F+W Publications has officially announced a name change to F+W Media, which “better reflects the company’s mission to deliver to passionate consumers the content, community, and data they desire–regardless of platform.” In other words, they are shifting “from a print focus to a web-enabled digital business.” To that end, F+W is building websites based around communities of enthusiasts and categories of interest that no longer focus on a single magazine or book title, having already launched MyCraftivity.com. And they aspire to make Everything.com, based on the Everything Series of books, a reference site they hope will rival such sites as […]
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Borders Live with Audio Downloads
The promised inclusion of downloadable audiobooks at Borders’ web site has gone live, with “an initial 15,000 titles” on offer. The company says that over a third of those titles are available in (DRM-free) MP3 files. Starting today and running through Saturday, you can download a free audio version of Jon Krakauer’s INTO THE WILD, and an additional 15 titles from top authors (including the topical TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer) will sold at the promotional discount price of $9.95 through July 22. As noted previously, Borders has partnered with OverDrive for both the inventory and the underlying technology for the […]
eBooks for Apple iDevices: Game On
With the release of Apple’s ambitious App Store today, the company puts themselves in the ebook business without having to go through the messiness of dealing with publishers. Among the free app downloads is Fictionwise’s eReader software (bundled with free copies of the public domain books, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes and James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans). As indicated in the comments section of the TeleRead blog, the software was coded by Peanut Press co-founder Lee Fyock and another ex-peanut developer, Chris Eplett. Fictionwise’s Steve Pendergrast notes in the same thread that “in the coming […]
And Then There Are Online "Open Textbooks"
In contrast to the WSJ story about college textbook companies that sell students lightly customized books and pay colleges royalties to help keep the students locked in to over-priced books, USA Today reports on an alternative approach. Open textbooks “are free textbooks available online that are licensed to allow users to download, customize and print any part of the text. Professors can change content to fit their teaching styles. Some authors offer a print-on-demand service that produces professionally bound copies for $10 to $20.” Eric Frank, who used to work for Pearson Education, launched Flat World Knowledge with a partner […]
Harlequin's "Enriched" eBooks
Harlequin has announced the launch of what they call “enriched editions”: ebooks containing “interactive buttons that hyperlink to Web sites containing photos, historical commentaries, illustrations, sound effects, maps, articles and more, bringing the world of the novel to life without the reader having to leave the computer or the current screen page.”Press release
Now, Flexible eScreens on the Way
Prototypes of flexible eInk screens that roll out and retract have been kicking around for years without making it to the commercial marketplace in a big way, but now the Dutch company Polymer Vision says that its Readius device will be on the market this fall in Europe (and in 2009 in the US). The grayscale reader offers a 5-inch flexible eInk screen that unrolls from a plastic housing to display about 22 lines of book text. A final price has not been set, though the company says it will sell for more than the Kindle. NYT