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eBook Reader - Issue 01-06

Welcome to the eBook Reader, a regular update covering what is new, cool and exciting in the eBook world.

"For the new generation, e-books will be as natural to them as television is to us. E-books are here. I believe they are here to stay. Welcome to the wonderful world of choice."
    Dan Brown, author of the bestselling Da Vinci Code

Technology News

Industry News

eBooks in the Enterprise

Consumer eBook News



New Battery Technologies

Experts tell us that there is limited gain left to from tweaking today's lithium-ion battery technology. Development is underway with new fuel cell technology based on methanol and hydrogen. While these new approaches promise a great payoff the technology is far from fully developed. Here at eBook Technologies we are keeping a close eye on new battery technologies as we develop future eBook device designs.



New Sony eBook Device Announced

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) provided an opportunity for Sony to announce their upcoming Sony Reader eBook device. This consumer targeted device is expected to be available in the U.S. this April with a retail price between $299 and $399 depending on accessory bundles.

We got a chance to play with the Sony Reader eBook at CES and found the device to be reasonably lightweight with a crisp and clear display. They seem to have addressed some of the Industrial design issues that plagued their first attempt.

The new Sony device uses the new screen technology from eInk, which is quite cool. We're looking at the eInk screen technology for some of our high-end next generation devices - the technology looks promising for non-color classroom/enterprise use -- though without backlight one gives up the nighttime reading advantage of a traditional LCD.

The user interface appears to be fairly intuitive to navigate and offers several options for frequently used functions such as page turning. The Sony device lacks touch-screen capability so there is no screen interaction or direct data entry ability -- that shortcoming could be addressed with a more expensive touch-screen behind the eInk screen in the future, but would drive cost up.

We feel that Sony's consumer offering is still quite expensive for a consumer play and it is yet to been seen how the content flow and their DRM will be received in the US. When asked about the Sony Reader eBook Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at JupiterResearch, a market research company, said that its success "…depends more on Sony's marketing and pricing decisions than on the sexy E Ink technology. The technology looks like it's in place. What it comes down to is if they can deliver enough content at a reasonable price."

The enterprise eBook market continues to distinguish itself from the consumer marketplace by requiring that an eBook be more than a sexy gadget but part of an overall solution to a problem. ETI leads the growing pack of eBook companies by recognizing that 'it is not just about the device, it's about solving the problem of creating and delivering content'.

For more information on the new Sony Reader:


eBook Publisher Version 2.2 Available

Version 2.2 of the eBook Publisher is now available. New features include: the ability to import Microsoft PowerPoint files to create eBook resident slideshows (Windows), a bulk conversion utility that allows you to easily convert single files or entire directories from Word, PowerPoint or OEB using either drag and drop or an interactive folder chooser (Windows) and in response to reader/customer requests larger default font sizes for the ETI-2/eBookwise-1150.

In the future eBook Technologies extend its Macintosh support with the addition of OS X and PowerPoint support.

To request more information on version 2.2, please contact us via email to info@ebooktechnologies.com

Version 2.2 of the eBook Publisher is available for download here


eBook Firmware Release 4.1f43 Available

Firmware release 4.1.f43 for both the color and grayscale eBook devices is now available. This release contains many new features and bug fixes including:

  • The ability to display content built for the grayscale device on color devices
  • Support for additional bookshelf sorts including: by Book Title, by Author Name, by Book Size, by Recently Downloaded, and by Recently Read
  • Enhanced file system management for Flash memory cards including support for "long names", MSDOS under MacOS X, and automatic discovery of personal content imported in ".imp" format
For a complete list of changes in release 4.1f43 go to


IDPF Announces New Board Members

IDPF, a trade and standards organization for the digital publishing industry announced a series of organizational reforms and a resurgence of standards activity. eBook Technologies own Garth Conboy joins other new directors from Simon & Schuster, Adobe Systems and the Office for Information Technology Policy at the American Library Association in working to expand the industry for digitally published works for the enterprise, education and consumer markets.



ETI Founders to co-Chair Working Group on OEBPS Update

eBook Technologies founders John Rivlin and Garth Conboy are attacking a problem faced by publishers and other creators of eBook content where they need to generate multiple eBook formats when providing content to multiple eBook platforms. As co-chairs of a new IDPF working group they are leading efforts to create a unified (across Reading Systems) Open eBook Publication Structure (OEBPS) container format.

For more information on OEBPS standards efforts please contact us via email at info@ebooktechnologies.com or go to http://www.idpf.org/idpf_groups/content.htm



Squadron Officers College Deploys Dynamic eBook System

Junior officers arriving for classes at the Squadron Officers College, Maxwell Air Force Base receive all their training materials on an ETI-1. The deployed system from eBook Technologies is a complete hardware/software combination that converts, organizes, and distributes courseware to eBook-equipped students.

The ETI-1 device itself is far less expensive than a laptop or tablet PC about $400 compared to $1,500 and isn't vulnerable to the well known viruses or security risks of the Windows operating system.

Going paperless is an obvious benefit, just in paper and production savings alone, but SOC is discovering more and more reasons to expand its use of the eBook system.

Labor savings is one,as managing, updating and delivering hundreds of printed documents, multiplied by the number students represents a lot of pieces of paper, and a very expensive process when you are doing it all by hand.

"It used to take us 1,000 man-hours per year, now it's only 100 man-hours per year," says Capt. Danny Flores, Chief, SOC Wargames and New Technology. "And we're saving up to $400,000 per year just in printing costs."

For our customer success story detailing the Squadron Officers College eBook implementation and the benefits they have seen please contact us via email at info@ebooktechnologies.com



Using eBooks for Delivering Reference Material

In corporate, military and academic organizations teams rely on countless bits of reference information throughout the day. Specifications, policies, procedures are all examples of reference information that typically is already in electronic form within the enterprise. The challenge is delivering this reference content in a cost-effective, portable and dynamically up to date method.

EBooks utilize automated electronic publishing and content distribution technology to deliver reference content for both fixed and mobile workers. EBook publications are easy to create, portable, and quickly searched. With the ETI family of intelligent reading devices an employee can carry megabytes of text and images in an eBook for reference whenever and wherever it is needed.

Our enterprise customers tell us that they find eBooks ideal for reference information that frequently changes. Enterprise organizations who have adopted eBooks experience a whole new world of efficient and simplified content creation, revision, management, and distribution.



Top e-Books Point to Widening Audience

A quick review of the bestselling e-books of 2005 indicates that e-books are moving from early adopter to a more mainstream status. Past e-book bestseller lists largely featured science fiction titles. In 2005 the list includes many mainstream bestsellers along with a dictionary, an astrology guide, and even romance titles.

For more information on top e-book sellers in 2005:


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