"EPUB" entries
An Open, Webby, Book-Publishing Platform
This short article outlines some ideas about an open source, online platform for making books, based on WordPress.
An expert view of unicorns and digital rights management
Kirk Biglione is a digital rights management (DRM) historian who brings a clear-eyed perspective to an inflammatory topic. While others jump on soapboxes, he actually does the homework. Case in point: Biglione’s in-depth look at the music industry’s stormy history with DRM.
PDF vs. EPUB vs. Mobi Format Download Comparison for oreilly.com
UPDATE: Additional view showing relative volume, rather than percentage. I'm honored to have been elected to the IDPF Board of Directors, and will use the occasion to share some interesting data about download formats from oreilly.com. For most of our titles, we offer three different (DRM-free) formats: PDF, EPUB, and Kindle-compatible Mobipocket. PDF continues to be the most popular format,…
Rolling out Android .apk Files in Ebook Bundles
A distinguishing feature of Google's Android Market compared to the App Store is that it's a non-exclusive agreement. That means Android app developers are free to sell their apps in other places. With the nearly 200 Microsoft Press ebooks now available through oreilly.com, we've begun adding the Android ".apk" application file to our ebook bundle (we'll be rolling it…
Two Cool New Bookworm Features
There's no question that there's plenty of room for improvement among EPUB readers. From simple things like poorly handling multiple author names to more complicated issues like CSS support, readers (the people, not the software) deserve better. That's one reason we've been sponsoring the open-source Bookworm reader, which is among the best ebook readers around (and looks great on mobile…
Amazon Acquires Lexcycle
Lexcycle, the company behind Stanza, has just announced it's been acquired by Amazon: We are not planning any changes in the Stanza application or user experience as a result of the acquisition. Customers will still be able to browse, buy, and read ebooks from our many content partners. We look forward to offering future products and services that we hope…
Over 160 O'Reilly Books Now in Kindle Store (without DRM), More on the Way
I’m happy to announce that more than 160 O’Reilly books are now available on Kindle, and are being sold without any DRM (Digital Rights Management). Though we do offer more than 400 ebooks direct from our website, the number for sale on Kindle will be limited until Amazon updates Kindle 1 to support table rendering (“maybe this summer” is the most specific they would get). We expect to add another 100 or so titles in the coming weeks; those have needed a more detailed analysis of the table content to identify good candidates. There were two main reasons we held our books back from sale on Kindle: poor rendering of complex content and compulsory DRM.
Open Publishing Distribution System — an Open-Standards Catalog Format
It's no secret we're big fans of the iPhone/iPod reading app Stanza. While the Kindle App has overtaken Stanza for the top-spot among free book apps in iTunes, Stanza offers a much better reading experience than the Kindle App (for example, by supporting standard formatting like tables and whitespace-preservation). But more than the quality of the software, the major reason I'm so bullish on Stanza is their willingness to experiment.
Sony-Google Deal Adds 500k Public Domain Books to E-Reader
Sony is adding 500,000 public domain EPUB-based titles to its Reader catalog through a partnership with Google. Paul Biba at Teleread examines Sony's rationale: Sony's apparent intent, meanwhile, beyond adding value to the Reader, will be to use public domain books in ePub to entice people to install its software and in time buy its reader devices. In the…
At TOC: Bookworm Online EPUB Reader Now Part of O'Reilly Labs
Update: There are now 400+ shiny DRM-free EPUB books from O'Reilly if you want to give Bookworm a test drive. Much of what's on our complete list with a green "E" next to it is available in EPUB and is Bookworm-friendly (the rest is just PDF for now, but you'll get the EPUB as a free update when it's available)….