book
Latest
Grimm's Rapunzel is an interactive pop-up book done right
Although a number of interactive children's books have billed themselves as being pop-up (or pop-out) books, like The Tale of Peter Rabbit and The Night Before Christmas (both from Loudcrow), nothing really popped up and constructed the 3D scenes that I remember from my childhood. Grimm's Rapunzel - Interactive Pop-up Book from Ideal Binary (US$1.99 for now) does just that, and beautifully. It's a universal app that makes full use of the Retina Display of the iPhone and iPod touch, and it looks and plays gorgeously on an iPad. When you start the book, you are presented with a profusely illustrated book similar to the one used at the start and ending of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The book opens, and a text and picture page is displayed where nothing moves, ... but turn the page and the book shifts horizontally as the scene springs to life. Using physics that feel just right, objects bounce up and form a scene where you are given a clearly described task to perform. Each of the pop-up pages contains an activity ranging from sowing and watering seeds to helping Rapunzel find her sheet music and harp. When completed, each activity pays off with a character thanking you or providing reinforcement, like Rapunzel playing a little tune on her harp. Touching objects on the pop-up pages causes things to bounce a bit, which is common, or add a few surprises; for example, when you touch a candelabra, it lights up.
SWTOR devs answer your questions and release a preview for Deceived
It's Friday again. That means the community team at BioWare has been working frantically all week to give you a tidbit of Star Wars: The Old Republic that will leave you satisfied yet still aching for more. With the release of Jedi and Tython impressions earlier this week, it was going to be hard to top the plethora of information streaming from that event. However, the team has come very close. We start with the monthly Friday update in which developers answer player questions: Studio Insider. On top of the behind the scenes article about building Coruscant by World Designer Eric Young, Director of Production Dallas Dickinson answered 10 fan questions. The questions that stood out to this reporter were the PvP related questions, and the interesting one was a question about leveling with just PvP. Dickinson stated, "We're big fans of multiple gameplay paths -- we don't want to force you to do one thing to advance. That means you'll level up whether you're playing PvE or PvP." The teaser of information doesn't stop there. The Official Star Wars website released chapter two of Deceived, the novel by Paul S. Kemp, to the public. This portion of the book leads the reader through Darth Malgus' attack on the Jedi Temple as seen in the SWTOR trailer. If the book intrigues you, Massively was able to review an advanced copy of the book, and chapter one is also available for your personal review. It's an exciting SWTOR weekend!
Japanese publishers censure Apple over App Store violations
A group of Japanese publishers are censuring Apple after copyrighted material was reportedly scanned and distributed through the iOS App Store. The group points to numerous App Store applications that are illegally re-publishing the works of well-known Japanese authors, including Haruki Murakami and Keigo Higashino.The Japanese group, which includes book, e-book, digital comic and magazine publishers, is requesting a meeting with Apple's Japan unit to discuss this problem with piracy. Heightening the tension is Apple's response to these copyright violations. The Cupertino company says it does not have the resources to scan every app submission for copyright violations. Its current policy is to remove the app when a copyright violation is reported. This apparently is not sufficient for the Japanese publishers who claim this is "a wholly unconvincing explanation." This dispute is reminiscent of the ongoing legal between YouTube and Viacom over copyrighted material that appears on the popular video website. From the start, Viacom has pushed YouTube to improve its pre-approval screening process to detect and filter out copyrighted material before it is published. As the iPad and the iPhone continue to gain in popularity, look for this App Store copyright problem to continue. Right now the Japanese publishers are willing to talk, but other publishers may not be so amicable in the future. Let's hope Apple can work out any kinks before it's forced to duke it out in court.
Super Mario Bros. 25th anniversary book out in Japan next week
For those Mario lovers who want more commemorative book than is included with the Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition, Enterbrain is publishing its own brand of "Super Mario 25th Anniversary Commemorative Book" in Japan on December 9. The 144-page page-turner includes a retrospective interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, a collection of Mario manga, stickers and a poster, and a CD of orchestrated Mario music from the Press Start Symphony of Games concert series. If you don't mind a little (okay, probably a lot) of Japanese text along with your Mario ephemera, you can pre-order a copy from Amazon Japan for ¥840 -- that's about $10.
Original Uncharted novel in the works from Del Rey Books
Would the action-packed plotline of the Uncharted series be quite so thrilling without all that pesky interactivity? We'll get our chance to find out next fall, when Del Rey Books publishes Uncharted: The Fourth Labyrinth, a novel based on a completely original Nathan Drake adventure. We're praying that the book's title is alluding to an eventual meeting between Drake and the Goblin King. The novel will be penned by Christopher Golden, whose work includes a handful of comic books and novelizations based on Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- he even wrote the script for the two video games based on the latter of those two franchises. He certainly sounds qualified to write an Uncharted book, though we suppose that depends entirely on how he'd fill out this sentence: "Nathan Drake drove the [form of motor vehicle] off of the [tall surface], causing a [adjective describing size] explosion."
Borders enlists BookBrewer for its e-publishing portal, 'Time Cube' guy asks where to sign up
We guess that Barnes & Noble can't have all the fun, huh? You'll soon have another option for self-publishing your wildly fantastical (and wonderfully fact-free) rants: Borders has announced that it'll be using the BookBrewer platform for its new eBook publishing service. Beginning October 25, $90 will get you one ePUB format book, complete with ISBN and distribution to "all major eBook stores," including Borders and Amazon. Does that mean that your pamphlet, EARTH HAS 4 CORNER SIMULTANEOUS 4-DAY TIME CUBE IN ONLY 24 HOUR ROTATION will finally be taken seriously? Nah, probably not. PR after the break.
Halo: Cryptum novel by Greg Bear launching in Jan. 2011
Halo: Cryptum, the first Halo novel in a planned trilogy exploring the Forerunners, will be published in January 2011. Announced in April of 2009, the novel will be written by acclaimed, hard science fiction author Greg Bear, who is best known for his novels Eon, Darwin's Radio and The Forge of God. Bear's trilogy will be the first major work to take on the story of the Forerunners, the species responsible for the Halos and controlled galactic genocide. An unabridged audio book will also be available at the same time as the novel, so go ahead and play Reach while your ears read the book. The full cover of Halo: Cryptum can be found after the break.
Barnes & Noble opens 'PubIt!' self-publishing portal, details compensation model
It ain't exactly summer, but we'll take it. Launching just a few days after we'd been told to expect it, Barnes & Noble's PubIt! self-publishing portal is finally open for business. As you'd heard before, this platform is essentially designed to give independent writers a venue for hawking their masterpieces, with PubIt! converting files to ePUB for use on a wide range of e-readers (read: not only the Nook). Published titles will be available for sale within 24 to 72 hours after upload on the B&N eBookstore, and the company's pretty proud of its "no hidden fees" policy. Unfortunately, the compensation model -- which is being detailed today for the first time -- has its quirks. For PubIt! eBooks priced at or between $2.99 and $9.99, publishers will receive 65 percent of the list price for sold content; for those priced at $2.98 or less, or $10.00 or more, publishers will only receive 40 percent of the list price. In other words, there's a no man's land in that $10 to $15 range, so you'll probably be settling for a $9.99 price point or reaching for the skies at $19.99. But hey, at least all PubIt! ebooks will also be lendable for a fortnight -- surely that counts for something. Right?
RuneScape's Betrayal at Falador: Impressions of a newbie
The first RuneScape novel, Betrayal at Falador, will be released October 12th. If you were a RuneScape fan a few years back, you may be a little confused, seeing as how this novel came out back in 2008. That version was a limited release hardcover, and fans have been hoping for a wider publication since then. This version is a mass-market paperback, so if you missed the tale the first time around, you're in luck! If this is all news to you -- Runescape fan or no -- follow along after the cut to see what my first impressions of the novel are.
Rumor: iLife '11 to be 64-bit, iOS compatible
iLife, the software suite that is included on every Mac and is made up of iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, and iDVD, hasn't been updated to a new version since January, 2009. That, of course, is making many of us in the Apple world curious about when the next version of the suite will appear on the market. Many Mac pundits believe the next edition will be iLife '11, and we've already seen several of the rumored release dates fly past without sign of the new iLife. Now some sharp-eyed Apple fans have noticed that there's a book listed on the German Amazon site with the title "iLife '11: Digital pictures, movies, music and more" and a release date of December, 2010. The translated description notes that the suite is entirely 64-bit, and that iPhoto will receive integration with social networking. iWeb has been "rewritten" from the ground up, and iDVD is no longer included with the suite. There's mention of a "new application," but no word on what the function or name of the new member of the suite will be. The red banner on the cover mockup at left reads "iPhoto, iMovie and more, with Apps for Mac, iPhone 4, iPod and iPad," which implies that iOS versions of the applications will be available as well. At this time, of course, iMovie is available for iOS, and it would not be much of a stretch to assume that iOS-compatible versions of the other applications could be developed. After all, Apple made an iPad version of iWork available on day one. The book is written by Uwe Nerger, who has no other published titles to his name. That brings up the question how an unpublished author has been given access to a suite of applications that many published authors of Apple tomes have not seen. Take this rumor with a fist-sized grain of salt. [via AppleInsider]
IDEO's e-book concepts threaten our enjoyment of reading with social networking, online commentary
Every once in a while we come across a product designed by IDEO, but generally not anything to write home (or at least blog) about. But that doesn't mean that the industrial design firm's not hard at work conceptualizin' stuff, as this promo vid chock full of possible future e-books amply demonstrates. Nelson is meant to clue you in on a book's context by providing online commentary, fact-checking, and statistics about cultural impact, which is great when you're studying global warming for a class, perhaps, but seems a little over the top if you're curling up with the latest Left Behind novel. Coupland? Think Apple iBookstore-meets-Linked In, with colleague's reading lists, recommended books, and book clubs. This is for those of you whose summer beach reading includes Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices. Last but not least, Alice is the e-reader for those of you who want to "experience narratives in new and engaging ways," which seems to mean some sort of Web 2.0 / Choose Your Own Adventure hybrid. Actually, now that we think of it, we're probably better off with our old fashioned print books after all. Speaking of which, where did we put out copy of Left Behind? Video after the break.
Neal Stephenson's digital publishing platform adds a dash of Wiki to novel-reading
It's not surprising that this man -- the one responsible for some of our favorite sci-fi reading material -- has a vision of how books will work in the future. Neal Stephenson's company Subutai has developed a new digital publishing platform upon which The Mongoliad has just debuted. It feels like a cross between a Wiki, a glossary, and a serial novel. The first chapter of the epic fantasy novel about the Mongolian conquest is available to read online for free, but in order to access extra material and edit documents in the "'Pedia," you'll need a paid subscription. iOS apps are currently going through Apple's approval process; an Android version is also in the works. Stephenson and the Subutai team -- which includes writers Greg Bear and Mark Teppo -- promise to have a new chapter for subscribers out every week. [Image credit: jeanbaptisteparis' flickr]
Gears of War: Anvil Gate novel dropping August 31
Are you curious about the events that transpired between Gears of War 2 and the upcoming Gears of War 3? Apparently, there were enough to fill up an entire novel -- the recently announced Gears of War: Anvil Gate. The book, which focuses on a Locust attack on the titular settlement of Anvil Gate following the previous game in the series, was penned by prolific Gears scribe Karen Traviss. Gears of War: Anvil Gate will arrive in bookstores on August 31, which should give you plenty of time to study up before Gears the Third comes out. Unless you're like, the slowest reader ever. In which case, you should go to bed, dude. It's already tomorrow.
Guess what Barnes & Noble Chairman Leonard Riggio doesn't use to read? A Nook
That's right, folks. Barnes & Noble, a company which -- according to its recent earnings -- is making pretty nice inroads into the digital book market, is headed up by a self-proclaimed Luddite. In a recent short profile in New York Magazine, Riggio admitted quite openly that he'd rather turn actual pages, and carry around actual books than use his Nook. While he believes that the convenience of the e-reader will trump most readers' attachment to the physical book, Riggio (in direct opposition to, say, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos) holds firm in the belief that brick and mortar stores will always exist for books, and says he's too busy, and too old, to adjust to the new format. In fact, he's reading a hardcover copy of Mustaine right now. Oh wait, that's... us.
Samsung leaving the e-paper business, citing cost issues
Samsung Electronics announced Monday that its halting production of e-paper due to cost issues. While Samsung has yet to out an actual device boasting e-paper, but did show off a prototype late last year which boasted a color display. The official word from Samsung itself is that it will not actually exit the e-reader market, rather that it will produce a device with an LCD, with plans to launch said reader next year. We wait expectantly.
A Dust 514 novel may be in the works
Development studio CCP Games has been in the news a lot this year with their ambitious MMOFPS project codenamed Dust 514. When it's released, Dust will actually tie into the studio's current MMO EVE Online. Dust players will hire themselves out to EVE players as mercenaries, their combined aim being to dominate territories on a planet's surface. The first steps toward this unique integration of two MMOs in the same concurrent universe came with EVE Online's Dominion and Tyrannis expansions. Dominion gave EVE players a new Sovereignty framework, which will later be adapted to include planets as strategic points of interest. In the recent Tyrannis expansion, the planets of EVE began producing resources worthy of domination, ensuring that players will fight over them once it becomes possible.
Nook for iPhone, iPad and PC see updates, slew of new features in tow
Barnes & Noble told us this update was in the pipeline when it introduced Nook for Android, and sure enough, said update is hitting the intertubes this fine morning. The iPhone and iPod touch version of the Nook app is said to be completely overhauled, while the iPad edition is the company's first to offer an in-app "rating" feature. In case you couldn't guess, the former also adds support for the iPhone 4's Retina Display, while also tossing in a slew of new customization options (themes, day / night content options, line spacing, font styles, preferred justification, previews, etc.). Finally, today also marks the reintroduction of the Nook for PC client, though it seems that most of the fanciful new features are reserved for the more portable versions. Hop on past the break for the full skinny, and tap that source link to get to downloadin'.
Jeff Green penning Blizzard 20th anniversary book
We've been filling zerg-shaped balloons all year in preparation for Blizzard Entertainment's 20th anniversary in 2011. Former EA.com editor-in-chief (and former EIC of Games for Windows magazine) Jeff Green, however, has been writing a book for the company. Announced via his personal blog this past weekend, Green says he's been "contracted to write a book for Blizzard on their upcoming 20th Anniversary." While our faith in Mr. Green is unshakable, we can't help but wonder if the book will see 15 years of rewrites before being released. It is, after all, a Blizzard product. We kid, we kid!
Fable novel announced, includes in-game weapon for Fable 3
Your friendly neighborhood bookstore's shelves will soon be stocked with yet another game-to-prose adaptation -- this time around, it's a completely original story set in the Fable universe, titled The Balverine Order. The book will be penned by Peter David, who has written roughly a billion novels and comic books, one of the most recent of which being the five-part Halo: Helljumper series. According to Amazon, The Balverine Order is set to ship on October 5. As an added bonus, the book will include a redeemable code which unlocks a heretofore unrevealed in-game weapon in Fable 3. We really hope it's powerful, so when we're playing with our friends, and we're killing stuff with greater efficiency than them, we can say "we guess the pen really is mightier than the sword," and then we'll both share a brief, polite laugh.
A quick tutorial on how to read PDF-formatted ebooks in iBooks
When me and my fellow TUAW bloggers Erica Sadun and Mike Grothaus recently had our collaborative effort "Taking Your iPad to the Max" published by Apress in both ebook and printed format, I wanted to make sure that I had a copy of the book on my iPad so I could show friends and prospective buyers examples of the content in the book. The ebook comes in a PDF format, but I wanted to read it in the iBooks app since it does such a wonderful job of displaying the printed word. Was I going to have to convert the PDF file to the app's native EPUB format before I'd be able to read it in iBooks? Fortunately, no. Apple's recent update to iBooks added the ability to read PDF documents natively. The only thing you really need to do in order to read any PDF in iBooks is to move it to the iPad, and that can be easily done in iTunes: Connect your iPad to your Mac or PC. Drag the PDF to the Books icon in your iTunes Library, and drop it. Note that you can edit the name and author(s) of the book if you don't like the way the file name is displayed. Click your iPad or iPhone in the Devices list, then click the Books tab. Make sure that the book title box is checked and that Sync Books is also checked. Click the Sync button. The sync should go very quickly. Most PDF-based ebooks are relatively small, and even over the somewhat pokey USB 2.0 sync connection, it will move to your iPad in less than a minute. What's interesting is that a new "PDFs" button appears on your iBooks bookshelf, and a tap displays all PDF documents that are in your library. While the PDFs don't have the nice side-by-side view in landscape orientation, they can be searched and bookmarked in the same manner as EPUBs. By the way, expect to see the TUAW-labeled "Taking Your iPad to the Max" in your local bookstore soon!
