8A
/ NEWS / FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
TECHNOLOGY
Sales of e-textbooks could rise
BY ZACH GETZ
zgetz@kansan.com
As more digital reading devices hit the market, more textbooks could be offered in digital formats.
Publishers like McGraw-Hill and Pearson Higher Education already offer most of their textbooks in digital form. McGraw-Hill offers 95 percent of its books in digital formats, according to a press release. New applications allow e-textbooks and Kindle books to be readable on iPhones and the soon-to-be-released iPad.
Kayla Barrs, a senior from Abilene, Texas, said she would be interested in the books, but she probably wouldn't buy an iPad or Kindle. She said she would just use her iPhone if she were to buy e-textbooks. Barrs said she saw both the positives and the negatives of using an e-textbook.
"I have a thing about books,
and I like to have the books in front of me," Barrs said. "And the digital kind of hurts my eyes after a while, but I definitely see them as an advantage."
Kevin Neeland, owner of Neeland Media LLC, 918 Massachusetts St., said e-books have an advantage to regular books because they are searchable, have a dictionary and stu-
a fad, but it could be too soon to tell.
"They say something like 80 percent of all books are bought by 2 percent of the population, so it
"I have a thing about books, and I like to have the books in front of me."
dents can add notes right on the e-book.
KAYLA BARRS Abilene, Texas senior
Neeland Media offers about 2,000 e-books, most of which are classics and other novels. Neeland said e-book sales have increased dynamically over the past six years that his company has offered them. Neeland said he thought e-books might be more than just
might just be for the hardcore readers," Neeland said.
The devices used to read e-books often come with a hefty price tag.
Apple's iPad, which
will be released next month, will start at $499. Amazon's Kindle DX starts at $459.
Despite the initial cost, e-readers could save students money in the long run because of the high cost of textbooks.
Amazon offers many classic texts, such as Karl Marx's "The Communist Manifesto" and
Aristotle's "Politics," for free in the Kindle store. An e-textbook can cost up to a third of the price of a paper version.
The KU Bookstore stopped offering e-textbooks last semester after carrying them for three years.
Assistant director Estella McCollum said the KU Bookstore removed e-textbooks because the bookstore never sold more than 12 copies in a semester. However, the KU Bookstore plans to bring back e-textbooks next semester, she said.
"We haven't seen a demand for them at all, but we just want people to be able see what the different price options are." McCollum said.
The University Book Store has no immediate plan to start offering digital books, said manager Colby Venema.
- Edited by Kristin Hudson
SO WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
Essentials of Economics
KU Bookstore: $147.35
Coursesmart.com: $55.88
Discovering Physical Geography
KU Bookstore:$136.95
Coursesmart.com: $70.50
Exploring Psychology
KU Bookstore: $79.25
Coursesmart.com: $39.95
Notes from the Underground
KU Bookstore: $12.95
Amazon's Kindle store: $1.99
Communist Manifesto
KU Bookstore: $15.35
Amazon's Kindle store: $0.00
FOSSILS (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
almost a whole skull," Martin said.
Because the fish didn't have a long snout and fang-like teeth, researchers were able to distinguish the difference between it and the ancient swordfish.
"With a blunt massive head, the fish had long toothless jawbones and long gill-supporting bones that are characteristic of plankton feeding fish," Shimada said.
Skeletal fossils of ancient fish are rare because most of the animal's skeleton is made out of
cartilage and
over time,
the cartilage
disintegrates.
Martin said.
Martin and a specialist who makes castes of fossils prepared the specimen's bones to be studied.
Team member Kenshu Shimada, associate professor of environmental and biological science at DePaul University and research associate in paleontology at Fort Hays State University, said the fish was most likely surrounded by many formidable predators, such as large meateating sharks and marine lizards, but the planktivore had the ability to protect itself.
not only were they around, but they were around and important for about 100 million years," Martin said.
"I knew it was a fish we didn't know much about, and we had acquired almost a whole skull."
LIFE OF THE BONNERICHTHYS
Martin said they would eventually have the model on display at the Natural History Museum on campus.
LARRY MARTIN paleontologist
Martin said modern, giant planktivores, such as manta rays and blue whales, are very common in today's oceans.
"They seemed to be absent in the seas of the ancient dinosaurs but now we've discovered that
" The planktoneating fish possessed well developed fore-fins equipped with a blade-like margin and a sharp point that
likely served as an effective defense system."
Martin and his team estimate the fish to be about 18 feet long — the head around three to four feet and its fins about three feet long.
"I'd be scared to swim with it even though I realized it was only eating phytoplankton," Martin said. "It's a big, spectacular animal and nobody knew it was there. It's a big deal."
Edited by Kelly Gibson
**Illustration courtesy of Larry Martin**
A team of paleontologists uncovered the fossil remains of the Bonnerichthys in the Niobrabra Chalk located in Western Kansas. An article about the find was published in Thursday's edition of *Science Magazine*.
Illustration courtesy of Larry Martin
NATIONAL
No need for hang up over comment
SPOKANE, Wash. — An organizer of a weekend "tea party" gathering in eastern Washington said Thursday she was the speaker who drew applause from the crowd by calling for one of the state's Democratic U.S. senators to be hanged.
But Dianne Capps of Clarkston said her remark about Sen. Patty Murray was taken out of context, and what she meant was that Murray should be voted out of office in November.
"Nobody had a rope to hang Patty Murray,"she said.
Capps' comment Saturday at the Lewis & Clark Tea Party Patriots meeting at the county fairgrounds in Asotin, Wash., were captured by television station KLEW of Lewiston, Idaho. While speaking to the crowd from the podium, Capps said Murray should suffer the same fate as the character Jake in the western "Lonesome Dove."
"What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd?" Capps asked."He got hung. And that's what I want to do with Patty Murray."
The crowd erupted in laughter. Organizers estimated about 500 people attended the event.
Associated Press
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