PDA Fiction

Tuesday, August 26, 2003

Good Price on a Nice PDA

While I use my Sony Clie for almost all "normal" PDA functions, I prefer reading ebooks on my Dell Axim. I find the combination of a beautiful TFT display, Clear Type, and the larger screen size (320 x 240 resolution) almost perfect for reading.

The only problem is the size and weight of the Axim. The thing is BIG!

My partner has an Ipaq 1910, which I've been eyeing enviously while I wait for the rumored Palm Tungsten T3.

However, if the T3 doesn't arrive soon, I might just go for the Ipaq 1935. For $199.00 (after rebate) - how can you go wrong?

IPAQ 1935

Friday, August 22, 2003

Free Books from Microsoft

This week's free ebooks from Microsoft are now posted

Selecting the Pope
by Greg Tobin

The Blind Assassin
by Margaret Atwood

The Sinner
by Tess Gerritsen

Friday, August 15, 2003

Which Reader to Use?

Here's a nice, side by side comparison of the three major E Book readers

eBook Reader Comparison Chart

Free Books from Microsoft for the week of Aug 15

Microsoft Reader - This Week's Free Books are posted

Mike Resnick Short Story Collection
by Mike Resnick

The Compleat Angler
by Izaak Walton

A Civil Action
by Jonathan Harr

Wednesday, August 13, 2003

New version of Palm Reader for PocketPC

There is a new version of the Free Palm Reader for PocketPC.

According to PocketPCThoughts.com's review, it incorporates the following updates:

• Inline images that scale well to the Pocket PC format. Previously, displaying images was optimized for 160X160 screens or multiples of 160. Now they look great on your 320X240 screen. You can tap on the image to zoom in as well.
• Theme support. If you dislike the drab white background, there are a number of textures you can use under the text. You can also choose the text color, link color (for footnotes), background color and highlight color if desired. I've not played with it yet, but I understand theme backgrounds, or the canvas, are just .png files so if you have a decent graphics program, you should be able to create your own canvas.
• Background pagination when you open a new ebook. This allows you to begin reading immediately. Even 4,000+ page ebooks paginate in under a minute on my iPAQ 2215.
• Better library screen allows you to see more information about an ebook before opening it.
• Finally, ebooks on the SD card are not closed when the device powers off! Woo hoo!
• Word look ups in the dictionary are much faster. The old version of Palm Reader Pro crawled when looking up a word. Now it takes just a second or two.
• Lots of other little tweaks and new preference settings.

As always when updating a reader - make sure you note your last page read on any open books. And if you have secure books, keep your unlock code handy. You just never can be sure nothing will go wrong...

Friday, August 08, 2003

This Weeks Free Books From Microsoft

This week's free books from Microsoft are posted:

Facing Ali
by Stephen Brunt

Rabbit Run
by John Updike

Don Quixote
by Miguel De Cervantes

http://www.microsoft.com/reader/promotions/free_shop.asp

Thursday, August 07, 2003

More Cheap Books

"Palm Powered News" - which bills itself as the new newsletter of Palm Source - is offering a 4 book bundle for $1.00. These are secure Palm Reader books:

Inside the Tornado
by Geoffrey A. Moore
Geoffrey Moore provides highly useful guidelines for moving products beyond early adopters and into the lucrative mainstream market. The author of Crossing the Chasm gives you the strategy lessons you need for the 21st Century.

Angels Flight
by Michael Connelly
The man most hated by the L.A.P.D. has been found murdered and Harry Bosch is chosen to head the investigation. With the Harry Bosch series, Michael Connelly takes another step closer to the classic novels of Raymond Chandler.

Star Trek: New Frontiers Books 1--4
by Peter David
Captain Mackenzie Calhoun, takes command of the U.S.S. Excalibur, which is manned by Starfleet's best and brightest, including some old friends from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Palm Digital Media offers over 300 Star Trek eBooks.

Chronospace
by Allen Steele
The crew of the time ship Oberon, investigating the destruction of the Hindenburg, replaces two of its passengers with 24th-century chrononauts and then gets lost in a parallel universe. Their mistake will be felt by every single human being....

I don't recall ever subscribing to Palm Powered News, so I don't know where you can grab a copy. Poke around the Palm web site or the Palm Developer site. If you want to read any one of those books, $1.00 is a good price.

Friday, August 01, 2003

Microsoft Offers 20% Off at Fictionwise

As part of it's summer ebook promotion, Microsoft is offering a 20% off coupon for MS Reader newsletter subscribers at Fictionwise.com

It's a time limited offer. If you are interested, subscribe at www.microsoft.com/reader

New Free Microsoft Reader Books Available

Amsterdam
by Ian McEwan

The Killing Hour
by Lisa Gardner

The Disowned Self
by Nathaniel Branden

http://www.microsoft.com/reader/promotions/free_shop.asp