This Blog Is Now Over And Done With

Apple: Kill My Blog, Please!

Apple didn’t do what I expected. Yet I still expect them to.

I can either stick around spinning my wheels until then or use my time productively.

Without this blog, I will have time …

How To Build An ePub eBook Library For Your iPad

As everyone’s anticipation to own an iPad increases, I’ve discovered that some Mac owners have never dipped into the ePub eBook pool.

This post is a brief guide to building a library of DRM-free and legally-free ePub eBooks.

Writer 3.0 For Book 3.0

Imagine’s “Transmedia Storytelling” Deal

“Studios gobbled up pre-branded properties like Asteroids and Battleship, but as an exec I would hear pitches from writers and see nobody coming with visuals, and there was nobody at the studio managing intellectual properties over all divisions,” Kadison said.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

I really hate the term “transmedia.” I hope we’re not stuck with that. I also hated “multimedia” too, by the way (and strange it was never applied to comic books first — or at all!). People think a new buzzterm is like a magic wand that can automagically create something.

Anyway.

In a prior blog I did a few posts about what I was calling “Writer 2.0.”

Well, the Axis of eCrap (formerly Axis of E) — eInk, ePub, eBook — is coming to its deserved end. And so is Writer 2.0.

In its place will be digital books. And Writer 3.0.

What Apple’s iSlate Means To Bloggers

For quite some time I’ve wanted offline and portable reference copies of my past two blogs: Mike Cane’s Blog and Mike Cane 2008.

There were two problems with this desire for either a printed or electronic copy:

1) WordPress exports a hinky XML file that chokes services that offer printing of blogs

2) How do I deal with a post such as this, with several embedded videos?

An electronic version in ePub? My god, what a lot of work for something that’d only wind up looking fugly, lack the videos, lack color in photos, and be verrrry slow for accessing on an eInk screen.

It was only tonight that it hit me that I’ll finally be able to have digital books of my blogs. Apple will make that possible with iWork. And iWork can embed video (cough, cough).

I’ll be able to easily access past posts offline as well as do all the real indexing I’ve always wanted to do for cross-referencing years of related posts. And I’d be able to read all of them comfortably, leisurely sprawled on a sofa or on my bed with an iSlate.

I couldn’t sell these due to rights issues. That was never the point. I’ve wanted these portable reference editions for myself.

But all of you who have blogs with material that only you own? You could sell digital book copies. An annual compilation of your posts.

Anyone who has a blog should begin to get very excited about what’s coming from Apple!

The iSlate Factor People Are Missing

The introduction of the iSlate is going to be a Richter-scale value shock in the industry.

Even if it comes in at a whopping US$999 (which I really hope it will not!), it’s going to reset the scale of value of everything.

From time to time, I go to J&R in Manhattan, a large electronics retailer. I go to check out prices and to see what’s new. And sometimes even to buy.

Asus Provides Peek Of Its Atomic Bomb eBook Reader

Get ready for the newsstand in your hand

Asus, the Taiwanese manufacturer that pioneered the netbook concept, has given InGear exclusive details of its DR-570 reader, to be released by the end of the year. Asus says it has developed a 6in, high-brightness, OLED colour screen that should run for a whopping 122 hours on one battery charge — and that’s not just when displaying text but under real-world conditions, such as running Flash video over its built-in wi-fi or 3G. If that claim stands up, it would make this game-changing device nearly as energy-efficient as today’s monochrome readers.

OK, now this is exactly what I meant about Asus upping the ante.

If that is true — including the bit about running Flash — this would be very, very interesting.

Why?

The Vook web versions of their digital books are powered by Flash and cannot be seen on a Flash-less iSlate (something I hope they will be able to fix by ditching Flash and going all-JavaScript and HTML5).

There are many other magazine sites that are powered by Flash too.

Also, since this is color and will allegedly run Flash, it puts yet another nail into the coffin of the eCrap Axis of E: eInk, ePub, eBook — in favor of digital books.

And that Elle magazine? Currently the digital edition uses Zinio Reader. Which is also available as an iPhone app.

So, has Asus signed a deal with Zinio for content?

— via Twitter from mobileread

Previously here:

CES, The Death Of eInk, And The Asus Factor
Enough eInk/ePaper/eCrap eBook Devices!
Barnes & Noble’s Incompatible Non-Universal ePub
Multi eInk eBook Device Fondle Report
IDPF Screws Up ePub eBook Covers For Everyone!
How Book Publishing Will Lose: eBooks Vs. Smart Digital Books
ePub For Seniors
Apple Will Break Open The Digital Book Floodgates
eBook Trademarks: Asus, Warner Brothers, And ViewSonic
The eBook Bubble: Save Your Money!
Moriah Jovan’s Asus eReading Flirtation
Why Digital Books Will Win
Smart Digital Books Vs. The ePub FAIL Model
How The Axis Of E Is Killing Publishing
Asus Atomic Bomb eBook Reader?
The Axis Of E Book Holocaust
Why eInk, ePub, And eBooks Will Fail
Dumb eBooks Must Die, Smart eBooks Must Live

Video Of The iSlate In 1994: Yes 1994!

I get all sorts of grief from people for advocating digital books over the eCrap ePub eInk eBook model of today.

Maybe this video will get them to STFU. It’s from 1994 and shows not only an iSlate-like tablet, but a fully digital newspaper.

Mind you, there are flaws here. But I’m astonished at the breadth of the vision.

I can’t think that Knight-Ridder is pleased to have this video surface. What the hell did you do with all that talent and vision you hired, KR? Nothing!

— thanks to @wmacphail via Twitter

CES, The Death Of eInk, And The Asus Factor

If you want to see what the eBook announcements were at CES, visit this one page. They’ve done great work compiling that list, even if they forgot Cool-er (which is understandable!).

Everything there that uses eInk you can ignore. They’re already d-e-d.

Some notes on the non-eInk devices after the break.

CES 2010 Note 1

There won’t be a parade of device announcements on this blog. Go elsewhere for that.

So far the only thing that intrigues me is the Sony Dash. I’ll post more once I know more.

The parade of landfill-ready eInk devices continues. I’ll probably do one big post about that procession of FAIL.

My initial take on Blio was that it was shit, then I caught a two-second glimpse of it running on an iPhone. Why didn’t they say so from the bloody start? Their website is pathetic for useful information. This is no way to go about doing things.

I’m still waiting for information about the Notion Ink tablet and Pixel Qi’s partners.

That hp mini-tablet Ballmer held up last night? Puhleeze. It’s fingertip-hostile Windows 7. Next!

2010 In Review

Everyone has already told you what 2009 was like.

And some think they’re telling you what 2010 will be.

I will instead tell you what 2010 was.