Peter James's Host, published on two disks, was an early example – but exactly where the medium started life is surprisingly tricky to identifyWhat was the first ebook? Debate rages … When Peter James published his thriller Host on two floppy disks, in 1993, it was billed as the "world's first electronic novel", and attacked as a harbinger of the apocalypse which would destroy literature as we knew it. Now it has been accepted into the Science Museum's collection as one of the earliest examples of the form, as the spotlight of academia begins to shine on the history of digital publishing."I got absolutely pilloried," says James. "I was on Today accused of killing the novel, I was a front-page headline on papers in Italy – 99% of the press was negative … one journalist even took his computer on a wheelbarrow to the beach, along with a generator, to read Host in his deckchair."The digital version of the novel (it was also published physically) went on to sell 12,000 copies, according to James, and two years later, he was speaking on a panel on the future of the novel at the University of Southern California, together with Apple founder Steve Jobs. "I said ebooks would catch on when they became more convenient to read than the printed novel," said James. "It was astonishing the amount of outrage it caused."And Host – about a scientist who downloads his brain into a computer and has his body frozen – has now become a historical artefact, accepted into the Science Museum's... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In December 2010 I asked: "Is someone fixing ebook prices?" Google's digital bookstore opened for business, and I started comparing prices only to find them fairly consistent across all retailers. I expected to see huge variances, not pricing consistency, which shouldn't be in a competitive... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2012-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) is to have meetings with individual publishers over e-... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Yahoo files papers outlining ways of scattering adverts through digital books based on what is being read. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2012-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Are you ready for a bombshell? Turns out people who read ebooks read more books than those don't. That tidbit comes from the number crunchers at Pew. According to a new report titled "The Rise of E-Reading," the ebook readers read an average of 24 books in the past year, versus the 15 books read... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-04-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One in five Americans say they've read an ebook in the last year, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. Those numbers come from a late January survey, they're up sharply from a December 2011 survey. Pew says the jump coincides with a jump in... Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2012-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-books are catching on quickly, with more than one in five U.S. adults having read an electronic book in the last year. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Buenas noticias para todos los amantes de los libros que viven en Estados Unidos. Amazon acaba de anunciar una nueva tienda llamada eBooks Kindle en Español. El nuevo servicio dará acceso a más de 33,000 libros que se podrán leer en los diferentes dispositivos Kindle. Esta biblioteca virtual... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One in five American adults read an electronic book in the last year, as gift-giving sped the shift away from the printed page, a Pew Research Center survey showed on Wednesday. Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2012-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Justice Department is nearing a settlement with publishers over allegations of ebook pricing, but finalizing the deal is proving problematic as Apple and two publishers are balking at the terms of the deal. Amazon will be permitted to once again discount ebooks to its customers as a result.... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2012-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lonely Planet is launching two new ebook series, one offering guidance to the enjoyable... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Australia and India have joined the UK and the US as world leaders in ebook adoption rates,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The April 2012 issue of Fast Company is now available on the iTunes Store, and it's optimized for reading on the new iPad. The image below shows how much sharper the type looks when viewed on the new iPad with the Retina display. The images are in high definition, too, rasterized at four times... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Hunger Games may have had a heck of an opening weekend, but let's not forget who the top box office spot belongs to: a certain bespectacled boy wizard. Roughly a decade and half after the publication of the first book in the series -- and after several months of promises -- the ultra-popular... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Harry Potter ebooks will go on sale exclusively from the Pottermore website from midday... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The "Harry Potter" series, which has conquered mediums from books to movies, is finally available in ebook format. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mobiles24 has removed all ebooks from its website after Hachette UK obtained a court order... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An advisory body to the French prime minister has predicted that ebooks are about to shake up... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Publishers Association is calling for the government to abolish the 20% VAT rate on ebooks... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Evanston, IL—Agate Publishing Inc., the Evanston, Illinois-based independent press, has entered into a partnership with the Chicago Tribune to produce ebooks created from Chicago Tribune-owned content. The ebooks will appear as pa ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Steve Jobs left behind a legal mess for Apple chief executive Tim Cook. Decisions the former CEO made when brokering ebook distribution deals haunt Apple, as a civil price-fixing case moves forward and the specter of a federal antitrust investigation approaches. Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2012-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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