Archive for August, 2009
There’s no doubt that SONY’s new line of e-Readers with their affordable price tags and polished industrial design has appeal, technology mojo and excellent brand identity. But will they give Amazon a run for the money?
SONY announced the immediate release of two brand new e-Readers, the “Touch” and the “Pocket”, as well as pre-announcing for the holiday season a larger format, 3G wireless-enabled 7-inch “Daily” that will compete with Amazon’s Kindle DX.
Sony’s $299.00 6-inch “Touch” (PRS-600BC), $199 5-inch “Pocket” (PRS-300SC) and 7-inch $399.00 “Daily” e-readers (non-working prototype shown) will ship in several colors and have high-quality brushed metal casings.
Source: ZDNet
Books are wonderful things. They can be filled with information and tell you about current events or they can be fictional and tell of adventures.
But what happens when you finish that perfect book only to look upon your shelf and find that you have no more new books to read? Oh, the horror!
Well, here comes the web to your rescue. Today, we will be looking at just 4 sites where you can conduct a book search by plot and find your next perfect book.
WhichBook
WhichBook is a mood-oriented book suggesting web app for those special occasions when you need just the right book for just the right mood.
Upon visiting the homepage, users are visited by 12 different mood based options that you can slide to either side to receive books that match your tastes. For example, you can search for books that are somewhat happy (closer to the happy side) although very serious, and unpredictable, then receive hundreds of books that match exactly your taste.
Booklamp
Booklamp is a slightly more sophisticated version of Whichbook with a very in-depth study for each book, making new book “matches” for users very effective.
Upon completing the simple sign up process, users are given the option to view their book matches, use the forums, or suggest books to be reviewed. Upon selecting the option to view your book matches, it offers a very thorough book search by plot – booklamp will give you a list of approximately 500+ books currently in the database and a descriptive look at each, including the number of words, number of scenes, as well as the scale and intensity of the dialog, description, action, density, and pacing for each scene throughout the entire book, then pair it with other books based on the same characteristics and give you a scale as to how closely other books relate (e.g. 98.7%).
The only downside to Booklamp at this time is the limited number of books in the library, although it does cover many classics and popular fiction novels, including 1984 by George Orwell, Jurassic Park by Michael Crighton and many others. In any case, Booklamp is definitely one to watch.
WhatShouldIReadNext?
WhatShouldIReadNext? is a simple web app that gives users recommendations based on other user’s loved books. For example, a search for 1984 by George Orwell would bring up recommendations including, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley among others. And although it certainly is not perfect, WhatShouldIReadNext? is a simple way to find the next best book on the spot.
LibraryThing Book Suggester
LibraryThing’s Book Suggester does exactly what you would expect, suggest books; fortunately extraordinarily well. Upon visiting the home page, users are given the option to search using the “Book Suggestor” or the somewhat unconventional “Book Unsuggester.” Searching using the standard Book Suggesting feature, LibraryThing gives users a list of up to 200+ books that match the search term and then give a list of 20 of the most relevant and related titles based on the over 40 million books in LibraryThing’s user submitted database.
If you are feeling adventurous and decide to try LibraryThing’s “Book Unsuggester,” simply search for a book you own or enjoy and LibraryThing will show you the least likely to be related books and those you would be better off staying away from in the library.
Original article posted on makeuseof.com.
Paper books may be low tech, but no one will tell you how and where you can read them.
For many people, the problem with electronic books is that they come loaded with just those kinds of restrictions. Digital books bought today from Amazon.com, for example, can be read only on Amazon’s Kindle device or its iPhone software.
Some restrictions on the use of e-books are likely to remain a fact of life. But some publishers and consumer electronics makers are aiming to give e-book buyers more flexibility by rallying around a single technology standard for the books. That would also help them counter Amazon, which has taken an early lead in the nascent market.
On Thursday, Sony Electronics, which sells e-book devices under the Reader brand, plans to announce that by the end of the year it will sell digital books only in the ePub format, an open standard created by a group including publishers like Random House and HarperCollins.
Sony will also scrap its proprietary anticopying software in favor of technology from the software maker Adobe that restricts how often e-books can be shared or copied.
“There is going to be a proliferation of different reading devices, with different features and capabilities and prices for a different set of consumer requirements,” said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading unit. “If people are going to this e-book shopping mall, they are going to want to shop at all the stores, and not just be required to shop at one store.”
Source: New York Times
Send-Email is an email sender that lets you easily send free anonymous emails from anywhere without any hassle. There are many ways to make use of this app. Some folks may use it to anonymously confess their love or send prank email to friends others may, others can use the site to send emails from public computers where it’s not secure to login to their email account.
Sending email is straightforward. Enter recipient’s email, type in your message and click on the “Send Message” button. That’s it!
Features:
- Anonymous email sender.
- Send as many emails as you like.
- Free, no registration needed.
Source: makeuseof.com
Did you like this? If so, please bookmark it,The folks at makeuseof.com posted these five free ebooks to teach yourself Linux. In all honesty it’s something I’ve never played too much with but I might give it another whirl since these are available.
Newbie’s Getting Started Guide to Linux
(Download)
MakeUseOf’s very own Newbie’s Guide to Linux, tells you how to choose a distribution and then teaches you how to perform a basic Linux install. You can then use the guide to familiarize yourself with the Linux desktop and some basic commands.
Stefan did a great job in keeping it simple and to the point, the way beginners want it. Also don’t forget to check out our other MakeUseOf Manuals.
Introduction to Linux – A Hands on Guide
(Download)
Takes you from the absolute basics to basics. This hands on guide tells you everything right from logging in, basic file management, backup techniques up to basics of networking. It is what you need if you are having difficulty figuring out how to get to that resume file you saved just now. The guide explains Linux file structure and introduces to basic commands and text editors as well.
GNU/Linux Command line tools Summary
(Download)
One important aspect of working in Linux is that you have to familiar with the command line. This book shows you how to use the command line in Linux to your advantage. Apart from the ins and outs of the shell, this book also introduces various commands and the situations where you would use them. There are chapters that deal with specific tasks and list various commands you can use to achieve the task. If you can study online, there is another excellent manual you can refer to.
Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference
(Download)
Ubuntu is one of the most popular distributions, new users look up to when trying out Linux. If it is Ubuntu specific information that you are after then you should definitely check out Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference. The guide takes you from installing and configuring Ubuntu to adding and managing software and securing your system. A must read book if you use Ubuntu.
Rute User’s Tutorial and Exposition
(Download)
This one is not for the faint hearted! There is enough Linux juice in this book to keep even the intermediate to advanced users interested. The book begins humbly by presenting the basic commands and tools, however before you know it, you are learning everything from regular expressions to shell scripting to C programming to networking.
There is plenty of great material out there if you are trying to learn Linux, similar to these downloadable ebooks to teach yourself everything you ever wanted to know about Linux. If you have read a book or a tutorial that you found particularly useful, feel free to tell us about it in the comments below.
Did you like this? If so, please bookmark it,