We’ve recently updated both Universalis for Windows and Universalis for the Mac to make it easier to create e-books for the Amazon Kindle. (The updates are free and you can download them by clicking on the links). I thought this might be a good opportunity to explain how we’re dealing with the Amazon Kindle (and other e-book readers), and why.
Archive for the ‘e-books’ Category
Universalis on the Amazon Kindle
Posted by universalis on 22 January 2011
Posted in Downloadable Universalis, e-books | 4 Comments »
The Mac version can now create e-books
Posted by universalis on 25 January 2010
For some months now, it has been possible to use the Windows version of Universalis to create e-books that can be read on the Sony Reader, the Barnes & Noble Nook, the Amazon Kindle, and other devices. The Mac version can now do the same thing.
This web page will tell you all about Universalis e-books and how to create them.
Remember that if you have a mobile device such as Android, Blackberry, or Symbian, which can’t run any of the Universalis downloads, you may find that it is able to read Universalis e-books instead.
Posted in Downloadable Universalis, e-books | Tagged: amazon kindle, ebooks, Nook, sony reader | 10 Comments »
Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader
Posted by universalis on 27 July 2009
Ever since these devices came out, people have been asking when they will be able to read Universalis on them.
The basic problem is that neither the Kindle nor the Sony Reader is a programmable device: they are designed to read e-books and nothing else. And Universalis is not an e-book. An e-book is a digital file that contains every page you might ever want to read; Universalis is a program that synthesizes the pages you want, at the moment you ask for them.
Some people have suggested that we create and sell Universalis e-books for specific chunks of time – for instance, “Westminster July 2009” or “United States 2010” – on a subscription basis. We’ve gone one better than this: we’re allowing you to create your own e-books for your own private use.
Posted in Downloadable Universalis, e-books | Tagged: amazon kindle, ebooks, kindle, sony reader | 14 Comments »
e-books: what is the missing ingredient?
Posted by universalis on 18 May 2009
There is a debate in the e-book world – well, not so much a debate as an extended rumination – about how to make e-books worth more to the people who buy them. We know the conveniences by now – easy portability – and the inconvenience – slowness for flicking through, and expense when you leave them on the train. New e-book readers are coming on the market every week or so, and people do buy them. But still the question remains: how do we make people want e-books, and how do we make them want them more than they want books? As Joe Wikert says, “Figure out how to add more value to the ebook“. But how?
This post will give a possible answer to that question, and also give an explanation to the people who email me every day to ask whether there’s going to be a version of Universalis for the Amazon Kindle (and if not, why not).
Posted in Downloadable Universalis, e-books | 9 Comments »
Electric Prayer 