Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Bluefire Reader now Available in the Android Market - Wait for the next version

Bluefire Reader now Available in the Android Market - The Digital Reader:
Bluefire Reader is a wildly popular iOS app that supports Epub and PDF. Unlike Stanze, Bluefire reader supports Adobe DE DRM. It works with any number of ebookstores and it even supports library ebooks. It has long since replaced Stanza as the touchstone reading app for iOS, and I would say that Bluefire Reader might give Aldiko, the leading Android reading app, a run for its money.


Bluefire has some way to go before it will be as good as Alkido, CoolReader or Moon+. First off when it installs it takes over the ePub file type as the default without asking the user so minus one point for the arrogance factor.

The "A"-factor would be moot if the app was appreciably better than the competitors. Its slower than Aldiko, which makes it the slowest of the top reading apps. After changing font size then leaving the app and jumping back the word wrap got ruined so that the text ran off the screen and some fiddling was needed to force a manual reformat.

The only way to load books besides "buying" them from the 3 stores is to copy the files to the Bluefire/Import folder. It would have been smart to make this redirectable by the user to point to the common pool of eBooks shared by other apps.

The last big problem I had with Bluefire was not being able to point it to my Calibre library on my desktop.

The note-taking/bookmarking is Bluefires strongest suit, with the text selection being the easiest to use among the top readers. Unfortunately its a bit too easy--you invariably begin selecting a region if you are too casual when tapping to change pages. Note taking is also exclusively internal, unlike the other readers that tap into Evernote and blogging or note taking apps.

Overall I think its a robust reader but I'd wait for the next version for a speed increase, better library management and more features. I am not too optimistic about an iOS-centric app getting much development time.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Mike Shatzkin thinks all authors should support agency pricing | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Mike Shatzkin thinks all authors should support agency pricing | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:
But instead, publishers seem to be desperately putting the cart before the horse. “Because our e-books cost this much, then this is how much e-books are supposed to cost. See? We wouldn’t be pricing them like that if they weren’t supposed to be that expensive! Now pay up and be happy.” They’re not pricing to maximize profit, they’re pricing to try to keep their ailing business model alive. Meanwhile, more progressive publishers like Baen have been happily selling e-books at $6 each, and even bundling Internet-sharable CD-ROMs full of them into printed books, for years without apparent detriment to their business.

The longer e-book pricing subsidizes the luxury-print-book industry the longer authours and readers will be mired in a limbo of overpriced/underpriced books.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Sigil Epub editor updated - The Digital Reader

Sigil Epub editor updated - The Digital Reader:
This is just a maintenance update, so there aren’t any major new features. But the update does add a few dozen bug fixes.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books : NPR

Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books : NPR
A pretty good list. I'm about 83/100, missing out on many of the old classics.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The Hugo Awards

The Hugo Awards:
Renovation, the 2011 World Science Fiction Convention, has announced the 2011 Hugo Award winners
.

I started Blackout a month or so ago and have finished a half dozen better novels in the meantime.

I agree with Wertzone, there are many more books deserving the award over this flawed work,

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Pandaemonium - Brookmyre

Pandaemonium - Christopher Brookmyre. You should check out this book. I read it on my Android tablet using Cool Reader and Moon+ Reader.
Great mix of serious exploration of religion vs. Science and a teen-horror-slash comedy.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Microsoft to retire MS Reader, their ebook format - The Digital Reader

Microsoft to retire MS Reader, their ebook format - The Digital Reader:
"MSReader was one of the early Big 3 ebook formats, along with Mobipocket and Palm. The first apps were released in 2000, and at that time it was the most typography rich ebook format. It stayed the rich-format ebook format up until Epub was released.

To be honest, I suspect that the only thing keeping the format going all these years was that the DRM had been broken way back when. Seriously, hard-core ebook users used to buy this format because we knew we could convert it from LIT to whatever format we preferred. That’s certainly why I bought MSReader format, and in fact that’s the only reason I ever heard discussed as a reason to buy it."

While this is good news I doubt that we not suffer a proliferation of ebook formats and dilution of the ebook market, notwithstanding the standardization on ePub we see today.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Is there hope for books? - Imprint - Salon.com

Is there hope for books? - Imprint - Salon.com:
"What was the last codex book you read? The last e-book?

The last codex book was Edmund Morris' biography of Beethoven. The last e-books were 'New Culture of Learning' by John Seely Brown and Doug Thomas and Gary Shteyngart's 'Super Sad True Love Story.'"

I still prefer "dead tree" to refer to printed and bound books.
Interesting article that takes shots at traditional publishing and some of the new "vook" style formats. Greater social interaction tightly tied to multiple-source content seems to be the prediction.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Neth Space: Mini-Review: Hexed by Kevin Hearne

Neth Space: Mini-Review: Hexed by Kevin Hearne:
"These books are simply fun – don’t think too hard about them and the world that Hearne creates, just sit back and enjoy the ride. The takes on various pantheons of gods are fun, the action satisfying and it’s all woven together with a geek humor that refuses to take itself seriously."

Sold.

The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy: Our Espresso Book Machine Experience � The Scholarly Kitchen

The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy: Our Espresso Book Machine Experience � The Scholarly Kitchen: "The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy: Our Espresso Book Machine Experience"