publishing

Opera launches mobile app store

Opera announced today the opening of its own mobile app store.

The new online Opera Mobile store is offering both paid and free apps designed for a variety of phones, including those running Java, Symbian, BlackBerry, Android, and Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS. The company launched the new store with help from mobile app marketplace Appia, which provided the storefront e-commerce technology.

Opera is specifically looking to reach users of its own mobile browser by setting up the store's mobile Web site as a Speed Dial link. Opening the site on a mobile device prompts users to either select … Read more

Adobe releases tablet publishing tool

Adobe Systems today released the Enterprise Edition of its Digital Publishing Suite, a tool for creating interactive publications on tablets--and for making Adobe more relevant in an age of new computing devices.

The software integrates with Adobe's existing Creative Suite applications such as InDesign to let designers produce digital publications for Apple's iPad, RIM's PlayBook, Motorola's Xoom, and Samsung's Galaxy Tab lines of Android-based tablets. It also dovetails with digital distribution systems, including Apple's App Store Subscriptions and Google One Pass. And it comes with analytics services from Adobe's Omniture acquisition so that … Read more

The rise of the 99-cent Kindle e-book

Not long ago I did a story about how e-book piracy was accelerating and that publishers should be concerned. But while piracy is certainly an issue, there's something else lurking out there that may be a bigger problem: e-book price erosion. Or put another way, the blogification of the book industry.

Now, I know what you're saying: that's great news. These publishers have been gouging us with ridiculous pricing for digital files that cost next to nothing to produce (in terms of material costs) and finally we're starting to see lots of deals out there. But … Read more

Demand Media acquires blogging tool CoverItLive

The ubiquitous and controversial Demand Media has acquired CoverItLive, a live-blogging tool that lots of publishers--including CNET--use for hosting live chat events and covering news in real time.

Demand Media, which grew extraordinarily fast and recently went public, is best known as a freelancer clearinghouse for the production of search-engine-friendly content on sites like eHow (how-to tutorials) and Livestrong.com (health advice). The company has been hit with allegations that the majority of its content is cheap, low-quality, and pollutes search results--that is, that it's a "content farm"--something it understandably denies.

CoverItLive, typically used to quickly … Read more

HubPages' ad program: We're the anti-content farm

Given the fuss about Demand Media--its IPO, its controversial business model, the fact that Google seems to be hellbent on clearing its "content farm" brethren out of front-page search results--it's no surprise that companies are pitching themselves as the "anti-Demand Media." In other words, they're hoping there's a space for a mass producer of online content that improves rather than pollutes (as some critics of Demand have suggested) search engine results.

One of them, HubPages, plans today to formally unveil an advertising program it says will bring "premium" advertisements to … Read more

iPad pub The Daily pops up on PCs

Curious about Rupert Murdoch's heavily hyped iPad publication but not in possession of said tablet? Well, thanks to an LA-based computer programmer and journalist, you can check out The Daily in its entirety on your laptop, Netbook, or PC--though you'll miss out on the tablet-specific bells and whistles.

Launched with much fanfare yesterday, the specially designed, subscription-only, multimedia "newspaper" has media observers wondering if it will turn out to be a legitimate glimpse of publishing's future or nothing more than an interesting experiment.

After the postlaunch free trial of two weeks, the pub--which is viewable … Read more

Efficient publishing tools

Swift Publisher is a low-cost desktop publishing program that's perfect for graphic-design neophytes who need to produce simple documents such as posters, letterhead, cards, and fliers.

Fitting for a beginner-friendly app, Swift Publisher launches with an assistant that gives you access to more than 100 different templates, in categories that include brochures, catalogs, and newsletters, with handy thumbnail previews that let you browse through your options. Once you're into a new document, Swift Publisher gives you plenty of easy editing options, from altering text to changing backgrounds and inserting photos (either your own, or using a built-in library … Read more

Portland store trades print books for Kindles

Yesterday, I wrote about how Kindle book sales are now outpacing paperback sales. Well, one Portland bookstore, the Microcosm Publishing book and zine store, is going against the grain and allowing folks to exchange their Kindles for cold, hard books. That's right, some of that good old pulp.

On its blog, you'll find this post from Microcosm from earlier this month:

Do you love print? Do you still read books? Did you get a Kindle for Christmas? Do you want to trade in your soulless faux-literary technology for its worth in good old fashioned books? Well, friends, Microcosm Publishing's got your back! Beginning RIGHT NOW you can bring in your Christmas Kindle to the Microcosm store in Portland (636 SE 11th) and trade it in for its worth in new or used books and zines! That's right! Why let fad technology kill print when you can take a stand and fill up your shelves in the process.… Read more

Another sharing service piggybacks on Kindle lending

Here's another me-too service that intends to help consumers share their electronic books by piggybacking on the lending features available on Kindle and Nook books.

BookSwim, which bills itself as a "Netflix for Books," announced that it plans to launch eBookFling.com tomorrow, a site where users swap e-books. BookSwim's press release makes it obvious that company managers either anticipate the service won't be warmly received by Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and book publishers or are trying to gin up the release with a little controversy.

"The initial reaction may be a negative," … Read more