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 →
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! →
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 →
Today’s rate of change is the slowest we will see in our lifetimes. In fact, now may be the first time we civilized humans live and work in an environment that is growing in size, breadth, and complexity, at an exponential rate of change. Thank you, Internet! The publishing conundrum : How to rapidly re-engineer →
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 →
As the immigrant population swells in the United States, the number of Americans growing up with English as a Second Language (ESL) has increased as well. While some debate whether one can be considered American if they do not speak the nation’s official language, the reality remains that in some U.S. public schools, over 40% →
OBS intern Oliver notes that: “In the near future, custom publishing may run only skin-deep. In light of Apple’s recent introduction of Touch ID, a fingerprint scanner to the iPhone 5S, it could soon become possible to receive any amount of pre-packaged, personalized information everywhere you go at no more than the push of a →
“BioBibliometrics.” Sounds almost holy, doesn’t it? It’s a useful new word to describe the impending nuptials of content and reader that’s starting to be possible thanks to Near Field Communications (NFC)-enabled smartphones, a development that promises to do away with clunky old encumbrances of yesterday such as usernames, passwords, credit cards, and bookshelves. I am →
From the downward spiral of ebook prices to the major content grab of digital giants such as Amazon, Apple, and Google, the writer as we know it is seriously threatened. In a letter released by the Authors Guild, an advocate for writers’ interests in effective copyright protection, fair contracts and free expression, bestselling novelist Richard →
At first glance, the OBS Archives Site appears to be an outdated list of hyperlinks with layout and formatting reminiscent of the early 1990s. At that time, Mosaic browsers and hyperlinks were completely reforming our ideas about creating and sharing information. The Internet was just entering into the public consciousness. The world was changing, and →