Packt Publishing has a good catalog of how-tos for open source. Their WordPress theme development is a really helpful resource — in fact so good I let a friend borrow it and he bought his own copy. And I just received a copy of WordPress plugin development — look for an upcoming review. In both cases I purchased the physical book along with the PDF — I find it really handy to have both digital and physical forms.
In Packt’s own words “Our books and publications share the experiences of your fellow IT professionals in adapting and customizing today’s systems, applications, and frameworks.” And true to that community spirit their PDF just got a little more open, removing DRM limitations. Contrast that open attitude with others in the book community, such as the latest flap over the Amazon Kindle. If you missed it follow the link below. I’m sorry that Amazon caved in to pressure, but not surprised. I guess it is not their place to make a stand — perhaps that responsibility lies with us readers in the community. Building your own ‘Berlin Wall’ to keep people contained is not a long-term strategy in today’s open world. Hopefully more will follow the lead from companies like Packt and authors like Cory Doctorow.
In December, we decided to enable the copy and paste feature on our eBooks. Following this announcement, we received a number of suggestions from customers who would like to see the password protection removed from our eBooks as well. With the increasing popularity of reading eBooks on portable devices, the password protection was proving to be an obstacle that prevented users from doing so.
Slashdot | Amazon Caves On Kindle 2 Text-To-Speech
Today, Amazon said that while the feature is legally sound, they would be willing to disable text-to-speech on a title-by-title basis at the rightsholder’s request. “We have already begun to work on the technical changes required to give authors and publishers that choice. With this new level of control, publishers and authors will be able to decide for themselves whether it is in their commercial interests to leave text-to-speech enabled. We believe many will decide that it is.”
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Randall Rode's online home for thoughts, notes, and experiments with a wide range of technology topics. Visit the about page for info on my recent projects and professional background. I welcome your comments!
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