00 > The Gemstar eBook

The Gemstar eBook was launched in October 2000 by Gemstar-TV Guide
International, a company providing digital products and services for
the media. Gemstar first bought Nuvomedia (Rocket eBook) and SoftBook
Press (SoftBook) in January 2000, as well as the French 00h00.com, a
producer of digital books, in September 2000. Two Gemstar eBook were
available for sale in the U.S. in November 2000, with a later attempt
in Germany to test the European market. The REB 1100 had a black and
white screen, like the Rocket eBook. The REB 1200 had a color screen,
like the SoftBook Reader. Both were produced by RCA (Thomson
Multimedia). New and cheaper models were then launched as GEB 1150 and
2150, produced by Gemstar instead of RCA. But the sales were still far
below expectations. The company stopped selling ebook readers in June
2003, and ebooks the following month.

November 2000 > The original Bible of Gutenberg online

The digitized version of the Bible of Gutenberg was available online in
November 2000. Gutenberg printed its Bible in 1454 or 1455 in Germany,
perhaps printing 180 copies, with 48 copies still available in 2000,
and three copies--two full ones and one partial one--at the British
Library. The two full copies--a little different from each other--were
digitized in March 2000 by Japanese experts from Keio University
of Tokyo and NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Communications). The
images were then processed to offer a full digital version on the web a
few months later, for the world to enjoy.

November 2000 > Frederick Forsyth made a digital experiment

Following Stephen King's footsteps, Frederick Forsyth, the British
master of thrillers, decided to make a digital experiment in
partnership with Online Originals, an electronic publisher from London.
In November 2000, Online Originals Veteran published online The
Veteran, which as the story of a violent crime in London, and the first
part of Quintet, a collection of five short stories (announced in the
following order: The Veteran, The Miracle, The Citizen, The Art of the
Matter, and Draco). Available in three formats (PDF, Microsoft Reader
and Glassbook Reader), the short story was sold for 3.99 pounds (6.60
euros) on the publisher's website and in several online bookstores in
UK (Alphabetstreet, BOL.com, WHSmith) and in the U.S. (Barnes & Noble,
Contentville, Glassbook).

November 2000 > Arturo Perez-Reverte made a digital experiment