| For years (well, three years anyway), a vocal legion of comics readers has been saying that they want to own their files, and they want them DRM-free, not locked into a single app like comiXology (or Kindle, for that matter). A few weeks ago, Image Comics gave them what they wanted; now Mark Waid is doing the same with the web store on his Thrillbent digital comics site. When Waid introduced Thrillbent last year, it was hard to see where he was going. At the beginning, it sort of looked like he had discovered webcomics—ten years after the rest of us. But while he does publish comics on the web, it’s true, Waid has turned Thrillbent into a sort of digital comics lab. In addition to running his comics on the site, he beats the pirates to the punch by offering free downloads, and he also sells them via comiXology. He keeps a blog where he discusses what worked and what didn’t, and he has already changed his mind publicly about several things. The flagship comic on the site is Waid’s own Insufferable, a superhero story with a twist—the superhero and his sidekick have gone their separate ways, and the sidekick is a real jerk. Since Waid offers the story so many different ways, I thought I would kick the tires on all of them reading the comic in all the different formats on my iPad. Reading the story on the web is surprisingly satisfying, because Waid has really worked to get the format right. His comic is horizontal, so it fits into a computer screen without scrolling, and the panels, images, and word balloons are large relative to the page, making it easy to read on a computer without putting your nose to the screen. He also has a nice comics reader that is easy to use—just “previous” and “next” arrows and a few other simple navigation tools. And the comic doesn’t scroll; instead, when you click the arrow the next page simply appears on the screen. This allows Waid and his artist, Peter Krause, to use some digital-comics tricks like dropping in panels or other pictorial elements one at a time or changing the focus of a single panel while keeping the rest of the scene static. The free downloadable PDF is perfectly serviceable, but you scroll from page to page. That means you lose the nifty digital effects: The scene where four panels and a word balloon appear one at a time in the web version becomes five pages in the PDF, with a new panel appearing on each page. When you scroll, you definitely lose the sense of elapsed time that you get when the panels simply appear on the page. Still, it’s free, and the comic is still a good read. Sadly, that is also the case with the PDF of the same chapter that I purchased from the Thrillbent store (Waid has a pay-what-you-like model for his comics; I plunked down $1.99). The image quality looks a bit better (maybe because I paid for it), and the comic is about three times longer than the free PDF, but the digital effects are still missing. It’s just a comic that scrolls. The Thrillbent store is also a bit more of a hassle than I would like. It takes credit cards only, no PayPal, and in order to buy a comic I had to create an account and enter my credit card information. I understand they need my address to verify the credit card, but I resent being forced to hand over my phone number in order to buy a comic. The payoff for this is that once you have an account, you can download your file from the Thrillbent site to any device, which saves you the trouble of moving it via Dropbox or some physical means. However, it would be nice if they had a PayPal option. Finally, I took a look at that same chapter of Insufferable on comiXology. This time, it was formatted like a true digital comic, with the digital effects fully in play. The panels dropped in one by one, the focus changed, and it didn’t scroll. The experience was very similar to the web browser, except now I had the comic on my iPad and could carry it around. There was a lot of talk about DRM’ed versus DRM-free comics at the Digital and Print Comics panel at Comic-Con International in San Diego. With the downloadable PDF, you get full ownership of the file, but the comics experience is incomplete because you are simply scrolling through a set of pages—it’s like reading a print comic that has been scanned in, only a little clumsier because the digital effects require extra pages. With comiXology, you don’t own the file—just a license to read it—but the reading experience is richer. Both are valid choices; it’s really a matter of priorities. |
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Four Ways to Read a Digital Comic: Checking out Mark Waid’s Thrillbent Store
Amazon Introduces Samples in Kindle for iOS
| Amazon has introduced a new feature in their seminal reading app for the iPad and iPhone. It allows readers to browse their entire database of eBooks that have samples attached to them. Often, these samples have a few chapters of the digital book and when you are done reading it, it will prompt you to enter your email address to have the link sent over. Why is this story big news? Apple mandated awhile ago that all in-app purchases be done through their own system and they gained 30% of each transaction. Overnight, every single major eBook store removed the ability to buy books, including Amazon. This new sample based system is a way to bypass this restriction and still have the ability to browse books and make impulse purchases. In order to look for Samples you have to click the little magnifying glass in the top right hand corner of the app. You can browse by the author or book name, and it will give you a list of all the books. You can click on the download button and it will deliver the book directly to your iPad or iPhone. When you are done reading a sample book, it will give you a “Before You Go” and allow you to check out other books by the same author or just email yourself the book you want. You can then open up the Safari internet browser and buy the book. It will then be synced automatically to your Amazon account and you can than read said book in the Kindle app for iOS. |
Peru Lags Behind Latin America in eBook Adoption
| As digital book distributors make their global expansion a priority, readers have responded with a zeal for ebooks. And despite the smaller-than-average growth in some of these international markets, consumers in most countries have demonstrated their affinity for reading on their devices. Some readers, however are more reluctant to e-reader, but there may be a chicken-or-egg dynamic at play. Are publishers not releasing as many titles in digital format because readers aren’t quick to snap them up? Or are consumers slow to adapt to the digital publishing revolution because there hasn’t been a lot of support it from the publishers? One country whose numbers seem very telling in this situation is Peru, which lags behind the rest of the Latin American reading market in terms of ebook purchasing. An article for the website Peru This Week by Nancy Portugal Prado for Gestión (translated by Alix Farr), demonstrates just how far behind the Peruvian ebook market really is in terms of annual releases from publishers. "’Chile publishes 1,000; Colombia, 1,800; Argentina has launched more than 2,000 and Mexico, more than 5,000,’ Núñez said. However, Peru is far below this average. “According to David Edery, a coordinator of services exports for PromPeru, ‘of the 5,000 titles registered in the last year with the National Library of Peru (BNP), digital books didn't even reach 5 percent (250 books).’ “In the region, the production of this type of book grows at a rate of about 1 percent per year.” Of the books that are distributed as ebooks in Peru, the overwhelming majority of the titles appear to be academic, showing that at least the consumers who are utilizing textbooks and journals have taken to digital reading. In order for publishers to release more ebooks, however, they have to be able to take a calculated risk, something they cannot do–despite the vastly lesser cost of producing an ebook over a print edition–unless they believe that readers will come through and buy ebooks.
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Rumors: Samsung Developing Two Hi-Res Android Tablets
| With the New Nexus 7 launched, the consumer focus has shifted to what the next generation Nexus 10 will be like. While everything is hush-hush at the moment, there are some insights available–along with some more, as well–thanks to the efforts of the leak-tastic @evleaks. First, there is the SM-P600, which is going to be a 10-inch device with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels. That’s the same number of pixels the current gen Nexus 10 offers, and continues to be the best on any 10-inch tablet ever to be launched. Providing the processing punch will be a quad-core Snapdragon 800 chip that is expected to be clocked at 2.3 Ghz. However, some sources also pointed out it could be a dual core 1.7 GHz A15 chip or the dual core Exynos 5 Octa chip that could be seen doing the processing job (Samsung launched the Exynos 5 Octa CPU just a few weeks ago). Other rumored specs for the Nexus 10 successor include a 2 GB RAM and a 5 megapixel rear facing camera. Meanwhile, @evleaks also claims a second tablet device that Samsung is reported to be developing. Codenamed SM-P900, the tablet will feature a bigger 12.2-inch display and S Pen stylus support (Wacom powered), which means it could well be the newest and biggest member of the Galaxy Note series of tablet devices. However, the P900 will have the same 2560 x 1600 number of pixels to light up the bigger 12.2-inch display which means a slightly lower pixel density for the bigger tablet. As for its processor, the rumor source mentioned it could be the recently released Exynos 5 Octa chip. Both tablet devices are likely to run the latest Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and could be unveiled during the upcoming IFA event to be held in Berlin in September. Meanwhile, there are also reports that Kobo is developing a 10-inch tablet that will also offer a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels. However, while that many pixels might make for a stunning display, the real deal maker (or breaker) could the backup time the device is capable of delivering. The original Nexus 10 failed on that, as consumers seemed to have no qualms in trading few extra pixels in favor of gaining a few more hours of run time.
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Nicholas, some breadboard and a passcode
| Nicholas Harris is 11 years old, and he’s been learning to code with a Raspberry Pi. He’s set up a website to share his progress, and yesterday I was pointed at a project video he’d made. Kids like Nicholas are the whole reason we started the Raspberry Pi project: seeing videos like this makes our day, and makes our job feel so worthwhile. Nicholas started with Codecadamy and a desire to control more of the world in Minecraft: Pi Edition (he’s a big fan of Martin O’Hanlon’s Stuff About Code, particularly the Minecraft bits, and Martin has been giving him pointers in his Minecraft work), and he’s now building bigger and bigger projects, learning Python, Ruby and some PHP. Learning to program as a kid comes with its own set of difficulties. Nicholas’ baby sister threw the entire contents of his hardware kit (which I think was this Adafruit one – let me know if I’ve got that right, Nicholas) into the family LEGO box, and while he was able to retrieve most of the pieces, the light-sensitive photocell never turned up. But Nicholas is a resourceful sort, and found a project in which he could use all the other bits. So here is Nicholas’ passcode reader. It’s great to see him SSH’ing into the Pi, writing Python, and learning electronics and binary, all in one project. Next stop: soldering! Thanks Nicholas: and let us know if you do write up a tutorial like you mentioned! Are you a kid who is learning about computing with the Pi at home? Do you have any projects you’d like to show us? You can get in touch with us via the contact page. |
Amazon Introduces Samples in Kindle for iOS
| Amazon has introduced a new feature in their seminal reading app for the iPad and iPhone. It allows readers to browse their entire database of eBooks that have samples attached to them. Often, these samples have a few chapters of the digital book and when you are done reading it, it will prompt you to enter your email address to have the link sent over. Why is this story big news? Apple mandated awhile ago that all in-app purchases be done through their own system and they gained 30% of each transaction. Overnight, every single major eBook store removed the ability to buy books, including Amazon. This new sample based system is a way to bypass this restriction and still have the ability to browse books and make impulse purchases. In order to look for Samples you have to click the little magnifying glass in the top right hand corner of the app. You can browse by the author or book name, and it will give you a list of all the books. You can click on the download button and it will deliver the book directly to your iPad or iPhone. When you are done reading a sample book, it will give you a "Before You Go" and allow you to check out other books by the same author or just email yourself the book you want. You can then open up the Safari internet browser and buy the book. It will then be synced automatically to your Amazon account and you can than read said book in the Kindle app for iOS. Amazon Introduces Samples in Kindle for iOS is a post from: E-Reader News |
Q2 Tablet Shipment Figures has Android Beating iOS
| Consumer preference for tablet devices continue to rise unabated with the latest research by Strategy Analytics revealing a rise of 43 percent in tablet pc shipments in Q2 2013 compared to the same period last year. Put another way, shipment of tablet devices reached 51.7 million in the said period, though the more interesting facts lies within it. The research also revealed the growing popularity of the Android platform, which has recorded a healthy rise to 67 percent in the world's connected devices segment. Of course, that came at the expense of Apple, whose share of the market fell to 28 percent. Peter King, Director of Tablets at Strategy Analytics, said, "Global Branded Tablet shipments reached 36.2 million units in Q2 2013, up 47 percent from 24.6 million in Q2 2012. The Branded Tablet market had a rest period as very few new products came to market during the quarter. When we add in White-Box Tablets, shipments reached 51.7 million units, up 43 percent from 36.1 million in Q2 2012. Android is now making steady progress due to hardware partners like Samsung, Amazon, Google and White-Box tablets which, despite the fact that branded OEMs are lowering price-points and putting pressure on the White-Box manufacturers, are still performing well." King further added: "Apple iOS shipments were 14.6 million iPads in Q2 2013 which declined 14 percent annually. In the same quarter a year ago the first Retina display iPads were launched which could partly explain the decline as there were no new models in this quarter. However, to compensate that, iPad Mini which was not available a year ago, now freely available was expected to take the figure higher than 14.6 million." Microsoft's Windows, which is a new entrant in the field, has managed to secure a 4.5 percent of the market share. The low figure isn't surprising considering the low uptake of Windows based tablet devices, including the Surface tablet range, which have fared miserably in the market. In fact, many have already started to question if the Windows platform is at all suited to the tablet realm which could see far more acceptance in the laptop or ultrabook segment. However, the meteoric rise of Android with support from hardware makers such as Samsung, Amazon and such could come under stress once Apple launches its new generation devices such as the iPhone and the iPad 5 this fall. With better specs and the thoroughly revamped iOS 7 platform, along with a refreshed design that analysts claim is more akin to the iPad Mini, Apple is likely to have another multi-million sales run in the market in the run up to the holiday season and beyond. Meanwhile, the rumor world is agog with conflicting stories about whether there is a new iPad Mini is slated for launch this fall and if it is going to feature a retina display. Overall, while Android made some healthy gains in Q2 213, Apple could well be seen making a comeback of sorts in the next quarter. Q2 Tablet Shipment Figures has Android Beating iOS is a post from: E-Reader News |
Apple iPad Update Screen Showing Up Blank for Most Users
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The Apple iPad is experiencing a blank update screen for many users. You may see app updates available via the notification flag, but when you visit the update section in the App store, there is no data. This is applicable to all iPad models, although the iPod and iPhone are unaffected by this issue. The iOS 6 AppStore is a web browser with some local HTML (header and tabs) and content loaded with AJAX, so it might be unresponsive because of Javascript and other assets failing to load. Restores are fruitless and many users have reported that running a factory default does little to solve the problem. Currently the only way to circumvent this issue is to hit the purchased tab and search for updates there. Apple iPad Update Screen Showing Up Blank for Most Users is a post from: E-Reader News |
