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JK Rowling and Other Big Name Authors Holding Out on E-Book Format

Big Name Authors Holding Out on E-Book FormatWe've give the e-book trend plenty of coverage, and, as we've stated before, there are still major hurdles in front of the emerging format. One of the highest is the absence of many notable books and authors from the e-book market, according to USA Today.

There are many reasons why some books haven't yet made their ways to the Sony Reader or Kindle e-book devices -- contract negotiations, low royalty rates and simple skepticism of the format among them. But if publishers and those selling the electronic texts don't get some of these bigger names on board soon, the e-book may end up as little more than a niche product.

What notables are missing? Well, the entire 'Harry Potter' series, Joseph Heller's 'Catch 22,' J.D. Salinger's 'Catcher in the Rye,' Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' S.E. Hinton's 'The Outsiders,' and Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451,' just to name a few.

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Audio/Video, TV

Blu-ray Releases on November 11th 2008

Hell Boy 2 Blu-rayJust when we thought there wasn't another comic book movie this holiday season until 'The Dark Knight,' along comes 'Hellboy,' which we somehow forgot about. It's available both in regular and extra geeky, the latter will set you back another $20, but while both include a digital copy, only the Collector's Edition includes a scary looking figurine and we're not sure what else. Also this week, Weinstein has the made for TV movie about the NASCAR legend, Dale Earnhardt, which is sure to be a popular stocking stuffer for Blu-ray NASCAR fans -- not sure how many of those there are. Star Wars fans can look forward to the animated feature 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars,' while WW2 junkies can can relive 'Band of Brothers for the first time on Blu-ray. That isn't the only TV show series this week though, as Warner has both the first season of 'Chuck' and the third season of 'Supernatural.' And finally, Fox offers up the first, and regrettably, the only season of 'Firefly.'

Computers

Unofficial ' Harry Potter' Encyclopedia Banned, Thanks to JK Rowling

JK Rowling Wins Lawsuit, Unofficial Potter Encyclopedia BannedCopyrights are frequently mysterious and sometimes crippling things. Creative minds obviously need to protect their rights to their creations, but as the RIAA and MPAA have shown again and again, it's quite possible to push the boundaries of copyright into the ridiculous. Sometimes, though, the boundaries are a little less clear-cut, as was the case regarding an unofficial encyclopedia about the Harry Potter universe that series author JK Rowling has prevented from publication, being ruled "not a fair use of the Harry Potter works" in a New York court.

The encyclopedia was written by Potter fan Steven Vander Ark, a school librarian who ran the 'Harry Potter Lexicon' fan site. Rowling originally supported the site, but when Vander Ark announced plans to sell a book based on the site's contents for profit, Rowling recoiled. As of the legal ruling, the site seems to have been taken offline as well, leaving Potter fans unfortunately out in the cold.

For her part, Rowling indicated that the lawsuit was not about money, but rather to protect her interests from the sale of a book she called "wholesale theft." She had earlier plans to write a similar encyclopedia and give the proceeds to charity, but as of now it sounds doubtful that even an official tome will see publication. [From: BBC News]

Audio/Video, Computers, iPod, TV, iPhone

DVDs Now Come With Computer Video Files for PC's and Video Players

DVD's Start Shipping with Video Files for PC's and PMP's
Looks like the movie studios are finally joining the 21st century while looking to preempt illegal ripping and sharing of movies via peer to peer networks. The proliferation of video-capable personal media players has made carrying your movie collection with you not only reasonable but popular.

Until now the only way to bring your movies with you legally was to rip your movies yourself, which can be a difficult and convoluted process. Or, as many have chosen, you could let someone else do the work and download movies via BitTorrent or some other file-sharing network.

With the release 'Live Free or Die Hard,' studios have begun including Windows media-encoded versions of movies that can be copied from the DVD to your computer or media player. Reportedly, the files have no DRM copy protection. However, a 16-digit code will be needed to download and unlock the file.

This feature doesn't end with 'Die Hard' thankfully. The 'Digital Copy' will be extended to future Fox releases, and Warner Home Video plans to introduce a similar program beginning with 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' in December.

From BetaNews

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Computers, Google

How To Embed Book Snippets in Your Site

Google Lets Scholarly Bloggers Embed Book SnippetsSure, you can embed YouTube Videos in your Web site or blog, but now you'll be able to embed images of scanned books, thanks to Google.

Since 2004, Google Book Search has allowed users to search through thousands of books, many of which can be downloaded in the commonly-used PDF format. Now you can draw a box around a region of text and stick it right into a blog post or Web site, just like we did here with a bit from Hugo's classic 'Toilers of the Sea' (which was down-sized to fit, but you can click here to see the full thing).

Unfortunately, you can only do this with those books that are fully in the public domain, which tend to be those old classics. If you want to spoil the ending of 'Harry Potter' for your readers, you're going to have to wait a few years.

From TechCrunch

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Computers

Harry Potter Levitates Amazon Revenue

Harry Potter Boosts Amazon RevenueWho knew Harry Potter could exert control over the stock market? Amazon posted an increase in revenue of 35 percent this quarter, based heavily on traffic driven to the site by the impending release of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.' Visitors who pre-ordered the book also purchased other products, helping to increase the online retailer's net income.

What's more, the 2.2 million copies of the new Potter book that Amazon sold will not be counted in the company's revenue until next quarter, which raises the possibility of even higher profits next quarter. Amazon's stock price hit $84.09 in after-hours trading, a level not seen since the days of the dot-com boom back in February 2000.

From The New York Times

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Celebrities, Slideshows

Celebrity Nerd or Not?




There's really nothing worse than celebrities pretending to be nerds. They already have their "real lives" in the "real world" full of "pretty people" and "gift bags" and "flying quotations" -- but do they still need a slice of nerd-cool to extend their appeal to those of us with Mario tattoos and Domino's on speed dial?

Anyway, if you're really bored or interested in feeling bad about yourself, GameDaily has put together a "Nerd or Not?" compilation of this summer's biggest stars, ranging from Pirates of the Carribean 3's Orlando Bloom to Transformers' Shia LeBeouf. Did you know that Kirsten Dunst was the only Spider-Man 3 star who skipped out on doing voiceover for the Spidey videogame, or that the aforementioned LeBeouf started his own hip-hop record label?

Well now you do, and we're still nerds, and they're still not.

From GameDaily


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Weirdest Techie Heists and Scams

    Elderly Amish Man Caught on Film With Prostitute, Blackmailed
    When a 75-year-old Amish widower slept with a prostitute, he -- we feel certain -- felt pretty bad about it the next morning. As if that guilt weren't enough for the old man, the prostitute and her boyfriend demanded $67,000 from him, claiming that they had filmed the scene with wall-mounted cameras and would upload the recording to the Internet. The pair was later arrested and, we can only imagine, the Amish man abhorred technology more than ever.

     

    Bank Robber Gets Away With the Help of Craiglist
    In October, a bank robber -- wearing a safety vest, blue shirt, face mask and goggles -- eluded police with the help of Craiglist. Just outside the bank, while the robbery was in progress, stood a group of men who were responding to a Craiglist day labor opportunity. As the advertisement required, they were all wearing safety vests, blue shirts, face masks and goggles.

     

    Nude New Zealander Arrested After Responding to Fake Sexy Text Message
    Late in 2007, a Wellington, New Zealand man received a racy text message from two anonymous "ladies," giving him only an address and a request that he show up naked. Well, he indeed showed up naked... at the home of one appalled, unsuspecting New Zealander. Both the nude Romeo and the sadistic texter were arrested, though neither were prosecuted.

     

    Fake Craiglist Ad Costs Man Most of What He Owns
    Last Spring, a post appeared on an Oregon Craigslist board stating that the owner of a specific house was leaving all of his worldly possessions (still in said house) to whoever wanted them. When homeowner Robert Salisbury rushed home -- on a tip from a woman suspicious about the offer of a free horse -- he found his house being ransacked by 30 strangers. We suggest he take that horse and collect some vengeance Clint Eastwood-style.

     

    17-Year-Old Jailed for Stealing Virtual 'Furniture'
    When a 17-year-old Dutch boy hacked into several accounts on the Second Life-style site 'Habbo' in 2007, the the law got involved. The boy was discovered to have stolen $5,800 worth of virtual furniture and knick-knacks. Apparently, crime -- whether actual or virtual -- does not pay.

     

    Phishers Going After Your Phones in New 'Vishing' Trend
    Over the past year, sneaky spammers have begun to forsake the worn-out territory of e-mail in favor of cell phones' fertile frontier. The result? "Vishing." Get it? Voice mail phishing. It might be more ominous if it didn't sound like a James Bond villain saying, "Wishing."

     

    Burglars Break Into Restaurant, Steal HDTV, Leave Money / Food Behind
    Around Halloween of last year, a truckload of thieves drove into -- that's right, into -- a Pennsylvania Mexican restaurant, where they -- apparently uninterested in the cash register -- stole a mid-grade 47-inch HDTV and fled the scene. We've all heard about how this generation is lacking in ambition, but this generation's thieves, too?

     

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