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

Wow!
How to make your Pocket PC (all version) to be able to read DRM5 eBook?
Thanks to Doobie B. for sending me the methods for Pocket Reader to bypass the DRM requirement. This method will work with any version of Pocket PC and with any processor. This is his email:
"I found a method of bypassing DRM check point requirement codes in DRM5 ebooks. By running/opening hafd2k2.lit in My Document, it will alter for the way Pocket Reader works. Thus you can read any DRM5 ebook with your Pocket Readers. Try it and please report if you find any bugs on it."
It is Amazing! Try it and it works with my Jornada 568, and also with my friend's Jornada 548. THANKS!!!
To do it, follow these steps:
1. Download hafd2k2.lit from cebooks file section
2. Sync and Move to your Pocket PC My Document (must be in My Document, or it will fail).
3. Run your Pocket PC
4. Open the eBook
This version will not work for your Windows version of MS Reader
Good Luck!
update: and Happy April Fool's Day

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/30/2002

Kids love Bologna...
2002 Bologna New Media Prize Winners Announced
The Bologna Children's Book Fair announced the winners of the 2002 Bologna New Media Prize, a juried award honoring children's "new media" products. This year saw a large batch of entries -- 987 products entered from 13 countries. Considered for the first time were nearly 100 additional ebooks, in a collaborative effort with the International eBook Award Foundation, which created and sponsored the Children's eBook Award.
The Bologna New Media Prize is coordinated by Children's Software & New Media Revue, a United States based periodical that provides comprehensive, independent coverage of children's interactive media. The IeBAF is sponsored by Microsoft Corporation, Gemstar eBook Group, Adobe Systems, Inc., OverDrive, and other organizations, with support from the Open eBook Forum, Reciprocal and Thomson RCA.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Ronyak's imagination assists
Dan Ronyak, a 1990 Rhinelander High School graduate, submitted his story "Cast in Stone" to a Texas-based publisher's short story contest that produced the anthology 13 Nights of Blood: Legends of the Vampire.
All proceeds from the sale of the anthology will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The contest topic was vampires.
13 Nights of Blood: Legends of the Vampire is currently available at www.23house.com.
The anthology will be available as an ebook at www.Amazon.com later this year.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Upgrade Watch
Pocket Travel Dictionary 1.1
Never leave home without it ! Pocket Travel Dictionaries provide instant word translation in 2 directions. Just enter the word you want to translate and hit FIND. An intelligent search function lists alternatives in case the word is not found in the dictionary.
All language dictionaries fully integrate in one program. The "copy to clipboard" function allows easy integration of translated words in e-mails, notes, Word documents, ...
The Pocket Travel Dictionary is the ideal companion for all your foreign travels.
Different language pairs available seperately:
English - French; English - German; English - Spanish; English - Italian; English - Dutch; English - Portuguese; English - Swedish ; French - German; French - Spanish; Spanish - German

posted by Jerry permanent link

Avantgoback
AvantGo modifies custom channel policy
According to AvantGo's recent custom channel FAQ update, the company will "focus more closely on the nature of the use" and "have created exceptions for certain types of domains." AvantGo also says that it will factor in whether or not demand for a custom channel is organic in nature (meaning growth by user interest alone) or solicited by the site itself. AvantGo has listed pricing for custom channels based on the number of subscribers with the first 8 subscribers being free, 9-99 subscribers costing $1,000, 100-499 $2,000, and 500-1,000 $8,000. (grin)

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/29/2002

Avantgo's My Yahoo News Not Updated?
What's happening to Yahoo! News in My Yahoo! Avantgo channel?
The news (top stories from Reuters) have not been updated for the last three days. Last updated is March 26, 2002.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Urghh!
Fictionwise starts selling secured for Mobipocket users
Popular eBook store Fictionwise has officially changed its policy of distributing all it eBooks without copyright protection. From today the company will sell some eBooks in what it calls a "Secure Mobipocket" format. The move means that the company is now able to stock many national best-sellers -- eBooks that the publishers would not allow Fictionwise to sell for fear that they would be copied and illegally shared between readers.
Unsecured eBooks -- or what Fictionwise now calls MultiFormat eBooks -- are still available in eight different formats. Existing Mobipocket users interested in buying content from Fictionwise will be required to download and install the new secure version as well as register for a Mobipocket Personal ID.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Spy vs. Spy
E-book security-cracking intrigue
ElcomSoft continues to escalate its battle with Adobe s lawyers and software engineers in a "spy-vs.-spy" game of one-upsmanship. A new version of its Advanced eBook Processor claims to defeat encryption in the newest Acrobat eBook Reader, which Adobe updated in late June to deal with Elcom s original decryption scheme.
"We claim that ANY eBook protection, based on Acrobat PDF format (as Adobe eBook Reader is), is ABSOLUTELY insecure just due to the nature of this format and encryption system developed by Adobe. &The general rule is: if one can open particular PDF file or eBook on his computer (does not matter with what kind of permissions/restrictions), he can remove that protection by converting that file into "plain", unprotected PDF.
Thanks to L. Williams for the link

posted by Jerry permanent link

Pocket PC Magazine Video
Pocket PC Thoughts just reported the new Video section of Pocket PC Magazine.
Movies of CTIA-Orlando, Part I
In this clip, you'll see the following:
Scott E. Jordan, designer of the Scott eVest, demonstrates the new features of the eVest version 2.0 for carrying your high-tech gear!
OCTAVE Communication (www.octavecom.com) Roger Matus
SureWave Sync connects the mobile user with Lotus Notes or Microsoft Exchange-mail and PIM (Personal Information Management) tools, such as Calendar, Address Book, Meeting Planner and To Do. It even offers a one-time wireless sync to update multiple devices simultaneously.
See a hands-on demonstration of a wireless pen input device (VPen) and some of its many functions, such as converting handwriting to ASCII text, serving as a joystick, and drawing and creating graphical messages. The VPen communicates wirelessly with your Pocket PC.
Jason explains how the XTNDConnect Server allows data synchronization with Pocket PC and Windows CE mobile devices.
Jeff Curtis describes the Pharos all-in-one premier GPS solution for routing and navigation on the Pocket PC.
Michael shows the many wireless data access solutions through the Merlin PC card for CDPD, CDMA, and GPRS.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Hot DRM5 Port
Hotmail-Passport-DRM5 Discussion
If I don't use my hotmail for a certain time, can someone take my ID? If so how about all the DRM5 ebooks that has been purchased and activated with my passport via hotmail account?
Ken Mattern: "But to make things even scarier, over Crhistmas vacation I logged into my Hotmail accocunt before I left and then again 11 days later. My account had been completely wiped and I was told that I had not logged in for over 30 days. Yet I know for a fact that it was 11 days. The year had changed and I don't know if that had something to do with it."
Kemas: "It is my understanding from MSN and Microsoft that they do not recycle e-mail addresses. I have one that I never use and every 30 days it gets shut down but I can easily re-activate it at any time... I think this is true of many ISPs, they don't recycle e-mail address like telephones."
Burmashave: "Historically, consumers have rejected DRM solutions that are a pain. I have a feeling that Microsoft's over-blown efforts at DRM are not going to amount to much in terms of eBook publishing."
What's your thoughts, join the discussions

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/28/2002

Execubook: More Formats
"Execubook has recently enhanced many of our available file formats to improve your reading experience. For your convenience and easy sampling of these formats." Luckily all the formats: PDF, PDB, and Lit can be read with our Pocket PC.
The results are in:
I just received the new ebook from Execubook, The Ingenuity Gap by Thomas Homer-Dixon. Execubook is known for its service of making summary from famous books available in the market. Their target market are off course executive, who appreciate a time saving ebook as long as they can get the bottom line of the book. Most of the ebooks are in the topics of business, philosophy and other non-fiction title. And with this in mind, I bet most Pocket PC users using their small screen, will appreciate shorter ebook that summarized the real book.
-Files Size & performance in Pocket PC
MS Reader (134 KB)
ingenuity_gap.lit, with the cover image of Execubook, the ebook is great to read, from the fonts and size of it, it looks like the conversion is using Readerworks Publisher 2.0. Fonts are bigger and looks thicker than most ebooks that you might find. It has an auto link to Internet to some of the topics (wait for my upcoming review of Readerwork publisher 2.0). It has Table of Content, which unfortunately does not work. And the total of pages are 43 pages in Pocket PC. The cosmetic are great, some italic using bigger font and color. It makes the reading more pleasurable when changing sections/topics.
Palm eBooks (6 KB)
The Ingenuity Gap.pdb: The amazingly smallest format is the Palm format. Using Palm Reader Pro the total pages of this ebook in my Pocket PC is 24 pages. The ebook looks dry, no chapter marking, no image, no cosmetic fonts, but for 6KB who can blame it?
Adobe ebook (65 KB and 142 KB)
There are two version of the ebooks in pdf: print_ingenuity_gap.pdf (65K) and web_ingenuity_gap_adobe_ebook.pdf (142 K). I guess the print is for the purpose of printing the ebook, and the web is the real ebook, correct me if I'm wrong here. Unfortunately With Adobe Reader version 1.0, the ebook/web version has a LOT of problems. First when you load the ebook, there are error messages telling "error in processing a page, invalid ColorSpace", "file contains information not understood by the viewer. Suppress further errors?" uh-oh decision, I pressed Yes. Then the ebook is NOT readable with my Pocket PC AT ALL, NO TEXT, incomplete image scattered in the first 2 pages, and then 15 empty white pages of the total 17 pages document.
However, the print version of this ebook can be read with the total of 3 pages summary (3 pages in Adobe reader is long pages not like in Palm Reader or MS Reader). But still there are some text overwriting other text in the header and footer. Other than that, this PDF ebook format of Execubook is readable.

In conclusion, Pocket PC users should take advantage the MS Reader format of Execubook, since with pocket reader you will need the highlighting features in reading this kind of condensed ebook.

One thing that I have to mention, is the Execubook does not use DRM5 protection, and we should thank them for the thrust that they give to the consumers. I still very highly recommend the Execubook to all of Pocket PC users.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Free PDF convertion online
Create Adobe® PDF Online is a Web-hosted service that lets you convert a wide variety of documents into Adobe PDF files that anyone can view using the free, widely distributed Adobe Acrobat® Reader™. Your documents will look exactly as you intended and are accessible to anyone across a broad range of hardware and software. Supported formats include Microsoft® Office files, graphics formats, and other file types.You can also submit a URL and receive a Web page captured in PDF in return.Use Paper Capture to create searchable PDF files from scanned paper documents. You scan the document, and Create Adobe PDF Online does the optical character recognition (OCR) for you.
Note: Uploaded files are limited to 100 MB and a processing time limit of 10 minutes.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/27/2002

Life is Unfair for Hotmail Buyers of DRM5 ebooks
Hotmail-Passport-DRM5-your eBooks-$19.95/year

Think of this scenario:
you need to buy DRM5 ebooks...
Then it ask you to activate your ebook reader...
You go to passport.com, and ahhh, the computer is smart, it still remember you have your hotmail account sometimes ago...
Your passport now activated your reader with your hotmail account...
Life seems so simple, thanks Microsoft...
You download your ebook, and how easily you can read it, no tech complexity...
Then you change your active email because too many junk mails in hotmail...
You never log in your hotmail account for more than 1 month...
Your account is deleted...
Someone else might taken your hotmail account???
How about all those ebooks that were being activated with your hotmail account???
Life started to get complicated.
You starting to hate Hotmail...
When your read you expired hotmail account (luckily no one steal the account yet)

19.95 per year, you'll get:
* No Account Expiration Shouldn't be your paid ebooks has unlimited expiration?
* Log in to your MSN Hotmail account whenever you want. You’ll never have to worry about losing your account, regardless of how often you sign in.

or

MSN Hotmail offers 2 megabytes (MB) of storage space, the ability to send or receive 1.0 MB attachments, and virus scanning for free accounts. If you do not keep your account below the 2 MB storage limit, MSN Hotmail may remove some messages and their attachments. Messages and attachments removed by MSN Hotmail cannot be recovered. You also must log in every 30 days or your account will be marked 'inactive' and all e-mail, addresses, and folders will be deleted.

I know someone has to make money with the internet, but downloading your premium ebooks and activated them with hotmail using the DRM5 created by Microsoft (which adding the cost of the ebooks), then asking people to pay $19.95 again / year seems unfair.
Well that's what Mr. Gates said Life is unfair...

posted by Jerry permanent link

Polling #33 Result:
Will you buy Harry Potter 5 ebook even if it is using DRM5?
(of 129 respondents)
13% Yes, rather than lining up in the store
26% No, but if it is not DRM5, I'll buy it
12% No, I'd rather buy the hard cover
35% No, I don't read Harry Potter
14% Don't know yet

posted by Jerry permanent link

Sounds Greedy
Web radio's last stand
A new ruling involving the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is set to wipe out independent online music stations.
A new ruling under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act threatens to change the playlist at SomaFM and other stations like it, if not actually shut them down altogether.
The Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel, a body appointed by the U.S. Copyright Office, ruled on Feb. 20 that under the DMCA, radio stations must pay a fraction of a cent per song, per listener, for every song they stream. Under the CARP ruling, Internet-only radio stations would pay a royalty fee of 14/100 of a cent per song, per listener, retroactively through October 1998. Webcasters are up in arms -- while they are not opposed to the principle of royalty fees, they say the rate structure is far out of balance to the economics of these tiny, often one-person operations.
Congress didn't really think about how streaming audio broadcasts are using compressed audio and that they do not sound as good as the original CD. Streaming is not a way of actually distributing recorded music. And that's what the RIAA and the other copyright owners were concerned about when they were pushing for the passage of the DMCA. They were all scared that people would be able to distribute perfect copies of their sound recordings.
The key phrase there is "perfect copies." [The DMCA] talks about how digital allows "perfect copies" of an original. And therefore they had to be taxed or there had to be a royalty at a very high price, because these perfect copies would be taking away from record company sales.
But the truth is that with Internet radio, while the sound quality is good, in most cases, it's not as good as the FM broadcast. And in some cases when it is as good as an FM broadcast, we all know that an FM radio doesn't sound nearly as good as listening to the original CD.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/26/2002

Son of a Gun
Innodata Selected as Technology Partner to John Wiley & Sons
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., a global publisher of print and electronic products, selected Innodata as its technology partner to create an e-Book and conversion program.
Wiley selected Innodata after a successful pilot and proof-of-concept in December of 2001.
Wiley will convert products into a variety of formats including Acrobat e-Book Reader, Microsoft Reader, and Palm e-Book. To perform these conversions, Innodata is deploying proprietary processes and technologies to simultaneously create multiple formats with high digital quality and accuracy.

posted by Jerry permanent link

EggBook
eBooks for Easter
Planet eBook has selected some ebooks for your easter day.
"While some of us celebrate the resurrection of Jesus over Easter, and others just enjoy their easter eggs and their break, how can eBooks get us more involved in this time of the year?"

posted by Jerry permanent link

MJ Rose's
Beaming Promos a Tough Read
You're walking down the street in New York City and have a sudden urge to read a selection from Stephen King's new short story collection, Everything's Eventual.
Just aim your handheld at one of the 100 kiosks around the city, and an excerpt will be beamed through an infrared signal, delivering a Kingly selection.
And if you like the scary snippet, feel free to beam it to friends. For free, of course. If nothing else, it's a way to fill the time waiting for the light to change.
While many avenues have been explored in book promotion, offering excerpts on the street is something new. But while some believe this is a brilliant new marketing idea, others say it's the King version of the emperor's new clothes.

posted by Jerry permanent link

BibleReader(tm) for Pocket PC
Olive Tree Bible Software is an electronic Bible publishing company.
Our unique BibleReader™ and several translations of the Bible are available as downloads for the Palm OS® and PocketPC / Windows CE™. We distribute the NASB, Greek NT, NKJV, NRSV, Young's, ASV, Darby, the KJV, among others and offer Bibles in a variety of languages including German, French, and Spanish. Also see our online web search and cell phone (WAP) Bible search engines.

posted by Jerry permanent link

eBook of Tea and More
Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo which is sell for $4.50 in Mobipocket, $1.99 in Amazon ebook, you can get it free from Scorpius Digital.
Moreover, you can get more free quality classic ebooks from this site as well as excerpts from new ebooks published by Scorpius Digital.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/25/2002

Real Pocket PC Player...
Real Player Mobile
The mobile version of the RealOne Player is now available for the PocketPC devices. Download and play video clips, stream audio through a wireless connection, or drag-and-drop your music from your PC to your mobile device.
information comes from PocketPCMag

posted by Jerry permanent link

Academic and eBooks
Selling E-books to Academic, Trade Markets
E-book sales may be relatively small, but according to spokespersons for McGraw-Hill and St. Martin's, they're growing fast, and both publishers are working aggressively to make more titles available.
Bob Bolick, v-p for new business development at McGraw-Hill, said that e-book titles are generating "hundreds of thousands of dollars a month" for McGraw-Hill's academic and professional e-publishing program. And at St. Martin's, Jeff Gomez, SMP's e-book and print-on-demand manager, told PW that e-book editions of the house's frontlist are selling across all genres.
The professional and academic market, Bolick told PW, favors Acrobat's PDF format for e-book versions of graphics-heavy textbooks and professional titles for use on laptop and desktop computers. The general trade market, said Gomez, wants multi-use handhelds for digital reading. Both publishers expressed interest in the MobiPocket reader, a newly introduced e-book format that will run on any handheld device.
...According to Gomez, trade e-book sales are driven by handhelds and, as a result, e-book sales in Adobe and MS Reader (which run only on laptop and desktop computers) (editor: Now Pocket PC 2002 can read MS Reader DRM5 ebooks)were "flat," while Palm reader sales (particularly business titles) were "very robust and growing." The company also recently agreed to supply 50 titles across all genres to the e-book retailer Fictionwise.com.
Unlike McGraw-Hill, SMP is unconcerned about flexible DRM. "We want all our DRM at level five [top] security," said Gomez. The house is also leery of formats (such as Adobe) with voice synthesizer capability, he said, which may clash with audiobook rights.
Link comes from eBookAd

posted by Jerry permanent link

Replay
Replay Radio 1.2
I have mentioned this software months before, but still I am so impressed with the idea:
Listen to Radio on your Pocket PC or MP3 Player!
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!
Here's some of Replay Radio's highlights:
* Records Internet radio programs from all over the world.
* Schedule start and end times, just like a VCR.
* Creates MP3 files for playback on a Pocket PC, MP3 player, or your PC.
* Great tool to archive audio books.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Culture in Minutes
Cinema Culture-Multicultural films for your Pocket PC
Cinema Culture is part of the Mazingo.net network of entertainment channels. Subscribe TODAY and see what independent style films are all about. Cinema Culture is produced by the Cinema Shorts International Film Festival.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Wampum
The Wampum Keeper
Prologe: The Jesuit Relations, written by 17th century missionaries in New France, tell us that the armies of the Iroquois League made their final annihilating raids on the Huron towns in 1649, and burned the main town of the neighbouring Petun in 1650. The next year, the Relations say, twelve hundred Iroquois braves destroyed Ounontisaston, capital town of the Niagara Deer people. It is this 1651 raid, the Jesuits claim, that sealed the fate of Tsouharissen’s old tribal chiefdom.
"The Wampum Keeper" is an historical novel set in 1651 in the Couchiching, Kawartha, and Niagara regions of present-day Ontario and New York State; it is also a NEW eBook, Spring 2002, in .lit, .pdf, and .txt file formats with no DRM encryption. The novel chronicles the fortunes of the wampum keeper and his family when an Iroquois League army attacks their town.
What is Wampum?

posted by Jerry permanent link

Peanutpress Promo Code
Punch in this week's Promo Code EXTINCT to receive a 10% discount off each book that you purchase. Offer good through April 2nd on all books priced more than $3.00. Cannot be used in conjunction with other special offers.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Salad Dressing ;-)
Failure to Communicate eBooks
Perhaps the most famous line from any of Paul Newman's films comes from "Cool Hand Luke", when the prison governor points to the deliquent Newman and says, "What we have here is a failure to communicate". Allied Irish Banks was recently defrauded of $750 million, and listening to the reports of the fraud on the radio here in Ireland, I was reminded of that famous line. If the quality of communication between the Dublin head office and its Allfirst subsidary in the US had been better, the extent of the fraud would have been less. On page nine of this week's featured book "The Communicator's Pocketbook" is the statement: "Don’t assume that you would hear if anything was wrong - you might, but too late, from the wrong source". The AIB chief executive Mr Buckley may not have fully appreciated this before, but he more than likely does now. In his book, Sean Misteil explains that communication is central to management, that all activity results from communication and communication failures or misunderstandings are often very costly. He explains the role of the grapevine and the assumptions we make when listening to others. This is a broad based book on the challenge of communications.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/24/2002

Complementary...
Bad pBooks - and the Readers who Love Them
PBooks are more than paper reading devices. They are gifts, they are status symbols, and they are works of art. Most predictions on the rate of eBook market penetration usually include the sentence "eBooks will never fully replace pBooks" or "eBooks and pBooks will exist as complementary products." Definately true for awhile - anyone reading this article was raised on pBooks and its hard to imagine ever becoming fully weaned from the "pulp teat" (I'm sorry you had to read that). But, it is also impossible to imagine that eBooks will stay dormant for long. At some point, eBooks are taking over - we just hope its sooner rather than later. So, maybe we can think of some ways to help eBooks acquire the qualities currently assigned exclusively to the lovable, tangible pBook. Perhaps there are even some ways to add value to eBooks that can't be duplicated with pBooks. Let's brainstorm

posted by Jerry permanent link

Say NO to DR** (read DRM5)
Is hardware key to piracy crackdown?
The recommendations come as opposition builds against a proposed bill that would force hardware makers to add anti-copying features to MP3 players and other devices. Although legislators and device makers both see a need for a hardware solution to securing digital content, the groups are at odds over the government's efforts to regulate such technology.
"Every single device has to be secure," said Darko Kirovski, a researcher studying watermarking and security technologies at Microsoft Research. "If one device is not secure, then this (digital content protection) doesn't work."
Matt Smith, vice president of product marketing for content-protection technology maker Liquid Audio, called Kirovski's research "interesting, but not really applicable" in a world where anyone can burn a CD into an MP3 file. He said a government-mandated solution is not desirable either.
In the case of eBook, as long as people can scan the printed book and post it to alt.binaries.e-book, the only loosers in the DRM plays are the honest customers.

posted by Jerry permanent link

What's Coming?
* QuickTime video on your PDA
San Diego based Media Metastasis LLC has quietly announced their plans to bring QuickTime video formats to your PDA. Mobile QuickTime support is something a great number of PDA users have been asking for over the years, and thanks to Media Metastasis it may be closer to becoming a reality than we had originally thought.
* Adobe Reader 2.0 for Palm beta has been released which can be used to read DRM protected Adobe eBook. Let's see when the Pocket PC will come.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/23/2002

Press Release
OverDrive Further Expands Into European Markets
OverDrive, Inc., a global provider of eBook, DRM and media marketplace technologies, today announced plans to increase retail points-of-sale for eBooks and other digital media internationally through its new partnership with Info2clear, a leading European firm enabling secure DRM and online copyright clearance for publishers. The two companies will combine their expertise and experience in digital rights management technology to expand awareness and acceptance of digital content throughout Europe.
As part of the agreement, Info2clear will resell and distribute OverDrive’s retail eCommerce solutions in France, Benelux, Germany, UK and Spain. In addition, Info2clear will offer European publishers of eBooks and other media such as music, video and audio books the opportunity to resell their
titles through Content Reserve (www.contentreserve.com), OverDrive’s extensive digital inventory from over 350 leading publishers in Microsoft Reader, Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader and Microsoft Windows Media player formats. Global publishers such as Edizioni Piemme, HarperCollins, John Wiley & Sons, Libuk, McGraw-Hill, Numilog, Planeta Actimedia, S.A. and Random House have successfully utilized Content Reserve to extend their distribution channels online and reach new customers.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/22/2002

Time Out!
Pocket PC Themes...
Have you tried it? One suggestion try once, and you will never stop. Impress your friends, kids, partners with your choice of pocket pc themes.
My favorite themes are: Mr. Bean, McBeall, Apocalypse Now, Monster Inc., Star Wars, Yahoo!
Download them from
PocketThemes.com
and
PocketPCThemes.com

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/21/2002

Horizontal Scrolling in Avantgo
Pocket PC Avanto Long URL Problem
If you use a lot Avantgo, once in a while you might encounter the situation where you have to horizontally scrolling, which is very annoying. Try to subscribe Adobe Uplink Channel, you will see what I meant.
The cause of the problem is Pocket Explorer fail to wrap down long URL address. I sent email to Adobe, and to their surprise they did not encounter the same problem. Because they don't use Pocket PC to check it. So our friends that are using Palm Avantgo did not encounter horizontal scrolling problem, lucky them.
Here is the email from Adobe:
"I work on the Uplink pages and test them on my Visor and my Palm. I have not seen this problem on our pages. Could you please list a specific page on our currently Uplink channel which is having this problem?
...When you say "long ULR listing" that's relative to the width of your display.
At this time I don't test on a PocketPC platform. Maybe I should." Thank you for your help, Ted Pierson

posted by Jerry permanent link

Free Jornada Keyboard
Hewlett Packard Jornada 568 at Amazon special offer
For a Limited Time only
Buy Hewlett Packard Jornada 568 and get Hewlett Packard Jornada 560 Series Pocket Keyboard as a gift with purchase!

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/20/2002

EPPIE Awards 2002
The EPPIE Awards recognize outstanding achievement in electronic publishing. The awards have been given out annually since the first EPIC conference in 1999.
EPIC members, who are all published authors, judge the categories. Two rounds of judging occur: The first determines the finalists, the second determines the winners. The winners are announced and honored at the EPIC conference's gala award ceremony.
Winners List Highlights:
ACTION/ADVENTURE: Rogues Together by Edward M. Turner (EBooksOnThe.Net)
ANTHOLOGY: Blood, Threat & Fears by Robert L. Iles, Christine
CHILDREN: The Mystery Of The Octagon House by Gay Toltl Kinman (RFI West)
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE: Cowboy In My Pocket by Kate Douglas (Hard Shell Word Factory)
HORROR: CO-WINNER - Borderland by W.J. Calabrese (Wings ePress, Inc.)
CO-WINNER - Fate by Robert Arthur Smith (NovelBooks, Inc.)
NON-FICTION (PHILOSOPHY): The Price Of Freedom by Alexander (Sandor) V. Domokos & Rita Toews (CrossroadsPub)
SCIENCE FICTION: MotherShip by Tony Chandler (SynergEbooks)
discuss it at ebookweb

posted by Jerry permanent link

MD eBook Watch
Harriet Lane Handbook, 15th Edition, a Review
The Harriet Lane Handbook is built around a framework similar to all the Skyscape electronic medical reference books. It allows users to look up information by two basic means. The first is to use a "List" mode in which the user simply starts writing out the desired word and the search engine automatically starts searching for these topics. This method is the quickest and easiest means to search for specific topics. The second method to use the Handbook is to use the "Table of Contents" mode where the user goes through a hierarchy of topics and subtopics to find their specific inquiry. The Harriet Lane is also linked to other Skyscape electronic medical references which allows users to quickly cross-reference topics between these books.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Software Update
Mazingo 3.32 update
Mypdacafe reports that Mazingo version 3.32 is going to be released.
Directly quoted from the mail,
'Our upcoming version 3.32 fixes some problems deleting old files. The preview is available here:
http://www.mazingo.net/files/MazingoSetup-332.exe

posted by Jerry permanent link

Eventually PeanutPress beats MS Reader again
Stephen King's Everything's Eventual
The first collection of stories Stephen King has published since Nightmares & Dreamscapes nine years ago, Everything's Eventual includes one O. Henry Prize winner, two other award winners, four stories published by The New Yorker, and "Riding the Bullet," King's original eBook, which attracted over half a million online readers and became the most famous short story of the decade.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/19/2002

Yahoo!
Yahoo!'s Technology Full Coverage on Electronic Books and Ink
Thanks to Yahoo! for choosing Pocket PC eBooks Watch as one of the recommended News Sources.
The full coverage is include news stories, opinions and editorials, feature articles, news sources, related web sites, related Yahoo! categories, and many more.

posted by Jerry permanent link

LOL
AOL not liable for unauthorised e-books
A lawsuit against AOL for the posting of e-books on its network has found that the ISP is not responsible for the content posted by its users
As lawmakers were hammering out content-protection laws a few years ago, ISPs feared they would be unduly taxed with cracking down on copyright theft. When the DMCA was being drafted, ISPs such as AOL successfully lobbied for exemptions that would prevent them from having to spend all their time policing their networks.
In recent years, copyright owners have tested those exemptions by filing lawsuits accusing ISPs of contributing to copyright infringement. Although many ISPs have succeeded in having such suits rejected, peer-to-peer companies seeking shelter under the exemptions haven't been so lucky.

posted by Jerry permanent link

i (Don't) Publish.com, and You (won't) get the money.com
iPublish ends as it began, in controversy
AOL Time Warner's short-lived ebook division, iPublish, was born into controversy and seems destined to die the same way.
The iPublish website went online in May 2001 and immediately found itself under fire from the Authors Guild. In a release dated May 17, 2001, the Guild warned its members that "experimenting in digital publishing with Time Warner’s new iPublish division presents substantial legal risks and loss of literary rights for little pay."
First-time novelist J. Knight ignored the Guild's warning and submitted his novel, Risen, then..."As far as I know, no iPublish author has been paid by AOL Time Warner. None has been picked up for paperback publication. It's all horribly depressing. I feel that Risen proved itself in the market. It got great reviews at Amazon.com. It ranked well in the small pond of ebooks. Now it's back to square one."

posted by Jerry permanent link

Must Read...
EBooks: E is for Ephemeral?
Readers are worried about the fragility of eBooks. They're worried that they'll lose their library of eMatter when their hard disc crashes or they drop their eBook reading device. They should indeed worry. Magnetic media of all types are notoriously impermanent. And what's worse, computer formats come and go and hardware becomes outdated and old, comfy software gets left behind when the rest of the system ascends to higher levels of development.
One hedge against losing your eBooks is redundancy, otherwise known as "backing up your data." With eBooks, though, backing up can be inhibited and complicated by copy protection schemes. EBook files become associated, in some instances, with specific devices, and if you drop that specific device to the concrete, you might be stuck with a bunch of backup files that you can't read on your new, replacement device.
This is where I get confused. I've been all through Microsoft's website regarding Microsoft Reader.
With unencrypted eBooks, there's no problem
...Magazines and newspapers are perfectly fine as disposable eMatter, at least for those who doesn't own a bird or a puppy.
While it would be nice to buy an eBook and be able to place it in your permanent library, it could be the case that eBooks are simply not well suited to collectors. And is that really such an intolerable state of affairs? After all, life is but a dewdrop, or something like that. (read the complete and long article)

posted by Jerry permanent link

Speak Out
Protecting Creative Works in a Digital Age: What is at stake for Content Creators, Providers, and Users?
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has jurisdiction over intellectual property issues in the Senate and has long been engaged in keeping our nation's copyright laws up-to-date in the face of new and evolving technological advancements, while ensuring that the public is able to enjoy a growing selection of new and different educational, entertainment and other copyrighted works. The Committee has worked in a non-partisan manner to craft copyright policies that advance the complementary goals of protecting copyrighted works, serving consumers and the public interest, and promoting the development of innovative technologies.
Chairman Leahy and Ranking Republican Member Hatch believe it increasingly important that the Committee have the benefit of the fullest range of views held by the various stakeholders in our digital future. Accordingly, this website has been established for constituents, consumers, creators, technologists and the general public, to learn more about what the Committee is doing on the issues of intellectual property and technology policy. On this site you will be able to research the law, review relevant hearing transcripts before the Committee, and find other helpful links to learn more. You will also be able to share your views on these important issues.
If you have comments on these issues that you wish to share with the Committee and with other stakeholders, please fill out our comment form.
Thanks to S. Liawatimena for the info.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Digital Kiosks from Overdrive
OverDrive, Inc., (www.overdrive.com) today introduced Digital Kiosk, an “all-in-one” online vending machine for the sale of protected digital content. OverDrive supplies complete merchant account services and Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology with each ready-made Digital Kiosk enabling publishers and retailers to protect and sell eBooks, audio books, music and digital media over the Web.
Digital Kiosks provide a complete retail system with catalog, shopping cart, real-time credit card processing, secure hosting and 24/7 technical support. Anyone can open a Digital Kiosk to merchandise, protect, and sell eBooks, newsletters, reports, journals, music, video and audio book titles using DRM technologies from Microsoft Corporation and Adobe Systems. Digital Kiosk shoppers can instantly purchase and download products to personal computers, laptops, Pocket PCs and portable media players including over 350 million Windows Media Players distributed worldwide.
“Now any publisher can sell eBook and digital audio book products directly from their own website,” stated Steve Potash, OverDrive CEO. “The one-time setup fee for a fully-featured Digital Kiosk is less than $5,000 including DRM and are ready to generate revenue immediately,” according to Potash. “Digital Kiosks also include a retail account with OverDrive Content Reserve (www.contentreserve.com) providing access to an extensive inventory of resalable premium content from over 300 publishers including HarperCollins, Random House and McGraw-Hill,” he added.
Digital Kiosks feature a “Direct Buy Link” where each product has its own unique web address (URL) so publishers, agents and authors can promote product sales by placing a Direct Buy Link to a specific title in web pages, email, print ads and materials. OverDrive will launch a “To Protect and To Sell” marketing campaign at the upcoming BookExpo America trade show in NYC aimed at demonstrating to publishers, associations, educational and training institutions how a Digital Kiosk can profit their business.
Other features of Digital Kiosk include:
* Attractive, professionally designed Kiosk templates (skins) branded with company name and logo.
* Support for international use including processing of global currencies.
* Flexible merchandising and promotions for featured titles.
* Web-based administration and management of Digital Kiosk store from a PC connected to the Internet.
* Real-time merchant credit card services for MasterCard, VISA and American Express.
* DRM services for suppliers to manage licensing rights and protecting content.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Speedier and Smarter
Speed Reader Plus 3.9.0
SRP updated to version 3.9.0. It has the following improvements:
1. Smarter ColorBar that better detects the end of the sentence. (now it recognize the period sign after abbreviation)
2. Now you can use the “Joy Pad” to control Pause/Read (up) and repeat (down then up) as well as speed (left & right). Cool!
3. Faster – you should see at least a 100 WPM speed increase, most likely more.
4. Backlight for HP Jornada 568 has been fixed. Finally!

posted by Jerry permanent link

eBook Conversion Software
freeLIT 1.0
A freeware .LIT compiler for MS Reader eBooks. FreeLIT is royalty-free and can be used alone or as a back-end for other commercial eBook generation applications. When run, freeLIT will display a small progress dialog with the caption "Compiling ebook...". When finished, the compiler automatically terminates itself. You can check the log file for any errors. Complete instructions are in the accompanying readme file.
NOTE: freeLIT requires the MS Reader SDK, which can be downloaded from Microsoft. Usage of the litgen dll and supporting SDK files REQUIRES an ISV license from Microsoft. Publishing of MS Reader eBooks REQUIRES a Publishers license from Microsoft. Licenses are currently free, but that may change.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Hardware Review
Jornada 568: The Ultimate eBook Machine
Yes, it is. I have to tell myself (ex-iPAQ user) over and over again. This PDA is the readers’ dream. After using it for almost a month here are the top ten things I love about this machine:
10. It has dusts inside the screen (just a little) to add the realistic feeling of reading the real books (well this number ten actually is the thing I hate about this Jornada).
9. Flip up cover (compare to iPAQ horizontal cover)
8. Using my thumb to flip the ebook from the side.
7. This machine also has organizer, games, blah blah blah
6. Reading emails
5. Reading electronic newspaper via Mazingo and Avantgo
4. Watching video too
3. Listening to the music while reading your ebook
2. More ebooks format: Microsoft Reader, Adobe eBook, Palm eBook, Tomeraider,…
1. Battery that last loooooooooooooooong

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/18/2002

Polling #32 Result:
What type of contents that you are willing to pay for reading?
(of 146 respondents)
3% Financial information
6% Customized News
5% Specific Industry coverage
24% Adult contents
40% None, I just want to have free info
23% Don't know yet

posted by Jerry permanent link

Children Rule
2002 Children’s eBook Award Winner Announced
The Bologna Children's Book Fair, in collaboration with the International eBook Award Foundation, has announced the winner of its first Children's eBook award. From the more than 100 entries the judges narrowed it down to one winner, My First Internet Manual, by Italian publisher Edizioni Piemme, as well as naming two special citations for excellence. The foundation was sponsored by many of the major companies involved in the eBook industry, including Microsoft, Adobe, Gemstar, Open eBook Forum and OverDrive.
And the winner is:
My First Internet Manual (Italy)
Publisher: Edizioni Piemme
Author: Geronimo Stilton
Format Submitted: MS Reader
For Information on this eBook, visit this website: www.edizpiemme.it (is the site down??)
This compelling children’s eBook combines a good story with interactive features that help to enhance the mission of the book: to help children better understand the Internet. Jurors noted that the interactive features were successful in enhancing the topic by presenting a variety of internal and external links along with a self-correcting quiz.
Other winners click here.

posted by Jerry permanent link

We Want Potter!
Scholastic Expands Epublishing Initiative
Scholastic Inc., the children's publishing and media company, announced this week the release of nineteen new ebook titles from the company's varied bestselling series including Dear America, Royal Diaries, Remnants and Scholastic Question & Answer aimed at children ages eight and above. Scholastic's new assortment of ebooks represent historical fiction, science fiction, nonfiction reference, and significantly expand the company's epublishing offerings to include a variety of genres for the emerging tween and teen ebook market.
Scholastic Inc., the children's publishing and media company, announced this week the release of nineteen new ebook titles from the company's varied bestselling series including Dear America, Royal Diaries, Remnants and Scholastic Question & Answer aimed at children ages eight and above. Scholastic's new assortment of ebooks represent historical fiction, science fiction, nonfiction reference, and significantly expand the company's epublishing offerings to include a variety of genres for the emerging tween and teen ebook market.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Clear Type for Pocket Internet Explorer 2002
PocketTweak
PocketTweak is a small program for Pocket PC to configure device settings without using any registry editors.
The following settings can be configured with the current version of PocketTweak:
To associate Extensions with Applications.
Device power off time.
Window animation.
Menu animation. (Pocket PC 2002 only) new!
System fonts.
Font cache size.
Scrollbar settings.
Software Input Panel settings.
Card battery warning.
Pocket IE to use Clear Type Text.
Clear history for 'Address' of Explorer.
The Cleartype works with my Jornada 568's Explorer

posted by Jerry permanent link

1584 and growing
PDA BookStore's Pocket PC compatible ebook
Great collection but hard to navigate.
The collections comes from these fine publishers:
Atlantic Bridge
Awe-Struck Ebooks
Diskus Publishing
Ebookstand
Electron Press
Execubook
Fictionwise
Firstprint
Fravo Tech
Jacobyte Books
Laridian Bibles
MH Publishing
New Concepts Publishing
Peanutpress/Palm
Digital Media
PocketManager
Twin Worlds Publishing
Ward & Associates
XC Publishing

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/17/2002

Our Hero?
DigitalConsumer.org
Protecting fair-use rights in the digital world
Have you ever made a tape of your favorite songs to enjoy in your car stereo? Have you ever bought a CD and ripped it to your portable MP3 player? If so, you should know that recent changes to copyright law have been used to take away your personal use rights to the media you legally acquire. That means that activities like making mixes or copying music to a portable player are quickly being restricted or prevented.
DigitalConsumer.org is doing something about it. We are advocating a Consumer Technology Bill of Rights that will positively assert a consumer's rights to fair use. The Bill of Rights will guarantee your ability to use your own digital media in the way that you choose. With the support of consumers, we are working to have the Bill of Rights passed into law. Our proposed Bill has already gained support from numerous consumers as well as prominent executives and venture capitalists, but there's a lot more that we need to do in order to let Washington know that this is important.
Thanks to Michael Pastore from ebook-community at Yahoogroups for the info.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Business 300
Revolt of the Poor - The Demise of Intellectual Property
A book which costs 50,000 DM to produce with a potential audience of 1000 purchasers (certain academic texts are like this) - would have to be priced at a a minimum of 100 DM to recoup only the direct costs.
If illegally copied (thereby shrinking the potential market as some people will prefer to buy the cheaper illegal copies) - its price would have to go up prohibitively to recoup costs, thus driving out potential buyers.
But this defies logic: the market today is global, the costs of production are lower (with the exception of the music and film industries), the marketing channels more numerous (half of the income of movie studios emanates from video cassette sales), the speedy recouping of the investment virtually guaranteed.
Moreover, piracy thrives in very poor markets in which the population would anyhow not have paid the legal price.
In the near past, no one considered knowledge or the fruits of creativity (art, design) as 'patentable', or as someone's 'property'.
The monopolists of knowledge and intellectual products cannot allow competition anywhere in the world - because theirs is a world market.
I published a few book on the Internet and they can be freely downloaded by anyone who has a computer or a modem.
The demise of intellectual property has lately become abundantly clear.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Don't Blame it on eBook
Kerouac's 'Orpheus' emerges in print
Orpheus Emerged, written when he signed his work ''John Kerouac,'' didn't emerge from his estate until 16 months ago, when it was released as an e-book from LiveReads. Friday, it will finally be published as the kind of book that Kerouac would have recognized. He died in 1969 at the age of 47.
''Unfortunately, most people aren't ready to read e-books yet,'' says ibooks president Byron Preiss, who packaged the book and CD-ROM for $24. He calls it ''the best of both worlds.'' (which ebook world?)

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/16/2002

New Software
Palm Reader Pro
Palm Reader Pro for PocketPC has finally arrived! All of you Pocket PC users out there can purchase your copy now. With Palm Reader Pro for Pocket PC you can have your own dictionary and thesaurus lookup, as well as auto-scrolling and full justification. Buy your copy now for only $9.95 or you can pick up a copy of the Agfa Monotype TrueType FontPak for Palm Reader Pro at the same time you upgrade for $19.95 and save a cool $5.00.
Palm Reader Pro comes with Webster's New World(tm) Vest Pocket Dictionary. This handy little item contains more than 12,500 entries for the most commonly used words, including multiple definitions for many words.
I am a beta tester of the software, the only thing that I might suggest is to get a better dictionary option which I believe is more adequate than the Vest Pocket Dictionary which is very limited. (Pocket Encarta is much better than this Vest Pocket)
But Fortunately, if you need more, you can purchase Webster's New World(tm) Compact School and Office Dictionary for only $7.95. The Webster's New World Compact School and Office Dictionary contains over 58,000 entries and includes many of the most widely used scientific, technical, professional, and business terms. (Requires 2.5MB of free memory on your Pocket PC handheld.)
Or if that's still not big enough to suit you, for only $23.95 you can have the Webster's New World(tm) College Dictionary, Fourth Edition with over 160,000 entries. Considered by many to be one of the most useful dictionaries that you can own, Webster's New World College Dictionary has been selected by the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and other leading newspapers as their official dictionary of choice. Now Palm Reader Pro gives you the ability to carry this valuable reference tool with you wherever you go. All you need is your Pocket PC handheld with Palm Reader Pro with at least 12MB of available memory (that's right, twelve) and you're in business.
The free Palm Reader for PocketPC is still available.

posted by Jerry permanent link

.Lit Free eBook
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
H.G. Wells's 1894 novel (his first) describes the adventures of his hero, the time-traveler, mostly in the year A.D. 802,701, when he encounters a class-ridden battle between the decadent Eloi and the primitive Morlocks. The Morlocks are nocturnal creatures who live underground and surface during the night, only to prey on the defenseless Eloi. The Eloi, once living comfortably as the ruling race, have degenerated into a simple group of beings that live life effortlessly and without substance. The time traveler describes his interactions with the Morlocks and the Eloi in a thought-provoking manner, creating a highly enjoyable novel.
The Time Machine suggests many controversial ideas such as the extreme degeneration of the human race. Not only is it interesting to learn Wells' theories, but his writing caused one to consider the possibilities of evolution. The open ending to the book also leaves a story for the mind to explore.
Read it before or after you watch the movie

posted by Jerry permanent link

Trend Watch Dept.
Where Music Will Be Coming From
Kevin Kelly (Senior Editor of Wired) analyzed the trend of music distribution in the future, and how to make the money out of it. Will this trend also affecting the way ebooks are published?
If we listen to the technology of music, we might hear these possibilities:
• Songs are cheap; what's expensive are the indexable, searchable, official lyrics.
• On auction sites, music lovers buy and sell active playlists, which arrange hundreds of songs in creative sequences. The lists are templates that reorder songs on your own disc.
• You subscribe to a private record label whose agents troll the bars, filtering out the garbage, and send you the best underground music based on your own preferences.
• The most popular band in the world produces only very good ''jingles,'' just as some of the best directors today produce only very good commercials.
• The catalog of all musical titles makes more money than any of the record companies.
• A generator box breeds background music tailored to your personal tastes; the music is supplied by third-party companies that buy the original songs from the artists.
• Because you like to remix dance tunes, you buy the versions of songs that are remix-ready in all 24 tracks.
• You'll pay your favorite band to stream you its concert as it is playing it, even though you could wait and copy it at no cost later.
• The varieties of musical styles explode. They increase faster than we can name them, so a musical Dewey Decimal System is applied to each work to aid in categorizing it.
• For a small fee, the producers of your favorite musician will tweak her performance to exquisitely match the acoustics of your living room.
• So many amateur remixed versions of a hit tune are circulating on the Net that it's worth $5 to you to buy an authenticated official version.
• For bands that tour, giving away their music becomes a form of cheap advertising. The more free copies that are passed around, the more tickets they sell.
• Musicians with the highest status are those who have a 24-hour Net channel devoted to streaming only their music.
• Royalty-free stock music (like stock photography), available for any use, takes off with the invention of a great music search engine, which makes it possible to find music ''similar to this music'' in mood, tempo and sound.
• The best-selling item for most musicians is the ''whole package deal,'' which contains video clips, liner notes, segregated musical tracks, reviews, ads and artwork -- all stored on a well-designed artifact in limited editions.
• Despite the fact that with some effort you can freely download the song you think you want in a format you think will work for your system, most people choose to go to a reliable retailer online and use the retailer's wonderful search tools and expert testimonials to purchase what they want because it is simply easier and a better experience all around.
In the end, the future of music is simple: more choices. As the possibilities of music expand, so do our own.
I want to create a similar list about ebooks industry, email me about your idea on the possibilities.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/15/2002

Wrong Click
Click lit
Forget e-Books. Online publishers believe the biggest challenge to the "paperback in your pocket" will come from publishing on demand. Chris Middleton reports
Of course, paper-based books are a technology that works. They are lightweight, portable, cheap, renewable and recyclable - and free from the bugs, viruses and system crashes that plague your PC.
Small wonder, then, that the "paperback in your jeans pocket", as Penguin promoted its novels to post-war teenagers, has never been bettered, despite attempts by software and hardware companies to do so for today's e-generations.
But just as Napster brought "backlist" and deleted music to its millions of users - music unavailable in local shops who shift chart music, DVDs, games and videos to keep their franchises alive - so POD companies can keep authors' books alive; works that might otherwise be lost because of the expense of republishing them.
This article shows how the author was not doing enough homework on ebooks. In his mind, he still thinks that most reader using PC to read the books. Read my lips: They are using Pi Dee Ay mr. Chris. And try to bring three or 4 paper back in your pocket... See what I mean?

posted by Jerry permanent link

VC (Vaulty Calculation?)
Not a Typo: E-Book Firm Gets Almost Three Million
Who says new money is an old idea? The Brook Venture Fund and the Venture Capital Fund of New England have awarded Texterity, an e-publishing services vendor based in Southborough, Mass., a total of $2.7 million in financing at a time when the company and the industry could use some encouragement.
"This investment shows that VCs believe in e-books," Hensel (of Texterity)says. "They're not concerned whether they take off this year or this month. They know e-books make sense.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/14/2002

Explore More
A new web browser for Pocket PC's on the way
scottmag writes, "PalmOS is not the only place where browser development is occurring. Bitstream's Thunderhawk browser for PocketPC is now in beta testing. It will shrink a 640x480 web page to fit a 320x240 PocketPC screen in landscape orientation. Thunderhawk's secret is a font designed by the creator of TrueType to make text legible at the reduced resolution. The browser itself is 100k and contains some support for JavaScript and CSS along with the special font. There is no mention of whether a proxy is used, but it seems unlikely. The Jornada 540 and 560 series will be supported initially and a 30-day free trial will be offered after the beta period."
Original site of Bitstream "ThunderHawk": Full-featured Web browsing technology (include photos).
The technology key is: "By leveraging our expertise in font rendering technology, Bitstream has created the wireless Web browsing experience most wireless device users expect but have not yet received from current offerings. Most browsers on wireless devices either repurpose rich Web pages into long screens of boring text, or show users only a peephole of a Web page."
When I get a chance I will review and report it to you here.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Love for Sale
from eBook Informer: "As I was creating this week's Steals & Deals Newsletter, I came across an ebook sale at Powells I thought you might be interested in since you are signed up for the Romance edition of our EBook Informer service."
"Insatiable? Valentine's Day is over, but we've got 7 great titles to keep you in the mood for love - all at 30% off! Great literature from Ann Patchett, romance from Susan Elizabeth Phillips, 2 different sex guides, erotica, and more. Stay in the mood, and save 30% till the end of March."

posted by Jerry permanent link

Copy II PC :-)
Inside eBook Security
Copy protection had its genesis in the early 1980s when attempts were made to prevent users from copying programs sold for PCs. Notably, the installation program for Lotus 1-2-3 2.x contained a feature limiting the number of times users could install the program on a hard drive. From games to productivity, copy protection features began to appear in all manner of software to prevent unauthorized duplication.
Consequently, companies such as Central Point Software began producing programs like Copy II PC, which could defeat copy-protection provisions. A veritable arms race subsequently broke out between the copy protectors and copy enablers, with copy-protection features becoming more cumbersome at every step, while copy-enabling programs gained in power. The strongest copy-protection solutions, for instance, inconvenienced users by requiring hardware dongles or license files. The latter required the user to contact the publisher after purchase.
By the 1990s, users were clearly rejecting copy-protection provisions in favor of software that could be freely copied. Software publishers by and large gave up on copy protection, since it was generally accepted that any scheme could be defeated.
These days, three forces are at work to cause a resurgence in copy protection.
* Copyrighted works such as music and movies are now stored and reproduced in digital form.
* Given ubiquitous networking, users can easily make and distribute copies of these works. Thus, publishers are keen to implement technical means to protect their copyrighted material.
* The use of cryptography in practical systems has matured greatly since the 1980s. Effective cryptographic techniques, combined with computing power able to quickly run public-key algorithms, raise the possibility that strong cryptography may be a good tool for copy protection. These tools can also enable features that go above and beyond traditional copy protection to let publishers enforce broad sets of rules about how consumers may use their copyrighted works. This expanded functionality is broadly termed "digital rights management" (DRM).
Thanks to S. Liawatimena for the link

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/13/2002

Abortion
Lucky 13
Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), a leading high-tech venture capital firm partnering with entrepreneurs to build large businesses, today announced an additional investment of $4 million in Arbortext, Inc., bringing the company's total investment in Arbortext to $13 million to date. Arbortext, the only global provider of XML-based software that enables the creation, editing and publishing of information to multiple media types from a single source of content, closes its $13.5 million Series C equity round, bringing the total amount of equity financing issued, raised and committed to $38 million. Other Series C investors include INVESCO Private Capital and North Coast Technology Investors. The new funds will be used to accelerate and expand the company's product development, sales and marketing efforts.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Retro
Locking Up Your Rights
Can it be illegal to give people the tools to break into their own property? The U.S. government thinks so
Alexander Katalov never asked to be a commuter between his native Russia and Silicon Valley. His software company was doing quite well, thank you, without a presence in California. But now he often finds himself in an apartment in San Mateo, taking Caltrain to the federal courthouse in San Jose, where his company is criminally charged with violating a law known to few Americans, let alone Russian businessmen. Like it or not, the 38-year-old Muscovite’s fate is intertwined with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the latest bete noire of geeks and constitutional lawyers.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Jim Karpen's
The Chris Coulter eBook collection
While not perhaps a killer app, eBooks sure are handy and useful—especially for those many occasions in life when you're stuck waiting. There are tons of freebies available for download, making it easy to stock up. I recommend that you check out the offerings of Chris Coulter: a fascinating collection of eBooks for intelligent readers, from literature to philosophy and religion, with a big emphasis on American history, past and present.
The titles that he's assembled, all 1113 of them, reside on Memoware.
Original info comes from PocketPCthoughts.com

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/12/2002

Six Months Ago
9-11
by Noam Chomsky
In 9-11 Noam Chomsky dissects the root causes of the September 11th catastrophe, the historical precedents for it, and the possible outcomes as the world moves forward into the post-September 11 reality.
In 9-11, Noam Chomsky’s comments on the September 11th attacks, the new war on terrorism, Osama bin Laden, U.S. involvement with Afghanistan, media control, and the long-term implications of America’s military attacks abroad. Informed by his deep understanding of the gravity of these issues and the global stakes, 9-11 demonstrates Chomsky’s impeccable knowledge of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and South Asia, and sheds light on the rapidly shifting balance of world power. Speaking out against escalating violence, Chomsky critically examines the United States’ own foreign policy record and considers what international institutions might be employed against underground networks and national states accused of terrorism. 9-11 will set the tone of debate in the months to come, and will also be a measure of how well the media is able to serve its role of informing the citizenry, so crucial to our democracy in times of war.
This ebook probably is using DRM5, Pocket PC 2002 compatible

posted by Jerry permanent link

MJ Rose's
How to Do It (Publish, That Is)
The DIYReporter.com aims to print all the news that fits do-it-yourself types who are using electronic media to create film, music and books for online and offline consumption.
The daily will offer news, features, jobs and other information.
...The updated chapter, which features an interview with Napster creator Shawn Fanning, is available to subscribers who pay a monthly fee. Subscriptions to DIYReporter.com offer various levels of access to site features. Prices run from $4.95 to $9.95 per month.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/11/2002

Polling #31 Result:
Q: What do you think of Avantgo in limiting its custom channel?
(of 368 respondents)
27% I don't use Avantgo, no comment
31% Still use Avantgo using avail. channels
16% Move to Mazingo
5% Move to Mobipocket eNews
10% Time to become Microsoft Avantgo
11% I don't know or not aware

posted by Jerry permanent link

Hardware Watch
Quality Control -- What Are We Missing?
When you spend $500 to $600 US dollars on a Pocket PC, you expect to get a machine that is fully functional. Most of us recognize that there may be minor bugs or issues that will be cleared up with an update. What we don't expect is that there will be some significant flaw in our machine that affects its usefulness and ultimately our enjoyment of it. Yet, quality control issues seem to abound in the Pocket PC universe. Even the latest generation has it's share of issues and problems. Why is that? Casio..Compaq...HP
ARE WE BETA TESTING?
There are probably issues I've failed to mention here, and I encourage you to offer additions in this article's discussion thread. The point is not so much to file an exhaustive list of problems and issues, but rather to point out that each of these units went to market with flaws, some of which are fairly serious, all of which could have been "caught" by quality control measures before these units ever hit the shelves. The XIP technology that Microsoft has built into the operating system is great for allowing patches and fixes to be made directly to the ROM image but I'd much rather see it used for performance enhancements rather than bug fixes. Then too, some of the hardware flaws can't be "fixed" through software changes.
SO, WHAT DO WE DO?
Original link from PocketPCThoughts

posted by Jerry permanent link

Round Two
E-Publisher Wins Round in Court
With electronic rights to countless books potentially at stake, a small e-publisher has won a second legal round against Random House Inc.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously upheld an earlier decision rejecting Random House's request for a preliminary injunction against RosettaBooks, which is selling e-versions of "Cat's Cradle" and seven other old Random House books.
"It is a good day for authors and for the development of electronic reading," Arthur Klebanoff, RosettaBooks' chief executive, said Monday.
Random House spokesman Stuart Applebaum said the ruling "was on procedural grounds, not on the ultimate legal merits of our arguments," and that the copyright infringement lawsuit would continue.
"We are encouraged by the Second Circuit's view that there are serious factual questions to be explored ... and we look forward to pursuing that at the District Court level," Applebaum said Monday.
...Although demand for e-books remains small, and Random House recently shut down its electronic imprint, sales have been growing and the market likely will become increasingly important.
Klebanoff said sales of the eight disputed titles total about 2,000 copies.
The book world has been strongly divided over the lawsuit. Publishers Simon & Schuster and Penguin Putnam were among those backing Random House, while the Authors Guild and the Association of Authors' Representatives supported RosettaBooks.
RosettaBooks has continued to acquire old titles. Last fall, it agreed with the estate of Virginia Woolf to issue such classic titles as "To the Lighthouse" and "A Room of One's Own." It will also release electronic versions of E.M. Forster's "A Passage to India" and "Aspects of the Novel."

posted by Jerry permanent link

More than Words
PPC TV episode 2:
Mypdacafe has reporting that PPC TV already posting its second TV Show for Pocket PC viewing. In Episode 2, They Inform you on this months Main News, review Cad on Pocket PC, Talk about Networking with Pocket PC and Tell you about/review the Latest Games.
The size of the movie is 20MB+

posted by Jerry permanent link

Immortal Midnight
Living Midnight
The second "word movie" from Immortal Khan author H. Doug Matsuoka, Hawaii based author, Living Midnight introduces a cast of vivid and fantastic characters in this darkly mysterious novel in screenplay form.
In the well-ordered, law-abiding world called Brightsite, a corpse washes up on a beach, its throat cut diagonally from jaw to collarbone. Two detectives journey to the underground city of Darksite to solve the crime, and to confront their own darkness of the soul, while a group of jazz musicians in a midnight world fight to keep dangerous secrets, and to save their very lives.
If you like Jazz, Miles and Coltrane, B&W French movies, read this ebook

posted by Jerry permanent link

Final Destination
The Host with the Most: eBook Distribution to Libraries Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Rick Lugg and Ruth Fischer of R2 Consulting explore the concept of digital objects in this 3-part series. "Like their physical counterparts, digital objects must often be moved from one place to another, and it's the distribution of one type of digital object -the eBook-that we'll consider in this article."

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/10/2002

Death Wish
The Death of Digital Rights Management?
It’s an e-business enigma. PC owners are looking for more and more of their entertainment online, as Napster and its subscription-based successors have shown. And many of the companies that own today’s most popular songs, books and movies are eager to sell their content over the Internet—if only they can find a way that’s both convenient for customers and profitable for copyright owners. Yet many of the “digital rights management” companies that were founded to provide just such an online marketplace are shrinking or even disappearing from sight.
In the last eight months, a flock of content protection companies, including Buffalo, NY-based Reciprocal, San Jose, CA-based Vyou.com, Maynard, MA-based Digital Goods and Mountain View, CA-based Preview Systems, have been shut down or sold. ContentGuard, a Bethesda, MD-based Xerox spinoff (see “Digital Rights Management,” TR January/February 2001), has abandoned its content-publishing business, shrinking to a quarter of its former size in the process. InterTrust Technologies of Santa Clara, CA, the company that founded the digital rights management industry, has slashed its head count by 40 percent.
What’s going on? More than just a side effect of last year’s dot-com implosion, the digital-rights slump is in part a result of technological shortcomings. Content protection software is simply too obtrusive and confining to meet users’ needs, say observers. “The most important predictor of success [in digital rights management] is how transparent you can be to the end user, and the industry has fared poorly on that,” says Daniel Schreiber, CEO of Alchemedia, a four-year-old content protection firm based in Dallas, TX.
Original link comes from eBookAd.com

posted by Jerry permanent link

ListPro Contest
Are you a master of organization? A treasure trove of information?
If you are then you should enter the Ilium Software "Are you a list pro?" Great List Contest! Just send us your best ListPro list, and if judges choose your list as the best, you could win one of these great prizes!
Send your list to listpro@iliumsoft.com
The staff of Ilium Software will review all lists entered and choose the 10 best lists to present to the panel of judges.
The judges will rate each on the following criteria:
Content - Is the content valuable, interesting, widely useful and complete?
Presentation - Is the list presented in a manner that makes it easy to use, pleasant to look at and simple to navigate?
Execution - Does the list use the features of ListPro properly, cleverly and efficiently?
First Prize
A Compaq iPAQ OR a Sony CLIE (winner's choice) PLUS a prize pack of products from Ilium Software!
Second Prize
A Stowaway portable keyboard PLUS a prize pack of products from Ilium Software!
Third Prize
A prize pack of products from Ilium Software
I am a big Listpro fan, since the time I used my old Philips Nino. The program allow you to create simple database, such as eBook List, CD/DVD, Supermarket list and many more... It is available for free for iPAQ users.
Thanks to Peter Lim for the information

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/09/2002

Avantgone?
It looks Avantgo server has been down as of March 9, 2002 14:14 GMT. All channels have the same messages:
"Timed Out: Avantgo closed the connection to this page because it was idle too long"

posted by Jerry permanent link

Less is more or...
Knowbetter Survey
As you know, no product or concept can be successful if it ignores the needs of its users and ebooks are no exception. In fact, some would argue that the lukewarm reception by consumers in general toward the ebook concept is proof that the industry has so far failed to address the needs of its market.
However, we don't really know what those needs are. So far, there has been a noticeable lack of real information about how ebooks are used and who is using them. So, KnowBetter.com has established a survey of ebook users in an effort to help readers, the media, publishers, and manufacturers better understand the needs of this market.
We plan to publish the results of the survey and, depending on the number of responses we receive, create an on-going "dialogue" between ebook users and the ebook industry through future surveys.
This is your chance to make your voice heard and help shape the future development of the industry. To do so, simply fill out our short on-line survey at:
http://knowbetter.com/survey.asp

posted by Jerry permanent link

Future Classrom
Classroom Connect Introduces Professional Development Workshops for Educators Using Compaq iPAQ Pocket PCs
As handheld devices become a prevalent tool for educators and their students, there is a need for understanding the many ways teachers and administrators can use these devices to make their jobs easier and student learning more effective. Classroom Connect, a leading provider of professional development for K-12 education and member of Compaq's BonusPoints program, today introduced four, one-day Connected Workshops(TM) designed to prepare K-12 educators to apply the Compaq iPAQ(TM) Pocket PC's capabilities to the classroom and office

posted by Jerry permanent link

Software Watch
Pocket Phojo
Idruna Pocket Phojo is the first handheld photo editing and wireless transmission solution for photojournalists. Instead of requiring a bulky laptop to get photos to the press agencies, photojournalists can now fit all of the tools they need in their pocket. For situations such as rapidly breaking stories, or in locations where laptops are impractical, this represents a breakthrough in the time required to get a photo from the camera to the photo desk.
for Review and Sample Shots click here
Original link comes from PocketPCThoughts.com

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/07/2002

Mazingo Premium Channels
For $7.91, Mazingo Premium Service lets you get fresh content from a large, growing list of top-tier channels. Movies, Comics, News, Videos and more can be yours, and it's all new every day.
And get the following:
* Wall Street Journal Audio
* Access to our Movie Library
*News
* Online-Tonight and Net Music Countdown Radio Shows
* Classic TV Shows
* Exclusive Technology Articles
* Syndicated Columnists
* Short Films
* Comics
* AND Access to Mazingo Custom Channels. : Custom Channels allow you to specify your own URLs as personal Mazingo channels. With Mazingo Custom Channels, you can have any Web page downloaded onto your device any time you sync. It works with both the Internet at large, and also with corporate intranet sites. It is also useful for loading updated documents or database files. (Similar to the almost dead Avantgo's Custom Channel)

posted by Jerry permanent link

My O' My.
Wondering where is your My Mazingo Channels?
I really miss the ability of adding and removing Mazingo channels from my Pocket PC. I think this is a BIG plus of Mazingo compare to Avantgo. Then suddenly it was gone from my Mazingo.
Later I found out from Bill Dettering of Mazingo, that many people don't like the features, BUT you still can suibscribe it from under the PDA Channels or click below (if you already have an account with Mazingo).
My Mazingo (add)
Add and Delete Mazingo Channels, right from your Pocket PC

posted by Jerry permanent link

Free eBooks for Speed Reader Plus
Two volumes collection of articles on topics that have a very high possibility of changing our lives.
Vol. 1
Adolescence Not Just for Kids (boymen and girlwomen)
Americas Fattest Cities (health clubs wanted)
Bush Beats Bin Laden to Become Second Worst (perspective)
Fugitive Businessman Dies (who says there are no more lost treasures)
How THEY know what you do on a PC (watch out)
NASA's electromagnetic rocket launcher (up-up-and-away)
New Pig Clones Born (it could save your life...here little piggy)
Say Goodbye to Pesky Telemarketers (very good news for Texans)
Some Unsaturated Fats Promote Inflammation (watch it)
Vol. 2
Clinical Trial for Cancer Drug Saves 3 Lives (don't give up)
Eighteen Ways to Make a Baby (didn't know there are so many)
Intranasal Morphine Under Development (vary fast and potent)
Memory How It Works (our brains do amazing things)
How to get the very best career advice (help)
Molecules Get Wired (so tiny yet so powerful)
Senseboard Virtual Keyboard (I'll take two)
Ice Submarine Adam Roberts Short Story (It's cool...pun)
And
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells: amazing literary work by a master of science fiction before you see the new movie due out this March.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Software Review
Speed Reader Plus 3.8.7
Firstly, I thought this is only software that teaches us a method of becoming speed reader. Then I was mistaken. It is speed reader software.
"The average person reads 150 words per minute. In an effort to improve reading speed for combat personnel, the U.S. military funded research to study the biomechanics of reading. Their findings revealed that most of our time reading is wasted as our eyes move from left to right, collecting each word. To improve reading performance, the researchers developed a stationary reading system that rapidly displayed words in a fixed location. They found this new reading method significantly increased reading speed and reading comprehension. Reading speeds of over 1000 words per minute were achieved. The inventors received a U.S. Patent for this technology they call "Rapid Serial Visualization Presentation (RSVP)"."
In a generation X term, is like reading flashing words from MTV.
What I like about Speed Reader Plus:
* It is great for casual reading, like long emails, long news article. All you have to do is just select all text, copy then paste to Speed Reader Plus, then start reading.
* The color bar will tell you when to blink your eyes. When it becomes red, time to take a break for you eyes.
* It is cool, if you think it over how the methods work (combining flash text and color bar).
* In the latest version if you tap the color bar it will pause the reading.
How to Improve this:
* I would love to see the color bar can become a pop up screen in any PPC programs, like in Pocket Word, Pocket Explorer, MS Reader etc.
* The Installation process, take only one pass, currently it will install the visual basic first to your PPC before installing the main program. It is kind of scarring novice users.
* Ability to import PDF, LIT, DOC, and more documents formats.
My final verdict: If you are busy with long mailing list, bulking electronic office reports. This will help you speeding the process. But I don't see the program to be used for reading literature books. But that is a personal choice, I guess.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Not so Mighty
Designing More User-friendly DRM
MightyWords Ex-R&D Manager Don MacAskill talks about the Security Design Behind eMatter . The key points are:
1. A user only has to unlock it once. If possible, pre-unlock it for them during the purchase process.
2. Cross-platform (Windows, Mac, and any flavor of Unix we could) (where is my Pocket PC?)
3. Useable across all devices a user possessed - desktops, laptops, and, we hoped, eventually handhelds, no extra purchase required for each device.
No additional downloads (plugins, etc)
4. Acrobat 3.01 with JavaScript (not the then-new 5.0 or the myriad of confusing 4.0x releases) as the lowest required version, with at least the ability to inform Acrobat 3.0 users without JavaScript that they needed to upgrade.
5. Users were not only able to print, but were encouraged to do so.
6. No unique/difficult-to-remember IDs that could get lost and prevent a document from opening. Username & password is something everyone understands and remembers.

posted by Jerry permanent link

One Word: Wow
NYDItot 2.01 Report
Here are the results:
* MS Reader work without any problem. The screen look small but the good thing about NYDitot is you can darken the text manually so it is readable. This is good especially when you read e-magazine such as PocketPCMagazine.com.
* Tomeraider: No problem at all, I did the test with 16 MB IMDB file, and it worked wonderful. I can resize the Table of Contents etc.
* List Pro: Works great in viewing its data, but when you input the data, it shows small screen.
* Adobe Reader 1.0: Works OK, but the scroll button (the horizontal looks bigger).
* SpeedReader: Usable but stay at small screen.
* Mazingo: works perfect. I love it.
* Internet Explorer: No problemo.
* Palm Reader Pro for Pocket PC (Beta) works great, don't see any problem.
* Excel and Words: Prefect application for these, especially it has a zoom function to work on the data in natural resolution mode.
My final verdict: It is a must to have program for those who love to read document that combine pictures and text, spreadsheet, web documents and database application. Go for it!

posted by Jerry permanent link

Now whY Didn't I Think Of That!
NYDItot 2.01
This handy little program frees you from the limitations of your Pocket PC's tiny display by creating a virtual display of arbitrary size. This virtual display can be panned using NVD's innovative panning control or compressed to fit the physical display which effectively increases the resolution of your device. The display can also be rotated in any of four orientations. An intuitive management tools allows to to create unlimited configurations for quick mode changing.
I send questions through email to the NYDitot support, and with less than 2 hours got back the reply
1. Is it compatible with Readers 2.0, Palm Reader for Pocket PC, TomeRaider, Mobipocket, Adobe Reader, Aportis, Starbuck?
A: "I can best answer that by explaining how NVD works. NVD fools the operation system into thinking it has a display of some resolution other than the actual physical display; therefore, ALL applications will see this "virtual display". It is common programming practice to design applications to adjust themselves to the detected resolution. Unfortunately, some Pocket PC applications are hard-coded to a 240x320 display, the authors not anticipating any other resolution. Properly programmed, all applications should work fine under NVD. We have not performed any compatibility testing for the applications you mention but we hope to start a page on our web site that lists compatible applications sometime in the near future."
2. How about with hardware Jornada 560s, Casio E-200?
A: "Yes, NVD works on ALL Pocket PC devices including those you mentioned. It also works on some H/PC devices like the Jornada 720. In addition we have another version for older CE 2.11 based devices like the Casio E-100. NVD supports grayscale as well as color displays with bit-depths of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24 and 32 (i.e. everything out there). It is currently being tested with ruggedize PPCs, industrial control systems, smartphones, and other CE based devices. Our goal is to support any CE device that has a display."
3. Will it slow down the performance?
A: "On most current devices with 200+ MHz processors you will not notice any degradation in performance. You may notice slower frame rates when playing videos in a non-DirectX (a.k.a. GAPI) mode."
I will install NYDitot and I will write my review on using it with reader software.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  3/06/2002

Potter, Will he?
Scholastic Tries Branding with eBooks
The market for e-books is an enduring conundrum for publishers: a necessary investment while they wait out a mass market for digital books that has yet to, and may not, materialize.
But children's publishing and media company Scholastic Inc. sees its latest e-book project as a branding and marketing opportunity to help drive book sales. Plus, if the younger set warms up to e-book formats on mobile devices in the future, the company is taking no chances with positioning now.
The New York-based publishing giant plans to release 19 best-selling titles in e-book format, including its popular Dear America, Royal Diaries, Remnants and Scholastic Question & Answer book series.
The titles, extremely popular among children aged 8 and up, will be available online at retailers such as Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com. They will be priced for $1 less than the printed versions and available on Microsoft's Reader, which also works with Pocket PC formats, and Abobe's e-book reader formats (Mac and PC compatible).

posted by Jerry permanent link

Nikoz-Nike
Just Say Nyet to U.S. Net Laws?
Is the Internet a physical space bound by the laws of its various locales, or does it transcend the mere physical, putting it beyond the reach of any one country's regulations?
That's essentially the question U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Whyte will answer when he decides on a defense motion to dismiss U.S. v. Elcomsoft, the case that began last July with the arrest of the Russian programmer Dmitri Sklyarov.
In Monday's hearing here, Joseph Burton, Elcomsoft's attorney, argued that when the company released its "Advanced eBook Processor" -- a program that allows owners of Adobe e-books to convert their e-books from the Adobe e-book reader format to a less-restrictive format -- it did not violate U.S. law because the software was not made available in America, but rather "on the Internet, and we take the position that the Internet is a (different) place," Burton said.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Scholars Who Dig-itize Gutenberg
When people think about the printing revolution, one name comes to mind: Johannes Gutenberg.
But what if Gutenberg didn't actually invent the revolutionary technique of mass-producing words as we know it today?
Scholars will soon get a chance to examine in exquisite detail what is considered the first book printed with moveable type.
A project is currently underway at the Library of Congress to digitize its copy of the Gutenberg Bible. The library has partnered with Octavo to photograph, scan and digitize every binding, endsheet and page of the three-volume Bible.
"We're hoping to take digital technology as far as it goes and bring this book to life," Elaine Ginger, editorial director of Octavo, said. "We hope to make this book more accessible than even Gutenberg did."

posted by Jerry permanent link