Research Buzz has a great little mini-guide. Also see Search Engine Watch's helpful tips--perhaps more accurately described as an overview--from contributor Gary Price.Meanwhile the Seattle Times has run a piece quoting reference-book authors worried about readers cherry-picking the information most relevant to them. Over on the eBook Community list, a member muses: "Maybe TeleRead has (sorta) arrived." Well, there's a difference. TeleRead as a pubic-private partnership would have more sensitivity to the needs of readers, authors and publishers--as opposed just to shareholders--and could arrive at fair business models. Amazon by contrast is a very smart but still profit-driven corporation...

Americans public schools spent a mere $9.5 million on mobile gizmos out of $5.1 billion in tech spending in the 2001-2002 school year. But handheld makers, especially PalmOne, would like to change that in a big way, according to a CNET story.The TeleRead take: Bigger screens would help plenty. Also it should be criminal in most cases to give PDAs to students--at least older ones--if the units lack keyboards.But back to screens. Some children may fare better reading off tablets or, gasp, p-books, than handhelds. Here's to education coming ahead of technology! I love reading off my Dell Axim,...

"Infants, toddlers and preschoolers are spending far more time watching DVDs and clicking TV remote controls and computer mice than with books, according to a Kaiser Foundation study released yesterday. The effect of such high-intensity media exposure is unclear, researchers said, but what is clear is that the under-6 set is becoming far more media-savvy than anyone expected. 'We are pushing all these media further and further down to the crib,' said Matthew Melmed, executive director of the Washington-based children's advocacy group Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families. Melmed and a host of other children's...

From Jerry Justianto of Pocket PC eBooks Watch and Beyond, our partner site:I just purchased (and plan to give another chance) secured Adobe e-book, and I love it--but I lie. Bottom line: Don't buy Adobe eBooks.1. I download the book into my notebook, after long process of downloading the reader (15 MB) and activation process (15 minutes with a slow-speed Internet connection).2. The e-book looks bad in Adobe reader, with awkward navigation and book marking processes.3. I can't read it with my Pocket PC.4. Then I can't download to my desktop from the e-book store, even after twice activating....

The U.S. Copyright Office, part of the Library of Congress, has just offered four new exceptions to the DMCA--fair use-related. From Wired News:Busting open a digital lock to get hold of copyright works normally is forbidden, but the Librarian of Congress ruled Tuesday that there are exceptions...Those who are exempt from the rule are those who are "adversely affected by virtue of such prohibition in their ability to make non-infringing uses of that particular class of works," according to the DMCA...On Tuesday, the U.S. Copyright Office released the four "classes of works" exempted from the anti-circumvention rule. People may...

Convert Lit, the uppity program that lets you crack Microsoft Reader to make Fair Use backups or read books in evil, unGatesian formats, has moved to a Polish host to escape the tyrannies of the new EU-style DMCA in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Hollywood and friends apparently have yet to buy Eastern Europe in full. Meanwhile, despite a new ruling from the U.S. Copyright Office, our American readers should not think that an all-clear signal has definitely and officially been given for nondisabled readers to benefit from Convert Lit. More on this below.Discussing the Polish-based site, which appears...

Lynn Dimick, a frequent TeleRead contributor with more than his share of wise observations, weighs in with some layman's thoughts on the legal risks of corporations using DRM in the Microsoft vein:Perhaps the best way to address the MS DRM issues with Office 2003 and Outlook/Exchange 2003 is through the corporate world. Allow me to explain. In today's litigious business world there are mandates being handed down from most corporate legal departments about document retention and data backups. In our case we are required by the legal department to maintain perpetual monthly backups of all data. No document is...

Ebook Love, a new e-mail list, describes itself as "dedicated to spreading the word about romance e-books." Details:There are already lists for major print publishers, and for mystery, mainstream, sf/f, etc. This group is for romance ebooks only.To encourage reader talk about romance ebooks, every time an author or publisher posts an e-book promo to the group, they will give away a free copy of the ebook to a member of this list. Simply sending a private e-mail to the list moderator gets a member's name in the drawing. We hope this method will lure lurkers out...

TeleRead ranks #106 in The Blog 500: Google's top 500 Blogs. The catch: The list limits itself to blog sites with "blog" in the Web address. We don't show up on a more inclusive list on the same page--no surprise, given TeleRead's intense focus on e-books, libraries and related technological and legal matters. But, hey, we'll work on it....

Doubt the need for an NRA-size group to reduce Washington's bullying of consumers? Check out FCC nears vote on TV 'broadcast flag', from CNET. Yes, technical people often are individualists worthy of the "hiring cats" comparison, but unfortunately the bad guys, the thuggish entertainment tycoons, are exceedingly sociable toward other hoods with money.Related: Techdirt's angle on broadcast flags....

Intrigued by a mention in Steve Cohen's Library Stuff blog, I tried the Bloomba e-mail client, which is notable for powerful search features, a good integrated anti-spam package and even a built-in RSS reader. Looks promising. Negatives: So far I can't figure out a way to display plain text messages in proportional type. And the speller is primitive.To the rescue comes As-U-Type v2.2, which offers a real-time speller at the system level, meaning that I can finally see those much-wanted red lines when I commit atrocities when doing the TeleBlog. What's more, when I'm searching via the real Goggle...

A ruggedized Zarus is said to have a VGA screen, a keyboard, Bluetooth--and a tablet shape. Details via Brighthand and the Zarus Users Group. (Found via Black Mask.) Two other hardware items:--The U.S. Army is getting deeper into Linux, which it deems stabler for handhelds than you-know-what, according to the Register. See related Slashdot item.--PDA sales increased in the third quarter but are still no match for 2002, says CNET....