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Digital newspapers are doing quite fine in the UK as the Times and Sunday Times have seen their digital circulation increase by over 20%. Currently over 150,000 readers subscribe to the digital editions only of the two publications and their print side accounts for 350,000. “The Times and Sunday Times pioneered digital subscriptions and today we can see a solid customer base across every platform, including print,” said Mike Darcey, the News UK chief executive. “Charging for our journalism allows us to invest in our journalism, creating an even better experience for our readers and helping to secure a sustainable future for our titles.” Emma Tucker, the recently-appointed Times deputy editor, described the figures as “incredibly exciting” for the future of the title. “The paywall was a real challenge for everybody in the paper to get it to fly so this shows a great belief in paid-for content,” she said. “We had detractors [when the Times launched its paywall in 2010] but these figures show you can make a success of it.” Many newspaper companies are adopting to the paywall landscape due to the runaway success of the New York Times. Thousands of international papers are trying to emulate them to varying amounts of success. The UK has enough people willing to pay for online news that the Times is remaining profitable and increasing their digital subscribers. Popular UK Newspapers Increase Digital Subscriptions by 20% is a post from: E-Reader News |
Monday, October 28, 2013
Popular UK Newspapers Increase Digital Subscriptions by 20%
Crunchyroll Manga Platform Launches Oct 30th
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Crunchyroll is one of the premier anime and drama services and offers hundreds of streaming videos via their fleet of apps. The company is experimenting with a new vertical with Japanese publisher Kodansha to launch Crunchyroll Manga on October 30th 2013. Crunchyroll Manga will launch on a subscription model, which will be different from other platforms that just sell singular issues. Crunchyroll Manga membership will only cost $4.95/month you will be able to read all the current and archived volumes of all of the manga series posted. If you don’t feel like paying for it you can use the platform for free, but you can only access the latest chapters with ad support in 170 countries. Here’s the full list of titles that will be available: Coppelion, Attack on Titan, Space Brothers, Fairy Tail, UQ Holder!, Mysterious Girlfriend X, A Town Where You Live, As the Gods Will – Second Series, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Fort of Apocalypse, My Wife is Wagatsuma-san, and The Seven Deadly Sins. Manga publishers are trying to come up with new ways to deliver content in a legal manner and to stem the tide of piracy. Manga sales in America have dropped 43% since 2007 and it is hopped that existing services that have a strong track record can be the savior. It will be interesting to see what type of reading app they introduce and how it will be accessible to a North American audience. Crunchyroll Manga Platform Launches Oct 30th is a post from: E-Reader News |
AudioGO Faces Challenges in the Audiobook Market
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The audiobook industry is starting to undergo dramatic shifts in their content delivery methods and major publishing companies are now investing millions of dollars into expensive productions. The entire audiobook industry is currently worth around 1.6 billion dollars and that figure should climb further. The main reason? Audiobook producers have been increasing their output. 13,255 titles came out in 2012, up from 4,602 in 2009. Things aren’t rosy for everyone involved in this sector as audiobook publisher AudioGO has faced insurmountable challenges over the last year. AudioGO announced last week that the company had suspended trading because of financial problems. It was later confirmed managing director Mike Bowen had been suspended and financial director Bradley Whittock had left the business. Some shadiness might be going on as the companies cash situation was sharply reduced, with cash in the bank falling to £346,142, compared with £1.9 million a year earlier. AudioGO was set up in July 2010, when private investors bought out BBC Audiobooks. BBC Worldwide continues to own a minority stake, and it remains to been seen if the news organization will help save their old pet project. AudioGO Faces Challenges in the Audiobook Market is a post from: E-Reader News |
Good e-Reader Radio – Amazon Publishing, Oyster Royalties, Enhanced eBooks and Lots More
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Welcome to another edition of the Good e-Reader Radio Show with Michael Kozlowski and Jeremy Greenfield. Today the two lads talk about Amazon Publishing and what the future may hold with a major executive leaving the fold. Smashwords has announced the royalty structure that Oyster is employing and sheds light on similar agreements with major publishers. Enhanced eBooks, are they a flash in the pan or do they have staying power? 50 Shades of Grey are costing some libraries over $25,000 to keep in stock so people can borrow them digitally, is this a viable long term strategy? Digital Book World is holding their annual event in New York City this January and YOU can attend for free! Find out more about their Sweepstakes HERE. Good e-Reader Radio – Amazon Publishing, Oyster Royalties, Enhanced eBooks and Lots More is a post from: E-Reader News |
DIY Haunted Mansion portrait
| Welcome, foolish mortals. I’m with Cory Doctorow on this one: the Haunted Mansion is the best thing at the Disney parks. It’s a close-run fight with the Tower of Terror, but for me, the Haunted Mansion comes out on top every time. (So much so that I own a gargoyle candlestick.) The queue is one of the best parts of the ride. I shan’t spoil it for you apart from one tiny detail: the portrait of Master Gracey which does a Dorian Gray in front of your eyes, aging from insouciant youth to horrible decrepitude over the course of a minute or so. Why travel, though, when Brandon Netto has demonstrated that you can have your very own Master Gracey portrait in your own
The build itself is self-explanatory (spray-paint frame, stick mirror plastic inside frame, mount over screen, hang on wall) but Brandon has a useful parts list in PDF form, where he also links to some video looping software, and the source video itself. |
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2 Now at Big W and Dick Smith
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The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2 is making its way over to Australia courtesy of Big W and Dick Smith. The Wi-Fi only model retails for $159, while a Wi-Fi + 3G will retail for $229. Currently stock is fairly light at these two retailers, it should populate more after the holiday season. BIG W is always looking for ways to bring the very latest in cutting edge technology to its customers at the lowest price and that’s why we are so excited to be ranging the new Kindle Paperwhite,” said Big W’s Head Technology Buyer, Scott White. When it comes to digital reading in Australia, Big W is trying to cater to the local market in a big way. They have developed their own eBook store and have launched with a sizable volume of 300,000 titles, sigh more titles being added every month. Also, in tune with their overall business theme, Big W is working on low prices to drive their business, with several of the titles to be made available each month for 99 cents or completely free. Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2 Now at Big W and Dick Smith is a post from: E-Reader News |
1/4 of Europeans Prefer Buying Books Online
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A survey carried out by Eurostat to determine the extent that information or communication technologies has permeated in the lives of the average European has revealed the online buying pattern that the Europeans have engaged in in 2012. For instance, what has come to the fore is that it's about a quarter of them that prefer online means to source their requirement of digital reading material. Quite predictably, this marks an increase over what it was a few years ago as more and more wake up to the benefits that ebooks, emagazines or other digital publications presents over their printed counterparts. Country wise, it is Luxembourg that tops the list of European countries that prefer buying online with 47 percent claiming it to be their preferred means of procuring their reading material. Germany comes at the second slot at 41 percent, followed by Sweden and the UK where 38 and 36 percent claim to have bought books online last year. Similarly, its countries like Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania where citizens have shown least inclination to buy books online in 2012. The survey covered those households where respondents fall within the age group of 16 to 64, with those having used the internet for at least a year before the commencement of the survey.
1/4 of Europeans Prefer Buying Books Online is a post from: E-Reader News |
When Did B&N Remove Nook for PC and Nook for Mac Again?
| Back in June B&N caused quite a commotion when they abruptly removed the Nook for PC and Nook for Mac programs from their website, making it so that people could not easily download and read their purchased Nook books and periodicals on a computer. In fact B&N received so much negative attention about it that […] |
Pi NoIR infrared camera: now available!
| Pi NoIR, the infrared version of our camera board, is available to purchase for $25 ex tax from today. You’ll find it at all the usual suspects: RS, Farnell and their subsidiaries; and at Adafruit. Other stores will be getting stock soon.  Pictures courtesy of Adafruit, who, unlike us, actually have a studio for doing this stuff in – thanks guys!  Back view
What’s that mysterious square of stuff, you ask? I’ll let you know tomorrow.
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