Author Archives: OBS

Followup: Used Digital Marketplace 1, Publishers 0

Tom Kabinet, the controversial online marketplace for used ebooks, has won the first (albeit small) battle in what promises to be a long war regarding the resale of digital files. Tom Kabinet received its first legal notice from the Dutch Trade Publishers Association just 8 days after the site went live; now, only one month

The New Marketplace: Used Digital Files

A debate is raging in the publishing industry about whether the selling of secondhand ebooks is legal. One startup isn’t waiting for the dust to settle. Tom Kabinet.nl is an online marketplace for used ebooks that essentially acts as a liaison between buyers and sellers: it processes credit cards (for a fee), and oversees the

Common Core Controversy: Opt Out or Rebrand?

Last year, the roll out of the multi-state Common Core Standards in the New York state public education system ignited major controversy. Many parents were surprised to hear that the Common Core had been implemented in their children’s schools. They were frustrated at the lack of official communication on the matter, too: the schools and

Translation Memory and the Global FootPOD

Back in 1989, when we published the first trade book about the internet, “The Internet Companion,” our publisher Addison Wesley sold the foreign rights to other trade publishers. We got a lump sum payment for these rights deals, and about a year later would receive some free copies of exotic books — in Polish! Japanese!

Speed Reading: A Game Changer

Want to read a novel, but don’t have much time? Thanks to the latest technology in mobile reading, now you can – without Cliff’s Notes, and without skipping a single word. Rapid serial visual presentation is a trend among app developers to enhance and streamline the mobile reading experience. The idea is to tweak the