Read DRMed MobiPocket eBooks On Palm Pre

Thanks to Twitter, I was informed about this new eBook development and invited the person to write this guest post. Thanks, Jonathan!

E-book Reading on PalmPre: MotionApps Classic Plus Mobipocket is a Winning Combo

As a longtime PalmOS user, I've been very happy using my Palm handhelds as e-book readers. I have (and have read) more than 200 e-books (many from Baen's free library, others purchased in secure Mobipocket format from Fictionwise) on my Palm T|X (especially after I used the PowerSDHC driver by Dmitry Grinberg to add a 16 GB SDHC card to my T|X). When I received my new Palm Pre last week, courtesy of Palm's Real Reviewer program, I was skeptical whether I would be able to completely switch from my T|X to the Pre, given how little software has yet been released for the Pre, especially in the e-book reader world (only the Shortcovers online reader is currently available). Happily, one of the very first apps released for Palm's new WebOS is MotionApps' Classic (a PalmOS emulator running on the Pre), and I was able to run Mobipocket Reader with little trouble.





While Classic's emulation is not perfect, and it's limited to a 320x320 screen (unlike the 320x480 available on the T|X), I was pleased to find out not only did Mobipocket Reader work on Classic, but it even generated its own Secure Mobipocket ID, allowing me to redownload and read my secure e-books from my Fictionwise bookshelf. Installing Mobipocket was a bit of a challenge (since it comes with an installation program rather than simply as PalmOS PRC and PDB files, I had to unpack and install each file separately -- which you can find here), but once past that step and after I'd copied my e-books to the ClassicApps\eBooks directory of my Pre in USB Drive mode, I launched Classic, started Mobipocket Reader, and a quick rescan of my library brought my books up.



Classic runs PalmOS apps relatively smoothly, and the issues it still has with animations and sounds do not impact on Mobipocket Reader. Page navigation is a bit clumsy (the Pre's notifications often bump up against the bottom of Classic's virtual 5-way navigator, making it difficult to advance pages that way), but after I'd set Mobipocket to accept screen taps as page advance commands, that problem went away.



Classic itself is not cheap (the registered version is $29.99), but it essentially replaces carrying around two PDAs, one for WebOS and one for (most of) the PalmOS apps one still needs. For me, being able to continue reading novels at the checkout counter, doctor's office and other waiting areas, and to have access to secure e-books even when offline, makes Classic's price almost worth it for those benefits alone. That it can run almost all of my other PalmOS apps is just gravy. (It also means, by way of shameless self-promotion, that Pre users can read the Mobi version of my new free e-booklet on managing smartphone business/legal risk, Shooting from the Hip, after downloading it here!)

Prof. Jonathan Ezor, Touro Law Center (aka @Prelawyer and @ProfJonathan on Twitter, and Palm Real Reviewer).

The State of eBookdom

Architect Henry Cameron:

"There will be days when you'll stand in the corner of a hall and listen to a creature on a platform talking about buildings, about that work which you love, and the things he'll say will make you wait for somebody to rise and crack him open between two thumbnails; and then you'll hear the people applauding him, and you'll want to scream, because you won't know whether they're real or you are, whether you're in a room full of gored skulls, or whether someone has just emptied your own head, and you'll say nothing, because the sounds you could make--they're not a language in that room any longer; but if you'd want to speak, you won't anyway, because you'll be brushed aside, you who have nothing to tell them about buildings!"

-- Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead

Oh many days I want to rise up and crack someone open between my two thumbnails!

And more days and many more someones up ahead too.

C4N3 Virus

Doctors would be examining my infection-filled carcass just like that.

If I had enough strength to get to them.

Planned posts will have to wait.

Unless I die.

Then we're all out of luck.

Hogdoggin' Blog Book Tour, Baby!!

Crime fiction writer Anthony Neil Smith's crew is here as part of the Virtual Motorcycle Rally blog book tour to display his word wizardry, so all of you will go buy his latest novel, Hogdoggin', out in about a week from those fine folks at Bleak House Books. And you'd better buy Yellow Medicine too. Because it's also damned good!



And now, Anthony Neil Smith…

In the Last Episode, Sophie Littlefield had a girl's night out… busting heads, that is.

He just showed up out of nowhere — materialized, like Star Trek — on the front porch of the Virtual Dive Bar, walked on inside carrying some computerized tablet of some sort, and sat down at the bar, started reading.

The folks at Fry's table gawked. They’d never seen anything like him before. He kind of shimmered, flickered. You could almost see through him. Forget Star Trek. This was full-on Jedi shit.

Everyone looked at Fry, like he knew what the hell was going on. He shrugged.

"Well," Richie Rich shoved Fry's shoulder. "Go talk to him. Here…" The kid handed over a knife. "Try to stab him."

"Shit, I'm not doing that in Smith's joint. You crazy?" But he sat on the edge of his seat, still hopped to the gills after four days of nonstop crank. Knee bouncing. He didn't give the knife back. "All right, all right, all right. I'm going. Yes, I’m going over there."

So he got up and walked to the shimmering stranger at the bar.

Sat next to him.

The man went about his business. Reading the tablet.

Fry was about to talk to him, but then had a feeling. An urge. He looked back at the table, where his friends were all staring, mouths agape.

Fry looked back at the man — an angel? A ghost? — still feeling this urge in his gut. So he did it. He reached out to touch the guy.

His hand went right through.

The man said, "Stop doing that."

Fry jerked his hand back, held it like he'd been burnt, even though everything was perfectly fine.

"What… what are you?"

The man turned his face to Fry, his eyes like cameras. "You mean like, what race? What religion? What political affiliation? What species? Be specific, man."

Fry blinked. "You’re not a person."

"Oh, but I am a person. Very much so. Just a person who can be in two places at one time."

"How is that?"

"Magic."

"Really?"

The camera eyes rolled. "No, you fucking idiot. Technology. Computers." He held up his tablet. "Like this, you know, I've got about 500 books in this thing. In the old days, I couldn't even carry five books around without dropping one. Now, Five. Hundred." Raised his eyebrows.

Fry shook his head. "I ain't much of a reader."

The shimmering stranger sighed, said, "I know. I already guessed that. But Lafitte might be, I hear. And Steel God, too."

Fry remembered Steel God reading some nights, propped on his elbow beside his bike. Mostly paperbacks. Mostly sci-fi or porn.

"What are you doing here?"

The man set his tablet on the counter and looked as if he knew his reading time was shot for the day. Then he grinned and slowly explained to Fry, "I'm here all the time. I drop in, check it out, see what's happening. It's a break from Tweeting."

"Yeah, okay. I knew it. You're a tweaker."

"No tweeting… never mind. Just… hey, Smith!" He waved the bartender over. "Tell this guy who I am."

Smith said, "That's Mike."

"Tell him I'm a regular."

A nod. "Oh, yeah. Regular Mike. Drinks here often."

Fry stood, knocked his barstool backwards. Exploded. "BUT HE AIN'T REAL!"

"Sure he is."

"Watch." Fry pulled out the knife and started stabbing Mike. Swiped his chest, face, arms, legs. Mike just sat there staring. Not cut one damn time. The ghostly image turned to Smith and said, "Can't you do something about this asshole?"

Smith shrugged. "Not until the Rally is over, I guess."

"Ah, well. It's not your fault." He turned to Fry. "Asshole."

And then he disappeared.

Fry stared at the empty barstool a long time before finally giving up thinking about it. He ordered the worst bourbon the bar carried — Fighting Cock — and sat sipping. A tablet that let you carry five hundred books around? Well… ain’t that the shit?

* * *

I’d like to thank Mike for his support of my work. I really appreciate all the kind things he’s said, and all of the people he’s talked up Yellow Medicine to.

You can find Mike on Twitter quite often, talking about ebooks, some great television shows, and the end of the world (which he thinks will be here next Tuesday). But don’t you dare follow him. No no. If you do, you’d better mean it.

I look forward to the day when this ebook thing he preaches about catches on more, and I’d like to see my current published novels available in that format. But for the time being, I’ll salute Mike Cane for his efforts, and stick to the paperbacks until I can afford one of those damned readers!

Next up, Bill Crider is a dirty, dirty son of a bitch. Buy him a drink.

On the Jukebox: Moby, "Run On"

* * *

Hop over to see the post I did for Smith's blog that inspired him to write this custom post!

And then go buy Hogdoggin'! You'll love it!

Virtual Motorcycle Rally Here Tomorrow!

Yeah, they've already parked their bikes outside!

But it will take them until tomorrow to show up here!

Meanwhile, check out the action leading up to this at Crimedog One and at Can't Stop Won't Stop.

Do it before they show up here! They might want to give you a test!

The Information

"You're trying to stop the information. You see, that's where it's sad. You can't stop the information because the information keeps the country strong! You need the deviant! Don't shut him up! You need that madman to stand up to tell you when you're blowing it! And the harder you come down on the deviant, the more you need him!"

Hewlett-Packard Has An eBook Reader?

I don't know why others haven't picked up on what appears to be a leak in a Fortune magazine article about Amazon:

(Other competition is coming from publishers such as Hearst and computing companies, including HP. Apple is rumored to be mulling a reader too. Chances are they will all include some wireless connection.)

Emphasis added by me.

This is the first I've heard of hp actively developing an eBook reader.

They've shown off a prototype previously:



But that looked so absolutely screwy -- screwier than Kindle Mark I -- that no one took the effort seriously.

Today I must add that given the Gesture Area on the Palm Pre, the touchstrip interface no longer looks so screwy -- and that makes the last ten seconds of this next video a must-see:



hp has also been gung-ho developing flexible displays. They have a video all about that.



Plus, earlier this year hp announced a color flexible display prototype. And while reports indicate it's several years away from commercialization, color isn't needed right now for ebooks, so perhaps the monochrome version shown below -- impressively resisting abuse -- can be used:



What's also interesting is that hp never released a tablet UMPC. Everyone thought they'd be a natural entrant, but they passed. They did, however, enter the netbook fray with impressive models.

What's interesting about that is the ten-inch screen. That's the screen size for the rumored Apple tablet. Whenever I've looked at the hp mini in person, I always try to picture it without its keyboard, as a tablet.

And a touchscreen tablet is something hp could do. They have incorporated touch into their TouchSmart line of desktop and notebook PCs. How difficult would it be to graft that onto a ten-inch screen tablet?

An hp eBook reader brings up a whole series of issues:

1) What retailers would carry it?
2) What eBooks could it display?
3) How could eBooks be bought?

Could hp's eBook reader find its way into the world with a Barnes & Noble branding? With eReader software and ePub support built in? And Fictionwise/eReader as the eBookstore all ready to go?

One other thing I must note about hp's touchstrip UI idea: it sidesteps the clarity and contrast issues of the Sony Reader 700, which simply placed a touchscreen over its eInk didplay.