Publishing

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

Skin-Deep Publishing

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

Bio-Bibliometrics

“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

Richard Russo: A Writer’s Call to Arms

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

What’s Old is New: Mandela Lives On in OBS Archives

At first glance, the OBS Archives Site appears to be an outdated list of hyperlinks with layout and formatting reminiscent of the early 1990s.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

OM or ADD?

Ever stop to wonder what’s behind the current Yoga craze? It seems like the number of practitioners has been growing by some 20% a year in the USA; “Statistics Brain” tells us that $27 billion was spent on Yoga products in the USA alone in the last year. It might be interesting to correlate the

Library of Congress Shuttered, Citizens’ Access to Universal Education Restricted

When the Library of Congress published a free edition of Jefferson’s Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress, Ralph Eubanks, former Director of Publishing at the Library, noted in his introduction Most important, this free, electronic book fulfills Thomas Jefferson’s belief in universal education. “…Enlighten the people generally,” he urged, “and tyranny and

Gov. Patrick Signs Tech Tax Repeal

Last Friday, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick ended a two-month controversy by repealing the 6.25% “tech tax” levied on all computer and software services as part of a transportation bill passed in July. Software companies across the state challenged the tax the moment it passed into law, claiming it inhibited their ability to compete with firms

Massachusetts New Software Services Tax

On July 31, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed a bill that established a sales tax of 6.25% on all software services offered in the state. Among the few states in the U.S. that have taxable computer services, the Massachusetts tax is by far the highest – New Mexico’s tax is 5.125%, Hawaii and South Dakota