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Month: January 2011 (Page 1 of 2)

NOOKbook Review: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

January 28, 2011 /

The first eBook my wife bought for her Nook Color was Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. The book has inspired a lot of lively debate concerning various parenting philosophies and methods. Here is an excerpt from her book review.

This book, by Yale University Law Professor Amy Chua, is meant to be a memoir, rather than a parenting guide, and it is certainly not meant to be a scholarly research piece.  At times funny because the descriptions were so over-the-top that it sounded unreal, and at times sobering because those of us who were born of Chinese parents have actually witnessed behaviors displayed by Chua in our own parents or in our friends’ parents and know the yelling and nagging and berating statements were in fact quite real, the book is nevertheless meant to be read as a memoir, and not as an instruction manual.  But the book is not meant to be pure entertainment either, Chua’s acerbic sense of humor notwithstanding.  So, what is the reader supposed to take away from the book?

Click here for the full book review on Grace Notes in Chicago.

iPad (Manga) Envy

January 27, 2011 /

Yesterday I was reading the latest issue of Shonen Jump and noticed the back cover ad for the Viz Manga iPad app. Through the app, readers can buy digital copies of a number of popular Viz manga. This is certainly great news if you already own an iPad and have a love for manga, but what about the rest of us who read our eBooks on Nooks, Kindles, or Kobos?

It seems likely, that if manga on the iPad is popular enough, it will find its way to other platforms. Popular iPad/iPhone apps generally spawn Android app versions, so perhaps there is some hope there. But who is actually reading manga on an iPad? Graphic novels and manga skew towards a decidely younger demographic than the 30 to 50 – somethings that make up the bulk of initial iPad users.

As time goes on, it is reasonable to expect more young people to own iPads. There are already a number of colleges requiring students to own iPads or providing them to students for free. But the iPad is still a fairly expensive tablet that will not serve as a viable laptop replacement for much of the college and high school aged demographic. And since the iPad was released, it now faces more competition from Android based tablets as well as improved eBook readers like the Nook Color. So it seems likely that Viz will eventually support its manga on other platforms.

Using Gift Cards To Buy NOOKbooks

January 22, 2011 /

When I bought a Nook Color for my wife’s birthday, I also bought the obligatory gift card to get her started on the road to eBooks. It is actually easy to use a Barnes & Noble gift card to buy eBooks for the Nook, unfortunately B&N’s web site has the procedure fairly well hidden. But not from the eyes of Google! Here is the link.

How to Redeem Gift Cards for NOOKbooks

It’s pretty straight forward. Just go into your account settings and click on the Manage Gift Cards for NOOKbooks link. Once you save your gift cards there, your eBook purchases will be paid with your gift card balance before charging your credit card.

And The eBook Shall Lead…

January 22, 2011 /

And the Children Shall Lead was one of the worst episodes of the original Star Trek television series. In this story, the Enterprise visits a research station on a planet where all of the adults stationed there have been killed, leaving only the children. It turns out that the children had been mislead and used by an evil alien to kill their parents in a plan for galactic domination.

A terrible nightmarish episode, that probably pales next to the nightmare being experienced right now by the book publishing industry. On one side, Borders is delaying payment to publishers while they seek new financing. And now on the other side, Barnes & Noble has just fired a sizable portion of their buying staff.

These buyers are the people who work with the publishers and decided what books are going to be bought and put up for sale in the bookstore. Unsold books take up space, so it is important to choose what to sell wisely. Good buyers are essential for the success of any traditional bookstore. That Barnes & Noble has seen fit to release many of their buyers is more evidence that not only has the bookselling game changed, we may be at a critical juncture.

Without book buying staff, who then decides what books to sell in the stores? I suspect that computer algorithms are going to get that job. They will “decide” based on the popularity of physical books bought online and eBook sales. These are the same kinds of algorithms that the likes of Amazon and Netflix already use to suggest books and movies they think a customer might like. And at some point, eBook sales are going to take the lead in that decision making process.

It won’t be a perfect process, but the risk of error is relatively low because unsold eBooks don’t take up shelf space. So practically speaking, you don’t have to decide what eBooks to carry because you can carry them all! Then just select the most popular ones to buy in print for your stores. In any case, there’s no turning back now. Going forward there are going to be a lot fewer bookstores to sell physical books in, which means a lot fewer books bought from publishers.

I still hold out hope for the creation of boutique bookstore/cafes where you could peruse and buy some of the most popular books in print and also take advantage of special deals on selected eBooks. These boutique stores would also be locations for promotional events like book signings. Though I don’t think there is a consensus on the best way to sign an eBook yet!

A Reflection Of Books

January 22, 2011 /

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of seeing artist Makoto Fujimura speak on the work he was commissioned to do in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. His talk and the one preceding it by art historian Professor John Walford of Wheaton College had a profound impact on how I now see art. Seeing isn’t even the right word, something more like experiencing would be better.

Throughout the presentations, speakers would describe the materials that went into a work and often apologize for the disservice a projected image did to the work itself. It seems obvious now, but there’s no substitute for seeing the work in person and experiencing its totality as it was meant to be experienced. Art is more than its reflected photons.

Before the speakers started, I was talking to a new friend about books and eBook readers. It’s Hyde Park and we were at the University of Chicago Divinity School, so talking about books is completely natural! Anyway, we were going over the pros and cons of eBooks, in particular limitations on lending. And at the end, the fact that you cannot show off your collection to friends like you can with a real bookshelf. I had the impression that even increasingly inexpensive eReaders like the Kobo, were not going to win her over. In the end, to her a digital eBook was just a poor reflection of the real thing.

At some point it has to be realized that more mature readers like my friend Jan are not going to be sold on eBooks as long as they are pitched as some kind of replacement for the physical books she knows and loves. Just as immersive video games have to resist the temptation to imitate movies, so must eBooks resist the urge to ape physical books. eBooks are going to have to stand on their own as an entirely new medium for the expression of human thought and imagination. That imagination, coupled with technology, should soon give rise to something entirely new and beautiful.

3DS, 3D This, 3D That, 3D Books!

January 19, 2011 /

Ars Technica reports that Nintendo is releasing the 3DS on March 27th. The 3DS is a handheld 3D games console that does not require the use of 3D glasses to see games in 3D. The year 2011 seems to be shaping up as the year that 3D makes a big play for our living rooms, but what about our books?

The eBook format already presents numerous advantages over printed books, but so far our reading devices have sought to imitate the printed book reading experience. This makes some sense with respect to converting books that began their lives in the printed page. But going forward, I think we’ll see  a whole lot more from the new breed of direct to digital books.

For example, fan fiction often places the reader along side their favorite characters in romantic, and often embarrassingly juvenile, adventures. But the reader is still left to see the story through the eyes of the author. What if the eBook could access the reader’s Facebook profile and then update the story to truly place them within it! Perhaps not great literature, but probably a lot of fun!

Going further, an eReader making use of 3DS technology, could display story illustrations in 3D. Or perhaps present the story characters and environs in 3D from a first person perspective as the reader progresses through the book. Add voice and interactivity, and you end up with the 3D equivalent of Japanese interactive novel games, often referred to as “dating sims”.

Most readers may not want that level of interactivity with their books. But part of the beauty of the new digital medium is customizability. Each person can personalize the experience to use as much or as little of the tech as they like. And doubtless, there will be those who will prefer to merely turn the perfectly modeled pages of a physical book, rendered in high resolution 3D graphics.

eBooks Are For Muggles!

January 19, 2011 /

As I continue to add more books to my Nook, it surprises and saddens me just how many classics are not available for purchase in any eBook format. Last night, while preparing for a Bible study I was hoping to add some of the reference books for our study of Romans to my Nook. I was greatly disappointed to find that many of them were not available as eBooks. Given the command to make disciples of all nations, I don’t think Paul would be too happy that much Christian thought was not available in one of the easiest formats to share with the entire world. If Paul were here today, I have little doubt he’d be sure to publish in ePub format!

I kind of expect religious literature to be, *ahem*, hidebound and slow to come to new formats. But for a highly successful commercial series like the Harry Potter books, it’s rather surprising and annoying. You will find many books about Harry Potter in eBook format, but not the series itself. That remains “safely” on paper pages, though I’m  sure a quick Google search will turn up many digital copies of dubious origin. The cat being out of the bag anyway, why not make an eBook version available for people willing to pay for it? But I guess eBooks are only for muggles…sigh.

eReaders and Tablets: Peaceful Coexistence?

January 18, 2011 /

Borders has extended its $99 Kobo eBook reader sale through Thursday. I wonder what this means. Does it mean that they received such a favorable bump in sales that the embattled bookseller wants to build on it? Or does it mean just the opposite, and they need to quickly clear inventory and raise cash to pay publishers?

I’d like to think that it is the former rather than the latter. Successful Kobo sales mean more eBook sales for Borders which hopefully offset any losses they take discounting the hardware. Not only that, I’d like to think that maybe they are establishing $99 as a permanent opening price point for a high quality eBook reader. This lower price would also further position eReaders versus tablets like the iPad.

Since the appearance of the iPad, I’ve wondered whether dedicated eReaders stood a chance of surviving in a market of more capable tablets. The falling prices of the Kindle, and Nook since that time will certainly help their survival. And the introduction and reported success of the Nook Color at $249 demonstrates that a middle ground between eBook readers and tablets may exist as well. Still, I think most consumers are thinking of getting one or the other. But if the impulse buy price point of $99 is established for eReaders, then I think buying both becomes an option for many.

So I hope that the $99 Kobo is not just a fleeting blip on my sensors.

Will Borders Troubles Lead To More eBook Manga?

January 15, 2011 /

I visited my neighborhood Borders yesterday for some hands on time with the Kobo eBook reader. I was impressed by its really slim design and its responsiveness, a good buy at $99. After that I did my usual perusal of the manga section, looking for new volumes in series I follow and any other new titles that might be promising.

In particular, I was looking for Neon Genesis Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse Volume 2. I’d bought volume 1 there a few weeks ago and saw online that volume 2 had actually been out a while. I was a bit annoyed to see that volume 2 was still not there. I resigned myself to the likelihood I would have to order it online and went home.

Later I learned that Diamond Book Distributors had put all shipments to Borders on hold.  I’d already heard that Borders was negotiating with publishers to delay payment to them while they seek new financing. But this was the first I’d heard of shipments being stopped. Diamond distributes books for a number of manga publishers, including Dark Horse, the U.S. publisher of the manga I was looking for.

This situation leaves me no other choice than the online option for new manga. There aren’t any other bookstores nearby that carry new manga. If Borders goes under, it’s going to be a lot harder to find manga at retail. Fewer bookstores will make it more difficult for all publishers to sell books profitably.

I think the shrinking number of bookstores is already a factor driving the adoption of eBooks. Graphic novels have been slower to come to the medium, in part due to their use of color. But manga are mostly black and white, they generally translate to eBook form very well. If shipments of most manga to Borders have already stopped, then perhaps we will see an accelerated move to the eBook format.

The situation for manga is further complicated by the very strong reluctance of Japanese publishers to embrace digital media. But the growth of iPad app versions of popular manga would indicate that they are changing their stance. And declining manga sales in Japan has increased the importance of sales outside of the country. A Borders collapse in the U.S. would be a big problem for Japanese manga publishers who are already facing the challenge of widely circulating illegal scans of their titles on the internet. Some of these scans have even been packaged up and sold in the Apple App Store!

In the end, the threat of piracy on one side and the collapse of a major bookseller on the other, will lead to more eBook manga. At this point, there’s no going back.

A Google Branded eBook Reader?

January 15, 2011 /

As reported on Fierce Mobile Content, Google has aquired eBook Technologies, a firm specializing in eReader hardware and software solutions. They also hold patents in eBook related technologies.

Google did not release any fine details concerning the acquisition or their motives, which leaves the door open to much speculation. One obvious guess is that Google is planning to release an eReader of its own in the future,  akin to their Android powered Nexus S smartphone. Like the Nexus, I don’t see a Google branded tablet or eReader being anything more than a hardware reference platform for the underlying Google technologies.

A Google tablet (Nexus R maybe?) would likely be powered by the tablet optimized Android 3.0 Honeycomb and seamlessly integrate with the Google ebookstore. And like the Nexus S, it would be an open, contract free device. So more expensive to purchase upfront, but no pesky long term data contracts to pay for. Finally, the patent portfolio of eBooks Technologies would likely insulate Google from any eBook related patent trolls (or allow them to become one). The year is just getting started and already I think CES 2012 is going to be very interesting!

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