FBReader for Android adds TTS and bunch of new features

FBReader for Android adds TTS | The Digital Reader:

"The app still supports Epub and FB2. It has all the formatting options it did before, plus it picked up a couple new ones. It now has enough font, layout, and margin options to satisfy the pickiest reader. It also now has dictionary lookup (the dictionary has to be installed first), and you can now copy a clipping to the clipboard or email it to someone. There’s also bookmarks."

Aldiko is still the best out there as far as I am concerned, but that is only compared to Coolreader, Moon+reader, and KoboReader. I'll look at FBReader to see if it supports clean stylesheet formatting, effective navigation, and decent library management.

RIP: editor and anthologist Martin Greenberg - Boing Boing

RIP: editor and anthologist Martin Greenberg - Boing Boing: "Julia says, 'Tor.com reports that Martin Greenberg, well known sci-fi/fantasy writer and editor has passed away.'"

Harry Potter Ebooks Online - No DRM | eBookanoid.com

Harry Potter Ebooks Online - No DRM | eBookanoid.com:

"But the main thing that came out of this press conference that is of interest to us is that the Potter ebooks will be sold without DRM protection, but instead each sold copy will have a unique “water mark” built into it, so that should that particular copy be sold on line, it will be easy for them to know which customer it was who sold the copy illegally."

Stripping a watermark is supposed to be harder than stripping DRM?

WETA Debuts InReads, New Online Reading Community

WETA Debuts InReads, New Online Reading Community:

"The InRead site allows its users to post their favorite books as well as their reading history. The site offers a series of blogs devoted to books, culture and technology and inRead members can, of course, comment and post to wide variety of social media outlets. Members can “dogear” blog posts to save and circulate and the site offers a variety of original content from published authors. InReads is funded by WETA with additional funding support from the Park Foundation."

The Best Science Fiction, Fantasy Books? You Tell Us : NPR

The Best Science Fiction, Fantasy Books? You Tell Us : NPR:

"And so, to help you chart any fantastic voyages you might like to take this vacation season, NPR Books is focusing our annual summer readers' poll on science fiction and fantasy (SF/F to insiders). During the coming weeks, your votes will decide the titles that make our top-100 list of the best SF/F novels ever written."

5 titles per post. Many authors/series excluded (no young adult or horror). Could be a good list.

BBC News - British Library makes Google search deal

BBC News - British Library makes Google search deal:

"The British Library has reached a deal with search engine Google about 250,000 texts dating back to the 18th Century.

It will allow readers to view, search and copy the out-of-copyright works at no charge on both the library and Google books websites."

Fuzzy Nation - The Barnes & Noble Review

Fuzzy Nation - The Barnes & Noble Review:

"And yet, I find myself unable to like Fuzzy Nation as much as I like Little Fuzzy. Little Fuzzy, it seems to me, is the Saturday Evening Post, and Fuzzy Nation is DreamWorks. One is gold and one is bronze. That reaction certainly says more about me than about the book. But let me catalogue the differences between the two books that illuminate what has been abandoned. (It's all down to the shifts in culture since 1962, of course.)"

Sir Terry Pratchett begins process that could lead to assisted suicide - Telegraph

Sir Terry Pratchett begins process that could lead to assisted suicide - Telegraph:

"But he stressed that he was as yet still undecided whether he would eventually take his own life.

He said he changed his mind “every two minutes” but added that if he did choose to die would prefer to do so in England and in the sunshine."

The Top 5 Best e-readers for June 2011 | Good E-Reader Blog - ebook Reader and Tablet PC News

The Top 5 Best e-readers for June 2011 | Good E-Reader Blog - ebook Reader and Tablet PC News

Pleasures of Reading in Bed With an Ereader | eBookanoid.com

Pleasures of Reading in Bed With an Ereader | eBookanoid.com:

"Funnily enough, in those days before ereaders, all of the above problems obviously existed, but didn’t worry me too much, I didn’t even really think about them, just accepted that the world was thus, and got on with reading. But that has changed now, we have been shown how good and relaxing reading can really be, and I find it hard to return to that relatively primitive form of reading now. Sad isn’t it?"

Book Buzzes - Free, simple notifications when your favourite authors release new books!

Book Buzzes - Free, simple notifications when your favourite authors release new books!:

"Get simple, free notifications when your favourite authors release new books!"

Swimming Lessons for House Slaves: The Buddy System�|�Stormwolf.com

Swimming Lessons for House Slaves: The Buddy System�|�Stormwolf.com:

"Tradpub advocates point out that not all authors involved in digital self-publishing agree on everything, therefore none of them can be trusted talking about anything. In this way they are like Creationists who claim that just because different scientists have different theories of how evolution took place, that the very fact of evolution can’t be trusted. It’s idiocy and malignant. It’s deliberately deceptive argumentation designed to frighten and confuse."

Swimming Lessons for House Slaves: The Holistic Approach�|�Stormwolf.com

Swimming Lessons for House Slaves: The Holistic Approach|Stormwolf.com:

"I use this story to illustrate the lack of understanding of what’s going on with ebooks and ebook production. The question about widow control and hyphenation, as ridiculous as it seemed above, is made even more so ridiculous when you realize—as I did about 3 minutes later—that it’s completely immaterial. Widow control is something used to keep little sentence fragments of 1-4 words off their own line. Hyphenation is necessary when you want to produce nice, fully justified type in a book."

Publishers want desperately to make publishing ebooks as difficult as possible. they so worried that the new technologies are making them redundant.

Top 10 Misused English Words

Top 10 Misused English Words:

"Many people who’ve had to proof read documents start to develop a kind of compulsive “tutting” at misused words. Here’s my top ten words that are misused by either professional writers or public speakers who, let’s be honest, should really know better"

4oh4 - words not found: Maybe the Dumbest Generation Came Before Us

4oh4 - words not found: Maybe the Dumbest Generation Came Before Us:

"From the first few pages, The Dumbest Generation smacks of the worst kind of get-off-my-lawn resistance to change, and Bauerlein often bashes “pro-technology” commentators, as if the printed book reading that he exalts somehow wasn't a technology itself."

A well-researched book that quotes a bunch of studies but fails to understand the nature of cultural change.
This is a book review worth reading.

The Wertzone: RIP Joel Rosenberg

The Wertzone: RIP Joel Rosenberg:

"Rosenberg is best-known as the author of the popular ten-volume Guardians of the Flame series, about a group of role-players who are transported into the fantasy world they are playing in."

Very much enjoyed the series when I was younger.

40 Fascinating Lectures for Linguistics Geeks | Online Universities

40 Fascinating Lectures for Linguistics Geeks | Online Universities:

"The following lectures, by no means the only ones available online, represent a lovely little slice of how language permeates all things, for better and for worse."

Fantasy Book Critic: PRESS RELEASE: The Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now Prize Winners Announced!

Fantasy Book Critic: PRESS RELEASE: The Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now Prize Winners Announced!:

"The six judges—including Sir Terry Pratchett and Tony Robinson—met yesterday at Waterstone’s flagship store in London’s Piccadilly to thrash out a winner. After hours of debate the conclusion was reached that it was impossible to select a single victor! The entries were so diverse that it was unanimously decided to split the prize and award it to David Logan for his book Half Sick of Shadows and to Michael Logan (no relation!) for Apocalypse Cow. Both writers will receive a publishing contract from Transworld."

PCMag calls Nook Touch the new king of ereaders

PCMag calls Nook Touch the new king of ereaders:

"Pierce writes that the Nook Touch beats the Kindle in all three of those categories. Its home screen is more intuitive and more attractive than the Kindle’s, and its touchscreen interface generally offers a much better way to interact with books, from turning a single page to quickly scrubbing through multiple pages at once. The Nook Touch is also smaller and lighter than the Kindle 3—imagine the Kindle 3 sans keyboard—making it even more pocketable."

Five Sites To Help You Build A Reading List - eBookNewser

Five Sites To Help You Build A Reading List - eBookNewser:

"If you’ve already read everything on your bookshelf and don’t want to rely on Amazon recommendations, there are a few great websites that can help you discover new books."