1.Oct.2009 | Maria Thurrell
Vook – The Web Browser
Earlier today we officially launched four titles: Promises, a romance by Jude Deveraux, The 90 Second Fitness Solution, a fitness book by Pete Cerqua, Embassy, a thriller by Richard Doetsch and Return to Beauty, a health book by Narine Nikogosian. All are designed to manifest Vook’s mission: to blend a book with videos into one complete, instructive and entertaining story.
We even created this great video to show everyone what a vook actually is:
Not only do our vooks incorporate high-quality videos into the text to create an immersive experience, but they have a bunch of other cool features too!
Features
Each vook offers you four different ways to interact with the content. |
The Mix View
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The Watch View
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The Read View
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The Connect View
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Other features include:Full Screen ModeWith the click of a button, you can switch to the full-screen mode for easier reading and the best viewing experience. To optimize your vook, we suggest using the full-screen option whenever possible. BookmarksA simple bookmarking system allows you to mark your place for the next time you login to your vook and keep track of important passages or information you want to be able to access easily in the future. Text SizeChange the size of the text so your eyes will be at their happiest. Table of Contents and NavigationTwo methods of navigation make it easy to voyage through the story. A pop-up table of contents show the chapters in a customary format and a carousel of images along the bottom visually helps you move around the vook. |
| Of course, should you forget which icon means what, there is a helpful guide located on the top right corner of the screen. To access it, simply click the button that says “How to Use Vook” |
| We sincerely hope you enjoy your vook and please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or comments! info (at) vook (dot) com |
Related posts:
[...] full explanation of the Vook digital book web interface is at the Vook blog. I’m not going to rehash that. Instead I’ll point out what’s exciting and [...]
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by John Montalbano and JAHeinlein. JAHeinlein said: RT @vooktv Vook – The Web Browser | The Vook Blog http://bit.ly/2DjpDQ [...]
WOW! I bought the Jude Devereaux and read half of it during my dinner hour. This is definitely the book of the future. The video part still needs a little technical work…it wasn’t as smooth as a youtube video…and I think it will be more enriching and less distracting for kids books and non-fiction, but all in all it is positive and I am delighted to be a vook reader.
Also, I love the actual reader interface…all ebooks should adopt it. It’s wonderful!
I would think it would be worth considering doing a Vook of short stories. A short story requires less reader time commitment, and gives the Vook team a smaller scale storytelling event to be able to experiment with.
I instantly see the possibilities for college textvooks. Text with imbedded: solved problems with a human talking over the writing (filmed on paper in step by step, patient manner), computer graphical simulations of concepts, actual physical demonstrations of concepts, actual shots from real experiments around the world; slides from lectures on the subject matter.
My questions:
1. how are they produced? What format is required for the text-part? pdf?
2. how expensive are these to make? are “enterprise editions” possible for specific courses in specific semesters?
3. that is, are all vooks (at least with Simon and Schuster) going to be trade vooks?
This could be interesting and pedagogically sound.
Raymond Brock
Professor of Physics
Michigan State University
[...] Vook’s web interface shows what’s possible with the digital book. Something that looks simple is the product of the hardest thinking possible. It’s the complex and nonsensical that’s the end-result of non-thought. [...]
[...] Lesen im Web und zum Herunterladen fürs iPhone an. Wie das mit dem Web-Browser gehen soll, wird im Vook-Blog erklärt. Die iPhone-Variante habe ich mal selber ausprobiert, mit einem Krimi, Richard Doetschs [...]
@psngray I agree, short stories would make great vooks
Hi Raymond,
We definitely see a future in textbooks. We’ve even blogged about it a few times. My aunt who teaches in an online Master’s program brings this point up pretty much every time we talk!
For your questions:
1. We work with the author(s) and filmmaker(s) very closely to produce content. The text can already be written (90 Second Fitness, one of our launch titles was already out in print), but we work with the author and publishing house to adapt it to the vook format. We then put it all together into a vook.
2. At this time, we don’t offer an enterprise solution. I would be surprised if we don’t at least consider it down the road though.
3. Our initial titles are all trade vooks, but again, this doesn’t mean that it might be different in the future.
There are so many possibilities for where we can head as a company and where vooks will head as a product. Considering how creative and imaginative Brad Inman had to be to come up with Vook in the first place, I can only believe that many more innovative incarnations are to come.