Not Biting My Tongue Yet, Colligan!

I'm still studying all the information coming in about the new Palm webOS and Palm Pre phone.

It's contradictory and nonsensical and I can't make sense of any of it yet.

I do think it's the first CloudPhone -- and that would have been a better name for it than "Pre," which Twitter wags have stated:


Click = big

And while they did not announce any sexy mini-tablet, this is a Social OS, as I stated. And it is the axis around which the Internet revolves. It is a phone for the Nerdi.

I have absolutely no idea what app development for this will be like and so have no clue how this will impact on eBooks. We'll have to see which developers announce support for it. Fictionwise/eReader, MobiPocket, Stanza? Hello?

Second Free Suze Orman eBook Via Oprah

Suze Orman's Free Book Download

Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan

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-- via Twitter via TweetGrid from Freebies4mom

A New Version of eCub Is Released

eCub - a simple to use EPUB and MobiPocket ebook creator

Changes
Version 1.02, January 8th 2009

* Corrected initial image browser directory from documents directory to Templates.

* Added preflight checker option.

* Added first-line indent and paragraph spacing options to CSS generation, and added styles to the CSS for TOC heading, TOC entries and chapter heading.

* Fixed poor cover image quality problem on Windows.

* Document now marked as modified when changing level and ordering in Files tab.

I'm taking today off from converting The People of the Abyss by Jack London into an ePub eBook using eCub. Monitoring CES news!

Awaiting Today's CES News!

There's at least one big announcement due today, possibly two.

The first ...



... is Palm introducing its still-unnamed new operating system, formerly known under the code-name of Nova.

To remind everyone, it was the original Palm Pilot that gave birth to mass-market eBooks, with the creation of Fictionwise and the original Peanut Press (now eReader, and owned by Fictionwise).

I'm hoping this new OS will be the "breakthrough level of innovation" Ed Colligan has claimed it will be.

I want to see Palm succeed again. I want this new OS to inspire Stanza to port to it and allow ePub eBooks to be read on it.



The second news is possibly from ECTACO. I'm hoping for word of a WiFi-enabled jetBook and a demonstration of its upcoming upgrade that will support both MobiPocket and ePub books.

A WiFi-enabled jetBook would be serious competition to the Sony Reader. Remember, the jetBook uses a non-backlight LCD screen. This would provide superior web access than an eInk screen.

Tell The FTC You HATE DRM!

FTC to hold DRM referendum

Go here to fill out the online form.

This is what I told them:

Digital Rights Management -- commonly known as DRM -- is a hindrance to full-ownership of digital media.

1) It prevents buyers from placing digital media on any compatible device they might own.

2) It restricts the number of owned devices such media may reside on.

3) It often restricts the kind of device digital media may be placed on. For example, only Kindle-format eBooks can be read on a Kindle eBook reading device.

4) It leaves buyers at the mercy of DRM servers and DRM schemes which might not persist through the full-lifetime of the purchaser.

5) It is antithetical to the entire definition of "purchase." DRM at its worst redefines "ownership" to "ownership at-will."

6) DRM is against the tide of history. Just this week, Apple announced DRM-free music on its iTunes Music Store. This is the way and wave of the future.

7) DRM prevents universal adoption of digital media due to problems with authentication and restriction on types of devices used.

8) DRM is often a way for a company to employ monopolistic practices. It has been said that MobiPocket -- an eBook vendor owned by Amazon -- will not license its technology unless it enjoys sole DRM presence on a device. This is Restraint of Trade because we have had devices -- Palm PDAs and Pocket PCs -- which could simultaneously employ MobiPocket *and* other DRM schemes.

9) DRM is an annoyance to legal purchasers and merely a ridiculous challenge to the technically adept. So far, there has not been a single DRM scheme that has *not* be broken.

DRM is not in the best competitive interests of the United States technology industry, not in the best interests of fostering digital goods, and not in the spirit of what is universally and traditionally known as purchase "ownership."

The FTC then confirmed with this:

Your comment has been successfully recorded! A tracking number of *OSCAR*-00047 has been assigned on: 1/7/2009 4:58:45 PM. Please Print this page for your records.

Go and give them hell!

Quote: Donald Clark

Libraries are barriers to reading

An excellent must-read post, but this is the key point for me:

[. . .] [T]o turn books into a fetish is simply to deny learning and access by those who need it most. Real books are great, but let’s not confuse the medium with the content. Just as journalists and newspaper owners fail to realise they’re in the ‘news’ not the ‘newspaper’ business, so book fans and publishers fail to realise that this is about reading, not books.

Emphasis added by me.

I Am An eBook Militant

This post from Mike Cane 2008 never made it here.

Apparently it's time for me to pimp it here (I'm too lazy to reproduce it!).

I'll also point new readers to this prior post here: The Horror Of Paper Books

(Yeah, lots of "here" there. Shut up.)