Dusan Dragovic mentions a new Web application to let readers read ebooks. BooksoniPhone.com. He says: It is a Web site optimized for reading books on iPhone. It is native iPhone application so it supports all iPhone commands (tap on screen to go to next page, share button, virtual keyboard etc.) You can access thousands of books for free. It supports different setting for font size, speed of reading, reading multiple books, adding (and sharing) notes and much more. Next version will allow users to upload their own texts, poems, books or whole e-libraries. TextoniPhone.com will (for FREE) prepare them...

In just 48 hours, pirates released e-books based on illegally photographed images of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. So how did they do it? Alex at MobileRead found out that the DSB pirate group drew more than 100-150 volunteers for the Potter project, with perhaps 10-15 actually helping. The photos weren't good enough for OCRing, but that was hardly a problem---not when the volunteers could simply type out the material. Worked 8-9 hours a day "We started Monday morning and by Tuesday night we had our first 10 chapters done," a DSB leader said. "We only worked for about 8-9 hours a day....

Update, 11:40 p.m.: The best solution may be the JAP program. Keep reading. Okay, so I like Wowio, the home of good ad-supported books, such as Sophie's Choice or Kurt Vonnegut novels. But there's a problem, a big one, with the PDF that Wowio spits out. The type is just too small on the Sony Reader. So why not convert the PDF to RFT or TXT, which the Reader can digest via its Connect software. And that's exactly what ABC Amber PDF Converter v3.18 can do, as the partial screenshot suggests. You can try a demo, with limited functionality (conversions of just five pages...

Michael Moore---the movie maker and political activist behind such satirical gems as Roger and Me and Fahrenheit 9/11 and the new SiCKO---is the target of a subpoena from the Bush administration in the wake of his visit to Cuba. What a troublemaker. For the SiCKO movie, he took sick 9/11 rescue workers to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in hopes of getting them the same level of free care that the prisoners do. The Bushies are after Moore for allegedly representing himself falsely as a journalist. Now, for free via the ad-supported Wowio service, you can read Emily Schultz's Michael Moore:...

...you see a black, booklike object on the floor near the bed and worry it might be a lot more than just a p-book. Anyone else get the same feeling? I have yet to step on a single e-book device, but in that respect, I'll never feel as comfortable with the Reader as with my old PEG NX60/U Clie with a rugged metal case (now for sale). Coming by 1 p.m. Washington time today: Info on two timely political books online for free, including one with a Hollywood angle, too---plus another Wowio tip for Sony Reader owners....

In his presentation on copyright on July 5, 2007, Richard Stallman took a stand against e-book devices. TeleRead is reproducing parts of the speech (taken from Slashdot and verified from watching the ogg-theora video). If an official transcript becomes available, we'll let you know. Most of the talk is familiar to those who have followed Stallman's work, but he singled out e-books and e-book devices specifically as a target of scorn. He concludes, "So we'd better spread the word now: ... we better build up the opposition to this repeat attempt to make us accept e-books....

Here's an 18-minute Cybook Gen 3 video in French---featuring the founders of Bookeen, Laurent Picard and Michael Dahan. The contrast and speed of the Vizplex screen come through, and, yes, if I heard correctly, the Cybook can cope with at least nonencrypted PDF, as we all had been expecting. Video was posted by Jean-Michel Billaut, a well-known blogger in France. So, gang, what do you think of the details? Discuss them here. Update on the exact PDF situation (7:11 a.m. Washington time, July 7): "There will be PDF, but we don't think we'll be able to release the PDF support...

Remember the MedisonCelebrity laptop, said to be the world's cheapest at $150? No telling what will happen, but after reading the most recent messages from a related Yahoo group, I say, "Scam!" One of the skeptics has just received a note from Clevo Mobile Computing saying: "We do not have any relation to the Medison company." What's more, the photo of the laptop is said to resembles one from another OEM. Bottom line: Don't risk $150 just to indulge your curiosity---not unless Medison actually rolls out its hardware and keeps it coming at the advertised price....

Imagine elegant, booklike devices that fold out like books and change the images when you tap in the right places. That's long been the vision of the developers of E Ink-style technologies, and now a French video dramatizes the possibilities, not just for books but for other applications such as maps. "Possible ... ou Probable" is the intriguing title. So how long until the dreams---coming to us courtesy of the publishing consultants at Editis ---become realities? Or are you shaking your head and just thinking, "When will the e-paper guys deliver on their promises?" Hello, Bill J? Your territory. Related: Jon Noring's commentary on...

The old e-book-optimized Cybook, the one with the LCD, is dead. But you may be in luck if your heart's set on a Web tablet more powerful than either the Cybook or the DT375 refurbs now going on uBid for $155. New Web tablets, including some beauts that use solid-state storage and can run the XP operating system rather than just CE, are available from DT Research, maker of the discontinued 375. Notice the physical specs for the more recent WebDT 310, weighing just a little over two pounds, including the bumperlike protective rubber? Most Web tablets should be much more...

From Arthur C. Clarke (photo) to Ursula Le Guin and Jerry Pournelle, well-known sci-fi authors have made freebies available on the Web. Find many of these works via Free Speculative Fiction Online. I've probably mentioned this incredible site before, but the new twist is an RSS feed with recently added sci-fi and fantasy gems. Among the offerings are Michael F. Flynn's Eifelheim, Vernor Vinge's Rainbow's End and Peter Watts' Blindsight, all nominated for the best novel in the 2007 Hugo competition. The Hugos, by the way, are named after sci-fi pioneer Hugo Gernsback. TeleBlog contributor Michael Banks, a sci-fi novelist who also...

Is this the cheapest laptop in the world, at $150, as one news report says, and how will it fare as an e-book-reader? Or is it a scam, maybe even a Ponzi scheme? The Medison Celebrity laptop reportedly comes from Swedish company called Medison and can be ordered via 2Checkout.com in Ohio. No, I haven't tried it. Maybe the screen quality is horrid despite the ballyhoo, and beyond that, tablets and PDAs are more comfortable to read long texts from than laptops are. If, however, you want to do many things, not just read E, perhaps this laptop is worth finding more...