Publishing

It’s Easy as… PI

OBS is excited to be working with Common Ground’s new product Scholar — “a web writing space for learners of the social media generation” — to explore the dynamic interface where content (aka “books”) meets readers (“students”) and… things change. What used to be an essentially private act of reading and learning, led by a

The Art of Programming: The Coder as Rock Star

A recent article in The New Yorker, “The Programmer’s Price,” described a new business model in the tech world: programmers are working with agents to find business opportunities and negotiate contracts.  This demonstrates a shift in how the tech world and other industries view programmers – no longer are they hired to sit in a

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

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

Adobe’s New DRM: So Tight, Your eBook is Locked

Earlier this year, Adobe made a shocking announcement: with the July ’14 release of Adobe Digital Editions 3.0, and the attendant upgrade to its Digital Rights Management (DRM) encryption system, the majority of e-reader applications will no longer be able to read purchased eBooks. In layman’s terms, this means that the digital bookshelf you have