Forget about Google Maps mashups, why not enter the new world of book mashups.
Mixbook is an online tool that allows friends to collaborate and create pages for a book, then mash them up all together and create one loving publication. Layouts and backgrounds can be put together with images and text to create these 8x8" books that can be both printed and viewed online.
Nothing is more meaningful than giving a book, let alone a custom one. Book prices start at $9.99, and get increased August 15th to $12.99.
The Open Library aims to reproduce the experience of reading a book online. Right now there are only a handful of public domain titles available, with many more coming in the next few months. The website is currently in demo mode, with an official launch date in October.
Flipping through the scanned book images is about as close an experience as you're likely to get to reading a dusty old novel without that musty book smell. You can even see library notations and used book prices penciled into the images. It takes a moment for some of the pages to load, and it's arguable whether it's more efficient to read these books in image or text form.
Each book is searchable. Since the books are in the public domain, you can also download each title as a PDF file, or send it to Lulu to order your own personal bound and printed edition. There's also a listen link next to each book. Click it for an audiobook version when available.
When creativity is snooping around inside your head, where can you go for an outlet? If you're into comics, then HyperComics could be your space.
HyperComics is a social network built around comics, naturally. It's a way to network with like minded comic book creators, and get in contact with industry resources. Members can showcase their original material and have other members discuss and comment on creations.
HyperComics uses a desktop application to build comics. It would have been nice if the software was available online, but hey, it could be nice to be able to work where there might not be a connection as well. The application is available for PC's only, and is a whopping 140 MB. So sit back with your favorite drink because this could take a while. When the 30 day trial wears out, the software is $29.99. Licensed comic art is also available on the website as free downloads, and from $2.99 - $9.99 per set. The art sets allow users to drag and drop all kinds of starter artwork, templates, and action imagery into their storyboards. Of course if you are a veteran, you can upload your own creations from scratch into one of the many layout templates. After the comic is made, upload it, publish, and unleash it to the world.
Aspiring comic creators might also want to check out StripGenerator.
It's great to read emails, short RSS headlines, and instant messages on your mobile device, but what about reading novels? Has that just pushed the line?
Wattpad has introduced a mobile client that gets novels, like proper novels, onto mobile devices in text form. When users have the client installed on their devices, it makes it possible to download additional stories and read them offline. They might be a little eye straining on smaller devices, but I would imagine that when viewed on Blackberry's or Windows Mobile device it could be tolerable.
The application is a free download, either through a mobile website, or through a download link that you can load onto your device. There is a huge list of books available on the site with user comments and number of people that have read it through Wattpad. The books are surprisingly free with full text versions available online. So if your mobile screen gets a little small you can always just read it online, or print it off.
Yea, I know you're already bringing your stikkits with you on your notebook, but I'm talking about putting them in your pocket using that 'paper' stuff.
Aaron Straup Cope has whipped together two PHP files that can query Stikkit (which we're growing fond of) and create a printable, foldable and ultimately pocket-able version of all your stikkits. In a detailed post describing his thought process, Aaron links the necessary files with a description of what exactly is going on. When all is said and done,
To me, this sounds nice and all, but I think I'll wait for the iStikkit desktop application before I start whipping out my PHP chops.
Google products are no strangers to mashups from all forms of enthusiastic users and 3rd parties, but you know something cool is brewing when Google mashes up two of their most visionary services: Maps and Book Search. Recently on the Google Book Search blog, David Petrou announced this cool new feature, which they've added to the "About this Book" section of books you find in Google Book Search. Now, not all books will that have text about a location or two will get a map link (at least for now), but the ones that do will also include links to the actual pages of the book where a mapped location is mentioned.
Mozilla has made Firefox 2 all spiritual for us, by planting an easter egg that quotes from a little known religious text called the "Book of Mozilla." Here is what it says: "And so at last the beast fell and the unbelievers rejoiced. But all was not lost, for from the ash rose a great bird. The bird gazed down upon the unbelievers and cast fire and thunder upon them. For the beast had been reborn with its strength renewed, and the followers of Mammon cowered in horror." All the geeks laughed. I love it, mostly because it proves that Mozilla has a sense of humor and can take a joke. There is no end to the Microsoft bashing by a rival, which isn't all that new. To view this enigmatic text for yourself, open up your Firefox 2 and type in "about:mozilla" to see it. As you might imagine, this doesn't work in Internet Explorer.
The folks at Yahoo! have added a little feature to Yahoo! Mail that recognizes addresses and phone numbers. The new features will automatically recognize and underline all phone numbers and addresses in mail messages, and easily get directions or view locations. The new feature will also allow for the ability to instantly add addresses to your address book. Google's Gmail has had this feature for a while, however they have taken a much more subtle approach by tossing a link in the corner. So with this new Yahoo Mail feature, I hereby announce the start of email wars. Challenging Google, Yahoo!, and MSN to come up with and release some additional helpful features for its users. What would you like to see added to online email applications to make your communications easier? How about some folders in Gmail? Or a notepad?
In Warren, Ohio the public library is allowing their patrons to download digital copies of audio-books in an unabridged format so listeners can get the full "text" of the book they want to listen to. Listeners must have a valid library card to download the books, that patrons can listen to for 21 days. At that time the books erase themselves. There are currently 1100 titles in the library's archive available for download. To listen to the audio-books you have downloaded, you must have a Windows Media 9.0 or higher compatible device. The citizens of Warren will benefit from the library's advanced digital book-borrowing service, that should increase by about 30 titles a month. Here is proof that Libraries and the Internet are not enemies, or at least don't have to be. They compliment each other quite nicely in fact.
BookRevyoo is a social book review community where books can be added and reviewed by members, and also rated. Books that users enter into the system are tagged with keywords relevant to the book, allowing easy categorization, and browsing. The built in RSS feature lets you keep track of user's comments on the book you might be thinking about reading. I look forward to watching this online social book review site develop, since they are currently in beta, I expect there will be a few more features added.
The free novel program started life as Google's giant initiative to put books online in a searchable format. Through an outside project known as Gutenberg, volunteers have been scanning public domain books for many years to text files that can in turn be used for printing or reading. Google is acquiring this information, and will allow users to access these books in a print ready format.
UPDATE: To find out-of-copyright books that you can download, select the "Full view" radio button when you search on books.google.com
A high court ruling in a copyright violation case is ordering Google to disclose the information of one of its advertisers. Google has refused to comply due to Google's confidentiality agreements.
The case in question had to do with a copyright violation for an upcoming book. The author clicked on an ad that led her to a service that offered a free download to an early draft of the book, and violated the copyright on her upcoming book.
Google not as fun as it used to be? Getting too much done at work? Take a gander at 55 Ways to Have Fun With Google, a book you can get as a free PDF download or in print for $16.50. Many of the chapters will be familiar to Google aficionados, like Ego-Googling and Googlewhacking, but there are some more original time-killers in there, too. This is the perfect book if you're ever stranded on a desert island with nothing but Google to keep you company.
Karl Fogel is no stranger to open source development. He makes a living
writing programs (and enjoys playing piano as well). In fact, Karl spent 5 years toiling on the Subversion project. So he took his experience, zoomed way out of the process,
and explains it all in a book: Producing Open Source Software. It's very
well-written, in plain words, and cuts to the heart of the matter: herding squirrels. Not really, but there is a lot of
great info on the purpose, point, and procedures common to open source software. I'll agree with Karl, it's too easy to
just say it's fun to write apps, and hope to slap together a group to do just that. Great read for those of you looking
to get into the oss world. By the way, you can buy the book from O'Reilly, but the link I provided will also take you
the PDF and other ebook format versions...
It's like the Gutenberg
project for kids' books. The Baldwin Online Children's
Literature Project is the full title of a project whose mission states, "The Baldwin Project seeks to make
available online a comprehensive collection of resources for parents and teachers of children. Our focus, initially, is
on literature for children that is in the public domain in the United States." The site is the brainchild of Lisa
Ripperton, a home schooling mom with a background in the classics and software development. Her husband is also a
software person, and they share a love of books.
So the Baldwin project is the digitization of children's
books (initially) that are in the public domain. There are hundreds of books available so far, complete with pictures,
tables of contents, etc. There are all free, and some aren't even in print anymore. According to Lisa you can print
these, provided you aren't going to use them commercially. To next time a kid asks you to read them a story, no
excuses, just print out a book.
Yea, I know you're already bringing your 
Google products are no strangers to 
A high court ruling in a copyright violation case is 
It's like the Gutenberg
project for kids' books. The 
