06:53 AM by Colin Dunstan in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

David at Gowerpoint has just released a new version of his wonderful Pocket PC e-book reader ubook - version 0.9b.

Here's what's new:
# New e-book formats supported (eReader, MobiPocket -> if not encrypted, PML, Rocket eBook, CHM, PDF -> if not encrypted)
# Increased (artificial) limit of num words per minutes to 1200.
# Fixed images, nag, tables and stream bugs.
# Updated manual
# New skin: n0de by Marcus Kopp

Click here for a full overview of all ubook features including screenshots.

ubook is a shareware product. A licence costs $12US and works for all versions of the reader. The unlicenced version is not crippled in any way, but pops up an about screen every now and then.

06:04 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

In case you've missed any MobileRead news from this week, here is our usual roundup:

Announcements
A Merry Christmas from Mobileread
Recent Downtime

E-Book Readers
Review: eBookwise EB1150
Teleread excited about Cybook

General Chat
Free Gmail invites available again
New study: Mobile phones signals cause cell damage
Next generation E-Ink displays in the works!

Link Swap
Hack a day

Other E-Book Resources
Digital Library: Making of America
Manybooks now features Sony Librie e-books

Other Gadgets
Fun with Bluetooth at Warp 9.5
Gadget and Cable Management Nightmares

Palm
Free Palm Games!
PalmGear 10% NewYear Discount
See the best of FreewarePalm
Wanted: Palm OS Beta Testers

Pocket PC
FpseCE 0.09.3 free Playstation 1 emulator
Pocket Informant 5 Review at PDA247
See the best of FreewarePPC
WebIS Mail 2.06 for free at Handango this week
WebIS Money free for registered WebIS users

Portable Audio/Video
iPod soon with airbag-like sensor detection?
PodReader e-book converter for iPod

Smartphones
Opera for Windows Mobile Technical Preview 2

06:37 PM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Announcements

Mobileread.com was inaccessible for about one to two hours. Sorry about that - it seems that nasty worms and script kiddies don't enjoy their holidays.

09:37 AM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Making of America (MOA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history primarily from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. The book collection currently contains approximately 8,500 books with 19th century imprints.

You can either do a search, or see browse the information in a few places...

http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/moa/moa_browse.html
http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/...ge=browsecolls
http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/...rnl&cc=moajrnl
http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/...l&cc=moa&c=moa

Can't tell if these browsing locations are comprehensive, or if there's overlap between them, but you can always go back to the main site and do searches if there's something in particular you are looking for.

This is a noble effort, and maybe one day soon collections like this will become commonplace.

07:54 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

If you are an owner of any other WebIS software, you can get your copy of WebIS Money for free by just filling in your registered email address, order number, or software registration key. You will then get a download link if you are eligible.

If you are an avid Mobileread reader, you know that there is currently another WebIS promotion, which allows you to get WebIS Mail for free. If you combine the two promotions...

This promotion ends when WebIS Money 2.0 is released.

04:44 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

Apple is eyeing a technology that could make the iPod more likely to survive a fall, according to this ZDNet article:

The company has applied for a patent on technology that would allow a portable media player to detect when it is falling and then stop reading or writing to the hard drive. Such technology would work by detecting the acceleration that accompanies a drop.

"The portable-computing device protects its disk drive by monitoring for such accelerations and operating to avoid usage of the disk drive during periods of acceleration," Apple said in the patent application, which was published Dec. 16. "Through such protection, the likelihood of damage to the disk drive or loss of data stored on the disk drive is able to be substantially reduced."

This technology is not new though. My IBM Thinkpad notebook has a similar patented feature called IBM Active Protection system (white paper, flash presentation). In a nutshell, Active Protection automatically parks the hard drive head temporarily when a drop or a similar damage event is predicted by a motherboard-mounted motion detector ("accelerometer").

So since IBM already features such a technology, I am curious to see how Steve Jobs thinks he could re-patent it for himself.

04:31 PM by Colin Dunstan in More E-Book Readers | Legacy E-Book Devices

Teleread has an in-depth review of the Cybook, a dedicated e-book reader with a 10" color LCD screen. This is the second in-depth review I've read, and it tries to make the Cybook look much better than the first.

The review dissected for you in a few words:

Pros:
- the price ($499) is a bargain
- handles a variety of formats (Mobipocket, Html, Txt, Word, non-DRM PDB, promise to support OeBF)
- large 10" 800x600 256-color screen (especially good for visually impaired)
- screen's sharpness leaves most competitors (except Librie) in the dust
- extra-thick letters on virtual keyboard
- comfortable form factor
- no lack of speed despite antique technology (old OS and CPU)

Cons:
- slight screen flicker which could be fixed through settings
- less durable due to the size of the screen
- "minor" risk of getting dusk under the screen
- difficult to access battery status

What is interesting is that Teleread is so "ohhh that is so great" about this reader. I must admit I have never seen the Cybook myself, but after reading aRMiTaG3's hands-on review two months ago, I have serious doubts that this dedicated reader would make my life any better. Common guys, you think it is a minor problem to get dust under the screen? Even if you try a rudimentary fix, purchasing a second stylus and keeping it inside the reader (where should I then put my first stylus when I don't use the reader?), it is a serious quality problem if dust can enter underneath your device screen. I had one of the first Sony Clie PDAs, and its screen was so full with dust particles that it literally drove me nuts. I am not intending to go up the walls again.

I also don't think that the price of $499 is a "bargain", considering that all you can do with this reader is, well reading e-books. I don't see the justification for this price tag. The technology is outdated, there is no PCMCIA/CF adapter included, and the integrated memory is definitely not enough for any serious e-book fan.

Although I cannot share your excitement, I still thank you for the honest review!

Update, 8:35 a.m. (EST), Christmas Day: Thanks to David from Teleread for the quick follow-up. He will talk to Bookeen again regarding the dust problem that I personally find rather discouraging. Again I admit I haven't had a chance to play with this gadget, so I may be completely wrong with my resentment. I'd be curious to hear what you think after reading the two reviews!

04:00 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Originally converted from Fpse, FpseCE is a free Sony Playstation 1 emulator for Pocket PC. While FpseCE 0.10 is on its way, 0.09.3 already offers some remarkable news such as:
- code optimizations
- sound implementation
- GPU texture windows for better graphics
- Guncon support
- 3 Frameskip level with 2 frameskip mode is available
- Change disc support for Multiple dics games

See here for a compatibility list of the emulator for the windows version.