"The Next Generation of Digital Books"

Earlier this month, I discovered Our Choice by Push Pop Press, Inc. and found it to be a pretty remarkable book. My past experience with book-apps came when the Vook was first released. I purchased the "The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen" by Eric Gower and was impressed. I enjoy vooks on my iPhone though, to me, a vook can seem a bit more like a website with embedded video in an app. "Our Choice" is a multimedia e-book that feels more like reading a slick print book with useful media added throughout.

As The New York Times Technology writer, David Pogue stated about Push Pop Press "...it didn’t create just “Our Choice.” It simultaneously created a platform, a technology, that will permit them and others to publish subsequent immersive book-apps much faster and more easily." That's what has me excited about this book-app.

Though "Our Choice" is without features available with less interactive ebooks (search, highlight, annotate, share, hyperlink, etc.), it's engaging and had me quickly engrossed. And I can only see the work being done by Push Pop Press, Inc. and others improving.

Learn more about the "Our Choice" book-app by watching the short 4min TED Talks below by Push Pop Press co-founder, Mike Matas. Then scroll down to view the 2min "Our Choice" video trailer and see what you think.

I'm not sure how popular books in apps like this will become, it seems they're best suited for certain types of books, but it should be interesting to follow as they and other e-books evolve.



"The Next Generation of Digital Books" from Push Pop Press, Inc.:

Our Choice will change the way we read books. And quite possibly change the world. In this interactive app, Al Gore surveys the causes of global warming and presents groundbreaking insights and solutions already under study and underway that can help stop the unfolding disaster of global warming. Our Choice melds the vice president's narrative with photography, interactive graphics, animations, and more than an hour of engrossing documentary footage. A new, groundbreaking multi-touch interface allows you to experience that content seamlessly. Pick up and explore anything you see in the book; zoom out to the visual table of contents and quickly browse though the chapters; reach in and explore data-rich interactive graphics.

Below is the Vimeo video trailer for "Our Choice"

Al Gore's Our Choice from Push Pop Press on Vimeo.