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Amazon recently held a very exclusive unveiling of their new Kindle Fire product line and one of the things they hyped up was Quiet Time. This is a new feature that seeks to eliminate the distraction from reading on a tablet by suspending the radios, pausing app notifications and stopping nagging popups. Many tech analysts were enamored with Quiet Time, but it could quite possibly be in violation of patents owned by Kobo. In August Kobo unveiled a new feature for their new line of HD tablets called Reading Mode. Reading Mode is a new option that will see the light of day when the new Kobo Arc HD 10 and HD 7 are launched this October. It basically is a setting that you can turn on and will eliminate all notifications you would normally receive on your device. This really solves the problem of being distracted on your tablet while you are reading a magazine, eBook or graphic novel. Kobo CEO Michael Sarbanes at their product launch event mentioned the company has a number of patents for Reading Mode. Good e-Reader Research has found three patents that are applicable. The first is the user experience of reading mode – including the minimization of ambient influences to provide a more conducive reading environment. The second is launching of reading mode and the last book read to reinforce reading-first application/use. The last and most important is distraction free reading which includes the customization of settings for an uninterrupted, optimized reading experience such as – muting sounds, reducing screen brightness, disable radios, adjusting fonts, margins, etc. Amazon Quiet Time may possibly be in violation of Kobo Reading Mode and so far both companies remain silent on this matter. After looking at many of the screenshots and samples of the features on the Amazon tablets it looks very much the same as what Kobo did first. To date, Kobo has never instigated a lawsuit, but has been in court over a number of issues, including the exclusivity clause in the contract with Borders when it filed for bankruptcy. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out and if Amazon will engage in licensing to Kobo. If this does result in a prospective lawsuit, Kobo has fairly deep pockets to make a go of it by way of Rakuten. Does Amazon’s Quiet Time Infringe on Kobos Patents for Reading Mode? is a post from: E-Reader News |
Monday, September 30, 2013
Does Amazon’s Quiet Time Infringe on Kobos Patents for Reading Mode?
XBMC performance demo
| One of the areas we’re putting a lot of work into is XBMC performance – we’ve been a bit shocked on working through some data* to find that the Pi now appears to have more XBMC users than any other platform in the world, bar the PC (we’ve overtaken cracked Apple TV 2s), and we want to make sure you have the best possible experience with the software. (If you’ve started reading this and don’t understand a word of that first paragraph, head over to XBMC’s website to find out what XBMC is, what a media centre is and why you might want one, and then come back here.) Dom Cobley and Ben Avison have been working on the platform for us, and the results so far are pretty impressive: video playback has always been good, but they’ve really tidied up the user experience in the menu in particular, and browsing through your media collection, even if it’s as big as Dom’s, is now much smoother and faster. We’ve seen people online (particularly over on the XBMC forums – and particularly particularly in response to posts asking for recommendations for cheap XBMC platforms) calling Pi users fanbois, and announcing that the Pi is too laggy to be a real media player. That’s just not the case. If you’re running the latest firmware, XBMC on the Pi is more than useable: it’s something you can happily use as your main HTPC. Dom made this video so that when challenged, he and other XBMC users can demonstrate when asked that actually, the Pi’s pretty good at this stuff. He says: ”I’d quite like the laggy complainers to have something concrete to look at and admit either ‘actually it’s better than I thought’, or admit they are speed freaks who need desktop PC class equipment.” Here it is. What you’re seeing here is OpenELEC with some performance patches Dom is currently working on, along with some other patches from Ben. We expect to see these patches appear in the standard OpenELEC and RaspBMC very soon. Those of you who are feeling brave can get Dom and Ben’s code – which is currently in beta – here. While it isn’t stable yet (we expect it to be very, very shortly) it gives you a very good idea of where we’re going with this. Enjoy! – *If you’re trying to interpret the linked data and figure out where we got that statistic from, it’s helpful to understand that XBMC/12.2 Git:20130502-32b1a5e (Linux; Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 (wheezy); 3.6.11 ARMv6l; http://www.xbmc.org) represents Raspberry Pis running RaspBMC, and the dozens of other ARMv6l platforms are OpenELEC on the Pi. OpenELEC appears more fragmented, as they tend to use bleeding-edge kernels. (They are on 3.11.1 now.) We don’t believe any other XBMC platforms use ARMv6 (ATV2 is ARMv7). |
Tesco Tablet Usage Survey Reveals Popularity of The Device Among Kids
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Technology has permeated almost every sphere of our lives, so it's only natural for kids to be exposed to various electronic gadgets from very early in their lives. This technology penetration, along with their natural inquisitiveness and the ease of use of tablet devices, has ensured kids are taking to devices from a fairly young age. A recent finding by the UK-based retailer Tesco has some figures to prove it. In a survey that involved around 1000 respondents, 26 percent of kids as young as three have exhibited tablet usage skills of varying degrees; 56 percent of children across all age groups have said they depend on tablet devices as part of their educational efforts. About 44 percent have said they use the tablet to watch TV shows, while 38 percent favor the device for listening to music. Similarly, 32 percent use the tablet primarily to keep in touch. In what should be least surprising, 81 percent have admitted to using the tablet device for playing games. Tablet devices have come to represent the biggest change the entire personal computing segment has witnessed in a long time. They have come to symbolize what users perhaps have always wanted, a compact and portable device that is fast enough to allow for everyday computing requirements. It's something that they can carry with them and use whenever needed. Tesco conducted the review which isn’t surprising considering that the grocery store now has a tablet device of its own to offer. Named Hudi, the device has already earned positive reviews and is projected as a viable competitor to the Nexus 7 or the Kindle Fire; its popularity may also be due to its price tag of just £ 119.
Tesco Tablet Usage Survey Reveals Popularity of The Device Among Kids is a post from: E-Reader News |
Barnes and Noble Hires New Head of NOOK Media Operations
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Barnes and Noble has just hired a new head of Nook Media Operations and hopefully a fresh new face will save the ailing brand. The company said Mahesh Veerina will become Chief Operating Officer on October 7th. In his new role, Mr. Veerina will oversee all of NOOK Media operations, including Software Engineering, Hardware Engineering, IT, Digital Services, Device Operations, Research & Development, Device Product Management, and User Interaction & Design. Barnes and Noble actually hired another person to join the Nook Media team as well. Doug Carlson will assume the role of Executive Vice President of Digital Content and Marketing, effective immediately. "Mahesh and Doug are two highly successful business leaders who together have a wealth of experience in technology, digital content, consumer products, publishing and operations, and have created and grown businesses from the bottom up," said Mr. Huseby. "Mahesh is a proven leader with special expertise in strategic product and market vision, simplifying complex technologies, building world-class teams, developing partnerships and execution. Doug brings to NOOK® a deep background in digital publishing, executive leadership, marketing, sales, finance, operations, strategy, business development and entrepreneurship across a diverse universe of businesses. With these new appointments, I'm confident that we've now structured our business in a way to best position us for success." Barnes and Noble Hires New Head of NOOK Media Operations is a post from: E-Reader News |
Back to School with School Digital Library from OverDrive
| Another school year is underway, and the kids are getting back into the classroom routine, maybe visiting the school library – or even better – the OverDrive-powered School Digital Library (SDL) site. The SDL platform allows your students to "go" to the library anytime and check out titles for class assignments, research projects, or for their own reading pleasure.
Students can log in with a library card or network credentials, depending upon the authentication setup in place. We are able to send authentication requests to a library's existing ILS (integrated library system) database via SIP2 (Session Initiation Protocol), RPA (Remote Patron Authentication), XML (Extensible Markup Language), EZProxy, or LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol). If these options are not available or suitable for your needs, we also offer our own solution, Library Card Manager. Library Card Manager is an OverDrive-powered authentication system that allows your library to upload a list of library card or student ID numbers. Library Card Manager is popular for its simplicity, while LDAP is catching on due to its additional security as well as the ability to use existing network credentials as a "library card number".
Another useful resource to help you support your students is the OverDrive Test Drive program. With Test Drive, we take the mystery out of the most compatible devices you can use with our services, and help you use those devices as a means of lending titles to users. Many schools are already using Test Drive approved devices like iPads or Chromebooks – Google Chrome OS powered computers that allow students to access books in the OverDrive Read format – to help their students borrow eBooks through their SDL collections. The Test Drive page provides much information for the use and maintenance of the devices, as well as promotional materials to let your users know about the service if you lend devices to students.
Of course, with having devices to lend comes having devices to support, and with Test Drive, we offer the information you need to support those devices. You get the knowledge needed to get the devices setup to use OverDrive materials. There are instructions to clean the devices up after they’ve been returned by students, preventing one kid from using another's Adobe ID or library account to check out books. The program gives you a hand, helping you offer your students the kind of support needed to get them reading.
Are you curious about what other benefits come with being an OverDrive School Download Library partner? Then make sure you check out the Prezi that Account Specialist Melissa Higey put together here, check out our SDL FAQ, and the marketing and outreach materials specifically designed to spread the word about your school's OverDrive School Download Library.
Justin Noszek is a Support Specialist with OverDrive
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Asteroid 4942 Munroe
| Whoa. There’s an asteroid named after me! Amazing xkcd readers Lewis Hulbert and Jordan Zhu noticed that the International Astronomical Union—the organization in charge of official astronomical naming—was taking suggestions for what to name small Solar System objects. They submitted my name for asteroid (4942) 1987 DU6, and it was subsequently renamed 4942 Munroe. I’m really touched. I spent all weekend telling everyone who wanted to listen (and probably some who didn’t) about the asteroid. The first thing I did was try to figure out whether 4942 Munroe was big enough to pose a threat to Earth. I was excited to learn that, based on its albedo (brightness), it’s probably about 6-10 kilometers in diameter. That’s comparable in size to the one that killed the dinosaurs—definitely big enough to cause a mass extinction!
4942 Munroe (!!!) is large enough that it would have noticeable gravity, although not much. If you were walking on the surface and you tripped and fell, it’d take you a minute to hit the ground. You could get into orbit around it by traveling at jogging speed, and might even escape its gravity entirely with a good jump. Thank you so much. This is the coolest thing. |
BISG Annual Meeting Addresses Digital Challenges
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The Book Industry Study Group held its annual meeting last Friday in New York, and the focus of this year’s event was to address some of the many challenges still facing the publishing and bookselling industries now that digital publishing has taken hold. The BISG also introduced its new mission statement, which shifts more attention on digital publishing. "Book Industry Study Group's mission is to facilitate innovation and shared solutions for the benefit of all companies and practitioners that create, produce and distribute published content, and the organizations that support them." Among other topics that were highlighted during the meeting, Madeline McIntosh, COO of Penguin Random House, spoke on a panel and discussed some of the difficulties that PRH faces in moving forward with a strong digital platform, namely, fully removing themselves from the Pearson infrastructure. She also spoke about an oft-contested and controversial issue, Penguin’s self-publishing platform Author Solutions. The platform has been vehemently and publicly criticized for its business practices by many outspoken former clients, but McIntosh maintained that Author Solutions does a great job and helps authors reach markets that would have otherwise been unavailable to them. An additional panel focused on the headway being made in digital textbook publishing, with the concern still being raised that a significant amount of money that students spend on textbooks is still going to the used textbook market. Publishers questioned digital’s place in that market, as well as offered ways to make digital textbooks more valuable to students through more targeted, individualized learning methods. In the coming year, BISG will host several more conferences as part of its new strategies, some of which include focusing on new subgroups within the BISG to address different issues in publishing. BISG will also be hosting an event one day prior to the 2014 Digital Book World conference in New York, its “Making Information Pay for Higher Education” conference.
BISG Annual Meeting Addresses Digital Challenges is a post from: E-Reader News |
Kobo Patcher Removes Wasted Space with Extra Margin Settings for Kobo eReaders
| Kobo’s ebook readers have settings for customizing line spacing and margins, but there are annoying limitations at times, especially when it comes to all the wasted space Kobo insists on using at the top and bottom of the screen to display the title of the ebook and the page numbers. The title takes up about […] |
Publishers As Booksellers Extend their Sales Reach, Aid Book Discovery
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With the advent of digital reading and the popularity of social media interaction with bestselling authors, an interesting phenomenon is taking place. Reading consumers are developing not only a loyal following of their favorite authors, but also developing a measure of brand loyalty to certain publishers. For their part, publishers have responded with shopping websites where readers can purchase digital and print titles, as well as other potential perks like being selected to read content before it is officially released. Now, UK-based publisher Five Leaves Publications is opening an actual brick-and-mortar bookstore in response to the need for more independent book shops, as well as a way to further the discovery of its client list. This will be the first independent bookstore to open in the store’s area of Nottingham since 2000. According to a blog post announcing the venture by the publisher, Ross Bradshaw, "Nottinghamshire has a flourishing literature scene, with more professional writers than ever and a very active events programme including the longstanding Lowdham Book Festival which I’ve been involved with since the start. The bookshop will provide another focus and we will work with local and national writers to build the shop’s own programme. The premises became available suddenly and we are working hard to open by mid-November. Several of our own writers and other local publishers are pitching in to help." While Bradshaw gives credit to other nearby independent booksellers and made mention of ways they can work together to further area literature, no information was discussed as to whether Five Leaves will only stock certain titles. However, limiting access to titles would seem to defeat the purpose of Bradshaw’s new venture, especially considering his interest in furthering books in the community.
Publishers As Booksellers Extend their Sales Reach, Aid Book Discovery is a post from: E-Reader News |
Big W Enters eBook Business in Australia
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Big W, one of the biggest discount retail stores in Australia, has announced they are venturing into the electronic book business as well. They are starting off with a sizable volume of no less than 300,000 titles, and more titles will be added every month. Also, in tune with their overall business theme, Big W is working on low prices to drive their ebook business, with several of the titles to be made available each month at a discounted price of 99 cents or completely free. Big W has also stated they are banking on content pertaining to their region as a way to differentiate their business model. They hope this will help drive more business against the global retailers such as Apple or Amazon, which the Australian retailer claims is focused more for foreign users. Big W is also pushing more participation of native authors and publishers in its bid to emerge as a viable force when it is selling books focused more on Australian content. “The eBooks market in Australia is dominated by overseas based companies focused on overseas customers. BIG W eBooks is different – we are an Australian retailer with a focus on the books Australians love, with downloads at Australia’s lowest prices,” said Scott White who is heading the Books division at BIG W. “The attractiveness of some eBooks is likely to be down to a cringe factor, with more than one-in-ten people admitting they download books because they are more discreet to read than their printed equivalents. The books on offer comply with PDF and e-pub formats and can be downloaded on any ebook reading devices, be it a dedicated e-reader, a tablet or even a smartphone device. Big W has already been into offering the above mentioned devices which include the likes of iPad, Samsung tablets and such and its move to sell ebooks can be seen as a natural progression of their business strategy. “Many Australians could be forgiven for thinking they were locked into just one provider when downloading their ebook, but that’s not the case and they could be spending more than they have to. At BIG W we offer low cost downloads on almost any device and across a massive range of titles from romance to Australian fiction, autobiographies to thrillers,” said White.
Big W Enters eBook Business in Australia is a post from: E-Reader News |
Read-Alouds for Tweens and Teens
| Do we still embrace the Oral Tradition? Oral Tradition is the ancient practice of verbally sharing or "passing down" the cultural beliefs, folktales, stories, and songs of a group from one generation to the next. The passing of story and song while seemingly simple pointed to the intricate customs and conventions of the community, long before reading and writing were practiced societal skills. The storytelling ritual unified the group creating a fellowship among its members. While the oral tradition is a true ancient practice referring to its primitive origin, it is not archaic or obsolete. Like society itself, it has evolved into a custom more fitting of our print centered world, the modern read-aloud.
The popularity of audiobooks with adult listeners confirms the truth about reading aloud; it has merits for all ages. Something wonderful happens when we become engaged with a story. It drives us to emotionally respond without abandon and become a part of that world. The act of listening to a story develops vocabulary and motivates us to learn new facts and concepts. It also builds "a sense of belonging" between the listener and reader. Studies have documented the benefits of the physical closeness between reader and listener resulting in a positive experience for all involved, especially children. So take a moment to reflect on the last time you read aloud to your child in middle school or high school. Embrace this time with them and remember that we are never too old to hear and enjoy a story.
(2013) E.B. White Read-Aloud Medal and Honor Winners for Middle Grade Readers
The Last Dragonslayer (Jasper Fforde) eBook.
The One and Only Ivan: My Story (Katherine Applegate) eBook.
Same Sun Here (House & Vaswani) eBook.
Wonder (R.J. Palacio) eBook.
(2013) Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
Almost Perfect ( Brian Katcher) eBook and audiobook.
Crusher (Niall Leonard) eBook and audiobook.
The Diviners (Libba Bray) eBook and audiobook.
The Fire Chronicle: The Books of Beginning Series, Book 2 (John Stephens) eBook and audiobook.
Graffiti Moon (Cath Crowley) eBook and audiobook.
I Hunt Killers (Barry Lyga) eBook and audiobook.
Inheritance: Inheritance Cycle Series, Book 4 (Christopher Paolini) eBook and audiobook.
Monstrous Beauty (Elizabeth Fama) audiobook.
Son: The Giver Quartet, Book 4 (Lois Lowry) audiobook.
Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High (Melba Beals) eBook and audiobook.
Words in the Dust (Trent Reedy) audiobook.
Renee Lienhard is a Collection Development Analyst with OverDrive |
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Worlds Largest e-Paper Sign Displayed at UN Headquarters
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e-Ink has set a worlds record for the latest e-Paper sign that is installed at the UN Headquarters in New York. The eWall is an intricate combination of architectural, display and network engineering. It stands about 6 meters wide with 231 tiled 7.4″ displays arranged in a grid of 33 displays across by 7 displays high. With an overall resolution of 26,400 x 3,360 pixels, it is perfect to read at long and short distances. The essence of the eWall is to provide delegates with scheduling, news and other information. One of the more interesting aspects is the design mode that will show giant high resolution images; or can fade seamlessly into an unobtrusive wall when turned off. “The eWall is a perfect example of E Ink enabling designers to deliver information where they never thought possible before,” said Harit Doshi, head of signage business and director of business development for E Ink Holdings. “This project further demonstrates E Ink’s diversification into different markets – specifically the digital signage market – as a key focus market segment.” E-ink is hoping for strong promotional value with the sign at UN Headquarters. Currently 70% of their total revenue stems from e-paper displays and signage only accounts for 5%. They are hoping to increase brand awareness in this new segment to offset the cumulative financial loses the last few quarters. Worlds Largest e-Paper Sign Displayed at UN Headquarters is a post from: E-Reader News |
Digital Comics Best-Sellers for September 29, 2013
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This is a very interesting week for digital comics best-sellers, for two reasons: It’s the first week without a new issue of the perennial best-seller Injustice: Gods Among Us, which has dominated the charts since we started compiling these lists, and three platforms (comiXology, Kindle, and Nook) had a 99-cent sale on Fables with varying effects on their lists. Let’s take a look at how this played out. 1. Saga #14 ComiXology looks pretty much like it does every week, with every comic on the Top Ten a new release for this week. There are two Image titles, which is a bit unusual; one is the top-selling Saga and the other is the first issue of Sex Criminals, which is a generous 39 pages for $2.99. Plus, as we all know, sex sells, and Sex Criminals promises plenty of it. Marvel and DC have four comics each in the top ten. No back issues of Injustice, and no 99-cent issues of Fables, make the list. In fact, the first issue of Fables to make the comiXology best-seller chart is at number 39. The readers of comiXology will not let low prices lure them away from this week’s new releases! 1. Injustice: Gods Among Us #36 Amazon customers are a different bunch, and the Fables sale does change the list somewhat. In fact, it’s a stark illustration of the comics maxim that each issue sells less than the one before, as issues #1, 2, and 3 fall down the list in numerical order. Injustice: Gods Among Us reverses that, perhaps because there are no more new issues so everyone is playing catch-up. That X-Men graphic novel is on sale at the moment, which may be why it’s doing so well; it’s not a new book. It’s tempting to conclude, from looking at this list, that Kindle customers are pretty price-sensitive; eight of the ten comics are 99 cents each, and another one is on steep markdown. 1. It’s a Dog’s Life, Snoopy The loss of Injustice: Gods Among Us doesn’t bode well for Nook. You can’t see it from this chart, because I strip out the free titles, but it looks like folks aren’t buying. The first non-free book to show up is at number 7 on the overall list, which means six free books were downloaded more often. The last book is at number 40, which means three times as many books were downloaded for free as were purchased. Also, with no more Injustice issues to download, the reading habits of Nook users are laid bare: Peanuts and other comic strips, and The Walking Dead. It’s an interesting mix. iBooks 1. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic #11 Meanwhile, in the iBookstore, time stands still, as folks continue to buy the early issues of Injustice: Gods Among Us alongside the two newest issues of My Little Pony. It’s sort of the exact opposite of comiXology, where people are only buying the freshest comic-shop comics. So there you have it. The Fables sale only made an impact on Kindle users, and now that Injustice is gone, Nook users have practically given up on paying for comics. With the exception of My Little Pony on iTunes, comiXology is the only place where people are queuing up to pay full price for this week’s new releases. And that’s why, despite yesterday’s article, they probably have little to fear from the competition, at least for now. Digital Comics Best-Sellers for September 29, 2013 is a post from: E-Reader News |
eBook Review: How Not to Be a D*ck by Meghan Doherty
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The dubiously inappropriate title aside, How Not to Be a D*ick: An Everyday Etiquette Guide (censorship mine) is like Emily Post for normal people, people who don’t go around presenting their calling cards to household butlers and waiting in the drawing room for their lady friends to descend the stairs. No, this book features actual daily life application social norms. It contains important chapters on topics like how to get along with peers and co-workers, how to cook your food in the office microwave so as not to offend people, even little reminders like get in the bathroom, do your business, and get out…don’t tweet while chatting to someone using the facility. And don’t forget to wash your hands. Doherty’s guide is a fun, tongue-in-cheek look at the manners that we all just assume everyone learned at home but in truth–if the comments section on YouTube or Yahoo! News is any indication–they didn’t. Part of the fun of the guide is the appearance of Dick, Jane, and Spot-era line drawings of the characters in these exact social scenarios, acting out the right and wrong way to behave for our reading pleasure. Published by Zest Books, whose titles are distributed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is known for publishing edgy-but-instructional non-fiction for teens. Doherty’s title definitely speaks to a broad age range, covering cliques and bullies at school and the appropriate way to ask someone to the dance, as well as how to behave on an airplane or little things to keep in mind if you’re using your local Starbucks as a temporary office. Perhaps most important of all are the many reminders of how to not get drunk at the office party and snatch your boss’s toupee before running around the room with it and declaring it to be a flying cat. If the worst should happen and you do, in fact, snatch the toupee, there is also information on how to recover from that little faux pas gracefully the next day, all while hoping you still have a job. How Not to Be a D*ck will be available on October 1st.
eBook Review: How Not to Be a D*ck by Meghan Doherty is a post from: E-Reader News |
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Send to Pocketbook seeks to deliver eBooks right to your e-Reader
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Sending eBooks to your e-Reader is becoming a fairly popular endeavor for people who have more then one device, or browse for free ones online while at work or school to read later. Amazon has had a number of successful Send to Kindle plugins written by indie developers, until the company made their own. Since then, hundreds of thousands of users are sending documents and eBooks right to their devices. Pocketbook is going to follow this trend by releasing a “Send to Pocketbook” firmware update this October. Send-to-PocketBook will support a multitude of formats, including: EPUB DRM, EPUB, PDF DRM, PDF, FB2, FB2.ZIP, TXT, DJVU, HTM, HTML, DOC, DOCX, RTF, CHM, TCR, PRC, JPEG, BMP, PNG, TIFF. The first e-reader to get this updated firmware will be the Pocketbook Touch Lux and Pocketbook Color Lux. Older devices should get the update in November, so there is hope for people with prior models. The service will also include security features such as "White List", which is a list of e-mail addresses from which the eReader will receive documents to avoid spam mails. Send to Pocketbook seeks to deliver eBooks right to your e-Reader is a post from: E-Reader News |
ComiXology Passes 200 Million Downloads
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Crains New York broke the news this week, in a profile of comiXology and its CEO David Steinberger, that the company has now passed the 200 million download mark. It was just about a year ago that they were at 100 million downloads, so that means they have downloaded 100 million comics in the past year or, if you do a bit of rounding, roughly 2 million comics per week. Now, those aren’t all comics sales—some of them are free downloads—but I’d guess that comiXology probably has a higher paid-to-free ratio than most digital comics distributors because they have managed to corner the market on comics-shop comics. As the Crains article points out, they have an exclusive on Marvel single-issue comics, so if you want this week’s issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and you want it digitally, you have to get it from comiXology. Several other publishers have signed exclusives with comiXology over the years, but that’s probably the most important one, given their customer base. (DC comics are also available on comiXology but they don’t have an exclusive contract). Two million downloads a month is a pretty impressive number, but it’s still far fewer than the number of print comics sold each month. Here’s another interesting statistic from that article: Image Comics expects to sell 300,000 print copies of The Walking Dead #115, which is their tenth-anniversary issue, and about 45,000 digital copies. That puts digital at 15%, which is a ratio that has seemed to hold true for about the past year. The Walking Dead is a phenomenally popular comic, but it’s also one you would expect to do a bit better in digital than in print, because the television show has a much larger audience than the comic, and most people who don’t read comics regularly don’t even know that comic shops exist, much less how to find one. Search on “The Walking Dead” in the iTunes store, though, and comiXology’s Walking Dead app shows up as one of the first results. So one would expect a lot of new readers to be coming to it through the TV show. At any rate, the article mentions Kindle as competition for comiXology, but the Kindle folks haven’t sent out any press releases bragging about the number of comics they have downloaded, so we can assume it’s not too impressive just yet. ComiXology Passes 200 Million Downloads is a post from: E-Reader News |
Author Bashing: Is It Good for Business?
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Good e-Reader has been closely following the recent events surrounding author bullying and reviewer bashing. While dozens of articles on the subject have been posted over the course of the last few weeks, there has yet to be any clear rationalization for the animosity between some authors and some book reviewers. Even as sites like Amazon and Goodreads take steps to try to control the furor, they are only capable of so much. In this week’s look at the so-called bullying, it’s important to reference a post on this subject from earlier this week. Katherine from BookPromotion.com posted a piece called, “Hate As A Marketing Tool,” which doesn’t actually tout the benefits of venomous reviews, but does offer authors who’ve received negative critiques at least a glimmer of hope as to why negative reviews actually benefit an author. In her piece, Katherine references (but does not link to in order to avoid helping the blogger with traffic to her site, as Good e-Reader likewise will not) an article that circulated almost virally last weekend, a piece that named thirty prominent, best-selling self-published authors; while specifically targeting author Melissa Foster, who is now pursuing legal action against the blogger, the post by someone who claims to have spent two years “working undercover” at Fiverr names authors Hugh Howey, Blake Crouch, Amanda Hocking, and several others as those who purchased bulk book reviews. Hugh Howey initially was not going to respond to the post, but reader outrage over the supposedly-outed authors prompted him to post on his blog and to state what many reader fans are now calling the “Jolie Pledge,” a statement Howey made asserting that he had never bought a book review and good-naturedly pledged it on his dog’s life. Interestingly, Howey’s post begins with an assertion that this kind of post would never be given any credence if authors had not actually been known to purchase book reviews. For the authors named in the post, outpouring of support has come from their longtime fans as well as from readers who had not picked up their books but who were incensed over the lack of proof offered in the post. Fiverr has reportedly responded as well, stating that no one had worked undercover in their offices and that they were sorry for the authors who had been hurt. While this form of abuse and threat against a writer’s career is actually quite serious, it can actually be beneficial for authors are, in fact, blameless and who take the high road in their responses.
Author Bashing: Is It Good for Business? is a post from: E-Reader News |
Apple Files Patent for eBook Autographs
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Apple has just filed a patent for an eBook autographing system. Their new system is designed to work with iCloud and in physical proximity. The technology will allow for the author and readers to be in the same room and have autographs transferred over via Bluetooth or WIFI. Important to any autograph is authenticity, both for a user and the person giving away their signature. Apple is seeking to develop a certificate to be sent along with the autograph that verifies the content as legitimate. This digital marker can be stored on the recipient’s device or remotely on a server like iCloud. When a user synchronizes their eBook library, the digital token is passed along, thereby securing the authenticity and uniqueness of the autograph. This really makes the entire autographing system fairly unique. One of the most interesting aspects of the new system is being able to not only interject a simple autograph into the an eBook, but also Video, Audio and Pictures. A reader can have their photo taken with the author and then have them autograph the picture within the eBook. Publishers will be able to have more advanced tools for eBooks using Apples iBooks Author. They will be able to do more mass market autographs embedded in the books and do more multimedia based things. The ability to digitally sign eBooks is nothing new and there are a number of companies that have pioneered digital autographing software, such as Authorgraph and Autography. For a number of years these two companies have allowed authors to sign peoples Kindle and EPUB books, by interjecting an extra page into a purchased book. Most of this takes place over the internet. Most of the autographing done is by indie authors on these platforms and the main allure is being hardware agnostic. Apple Files Patent for eBook Autographs is a post from: E-Reader News |
Friday, September 27, 2013
New Raspbian release, and NOOBS v1.3 goes gold
| Alex has produced a new Raspbian release, which integrates a number of recent improvements. Along with kernel and firmware updates, highlights include:
Due to the addition of Java, the standalone SD card image now requires at least a 4GB SD card, as with 2GB there’s not enough free space left to be useful. The image itself is sized at 3GB to reduce the time it takes to dd it. But that’s not all! Following last week’s successful beta test, NOOBS v1.3 has also been released. This is a major upgrade from v1.2, and realizes many of our ambitions for the system. Highlights include:
See the beta test announcement for an exhaustive feature breakdown. Thanks to Rob, Floris and Gordon for putting this release together, and to Liam and Pete at Mythic Beasts for the recent comprehensive overhaul of our image hosting infrastructure. |
Next Issue Expands Digital Magazines into Canada through Partnership with Rogers Media
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Consumers enjoyment of tablet-based magazine reading has grown over the last three years, and now one of the leading content providers is expanding its customer base to Canada. Next Issue, a subscription plan-based digital magazine distributor formed by several magazine publishers to provide unlimited access options to tablet users, signed an agreement today with Rogers Media, one of Canada’s leading platforms for this type of content. "We're thrilled to be partnering with Rogers Media to bring for the first time the Next Issue experience to customers outside of the U.S.," said Morgan Guenther, CEO of Next Issue Media, in a press release. "In addition to its industry leading magazine titles, the Rogers organization offers unparalleled reach to consumers throughout Canada via its cable, wireless, broadcast, sports and Internet properties. We look forward to working with Rogers to ensure a seamless delivery of world-class magazine brands to new and existing consumers." Like its US customers, Canadian readers will be able to choose from Next Issue’s Basic and Premium monthly memberships, which affords them access to unlimited reads from their plans’ selection of magazine titles. Basic members have access to all of the companies bi-weekly and monthly titles, while premium members can access all of those, as well as all weekly publications. Both memberships let customers read unlimited back issues of the catalog. "The Next Issue platform is the future of magazine content consumption. Our investment in Next Issue signals a collective commitment to our digital future," continued Ken Whyte, the new president of Next Issuu Canada. "Next Issue Canada delivers added value with an all-you-can-read experience. It retains the best of print while making the content come to life vividly, giving readers a more personalized, interactive experience. As a result, the magazine of today is even more powerful than the magazine of yesterday."
Next Issue Expands Digital Magazines into Canada through Partnership with Rogers Media is a post from: E-Reader News |
Microsoft Developing Reader for Windows 8 for eBooks and eTextbooks
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One of the most exciting elements about this new app is the intergration with the Surface Pro Pen. It will allow users to circle, underline, highlight, and make notes on any document. The notes are then stored and listed in a side panel in each document. Microsoft’s Office team has also partnered with Bing to augment document content with data from the search service. You can simply select a name or section of the document to then search and receive information in a right-hand sidebar. The results are displayed in a very similar way to Windows 8.1′s integrated Bing hero search. Extensive document support has been going on for years with Microsoft OneNote. It has not gained the traction the company would have liked, but it is starting to branch off and start to unify their apps. Not only is their a tablet version of the new Reader for Windows 8 but they are working on “Office Lens” for Windows Phone that lets you take a picture of a whiteboard and then automatically scan and convert it using optical character recognition. All of these new apps are looking to have a early 2014 release date. Microsoft Developing Reader for Windows 8 for eBooks and eTextbooks is a post from: E-Reader News |
Digital Comics Bargains for September 27, 2013
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This week brings an amazing digital deal on Kindle, Nook, and comiXology: The full run of Fables and its spinoffs Cinderella, Fairest and Jack of Fables, as well as the crossover The Literals, for 99 cents an issue. This series brings fairy tale characters into the real world, after they are driven out of their own realm by a dark antagonist. What’s great about Fables is that it takes familiar characters and puts them together in unexpected ways, keeping enough of the original story so that it all seems logical. Writer Bill Willingham has been constructing this complicated tale for over ten years, working with artist Mark Buckingham and a host of other creators, and there are also several spinoffs: Fairest focuses on the ladies of Fabletown, and Jack of Fables is the adventures of Jack Horner, who has grown up from a mischievous boy to an entertaining, if not always lovable, rogue. You can start with issue 1 or jump into any story arc. ComiXology’s sale ends Monday night at 11 p.m.; Amazon and Nook are vaguer. If you’re in more of a superhero mood, comiXology is also holding an X-Men: Inferno! sale, offering a variety of X-Men titles for 99 cents each, but act fast, as it ends Friday night at 11 p.m. And finally, comiXology has a good handful of Godzilla graphic novels on sale for $3.99 to $4.99 through Sunday night. Dark Horse Digital ushers in the weekend with a Crime Sale that features an eclectic array of comics and graphic novels, including Frank Miller’s Sin City, Bryan Talbot’s Grandville, and the Eisner Award winning Blacksad. Sherlock Holmes, the Green Hornet, and the Green River killer also make appearances, and for those who like plenty of action, dames, and two-fisted justice, there are two collected volumes of the Golden Age title Crime Does Not Pay No new sales at eManga, but their September Switch promotion, in which you can get a free digital manga if you start an account with them and can prove you bought a volume of manga from another digital provider, is going on through October 13. Digital Comics Bargains for September 27, 2013 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Kobo Aura’s Screen Has Visible Pattern, and is Darker than Aura HD
| The Kobo Aura is the latest 6-inch ebook reader from Kobo. It has a really cool edge-to-edge screen that isn’t recessed in the front frame like other ebook readers. This gives it a sleek tablet-like look. It’s also the first Kobo ereader to use a capacitive touchscreen, which adds some extra zooming options and other […] |
Digital Reading Hinders Children’s Literacy
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eReading was supposed to be a benefit that revolutionized reading, stripping away barriers such as access to books and bookstores, high prices of new titles, and the inconvenience of carrying books around. Some of the original critics of e-reading were parents of young readers who worried that device-based access to books would lead to opting for other digital activities besides reading, and now, a report by Nielsen Book has confirmed that those fears were somewhat grounded. According to an article for UK-based The Bookseller by Joshua Farrington, “‘Understanding the Children’s Book Consumer in the Digital Age,’ Nielsen Book’s latest research project, has found a significant fall in the number of children who read or are read to on a weekly basis, with the proportion of occasional and non-readers among children aged under 17 now at 28%, rising from 20% in 2012.” Farrington continued:”The research shows that children’s reading is being affected by alternative activities, such as playing games, watching videos on websites like YouTube, and texting. During the past year, children’s access to tablets more than doubled over the previous year. The devices are being used for a range of activities, but reading is considered one of its least important uses. Only 20% of children use tablets for reading e-books, while 6% use them to read magazines and comics. Jo Henry, director at Nielsen Book (pictured), said: ‘This dramatic drop in engagement with reading (seen in the context of an 8% drop in the number of books bought for those aged under 17) in the first half of 2013 will give pause for thought for anyone involved in children’s publishing, particularly at the older end of the market, which has seen the greatest decline.’” The paradox is that the number of children reading digitally has increased even while those who do not read in any format has also. In addition, a growing number of students in different age groups report that the only format they read in is digital. So is the device actually to blame? Among the students who opt to use tablets for something other than reading when given the chance, would those students really read a book if they were provided with a print edition, or would they simply shun the activity altogether in favor of something they found more entertaining? While it is easy to attempt to correlate that research findings with the availability of tablet-based activities, the link between entertainment and education cannot be attributed quite so simply.
Digital Reading Hinders Children’s Literacy is a post from: E-Reader News |
Video Review: Amazon X-Ray on the iPad
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For the first time ever, X-Ray for Books has transcended Amazon branded devices and has crossed over as an app update for the iPad and iPhone. This neat little feature gives you a list of all the terms, people, places and things in any given book. You can get a sense on the popular phrases and objects in a book, such as cars, yachts or even food. When juggling many books at once, you can be brought up to speed on the entire cast of characters and get biographies on them. Over the course of the video, we show you exactly how it performs. X-Ray for the iPad is just one of the new features found in the latest iOS7 Kindle update. You can now add the same book to multiple collections, adding more flexibility in managing your growing cadre of books. Video Review: Amazon X-Ray on the iPad is a post from: E-Reader News |
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Bentley and Vintage Team up for $1200 James Bond Book
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Bentley Motors is best known for creating very high end automobiles and being somewhat of a status symbol on the road. The one thing they have never done is published a book, but that is all going to change. Bentley and Vintage have teamed up to capitalize on the 60 year anniversary of James Bond – Casino Royale and have released a limited edition print run that will run you $1200.00. Only 500 copies have been made and of course the 1933 Bentley was Bonds car of choice. The book has been created by designers Kris Potter and Stephen Parker at Random House, who were inspired following a trip to the Bentley Motors HQ in Crewe. They comment: 'We knew that any design we came up with would have to reflect the incredible craftsmanship and heritage we had seen in the Bentley cars at Crewe, the challenge for us was how we could combine this with the coolness and nostalgia of Bond… The inspiration was endless.' The metal spine is inspired by Bentley’s steel tread plate, and it is illustrated by Damian Gascoigne. Published on 13 April 1953 by Jonathan Cape, Casino Royale introduced James Bond to the world. The first print run of 4,728 copies sold out within a month. Following this initial success, Fleming went on to publish a Bond title every year until his death in 1964. It is in Casino Royale where 007 first utters the immortal line 'Bond – James Bond'. The special edition Casino Royale will be available from 1st November, with orders taken through a dedicated phone line to international customers, excluding those in the US or Phillipines – 01206 255666. Bentley and Vintage Team up for $1200 James Bond Book is a post from: E-Reader News |
Sony Abandons the eReader Market in the United States
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Sony has confirmed that they have no intention of selling their new PRS-T3 e-Reader in the United States. The company simply cannot compete against Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo with their online bookstore and price. The USA market is rife with constant price slashing in a bid to curry consumer favor. It is basically unprofitable to focus on the US, and instead will focus their efforts on Canada, Europe and Japan. In a statement of confirmation, the Sony PR Department mentioned “Sony will not be offering the Reader PRS-T3 in the United States. In response to the region's market changes, Sony will be focusing instead on mobile and tablet devices, including the Xperia Tablet Z and Xperia Z smartphone. Digital reading and eBooks remain an important priority for Sony. Reader Store will still help book lovers find and read their next story, anytime and anywhere, and customers can continue to expect new and exciting features and discovery tools. Reader Store will continue to support previous Readers as well as other compatible devices via the free Reader apps for PC, Mac, Android and iOS.” In recent years Sony has divested themselves out of focusing on e-Readers. The last few models have largely been the same device, with marginal hardware and software enhancements. If you live in the US you can buy the Sony PRS-T3 exclusively from Shop e-Readers. Sony Abandons the eReader Market in the United States is a post from: E-Reader News |
McGraw-Hill Education Offers New Platform Aimed at Struggling Readers Faced with CCSS
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Anyone who follows education news in the US is aware of the strict requirements and goals of the Common Core standards for public education. What many are criticizing as a national curriculum–as thought it was wrong to determine that every US high school graduate would meet the same standards for education–actually serves to ensure that every student whose education had been funded by the taxpayers was afforded the same opportunities to learn as his peers around the nation. But one of the downfalls of the Common Core is that it assumes that every student comes at it with the same level of education and measurable skill sets. Now, long-time educational content leader McGraw-Hill Education has unveiled a new platform designed to reach those students who were already struggling academically and who will certainly be left behind their grade-level peers under these new guidelines. “We believe that every student deserves a chance to succeed academically. With the arrival of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and a general trend to more rigorous educational standards, students who are reading below grade level will face even greater challenges in meeting them,” said Peter Cohen, president of McGraw-Hill School Education, in a press release. “The goal of Reading WonderWorks is to close the achievement gap among students, help struggling students develop foundational reading and writing skills in a self-paced and flexible environment starting as early as kindergarten, and accelerate them so that they can read on grade level and graduate with the confidence they need to succeed in college and beyond.” The Reading WonderWorks program utilizes both print and digital materials to support the basic tenets of the Common Core standards while working to bring struggling readers up to grade level through interactive and focused learning methods. The most important thing that WonderWorks offers, a factor that will make more of a difference than many other structured programs, is the inherent flexibility that it offers. No two students are alike, and no two struggling readers will respond to the identical material in the same way. Therefore, WonderWorks maintains a level of teacher-control in order to be best suited to a struggling student’s needs. For more information about Reading WonderWorks visit http://mhreadingwonders.com/wonder-works.
McGraw-Hill Education Offers New Platform Aimed at Struggling Readers Faced with CCSS is a post from: E-Reader News |
Penguin eBooks’ download to Kindle just got easier
| As we reported yesterday, Penguin eBooks are now available in the OverDrive Marketplace. Today, we are delighted to announce that Penguin eBooks will be available for "Get for Kindle" in the same convenient manner as the other Kindle eBooks (US only) in your OverDrive collection. The USB side-loading requirement has been lifted and Penguin eBooks will have the same great ease of use as all other publishers' eBooks. You can expect to see the change in your library's collection soon.
If you have any questions, please contact me or your OverDrive Collection Development Specialist at collectionteam@overdrive.com.
Karen Estrovich in the Collection Development Manager with OverDrive
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Penguin eBooks Now Available via Overdrive and Axis 360
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Penguin eBooks are now available to borrow from libraries in the US via Overdrive and Axis 360. This marks the first time in many years that titles from this publisher are available and has been a long time coming. Overdrive initially had a solid agreement with Penguin, but the publisher suspended digital eBooks a year and a half ago. They decided to go with 3M, who has a much smaller footprint and is exclusive to the USA. The reason the Overdrive/Penguin relationship with suspended was due to security concerns with downloading books directly from Amazon. You can now borrow books once again on Kindle e-Readers but you have to transfer them via USB. Overdrive says Penguin will charge libraries $18.99 for "popular new releases" and $5.99 to $9.99 for older titles. An eBook can only be checked out by one user at a time and the library will have to buy a new copy after a year. In Fall 2012, two Axis 360 libraries participated in a test program circulating select Penguin Group eBooks to patrons. As a result of the successful partnering with the Los Angeles Public Library and Cuyahoga County Public Library, Penguin is now making its full eBook catalog, including DK titles, available to all public libraries using Axis 360. The two sides have now expanded on the relationship and Penguin titles are now available to any library doing business with Baker and Taylor. Penguin eBooks Now Available via Overdrive and Axis 360 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Confirmed: The Sony PRS-T3 Won’t Be Released in the United States
| I’ve got some disappointing news to report today. Earlier in the week I reached out to the Sony Reader division in the United States to inquire about the Sony PRS-T3 ebook reader to see if and when it was coming to the US. As it turns out, the PRS-T3 will not be released in the […] |
Handmade Success: eBooks to help turn a crafty hobby into a business
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Whether you like to sew, quilt, embroider, crochet, knit, make jewelry, carve wood or fold paper – we most likely have an eBook for your favorite crafty hobby in OverDrive Marketplace. Through September 30th, many of these "Do It Your Selfies" eBooks are 30% off!
You may be asking yourself, "What am I going to do with all of this crafty goodness that I make? I can only give away so many knitted scarves every year for Christmas." Well, that's true. Your relatives probably love your handmade creations but if you'd like to share your crafts with others (and make money in the process), there are many options available and we have eBooks to point you in the right direction.
Learn how to get started with titles like Handmade to Sell: Hello Craft's Guide to Owning, Running, and Growing Your Crafty Biz by Kelly Rand or The Handmade Marketplace: How to Sell Your Crafts Locally, Globally, and On-Line by Kari Chapin. These books give you some ideas about turning your hobby into a business.
Depending on your preferred crafts, you may find materials for your next project or find success selling via eBay. eBay for Dummies by Marsha Collier can help eBay newbies navigate the site. If you've been a casual eBay browser or buyer in the past but want to learn more, The New eBay: The Official Guide to Buying, Selling, Running a Profitable Business by Todd Alexander offers tips for looking at eBay from a business perspective.
The mecca for all things crafty right now is Etsy. As someone who frequently purchases handmade items from Etsy, I can attest to the quality and variety of goods found on the site. If you want to try it out, make sure to check out How to Make Money Using Etsy: A Guide to the Online Marketplace for Crafts and Handmade Products by Timothy Adam and the cleverly-named Etsy-preneurship: Everything You Need to Know to Turn Your Handmade Hobby into a Thriving Business by Jason Malinak.
Have fun crafting!
Melissa Marin is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive.
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Oracle Java on Raspberry Pi
| One of our longstanding goals has been for Raspberry Pi to ship with a complete set of common programming languages. Until now, there’s been one glaring omission from this list: Java, which by some estimates is the most popular language of all (duck and cover – flamewar incoming). It’s therefore fantastic to be able to announce that we’ve added the official hard-float Oracle Java 7 JDK to our repository. Oracle Java offers significant performance advantages over OpenJDK on ARM platforms, and will expand the range of Java applications that run well on the Pi.  It’s a long time since I’ve used a hotel room TV without plugging a Pi into it. This trip has been no exception. All future Raspbian images will ship with Oracle Java by default; existing users can install it by typing:
We’d like to thank our friends at Oracle for their hard work in making this possible. |
I Have to Provide My Phone Number? Using Phone Verification
Uncomfortable about sharing your phone number to verify your email account? Don't be! Learn more about the possible risks and privacy concerns. |