Hi,
this is a very interesting topic.
The electronic book industry is (or at least it seems to be) gaining
momentum with a large bang.
The role of microsoft in this industry is curious yet not altogather
surprising. Microsoft has expressed concern for electronic forms of books
in the past. As we saw when microsoft announced a project in combination
with REcording for the blind and ... It is roumered that Microsoft has been
involved with the NLS digital books project with some degree. Microsoft
people have been providing their experties in suggesting the format as well
as other information to the committee who is in charge of the digital book
format in the NLS program.
No matter what the electronic industry does, one thing we have to make sure
is that the new devices and new types of eletronic information systems that
come out in the market are accessible to the blind and other disabled
individuals.
Pratik Patel
-----Original Message-----
From: Beryl Williams <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, January 15, 1999 9:13 PM
Subject: Fw: some summaries of electronic book articles
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Neil Graham <[log in to unmask]>
>To: viewpoints list <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Friday, January 15, 1999 3:56 PM
>Subject: some summaries of electronic book articles
>
>
>>
>>Hi folks. This isn't of direct interest; but both the summaries and the
>>accompanying commentary are very interesting in that they point out some
>>trends that might affect us in future.
>>
>>Cheers,
>>Neil
>>----------------------------------------
>>>From [log in to unmask] Fri Jan 15 16:51:04 EST 1999
>>
>>Hello,
>>
>>The last two issues of PC Magazine contain articles of direct and indirect
>>interest to the electronic book community. I'll summarize each one and
>make
>>a few comments. At the end I'll ask a question about Microsoft's interest
>in
>>electronic books, and their future plans in this area.
>>
>>
>>19-JAN-99: Page 9, article entitled "The Eye is the Display"
>>
>> This article describes using the eye directly as a computer display.
>> The technology is called Virtual Retinal Display (VRD) and is being
>> developed by Microvision. It can be built into eyeglasses or
goggles.
>> It promises very high resolution, as high as the eye can see, and at
>> low cost.
>>
>> Obviously, this could end up being (short of directly connecting to
>> the brain), a great way to develop truly portable electronic book
>> readers that do not need to have a display screen. Keep an eye on
>this
>> technology -- it may be just around the corner.
>>
>>
>>19-JAN-99: Page 10, article entitled "Walking the Web"
>>
>> This article describes wireless "tablets" for Web browsing. They
>> look a lot like the current batch of e-book readers now being
>marketed.
>> The particular one profiled is the Cyrix WebPad. Obviously, if
>e-books
>> are formatted in HTML, and soon in XML, such devices could serve as
>> e-book readers. (Dvorak also mentions the WebPad on page 89 in his
>> "Inside Track" column.)
>>
>> I think that NuvoMedia, SoftBook, EveryBook, etc., should seriously
>> consider expanding their devices to be able to browse the Web (to
read
>> both HTML and XML files) in addition to reading their encrypted
>e-books.
>> That may be the way they can really sell their devices. This also
>> supports what I've been saying all along -- THE FUTURE OF E-BOOKS IS
>> XML. So why not build an e-book reader which is essentially an XML
>> browser -- then it can be used to view not only encrypted XML e-books
>> sold via proprietary channels -- it can be used to view open
documents
>> via the Internet and intranets, and those stored within the e-book
>reader
>> device itself.
>>
>>
>>19-JAN-99: page 21, three letters to the editor regarding Dvorak's
article
>> in the Dec. 1 issue of PC Mag on electronic books.
>>
>> The first letter lamented the still high cost they saw of buying
>e-books
>> for the current e-book readers. The second letter mentioned the big
>> advantage of e-books is their ability to do a full text search. The
>> third letter mentioned that e-books can be a blessing to the visually
>> impaired. Nothing new as all these things have been talked about
>here,
>> but it shows the public is beginning to "see the light".
>>
>>
>>19-JAN-99: page 35, article entitled "Splitting Pixels"
>>
>> This is a fascinating article which describes the resurrection by
>> Microsoft of an idea first developed by Apple. This idea is to
>greatly
>> improve the clarity of text on current displays using a "pixel
>splitting"
>> method (this works the best for the new digitally driven, versus
>analog-
>> driven, flat screen displays). Even when very high resolution and
>> inexpensive flat screen displays are developed and marketed (e.g.,
300
>> dpi or better), I surmise that even here "pixel splitting" can help
to
>> further sharpen text (isn't it said that 600 dpi is the minimum to
>have
>> truly sharp text for reading?) A note in the final paragraph of this
>> article was of especial interest: "Electronic books were the initial
>> focus of Microsoft's research..." Here, again, Microsoft is being
>> mentioned along with electronic books. Things are happening up in
>> Washington, I gather. What?
>>
>>
>>09-FEB-99: page 21, letter to the editor by Dennis Bronstein of Chicago,
>> Illinois. I'll violate copyright law and reproduce his whole letter
>> here. Note it is not about e-books, but about MP3 files, but I'll
>> comment on its relevance to e-books:
>>
>> "Your article "Online Chaos: Blame It on Rio" (Trends, December 15)
>only
>> briefly touched on the real reason the RIAA and major record labels
>are
>> so opposed to MP3 technology. It's true that they will lose
royalties
>> from people copying CD's for their friends and distributing them on
>the
>> Internet. But this will not be a significant loss. What they are
>scared
>> of is losing control of the music industry. MP3 and the Internet
have
>> made it possible for artists to bypass the major labels and record,
>> market, and distribute their music in a very cost-effective manner.
>The
>> day is almost here when artists will no longer have to wait for their
>> big break to land a contract with a major label. Instead, they will
>> simply distribute their music themselves over the Internet."
>>
>> The insights of the above excellent letter to the editor also apply
>> directly to book publishing. Currently, because of the high cost of
>> paper book publishing, the whole industry is setup around a pre-
>> publishing filtering model where only a small fraction of all
>submitted
>> books get published. In addition, as a result of this system,
authors
>> are treated horribly by publishing houses -- the horror stories are
>many,
>> and have been mentioned here in a general way. Thus, as the
>electronic
>> book market continues to expand, I believe we'll see the rise of
>direct
>> e-book publishing -- the ability of authors to self-publish or
publish
>> with the help of a service bureau for very little cost to them, and
to
>> immediately make the works available to the public.
>>
>> Of course, the usual argument that this won't happen is that the
>"people
>> who buy books rely on the publishers to filter the titles for them."
>But
>> this argument ignores the probability that new mechanisms, paradigms
>if
>> you will, will arise to help the end-user to filter and find what
they
>> want to read without relying on a traditional publisher. Such
>> "filtering" mechanisms will be "post-publishing". In several prior
>> posts I have elaborated further on this idea. The MP3 phenomena is
an
>> archetypical glimmer of the future of the electronic book publishing
>> industry. After all, for the last 100 years, the public has relied
on
>> the Recording Industry to filter and select the music they hear -- a
>> reliance very similar to the public's reliance on paper book
>publishers.
>>
>>
>>The last question I'd like to throw out concerns Microsoft's role in the
>>electronic book future. I've seen the phrase "electronic books"
associated
>>with Microsoft in several articles the last few months. Something is
>brewing
>>up in Washington. Anybody have behind the scenes information? If you
have
>>such information, forward it to me and I'll repost it, keeping your
>identity
>>a secret (I promise, I'll even delete your e-mail header and forget who
you
>>were). Better yet, use a pseudonymous e-mail account (such as HotMail) to
>>forward your message to me, or an anonymous remailer.
>>
>>I don't mind being the "Drudge" of the new e-book industry. :^)
>>
>>Enjoy!
>>
>>Jon Noring
>>
>>--
>>__________________________________________________________________________
_
>__
>> OmniMedia Digital Publishing | Web:
>http://www.awa.com/library/omnimedia
>> 9671 S. 1600 West St. | E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>> South Jordan, UT 84095 | Phone: 801-253-4037
>>
>> The "Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana", "Perfumed Garden of Sheik Nefzaoui", and
>> many other great electronic books for Windows.
>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~
>~~
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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