Calibre 0.7.48 released | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Calibre 0.7.48 released | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics
It just keeps getting better and better.

Unshelved by Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes - Roald Dahl's Matilda vs vBooks

Unshelved by Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes
What would Matilda do if her father made her read interactive vBooks? Check out the comic at Unshelved.

Best of the Decade Data: Votes by Year & the Top 50 vs. Awards & Genre | Tor.com | Science fiction and fantasy | Blog posts

Best of the Decade Data: Votes by Year & the Top 50 vs. Awards & Genre | Tor.com | Science fiction and fantasy | Blog posts:

"For some, book releases tend not to be tied to a specific year. You remember the last time you read a good book more than you remember it’s actual year of publication"

Download the PDF. It's worth it.

Fantasy Book Critic: “The Enterprise of Death” by Jesse Bullington (Reviewed by Robert Thompson and Liviu Suciu)

Fantasy Book Critic: “The Enterprise of Death” by Jesse Bullington (Reviewed by Robert Thompson and Liviu Suciu):

"Like The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart, The Enterprise of Death is a hard-to-classify fusion of folklore, historical fiction, fantasy, horror and black comedy in the vein of the Brothers Grimm, Clive Barker, Chuck Palahniuk, Warren Ellis and a bit of Joe Abercrombie. In this case, the historical-influenced setting is centered around the Spanish Inquisition, the Italian Wars and the Protestant Reformation during the late 15th/early 16th centuries."

All the Details on Apple's iPad 2: Specs, Pricing, Release Date - wheres teh competition?

All the Details on Apple's iPad 2: Specs, Pricing, Release Date:

"The iPad 2 with WiFi will be available on March 11 in the U.S. for a $499 for the 16 GB model, $599 for the 32 GB model, and $699 for the 64 GB model. 3G will cost more: $629, $729, and $829 respectively."

Goddamit, wheres the competition out there? Incrementally better than the original with some flashy additions (no pun intended). The bargain Android tablet I'm looking to buy at Zellers has no camera, the microphone doesn't work with all Android apps, and it truns into a brick if you try to fine-tune the OS/app-suite.
I'm depressed.

Open Mesh Project seeks to use mesh networking to promote freedom - matter of time before corporate backlash

Open Mesh Project seeks to use mesh networking to promote freedom | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"Of course, this is just the beginning. As the technology improves—and getting it into widespread use will drive improvement—we could be on the way to the sort of everything-is-networked future depicted in Vernor Vinge’s Rainbows End. Won’t that be an interesting world to live in? Hopefully once such widespread information to access becomes available, it will be harder for tyrants to keep their people down. (Of course, they’ll probably still find ways anyway, but we can dream, right?)"

While Rainbows End is a fantastic book, I think the future of the open mesh network will look more like the Charles Stross and Cory Doctorow short story Unwirer, published in the book Wireless by Stross. If corporations cannot profit from an open mesh network they will make it illegal.

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist: THE CRIPPLED GOD is a hit!

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist: THE CRIPPLED GOD is a hit!:

"Well, I guess that word has finally gotten around, for Steven Erikson's The Crippled God (Canada, USA, Europe) is number 4 on the Sunday Times bestseller list!"

Joe Abercrombie's The Heroes, and now Erikson's Crippled God. Looks like Folding Knife and Prince of Thieves go on the backburner for a few weeks.

We are Adding DRM for the Future of Ebooks, and Other HarperCollins Fairytales | Bookbee Ebooks

We are Adding DRM for the Future of Ebooks, and Other HarperCollins Fairytales | Bookbee Ebooks:

"Where do I start with this? Apart from the fact that at my local library the new bestsellers are usually “FastBack” books – you only get a week with them (26 x 1 week = 6 months), saying that you “hope” to make instantaneous digital distribution cheaper than the physical trucking of books around the US shows how out of touch you are (or how stupid you think others are)."

Elonex expand their line up with new e-reader, tablet | The Digital Reader

Elonex expand their line up with new e-reader, tablet | The Digital Reader

The eBook User Bill of Rights | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

The eBook User Bill of Rights | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"Every eBook user should have the following rights:the right to use eBooks under guidelines that favor access over proprietary limitationsthe right to access eBooks on any technological platform, including the hardware and software the user chooses, the right to annotate, quote passages, print, and share eBook content within the spirit of fair use and copyright, the right of the first-sale doctrine extended to digital content, allowing the eBook owner the right to retain, archive, share, and re-sell purchased eBooks. I believe in the free market of information and ideas."

Wishful thinking.