What are the advantages of reading an ebook?

I have found an interesting article on ebooks and e-reading talking about the advantages of e-books. But first of all, what exactly is an ebook? It is a electronic format of a book.

It has several advantages as follows:

1) Environment Friendly.

2) Immediate deliuvery.

3) Ebooks are portable so you can carry 1000's of books in when you are traveling anywhere.

4) Ebooks are easier to read and information can be easily searched unlike in printed books where you will need to flip the pages.

What do you think are ebooks main disadvantages? Do you find it hard to read an ebook?

5) Some ebooks come with lot of bonuses, which you cannot get with the published version.

6) Ebooks contain links to information and websites so that you can easily access more related information.

7) They take up a lot less space than a printed book and you will not need a bookshelf to keep an ebook.

8) Many ebooks are interactive and contains audios, videos and flash which makes reading more appealing and entertaining.

9) It is possible to read ebooks anywhere nowadays due to the advancement in technology.

10) They cost much lesser than the printed format and there is also no extra shipping and packaging charges.

11) Ebooks can be easily printed when and where you want.

12) There are many free ebooks available on a lot of different topics and thus you will not need to buy anything if you find a free ebook.

13) Ebooks can be purchased and downloaded any time you want and anywhere you want. You will just need an Internet connection

14) It is easier to sell or distribute ebooks.

15) Audio ebooks help people with disabilities to study.

Nowadays a lot of people have adopted e-reading as the most preferred method of reading and ebooks as the most preferred format of books.

What do you think are its main disadvanatges? Do you find it hard to read an ebook?

New media saving lives?

Recently I read an interesting article Social Media Saves Lives: Salmonella Outbreak Pushes HHS, FDA, CDC to Get Social about how social media can be used for quick and effective information sharing. This article caught my attention because it shows how new media can be used literally for saving lives. In this case sharing information saved lives of people who could have been infected with salmonella, and the article is stressing out how the US government is now embracing social media as an effective channel for communications.

This case is only on example how Web 2.0 technologies will be integrated into health agencies from now on and how new media is enabling valuable collaboration.