A tablet with a phone from Nakayo | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News

A tablet with a phone from Nakayo | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News:

"Also, while the phone is compliant with Session Initiation Protocol or SIP, the tablet packs in features such as Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, a 7 inch 800�480 resolution display, a USB port, a 0.3 megapixel CMOS camera, as well as a micro SDHC slot that tops at 32 GB.

The convenience of the entire set up is that when receiving a call, users can either pick up the receiver or operate it hands free by pushing a button on the tablet or pick up the tablet itself and talk via its mic."

Graeme's Fantasy Book Review: ‘The Age of Odin’ – James Lovegrove (Solaris)

Graeme's Fantasy Book Review: ‘The Age of Odin’ – James Lovegrove (Solaris):

"‘The Age of Odin’ is one of those funny books where you have a lot of fun reading it but when you come back to it, a couple of days later, you find that you cannot remember a lot about it. It’s very much the ‘book equivalent’ of watching one of the Transformers movies, loads of sound and action but maybe not quite so much in the way of story..."

I so want to read this book now.

[Elect] E-Reader $50 after MIR - Sharper Image 7" Literati @ Bbedbathandbeyond.ca - RedFlagDeals.com Forums

[Elect] E-Reader $50 after MIR - Sharper Image 7" Literati @ Bbedbathandbeyond.ca - RedFlagDeals.com Forums: "Bbedbathandbeyond.ca"

Sharper Image Literati on clearance at BB&B – $40 | The Digital Reader

Sharper Image Literati on clearance at BB&B – $40 | The Digital Reader:

"Bed Bath & Beyond have marked the white Sharper Image Literati down to $39.99. It’s not a very good e-reader, and I wouldn’t give one to my worst enemy. But that’s a frigging cheap price for an e-reader!"

Jim C. Hines � 20 Neil Gaiman Facts

Jim C. Hines � 20 Neil Gaiman Facts

The Wertzone: Inception

The Wertzone: Inception:

"The film falters occasionally. Like The Dark Knight the film occasionally feels weighed down by maybe one or two too many subplots (though vastly less of a problem than on The Dark Knight, which sometimes loses focus as a result of this). Whilst the film has a strong emotional core with regards to Cobb's relationship with his deceased wife and his desire to be reunited with his children, in other areas the film is less emotionally engaging. In particular, the key relationship between Fisher and his father (the late Pete Postlethwaite) never really grabs hold of the imagination."

Notion ink Adam Tips and Tricks | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News

Notion ink Adam Tips and Tricks | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News:

"Many people who are early adapters of the Notion Ink Adam have been sending us emails, commenting on various forums and petitioning on our Youtube channel for many answers to common questions. We will endeavor in this article to explain some of the most common problems you will have and solutions to them."

rejectamentalist manifesto - China Mieville’s web comic: London Intrusion

rejectamentalist manifesto
Multiple award winning novelist can also draw!

OPENMESH Is Seeking Alternatives To Egypt-Style Internet Blackouts - Charles Stross's Unwirer is the vision

OPENMESH Is Seeking Alternatives To Egypt-Style Internet Blackouts:

"Galvanized by the unprecedented Internet shutdown in Egypt, angel investor Shervin Pishevar has launched OPENMESH a forum for people who want to discuss ways of preventing governments from blocking communications networks. The site (which is admittedly sparse at the moment) was up within hours of Pishevar tweeting out his ideas, designed and built by followers @Laksman and @garyjaybrooks."

Should read Charles Stross's Unwirer:
Strangehorizons.com

Perhaps the most surprising of Stross's looks backward is "Unwirer," which Stross cowrote with Cory Doctorow, in an "experiment in weblog mediated collaborative fiction." The premise is that preposterously tight telecommunications regulation in the United States created a situation in which "open Internet access is as illegal as cannabis." In exploring the theme "Unwirer" harkens back to '80s-style cyberpunk in its feel, invoking the contact between high-tech and low life as it was often imagined before the Internet became mundane, an affectation that can now appear as quaintly historical as steampunk. (While certainly reflecting one of Stross's major concerns—the encroachment of the surveillance state, a subject which he frequently and articulately tackles on his blog, Charlie's Diary—I have to say that the prose itself made me think more of Doctorow tales like "When SysAdmins Ruled the Earth.")

Cory Doctorow, Francis Ford Coppola, Balzac - copyfighters

Francis Ford Coppola, copyfighter - Boing Boing:

"You have to remember that it's only a few hundred years, if that much, that artists are working with money. Artists never got money. Artists had a patron, either the leader of the state or the duke of Weimar or somewhere, or the church, the pope. Or they had another job. I have another job. I make films. No one tells me what to do. But I make the money in the wine industry. You work another job and get up at five in the morning and write your script.

This idea of Metallica or some rock n' roll singer being rich, that's not necessarily going to happen anymore. Because, as we enter into a new age, maybe art will be free. Maybe the students are right. They should be able to download music and movies. I'm going to be shot for saying this. But who said art has to cost money? And therefore, who says artists have to make money?"

Its gonna be a long fight, but its likely that the pendulum is going to swing back towards a patronage model. Fun to watch.

25 Predictions for 2011 | Freedom to Tinker

Predictions for 2011 | Freedom to Tinker:

"As promised, the official Freedom to Tinker predictions for 2011. These predictions are the result of discussions that included myself, Joe Hall, Steve Schultze, Wendy Seltzer, Dan Wallach, and Harlan Yu, but note that we don't individually agree with every prediction."

Thoughtful collection of predictions concerning technology, communications, and social policy. Some of these are gonna happen. Freedom to Tinker is a web site hosted by Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy.

The Kindle is the new toaster | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

The Kindle is the new toaster | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"According to Beyond Black Friday, the MidFirst bank in Oklahoma is giving away free kindles to people who open new savings and checking accounts."

Science Fiction/Fantasy Films in 2010—What Happened? | Tor.com | Science fiction and fantasy | Blog posts

Science Fiction/Fantasy Films in 2010—What Happened? | Tor.com | Science fiction and fantasy | Blog posts:

"In 2009 the genre gave us Moon, District 9, Watchmen, The Road, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Cold Souls, Coraline, and yes, Star Trek.� Naturally, there were also some outright stinkers that year. (Wolverine, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)

On the other hand, 2010 hasn’t seemed to give us as many SFF movies that “tried.” Of course Inception is in there, as is Scott Pilgrim. An argument could certainly be made for Never Let Me Go and Kick-Ass certainly deserves an honorable mention, but it’s nowhere near as strong as something from 2009. For the most part, the 2010 SFF movie list looks something like this: Hot Tub Time Machine, Clash of the Titans, Alice in Wonderland, Predators, The Lightning Thief, Iron Man 2, and if you look at it from a certain perspective, Sex & The City 2."

Couldn't agree more. Inception was a pretty great movie, but there was nothing else that could even be taken seriously as a SFF movie (Hot Tub Time Machine was great, but as a comedy)

Best SFF Novels of the Decade - A test of long term memory?

Best SFF Novels of the Decade Poll Update 01/11 | Tor.com | Science fiction and fantasy | Blog posts:

"We present the Top 20 voted novels as of 2:00 PM EST on Tuesday, January 11th.

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi - 180 votes
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - 135 votes
American Gods by Neil Gaiman - 127 votes
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke - 93 votes
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson - 88 votes
A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin - 87 votes
Anathem by Neal Stephenson - 76 votes
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville - 70 votes
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson - 63 votes
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch - 56 votes"

Perdido Street Station at #8? Really?

Leave the libraries alone. You don’t understand their value. - Mr. Pickles, have you no shame?

Leave the libraries alone. You don’t understand their value. - Philip Pullman

You don’t need me to give you the facts. Everyone here is aware of the situation. The government, in the Dickensian person of Mr Eric Pickles, has cut the money it gives to local government, and passed on the responsibility for making the savings to local authorities. Some of them have responded enthusiastically, some less so; some have decided to protect their library service, others have hacked into theirs like the fanatical Bishop Theophilus in the year 391 laying waste to the Library of Alexandria and its hundreds of thousands of books of learning and scholarship.

Isn't there a Mr. Pickles in all our communities? Philip Pullman fights back against cutbacks in the library system in England and does so in style. By covering class warfare, the soul crushing marketplace philosophy, and political cowardice he describes whats wrong with government and publishing in one fell swoop.

PirateBox DIY - a lunchbox full of file sharing

PirateBox DIY - David Darts Wiki:

"PirateBox is a self-contained mobile collaboration and P2P file sharing device. Inspired by pirate radio and the free culture movment, PirateBox utilizes Free, Libre and Open Source software (FLOSS) to create mobile wireless file sharing networks where users can anonymously share images, video, audio, documents, and other digital content. You can learn more about the project on the main PirateBox page."

The PirateBox is the coolest file sharing lunchbox ever at Ubergizmo.com

All users have to do is connect to it, launch their web browser (which should automatically redirect them to the PirateBox page) and start uploading or downloading files. The PirateBox doesn’t connect to the internet – to subvert tracking and preserve user privacy so users can be sure that they won’t get into any trouble using the network. The best part about the PirateBox is that anybody can build it, and David Darts has even shared the instructions online for anyone to use.

Forever Alone: TL;DR - All Your Memes Are In Our Base

Forever Alone: TL;DR - All Your Memes Are In Our Base
Watched Inception last night. This is better.

Paul F Tompkins tells his astrologer he likes his Kindle

When #PFTompkins tweeted this morning about a podcast he guested I was surprised and a little worried that the podcast was an astrologer. I would have been shocked and disappointed had he turned out to be a "believer". This was not the case, thank Jebus. He gently poked fun at astrology but was overall respectful and gently turned the reading into interesting stories about his career.

His jokes about misunderstanding the astrological T-square and the oily T-zone ("You must have heard that a thousand times!" "No, you're the first.") and the Libra scales (We used an actual scale to choose story ideas on the show but it always came out even because paper weighed the same.)

At about the 45 min mark of the second part of the interview (or "reading") Paul talks about his love of reading and how he loves his Kindle but misses real books. He had two arguments for real books over e-books. The first, that there was something to committing to actually carrying a book around with you that gave that book more "gravity" than just having it appear on a list of hundreds of books on your Kindle. The second argument was that there was something wrong with not being able to lend a book after you had finished reading it.

The first point makes sense and is different from the "sensual" argument that I find distasteful (leather binding and the smell of book glue does nothing for me). The idea that if you are bothered enough to lug a book around with you everywhere you go then it will have a greater impact when you read it makes sense. Perhaps if they added a Tamagotchi feature to the Kindle where only the books you fed and watered and exercised would live long enough to read to completion.

The second point is being addressed by Amazon with lending features added and tweaked as time goes by. Ancillary groups are even sprouting up on the internet to facilitate e-book lending in a social network framework.

The Pod F. Tompkcast shows up fortnightly or so, on Libsyn.

Salma Hayek to Produce Wicked Miniseries for ABC | 3 book trilogy to work from

Salma Hayek to Produce Wicked Miniseries for ABC | Tor.com | Science fiction and fantasy | Blog posts:

"Presumably the development of Wicked as a miniseries supersedes the rumored movie adaptation, and the longer format, in theory, means more of the novel will be able to make it on the screen."

This may work as a series because there are three books in the Wicked series.

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked Years)
Son of a Witch: Volume Two in the Wicked Years
A Lion Among Men (The Wicked Years, Book 3)

6-inch eBook Reader Table - Comparisons and Reviews of 6" eReaders

6-inch eBook Reader Table - Comparisons and Reviews of 6" eReaders
Awesome summary of 14 e-readers. I'd go for the Pandigital Novel, only because there seems to be a growing community of tinkerers out there. As a small company Pandigital is not to be trusted, but they're better than the Shanzai market because the customer base is not as diluted so great things can come out of the user groups.

Science Fiction at the 2011 Oscars - Filmcritic.com Feature

Science Fiction at the 2011 Oscars - Filmcritic.com Feature:

"Last year, the Oscar nominations were unusually kind to science fiction, with both Avatar and District 9 nabbing Best Picture noms and both of them (and Star Trek) getting a raft of other nominations. This year, the Oscars were not nearly so kind, but there is good news, including the Best Picture nomination of Inception. So let's get into this year's notes on the Academy Awards and sci-fi."

Overall a poor year for sci-fi, but 2011 is looking good (Billbo's Books: Science Fiction Movies in 2011 - What I Want to See - Filmcritic.com Feature)

Fiction Affliction: Diagnosing February Releases in Fantasy | Abercrombie and Lynch to go to top of the pile

Fiction Affliction: Diagnosing February Releases in Fantasy | Tor.com | Science fiction and fantasy | Blog posts:

"Fiction Affliction is a monthly column written by Royal Street author Suzanne Johnson that examines upcoming releases by genre or sub-genre."

Looking forward to these two:

The Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch (Feb. 22, Gollancz)
The Heroes, by Joe Abercrombie (Feb. 7, Orbit)

First release of LibreOffice arrives with improvements over OOo

First release of LibreOffice arrives with improvements over OOo:

"The Document Foundation (TDF) has announced the availability of LibreOffice 3.3, the first official stable release of the open source office suite. It introduces a number of noteworthy new features and there are improvements throughout the included applications. More significantly, the release reflects the growing strength of the nascent LibreOffice project."

I didn't bother to install OpenOffice when I upgraded to Windows7. GoogleDocs was sufficient. Now that the open source credibility of the office package is restored (out from under the thumb of Oracle) I'm going to install this ASAP. Google Docs is as much a corporate dead end as Oracle's "Open Office" offering.

Neil Gaiman's Journal: Feeling oddly ghostly

Neil Gaiman's Journal: Feeling oddly ghostly:

"I read the tattoo, read words I had written to try and exorcise my own small demons eighteen years ago, and I felt like a ghost. As if, for a moment, under the hot Sydney sun, I was only an idea of a person and not a real person at all."

DIY: $10 Android wind-up charger - tablets too?

DIY: $10 Android wind-up charger:

"Are you always cursing because your Android-powered device is always running out of juice? Well, if you don’t mind getting your hands slightly dirty, the Ben Heck Show has come up with a simple guide to teach you how to create a kinetic wind-up charger for Android phones."

Need something like this for the low end Android tablets that only work for 1-2 hours.

Anagram

Anagram:

"This large and involved anagram was posted in the front windows of the art gallery MKG127 in Toronto in 2007. Poet Christian Bok and artist Micah Lexier"

Of camera phones and photocopying books | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Of camera phones and photocopying books | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"Nick Bilton (author of I Live in the Future & Here’s How It Works) has a piece in the New York Times pertaining to himself and his wife using their iPhones to snap photos of pages from some books in Barnes & Noble, for the purpose of showing them to their contractor as they planned interior design ideas for a new home.
...
But cell phone cameras may not be all publishers have to worry about. There are already OCR applications available for the iPhone—and what’s more, a team of Japanese researchers have invented a flip-through rapid laser scanner that they hope to be able to incorporate into cell phones as well. Sooner or later, we might well be able to “rip” books even faster than MP3s."

Expect to see bookstores replace shelves with glass cases in the near (far) future.

Notion ink Adam Bricked with over the air update | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News

Notion ink Adam Bricked with over the air update | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News:

"Many people are finally receiving their Notion Ink Adam which is a milestone for the small Indian start up company. A word of caution, the over the air update that your device prompts you to install for the first time will kill your machine, due to an error with the Nvidia Tegra 2 processor. We have talked to a few people that have said that when they installed the update, their unit ceased to boot up."

Aluratek Libre Color 7″ Multimedia eReader (AEBK07FS) | The eBook Reader Blog

Aluratek Libre Color 7″ Multimedia eReader (AEBK07FS) | The eBook Reader Blog:

"There’s a third new device from Aluratek too, one that’s already on the market. It’s called the Libre Color. It has a color screen, as the name would lead you to believe, that measures 7-inches diagonally. The display technology is TFT-LCD and the pixel resolution is 800 x 480."

A no-nonsense e-reader for $129. Lots of solid features but no 3G or wi-fi.

The digital rights issue: one solution

The digital rights issue: one solution | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"And it is simply:

Set a time period for reverting digital rights at 3, 5 or 7 years. Make sure this is independent of print rights, or at least make sure that a publisher can hold print rights even while digital rights revert. If you like, allow for a renegotiation of key points at these break years rather than a reversion, but ensure that YOU have the right to revert nonetheless."

Best Fantasy Movies of the Decade: 2000-2009

Best Fantasy Movies of the Decade: 2000-2009:

"When I was asked to write a companion piece to my Best Science Fiction Movies of the Decade list, I thought it would be equally as easy. I was wrong. There were a lot of kind of good fantasy movies over the last 10 years, but not really a lot of great ones. I think a top five or a top 15 list would have been easier–I had a hell of a time deciding on the last two slots on this list, because I think compelling arguments could have been made for other movies for each of those last picks."

Over 100 tablets were unveiled at CES 2011 – here’s a list of all of them | BGR | Boy Genius Report

Over 100 tablets were unveiled at CES 2011 – here’s a list of all of them | BGR | Boy Genius Report:

"It wasn’t hard to predict that this year’s Consumer Electronics Show would be all about consumer tablets — Apple’s iPad carved out a new product segment that manufacturers around the world are now hell-bent on saturating. When all was said and done and the smoke cleared, however, there weren’t many people who guessed that CES would actually bring us over 100 new slate-form devices."

Sony Reader Pocket (PRS-350) On Sale – $50 Off | The eBook Reader Blog

Sony Reader Pocket (PRS-350) On Sale – $50 Off | The eBook Reader Blog:

"The 5″ Sony PRS-350 is on sale at Sony Style, Amazon, and other Sony retailers for $129, matching its lowest price to date. If you have a trade-in voucher now would be a good time to use it.

Normally it’s a hard decision between the PRS-350 and the larger memory card-equipped PRS-650, but at $100 cheaper than the 650 the choice becomes a lot less difficult."

Samsung Drops Price Of Galaxy Tablet - eBookNewser

Samsung Drops Price Of Galaxy Tablet - eBookNewser:

"Samsung has lowered the price of its Galaxy S tablet and is available through Sprint for $299, down from $600."

Laundry reading order - Charlie's Diary

Laundry reading order - Charlie's Diary:

"Some folks seem to need this, so:

The Laundry series of stories and novels follows a chronological sequence (Bob's gradual rise through the ranks). The sequence so far is laid out below the fold."

Why cloud-based ebooks bring out the Luddite in me | The Digital Reader

Why cloud-based ebooks bring out the Luddite in me | The Digital Reader:

"As I wrote previously, my current position on the books-in-the-cloud business model is that it’s deeply anti-consumer, because it takes away all concepts of ownership and passes the control upstream to the retailer and/or publisher. I’ve been surprised (but happy) to see so many others join in the conversation — even Joseph Pearson, the guy who created Monocle and Book.ish, wrote a response."

Is DRM-induced double-dipping beneficial to publishers? | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Is DRM-induced double-dipping beneficial to publishers?

"In a Publishing Perspectives discussion seed article connected to the piece on the French Feedbooks matter that we covered a few days ago, Edward Nawotka pondered whether one of the reasons publishers like DRM so much might be that it often causes people to have to buy multiple electronic versions of a given work as earlier platforms fade to obsolescence."

Short-term: yes. Long-term: no. Lazy and greedy will eventually be beat out by inventive, active, and greedy as smaller hungrier publishing houses find the ideal balance between the author and reader.

Graphic: Getting started with ebooks | The Digital Reader

Graphic: Getting started with ebooks | The Digital Reader:

"It’s a pretty good flow chart for getting into ebooks, but it only covers the major platforms. You might notice that Android is not mentioned, but I’m sure it will be added in a revision."

Life Force Magazine. Free online photography magazine.

Life Force Magazine. Free online photography magazine.:

"Life Force magazine is a free on-line, monthly reportage magazine which celebrates the art-form of the photo -essay. "

Pandigital Novel takes second place in e-reader sales for 3Q2010 | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Pandigital Novel takes second place in e-reader sales for 3Q2010 | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"Mashable has an article (citing an IDC study) about the 17 million iPad units shipped in 2010, but it also focuses on the number of e-book readers that were sold. In the e-book field, they peg the Kindle selling 1.14 million units in the third quarter of 2010, but instead of Barnes & Noble the Pandigital Novel takes second place with 440 thousand units, followed by the Nook in third at 420 thousand.

I find myself more than a little suspicious of these numbers, however, given that I know Amazon doesn’t ever reveal how many units they sell, and I’m not sure Barnes & Noble does either. (Don’t know whether Pandigital does or not.)"

Calibre 0.7.42 released | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Calibre 0.7.42 released | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"* Conversions: Replace the remove header/footer options with a more geenric search replace option, that allows you to not only remove but also replace text
* Conversion: The preprocess html option has now become a new ‘Heuristic Processing’ option which allows you to control exactly which heuristics are used
* Conversion: Various improvements to Heuristic Processing (used to be preprocess HTML)
* When adding empty books to calibre, optionally set the author to the author of the currently selected book"

Minimalist Record Player

Minimalist Record Player:

"It’s called “Turnstyle” and it’s made up of the motor, the needle, the speakers, and the controls. What more do you need? It’s a skeleton of its former self, and not former as in it was stripped, former as in there’s no reason to ever go back to more!"

MSI tablet features a built-in projector

MSI tablet features a built-in projector:

"Tablet devices are pretty common nowadays, but how often do you see a tablet with a built-in projector? We’re talking about a concept tablet from MSI that offers such capabilities. The projector can be rotated, allowing it to project an image on the wall or flipped around to project downwards onto the table, possibly a method to enable some form of projected keyboard, though there wasn’t any software in place to do that just yet."

The Wertzone: RED DWARF to return for a new series

The Wertzone: RED DWARF to return for a new series:

"It's been confirmed that the four central castmembers - including Danny John-Jules as the Cat and Chris Barrie as Rimmer - will return, with no decision made yet on other recurring characters from the original run. However, Norman Lovett, who played the ship's AI Holly, is unlikely to return given his recent criticisms of the show and his decision not to play the character again."

Kobo eReader Featured On “The Office” - eBookNewser

Kobo eReader Featured On “The Office” - eBookNewser:

"Kobo’s eReader showed up on tonight’s episode of The Office. In the episode, which is about New Year’s resolutions, Daryl Philbin –the character played by Craig Robinson– decides he wants to read more this year."

The 50 Most Loathsome Americans of 2010 | The Beast

The 50 Most Loathsome Americans of 2010 | The Beast

Spot on.

India’s $35 Android tablet apparently vaporous after all | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

India’s $35 Android tablet apparently vaporous after all | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"Say what you will about the OLPC’s price for the XO-1 doubling over its original plan; at least it manages to make back its investment in its devices!

So it appears that the too good to be true $35 tablet was, indeed, too good to be true. Better luck next time, India."

Discography of Your Favorite Band

Discography of Your Favorite Band

Review: Cruz Reader with Kindle App and Android 2.0 | The eBook Reader Blog

Review: Cruz Reader with Kindle App and Android 2.0 | The eBook Reader Blog:

"The Cruz Reader has some advantages over the competition in the Pandigital Novel and PocketBook IQ, but it also has some drawbacks that certainly makes the decision between them even harder. Hit the review for the complete details and video."

Cruz Reader Review T301 Kindle eReader Android Tablet

Cruz Reader Review T301 Kindle eReader Android Tablet:

"This Cruz Reader review is based on the 2nd generation Cruz Reader, model number T301. The first gen model has a resistive touchscreen and comes pre-installed with the Borders ereading app while this T301 model has a capacitive touchscreen, comes with the Kindle ereading app, and includes other upgrades over the previous model."

Hideous fonts may boost reading comprehension - Laura Miller - Salon.com

Hideous fonts may boost reading comprehension - Laura Miller - Salon.com:

"The hypothesis is that the added difficulty in reading these texts forces more cognitive engagement, which leads to greater comprehension. While we naturally think that we learn better from texts that are pleasant and easy to read, the opposite may be the case. For Lehrer, who admits to loving his Kindle but also to worrying that it makes 'the act of reading a little bit too easy,' this is an ominous sign."

Finally! Canned Whisky - Drinking on the playground has never been easier.

Finally! Canned Whisky:

"People look at you funny if you raise a whole bottle of whisky to your lips. That’s why this canned whisky is a more discreet and thus superior option:

A Panama-based company believes outdoor drinkers would prefer to crack open a tin rather than lug round a bottle of their favourite tipple."

Finally!

The plastic hip-flask shaped 375mL bottles are probably better for illicit tippling, but a pop can will disguise the heavy drinking from a distance. Looks like all of our alcoholic needs are being met.

MegaReader adds see-through augmented reality background | Never walk into a fountain again.

MegaReader adds see-through augmented reality background | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"Trouble reading on your iPhone without walking into things? E-book app MegaReader may have you covered. It’s just added a “heads up display” feature, which uses the camera on camera-equipped iPhones (and presumably the iPod Touch 4; earlier Touch owners would be out of luck) to superimpose the text of what you’re reading over a view of what’s in front of you."

Awesome technology that isn't quite there yet. I hope my next e-reader has a front-facing camera so I can play with this technology. No more walking into fountains! (check your YouTube)

A Seriously Comprehensive Guide to Comedy Podcasts | Splitsider

A Seriously Comprehensive Guide to Comedy Podcasts | Splitsider:

"It’s official: there are now more essential comedy podcasts than there are hours in the day. We’re fully outnumbered, people. It would be an impossible, Icarus-like ambition to listen to them all and still function as a human adult person. Don’t even try — it’s not worth throwing your life away."

I am regular listener of WTF with Marc Maron, The Nerdist with Chris Hardwick, Comedy Deathray with Scott Aukerman, Doug Loves Movies with Doug Benson, Never Not Funny with Jimmy Pardo, Stop Podcasting Yourself with Graham Clark and Dave Shumka, Judge John Hodgman, and The Smartest Man in the World with Greg Proops (not in the article).


Great entertainment for free (or a few bucks, depending on your donation generosity or subscription limits). I'm still looking for more to listen to on a daily basis - new comedy podcasts are starting every day. This is a great replacement to regular or satellite radio with fewer and far gentler commercials.

What Neil Gaiman likes about the Kindle, and why you should care | The Digital Reader

What Neil Gaiman likes about the Kindle, and why you should care | The Digital Reader:

"The Kindle, he writes in a forthcoming article for Locus magazine, “wins” over print in two areas. First, it’s easier to read than a printed book if you need larger sized text, because it can make any book a large-print edition without requiring any real knowledge of how the device works; this is both a crucial feature and usability requirement for the current 40-and-over set. Second, its “buy once, read anywhere” approach makes reading big books a pleasure instead of a task."

The Father (Mother?) of eReaders looks set to become extinct – Sony simply are not trying | eBookAnoid

The Father (Mother?) of eReaders looks set to become extinct – Sony simply are not trying | eBookAnoid:

"Price? Too high!

All of this probably wouldn’t matter too much if the prices they charged for their various models reflected the realities of their limited hardware, but sadly they don’t. Sony is resolutely refusing to join in the price war that is currently raging in the eReader world, making their eReaders, which are comparable to the cheaper models way too expensive for what they are offering us."

Omnivoracious: 2010 Philip K. Dick Award Finalists

Omnivoracious: 2010 Philip K. Dick Award Finalists:

"Yarn by Jon Armstrong (Night Shade Books)
Chill by Elizabeth Bear (Spectra)
The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell (Henry Holt)
Song of Scarabaeus by Sara Creasy (Eos)
The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder (Pyr)
Harmony by Project Itoh translated by Alexander O. Smith (Haikasoru)
State of Decay by James Knapp (Roc)"

Graeme's Fantasy Book Review: ‘Sweet Silver Blues’ – Glen Cook (Roc)

Graeme's Fantasy Book Review: ‘Sweet Silver Blues’ – Glen Cook (Roc):

"‘Sweet Silver Blues’ is a tough nut to crack but rewards a readers persistence with a tale that makes for an engaging and compelling read in equal measure. This is the ‘Garrett’ book that I should have picked up first and I’m looking forward to reading more in this vein.

Nine out of Ten"

Amazon Expected To Sell 12 Million Kindles In 2011 - eBookNewser

Amazon Expected To Sell 12 Million Kindles In 2011 - eBookNewser

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: “Amazon sold about 7.1 million Kindle e-readers last year, Barclays analyst Doug Anmuth estimates today in a note, and will sell 12.3 million this year. (“Though our numbers may still be conservative.”) Kindle sales (devices and content) will reach $3.3 billion this year, almost 8% of Amazon’s revenue, Anmuth estimates, and more than $7 billion in 2013, representing 11% of Amazon’s revenue.”

Change in habit: the ereading effect | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Change in habit: the ereading effect | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

With the 505 I noticed that I began to read more fiction in ebook form, yet my primary reading remained hardcover nonfiction. This really remained true until perhaps six to eight months ago when I noted I began to read more fiction than nonfiction. I assumed that this was just a repeat of my usual reading trends where I would read a particular type of book for months or years then shift to a different type for the next period.

But recently I began to realize that my reading habit has changed dramatically. The change became particularly noticeable after I acquired the Sony 950. I’m still reading fiction and nonfiction, but the dramatic change — at least for me — is that because I find the 950 such a pleasurable reading device, I am now either buying my nonfiction in both hardcover and ebook or just in ebook, and then in hardcover for my library if I discover that I really enjoyed the book or because of the subject matter want it as a permanent part of my collection.

Mike Shatzkin: Main benefit of DRM is preventing casual sharing, not piracy | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Mike Shatzkin: Main benefit of DRM is preventing casual sharing, not piracy | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"Mike Shatzkin has published an interesting pair of posts to his blog talking about the commonly-held belief that DRM is supposed to prevent piracy. Shatzkin explains in the first post why he feels that this is actually a misconception, and that even if DRM does nothing to deter piracy, it can protect sales through preventing casual sharing."

LOOKING FORWARD | Urban Fantasy and Steampunk in 2011 ~ Mad Hatter's Bookshelf & Book Review

LOOKING FORWARD | Urban Fantasy and Steampunk in 2011 ~ Mad Hatter's Bookshelf & Book Review
Lots of Cherie Priest.

BOOX e-reader steals the show at CES | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News

BOOX e-reader steals the show at CES | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News
Really? Sounds like a POS unless it will retail for $69.99

Calibre 0.7.40 now available | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Calibre 0.7.40 now available | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Kobo Wireless eReader On Sale for $99 | The eBook Reader Blog

Kobo Wireless eReader On Sale for $99 | The eBook Reader Blog:

"The Kobo Wireless eReader is on sale at Borders.com for $99 and is available in all three color varieties.

The sale lasts for 4 days but unfortunately the Borders site doesn’t specify the dates so it’s unclear if the sale just started or is about to end (I was researching for a different article and just happened to notice the sale this evening). Update: the sale runs through 1/17."

If the rumours are accurate and Borders is tanking then the Kobo may drop below $99 late January or early February.

The Book Smugglers : To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

The Book Smugglers  Blog Archive  Book Review: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

From Connie Willis, winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, comes a comedic romp through an unpredictable world of mystery, love, and time travel…

Borders discounts Kobo Wireless to $99.99 through 1/17 | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Borders discounts Kobo Wireless to $99.99 through 1/17 | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"Borders continues to flounder—comic book/graphic novel distributor Diamond Book Distributors is the latest to suspend book shipments—but it doesn’t seem to be giving up. I received an email circular today noting that the Kobo Wireless wi-fi-equipped e-reader, normally priced at $139.99, is on sale for $99.99 to Borders Rewards members through January 17th. (Borders Rewards is Borders’s free marketing/discount program.)"

Google Acquisition Hints at Ebook Distribution Portals into Ebookstore, Other Dimensions | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Google Acquisition Hints at Ebook Distribution Portals into Ebookstore, Other Dimensions | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"Given that some of the tech that Google acquires never sees the light of day, none of this is set in stone. Far from it. But it does hint at an expanded ebookstore ecosystem.

If I had to guess, I’d say that this is pointing toward Google setting up a user-friendly “portal” system where publishers and/or distributors can feed their lists and new books into the ebookstore ecosystem."

Its just a matter of time before Goggle buys Calibre... and then shelves it.

Today is World’s Fair Use Day | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Today is World’s Fair Use Day | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"World’s Fair Use Day is an annual, day-long celebration of fair use, creativity and remix culture, brought to you by Public Knowledge."

Old pornographic science fiction novel covers - Boing Boing

Old pornographic science fiction novel covers - Boing Boing:

"Efanzines has a small gallery of scans of Greenleaf's notorious pornographic science fiction novels"

Augen demos new family of caffeine-inspired tablets, teases dual-booting Android and Ubuntu slate -- Engadget

Augen demos new family of caffeine-inspired tablets, teases dual-booting Android and Ubuntu slate -- Engadget:

"Gentouch Latte - Just like the original, the next version of the Gentouch 78 has a 7-inch resistive display, 800MHz TCC 8902 processor, 2GB of storage, and no Android Market access. So, what has Augen improved exactly? Well, the tablet will run Android 2.2, has an accelerometer, and as you can see from the picture above, the buttons have been moved from the back of the device to the front. We don't need to tell you that the resistive screen makes this thing a real pain to use, but obviously, at $150 Augen is still aiming at the low-end here."

The Augen low-end tablet needs a lower price. Give it a month or two I guess.

Google Acquires eBook Technologies

Google Acquires eBook Technologies:

"The ETI-2 has a half-VGA 5.5” grayscale screen with 8MB internal memory and SmartMedia� card extension, a 33.6K modem and a USB port."

Hey! Thats my eBookwise 1150! I hope Google does something interesting with the technology to give my old e-reader some legs.

Book piracy: Less DRM, more data - O'Reilly Radar

Book piracy: Less DRM, more data - O'Reilly Radar:

"As digital book publishing continues to expand at a rapid pace to meet reader demands, piracy rears its head at the forefront of many a discussion in publisher circles. Many publishers respond to the perceived threat with strict digital rights management (DRM) software. But is this the best solution? And does it even provide protection from piracy?

In the following interview, Magellan Media founder and TOC 2011 speaker Brian O'Leary (@brianoleary) discusses the current state of book piracy, how measurement data isn't sufficient to determine its impact, and why DRM is a poor anti-piracy tool."

eBook Piracy- do DRM and similar approaches help prevent ebook piracy? | eBookAnoid:

"No light at the end of the tunnel:

So, the argument grinds on and on, with no resolution in sight, sadly, and as ever, we, the consumers of ebooks, are stuck in the middle, paying too high a price for our ebooks, being frustrated by the complexities of working with the DRM systems, infuriated by the geographical limitations that simply don’t have any place in the global market that the internet has become.

The few, pitifully few, publishers who have seen the correct way to deal with all of this are a bright light in a very dark firmament of control and distrust, but we need to support them as much as possible, so that the more traditional and lumbering publishers may see the truth and start to treat us with the respect that is our due as customers."

Copia demonstrates Social Media Reading at CES 2011 | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News

Copia demonstrates Social Media Reading at CES 2011 | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News:

"Copia had one of the most elaborate booths at CES in the main hall and advocated their new social reading platform for Android, Apple, Windows Tablets, Windows Phone 7 and others! The main premise of the service is to combine social reading along with purchasing ebooks without being locked into a specific device, such as the Kindle."

I'd like to see an open-format .org site that does this but has nothing to do with selling DRM books.

10 tips for your new ebook reader | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

10 tips for your new ebook reader | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"Get a case or a screen protector
Download Calibre
Backup
Take advantage of freebies
Don’t forget the samples
Check out your libraries
You can share but only with really trusted people
Get another charger
Get to know the words “public domain”
Learn what and how DRM affects you"

Sigil 0.3.3 now available for download

Sigil 0.3.3 now available for download: "This is my favorite Epub editor, and now that it has an integrated Epub validator it’s even better."

Demy Digital Recipe E-Book Reader with Thermometer -- Ubergizmo

Demy Digital Recipe E-Book Reader with Thermometer -- Ubergizmo:

"...will ship in September 2011 for $199. David H. Goodman, founder, Key Ingredient, showed me a demo of the new Demy, check the video above to get a sense of the key features, the second video (below in the full article) describes how the connected thermometer works with the thermometer application."

CES: Gajah – e-readers, tablets, & e-readers oh my!

CES: Gajah – e-readers, tablets, & e-readers oh my!:

"Thanks to the Kindle-Nook price war this year (and the recession), you’d expect the smaller e-reader companies to cut back on their expenses. That’s why the e-reader selection was paltry this year (though I’d say it was the price war and not the recession, myself)."

Introducing the Maylong M-250 Android Tablet PC | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News

Introducing the Maylong M-250 Android Tablet PC | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News: "We certainly saw no shortage of tablet computers at CES this year, with over 80 different models in attendance. One of the most interesting booths we came across was the Maylong one, where they were showing off some well crafted, very affordable devices. One particular Tablet PC that caught our eye was the new Maylong M-250 Universe, which was a followup to their widely popular M-150 that was a top seller on Amazon."

Time traveling cigarette snatchers rewrite history - Boing Boing

Time traveling cigarette snatchers rewrite history - Boing Boing: "'Let's sweeten history by pretending cigarettes didn't exist.'"

Quentin Tarantino's favorite films of 2010

Quentin Tarantino's favorite films of 2010:

"1. Toy Story 3
2. The Social Network
3. Animal Kingdom
4. I Am Love
5. Tangled
6. True Grit
7. The Town
8. Greenberg
9. Cyrus
10. Enter The Void"

Nook Color Wins Last Gadget Standing “People’s Choice Award” at CES

Nook Color Wins Last Gadget Standing “People’s Choice Award” at CES

Yesterday the Nook Color managed to win the People’s Choice Award at the Last Gadget Standing competition at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

It was up against some strong competition. The top ten finalists included a dual-screen laptop from Acer, a new chip from Intel, a video camera that shots 3D, the popular Nexus S Smartphone, a portable scanner, and some other cool gadgets.

Cut the price on the Nook Color in half and I'd get one in an instant. This reader will do more to open doors for Android tablets than any other product.

OLPC XO-1.75 goes ARM, price drops to $188

OLPC XO-1.75 goes ARM, price drops to $188:

"The XO-1.75, with its 8.9-inch touchscreen, will start shipping in the second quarter of this year to countries around the world trying to bring schoolchildren into the computer age. It looks the same as the existing 1.5 and 1.0 machines; it has the same Pixel Qi display, Flash storage, and keyboard (actually, there are 2 keyboard options) The only difference is that it replaced the x86 CPU with a Marvell Armada running at 1GHZ."

I'd like to see a generator crank (or solar) option available for all e-readers in the future. Low power CPUs can make this a handy option.

CES: Aluratek pairs up with Marvell - $140 e-reader

CES: Aluratek:

"Aluratek also have a new based on a 7″ (480x800) LCD screen. I haven’t seen this e-reader before but I recognize it as being designed by Gajah. It’s even using the exact same menu system as the others I have. It has support for Adobe DE DRM and it probably will also be a decent PMP. I want to double check that first, though.

It’s available now for about $140."

Aluratek would do well to latch on to as much of the OLPC technology as possible. This may be leading to a decent sub-$75 reader.

McSweeney's Internet Tendency.

McSweeney's Internet Tendency.:
I'd Like to Buy Your Novel, Good Sir!
BY Andrew Ford

"Yes! You there! The one with the lukewarm small coffee and the laptop! I would love to purchase whatever it is you have been working on. I see you here everyday. I take notice. You probably think no one is cataloging your daily toils, or that no one is going to reward you for just showing up everyday at this coffee house, pumping out half a page, and then listening to internet radio. How dreadfully wrong you are."

The Best New Tablet

The Best New Tablet:

"Tablets! Tablets tablets tablets. They're the hot ticket at this year's CES. Just about everyone's got one (not that everyone should). We've parsed, prodded, and played with the main contenders. And this one's best. Well, these ones."

iriver Story HD e-reader preview (video) -- Engadget

iriver Story HD e-reader preview (video) -- Engadget:

"Our trailer was just visited by an iriver rep bearing his company's Kindle killer in waiting, the Story HD. This 6-inch e-reader touts a bodacious 1024 x 768 resolution, which contributes to an even better contrast ratio than on Amazon's E Ink slate, while software optimizations between now and release are expected to make the Story HD the fastest-refreshing device of its kind."

There is still room in the market for high quality e-readers. Besides the custom firmware and software, the 3 week battery life is the most telling indicator of a dedicated e-reader vs. a modified generic tablet.

Hauppauge is taking its HD component capture card internal -- Engadget

Hauppauge is taking its HD component capture card internal -- Engadget:

"Hauppauge's HD PVR and while it isn't without its issues and limitations, it gets the job done at an affordable price. One of those limitations is the rather large external enclosure and the wall-wart that powers it. Now Hauppauge has addressed those nit picks with the release of an internal PCI-E capture card for $159. The single card can record up to 1080i from either component or unencrypted HDMI"

The Pixel Qi screen is a LCD killer

The Pixel Qi screen is a LCD killer:

"It was incredibly crowded. If you’re wondering why there are no extensive galleries of photos showing their screen tech, that’s the reason.So this was the first time I’ve seen it, and I was surprised. Their screen looks like an LCD screen. That might sound funny, but I couldn’t tell the difference between a Pixel Qi and a normal LCD. In fact, I’ve used LCD screens that looked worse than Pixel Qi. So basically this means that if you got one of these screens you’ll get the benefit of a low power screen without losing any of the benefits of traditional LCD."

E-Book Checkouts From Libraries Up 200% Last Year

E-Book Checkouts From Libraries Up 200% Last Year:

"As our reading habits become increasingly digital, many book-lovers are wondering how this will impact libraries' ability to lend materials, particularly since many of the popular e-readers and e-booksellers have rather restrictive loan policies. And some publishers too have expressed their own concerns about e-book sharing, with one going so far as stating that if libraries start lending e-books, it could serve to 'undo the entire market for e-book sales.'"

Last time I tried to get an e-book out at the Toronto Public Library I quit after about 20 minutes. The easier it gets to download the faster this will catch on.

Aluratek Libre Air eBook Reader -- Ubergizmo

Aluratek Libre Air eBook Reader -- Ubergizmo:

"Since there isn’t any backlight, you will find that reading on the Libre Air is similar to that of a book, so your eyes won’t strain that easily. This also helps with the battery life, and paves the way for a third-party accessory for those who love reading in the dark – a clip-on light of sorts."

An LCD screen with no backlighting? Pass. Overpriced at $129. Someone out there needs to get the $50 market locked up.

We're Not Touching Windows 7 Tablets With a Ten-Foot Stylus

We're Not Touching Windows 7 Tablets With a Ten-Foot Stylus:

"There's no way Windows 7 tablets aren't going to suck. We're going to see a lot of them this week. And they're going to suck.

They're going to be fat. One of the ways they're going to distinguish themselves from the invading armada of cheaper, tinier Android tablets, is that they're to be bigger. Here's a great idea: Take a portable thing and make it less portable. Also, the beefier chips required to push Windows—at least, unless we see some new ARM-based Windows 7 tablets—means these things need bigger batteries. More weight, more space, more junk."

Is Android 3 bloated as well?

First look At Android v3.0

First look At Android v3.0:

"Yesterday someone at Google “accidentally” uploaded a teaser video to Youtube. (Yeah, I don’t believe it either.) This video is the first look anyone has gotten at Honeycomb, the next generation of Android OS."

Gotta watch the video. Honeycomb looks fantastic. I'm glad that the OS is jumping ahead of the hardware (for now). I'm gonna be pretty happy with an Android 2.1 tablet for simple e-reading and basic browsing.

languagehat.com: FREE OED.

languagehat.com: FREE OED.: "For a month, anyway. They're having a free trial of OED Online through February 5; login with 'trynewoed'/'trynewoed.' Hat tip to Ben Zimmer."

Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions Of 2010

Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions Of 2010 | Glassdoor.com Blog:

"While we all know the interview process can seem like a bit of a stressful process, for some it can be downright grueling! We’ve culled through tens of thousands interview questions that job seekers from around the world have shared on Glassdoor over the past year and found some pretty off the wall stuff. Here’s our take on the top 25 oddball interview questions of 2010:"

Science Fiction Movies in 2011 - What I Want to See - Filmcritic.com Feature

Science Fiction Movies in 2011 - What I Want to See - Filmcritic.com Feature:

"What? A new year already? They do keep springing them on us, don't they? And always around the same time. Suspicious, that. But a new year also means a new slate of science-fiction films to get excited about. I've looked at the film schedules of 2011, and in them I have found ten science-fiction films I'm (tentatively) looking forward to this year. Which films and why (and when do they come out)? Well, let me tell you."

My picks of the picks:
Mar. 4 - The Adjustment Bureau
It's based on a Philip K. Dick story.
Mar. 18 - Paul
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (i.e., two of the three dudes behind Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz)
Apr. 1 - Source Code
Duncan Jones directed Moon.
Jun. 17 - Green Lantern
Green Lantern!
Jul. 29 - Cowboys & Aliens
Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.
Sep. 30 - Now
Interesting science-fiction concepts before (Gattaca being his calling card)

Why I will never buy a book “App” again: how Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything” turned me off to i-Apps | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Why I will never buy a book “App” again: how Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything” turned me off to i-Apps | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"I will not be purchasing the update, obviously. Nor will I ever purchase a book or magazine ‘app’ again. You work with the more universal platforms—Adobe ePub, Zinio, anything I can read on more than one machine or platform—or you don’t work with me at all. Culinate, Inc and Mark Bittman by extension are in my bad books now. Culinate, Inc—you should have gone with a universal app, and if you absolutely could not have made that work, you should at least have kept the prices equal. And Mark Bittman, you should have known better than to lie in a bed with such fleas. This will cost you some PR points from the techies like me who still buy your stuff in paper."

What Could Have Been Entering the Public Domain on January1,2011?

What Could Have Been Entering the Public Domain on January1,2011?:

"What other works would be entering the public domain if we had the pre-1978 copyright laws? You might recognize some of the titles below.

* The first two volumes of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of Rings trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers
* Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot (his own translation/adaptation of the original version in French, En attendant Godot, published in 1952)
* Kingsley Amis' Lucky Jim
* Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception
* Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!
* Pauline Rage's Histoire d'O
* Fredric Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent, subtitled “The influence of comic books on today's youth'
* Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
* Mac Hyman’s No Time for Sergeants
* Alan Le May’s The Searchers
* C.S. Lewis’ The Horse and His Boy, the fifth volume of The Chronicles of Narnia
* Alice B. Toklas’ The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook"

Post Holiday eReader Sales and Pricing Updates | The eBook Reader Blog

Post Holiday eReader Sales and Pricing Updates | The eBook Reader Blog:

"If you didn’t receive that ereader you were hoping to get for Christmas, there are some post holiday ereader sales going on that you might find interesting.

For the most part there weren’t any really outstanding deals for ereaders over the holiday season; most of the devices that were on sale can still be had for about the same price now."

Hands on Review of the Pocketbook IQ 701 e-Reader and Tablet PC | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News

Hands on Review of the Pocketbook IQ 701 e-Reader and Tablet PC | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News:

"The Pocketbook IQ is the best entry level tablet investment bar none. You can pick one up for a paltry price of $139 US and has way more functionality right out of the box then most other budget tablet computers.

We find the fact it has tons of content right out of the box to be a tremendously endearing factor. It also allows you to visit many other alternative markets to get applications that you find yourself enjoying the adventure of finding new applications and installing all of your favorites."

A good reference review if you're looking at all of the other cheap tablets out there. A key fact for me is the battery life of 7-12 hours. Most cheap tablets have a 2-4 hour battery life.

Android Tablet Makers: You’re Doing Pocket PC Again!-

Android Tablet Makers: You’re Doing Pocket PC Again!:

"This week CES will finally see that threatened flood of Android tablets.

99% of them will be utter failures, with probably 80% of the ones shown never coming to market at all.

This is so similar to the Pocket PC playbook (no subliminal nod to RIM intended) that it makes me wonder if anyone in the tech world ever paid any attention to that."

I'm not looking forward to the glut of press releases for vapor-lets and cobbled-together prototypes of same-old tablets running generic Android. Besides looking for the bargain tablet for the new year I'll be keeping an eye out for the elusive iPad killer:

The iPad can’t do DivX/XviD AVI video out of the box. An Android tablet should, flawlessly.

The iPad requires people to sync with a cable. To compete against that, get rid of the damned cable. That would be revolutionary.

The iPad can’t share personal items between iPads, such as photos. Making that easy on an Android tablet would be revolutionary.

MiGear ereader – My own Hands-On review of this low price ereader | eBookAnoid

MiGear ereader – My own Hands-On review of this low price ereader | eBookAnoid:

"This resulted in a wave of angry emails and comments from happy MiGear owners, all of whom said they loved their MiGears, and that I was wrong. It also produced a very lively and useful discussion about this device, which pleased me no end and I think was probably very useful to a lot of people."

Always take reviews with a grain of salt.

Your beautiful eyes on the Behance Network

Your beautiful eyes on the Behance Network

Calibre updated to 0.7.36 | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Calibre updated to 0.7.36 | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"Device drivers for the Google Nexus S, Motorola Backflip, Samsung Galaxy Tablet, PocketBook 603/903, EEEReader DR900 and the NextBook"

Google Android Market Alternatives and must have e-reader applications | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News

Google Android Market Alternatives and must have e-reader applications | Good E-Reader Blog - Electronic Reader and Tablet PC News:

"Many Tablet Computers being sold right now do not have access to the Google Android Market, leaving many people high and dry when it comes to getting different applications on their device. At Good e-Reader we often write about a whole slew of tablets that come out and come pre-loaded with only the bare essentials and many people lament at missed opportunities. Only a few different tablets that have been released this year have access to the market, such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab, but they come at a higher price.

If you have a Archos, Pocketbook, Augen Gentouch or Pandigital tablets most often you are stuck with the stock applications that are bundled with your device, not knowing their are alternatives to the Google Android Market to get your apps."