Talk about bi-partisan support.First, it was the New Democratic Leadership Council with their cockamamie "A Kindle in Every Backpack" proposal. Granted, the textbook landscape is littered with unfair practices and is in dire need of reform, but before we throw the book out the window for good we should spend some time trying to make right the inherent injustice of the textbook world. We need to make them affordable and relevant before we start talking about abolishing them. Of course, the e-reader provides certain advantages but just like its relationship to the printed book, it is a complement not a...
Dropping the Books from E-Books
The race is on. Amazon, Google, Apple, Sony and a host of other companies are moving at breakneck speed to create the e-book atmosphere that will become your e-book universe of choice.In his insightful piece at the Huffington Post, Eebs: A History of Future Publishing, Giles Slade gives us a good look at the current battlefield."In the emerging world of e-Books, Kindle-Amazon will increasingly occupy a position similar to the iPod while Google (a collector and purveyor of e-Books) together with its partner Sony (a manufacturer of e-Readers) will forever be positioned at the lower end of the e-Book market...
Meet Ninomiya-kun, the Book-Reading Robot
It is 1 meter tall and weighs in at 25 kilograms, it is the brainchild of Kitakyushu National College of Technology and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.He "reads by training its camera eyes on printed materials placed on a special book stand. Character recognition software installed on a computer in the robot’s backpack translates the text into spoken words, which are produced by a voice synthesizer"Here it is reading some fairy tales:After a little more tweaking "the robot will be ready to read books to children and the elderly for a living"Now that is one glorified audiobook. Shouldn't it be reading...
About Those Blue Book Donation Boxes
Photo by Joseph Lyon / Kitsap SunHave you seen those blue book donation boxes that seem to be popping up everywhere? Ever wonder what the deal is?Well, here's how it works:The boxes are are owned and operated by Thrift Recycling Managment (TRM), a for-profit company. This alone should bring into question the 'Books For Charity' mantra emblazoned on the front and sides of each box.To date, about 15,000 boxes have been placed around the country.51% of books donated end up being pulped. Think revenue stream.25% go to non-profit organizations committed to various literacy and book-related causes with only a tiny...
Alibris Hopes to Expand Distribution Business
Alibris will announce on Tuesday "a new book-fulfillment solution" for booksellers. The new program, called Alibris Distribution Services(ADS), will provide full cataloging and distribution services for booksellers who have "exceeded their operations capacity, have more inventory than they’ll ever catalog, or want to liquidate large amounts of new and used books."Participating booksellers will receive 70% of the price realized less 99c per item accepted into the program.Almost sounds to good to be true. Send all that excess inventory to Alibris, let them catalog it and deal with the shipping, warehousing etc. I've rarely meet a bookseller who didn't have space...