Julia Child's Lessons on Publishing and Perseverance. From @brainpicker and @TheAtlantic

On March 8, 1952, Julia Child, who would have celebrated her 100th birthday today, sat down at her kitchen table in Paris and penned a fan letter to American historian and author Bernard DeVoto, discussing the peculiarities of French and American kitchen knives. But the letter was answered by DeVoto's wife, Avis, described by one of her husband's students at Harvard as "very good looking and very sexy-seeming and the only faculty wife who might have said 'horseshit' even to [Harvard] President Lowell." This was the beginning of an epistolary friendship that unfolded into a rich and wide-spanning relationship, exploring the two women's deepest thoughts and feelings as well as their most passionate professional pursuits and aspirations, as Avis became Julia's confidant, great champion, and unofficial literary agent.

Perhaps most fascinating of all, however, is the absorbing insider's look at the publishing industry that the correspondence reveals as Julia and Avis navigate the maze of bringing Child's culinary ideas to the mainstream with the publication of her seminal book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which Avis steered first to Houghton Mifflin and eventually to its home at Knopf. Filled with romantic idealism about how publishing ought to work, they consistently brush up against barriers to creative freedom and integrity, shedding light on how much has changed and how much has remained the same in the half-century since.

Read on here....http://wtr.mn/SwQbCY

The New Tablet Reality for E-Books: Will Readers Read Less? From @forbes

Whether you like it or not, it’s now a tablet world — we just live in it.

According to a recent survey, one out of every five e-book readers use a Kindle Fire to read and almost as many use an iPad. Some 35% use a Kindle e-ink reader but the two leading tablets combined have now surpassed the older technology and will soon leave it in the dust. With the new Google Nexus 7 tablet rising and Barnes & Noble lowering prices on the Nook tablet, reader momentum toward the newer technology will only accelerate.

So, what does this mean for the book publishing world? At least two things:
1. The rise of e-books and e-reading might slow.
2. Publishers have to start thinking about content in new ways.

Very interesting read continues here....http://wtr.mn/MuUMYC

Photos of Alleged iPhone Logicboard Suggest New Battery, Antennas. From @wired

As the launch date for the next iPhone approaches, there’s no shortage of rumors and purported images of the highly anticipated device. The latest development comes from a WeiPhone forum user who posted photos of the alleged next-generation iPhone motherboard, revealing that the phone could sport new antennas, a higher-capacity battery, and more.

While photos like this should always be viewed with a generous helping of skepticism, the particular WeiPhone user who posted the shots has some credentials. As 9to5Mac was first to point out, the user posted accurate images of the iPhone 4S motherboard last year, a couple months prior to its launch.NoWhereElse.fr has also taken the time to compare the size of the motherboard to the iPhone’s supposed rear plate (leaked in a video in June), and it matches up quite nicely, suggesting the WeiPhone forum user’s latest posting is legit.

Read on here....http://wtr.mn/Nv0hWF

Here’s why tablets (yes, tablets!) will replace the smartphone, From @KevinCTofel and @gigaom

I’m sure to get the “you’re off your rocker” commentary on this one, but I make a living by looking ahead in the world of mobile technology. And what I see now is a trend that I have watched build for nearly half a dozen years. Thanks to the pace of mobile-network expansion, new audio and video technologies, the expansion of Wi-Fi, and more-capable hardware that runs longer on a single charge, I expect the tablet to begin replacing the smartphone within the next half a dozen years. There, I said it.

Why?

Our dependence on mobile media consumption is growing.

Voice on a tablet isn’t as bad as you’d think.

The user interface is moving beyond pocketable screens.

Tablets can do the same things as smartphones, only better.

Naysayers are still judging based on today’s use cases, not tomorrow’s.

Read on here....http://wtr.mn/OLMhrh

Remembering a dear friend, Jan-Paul van den Hurk of RPI-Paro

A memorial fund has been set up to help with Jan-Paul's family during this transitional time.  Please give generously at http://www.janpaulvandenhurkmemorialfund.com/

We often try to separate 'business' from 'personal' in our work lives. Many times that just does not work.  Such is the case with the sudden passing of my friend and business associate Jan-Paul van den Hurk, CEO of the Paro Group BV, Founder of Book Factory Systems, and SVP of Business Development for RPI-Paro BV.

There are times when you are investigating partnerships that you meet someone you just know is the right guy.  Such was the case when Brian Segnit from xerox introduced me to JP as Blurb was looking to expand our nascent book business into Europe.  JP and I exchanged a couple of emails and before I knew it he was on a plane from The Netherlands to Seattle to meet me in person.  It was obvious the guy was an entrepreneur and got it from the start.  Not long after, our COO Pete Wheelan and I flew to Europe on one of our many-days-in-many-cities tours to find a partner who shared our vision.  Pete saw the same things in JP that I had and it was the beginning of a business relationship that has continued since.

JP was not just Blurb's 'vendor' in Europe.  From the beginning he viewed his role as that of an ambassador for us in Europe.  With his help that market represents over 1/3 of our revenues, and we owe much to his efforts, connections, and passion.

Always the entrepreneur,  JP took over Paro in the mid-90's.  A long-established printing company that was originally in the typewriter business in Geldrop, he created an entity increasingly specialized in printing high-quality marketing materials and catered to companies like Philips that wanted to outsource the entire print process. To  guide this, Paro developed more activities in the field of strategic marketing and communication, creation, design, graphic design, software development and organization. 

Along with partner and engineer extraordinaire Peter Sygall, JP founded Book Factory Systems in 2008, allowing for books that are not only be printed automatically, but also simultaneously bound and packaged, providing extra processing speed and efficiency, and decreasing labor costs.

Last year JP's efforts were rewarded when the company was acquired by RPI in Seattle, creating RPI-Paro BV, which JP was SVP of Business Development at the time of his passing.

JP is survived by his lovely wife Astrid, and four children Sophie, Eline, Paul and Olaf, who he loved and cherished as much as a man can.  The family and friends will be saying farewell to him this Monday, July 30th and if you knew him (or knew of him or are touched by his story) a memorial site has been created in order to raise funds for the family he left behind.  Please give generously if you can at http://www.janpaulvandenhurkmemorialfund.com/. There are also links there to a condolence page as well as contact information for the family.

 

Could the iPad save magazines? It’s looking ever more likely. From @CJR

Though it may have gathered the most attention recently, Huffington, The Huffington Post’s new iPad-only magazine, isn’t the only publication making a serious tablet push these days.

Publications continue to request entry to the Apple Newsstand app, that comes with all iPads, and to digital newsstand databases like Zinio, which goes by the tagline, “The World’s Largest Newsstand.” The recently hyped Next Issue, likened to Hulu or Netflix, additionally offers tablet users an all-you-can-read array of digital magazines.

Next Issue was first released in May 2011 for the Samsung Galaxy tablet, and since then, new platforms have been added gradually—most recent was the iPad launch on July 10. The product of combined efforts by five magazine publishing giants, Next Issue, currently offering about 40 magazines, has received some complaints for its hefty price tags but still has the potential to be very successful. Some of the significant magazines making appearances on these apps include Vogue, The New Yorker, Time and Sports Illustrated.

It may seem unreasonable for publications to be channeling so much effort into tablets when only about 19 percent of Americans own them, according to a study released in January. But the army of iPad and other tablet owners is rapidly expanding, so it could prove to be a lucrative outlet for magazine publishers.

Read on here....http://wtr.mn/Me3G97

Anniversary Of The First Hasselblad On The Moon. From @redbubble @hassyusa

On this day, 42 years ago, and some 238,857 miles from Earth, the first humans touched down on the Moon’s surface and along with them a modified Hasselblad camera. As on all manned American space missions since October 1962, the crew used Hasselblad camera equipment for the photographic documentation. To date there are currently 12 abandoned Hasselblad cameras on the moon’s surface.

Read on here....http://wtr.mn/O33onX