Google Editions will have Unique ISBN numbers!

YES!!! I'm starting to hear other companies talking about the importance of assigning ISBN numbers to books (no matter their format). I know its a sleeper subject, but it's important to creators like me. READ WHY HERE: Why APPs need ISBN Numbers.
     And Google is doing it for good reasons - the ISBN system is already established, crosses platforms and is trackable through Bowker. For authors it means we can attach ourselves to our eBooks through search sites like BookTour.com, filedby.com, jacketflap, etc. (Right now, there is no way to do it.)
     Per Publishers Lunch:

     With or Without You, Your Google Editions Will Have Unique ISBNs
... for products sold through Google Editions. They will use the industry-standard ISBN--as opposed to vendors like Amazon, who assign their own unique ASINs to Kindle books.
...
     Google's Tom Turvey says in the announcement "this decision was driven by the book industry's strong reliance on the ISBN along with our partner-centric business and distribution models. We look forward to working closely with Bowker, our publishing and retail partners and the ISBN Standards Community to ensure a stabilized and uniform approach to the cataloging, discovery and selling of Google Editions."

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Toon Book Reader

This is a real treat. Toon Books, the new(ish) publishing company by creative geniuses Francoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman, have made their books available online in several different languages and they are absolutely charming. Click the image to visit the Toon Book Reader and enjoy!
Thanks to Anastasia Suen for the heads up!

SFTC Cribs: Inept bomber edition

Once in a while when I'm scanning the latest headlines on my Google home page, I'll see a link to a seemingly inane "news story" in the CNN.com feed and cringe. And I'll wonder: "What kind of idiots would waste their time reading about this nonsense?"

And then, typically, I answer my own question by clicking through to read more.

Today, that happened when I came across a Very Important News Article about the "$65,000 home equity piggy bank" belonging to Faisal Shahzad, the man being held in connection with the botched attempt to car-bomb Times Square last weekend.

I'm not sure why this seemed interesting, except perhaps that I've never seen the inside of an incompetent bomber's home, or maybe I'm the kind of guy who just likes virtual open houses. As you can see here, it's all pretty unremarkable. No telltale signs of an "aspiring terrorist bomber," as CNN so eloquently* put it. Not even any photos of Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

In fact, what I found most interesting were the cloying little blurbs accompanying the photos, which read as though they were co-written by Captain Obvious and a very dimwitted real estate agent.

For example, the master bedroom:

This is precisely the reason we turn to CNN. For analysis like this: "Green is the theme color in the Shahzads' bedroom. The curtains pick up the tone of the bed linens, and a bamboo print hung between the windows extends the botanical motif."

This is not retouched or edited. Someone really wrote that.

Walk with me to the kid's room, won't you?

The extraordinary analysis only deepens here, where we learn that the child's bedroom "appears to be slightly more cluttered than the rest of the house - a not-uncommon characteristic of a child's room."

Penetrating insights from the news organization that is quickly becoming known as the world leader in boudoir-organization reportage.

OK, let's go out back:

In case you can't quite make it out, this is a photo of an empty wooden deck. Which is empty. And has nothing on it.

CNN helpfully explains: "There's certainly no evidence that anyone barbecued or lounged on the house's deck; it seems to be entirely empty."

Yes, yes it does.

*Either eloquently or ridiculously. You decide.