MetaFilter posts tagged with POD

Someday we'll find it

fantabulous timewaster — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:07:48 -0800

Atmospheric Optics. Rainbows, in spray, of moonlight, in reflective paint, without sky, with spokes, twinned, reflected, in clouds, in the fog, more. Halos, horizon distortion, green flashes, pillars, near-contrails. Surface and volume shadows. Waves atop the atmosphere. Mysteries. Picture of the Day. Via. Previously. Still no unicorns.

The Standard Oil of Books

Toekneesan — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:59:11 -0800

Amazon.com dropped a bombshell on the publishing industry with the announcement on Friday that they will no longer allow print on demand books printed by vendors other than Amazon, to be sold directly by Amazon. In other words, use our print services or lose your listing on our site. This decision effects over half a million books listed on their site and could be a defining moment for both publishing and the future of online retailing. The company with the most at stake is Lightning Source, the largest print on demand company in the world. If Amazon makes good on its threat, Lightning Source's 4,300 client publishers and their almost half a million titles on Amazon's site will go from "ships in 24 hours" to unavailable unless those publishers switch to using Amazon's company, BookSurge, as their printer. Hubris or exceptionally bold gamble? There is nothing on Amazon's site about the move. Meanwhile, On Demand, the company developing the Espresso Book Machine (previously), announced today that they have finalized an agreement with Lightning Source that would allow publishers currently using Lightning Source to license that content to On Demand so those books could be printed at Espresso sites. If the EBM catches on and Amazon's catalog is compromised, could brick and mortar bookstores and libraries find themselves with an unexpected windfall?

Hot off the presses, books printed, while you wait.

Toekneesan — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:16:17 -0800

Would you like a latte while I print that up for you? The Espresso Book Machine (previously) that was in the New York Public Library has just moved to the Northshire Bookstore in Vermont. The beta versions of this portable book-making machine are pumping out paperbacks around a book a minute at the Open Content Alliance, The Library of Alexandria, The New Orleans Public Library, and the University of Alberta. The mass produced commercial version of the machine is scheduled to roll off the assembly line within the year and will be priced between $50,000 and $20,000. Combined with one of these, publishing as we know it may never be the same. NPR's On the Media about the machine The Sunday Times on the EBM One of Time's Inventions of the Year

Open the toast bay doors, HAL

CheeseDigestsAll — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 12:41:28 -0800

Probably no one really needs a toaster with a rotating lid, motorized bread carriage, and illuminating neons, but the idea of setting its operation to music was an act of pure inspiration. Previous MeFi toaster goodness.

the diamonds in the self-published rough

Melinika — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 20:56:08 -0800

POD-dy Mouth - a blog reviewing the best of print-on-demand (self-published) books: "finding needles, discarding hay". Also with commentary on the industry itself, and great snark (1, 2). Take her quiz: can you spot the POD excerpts from the traditionally published? (Answers here.)

PediaPress. Wikipedia print-on-demand compendiums.

stbalbach — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 19:17:21 -0800

PediaPress. Print-on-demand compendiums of Wikipedia articles.