Free eBook – John Carter Barsoom Series

Posted by trav in Book Column, Digital Publishing, E-Books, On the Web, Technology      No comments

Mar
16

A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to see what all of the John Carter fuss was about. So I went looking for the first book in the series. Which, after a few Google searches, told me was A Princess of Mars. The problem was I didn’t know if I’d like it, so I didn’t want a new copy. I checked two local used-book spots and struck out. There is also a waiting list to get one of the library copies, so I turned to eBooks. I didn’t originally start here as I like old vintage sci-fi artwork and I was hoping to get something along those lines (still am).

I knew that Edgar Rice Burroughs penned the Barsoom series books a long time ago and that they would be in the public domain, so I went to Project Gutenberg first. And there it was. In eight different formats. So I grabbed a .prc file and loaded it on my device, via email. I have to say that it’s great fun so far. If you like Golden Age-styled science fiction you should check it out.

Here are links and screenshots of the various online services. It’s interesting to see them all side-by-side so you can note the similarities and differences between them.

Project Gutenberg

Kindle

Nook

Google Play

Since the book is public domain all of the platforms should have copies. I have no idea if these files differ, but Kindle, Nook and Google all have free e-book versions. In fact, Kindle, Google and Project Gutenberg all allow onine in-browser reading. Something that the nook service lacks. Plus, the Kindle, Nook and Google platforms all have syncing. So if you are on page 52 on your kindle and then run an errand, you can pull out your phone app and it will sync to the right place.

I’m waiting to see how this book ends before deciding if I’m going to complete the series. Have any of you read through the series?

A Typesetter Made World’s First Audio Recording

Posted by trav in Book Column, Technology, Type      No comments

Mar
14

In 1860, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville was a typesetter (and possibly a bookseller) in Paris. He also liked to tinker, which lead him down the path of making the world’s first audio recording, using his printing tools and knowledge.

Printing and imprinting is something Scott understood very well. Capturing the song in 10 second visually-printed snippets must not have been too difficult, once he figured it out. The problem was he didn’t know how to play back what he’d recorded!

He printed all of the “grooves”, using his phonautograph on rag paper,  but no phonautograph-reader has been found.

So modern-day scientists had to cook up a way to sight-read the recordings, to what I think are pretty nifty (and spooky) sounding results.

This scenario doesn’t sound too different from today as people in the music, movie, book, web and mobile fields are crossing lines, mashing up tools and pushing boundaries to make new books and products. I just think it’s neat that the first audio recording ever made was actually printed on paper.

Typography and Instagram

Posted by trav in Book Column, fonts, Technology, Type      No comments

Mar
12

The folks over at We Love Typography are mobilizing the world’s font faithful in a very cool new project mapping cool fonts around the world. To participate all you have to do is have the iOS Instagram app installed, have geotagging turned ‘on’, snap a pic and upload it with the tag #wlt or #welovetype. Then the crawlers will grab it an place it on the correct place on this Google Map.

No doubt it’s going to get crowded fast. But it’s a great idea.

There are also two new FREE iOS apps for font and type geeks:

Fontli, has an Instagram-feel, and is trying to build a social network around fonts. The idea being that you could submit a snap shot of some type and your virtual rolodex of font-ish friends could help you identify it. Also, there is…

Fontmaker, which lets you create your own font variations to use in text messaging and emails sent from your mobile device. Not super-useful, but I could see where some would get a kick out of throwing in some random ligatures and letter forms.

e-Books for 25 Cents

Posted by trav in Digital Publishing, Publishing Industry News, Technology      No comments

Mar
8

Google has launched a new digital content portal called Google Play. As part of the launch they are offering an ebook for 25 cents, every day. They are calling it their “Play of the Day”. Today, it’s Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club. Not to be outdone, Amazon is mimicking every price move that Google is making this week. So today folks with Kindles can get Fight Club for only 25 cents. I’m not sure what they will offer tomorrow or how long these promotional cheap e-books will last.

This is Economics 101. While two big monolith companies duke it out over readers’ attention and try to one-up each other on price… the consumer wins. For the short term anyway. The long term game is a whole other sport, which is why Amazon and Google are paying so much attention to books this week. Competition is a good thing.

Books and the new iPad

Posted by trav in Digital Publishing, E-Books, News, Publishing Industry News, Technology      No comments

Mar
7

Apple announced a new iPad today, available March 16th. Prices start at $499 for wifi-only and $629 for 4G model. But does any of this matter for book readers?  As a reader, it’s not enough for me to update my first-gen iPad, but let me tell you why publishers should be very excited about the capabilities of Apple’s new device:

• Hi-res screen: I mean VERY high-resolution. It’s first tablet that actually rivals print when it comes to resolution. I work for a travel publisher and we’ve always had issues with our maps on eReaders. Print books have always been better. No eReader device could rival the detail of a paper book. And that matters when you are looking at maps, topo lines and map keys. Well now there is a device that can support the level of detail and zoom book readers need and deserve.
• 4G connection speed: Again I am looking at this from a travel publishing perspective. This over-the-air speed is capable (but not very likely while you are out and about) of being faster than some hom wifi connections. That’s huge for publishers pushing content to book readers as they move about. Expecially for travel publishers selling updates and maps as readers are out on their adventures.
• Battery life: It’s nine hours with the 4G turned on. That’s a long road trip or a hike from sun-up to sundown. That’s a lot of reading and book referencing. Our customers/users/readers need to be happy, whether on a digital device or holding the print product. Big battery life is a step in this direction.

If publishers are doing their jobs the put A LOT of work into making unique quality content. It’s nice when device makers do their best to support this content. Now, having said all that, there are still many issues I have with reading non-fiction on eReaders. I’ll have to post about that later this week.

Apple’s Wall gets higher

Posted by trav in Digital Publishing, E-Books, iPhone, Technology      No comments

Jan
20

Yesterday Apple announced their latest plans for the iBooks platform. The event focused on textbooks and education. There were three main takeaways. All of which have their pluses and minuses.

First, there is a new iBooks app for iOS devices. It looks slick with video, sound and other rich media embedded in the books. It’s inline with where ePub3 and HTML5 are going. But it’s still not available on the desktop, just iOS. I was dissappointed in this. I do have a few reference books that I like to look things up in. If I am working on the desktop it is sooooo much easier to just open the Kindle reader or Nook reader apps and find what I need, rather than having my iPad next to me. And isn’t this what textbooks are used for? Reference? Looking things up? Multi-tasking and note taking aren’t strong points of having a tablet. So rather than have the one device we’re back to two devices. Not cool.

Second, there is the partnership with textbook publishers coupled with the efforts to make textbooks available at the $15 price point. That sounds good to me. If anyone needs a price break, it’s students. My fear here is that it could be a “Netflix-like” situation, where if a publisher doesn’t like the revenue flow situation or wants to renegotiate terms and Apple digs its heels in… where does that leave all the students, their notes, school libraries, etc.? Which brings us to the third takeaway…

the new iBooks authoring tool. It sounds pretty easy to use and the seamless integration is cool, but there are so many other limits and ramifications. Liz Castro did a good list on the concerns around the authoring tool. My big concern is that whatever you make in this tool Apple will not let you sell anywhere else. I was so excited when Apple embraced the ePub format with the rest of the world. But now it seems they have taken a page from Amazon’s playbook (or maybe the iTunes .m4a strategy) and will start building their own walled .ibook garden. It’s a shame. Because these strategies are not about creating the best user experience (which I do believe has been a driving force at Apple), but it’s about controlling parts of the supply between content creation and the reader.

Birmingham Wordcamp Jan. 14th-15th

Posted by trav in Birmingham, Events, Technology      1 comment

Jan
6

I’m signed up and ready to go! Wordcamp Birmingham 2012 is January 14-15. WordPress is the software platform that this site (and a gazillion others) run on. It looks like they have a great line up this year, with three tracks offered. So regardless of where you are with your skills, you will learn something and meet some cool folks along the way. At a minimum you’ll walk out with a grocery list of killer plug-ins that you didn’t know existed. At least that’s what always happens to me.

So go check out the tracks and sign up, I’d love to meet some of you out there. Saturday takes place at the BJCC and teh Sunday line-up is at Samford. The WordPress faithful here in Birmingham really is a neat crew. I’m thankful for these annual events where I can soak in some new things.

Also, during the year, they have some WordPress meet-ups with most updates going out with #wpbham on Twitter. I haven’t been able to make one in a loooooooong time, but they always sound like fun. So check those out too.

Hope to see you in a week!

Great Gatsby Videogame

Posted by trav in On the Web, Technology      No comments

Dec
28

Earlier this year, someone says they paid 50 cents for an old Nintendo cartridge that had some Japanese bootleg version of a Great Gatsby game. And thanks to the world of emulators you can play this 8-bit wonder right in your web browser.

You start off dodging butlers and tipsy partiers as Nick Carraway. Your goal is to simply “find Gatsby”. I admit that I have not played very much of the game and have no idea where it goes with the story or characters. I just thought its was neat that even way back when NES was the coolest, someone thought it worth while to make a game out of a book.

Small Demons and Connecting the Dots

Posted by trav in Media, On the Web, Technology      No comments

Oct
24

Small Demons launched in beta this week and is trying to help us discover new things by connecting all the dots for us. How vague is that? But seriously that what it does. You can start with a person, book, movie, music, brand or thing. I chose a specific bourbon, Old Grand-Dad. Small Demons was able to list out three books that specifically mention that bourbon and cite the passages.

Want to know a character’s favorite recipe? Small Demons will eventually be the place to go. There is also a “My Library” tab, that is not yet active and I’m not sure how deep the social component will go. I’ve only been in for a day.

The “Books Mentioned in Other Books” is quite a big rabbit hole to start down. It goes on and on and on, but it’s fun to see what books, genres and author share certain things. As fun as it is, Small Demon’s bookshelf is still small, so all of the results feel a little truncated. There are many many books that will be added and indexed.

It’s one of those things that could only happen (and scale) thanks to the internet. It’s on the same track as LibraryThing (one of the most awesome services the internet has birthed). Here’s a quick under-two-minute video they produced to promo the new search/relationship/discovery engine:

Sony Catches Up with new eReader

Posted by trav in Digital Publishing, E-Books, Technology      1 comment

Sep
1

No doubt the eReader sector is a tough business. One has to have the right balance of device manufacturing skills, end-user service, available titles, etc. Sony has been late to the show, even though they were an early mover. Their devices were over-priced and their customer-facing services and stores were cumbersome at best.

But yesterday, Sony has jumped in with both feet and announced a device that meets readers’ needs.

Available in October, the PRS-T1:

• sports a 6″ eInk screen that is full TOUCHSCREEN (works with both fingers and stylus)
• wi-fi enabled
• weighs less than 6 ounces (making it barely lighter than Nook and Kindle)
• costs only $149
• has native support for checking out library books from Jefferson County libraries

That’s a pretty impressive list of specs for a company that’s been lagging behind. And it is about time. One thing Sony knows how to do is make things. They should have done this years ago. I’m just glad they did. Competition is a good thing and will keep Amazon, Apple, etc. honest and customer-focused. Which is where Sony has to focus now. Their Harry Potter deal is interesting, but not the overhaul that’s needed. I started e-reading on a PRS-505 and Sony lost me as a customer years ago. Everything was just too hard to do. I know it was early in the industry and I tried to cit them some slack. But Amazon and others just blew past them and I jumped ship. They seem to have come a long way since then.

Of course, we still have to wait on some real-world testing. I wonder if the screen really can work as advertised. But I’m anxious to see how the reading public responds to the $149 price-point and what Sony does to try and keep their readers coming back to buy books.