Articles by Zek

CES eBooks News and Analysis

Welcome to the special CES Edition of State of the eBook! As everyone has reported, there was a huge onslaught of eBook reading devices this year, from dedicated e-ink devices to tablets! What does this mean for the eBook market? Let’s find out!


Skiff Reader Announced; Magazine Publishers Want to Own the World

Yet another new player hit the eBook market this week, but this one is a bit different than the “e-ink, 6in screen, supports x, y, z file types” lather rinse repeat. Skiff has announced a monstrous 11.5in screen reader, designed for reading magazines and newspapers. Not only does it have a huge screen, but it also plays back audio. This is NOT just another eBook reader!


DXTop Home Replacement Review

I just bought my Droid a few weeks ago, and I’ve been testing various programs and getting acquainted with Android 2.0. In the stock configuration, 2.0 only has 3 “home screens” for widgets and quick app access. A few quick scans around various Android forums, and I found out about one “home replacement” program that seemed to add a lot of functionality in addition to an extra home screen: DXTop.


Is Text to Speech Copyright Infringement or Accessibility?

Famously, the Kindle 2 debuted with Text to Speech enabled, only to see it yanked for many books after the publishing companies complained it violated audiobook copyrights. This debate is becoming an issue all over again because of devices like Intel’s Reader for the blind, which uses a scanner and text to speech to allow a visually impaired individual to “read” a written passage.


Skimming through 2009 eBooks

(image courtesy of petitinvention) Welcome to the final State of the eBook for 2009! It has been a big year for eBooks, and I am going to do my best to cover a timeline of the high points, as well as a few things to look forward to in 2010. Rather than do a traditional timeline of events, I thought I’d break it down by the year in highlights per company/platform, and then a few predictions and news items to look forward to in 2010!


Is a Task Killer Necessary For Android?

I was perusing Androidforums.com today for some software tips and stumbled on a few threads that maintained there was no reason to use a task killer with Android. These posters maintained that the OS was efficient enough to shut down programs that weren’t necessary and manage memory without a 3rd party intervention.


Is Handwriting Dead?

When I started my first day at my office, a coworker asked (begged, really) if my handwriting was decent, since we deal in note-taking a fair amount. The apologetic look on my face said it all; my handwriting is awful. Years of typing have ruined any chance of something legible coming out when I put pen to paper.


Common Grounds

I was walking down the hall in my office the other day and found two coworkers engrossed in a discussion about their iPhones. They were comparing apps and enthusiastically discussing Dragon Dictation, Google Maps, and a barcode scanner app. What was really shocking is that while one of them is a big techy, the other one was definitely not. But they both were excitedly talking about their smartphones and comparing the iPhone to the Droid, etc.





Is GPS Becoming Information Overload?

Do you have a GPS in your car? I do, and sometimes it gets to be too much in traffic; between stop and go, lights, construction, and the sound of my GPS droning away, it can become a bit overwhelming. I’ve even been known to threaten to throw the yappy thing out the window a few times when it all becomes too much. According to a Tech.view column in the Economist, it might not be me. Apparently, we can only process so much information at once, and beyond that, the brain simply cannot take it all in clearly. So as…


Stephen Covey Strikes an Exclusive eBook Deal: What Does This Mean for Authors and Royalties?

Stephen Covey is proving one of the habits of highly successful people is playing hardball; he’s struck a deal with Amazon to make them the exclusive providers of his eBooks, in exchange for at least 50% of the sales revenue. Amazon will also be promoting his books heavily. What does this mean for publishers, authors, and the concept of royalties in the digital age? We convened a Gear Diary chat session to hash it all out!


Cliffs Notes of 2009 Movies

This video is awesome. It’s a mashup of the trailers from the last year or so, stitched together to make them look like one movie. See? Gear Diary just saved you the trouble of digging your way out from underneath your overstuffed Netflix queue! via Seattleist


Barnes and Noble Moves to ePUB

Teleread received a tip from one of their readers that books downloaded from the Barnes and Noble eBook store are coming in ePUB now, instead of the legacy PDB format used by eReader/Fictionwise. It also seems that Teleread is jumping on the “eReader is generic” bandwagon, since they point out that even Barnes and Noble can’t keep them straight.



Do-It-Yourself Book Scanning

Do you have a library of books that are not available in eBook form? Do you love combining power tools with classic novels? Then give this DIY book scanner a shot! Apparently it can scan up to 1200 pages an hour, depending on how fast you can manually turn the pages. I highly recommend watching the video, as not only does it explain the reasons why the inventor created his book scanner, but he also gives a succinct, persuasive argument for the proliferation of eBooks over paper books. Plus it’s always worth watching when the instructions for how to build…


What’s in a Name?

(image courtesy fromoldbooks) Welcome to another State of the eBook! To start off, the big news this week was publishers plotting to make eBooks second-class citizens by delaying their release. You can read all about it here. It isn’t pretty and it is time to let publishers know how we feel! Then there is the other big news… It’s NOOK WEEK!


Sony Store Moving to EPub

We have an official date for the Sony move to ePub… this Friday, December 11th. Going forward, ALL Sony eBooks will be available only as ePubs, and the proprietary BBeB format will be removed. If you did not opt into the PRS-500 upgrade/trade-in program, be sure to back up your library! Also on Friday, the Sony Reader software is coming to Macs and PCs, so presumably you can read your Sony content on your laptop if e-ink drives you nuts! Finally, Sony is renaming their eBook store the “Reader Store”, to better tie in with their Sony Reader line. What…


Gateway Gadgets

(Gates courtesy of JKMedia) We all had that one device that led us into the world of true gadget loving. It’s that one device that you obsessed over, read about, joined forums to discuss…once it starts it’s an addiction. Since it’s the holidays, I thought it might be a good time to head down memory lane and see what gadget was our first geek love…


Nooks, Kindles, eBooks, and Pirates, Oh My!

Welcome to another State of the eBook! First and foremost, a nook update: As Dan reported yesterday, Spring Design has been denied an injunction that sought to prevent B&N from selling Nooks! This is good news and will hopefully stimulate Nook availability. Teleread argues that if Barnes and Noble doesn’t get nooks out to stores, the backlash could undo all the goodwill and positive word of mouth they’ve built so far.