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Google Bookstore for web and iOS
As expected, Google announced their bookstore today, offering eBooks for sale to be read across supported devices including iOS and Android, as well as web clients (no native reader for Windows, Mac, Linux, but you can download PDFs or ePub files for offline reading). As of this writing the apps do not appear in the US iOS App Store. TUAW writer Richard Gaywood tells us that the Google Bookstore is not available to him at all in the UK, so don't be surprised to find that the Google Bookstore isn't available in many countries that aren't located between Canada and Mexico. Right now we're busy kicking the tires and haven't even been able to take a look at the iOS app yet, but at least we know that Google will keep track of your where you were reading if you switch from one device to another. Check out a short promotional video after the break.
Google helps scholars mine 1.7 million Victorian era book titles for clues to our historical attitudes
Whether we like, loathe, or never even considered the idea of it, quantitative literary analysis seems ready for its moment in the spotlight. Dan Cohen and Fred Gibbs, a pair of historians of science over at George Mason University, have been playing around with the titles of some nearly 1.7 million books -- accounting for all the known volumes published in Britain during the 19th century -- in a search for enlightenment about the Victorian era's cultural trends and developments. By looking at how often certain words appear in text titles over time, they can find corroboration or perhaps even refutation for the commonly held theories about that time -- although they themselves warn that correlation isn't always indicative of causation. Their research has been made possible by Google's Books venture, which is busily digitizing just about every instance of the written word ever, and the next stage will be to try and mine the actual texts themselves for further clues about what our older selves thought about the world. Any bets on when the word "fail" was first used as a noun?
Google Editions said to have backing of 'almost all' US publishers
Well, it looks like Google will be kicking off its forthcoming Google Editions e-book service on a high note -- Japan Today is reporting that the company has managed to score the backing of "almost all" publishers in the United States. That apparently brings the total number of publishers and authors on board to over 25,000, and the total number of books set to be available to somewhere in the neighborhood of two million -- or over four million if you include the public domain books that Google already makes available for free. As far as we can tell, however, Google itself still isn't saying any more on the matter publicly than it did last week, when it confirmed that the service would be launching in late June or July. [Thanks, Legendary1022]
Google Editions e-book service launching this summer
Think Google is content to simply make public domain books freely available for e-book readers? Not quite -- the company has just confirmed that its previously announced Google Editions e-book service will finally be launching in late June or July. That service will apparently let folks buy digital copies of books they find through Google's existing book search service, and let book retailers sell Google Editions on their own site and retain the "bulk of the revenue." Details are otherwise still pretty light, including any word of pricing or publishers involved, but Google has previously said that it planned to make between 400,000 and 600,000 books available with prices set by the publishers.
E-reader privacy policies compared: Big Kindle is watching you
It's definitely shaping up to be the year of e-book readers: the Amazon Kindle is flying off (virtual) shelves, and we'd expect the Barnes & Noble Nook to start moving at a decent clip once the kinks get worked out. But any device with an always-on 3G connection to a central server raises some privacy questions, especially when it can broadcast granular, specific data about what you're reading -- data that's subject to a wide spectrum of privacy laws and regulations when it comes to real books and libraries, but much less so in the digital realm. We'd say it's going to take a while for all the privacy implications of e-books to be dealt with by formal policy, but in the meantime the best solution is to be informed -- which is where this handy chart from our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation comes in. As you'd expect, the more reading you do online, the more you can be tracked -- and Google Books, the Kindle, and the Nook all log a ton of data that can be shared with law enforcement and various other third parties if required. Of course, we doubt the cops are too interested in your Twilight reading habits, but honestly, we'd rather users weren't tracked at all. Check the full chart and more at the read link. [Thanks, Tom]
Google clarifies plans for Google Editions ebook store launching next year
Despite the fact that nobody reads anything anymore, the ebook market sure is hot lately, with Barnes & Noble about to make some sort of big splash and now Google getting in on the action in a new way. After shaking up the industry quite a bit with its Google Books initiative, Google is going to offer paid ebook purchases in its new "Google Editions" store in the first half of next year, which has been bumped back from the 2009 launch originally planned. The store will offer somewhere in the range of 400,000 and 600,000 books (compared to the 100,000ish offered by Sony and the 330,000+ on Kindle), and prices will be set by publishers, with Google collecting 55 percent of the profits and supposedly sharing much of that with "retail partners." The books will be available to any device with a web browser, but will be available offline after they've been accessed the first time -- that sounds like Google Gears to us, but since phones and other devices are mentioned for compatibility, hopefully there's more to it than just a browser-based reader.
Amazon formally protests Google Books settlement
Well, we knew this was coming: Amazon's trying to convince a federal judge to block the $125m settlement that'll let Google Books make out-of-print works available online. According to Amazon's newly-filed brief, allowing the settlement will essentially force copyright holders into allowing Google to scan in and sell their works whether they want to or not -- a thorny area of the law Amazon's gotten pretty familiar with as it builds out the Kindle library. Of course, since the actual settlement is between Google and those very same authors and publishers, it certainly seems like Amazon is crying crocodile tears here -- according to our old friend Paul Aiken of the Authors Guild, "Amazon apparently fears Google could upend its plans" to make the Kindle the dominant ebook platform. Heady stuff -- and with more briefs against the settlement due in the next few days from heavy hitters like Sony, Yahoo and Microsoft, things seem like they're building to fever pitch. We'll keep you updated.Read - USA TodayRead - CNETRead - Amazon's brief [Warning: PDF]
Google makes over a million public domain books available in EPUB format
The deal may have first been announced somewhat quietly last month, but now that Sony's come out with what's arguably its most attractive e-reader to date, the availability of over a million public domain books in the Sony-friendly EPUB format is sure to garner a fair bit more attention. As Google announced on its Inside Google Books blog, those books are now all available for download starting today and are, of course, completely free and able to be used on the EPUB-supporting device of your choice. The move also takes on a particular prominence in light of Google's recent fight with Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon and the Open Book Alliance, who have taken issue with Google's settlement with book publishers and authors that would give it the right to digitize orphan works and make the now out-of-print (but non-public domain) books widely available.
Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo unite against Google Books
Microsoft, its new pet dog Yahoo, and Amazon have decided to join together in the soon to be formed Open Book Alliance. You might expect this to be a revolutionary new collaborative effort at delivering the written word in a way that makes Google Books pale into insignificance, but you would, of course, be wrong. Far from trying to compete with Google, The OBA is set to act as the collective mouthpiece for all those opposed to Google's recent $125 million settlement deal with book publishers and authors. With the US Department of Justice already investigating antitrust concerns relating to the case, the other big dogs just couldn't restrain themselves from coming together for a united whinge. Should the settlement be cleared, it will permit Google non-exclusive rights to orphan works (those without an established writer) and will give it a 30 per cent cut of books sold via Google Books, both things that authors have agreed to. So what's there to moan about, fellas -- we all trust Google to do the right thing, right?
Sony brings over a million Google Books to the Reader
Cool move by Sony to bolster the number of titles in its Reader ebook store -- it's linked up with Google to provide over a million free public domain works from Google Books, just like those fun folks at Barnes and Noble. The books are in the EPUB format and will work with the PRS-505 or the PRS-700 in the US only for now -- different countries have different copyright terms, so we'd imagine the lawyers are busy sorting it all out. Sure, none of this will do much to shake the Kindle's market- and mindshare, but at least Sony won't be deleting this stuff off your device without your permission, right?[Thanks, Tom]
