Happy weekend, everyone! Time for another Smashwords review. Tied in: The Business, History and Craft of Media Tie-in Writing edited by Lee Goldberg is a non-fiction title I found via a thread on Mobile Read. It's a collection of essays from authors who write media tie-in novels. As someone who has read such novels, mostly of the Star Trek and Buffy sort, some of the names of the contributors were already familiar to me, and I was curious to learn more about how these books get written. As with most anthologies, some of the chapters were better than others. There were...

That's what Brave New World is reporting. Foxit has discontinued its ereader and will also shut down its European branch. The Foxit reader was priced at $199 and used to be a low price leader, but, of course, that's no longer the case. Foxit will continue business at its California headquarters and focus on licensing its software....

Nicolas Gary of AcutaLitté sent me an email alerting me to this news which he carried on his website. The shakeout of the minor players is beginning. This is the reason I don't cover all the small "wannbees" ereaders coming out of China. They will never see the light of day here in the US or in Europe. Here is a Google translation of the French article: The news we received was last week, and now the thing is formalized. Foxit Europe closes its doors permanently. As of September 2010, the firm n'officiera more in our latitudes, and...

eSlick’s Foxit reader will now be able to read at least nonDRMed ePub and eReader (PDB), not just PDF and TXT. I’m not sure about the ability in regard to DRMed books: perhaps someone can enlighten us. I’m skeptical. Beyond more formats, Foxit now includes the ability to organize your book into folders---and you can use the new virtual keyboard to type out names. Foxit has also added bookmarket. Existing users will be able to upgrade.. Related: News release, Gearlog, Engadget and MobileRead....

The Foxit PDF-based eSlick ereader is now available through Amazon for $290. Amazon isn't selling it directly, but through an outfit called Ben's Bazaar. I've asked Foxit for a review unit, but no joy yet. Thanks to E-Ink-Info for the link....

No review yet, just the unboxing pictures, but they promise too add their thoughts in a while.  TeleRead has asked for a review unit, and we’ll report if they send us one.  Meanwhile: ...

Get the details from Adobe (download links included) and also in a Techmeme roundup. Highlights from Adobe: A critical vulnerability has been identified in Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 and earlier versions. This vulnerability would cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. There are reports that this issue is being exploited. Adobe recommends users of Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9 update to Adobe Reader 9.1 and Acrobat 9.1. Adobe is planning to make available updates for Adobe Reader 7 and...

We did a posting about the Foxit reader when it was announced. The disappointing thing about it was that it would only read PDF documents. Now, here is an email I received from reader John Hagewood: If this comes to pass, I believe this would be the first e-ink device to support the eReader DRM format! (which excites me because I have over 300 titles purchased from eReader since the year 2000!) http://www.foxitsoftware.com/ebook/ from that page: "Good news: Foxit is currently working with different content providers for DRM support, including the support for eReader format. Due to an upgrade higher...