Google will begin selling digital books in late June or July, reports the Wall Street Journal. Competitors include Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple.
Chris Palma, Google’s manager for strategic-partner development, announced the timetable at a panel on Google’s plans sponsored by the Book Industry Study Group in New York (SlideShare). The event, held at Random House’s Manhattan offices, was entitled: “The Book on Google: Is the Future of Publishing in the Cloud?”
Google says its new service — called Google Editions takes a browser-centric, web-based approach to ebooks. Google’s e-books will be accessible through any Web-enabled computer, e-reader, or mobile phone. A dedicated device would not be required.
Wikipedia has a comparison between different e-book formats. The jury is still out on a standardized eBook format.
Google has yet to release details about pricing and which publishers are expected to participate. Preliminary details on Google Editions suggest that books sold directly through Google Editions would pay out 63 percent to the publisher, with Google keeping the other 37 percent.
Separately, the search giant is attempting to win rights to distribute millions of out-of-print books through its digital book settlement with authors and publishers. U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin is expected to rule in that case soon.
48 Hour Magazine is an experiment in using new tools. They’re going to write, photograph, illustrate, design, edit, and ship a magazine in two days.
Issue Zero begins May 7th. They’ll unveil a theme and you’ll have 24 hours to produce and submit your work. The magazine staff will take the next 24 hours to snip, mash and gild it. The end results will be a shiny website and a beautiful glossy paper magazine, delivered right to your old-fashioned mailbox.
48 Hour Magazine says they have been inspired by Strange Light, Pop Up Magazine, Ash Cloud Tales, and The Whole Earth Catalog.
Hang on. We are – all of us – on an epic journey. We are – right now – jumping 600 years from Gutenberg straight into the future. What will emerge on the other side of this worm hole is probably beyond our imagination.
Related e-book articles on Dailywireless include; Apple Sells 1M iPads, Flash Support in Android 2.2, Battle of the eBooks, Dell Android Tablet for AT&T/T-Mobile?, Google Tablet: Android or What?, and Tablet Revolution!
