| Three years ago, the Archie Comics folks startled the world by introducing the first openly gay character in Riverdale, Kevin Keller. Kevin made his debut in Veronica #202 and soon got his own mini-series. This week, Kevin’s creator, Dan Parent, accepted the Outstanding Comic Book award at the GLAAD Media Awards, saying, “Many people thought it would be a challenge to introduce a gay character into a comic book primarily produced for children, but that was really our saving grace. Because as most of you know, the people who have the most progressive minds are really our kids [...] Kids like to read stories about characters they care about, characters they want to be friends, characters with a strong moral compass like Kevin Keller. Many LGBT people of my generation have told me about the lack of any gay characters they had to look to in pop culture, especially in the world of comic books. It’s a very lonely place to be. These fans had to live vicariously through the straight romantic adventures of Archie, Betty and Veronica. Well, LGBT kids of this generation won’t have to worry about that. You have a place in Riverdale now and the fun is just starting.” To celebrate, the Archie folks are slashing prices on Kevin Keller comics in their digital store, offering Kevin Keller #1 for free and the other issues for 99 cents. Actually, my favorite Kevin Keller comic is the very first one, Veronica #202, because it’s so true to the Archie characters—Veronica, who doesn’t realize Kevin is gay, keeps trying to snare him, and Jughead encourages him to keep it a secret just to annoy her. The sale lasts through May 31. If Archie is a bit too young for your tastes, check out this weekend’s other big sale: IDW is slashing prices on its Star Trek digital comics at comiXology and its Star Trek app. Graphic novels and single-issue comics alike are all half price, so the comics are 99 cents each and graphic novels are $2.99 to $5.99. Stock up now and spend all summer aboard the Enterprise, but do it fast, as this sale only lasts through Sunday, May 19. Digital Deals: Kevin Keller and Archie Comics is a post from: E-Reader News |
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Digital Deals: Kevin Keller and Archie Comics
Top Publishers Donate eBooks to Get London Reading Campaign
| Hachette UK, HarperCollins, Penguin, and Random House have donated a selection of top children's titles to support the Get London Reading literacy campaign. This is a big event with Barnes and Noble and the London Evening Standard aiming to make reading more accessible and affordable across the UK and includes a donation of 1,000 NOOK Simple Touch e-Readers to Beanstalk, a national literacy charity that recruits and supports reading volunteers in schools. NOOK has worked with Hachette UK, HarperCollins, Penguin, and Random House to contribute the books, which will be loaded onto the 1,000 Nook e-Readers that B&N is donating to reading volunteers from Beanstalk. The titles donated are some of the UK's most popular children's books. The Beanstalk literacy volunteers will use the NOOKs at key schools with high levels of illiteracy across the UK. Victoria Barnsley, CEO and Publisher, HarperCollins UK and International said: "At HarperCollins, we are passionate about extending the joy of reading and have long supported Beanstalk's amazing work promoting literacy in schools. We are delighted to be in partnership with NOOK on this fantastic project to Get Reading." Gail Rebuck, Chair and CEO, The Random House Group said: "Random House has supported Beanstalk for nine years and the Get Reading campaign since its launch in 2011. Today marks a key milestone for the campaign and we have donated 10 fantastic ebooks from authors who are supporting the NOOK partnership including Jacqueline Wilson, James Patterson and Bear Grylls that will capture the imaginations of young people and support Beanstalk volunteers who are working to improve literacy levels in schools across the UK." George Walkley, Head of Digital, Hachette UK said: "We are absolutely delighted to be involved in the Get Reading campaign. We believe that reading is the foundation for a happy and healthy life. Books in every format enhance the lives of children and, as more and more children now read on e-readers, this initiative with NOOK is a very valuable addition to this great campaign."
Top Publishers Donate eBooks to Get London Reading Campaign is a post from: E-Reader News |
Video: Google Play on the Nook HD
| Barnes and Noble announced a few weeks ago that the entire Nook HD Tablet line will get full access to Google Play. We have heard from many readers that they intend to buy one for the first time, or decided to stick with their device because of this new enhancement. Google Play gives international users a viable ecosystem of content to tap into, and for the first time, you can use the Nook outside of the US and UK. The Nook HD and HD+ are fairly economical in price, due to the recent discounting. The resolution and internal processor speeds are fairly robust. To be honest, these are great tablets that give you a big bang for your buck. In the past, users had to make due with Barnes and Noble’s own curated app store. The one drawback is the absence of any business that competes directly with the bookstore chain. You won’t find any Amazon, Kobo, Sony, or comic reader apps. Now that the Nook’s have access to Google Play, you will be able to download all of this and more! Now that Google Play is available via a new automatic firmware update, there is a breath of life infused into the Nook HD and HD+. 750,000 apps are at your fingertips, and in our video review, we show you how the entire experience looks on the Nook HD. You can get a sense on how big the update is, and how it looks. Video: Google Play on the Nook HD is a post from: E-Reader News |
Don’t Bury the ‘Hachette’: Check Out these Newly Added eBooks!
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You probably know that on May 8th, thousands of popular front-list eBook titles from Hachette Book Group were added to Content Reserve. Featured Hachette authors include David Sedaris, James Patterson, Malcolm Gladwell and the list goes on. Just one week later, we have more good news – additional Hachette titles are now available! Newly added content includes:
"Art Girls Are Easy" by Julie Klausner – This newly released YA comedy chronicles the life of prodigious art student Indigo Hamlisch and the crazy events during her last summer at Silver Springs, an all-girls Performing Arts Academy. Listed as a mature and edgy YA read for all readers looking for a little inspiration, Art Girls will please all of your patrons.
"We Are Anonymous" by Parmy Olson РIf you're more interested in an expos̩ on high-level hacking than the travails of a gifted teenybopper, this is the book for you. Parmy Olsen takes a respite from her gig at Forbes to present an account of the intricate scheme pulled off by hacker groups Anonymous and LulzSec, and their ultimate downfall. With glowing reviews the world around, Olsen will keep you on the edge of your seat.
"Where'd You Go, Bernadette?" by Maria Semple– Looking for intrigue that's a little less intense? Look no further than this novel, which follows the search of a 15-year-old girl for her mother, Bernadette, who has suddenly vanished. This inventive and endearing book will appeal to a wide variety of your readers.
Bernadette, a humorous literature title, is set in Washington, which could be why it was recently named the feature title for a program called Spokane is Reading, sponsored largely by OverDrive partners Spokane County Library and Spokane Public Library. Debra Park, Adult Collection Development Librarian at SCLD was thrilled to hear about its availability as an eBook.
Bee may have trouble finding Bernadette in the novel, but you'll have no trouble finding these titles and many more in Content Reserve. We are creating a cart of these titles and will put it into your Content Reserve account in the next two days. For additional customized shopping carts, contact us today at collectionteam@overdrive.com.
Hachette eBooks follow a one-copy/one-user lending model, and there is no checkout or term limit. U.S. and Canadian standalone library systems, schools, colleges and members of consortia that have an OverDrive Advantage account are eligible to add Hachette eBook titles to their digital collections.
Jason Sockel is a Collection Development Specialist at OverDrive.
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Report: Kids Tend to Read Digital More than Print
| The process of reading is undergoing a paradigm shift where kids are starting to read on smartphones and tablets more than physical print. The quintessential bedtime story book is being replaced by dedicated kids apps and Amazon. A recent report by the National Literacy Trust in the United Kingdom surveyed 35,000 kids, whose ages ranged from 8-16. It stated that 39% of children and young people read on electronic devices every day, whereas only 28% read printed materials daily. The number of children reading e-books has doubled in the last two years from 6% to 12%. There is a very strong desire to read on a tablet to satiate young folks literary thirst. 52% of respondents said they would ideally like to read on a tablet and 32% said they would much rather have a physical book. Young ladies statistically are enamored with the physical book with 68% preferring to read, whereas boys account for only 54%. The research also found that those who read daily on screen are almost twice less likely to be above-average readers than those who read regularly in print (or in print and on screen): 15.5% compared to 26%. Those who read only on screen are also three times less likely to enjoy reading (12% compared to 51%), and a third less likely to have a favorite book—just 59% of children surveyed who read on screen had one, compared to 77% of kids who prefer to read print books. Obviously tablets present publishers with very unique opportunities to directly appeal to their target demographic. Reading on larger mobile screens tend to be the most used, with 36% of children using it as their dedicated reading device. Computers still are fairly popular with 23% and smartphones account for 23%. Major publishers are sparing no expense on investing lots of money into dedicated apps. HMH has pumped out a ton of content, centered around the Curious George franchise. Barnes and Noble has the best developed Kids ecosystem in the world, with books that parents can narrate for their children. Scholastic Storia tends to be very popular with kids, as does the relaunched Reading Rainbow on the iPad. Report: Kids Tend to Read Digital More than Print is a post from: E-Reader News |
Barnes and Noble Beefs Up Nook iOS App for Comics Readers
| Barnes and Noble announced a major upgrade to its Nook app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch this week, bringing the full range of digital comics capabilities to the app for the first time. Previously, many comics in the Nook store were available only on Nook devices, not on the associated apps. With the upgrade, iOS users can now access any of the 8,000 comics titles in the Nook store. The Nook folks are also giving new readers an incentive to set up an account now: They are giving away a free Superman sampler comic to anyone who downloads the upgraded app and sets up a new account. Why would you bother? The Nook app is not as convenient as the comiXology, Comics Plus, or Dark Horse apps, because you cannot buy comics in-app; as is the case with Amazon Kindle, you have to buy the comics in the web store or on a non-iOS device. On the other hand, if you’re the type to shop around, and you don’t mind having your comics in several different apps, the Nook Store sometimes offers lower prices. Also, there are some titles available for Nook that you can’t find on Amazon, such as most Viz manga (although Viz manga are available in the Viz app). In terms of usability, the app works just fine, but it’s not quite on a par with the otehrs. The Zoom View, which is touted in the press release as an enhancement for comics readers, is somewhat less than comiXology’s Guided View: A double tap enlarges the panel, and you can then drag the enlarged page around so you can see the whole thing. Unlike Guided View, it does not bring you from one panel to the next; all navigation must be done by dragging, which is a less elegant solution. And the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen, which lets you move from one section of the book to another, uses thumbnail pages, which take up a lot of space; a simple slider bar would do just fine without covering up part of the page. The bottom line is that if you are a B&N shopper already, if you don’t mind switching apps to save a few bucks, or if you want to read the digital comics not available on Kindle, this new app is probably worth a look. Check out the Nook Comics Store to see if anything piques your interest. Barnes and Noble Beefs Up Nook iOS App for Comics Readers is a post from: E-Reader News |
Frederik and Ernest’s Europe – Middle East – Africa roadtrip
| Frederik and Ernest Lotter from Blue Horizon Embedded Systems in South Africa are driving from the UK to South Africa via Russia and the Middle East, taking in seventeen countries on their way. They are making the journey in a Land Rover Defender which is fitted with a Raspberry Pi-based distributed light control system. The Raspberry Pi, and their lighting rig design, will be put to the test over 22000km of harsh conditions and rough terrain. The Lotter brothers are experienced electronic engineers and are offering to meet up with groups of potential Raspberry Pi or ARM enthusiasts along the way. There may even be a Pi-themed reward available if you can find them using the live GPS tracking system they have installed. You can track them live online, and if you want them to come and talk to your school, business or another group about Raspberry Pi and ARM processors while they’re in your country, they’re inviting you to email them - please get in touch as soon as possible if you’d like them to visit. Watch the video to learn more, and to find out what their route looks like. Thanks Fred and Ernest; we’re looking forward to tracking your progress! |
Librarians Share: How Fort Smith School District is Achieving Early Success
| Fort Smith School District (AR) launched their digital collection a few short months ago and they are already seeing widespread adaptation from their student body. This great success comes from early marketing and keeping their students, staff and parents up to date, educated and excited about their services. Library Media Specialist Rebecca Howe agreed to share their story to help other schools see the same results!
What did you do to prepare your students/staff for your service? We trained all of our Library Media Specialists on the basics of OverDrive. Then, the LMS trained their staff and students at each school. We have also allowed parents and students to bring personal devices and have helped them to get started. We also recommended that they go to the public library for help. Our public library has used OverDrive for quite some time and has someone on staff to help assist patrons with their devices and issues they might have.
Have you done any special marketing promotions since your launch?A lot of the schools provided a parent night and introduced the OverDrive platform and BYOD program (Bring Your Own Device) to parents. We also sent out the promotional flyers that OverDrive provided for us.
We have an OverDrive link on every school website and our district website as well. We also have links to the software, Device Resource Center, and the How-to guides that OverDrive provides.
We plan on sending out a district wide phone call that goes to the entire staff and student body reminding them that OverDrive is available during the summer months. A lot of the elementary library media specialists plan on revisiting how to use OverDrive during the last week of classes.
What has contributed to your early successes? We have started allowing all students to participate in BYOD and log into Wi-Fi. They are allowed to use their personal devices to read and listen to books they have checked out and/or downloaded from OverDrive. We made our BYOD user names and passwords the same as the OverDrive user names and passwords.
Since we have such a large number of netbooks issued to students for classroom use, I created a flyer that contained screen shots of how to download Adobe Digital Editions and OverDrive Media Console. I also provided one with screen shots on how to create an Adobe ID and why you create one.
Some schools made posters for each classroom that explained the different ways you can read and listen to e-books/audiobooks on desktops and netbooks using OverDrive Read and Disney Digital Books to enjoy immediately or to download the e-books/audiobooks to Adobe Digital Editions or OverDrive Media Console. We gave our elementary students very explicit but simple instructions on how to get started. We also highly recommended checking out OverDrive Read and Disney Online titles while at school on the netbooks and desktops. We have found that these are the simplest for the elementary students to use.
What has the student reaction been? Our students have loved using OverDrive! They have also loved being able to bring their own devices and reading and listening to books from those as well.
Rebecca Howe is a Library Media Specialist for Barling Elementary, part of the Fort Smith School District.
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How to Survive the Hotmail to Outlook.com Transition
Frustrated about the recent upgrade from Hotmail to Outlook.com? Check out our survival guide to help make the transition easier. |
Publisher Threatens Blogger with Lawsuit, Imprisonment for Defamation
| It’s just a known and accepted fact about the internet that there are trolls everywhere. If you post a video of your six-year-old’s dance recital on YouTube, someone out there invariably will down-vote it and make a rude remark in the comments section. There is almost an air of acceptance about the process, a sentiment that users understand that putting content on the internet opens the door to people hiding behind computer screens and spreading negativity, and there’s not much that can be done about it. One publisher, however, is taking a stand against what it claims is a troll-like level of criticism from an online grump. The problem is, the so-called grump has spent years collecting and gathering data on the subjects he disparages on his blog, and can fairly-well back up his accusations of less-than-honorable business practices aimed at taking money from scholars at institutions of higher education. In an article by Jake New for The Chronicle of Higher Education, the plight of one University of Colorado – Denver librarian was exposed. Indian publisher OMICS Publishing Group, who claims to publish around 200 scholarly journals, is suing the librarian for $1 billion and threatening him with criminal prosecution, which they claim under Indian law can result in up to three years in prison. The metadata librarian in question, Jeffrey Beall, has been featured in prominent journals and newspapers for his work on his site, Scholarly Open Access, which exposes publishers and journals who may be operating under false pretenses or bad business practices. Beall’s site has come to be known as “Beall’s List” within higher education circles for its accuracy and comprehensive depictions of academic publishers. At the university level, the pressure to publish one’s work is incredibly high, and publishers are available to charge a professor or researcher thousands of dollars just to be able to state that his work is published. Beall has written about OMICS’ practices of using prominent people’s names without permission, their charge of as much as $3,000 to publish one’s research, and hosting sham conferences whose names are misleadingly close to real and prestigious events. For its part, the publisher claims that Beall’s information is completely unfounded and is suing for the potential damage he can cause their company. The group also claims that under India’s laws, Beall can face a lengthy jail sentence for his “unfounded” accusations; Beall’s attorneys are countering that this is nothing more than a publicity stunt on the part of the publisher, and are taking a stand against the accusations. Fortunately for Beall, his roles as both the originator of the list and his work as a librarian mean he knows the power of excellent documentation and record preservation, and he counters that he has saved evidence of shady business practices on every publisher he’s ever included on his comprehensive list.
Publisher Threatens Blogger with Lawsuit, Imprisonment for Defamation is a post from: E-Reader News |
Publisher Threatens Blogger with Lawsuit, Imprisonment for Defamation
| It’s just a known and accepted fact about the internet that there are trolls everywhere. If you post a video of your six-year-old’s dance recital on YouTube, someone out there invariably will down-vote it and make a rude remark in the comments section. There is almost an air of acceptance about the process, a sentiment that users understand that putting content on the internet opens the door to people hiding behind computer screens and spreading negativity, and there’s not much that can be done about it. One publisher, however, is taking a stand against what it claims is a troll-like level of criticism from an online grump. The problem is, the so-called grump has spent years collecting and gathering data on the subjects he disparages on his blog, and can fairly-well back up his accusations of less-than-honorable business practices aimed at taking money from scholars at institutions of higher education. In an article by Jake New for The Chronicle of Higher Education, the plight of one University of Colorado – Denver librarian was exposed. Indian publisher OMICS Publishing Group, who claims to publish around 200 scholarly journals, is suing the librarian for $1 billion and threatening him with criminal prosecution, which they claim under Indian law can result in up to three years in prison. The metadata librarian in question, Jeffrey Beall, has been featured in prominent journals and newspapers for his work on his site, Scholarly Open Access, which exposes publishers and journals who may be operating under false pretenses or bad business practices. Beall’s site has come to be known as “Beall’s List” within higher education circles for its accuracy and comprehensive depictions of academic publishers. At the university level, the pressure to publish one’s work is incredibly high, and publishers are available to charge a professor or researcher thousands of dollars just to be able to state that his work is published. Beall has written about OMICS’ practices of using prominent people’s names without permission, their charge of as much as $3,000 to publish one’s research, and hosting sham conferences whose names are misleadingly close to real and prestigious events. For its part, the publisher claims that Beall’s information is completely unfounded and is suing for the potential damage he can cause their company. The group also claims that under India’s laws, Beall can face a lengthy jail sentence for his “unfounded” accusations; Beall’s attorneys are countering that this is nothing more than a publicity stunt on the part of the publisher, and are taking a stand against the accusations. Fortunately for Beall, his roles as both the originator of the list and his work as a librarian mean he knows the power of excellent documentation and record preservation, and he counters that he has saved evidence of shady business practices on every publisher he’s ever included on his comprehensive list.
Publisher Threatens Blogger with Lawsuit, Imprisonment for Defamation is a post from: E-Reader News |
Video: Amazon Coin Review
| Amazon has just released its new Coins program, which acts as a virtual currency to buy apps or to buy in-app content. Every account registered to a Kindle gets 500 free coins that you can spend on whatever you want. Amazon also sells packs of coins, which you can use to buy things in bulk. Not everyone has updated their apps yet to support coins, but there is a ton of stuff you can buy. This video navigates you through the coins program as we tell you all about it and even buy some apps. Video: Amazon Coin Review is a post from: E-Reader News |
Video: Amazon Coin Review
| Amazon has just released its new Coins program, which acts as a virtual currency to buy apps or to buy in-app content. Every account registered to a Kindle gets 500 free coins that you can spend on whatever you want. Amazon also sells packs of coins, which you can use to buy things in bulk. Not everyone has updated their apps yet to support coins, but there is a ton of stuff you can buy. This video navigates you through the coins program as we tell you all about it and even buy some apps. Video: Amazon Coin Review is a post from: E-Reader News |