Remember Quinn Anya Carey's heartfelt complaint about the costs of new college textbooks? Well, her old man, CEO Mark Carey at OSoft, will be able to help do something about the problem--thanks to a new deal wtih the aptly named Freeload Press. If the technology catches on, students could save billions over time. A $100 science textbook may cost a mere $39. Freeload and OSoft will cleverly address the issue of displaying the ads so they are worth advertisers' money but don't distract students from their studies. Satisfying the usability gods--readers I'll run the textbook announcement in the read-on section of this post....

"Caretaker PM's Office Minister Suranand Vejjajiva...said the government is stepping up campaigns to encourage children to read more after a 2005 survey by the National Statistical Office found that Thai youngsters read no more than 5 books per year each or less than 2 pages a day. Mr. Suranand said setting up more libraries is part of the campaign. The government is trying to reduce costs of paper and promote the production and reading of e-books." - National News Service. Related: Somewhat overlapping thoughts from an article last year in Iran Daily: "Another point is that electronic books must be promoted...

We're again surveying readers to learn which machine would be best for their e-reading. Add your two cents' worth in a flash. Then find out which much-hyped machine, at least as of 4:30 p.m. EST in the States, hasn't received a single vote of the 58 cast so far. Nope, the loser isn't the Pepper Pad (forthcoming version shown to the left)....

Here, from our friend Alex at MobileRead--some lowdown on Microsoft's patented DRM, including the Dobermanish variety, perhaps the most common kind in use. I've nothing against loyal, well-behaved Dobermans. But in Microsoft's case, we're talking about the rip-your-throat-out variety. Disappointment of the day: DRM-related activation of e-books will apparently remain one of Microsoft's five main options for publishers, if you extrapolate from Alex's story. This kind of activation is to e-books what tobacco is to asthmatics; it jacks up tech support costs and kills sales despite hype to the contrary. In an era when even morons can scan and OCR...

[poll=13] A few months ago we ran a poll on the best e-reading machine, at least as seen from afar. Has your opinion changed? If so, why? The hardware lineup seems more or less the same, except that the Pepper Pad is about to undergo a radical transformation, so vote on the latest info....

JK just said he wasn't the biggest fan of Microsoft Reader because of the activation problems. Indeed, JK! And the horrors go on! Even Microsoft knows things have to change. An excerpt from GottaBeMobile: A couple of years ago Microsoft was giving away a couple of ebooks a week. My wife and I got hooked to reading books on our Tablet PC's. I have bought a few over the years, and all was okay until recently. I had to reimage my M280, and my M200 went out for a hard drive replacement. Both devices were previously "activated" with my Reader account....

"If print-on-demand technology, though still poky and faintly disreputable, ever achieves the availability and quality of traditional books, the need for overstock returns, remainders, and huge retail spaces may evaporate. Strange to say, someday superstores may be the historical curiosity that indies are now in danger of becoming." - Chain Reaction: Do bookstores have a future?, by Paul Collins in the Village Voice. Related: Adapt or die, an American Journalism Review piece on the future of newspapers (via Peter Brantley)....

Is copyright term extension really an abomination against free speech--among other issues? Well, as a matter of fact, it is; and a Stanford Review article makes a solid case, starting with the horror story from the '70s: In early 1971, a cartoonist named Dan O'Neill and his colleagues "decided that what America truly needed was the destruction of Walt Disney" (Levin). They drew raunchy, unauthorized comics featuring Mickey and friends doing drugs, having sex, and generally acting unDisneylike. Predictably, Disney sued for copyright infringement. Given the comics' insignificant sales and the nonexistent potential for confusion with real Disney comics, an observer...

Congratulations to Richard Charkin, the CEO of Macmillan, who has quietly started a lively, literate blog. Among other topics, he'll be articulating his views on Google and the BookStore digital warehouse project, which, by the way, will be in beta mode next month. Richard, I love your interest in search standards ("There are certain ways of structuring the data for book searching--and if there is a correct way to do it, we should all be doing it"). How about e-book standards as well? The high ground If you really want to take the moral high ground against Google, you might check out OpenReader. So...

Here, from Wired News. See .pdf of decison from the Sixth Court of Appeals. The court, among other things, didn't want to get into the definition of "journalist" in connection with a source-shielding law As I see it, Apple should be ashamed of itself for such thuggish behavior. Excerpt from Wired News: The case began in late 2004, when Apple Insider and PowerPage published drawings, artists' sketches, pricing and release dates for a planned product codenamed "Asteriod." Incensed, Apple lawyers sued the anonymous sources of the information as Doe defendants, and promptly issued subpoenas to the bloggers' ISPs seeking any e-mail...

"If you are a publisher and you want to be one of the survivors when e-books finally become a reality, you must join and participate in the OpenReader.org program. I look for great things from the dotReader folks as well and it will be nice to see a start-up beat the crap out of the established players..." So say the BookExp observations of Alan Canton. He's a software guy, linux-savvy journalist and author of the Saturday Rant blog. Oh, and Alan is also a publisher. Full excerpt follows. I found something that was very interesting to me, but will probably be...

Here and here, from Bob Russell at MobileRead....