Archive for March, 2008
We Tell Stories
I just came across this today. It’s a new digital writing project from Six to Start and Penguin called “We Tell Stories“. Over six weeks writers will be creating stories that take full advantage of the immediacy, connectivity, and interactivity of the web.
It’s great that a traditional book publisher like Penguin is embracing this kind of project. Publishers need to experiment with technology – mobile, online and offline as well. Yet they still need to focus on doing things that make money. It’s not clear to me what the business model is behind “We Tell Stories”, other than the normal hope that page visits will translate into print book sales at Penguin’s website.
Nonetheless, it’s clear Penguin has a foothold in digital publishing. They’re taking risks to discover what works. That’s better than many book publishers who are content to wait and see.
Technorati Tags:
eBooks, Digital, Penguin, Publishing
The Digital Bookmobile
Back when I was a kid, we could depend on a visit from the local bookmobile. The customized Winnebago containing shelves of books would pull up to my school and park there for the afternoon. It wasn’t like the bookmobile had special books not found anywhere else. In fact, I think the school library had some of the same books found. No, what made the bookmobile cool was the fact that the library was portable.
Fast forward to today. Overdrive has unveiled drawings and details of a travelling community outreach exhibit entitled the Digital Bookmobile. In August, the techno truck will host hands-on, interactive training events at public libraries in major cities in the U.S. The exhibit will help libraries promote a digital media catalog and present the idea of the “virtual branch”. Learning stations will demonstrate how to search for digital media, use mobile devices and download eBooks, music and video.
Something tells me the adults will get more out of this than the kids. After all, they already know how to use all this stuff. At least my kids do. Still, it’s a great way to bring the technology to the people, and let them realize first hand how useful digital resources can be.
Technorati Tags:
Digital Bookmobile, Libraries, Book Mobile
Do You “Own” Your Kindle Books?
Gizmodo wonders aloud…when you “buy” “content” for Amazon’s Kindle or the Sony Reader, are you buying a crippled license to intellectual property when you download, or are you buying a book?
It was just a matter of time before a discussion of the “first sale” doctrine commenced as it relates to the electronic book. eBooks with DRM tied to a device aren’t like print books, CDs or DVDs. When you buy these, you buy a license to use them on the device. If the device becomes obsolete, you shouldn’t expect your books to be removable and re-installable on some other device. That functionality and the user permissions are completely up to the device maker and the owner of the copyright to the content.
Just think of the thousands of people who bought the Rocket eBook device (like me). Luckily, I probably spent less than $100 ordering eBooks for the device. Others spent thousands. Today, the company that created the Rocket eBook no longer exists, and there aren’t any more books available for it either. I misplaced the charger for my Rocket eBook, so I can’t even read the books I purchased any longer. So it goes.
As eBook reading devices become more widely available, and more broadly adopted, I suspect many will attempt to draw parallels to the portability of traditional print books. Unless a company develops a model where their money is made on the device and not the ongoing book sales, you shouldn’t expect to be able to loan your eBooks. After all, they’re really just data running on software.
Amazon Closes Sale
Amazon’s promise to complete the purchase of Audible as soon as possible following the completion of its tender offer last week turned out to be a couple of days. Yesterday, the growing e-tailer announced it had finalized its $300 million acquisition of the digital audio distribution, making Audible a wholly-owned Amazon subsidiary. Amazon’s $11.50 per share offer had been criticized by some shareholders, but in the end the overwhelming majority of stockholders accepted the deal.
Technorati Tags:
Amazon, Audible, Audio Books, Digital Publishing
iPhone: Now Worth Every Penny
I’m browsing the sites live blogging the Apple iPhone SDK press conference and what do I see?
Wait for it.
Microsoft Exchange support for email. (Cue the Geek Cheer!)
“We have licensed the ActiveSync protocol to build directly into the iPhone,” Schiller says. That’s a huge request from their customers.
With ActiveSync, the iPhone talks directly to Exchange. So the iPhone will get push e-mail, push calendaring, push contacts, global access lists, and remote wipe, all while talking to Exchange. And it’s built into the existing applications — mail goes into the same Mail program, calendar into the same Calendar, and so on.
In all seriousness – this must have feature will soon be available for all of us iPhone users who worked in an environment that is heavily littered with Microsoft Enterprise applications. We’ve been limited to IMAP and POP up til now, and while these ‘work’, they’re not the real thing. Exchange support for the iPhone will be the killer app.
Technorati Tags:
Apple, iPhone, Microsoft Exchange, Mobile Computing, Mobie Email, Email
Apple Smack
Think Apple Computers and Adobe Systems are two peas in a pod? They’ve certainly made billions of dollars from one another, so it’s easy to assume all is well in Silicon Valley between the two behemoths. Leave it to Steve Jobs, though, to pull the pin on a stink bomb and throw it in Adobe’s general direction.
Adobe Systems Inc.’s popular media player for cellphones simply isn’t good enough for Apple Inc.’s iPhone, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said Tuesday in the most substantive comments to date about why the iPhone can’t now be used to view a large percentage of videos on the Internet.
As Jobs put it Tuesday, Apple’s iPhone, with all its cutting-edge mobile Internet trickery, needs something much better than the current Flash player that Adobe makes for cellphones. The Flash Player option that fits the bill is made for devices like laptops that are larger than the iPhone; as a consequence, it performs too slowly on the iPhone, he said.
“There’s this missing product in the middle,” Jobs said.
An Adobe spokesman didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.
Steve Jobs sure knows how to win friends and influence people. Most people see him personally as a class “A” jerk, but marvel at his ability to create the most innovative products. Still, Steve knows how to get people motivated, and this public speech directed at Adobe might just be what it takes to create the software he desperately needs for the iPhone, and future Apple mobile computing products.
Technorati Tags:
Apple, iPhone, Steve Jobs, Adobe, Flash Player
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