Lightspeed Illuminati

In an unapologetically wistful article for the Baltimore Sun, Garrison Keillor envisioned a future where books spring up like wildflowers, unattended by the meticulous gardening skills of editors, and the democratization of publishing will lead to a vast wasteland of uninspired, pedestrian ebooks to be read only by friends and family. As much as I [...]

Jason Perlow’s Tech Broiler blog offers a nice rundown on the reader apps available on Apple’s iPad, including the strengths and weaknesses of each. Besides the native iBooks reading application (which runs on iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch), other major players with apps targeting the tablet include: Kindle for iPad, Barnes & Nobel eReader, Kobo [...]

Blio, Ray Kurzweil’s free software designed to overcome page display shortcomings of other ebook formats, is a dark horse running in a race that’s been going on for some time. Nonetheless, the package shows some competitive promise in the heated market in which Kindle and iPad are setting the pace. Projected to be available to [...]

As a site focused primarily on ebooks and electronic publishing, it might seem a bit off-topic to be discussing the ways in which electromagnetic pulses (EMP) and solar storms may shut down civilization. But, maybe it isn’t off the mark at all. One of our ongoing sub-themes is the persistence and distribution of electronic information. [...]

Traditional book publishers are very nervous—at least as nervous as recording industry executives were nearly a decade ago as Apple’s iTunes burst upon the scene and overturned conventional wisdom about who really controlled sales and distribution of songs. Amazon’s success with the Kindle was a friendly tap on the shoulder for publishing executives. Apple’s iPad [...]