Operation eBook Drop — Indie Authors Helping Soldiers
Operation eBook Drop has delivered hundreds of books to soldiers in less than a week. It says a lot about indie authors and the power of digital distribution.
New Technologies and the Need for Standards
It seems like a new e-reading device is announced every day. But each device has its own file format and its own unique interface. How can publishers be expected to develop products for such a fragmented market?
E-books: Tasting Blood in the Water
Sony, Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, AT&T, Verizon — a veritable who’s who of consumer electronics and communications has entered the e-reader fray. Do they smell blood in the water? Is it yours?
A Textbook Case of Missed Opportunities
Textbook publishers engage in a massive shoveling of content onto the iPhone. Will students dig it?
The Google Books Settlement–What Did You Choose?
The Google Books Settlement deadline is upon us. What did you choose?
Learning from Books — Lessons for STM Publishers
Mass-market book publishing is being disrupted more quickly than anyone expected. What lessons can we learn?
Retrofitting Scholarly Communications
As scholarly communication moves from its frankly printer-centric reality of today, publishers will be faced with many more rounds of improvement to their digital information. Is ePub an answer?
Summer Reading and Drinking
Pimm’s, the summer drink for the cultured literati.
Augmented Reality: Print Leverages Desktop Technology
A very interesting way to use print to leverage the technology many of us have on our desks or native in our computers. Is this the dawn of the Age of Augmented Reality?
Text as Interface — The Usability of Words
More than ever, text is a part of the user experience. Do we appreciate the art involved? Has the medium changed the message?
Pubget: Time-saver or Content Aggregator?
The Pubget search engine delivers search results along with PDFs. Should we view this new service as a time-saver for readers or as a threat to publishers?
Two Stories from the Management Trap
Two owners, two magazines — but one magazine wishes it could flee, while another is part of a larger digital strategy. It shines a light on what can happen when the owner is the problem.
Free Digital Textbooks Win in California
An initiative to see if free K-12 textbooks in math and science could exist, California tested the waters. The results have been released. They’re surprising, and may portend changes for educational publishers.
Google Knol — Vanity Publishing Fails Again
Google Knol is fading fast. Why didn’t it work? And when will it be put out of its misery? Meanwhile, Google opens the doors on a faster, more accurate version of its search engine.
The Strength of Weak Ties: Why Twitter Matters in Scholarly Communication
The special nature of Twitter makes it ideal for information sharing, and allows it to exploit the links that matter most for information dissemination — the weaker links in the social space.