At first glance, the OBS Archives Site appears to be an outdated list of hyperlinks with layout and formatting reminiscent of the early 1990s. At that time, Mosaic browsers and hyperlinks were completely reforming our ideas about creating and sharing information. The Internet was just entering into the public consciousness. The world was changing, and →
In Massachusetts, the controversial “Tech Tax” is still being debated. This past July, a transportation bill was passed that included a measure for adding a 6.25% tax on software and computer services in the state of Massachusetts. The highest such tax in the nation, the tech tax drew opposition from business owners across the state →
On July 31, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed a bill that established a sales tax of 6.25% on all software services offered in the state. Among the few states in the U.S. that have taxable computer services, the Massachusetts tax is by far the highest – New Mexico’s tax is 5.125%, Hawaii and South Dakota →
After 20+ years in the same building, OBS is relocating to a new office! We are very excited about our new space in beautiful downtown Rockport. And while moving isn’t exactly a breeze – especially when you’ve got decades of publishing and internet history to sort through – we made things a little easier on →
As OBS packs up and starts to move our offices across town to premises recently vacated by Rockport Music, we’re making great strides towards paperlessness. Manuscripts, contracts, bank statements, resumes – tens of thousands of sheets of paper! In the process of reading, packing, scanning, and discarding comes time for contemplation. The recent media fuss →
A recent partnership between ePublishing software company Impelsys and DataLore, Inc. turns digital publishing on its head. (…What else is new?) The two companies have partnered in order to offer customized, branded ebookstores to schools and universities across the Caribbean. But instead of customizing its software solutions to publishers – Impelsys’ epublishing platform iPublishCentral offers →
In our rapidly evolving technology environment, the agile approach to proprietary software development can yield great results for publishers. As with most technology projects, the single greatest challenge to this radical approach remains the people and politics (the wetware) involved, not the software technology itself. This challenge involves not only everyone understanding, but capitalizing on the →
Back in 1996, the Weld-Cellucci Administration in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts signed Executive Order 390 – The Affirmative Market Program in Public Contracting. The idea behind this order was to ensure a commitment to incorporate minority and woman-owned businesses into the public sector marketplace. Now, over 15 years later, OBS is proud to announce our →
While digital subscriptions to online magazines have soared in the past year – the fall 2012 Survey of the American Consumer, conducted by research group Growth from Knowledge (GfK), reports increases of nearly 50% for online magazine subscriptions – major newspapers such as the New York and Los Angeles times are reporting losses in digital subscription revenues. One survey →
The release of the iPad Mini as a dedicated e-reader device suggests that e-readers are following a technology trend set by laptops and cell phones: the smaller, the better. At the same time, legibility on an e-reader screen is instrumental to its functionality. With the iPad Mini, Apple is delicately toeing the line of streamlined technology →