ebooks

Every June, I am as elated as the next student to have a three-month respite from the confines of school. But, come August, you can find me on Amazon.com, frantically buying an inordinate number of books for every class--in many cases, more than two books per class.

Naturally, my curiosity was stirred upon hearing about a new project from CafeScribe, launched by Salt Lake City-based Fourteen40. The program allows users to buy and download electronic textbooks online. That's nothing particularly groundbreaking, though it could save me some neck and back problems if it cut down on the pounds … Read more

Adobe's Digital Editions lets you manage your e-book collection with large icons taken from the book covers, an uncluttered interface, and the ability to create playlist-style "bookshelves." Released for both Windows and Mac, the iTunes-style management might just help make e-books the Next Big Thing.

In this First Look video, take a quick tour of the app from its unusual install process onward.

Textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin said Monday it signed a pact with Microsoft to develop a new digital education system for school districts. Under the deal, Houghton Mifflin will build its learning system with Microsoft technology, including the.Net framework 3.0 and its latest SharePoint servers.

In 2001, Houghton Mifflin, an American institution in education publishing, bought instructional technology from IBM. That technology became what it called Learning Village, a system for school administrators and teachers to access curriculum, among other features. Now used by 45,000 schools in roughly 30 countries, the software is due for an update, according … Read more

Someone was certainly following the KISS method when it came to designing Adobe's new electronic book reader, Adobe Digital Editions.

Adobe on Tuesday announced the release of Adobe Digital Editions 1.0 available for free download to Windows and Mac users.

The application provides a very basic and easy-to-navigate interface for storing, sorting, viewing and annotating digital text files along the lines of what Apple's iTunes does for audio and Google's Picasa for pictures.… Read more

Someone was certainly following the KISS method when it came to designing Adobe's new electronic book reader, Adobe Digital Editions.

Adobe on Tuesday announced the release of Adobe Digital Editions 1.0 available for free download to Windows and Mac users.

The application provides a very basic and easy-to-navigate interface for storing, sorting, viewing and annotating digital text files along the lines of what Apple's iTunes does for audio and Google's Picasa for pictures.

The only main difference is that Adobe offers no automatic search and import feature, and does not have a direct portal to the Internet for searching and downloading books.

There are two main views from which to navigate the entire application. The library view lets you manage your collection, while the reading view lets you work within one individual eBook or PDF file.

Adobe Digital Editions is compatible with any PDF or .epub (International Digital Publishing Forum standard) file. Loading files consists of either dragging and dropping them into the application window or choosing "Add File" in the Library menu.

You can view books through Adobe Digital Editions in thumbnail or list view by title, author, publisher, last read, number of pages, date added or status. You can also read any metadata, such as permissions information, attached to a file.

Adobe Digital Edition's "bookshelves" are akin to playlists. You drag and drop files from the general library into bookshelves in a column on the left to categorize books, magazine and other digital documents by genre, type or source.

Books can be viewed in double or single page views of adjustable screen fits.

The simplicity makes sense given the fact that the software is intended to integrate with the Sony Reader.… Read more

A court has ruled in favor of children's author J.K. Rowling over fraudulent copies of Harry Potter e-books, according to reports out of the U.K.

Warner Brothers, who produces the Harry Potter films, and Rowling filed a lawsuit against eBay in 2004 over illegal copies of Harry Potter e-books that have been sold from the Indian version of the Web site.

According to the Times Online, an Indian court has ordered that eBay remove the entries for unauthorized copies of Harry Potter e-books from its site until a hearing scheduled for May 23.

But an eBay spokeswoman … Read more

"You are a young gifted mountain climber traveling to Nepal with your best climbing buddy Carlos, to find the legendary Abominable Snowman (otherwise known to locals as a "Yeti"). Not long after your arrival in the Himalayas, Carlos goes missing. What do YOU do?," asks R.A. Montgomery.

Do you look for your friend Carlos or do you continue searching for the Abominable Snowman without him? You decide. Only this time, you click a link instead of turning to page 46.

The Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) series books of yesteryear are back as downloads for … Read more

Talk about a niche within a niche. While we've become resigned to the persistence of designer special editions, no matter how eGregious, we've got to wonder how well this one can possibly do.

From the outset, the leather-bound Dooney & Bourke Sony Reader eBook has three disadvantages. First, Dooney & Bourke doesn't have the cachet of higher-end labels; second, e-books in general have yet to take off; and third, it's being marketed as a "special Valentine's Day edition."

An e-book reader for Valentine's Day? How utterly romantic.

With so many gadgets morphing into one another, we've often wondered why the natural combination of reading and music hasn't come up more often. Oh, right: No one reads books anymore.

Maybe some people will at least use the dictionary that comes with this combo e-book reader and MP3 player from Sharp. The RD-CX100 handheld has a relatively large 4.3-inch screen and a dictionary that can store up to "63 volumes," according to Akihabara News, though it doesn't explain exactly how much data a volume comprises. No other details are provided, though photos show … Read more