Quora, the question and answer site that’s been praised for its engaging writing, just sent its top writers a hardcover collection of 100 or so of the best answers published over the past two years, and it’s released the text to the general public as a free PDF.
I’ve not had a chance to read it myself yet, but George Anders at Forbes likes it:
I spent hours this past weekend flipping through an early copy of “The Best of Quora,” and it’s a fascinating, enchanting, exasperating book. The topics are an eye-catching blend of things we already care about … as well as the outlandish and the unthinkable. The writing is unfailingly lucid and zesty.
Quora has been criticized in recent months for taking a Facebook-style approach to privacy by publicly sharing its users’ reading histories without warning, which makes the PDF even more attractive; now you can enjoy the contributions of some of its best writers without the need to give up control over your privacy.
[via The Next Web]
When Pottermore started selling official Harry Potter ebooks earlier this year, the big news (for ebook geeks) was that the site was using social DRM — digital watermarking — instead of the commonly used Adobe DRM. Social DRM is great for readers, because it lets publishers feel they still have control, but also lets readers shift formats or switch devices easily.
I just noticed pulp crime writer Jim Thompson’s 1963 noir novel 
over at Amazon. I’m guessing the low price is because Amazon is using it to push the new “buy the audiobook at the same time” offer. (The new Kindle Fires can play the audiobook while highlighting the text in the ebook, provided you buy both from Amazon/Audible.) 
, 
Blindsight by Peter Watts is a hard sci-fi novel about first contact, aliens, autism spectrum disorder, the nature of human consciousness, and a formerly extinct offshoot of Homo sapiens that gave rise to our vampire legends. It’s free on the 
on Amazon.) However, if you enjoy the book and want to pay Watts for it directly, there’s a 
If you’re looking for some light, but still thoughtful, nonfiction to read, TED is temporarily offering its back-catalog — 15 short ebooks — for a flat $15 through its newly launched 
version and the 
Dear Kobo, I know I’ve been hard on you recently for some sales-minded interface choices, but I’ll give you this: your updates have, in my experience, always worked. I’ve never updated a Kobo app and watched it fall apart in my hands.
Is Next Issue worth your $15 every month?
I’ve been testing out Next Issue’s all-you-can-read magazine app for a few weeks now, to see whether it’s worth your time and money.
So is it? My short answer: mayyybe, if (a) you absolutely love many of the titles they offer and (b) you want to continue experiencing them with as much fidelity to the print version as you can manage on a tablet — no matter the trade-offs.
And there are some real trade-offs. Such wholesale reproduction of the print experience introduces significant usability problems, and it forces users to abandon more natural consumption patterns on tablets in order to honor an older analog format.
I’m coming up on the end of my free trial, and I’ve decided the cons outweigh the perks. I may miss out on some good articles now and then without a subscription, but ultimately, it’s just not much fun to get magazines this way.
The Netflix of magazines, or the Kabletown?
When I first heard about Next Issue a few months ago, I thought of it as the magazine world’s answer to Netflix. The similarities to Netflix, as well as other content subscription offerings like Hulu Plus, Spotify and Amazon Prime, are easy to identify: you pay a flat fee, and you get wide access to a pool of content that would cost far more if purchased à la carte.
But then you look at Next Issue’s $15 monthly fee, and the comparison fails, and in a big way. Look at what these other services charge: Continue reading →