If the author's contract says something like, "only in USA and dependencies", then Amazon and iBook must preclude our purchases.
This is NOT the case for books. Australians can buy any BOOK they want from Amazon, so long it is just one copy. Significantly, Australians have the right to buy any book from almost any part of the world.
But try to buy software from Amazon, and the copyright enforcement is 'bleedingly obvious' - cannot ship software or electronics to Australia. So this is an example Digital Rights Management enforced by the retailer because of Amazon's supply contract with each publisher or distributor.
What was new this week?
iPad's Big Target: E-Readers
Matt Hamblen, Computerworld Jan 31, 2010 4:31 am |
| Apple ipad |
"Apple 's full-color, full motion [iPad] device makes not only netbooks, but any product with an E Ink display look tired and dated," wrote Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe in a blog after spending a few minutes using the tablet device.
"If you're a publisher who lives and dies by what your content looks like, you want to be talking to Apple now; any other digital distribution is going to look very last decade,"
iPad: What it means for Australia
GORDON FARRER January 29, 2010
"WHAT we know about plans for the iPad in Australia is far outweighed by what we don't know. We know that the basic wifi - wireless broadband - version of the iPad will be available worldwide in late March. The wifi+3G version will be available in the US and ''selected countries'' in April. We also know that iBooks, which gives users access to e-books and digital textbooks and one of the iPad's biggest selling points, will only be available via US models."We don't know how much the devices will cost in Australia; which telcos will carry the device; or whether Australia is a ''selected country''. And we don't know which Australian media outlets will provide content tailored to take advantage of a technological breakthrough some optimistic souls see as a potential saviour of the newspaper industry."
Australian Designer Creates The ‘iPad Wall’
Posted by Brenton Currie on Jan 31st, 2010A Melbourne architectural firm, ClarkeHopkinsClarke, has created a mockup design of an ‘iPad wall’, a wall fitted out with hundreds of iPads.
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| iPad Wall (Credit: CHC) |
The wall could be used in situations such as libraries, where users could browse books on the devices, or be used in place of televisions which are used currently to display interactive scenes or promotional information.
“With the built-in features of the iPad and customisable applications, there is literally an endless number of things we can do on the wall,” the company said in a post introducing the design.
“Interchangeable wallpaper pattern & video is just the beginning, but imaging a giant jigsaw that you can play using multitouch, an interactive aquarium scene, digital graffiti, interactive speaker wall, even a life sized digital bookcase for your iBooks!”
Because of the relatively cheap price of the iPad ($499 USD), many of the devices could be purchased for a smaller cost than say fitting out the wall with large LCD televisions, and unlike normal feature wall mosaic tiles, the iPad contains groundbreaking technology and features, which are usually only seen in $600 or above priced products.
Kobo E-Reader is First such App on iPad
- By Charlie Sorrel January 28, 2010 6:16 am Categories: Media Players
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Third party e-book readers
"The iPad might have iBooks, but if Apple’s built-in iPhone apps are anything to go by, then it will likely be gorgeous but limited (the Mail app, anyone?). We think that it’ll be the third party e-book readers that turn the Moses Tablet into the Kindle Killer people so obviously want it to be.Stephen Fry: why the Apple iPad is here to stay
The self-confessed Apple fanatic on why the launch of the company's new tablet will change everything"Well bless my soul and whiskers. This is the first time I've joined the congregation at the Church of Apple for a new product launch. I've watched all the past ones, downloaded the Quicktime movies and marvelled as Apple's leader has stood before an ovating faithful and announced the switch to Intel, the birth of iPod, the miniMac, the iTunes Store, OS X, iPhoto, the swan's-neck iMac, the Shuffle, Apple retail stores, the iPhone, the titanium Powerbook, Garageband, the App Store and so much more. But this time I finally made it. I went to San Francisco for the launch of the iPad. Oh, happy man."
"The speed, the responsiveness, the smooth glide of it, the richness and detail of the display, the heft in your hand, the rightness of the actions and gestures that you employ, untutored and instinctively, it's not just a scaled up iPhone or a scaled-down multitouch enhanced laptop – it is a whole new kind of device. And it will change so much. Newspapers, magazines, literature, academic textbooks, brochures, fliers and pamphlets are going to be transformed (poor Kindle). Specific dedicated apps and enhancements will amaze us. You will see characters in movies use the iPad. Jack Bauer will want to return for another season of 24 just so he can download schematics and track vehicles on it. James Bond will have one. Jason Bourne will have one. Some character, in a Tron-like way, might even be trapped in one."
Amazon CEO: “Millions” of Kindles Sold
Posted by: Douglas MacMillan on January 28"Amazon.com keeps secret the number of Kindles it sells, saying the devices generate too small a portion of overall revenues to warrant disclosure. But on Thursday, the company gave its first big hint at the e-book reader’s financial success.
In a press release detailing the e-commerce giant’s solid all-around performance in the fourth quarter of 2009, CEO Jeff Bezos says, “Millions of people now own Kindles.” So, assuming that at least two million people have bought the device, and that each paid at least $259 – the cost of the least-expensive Kindle – Amazon now has a business worth more than $500 million in sales. Not bad for a product that’s a little more than two years old."
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