The Kobo Touch

Not surprisingly the Touch has dropped the blue navigation pad, as it now incorporates a touch screen. The screen enables you to swipe to turn pages, change font sizes, zoom images, etc. by interacting with the screen, rather than the navigation pad.
In addition, it now supports an on-screen keyboard, which enables you to enter text for searching, note taking and bookmark creation. It also has wifi.

The Touch retails for $139 and the current Kobo price drops to $99.

The Nook

There’s no apparent new name for the touch screen enabled nook. This is a bit confusing when talking about it, however B&N has registered the phrase “The Simple Touch Reader”. A bit clunky for a name, but it’s descriptive.

Like the Kobo Touch, it has a touch screen, an on-screen keyboard and wifi.

Both of devices share the same new screen technology, the E Ink Pearl screen, so there are a lot of similarities between them. They’re not identical though. The processors are different, and the Nook claims a longer battery life (two months for the Nook vs 10 days for the Touch). The Nook is available in the US only, whereas the Touch is available internationally, with versions available in English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian.

Both devices are orderable now, with shipping promised for mid-June.

They’ve determined that Apple’s pricing system no longer allows them to make a profit on the books they sell, so they’ve decided to shut it all down.

They’ve put up a page explaining their decision.

If you’ve purchased books in their store, and want to know how to ensure your purchased books are readable in the future, or just want to hear their side of the story, go here.

Speaker: Ann Rockley

The average knowledge worker spends 80% of her day just searching for the business documents and content she needs to do her job. When she can’t find it, she creates it from scratch. Wouldn’t her life be more efficient if she could find and reuse blocks of content to build documents on demand?

Join us as we provide practical guidelines for using content management systems for document composition, output, and communications. Then, apply those techniques to your own business processes for customized content that can be automatically distributed to partners, customers, and colleagues according to a set of predetermined guidelines. Think of the possibilities for reports, forms, and collateral!

Brought to you by aiim and ASG Software Solutions

Register for this webinar today.

I love eBooks, especially when I travel. No more lugging around pounds of books to keep me supplied with reading material for my more than 30 weeks of travel a year. These are some of the problems I have seen.

Non-fiction

• Funny characters instead of bullets
• Sidebars stuck in the middle of paragraphs
• Missing images, just blank spaces
• Index that is not linked
• No table of contents!
• Unhelpful TOC (Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc.)
• Images separated from their captions
• What appears to be a form that straddles many “pages”/screens where the rules (lines) wrap strangely, nothing is lined up
• Tables which are gibberish
• And more!

Fiction

• Missing the book itself. Honestly, no kidding! I bought a book that had the intro and no actual book! This was a reputable publisher and purchased from a reputable eBook seller
• Two copies of the excerpt before I got to the book itself
• Weird jumps in the text when the narrative switched characters (probably missing blank lines)
• A character and role description where the character was on one “page” while the related descriptor was two screens later
• Text which kept repeating itself

Before a book goes to print the press proofs are reviewed to make sure there are no problems. Quality assurance is a critical step in eBooks as well. Other problems can be avoided in the first place. Forms and tables could be images, care could be taken with chapter titles, sidebars can be logically placed.

Many publishers are concerned that by designing good eBooks you end up compromising the quality of the print materials. Not so! It isn’t an either or, it is both. It shouldn’t be print then convert to eBook. It should be content that outputs to print AND eBooks and other outputs as well (mobile, web, etc.). It takes analysis, design and frankly it takes modular XML (a subject for another blog). You can have the best of all worlds, but you have to plan for it.

In the short term, check your eBooks carefully for problems, your readers will thank you for it.

Ann is just putting the finishing touches on a new eBook “eBooks 101: The Digital Content Strategy for Reaching Customers Anywhere, Anytime, on Any Device.”

I love when companies use them to help customers.

As I mentioned in my LavaCon talk last year, I love them for their simple and efficient method of bridging the real and online worlds. With a simple click of a camera phone, you can be taken to a website, load an app, enter an address… a myriad of things. But if you’re going to use them, you have to consider the entire chain of events. Don’t use it as a simple link mechanism without considering the consequences.

This year the Stratford Festival has started using them in their magazine adverts. I think this is a great idea. Their target market is likely to be carrying smartphones that have QR code readers installed (or can be installed), and they’ve been putting them in the magazines that their market is likely to be reading.

All this makes sense, but why fail at the end?

Their recent advert in the programme for “Barrymore” (starring Christopher Plummer), contained a QR code, the one you see above. Using my phone I snapped the code and was immediately taken to the Stratford site. The regular Stratford site, not one optimised for mobile viewing.

Why is this a problem? Because making it easy for people to get to your site, the doorway to your information is good. Making it hard to get to that information once they’re there is bad.

The site is clear and easy to use on a large screen. With a small screen the images are too small and confusing and the text – the titles of the plays – is unreadable.

If you’re going to use QR codes, it’s important to provide a destination that meets the needs of your customers. QR codes are used with mobiles; link to a site that can be used with a mobile!

Join Ann Rockley and Scott Abel (The Content Wrangler) for a lively discussion about the need for a content strategy when setting up a customer support center.

You’ll learn what a content strategy is, why support centers need one, and how to get started. You’ll discover how adopting a content strategy can improve customer service, reduce expenses and even help your organization earn revenue. You’ll also hear how the absence of a content strategy can negatively impact support groups. Real world examples will be discussed.

Attendees will be entered into a drawing to receive a free ticket (valued at $1,000) to Intelligent Content 2012 conference in Palm Springs, CA

Friday, March 25, 2011

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PDT

Presented in conjunction with MindTouch.

To register for the webinar, click here.

Presented in conjunction with Data Conversion Laboratory .

Join Ann Rockley as she discusses DITA and topic based reuse.

Reuse is one of the key features of DITA and many companies have developed their business case for content management on the savings that they expect from reuse. However, few companies actually plan for reuse. Without planning, authors don’t know what they could or should reuse. In addition, even if they knew where and what the content was, they couldn’t reuse it because the content is not in a reusable state.

Companies that plan for reuse and create well structured and organized content, realize higher savings and greater control over their content.

Planned reuse requires a content strategy for reuse. This webinar provides guidelines for:

• Identifying requirements and opportunities for reuse
• Determining the best methods of supporting your reuse
• Develop a content strategy for reuse including:
• Methods for reuse
• Writing for reuse
• Governance for reuse

Date: Thursday, January 27, 2011
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST

Reserve your Webinar seat now!

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Our Early Bird Special has expired, but for January we’re offering a New Year’s Special.

If you register on or before Tuesday, January 25th, the regular registration is only $1000.00 and the association pricing is $895.00.

After that the regular admission becomes $1,095.00 and the association pricing rises to $995.00.
Act now to lock in these January Specials!

It’s a great deal at either price – 20 presenters, pre-conference workshops included as part of the registration – thought leaders and practitioners all together at one exciting conference.

Check out the guest blogs provided by some of our presenters for a sneak peek at what’s in store for you at Intelligent Content 2011.

Alexander Polonsky, Mondeca
Smarter content annotation, adaptation, and discovery in the semantic world

Diane Burley and Fernando Mesa, MarkLogic
Let’s Start at the… Very End!

Derek Olson, Foraker Labs
The Missing Intelligence in Too Many Software Projects: Usability Testing

James Mathewson, IBM
A Search-first Content

Rahel Bailie, Intentional Design
Exploring the Intelligent Content Lifecycle

Joe Gollner, Gnostyx Research
Intelligent Content about Intelligent Content

Visit the site for more information, or just come on over and register!

Until December 15th pay only $995 for all three days of the conference (both pre-conference workshops and the conference itself). That’s a $100 reduction from the regular price.

There are a broad range of topics and presenters. We have two keynotes, 18 core presenters, our soon to be famous X-Fest, and for the first time at Intelligent Content, pre-conference workshops.

There’s lots to see and experience. And of course, we’re holding it in Palm Springs in February.

Visit the site for more information, or just come on over and register!

It’s three full days of learning, exploration and networking all focused on new ways of getting our content to the people we want to experience it.

Intelligent Content 2011 is all about getting our content delivered to our customers, no matter where they are, or how they’re experiencing it. Whether it be via eBook, online, paper or in person, we want to ensure that our readers/users/watchers get the information they need when and how they need it.

Intelligent Content 2011 is the place to learn how others are doing it, and how you can too.

Check out the Detailed Program (including workshops and sessions), the X-Fest descriptions, or simply Register now!