Sometimes It’s OK To Pity A Publisher

okay. “My hero is very smart. He meets the heroine at the local chapter meeting of Menses.” Where to put this query letter…hmmmMon Sep 13 23:07:57 via TweetDeckKaren Syed
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Red Kobo Reader!

Not natively, however:

Via a GelaSkin.

I wonder if that even works properly. The back of the Kobo isn’t flat. As they like to point out, it’s quilted, which basically means lightly bumpy. How would that skin fit?

I went on Flickr hoping to see an example of one, and was led to this blog post: Kobo and the Enamored Owl. Seems to work out.

Here’s the GelaSkins link for Keep Calm.

Kobo has also gotten in some slipcases. And see one of those here on Flickr.

jetBook MINI Introduced

The website URL — right now — redirects to the standard jetBook site, so perhaps this video is premature:

Weight – 5.8 ounces
Size – 5″ TFT
Battery Life – 90 hours! (Energizer Lithium batteries included)
New Interface Languages
New Format Support through Calibre
All-Way Screen Rotation Reading
Line Spacing options
Built-in clock

No mention of Adobe DRM being built-in. US$99.00 MSRP.

Update: Nate the Great of The Digital Reader pointed me to the product page.

Free Customizable Digital Book For iOS Devices

This is very, very clever:

Delight your kids with the FREE Lillian Vernon eBook mobile application. Dusty D. Dawg shows how he handles a wide range of feelings. You can personalize it by adding your child’s name, photo, record a voice reading the book, or use the pre-recorded voice that comes with the book. New stories will be added every few months… and did we already mention that they’re FREE?

App Store web page link

Next1 eBook Reader

Well, look what showed up on YouTube less than 24 hours ago!

This is the website.

Until I know some specs — CPU, OS — and can see some of the eBook reading functionality, I can’t say anything other than a LCD is not the best thing to have outdoors.

Update: Whoa. I jumped too soon! There’s a second model, called the Next2 and it states it uses Android:

Since the eBook reader has pagecurl, I suspect this is Barnes & Noble’s Nook for Android software.

Goodbye, Sony

My patience with Sony has reached an end. Sony’s “Reader Library” is a miserable piece of unstable, unreliable software. Google “sony reader library problems” and you get over a quarter-million hits. MobileRead has some good forum threads discussing how to fix problems with the software (generally involving uninstalling the software via Windows Control Panel and then dumpster diving in your primary drive to locate and delete a mess of hidden files which Sony’s installer put there but doesn’t remove. Then you get to reinstall everything, download all your ebooks, and pray it all works.

via Goodbye, Sony

This is what happens when you let things fester.  While Sony’s Howard Stringer does ADD-like flitting, first pimping expensive Tiffanyesque OLED TVs and then Who Asked For This? 3D TVs, the fundamentals of the company are ignored, left to rot, and customers continue to be lost.

The Brief Guide To eReaders/Tablets Right Now

This is not comprehensive, but those currently in the OK to Buy category are unlikely to lose their spots between now and the end of the year. There are a few more tablets due to arrive, but it’s too early to list them here.

eReaders

OK to Buy:
Amazon Kindle 3 (WiFi or WiFi/3G)
Sony Reader 350 and 650
Kobo Reader

Avoid:
Barnes & Noble Nook (see why)
ECTACO jetBook
Aluratek Libre
Augen The Book
Pandigital Novel (both models — white and black)
Cruz Reader
All the other crap coming out

Tablets:

OK to Buy:
iPad
Samsung Galaxy Tab

Might be worth buying (awaiting reviews):
Archos 70 Internet Tablet
Archos 101 Internet Tablet
ViewSonic Viewpad 7
Cruz Tablet (very iffy)

Avoid:
Pandigital Novel (both models — white and black)
Cruz Reader
Augen Gentouch 78
SmartQ T7

iTunes Instant – Clean Interface, Instant Results

iTunes Instant – Clean Interface, Instant Results

Kindle Vs. ‘Pads In Sunlight

Crash! Bam! Pow!

But … how come I never run into women who read who look like that? And I don’t know of any woman who buys sunglasses that expensive.

How Gail Rebuck turned Tony Blair’s book into a bestseller | Media | The Guardian

“Publishers are relevant. We have practical expertise and, of course, money. We give our authors advances which enable them to concentrate on their work in hand … My idea of hell is a website with 80,000 self-published works on it – some of which might be jewels, but, frankly, who’s got the time? What people want is selection and frankly that’s what we do.”

via How Gail Rebuck turned Tony Blair’s book into a bestseller | Media | The Guardian