The best e-reader for the Apple iPhone is still Stanza, just gobbled up by Amazon---but the Shortcovers e-reader is catching up. In two months, more than 100,000 people have downloaded Shortcovers via the iPhone App Store. That’s just a speck of the number of Stanza downloaders; what’s more, the Kindle for the iPhone App is the hit of the moment. But the potential in Shortcovers is there. A new Shortcovers upgrade lets you easily change pages by tapping on them or using a swiping motion, similar to the one for the Kindle iPhone app. Plus, you...

Apple’s OS 3.0 preview event has just ended, and brought to light some very interesting new features. There is no shortage of coverage of the event; here is Ars Technica’s recorded liveblog and their post-event wrap-up. Gizmodo offers a “definitive guide” to 3.0’s features. OS 3.0 will ship this “summer”. (My guess is June, to coincide with any new hardware introductions made then.) It will be free for iPhone 3G users, and $9.95 for iPod Touch users. It was not mentioned whether it would be free or $9.95 for first-gen iPhone users, but it will work on those...

Is the typography on Shortcovers, a new e-book service, up to snuff? Joe Clark, in fawny, his Web log, says no. An example is Sharp Teeth, Toby Barlow's novel, which Joe describes as "written in free verse about marauding human lycanthropes." Joe complains of problems in both the paper and electronic editions. In the latter, he writes, "Problems start right away on 'page 1,'" where a ragged right margin "bespeaks a mindless intermingling of soft and hard returns." And Joe also has issues with failure to use hanging indents. Those are just some of troubles...

"Short Covers is a great little solution to the problem of finding new books online. Even if you don't use the service to buy anything, it's still a great way to browse for free, and ideal for those idle moments waiting in line at the grocery store." - Charlie Sorrel. Some negatives: The screen is somewhat cluttered and instead of flipping pages horizontally like iPhone e-reader Stanza or the Kindle, the software opts for a hybrid, although mostly you'll be scrolling down, web browser style. It's fine for excerpts, but reading a whole book would be very tiresome."...

Beyond the earlier info today, here's more on Shortcovers=---set to launch officially tomorrow: " Shortcovers will be launching on iPhone, Blackberry and Android The service will be available globally, but launching with US and Canadian currencies Shortcovers will have 200,000 first chapters of books, 50,000 full books at launch, but adding much more content in the coming weeks from top publishers such as Random House, Simon & Schuster and Harper Collins. Shortcovers’ e-books will cheaper than their hardcopy counterparts---ranging in the $4.99-$19.99...

"...Shortcovers will enable users to buy and download e-books to their wireless smart phone or computer via the Internet, mimicking the iTunes model, which revolutionized the music business." - Globe and Mail (via Sarah Weinman's Tweet). Related: Earlier TeleRead coverage of Shortcovers. Among other things, Shortcovers offers a community-heavy approach, allowing readers to Tweet as they work their way through books, and it also lets publishers do without DRM. Hint, hint, Amazon. The Wall Street Journal says this "e-book reading and buying program...works on devices such as the iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones, and in...