Here, via Boing Boing....

Over the years, Forbes at times has printed some pretty clueful stuff. Although far more liberal than Forbes, I've cherished the magazine's pokes at the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extention Act. Still, even good publications can let us down--and that's exactly what happened with Attack of the Blogs (reg. required). Excerpt: "Bloggers are more of a threat than people realize, and they are only going to get more toxic. This is the new reality," says Peter Blackshaw, chief marketing officer at Intelliseek, a Cincinnati firm that sifts through millions of blogs to provide watch-your-back service to 75 clients, including Procter &...

FBReader 0.7 released and ported to Sharp Zaurus, Siemens Simpad and Linux desktops. Nokia 770 port being readied....

"...what will the consequences be if poorly written, plagiarized, open-source textbooks become the runaway hit that Wikibooks predicts?" - Kim White in if:book. Strong stuff, but the blog has disturbing specifics. As a Wiki booster, I hope that Jimmy Wales will expand existing QC efforts--much needed. Imagine the possible legal liabilities here. Even established writers such as the Doris Godwin, Louis Roberts, Stephen Ambrose and Alex Haley have found the waters perilous. Now, what happens when entire books result from armies of obscure contributors? One good measure would be to require as much linking as possible to credible source...

Details from Librarian.net. Also see LibraryTechtonics and Coding in Paradise, the blog of Internet Archive techie Brad Neuberg. Example of The FlipBook viewer here. ...

Does a small software firm in North Carolina own the rights to a key XML concept? And could this haunt the world's Web developers, software engineers and others using the technology--including, yes, the OpenReader Consortium? The idea sounds far-fetched. But here's the headline in TechnologyReview.com, out of MIT--over an article by none other than Wade Roush, one of the guys behind the late and lamented eBookWeb: Who owns XML? One of the advisors to Scientigo, the Carolina firm stirring up the fuss, happens to be Bill Ide, a former president of the ABA. Thanks, Bill. Lawyers always count...

Details from Sharp press release. "Sharp's new 3.5 inch LCD incorporates high brightness and exceptional color saturation resulting in superior viewing, while also using high-efficiency LEDs to minimize power consumption." (Via Colin at MobileRead.)...

Here's a news release that OpenReader and OSoft are distributing to the mass media. Psst! Spread the word. If you want open standards for e-books, now's the time to act. Also check out OpenReader's new Web site. We are still making tweaks, especially in the FAQ, but essentially it's up. Over at O'Reilly, editor Andy Oram is gung ho on OpenReader's possibilities. OSoft Partners with OpenReader Wednesday October 26, 10:53 am ET Taking the ''Fright'' Out of e-books -- With Open Standards TACOMA, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Oct. 26, 2005--Buying e-books can be Halloween-scary. They come in many electronic formats -- everything from Microsoft Reader...

Now I read that Microsoft is joining the Open Content Alliance and will offer its own book-search service. I'm wildly pro-OCA and am glad that Microsoft will help pay to digitize books--just so it doesn't attempt to inflict its ways on the public domain community. A little vigilance will help. Of course, Microsoft's participation could be a means to balance out Adobe's influence. In the case of both companies I'll reserve judgment. I just want them to let Brewster Kahle do his thing. Related: A vision for an open library....

Oh, jeeze. Death Comes for the Archbishop wasn't available from Scott's store except in Microsoft Reader and Adobe formats. Now, through no fault of Scott, a victim, not a perp, considering the damage that Microsoft's DRM has done to the e-book business, I feel thoroughly cheated. I can't kick back and enjoy the book. Instead Bill Gates' people have inflicted this on me. Having upgraded my hard drive recently, I didn't question the need to get another copy of the Reader, which I normally avoid. But I'd forgotten that I had to use the blessed Web browser, Internet Explorer,...

Willa Cather's 1927 novel, Death Comes for the Archibishop, will be the topic of a chatcast tomorrow, Tuesday, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, 7:00 Central, 6:00 Mountain, and 5:00 Pacific. The e-book is $4.47 from Scott Redford's Diesel eBooks in Richmond, Virginia. I'm gonna buy it--I am delighted to send some money in the direction of Scott, who's hip on the need for e-book standards. Still, I'm rather grumpy about the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, without which schoolchildren could access the Cather classic for free. Guess what? The 1998 act didn't spur her to write one extra...

If you're cash-strapped but lust for an iPaq 2215 PDA for reading e-books, here's your chance. I don't know the seller and can't vouch for anything, but I couldn't resist passing on the following--given the iPaq's potential for use with Mobipocket or whatever: Asking $100 or best offer because my dog thought it was his rawhide and chewed on it. It works great except for the audio jack so you can't use headphones with it (but the speaker works). You also need to use the stylus to turn it on... The screen is not scratched and works perfectly... There is nothing functionally...