How to do everything with your iPAQ

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0072223332/jasonsego">http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0072223332/jasonsego</a><br /><br />Sing with me now: "It's a small world after all..." This new Pocket PC book, published by Osborne McGraw-Hill, is written by Barry Shilmover and Derek Ball, both of whom work for Sonic Mobility - the generous people who donated the server and bandwidth to host this site. Sonic Mobility happens to be in Calgary, where I'm located. And guess who tech edited the book and wrote the accessories chapter? Yours truly. Here's a blurb on the book:<br /><br /><img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0072223332.01._PE30_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br /><br />"Do more with your iPAQ than you ever thought possible using this easy-to-use guide. Get step-by-step guidance for using Word, Excel, and Outlook, manage your finances, and secure your iPAQ from theft or loss. Covering wireless connections, troubleshooting, as well as fun things to do with the most popular pocket PC¿this book will show you how make the most out of your iPAQ."<br /><br />The book is mostly for people who just bought an iPAQ, and covers all the basics. It also has a few chapters more advanced users will appreciate, with coverage of GPS hardware &amp; software, games, and the aforementioned accessories chapter. I'm pleased with the way the book turned out, and I think most iPAQ users will enjoy it.

[dunneldeen]

Is it available as an ebook? :D

[Jason Dunn]

Is it available as an ebook? :D

Nah, I don't think so. Most publishers are still reluctant to publish eBooks because the market is so small. Someday...especially if they create software that's smart enough to allow reformatting without completely maiming the graphics. Fictional books make great eBooks, but technical books and manuals are another thing.

[pt]

[quote=dunneldeen]Is it available as an ebook? :D

what would you pay for an ebook like that?

[JF in Detroit]

I could be wrong, I've been wrong before, but when I cruise the book stores and look at the Pocket PC books, if the cover has a picture of a pre 3800 I assume the information is out of date. Since the 3800 is the flagship iPAQ, why not put that on the cover? :?: :?

[fmcpherson]

pt, another question would be, what are the expectations for screen shots relating eBooks? For instance, my book has a ton of screen shots and I am not sure they would translate very well to a Pocket PC ebook.

And fwiw, Osborne did create an Adobe Acrobate eBook version of my first edition, and I suspect they will do the same for HTDE PPC 2nd Edition, as well as the iPAQ book. Obviously, the problem is that there isn't an Acrobat eBook reader for Pocket PCs.

The decision to make an eBook version is entirely with the publisher. Contracts now cover compensation for writers if eBook versions are sold, but there are no guarantees that one will be made.

I've also had some discussions with Osborne about creating an ebook-only version of HTDE with Your Handheld PC, which would keep the handheld PC part of my first edition alive. They haven't bitten on the idea. My guess is the only way they would do it is if I did that edition for no advance, which I wouldn't want to do since I would have to put the same amount of work into it as I did for the 2nd Edition of HTDE PPC.

[fmcpherson]

I suspect that Jason is pulling the Amazon version of the cover image. If you look on Osborne's site you will see a more current version.

http://shop.osborne.com/cgi-bin/osborne/0072223332.html

What happens is that Osborne's marketing people send the images of the book out to their distributors before the books are finished, and usually well before the cover is actually created. In my case they simply changed the title of the first edition of my book and and sent out the cover, which is competely wrong.

Unfortunately, once Amazon and B&N puts these images on their site they take forever to remove them.

What I want to know is how they placed the iPAQ on the book's binding. I was a peeved that Osborne put the iPAQ in landscape on the binding of my book. It doesn't look at all right when you are browsing the book shelves.

[Steven Cedrone]

It doesn't look at all right when you are browsing the book shelves.

I know it's wrong, but I have piles of books lying around. Landscape on the spine looks good....

BTW Frank, are you going to do anything else with handhelds???

Also, what is a Yooper???