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Five Top Publishers Plan Rival to Kindle Format
eldavojohn writes "Time Inc., News Corp., Conde Nast, Hearst Corp., and Meredith Corp. are teaming up to create a digital newsstand and somewhat open format that 'can render our content beautifully on those devices that come to market' instead of the gray inked Kindle's energy conscious display. Devices are being made for the new format with the launch coming next year. The format will also target smart phones and tablet computers. Will this pose a threat at all to the Kindle?"
Is Murdoch's News Corp actually going to enter the news business?
For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
PDF is very poor for eBooks, because it doesn't have enough information regarding the significance of content on a page and the page size is hard-wired into the document, so for example PDF text doesn't reflow well if you change the font size on a reader, header and footer information get messed up, tabular information is a no-hoper on an eReader at anything but native page size and so on.
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
Sure they can, if they want to. They could add native PDF support in an update for us Gen 1 owners too, but haven't, so don't hold your breath :(
---- Booth was a patriot ----
ePub is an ebook format. What they're talking about is more of a multi-media format.
Depends, the author could give them the rights to distribute. In which case it's there content.
It's never your content. It's your book, but that's different.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
If only I could leave a recipe open for more than 10 minutes w/o the stupid screen saver like image coming on.
This has been fixed in the 2.3 update - the screen timeout is now set to 20 minutes.
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without the desire of paying umpteen dollars extra per month just to download books
I'm 99% sure there is no montly data fee to use a kindle / nook / etc. --> That cost is built into the unit and/or the [proprietary] media
Otherwise I agree with your post in that ebooks are in a nascent state at the moment and are still years away from being popular primarily due to the limitations you listed.
They believe it is theirs because of the Divine Right of Publishing Conglomerates and Corporate Power. They are invested with the power to claim something belongs to them and it must be ever so.
Personally, I'm getting a big kick out of the fact that Conde Nast and their ilk are hurting, bad. I've come to believe that anytime a rich and powerful corporation suffers, an angel gets its wings.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Looks like I spoke too soon. The 3G actually is free. However, my remaining points are still valid.
The nice thing about such reflective displays is that, like most other objects that we look at, contrast improves as ambient illumination increases, and because good contrast is of paramount importance for tasks such as reading, it feels much more natural than a display that operates by hurling photons at you, and is therefore generally far easier to read for prolonged periods.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
That's because PDF should only be used for printing. If you are reading PDFs on your computer monitor, somebody screwed up.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton