A couple weeks back, Best Buy started carrying the Vox.  This was the first US retailer to do so, even though the Vox shipped 4 months ago. It had been carried in stores elsewhere, but BB was my first chance to get it in my hands (Kobo’s PR firm excluded me from the press briefings, so I didn’t see it at launch).

I’ll confess that I didn’t read any reviews before hand (not ever); I like to go into these things with an open mind. Also, there are only a few reviewers that I trust to really understand a gadget and speak the truth, and only one had reviewed the Vox. I didn’t think to read his review until after.

I spent about half an hour with the Vox, and it really, really confused me. I had assumed the Vox was one of the big 3 (KF, NT, and Vox), and it’s really not.

The Vox is nothing more than just another mid-level Android tablet. I couldn’t see any features, performance, or well, anything to recommend the Vox over the numerous tablets I played with last year.

It’s also clearly not worth $200; I have $150 and $100 tablets that offer a better value now. The $99 IdolPad, for example, ships with the Android Market and thus is a better buy. In fact, I would say that there were at lest 2 tablets on the same display that were probably better buys (besides the Nook Color); they were from Pandigital.

Now that I’ve laid my hands on the Vox, I finally understand why it wasn’t carried in Walmart, BB, or other US chains at launch. The buyers for all those chains were probably as underwhelmed as I was.

I have to say that this tablet does not speak well of Kobo. When compared to the rest of the tablet market, they released it far too late and at too high of a price. That suggests that they cannot get products out in time to keep up with the market.

This is not a good sign for Kobo. If you add the Vox to the dozens of complaints about the screen on the Kobo Touch, you’ll see a worrisome trend.

What we have here is a company who cannot execute on hardware. That’s a serious defect, and it will probably preclude Kobo from being one of the majors. I know that Kobo has big plans for international expansion, but do you really think they can pull it off?

I Just Saw the Vox – Who is Kobo Kidding? is post from The Digital Reader

In the past I’ve told you about how most E-ink screens are based on a glass backplane. (If you’ve ever seen an E-ink screen after someone hit it, the shatter pattern is the broken backplane.) The Flex ONE from Wexler is (hopefully) going to be the first ereader on the market with a flexible steel backplane, not glass.

The video below was shot by Chip, a Ukrainian gadget blog. I’m not sure what they’re saying, but if you listen closely you can catch the occasional tech word.

BTW, my title says IFA because that was what the video shows. IFA Berlin is actually in September, so I’m not sure where or when this clip was shot.

According to Wexler’s past press releases, the Flex ONE has 8GB Flash storage, a microSD card slot, and a built-in FM Radio (that’s normal for the Russian market). There’s no touchscreen, of course, and it doesn’t appear to have Wifi or a speaker. Weight is around 200 grams. Format support includes txt, PDF, Epub, FB2, CHM, HTML, and Doc. It can also play mp3s.

I still haven’t seen one myself, but a look through my archives turned up this video from November. I don’t think I posted it back then, and that was probably because the video was so glitchy (for me, at least).

This ereader was supposed to have shipped in November with a retail of 8,000 rubles (~$271USD), but it looks like the ship date slipped a little. I couldn’t find any sign of it being on the market yet.

Now, this isn’t the first flexible ereader, but it does appear to be the closest to actually launching.

Polymer Vision started working on a rollable E-ink screen several years ago, but between the bankruptcy, reorganization, and sale of the company, actually releasing a product seems to have gone by the wayside. They’ve teased us once or twice with a new screen demo, and a product render, but I haven’t heard anything since.

And of course Plastic Logic uses a screen based on a plastic backplane, but they were never able to release a flexible device. First, it was too expensive, but they also reported that users complained about the lack of stiffness.

As much as I like the idea, flexible devices seem to have died out (Wexler’s new device not withstanding). It seems that once everyone got used to carrying around an iPad sized tablet, they lost interest in anything that could fold up.

The NewsBoy concept device that I showed you last week, for example, probably wouldn’t have much of a market now.

Wexler’s Flexible eReader Shows up at IFA (video) is post from The Digital Reader

Amazon has dropped the price of the Kindle Fire refurbs to $170. They had been selling it at $180.

That’s not much of  response, I’ll admit. But it’s still interesting to see that Amazon couldn’t let the $10 difference slip by. On a related note, Buy.com has a refurbished Nook Color for $130. I think that might be B&N’s new selling price.

P.S. If you’re interested in hearing about more deals, checkout this page. I’m starting a deals page & RSS feed, and they will be kept separate from the front page and main RSS feed. Rather than gathering a bunch of deals into one post,  I’m going to post decent deals as I find them.

Amazon

Amazon Responds to the $170 Nook Color is post from The Digital Reader

Paypal, Smashwords’ payment processor, has issued an ultimatum. Someone at Paypal is grossed out by certain types of erotica sold via Smashwords, so those ebooks have to be pulled or Paypal will drop Smashwords as a customer. And the ebooks have to be pulled by Monday, or else.

The full email is at the end if this post. I’m not going to debate the validity of removing the content; in fact, I’m not even going to mention what has to be removed. Naming the ctegories would detract from my principled objection. It would also make a number of readers feel that this censorship is perfectly okay because the content was gross or objectionable.

TBH, I do find the content icky. But who am I to judge?

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” This quote, widely attributed to Voltaire, is probably apocryphal. But it is true, none the less.

The whole point of the first amendment is that people can say (or write) whatever the hell they want. If you really believe in the concept of free speech, you’ll look past what ever ickyness you feel towards the topics. There’s a time where principle outweighs personal preference, and this is one of them.

Update: A couple people pointed out on Twitter that the 1st amendment doesn’t apply here becuase it only applies to gov’t censoring speech. This is true, but it doesn’t make the principle any less valid.

Email

February 24, 2012

Re: Your Smashwords account at http://smashwords.com/profile/view/[[username]]

Dear Smashwords Authors, Publishers and Literary Agents,

This email is being sent to all authors, publishers and agents who have published erotica at Smashwords. We will also post this message to Site Updates and the Press Room.

According to our records, you pubish [[count_published_erotica_books]] erotica-categorized title(s) out of [[count_published_books]] title(s) now live in the Smashwords system. This message may or may not pertain to you.

Today we are modifying our Terms of Service to clarify our policies regarding erotic fiction that contains bestiality, rape and incest. If you write in any of these categories, please carefully read the instructions below and remove such content from Smashwords. If you don’t write in these categories, you can disregard this message.

PayPal is requiring Smashwords to immediately begin removing the above-mentioned categories of books. Please review your title(s) and proactively remove and archive such works if you are affected.

I apologize for the short notice, and I’m especially sorry for any financial or emotional hardship this may cause the authors and publishers affected by this change.

As you may have heard, in the last couple weeks PayPal began aggressively enforcing a prohibition against online retailers selling certain types of “obscene” content. For good background on the issue, see this Selena Kitt post here – http://selenakitt.com/blog/index.php/2012/02/19/slippery-slope-erotica-censorship/ or here – http://theselfpublishingrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/02/slippery-slope-erotica-censorship.html#comment-form or this Kindleboards thread here – http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,104604.0.html

On Saturday, February 18, PayPal’s enforcement division contacted Smashwords with an ultimatum. As with the other ebook retailers affected by this enforcement, PayPal gave us only a few days to achieve compliance otherwise they threatened to deactivate our PayPal services. I’ve had multiple conversations with PayPal over the last several days to better understand their requirements. Their team has been helpful, forthcoming and supportive of the Smashwords mission. I appreciate their willingness to engage in dialogue. Although they have tried their best to delineate their policies, gray areas remain.

Their hot buttons are bestiality, rape-for-titillation, incest and underage erotica.

The underage erotica is not a problem for us. We already have some of the industry’s strictest policies prohibiting underage characters (we don’t even allow non-participating minors to appear in erotica), and our vetting team is always on the lookout for “barely legal” content where supposed adults are placed in underage situations.

The other three areas of bestiality, rape and incest were less well-defined in our Terms of Service (https://www.smashwords.com/about/tos) before today. I’ll tackle these one-by-one below, and I’ll provide you a summary of the changes that will go into effect immediately.

*Incest:* Until now, we didn’t have a policy prohibiting incest between consenting adults, or its non-biological variation commonly known as “Pseudo-incest.” Neither did our retailer partners. We’ve noticed a surge of PI books over the last few months, and many of them have “Daddy” in the title. I wouldn’t be surprised if the surge in “Daddy” titles prompted PayPal to pursue this purge (I don’t know). PI usually explores sexual relations between consenting adult stepchildren with their step parents, or between step-siblings. Effectively immediately, we no longer allow incest of any variety in erotica.

Like many writers, censorship of any form greatly concerns me. It is with some reluctance that I have made the decision to prohibit incest-themed erotica at Smashwords. Regardless of your opinion on incest, it’s a slippery slope when we allow others to control what we think and write. Fiction is fantasy. It’s not real. It unfolds in our imagination. I’ve always believed fiction writers and readers should have the freedom to explore diverse topics and situations in the privacy of their own mind. From an imagination perspective, erotica is little different from a literary novel that puts us inside the mind of farm animals (1984), or a thriller novel that puts us inside the mind of a terrorist, or a horror novel that puts us inside the mind of an axe-murderer or their victim. All fiction takes us somewhere. We read fiction to be moved, and to feel. Sometimes we want to feel touched, moved, or disturbed. A reader should have the right to feel moved however they desire to be moved.

Incest, however, carries thorny baggage. The legality of incest is murky. It creates a potential legal liability for Smashwords as our business and our books become more present in more jurisdictions around the world. Anything that threatens Smashwords directly threatens our ability to serve the greater interests of all Smashwords authors, publishers, retailers and customers who rely upon us as the world’s leading distributor of indie ebooks. The business considerations compel me to not fall on the sword for incest. I realize this is an imperfect decision. The slippery slope is dangerous, but I believe this imperfect decision is in the best interest of the community we serve.

*Bestiality:* Until now, we didn’t have a stated policy regarding bestiality. I like animals. Call me old fashioned or hypocritical (I’m not a vegetarian), but I don’t want to be a party to anyone enjoying animals for sexual gratification, for the same reason we’ve never allowed pedophilia books. I don’t want to publish it, sell it, or distribute it. The TOS is now modified to reflect this. Note this does not apply to shape-shifters common in paranormal romance provided the were-creature characters are getting it on in their human form. Sorry I need to clarify it that way, but we don’t want to see bestiality erotica masquerading as paranormal romance.

*Rape:* Although our Terms of Service prohibits books that advocate violence against others, we did not specifically identify rape. This was an oversight on our part. Now we have clarified the policy. We do not want books that contain rape for the purpose of titillation. At Smashwords, rape has no longer has a place in erotica. It has no place anywhere else if the purpose is to titillate. Non-consensual BDSM – or any other form of non-consensual violence against another person – is prohibited.

*NEXT STEPS:* If you have titles at Smashwords that are now expressly forbidden, by the end of day Monday (Feb 27), please click to your Dashboard at https://www.smashwords.com/dashboard and click UNPUBLISH then click ARCHIVE. This will also cause our automated systems to remove the titles from retail distribution.

DO NOT try to hide or obfuscate violating content by changing book titles, book descriptions and tags. If we discover such shenanigans, said authors/publishers will risk account deletion and forfeiture of any accrued earnings, per our Terms of Service.

We take violations of the TOS seriously, because such violations jeopardize the opportunities for your fellow authors.

We do not want to see PayPal clamp down further against erotica. We think our authors should be allowed to publish erotica. Erotica, despite the attacks it faces from moralists, is a category worthy of protection. Erotica allows readers to safely explore aspects of sexuality that they might never want to explore in the real world.

The moralists forget that we humans are all sexual creatures, and the biggest sex organ is the brain. If it were not the case, none of us would be here. Erotica authors are facing discrimination, plain and simple. Topics that are perfectly acceptable in mainstream fiction are verboten in erotica. That’s not fair. Our decisions today are imperfect. Please, act responsibly, don’t try to game the system or publish content that pushes the limits of legality. Help us continue to help indie authors around the world to continue to publish and distribute with freedom.

*THINGS TO AVOID:* Avoid using words such as ‘bestiality,’ ‘rape,’ ‘incest,’ ‘underage,’ or ‘barely legal’ in book titles, book descriptions or keyword tags, otherwise Smashwords may conclude you’re violating the Terms of Service, or trying to push the limits. If you’re writing non-erotic works, and any of these words are necessary, then you’re okay.

On Tuesday (Feb 28) we will begin removing content that we deem in violation. When we remove a title, you will receive an email notifying you of such, and that email will append this letter along with instructions on how to notify us if we made an error. I promise you, we will make mistakes, so please work with us, take a deep breath and honor us with your patience.

If you believe we removed something in error, please click “Comments/questions,” mention the title we removed, provide the hyperlink to said title, and provide your *calm* reasoning for why we should reconsider.

Our support team is backlogged, so it may take several days for them to respond. As we mention in the Terms of Service, we reserve the right to remove anything for any reason. That said, we will also try to make our decisions with care and prudence.

You might wonder if Smashwords should simply switch to a different payment provider. It’s not so easy. PayPal is designed into the wiring of the Smashwords platform. They run the credit card processing for our retail store, and they’re how we pay our authors and publishers. PayPal is also an extremely popular, trusted payment option for our customers. It is not feasible for us to simply switch to another provider, should such a suitable provider even exist, especially with so few days notice.

Please note our Terms of Service is subject to additional modifications as we work to bring Smashwords into compliance with PayPal requirements. Let’s hope today’s actions mark the limit of the slippery slope.

Significant gray area remain. Erotica is still permitted, though if authors try to push the limits of what’s permitted, we risk further clamping down. Please be responsible. Don’t go there. If you’re going to push the limits, push the limits of great writing, not the limits of legality.

Thank you for assisting our compliance efforts on such short notice. We know these decisions will be upsetting to some of our authors and publishers, and for that we apologize. We do believe, however, that these decisions will place us on a stronger footing to represent the best interests all indie authors and publishers from here forward.

Best wishes,

Mark Coker
Founder
Smashwords

P.S. Please contact our support team for inquiries regarding this change in our Terms of Service by clicking the “comments/questions” link at the top of any page at Smashwords. If your inquiry regards a specific title, please include the hyperlink to the book page of that specific title.

Smashwords Succumbs to Censorship is post from The Digital Reader

Of course it is clear that if you really want to read for a longer period or let alone outside, the iPad (or any other tablet) is impossible to use.

I can say from personal experience that neither part of that statement is true, and I wish people would stop spreading it around.

I’ve taken a number of trips recently, including TOC ( few weeks ago), CES 2012 (January), and a number of trip to NYC last fall. As you can probably guess, I usually have one or more tablets and ereaders with me, and I read on them everyday.

I don’t usually blog about the devices I use on these trips, but I’m beginning to think that I should. It would give you a better idea of what you can really do with the gadgets, so you wouldn’t have to rely on the marketing hype put out by the gadget companies.

For example, my main reading device on the TOC trip was the IdolPad, a $99 Android tablet. I didn’t even carry an E-ink ereader (even though there were a bunch in my luggage). I saw no need because I’m fine with reading on an LCD screen and the tablet worked just fine outside.

And I had plenty of time outside, too. Navigating around Manhattan involves walking a few blocks both before and after riding the subway. Whenever I was stopped at a crosswalk, I whipped put the IdolPad and read.

And then there was the trip to CES 2012. For this trip I carried the Kyobo Mirasol eReader and my (original) Samsung Galaxy Tab. I didn’t mention it at the time, but I was running a battery life comparison. Even though I used the Galaxy Tab more than the Kyobo, it still lasted longer (2 days vs 2.5 days).

Getting around Vegas involves riding the monorail a lot (3, 4 times a day), and all the stations are outside. It is quite sunny in January in Las Vegas, and yet my Galaxy Tab worked just fine.

What’s more, I’m now back to using the Samsung Galaxy Tab as my main reader. There are times where I am tempted to switch to E-ink, but the sheer bloody usefulness of being able to switch quickly from reading to Twitter or email is enough to keep me on the tablet. And yes, I do carry the tablet while I am running errands outside.

So don’t tell me that one cannot read on an LCD outside, or that it cannot be done for long periods of time. I know that this is not true.

LCDs Cannot be Read Outside, And Other Nonsense is post from The Digital Reader

A couple weeks back I came across what looked to be the perfect solution. Woot had a Philips media player on sale for $90. It had a 3.2″ screen, 8GB Flash, Wifi, Android Market, and it even ran Android v2.3. It looked perfect.

But now that I have it in my hands I have found a problem that wasn’t obvious from the photos. The Philips GoGear Connect has a simple design flaw that renders it unusable, IMO. The power button is placed in the wrong spot.

There are 3 buttons on the right edge, and near the bottom is the power button. While it might seem like a good location, it really isn’t.

If I’m holding this device in my left hand, the power button is underneath my pinky, thus making it easy to accidentally press. If I’m holding it in my right hand, the power button is in the palm of my hand, which again makes it easy to press.

Have you ever considered how you hold a phone one handed? I ask because it’s pretty clear that no one at Philips ever held a smartphone before. If they had then they would not have put the power button in that spot.

P.S. I know that this isn’t much of  review, but I cannot use this thing so it is impossible for me to review.

Product Page on Amazon

Philips

In Pursuit of the $99 Android Handheld: Philips GoGear Connect is post from The Digital Reader

I got an email this morning from Icarus, a Dutch ereader company. They’ve just unveiled the Excel, which they will be selling soon for 350 euros.

The Excel is based on a 9.7″ Pearl E-ink screen, and it has Wifi, a Wacom touchscreen, 4GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, and it has extensive support for ebook formats and annotation tools. It’s running a custom Linux build on an 800MHz Freescale CPU.  I know that the hot thing now is to do Android, but picking Linux for the Excel was a good choice.

I recognize the hardware and the menus. This ereader is also the Boox M92, and it was originally developed by Onyx. That’s great, because Onyx has done some awesome ereaders in the past. They also have done some amazing things with annotations (Sony has caught up with them, though).

It’s coming in March, and the retail is around $470. That’s about $30 less than the iPad or Jetbook Color, and I think the iPad would be a better buy.

I just think that this ereader is too expensive, given that it is noticeably less capable than a tablet. It stands as an example of why large screen ereaders should be killed by cheap tablets.

Icarus

New 9.7″ eReader Launching Soon in Europe is post from The Digital Reader

BTW, if you’re looking to get technical manuals in the near future, you might want to bookmark this site. LKO is a search engine for professional and technical ebooks. Right now the 2-year-old site covers Google, Kindle, ebrary, and Credo, but Kevin plans to add more sites in the future.

If you’re wondering how a search engine could be a junior partner for a search engine giant, I’d first have to explain what an affiliate is. Let’s say you find an ebook via LKO, and it’s in the Google ebookstore. If you click on the link and then buy the ebook, Kevin will get a small fee from Google. You can think of it as a sales commission, if you like.

There are some variations in the way affiliate programs work, but most are similar to what I describe above. In case you were curious, that is also how Amazon’s affiliate  program works.

At least, that’s how it used to work for Kevin; Google will be cutting him off as of 15 March. Kevin forwarded the email he received, and Google is rather terse in their explanation.

We are constantly evaluating our Google eBook affiliate program, searching for the best mechanisms to create value for our partners and users. With our most recent evaluation, we’ve decided to narrow the scope of the program to a smaller number of partners to create a better experience for our customers.

Google launched this affiliate program in June of 2011 – a mere 8 months ago. And now it looks like they’re taking it in another. Queries to Google have gone unanswered, but PW also covered this story and they were told that the affiliates who generated the least amount of book sales were dropped were dropped from the program. This could well be true; Kevin told me that he received only paltry revenue from being a Google affiliate.

Google is also reportedly planning to open the program again, but only on an invitation basis.

The text of the email is below:

Dear Publisher,

We are constantly evaluating our Google eBook affiliate program, searching for the best mechanisms to create value for our partners and users. With our most recent evaluation, we’ve decided to narrow the scope of the program to a smaller number of partners to create a better experience for our customers.As a result, your Google eBooks affiliate status will expire as of Thursday, March 15, 2012, and all links will be deactivated. We ask that you please remove logos, links and banners belonging to Google eBooks from your website in a timely fashion. Commissions earned on all eligible transactions through Thursday, March 15, 2012, will be paid out according to the standardGoogle Affiliate Network payment guidelines. If you have any questions or are interested in learning more, please contact ebooks-affiliates@google.com.On behalf of Google eBooks, we’d like to thank you for your participation. Please keep in mind,

Google Affiliate Network manages hundreds of additional advertisers and we invite you to take advantage of other programs in our network.

Sincerely,Google Affiliate Network

ebooks-affiliates@google.com

Google Now Thinning the Ranks of the eBookstore Affiliate Program is post from The Digital Reader

• The Business Rusch: Competition (Kristine Kathryn Rusch)

• The DIY Copyright Revolution (Slate)

• How Bots Seized Control of My Pricing Strategy (Bueno.org)

• How New York Pay Phones Became Guerrilla Libraries (The Atlantic Cities)

• How To Properly Import Instapaper and Readability Articles to Your Kindle (Tested)

• Page numbers and bookmarks lost for sideloaded books (B&N Nook Support Pages)

The Morning Coffee – 24 Feb 2012 is post from The Digital Reader

Mike Cane dug this one out of his “favorites” collection of YouTube videos. It shows a ninja action movie done with stick figures, played out on 6″ E-ink screen.

The clip dates to 2009, and by today’s standards it’s pretty ordinary. A lot of E-ink devices have a refresh rate this fast now.

But I think this video is still worth watching. Call me juvenile, but the sight of stick figures throwing knives at each is fun to watch.

Youtube

More Videos Playing on E-ink is post from The Digital Reader