The iBooks store will have a sprawling network of categories for iPad readership--a shopping experience beyond the App Store's simple interface. Forbes explored a report by Busted Loop about the inner workings of the iBooks platform.

Here's more from the article: "[It's] a highly organized approach to bookselling. Apple has designated about 20 'top-level' categories for books, including 'Fiction & Literature', 'Reference,' 'Romance,' 'Cookbooks' and 'Comics & Graphic Novels.' Below those categories lie more than 150 sub-categories, including some very specific genres, such as 'Manga' under 'Comics & Graphic Novels,' 'Special Ingredients' under 'Cookbooks,' and 'Etiquette' under 'Reference.'"

In addition, there will be extensive subcategories, according to the report. The "Sports and Outdoors" contains 15 different kinds of labels, while "Fiction & Literature" will have 13 subcategories.

In his review of the new Irex eReader--the first targeted at the US market, with 3G and an interesting "mall" concept for buying eBooks--Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walter Mossberg says the Irex has some good features, but "poses no threat to Kindle." Harsh!

Mossberg notes that, in comparison to the Kindle, the Irex DR800SG, which costs a hefty (for an E-Ink device) $400, has a handful of smart bells and whistles: a larger screen (8.1"); fewer buttons and a sleeker design; plus a new concept for wireless eBook buying that allows users to shop at multiple stores from the device, though right now it only only offers access to Barnes & Noble's eBook store as well as NewspaperDirect for periodicals. But, says Mossberg, these enhancements turn out to have their clunky sides, such as navigation via stylus and the necessity to sign in to multiple accounts to use the eBook mall.

Here's more from his review: "I found the Irex much clumsier to use than the Kindle and, because of that, I still prefer the Amazon device. For instance, the Irex requires a stylus--an ancient and fading navigation device—for some operations. Yet it lacks a holder for this pointer except in the leather cover, so the stylus is easy to lose. The Irex also lacks a Home button, a note-taking function, any way to highlight text and a built-in dictionary."

Amazon's still got everyone beat, it seems, on convenience--its eBook store, notes Mossberg, is just easier and faster to use. And if you're going to spend as much as $400, you might as well just pony up an extra Benjamin for an iPad, right?

Google has made its first book canning deal with a national government's ministry of culture, reports The Bookseller. Through the agreement, Google will scan, and pay for the scanning of, public domain books from libraries in Rome and Florence. The coolest part is that, among the million book Google has agreed to scan, are works by Galileo and Kepler. So, if you read Italian but don't live in Italy, you'll soon have some very interesting books to peek at.

Hachette Book Group reported its forth quarter 2009 numbers yesterday. Profits were up in forth quarter, despite a decrease in sales of Stephanie Meyer's 'Twilight' books. But eBooks were there to take up some of the slack!

Here's more from Publishers Weekly: "Sales at HBG USA declined significantly in the fourth quarter as comparisons with 2008 were made difficult by the strong sales in that period of Meyer's titles. Offsetting the drop in Meyer titles a bit was the growth in e-book sales. According to Lagardere, e-book sales in December in the U.S. were $5 million, a total that surpassed e-book sales for all of 2008. E-book sales represented 3% of full year sales at HBG USA in 2009."

EPub, an open and widely-used format for eBooks, is a great ideal, but, as Gizmodo points out in a lengthy post running down the various eBook and DRM formats, but various companies different kinds of DRM basically kills the promise of eBooks compatible across devices.

Most companies, says Gizmodo, use Adobe's DRM. But Amazon's got its own format, and Apple will be using its own FairPlay DRM. So, as you probably already know, you won't be swapping eBooks between iPad and Kindle or Nook or anything.

Here's the main point from Gizmodo: "You may be thinking that it's just a matter of time before ebook stores all go DRM free. That would be wishful thinking at best. While ebooks might seem a lot like digital music circa 2005, you can't rip a book, so the only way to get a bestseller on your reader is to buy it legally, or to steal it. It's pretty much that simple. There will be free books, there will be unencrypted books, and the torrents will rage with bestsellers (as they already do). Still, DRM's gonna be a hard fact of life with every major bookstore, since they're going to at least try to keep you from stealing it. You don't see Hollywood giving up DRM, do you?"

Where will you be at midnight tonight? We know, even if you won't admit it--you will be sitting in front of your computer, like the rest of us, waiting for Apple to switch on the iPad pre-order button (which this blogger is betting they won't do until much earlier in the morning). Then you will pre-order your iPad. Right?

In case you haven't been following, iPad pre-ordering starts tomorrow, Friday, March 12, and the WiFi models will be available April 3rd, with the 3G iPads coming at the end of April.

(By the way, last night this blogger dreamed he already had an iPad...he went to a big store to buy it...they had cookies...and Nintendo had made an attachment to play NES games on the iPad...he ate too many cookies.)

HarperOne has just launched a series of new eBook editions of the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Bible, making this popular edition of The Good Word available on the major eReaders, including Kindle, Sony Reader, Nook and various smartphones. The newly available editions include the NRSV, NRSV with Apocrypha, NRSV Catholic Edition, The HarperCollins Study Bible (NRSV), and The Green Bible.. The NSRV Bible with Apocrypha costs $9.59 at Amazon.

[Source: Christian News Wire]

Dell's upcoming mini-tablet, called the Streak, will come with the Kindle app pre-loaded, reports Engadget. Dell is apparently hammering out a content agreement with Amazon to place all its digital content apps, including its Mp3 store and the Kindle store--on the device, which, as you can see above, will also come in fancy colors.

Thanks, Mike Cane, for the tip.

In an GalleyCat interview this morning, one New Yorker staff writer refused to "sugarcoat" the declining state of long form journalism. However, he placed hope in online outlets and digital tools for carrying the art into the 21st Century.

Today's guest on the Morning Media Menu was David Grann, a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine and the author of and The Lost City of Z. Grann discussed his newest book, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, and shared tips for aspiring long-form journalists--explaining how he ended up at one of America's greatest magazines after years of work.

Press play on the embedded player below to listen.

What do you think? How can digital books help long form journalists preserve their literary legacy? Here's an excerpt from the interview: "It was a very circuitous path. It was not very linear--I floundered about for many years. I had many different careers early on. I knew I wanted to be a writer. But, like so many people, I didn't know how to be one--other than just do it. I didn't know what form it would take."

continued...

Distributor Baker & Taylor and LibreDigital are partnering with Elsevier, the scientific, medical and technical publisher, to bring Elsevier's books to the forthcoming Blio platform. The titles will include all sorts of rich-text enhancements, including video, audio and other cool stuff.

Tom Morgan, Chairman and CEO of Baker & Taylor, said in a release, "Blio is the perfect e-reader software to showcase Elsevier's books, which provide highly specialized and informative text and graphics. Readers will enjoy a truly interactive reading--and learning--experience."

By the end of 2010, Elsevier plans to launch 8,000-9,000 titles for Blio, some of them with exciting enhancements, like 3D technology.

Yesterday, Samsung officially unveiled that cool eReader we showed you from CES--remember the one you can actually write on with an included stylus. It's called the E6, will cost $300, and will be available this spring. Check out eBookNewser's exclusive video above to see mediabistro.com editorial director Chris Ariens' encounter with the device at CES.

Samsung is taking a "page" from B&N's Nook: B&N will be the eBook store for the device, which has a WiFi, but not 3G connection. The E6 will also have some cool extras, including an MP3 player with front-facing speakers and wireless headphones. It'll have a 6" E-Ink display, and will support EPub, PDF and TXT files.

Check out this writeup from Brighthand.com for more info.

Today is Copyright Clearance Center's (CCC) annual OnCopyright convention. It's a very cool event held at New York's Union League Club. Speakers include Google's Bill Patry, author David Shields, and video artist Pogo. If you can't attend, follow CCC's Twitter handle, @BeyondTheBook or use the hashtag #oncopyright2010. CCC also has a dedicated widget for Tweets on the conference, as well as more info, here.