Push Pop Press, hailed for its genuinely interactive Al Gore book Our Choice, just received an offer from Facebook it could not refuse. As a consequence, the e-book publisher's two founders announced they "were setting off to help design the world's largest book -- Facebook." That's pretty good work, considering the acquisition was made on the basis of one completed e-book and some sexy beta test results.However, as an April 2011 Podcasting News (PN) story noted, the gold in Push Pop's hills emerges when one examines its "underlying publishing platform." The PN writer, James Lewin, noted its features:
* Easy to Publish -- Layout and publish interactive digital books without writing code
* Mixed Media -- Tell rich stories using text, images, audio, video, images and interactive graphics
* Interactive graphics -- Embed interactive graphics that use the microphone, accelerometer, and more
* Multi-Touch User Interface -- Edge-to-edge content, without any distracting toolbars or buttons
* Visual Table of Contents -- Browse through hundreds of pages quickly and easily
* Pages Load Instantly -- Pages load as fast as your finger can swipe
* Start Reading Immediately -- Start reading the first chapter as the rest of the book downloads in the background
* Updatable Content -- Update your content without having to update the app
* iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch -- Publish one universal app that can be read on an iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.
The San Jose Mercury News offers a brief, coherent story about the acquisition announcement, and is one of the few articles that notes Push Pop's founders' former employment with Apple. Earlier this year, Wired published a useful piece on the firm's guiding lights and their ambitions. (The above image originally appeared in Wired and shows Push Pop's founders Kimon Tsinteris and Mike Matas.) The TED video linked here shows Matas's address to a March, 2011 Long Beach, California conference in which he introduces the Gore book and its features.
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