All I Wanted For Christmas Was…

Guess what I got for Christmas yesterday! Read more

Tags: eBook Tools, eBooks, eReaders

The Future Now: Panasonic Wordsgear

Here is a glimpse of the shape of things to come. Panasonic has introduced a full color 5.6 Inch Super VGA (1024×600 211 PixelsPerInch) PDF reader. Plays movies and music and Adobe PDF eBooks. You turn the pages using the rubber button on the side. Like the Sony eReader this thing can use SD cards. With all this multi-functionality and color too with the current Japanese price it would translate to a relatively cheap US $350.00.

Unlike the Sony eReader the screen can be reversed easily for ease of use by both right handed and left handed readers. The Wordsgear measures 105mm X 152mm X 28.4mm (4.1 x 6.0 x 1.1 in.) and weighs 325g (0.71 lb.)

Right now there is only one English web site carrying it since it is only out in Japan and who by the way use a unique form of DRM’d PDF. So if you do not read Japanese Manga please wait. But… when this comes out goodbye Sony and so long Kindle.
Look, pretty silver case, single black rubber button, color screen!!!

Tags: eBook Tools, eReaders

Teddypig Hacks An eBook: Winter 2007 ~ An eBook Reader Review

I knew it would come to this. It’s OK, I understand. Just let it out honey it will be alright. So let me guess. You decided to go looking at eBook Readers and got abused again. Hey, we have all been there. “So what does the Teddy Pig recommend?” you ask while drying the tears from your eyes and checking around for something to smack me with. Well…

First do yourself a favor and checkout sites like MobileRead and their eBook Reader Matrix which is the shit. Or… You can hang out here while I do my little soft shoe routine and show you how easy it is to decipher the crap they try and sell you when looking at these dogs with fleas.

So on with the show!

Name: iRex iLiad
Reading Size: 8.1 inch screen Gray Scale
Price: $699.00
DRM eBook Format: Mobipocket
Has Wi-fi

Name: Bookeen Cybook
Reading Size: 6 inch screen Gray Scale
Price: $350.00
DRM eBook Format: Mobipocket

Name: Amazon Kindle
Reading Size: 6 inch screen Gray Scale
Price: $400.00
DRM eBook Format: *Kindle Proprietary* Mobipocket
Has wi-fi

So first off I just wanted to group these three together. Why? Simple, because they are basically Gray Scale and Linux based and do one thing. They all support only one DRM: Mobipocket. You buy one of these and that’s all you are getting as of today is a stupid Mobipocket Reader.

See, I do not listen to promises. People promise you anything to get you to buy junk and then they head out the first time they are asked to cough up the goods. So the over priced iLiad looks good with it’s list of promises about what it could do but I ask a simple question “What does it do today?”

The answer to that question is that it does the exact same thing as any of the smaller eBook Readers in this category do, or in the case of the Amazon Kindle, promises they will do.

See just more promises. Listen, you want an eBook reader then do what I do and look at the bottom line…
What mainstream DRM Formats do they support as of today?

Name: eBookwise 1150
Reading Size: 5.5 inch screen Gray Scale
Price: $109.95
DRM eBook Format: IMP

Name: Sony PRS-505
Reading Size: 6 inch screen Gray Scale
Price: $299.99
DRM eBook Format: BBeB

Now you might be sitting there saying Teddy Pig “Why do you group these together?”
Because this is some funny ass shit. Big old Sony is basically pulling a Fictionwise. Both are running websites that sell eBooks and both are providing their own proprietary DRM format eBook Reader.

Now who do I trust here to provide support in the long run? Remember Betamax? Remember the Sony Clie?

So for the cheap price, for the support and for the simple fact they have been doing this for a while I would lay the money down for the eBookwise before taking a chance on a more expensive one trick Sony gadget that, if you notice, does not have a Sony VAIO tag on it. That is a dead giveaway to me what will eventually happen to the Sony eBook Reader when they get tired of throwing money at the publishers to support their DRM Format.

SUCKERS! Yeah, I bought a Sony PSP too… Why? I still have no clue.

Name: Palm T/X
Reading Size: 4 inch screen Color
Price: $282.54
DRM eBook Format: Mobipocket, Adobe Reader, Palm eReader
Has wi-fi

Ah, now we are getting into things that make sense to the gadget minded pig. This is a Palm. Everyone knows what a Palm is and everyone has played with these before. It supports both Mac and Windows for its sync program. It is now in color with the introduction of the Palm T/X. There simply is no surprises with the Palm and it supports Three DRM Formats. Mobipocket, Adobe Reader, two of the most stable, well known, fully supported and easily bought eBook DRM Formats today and Palm’s own eReader to boot.

I say with all that going on this is actually an eBook Reader that calls itself a PDA. Hell, this is such a run-of-the-mill, no brainer purchase, you can run down to your local Walmart and buy one of these things and be using it in seconds. Palm does not make false promises, they simply continue to provide executives across the globe with pocket toys. Get it? Executives… No Brainer? *heh* Solid bland old Palm is probably a better bet than a Sony eReader since just about every Fortune 500 company I have worked at hands these Palms out like candy. I always trust there will be tons of third party support for a business related product for a long time to come.

Name: HP iPAQ 211
Reading Size: 4 inch screen Color
Price: $449.99
DRM eBook Format: Palm eReader, Mobipocket, Adobe Reader, Microsoft Reader
Has wi-fi

Jeez, getting a little more expensive. This iPAQ is still $250.00 less than a iRex iLiad! Are you figuring out that a lot of these eBook Readers are sold to people who are a little lost in the shuffle? Why get a one trick pony when you can have one of these jumping through any hoop you buy? Let the Geeks with lots of money play in the shallow end of the pool. So here you get color, plus wi-fi, plus the damn thing supports 4 major DRM Formats. It’s almost a sure bet that any eBook you want will be available to be purchased and read on this Windows CE running iPAQ. Thanks HP!

Name: Sony VAIO UX280P - VAIO® UX
Reading Size: 4.5 inch screen High Resolution LCD 120DPI
Price: $1094.00
DRM eBook Format: ALL eBook DRM Formats and ALL eReaders on Windows XP SP2
Has EVERYTHING!

So here is the end of our tour folks and I’ll just sit right here and drool over this baby. See, when I look for gadgets I like going all the way and this is alllll the way. 48 GIGS of solid state memory storage running on a 1GHZ chip with 1GIG of on-board memory and a LCD screen that can pull off 120DPI without breaking a sweat *talk dirty to me daddy*. All that jargon should tell you this thing is tech speak for REALLY GREAT SEX. It even comes with a dock station that you can hook a full size monitor and keyboard to and use it just like a laptop. In fact look it has the Sony VAIO tag on it so Sony will support this thing for a long long time.

Because baby it is what it is. A James Bond-like laptop, the size of a paperback like The Thorn Birds or Roots or The Stand, that fits in your purse. It can hold every eBook you have and let you download more to your hearts content anywhere you want to be. This thing is all about immediate, delicious, instant gratification while giving you stunning Mega-Tokyo eye candy. Try and top that for this price at Overstock.com Jane. Uh-huh, yeah, who’s your daddy now?

Think of it this way. It’s only $500.00 more than a stupid iRex iLiad.

So you ask “What does the Teddy Pig use?”

This is my hulking 12 inch *Sha-wing!* G3 iBook that I bought for $300.00 off Craigslist. Actually it is nice and small. I typed this whole article out for you on it and I read all my eBooks with it. Sure it does not support Microsoft Reader and a couple of other DRM Formats but hell, it was cheap and it does everything I want.

Without eye strain.

Listen I am not against buying toys. I bought an Apple iPhone, I bought a Sony Playstation 3 damn it! These are all extremely expensive risks. Some have surprised me with doing more than expected even after I got them. It’s just that in my mind the gadget either has to be so ground breaking (iPhone) it makes some sense or is so practical (PS3 + HiDef TV = Bluray DVD Player + Awesome Video Games) it sells itself.

That’s the point folks, this market is all over the place and it constantly changes with new promises of better functionality every day. The major problem I see is ancient DOS level-like functionality (Displaying a text file) and hardware (Crappy gray scale eInk screens) being thrown together on freebie Operating Systems with some hybrid DRM no one else supports and sold at Snake Oil prices. So know all your options and make your choices carefully and above all else…

Happy eBook Reading!

Tags: eBook Tools

Teddypig Hacks An eBook: Why I Buy Microsoft LIT DRM Format

Welcome to another edition of Teddypig Hacks An eBook.

As I am sure you are all aware I detest DRM’s (Digital Rights Management) on anything I buy. Be it iTunes or eBooks I hate DRM because of the cost, because of the hassle, because of all the wasted money, and the bullshit anti-consumer reasoning behind it all.

The very idea that I am paying for the paranoia of the Publisher galls me to no end. The question of “why” do I have to purchase a whole other format of the eBook when I happen to switch eBook Readers or hardware platforms is beyond my ability to understand.

The great thing is iTunes, a solid reputable Internet Industry Leader, agrees with me and is slowly transferring their offerings into non-DRM formats for purchase.

So here on The Naughty Bits I have chosen to NOT review offerings from eBook Publishers that do not provide support for all the various file formats and more importantly, USE DRM and continue to promote these issues for the consumer. I do this for various reasons but my main argument is…

What if you are sight impaired and need the Read Aloud functionality of PDF? Did you know it costs somewhere around $4,000 to create a quality audio book? I feel Publishers that turn off that functionality in the PDF are just plainly discriminating against the sight impaired. You know, those attorneys are always looking for an angle.

BUT… Unfortunately every once in a while I will personally venture forth and purchase a DRM’d eBook and “fix it” so I do not have issues with all my various gadgets, Operating Systems, and laptops etc etc etc.

How do I get around this DRM you ask?

First a warning… This is a strictly a Microsoft Windows based solution.

Go pick up Microsoft Reader and register it.

I buy DRM eBooks usually from Fictionwise in Microsoft LIT format, if I have to purchase a DRM’d eBook that is.

Then I use this little free program.

Convert LIT

Convert LIT takes the DRM off and converts the eBook into a folder of your choosing leaving it in HTML format. Read the instructions that come with it.

Then I use this little free program.

PrimoPDF

PrimoPDF converts the HTML into PDF for all the functions that PDF can provide the sight impaired or those people using Linux. So that’s all there is to it.

Dear concerned Publisher, I am not promoting piracy I am promoting equal access for the disabled like having to put ramps in the front of your business. You might not like having to consider the needs of the disabled but I believe our society has said you have to and I think you eventually will be forced to with probably some stiff legal fines thrown in to make the point. So chew on that for a moment there before you start complaining about Fair Use or running to tell your company to get rid of LIT file formats.

Happy eBook reading all.

Tags: eBook Tools

Teddypig Hacks An eBook: Mobipocket eBook Reader for Mac OSX

Good Morning and welcome to another edition of Teddypig Hacks An eBook.
I was thinking that today we would all learn how to read Mobipocket eBooks on a Apple Mac which as you all know is simply impossible and can not be done. What can you do if you have a Palm T/X and a Mac and no way to read Mobipocket??? Ah yes, let’s dream the impossible dream shall we and away we go…

OK first off I need you to go over to this website called Access and register yourself as a developer. What are you developing? I don’t know, how about your sense of style. Once you get the email saying you can login then come back here and we will start downloading the necessary codes.

Once you have logged into the Access Website you need to go to the download page. You will find the link that says Garnet OS Development Tools in the lower right hand corner of the first screen you see after login.

Now you should finally be on the download page which is the most difficult thing about this exercise I promise. You will only be interested in the link that says Emulator and the one that says Platform ROMS.

Now click the Emulator link and let’s start downloading you are looking for Mac Binaries of course not source stuff. Off this page you will want emulator-mac.sit emulator-skins-19.sit HostFS_Emulator.sit

Once you are done there go to the Platform ROMS link and download the PalmOS412_RelROMs.sit file.

Now once that is all done you are through with that website but now I want you to go grab some Mobipocket install files so go over to the Mobipocket site here. Look for the files listed as Palm and grab mobireader.prc mathlib.prc bluepalm.pdb.

Your poor desktop should be a cluttered mess by now but let’s clean it up a little so start unpacking till you get this.

Once unpacked I rename the Skins folder so it just says Skins and drag it into the Emulator folder. Drag the Mobipocket files into the Emulator folder and open the Palm OS and HostFS folders and drag those single files into the Emulator folder. It should all look like this…

Finally! Now for the moment of truth. Drag the Palm OS ROM onto the Palm OS Emulator. Like this…

Click OK and you should now have a Palm V on your Mac OSX desktop. Viola! So now drag the Mobipocket and HostFS files onto the window of the Palm V. When you click the Home Button you should see Mobipocket Reader is now available for your use.

Now the moment you have been waiting for drag a Mobipocket eBook over and see what happens.

So there you go! This is not perfect but it seems Mobipocket is not answering the cry for a Mac Reader so this should hold you over till they fix that problem. Remember to thank the people at Palm for giving you this wonderful free way to read Mobipocket eBooks on the Mac. Maybe buy a Palm T/X in gratitude.

Happy eBook reading all.

Tags: eBook Tools

Scrivener: The Writer’s Wonderbra

Scrivener: Get Back To Writing

I recently ran across this Read more

Tags: eBook Tools

iPhone For eBooks ~ A Review

Dang I spent all this time writing a review for iPhone using eBooks and it is gone…

Strange, OK I am at work but lucky I have my camera so here we go again.

I just bought this thing Friday but the first thing I want to do with my iPhone was try and read a PDF file. I was successful but there are certain things you should know before purchasing an iPhone for this use.

Apple has locked the iPhone down. It currently accepts only files from programs like iTunes and iPhoto and iCal and your contacts from Yahoo etc etc. The great thing is the eMail which can be setup to use Gmail.

So that my good readers is how I got the PDFs to the iPhone. I eMailed them to my self. I am sure very quickly here they will open the SDK up to third party developers but I expect it will take a little time before this is fixed. Maybe the hackers out there will fix this quicker than that.

As you can see here once you receive the PDF files in email the iPhone identifies them and shows you it can display them. So here you have it the iPhone supports PDF files.

There is the front cover of a pretty eBook on your iPhone. Crystal clear and very sharp. The screen brightness adjusts itself to the type of light you are viewing it in. This is a killer app.

Now here is the fly in the ointment. The default view of the PDF has a very small font size and unlike videos and the internet application you can not flip the phone to show you the PDF in wide screen which would make the font much more readable. I hope they add an Adobe Reader and the ability to flip the screen soon here. When that is done the iPhone will be a full blown eBook Reader for the smart shopper.

All is not lost though folks. The iPhone does allow you to zoom into the PDF on the screen thus allowing the font to become readable the only issue is that you will then have to use your finger to move the page so that you can read the eBook. Not a good solution for normal use but it can be workable.

So in summary the iPhone makes calls, shows videos and plays music not to mention it gives you internet access and in a pinch it even lets you read PDFs but it is not fully functioning as an eBook Reader YET.

The facts are Adobe has a reader already built for OSX which is what is running under the pretty buttons on an iPhone in all it’s glory and I am sure they can easily adapt their existing Reader to the iPhone. So that means this issue can easily be resolved in the coming months.

I think this does mean the end of the single function expensive eBook Readers. The iPhone is powerful, sleek, sexy, and from what I have shown you here is fully capable of doing the very simple task of acting as an eBook Reader without much effort. It’s only a matter of time.

Tags: eBook Tools, iTunes

Teddypig Hacks An eBook: iTunes For eBooks

One thing I realized recently since I started buying eBooks is I had no way of really tracking them besides dumping them into a folder on my hard drive. I have tons of them now and I found myself starting to purchase eBooks that I already had. That’s when I knew something must be done.

I buy PDF files instead of the myriad of other formats available. Why? Because the lowly PDF file has honestly transcended “just being” a format created by Adobe. PDF is now supported across the board by just about every operating system you can name. Most, if not, all of the products I use in my job as a system administrator have PDF manuals that are available online. There are tons of products that let you read them and the format may not be the most cutting edge but it is highly adaptable and always readable. I tend to suspect the usefulness of any gadget or software that cannot support the common and proven to be useful PDF file.

So back to my pile-o-eBooks… What to do? Well I recently took a shot at converting an eBook to a text file to read on my iPod. It sorta worked but I do not recommend it because quite frankly the actual experience of reading an eBook on an iPod sucks major ass. But… iPods use iTunes and I read somewhere that iTunes recognizes PDFs. OH! Hmmmmm…

First download iTunes from Apple, it’s free you know. Now, after it installs open it up and let’s get started.

Say you are on Samhain and you see the new J. L. Langley book My Fair Captain for sale and you just have to have it because it is J. L. Langley and she is so cool. You purchase it and download it and you get a PDF file from Samhain that says myfaircaptain.pdf well that’s great but the file does not tell you who wrote it or any other useful information does it? Usually I tend to rename the file like JLL_myfaircaptain.pdf so I at least have an idea how to identify it and then stick it in my eBooks folder.

But now I have iTunes opened I can drag that file into iTunes. Notice iTunes does not erase the original when you drag it in? It just makes a nice copy for you and stashes it in it’s own application library system. Is that nice or what?

Once the file is listed and is sitting there in your iTunes you will notice the only information is the name of the file and there are all these columns that mean nothing to an eBook. So select View at the top of the application window and select View Options which brings up a little box and then I make sure only Artist, Date Added, Year and Comment are checked because that is all I think I really need. So click the OK button after making your selections and all those extra columns go away.

Now “right click” on the listing of the PDF file you just dragged into iTunes and select Get Info.

Then select the Info tab in the box that pops up.

Now just fill out Name with the series title *If applicable* and eBook title. Artist with the author’s name. Year it was published and I use the Comment to remind me what publisher the eBook came from.

Once that is all filled out click the OK button and you now have all the information you need about the eBook file you just put into iTunes.
Now try this. double click that My Fair Captain listing…

Up pops the Adobe reader and you are reading the eBook. Excellent!
But that’s not all sports fans!

Check this out, another free iTunes trick… Put a blank CD-ROM in your computer drive. Select File at the top of the application window and then select Back Up To Disc…

Your whole PDF library that you just spent the time to list in iTunes is now being backed up to a CD-ROM for ever and ever and ever. AMEN!

Look at that! All your eBook PDF files are now organized into individual folders by author and stored on a CD-ROM. That rocks! You rock! That $2000.00 bucks you spent on eBooks is now safe from the dangers of hard drive crashes and viruses and such.

All for freaking free!

Thanks Apple!

Tags: eBook Tools, iTunes