July 1st, 2008
From the Chronicle of Higher Education:
Textbook Piracy Grows Online, Prompting a Counterattack From Publishers
“College students are increasingly downloading illegal copies of textbooks online, employing the same file-trading technologies used to steal music and movies. Feeling threatened, book publishers are stepping up efforts to stop the online piracy.
One Web site, called Textbook Torrents, promises more than 5,000 textbooks for download in PDF format, complete with the original textbook layout and full-color illustrations. Users must simply set up a free account and download a free software program that uses a popular peer-to-peer system called BitTorrent. Other textbook-download sites are even easier to use, offering digital books at the click of a mouse.
“There are very few scanned textbooks in circulation, and that’s what we’re here to change,” says a welcome message on the Textbook Torrents site. “Chances are you have some textbooks sitting around, so pick up a scanner and start scanning it!”
In response to such sites, the Association of American Publishers hired an outside law firm this summer to scour the Web for illegally offered textbooks. Already the firm has identified thousands of instances of book piracy and has sent legal notices to Web sites hosting the files demanding that they be removed. The group is looking for all types of books, though trade books and textbooks, which generally have high price tags, are the most frequent books offered on peer-to-peer sites.
“In any given two-week period we found from 60,000 files all the way up to 250,000 files,” said Edward McCoyd, director of digital policy for the publishing association. Mr. McCoyd, who leads the Online Piracy Working Group, said the group has been performing periodic scans for piracy since 2001, and that it has seen a gradual increase in the number of titles available.
“It is troubling that there is a culture of infringement out there,” said Mr. McCoyd. But as more publishers offer books online and readers become more familiar with digital formats, he added, more people are likely to illegally download them.”
Karin Bergsagel, BookThink News Editor
Posted in News | No Comments »
July 1st, 2008
Weak US Dollar + Increased International Visibilty = More Bidders + Higher FVF
Seller special: 5¢ International Site Visibility feature
When is it?
This promotion starts at midnight Pacific Time on Tuesday, July 1, 2008 at 00:00:01 PT (12:00 AM plus one second on Tuesday, July 1, 2008) and ends on Friday, July 4 at 23:59:59 PT (11:59 PM plus 59 seconds).
What is the International Site Visibility feature?
You can attract more potential international buyers by showing your eBay.com items in search results on other eBay sites. Buyers on the sites you choose will see your listings exactly as you posted them on eBay.com. You can reach millions of buyers without having to create separate listings for the other sites. For more information on this feature and eligibility requirements, click here.
What are the fees?
For Auction-style and Fixed Price listings, the fee for the International Site Visibility feature will be 5¢ on the U.S. site www.eBay.com.This includes listings that may have been created prior to the promotion period but are scheduled to start during the promotion period July 1-4, 2008.
Karin Bergsagel, BookThink News Editor
Posted in News | No Comments »
June 27th, 2008
CDC Partners with Tizra to Make Clients’ Books Available As Online PDFs
“Yesterday, Chicago Distribution Center (CDC), the distribution arm of the University of Chicago Press that is a one of the major distributors of scholarly and university press books, announced a partnership with online content packager Tizra to enable CDC’s client publishers to sell online versions of their books via subscription. The University of Chicago Press itself will be the first CDC publisher to make its books available in Tizra’s Agile PDF format later this summer.
Tizra, a Providence, RI-based company, is the creator of the Agile PDF, essentially a Web-hosted e-book format. Tizra turns publishers’ PDF books into tagged, completely searchable Web pages hosted by Tizra. The Agile PDF format includes customized Web sites for publishers and books and various means of marketing and selling the content. Other Tizra clients (but who are not part of the CDC agreement) include Duke University Press and MIT Press.”
Karin Bergsagel, BookThink News Editor
Posted in News | No Comments »
June 26th, 2008
50-year milestone for Paddington
“Paddington Bear fans have held a party in London to mark the popular character’s 50th anniversary.
“The first story was published in 1958, when the bear was found at Paddington station with a note attached saying: “Please look after this bear.”
“The well-loved bear, known for his duffle coat and hat, has featured in dozens of books and had his own BBC TV series.
“Bond’s latest book Paddington Here and Now, the first new novel in three decades, was published earlier this month.”
Karin Bergsagel, BookThink News Editor
Posted in News | No Comments »
June 26th, 2008
IRS Increases Mileage Rates through Dec. 31, 2008
“The rate will increase to 58.5 cents a mile for all business miles driven from July 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2008. This is an increase of eight (8) cents from the 50.5 cent rate in effect for the first six months of 2008, as set forth in Rev. Proc. 2007-70.
In recognition of recent gasoline price increases, the IRS made this special adjustment for the final months of 2008. The IRS normally updates the mileage rates once a year in the fall for the next calendar year.”
It is well worth tracking your mileage for this deduction. As well as the tried and true technology of a notebook and pen, various programs exist for PDAs and GPSs. Try a Google search for free mileage tracker and you will see several.
Karin Bergsagel, BookThink News Editor
Posted in News | No Comments »
