As I'm lying in my hospital bed, recovering from the surgery on my leg, I came across a story on Amazon's recent action in asking that Mobileread take down information relating to the Python scripts for putting other vendors' books on the Kindle. I noticed David Rothman's piece on it a couple of days ago, though given that it was the day of the surgery I was not exactly in the best condition to give it much attention at the time. But now that a few more articles have come out, a few more days have passed, and I am thinking...

Best for Amazon to drop DRM from e-books---the same way it sells ownable music without "protection." But Kirk Biglione, at Medialoper, offers a hopeful Tweet: "Just noticed you can have multiple iPhones attached to a Kindle account. Amazon learning DRM flexibility from Apple." Not that I expect Kirk to turn pro-DRM. And here's one more reason. Amazon has just sent MobileRead a DMCA takedown notice aimed a tool that lets you buy DRMed e-books at stores other than Amazon. No piracy involved---merely the right to purchase books at non-American stores that will buy the usual royalties to writers. Talk about...

Editor's Note: Here is the first article by a new TeleRead contributor, author Steve Jordan. You can find his bio here. I met Steve at the TOC Conference and after I heard his story, over lunch, I badgered him into writing it up for us. Hopefully it will be the first contribution of many to come: I know, I know, the title sounds like a 1965-era deodorant commercial. But in point of fact, Rita Toews, the founder of Read an E-Book Week, has done a great service to everyone who hopes to see the market for e-books grow...

Mobileread.com has just posted the first official photos, price, and sale date of the Kindle 2. Alexander Turcic writes: Put on your gloves... it's time to rumble! We are happy to present to you the first official photos of the Kindle 2. Yes, we are now pretty much absolutely sure that this is what Amazon is going to present to the world next Monday. And here is another news for you: The Kindle 2 costs you $359 USD and is going to be available for sale on February 24th, 2009. ...

After writing the post below I got to thinking about the sentence I used: ... volunteer work like this should be recognized every once in a while. It is really incredible how the e-book community is supported by a cadre of volunteers who seem to want to do nothing but make the reading world better. Some of these sites may be looking for investors or hope to turn into a business some day, but as of today they are free to the public. Here are a few that come to mind quickly. I apologize to those I...

Want to be able to read USA Today, the Washington Post and hundreds of other newspapers on your iRex? Then you may want PressReader. Adam B. has just reviewed it on one of my favorite sites, MobileRead. Overall, Adam says: The PressReader application is very nice if you would like to read one of the supported newspapers on your DR1000S. I highly recommend everyone with a DR to upgrade and take full advantage of the 30 day trial. It's a pleasure to read a newspaper without having to hold a gigantic stack of dead trees. Personally, I get all...

Now here's a good idea. From hotelchatter.com: The Algonquin has launched an "eBooks on Demand" program which offers Kindles pre-loaded with "a variety of best-sellers, modern classics" and even a few books written by the members of the hotels legendary Round Table (Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber, Love Conquers All by Robert Benchley). And if you request a book that isn't loaded on there, the hotel can add it for you. The devices are loaned on a first come, first serve basis at no charge, and can be used in the lobby or in your guestroom. Thanks to mobileread for the...

For quite some time, Mobipocket users have been clamoring for an official Mobipocket application for the iPhone (as well as Mac OS X Desktop, and Linux (desktop and mobile), which have gotten lumped together in the same Mobipocket forum thread). There are applications that read unencrypted Mobipocket files on these platforms, of course—Bookshelf (well) and Stanza (poorly) for the iPhone, FBReader for Mac (beta) and Linux—but without the ability to read encrypted Mobipocket, users of these platforms who purchase DRM-crippled books from Fictionwise, Mobipocket.com, or some other store will have no legal way to read them. On the Mobipocket...

NatCh over at mobileread has a nice write-up on the new Sony Reader bookstore. If you have a Reader you might want to go over there and read his article and the comments that follow. Since I broke my Reader I haven't looked at the store in a long time, so I can't give you much of an idea as to what has changed. At the Sony press event for the PRS700 they said that one of their main goals was to re-do the store and make it easier to use....

A poll on the MobileRead forums asked how respondents dealt with DRM on e-books: by not buying books with DRM, buying books with minimally restrictive DRM, buying encrypted books and then breaking the DRM, and so on. The poll is nonscientific with a very small sample, a sample comprised of people who know and care enough about e-book reading to have sought out and participated in a forum about it. Nonetheless, it is interesting that among these people in the know, 48% of those who answered (80 out of 166) as of this writing state that they break the DRM. The...

A few days ago, I mentioned that Jeffrey A. Carver had posted the first novel in his Chaos Chronicles series, Neptune Crossing, on his web site as a free e-book. I also mentioned that his plans included making all three of the novels currently in that series similarly available, to build publicity for the publication of the fourth. The second novel in the series, Strange Attractors, has now been posted to Carver's download page—but that is not all. When Carver posted the first novel, someone started a thread in the Mobileread freebies forum about it, and shortly afterward Carver himself joined...

"Inspired by the ingenious Feedbooks Kindle Download Guide, we've decided to launch a similar feature allowing everyone with an Amazon Kindle, iRex iLiad or other Mobipocket-compatible e-book reader with access to the Internet to immediately download books prepared and uploaded by our members." - Alex at MR. The TeleRead take: Congrats, guys! Can't wait for a version for the Astak machines....