Google Infinite Digital Bookcase
Google: We designed a digital bookcase that’s an infinite 3D helix; http://eicker.at/Google3DBookcase
Tagged: Google Books Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Gerrit Eicker
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Gerrit Eicker
Re:publica 2011
Eine vorläufige Version des Programms der re:publica 2011 (13. bis 15. April) ist online; http://eicker.at/republica2011 #rp11
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Gerrit Eicker
Eine vorläufige Version meiner Programmplanung für die re:publica 2011:
13.04.2011
10:00 Willkommen zur re:publica 2011
11:00 Open (Government) Data: What, Why, How?
11:30 Open Statecraft
12:00 Open Government, Transparenz und Beteiligung in Deutschland
14:00 Open Government made in Germany
15:00 Die Geburt des Wikis aus der Wade der Wunderkammer
16:00 Contentindustrie, Internet-Rechtsprechung, Gesetzgebung
17:00 We transform them before they transform us
19:00 JMSTV: Wie weiter mit dem Jugendmedienschutz?14.04.2011
10:00 Social Media Measurement
11:00 Google Books
12:00 Spiel das Leben
14:00 Leaking Transparency
15:00 Diaspora
16:00 Was macht eigentlich der digitale Mensch
17:00 Egyptian Social Media Stories
19:00 What’s happening? Love.15.04.2011
10:00 Was ist ein Kontrollverlust?
11:00 Cameras Everywhere
12:00 Policing Content in the Quasi-Public Sphere
14:00 Die Illusion vom öffentlichen Raum
15:00 Die Zukunft des Internets, der Welt und des ganzen Rests
16:00 TV kills the YouTube-Star
17:00 Modeblogs
18:00 Abschluß
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Gerrit Eicker
Kindle Goes Web
Amazon launches Kindle for the Web soon: eBooks within browsers, books samples, sharing, embedding; http://eicker.at/KindleWeb
Gerrit Eicker
eBook SEO
Dension: 3 best practices for getting Google to notice your eBook; http://eicker.at/eBookSEO
Gerrit Eicker
Google eBooks
Google: Google eBooks will be available in the U.S. from a new Google eBookstore; http://eicker.at/GoogleeBooks
Gerrit Eicker
Google Editions: Ready to Launch?
WSJ: Google is in final stages of launching its eBook retailing venture, Google Editions; http://eicker.at/GoogleEditions
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Gerrit Eicker
WSJ: “In recent weeks, independent booksellers, which are expected to play a big role in Google Editions, began receiving contracts from their trade group. Several publishers said they were exchanging files with Google – a sign that it is close to launch, publishers say. … Google Editions hopes to upend the existing e-book market by offering an open, ‘read anywhere’ model that is different from many competitors. … Key details of Google’s e-book project remain unanswered. Foremost is what percentage of revenue Google will share with independent bookstores and other retailers. … Google says it is on a mission to reach all Internet users, not just those with tablets, through a program in which websites refer their users to Google Editions. … The strategy of not having its own e-reader device could actually give Google a competitive advantage, says Brian Murray, CEO of News Corp.’s HarperCollins Publishers Inc. … Google’s launch, which publishers cautioned has been delayed before and could be delayed again, comes at a pivotal moment in the digital books transformation.”
TC: “So it’s no surprise that Google is jumping into the fray with the long-awaited Google Editions service, set to launch by the end of the year in the U.S. and first quarter of 2011 internationally. But between Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, and independent publishing services like Amazon’s DTP and the unfortunately-named Pubit, is there room for another player? Not that that’s ever stopped anyone from trying – but I think in this case it may be that Google brings something new to the table: decentralization. … The advantages of not having to go through, for instance, Amazon, when selling your book, are hard to quantify. But the notion that an author will be able to place a widget on their own page, and have the book-buying transaction be self-contained rather than being transferred to Amazon, is significant. … The Google Editions news comes on the heels of a major announcement by Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers, to the effect that they’ve worked out their long-running issues and will be cooperating on the service.”
VB: “Google is working on an affiliate program that will let website owners earn revenue by recommending ebooks on Editions, and it’s also partnering with independent booksellers to share revenue from their websites. It’s unclear how much revenue Google will share with affiliates or booksellers, but I suspect it will have to be more than the 10 percent Amazon offers its affiliates for Kindle ebook sales. … Google is positioning the ebook store as an extension of Google Books, its plan to scan the roughly 150 million books ever published worldwide. The book scanning project is currently about 10 percent complete, according to Google executives.”
TNW: “Several things excite me about Google getting into publishing. First is that they aren’t going to be tied to a physical ereader. They are starting off from the perspective of distributing content. Which is how it should be. But that independence might come at a price: adoption. … Here is the bottom line. I’ve always seen ebooks as a boon for authors and publishers who can adapt to them. I’m not saying paper books are going anywhere (though for me they keep going in drawers), I’m saying that ebooks allow authors to offer books to a large audience while keeping costs low with lower print runs. If the ebook sells better than the paper one, well don’t print as many of the paper ones. – Yes, not everyone will be able to take advantage of this and Google Editions might wind up like Google Wave and Buzz, but I think that in the last few months we’ve seen more interest in epublishing not less and I think this interest is going to turn into success for Google.”
Gerrit Eicker
ePub: Just Websites!
McGuire: ePub-files are just websites, written in XHTML, with a few special characteristics; http://j.mp/bSpLDl
Gerrit Eicker
Google Editions and Small Bookstores
Google Editions partners with the American Booksellers Association, an ally for small bookstores? http://j.mp/cAtNHv
Gerrit Eicker
Google Editions Ante Portas?
WSJ: Google plans to begin selling digital books via Google Editions in late June/July; http://j.mp/aAyQiB
Gerrit Eicker
Google Wants in on Your Action
Dumenco: If you are in a business that is connected to information, Google wants in on your action; http://j.mp/addmGD
Gerrit Eicker 07:33 on 19. October 2011 Permalink |
Google: “As digital designers, we often think about how to translate traditional media into a virtual space. Recently, we thought about the bookcase. What would it look like if it was designed to hold digital books? – A digital interface needs to be familiar enough to be intuitive, while simultaneously taking advantage of the lack of constraints in a virtual space. In this case, we imagined something that looks like the shelves in your living room, but is also capable of showcasing the huge number of titles available online – many more than fit on a traditional shelf. With this in mind, we designed a digital bookcase that’s an infinite 3D helix. You can spin it side-to-side and up and down with your mouse. It holds 3D models of more than 10,000 titles from Google Books. – The books are organized into 28 subjects. To choose a subject, click the subject button near the top of your screen when viewing the bookcase. The camera then flies to that subject. Clicking on a book pulls it off the shelf and brings it to the front and center of the screen. Click on the high-resolution cover and the book will open to a page with title and author information as well as a short synopsis, provided by the Google Books API. All of the visuals are rendered with WebGL, a technology in Google Chrome and other modern browsers that enables fast, hardware-accelerated 3D graphics right in the browser, without the need for a plug-in.”
TC: “I wrote a while back about the eventual necessity for the internet to become beautiful. The trouble is that the things in the world we consider beautiful in an informational context – magazine and book layouts, typography, etc. – are necessarily limited in the information they have to present. It’s this limitation, the known quantity aspect, that lets designers work effectively. – How should you design something, then, that presents effectively limitless information (say, all the world’s books) through a fairly limited medium (say, a web browser)? Google has one idea. Put them on a gigantic helix. … But is this really something people will want to navigate? Probably not. People like analogs in their digital catalogs, and this one seems a little bit too off the wall. … Anyway, it’s a fun little experiment you can try out here. Note to Mac Laptop users: be careful how you swipe or you may accidentally navigate off the page or invoke some arcane gesture.”
VB: “With tablets and eReaders offering a number of new ways to experience books, the browser has been relatively ignored. However, not a lot of people consider getting into a bubble bath with their nice glass of wine and a laptop book to wind down the day, but you never know. To that end, the virtual bookcase may not be a competitor to the Kindle, but rather to the book discovery service overall. It could also simply be a way to funnel people toward purchasing Google Books, but it’s still pretty cool.“