For passionate literature fans, one of the more stifling limitations of eBooks (well, eReaders) has been their inability to capture the precious autographs of a book’s author. At least until now.
At a signing for his book “Hyperformance,” author and senior consultant for United States Special Operations Command, T.J. Waters, was greeted by a fan who joked, “It’s too bad you can’t sign my Kindle.”
The New York Times has the rest of the story, but essentially Mr. Waters decided that it was time for eReaders to catch up to, ironically, their more primitive yet paginated ancestors. This gave way to the idea for Autography.
Set to debut in May, Autography works by leveraging the touchscreen of an author’s iPad. Here’s how it works: The fan and the author pose for a photograph, either directly from the iPad 2 or from another camera which then gets sent to the author’s iPad. The author then electronically signs and dedicates a message to the adoring fan on a blank iPad page, and sends it (along with photo proof) to that fan’s Kindle/Nook. The autographed message gets added into the eBook as an extra page.
The whole process takes about two and a half minutes, which — if you’ve ever been to a book signing — is more than enough time for some serious eye rolling behind you.
But hey! It’s your favorite author’s signature! In your new favorite eBook! And as an added bonus, you can post the proof directly to Facebook, Twitter or wherever else your reading-friends will gawk.
(via NY Times)
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