly protected form of e-book—to convert these titles to unencrypted files viewable on any Web browser. The program's creator, a U.S. cryptography expert who asked not to be identified, says he wanted to circumvent the "two-persona" limit, a rule built into Microsoft Reader at the behest of publishers that allows purchasers to read the same e-book on up to two devices, but no more.
Such rules irritate many e-book readers, who feel that once they have purchased a book, they should be able to read it wherever they want. "I like to read e-books at my desk, when I'm traveling, lying on the sofa and when I'm eating lunch. I use different computers for these things, so I need more than two activations," says Roger Sperberg, a publishing consultant and a columnist for the industry site eBookWeb.
Wade Rush concluded his writing, "Until software makers and publishers can figure out how to protect their e-books without treating all readers like thieves, in other words, the summer of beach-blanket e-books may never materialize."
One Answer, "Follow PeanutPress' protection system!
Other Articles that discuss this: Yahoo, ZDNet, Planet eBook and from ebookweb.

posted by Jerry permanent link

He Should Be A Millionaire just like Copy2PC creator in the 80s.
Elcomsoft to repeat controversial eBooks security talk in Amsterdam and Plead Not Guilty
Katalov hopes that by delivering the presentation outside of the jurisdiction of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, he will be protected from the legal repercussions recently experienced by his employee.
In a five-minute hearing that contained an unexpected surprise, a Russian programmer accused of breaking U.S. copyright law and his boss pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment in U.S. District Court Thursday.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/29/2001

Honour Amazon
Invasion of the Amazons
Enter Amazon. Its "Honour System" is licenced to third party web sites (such as Bartleby.com and SatireWire). It allows people to donate money or effect micro-payments, apparently through its patented one-click system. As far as the web sites are concerned, there are two major drawbacks: all donations and payments are refundable within 30 days and Amazon charges them 15 cents per transaction plus 15(!) percent. By far the worst deal in town.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Time Out!
Internet Bus in Malaysia
The bus, called the Mobile Internet Unit, is an attempt by Malaysia to help bridge its digital divide by delivering technology to its poorest, most remote schools on a 40-foot bus loaded with 20 personal computers. To the United Nations Development Program, under which the idea was conceived, the bus is an experiment in hastening the spread of the Internet to young minds in areas where infrastructure is scarce and suspicions run high.
The Mobile Internet Unit's organizers leave behind a PC, a modem and an Internet account so that pupils can practice and teachers can find ways to work computers into the curriculum. There is another goal: to convince parents of the computers' value, prompting them, perhaps, to buy a PC for the home or to raise money to equip the schools with more.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Back Step
Books Vending Machine
Imagine an ordinary trip to the market and finding a book vending machine that allows you to select the hottest new paperback from an online catalogue.
In as little as 12 minutes, while you're off getting milk and bread, the machine downloads the ebook version and turns it into a paperback ready for checkout.
Next Step: Vending machine that will transfer ebook to your PDA via infra red devices in seconds

posted by Jerry permanent link

Peel
MS Word HTML Filter References
Just for general reference, here's the site URL re: the Word filter-
http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/2000/htmlfilter.aspx
http://office.microsoft.com/Assistance/2000/wMultiplePeeler.aspx
And the clean-up filter for getting rid of the Office mark-ups:
http://office.microsoft.com/Assistance/2000/oRemoveMarkup.aspx
Toady References
http://office.microsoft.com/Assistance/2000/wDosPeeler.aspx
Links come from JoAnne via ebook-community@yahoogroups.com

posted by Jerry permanent link

Search Report
There were 114 searches for the week ending 08/25/2001 for Pocket PC eBooks Watch
Here are the top phrases searched:
- 7 for "bible"
- 4 for "seba"
- 4 for "sony ebook"

posted by Jerry permanent link

Gulp, I missed this!
PDF Reader for Pocket PC from Adobe
Jason Dunn found in the article of Adobe PDF Merchant and Microsoft Reader Go Head-to-Head that last month Adobe announced plans to bring PDF to the Windows CE platform.
Thanks Jason!!!
More article on this subject
...Adobe is looking into other handheld platforms for Acrobat Reader, notably Pocket PC. "We demonstrated a Reader a year ago for Windows CE [running on Pocket PC]," Rosenbaum says. "We're looking at market demand to decide whether to complete that project." from Barry
Discuss it here.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Tidy
Toady, a batch file app to be used to run any .exe on any file, but was built to automate the filtering process for ebook html.
The Zip files include the instruction text on how to use it.
Application is a courtesy of JoAnne Spencer

posted by Jerry permanent link

Comments on CeBooks from Marketing Sherpa
A WebBlog that tracks the future of eBooks on Pocket PCs, highly informative and fun to read.
Thank You Again!

posted by Jerry permanent link

Comments on CeBooks
From The Outpost
CeBooks.Blogspot.Com
"A bastion of e-book-reader freedom can be found at bogstpot.com. It's a bit of a "wild and woolly" site, but it has the most-current info on where to obtain free MS Reader e-books, as well as about all the controveries surrounding the encryption debate. Highly recommended for independent-minded readers of mysteries.
BTW: CE is the name of the pre-version-3.0 PocketPC operating system."
Thank You!

posted by Jerry permanent link

Wahoo 'Yahoo', Nebraska Dave's Top Ten
Top 11 Reasons to Buy OmniPage Pro 11
3. Convert PDF files to documents you can use like Word, Excel, or HTML Which means then you can convert it to Lit
Wouldn't it be great if you could capture information from PDF files and incorporate it in your documents? Now you can! For the first time ever, you can convert PDF files to your favorite program.
9. Microsoft Office Integration
Perform OCR functions directly from your favorite Microsoft programs for hassle-free OCR. Works with Office 97, 2000 and XP.
Tips originally come from BlackMask.com

posted by Jerry permanent link

K.I.S.S = Simplicity
Cleaning Up HTML
Here are advices from JoAnne Spencer from Microsoft on how to clean up Word HTML
1. Create or open a document in MS Word. If you are adding images to your files do so in Word before exporting as compact html.
2. Open each of the original Word files in Word and use the new "Export to.." command. Export as "Compact HTML". Using this filter significantly reduces the file size of the final eBook and helps clean up the html.
**Since running this filter strips out all type style formatting -you may need to add some it back into the html files afterwards "by hand".
3. You now have clean HTML. Open Readerworks (or whatever litgen app you use-) and assemble your book in the normal way.
Used with permission, thanks JoAnne!

posted by Jerry permanent link

You're Under Arrest!
Under today's copyright laws, you are guilty until proven innocent. I know -- it happened to me
Before we could regain access to e-mail, Time-Warner Cable required a signed letter from my boyfriend promising that he wouldn't upload any copyrighted material. A few hours later, we were able to restore our e-mail accounts. It took over 48 hours to clear everything up.
This article does have a point, but it’s not about piracy. It’s about a flawed piece of legislation that allows a person to be penalized for an alleged action before he has the chance to defend himself. The moral of the story is that the DMCA allows you to be tried and judged guilty before you even know what has happened. The MPAA could have my account shut down immediately -– or yours -– and there’s nothing any of us could do to stop it.
Original Link comes from eBookWeb.org

posted by Jerry permanent link

TKO
Adobe PDF Merchant and Microsoft Reader Go Head-to-Head
In interviews between the authors and representatives from Microsoft and Adobe, each company explained why its eBook display and distribution technology is preferable to the other's. The companies gave details about technical requirements and their approaches to copyright protection, subpixel rendering, cross-platform compatibility, and the release of content for each system.
Must Read!

posted by Jerry permanent link

Tech Watch
Texterity Launches eBook Logistics Service
Expanded TextCafe Service Includes Automated Multi-Format Conversion and Distribution to Electronic Retailers
TextCafe already provides automated, volume conversion for books that need to be moved into structured XML and Open eBook format. The new Logistics Service adds metadata management, workflow tracking, and eBook distribution. This enables publishers to fully outsource their eBook production function. The service supports all major eBook formats including Microsoft Reader, Adobe eBook, Palm/Peanut Reader, Gemstar REB-1100 and REB-1200, netLibrary, and MobiPocket.

posted by Jerry permanent link

I Bet MJ Rose does not have Pocket PC
Pirating Article by MS Rose
For the most part, these are not e-books that have been unencrypted, but rather they are predominately print books that have been scanned. The scans are then converted into plain text or e-book formats, such as Adobe e-Book Reader or Microsoft Reader.
Once downloaded, the illegal e-books can be printed out or read on a PC, a pocket PC, or a dedicated e-book reading device. ;-)

posted by Jerry permanent link

So?
E-books to face similar piracy issues as Napster
The e-books market stands to feel the loss of revenue as a result of a similar file-swapping piracy that has plagued the music industry via Napster, according to a study by monitoring company Envisional.
The study found about 7,300 copyrighted titles available for free via file-sharing networks like Gnutella. Currently, there are over 700 individual copies of the popular children’s ‘Harry Potter’ books online. Yet, this is a “relatively conservative estimate of the number of illegal books out there," said the monitoring company.
Most piracy happens when users scan books onto their PC.
Original Link comes from eBookAd.Com

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/28/2001

Can you repeat it?
Audio in Pocket Reader:
Timberwolf Press wrote in ebook-community@yahoogroups.com, "A number of the subscribers to our Audio Theatre digital download service tell me that they download the windows media versions (instead of the MP3 version) and transfer them to their Pocket PCs. Since our titles can be as long as 21 hours, we break them into "episodes" so you can download what you need, when you need it. In order to make the files work, there is a free converter that Microsoft supplies that converts the winmedia file to a version playable on the Pocket PC platform. BTW, as of today we've announced a merger/acquisition of LodesTone Audio Theater, who currently distribute audio entertainment on traditional media. I mention this because we plan to take the LodesTone titles, digitize them, and add them to the download service in various formats."
Take a look at its site, Timberwolf, the ebooks are compatible with Pocket PC.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Renaissance E Books now in Mobipocket Format
This is an email from David O. Dyer, Sr., Publisher, Renaissance E Books, "I just couldn't wait to pass on this exciting news from Renaissance E Books. Our books are now available in Mobipocket prc format. Please do not confuse this with AportisDoc prc file formats. They are two vastly different animals!
I believe that the Mobipocket Reader Emulator (version 4.0) is absolutely the best program for reading e-books on a computer monitor, and I also believe that the Mobipocket Reader is the best program currently available for reading e-books on a PDA (personal data assistant). Mobipocket has a reader for virtually all PDA's of recent vintage.
If you are not familiar with the Mobipocket Reader, go to http://www.renebooks.com/Mobi.htm for details and screenshots."

posted by Jerry permanent link

Admit IT duh!
Forecasts of an E-Book Era Were, It Seems, Premature
One problem is that technical snags have prevented millions of users of hand-held personal computers operating Microsoft software from being able to read most publishers' electronic books. Book publishers are counting on the portable computer as a more appealing way to read than the screen of a desktop PC. [Contrary to what Jeff Blackburn's, the so called Amazon Multimedia director, believes that most people will read on Desktop PC (stated in his email on eBooks opening day)]. But after watching the music industry's piracy problems, book publishers insisted that Microsoft add to its software for reading electronic books much stronger safeguards against unauthorized copying than today's hand-held personal computers can accommodate.
As a result, hand-held computers using this software cannot display most publishers' books. (Devices using the Palm software can, making them the most popular way to read electronic books, despite eye-strain from their diminutive screens.) [You can read Palm ebook in Pocket PC using Palm Reader which can be downloaded via PeanutPress.com]
What is more, the most common place for using the device is not on the road but in bed, where two-thirds of customers use it. Mr. Arland said the most popular attribute of the devices was the back-lit screen, qualifying them as an expensive alternative to small lamps for reading in the dark while a mate sleeps.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Finally, A Solution To The DMCA!
Warning: humorous content ahead.
To prevent overdosage for the sensitive readers, please
take your discussions to humorix-l@nl.linux.org
Original Link comes from Slashdot.org

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/27/2001

The Geekly Reader
In the long term, the e-book industry will flourish only if it convinces young, tech-savvy readers -- those accustomed to small screens -- that convenience outweighs tradition.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Curious about Polling Results from Polling #1 to #16
Download the Polling results here.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Polling Result #17:
What is your favorite eBooks store?
(of 241 respondents)
3% The Big Bro (BN/Amazon)
5% The Indies (XC Publishing, Renaissance)
30% The Challenger (FictionWise, eBookMall)
54% PeanutPress
2% Others
5% None

posted by Jerry permanent link

Reformed Story
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
Contrary to popular opinion the novel Le Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo is not primarily about the deformed bell-ringer Quasimodo. Quasimodo's role is actually surprisingly small in the story, which makes you wonder why the English translater's chose "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" as the translation for the title. Actually, as the original French title would indicate, it is the cathedral itself that is the focus of the book. This is why in the unabridged editions of this book you will find numerous chapters that seemingly have nothing to do with the plot of the story.

posted by Jerry permanent link

ZippedBooks
Library of Free eBooks
Zipped Books offers a broad range of free eBooks, with options to read online or offline in the eBook format of your choice. Books are listed by author, title and category. More details of the book/author are given on the page for each category. Some texts are in the public domain, and others are copyright.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/25/2001

Redirect, Your Honor
BlackMask New Design
"Due to technical difficulties, I'm moving everyone from the old "Books for MS Reader section"--join the club. I only left it there 'cause a lot of other sites point to it, and won't change (they hate me!)," Black Mask.
We love your site! And it is a great new design.

posted by Jerry permanent link

eFunky!
Jonathan Swift's Satire
Author of Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal. Check this category Satire - Swift, it is sooo funny!
Some of the title include:
A Proposal to Pay off the Debt of the Nation
A Meditation Upon A Broomstick
The Battle of the Books

posted by Jerry permanent link

Weekend Jokes: The Advantages of DRM5:
- ipicturebooks has tested a variety of digital rights management systems. The test with SealedMedia seems to have worked out the best. "They enabled us to secure video, audio and rich media. It's very easy software to use." + It only sells in term of hundreths hehehe

posted by Jerry permanent link

DRM5=00s
ipicturebooks Tests Variety of Business Models to Sell Children's eBooks
ipicturebooks, Time Warner-funded publishers of eBooks for children, have found the going is tough. Although the Company's 'Shrek Activity eBook' (DRM5 NOT compatible with Pocket PC) was the #1 bestselling eBook at Amazon in June, Jim Kirchman, VP Marketing admits that the title only sold "hundreds of copies." However he feels the eBook marketplace is still too embryonic to judge success by sales figures.
FYI, iPicturebooks also provide PDA ebook in here

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/24/2001

This is the real God Inc.
Just a Thought for the World's News headline title in Supermarket Check Out Counter
Jeff Blackburn and Amazon evil syndicate try to limit the spread of the words of GOD.
Holy Bible, King James Version New Testament, which supposedly a free Words of God, now being protected with a technology developed by the giant emperor Microsoft and endorsed by its stupid general at Amazon.com, so only the one who paid $4.45 can read it. Then the buyer will not be able to spread the words of God, as suggested in the Bible itself, because of DRM5 (the name of Evil, which will not allow other human being to read it, except the buyer). Moreover, to limiting the time to read, the technology also only allow the buyer to read the Bible in front of their big computer, so no more reading it during bedtime anymore.
Congratulation to Jeff Blackburn, smart really really smart! Duh!

posted by Jerry permanent link

Touch Down, nope fumble
NFL 2001-2002 Schedule, free from PocketPCPress, but don't expect much from this site, since most of the ebooks are NOT compatible with Pocket PC.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Oh God...
GodCo Inc by Ted Wilkinson
GodCo Inc is a hilarious and thought-provoking excursion into the absurd and the fantastic. It raises the question, what would happen if religion became incorporated? And, even more pressing than this, what would you do if you discovered that it already was.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Rants and Rave of Daniel P. B. Smith of eBook-Community@yahoogroups.com
Content, content, content... I just can't GET anything I WANT in eBook format.
I was pleased when I heard that the Random House Modern Library had issued a series of eBooks. I was thinking of wonderful books like James T. Farrell's "Studs Lonigan," Dos Passos' "USA," those friendly green volumes on my shelves, all that great stuff from the thirties and forties that's too new for PG.
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/ebookslist.html contains 103 titles.
Guess what: almost all public domain, and by my rough count 78/103 of them are available from Project Gutenberg. (They DO have one absolutely unique item that is available, as far as I know, nowhere else in the world: "The Varieties of Religious Experience by James, HENRY." Far less well known than the similar book by his brother, William!)
But wait, there's much worse. I love Arnold Bennett, specifically the Five Towns fiction (_Denry the Audacious_, _Clayhanger_, __Riceyman Steps,_ _The Old Wives' Tale_).
For some reason, the only PG text by Bennett is "How To Live On Twenty-Four Hours A Day," a weird extended essay that advocates bettering your life by using your commuting time on the train in a systematic program of reading great works of literature...
Anyway, Modern Library has _The Old Wives' Tale._ Cool! This is something I would buy for my eBook if it's not too much. And if it's in
a format I can use. under http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/ebooksformats.html, they say "Modern Library ebook titles are available in... Adobe Acrobat Reader... Gemstar... Glassbook, Inc... Microsoft Reader... NuvoMedia, Inc. Rocket eBook ... and PeanutPress.com" formats. Great! I'm impressed. Not just .LIT and Adobe, every major format. But, how do I buy it and how much does it cost?
The Modern Library site offers few clues, other than a list of every known eBook retailer and the suggestion that "not all vendors sell the full list of Modern Library ebooks. If you don't find the title you're looking for in one store, please try another." Since I've bought from bn and powells and they're on the list, they're what I'll try.
http://www.powells.com, select "eBooks," search for "Arnold Bennett." One match: "How To Live On Twenty-four Hours A Day, Arnold Bennett / Electric Umbrella, $1.99" In other words, a converted PG text. http://www.bn.com, select "eBooks," search for "Arnold Bennett", one match, "How to Live on Twenty-Four Hours a Day Available for download . Arnold Bennett / Gemstar eBook / Electric Umbrella / $2.49." Phooey.
Well, let's try Peanut Press just for laughs; my wife doesn't like Arnold Bennett but she IS considering purchasing a PDA to read eBooks.
"Arnold Bennett: no matches found."
I mean, WHAT'S WRONG? Why would a major publisher trumpet an eBook list that's 75% available on PG--and it's all but impossible to find or buy the items that aren't.
(Further investigation along the lines of "if you can't find it in one store, please try another": Brookline Booksmith has about two dozen of the titles, but not the Arnold Bennett. Contentville has it, but only in Microsoft .LIT. Northshire Bookstore has it, but only in Adobe, Glassbook, and MS Reader--i.e. not in any format that can be read on any portable eBook reader...)
Thanks Daniel

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/23/2001

Remembering Copy2PC Dept.
Standards for Digital Rights Languages
DRM is a large problem to solve and there are a number of ongoing efforts to develop open standards to solve some of these issues. The industry and users are demanding that standards be developed for DRM to support interoperability and not to force content owners, managers, and users into proprietary solutions. One of the significant and major DRM activities is stadardisation efforts with Rights Languages.
Listen, the only solution is to letgo DRM die, people still can scan their paper book and post it to the net.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Fur eBooks
Beethoven the Man and the Artist by Kerst & Krehbiel
Here, taken from his diaries, notes, letters and conversations is the story of Ludwig van Beethoven as told by himself. The edittors, Kerst and Krehbie have woven a fabric from many patches and the result is a whole and not a patchwork. It takes a little getting used to at first but as you read you will get into the flow. You will know Beethoven as you never imagined.
More new ebooks from ESSPC

posted by Jerry permanent link

Palm (Read: Pocket PC)
Debating Merits of Palms in Class
Several schools around the country are banning handheld devices. Ironically, this comes at a time when many others are embracing the technology as a teaching tool.
While it's difficult to find someone who doesn't agree that a ringing cell phone in public is annoying, parents and educators are concerned that school districts are banning Palms prematurely.
Unlike cell phones and pagers, Palms can be used directly for educational purposes: Software like dictionaries, graphing calculators, e-books and thermometers can be downloaded onto the Palms and used to simplify studying and classroom participation.
Handheld computers have an advantage over desktop PCs or laptops in that they are small enough to be carried anywhere and relatively inexpensive.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Quick Tips & Tricks
Organize and display a sub-set of a long list of eBooks
Microsoft Reader's Library filtering features let you order the eBook list by title, author, last opened, book size, and date acquired (shown in this screen). You can also use the "containing..." option to display a sub-set of books.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Is it? MUST READ for e-Writers!
Is it Easier to Get ePublished? A Look at Acceptance Rates
There's a strong assumption in the industry that the majority of ePublishers don't have the money or inclination to hire editors, which is over half the reason why this myth keeps growing. If you don't have any editors then the chance of publishing something quality is that much closer to unattainable, right?
Look at the list of e-publishers and their acceptance rate!

posted by Jerry permanent link

eBackPack
E-Textbooks Offer Light Reading
When students at the University of Phoenix return to school this fall, many of them won't be carrying books in their backpacks. Instead, they will download digital textbooks, multimedia simulations and PowerPoint presentations from portable e-book readers and desktop PCs.
These students are part of the university's plan to phase out traditional textbooks and become a "bookless college."
"Delivery of course materials electronically will free us from the rigid ways that students get their materials, which are lectures and textbooks," said Dr. Adam Honea, Dean of the College of Information Systems and Technology at the University of Phoenix.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Another DRM5 Brain Wash Session
ATypI conference and the e-book seminar
The e-book seminar will include presentations, discussions and panel sessions. In addition to Agfa Monotype, representatives from major e-book vendors and type suppliers including Adobe, Microsoft, Davtel, FontShop and Linotype Library will be presenting at the seminar.
Copenhagen, Denmark, Sept. 20-23. The seminar will cover business, technology and design issues that effect typography in the new and exciting medium of e-books.

posted by Jerry permanent link

No Cost Candy
Jim Daniel's Top 10 Website Traffic Sources
2. Go "viral" with your freebies
Viral strategies allow you to multiply your marketing efforts without actually doing more work. Take that example above. You offer a great freebie like an ebook or tutorial. Now, let others give it away for free at their site too, as an incentive, bonus or just for the heck of it. Why not? It adds value to their offering and it creates more visitors to your site as your freebie spreads.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Who Are You?
eBooks: What's In a Name?
It’s an exhilarating, if also confusing, time to be a publisher, with everything in motion and all our old assumptions and definitions up for grabs. Buzzwords and words inside quote marks abound, as we try on new concepts for size. What, anymore, is a "book”? What is “content”? What is an “eBook”? That’s a vexing question, because the term is in fact vague and problematic. But it's also an interesting one, because from its answer flows the answer to another question of the moment: Are eBooks “failing”?

posted by Jerry permanent link

Visa to Hell
MS takes up Passport defense
Passport is Microsoft's online authentication system, using a single sign-in to access multiple Web services. The idea behind Passport is simple: one secure ID and password rather than the many needed to access the wide range of Web sites and services consumers use every day. Microsoft uses Passport authentication for its MSN Messenger and Hotmail e-mail services, Microsoft Developer Network online access, and Microsoft Reader e-book purchases, among other product and service offerings.
One of Passport's greatest security weaknesses may be the single sign-on process, analysts said. The single point of entry could also be a single point of failure. Since the ID is always an e-mail address, someone looking to break into an account might easily obtain half the information needed to do so.
"There is plenty of good password-cracking software out there," LeTocq said.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/22/2001

Unique Software Watch
ceLater:Christopher Coulter informed Pocket PC Thoughts about this insteresting software: The desktop application allows you to snatch text from web pages off any web site with your desktop IE 4/5 browser. !!Without using AvantGO!!! Simply select the text and presto....you can read it on your Pocket PC later without all the graphics and overhead that comes with Internet Explorer and bypass the storage limits of too many Avantgo subscriptions.
Thanks to both of you for the original link.
Take notes, the ceLater will use Pocket Word to read it.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/21/2001

Eat Your DRM5 Dept.
Web Pirates 'Ripping Off' Top Authors, Survey Says
Internet pirates are ripping off the world's top bestsellers, from Harry Potter to Stephen King, a Web monitoring company said on Wednesday.
``This is the first original research showing that top authors such as J.K. Rowling (news - web sites) (creator of Harry Potter) and John Grisham are being ripped off by Internet pirates,'' said the British-based Internet monitoring company Envisional.
It said authors' latest titles were being ``swapped on Napster-like file sharing systems and posted on the Internet for free in their thousands.''
Envisional's research showed 7,267 pirated e-books could be freely accessed. It warned publishers that the ``growing problem has the potential to impact upon the sector as hard as Napster hit the music industry.''
Two main methods were used for pirating books.
A minority were ``cracked'' copies of copyrighted e-books like Stephen King's novella ``Riding the Bullet.'' The process involved disabling the copy-protection system surrounding an e-book.
The most common method was taking traditional copyrighted paper books that were scanned and then converted into e-formulas. They could then be downloaded and printed out.

posted by Jerry permanent link

New Standards for E-books
The Open eBook Forum has released an updated version of the Open eBook Publication Structure Specification.
Entitled `Publication Structure Specification 1.0.1,' the new industry standard for authoring reusable content for eBook devices and readers supercedes the 1.0 version of the OEB Specification.
The OEB Publication Structure (OEBPS) is an XML-based specification for the content, structure, and presentation of electronic books.

posted by Jerry permanent link

The Library That Keeps On Giving
California's state university system has written a new chapter in how to lend e-books.
Working with NetLibrary, the Cal State system will lend e-books to an unrestricted number of borrowers at one time -- a significant change in how subscription models generally work.
Previously, a single copy of an e-book bought for an electronic-library could only be borrowed by one reader at a time -- just like a print book. But an the arrangement with NetLibrary, half of the 1,500 e-books Cal State has purchased –- at no additional cost -- will have unrestricted use for multiple borrowers.

posted by Jerry permanent link

TOP 10 ebook sites - August 2001:
1. ESSPC - Free quality eBooks, New Design, Cleaner, Kinder and Gentler
2. PeanutPress - Best selection for new ebooks w/o DRM 5
3. FictionWise - Growing Sites
4. Univ of Virginia - Free, one of the pioneer MS Reader Library
5. Black Mask - Free and grow fast in term of quantity
6. XC Publishing - Indies, nice and lots of interesting titles
7. eBookMall - Watch out for this one
8. Pocket Manager - Management ebook
9. Bartleby.com - Free ebook section selected by Harvard Classic Shelf
10. MS Extreme - Limited titles, but very nice ebook, must visit

Since there are so many ebooks sites nowadays, starting August ceBooks will recommend the 10 ebooks sites that I frequently visit most during that month. For complete site listing, or if you have a site that you would recommend please upload in the following URL:
Free Pocket PC eBooks at :
.../cebooks/links/Free_ebooks_000987660919/
and Commercial eBooks Store at:
.../cebooks/links/Commercial_eBooks_000987660949/

posted by Jerry permanent link

Polling #16 Result:
What is your favorite reading in your Pocket PC?
(of 644 respondents)
66% eBooks (MS Reader)
14% eBooks (other readers)
14% Avantgo Channels
2% eMail
3% Pocket Word
1% None

posted by Jerry permanent link

Arrested Russian Programmer Thanks Supporters
Your very welcome Dmitry Sklyarov, we are waiting for the MS Reader version, so we can read those DRM5 ebooks in our Pocket PCs.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Hidden Knowledge
They publish new books; and also re-publish books, somehow out-of-print, that shouldn't be.
They look for books that touch on:
* History * Philosophy and thought
* Travel * Books about books (Bibliophilia)
* Fiction (not just non-fiction!) on these topics
Most ebooks are for Windows and Macintosh computers, in PDF, HTML, and Microsoft Reader formats; and designed to be compatible with hand-held readers. CD-ROM version will include early and modern maps and illustrations, and additional background material on the meaning and the context of the book.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Misleading Article from Microsoft on Pocket PC Reader
I just visited PocketPc.com today and saw the main article is about Pocket Reader. In the article, it wrote:
"Microsoft Reader uses ClearType® technology, so that your Pocket PC displays sharp, clear text for reading that’s easy on your eyes. Choose from hundreds of eBooks—including the latest best-sellers and the classics, children’s books and biographies, poetry and mysteries. Start with the 30 titles that are included with your Pocket PC on the Microsoft ActiveSync® CD-ROM.
Then expand your library by downloading eBooks from sites such as the Barnes and Noble eBook Store. Transfer the eBooks to your Pocket PC when you sync with your desktop, or download them directly onto your Pocket PC using wireless Internet services."
As we know that most of Pocket PC owners (except iPAQ) will never be able to read todays best seller with Pocket Reader due to their cancellation in updating the Pocket Reader to be able to read the evil DRM5. And major ebook stores like BN and Amazon only selling the DRM5 ebooks which is not compatible with Pocket PC. But this information is not stated in the article yet.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Will eBooks Replace Print Books?
Read some comments from well known epublishers and ewriters and join the roundtable.
An e-Lips Roundtable Column.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Anything you code can and will be used against you …
"Don't get me wrong. I think destructive hackers must be stopped. Same for people who exploit children. I'm just saying that enlisting software developers and IT workers as the front-line troops in those battles, in the end, makes no sense. What makes more sense is to use existing laws to go after these people. We have existing copyright laws that, unlike the DMCA, actually target copyright-infringing behaviors, not the tools that enable them. Likewise, we have anti-child pornography laws that permit hard disk searches upon the presentation of probable cause. Why not use them? What do you think? Should IT professionals be enlisted as info cops?" wrote Jeff Moad at jeff_moad@ziffdavis.com.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/20/2001

Penguin enters e-book market
Two hundred e-books are to be published online by book giant Penguin in September.
The move, announced by Penguin's owners Pearson, will represent the biggest digital book list yet published in the UK.
The e-books can be read on lap top computers or Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) - They're instantly downloadable, if you have the software - Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Reader.
Thanks to amarble@abs.net for the info

posted by Jerry permanent link

Future Watch
E(merging) Books
Most eBooks, hitherto, have been little more than ephemeral renditions of their print counterparts. But in reality, eBooks are another medium altogether. They can and will provide a different reading experience. To mention just a few of the features that can be incorporated into an eBook:
Hyperlinks to Web content and reference works
Instant shopping and ordering links
Interactive user-driven plotlines
Interaction with other e-books
Collaborative authoring
Gaming and community activities
Automatically or periodically updated content
Multimedia capabilities
Database access
Favourites and History Maintenance
Automatic audio conversion and translation
Full wireless piconetworking and scatternetworking

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/19/2001

Belgrave House
Belgrave House is currently only interested in acquiring previously (paper) published books to offer as ebooks. Though there are numerous sites offering ebooks on the internet, it's not clear that these books are reaching a wide audience as yet. But the possibilities are there, and Belgrave House would like to be a part of this movement toward finding the readership online. They currently offering ebooks in various formats: HTML, Rocket-ready, Microsoft Reader, Word, Rich Text Format, etc. They don't offer PDF (portable document format) and we don't encrypt our books. Most of the ebooks are $5.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Sui Sin Far's ebook collection at Blackmask
Pen-name of Edith Maude Eaton, whose father was British and mother a Chinese orpahn brought to the UK by missionaries.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Quark releases eBook Export tool to create eBooks for Microsoft Reader
eBook Export QuarkXTensions software, working in conjunction with avenue.quark and the Open eBook DTD, lets you extract the content of QuarkXPress and QuarkXPress Passport documents and save that content in Microsoft Reader eBook format.
Quarkexpress download site click here.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/17/2001

Books On Screen . Com
Most books are available in multi-media CD's, and as downloadables in the Microsoft Reader, PDF, HTML and RTF formats. And it is compatible with Pocket PC. The Books section are divived into General Fiction, Romance, Humor, Horor, Young Adults, Children, Classics, Mickee Madden, and Non-Fiction. Please take a look, worth to visit.

posted by Jerry permanent link

The Great eDebate
Mike Letts and Niels Ferguson square off on DMCA
This hot debate is required reading. Responding to a news brief on eBookWeb about Niels Ferguson (Noted Dutch cryptographer fears DMCA), Michael Letts of Seybold Publications states, "I feel that many people are using scare tactics to promote their anti-DMCA position. The question is whether these people have actually read the legislation? Have you?" Ferguson replies that, "Yes, I have. It is ludicrous that I would have to. This is a law of a foreign country in a foreign language. ...I resent your allegation of scare tactics. If there are any scare tactics going on, they are from the RIAA and the US DoJ."

posted by Jerry permanent link

Right ON!!!!
Researchers Reveal How They Bypassed Digital Watermarks
A group of scientists revealed Wednesday how they overcame digital watermarks used by the recording industry to prevent the copying of compact discs. Princeton University professor Edward Felten gave his address, titled "Reading Between the Lines: Lessons from the SDMI Challenge" on behalf of the group to a gathering of security experts at the 10th annual Usenix Security Symposium in Washington, D.C.
The academic paper had become the focal point in a struggle between cryptographers and copyright holders.

posted by Jerry permanent link

ISBN in eBook?
Wendy Jensen of Wendyjensen.com wrote this in eBook_Community@yahoogroups.com, "No, you don't need an ISBN to publish your ebook and sell it from your site. You only NEED it to sell in bookstores -- and most bookstores don't carry ebooks. It is NICE to have an ISBN, because it gets the ebook listed in Books In Print.
Realize, you can't get ONE ISBN directly from Bowkers (the ISBN supplier). You have to order them in blocks of 10 for $225.
I do resell ISBNs for $25 each through my own 'publishing company' Brave New Books (created to self-publish my own works), but frankly, I don't recommend you buy one just to sell an ebook from your own site. Think about how many ebooks you'd have to sell to recoup the $25, and the only advantage is a listing in BIP."
Also read what she felt about ebooks and epublishing in 2000.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Badosa.com, Literary Publisher on the Internet since 1995
A collection of fiction that includes works in English, Spanish, French, and Catalan for the Microsoft Reader.
Badosa.com is devoted to the free spreading of literary unpublished texts in a digital format. All literary genres are accepted:
Short Stories
Poetry
Stories, Novels, Serial Stories
Xavier Badosa explained: besides, all their titles benefit from their 'Personal Ebooks' service. Like Overdrive's ReaderWorks Connect, they are also delivering ebooks that are built on the fly (the user can customize all our ebooks with her own dedication to a friend).

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/16/2001

Fathom.com
Fathom is the premier destination for authenticated knowledge and online learning.
Fathom's member institutions present their immense wealth of knowledge across every area of interest—from business to global affairs, from arts to technology.
Fathom brings you:
* Lectures, interviews, articles, performances and exhibits by faculty, researchers and curators from our member institutions.
* Reference content spanning all disciplines and fields of study.
* Trails, a new visual way of organizing knowledge thematically by topic. You can use Trails to intuitively navigate content according to your own interests.
* Online courses from Fathom's course partners, offering the best in online education from top research institutions.
* Recommended books and products to deepen your knowledge.
According to Steve Potash of Overdrive, in this site you just select an article, and then select Microsoft Reader, AND no DRM - just tons of great articles for Pocket PC reading.

posted by Jerry permanent link

ESSPC's Pocket PC Browser Version
Ken Mattern pleased to announce that I finally got my new Pocket PC friendly web site http://ppcebooks.com live last night. If you go to the site with a desktop browser you will be directed to http://esspc-ebooks.com but if you are using your Pocket PC you will be taken the site that is "formatted to fit your screen".

posted by Jerry permanent link

Like I Don't Know Dept.
Print-on-Demand Books Cost More
The retail price of self-published, print-on-demand books is rising, much to the charging of their authors.
The way the new system works, a $22 book sold at Amazon.com will net an author a 10 percent royalty of $2.20. The same title sold directly from the Xlibris site will cost the customer only $18.65 but net the author $5. (Which works out to be a 25 percent royalty on the undiscounted cover price of $22.)
At 1stbooks.com, an author gets a royalty 30 percent of the wholesale price of the book so the same $22 book would net the author just under $3.50 regardless of where it sold or for how much.
But authors aren’t concerned about royalties as much as they fear higher priced books will be less attractive to potential readers.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Satanic Passport
Privacy group attacks Windows XP, Passport
The loose affiliation of 14 groups amended an existing complaint filed in late July with the FTC. During a media event here, Marc Rotenberg, executive director for the Electronic Privacy Information Center ( EPIC), said the groups had filed a 12-page supplemental complaint "alleging that Microsoft by offering Passport (authentication) and associated services is engaging in unfair and deceptive trade practices in violation of Section 5 of the FTC act."
Microsoft uses the Passport technology for some of its MSN Web properties, its messaging service, e-book purchases (Only the one that you buy that is using DRM5 that is not compatible with Pocket PC) and new features found in Windows XP. Microsoft partners, such as McAfee.com and Starbucks, use Passport to authenticate some of the services and goods they offer over the Web.
IMHO. I quit using passport because when I opened the slow Hotmail it will log in to all the passport sites, so let's tell their partner, to stop using passport, since not anyone like to have hotmail/passport account.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/15/2001

eBook 600
XML for Typesetters
XML can quite easily reproduce the way Quark and Word structure text, capturing only paragraph-like entities and character ranges within them. HTML, with a few exceptions (e.g. lists and block quotations) thinks about text precisely this way, in fact. (The Open eBook Publication Structure’s current version does as well, unfortunately, although future versions will be much more flexible.) However, this isn’t really how XML is intended to be used. ...Typesetters should experiment with XML for themselves. All it takes is a text editor, a parser/validator (free ones are available, including web-based validators) and a lot of patience. Fortunately, typesetters are marvelously patient people, and their long experience with texts will serve them well as they move into structured markup.
Excellent Technical Information on XML!

posted by Jerry permanent link

Library adding e-books, but publishers slow to catch on
The e-book revolution is upon us, and libraries if not publishers seem to be ready to embrace it.
But buying software or even a unit to read e-books could be a challenge at least until the industry establishes itself, ac-cording to Susan Mathews, coordinator of circulation and technical services at Mead Public Library.
A year ago, some e-book readers watched Gemstar, a subsidiary of RCA, acquire Rocket Ebooks, then the best-known of all e-readers. Their Rocket Ebooks became obsolete after Gemstar changed formats, because Gemstar's books are incompatible with Rocket.
The ongoing lack of interchangeability and lack of standardization are keeping e-books from taking off, Mathews said. There's also a great deal of resistance to reading off a device and not having a book.
It's only appropriate the best way to learn about e-books is by going to the Internet.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/14/2001

Tech Watch!
Replay Radio
A Better Way to Listen to Radio
Replay Radio lets you automatically record your favorite radio programs from Web Radio broadcasts, and then listen to them later on your PC, MP3 player or Pocket PC. Now you can hear your favorite shows whenever you want, and even skip over the commercials!
Replay Radio will change how you listen to radio forever. Using Replay Radio is easy:
On your PC, choose shows or stations to record.
Set the start and end times.
Leave your computer on, and Replay Radio records your shows and saves them as MP3 files.
Listen on your PC, or copy the MP3 file to your MP3 player or Pocket PC and listen anywhere.
If you own a Pocket PC, you can skip over the ads with the optional Replay Player.
Thanks again to Saputra

posted by Jerry permanent link

PocketManager.Com
Management Pocket ebooks specialist
Free ebook when you subscribe to its newsletter

posted by Jerry permanent link

Microsoft Reader E-book Edition of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer
Latest version is 6/30/01 (includes corrections of a few typographical errors; some added and refined hyperlinks; improved cover art)

posted by Jerry permanent link

eBooks via Avantgo
PocketWorld Library - a place that provides good reading for AvantGo users. You don't have to install a reader application, convert files or download the whole book - just subscribe to PocketWorld Library by clicking on the logo below, and you'll receive a new chapter or two every week. The current book is The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club by Charles Dickens.
Thanks to Pocket PC Thoughts for the original link

posted by Jerry permanent link

Versaly Games, Inc.
Featuring its patent-pending middleware and its exclusive distribution agreements for premium content, Versaly unites content, carriers and smartphones for next generation mobile entertainment. Subscribers can now play games, find opponents, watch videos, listen to music, view digital pictures and personal photographs, enjoy political cartoons and read eBooks from their smartphone.
Versaly is focused on delivering entertainment to smartphones, which are next generation mobile phones with full color screens, an operating system, file storage memory and a high-speed, ``always-on'' Internet connection. Janie Hendrix, President and CEO of Experience Hendrix, stated, ``We are excited about this partnership and how it will open up a new world for Jimi Hendrix music. Jimi was an innovator and we want to continue that by putting his music on smartphones. These smartphones are the coolest new devices I have seen in a long time.''
Press Release

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/13/2001

Reading PDF using PDF Cconversion software (to Palm doc files)
AportisDoc PDF Converter for Windows takes any Adobe Acrobat PDF document, extracts the text and converts it to AportisDoc format so that it can be read on your handheld. An AportisDoc (Doc) viewer on your handheld is required to view the converted document. Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) is the software standard that has revolutionized the traditional publishing industry. Adobe Acrobat is not required.
AportisDoc PDF Converter is US$14.95. Until November 1, 2001, as an introductory offer, it is available at no charge for non-business, personal use. Business, corporate, organizational, or government users may purchase it in The Aportis Store or download it here and pay anytime in the next 30 days.
Thanks to David S for the tips, and remember there are free DOC readers other than Aportis

posted by Jerry permanent link

The Onion for your Avantgo
You can add the Onion to your Avantgo, by creating channel manually. For the URL used http://mobile.theonion.com, Depth of Link 1, and include Images. Set max limit 100K, and only follow internal link. It is a highly recommended channel.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Jeff Kirvin's Why eBooks Don't Work (yet)
* No one wants to read a book on their PC, not even if it's a laptop. Except our brother Jeff Blackburn from Amazon
* Dedicated readers suck.
* Ebooks are too expensive, and the selection blows.
* DRM is a consumer turn-off. (But it turns on Jeff Blackburn)
Then Jeff Kirvin, analyzed Ebooks: The Right Way,
* Read on multifunction handheld devices--PDAs
* Treat your customers like customers, not potential thieves
* Charge a reasonable price for what you provide.
to read the full analysis click here.

posted by Jerry permanent link

An Electronic Publishing Timeline
This timeline is a work in progress. If you know of an important ePublishing event that should be added to the timeline, please send the details to Karen Wiesner at kwiesner@cuttingedge.net.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/12/2001

Busted by the Copyright Cops (a NewsWeek article)
Same old news, but I like the term of Copyright Cops, that would be like science fiction of the future, oops actually it started already.

posted by Jerry permanent link

AportisDoc Review
AportisDoc Mobile Edition for the Pocket PC is the latest release from Aportis, who has had their Palm version out for some time. AportisDoc Mobile allows you to read books, documents, manuals, and other pieces of information on your Pocket PC. It doesn’t read Microsoft Reader files though—it reads the Palm DOC file format and text files.
Aportis comes out of the gates with a good program. Unfortunately, it is missing many features that Pocket PC users are used to, and costs quite a bit of money for what it does (especially considering there are freeware readers out there). Aportis needs to beef up their program to make it competitive with Microsoft Reader and the other eBook readers out there.
AportisDoc Mobile Edition which costs U.S.$30.00, and before you buy it, try other software like the Free Palm Reader (which include ClearType) and Starbuck.
Thanks to Pocketpcthoughts for the original link.

posted by Jerry permanent link

One Picture and a Thousand Words
In the future, magazines, catalogues, comics, children's books and Japanese Manga will scroll across the reading tablets of commuters and children at bus stops. Even the GameBoy might get a rest or become a dual purpose product, with both games and books.
Currently, we can only dream of cheap full-color tablets that we can tuck away in our backpacks and pull out when we want to while away a bit of time. Or do we need to dream? What about those little handheld wonders that keep your life organized and download your email? The latest models of electronic organizers, particularly the Pocket PCs, support full color graphics, if only on a small scale.
So what's still holding us back from fully illustrated enjoyment? We have perfectly good technologies for displaying illustrated eBooks.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/11/2001

Digital Millenium Copyright Act Watch
Fishing in the Catch & Release Zone of the DMCA
DMCA complicates international trade, inhibits traditional fair use, and weakens the efforts of public and private entities to bridge the digital divide. Certainly the actions of Congress have indicated a high level of concern pertaining to DMCA's capability to create an atmosphere conducive to monopolistic practices that would place a "strangle hold on information".
Finally if the DMCA provides for exemptions, why doesn't it provide for the legal distribution of software that provide the average user with the capability to take advantage of those exemptions?

posted by Jerry permanent link

Now available by Mobipocket : the Reader 4.0 Release
The MobiPocket Reader, a universal eBook and eNews Reader for PalmOs, WindowsCE, Psion Epoc32 and Franklin eBookMan PDAs (DOC PRC, TXT, HTML,...). The MobiPocket Web Companion software : with a click of the mouse, download pages from eNews Web sites, and read them on your PDA ! The eNews is specially formatted for an optimal reading on the screen of your PDA.
Thanks to Saputra for the information

posted by Jerry permanent link

Happy Birthday To ESSPC!!
This week marks the first anniversary of esspc! To celebrate they have upgraded their server, upgraded the network and are proud to introduce their new web site http://ppcebooks.com a site that is formatted specifically for your Pocket PC.
Ken, thanks for the Kinder and Gentler (+Cleaner) Esspc new design :-)

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/10/2001

Think Jeff Blackburn's smart? not yet..
Amazon's New e-Book Releases for the Pocket PC:
Born with the Dead and At Winter's End by Robert Silverberg
Bully! by Mike Resnick
Cleon the Emperor by Isaac Asimov
The Astronaut from Wyoming by Jerry Oltion
Beggars in Spain and Dancing on Air by Nancy Kress
Coolhunting by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Da Vinci Rising by Jack Dann
Short Stories: Volume 1 by Damon Knight

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/09/2001

UH-OH!
Plagiarist Booted; Others Wait
...Workman added that "the No. 1 reason faculty give for this problem is the Internet."
"With so much information in digital form, students view it as an easy way out at the last minute and don't think through what they are doing," Workman said. "The bottom line is that you need to properly indicate what is your own work and what came from others –- whether it be exact words or the ideas."

posted by Jerry permanent link

Survey Says ...
Paper Still Plays a Role in financial e-conomy
Paper is still the raw material of e-business, reveals a survey based on interviews with e-business managers of 30 leading UK financial institutions conducted in May 2001 by Byline Research on behalf of information capture specialist Captiva Software.
The study shows that the majority of documents destined for e-business systems still originate on paper.
Of the electronic media, email accounts for 16% of documents, fax for 11% and web forms for just 8%. Only web forms, say the researchers, can to deliver data in a structured format capable of being used directly by e-business systems, and yet web forms account for the lowest document volumes.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Another free ebooks site...
The CyberBook Store - Free Area: All ebooks in this section are FREE to download and read. One free ebook about Yoga.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Yeah yeah whatever you say... Dept.
At E-published we aim to provide the best in e-books and mobile computing. Browse through our ebook selection and download classic books for free!

posted by Jerry permanent link

Adverse Drug Interactions eBook
Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc. the leading worldwide provider of handheld eBooks and medical reference products, today announced the availability of The Medical Letter® Handbook of Adverse Drug Interactions for their award-winning eBookMan® multimedia content device. The eBookMan model designed for health professionals along with The Medical Letter® Handbook of Adverse Drug Interactions demonstrates the power of handheld electronic medical references by putting critical drug reference information -- along with address books, schedules, notes, and other personal information -- in a portable, pocket-sized device, ideal for busy doctors, health care professionals and medical students on the go.
Franklin will also publish The Medical Letter® Handbook of Adverse Drug Interactions for download to Palm OS® devices as well as a Springboard(TM) Module for Handspring(TM) PDAs, and is planning an edition for Windows CE®/Pocket PC devices.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Corrupted .aa Files...
Found this from Microsoft Pocket PC eBooks
I've put the books from the supplied CD to CF card. The MSReader worked fine with all these books until recently, after several days for any book I'm trying to open, it gives a following cryptic error window:
The following error
occured:
0x80030057(-2147286953)
The soft reset did not help. I've deleted all books apart from the dictionary - the problem remained.
Ed Hansberry, Microsoft MVP - Windows CE answered:
Connect your iPAQ to your PC and delete all .lit and .ebo files. A corrupt .ebo file can cause the same thing. That is where Reader stores your bookmarks and keeps your place. Also, remove all Audible content. It can also hang Reader if it is corrupt. Those are usually .aa files.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/08/2001

Free Dmitry! Don't let the first innovation be the last
DVDs are a good example. DVDs are encrypted so that they cannot be reproduced, and any attempt to hack the algorithm that protects a DVD is a crime under the DMCA.
The impact of the DMCA’s prohibitions are wide reaching. The DMCA sanctions the use of encryption technologies to “lock down” a creative work to prevent it from being used in ways the author did not intend. As a result, many software developers, computer scientists, and civil liberties groups have complained that the DMCA stifles fair-use rights.
Ultimately, the DMCA’s impact may be to make the first innovators in a field the last. This is because, as Tampa patent attorney and computer game designer Andrew Greeberg has observed, the DMCA protects with patentlike scope, and for an almost indefinite term, unexamined and unpatentable inventions.
Original Link comes from eBookAd.com

posted by Jerry permanent link

Making an e-book by Roger Sperberg
On my PocketPC, I don't have to read texts in Microsoft Reader. I could read them using Pocket Word. I could read HTML pages that I've pulled off the web in Pocket IE. But I don't. I translate anything I have to .lit format and read it using Microsoft Reader.
Why? Because it's a tool for reading, not writing or editing or linking, and the library listing available texts is easier to navigate than a file directory. The annotation features are helpful, but I'm not usually marking these texts. I'm reading them.
Maybe ClearType figures into this, though that ought to find its way into other Microsoft applications soon enough.
Or maybe I just like things that feel like books, instead of having an office or web feel.
Read the 2 parts article on the three steps guide to make your own ebook.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Pocket PC Summit
October 10-12, 2001
Fairmont Miramar Hotel
Santa Monica, California
The first trade show and conference dedicated exclusively to the Pocket PC
FYI, the number one Free eBook Site: ESSPC's Ken Mattern will be a moderator on discussion panel with the topic of "Mobilize Your Business Documents for Your Pocket PC Enterprise"

posted by Jerry permanent link

New virus travels in PDF files
On Tuesday morning, Network Associates' McAfee antivirus division became aware of the first virus--known as "Peachy"--that uses PDF to spread, said Vincent Gullotto, senior director of McAfee's Avert group.
Fortunately, those who are simply viewing a PDF, or Portable Document Format, file aren't vulnerable. The virus spreads only by way of Adobe's Acrobat software--the program used to create PDF documents--not through Acrobat Reader, the free program that is used to view the files.
How Peachy works:
Acrobat lets people embed different file types within a PDF, including everything from the VBScript programs--used in the LoveLetter virus--to an actual executable program, Gullotto said.

posted by Jerry permanent link

ceBooks Bookmark expand to Palm eBooks too.
Since one of the advatages of Pocket PC is the ability to read Palm ebook using Peanutpress reader or other palm reader, I created a new bookmark folder dedicated for Palm ebooks. Please join and upload and share your bookmark here. Together we can make the biggest ebook directory related that is compatible with Pocket PC.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/07/2001

Watch Out, This ebook will self-destruct in 10 hours
PR: RosettaBooks Launches First "Timed" eBook
Content 'self-destructs' after a time-based permit expires
In a demonstration of technology that could revolutionize the publishing industry and help jump-start the nascent eBook market, electronic publisher RosettaBooks today announced it is offering Agatha Christie's classic mystery "And Then There Were None" in a special time-based permit edition.
Released in conjunction with network publishing software provider Adobe Systems, Inc. and digital distribution services provider Reciprocal, Inc, the eBook is available for download at www.RosettaBooks.com in a special month-long "$1 for 10 hours of reading" campaign. Once downloaded, the eBook may be enjoyed for 10 hours, after which the book's "time-based permit" will expire, and the content will no longer be available.
Help Us Sklyarov!
Watch Out, This Company will self-destruct in 10 months

posted by Jerry permanent link

Creating eBook from Printed Book
Tutorial on How to make a raw scan e-book using FineReader by Daddio.
"The whole purpose of this is to show how to scan in an entire book as quickly as possible. Speed will depend also on the particular scanner hardware you use. For the record, I use the Epson Perfection 1200U, and I can make a raw scan of a 400-page-paperback book and save it as text in under an hour. I'm about to show you how to set up FineReader to do it's part. The rest is up to you and your scanner."
Remember after you save it to text you can convert it to .lit using conversion software listed in the left colum of CeBooks.

posted by Jerry permanent link

MJ Rose's They're Young, But They Can Read
"They don't read newspapers, for example, with nearly the frequency that they read teen magazines or surf the Web. And space for books is limited in teen magazines -- if they cover books at all," said Tracy van Straaten, spokeswoman at Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.
And... They might capable of hacking DRM5 also

posted by Jerry permanent link

Sklyarov: A Huge Sigh of Release
Paradoxically, however, if the case against Sklyarov is dropped, the chances for a constitutional challenge to the DMCA could perhaps be hampered, some observers said. Sklyarov is thought to be the first criminal defendant charged under the law, and many who oppose it see his plight as a kind of Kafkaesque example of why the law needs to be changed.
Anyway we are still waiting for the MS Reader version of his software

posted by Jerry permanent link

Marketing Book Author Makes $68,000 with eCourses
Joe Vitale, author of such books as 'There's a Customer Born Every Minute' really wanted a new BMW Z3 Roadster. As a copywriting expert, he had lots of good advice to share but it's not easy to make a quick buck by writing another book (the average publisher advance for a non-fiction book is in the neighborhood of $5000.)
It's also not easy to get rich quick -- rich enough to pop for a BMW anyway -- by self-publishing an eBook, even if you've written books before. People tend to think of general business books and ebooks in a particular $29-49 price point ... so as expert as Vitale was, he'd have to move a lot of copies to get that Roadster.
CAMPAIGN: Vitale did have an email list of 800 marketers around the world who had bought his prior ebooks and/or signed up at his MrFire.com Web site. He decided to test offering them an ecourse, an email-only class in marketing...
RESULTS: Over the course of five months, Vitale made $68,000 from his ecourses. His first ecourse, 'Spiritual Marketing' (based on his book of the same name) sold out with 15 paid students at $1,500 each.
(Read the inspiring article)

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/06/2001

Polling Result #15
Q: What do you think of MS cancellation of the next upgrade of PReader to support DRM5?
(of 200 respondents)
28% That's OK, since I won't buy DRM5 ebook
24% Bad, bad, bad!
10% Wait for Advanced Reader DRM Remover
16% Sounds like Class Action Lawsuit
10% .lit is .dead
14% Good! There will be more non DRM5 eBook

posted by Jerry permanent link

Russia Fantasy eBook
XC Publishing is proud to announce the release of their latest electronic title, haunting fantasy novel Rusalka Moon by Cenizas de Rosas. Rusalka Moon is a dark fantasy set in a fairy tale version of the Carpathian Mountains. The story had two lines of inspiration: one had to do with a Russian folktale about a Rusalka, and the other had to do with a "devil's bargain" made with nuclear power and the damage to the environment by modern industrial technology.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Net Citizens vs. United States
Adobe E-Book Hacker Released
A federal magistrate judge ordered that the Russian programmer -- whose arrest last month on copyright infringement charges sparked worldwide protests -- be freed Monday on $50,000 bail.

posted by Jerry permanent link

E-Book Saga Is Full of Woe--and a Bit of Intrigue
Random Worries About Rights to Classics, That's why Random House is continuing its fight against RosettaBooks, a small New York electronic publisher. Rosetta acquired from three Random authors the rights to digitally distribute their novels. Random is afraid that it will have to renegotiate the electronic rights to its entire backlist of thousands of classics. These are books it signed up long before any publisher knew to ask writers for digital rights.
"The lawsuit is all about the future, and the potential for e-books that has yet to be realized," said Random spokesman Applebaum.
At least one of the writers whose work is being fought over doesn't believe that potential will ever come to pass. "The e-book is a ridiculous idea," said Vonnegut, who hasn't read his work on a computer and never intends to. "The printed book is so satisfactory, so responsive to our fingertips. So much of this new stuff is utterly unneeded."

posted by Jerry permanent link

Mobipocket Provides Many News Channels:
Like in Avantgo, you can get news channel with Mobipocket Reader for free. Some news providers are: Singapore Strait Times, Fox News, CNN, The Onion, International Herald Tribune, Sydney Morning Herald, Jerusalem Post, and many others.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Shadow of Love, paranormal romance
Description: Hot shot, leather jacketed Jim Cutler has a heart of pure gold. His pure heart will be put to the test when he falls in love with a woman in a wheel chair who bests him at the outset. What mysterious secret is his lover keeping from him? This woman he loves so deeply, unknowingly and very nearly takes him to his death in "Shadow of Love," a fast read new age adventure by Dick Claassen. Free Novel Download from Awe-Struck Publishing.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/04/2001

Yahoo! in Avantgo
Yahoo! Avantgo channel is the best avantgo channel to be appeared in your Pocket PC. More than a show off channel to your friend, it is actually a very useful channel for you to have. Here are the tips and tricks of creating great Yahoo channel for your Pocket PC's Internet Explorer:
* Create account at my.yahoo.com, put the name and password in the Yahoo Channel in your Pocket PC.
* Remember when you sync to Yahoo! Avantgo ONLY THE FIRST PAGE of My.Yahoo that will be Synchronized.
* So, you need to put ALL the news and functions that you want in the first page, such as: NEWS, Weather, Portfolio (stocks), Scoreboard (Sports), Movie ShowTimes (Movies).
* You also can sync your calendar, contact, and other data from your Pocket PC (via Outlook) to My.Yahoo with This Intellisync Software Download.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/03/2001

There are ongoing discussions on the No fix for Pocket PC Reader at MS_Reader egroups.
And this great opinion came from Elizabet Duran Gessner:
"If they couldn't fix it, they should have offered some form of compensation, since all of the advertising certainly led one to believe that it would be possible to buy commercially available Reader books for the PocketPC (not just the level 3 freebies). The compensation could, for example, be a trade-in on the new Pocket PC to be released later this year. HP, Compaq and MS produced this jointly, and it was put on the market jointly, so we do not have the case of an out-of-control hardware maker simply taking it upon itself to assert that its product will run somebody else's software. Accordingly, then, I suppose all those involved are liable, and should work out some way of compensating the consumer for what was, intentionally or not, a misrepresentation.
Maybe it's not technically possible to resolve the problem, as you suggest. But, at the same time, DRM5 did not happen overnight. Somebody somewhere must have known about it in advance. And while the makers of the PocketPC (hardware and software) obviously had time limitations as well, since producing a new device certainly also does not happen overnight, the problem emerged very soon after the product went on the market, The makers should definitely have been more forthcoming about the problem, perhaps with a notice to consumers in the press or at least at the time of purchase. And now, since this has dragged on for over a year, during which time we have been regularly told (if we asked, at least), that a solution was coming, I think we have a right to see something. If I had known that they would be unable to solve this problem, I would have returned my PocketPC when the issue of the screen colors (which didn't matter to me) was settled. Technically impossible? Possibly. Impossible to provide an equitable solution? Not at all.
Read more intenteresting and quality opinions there, and join the discussions

posted by Jerry permanent link

KnowBetter's Opinion
QUESTION: "Is the issue of electronic rights settled now that Rosetta books has prevailed?"
Answers by John Rutledge
I am certain that someone at Random House, or perhaps its outside counsel, has advised it to make it lucrative for the respective authors (not yet signed by Rosetta Books) to execute an addendum clarifying the ambiguity in Random House's favor. Those Random House authors already signed by Rosetta Books, while collegiate folk heroes, are hardly going to crack the bestseller list in this century. It's a cost-benefit analysis, and a perpetually capital-strapped publisher like Random House should be proactive rather than litigious.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Handheld Device Prices Plummet
Facing sluggish sales, excess inventory, back-to-school competition, and a coming wave of next-generation wireless devices, makers of several popular eBook-capable handheld devices are frantically cutting prices this summer. An August 2 article in The Wall Street Journal calls it "the handheld computer industry's most ruthless selling season yet."
Warning to eBook Reader Only Devices!

posted by Jerry permanent link

Swanwick 2001 Hugo Nominee - FREE! at FictionWise
Michael Swanwick: Moon Dogs
Nick has just completed his drowning-simulation treatment at the spa, and the near-death experience should give him a sense of inner peace ... but it isn't working. Nick moodily wanders off in the dark ... in search of nothing ... expecting nothing. The beautiful woman he spies bathing in a moonlit stream is more of a mystery than his own dark reverie, and Nick is compelled to brave the dangers of her mechanical canine companions to uncover the secrets of her past. FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY

posted by Jerry permanent link

  8/02/2001

Window Shopping Dept.
Forget about BN Pocket PC eBooks Stores not the collection for Pocket PC ebooks are shrinking more than ever. The categories now only split to two sections (fiction and non fiction) with less than 20 titles each. Want to know the URL? Forget it, not worth a visit at all...
Sad thing is the Pocket PC section is not really synchronized with MS Reader section, so you might find ebook is MS Reader that is compatible with Pocket PC but is not listed in Pocket PC section.

posted by Jerry permanent link

email from David Moynihan, founder of BlackMask.com:
My traffic pretty much doubles every three months. They're not, um, PPC devotees, any more than they're, you know, HTML devotees-- they read different books in different formats on different days, and, um, it pretty much depends on the text itself (pulps and holmes and stuff, are what you read on the iPaq, for example--actually, pulps are read on anything, but, after all, I run blackmask)--as well as, um, if they're taking it home or something...
I'm sorry if it seems like I haven't devoted enough time to MS-Reader. The reality is (not that I ever want to sound important), that Microsoft got together all the newsletter publishers and such (where the e-pub market really is, trust), told them about their great software, explained a few (non-OEB) formatting issues, told the group that the problem would be solved if they just fed everything off MS-owned servers, and got laughed out of the room (even by huge MS-Select customers like--again, not that I want to sound important)... then they announced no DRM for (corporate) pocket PCs.
Thanks David for the explanation...

posted by Jerry permanent link

Only in America
Hacker's Supporters Ask Adobe to Aid in Defense
``Adobe made the mess so they should help clean it up,'' said Don Marti, an organizer for the Coalition to Free Dmitry.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Nothing to do with Pocket PC but important.
ION Systems, Inc. Releases The ION eMonocle Reader, An Open eBook (OeB) Reader Application That Exceeds The Low Vision Requirements For Both The Americans With Disabilities Act And Section 508

posted by Jerry permanent link

Expo Focus on Securing E-Books
"For those who are convinced that e-books can never be properly encrypted and that publishers are about to deliver their intellectual property to a horde of maleficent pirates, the Adobe case proves that anything can be hacked," said Richard Nash, director of acquisitions for eBookagent.net.
Plus Sklyarov protest hits London.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Blogger is back! I couldn't log in to my weblog yesterday, so the update will be started again.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Court Case Opens New Chapter In E-Book Rights
When is a book not a book? That's the question electrifying the publishing world as a David v. Goliath lawsuit over the ownership of electronic book rights makes its way through the U.S. courts.

posted by Jerry permanent link