e-Relevant

Kindle 3 Video Review by MobileTechReview

martine@nhpsa.co.za (Martin Endemann) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:32:23 GMT

This is a video review of Amazon's newest 6" eReader, the Kindle 3. It features a high contrast Pearl e-Ink display that's much more readable under low light. The 3rd gen Kindle is also smaller and lighter than the Kindle 2. It now has a web-kit web browser, improved PDF handling.

Facebook launches Facebook Places

marks@nhpsa.co.za (Mark Seabrook) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:07:28 GMT

In the last 48hrs Facebook has launched ‘Facebook Places’.

I have done some quick research on what has been said, there are mixed reviews but largely due to the privacy issues & Facebooks’s aggressive approach of always making these features ‘active by default’. However there is no doubt that this could become a massive game changer if even a ¼ of the 500 million Facebook users begin to utilize it.

I have included links and snippets of relevant articles below – failing that just Google ‘Facebook places’

Diesel eBooks put together "A Short History of eBooks” Timeline

laraa@nhpsa.co.za (Lara Aucamp) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:44:22 GMT

CC photo by goXunuReviews

The Diesel eBook Team has put together a timeline featuring the important milestones in the brief history of eBooks.

Penguin opens new chapter with cross-media eBooks

laraa@nhpsa.co.za (Lara Aucamp) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:17:09 GMT

On Tuesday, Penguin released the first electronic book with a video tie-in, opening up a new chapter for ebooks. Penguin Books’ CEO, John Makinson gave an overview of how publishers might approach the iPad as a publishing platform. They hope that this deal will serve as a model for other cross-media partnerships.

Flipboard launches on the iPad

laraa@nhpsa.co.za (Lara Aucamp) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:03:16 GMT

As of Today, Flipboard is now available in the iPad app store. This start-up calls itself the "world's first social magazine". It basically connects to your social media accounts (mainly Facebook and Twitter), and takes content posted by your network, as well as popular news sources (which you choose) - and displays this content in a layout format similar to a magazine. In this video, you can get an idea of what this unique browsing experience is like.

Lessons we can learn from fashion's free culture

laraa@nhpsa.co.za (Lara Aucamp) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:06:56 GMT

Photo by neutralSurface

Right now industries with a lot of copyright protection might actually have something to learn from industries such as fashion. What is the type of ownership model, in a digital world, that will lead to the most innovation? Fashion might be very good place to start looking for a model for creative industries in the future.

Johanna Blakley gave a very insightful talk on TED.com regarding the Fashion industry's take on plagiarism.

What we know (or don't know) about Google Editions

laraa@nhpsa.co.za (Lara Aucamp) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:40:57 GMT

Photo by manfrys

It has been widely reported that Google will be releasing their “cloud bookstore,” known as Google Editions, sometime this year, stocking more than 4 million books. However, there is still a lot of confusion regarding what we actually know about Google Editions. Here is a very informative article about "Google Editions: What We Know (and Don’t Know)".

The article summarizes what the people “in the know” are saying, what the rumor mill is spinning, and what Google, with its tight lips, has inferred. It covers the following topics: Which books, Platforms, Partners, Epub, Cost and price, Enhanced ebooks, Print on demand, Google tablet and more.

Brazil has best ever implementation of WIPO Copyright Treaty

laraa@nhpsa.co.za (Lara Aucamp) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:22:21 GMT

This was too good not to share. This is an extract from "Brazil's copyright law forbids using DRM to block fair use" by Cory Doctorow on Boing Boing.

Random House Struik se eerste e-Boek word bekend gestel

laraa@nhpsa.co.za (Lara Aucamp) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 12:58:37 GMT

Random House Struik het sopas hulle eerste e-Boek bekend gestel, onder die druknaam Umuzi. Praat verby grense deur Laurie Gaum en Frits Gaum is gelyktydig in druk en e-Boek formaat vrygestel. En aangesien dit oor die algemeen 'n paar dae neem vandat 'n boek beskikbaar is, tot die boek op die rakke in die winkels is, kan die ywerige lesers wat van e-Boeke gebruik maak, hulle hande voor die res op 'n kopie van die boek kry. Hierdie e-Boek is tans op kalahari.net beskikbaar.

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Google introduces books and magazines in 3D

julial@nhpsa.co.za (Julia Lhuillery-Moulder) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 10:35:28 GMT

It's no joke! It was announced on the blog 'Inside Google Books' that books and magazines are now available in 3D. Check Treasure Island as an example.

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