Monday, July 26, 2010

One small step...



...will become a wonderful, slippery slope. :)

More info here. This ruling is really big news. In part this will:

-- allow owners of used cell phones to break access controls on their phones in order to switch wireless carriers.

-- allow people to break technical protections on video games to investigate or correct security flaws.

-- allow college professors, film students and documentary filmmakers to break copy-protection measures on DVDs so they can embed clips for educational purposes, criticism, commentary and noncommercial videos.

-- allow computer owners to bypass the need for external security devices called dongles if the dongle no longer works and cannot be replaced.

-- allow blind people to break locks on electronic books so that they can use them with read-aloud software and similar aides.

iPads are next. And speaking of iPads...Mastering Revit 2011 looks amazing on it. That's right! Downloadable versions should be available as eBook and Kindle versions in a few days or so. Here's a screen grab from the Table of Contents.



FULL color (where we used color images) were used in printing the e-versions. We didn't want to simply reuse the same converted gray scale images used for printing the physical book. What's really neat is the figure references are hyperlinks to their associated image. And you can even double+click an image to 'zoom' in for more detail!

Here's and example from chapter on Film and Stage, showing details from the "Watchman" movie of the Karnak fortress and armatures from Dr. Manhattan's lab.



Been holding out for an iPad and need something to help push you over the edge? Think of it this way: if you buy Mastering Revit 2011 for the special price of only $550 we'll throw in the iPad for free! ;)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Damn! My treeware copy just shipped today, and I now I will need to buy another copy! Need to I tell you, I drank the cool-aid! Maybe I can get the office to buy the treeware version from me.

Seriously, VERY glad to see you guys going down this road. Software manuals is one of those areas where eBooks will be a huge step forward. Already looking forward to the book for 2012, with screencasts!