Desktop Author is one of those products that is so cool it makes you (or at least me ;-) almost quiver with digital excitement! It's allows you, in the site's own words to create '3D page turning digital web books'.
"Digital web books are any type of e-publication including e-brochures, e-books, digital photo albums, e-cards, digital diaries, online resumes, quizzes, exams, tests, forms and surveys."
I'm impressed as it really makes it possible to bridge gaps between the printed and online world. I tried some of the samples and they were really practical. I can't wait for an opportunity to try out the software.
(Note to the authors of the site if they happen to be reading, I would really put the description of the product right at the top of the page as I had to search around before I finally found the above quoted text in the middle of the page and worked out what the product was all about).
While I'm on the topic of digital content ...
Zinio as always deserves a mention as they do a great job of digitizing magzines. The problem I found is that magazines are designed to be read in printed form and so reading them on a computer in exactly the same layout was not fluid, even with a Tablet PC and some practice. I really like the concept, think it does have it's uses as it is, and think there is a lot of potential for different formats of digital content, but feel that some thought is required with regards to how to make magazine content nicely readable on a PC.
Finally PressDisplay is another great site/tool with newspapers from around the world in digital format. I'm pleased to see they have recently added any even better reader and offline viewer. I'm not a newspaper reader so don't make much use of this. Also they can't offer all newspapers online. But if you are an heavy newspaper reader and you can find publications you like on the site it is a great service.