The more I read, the more I feel that Microsoft is continuing to wade up stream…An article from Tech Radar  continues the message that Office15 could not only launch later than expected (missing the Windows 8 tablet launch later this year, but it will also be in essence a legacy app running on he new Metro-based OS…What?!

“One source told The Verge that plans to create Office in true Metro style had to be pushed back “as the Office team would have to overhaul the entire suite to take advantage of WinRT” which would take far too long.”

This is where Microsoft should shine… Unfortunately, this is where many are looking at Microsoft as the as the salmon to an Apple bear…

“The strategy could see an awkward period for Microsoft where it misses one of the claimed core advantages for its tablets. Office 15 is known to be the first tablet-native version of the suite and will likely be the first version with support for ARM processors.”

This would be yet another critical misstep if Balmer let’s the next release of office NOT coincide with a launch of a Windows 8 tablet. If that happens, Microsoft will lose one of its key advantages. Especially, if MS does release any form of direct iOS or Android version of Office. They need to learn from missteps and mistakes made during The Windows Phone delay…

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No blame, no pointing at their partners, no false sense of security. With trust comes responsibility. Accepting payment for that responsibility deepens the need for accountability.

No excuses, owning it!

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The truth is that Ice Cream Sandwich — which I believe is the first truly significant improvement to Android since it debuted — is effectively a preview of next year’s Android for the mass market. – @gruber

When a new operating system for a device is released, it should be available to the devices capable of running that OS similar to Apple’s platform, however ,for Android that just doesn’t seem to be the case. This is at the feet of the carriers for any blame. The BS practice of putting an overlay on top of the base operating system completely destroys the true functionality and unnecessarily delays a roll out if not stops it in its tracks anytime a mobile OS (other than iOS) is updated. Load of crap that the carriers use to force users to upgrade thereby locking them into another 2 year contract…

Coming off CES this is blatantly obvious. There were a ton of new Android devices shows, but very, VERY few mentioned or were demoed Ice Cream Sandwich. Well other than “we promise an upgrade”…

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will build the smaller slate to “cope with increasing market competition including the 7-inch Kindle Fire from Amazon and the launch of large-size smartphones from handset vendors.”

Now, a new “in the know” person is stating nope.

A new note from Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair suggests that Apple has no such plans, however, and it will stick to a 9.7-inch panel when it launches new iPad models next year.

Conjecture and crap. If you ARE interested in a 7″ tablet, buy a fire or Nook Tablet, but be prepared to live with the issues found there. If you watch Apple closely, like I’d like to think I do, (and I expect “analysts should…”) you’d know that Apple never bends to “market competition” to release a product. They find opportunity in redefining a market space (iPod, iPhone, MacBook Air) or creating a market (iPad). Even then Apple designs the best product they can at the time within a reasonable cost margin and a expectantly realistic, even if high(er) retail price to provide profit…

Apple has not chased (or raced) to the bottom for a price point. Nor have they ever reacted to “fictitious” market pressure to create a competing product just to say… “Look we make that too…”

Here is what I believe. Apple will NOT create a smaller iPad. If that was the right thing for the MARKET THEY CREATED Apple would have launched with a 7″ tablet not the 9.7″ one that has 90% of the market. Yes, I said 90% of the market. The Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet are grown up ereaders not a multi-purpose tablet device that, oh yeah, can be used as an ereader too.

Oh, just to put this out there, a 4″ or 4.5″ iPhone is not in the cards either… Can I be wrong? Yup, just like these other “professional analysts” and reporter bozos chasing headlines to grab readers.

The thing to understand about Apple versus “others” is that Apple doesn’t shotgun the market and hope to make enough on what DOES sell to offset what doesn’t. The do all of that “market research” in-house and release a single product. Then they iterate the hell out of it to make it as perfect as possible.

I saw at least a half dozen new Windows Phone devices, but the Lumia stood apart, in my mind. The other thing that struck me, looking at so many devices at once, is that Apple has only shipped three iPhone hardware designs, total. Three. – John Gruber - from “I want to say just one word to you. Just one word” in November posts.(1)

They do offer “options”, but those are simply easily exchanged component parts, memory, drive space, etc… Watch for Apple to continue to consolidate its current lines – they just killed off support for the original older iPod in favor of the touch and Nano, they eliminated the MacBook and priced the Air there – while broadening/revolutionizing into new markets (television?). Think of what annoys you about current industries or what does not exist today, but would benefit instinctively and you have some insight into where you will find Apple tomorrow.

Will I be wrong? Much less often…

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One thing we missed that deserves the spotlight are a handful of beautiful settings shortcuts, from designer Jeff Broderick, that allow you to quickly access your iPhone’s specific settings directly from your home screen—and it doesn’t even require jailbreaking. – Lifehacker

This “tweak” leverages simple device profiles to create a shortcut from the home screen right to the specific associated preferences settings. Most jailbreakers use SBSettings to perform similar tasks.

In addition, there was a similar format that leveraged an HTML5 website to run a similar command to get to the settings via a webapp. However, this was obviously slow and dependent on a persistent connection to the web that iPod touches may not always have.

The clever use of device profiles eliminates the need for a web connection and is extremely fast. While I am looking forward to when the iPhone 4S jailbreak is released, in the meantime, I like the fast access to my wireless settings!

Click on the Lifehacker link above to learn more and install your settings of choice.

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Image Credit: ceslava from Flickr

[Update: I am re-publishing this post because with a recent update to Calibre how you access the preferences window and load a plugin have changed slightly.  The new format is now represented below.]

The most frustrating aspects of digital books is the digital rights management (DRM) that is typically attached to the book file itself to prevent the mass distribution of this copyrighted material. Not only are there different eBook formats that publishers use, there are different forms of DRM that get attached to these books. Additionally, because the publishing industry overall is in a state of turmoil two new concerns have arisen. The first is, if I purchase an eBook, will the publisher still be around in the future for me to get my eBook back incase something happens to my reader. The second is, as eReaders continue to advance (Kindle, iPad, Galaxy Tab, Xoom, Playbook, and the host of unannounced Android based readers that are sure to come) and new products are brought  to the market, what happens when I choose to switch readers and the new one uses a different format?!

Especially, when highlighting the first concern is the fact that Borders (Borders and WaldenBook Stores) is in the process of filing for bankruptcy.

Borders is preparing for a costly and time-consuming trip through bankruptcy court, where it will seek to close about a third of its 674 Borders and Waldenbooks stores, the people familiar with the matter said. Borders also would cut swathes of its 19,500 staff as it attempts to reinvent itself to compete with Amazon and its hot-selling Kindle reader, and Barnes & NobleInc., the nation’s largest bookstore chain and maker of the Nook e-reader. …

…Whether it can restructure and emerge as a stand-alone company is unclear. Many Wall Street bankers and lawyers who have studied the chain believe it may not be able to avoid liquidation.

With the possibility of liquidation even mentioned, this fuels the need for readers to be able to take full control of their ever increasing digital library. What remains in the way has been  a way to accomplish this relatively easily. The remainder of this post will be dedicated to helping accomplish that task. Additionally, this post is intended to help you consolidate your personal digital library. Please be respectful of authors, publishers, and copyright laws. Do the right thing and compensate the author by not letting others steal from them.

[Update: Borders folded as an entity beginning the liquidation process on July 17, 2011]

After playing with different tools for months, loading “python scripts”, reading blogs, looking at DeDRM tools, and generally going through many hoops to convert my personal digital library from, Microsoft Reader, MobiPocket, Fictionwise, Barnes and Noble (original and Nook formats), Kindle, and Borders formats. I tripped across an amazing tool called Calibre. Calibre is an eBook library management application that work on Windows, OS X, and Linux operating systems. Here is a review I wrote about this software back in November 2011. At that time, Calibre could convert DRM-free formats, however, recently Calibre and a host of other frustrated by digital rights management  have come together to create “plug-ins” which will strip away most DRM form the various formats in use by publishers and eBook distributors like: Kindle, Barnes and Noble, Borders, and more.

Some may be concerned about the difficulty of getting the system and the plug-ins setup. My opinion is that there are two slightly more challenging steps. I will work to make these instructions as easy as possible. I also want to give credit where credit is due. much of the following is based off of this post on Apprentice Alf’s Blog. He did a great job laying out the steps I am building upon on in this post.

The first thing you need to do is download and install Calibre onto your computer. (Note: Calibre is updated often so check back occasionally for the latest update. 0.8.29 is the current version)

Here is a like to Calibre’s download page. Choose the appropriate download for your system:

• Windows
• Mac OSX
• Linux

(Note: I have linked to the download page itself as opposed to the file in case in future updates, the file name changes.)

When going through the Calibre install, the install “Wizard” will help to walk you through installing Calible.  This will include a choice of the format you would want Calibre to convert all eBooks you bring into the system into. If you chose one format (say Kindle) and then upgrade to a different reader (say the iPad) you can re-run this wizard from the Preferences area.

Once you have installed Calibre, you need to download the combined tools package which include the DeDRM resources that will allow Calibre to remove eBook DRM as it pulls your eBook into its library.

Download the Combined Tools Package.

Click here to access the Combined Tools download Page (Note 12/2011: I am concerned about losing access to the Combined Tools files, I am going to host the files tools_v4.8. – Simply click to download.)

(Note: I have again linked to the download page itself instead of a file to prevent linking to old information as updates are made.)

You will want to click on link called http://www.datafilehost.com/download-4a2f247e.html on that page to move to the download. That link will take you to the actual file you need to download. Unfortunately, the file host service they are using confuses things a bit with a big ad so here is an image for just what you need to click on:

Download file image - Just ignore the "Free Download" of PDF Creator

After you download the Combined Tools Package you will need to “unzip” it. this is different on different systems. Mac will automatically unzip the folder containing the files. On a Windows PC, you should be offered the choice of where you want to “save” the file. Choose your desktop for easy access. Once the file is downloaded, right-click on the Tools.zip file and choose “Extract All” to get the files you need uncompressed.

While there will be a number of files and folders, the only one you are interested in is Calibre_Plugin:

The only folder you are interested in is Calibre Plugin

Now that you have Calibre installed and Combined Tools Package unzipped, you need to install the plugins from the Tools into Calibre:

Running Calibre and Installing the DeDRM Plugins

First Run Calibre and then click on Preferences: (Update: The way to do this has changed in the 0.8 versions – The preferences have been removed from the buttons at the top and moved into a preferences menu item in the tool bar.)

Preferences are Now Part of the Calibre Toolbar

Now Scroll down and click “Plugins”

Calibre - Preferences

Click on “Add a new Plugin” to install the 5 DeDRM plugins:

Load plugin from a file

Navigate to the Tools>Calibre Plugins folder that you downloaded and put onto your desktop earlier. Choose one of the .zip files and click “Open”.  This will begin the Calibre install process for that plugin:

Add these DeDRM Plugins

Once you click “open” you will receive a warning dialogue about “Security risk” possible when installing plugins, go ahead and say “Yes” you wish to proceed.

Then you should receive a “Success” dialogue box regarding the plugin you selected to install, along with a message about having to restart Calibre for the plugin to be able to function. Click “OK” but do not re-start Calibre yet. Wait until you have installed each of the 5 DeDRM Plugins and then just restart the one time.

Repeat the above process for the remaining 4 DeDRM Plugins (there are 5 total at this time). After you install the 5th plugin, close and restart Calibre.

That was not so bad right? Now comes the hard part, configuring the DeDRM with YOUR specific information which will allow the plugins to actually strip away the Digital Rights Management and allow Calibre to convert your newly freed eBooks to be opened in the reader of your choice. (My preference is Apple’s iBooks.)

Configuring the DeDRM Plugins

Now, depending on the type of eBooks you have purchased, depends on which plugin you need to configure. and each has its own specific needs.  I will work to be as specific as possible here, but you might experience some trial and error…

To configure the plugins, go back into Preferences and scroll down to Advanced and click on Plugins and look for File Type Plugins

Calibre - File Type Plugins

Click on the “>” and all of the plugins will be displayed. Below is a list of what the plugins cover and the information you need to configure each with to enable the DeDRM for that type.

Choose the plugin you wish to configure. Click on it once to highlight it blue, and then click on Customize Plugin. This will popup a window for you to enter the DRM Unlock information. Enter the required information and click OK.

• Barnes and Noble (including Fictionwise.com purchases). Here is where things are the most complicated in my opinion. BN uses its own proprietary version of ePub DRM, and I have found that they are ALSO selling Nook capable versions of titles that they acquired through the purchase of fictionwise.com that leverage a different version of ePub DRM. Both are highlighted in the screen shot below. While the second mainly only impacts older fiction titles this can cause frustration if you do not configure two different plugins.

Calibre - Configure BN Plugins

• • eReader PDB 2 PML is the BN eReader/ fictionwise based plugin. If you have eReader ebooks from Barnes and Noble or Fictionwise you must enter your name and the last 8 digits of your credit card number into the customisation field. This is the Name you have on file at your ebook retailer’s website. For me this is both my first and last name, and the last 8 digits of my credit card number separated by a comma. (Note: Most recently I needed to use my username and the entire credit card number.)

• • • example: John Smith,12345678

• • lgnoble ePub DeDRM is the BN / Nook Secured based plugin. While this information may be similar be sure you have it correct. Here you will need to enter your full name and the full credit card number. If you are unsure what this is, you can get the name from your Nook Library page (either on your nook or on the BN Nook Library website.
    • example: John Smith,1234567891234567
• Kindle and MobiPocket eBooks use the mobi format which leverages a serial number or a PID (Personal Identification) that resides with the device itself.

Calibre - Kindle Customize Kindle DeDRM Plugin

• • K4PC,K4Mac, Kindle Mobi and Topaz DeDRM is the Kindle based plugin. Kindle and MobiPocket eBooks use the mobi format.
  • The easiest way to DeDRM Kindle books is by downloading the Kindle for PC or Kindle for Mac applications and then bring your book into the appropriate app for your system. After that open the book, close it, and open it again and then close it. This should “strip” the DRM off the book within the Kindle for Mac app itself. Now, locate it on your hard drive and drag it into Calibre.  If you do this, you will not need to “customize” the Kindle Plugin at all.
  • However, if you have Amazon Kindle ebooks that were downloaded to your Kindle, you must enter your Kindle’s serial number into the customisation field of the K4MobiDeDRM plugin. If you have already entered a PID there, add the Kindle serial number as well, separating it from the PID with a comma. Again you do not need to do this if you first download the eBook into Kindle for PC or Kindle for Mac.
    • example: 1234567891234567
  • Right now, it looks like the Kindle Fire uses the same DRM encryption however the Fire uses a different form of PID. If you run into issues, I recommend using Kindle for PC and Kindle for Mac as described above to remove the DRM from the eBook and then pull that version into Calibre.
• Adobe Digital Editions – If you have either ePub or PDF formatted books in ADE, you do not need to put anything into the customization field for the plugins
• If you have ePub books from Apple iBooks, there is currently no way to strip the DRM from the eBook.  Apple is using a technology called Apple FairPlay and this format of Digital Rights Management has not been broken at the time of this writing.
• If you have an eBook that uses Microsoft LTE, there is NO Calibre plugin to remove the DRM.

Once you have customized the plugins appropriate, click “Apply” and “Close” and you are ready to remove the DRM from your ebooks by importing them into Calibre.  The easiest way I have found to accomplish this is to open Calibre and simply drag and drop them into the main area of Calibre.

Calibre - Main Screen

Now all you need to do is download your books to your computer and then drag and drop them into Calibre.  However, if you already have ebooks on your computer, locate your books on the hard drive. Here is a great snip from the Apprentice Alf Blog on this:

Q: Where are my ebooks?
Your ebooks are stored on your computer or on your ebook reader. You need to find them to be able to remove the DRM. If they are on your reader, you should be able to locate them easily. On your computer it’s not so obvious. Here are the default locations.

Macintosh
Navigating from your home folder
Kindle books are in either Library/Application Support/Kindle/My Kindle Content or Documents/My Kindle Content, depending on your version of Kindle for Mac.

Note: Under Lion (OS X 10.7), by default the Library folders are hidden. To view them, Click on Finder and then in the task bar up are the top click on “GO” while holding down the “Option” key. This will show the hidden folders. Click on library and then release the option key.  Now you can go to /Application Support/Kindle/My Kindle Content

Adobe Digital Editions ebooks are in Documents/Digital Editions

Windows
Navigating from your My Documents folder
Kindle books are in My Kindle Content
Adobe Digital Editions ebooks are in My Digital Editions
Mobipocket Reader ebooks are in My eBooks

A final thought.  Calibre has an eReader built into the application itself.  After you import an eBook that needed DRM stripped off, test it by double-clicking to launch the book.  If all went well, the book should open without any issue.  If something happened and the DRM was not stripped off, you will get an error relating to this fact. Please be sure to be patient as part of this process. If for some reason the DRM does not get stripped off delete the eBook from Calibre, and then you need to look back at how you customized the plugin. There must be something missing (or incorrect) in the information the plugin needs. (This is how I discovered the two variants for Barnes and Noble DRM). Correct the information and try importing the eBook again as the DRM is ONLY stripped during the import process.

I hope that this helps.  If you have questions or difficulties please feel free to comment and I will help in any way I can.

Hints and Tips

While I am still in the process of choosing a theme and revising my page, I came across an unexpected thing.  One of the most popular posts that I have called eBooks: How to Free and Consolidate your Digital Library has recently become out of date because the tool I am recommending has jumped versions and changes the way plugins are installed.  I will be updating this post later tonight to revise it with the new plugin process.  Overall, most of the details remain the same as, personally, I just needed to update to free a book I purchased today from B&N to be available for use on my iPad and iPhone so I know it still works.  Sorry for missing this update to Calibre if it caused any confusion. Check back later tonight for the update.

Scott