Category Archives: Chris Meadows

Is Google being evil again?

Some people seem to think so. On the one hand, we have Rupert Murdoch railing against Google and Yahoo for “stealing news.” On the other, a number of groups are getting ready to file briefs objecting to various aspects of the Google Books/Authors Guild settlement.
Rupert Murdoch
Murdoch, whom we have mentioned within only the last [...] Continue reading

Posted in Chris Meadows, Google, Library of the Future, Newspapers, Uncategorized, book publishing | Leave a comment

What else is on my iPod Touch

Given that the iPhone or iPod Touch is as close as many people have yet found to the perfect e-book reader, I expect there are a lot of TeleReaders who use them. With that in mind, I thought I would diverge from my usual strictly-e-book coverage (heh) to talk about some of the other applications [...] Continue reading

Posted in Chris Meadows, Uncategorized, iPhone and iPod Touch, iPod Touch | Leave a comment

New versions for Bookshelf, Stanza iPhone readers

The best keep on getting better. Both Bookshelf and Stanza have come out with new versions that add some useful new features.
Bookshelf 2.0
This actually hit a few weeks ago, and I had not gotten around to reviewing it until now. It adds a number of useful new features, most notably the ability to download [...] Continue reading

Posted in Bookshelf for iPhone, Chris Meadows, Stanza, Uncategorized, iPhone and iPod Touch, lexcycle, web books | 28 Comments

Copyfights of the night

It has been a busy couple of days for the battle between the forces of copyright and those who would infringe it. Here are three of the most happening stories:
You Can’t Keep a Good Wolverine Down
Or a bad or indifferent one, it would seem. Someone leaked an unfinished work print of the upcoming Wolverine prequel [...] Continue reading

Posted in Chris Meadows, DRM, Uncategorized, copyright, ipod, media: dinos + mammal acts | 149 Comments

iPhone rumor roundup: 180-app limit; 32-gig iPhone

A couple of tantalizing bits of iPhone news have shown up lately. No April Fooling here!
Goodbye 148-App Limit, Hello 180-App Limit
The iPhone and iPod Touch are currently limited in the number of app screens they can support—nine screens plus four apps in the bar at the bottom, for a total of 148 apps. As [...] Continue reading

Posted in Apple, Chris Meadows, Uncategorized, iPhone and iPod Touch | 42 Comments

Cory Doctorow: Authors Guild worrying about wrong thing

In a new column he has penned for the Guardian, Cory Doctorow suggests that the Authors Guild has “lost the plot” in their fight against the Kindle’s text-to-speech function.
After laying out why that function is not an infringement, or even if it is Amazon is the wrong one to complain about, Doctorow explains that [...] Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, Chris Meadows, DRM, Mobipocket, Uncategorized, amazon, doctorow, e-book technology, iPhone and iPod Touch, text to speech | Leave a comment

Is Microsoft meddling with the Google Book settlement?

Wired’s Epicenter blog seems to think they are. Steven Levy writes about how one of the law firms interested in filing an amicus curae (“friend of the court”) brief in the Authors Guild vs. Google case has received funding from Microsoft, and that its chief investigator is a former Microsoft employee. Levy points out [...] Continue reading

Posted in Chris Meadows, Google, Microsoft, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Printed on demand: Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze

The idea of print-on-demand has long been associated with books. But now it is beginning to rub off on other media.
From the Warner Archive
Last week, Warner announced its new “Warner Archive” program, in which classic Warner movies that were not yet getting a full commercial DVD release could be ordered for $14.95 as a [...] Continue reading

Posted in Chris Meadows, Print on demand, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Claude Gubler’s ‘Le Grand Secret’: Routing around censorship in 1996

“The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.” —John Gilmore
This saying has long been true in the Internet world, but it was a shock to many when it first came true in the real world.
Banned in France
I was recently reading through my copy of Dear Valued Customer, You Are a Loser by [...] Continue reading

Posted in Chris Meadows, Internet resources, Publishing, Publishing Industry, Uncategorized, book publishing, copyright, europe, piracy | Leave a comment

FTC Digital Rights Management town hall meeting: summing up

I have had a day to think about what I saw at the FTC’s town hall meeting on Digital Rights Management yesterday, and what it might mean for the future of DRM. The conference fell into the classic “good news, bad news” scenario.
Unrealistic Expectations
The good news is that the FTC is now more [...] Continue reading

Posted in Apple, Chris Meadows, DRM, Mobipocket, Uncategorized, amazon | 69 Comments