Great excitement here in the HotSpot Confidential studio. Because this ebook is now available in the .epub format.

The cause for the high spirits: it's possible that this may be the last format/platform I have to learn.

It may also be the last ebook format/platform that the publishing industry has to figure out.

The primary reason: .epub is an open standard. It was established to be a lingua franca for the ebook community.

How to get HotSpot Confidential in the .epub format, plus background on the standard, after the jump.

Okay, so the simplest way to get the .epub edition is to just download it below. Once you've got it on your hard drive, there are a few ways to actually read it.

• Go to Bookworm, sign in and upload it. This has the advantage of allowing you to read it on your iPhone. All you have to do, once you have signed up with Bookworm, is log on via the mobile link.
• Download Adobe's free Digital Editions ebook software.
• You can try to read it on Stanza, the cool new ereader for the iPhone, but it emerged a little garbled, and without hyperlinks, the last few times I tried it.

For more on .epub, visit the International Digital Publishing Forum.

You can download the ePub edition here, or just click on the attachment below.