"Microsoft is showing off a prototype of a cell-phone operating system that it might end up fielding as a low-cost computing platform for the developing world." - Microsoft Watch. The TeleRead take: Hmm. Any e-text apps on the way? And just how low could the price get, if we're thinking not just about cellphones but those for developing countries? What gotchas, if any, might Microsoft have in mind to make up for the price? More from Microsoft Watch: Such a device, whether running Windows CE or some other Microsoft operating environment, would be able to open and read e-mail, run a...

The $500 UMPC---how long until it's a reality? Well, I was poking around my RSS feeds and Google and came across an old item from jkOnTheRun about a model from Founder Electronics. Could the Chinese be the ones who eventually bring the price down to under $500? At any rate, with the detachable keyboard, the Founder model actually looks pretty interesting. I wonder if Founder wants to use the UMPC to popularize its Apabi e-book reader, which, by the way, is already in use on the iLiad. Related: Video of Found's MiniNote UMPC....

That's the sentiment at Crave in the U.K. It warns that Sony will "drown its own puppy" with a heavily proprietary approach. Hello, Sony? Your proprietary mania is alienating both readers and publishers, not charming them. Even many of the big guys hate the Tower of eBabel as a major waste of resources, and the probable Apple machine just worsens the problem. Yes, Sir Howard, you've spent money on translations of books into your proprietary format. But that won't make customers keep buying your books forever. They don't care about your squandered money. If you really want to...

I'm curious. Does open-source hardware have a future in e-books? Note the existence of the Open Book Project. Excerpt from OBP site: A light, letter sized LCD or E-ink display tablet with touch screen, Wi-Fi, few GB of flash memory, decent battery life and a price of under $500 - that could be the specs of the OpenBook. The OpenBook initiative started because there is no product that would meet this requirements on the market today. The initiative's goal is to maintain an open specifications of the OpenBook. The Project aims literally to target "between MIT $100 laptop and a consumer Tablet...

In How iTunes screws the music industry and the public, Cory Doctorow has a few thoughts that both the music and e-book industries should ponder. Will Apple use a proprietary format for e-books, too---or at least a common format mucked up by Apple-specific DRM? Don't be surprised. Related: Open Book: The ThoutReader Challenges Publishers to Rethink Convergence, from John Blossom, president of Shore Communiations. Also see DRM dystopia -- can Microsoft save us? in Boing Boing....

The now-shipping Nokia N73 can run the Symbian version of Mobipocket. QVGA screen is 2.4-inch (240x320-pixel). Via Phonescoop. Related: Engadget item on the N73 and also-promising N93. Interesting tidbit in Nokia news release: "Nokia N73 users will also be able to use Amazon's Mobipocket Reader and Amazon Anywhere features, which will be preinstalled on the device in certain areas. With Amazon Anywhere shoppers can get immediate access to Amazon's selection and search customer reviews, receive personalized recommendations and shop right from their Nokia N73." So what will independent retailers do? Amazon wants it all. The independents urgently need to use...

From news release yesterday: HarperCollins Publishers and FanLib, an online entertainment company, today announced a partnership to create a series of innovative online events. The partnership kicks off with the Avon FanLit "Express Your Desires" contest. This collaboration between Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, and FanLib marks the first ever online event inviting fans of romance fiction to work together on the creation of an original story. Catering to the 65 million romance readers in the United States, the Web site unites the passionate audience of romance readers and aspiring authors with bestselling Avon authors and their editors. Contest winners...

Last week Catherine Hodge at DPP Store wrote an informative blog article reporting on the ongoing World eBook Fair (WeBF), where almost 1/3 million e-books are free to download between July 4 and August 4. WeBF is jointly sponsored by Project Gutenberg, World eBook Library, DPP Store, Baen Books, and QOOP. According to Catherine, server statistics indicate that over 12 million free e-books have been downloaded so far (as of July 20th). It is perplexing to me as to why there’s not been more discussion about WeBF in the various e-book-related forums, such as the eBook Community (which I moderate) and even the...

When I bought my Palm TX, I got a bonus: a free copy of The Prince of Tides in eReader format. It's my favorite kind of DRMed book---legal at no charge. I'm tempted to expound more on DRM and the promise of good regional literature like Tides for digital library collections; not to mention the fascination of Carolina-style dysfunctionality in family relationships. But I'll spare you. Just see if you can catch up with Prince in one format or another and tell me what you think. Not everyone will like Pat Conroy's kind of reflection and wit, but I do;...

Good morning, DRM fans, or whatever time it is in your zone. Here's an activation-related nightmare. No, it doesn't involve e-books directly, but does make you wonder if Microsoft's next generation of e-book software won't come with DRM as fiendish as the present variety. The more I read of such horrors, the more I realize that DRM and antitrust can be intertwined issues. Yes, the customer-lock-in factor is a major reason for DRM's existence. And what better example than Microsoft? DRM enforces lock-in among people and businesses reliant on Microsoft apps. Even more significantly, however, the Microsoft horrors reflect Redmond's dominance...

Here, from the Chronicle of Higher Education. Related online Q&A at noon, Eastern Daylight Time. Excerpt from Chronicle: While most scholarly books are reviewed by a few carefully chosen experts before publication, McKenzie Wark's latest monograph is getting line-by-line critiques from hundreds of strangers in cyberspace, many of whom know absolutely nothing about his academic field. Mr. Wark, a professor of media and cultural studies at New School University, has put the draft of his latest book online in an experimental format inspired by academic blogs and the free-for-all spirit of Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Each paragraph...

Whoops---the Sony Reader may have suffered another delay. I was expecting a September-October release, but the above wording from Sony suggests November instead. See promo site for more details. Hello, iRex and Jinke? It looks as if Sony may have unwittingly given you a holiday gift ahead of time. Related: Mixed Sony Reader review from Gearlog. Also Variety's subscriber-only article on the rumored e-book-friendly iPod from Apple. Book-biz executives fear Apple may erode their pricing power, just the iPod has in the music industry. Then again, the iPod reportedly has given music sales a boost. Update, July 26 at 9:15...