EbookMarketWatch

Is It A Book, Is It A Movie…No, It's Movie-Book! Technorati Maybe an iBook? No, Apple calls it's eBooks, iBooks along with the iBookstore. What about audio books? We thought of audio books as a blend of the written word with actor's narration. In fact, iPad and iPhone versions of A Charlie Brown Christmas … and more »

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Siliconrepublic.com

Kindle comes to Linux and ChromeOS, but it's the iPad users that Amazon wants BetaNews As of today, Amazon's Kindle e-reader is available on all platforms. The retailer on Wednesday launched Kindle Cloud Reader, an HTML5 Web app that gives users browser-based access to their Kindle … Amazon Subverts Apple With iPad-Optimized Kindle ReaderMashable Amazon Kindle iPad web-app bypasses store-link rulesSlashGear all 269 news articles »

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by Jemimus

How to Get Boys to Read: It’s the Technology, Stupid!

Is your son or grandson is a reluctant reader?  Is he spending too much time texting, playing video games, and watching TV?  You’re not alone, but you might consider steering him toward audiobooks or E-books.  It worked for us.  Way back when our son was small, I taped The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, both BBC radio productions, so he could listen to them on his tape player in his room and, hopefully, would eventually fall asleep.  He’s grown now, but he’s always been an avid reader, and I attribute at least part of the reason to his early introduction to these books on tape.

Now of course, audiobooks are everywhere, and publishers are putting more and more titles on CDs and in both iTunes and MP3 formats, which makes them even more convenient … and more importantly … cool.  I’m addicted to audiobooks myself.  I listen while driving (I started with Books on Tape, moved to CDs, now I’m into MP3), and I’m guessing they will gain as much traction with young boys and teenagers as E-readers like Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, and, Apple’s iPhones, which as you already know are everywhere.

In fact, no less a source than The New York Times wrote about this phenomenon recently: E-Readers Catch Younger Eyes and Go in Backpacks (by Julie Bosman, Feb. 4, 2011).  In that article book publishers say 20-25% of their sales are generated by E-books, up from single digits last year.  And parents are saying:  The kids are already using the platforms (Computers, iPhones, Kindles, etc.), so let’s use them to help kids learn … and become better and avid readers.  Teachers are also allowing them in class.  Hey, it’s one way to get boys to use their iPods for something other than music.  (Note: It may help to tell him no one will even know he’s listening to a book.)

Of course, the first step to get your son or grandson reading is to make great audiobooks and E-books available to him.  Most of the books on my website, http://boysbestbooks.com, are available as audiobooks or in electronic format for E-readers.  But audiobooks really are like the radio plays of “yesteryear,” as the announcer used to say on The Lone Ranger, and the quality varies from book to book and publisher to publisher.  Some readers are fabulous – I put Jim Dale, who did such a masterful job with the Harry Potter audiobooks, in that category.  But if you want to know the best of the latest crop of audiobooks, check out the 2011 Odyssey Awards for best audiobook for children and teens, offered by the Assn. for Library Service to Children (ALSC).  I’ve culled that list for books of interest to boys and added it to my blog, which you can access at http://boysbestbooks.com/b3-blog/, and I’ve created a special “Audiobook” page on my web site.  Soon, I’ll be offering a list of best audiobooks for pre-schoolers.  So, if you’re tearing your hair out to find some way to get your son or grandson reading, remember: “It’s the technology, stupid!”

Related Kindle Publishers Articles

by TM2media

The Digital Evolution of Books (and Where It’s Headed)

We know it’s a book reproduced into electronic format to be distributed on the Internet, and it’s been around since 1999. It was legitimized in 2000, when Stephen King “cyberpublished” his novella “The Plant” and sold it on his web site for a buck a download. He eventually went on to sell 600,000 copies.

Lately, e-books can contain embedded videos and other fancyschmancy bling bling to win friends and influence people. With my e-book Zero to Superhero (also in “oldskool” paperback edition), I spelunk YouTube’s awesome video archives and reference oddities and pearls of unconventional wisdom for added value. The concept seems to work well, and readers can submit their videos to me for inclusion in the next print and pdf edition which creates an ongoing dialogue that I find unique and invaluable. What doesn’t work so well is embedding movie clips into pdf documents: it’s cost prohibitive (Adobe Acrobat costs 450 bones US) and it’s a trying process converting YouTube clips into supported file formats and then getting them to actually work in the pdf.

Still, the long short of it is that e-books are still in its infancy, and functionality will no doubt expand. Expect the e-book to evolve and flourish as a viable medium.

The “Blook”

Next is the blook, which comprises the ongoing story entries of a blog until it becomes a full-fledged book (hence the combining of the word blog and book). One of the most prominent examples of a blook would be Hackoff.com by Tom Evslin, a murder mystery set during the dotcom crash. Says Tom of the advantages of writing a book in a blog:

[ The first question you may have is "why would anyone distribute a book on a blog?" Good question. There are four reasons. First, blogs are where the readers are. Second, readers find blogs without the help of traditional gatekeepers; blogs are "discovered" and become successful (or don't) in an interesting democratic way. Third, online distribution makes it economically feasible to distribute free copies of the book. Fourth, an online book should do things a print book can't. ]

I’ll add a few more reasons. It helps establish a routine for the writer, it can be incredibly motivating when you know people are out there waiting for your next entry, and it provides instant feedback, be it positive or negative. This makes blook writing the most charged and exciting option for would-be authors.

The Blubook

Designed by Royal College of Art designer and engineer Manolis Kelaidis, the Blubook is the marriage of the physical and the digital, and is still very much cutting edge. It’s a paper book with circuits embedded in each page and the text printed with conductive ink. When linked words on the page are touched, a processor in the back cover transmits a signal via Bluetooth to a nearby computer and displays the related information. I imagine the Blubook gives reading a tactile and interactive dimension unparalleled to this point, but we have yet to see the innovations in publishing for Apple’s iphone.

But that’ll be for another article, distributed electronically to a terminal near you.

Jawoco launches it's Ebook Service PRLog.Org (press release) Jawoco will make those books available for download in iBook, PDF and Kindle version also that make it readable online. Besides this, the best part of the whole service is that it is very affordable as it is $9.99 per year for a book. …

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Reviews Of Electronics

Kobo eReader – Electronic Reading At It's Finest Reviews Of Electronics Unlike the more expensive e-readers on the market, the Kobo does not have a touch screen and multi-functional keyboard. Instead, the controls consist of a …

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Daily Mail

Why Amazon's Kindle is the top eReader: it's the ecosystem Telegraph.co.uk So while Amazon rightly extols the virtues of its Kindle's screen – easy to read in sunlight and all that – it's the ecosystem that makes it peerless. … Is the Nook 3G a sinking ship, or just last year's model?Geek.com Amazon: Kindle books outselling paperbacksCNET all 355 news articles »

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by Frank Hamm

Adobe Stepping Up It’s Digital Technology

Keeping up with today’s technology has been difficult, even for companies who have been specializing in technology since the 90s, like Adobe Systems. Adobe is known for many things including the software Photoshop, Quark and PageMaker, not to mention its image editing and Flash Player for the Web. While seemingly falling behind, the company recently introduced two new modifications recently. First was an extension to the software InDesign, which will endow the Creative Suite software with the ability to target tablets with interactive content.

Second is the arrival of a new stand-alone application, AIR 2.5, which extends the Flash cousin to smartphones, TVs, and tablets.

Bringing its AIR foundation to the forefront as a way to bring Net-enabled applications to a variety of devices is something Adobe has been working on for some time. Now the company believes they have a solution.  One will start to see AIR on high-end mobile devices, starting with Android phones.

According to the company, the software foundation can run apps written to use Adobe’s Flash Player and a built-in WebKit browser engine that can handle a variety of Web technologies.  AIR 2.5 also  includes Flash Player 10.1 technology. This means it has the ability to employ a device’s accelerometer, location-reporting service, camera, microphone, and multitouch screen. AIR 2.5 also has support for hardware acceleration on a variety of mobile processors and has a built-in database for caching application data when there’s no network connection.

What is the big picture for Adobe with the release of AIR 2.5? As with Flash, the company hopes to see the big benefit of AIR as an easier programming system for those who want their software to run across a multitude of devices.

According to Adobe’s director of product marketing for the Flash platform, Anup Murarka says, “We built the Web as a really compelling, great way to reach the broadest possible audience. Apps are an extension of that experience. AIR lets programmers keep their skills, work flow, and programming tools on the new generation of mobile and connected devices.”

The question many outsiders are asking is whether Adobe can stand up to Apple. Currently Apple has more clout with programmers who work to write native applications for the trio of iOS devices–the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. While Flash for mobile, is still only present on a few high-end devices.

Adobe has a strong reputation though, especially among those who edit photos and videos, people who produce magazines or even website designers. What Adobe hopes to do is bridge the world of print-based publications to digital. With the iPad embodying the new-age digital publishing standard of today with graphics that can move, audio quotations, videos and such, Adobe is trying to match this technology.

“We feel this digital publishing suite is going to solve a lot of the challenges publishers have been facing for the last 5 or 10 years,” said Lynly Schambers, Adobe’s principal marketing manager working on digital publishing.

This software is set to come out of beta in the second quarter of 2011, Schambers said, and will cost 9 and up.

Schambers added, “Today, the iPad is pretty much the only game in town, but it’s clear there’s going to be a plethora of tablets and other devices hitting the market early next year. Five or six will bubble to the top.”

Will Adobe stay in the game with its new changes? I guess it will all depend on what the competitors come up with simultaneously.

Question by ellie: What does the “B” on my mouse mean, it’s japan made?
I have a little grey ceramic mouse. He is holding a violin. He looks vintage. Marked on the bottom “Japan” and there is also a “B” incised on the bottom. Anyone know what the “B” stands for? I have searched, but can’t find it on any makers mark website. He is 1 3/4″ tall. Thanks for the help

Best answer:

Answer by xtron8r
It could identify the mold used in the process.

What do you think? Answer below!

The Guardian

It doesn't matter if it's downmarket or digital – it all helps to sell books The Guardian 2010 will go down as the year when books really began to go digital, when ebooks took off and the e-reader (Kindle, Nook and iPad) became the Christmas gift …

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