Jan 05

Skiff Reader for News and Magazines

Jorgen put me onto this machine with a link to a story at Earthtechling about a large format eReader configured to display electronic versions of newspapers and magazines in a “quasi-traditional” format.

Apparently the Skiff Reader is all the rage at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show where its 11.5-inch e-paper display and thin .268 inch thick body make it impossible to miss.

Go to the Skiff Reader site and take a look at it or peek at the specifications here. If it makes good on the promise of wirelessly delivering newspapers and displaying them in near-traditional layout, then it looks like a late Christmas gift for the beleaguered publishing industry, yah?

Jan 04

Apple Tablet Any Day?

It’s been at least a year since the constant rumors about Apple joining the eBook Revolution started to take solid shape in the form of a ‘tablet,’ now we find ourselves with a ‘rumored’ release happening very soon. And believe me, all of us are waiting for the Kindle-Killer to come out of hiding.

Here’s a link to a story at True/Slant outlining the pros and cons of the fabled Apple Tablet. Is there really a place for it (Apple offered one before to lukewarm response…), or is this just an old idea hoping to get some traction in the eBook Revolution?

We’ll soon see.

Jan 03

A follow up to yesterday’s link…

Jorgen has been kind enough to point us to a story at the Sydney Morning Herald that takes yesterday’s post regarding eBooks outselling ‘actual’ books and runs with it.

It brings in a number of disparate elements in an attempt to introduce us to one of “the most fundamental technical revolutions in human history.” The writer, Guy Rundle puts an extremely negative spin on things, and there’s no doubting his view of the eBook Revolution.

There are dangers inherent in any cultural change, and people have a habit of overindulging before they find a balance. Unfortunately, that balance rarely happens as quickly as the technological changes.

Heady stuff, yah?

Jan 02

Amazon Sales Questions…

Thanks Jorgen for a link to a story at DailyFinance.com about the sketchy figures Amazon is using to build the Kindle success story.

It’s an excellent article and well worth the read. One has to suspect the worst when these mega-corporations start in with the feel-good news. Especially when they’re less than forthcoming with actual sales figures, yah?

Dec 31

Astonishing Adventures Magazine #8 – FREE Online Reading

As 2009 winds down (by the way, HAPPY NEW YEAR!), we received a release for Astonishing Adventure Magazine’s 8th and it looks like ‘final’ issue. I’ve had a look and it’s a HUGE gathering of exciting stories and excellent illustrations arriving just in time to ring in the New Year. So take the link to your holiday weekend read online or as downloadable PDF. We talked about their last Issue ‘7’ here in an interview with editor Katherine Tomlinson.

The Press Release for the new issue follows. Enjoy!

Issue #8 of Astonishing Adventures Magazine is now available for FREE download at two online locations: Issuu and [as a PDF] MediaFire. A print edition will be available at Amazon.com early in January at a price still to be determined.

At 172 pages, the magazine is jam-packed with pulptastic content from contributors living in five different countries. “I am particularly pleased by the international flavor of this issue,” said editor Katherine Tomlinson. “We have writers from the US, UK, Canada and Tenerife and artists from the US, the UK and Greece. There’s literally something for everyone in issue #8—from the wackiness of Tony Thorne’s “Teething Pain” to the poignant sea story “A Coral Pillow” offered by G. Wells Taylor.”

The mix of content includes new stories in Michael Patrick Sullivan’s long-running Auslander series and a new entry in Roger Alford’s adventures of the Black Spectre. Novelist Brian Trent is back with his two-fisted adventurer Rylan Mathis. Frequent contributor Christian Dabnor provided the cover story, a cat-and-mouse tale about a fox and a bear. AAM’s mainstay Cormac Brown offers up a noir homage to Dashiell Hammett in “The Tsar’s Treasure” and also interviews writer Kelli Stanley. The multi-talented Sarah Vaughn and Joanne Renaud both contributed stories and illustrations for this issue with Joanne Renaud doing double duty as the cover artist.

In addition to the usual suspects (Christine Pope, Kat Parrish, Blue Jackson, Peter Mark May, Ron Capshaw, Mark Caldwell), several promising new writers made their debut in Issue #8—J. Jasper’s politically charged “Fair and Balanced” led the way, with brothers V.J. and Justin Boyd contributing a dark fairy tale, Berkeley Hunt offering up a story of sibling hostility and R.C. Barnes providing a tale based on the legend of La Llorona, the weeping woman. All that plus editor Tomlinson’s usual “I Want to Sleep With” feature, starring Yul Brynner.

Issue #8 is a special double-issue to mark the magazine’s second anniversary. Publisher John Donald Carlucci has also announced that it will be the quarterly periodical’s last issue. The founder of Darke Media, Carlucci is currently producing a web series called “Fierce Cravings” now available on YouTube.

Dec 30

TWO Full-Color eBook Readers in the Pipeline…

Many thanks to our intrepid Jorgen who continues to scour the net for interesting eBook Rumors and information. Here we’re offered a link to a story at Twice.com where we’re told that next month Paradigm Shift Sourcing and Manufacturing will introduce full-color eBook readers with 5-inch and 7-inch screens at the International CES .

Paradigm Shift’s 5-inch model, No. EER-051 runs ANSI, UNICODE TXT, DOC, PDF, HTML, FB2, PDB and EPUB (non-DRM) eBook formats with MP3 player and photo viewer functions. With 1GB of onboard memory plus an SD card expansion slot the EER-051 is very tempting for early adopters, especially with its suggested retail of $150.

Its 7-inch sister-ship, No. EER-071WF, has a full touch-screen interface and Wi-Fi, with optional DRM encryption to format compatibility. The unit is comparable to “a full ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) or tablet PC” with support for Word, Excel and PDF files. The eReader functions as a photo viewer, plays Flash video, MP3 and MP4 files. More specs in the article here. All that with 2GB of internal memory, a Flash expansion slot and $200 suggested retail makes the EER-071WF a guaranteed market-shaker as the eBook Revolution expands into a crowded 2010.

Not everyone’s going to want color. In fact, there is a consistent round of voices that are very happy READING on their eBook Readers in good old shades of gray; but, something like these with their relatively low price tags and multi-functions might make it a hit with the curious, the early adopter and the gadget crazy.

Dec 29

An eReader Overview

This eReader Overview by Oliver Masciarotte in the Blogcritics Sci/Tech section is a must-read for any curious, early or late adopter in the eBook Revolution. Well written and covering all the basics, this article is the most comprehensive I’ve read yet.

The eBook phenomena, marketplace and cultural shift is going to explode in 2010, so arm yourself with knowledge, yah?

Dec 28

Piracy as Growing Pain

Our friend Jorgen dropped off a link to a story at SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle) about what I think is going to be one of the biggest topics of conversation for the eBook Revolution in 2010.

As we all learned from the music industry’s struggle with piracy and illegal file sharing, it is something that exists because it’s so easy to reproduce digital content. It exists. It’s impossible to eradicate.

However, it only becomes a problem when digital content providers and producers charge too much for their titles and attempt to control their use by locking the files or making the formats proprietary.

It’s going to get worse with new eBook readers entering the market every other month, and as eBook reading is adopted by the mainstream. It will only get bad if the publishers and eBook distributors continue to charge too much money, lock their files and limit their usage.

It’s as simple as that, yah?

Dec 26

Will the Apple Tablet Launch January 26?

CNNMoney seems to think January 26 is the launch date of the much-anticipated touch-screen tablet from Apple. In a timely leak of information, Apple’s Steve Jobs is said to be extremely happy with the device. Its original design was supposedly cannibalized for use in the iPhone. Read a list of new rumors here.

It would be an exciting way for the eBook Revolution to start the New Year, yah?

Dec 25

Happy Holidays!

We at eBook Rumors wish you all the best for the holiday season!