Internet Archive’s Repository Collects Thousands of Books. How the e-book landscape is becoming a walled garden. App, Meet Book (Ron Martinez) Ron Martinez is the founder of Aerbook, and its parent company, Invention Arts. He’s a prolific inventor, with close to a hundred and fifty issued patents or patent applications currently in flight. Prior to his current work at Invention Arts, Ron worked for a number of years as Vice President, Intellectual Property Innovation for Yahoo! You can find Ron on Twitter at: @ronmartinez. When considering the evolution of the book, it’s useful to look at the dynamics in other forms of media.
We have enough history now with computers as an expressive medium to see that some dynamics are repeated so reliably that they may as well be considered laws. Take, for example: The Laws of Surprise and Demand In the technical medium, the act of surprising people with cool new experiences leads to demand for those experiences. Recent market experience illustrates this invariable progression. So, what does this have to do with publishing books? But the potential for other forms is real, nonetheless. Books Continue to Evolve - Check Out E.O. Wilson's 'Life on Earth' iBook. Last month Apple announced iBooks 2, the next generation of its e-book app for iPhone and iPad. iBooks 2 was notable for the launch of a new breed of interactive digital textbooks, designed for the iPad. The books feature videos, photos, diagrams, rotating 3D objects, "Study Cards" for notes and highlights, and more.
Among the first iBook 2 offerings is a free preview of a new book by famed biologist E.O. Wilson, called Life on Earth. It's an intriguing glimpse into the future of textbooks. Life on Earth is a digital biology textbook for high school students. It's currently "under development" (it isn't being written, it's being developed) by the E.
After a brief introductory video by Wilson, the colorful textbook opens. The animations are probably the most impressive thing about Wilson's iBook. The videos are typically short, 1-2 minutes long. The "Study Cards" feature allows students to make notes and highlights. There are some downsides to projects such as Wilson's iBook.