Sony’s eBook store now has 1 million public domain titles

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Ahleen
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Because Sony is really serious in their commitment to providing consumers with the largest, most comprehensive selection of eBooks available, they’ve just released a very awesome news, or at least for those with Sony eBook readers.

In partnership with Google, the company announced today that it is providing access to more than 1 million free public domain eBooks. The titles range from classics like Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island to other generes like biographies, historical texts, romance novels, and much much more.

These titles, which Google has digitalized as part of its Google Books project, are available in EPUB format which are optimized to work for the Sony PRS-505 ($280) or the PRS-700 Reader ($350).

“We are committed to ensuring our customers have the freedom to discover and read content from the widest possible range of sources,” Chris Smythe, director of the eBook Store from Sony said. “We’re proud to offer access to the broadest range of eBooks today – from hot new releases, to New York Times Best Sellers, to classics and hard to find manuscripts such as those available for free from Google.”

To access these humongous database of titles, you must download a software, sign up for an account and then load the eBooks to your Sony device.

One bad news though. As of the moment, it is only available to U.S.-based readers perhaps due to licensing and copyright issues across borders. Awwwww. 🙁

Source: http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=100295

HP headquarter’s roof defaced

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Ahleen
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0

Some protesters conduct signature campaigns, others picket on the streets. But Greenpeace? They have their own way of protesting and their way involves fingerprinting the words “hazardous products” on the roof of HP’s headquarters.

The graffiti, “painted” yesterday, covered more than 11,500 square feet and was done following demonstrations against HP in their China and Holland offices.

In a their statement, Greenpeace expressed their dismay over HP’s continued use of Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) which both presents environmental problems and human health concerns.

“Instead of making progress on phasing out toxic chemicals from their products, HP continues making excuses,” Greenpeace said. “They are backtracking on their commitment to eliminate PVC plastic and brominated flame retardants from their products by the end of 2009.”

HP’s response?

“The unconstructive antics at HP’s headquarters today did nothing to advance the goals that all who care about the environment share,” they said in a statement e-mailed to InformationWeek.

However, they did concede and said that it will introduce its first laptops free of BFRs and PVC in September, and that all its new commercial PCs will free of the toxic materials by fall 2010. (Greenpeace previously that HP had pushed back the target date until 2011.)

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218800095&subSection=All+Stories

Free Wi-Fi on Barnes & Noble stores

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Ahleen
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0

You can now buy and download eBooks right in the stores of Barnes & Noble thanks to the launching of free Wi-Fi in their bookstores yesterday.

Of course, the free wireless hotspots will be provided through AT&T, the same company that has provided Barnes & Noble paid Wi-Fi network since 2005. And if you’re wondering how many stores B&N has, that’ll be 777 stores in 50 states.

The free Wi-Fi service from the store is to boost its eBook business to further counter their main rival, Amazon, which jumpstarted the eBook market with their very own eBook reader, the Kindle.

And for you guys who still hasn’t heard the news, Barnes & Noble will soon have their exclusive eBook reader from Plastic Logic and will be released to the public by 2010.

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218700259&subSection=All+Stories

Woman sued for tweeting against landlord

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Ahleen
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0

Lots of people earn money through Twitter through posting links to their sites, posting ads, and so on. But posting tweets may cost you money too…well at least for this woman from Chicago.

Twitter user Amanda Bonnen ( Twitter name: abonnen ) is now facing a $50,000 defamation suit for criticizing her landlord in a tweet she posted.

The Horizon Group Management, the company who claims to manage 1,500 apartments in Chicago, filed the lawsuit last Monday. According to them, they were “maliciously and wrongfully” defamed by the defendant’s tweet.

The company did not ask the woman to take down the post though. “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization,” Jeffrey Michael, a member of the family that runs Horizon for 25 years, told the Sun-Times newspaper.

Their move however, sparked many reactions from Twitter users. Yesterday, many users voiced support for Bonnen and a few even suggested setting up a legal defense fund.

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/social_network/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218700245

Firefox 4.0 mockup released!

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Ahleen
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Firefox 4.0 Mock Up
Firefox 4.0 Mock Up

Look familiar? And nope, it’s not Google Chrome.

Mozilla has just released mockups that show what the new Firefox 4.0 might look like and yes, it does look like Google’s now very popular browser, Chrome which debuted last year.

Last week, Mozilla showed some mockups for the Firefox 3.7. It has eliminated the browser’s title bar which was replaced with two drop-down menu. This mockup of Firefox 4.0 shows two options, one that is similar to the 3.7 version and the other, looking very much like Chrome.

The 4.0 mockup shows a combination button to the right of the address bar that changes depending on what the browser is up to: it can be used to start loading a page whose address has been typed, to stop loading if it’s in the process of doing so, and to reload it if it’s finished loading, CNet reports.

Also, the mockup showed browser tabs on top, where the window title bar usually is placed. Again, another similar idea with Chrome. The designs however are still not final as Mozilla’s browser developers are still on the “exploration” stage.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10296609-2.html

Mac’s Pulse Smartpen now has hand-writing recognition

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Ahleen
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0

Released for the Mac earlier this year in collaboration with Vision Objects, the Pulse Smartpen is a pen with a built-in flash drive that can record what you write or draw. When used with Livescribe’s special paper, the pen can record any sound going on as you write things down.

So what’s new for this device?

Livescribe. The Pulse Smartpen’s maker just announced the release of MyScript for Livescribe. Mac users can now have handwriting-to-text transcription, something that was lacking on the previous versions of the device. MyScript allows Pulse Smartpen users to edit handwritten notes in Word, cover shapes, drawing, and tables, and even create a dictionary of frequently used words.

You can get your 1GB Smartpen version for $150 or you can opt to get the 2GB model which is sold for $200.

The MyScript for Livescribe software is available as a free 30-day trial from Vision Objects then you will be needing $30 if you want to activate your copy of the software.

Only those Intel-based Macs running on OS X 10.4 or 10.5 can use MyScript though as it not compatible with the older versions.

Source: http://tech.yahoo.com/news/macworld/20090727/tc_macworld/handwritingrecognitionserviceformaccomestopulsesmartpen

Texting while driving is even more dangerous

By
Ahleen
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2

That is the result of the study a safety research institute conducted on drivers and truckers using cameras to continuously observe drivers for more than 6 million miles.

The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute concluded that “texting while driving increases the risk of a crash much more than previous studies have concluded with motorists taking their eyes off the road longer than they do when talking or listening on their cell phones,”

The study concluded that when drivers of heavy trucks text, collision risk is 23 times greater than when not texting. This is more than thrice the risk of dialing a cell phone which increases the collision risk 6 times.

“Talking/listening to a cell phone allowed drivers to maintain eyes on the road and were not associated with an increased safety risk to nearly the same degree,” the institute said. “These results show conclusively that a real key to significantly improving safety is keeping your eyes on the road.”

So does this mean that its better to talk on cell phones while driving? Of course not. There is a risk involved so if you plan on arriving to your destination on one piece, stick to the rules and never use your phone while you’re driving.

And if you think that using headsets and going hands-free is safer, think again. The study also concluded that “headset cell phone use is not substantially safer than hand-held because the primary risks associated with both are answering, dialing, and other tasks that take drivers’ eyes off the road.”

Better safe than sorry guys, better safe than sorry. 😉

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jQIakqMFgrC0KAeMfxrWUQCz2U2QD99N64GO1

Bill Gates closes his Facebook Account

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Ahleen
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0

If you find it taxing to manage 20-50 friend requests daily in Facebook, imagine having to go through over a thousand, let alone 10,000.

Well, Bill Gates doesn’t have to image that. He actually had over 10,000 friend requests in his Facebook account that he eventually gave up and quit his site.

In a New Dheli business forum, Mr. Gates told the crowd that he had been forced to close his account due to it being “just way too much trouble” to deal with. Being a business magnate doesn’t afford him the luxury of time to surf the net 24 hours either.

He boldy adds to the crowd of the forum: “All these tools of tech waste our time if we’re not careful”.

A strange comment coming from the founder of today’s multibillion company, Microsoft. 🙂

Source: http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20090727/tc_pcworld/billgatesleavesfacebooksaysitstoomuchhassle

Oracle files $2M lawsuit against Qtrax

By
Ahleen
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0

Always pay your bills! Geez, when will people ever learn that?

Giant enterprise software company Oracle, has filed a $2 million lawsuit against Qtrax for copyright infringement and breach of contract last week in Northern California.

Qtrax, a legal peer-to-peer music service, also made headlines in January 2008 when four major labels denied the company’s claim that it had licensing agreements with them. It was eventually smoothed out and they did get the deals eventually. However, a source close to the company reveals that Qtrax has “apparently run into some trouble in the past several months”, CNet reports.

Oracle’s complaint, which was filed with U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, says that the problem started when Qtrax paid Oracle a bounced check worth $1.8 million. That only could cause something of the class action lawsuit Xarelto type, with all known consequences. It was the payment for the database software that the latter provided.

Oracle claims that several attempts were made to collect money from Qtrax but all was to no avail. “Qtrax’s failure to pay the outstanding invoices constitutes a material breach of the software license,” Oracle’s attorney wrote.

Allan Klepfisz, Qtrax’s CEO, admits that they have been “at times short of money” but has recently acquired new funding.

“We’re not in trouble, thankfully,” Klepfisz said. “I feel both Oracle and ourselves will get beyond this. You should also know we have not used any of the licenses under this contract (with Oracle).” This is in contrast with what Oracle claims in their complaint where they stated that Qtrax continued to use their software.

It seems that ad-supported music sites like Qtrax are on the rocks when it terms of generating revenue. SpiralFrog and Ruckus, two other sites similar in nature with Qtrax, were forced to shut down this year.

Source:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10296693-93.html

Amazon’s apology unaccepted by some

By
Ahleen
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0

It was just last week (July 24) that a heartfelt apology was released by Amazon’s chief executive, Jeffrey P. Bezos. His amends were for the remote deletions of George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm that the company did on the Kindle Kindle devices of readers who purchased them.

Although he wrote in their company’s forum that the eBooks were sold by a bookseller who did not have legal rights to the novel, he admits that Amazon’s move in addressing the problem was “stupid, thoughtless and painfully out of line with our principles.”

His apology however, was not enough for some people.

There are already a growing number of civil libertarians and customer advocates who wants Amazon to change their selling method for the Kindle ebooks. Among these is Free Software Foundation based in Boston. The foundation is soliciting signatures from librarians, publishers, major authors and public intellectuals.

Holmes Wilson, campaigns manager of the Free Software Foundation, said: “As long as Amazon maintains control of the device it will have this ability to remove books and that means they will be tempted to use it or they will be forced to it.”

Hmmmn, the guys from Amazon better have their statements and back-up plans ready coz I can smell another long-ending debate here. 🙂

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/technology/companies/27amazon.html?_r=1

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