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A Closer Look at iBooks Author, Textbooks and Exclusivity
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Wonder why it won't work on Snow Leopard.
Edit: Nevermind, it does work on Snow Leopard if you edit the plist. Artificial restriction removed! Carry on.
Edit: Nevermind, it does work on Snow Leopard if you edit the plist. Artificial restriction removed! Carry on.
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That is pretty much it. With the Hollywood moguls failing on SOPA the political winds of change realize these ******s in the Hollywood hills monopolizing pressing machines and printing presses don't matter anymore. They are horse traders in a world of Model-T's.
My take is that a lot of alternative soon to be mainstream textbooks will go viral to the point of sheer printing volume will be pushed away that the internet has compromised newspapers as far as society influence. A big win for all except the control freaks that will die of old age in a decade or so.
Humm... Yesterday there was no revolution on textbook authoring and format. Today apple comes up with both, an easy way to author meaningful textbooks, and a new class of interactive textbooks that are simply amazing.
Then, folks come screaming saying this is not good, limits my freedom somehow, not fair with amazon or google, apple sucks for yet again reinventing an industry... blah la, la blah...
Why didn't google or amazon reinvent the textbook industry before now? They certainly had an opportunity...
Why didn't sam.iclone.apple.sung or sonny invent this on their universe?
Yes, thinking forward and innovation are indeed difficult to achieve, but critizing the heck of what is for all practical purposes a revolution for textbooks creation and consumption, is somehow a hobby for many.
Somehow what apple has done today limits folk's freedom. As if choosing to continue to use printed textbooks has been forbidden, even though yesterday that was the only choice for the same folks that are complaining today.
Then, folks come screaming saying this is not good, limits my freedom somehow, not fair with amazon or google, apple sucks for yet again reinventing an industry... blah la, la blah...
Why didn't google or amazon reinvent the textbook industry before now? They certainly had an opportunity...
Why didn't sam.iclone.apple.sung or sonny invent this on their universe?
Yes, thinking forward and innovation are indeed difficult to achieve, but critizing the heck of what is for all practical purposes a revolution for textbooks creation and consumption, is somehow a hobby for many.
Somehow what apple has done today limits folk's freedom. As if choosing to continue to use printed textbooks has been forbidden, even though yesterday that was the only choice for the same folks that are complaining today.
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What have you done recently for the masses that is worth any thing?
Critizing is easy, isn't it?
Amazon, google, b&e had their chance, but lacked the innovation, will, and cojones to do what apple has done. Now they can copycat, clone and reproduce apple's creation, and call it their 'exclusive innovation'. So, don't worry too much yet... Alternatives will come soon enough.
Of course they would need the original author's permission, or the original author may do it themselves, I suppose. I think Apple's iBookstore still has an advantage in that your textbook will be updated at no charge forever if you bought it there. The idea of making a textbook "alive" in this context is what got my attention, and is really extra added value.
Regarding having interactive textbooks available on an iPhone... I suppose it could be done, but perhaps Apple sees that as too limiting to get the immersive interactive experience. Alternatively, the iPhone and iMac versions may be something further down the line. I'd like to see it on my MBP for sure. With the touchpad, it should still be possible to pinch and manipulate in a similar way to the iPad. I'd bet it will come first to the Mac platform before the iPhone.
A lot of countries tried communism in the last century. And only a few still have that party ruling now. But the most prominent one is even more capitalist than the USA, while a smaller one has completely converted to an absolute monarchy. Please don't go down this route, USA!
You misunderstand. I'm not criticizing at all (except for Phil's constipation face). I think this is great. I plan on starting a book of my own in my field very soon thanks to this. I was simply writing my thoughts. I don't know how Apple got the publishing houses to go along with it. I'm glad they did because I think it will accelerate the legitimization of the new paradigm. I think Apple is staying in front of Amazon, just like they are already in front of Google, Samsung and Microsoft on suppliers, apps, platform developers, etc. But I think the first to go in the publishing world will be the small publishers. On the other hand, it is a great time to be in graphic arts.
Thanks to Arn for the clarification. I still think it would have been more convenient if you could use just one tool to create the content and then publish to Kindle and iBooks. They could have charged $40 for the tool and that would be ok. In this way I will continue to create the books in Pages and then import to iBooks Author for iBookstore and HTML output for the Kindle.
I really don't like proprietary formats and it looks like there is no easy way back to Pages.
I really don't like proprietary formats and it looks like there is no easy way back to Pages.
Steve Jobs was absolutely right about the textbook process being corrupt. Junkets, parties, free gifts -- those in the teaching industry aren't used to that and it is too easy to succumb to publishers based upon how good they treated you. And as for our State Board of Education... Lord knows we need to get the religious right out of our curriculum. Hopefully, this will help do that.
University
I can see the problems of this in public schools with younger students. Buy I am a University student and this is brilliant. I hate bulky heavy textbooks and usually never read them or take them with me. THIS is what I am going to use.... Now all I need is an iPad 3...
I can see the problems of this in public schools with younger students. Buy I am a University student and this is brilliant. I hate bulky heavy textbooks and usually never read them or take them with me. THIS is what I am going to use.... Now all I need is an iPad 3...
Or sold it directly in their website
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The Photoshop analogy is not totally righ, I think the right analogy is Apple restricting OS X programs made with Xcode to Mac App Store only
iBooks Author FAQ: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5071
More iBooks Author info here: http://www.apple.com/support/ibooksauthor/
More iBooks Author info here: http://www.apple.com/support/ibooksauthor/
No Mac Rumors Today!!!!!!!!
Another day has gone by with no new Mac rumors. A lot of articles about one non-Mac item. It seems as if there is no reason to come to this Mac site to read something new about the Mac. Even 1 rumor would be worth the effort. I will not use iBooks on any of my iToys. It is too restrictive as to what devices I can use.
Another day has gone by with no new Mac rumors. A lot of articles about one non-Mac item. It seems as if there is no reason to come to this Mac site to read something new about the Mac. Even 1 rumor would be worth the effort. I will not use iBooks on any of my iToys. It is too restrictive as to what devices I can use.
Cheap textbooks have hidden costs
In a democratic society, access to primary and secondary schools, and access to the texts used in those schools, must be unfettered. The entry cost to this system is high: an iPad. Who pays for that? The student (or her parents) or the school district? If it's the student -- what happens to public education if her parents don't have the money for the iPad? If it's the school district: what happens when the student loses, drops, breaks, or damages her iPad?
I'm not a Luddite -- as I said, I like lots of what I see here. But access matters, and figuring out what the consequences are for our civic future is important.
I love the idea of reducing the cost of textbooks -- but shifting the cost from communities to public school students causes serious equity problems. The cost of paying for textbooks for a year might not seem significant to those of us who buy (and follow) Apple products -- but it's a hell of a cost to people living on the brink, and an impossible one for millions of poor, unemployed, underemployed, or merely underpaid people.
In a democratic society, access to primary and secondary schools, and access to the texts used in those schools, must be unfettered. The entry cost to this system is high: an iPad. Who pays for that? The student (or her parents) or the school district? If it's the student -- what happens to public education if her parents don't have the money for the iPad? If it's the school district: what happens when the student loses, drops, breaks, or damages her iPad?
I'm not a Luddite -- as I said, I like lots of what I see here. But access matters, and figuring out what the consequences are for our civic future is important.
Cool. I was disappointed when I tried to d/l from the app store and it said I needed OS 10.7 (Lion), as I have SL.
So, how do I d/l on SL? What's a plist?
Thanks
This thread shows two step-by-step ways to enable it in Snow Leopard.
Basically, you make your SystemVersion.plist file say "I'm 10.7.2" which allows download. Then you change it back, and change the plist in iBooks to say it's ok to run on 10.6.x, and *poof* it magically works!
The winds of change have been blowing for some time. It could be that Apple has offered the big publishers the best value proposition they've seen to date. It seems to me that Apple is very good at offering an overall solution rather then a piecemeal one. From what I see, Apple's proposition works now, and has a well laid-out longer term roadmap.
Two things: While Texas started out with a great idea with their textbook adoption committees, (and I'm in no way intending this as a shot against your wife) I feel they have become too influenced by the Bible thumpers who would turn various sciences back into fantasy stories. I see this new way of creating textbooks as a way to break that strangle-hold on scientific truth. No longer does a textbook have to bow to the Texas committees and can produce sciences-based textbooks and maybe a a fantasy version for those who can't handle facts.
Secondly, smaller publishers may find this revolution to their benefit as it more easily puts them on a leveler playing field with the big boys. Rather then putting them out of business, I see it as making it easier for them to publish and be creative without the higher costs of short-run editions.
I think you may be right about Apple being a disrupter to Amazon, but not maybe as much to B & N. Remember, Amazon was a disrupter itself at one time, and still is doing a great job of changing things.
Personally, I'd love it if Apple hired a professional entertainer to present the new stuff. Imagine Billy Crystal presenting the new iPad.
I'm glad you are having an unusually great experience with the textbooks you get through the disability department. They are likely being made in the format you described under some kind of Federal ADA grant.
From what little I've seen of the new Apple Textbook program I think all the things you want and enjoy are included...and even more things than you are used to having.
I do too. Just to Macs would be my preference, but that's just me.
And Apple may be thinking of the portability and cost of an iPad over a laptop. For K-12 students the lack of cords, mice, and keys, makes an iPad a lower maintenance device. Also, new content can be pushed to the iPads by the teacher via the iCloud.
You think so? What's behind that thought? I see it as a great boon to the small printing houses because their costs for limited runs will be very low compared to gearing up for putting words and graphics on paper. Once through the editing process, small printing houses can now move directly to selling the textbook.
No longer a need to go through the pre-production run, the hard copy proof-reading, corrections and then doing a short-run of printing. This way they don't need to store copies until they are sold, pack books for shipping, invoice, collect and disburse royalties, send out advance copies, etc.
Once the professor signs off on the edited copy, it goes right to Apple's iBookstore and the money rolls in.
True, and I can now write a book based on the chemical processes in plant leaves without needing to write a whole book on biology because the scale of the project can be much smaller and still make business sense.
All good products address needs. The iPad is the ultimate Swiss Army Knife for "need" solutions.
Your awareness in particularly attuned to ginger girls... I didn't even see it at all.
There isn't a single book on linguistics ('Let's learn language X' doesn't count) from any of those publishers, who supposedly publish 90% of all textbooks as we were told during the presentation. I am the 10%.
I realize they aren't as much of a visual showcase but I do hope Cambridge, Oxford, Blackwell, Routledge etc get in on this later on or this is a no-go for many.
I really like the incentive, though I hope it doesn't end up being a showcase for "cool looking" introductory textbooks (then again, what isn't "introductory" at uni, considering what the next level is - it's almost intimidating the way books get stamped "introductory" at times).
It's only been one day, so I'll cut Apple some slack. All in all a really nice idea.
At least I can put together my own, personal, copy of literature we have digital access to at my university with iBooks Author in the mean time, which is pretty neat.
I realize they aren't as much of a visual showcase but I do hope Cambridge, Oxford, Blackwell, Routledge etc get in on this later on or this is a no-go for many.
I really like the incentive, though I hope it doesn't end up being a showcase for "cool looking" introductory textbooks (then again, what isn't "introductory" at uni, considering what the next level is - it's almost intimidating the way books get stamped "introductory" at times).
It's only been one day, so I'll cut Apple some slack.
All in all a really nice idea.At least I can put together my own, personal, copy of literature we have digital access to at my university with iBooks Author in the mean time, which is pretty neat.