Thursday, March 21, 2013

Digital Manga’s eManga Site Expands Lineup

Heroic

Digital Manga Publishing (DMP) is expanding its offerings on its digital manga site eManga. Here’s the latest round of announcements.

American comics from Heroic Publishing: These are single-issue superhero comics, and the interesting thing about them is that they all feature female leads: Chrissie Claus, Flare, Black Enchantress. This may just be a coincidence, as Heroic does publish comics with guys as the lead as well, or it may be a deliberate choice for the eManga audience. They also publish digitally via their own site and DriveThruComics, where the prices seem to be lower, at least for now.

Genki Life Magazine: Genki Life is a free magazine aimed squarely at anime and manga fandom; the most recent issue includes articles on cosplay, dramas, and “Why I’d Only Date an Otaku,” as well as anime schedules and listings of upcoming anime conventions and manga releases. It’s useful for hard-core fans and the interviews and articles are well written and interesting to outsiders as well.

Vanguard Princess: Comics and gaming have been crossing over more and more, so it’s not surprising that an innovative company like DMP would bring a game into the mix. Vanguard Princess is a 2D fighting game that is played on a Windows computer; it was first released as a freeware game in Japan in 2009, and this version was localized by the American publisher eigoMANGA.

DMP also sent out a cheeky press release inviting translators and localizers who were working for JManga to join the Digital Manga Guild, DMP’s localization program. Translators, editors, and letterers in the Digital Manga Guild work on digital-only manga for a percentage of sales, with no up-front fee like other translators get.

Digital Manga’s eManga Site Expands Lineup is a post from: E-Reader News

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Next Issue for Android Now has 80 Digital Magazines

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Next Issue has offered around 32 digital magazines through its unlimited service. The company has bolstered their portfolio adding a multitude of new content, and now has over 80 titles. Some of the new magazines include Bloomberg Businessweek, Cosmopolitan, Details, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Family Circle, Fast Company, Food Network Magazine, Golf World, O – The Oprah Magazine, Redbook, Road & Track, Seventeen, and many more.

Unlimited Premium customers automatically get access to all new titles. Unlimited Basic customers get access to all monthlies and bi-weeklies. All at no extra cost. Simply tap on 'Change Selections' in the Next Issue for Android app to add the new magazines to your personal library.

You have to upgrade to the latest version of the app to get all of the new magazines, its available via Google Play and the Good e-Reader App Store.

Next Issue for Android Now has 80 Digital Magazines is a post from: E-Reader News

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Kobo Unleashes Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on the Kobo Arc Tablet

Kobo announced today that they’ve released a firmware update for the Kobo Arc tablet that upgrades the operating system and adds some new features. The Kobo Arc is Kobo’s latest 7″ tablet. It has a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, a high resolution 1280 x 800 screen, and comes with options for 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB [...]

Kobo ARC Receives Jelly Bean Android Update

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When Kobo originally released its seminal ARC tablet last year, the company promised a Jelly Bean update. Kobo has been true to its word and released a new firmware update today that will open up a wide new world of enhancements for ARC owners.

One of the tremendous benefits of the new update is that it will allow customers to use Google Now. This is the voice recognition software that can search your device and the internet at large. You can also customize your device with “cards” that will give you local places to eat, drink, or watch sporting events.

Kobo Arc users will never miss a beat due to a richer notification experience. They can now receive action notifications directly within the notifications area as well as expand and collapse notifications to display more or less detail.

There are some great features also, such as Face Unlock, optimized voice recognition, boosted predictive typing, and Voice Search. What I really like about Voice Search is that you just have to say “Google” and it will call up the search bar for you!

It’s strange, but many tablets out there always say they will upgrade to Jelly Bean and never do. This is partly due to lackluster sales or another device coming down the pipe that might sell more units with a modern OS.

The Jelly Bean update is available right now! All you have to do is hit the settings menu, about Tablet, and check for update. The full update is around 320 MB, so it might take awhile if you are on a slow connection!

Kobo ARC Receives Jelly Bean Android Update is a post from: E-Reader News

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Guess what happens in an Internet minute? 204 million emails are sent, six million Facebook pages are viewed and 1.3 million YouTube clips are downloaded

  • Figures also reveal 47,000 apps are downloaded, and 20 people have their identities stolen
  • Study predicts that by 2015 the number of networked devices on the Earth will be double the number of people 
Intel's internet minute infographic reveals exactly what we do online - with 639,800GB of data transferred
Intel's internet minute infographic reveals exactly what we do online - with 639,800GB of data transferred

Astonishing figures that show the true scale of our online activity have been revealed.
The new study, by chipmaker Intel, found that more than 204 million emails are sent every minute, while 47,000 apps are downloaded and retail giant Amazon rings up around £55,000 ($83,000) in sales.
Around 20 million photos and 6 million Facebook pages are viewed, while we also watch 1.3 million video clips on YouTube.
Nearly 640,00 Gb of global IP data is transferred in just one Internet minute, the researchers found.
'Computing is transforming and touching more people in a wider range of devices,' said Intel's Krystal Temple.
'But while it’s hard to miss the proliferation of portable devices, it’s what we don’t see that’s the bigger issue.
'What many don't see is that the increase in mobile devices has had a tremendous impact on the amount of date traffic crossing the network.


'It’s a little easier to comprehend once we think about all that’s done on a connected device like a smartphone.
'Listening to music, watching videos, downloading photos, playing online games, refreshing Twitter feeds and status updates – all of those activities generate network traffic.'
The study also looked at how the data could expand dramatically in the future.
It predicted that by 2015, the number of networked devices is expected to be double the world’s population.
It would take five years to view all the video content crossing IP networks each second by then.

One of Google's brightly coloured data centers in Douglas Country: New figures reveal exactly what happens on the internet every minute 
 One of Google's brightly coloured data centers in Douglas Country: New figures reveal exactly what happens on the internet every minute

Google Play Books Now Available in Mexico

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Google has officially announced that its Play Bookstore is now available for customers living in Mexico. English and Spanish digital books will both be available from Random House Mondadori and Planeta and also tons of other international publishers.

Customers living in Mexico are now allowed to buy books directly to their Google account on the web or via the dedicated Google Books app on Android and a myriad of other platforms. The books that are purchased will be attached to the customer’s main Google account, and be accessible on any tablet, phone, or e-reader. Google has confirmed that over one million paid ebooks will be available for patrons to purchase, such as La Emoción de las Cosas de Ángeles Mastretta, Cincuenta Sombras de Grey de E.L. James, y El tango de la Vieja Guardia de Arturo Pérez-Reverte. Google Books is continuing to push its ecosystem into as many markets as possible.

Google Play Books Now Available in Mexico is a post from: E-Reader News

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Rumor: Samsung to Launch Galaxy Tab 3 at IFA Berlin, Jelly Bean Update for Galaxy Tab 7.7 Delayed

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The IFA event in Berlin is still some way off (starts on Sept 6), though that hasn’t stopped the rumor mongers from spreading a few good stories around. The latest claim Samsung is all set to launch its Galaxy Tab 3 device at the European tech event. No specific details are available as yet, and it's not clear if Samsung would launch both the 7 and 10.1 inch versions of Galaxy Tab 3 simultaneously. Meanwhile, Samsung is reported to have stopped providing any updates for its first generation Galaxy Tabs, though the Galaxy Tab 2 will be provided with the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean update. However, that will be the last official update for the second gen Galaxy Tab device.

In another related development, which interestingly can also be classified as another rumor, Samsung is said to have delayed the Jelly Bean update for Galaxy Tab 7.7. The update is reported to have been pushed back until May/June, though no specific dates are available as yet.

Rumor: Samsung to Launch Galaxy Tab 3 at IFA Berlin, Jelly Bean Update for Galaxy Tab 7.7 Delayed is a post from: E-Reader News

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Create Your Own Screencasts

You don't need to be a pro to create your own screencasts. Here are some tips for creating them at home or at work.

Shard Rain Cam

Willem, from The Secret Batcave in South London, is piqued with irritation by the Shard, which interrupts his view from pretty much everywhere he looks. The Shard, for non-Brits and for those Brits who have been living…in a cave, is 95 storeys of incongruous Qatari-owned phallomorphism designed by the guy behind the Pompidou Centre in Paris. It’s the tallest building in the EU, at 309.6 metres. It’s out of place, madly disproportionate, looms over the city like a great big monument to stupid domineering excess, dwarfs the Wren churches of the City of London and even the converted power station that houses the Tate gallery, and was described by John Prescott as being of “the highest architectural quality,” which really tells you all you need to know.

I do not like the Shard. I’m not a Luddite; I say this as a person with a great fondness for the Erotic Gherkin and the Spiral extension of the V&A that never got built. London’s a living city, and new buildings are part of its evolution. But good architecture has something to say; all the Shard has to say is “Whee! I’m bigger than you!”, while trying to stab you in the eye. (And trying to get you to fork over £25 to go to the top to have a look out of the window. It’s a Tourist Attraction, you see.)

At least I don’t live in London, though. Unlike poor Willem, who has to look at the damn thing every day.

But Willem has realised that his rage can be assuaged with a little dose of sour grapes, and that information is beautiful even if the Shard isn’t, so he’s hooked a Raspberry Pi up to a camera pointing at the thing to remind himself that life at the top of the Shard isn’t always a light-bathed soak in other people’s views.

I live in South London, which means that the everywhere I look the Shard stands over me. Now its reported that a flat in this tower of Babel will cost north of £30 million quid. Lets hope the lifts work.

 

This wonderful splash of cash got me thinking, basically you buy this flat for the view. Now living in Britain as I do, I know that the weather is not really designed for long distant views. This got me thinking; if its grey and raining for a day, how much does it cost? Quite a lot as it turns out:

 

£30,000000 / (365 *10) = £8230 a day.

 

That's right, rain costs eight grand a day.

 

Lets just go over those figures a little. We assume a flat costs £30 million, The Telegraph claims its up to £50M, however the estate agents seem to differ and peg it at around £20M. I'll do what economists do and guess a number and swear its based on an accurate model. Likewise I assume that the average nouveau riche nonce will keep the flat for about ten years (I assume they'll either die in a car crash, coke overdose, or have to sell it to fund an expensive vice of some sort).

 

If we plug those numbers into my proprietary financial model algorithm, we see that £30M spread over ten years equates to £8230 a day (with rounding). I also assume that you buy this type of flat for the view. Dividing it further, each rainy hour costs around £342. It’s even higher if you don't count the night time.

 

So why do I need a webcam? Well I want to find out how often the shard is obscured by rain, and therefore how much money has been eaten by the British weather and then laugh at the ****s who splashed so much cash. 

You can read more about why Willem put this cam together and how he did it on his website. He’s also made his timelapse software available, and explains how he quantifies “cloudiness” using the cam’s output.

The data the Pi receives is sent to a simple little website called What Can I See From the Shard. Here’s a screengrab:

Thank you, Willem. Your bitterness serves us all.

 

Kindle Singles Editor-in-Chief David Blum on the Popularity of eShorts

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Amazon launched an innovative platform in 2011 that some have heralded as the salvation of long-form journalism and the renewal of reader content for short fiction. The Kindle Singles platform created a publishing home for stand-alone digital works that were between 5,000 and 30,000 words, a category far too short for traditional print publishing to invest in. David Blum, editor-in-chief of Kindle Singles, spoke to GoodEReader this week about the popularity of the reading format for both consumers and for authors.

“I’m happy to say that this idea that we were just beginning has continued to be successful,” explained Blum in the interview. “The thing that we’re continuing to focus on is continuing down the path that we started, making ourselves open to all different kinds of writers and publishers who are focused on this particular length of writing.”

So what kinds of writing would be ideally suited to the unique word count and publishing format of a Single?

“This has proven to be very popular with writers of both fiction and non-fiction. We’ve seen novellas and longer form short fiction, and equally so with journalism and non-fiction. We’ve gotten large numbers of submissions for in the memoir format, reported narrative, and essay. It’s been really exciting just to see the growth of interest among writers and we’ve been very fortunate to have very high-caliber writers come to us, like Stephen King, but we’ve also had new writers and new voices who haven’t been published before.”

Amazon announced last week the birth of another imprint within its traditional model that will cater to the wants of e-short fans, Day One. While Day One is not directly a part of the Kindle Singles platform, its creation meets a need that Singles may have opened up, which is the desire for more works of fiction short stories.

“Day One is part of Amazon Publishing and it really focuses on short fiction. Their goal and expectation is to find and develop great fiction voices in the short story format.”

While other long-form journalism platforms like Atavist are exploring other options with this type of publishing, Kindle Singles does not foresee a change to the model in the near future, especially given the proven popularity of the format with the readers as well as the opportunity it provides for authors of every status to publish great work.

“You can download a couple of Singles, get on an airplane, and read precisely the story you want to read, and when you get off that plane you’ve finished, the same way you might have done with a magazine. It’s somewhat of an equally satisfying experience in that you’re choosing the story you want to read from the categories that you’re most interested in. The goal for us to build up those lists so customers can find more of what they want to read. We’re really just focused on the same goals that we had in the beginning and we’re happy to see more people become involved.

“It’s exciting to see a writer find an audience, earn royalties from their work in a significant way, and co-exist alongside writers on our bestseller list like Stephen King or Lee Child. While our customers gravitate towards well-known writers like Stephen King or Lee Child, they also just gravitate towards quality. Our customers come to Kindle Singles, if we’ve done our job right, to find something good to read.”

Kindle Singles Editor-in-Chief David Blum on the Popularity of eShorts is a post from: E-Reader News

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New iPad 5 Due out June 29th at ‘Original Passion, New Ideas’ Event

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The latest rumor doing the rounds concerning the iPad is that its 5th iteration could be making its grand debut on June 29that an event dubbed 'Original Passion, New Ideas'. The rumor mill also has it that Apple might also have its iPhone 5 launched on the same day, something quite unusual as the Cupertino company generally prefers separate launch event dedicated to each of its products. But then the even more optimistics out there are eager to point out the new iPad Mini 2 could also be squeezed in as well though these are all speculation at the most.

Coming to the particular devices, what seems likely is that Apple this time could go for radical changes for the original iPad that has had to ward off some stiff competition from none other than its own stable mate iPad Mini. While it's hard to predict what the new iPad 5 could be like, speculation is already rife the tablet could also be the newest entrant to the retinal display club. As for the iPad 5 with the bigger 9.7 inch display, the tablet this time is likely to sport a new design marked with thinner bezels along with a slim profile. This along with the usual dose of performance enhancements brought about by more powerful chips is what can be expected of the new iPad 5.

We sure will have a few more rounds of leaks and more speculations coming our way in the run up to the actual launch. Even if the date mentioned turns out to be deviating from actual plans, we do have a new iPad due around fall season. That's for sure.

New iPad 5 Due out June 29th at ‘Original Passion, New Ideas’ Event is a post from: E-Reader News

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