eBooks on the Small Screen

Last Wednesday morning, while eating breakfast and scanning the Wall Street Journal, I stumbled across an article by Lee Gomes.  He wrote a long piece about reading Ian McEwan’s novel “Amsterdam” on his Blackberry:

“Contrary to all of my previous expectations, not only was I reading the novel on my cellphone, I was enjoying it, too.

Until a few weeks ago, my assumption had been that a useable electronic book would need to resemble a Gutenberg book as much as possible, with, for example, pages of screen text about the same size as pages of print. I had heard reports that Japanese commuters were using cellphones to read books. But I figured that was sort of the thing only Japanese commuters would ever see fit to do."

I burst out laughing and handed the article to my husband.  Henri has long maintained that reading an eBook on a small device is a terrible idea.  He's not even interested in trying to read a book on a handheld device.  I have an ongoing (and so far unsuccessful) campaign to convince him to be more open minded.

He scanned the article and then grudgingly conceded that Lee might have a point.  He was quick to add, however, that he remained unconvinced.  And then he couldn't help himself.  He pointed out that I was possibly a hypocrite --  since I got my Cybook last November I haven't really used anything else for leisure reading.   

That evening as I was in the middle of reading Marisa de los Santos'  Belong to Me, my Cybook froze.  That is a story for another day (and it ended up to be no big deal).  The point of this story is that for the first time in six months I had use another device to finish the book.  

I had almost forgotten the reasons to read on a handheld device, but as I started to use the Palm they came back to me:

• Backlit - I can read in the dark
• Portable - I can have all my important info with me and still read anywhere
• Touch Screen - easy to scroll and move around
• Vivid Color - I really like color
• Wireless - instant connectivity to the rest of the world

The bonus discovery:  the thumb button in the middle of the device is much easier to use and more intuitive than the button on the right side of the Cybook.  I also found that the ergonomics of holding and balancing the device were really comfortable.

There are really only two advantages to reading on the Cybook -- a bigger reading surface and the ability to read in bright and direct sunlight. 

I am not sure that those advantages really outweigh the advantages of reading on the PDA. specifically the touch screen and the wireless access. 

Just to check myself, I pulled out a very old Windows PC based PDA and charged it up.  All of the advantages of the Palm PLUS I was not so confined by the DRM.  Suddenly I could read protected PDF, Palm and MS Lit files. 

For the price of a Cybook or Sony Reader you can buy a Pocket PC that runs windows, has a touch screen, adds a keyboard and includes a cellphone. 

Friday morning I got the Cybook functioning again, but I'm still reading on the Palm. 

Of course, I am now actively considering upgrading my Verizon phone to an XV6800.

Turns out, that small screen isn't so bad after all!

del.icio.us Tags: e-book,ebook,cybooks,palm pda,pocket pc,verizon

O'Reilly, Google Phone and Open Access

  I read an excellent article in the NYT (New York Times or www.nytimes.com for those of you who like links) by Tim O’Reilly.  O'Reilly opines that cell phones and the Internet are on a collision course.

Tim is a person who has always put his money and effort where his mouth is; in service of an open Internet.

Even more, he has spent a large amount of personal time working in the market to develop tools to make an open publishing environment became a reality. There are few people who have been more instrumental in helping develop open standards in the digital publishing world.

Open standards does not just mean free access. It also means open access; anyone can access any carrier on any device no matter where they buy the that particular device.

As ubiquitous as cell phone technology is; no one phone will let you access more than one carriers. A Motorola phone bought at Verizon only works on the Verizon network and you cannot access ATT or Sprint.  This is a unnecessary  layer of stupidity in system design that no one needs! 

The article discusses the much anticipated Google phone-like device.  Google is working with their partners to assure access will be open.  If they accomplish this we will soon have a world where cell phone service will no longer require some of us to carry two or even three phones.

But the most interesting statement he makes is one that is almost lost in the article. He states the obvious -- cell phone connectivity is so important to the future that soon all computing devices are going to be built around open cell phone technology.

That all computing devices need to be connected from anywhere at any time is such an article of faith with those of us who are working at planning the future that Tim tossed that comment off without stressing the point.

In other words, the value of any computing device, be it a cell phone, a personal digital assistant, a portable computer or an eBook reader is so enhanced by universal connectivity that it will become a requirement for all such devices in the future.

This should serve as a warning to people like Amazon and Sony.  The stupidity of an eBook reader based on proprietary technology that cannot be kept proprietary.  Like it or not -- the future is barreling towards us.  And  in that future we will have an open publishing environment.  

Technorati Tags: tim oreilly,google phone,open access,verizon,cell phones

Electronic Reading vs Print Reading

The National Endowment for the Arts has concluded a three year study on reading trends in the US. The study, entitled To Read or Not to Read was released earlier this month.

The reports concludes that

• voluntary reading rates are dropping
• reading skills are "worsening" among teens
• adults are becoming less proficient readers

Pretty grim news for people like me who's life is all about books and reading.

It was with some trepidation that I downloaded the 98 very dry, dull pages and began to read them. Just as I was beginning to nod off I came across this little gem:

Opinions aside, there is a shortage of scientific research on the effects of screen reading—not only on long-term patterns of news consumption, but more importantly, on the development of young minds and young readers. (A good research question is whether the hyperlinks, pop-up windows, and other extra-textual features of screen reading can sharpen a child’s ability to perform sustained reading, or whether they impose unhelpful distractions.) (To Read or Not to Read p53)

That woke me up. I decided I didn't need to torture myself anymore and deleted the report from my machine.

There is an assumption here that I violently disagree with -- the only reading worth studying or reporting on is a printed page in a book.

So not true!

My email, RSS feeds and blogs provide me with more reading material in one day than I used to get in an entire month.

I could tell that this is all work related and not in any sense voluntary. I would be lying.

Everyday, I follow links that take me to very strange places. Who hasn't had the experience of becoming intrigued with some weird factoid and going off on a reading tangent totally unrelated to anything! In my particular case if someone sends me a Facebook link it is very possible that an hour later I am making new friends - after reading all about them. I don't even want to discuss YouTube!

Are they unhelpful distractions? Who knows for sure. What we do know (from experience) is that those distractions very often keep us doing sustained reading. AND we are in fact reading things we probably never would have had access to or read any other way. Say what you will, it is still reading. And it is not exactly unpopular.

Look around any Starbucks and count the number of people typing on laptops, PDAs and cellphones. Count those reading newspapers. If they are not reading, what exactly are they doing?

The NEA is alarmed and gloomy about reading in America. I am not. Call me a crazy optimist; but the evidence of my own eyes suggests that reading is alive and well and maybe even on the upstroke.

Technorati Tags: ebooks,electronic books,electronic reading,PDA,laptop reading. National Endowment for the Arts,NEA,To Read or Not to Read

All about Green

Water Phone?

Amazing the things you see surfing the net! Yesterday it was this headline: “Get Ready for Water-Powered Cell Phones.”

Since more than 60% of all eBooks purchased are read on cellphones of some sort, any changes that benefits cell phones will ultimately benefit me as an eBook reader. Of course this headline piqued by curiosity.

I clicked through to a Korean news site that told me that by 2010 my mobile phone might be powered with a fuel cell that uses water not methanol to create hydrogen (and I always thought that methanol was just plain old wood alcohol).

But other than silly pictures in my head and an interest in eBook technology, I still wasn’t sure why this was newsworthy. Well, it turns out that using water to make hydrogen will not add carbon to the air. Very environmentally friendly AND the “water cell” lasts 10 time longer than the current rechargeable battery technology. No CO2 produced and no toxic batteries to dispose of. Maybe cellphones will become the next consumer item to go "Green."

And speaking of "Green"

I have to note Al Gore's 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Al and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."

I started this piece hoping to make a crass commercial opportunity to plug An Inconvenient Truth, but sadly, it is not an eBook format. Which, BTW, I think is really odd!

But back to Al. He certainly has his detractors, enemies and critics! But no matter. His very public campaign has garnered a great deal of notice for the idea of global climate change and it ramifications.

Agree with him or not; he has certainly raised awareness! Congratulations, Al Gore.

eBooks in the New York Times

The New York Times had a great piec about eBooks: An Entire Bookshelf, in Your Hands. Really worth a look!

Shocking news -- eBooks are going mainstream. Of course, we’ve known that for awhile which is why we started eBooks About. After all we like a market that is doubling annually: The International Digital Publishing Forum, estimates that retail sales of e-books in the 2nd quarter of 2007 was $8.1 million compared to $4 million in the same time period last year.

The author talks a lot about hardware and software and their impact on eBook reading. Certainly better reading software and hardware devices are major factors in this growth, but I believe that the greatest single factor is content. Major publishers are creating eBook versions of titles along with the hard cover release. And Harlequin who announced last week that it has started (August, 2007) to create an e-book edition of every new book it releases,

Yes, we have had content In the past. Thanks to Project Gutenberg there have always been titles available. I, however, have trouble getting excited over the idea that I can read Middlemarch on my phone. I suspect I am not alone.

New variety in title choices and major author’s books generate eBook sales. And the market is changing! Our store sales reflect the trends talked about in the article – we sell more romance and ‘chick lit’ (women’s fiction for the more politically correct) than any thing else. But we also sell a great number of non fiction and reference titles. You’d be amazed at how many manuals we sell.

As an eBook reader I got a real kick out of the article . . . it was more or less a case of preaching to the choir. Of course I would have liked to have seen eBooks About Everything mentioned, but I have to remember that we are still the new kid on the block and it all takes time.

But the best part for me was that the writer talked about my two personal favorite reasons for reading an eBook: the backlighting so I can read in bed in the dark and the fact I never feel the need to tear off an embarrassing cover.