From OSoft (edited): With over 1,000 downloads of the dotReader beta, there have been very few bugs. For the week of 11-27-06, we are planning on releasing the Mac beta and an online content creation/export tool for the FCKEditor. We will then set up an authoring portal so you can start creating content for the dotReader. We are also in the process of setting up beta tester and developer mailing lists using the open source program, Mailman. Our goal is to be totally open and encourage user collaboration. More details...

Will a $50 version of the rumored Amazon Kindle E Ink reader, subsidized by e-book sales, threaten the $350 Sony Reader? MobileRead is carrying a juicy rumor from a somewhat skeptical Nick Hampshire of Afaics? Nick says a "viable analysis indicates that a subsidised retail price of about US$50 is possible." I dunno, Nick. That would be some subsidy. And even in the States, where laws are looser than in Europe, I wonder if Sony could fire back with a claim of unfair competition. And what happens on the e-book format and price fronts? Would this mean higher prices paid by...

You already know how much I like the free PalmFiction program I installed on my Palm TX. Now Deb, a follower of our Palm E-Book Forum, has kindly sent in some newbie-oriented PalmFiction tips. Go here and here. Sample: "PalmFiction defaults to look for files on the /Palm/ directory on the chip but you can change that through PalmFictions | Global Settings." A delighted Deb say of FictionReader: "It imports Word, text, html, and others, and they all look great. Highly recommended."...

A win for the Sony Reader: It's on sale at CompUSA stores, at least in some places, for $349.99, with $50 in credit for e-books included through the end of the year. I spotted a Reader ad in a CompUSA supplement in the Washington Post. The Reader also appears in CompUSA's online catalogue. Hmm. Can people outside the States order a Reader this way even if they can't take advantage of the Connect store? A loss: Forbes panned the Reader (reg. required)---in one of a number of negative reviews (via MobileRead). "Unfortunately, the white is nowhere near as bright as...

"...this six-percent royalty for e-books issue is gnawing at our soul. Heck, 10% and maybe even 20% would gnaw." - Booksquare, via Peter Brantley. The TeleRead take: I'm in favor of not just authors but also all kinds of publishers flourishing in an e-book world. Cost-control is the key for the big boys to be able to survive and still pay writers fairly. Related: Booksquare's Monday morning royalty rant and eBook Community posts on the economics of publishing and Sony's terms for publishers. Photo credit: Buck82 via Creative Commons and Flickr....

The Soul of the New Microsoft is a hype-heavy BizWeek piece on the theme of corporate reinvention. I don't see e-books in there. Microsoft released an interesting if flawed newspaper reader, just improved slightly, and an e-book equivalent should follow in the near future. The BW articles does includes mixed observations on the fate of the Zune. Alas, the Microsoft MP3 player can't even handle the company's own PlaysForSure format and seems almost as good as the Sony Reader at angering some reviewers. So much for the WiFi-related positives noted here earlier. In the wake of the Zune, I'll be very curious...

"OLEDs are being used for portable skin cancer treatment by the University of St Andrews." - Electronics Weekly. The TeleRead take: No, this isn't quite on topic, but it's still exciting to see the technology used for medical treatment, not just in entertainment devices....

Photo: two parts of a screenshot familiar to some Zune users. Chicago Sun-Time's Andy Ihnatko does not like the Zune portable media player, a Microsoft product. Oh no! His complaints: Microsoft Zune is basically broken (you have to manually install DLL's -- "Is this really what parents want to be doing at 4 a.m. on Christmas morning?"), Microsoft Zune is incompatible with almost any software on the planet, including Microsoft's, the Zune music store won't even accept real money (you'll have to pay using some sort of Microsoft Dollars), and the thing is heavily burdened with DRM. "Avoid," is my general message....

The STAReBook machine from eRead has a six-inch E Ink screen, SD card capacity up to a gig, MP3 capacity and dimensions of 188mm(L) × 118mm(W) × 8mm(H). Weight is 176g, including the battery. The STAReBook, in fact, is billed as the planet's "thinnest and lightest ebook reader." Some weeks ago MobileRead reported a price of $440. That's $90 more than the Sony Reader. Among the marketing partners is a Chinese eBay. Anything of significance? Isn't the main eBay being discussed as an outlet for sales of the OLPC laptop to Americans, eventually? Another interesting product is eRead's interactive reading platform,...

Google's news search engine relies on the advertising model. But what if news organizations can charge for links? I'm extrapolating from a Bloomberg story---read for free. I also wonder if the effect of some settlements in Belgium will eventually filter down to grassroots sites. This isn't good news for either Google or the Net at large. Disclosure: I own a speck of Google for retirement purposes. Related: Google enhances Google Book Search service, in TechWhack....

See earlier news. At least one member of the Cybook list confesses he's bought a Sony Reader. Here's hoping that a new Cybook is on the way from Bookeen! It's hard to guess what's going on. ...

Charles "Chip" McGrath is among the ultimate Content Guys. He's the former editor of the New York Times Book Review and once even headed the fiction department at the legendary New Yorker. So I read with interest his NYT review of the Sony Reader and those 10,000+ titles in the Connect e-bookstore. "The screen is not backlighted," McGrath says, "which also saves on juice but nevertheless seems a regrettable throwback to the Gutenberg era. When it comes to reading in bed, the Reader and the traditional book work equally poorly." Hates Connect manual Although McGrath praises he battery life and the built-in storage...