Booknology: The eBook (1971-2010) Part 5

The Sony Reader was launched in October 2006 in the U.S. for US $350.

The Sony Reader was the first ebook reader to use the new advanced E Ink screen technology, "a screen that gives an excellent reading experience very close to that of real paper, making it very easy going on the eyes" (Mike Cook, editor of epubBooks.com). Another major feature of the reader over most other electronic devices is its battery life, with over 7,000 pages turns - or up to two weeks of power - on just one battery charge. It was the first ebook reader to use Adobe's Digital Editions. The Sony Reader is presently available in the U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, and France, with cheaper and revamped models.

December 2006 > Live Search Books, the digital library of Microsoft

The beta version of Live Search Books was released in December 2006, with a search possible by keyword for non-copyrighted books digitized by Microsoft in partner libraries. The British Library and the libraries of the Universities of California and Toronto were the first ones to join in, followed in January 2007 by the New York Public Library and the Cornell University Library. Books offered full text views and could be downloaded in PDF files. In May 2007, Microsoft announced agreements with several publishers, including Cambridge University Press and McGraw Hill, for their books to be available in Live Search Books. After digitizing 750,000 books and indexing 80 million journal articles, Microsoft ended the Live Search Books program in May 2008. These books are available in the OCA collections of the Internet Archive.

December 2006 > A quote by Marc Autret, a journalist and graphic designer

Marc Autret, a journalist and graphic designer, wrote in December 2006: "I imagine the ebook of the future as a kind of wiki crystallized and packaged in a format. How valuable will it be? Its value will be the value of a book: the unity and quality of editorial work!" (NEF Interview)

December 2006 > A quote by Pierre Schweitzer, inventor of the @folio project

Peter Schweitzer, inventor of the @folio project, a reading device project, wrote in December 2006: "The luck we all have is to live here and now this fantastic change. When I was born in 1963, computers didn't have much memory. Today, my music player could hold billions of pages, a true local library. Tomorrow, by the combined effects of the Moore Law and the ubiquity of networks, we will have instant access to works and knowledge. We won't be much interested any more on which device to store information. We will be interested in handy functions and beautiful objects." (NEF Interview)

March 2007 > Citizendium, a collaborative free online encyclopedia

Citizendium -- which stands for "The Citizen's Compendium" - was launched in March 2007 as a pilot project to build a new encyclopedia, at the initiative of Larry Sanger, who co-founded Wikipedia with Jimmy Wales in January 2001, but resigned later on over policy and content quality issues, as well as the use of anonymous pseudonyms. Citizendium is a wiki project open to public collaboration, but combining "public partic.i.p.ation with gentle expert guidance". The project is experts-led, not experts-only. Contributors use their own names, and they are guided by expert editors. There are also constables who make sure the rules are respected. There were 1,100 high-quality articles, 820 authors, and 180 editors in March 2007, 11,800 articles in August 2009, and 15,000 articles in September 2010. Citizendium also wants to act as a prototype for upcoming large scale knowledge-building projects that would deliver reliable reference, scholarly and educational content.

May 2007 > The Encyclopedia of Life, to doc.u.ment all species of animals and plants

The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) was launched in May 2007 as a global scientific effort to doc.u.ment all known species of animals and plants (1.8 million), including endangered species, and expedite the millions of species yet to be discovered and cataloged (about 8 million). The encyclopedia's honorary chair is Edward Wilson, professor emeritus at Harvard University who, in an essay dated 2002, was the first to express the wish for such an encyclopedia. The multimedia encyclopedia has gathered texts, photos, maps, sound, and videos, with a webpage for each species, to provide a single portal for millions of doc.u.ments scattered online and offline. The first pages were available in mid- 2008. The encyclopedia should be completed with all known species in 2017. The English version will be translated in several languages by partner organizations.

June 2007 > InterActive Terminology for Europe (IATE) in 24 languages

IATE (InterActive Terminology for Europe) was launched in March 2007 as an eagerly awaited free public service on the web, with 1.4 million entries in 24 languages, after being launched in summer 2004 on the intranet of the European inst.i.tutions. IATE is available in 24 languages, and has replaced Eurodicautom, the former terminology database available in 12 languages. The European Union went from 15 country members to 25 country members in May 2004, and 27 country members in January 2007, after its enlargement to include some Eastern European countries. IATE has been maintained by the Translation Center of the European Union inst.i.tutions in Luxembourg. IATE was offering 8,4 million words in 2009, including 540,000 abbreviations and 130.000 expressions.

June 2007 > The iPhone, a smartphone launched by Apple

Launched by Apple in January 2007 in the United States, the iPhone is a smartphone including an iPod (the iPod was launched in October 2001), a camera, and a web browser, with the following specifications: large tactile screen (3,5 inches), synchronization with the iTunes platform to download music and videos, camera of 2 megapixels, Safari browser, Mac OS X operating system, access to GSM (Global System for Mobile Telecommunications) and EDGE (Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution), WiFi, and Bluetooth. The first iPhone was available for US$499 for the 4 G version and $599 for the 8 G version in the U.S., and launched in Europe in late 2007 and in Asia in 2008. Other models followed, the latest one being the iPhone 4, launched in June 2010.

August 2007 > A quote by Denis Zwirn, president of the digital bookstore Numilog

Denis Zwirn is the president of Numilog, the main French-language digital bookstore. He wrote in August 2007: "The digital book is not any more a topic for symposiums, conceptual definitions, or divination by some 'experts'. It is a commercial product and a tool for reading.

There is no need to wait for some new hypermodern and hypertextual tool carefully orchestrating its specificity from the print book. We need to offer books that can be easily read on any ebook reader used by customers, sooner or later with an electronic ink display. And to offer them as an industry. The digital book is not - and will never be -- a niche product (dictionaries, travel guides, books for the blind); it is becoming a ma.s.s market product, with multiple forms, like the traditional book." (NEF Interview)

November 2007 > The Kindle, an ebook reader launched by Amazon

In November 2007, Amazon.com launched its own ebook reader, the Kindle, with a catalog of 80,000 ebooks - and new releases for US $9,99 each.

The built-in memory and 2G SD card gave plenty of book storage (1.4 G), with a screen using the E Ink technology, and page-turning b.u.t.tons.

Books were directly bought and downloaded via the device's 3G wireless connection, with no need for a computer, unlike the Sony Reader.

580.000 Kindles were sold in 2008. A thinner and revamped Kindle 2 was launched in February 2009, with a storage capacity of 1,500 ebooks, a new text-to-speech feature, and a catalog of 230,000 ebooks on Amazon.com's website, including the catalog of Mobipocket, a company bought by Amazon in April 2005 and the catalog of Audible.com (audio books and magazines), another company bought by Amazon in January 2009.

The Kindle DX was launched in May 2009 with a larger screen, more suitable to read newspapers and magazines.

October 2008 > Google Books versus the a.s.sociations of authors and publishers

After three years of conflict, Google reached a settlement with the a.s.sociations of authors and publishers in October 2008, with an agreement to be signed during the next years. The inclusion of copyrighted works in Google Books -- launched in April 2005 as Google Print - had been widely criticized by authors and publishers worldwide.

In the U.S., lawsuits were filed by the Authors Guild and the a.s.sociation of American Publishers (AAP) for alleged copyright infringement. The a.s.sumption was that the full scanning and digitizing of copyrighted books infringed copyright laws, even if only snippets were made freely available. Google had replied this was "fair use", referring to short excerpts from copyrighted books that could be lawfully quoted in another book or website, as long as the source (author, t.i.tle, publisher) was mentioned.

November 2008 > Europeana, the European digital library

This European digital library -- named Europeana - opened its "virtual"

doors in November 2008, with two million doc.u.ments. As a first step, the European Library was a common portal for 43 national libraries, launched in January 2004 by the CENL (Conference of European National Librarians) and hosted on the website of the National Library in the Netherlands. In March 2006, the European Commission launched the project of a European digital library, after a "call for ideas" during three months, from September to December 2005. Europeana was offering 6 million doc.u.ments in March 2010, and 10 million doc.u.ments on a revamped website in September 2010.

November 2009 > The Nook, an ebook reader launched by Barnes & n.o.ble

In November 2009, Barnes & n.o.ble launched the Nook, its own ebook reader, for US $259, after announcing it in October 2009. Based on the Android platform, the original device included a 6-inch E Ink display, with WiFi and 3G connectivity. In June 2010, the price of the original Nook was reduced to $199, and a new WiFi-only model was launched for $159. The Nook Color was announced in October 2010, for the full-color viewing of magazines and picture books. In November 2010, the website of Barnes & n.o.ble offered 2 million ebooks for the Nook.

April 2010 > The iPad, a multifunctional tablet launched by Apple

In April 2010, Apple launched the iPad, its multifunctional tablet, in the U.S. for US$499, with an iBookstore of 60,000 ebooks, and many more to come from partners.h.i.+ps with publishers. The iPad was available in a few European countries in June 2010. After the iPod (launched in October 2001) and the iPhone (launched in January 2007), two cult devices for a whole generation, Apple has also become a key player for digital books.

April 2010 > A quote by Catherine Domain, bookseller and publisher of travel books

Catherine Domain, founder in 1971 of the Ulysses bookstore, the oldest travel bookstore in the world, has become a publisher of travel books in April 2010. She wrote in an email: "The internet has taken more and more s.p.a.ce in my life! On April 1st, I started being a publisher after some painful training in Photoshop, InDesign, and others. This is also great to see that the political will to keep people in front of their computers - for them not to start a revolution - can be defeated by giant and spontaneous happy hours [in Europe, through Facebook] with thousands of people who want to see - and speak with - each other in person. There will always be unexpected developments to new inventions.

When I started using the internet [in 1999, to create the bookstore's website], I really didn't expect to become a publisher."

November 2010 > End of the Booknology

Many thanks to Marc Autret for the term "Booknology" used in a previous common project, and to all those who are quoted in this Booknology.