Saturday, October 8, 2011

Barnes & Noble Nook


Barnes & Noble Nooks
B&N nook Logo.svg
Developer Barnes & Noble
Manufacturer Foxconn
Type E-reader
Release date November 30, 2009 (3G+Wi-Fi)
21 June 2010 (Wi-Fi only)
Introductory price US$259 (3G+Wi-Fi version) US$149 (Wi-Fi only version)
Operating system Android version 1.5, released 22 November 2010
Power rechargeable, replaceable lithium-ion polymer battery
Storage capacity 2 GB internal storage
MicroSD expansion up to 16 GB
Display 600 x 800 pixel, 6 inch
E Ink display
and a 3.5 inch 480 x 144 pixel
color control display
Input color touchscreen, left/right paging buttons
Connectivity AT&T 3G
802.11b/g Wi-Fi
Dimensions 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.5 in (196 x 125 x 13 mm)
Weight 12.1 oz (343 g) (3G + Wi-Fi) 11.6 oz (329 g) (Wi-Fi only) 7.48 oz (Nook Touch Reader)
Website nook.com
The Barnes & Noble Nook (styled "nook") is a brand of electronic-book reader developed by American book retailer Barnes & Noble, based on the Android platform. The original device was announced in the United States in October 2009, and was released the next month. The original Nook includes both Wi-Fi and AT&T 3G wireless connectivity, a six-inch E Ink display, and a separate, smaller color touchscreen that serves as the primary input device. A Wi-Fi-only model of the original design was released in June 2010. The original line of Nooks was followed in November 2010 by a color LCD device called the Nook Color and in June 2011 by a second-generation E Ink device marketed as the Nook Simple Touch.

E-ink

Nook 1st Edition

3G + Wi-Fi Version
This version made its debut on November 22, 2009, at a retail price of $259. It was offered with built-in 3G + Wi-Fi connectivity for free access to the Barnes and Noble online store. The price was reduced to $199 on June 21, 2010, upon the release of the new Nook Wi-Fi. The price was dropped to $169 on May 25, 2011, in accordance with the announcement of the new Nook, also known as Nook Simple Touch Reader.
Wi-Fi Version
This version of the Nook 1st Edition, which supports only Wi-Fi (not 3G Wireless), made its debut on June 21, 2010, at a retail price of $149. It was launched with Firmware Version 1.4 already installed. It is easily distinguishable physically from the 3G+Wi-Fi due to its white back panel, as opposed to the gray back panel of the 3G+Wi-Fi version. A price reduction was made on May 25, 2011, dropping to closeout prices of $119 in accordance with the announcement of the new Nook, also known as Nook Simple Touch Reader.

Nook Simple Touch aka Nook 2nd Edition

Announced on May 25, 2011, the Simple Touch Reader (also informally referred as Nook 2nd Edition) was released on June 10, 2011 at a retail price of $139. The Simple Touch is a Wi-Fi only Nook, with Infrared touch-screen, E ink "Pearl" technology, and battery life of up to two months (or 150 hours offering approximately 25,000 continuous page turns with Wi-Fi turned off). The device weighs 7.48oz with dimensions of 6.5" x 5" x 0.47".

LCD

Nook Color

Released on November 19, 2010 and priced at $249, the Nook Color comes installed with Android 2.1, the device is powered by TI OMAP 3621 800 MHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 8GB of flash storage, with a 7" LCD screen, and a microSD expansion slot.

Specifications

Generation Appearance Capacity Connectivity Original release date Operating System Screen (pixels) Physical Size Weight
Barnes & Noble Nook 1st Edition first generation Nook 2 GB 3G/Wifi, MicroUSB 30 November 2009 Android 1.5 6 inch (600x800) E Ink
3.5 inch (480x144) LCD
7.7 x 4.9 x 0.5 in
(196 x 125 x 13 mm)
12.1 oz (343 g)
Wifi, MicroUSB 21 June 2010 11.6 oz (329 g)
Nook Simple Touch Nook 2nd generation 2 GB Wifi, MicroUSB 10 June 2011 Android 2.1 6 inch (600x800)
E Ink Pearl IR touch
6.5 x 5.0 x 0.47 in
(170 x 130 x 12 mm)
7.48 oz (212 g)
Nook Color Nook 2nd Color 8 GB Wifi, MicroUSB 19 November 2010 Android 2.2 7 inch (1024x600) LCD 8.1 x 5.0 x 0.48 in
(210 x 130 x 12 mm)
15.8 oz (450 g)

Barnes & Noble Nook 1st Edition

Nook 1st Edition
B&N nook Logo.svg
Nook1.jpg
Developer Barnes & Noble
Manufacturer Foxconn
Type E-reader
Release date November 30, 2009 (3G+Wi-Fi)
21 June 2010 (Wi-Fi only)
Introductory price US$259 (3G+Wi-Fi version) US$149 (Wi-Fi only version)
Operating system Android version 1.5, released 22 November 2010
Power rechargeable, replaceable lithium-ion polymer battery (1530 mAh)
CPU 667Mhz ARMv6-based Samsung S3C6410
Storage capacity 2 GB internal storage
MicroSD expansion up to 16 GB
Display 600 x 800 pixel, 6 inch
E Ink display
and a 3.5 inch 480 x 144 pixel
color control display
Input color touchscreen, left/right paging buttons
Connectivity AT&T 3G
802.11b/g Wi-Fi
Dimensions 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.5 in (196 x 125 x 13 mm)
Weight 12.1 oz (343 g) (3G + Wi-Fi) 11.6 oz (329 g) (Wi-Fi only) 7.48 oz (Nook Touch Reader)
Website nook.com
The Nook 1st Edition (styled "nook") is a brand of electronic-book readers developed by American book retailer Barnes & Noble, based on the Android platform. The original device was announced in the United States in October 2009, and was released the next month. The original Nook includes Wi-Fi and AT&T 3G wireless connectivity, a six-inch E Ink display, and a separate, smaller color touchscreen that serves as the primary input device. In June 2010 Barnes & Noble announced a Wi-Fi-only model, and the Nook Color was announced to be released in November 2010. A second-generation Wi-Fi only Nook "Simple Touch Reader" was announced May 25, 2011 with a June 10 ship date.

History

3G + Wi-Fi Version
This version made its debut on November 22 2009, at a retail price of $259 and comes with built-in 3G + Wi-Fi connectivity for free access to Barnes and Noble online store. Price was reduced to $199 in June 21, 2010 upon the release of the new Nook Wi-Fi. Latest price drop was made in May 25 2011, dropping to closeout prices of $169 in accordance with the announcement of the new Nook also known as Nook Simple Touch Reader.
Wi-Fi Version
This version made its debut on June 21 2010, at retail price of $149. It is a version of the Nook 1st Edition that supports Wi-Fi only, and not 3G Wireless and it was launched with Firmware Version 1.4 already. It is physically easly distinguishable from the 3G + Wi-fi gray backed version, due to its white back color. Price reduction was made in May 25, 2011, dropping to closeout prices of $119 in accordance with the announcement of the new Nook also known as Nook Simple Touch Reader.

Features

The original Nook provides a black-and-white E Ink display for viewing digital content with most navigation and additional content provided through a color touchscreen. The Nook Color provides a larger, color LCD display. Pages are turned using arrow buttons on each side of the Nook. The original Nook connects to Barnes and Noble's digital store through a free connection to AT&T's 3G network or through available Wi-Fi connections. Users can read books without a wireless connection; disconnecting the wireless connection can extend the battery's charge to up to ten days.
The device has a MicroSD expansion slot for extra storage and a user-replaceable rechargeable battery. The battery can be charged through either an AC adapter or a micro-USB 2.0 cable, both included with new Nooks. The device also includes a web browser, a built-in dictionary, Chess and Sudoku, an audio player, speakers, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Supported ebook file-formats with DRM include:
  • eReader PDB with Barnes & Noble's eReader DRM, sometimes called Secure eReader format (original Nook only)
  • EPUB with Barnes & Noble's eReader DRM, used for ebooks downloaded wirelessly to the Nook
  • EPUB with Adobe ADEPT DRM, sometimes called Adobe EPUB or Adobe Digital Editions format
  • PDF with Adobe ADEPT DRM (However, figures and equations will not appear)
The EPUB with eReader DRM combination is a new format created for the Nook. Adobe has undertaken to include support for that combination in future releases of Adobe Acrobat mobile software, to allow other reader devices to support that format.
Supported ebook file formats without DRM include:
  • EPUB
  • eReader PDB (original Nook only)
  • PDF, including password-protected PDF but not Vitrium-protected PDF
Supported sound file formats for music and audiobooks include MP3 and Ogg Vorbis, but not WMA. Only the original Nook and the Nook Color support sound files.
Nook supports image file formats JPG, GIF, PNG, and BMP, used for book cover thumbnails, wallpapers, and screen savers.
The Nook provides a "LendMe" feature allowing users to share some books with other people, depending on licensing by the book's publisher. The buyer is permitted to share a book once with one other user for up to two weeks. Users will be able to share purchased books with others who are using Barnes & Noble's reader application software for Android, BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac OS X, and Windows and others.
The Nook system recognizes physical Barnes & Noble stores. Customers using the Nook in Barnes & Noble stores receive access to special content and offers while the device is connected to the store's Wi-Fi. Further, most e-Books in the catalog can be read for up to an hour while connected to the store Wi-Fi network with the 1.3 software update.
Because Barnes & Noble does not make the Nook available outside the United States, if it is taken overseas it will neither be possible to access a 3G connection nor capable of buying books on the Barnes & Noble Nook Book Store. The Nook is still capable of accessing the same Book Store through Wi-Fi and downloading free books from it outside of the U.S.

Software versions

A first generation Nook with an attached cover showing the color screen's revised main menu from version 1.3
Barnes and Noble distributes software updates automatically "over the air" or through a manual download.

Version 1.0

Launch version on the Nook and made its debut on November 22, 2009

Version 1.1

Released in December 2009, consists mostly of minor bug fixes.

Version 1.2

Released in February 2010, improved the device's responsiveness, bookmarking, in-store connectivity, and battery optimization. The update also included interface changes intended to improve navigation of daily subscriptions, clarify LendMe features, and allow sorting personal files on the device.

Version 1.3

Released in April 2010 and added a web browser (in beta), the games Chess and Sudoku, and more options for Wi-Fi connectivity. Other new features included the ability to read complete ebooks for free in Barnes and Noble stores for an hour at a time, the option to pre-order ebooks that are yet unreleased, minor modifications to the user interface, and improved performance when opening ebooks and turning pages.

Version 1.4

Released on June 21, 2010, added extended AT&T Wi-Fi Hotspot support, a new extra extra large font size, and a Go-To Page feature.

Version 1.5

Released on November 22, 2010 and added optional password protection for the device and for making purchases, a "My Shelves" feature for organizing the user's e-book library, and automatic syncing of the last page read across multiple devices. Other improvements include faster page turning and improved search options.

Version 1.6 and 1.7

Released in June 2011 and included "minor system updates".

Nook apps

Free Nook eReader applications are available to allow reading of eBooks purchases to be read on the PC and Mac desktops, iPhone, iPad, Android, and Blackberry devices without the need for a Nook eReader. A virtual bookmark can be synced across the devices a reader uses.

Hacking

Some Nook users have loaded Android applications on the Nook, such as Pandora‎, a web browser, a Twitter client called Tweet, Google Reader and a Facebook application. Many general Android applications running on the Nook present interactive areas of their interface on the E Ink display, making such applications difficult to manipulate on the device. However, Android applications optimized for the Nook screen are also available, including app launchers, browsers, library managers, and an online book catalog browser and feed reader.
Although gaining superuser (root) access to install software on the Nook initially required physical disassembly of the device, as of 2010 users can gain root access using software alone.
A new hardware revision introduced in August 2010, identifiable by a serial number starting with 1003, running firmware 1.4.1, requires different software than the older models. Attempting to gain root access using software designed for older models renders the unit unusable.
As of October 2010, a new method involving spoofing a DNS entry has been found to root 1.4.1 Nooks.

Availability

Barnes & Noble made the Nook available for pre-order in the United States for US$259 following its launch on 20 October 2009 and began shipping on 30 November 2009. The device was available for demonstration and display in Barnes and Noble retail stores in early December. Barnes & Noble began selling the Nook in-store in February 2010.
Due to the large number of pre-orders, the initial launch of the product involved multiple shipment dates depending on when customers ordered the Nook. The first shipment occurred as planned on November 30, but delays occurred with subsequent shipments as demand for the product exceeded production. Further shipments occurred December 7, December 18, January 4, January 11, January 15, February 1, and February 12.
Barnes & Noble sent a $100 gift certificate via email to customers who had been promised a delivery by December 24, 2009, but whose shipment was delayed past December 25.

Reception

The Nook initially received mixed reviews, ranging from favorable reviews from Time, Money, and PC Magazine to more critical reviews in Engadget and the New York Times. PC Magazine noted the color touchscreen, WiFi and 3G connectivity, and large ebook library as advantages over the Nook's competitors, with a lack of support for HTML and Microsoft's .doc file format seen as negatives. Money compared the Nook favorably to the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader Touch Edition. ZDNet blogger Matthew Miller called the Nook "the king of connectivity and content" and wrote favorably about the lending feature and support for PDF and ePub files. Time listed the Nook as one of its "Top 10 Gadgets of 2009".
Critics pointed to the Nook's "sluggish" performance and user interface design, with New York Times reviewer David Pogue writing that the Nook suffered from "half-baked software." Pogue later demonstrated using a postal scale that the Nook's weight differed from the product specifications advertised by Barnes & Noble (12.1 ounces rather than 11.2 ounces as the company had advertised). Engadget reviewer Joshua Topolsky argued that menu responsiveness and organization was not optimal but commented that "many of the problems seem like they could be fixed with firmware tweaks." PC Magazine wrote that the 1.3 firmware update, released after most reviews of the Nook, improved the device's responsiveness: "On the original Nook, page turning took twice as long as page turning on the Kindle - two seconds compared to one second. With the 1.3 firmware update, it's about a tenth of a second slower than the Kindle, but the difference is negligible."
In early January 2010, the Nook was presented with the TechCrunch Best New Gadget Crunchie award for 2009.
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of ink, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page. A book produced in electronic format is known as an electronic book (e-book).
Books may also refer to works of literature, or a main division of such a work. In library and information science, a book is called a monograph, to distinguish it from serial periodicals such as magazines, journals or newspapers. The body of all written works including books is literature. In novels and sometimes other types of books (for example, biographies), a book may be divided into several large sections, also called books (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, and so on). A lover of books is usually referred to as a bibliophile, a bibliophile, or a philologist, or, more informally, a bookworm.
A store where books are bought and sold is a bookstore or bookshop. Books can also be borrowed from libraries. In 2010, Google estimated that there were approximately 130 million distinct books in the world.

History of books

Antiquity


Sumerian language cuneiform script clay tablet, 2400–2200 BC
When writing systems were invented in ancient civilizations, nearly everything that could be written upon—stone, clay, tree bark, metal sheets—was used for writing. Alphabetic writing emerged in Egypt about 5,000 years ago. The Ancient Egyptians would often write on papyrus, a plant grown along the Nile River. At first the words were not separated from each other (scriptural continua) and there was no punctuation. Texts were written from right to left, left to right, and even so that alternate lines read in opposite directions. The technical term for this type of writing is 'boustrophedon,' which means literally 'ox-turning' for the way a farmer drives an ox to plough his fields.

Movable type and incunabula


"Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Son Masters", the earliest known book printed with movable metal type, 1377. Bibliothèque nationale de France.
The Chinese inventor Bi Sheng made movable type of earthenware circa 1045, but there are no known surviving examples of his printing. Around 1450, in what is commonly regarded as an independent invention, Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type in Europe, along with innovations in casting the type based on a matrix and hand mould. This invention gradually made books less expensive to produce, and more widely available.

A 15th century incunabulum. Notice the blind-tooled cover, corner bosses and clasps.
Early printed books, single sheets and images which were created before the year 1501 in Europe are known as incunabula. A man born in 1453, the year of the fall of Constantinople, could look back from his fiftieth year on a lifetime in which about eight million books had been printed, more perhaps than all the scribes of Europe had produced since Constantine founded his city in A.D. 330.

Modern world

Steam-powered printing presses became popular in the early 19th century. These machines could print 1,100 sheets per hour, but workers could only set 2,000 letters per hour
Monotype and linotype typesetting machines were introduced in the late 19th century. They could set more than 6,000 letters per hour and an entire line of type at once.
The centuries after the 15th century were thus spent on improving both the printing press and the conditions for freedom of the press through the gradual relaxation of restrictive censorship laws. See also intellectual property, public domain, copyright. In mid-20th century, European book production had risen to over 200,000 titles per year.

Book manufacturing in the modern world


The spine of the book is an important aspect in book design, especially in the cover design. When the books are stacked up or stored in a shelf, the details on the spine is the only visible surface that contains the information about the book. In stores, it is the details on the spine that attract buyers' attention first.
The methods used for the printing and binding of books continued fundamentally unchanged from the 15th century into the early years of the 20th century. While there was of course more mechanization, Gutenberg would have had no difficulty in understanding what was going on if he had visited a book printer in 1900.
Gutenberg’s invention was the use of movable metal types, assembled into words, lines, and pages and then printed by letterpress. In letterpress printing ink is spread onto the tops of raised metal type, and is transferred onto a sheet of paper which is pressed against the type. Sheet-fed letterpress printing is still available but tends to be used for collector’s books and is now more of an art form than a commercial technique
Today, the majority of books are printed by offset lithography in which an image of the material to be printed is photographically or digitally transferred to a flexible metal plate where it is developed to exploit the antipathy between grease (the ink) and water. When the plate is mounted on the press, water is spread over it. The developed areas of the plate repel water thus allowing the ink to adhere to only those parts of the plate which are to print. The ink is then offset onto a rubbery blanket (to prevent water from soaking the paper) and then finally to the paper.
When a book is printed the pages are laid out on the plate so that after the printed sheet is folded the pages will be in the correct sequence. Books tend to be manufactured nowadays in a few standard sizes. The sizes of books are usually specified as “trim size”: the size of the page after the sheet has been folded and trimmed. Trimming involves cutting approximately 1/8” off top, bottom and fore-edge (the edge opposite to the spine) as part of the binding process in order to remove the folds so that the pages can be opened. The standard sizes result from sheet sizes (therefore machine sizes) which became popular 200 or 300 years ago, and have come to dominate the industry. The basic standard commercial book sizes in the United States, always expressed as width × height, are: 4¼” × 7” (rack size paperback), 5⅛” × 7⅝” (digest size paperback), 5½” × 8¼”, 5½” × 8½”, 6⅛” × 9¼”, 7” × 10”, and 8½” × 11”. These “standard” trim sizes will often vary slightly depending on the particular printing presses used, and on the imprecision of the trimming operation. Of course other trim sizes are available, and some publishers favor sizes not listed here which they might nominate as “standard” as well, such as 6” × 9”, 8” × 10”. In Britain the equivalent standard sizes differ slightly, as well as now being expressed in millimeters, and with height preceding width. Thus the UK equivalent of 6⅛” × 9¼” is 234 × 156 mm. British conventions in this regard prevail throughout the English speaking world, except for USA. The European book manufacturing industry works to a completely different set of standards.
Some books, particularly those with shorter runs (i.e. of which fewer copies are to be made) will be printed on sheet-fed offset presses, but most books are now printed on web presses, which are fed by a continuous roll of paper, and can consequently print more copies in a shorter time. On a sheet-fed press a stack of sheets of paper stands at one end of the press, and each sheet passes through the press individually. The paper will be printed on both sides and delivered, flat, as a stack of paper at the other end of the press. These sheets then have to be folded on another machine which uses bars, rollers and cutters to fold the sheet up into one or more signatures. A signature is a section of a book, usually of 32 pages, but sometimes 16, 48 or even 64 pages. After the signatures are all folded they are gathered: placed in sequence in bins over a circulating belt onto which one signature from each bin is dropped. Thus as the line circulates a complete “book” is collected together in one stack, next to another, and another.
A web press carries out the folding itself, delivering bundles of signatures ready to go into the gathering line. Notice that when the book is being printed it is being printed one (or two) signatures at a time, not one complete book at a time. Thus if there are to be 10,000 copies printed, the press will run 10,000 of the first form (the pages imaged onto the first plate and its back-up plate, representing one or two signatures), then 10,000 of the next form, and so on till all the signatures have been printed. Actually, because there is a known average spoilage rate in each of the steps in the book’s progress through the manufacturing system, if 10,000 books are to be made, the printer will print between 10,500 and 11,000 copies so that subsequent spoilage will still allow the delivery of the ordered quantity of books. Sources of spoilage tend to be mainly make-readies.
A make-ready is the preparatory work carried out by the pressmen to get the printing press up to the required quality of impression. Included in make-ready is the time taken to mount the plate onto the machine, clean up any mess from the previous job, and get the press up to speed. The main part of making-ready is however getting the ink/water balance right, and ensuring that the inking is even across the whole width of the paper. This is done by running paper through the press and printing waste pages while adjusting the press to improve quality. Densitometers are used to ensure even inking and consistency from one form to another. As soon as the pressman decides that the printing is correct, all the make-ready sheets will be discarded, and the press will start making books. Similar make readies take place in the folding and binding areas, each involving spoilage of paper.
After the signatures are folded and gathered, they move into the bindery. In the middle of the last century there were still many trade binders – stand-alone binding companies which did no printing, specializing in binding alone. At that time, largely because of the dominance of letterpress printing, the pattern of the industry was for typesetting and printing to take place in one location, and binding in a different factory. When type was all metal, a typical book’s worth of type would be bulky, fragile and heavy. The less it was moved in this condition the better: so it was almost invariable that printing would be carried out in the same location as the typesetting. Printed sheets on the other hand could easily be moved. Now, because of the increasing computerization of the process of preparing a book for the printer, the typesetting part of the job has flowed upstream, where it is done either by separately contracting companies working for the publisher, by the publishers themselves, or even by the authors. Mergers in the book manufacturing industry mean that it is now unusual to find a bindery which is not also involved in book printing (and vice versa).
If the book is a hardback its path through the bindery will involve more points of activity than if it is a paperback. A paperback binding line (a number of pieces of machinery linked by conveyor belts) involves few steps. The gathered signatures, book blocks, will be fed into the line where they will one by one be gripped by plates converging from each side of the book, turned spine up and advanced towards a gluing station. En route the spine of the book block will be ground off leaving a roughened edge to the tightly gripped collection of pages. The grinding leaves fibers which will grip onto the glue which is then spread onto the spine of the book. Covers then meet up with the book blocks, and one cover is dropped onto the glued spine of each book block, and is pressed against the spine by rollers. The book is then carried forward to the trimming station, where a three-knife trimmer will simultaneously cut the top and bottom and the fore-edge of the paperback to leave clear square edges. The books are then packed into cartons, or packed on skids, and shipped.
Binding a hardback is more complicated. Look at a hardback book and you will see the cover overlaps the pages by about 1/8” all round. These overlaps are called squares. The blank piece of paper inside the cover is called the endpaper, or endsheet: it is of somewhat stronger paper than the rest of the book as it is the endpapers that hold the book into the case. The endpapers will be tipped to the first and last signatures before the separate signatures are placed into the bins on the gathering line. Tipping involves spreading some glue along the spine edge of the folded endpaper and pressing the endpaper against the signature. The gathered signatures are then glued along the spine, and the book block is trimmed, like the paperback, but will continue after this to the rounder and backer. The book block together with its endpapers will be gripped from the sides and passed under a roller with presses it from side to side, smashing the spine down and out around the sides so that the entire book takes on a rounded cross section: convex on the spine, concave at the fore-edge, with “ears” projecting on either side of the spine. Then the spine is glued again, a paper liner is stuck to it and headbands and footbands are applied. Next a crash lining (an open weave cloth somewhat like a stronger cheesecloth) is usually applied, overlapping the sides of the spine by an inch or more. Finally the inside of the case, which has been constructed and foil-stamped off-line on a separate machine, is glued on either side (but not on the spine area) and placed over the book block. This entire sandwich is now gripped from the outside and pressed together to form a solid bond between the endpapers and the inside of the case. The crash lining, which is glued to the spine of the pages, but not the spine of the case, is held between the endpapers and the case sides, and in fact provides most of the strength holding the book block into the case. The book will then be jacketed (most often by hand, allowing this stage to be an inspection stage also) before being packed ready for shipment.
The sequence of events can vary slightly, and usually the entire sequence does not occur in one continuous pass through a binding line. What has been described above is unsewn binding, now increasingly common. The signatures of a book can also be held together by Smyth sewing. Needles pass through the spine fold of each signature in succession, from the outside to the center of the fold, sewing the pages of the signature together and each signature to its neighbors. McCain sewing, often used in schoolbook binding, involves drilling holes through the entire book and sewing through all the pages from front to back near the spine edge. Both of these methods mean that the folds in the spine of the book will not be ground off in the binding line. This is true of another technique, notch binding, where gashes about an inch long are made at intervals through the fold in the spine of each signature, parallel to the spine direction. In the binding line glue is forced into these “notches” right to the center of the signature, so that every pair of pages in the signature is bonded to every other one, just as in the Smyth sewn book. The rest of the binding process is similar in all instances. Sewn and notch bound books can be bound as either hardbacks or paperbacks.
Making cases happens off-line and prior to the book’s arrival at the binding line. In the most basic case making, two pieces of cardboard are placed onto a glued piece of cloth with a space between them into which is glued a thinner board cut to the width of the spine of the book. The overlapping edges of the cloth (about 5/8” all round) are folded over the boards, and pressed down to adhere. After case making the stack of cases will go to the foil stamping area. Metal dies, photoengraved elsewhere, are mounted in the stamping machine and rolls of foil are positioned to pass between the dies and the case to be stamped. Heat and pressure cause the foil to detach from its backing and adhere to the case. Foils come in various shades of gold and silver and in a variety pigment colors, and by careful setup quite elaborate effects can be achieved by using different rolls of foil on the one book. Cases can also be made from paper which has been printed separately and then protected with clear film lamination. A three-piece case is made similarly but has a different material on the spine and overlapping onto the sides: so it starts out as three pieces of material, one each of a cheaper material for the sides and the different, stronger material for the spine.
Recent developments in book manufacturing include the development of digital printing. Book pages are printed, in much the same way as an office copier works, using toner rather than ink. Each book is printed in one pass, not as separate signatures. Digital printing has permitted the manufacture of much smaller quantities than offset, in part because of the absence of make readies and of spoilage. One might think of a web press as printing quantities over 2000, quantities from 250 to 2000 being printed on sheet-fed presses, and digital presses doing quantities below 250. These numbers are of course only approximate and will vary from supplier to supplier, and from book to book depending on its characteristics. Digital printing has opened up the possibility of print-on-demand, where no books are printed until after an order is received from a customer.

Digital format

The term e-book is a contraction of "electronic book"; it refers to a digital version of a conventional print book. An e-book is usually made available through the internet, but also on CD-ROM and other forms. E-Books may be read either via a computer or by means of a portable book display device known as an e-book reader, such as the Sony Reader, Barnes & Noble Nook or the Amazon Kindle. These devices attempt to mimic the experience of reading a print book.
Throughout the 20th century, libraries have faced an ever-increasing rate of publishing, sometimes called an information explosion. The advent of electronic publishing and the Internet means that much new information is not printed in paper books, but is made available online through a digital library, on CD-ROM, or in the form of e-books. An on-line book is an e-book that is available online through the internet.
Though many books are produced digitally, most digital versions are not available to the public, and there is no decline in the rate of paper publishing. There is an effort, however, to convert books that are in the public domain into a digital medium for unlimited redistribution and infinite availability. This effort is spearheaded by Project Gutenberg combined with Distributed Proofreaders.
There have also been new developments in the process of publishing books. Technologies such as print on demand, which make it possible to print as few as one book at a time, have made self-publishing much easier and more affordable. On-demand publishing has allowed publishers, by avoiding the high costs of warehousing, to keep low-selling books in print rather than declaring them out of print.


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Thursday, October 6, 2011

Strangest buildings in the world pictures  part2

19

Shoe House Pennsylvania , United States





20

  Weird House in Alps





21

The Ufo House Sanjhih , Taiwan





22

  The Hole House Texas , United States









24

  The National Library Minsk , Belarus





25

Grand Lisboa Macao





26.

  Wall House Groningen , Netherlands





27.

  Guggenheim Museum Bilbao , Spain






28.

  Bahai* House of Worship a.k.a Lotus Temple Delhi , India





29.

  Container City London , UK


30.

  Erwin Wurm: House Attack Viena , Austria





31

  Wooden Gagster House Archangelsk , Russia



32

  Air Force Academy Chapel Colorado , United States


33

  Solar Furnace Odeillo , France


34

  Dome House Florida , United States





35

  Beijing National Stadium Beijing , China





36

  Fashion Show Mall Las Vegas , United States





37

  Luxor Hotel & Casino Las Vegas , United States


39
  Civic Center Santa Monica





40

  Mammy?s Cupboard Natchez , MS , United States


41

Pickle Barrel House Grand Marais , Michigan , United States





42

  The Egg Empire State Plaza , Albany , New York , United States





43

  Gherkin Building London , UK





44

  Nord LB building Hannover , Germany



45

  Lloyd?s building London , UK



46

  Druzhba Holiday Center Hall Yalta , Ukraine





47

  Fuji television building Tokyo , Japan





48

  UCSD Geisel Library San Diego , California , United States


49

  Ripley?s Building Ontario , Canada




_

Strangest buildings in the world pictures
1

  The Crooked House Sopot , Poland







2.

Forest Spiral - Hundertwasser Building Darmstadt , Germany





3.

  The Torre Galatea Figueras Spain





4.

  Ferdinand Cheval Palace a.k.a Ideal PalaceFrance





5.

The Basket Building Ohio , United States





6.

  Kansas City Public Library Missouri , United St





7.

  Wonder works Pigeon Forge , TN , United States





8.

  Habitat 67 Montreal , Canada





9.

  Cubic Houses Rotterdam , Netherlands





10.

  Hang Nga Guesthouse a.k.a Crazy House Vietnam





11

  Mind House Barcelona , Spain





12

  Dancing Building Prague , Czech Republic



13

  Calakmul building a.k.a La Lavadora a.k.a The Washing Mashine Mexico





14

  Kettle House Texas , United States





15

  Manchester Civil Justice Centre Manchester , UK



16

  Nakagin Capsule Tower Tokyo , Japan


17

  Chapel in the Rock Arizona , United States



18
  Stone House Guimar?£es, Portugal



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