Daily Bits

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Kindle Singles to Make Debut

I have been spending hours and hours talking about and thinking of the Kindle and the Nook recently.  I know I promised myself that I wouldn’t buy any new gadget for the rest of the year, but the impending (major) change in my lifestyle is prompting me to take a good look at e-book readers.  As I always am when obsessing over a gadget, I have been reading up on the Kindle and the Nook a lot.

Today, I just learned about a new format that Amazon is introducing for the Kindle.  Dubbed Kindle Singles, these e-books are going to be shorter and cheaper than is the current norm.  What prompted this development is the fact that content does come in varying lengths.  Just like in traditional print, books can be thick novels, really thin paperbacks, or even pamphlets.  In Kindle terms, e-books can come in the form of long novels, short stories, magazine articles, blog posts, or even Twitter updates.

Materials that are going to be labeled Kindle Singles are going to be anywhere from 10,000 words to 30,000 words.  In terms of traditional print, this would be around 30 pages to 90 pages.  The really good news is the pricing structure will be more attractive to consumers.

For now, the new section of the store is not yet up and running, but with the official announcement having been made, we should see it pretty soon.

While I am not a Kindle owner as of yet, I consider this development as a plus point for the device.  Now for some advice…which e-book reader would you recommend that I get?

Photo credit: gillyberlin

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Frankfurt Book Fair: Bridging Lit and Tech

From October 6 to October 10, residents of Frankfurt and the surrounding areas will be treated to one of the biggest (if not the biggest) happenings in the world of literature: The Frankfurt Book Fair.

While the breadth of the Frankfurt Book Fair is something to marvel at by itself, this year’s special “feature” just might draw more than hundreds of thousands of participants and visitors. The organizers are touting the book fair as what the bridge between literature and technology. This development has long been expected, especially with electronic formats gaining more acceptance.

Frankfurt SPARKS is the digital initiative of the event. From the web site:

“Frankfurt SPARKS is dedicated to facilitating the future of both publishing and technology by providing opportunities for people to meet and discuss new business strategies, partnerships and cooperations, and to figure out how to move forward together.”

With a literature event as big as the Frankfurt Book Fair (guests include Ken Follett, Jonathan Franzen, and two German Nobel Prize winners!) highlighting electronic formats, it is quite safe to say that technology will be becoming more and more part of the reading experience, isn’t it?

There are lots more in store for visitors who are interested in expanding their horizons beyond traditional print. From StoryDrive – the Conference (speakers include people from Nintendo and Walt Disney Studios) to Hot Spots, you’ll definitely get your share of technology and literature mixed together.

Needless to say, how I am wishing that I could go to this book fair. Maybe next time.

Photo credit: austinevan

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A Library Without Books?

Being a trained librarian, I don’t find the idea of an online collection that strange at all. After all, some of the courses in school were all about electronic collections. What with e-book readers becoming so popular these days, it is but expected that libraries will expand their collections to electronic format more and more.

The University of Texas at San Antonio’s Applied Engineering and Technology Library’s collection is something else altogether. Its collection is not a simple mixture of “real” books and electronic material, but is instead composed of ONLY electronic books. In essence, the library has no “real” books at all!

This has been the trend in the past years. Academic libraries across the United States have been reducing the number of bound volumes they keep in the premises – especially those books which are rarely accessed by their patrons. As you can imagine, having to keep print copies can take up a lot of space and cost the libraries in maintenance. With electronic copies, costs are reduced considerably and access is made even easier.

This development could very well open the floodgates for collections that are fully electronic. This is quite interesting, as there is sure to be criticism coming from those who adhere to old school principles. Yours truly things that bound volumes will always have a place in libraries, but we must adapt to changes in order to make information as freely available as possible. That’s not to say that I do not want to see old school libraries totally die out. What say you?

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Welcome to the eParty Borders, Have a Seat by Amazon and Barnes & Noble

In my town, there used to be a Borders bookstore every few miles, until a few years ago, when they all started to disappear. I’m not hunting them down or anything, so it’s not like I know exactly where they are today, but the only one I’ve seen recently is downtown by my old work. Otherwise, I haven’t seen them around.

That makes me wonder how well Borders is doing, but not enough to actually research it in any way. What I do know is that they just released an e-reader app, in the same vein as the Kindle and Barnes & Noble apps, for both the iPhone and iPad [iTunes link]. So how is it?

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Scribd Rolls Out “Send to Device” Feature

Mobile devices are really the new norm in cloud storage services. Aside from SugarSync’s latest feature that lets you send files via email attachment, Scribd, also a file management service in the cloud is rolling out almost the same feature. Scribd just launch its “send to device” service that will allow you to make your documents stored on Scribd accessible via smartphones and e-readers.

It’s a pretty clever idea really and very timely especially since both smartphones and e-readers are getting the massive usage lately. So, if you’re a Scribd account holder you can now practically send any Scribd document be it your own or those readily available on the Scribd site to your mobile devices with a click of a button. What’s good about this feature is that you can send practically any file, from MS Word to PDFs and access them on your e-reader or smartphones. The service works for free and for-purchase books and chapters from major publishers.

To use this feature for your own documents, make sure to set these documents to DRM-free status and allow downloads. And if the documents that you are sending out are not supported by your smartphones or e-reader, don’t fret out because Scribd is also planning to roll out a series of new mobile applications for Android and iPhone that will let you read files that you transferred from Scribd.

Sounds good? Actually yes, saves you some bucks if you get the Amazon Kindle or other e-reader just to get your book reading fix  via a mobile and portable device.