Tag: ebooks
The Ultimate Kobo & Unraid Home Library Guide
This is a comprehensive journey from a "painful" Calibre setup to a fully automated, professional-grade home library.
DRM-Free Ebook Sources
I read a blog post on Schemescape titled Using the Xteink X4, a minimalist e-reader. I have one, and I will have everyone know that I ordered mine in fall 2025 after reading about it in Liliputing before it apparently became an online "thing." But that aside, the Schemescape post, in noting that the X4...
I keep thinking about the idea of writing …
I keep thinking about the idea of writing an ebook that doesn't perpetuate the expectation that a book needs to be read in a straight line. I know this isn't a new idea; that's what the hypertext movement was all about. But the idea of doing this resurfaced for me again this morning while reading...
Separating form from content: when is a book a book?
For what it’s worth, this blog is now available over on the Kindle Store for the Amazon-imposed price of $1.99 a month. Of course, if you do decide to read it on your Kindle, you’re going to lose the standard form of a blog: the distinctive page shell, the list of posts, and probably the comments. Just like if you read it in Google Reader or any other news application. If someone links to this article on Twitter and you use a magazine app like Flipboard on your iPad, you’ll also have a complete
Devices and desires: why the portable device wars are a red herring
A little pre-history When I was a kid, I had an Atari 130XE. You’ve probably never heard of it. It was an 8-bit, all-in-one box that booted straight into BASIC; a flexible, well-built, sturdy computer. There was just one problem: it wasn’t a ZX Spectrum or a Commodore Amiga. At the time, Britain was undergoing a low-budget computing renaissance. Bedrooms up and down the country were filled with skinny boys (and yes, it was mostly boys) noisily loading games from cassette tapes and dutifully c
So why do we need apps anyway?
Ebooks don’t cut it: everyone wants an app NB (May 20, 2010): A lot of my suggestions for web-based apps are part of the Google Chrome Web App Store. In fact, the .crx file used there is a zip file with very similar characteristics to epub. (I assume, as Chromium is open source, that .crx files are also open source – so the web app store is not limited to Google.) This post can be reread as an argument for building for the Web App Store. At Intersection: Publishing in London the other week, th
The future of publishing
Thanks to everyone who came to Intersection: Publishing yesterday. Our fascinating round-table discussion was cut off far too soon: I think we could have gone on for days and only barely covered the issues. It’s clear that an open conversation that treated publishers, authors, readers, technologists and lawyers as equals was long overdue. (Missed it? Watch this space.) I thought I’d write down some of my takeaways while they’re fresh in my mind: DRM is misunderstood from both sides. From some
Intersection: Publishing is today!
Just a quick note that Intersection: Publishing is today: This afternoon, professionals from the fields off publishing, technology and IP law will gather together to discuss the future of publishing. We’re excited about meeting the attendees, having some interesting conversations and helping to forge productive ongoing collaborations. This is an important time for the industry, and our culture. We’d love for you to join us. It’s free. No need to book; just turn up at 1pm. Venue directions are
Intersection: Publishing
Intersection: Publishing 2010 is a BarCamp which aims to discuss the future of publishing. There are a bunch of problems with the current models (for example, Amazon’s attempts at digital lock-in), and we want to get people from different backgrounds – publishers, authors, geeks, lawyers, marketers, academics – in a room to try and solve some of them organically and create some new ideas. It will be an informal, creative day. You should come too. It’s on April 17th in London, and is completely
PubCasts: subscribe to publications through RSS
This is inspired by the iBooks launch, but it’s applicable to any ereader that uses the ePub format. (Or, indeed, it could use any ebook format – MobiPocket, Kindle, DAISY, etc.) A podcast is just an RSS feed with a file enclosure – part of the RSS standard – that points to an MP3 file. Similarly, video podcasts point to video files. An obvious evolution, then, is the pubcast: periodical publications delivered through RSS feeds. Free publication subscriptions In the free case, a user would si
iBooks is a killer app for ebooks
If you pay any attention at all to the tech press, you’re probably sick to death of the iPad, Apple’s announced tablet device. I’m posting about it anyway, because there are two things that haven’t been discussed enough, which I think deserve a mention. One: this isn’t a device for the tech community. I think Rafe Colburn hits it on the head: It’s just an iPod Touch with a big screen, but that’s all that many people need from a computer. You can use it to surf the Web, read email, listen to mu