Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Crunchyroll Manga VS Viz Manga

CrunchyRoll-Logo

Two of the biggest sites for fans to read the very latest manga online are Viz Manga and Crunchyroll Manga. While both companies offer this type of content, they both offer very different features. While Crunchyroll is known for being a reliable site sourcing all of it’s content from Japan, Viz Manga is the official North American distributor of most manga. Many people getting into manga for the first time might be wondering what site offers the most compelling value proposition?  Today, we look into what each company does and what makes the most sense for you, the reader.

viz-media-logo-300x218Crunchyroll is certainly the more popular option. It has been a go-to for manga readers and anime watchers for years. One of the great things about Crunchyroll is the selection. They keep up with the popular manga, and almost anything you’ve been recommended to watch, they will have. Crunchyroll also offers a forum for their users, either for reviews or to address any questions or concerns. Another reason Crunchyroll has been so popular is the additional feature of watching anime, and this has become even more appealing as Crunchyroll’s Premium membership now gives full access to both anime and manga titles.

Crunchyroll can also be used for free – but with a catch. The quality may not be as high, and you won’t be able to read it until a week after the official release, in comparison to members who can read new chapters just hours after their release in Japan. Another con about using Crunchyroll is there are a wide array of various memberships, and many times people won’t know which to sign up for. It can be confusing, and hard if you don’t know exactly what you want to get.

Viz Manga runs a little differently. They are an offshoot to Viz Media, the company that distributes most of the official English translations of manga, including the popular magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump. Because of this, using Viz Manga allows you to read the magazine. Not only does this involve multiple new manga chapters, but any other specials the magazine could be offering that week, such as artist interviews or new announcements. Viz Manga also offers free previews to some of their titles, allowing reader a taste of what’s in store before they make a commitment.

All of the purchased content from Viz Manga goes directly to the user’s personal library. It gives a feeling of really, truly owning the manga, and you can come back to it any time you want. However, Viz is a bit limited to the titles they have the rights to. Still, it does have a ton of the most popular manga you would want, but also stuff you might not have read before, such as Knights of the Zodiac (Saint Seiya).

Both Viz Manga and Crunchyroll have official apps for Android and iOS, so it makes it easy to read while on the go. As for what’s the best option, it really comes down to what kind of person you are.  Crunchyroll might offer the best bang for your buck, being able to subscribe to both their anime and manga service is very compelling. Manga collectors who prefer the feeling of true ownership, or want to read the best  new manga as it comes out, will likely go with Viz Manga. If you are hardcore though, you might just want to sign up with both of them! After all, subscribing to these companies puts more money into their pockets, which means more mainstream manga can crossover from Japan and be translated into English.

Crunchyroll Manga VS Viz Manga is a post from: Good e-Reader

Draft2Digital Authors Can Distribute e-Books into the Tolino Bookstore

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Draft2Digital has announced that self-publishers who use their service have a new distribution channel. The US company has ironed out a new agreement with Tolino, a German based online bookstore.

The Tolino Alliance was formed in 2013 and their mandate was to combat Amazon in Germany. This marked the first occasion that  Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Club Bertelsmann, Deutsche Telekom all banded together to forge a series of e-reading devices and launch an online bookstore. Not only are books and readers sold all over Germany but recently they expanded to Belgium via Standaard Boekhandel.

It has been said that Tolino controls  42% of the German e-Book market, which is the third largest English-language e-Book market in the world.  Draft2Digital currently has a catalog of 40,000+ books, which makes it a minor player in self-publishing.

Many American authors are pleased at the new distribution channel. In order to enroll your books there is a big red button that will add your titles to Tolino all at once, which makes things easier than doing it one by one.

Draft2Digital Authors Can Distribute e-Books into the Tolino Bookstore is a post from: Good e-Reader

Anyone Using New Kindle Bookerly Font?

Amazon has started rolling out a new font called Bookerly to the Kindle reading app on some Fire tablets. Amazon says that Bookerly was made specifically for Kindle, and that it was designed for digital screens. They even claim their new font makes reading easier and helps reduce eye strain. I got a notification about […]

Breaking – Kobo to Take Over Blinkbox Books Business

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Tesco and Kobo have come to terms on the Blinkbox Books business unit. Customers will be able to transition all of their past purchases to the Kobo ecosystem and have the option to buy new e-Books from Kobo in the future.

Blinkbox will be emailing their customers in two to three weeks  with a unique code and a link to a specially created Kobo registration page – You will need to click the link in that email where you will be able to transfer your blinkbox Books library to Kobo.

The existing Blinkbox Books app will be discontinued within a few months, once the majority of customers have transferred their past purchases to Kobo.  In the future, you will need to install the dedicated Kobo app if you want to make new purchases. A firmware update will be sent off to Hudl tablet owners removing the Tesco store and automatically installing the Kobo version.

Kobo has done quite well for themselves over the course of the last few years by taking over the e-book business from companies that went under. Last year Sony closed down their longstanding Reader Store and transferred all past purchases to Kobo. This was a boon to the Canadian based company because it added over 100,000 active customers who started to buy e-books from Kobo, instead of Sony. The same thing is happening now with Tesco and their Blinkbox Books platform.

Breaking – Kobo to Take Over Blinkbox Books Business is a post from: Good e-Reader

Top 10 Anime You Need to Watch Right Now – 2015

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Some people are really new to anime or have taken a break and have recently come back. There is a ton of content out there right now but what had the best story line? Art style and animation? What was the most engaging to viewers? Well you’ve come to the right place! Here you will get an essential list to the top 10 anime that you should be watching right now!

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

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Genre: Magical Girl, Dark Fantasy, Horror

Middle school students Madoka Kaname and her friend Sayaka Meiki encounter a small mysterious creature named Kyubey who offers them an interesting opportunity. A contract in which a girl may have any wish granted in exchange for magical powers and the task to fight against witches. While Madoka struggles to determine if she will make the contract, a transfer student and mysterious magical girl, Akemi Homura, tries to stop Madoka from making the contract at all costs. After meeting an upperclassman at the same school, Mami Tomoe reveals she too is a magical girl and agrees to take the girls witch hunting. When devastating events occur, Madoka has to wonder just what it means to be a magical girl and the perils that it will force them to face.

Available on Crunchyroll - Hulu

Attack on Titan

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Genre: Dark Fantasy, Post Apocalyptic

Over one hundred years ago, giant humanoid creatures called Titans suddenly appeared and nearly wiped out humanity, devouring everyone without any remorse or reason. What remains of the human race now resides in three enormous concentric walls and inside, humanity has lived in peace. After a seemingly normal day, the wall that protected them for so long has been  breached and young Eren Yeager, along with his adopted sister Mikasa Ackerman, rush to find their parents. Eren watches in horror as a titan devours his mother and makes a vow to kill all the titans and enlists in the military with the other survivors from the attack.

Available on HuluCrunchyroll, Funimation

Sword Art Online

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Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance

In 2022, a company has perfected virtual reality. With the use of the Nerve Gear, a virtual reality helmet that stimulates the users five senses through their brain, players can now journey to Sword Art Online, becoming their personas and go on grand adventures. However once players try to log out, it is announced that they are trapped inside a life or death situation. In order to live, you must win the game. To die in the game, means to die in the real world. The main protagonist, Kirito, is a master swordsman who sets out to save the trapped minds of Aincrad with the help of his companion Asuna along with other friends.

Available on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Netflix 

Durarara

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Genre: Action, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy

Mikado Ryūgamine, a young boy who yearns for the exciting life of a big city, decides to move to Ikebukuro to attend Raira Academy with his childhood friend Masaomi Kida, who he has not seen since they were young. After the two meet up, they set out at night of the streets of the bustling city. Masaomi warns Mikado of the people he doesn’t want to cross in the city, such as a violent and super humanly strong man named Shizuo Heiwajima, the information broker Izaya Orihara and the mysterious gang known as "The Dollars". Nervous after the stories his friend tells him, Mikado witnesses an urban legend on his first night in the city, the Headless Rider astride a black motorcycle that occasionally neigh’s like a horse. From then on, the existence of supernatural cases and a gang called the Yellow Scarves will rise to surface, and Ikebukuro will be pushed to it’s limits.

Available on Crunchyroll, Hulu

Mushi-Shi

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Genre: Occult detective

Ginko is a Mushi Master, travelling from place to place to research and discover more about the mysterious creatures called Mushi. It is implied there are many and have more lifeforms more primitive than "Normal" living things such as animals, plants, fungi and bacteria, also wielding supernatural powers. Ginko sets off on a journey to aid people that have suffered from the Mushi.

Available on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Funimation,

Bakemonogatari

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Genre: Occult Detective, Romantic Comedy

The story follows Koyomi Araragi, a third year high school student who has become human again after becoming a vampire for a short time. One day, a classmate, the reclusive Hitagi Senjōgahara falls down the stairs into Koyomi’s hands to realize, she was weightless. Despite being threatened to keep away, Koyomi tells her of an old man who helped his problem and could help hers too. After helping Hitagi’s problem, it turns out various other girls in the school will be in need of aid due to their oddities as well.

Available on Crunchyroll, Hulu,

Angel Beats!

Angel Beats

Genre: Action, Comedy-Drama, Fantasy, Tragedy

Otonashi has lost his memories of his life after his death and finds himself at a high school that acts as limbo to those who have died, where students learn to give up any lingering attachments they may still have from life before passing on. Otonashi then meets Yuri, who invites him to join the Afterlife Battlefront, SSS, an organization she founded and leads a fight against God.

Available on Crunchyroll, Hulu,

Magi

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Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

A young boy named Aladdin travels around a strange land in which mysterious ruins called Dungeons are said to house priceless treasures. Together with his friend Alibaba, a young man he met during his travels,  Aladdin strives to conquer all of the Dungeons and obtain their treasures. But little does Aladdin know, that with every Dungeon conquered and every treasure found, he’s closer and closer to learning what fate has in store for him.

Available on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Netflix 

Fate Zero

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Genre: Action, Fantasy

Taking place 10 years before the events in Fate/Stay Night, details the events of the 4th Holy Grail war. The Einzbern family is determined to achieve success after three consecutive failures no mater what the cost. As a result, they have selected a magus killer, Kiritsugu Emiya  into their ranks despite his methods and reputation as a mercenary and hitman.

Available on Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

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Genre: Action, Comedy, Adventure, Mecha

In a dark future where humanity is oppressed by an army of mutants and forced to live their lives underground, a young orphan unearths a powerful robot. Together a boisterious man named Kamina, a beautiful sharpshooter named Yoko and many other friends, Simon will use rob bots to fight against their oppressors and take back what was one theirs.

Available on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Netflix

Tokyo Ghoul

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Genre: Dark Fantasy, Action, Tragedy

This story follows Kaneki Ken, a college student who barely survives a deadly encounter with Rize Kamishiro, a ghoul, a human-like creature that devours flesh. Kaneki is taken to a hospital in critical condition but upon waking up, discovers that he had somehow underwent surgery to become a half ghoul. With no one else to turn to, he is taken in by the ghouls who manage "Antieku", a coffee who is run by ghouls will teach him how to deal with his new life.

Available on Hulu, Funimation

Top 10 Anime You Need to Watch Right Now – 2015 is a post from: Good e-Reader

MakerBot Mobile Brings 3D Printing to Android

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It hasn’t been that long since the concept of 3D printing seemed more like a dream than it did a reality. Fortunately for those of us who love technology, this isn’t the case anymore. The ability to print in 3D is becoming more affordable, which means many people have even given it a try with their own printers (lucky dogs). If you are among them, and your hardware is made by MakerBot, a new mobile app for Android allows you to monitor and control your device from the palm of your hand (the iOS version has been available for a while longer, so this news was much anticipated).

As long as you are connected to the same wireless network as your MakerBot 3D printer, you can access it to print jobs (using images saved to your library using the MakerBot desktop). In addition, functionality exists to monitor, cancel, or pause printing as required.

Describing the functionality in more detail, MakerBot explains:

"MakerBot Mobile adds a revolutionary layer of convenience and ease to your 3D printing workflow by allowing you to access everything MakerBot from your mobile device and prepare digital designs for 3D printing.

Choose a downloadable digital design from Thingiverse or any 3D model file stored in your MakerBot Cloud Library, then use MakerBot cloud servers to optimize, scale, and slice your design for 3D printing, layer-by-layer. MakerBot Mobile does all the work for you so all you have to do is confirm the print on your MakerBot Replicator 3D Printer"

If you have a Replicator 3D Printer, consider grabbing MakerBot for your Android device and giving it a try.

MakerBot Mobile Brings 3D Printing to Android is a post from: Good e-Reader

Microsoft Sees 1.1B in Revenue from Surface Tablet

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Microsoft should be celebrating right now with news that their Surface tablet has realized $1.1 billion in revenue during the December quarter. Even though they are still lagging a fair ways behind the competition (with Apple seeing $5.3B in iPad sales during the same period), this dollar value represents a 24% increase year-over-year.

These revenue numbers include more than just units sold, accessories like the optional (but not really) keyboard cover.

In the earnings report presented by Microsoft, the company revealed that there were other successes –the Lumia smartphone had sales of $10.5 million for the quarter, which is a new record for them. Other news wasn’t as good, with only 6.6 million Xbox consoles sold this period (which has been characterized as strong, despite representing an overall decline from the 7.4 million units moved a year earlier).

Reading between the lines, it would seem one thing is clear: Microsoft has more hardware out there in consumer hands now, which means Windows 10 has the potential to reach (and hopefully impress) even more users.

Microsoft Sees 1.1B in Revenue from Surface Tablet is a post from: Good e-Reader

Blinkbox Books Closing Next Month, Kobo to the Rescue?

UK-based Tesco has announced that they will be closing their blinkbox branded ebook store at the end of February 2015, according to a report by The Bookseller. "We have taken the decision to close our e-book service blinkbox Books,” a Tesco representative said. “We've learnt a lot since launching the service and whilst we saw […]

Displio: A Small E Ink Display Wi-Fi Widget

There’s a new E Ink gadget on Kickstarter called Displio. The device has a tiny 2.7-inch E Ink screen that can display all kinds of things like the weather, email notifications, traffic reports, stock updates, checklists, social network updates and a lot more. So far the crowdfunding campaign is off to a good start; they’ve […]

Big Birthday Weekend – what’s happening, where and when

More than 1000 of you have signed up already to come to our Big Birthday Weekend at the end of February. Tickets for Saturday are now sold out, but there are still about 80 left for the Sunday event.

We’ve had lots of excited email from people who are coming, who want to know more about what we’ll be getting up to. Mike Horne (who many of you know as Recantha) and Tim Richardson, who the Cambridge Jams and who are doing the lion’s share of the organising for this event, have been kind enough to provide an update for everybody. 

We’d like to say a HUGE thank you to Mike, Tim and Lisa Mather, who are all members of our wonderful community who have volunteered to do the massive bulk of the organisational work on this event for us for free – we’re a very small team and we simply couldn’t have managed this without them all. Thanks guys!

Hello everyone. Mike Horne and Tim Richardson here to update you on the Raspberry Pi Big Birthday Weekend.

What has been happening?

It has been quite a couple of weeks. On the 13th of January, we visited the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory in the hope that it would act as the venue for the Raspberry Pi Big Birthday Weekend. We were incredibly impressed with the place and we would like to thank Professor Jon Crowcroft for making us feel so welcome and showing us around. It is a brilliant venue and we are very lucky to be able to hold it there.

University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory

Since that visit, it would be fair to say that we haven't stopped! We opened up booking on the 14th January and since then we have sold over 1000 tickets across the two days and the party. The party sold out first, closely followed by the Saturday day event. There are still tickets available for the Sunday, and we are now running a waiting list for the Saturday. If you'd like to join us on the Sunday or join the waiting list, please register.

What will be happening at the Big Birthday Weekend?

Each person who has registered has been asked how they would like to be involved with the weekend, and we have been absolutely inundated with offers of talks, requests to join discussion panels, offers to help run workshops and to take part in show and tell. Mike has been collating all these different offers and requests and the timetables are now being worked on with Liz and the team at the Raspberry Pi Foundation. We hope to be able to release a firm programme within the next week after we've contacted everyone involved again. What we can say so far is the following:

  • We will have two lecture theatres and two workshop rooms.
  • Talks include: Andy Proctor, talking about his Raspberry Pi-enabled truck; Jonathan Pallant from Cambridge Consultants talking
    about their penguin and rhino monitoring stations; and a healthy education element (we've had loads of offers of education talks). There will be LOTS more – we’re just trying to sort through everything now!
  • Panels will include: a group of youngsters talking about how the Raspberry Pi has changed their lives; advice on running crowdfunding campaigns; a Foundation Education Team panel; a technical panel including Raspberry Pi engineers; and Q&As with all the people you know from the Foundation from social media and this blog.
  • Workshops will include: an introduction to integrating the Pi with electronics; a session for beginner Pi users which will  help them get set up; basic Minecraft programming skills; advanced Minecraft hacking with GPIO interfacing; a Scratch hackathon.

Party time!

On the Saturday evening there is, of course, a birthday party. We have had to limit this to 275 people, due to catering arrangements. Logistics for the party are being spearheaded by Lisa Mather and Tim. Lisa has been an absolute star for agreeing to help with the party, especially as she's way up in Manchester. From there, she has been organising goodie bags and decorations and generally being brilliant, coming up with ideas to make the Lab look welcoming and exciting, as well as lending her party planning experience to help us not to miss anything! Tim and Lisa are also working out what Pi-powered party games we will be having, as well as organising Pi-powered music for the occasion.

Marketplace

Tim has also been organising the Marketplace for the event. The Marketplace will feature many well-known names in the Pi community including The Pi Hut, PiBorg, 4Tronix, Pimoroni and also a newcomer to the Pi arena: IQaudio who specialise in GPIO audio boards. We are hoping that there will be another couple of vendors joining us, but they need to confirm with us.

Robots!

We’re inviting anyone who has their own Raspberry Pi-based robot to bring it along to show it off. At Pi Wars we had a highly popular obstacle course. This course will be making an appearance at the Birthday Weekend (after Tim has carefully put it all back together again!) and you are invited to bring your own robot to try it out!

Picture from  www.pi-tutorials.co.uk

Picture from www.pi-tutorials.co.uk

Further information

One of the other things we have been working on with the Foundation team is an information page for the event. On this page you will find information on the venue, parking and where to stay in Cambridge if you require accommodation. We hope you'll find the information there useful. If you have any questions about the event, please mail mike.horne@raspberrypi.org and we'll attempt to answer them as best we can and then add that information, if appropriate, to the information page.

That's it for now – we are aiming to keep you up-to-date with what has been happening every week, so don't forget to keep on checking back!

SelfPublishing Info Sessions for Indie Authors

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In some ways, the current state of digital publishing is even more mysterious to indie writers than when the doors first opened on publishing a handful of years ago. With so many more options than the first wave of publishing revolution, even seasoned, published authors may find some of the new options and features a little daunting.

Two of the many reliable, on-going sources of information will be staging their monthly online events today with topics aimed at furthering the careers and success of self-published authors.

The first is the Alliance of Independent Authors’ monthly “Ask ALLi” roundtable with guest experts Joanna Penn and Orna Ross. Penn, a New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author who was named one of The Guardian UK Top 100 Creative Professionals in 2013, will share insights into the current state of self-publishing with author, ALLi director, and sought-after industry expert Orna Ross. Together the pair will take questions and offer tips and solutions.

Later tonight, the weekly Bibliocrunch Twitter chat #IndieChat will take place at its usual time, only this week’s guest is far from usual. One of the top issues that continues to plague indie authors isn’t in the writing, editing, or publishing side of the business, but in the marketing and promotion aspect. Tonight’s #IndieChat guest is Shari Stauch, founder of Where Writers Win, a company dedicated to working with authors with a spectrum of budgetary allowances to offer every type of promotion service, from outright media campaigns to simply building their websites.

Participation in both events is free and simple. For the ALLi event, simply sign in to join the Google Hangout by following THIS LINK. The event kicks off at 11am ET/4pm GMT. For the #IndieChat hosted by Bibliocrunch, simply sign into your Twitter account and follow the hashtag at 9pm ET. Remember to include the hashtag in your tweets to join in the conversation.

SelfPublishing Info Sessions for Indie Authors is a post from: Good e-Reader