Friday, February 20, 2009

OhmyNews publishes ePUB story

OhmyNews have published my story around ePUB. I think the O'Reilly involvement in Bookworm is the significant recent event. Once the programmers get behind ePUB there could be rapid changes.

I am quite confused by Adobe. The OhmyNews editors have allowed the latter part of the text to stand although it mostly repeats my confusion. Apparently Kevin Lynch is now in charge of Acrobat though I have never come across him saying anything about PDF. A sweeping statement there but this is only a blog. Suggest you try your own Google Search. Maybe Acrobat is just a word for something people will pay attention to and actually means Flash. The Adobe Reader on mobile is not the same as the Adobe Reader on the desktop but the technology story is way in the background. PDF is an ISO standard but I think ePUB may be more widely supported eventually because it has input from more sources.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Kindle news in Guardian

The Guardian Technology page has news about the Kindle, it will not be in the UK anytime soon.

The reasons are mostly about mobile phone aspects. If there is no Kindle in Europe what else will happen? Sony device with something wireless? More downloads of software for phones? More support for ePUB without the Amazon closed world?

Expect more next week from Barcelona. Adobe will probably obsess on Flash video etc. but text is still in there somewhere.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Smashwords hints at integrated workflow

It may be that the Kindle is not isolated just because ePUB is not supported. Before long there could be a workflow that arrives at most results required. Smashwords have a guide for writers so the next steps must be known by somebody.

ePUB digital rights on Stanza

Adobe server DRM now links to iPhone with ePUB.

Flash may take a while longer.

ePUB and O'Reilley Labs

Bookworm supported

Kindle to change world, but no date for the UK

The Electric Pig has a lot of detail on Kindle 2 and a claim that there will be a release outside the USA but no dates.

Meanwhile the print version of the Guardian that arrived in Exeter today has nothing on the Kindle. Yesterday a very short Reuters report. So the Guardian blog is just for the online audience. How long can this continue? Will the Saturday Review have anything to add or is it just a curiosity?

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Plastic Logic support for ePUB

The full press release includes mention of ePUB and a deal with Adobe on Digital Rights.

So the Digital Editions Reader supports PDF and ePUB on computer screens. Not sure how hard it is to move ePUB on to the Kindle. Other devices support ePUB directly so there should be much more content available.

Guardian blogger suggests piracy

Bobbie Johnson has suggested that more piracy would encourage a shift to digital publishing. Only on his blog at the moment. Maybe in print tomorrow.

I agree that the promotion for Kindle, Sony Reader etc usually fails to mention the amount of public domain, creative commons etc content that is available. A "free CD" with Charles Dickens etc. is only a taster. Devices that cost a couple of hundred pounds need a story to support them. The ePUB format is based on open standards so should be easy to create. Not quite so yet but this could change.

What will happen with journal articles in Humanities / Social Science? Still very expensive to download a single article from the British Library. University Librbaries used to allow casual visitors to read hard copy but now it is all hidden behind a user id and password. The text around Business Schools is often available somewhere else as a draft or a blog. This connects more easily with practitioners so is more widely read anyway. At least that is my impression. I seem to be going a bit off topic for this blog but that is a good sign. The communications industry is relevant for learning.

Monday, February 09, 2009

Kindle. no news outside USA

Joe Wikert

The Twitter feed

Newspaper intererest?

Plastic Logic are expected to show something this week

Red Orbit story

Digital Editions Reader, any news in the UK?

Blogging and email are working as a way to do reporting without moving very much. I have been told that there is an event in London - Publishing Expo - that could relate to Tools of Changing and Mobile Barcelona. However, looking at the website I find the Adobe agenda is all about Flash and mobility. My guess is that "web publishing" will not have much about ePUB or PDF or the Digital Editions Reader. If you happen to be there and find different, please let me know. For most of Adobe, flat pages of text are just not interesting. My impression.

Then again this is only Monday. Publishing Expo is Wed/Thur , Tools of Change closes Wed so there is scope for blogging and comment.

So far blogsearch reveals that Indie Author has arrived in New York where it is 55 degrees and sunny.

Meanwhile here in Exeter the snow is turning to slush and we are about to concentrate on animation in cinemas.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

ePUB the next two weeks

The ePUB format is not much mentioned as such but there seems to be momentum around eBooks. Today in the Observer Robert McCrum reports that various publishing people who did not wish to be named are fairly happy with their Kindle or Sony Reader. No use for editing or collaborating but then this was never intended.

I have done three stories for OhmyNews - the publisher support for ePUB, the Sony support for ePUB, and the eBook buzz at Online Information. The news on this was Stanza, unexpected success on iPhone as Steve Jobs previously stated most people just like music and video.

Online text publishing will change journalism and it is on this topic that blogging etc. could overlap with proper print journalists. I put a comment on the Barney Cox Printweek blog about Stanza and he not only replied but did another post after more research. I try to encourage the Hunky Mouse and others at Newswireless to report about Online Information. No success so far but Stanza may interest them at some point. Victor Keegan has written about a "quiet revolution" but this was on the technology pages, not quite the same authority as the section for book reviews.

An Adobe email says the Digial Editions Reader 1.7 will be promoted at the O’Reilly Tools of Change Conference in New York City and at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, Spain. So there should be some reporting from both events. This blog will link as I am staying in Exeter.