Part of the slow adoption of e-books may lie in the fact that comfortable reading devices are not yet available, part of it because not many popular books are sold in digital form, and part of it may be caused by the fact that one would have to purchase popular books all over again. The iPod became popular amongst other reasons because it allowed the owner to take their existing music collection along. If it were easy to digitize your p-book collection, would you do it? And how easy would it have to be? [Poll=10]...

Thanks to Angel Ancin at iRex Technologies, who's the source of the candid statement below: We are delayed. The new date is expected throughout May. Main reason for delay is e-commerce problems (technical delays in the webshop itself) and inclusion of additional software goodies to be announced. (Unfortunately, I can not disclose yet) Most likely around May 10th, we will (finally) start actively using our website for communication. We will confirm the list of countries and launch dates soon in that environment. Please check regularly www.irextechnologies.com from the first week of May onwards. We have good news for Italian users. /////////////////////// Meanwhile a...

From iRex Technologies' home page, via the much-appreciated Roland Rohde: OPENING WEB SHOP DELAYED! As the implementation of our Web Shop caused some unforeseen technical problems the opening has been postponed from April to May 2006. Please, leave your e-mail address and you will be notified as soon as the Web Shop opens Thanks, Roland! ...

The Cybook and Sony Reader are compared in EContent Magazine. Different creatures, actually, and the reviewer did not try out the Reader (an E Ink gizmo), relying instead on specs. Even so, it was good to see the Cybook (LCD tech), the Rodney Dangerfield of e-book readers, get a respectful hands-on. I still have, and enjoy, a long-term loaner unit. So, Bookeen, what's new? When will we see the final version PDF reader and other wrinkles? I'll query the company. Related: Nope, nothing from iRex Technologies--no e-mail in reply to my query about the date of release of the iLiad. I'd...

Here, from LISNews. Related: Chicago Tribune story (reg. required)....

Here we have a major publisher tossing big bucks at a Harvard student, Kaavya Viswanathan, only to find that her book, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life, was plagiarized. So what if this opus--rated two out of five stars by Amazon readers--had been an e-book? Should the publisher have had the right to zap the copies of identifiable customers from afar as part of the recall? I suppose most TeleBlog readers would say no. But I wonder what publishers would think. Or how about the writer Ms. Viswanatha plagiarized? The issues are academic at this point,...

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Sprint's bought exclusive wireless rights to Monday Night Football. Good news not for consumers. What if the same idea balkanizes the market for e-books targeted at cellphones? Oh, well, isn't this yet another argument for e-book standards offering scalability so a book can be readable on everything from a cellphone to a 32-inch monitor? Why limit a book's audience to a particular phone or phones, period? Bob Russell at Mobile Read has warned against the possibility of mobile-only content in a general context--not likely but something to guard against--and I'd express the same concerns about e-books in particular. Ideally a large-scale threat...

If OpenReader is really an idealized OEB, do we really need it? I think that if OpenReader has a justification, it's because OEB — and, honestly, OpenReader as now propounded — are so behind the times they are irrelevant. The only real reason is to provide capabilities that none of the current alternatives can provide now or will be able to without major shifts....

The Cheapest E-book Store is still offline, but the whois listing continues in the name of David Fellinger of Cincinnati. Trouble is, David denies that he had anything to do with the store, and in this era of identity theft and related confusion, I'll cut him plenty of slack. Damn. The Internet is one big North by Northwest, and right now David F. must feel like Roger O. Thornhill after the knife went into the bigshot at the U.N. Yes, I've tried to reach servernama.net, the Web host that housed the Cheapest E-book Store. The domain registrant of the host is...

That's the projection, anyway. Now toss in the offerings of other vendors. Maybe 1.5 million Origami-class machines out there, all in all? Just a wild guess. But if e-reading turns to be a major app, this could be good news for e-bookdom. It'll be interesting to see what Microsoft will be doing in the way of updates to Microsoft Reader--or a replacement for it. The good news is that Paul Hoover of the Origami team recently sought out the opinions of TeleBlog participants about the Origami machines as e-book readers. Let's hope that's also indicative of e-book interest on the part...

"All major carriers in the U.S. will soon offer fans of Harlequin novels the chance to download onto their mobile phones a chapter-a-day from Harlequin authors. Women will be able to access new serialized content every day, as well as review previously downloaded chapters that they may have missed reading over a 30-day period. Every month, three new stories will be available for access. This unique entertainment offering is the first of its kind to be targeted at women." - News release. Related: Past Harlequin mentions....