site in 2002. In May 2006, Distributed Proofreaders became a separate legal entity and continues to maintain a strong relationship with Project Gutenberg. 10,000 books were digitized, proofread, and "preserved for the world" in December 2006, and 18,000 books in June 2010. Distributed Proofreaders Europe (DP Europe) began production in early 2004. Distributed Proofreaders Canada (DP Canada) bagan production in December 2007.

October 2000 > The Public Library of Science, or science for all

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) was founded in October 2000 in California as a non-profit organization whose mission was to give access to the world's scientific and medical literature, with a search engine and hyperlinks between articles. PLoS posted an open letter requesting the articles traditionally published in expensive journals to be distributed freely in online archives, and asking researchers to promote the publishers willing to support this project. From October 2000 to September 2002, the open letter was signed by 30,000 scientists from 180 countries. The publishers' answer was much less enthusiastic, although a number of publishers agreed for their articles to be freely distributed immediately after publication (or six months after publication for some of them). But even the publishers who initially agreed to support the project of PloS made so many objections that it was finally abandoned. PloS became a publisher of free high-quality online scientific and medical journals in January 2003.

October 2000 > The eBookMan, a multimedia personal assistant by
Franklin

In October 2000, Franklin launched the eBookMan, a multimedia personal assistant that - among other features (calendar, voice recorder, etc.) - allowed people to read books on the Franklin Reader. Three models (EBM-900, EBM-901 and EBM-911) were available in early 2001, for US$130, $180 or $230 depending on the RAM size (8 or 16 MB) and a backlit or not LCD screen. Much larger than the screen of its competitors, the screen was only in black and white, unlike the Pocket PC or some PDAs from Palm. The eBookMan could also be used to listen to audiobooks and music files in MP3 format. In October 2001, people could read books on the Mobipocket Reader, and the Franklin Reader was also available for the Pocket PC and PDAs from Psion, Palm, and Nokia.

November 2000 > The Gemstar eBook, an ebook reader in two versions

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 (author of the Rocket eBook, the first ebook reading device) and SoftBook Press (author of the SoftBook Reader, the second ebook reading device) in January 2000, before buying the French 00h00.com, a producer of digital books, in September 2000. Two Gemstar eBooks 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 (successor of the Rocket eBook) had a black and white screen. The REB 1200 (successor of the SoftBook Reader) had a color screen. Both were produced by RCA (Thomson Multimedia). Later on, cheaper models were 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 reading devices in June 2003, and ebooks the following month.

November 2000 > The original Bible of Gutenberg digitized, and available online

The digitized version of the original Bible of Gutenberg was available online in November 2000, on the website of the British Library. 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 the Keio University (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, a British novelist, 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 published online The Veteran, 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 electronic 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 the United Kingdom (Alphabetstreet, BOL.com, WHSmith) and in the U.S. (Barnes & Noble, Contentville, Glassbook).

November 2000 > Arturo Pérez-Reverte, a Spanish novelist, made a digital experiment

Arturo Pérez-Reverte, a Spanish novelist, is famous for his best-seller collection of novels telling the adventurous life of Capitan Alatriste in the 17th century. The new title to be released in late 2000 was "El Oro del Rey" (The King's Gold). In November 2000, the author partnered with his publisher Alfaguara to publish "El Oro del Rey" exclusively in digital form for one month, on a specific site of the web portal Inicia, before the release of the print version in bookstores. The novel was available in PDF format for 2.90 euros, a much cheaper price than the 15.10 euros of the forthcoming print book. As a result of the experiment, the number of downloads was very good, but not the number of payments. A month after the online publishing of the novel, there are 332,000 downloads, but only 12,000 readers who paid for it.

November 2000 > Amazon.com opened its eBookStore

Amazon.com started its eBookStore in November 2000, following a partnership with Microsoft in August 2000 to sell digital books for the Microsoft Reader. The same month, Amazon.com also partnered with Adobe to offer digital books for the Acrobat Reader and the Glassbook Reader - Adobe had just bought Glassbook, its reader and its digital bookstore. In April 2001, Amazon.com partnered again with Adobe to include in its collection 2,000 copyrighted books for the Acrobat eBook Reader, mainly titles from major publishers, travel guides, and children books.

December 2000 > Gyricon Media, to develop an electronic ink technology

In December 2000, researchers at PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), the Xerox center in Silicon Valley, California, founded the company Gyricon Media to market the SmartPaper, an electronic paper based on the display technology called gyricon - developed since 1997 within Xerox. Very briefly explained, the technology was the following one: in between two sheets of flexible plastic, millions of micro-cells contain two-tone (for example black and white) beads suspended in a clear liquid. Each bead has an electric charge. An external electrical pulse makes the balls rotate and change color, to display, modify, or delete data. In 2004, the market was commercial advertising, with small posters running on batteries. The company ended its activities in 2005, with R&D activities going on at Xerox.

2000 > The wiki, a collaborative website

Deriving from the Hawaiian term "wiki" ("fast"), a wiki is a website allowing multiple users to collaborate online on the same project. The wiki concept became quite popular in 2000. At any time, users can contribute to drafting content, edit it, improving it, and updating it. The wiki has been used for