An article in Knowledge @Australian School for Business discusses the fact that the present Internet addresses system, known as IPv4, will have literally used up its 4.2 billion addresses soon: APNIC, the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, is the registry that issues Internet addresses for the booming Asia-Pacific region, and is expected to be the first to run out. Registries in other regions may last just a few months longer. The article's writers describe the new address system, IPv6, and its 340 billion billion billion addresses, as the system that will save the Internet from the end of capacity.  It...

In an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, iPads are examined in real-world class situations, and found wanting. The article, "iPads Could Hinder Teaching, Professors Say," lays out some plusses about iPads in the classroom... but also some serious negatives.  Some suggest that the older Tablet PCs would be a better choice for classroom use. Despite the iPad's popularity—Apple has sold nearly 15 million of them and just came out with the iPad2; and there are dozens of competitors, like the Samsung Galaxy—early studies indicate that these finger-based tablets are passive devices that have limited use in higher...

And now, may I present the lucky winners of the Read an E-Book Week 2011 Win an E Ink Watch promotion!  The winners are: Glory H from Dubuque, IA; and Paul Milke from Uxbridge, MA! E Ink has been notified, and the watches will be winging their way to you guys! Everyone join me in Congratulations to our winners! The watch contest did well! Most interestingly, I've gotten some very interesting responses for the write-in portion of the contest, asking what people would like to see in the sequel to Verdant Skies. I plan to respond to many of...

A promotional flyer is now available for those who'd like to help support Read an E-Book Week.  The flyer, a letter-sized JPEG that reads well in color or B/W, can be downloaded and either emailed to others, or printed out and posted at your favorite book-reading hangout... a library, a Starbucks, a bookstore, a bistro, anyplace with a bulletin board (this is a non-profit cause... some BBs don't allow commercial material). The flyer can be seen in full size, and downloaded, from my website.  (And while you're there, consider entering the contest for an E-Ink watch!)...

To support and promote Read an E-Book Week, I have obtained two E-Ink watches, which I'll be giving away to two lucky winners from my site! To be entered in the drawing for the watches, Do one of two things between now and March 11, 2011: Purchase a book from my site. You can also purchase a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, etc, but you'll have to email me a copy of your online purchase receipt (because the retailers don't tell me who purchases my books, just that they've been purchased). Send me an email...

www.SteveJordanBooks.com, and its author, have undergone an evolution. Both have moved to www.RightBrane.com/StevenLyleJordan. ...

A recent law journal essay referenced on this site examined Digital Rights Management and its impact on the e-book industry. DRM, the essay said, is counter to the precepts of open-source development in computer hardware and software, thereby hindering innovation and slowing technological progress in the e-book industry. The implicit assumption is that open-source is good for innovation in the computer industry in general, and especially in the e-book industry. But is it? Has open source been a positive influence on e-book development? Or has open source itself hindered the progress of e-books, DRM notwithstanding? ...

Our regular contributor, Steve Jordan, usually known for his science fiction books, has taken a leap into a new area and has just published a drm-free ebook about the history of ebooks. Here's the blurb from his site, where it is available for $4.00: This book sheds light on a perfect storm of publishers, corporations, professionals, amateurs, dogmas, movements and beliefs, all of which worked either unintentionally or deliberately to forestall the coming of the e-book for over two decades. And it details which of these elements is still going strong and continuing to hold back...

It's nice to see our regular contributors getting some notice. Steve was interviewed recently by The New York Times and nowThe Tainted Archive has just published an interview. It's quite a comprehensive job. Here's how they describe Steve: Steve Jordan is a pioneer, he is blazing a trail across the digital landscape with his successful E-publishing venture, Steve Jordan books. So well known is he becoming that the New York Times recently interviewed him for a feature looking at the biggest revolution in books since the invention of the printing press. His web-site not only features his...

Yes, that's right and congratulations to Steve!! Let's hope it creates a huge run on his website. Here's a short excerpt from the article, Before Choosing an E-Book, Pondering the Format by Peter Wayner. Steve Jordan, a self-published science fiction novelist, has to make lots of decisions. Although most of them involve plot points, narrative arcs and character development, Mr. Jordan has the added burden of deciding how to deliver the stories he creates to his online audience. ... “I’m already selling six different formats on my Web site,” Mr. Jordan said. “If they have a particular format...

[caption id="attachment_28628" align="alignleft" width="100" caption="OEB (epub) logo created by Steve Jordan"][/caption] For quite some time now, fans of the Open E-book format, OEB, or ePub, have been begging to see some serious branding and marketing of the OEB format in public and commercial circles. It is the feeling of many that pushing the brand out there will get more people in-line with ePub, which is already on the way to becoming an international e-book format standard. However, no branding, promotion or logos have been forthcoming from the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), creators of ePub. This has left many of us OEB...

[caption id="attachment_27978" align="alignleft" width="135" caption="The author at rest."][/caption] The e-book market of 2009 has had one overriding concern throughout the industry: Can customers read this book? The issue isn’t one of literacy, availability or accessibility… it is one of format. Specifically, a question of the many, many e-book formats competing for dominance in the industry. When e-books first appeared, it seemed there was almost a format for every e-book. Individuals created their own idea of the ideal e-book format, and custom-crafted readers to translate those formats. New devices, capable of reading e-books, soon had new e-book reading applications designed for them, and...