| Star Wars Commander is an attempt to cash in on the entire Clash of Clans phenomenon. The premise of the game is to enhance your resources, upgrade your town hall and build defensive walls to keep your enemies out. There is a big army component to it, and depending if you choose the Rebels or the Imperials a host of custom troops, mechanized and airstrikes that can turn the tide during a pitched battle. One of the things I liked about Commander was the RPG aspects to it. During all of the big missions you get a sense on who the major players are, from bounty hunters to legendary AT&ST pilots. This is one of those titles you can play without having to spend any money on micro transactions. You simply have to log yourself in a few times a day and squirrel away all of your gold and alloy. You can use this in-game currency to make troops or engage in some research to make your favorite army type more powerful. In the end, you will complete the game in about a week, but new chapters are issued monthly. The big problem I have with this title is the inability to control where my troops are going. Their AI really seems indiscriminate and it takes getting used to. Its a free game, so you can check it out for Android or iOS. Star Wars Commander for iOS Review is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Star Wars Commander for iOS Review
Free eBook: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
| For those of you that enjoy reading epic fantasy, #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson is giving away free copies of The Way of Kings, book 1 of The Stormlight Archive, an expected 10-part series (epic indeed). The free ebook is available from iBooks as part of a promotion for the launch of […] |
Paypal to Become Separate Entity in 2015
| In 2002 PayPal became a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay and has been used to facilitate payments on the e-commence site. Due to the increasing pressures of the modern economic reality with Apple Pay, Alipay and Square, eBay and Paypal have agreed to part ways and Paypal will now be its own publicly traded company in 2015. Devin Wenig, president of eBay Marketplaces, to become CEO of new eBay company following separation and American Express executive Dan Schulman joins PayPal immediately as President and CEO designee for PayPal post-separation. PayPal has been on pace to overtake eBay’s core marketplace by sales. In the June quarter, the payments unit boosted sales 20% to $1.95 billion and added 4.1 million new active customers from the first quarter, to 152.5 million. PayPal facilitates one in every six dollars spent online, eBay said. At its namesake marketplace, revenue rose 9% to $2.17 billion as the number of active accounts increased by 3.8 million to 148.9 million. “The payments landscape is hyper-competitive, the pace of change is accelerating and everyone is gunning for PayPal,” said Forrester analyst Denee Carrington. “The split will give PayPal greater agility to help it achieve its full potential.” PayPal has been expanding beyond online and mobile payments and offering other financial services. It began lending money to small business customers late last year. And eBay bought Braintree, a payment processor used by startups such as vacation rentals site Airbnb and cab-hailing app Uber, a year ago for about $800 million and will be part of the PayPal unit. Hopefully that now Paypal will be an autonomous entity they could really redeem themselves in the eyes of internet users. We have all heard of the horror stories of Paypal being used to facilitate Kickstarter payments, only to have the money put on hold and the developers have to jump through months of hoops to get any of it back, if they do get any of it back.
Paypal to Become Separate Entity in 2015 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Simon & Schuster eBooks now available to Australia and New Zealand public libraries!
| OverDrive is pleased to announce that Simon & Schuster has expanded the availability of its catalog to Australia and New Zealand. With this expansion, the Simon & Schuster catalog now displays in OverDrive Marketplace for all U.S., Australia, and New Zealand public libraries. Some of the titles available* include The Great Gatsby, The Summer Girls by Mary Alice Munroe, I Am Having so Much Fun Here Without You by Courtney Maum, and many more. All titles are available through the one-year metered access lending model. A requirement to add Simon & Schuster eBooks to your library's digital collection is the "Buy It Now" feature. The option to Buy It Now will appear on all titles in your collection that are available to purchase from an affiliated retailer. Libraries that opt-in to the Buy It Now (BIN) feature will have access to many titles not previously available. Before submitting a purchase order in OverDrive Marketplace that includes a Simon & Schuster title, you will be prompted to agree to enable the BIN feature. The feature will then be added to your OverDrive-powered website within a few days. For each sale generated through BIN, your library will receive a percentage of proceeds from a user’s entire purchase from the affiliated retailer. On a quarterly basis, the proceeds will be added to your OverDrive account as a content credit to use toward content purchases and your library will receive an email from OverDrive with a summary of BIN activity. For more information on the feature, please watch a brief overview here. Patrons and Friends of the Library in your community can take advantage of this excellent way to support the library they love and enjoy. If you have any questions, contact your Collection Development Specialist. We are always here to help!
Happy Reading!
*Title selection varies by geographic region  |
Picademy Cymru
| Road trip. These are the two words that Clive, our Director of Education says to me on a regular basis. In fact, he has promised me a road trip to Pencoed in Wales to visit the factory where our Raspberry Pis are manufactured in the UK for some time now. Not just any road trip, but one that involves an ice cream van serving raspberry ripple ice creams (avec flake) whilst motoring across the country to Sonic Pi melodies, containing the entire Foundation crew. You would be forgiven for thinking that this is all just mere ravings of a crazy ex-teacher. But you’d be wrong.  The dream machine I’m pleased to be able to announce that this dream is to become a reality! Albeit, minus the ice cream van. For one time only, we are taking Picademy, our free CPD training programme for teachers, on the road to Wales this coming November, hosted at the Sony UK Technology Centre in Pencoed, South Wales. We have 24 places on Picademy Cymru, taking place on 19th & 20th November, for practicing classroom teachers in Wales. If you fit this description then please fill out our application form here or via our Picademy page. We are looking for fun, experimental, not afraid to have a go, Welsh teachers willing to share their experiences and practices with others. Primary and secondary teachers from any subject specialism are welcome – you don’t need any computing experience, just enthusiasm and a desire to learn. A few months ago, Dr Tom Crick, Senior Lecturer in Computing Science (and Director of Undergraduate Studies) in the Department of Computing & Information Systems at Cardiff Metropolitan University and Chair of Computing at School Wales got in touch to encourage us to run a Picademy in Wales, offering the support and encouragement we needed in order to make it happen. He says:
Join us for a tour of the factory, hands-on Raspberry Pi workshops, cross-curricular resource generation, and Welsh cakes. (If Eben and Liz don’t eat all the Welsh cakes before we get our hands on them. It’s been known to happen before.) |
Monday, September 29, 2014
BookShout! Sells 9.4 million Bulk eBook Codes
| BookShout is getting a solid reputation in the publishing industry by delivering eBooks in bulk. The eBooks are redeemed by by using their official app for Android or iOS and many television stations are using the allure of eBooks as an incentive to people during telethons. Today, the company has announced that they have distributed 9.4M ebook codes in the past 12 months, and expects to double that number by early 2015. With more than 3,000 bulk ebook orders placed by major corporations and universities, BookShout! has experienced accelerated growth as more and more organizations request mass quantities of ebook for events, corporate rewards, and client retention. BookShout! has served Microsoft, Intel, CareerBuilder, Lockheed Martin, Marriott, and Teach for America to name a few. BookShout! works with more than 2,000 publishing partners worldwide, including HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan, Perseus Books Group, Simon & Schuster and Workman Publishing—as well as corporations throughout the U.S., U.K., and Canada. Authors are also getting in on the action by taking eBook cards and text-to-buy campaigns to their speaking events and live online chats. Campaigns may even be set up to allow all attendees of an event to buy the book individually at a pre-set price determined by the publisher. BookShout! Sells 9.4 million Bulk eBook Codes is a post from: Good e-Reader |
The New Yorker’s First Animated GIF Cover
| German artist Christoph Niemann has created The New Yorker’s first-ever animated GIF cover. This is the first time the publication has ever done something like this. "When I arrived in New York for the first time, it was pouring” said Niemann. “Maybe that's why, to my mind, there's no place on earth where being stuck in traffic on a rainy day is more beautiful." “One of the ways that he expresses himself recently has been in animated GIFs,” says Françoise Mouly, art director at The New Yorker. Mouly had given thought to using one of his earlier GIFs for the cover, but held off until now. The New Yorker apparently had big problems integrating the cover and making it work on their website and line of apps for Android and iOS. At one point there were technical issues that caused the GIF to render as a blank space on the web. Mouly says she became “distraught.” But the team persevered and the GIF was brought to life. The New Yorker’s First Animated GIF Cover is a post from: Good e-Reader |
eBook Authors Rejoice, Crowdsourced Editing has Arrived
| Indie Authors have their hands full with crafting a novel with the intention of selling it on Amazon. Not only do they have to research and write the book, but also have to play the role of editor. Poorly edited books can be the kiss of death and this has prompted a new start-up Advance Editions, to "make good books better" by drawing on the wisdom, knowledge and proofreading skills of readers around the world. Here’s how it works: Advance Editions posts half of the edited book online a few months ahead of publication and then opens up a feedback forum for that book in which the author participates. Users can check facts or simply contribute some bright ideas and in exchange they are rewarded with being credited in the book. For crowd-editors who get beyond the first half of the book and want to take on more, they are offered a 60% discount of the complete book at a number of online retailers. Many authors are not only having their books edited, but people are weighing in on fact checking as well. Hector Macdonald is looking to hear from”spies, experts on drug reform, from residents of Brasilia, from anyone who knows the interior layout of Brazil's Palácio do Planalto or SIS's Vauxhall Cross headquarters. My characters come from all over the world – have I got their speech patterns right? If you're into rock climbing, or handy with a motorcycle or a weapon, you'll have a lot to contribute. You may have served with the French Foreign Legion, treated gunshot wounds, lived in Cyprus or worked as a physiotherapist – all relevant experiences. Or perhaps you just know what works in a story and what doesn’t, and you have an instinct for what could make this one better.” Another book available on the site is Heidi Kingstone's non-fictional account of her time in Afghanistan entitled, Dispatches from the Kabul Café. Kingstone is looking for contributions from those with particular expertise in Afghanistan and Kabul, the NATO invasion of Afghanistan, Afghan culture and language, soldiers and mercenaries and aid workers and advisers. Macdonald, meanwhile, is looking for insights into intelligence services, drug reform, Brasilia, motorbikes, weapons, climbing and Canadian speech.” I think this new crowdsourced editing and contribution platform is totally valid and they really may be onto something. The trick, is how do you convince the type of people that these authots are looking for to join the platform? It might be an easy sell to students looking for a career in the publishing industry and having accredited works under their belts to help them land that first job. eBook Authors Rejoice, Crowdsourced Editing has Arrived is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Online gaming increasing worldwide, trending towards social and mobile
| The gaming market is set to become a predominately online based pastimes in the years to come, a recent study. Research has found that consumers are moving away from the more traditional PC based games, in favour of an online alternative and the figure is set to rise by a high one-digit percentage in the years leading up to 2017. With social media platforms becoming increasingly popular, the amount of users partaking in social gaming has also risen. Users are able to play against their friends or family via the social network with the ability to "share" the result, leading to this becoming a more attractive approach to gaming. The developments in smartphone technology has also led to a hike in the figured for games played online and on social spaces. According to a recent survey, the introduction on online gaming has given a dramatic boost to the number of web gamers, with over 40% of internet users partaking. The results have proven how fast growing the industry is, spanning across a range of various platforms and devices. Gambling games have proved to be particularly popular on social, which have drawn 11,240,000 gamers every day. On the European market, Germany leads the way in terms of mobile gaming users, with gamers generating an astounding $3.7 billion dollars, with a year year-on-year growth amounting to 5%. China are dominating the Asian industry, with several hundreds of million people who play both mobile and online games, but also South Korea have been engrossed with a messaging app that has recently been transformed into a gaming platform, proving to be one of the most popular of its kind amongst gamers. Mobile gaming is currently the largest revenue consuming segment in the U.S. online gaming market and is set to continue growing in popularity in the next few years. In terms of the gender divide, men tend to make up the majority of online gaming users, however gaming companies are intending to attract more women players by adding more female characters into their games. Marvel Comics, for example, have made changes to their Thor character and will now be a depicted as a female. By attracting new consumers such as more female gamers, the online gaming market will grow even further. Women tend to be more prone to social gaming so by appealing to them, the audience for online gaming will expand and grow. Head of Consumer PR at Ladbrokes Casino David Williams discusses that; "The rate at which social gaming is growing is undoubtedly one of the most exciting developments on our landscape. Being in the right place at the right time to influence consumer behavior and offer discerning customers precisely what they want – and more – will be key to leveraging the cash benefits of social gaming for big firms.” Online gaming is a great environment for the gambling industry as it provides consumers with the ability to play in a social, fun way and has become a multi-billion dollar business. With women becoming more interested in the trend, social platforms such as Facebook have attracted many social gamblers who try their luck in popular casino-based games. The future of the gambling business looks to have its eyes set towards online games and internet users. With mobile technology constantly expanding and growing, it is no surprise that the gaming industry will grow alongside it. New markets and targets are emerging with women becoming more intrigued by the industry which sets the gambling gaming industry to have a bright future. Online gaming increasing worldwide, trending towards social and mobile is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Kindle Paperwhite on Sale for $99
| This week Staples is running a sale on the 2nd generation Kindle Paperwhite. It’s the Special Offers version that normally sells for $119. Through Saturday, October 4th it’s marked down to $99 at Staples.com. Twenty dollars off may not sound like much, but that’s about as cheap as the Kindle Paperwhite ever gets. Amazon doesn’t […] |
CNBC visit Pi Towers
| At the start of September, a film crew from CNBC came to visit Cambridge. They spent some time with us at Pi Towers, and came to the Cambridge Jam the next day to talk to some of the kids there who use the Raspberry Pi. They produced two short videos, both full of footage from the Jam and our office – see how many familiar faces you can spot! |
Poll Results – What e-Reader is the Most Desirable for the Holidays?
| The march to the holiday season is upon us and e-reader companies have all revealed their complete product lineup. There is a ton of different models to choose from and sometimes it may be difficult to make an informed buying decision. We ran a poll on Good e-Reader from September 15th to September 29th 2014 and people all over the world weighed on what was most appealing. During our polling period 1,221 people cast their vote and by a landslide the new Kindle Voyage and Kindle Basic with a touchscreen won with over 469 votes. This really drives home the point that readers everywhere prefer the Amazon line of devices and something is really compelling about their new product lineup. In second place with 284 votes was the first waterproof e-reader to be issued by a mainstream company, the Kobo H2O. This device features a very vibrant 6.8 inch display and can be used on the beach, bath or on vacation. For the first time ever, literary fiends will be able to use their device in all environments. 3rd place is where the field got fairly even with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus garnering 81 votes, followed by the first tablet that Barnes and Noble has issued in awhile, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook. The full list of devices and statistics are in the above picture, so I want go into much more details. What surprised me the most though, was the fact there is a severe lack of demand for the next generation Kindle Fire tablets. Amazon made a huge announcement with five new devices, one appealing to kids and others hitting every conceivable price point possible. Only 32 people had any sort of plans to upgrade to or buy one for the first time. Poll Results – What e-Reader is the Most Desirable for the Holidays? is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Flipboard Available Free to Windows Phone Users
| Advertising itself as the magazine of your life, Flipboard is an app that brings together all of the news you care about (from social networks, publications, and blogs) into a single, beautiful, package. Fortunately for Windows phone users, Flipboard is also available right now as a free download. Designed as a sort of news aggregator, Flipboard does a beautiful job of displaying content in a way that makes even the driest articles a joy to read. For those who are hardcore about the feeds they follow, Flipboard is really more form over function –lacking the ability to mark stories as already read or syncing across devices. The real news of this story is that popular apps are finally making their way to the Windows phone platform. If Windows-based mobile devices are destined to compete and survive in this market, a well-stocked app marketplace is one of the secrets to success. Are you any more likely to consider a Windows phone when you next upgrade than you were in the past?
Flipboard Available Free to Windows Phone Users is a post from: Good e-Reader |
BBM Climbs to 91M Active Users
| The news was better for BlackBerry during their Q2 fiscal 2015 earnings call than it has been in a while, with CEO John Chen announcing that their popular BBM can now boast over 91 million active users. Of course, BBM still trails a long way behind the current instant messaging leader, WhatsApp –a service, owned by Facebook, with over 600 million active users (while hoping for enough growth to bring that number closer to the 2-3 billion mark). With the most recent estimates falling around he 85 million mark, the 6 million user increase came as a surprise –likely due in large part to the recent launch of the messaging app on the Windows Phone platform (not to mention an update this month to fully support iOS 8 on Apple smartphones and tablets). Some may wonder why BBM is lagging so far being WhatsApp, considering it was available first. Chances are good that a huge contributing factor was the delay in bringing the app cross-platform. It is also likely that there were a lot of holdouts as BlackBerry has suffered from a terribly uncertain future. For those looking to install a go-to messaging app, BBM is a solid choice, with a feature list that includes: secure PIN-based messaging (users connect using a unique PIN code, and not by sharing an email address or telephone number), free voice calling between contacts, sharing of documents (including photos, files, and voice notes), allow contacts to view your geographic location, group chat, and more! Fortunately for BlackBerry, things are looking more promising –the first production run of their new Passport smartphone, released this past week, has already sold out. BBM Climbs to 91M Active Users is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Must Read eBooks – The Peripheral by William Gibson
| William Gibson will be releasing a new eBook on October 28th 2014 and will be his first full length novel since 2010’s Zero History. Gibson has stated that it will be set in multiple futures and it is currently unknown whether this book will be apart of a trilogy. Much of Gibson’s reputation has remained associated with Neuromancer, but his work has continued to evolve. After expanding on Neuromancer with two more novels to complete the dystopic Sprawl trilogy, Gibson became an important author of another science fiction sub-genre—steampunk—with the 1990 alternate history novel The Difference Engine, written with Bruce Sterling. In the 1990s, he composed the Bridge trilogy of novels, which focused on sociological observations of near-future urban environments and late capitalism. His most recent novels— Pattern Recognition (2003), Spook Country (2007) and Zero History (2010) —are set in a contemporary world and have put his work onto mainstream bestseller lists for the first time. What exactly is the Peripheral all about? The synapses states “Where Flynne and her brother, Burton, live, jobs outside the drug business are rare. Fortunately, Burton has his veteran's benefits, for neural damage he suffered from implants during his time in the USMC's elite Haptic Recon force. Then one night Burton has to go out, but there's a job he's supposed to do—a job Flynne didn't know he had. Beta-testing part of a new game, he tells her. The job seems to be simple: work a perimeter around the image of a tower building. Little buglike things turn up. He's supposed to get in their way, edge them back. That's all there is to it. He's offering Flynne a good price to take over for him. What she sees, though, isn't what Burton told her to expect. It might be a game, but it might also be murder. Some time around the year 2020, in a trailer park in the Deep South, a young woman witnesses a murder. She is in a video game, and watches with horror as a drone strike kills a child. At precisely the same moment, one hundred years in the future, a boy is remotely killed on the streets of London’s great skyscrapers. The perpetrator remains anonymous. Interweaving two strange futures, from a ramshackle community of US army veterans, to the teeming masses of a mega city, The Peripheral tells the story of a brave new world of drones, outsourcing and kleptocracy, and of a crime that can only be solved across time.” I for one have already pre-ordered this book from Amazon and hopefully will be one of the great reads of 2014. Gibson, Neil Stevenson and Bruce Sterling all started their careers around the same time and really pioneered the modern science fiction genre. Gibson’s work has influenced bands like Sonic Youth, U2 and Billy Idol. The film The Matrix drew inspiration for its title, characters and story elements from the Sprawl trilogy. The characters of Neo and Trinity in The Matrix are similar to Bobby Newmark (Count Zero) and Molly (“Johnny Mnemonic.” Must Read eBooks – The Peripheral by William Gibson is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Madefire to give Free Comics Away Every Friday
| Madefire is well known for their unique brand of motion comics and the company is hoping to be a solid number two behind Comixology. In order to accumulate more regular buyers into their ecosystem Madefire has announced that every Friday they will give away a free digital comic. “Free Friday is all about discovery – being bold, checking out the possibilities, and being inspired with a creator-first approach to try something new,” said Madefire CCO and co-founder Liam Sharp. In order to read the free comic book every Friday you need to download the official Madefire app for iOS or Android. Today’s first Free Friday offers copies of IDW’s The City on the Edge of Forever #1, adapting Harlan Ellison’s classic Star Trek episode. Madefire to give Free Comics Away Every Friday is a post from: Good e-Reader |
OK! Magazine Fires Digital Staff and Changes Editorial Direction
| OK! Magazine is abandoning their celebrity coverage and has axed the majority of their digital staff. They intend on gravitating towards a more click bait gossip direction, similar to the type of success Buzzfeed as seen. The website informed its digital team that their services will no longer be needed. OK! is now searching for an executive editor, who can steer the website towards more gossip-oriented coverage and less celebrity-friendly stories. Dylan Howard, who currently serves a VP of news at AMI, editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer and editorial director at RadarOnline, will re-launch OK! Magazine’s website with a new team, insiders said. The future staff will be based in New York. The site previously laid off its team in Los Angeles and it was unclear if they will eventually be replaced. The writing was on the wall back in 2012 that another celebrity website was not generating strong revenue. This promoted the merger between Star and OK! to share a common editorial direction. OK! plans on revamping their online website and they intend on releasing a series of apps for Android and iOS. OK! Magazine Fires Digital Staff and Changes Editorial Direction is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Cinematic – Kobo Aura Giveaway
| A few weeks ago we announced a brand new contest for a Kobo Aura. The premise was to see how it would hold up under extreme conditions. What exactly did we do? Well, we ran a poll on our YouTube channel to see if the Kobo Aura would simply survive and users would simply vote yes or no. Today, we are pleased to reveal the second part of the contest where we narrow the field down. In true cinematic fashion we determine how the Kobo Aura holds up being run over with a car! The Sony PRS-T2 survived this test, but what about Kobo? Witness the most talked about contest in Good e-Reader history! Most people just give things away, we go the extra mile and make it worth watching, check it out. Cinematic – Kobo Aura Giveaway is a post from: Good e-Reader |
ToyTalk Launches SpeakaLegend Interactive iOS App for Kids, Bigger Things Coming
| You may already be familiar with ToyTalk entertainment applications for iOS devices, but you may not be aware that the startup is led by former Pixar CTO, Oren Jacob (whose claim to fame includes titles like Toy Story 1&2, A Bug’s Life, and Finding Nemo) and Martin Reddy (who came to the company from SRI, which you know better as Siri). The company’s aim has moved toward creating mobile media experiences for children that allow for full interaction with the characters; kids speak and the games actually hear and respond! The first paid app from ToyTalk is a little more simplistic, in the form of a character-driven touch and play app, called SpeakaLegend –but it’s just the start of things to come. Where Siri responds to basic instructions, ToyTalk’s digital apps intend to actually engage children in conversational stories; an amazing feat when you consider how much more difficult it is to analyze and understand what kids are saying (compared to adults). "At the fundamental level, the pitch is in a higher register typically," describes CEO Oren Jacob. "Because of that, the software that exists to recognize adults' speech doesn't always work with kids." As part of their toolkit, ToyTalk has created a method for writing character dialogue that contains a considerable library of possible responses to the types of things kids might say or answers to the questions they may ask –and they plan to share this technology with children’s story writers (instead of just app developers) Jacobs is excited by the work they are doing, explaining that "speech recognition for kids has really not been built by anybody, so part of what we're doing – what are partners are developing – is developing the language and acoustic models for children to open up that space." In SpeakaLegend, ToyTalk added touch but was concerned that children would interrupt the natural flow of dialogue within the app. Their answer was to evaluate the events that would naturally cause this behaviour, using the example: "When the dinner party lights go out, you have to comment on that. When someone drops a fork, no one cares." With over $15 million in seed money getting them started (with more likely on the way), ToyTalk may revolutionize the way children’s games function. Just imagine the educational potential with customized learning apps built in any and all subject areas (and to supplement any curriculum). If you would like to see what ToyTalk has been up to so far as a hint of things to come, download SpeakaZoo, Winston Show, or SpeakaLegend for your iOS devices now.
ToyTalk Launches SpeakaLegend Interactive iOS App for Kids, Bigger Things Coming is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Google Tightens the Reins on Android
| It’s true that Android is open source software, but it’s also the case that if you manufacture handsets and you’d like to run it as your operating system, there are rules (and now, even more than there were in the past). You must include the search bar positioned near the top of your display (currently on the home screen, though it may also become a requirement for every screen) and Google’s apps must be featured in a place of prominence (hence the Google folder of apps). Those that scowl at Apple for similar practices will not be thrilled to learn that these apps cannot be deleted from your device (well, not easily anyway). There are currently 9 apps that are required, but moving forward there could be any number more that Google deems necessary for you to have (even though most Android users don’t use them at all). Is this move wise for Google? Having stricter controls is certainly a good thing if Android wants to break into enterprise and corporate markets that require a more structured and reliable approach to software, but it also risks alienating the control-hungry, tech-savvy, crowd that has made the platform a success.
Google Tightens the Reins on Android is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Major Websites Lose Respect with Recent Audiobook Piracy News
| Major news websites such as Engadget, Gizmodo and Business Insider have been losing their reader base due to a series of articles on Audible piracy. They both gave instructional guides on how you could commit fraud and get access to 25 free audiobooks. Many readers have proclaimed that these types of stories are not indicative to true journalism and boil down to tutorials about how to steal. A user by the name of GG agreed with me, by stating “It’s likely that Audible has to pay royalties to the authors each time a customer downloads a book, so by publishing this article, you’re literally taking money out of Audible’s pockets (and Audible is, in my experience, a useful company that I’d like to see stay in business). It’s a crummy thing to do, and it certainly makes me think less of both Lifehacker and Gawker.” I think leveraging a well known news website to get clicks by instructing people how to engage in credit card fraud in order to get free audiobooks is insidious. Buzzfeed may get a bad rep for click bait type articles, but what these sites are encouraging users to do borderline illegal. Major Websites Lose Respect with Recent Audiobook Piracy News is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Friday, September 26, 2014
Should Blackberry License out Blackberry 10?
| The Blackberry 10 operating system was a labor of love for the Waterloo based company and they spent untold millions developing it. It is their flagship OS that has been used in their entire line of smartphones over the last few years. Their market share is woeful, and according to a new report represents less than 1% in the US. One avenue that Blackberry could take is to freely distribute their OS to headset makers and allow phone and tablet companies to use the OS. BlackBerry 10 is a proprietary mobile operating system developed by BlackBerry modern line of smartphone.Devices running BlackBerry 10 are the Z30, Z10, Z3, Q10, Q5, P’9982, P’9983, the BlackBerry Passport and the upcoming BlackBerry Classic smartphones. BlackBerry 10 is based on the QNX operating system, which is popular in industrial computers and used in many car computers, which was acquired by BlackBerry in April 2010. There are a few compelling aspects of the Blackberry 10 OS that would be appealing to manufactures and smartphone companies. My favorite is the gesture based technology that allows people to swipe the bezel to view and close active applications. Users can also swipe from the top edge, to bring down a quick setting shade on the home screen, or an option shade on other supported apps. Also, while using any application, the upside down J-hook (starting from the bottom of the bezel and moving upward and right) allows users to peek at any notifications or messages on the BlackBerry Hub. Finally, swiping left to right scroll through the available screens. If Blackberry were to take the Android route, it would provide some obvious benefits. One of them is their enterprise software BES and BIS that allows clients to be able to setup a secure solution to handle data and email. Likely, the more the Blackberry OS takes off, the more international governments and corporations would be likely to adopt it, which would increase revenues. Many mainstream phone vendors are concerned about the growing power of Android. Samsung has been working on the TIZEN OS on their new line of smartwatches and are considering using it in some upcoming phones and tablets. Samsung currently accounts for 75% of all Android devices right now, so the fact they are looking at something new is telling. Think of what Samsung or HTC could do with a super high end phone with great audio, octacore processor lots of RAM, running Blackberry? Security concerns aside, do you think it is viable to license out the Blackberry 10 OS? Should Blackberry License out Blackberry 10? is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Blackberry Passport Sold Out Everywhere
| The Blackberry Passport is a very innovative device in terms of overall design. It features a totally square display and a keyboard that doubles as a mouse. Blackberry loyalists see this phone as the resurrection of the brand and within hours has completely sold out. Blackberry CEO John Chen has announced that the first run of Passport smartphones sold out in 6 hours after its announcement on BlackBerry's website and in 10 hours on Amazon. The $600 unlocked phone comes with the Amazon App Store pre-loaded on it and many customers are attracted to the price and extensive app ecosystem. Certainly Blackberry is not in a position to smash the recent iPhone 6, that sold millions in the opening weekend but does bode well for the Canadian company that many people wrote off as dead last year. Blackberry Passport Sold Out Everywhere is a post from: Good e-Reader |
European Airlines Now Allow e-Readers on Flights
| The European Aviation Safety Agency on Friday issued new safety guidance that now allows e-readers such as the Kindle, Kobo and Nook to be used on airplanes, without the need of putting them in airplane mode. This sets the stage for major airlines to offer on-board WIFI internet access to buy books, magazines and newspapers while in the air. The use of e-readers, smartphones and tablets will be up to each airline to decide whether to allow them to be used gate to gate. Airlines will first need to go through an assessment process to ensure planes are not affected by signals from the electronics. Now that the regletory restrictions have been relaxed in Europe it now sets the stage for e-readers to be used in most countries. Last October, the Federal Aviation Administration gave U.S. airlines permission to allow the use of electronic devices at all stages of a flight — including takeoff and landing, though they must be in airplane mode. Canada followed suit in May, and Australia adopted the more relaxed in-flight gadget rules in August. European Airlines Now Allow e-Readers on Flights is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Icarus Excel Features 9.7 inch Screen and Android 4.0
| Netherlands based e-reader company Icarus has just revamped their wildly successful 9.7 inch Excel e-reader with Android 4.0. This will allow users to not only have a very large screen display to take notes but also install their own e-reading apps. The big trend of 2014 so far has been the open Android concept with e-readers. In the past, most of them all ran Linux and were physically unable to do anything, other than what the manufacturer intended. When it comes to smaller companies like Icarus, Onyx or Pocketbook, they all found it hard to compete against the juggernauts of the industry. Android levels the playing field, giving customers the option to deal with whatever ecosystem they want. I really like the freedom of choice concept to download Kindle, or Kobo or whatever 3rd party news app. The Icarus Excel features a 9.7 e-ink Pearl display with a resolution of 1280×825 pixels and 167 DPI. It has a full touchscreen display, but only responds to the accompanied WACOM stylus. Underneath the hood lurks a solid 800 MHZ Freescale CPU processor and it has 256 MB of Ram. Storage gives you 4 GB to play around with and can be expanded up to 32 GB via the SD Card. Not much has changed on the hardware front, as this is the same Excel that was released last year. The only thing that is different is the software running Android 4.0. Users can download and install apps from the Good e-Reader App Store, which comes pre-loaded. The device is fairly expensive and is retailing for 319.95€ from the main Icarus website. If you live outside of Europe, you can pre-order it from Shop e-Readers. Icarus Excel Features 9.7 inch Screen and Android 4.0 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Young People Prefer Print, not eBooks
| Young people in the UK think that reading on paper provides a more holistic experience, especially when engaging with images and text which can’t be replicated in digital. A new report states that the 16-24 generation is still firmly in favor of print books, with 73% saying they prefer print over eBooks. A new eye opening survey talked to 900 young people and three-quarters of the respondents said they prefer the print format and only a paltry 27% prefer e-books and 31% said they don't buy e-books at all. Luke Mitchell, director of Voxburner, said the research found people in the 16-24 age group think e-books are too expensive. "They told us they like to touch books and see the creases in the spine, but for bargain-driven young people the conversion to e-books will most likely be determined by price,” he said. “In our research, 70% said that £6.99 was a reasonable price to pay for a paperback but only 10% were prepared to pay the same for an e-book." The survey really drives home the point that there is a big disconnect between the prices of print books vs eBooks. When it comes to paperbacks, 37% of young people said they would pay £5.00-£7.00 and 35% said they would pay £3.00-£5.00. However, they are less willing to pay as much for eBooks, with 43% saying they should cost less than £3.00 and 27% saying they should cost between £3.00 and £5.00. One of the big reasons young people are concerned with the price of eBooks is the clear lack of ownership. When you purchase the digital variant, you are merely licensing the title and it is not actually yours to keep. The printed version can be yours forever, for relatively the same price. What devices are young people in the United Kingdom using to consume the digital versions? 39% use an e-reader such as a Kindle, 37% use reading apps on their smartphones and 36% prefer a large screen tablet device. I think that this survey is tremendously valid, even though only 900 people answered the questions. Considering it was an online survey, it should drive home the point that young people are tremendously savvy when it comes to the digital life, but do not see a clear reason to read for pleasure on their electronic device. Online retailers like Amazon, B&N and Kobo tend to devote their marketing efforts not to teenagers or young adults, but with older readers who have the disposable income to buy a few books a month. I have yet to see a clear and decisive marketing campaign that is exclusively targeting young readers. Young People Prefer Print, not eBooks is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Barnes and Noble Wins Marketing Award for Samsung 4 Nook Campaign
| Barnes and Noble bet big when they decided to forgo hardware design on their latest tablet and instead sourced it to Samsung. This allowed the bookseller to focus on the reading experience and actually devote money to hyping the hell out of it. Apparently their blitz media has earned them the Internet Marketing Association's (IMA) 'Innovative Brand Award' for 2014. From subway ads to radio station and store integration, NOOK tapped into multiple avenues to get the message out about the new NOOK by Samsung. Created with a hyper-targeted focus in mind, the NOOK ads were designed to be engaging, enticing and inspiring, and to make people want to read even more. Leveraging most every contact channel including email, mobile, online, out of home (OOH) and an online and retail presence in an integrated manner, NOOK created an immersive experience with the goal of capturing the imaginations of potential customers. In addition, NOOK capitalized on the impact of word of mouth and social media by taking the campaign a step further for this launch with one of its most entertaining social media efforts to date, the #NOOKfaces campaign. "We're thrilled that NOOK has won the IMA's 'Innovative Brand Award.' The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK is the most advanced NOOK ever and we wanted to give this device the exposure it deserved with a creative and imaginative marketing plan that generated lots of excitement and buzz," said Doug Carlson, Executive VP of Digital Content and Marketing at NOOK Media LLC. "Not only has NOOK demonstrated its commitment to innovation by partnering with Samsung, but we've launched the new device in a bold and exciting way that has really resonated with both existing and potential NOOK customers." Barnes and Noble Wins Marketing Award for Samsung 4 Nook Campaign is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Kobo Promises to Solve eBook Backup Bug
| eBook security is quickly becoming a contentious issue, as evident in the Barnes and Noble decision to remove the ability to backup your paid content on your PC. Kobo made headlines this week when they nixed their own proprietary KePub format from also being downloaded to a users PC. The Toronto based company is now assuring readers that this is a bug and they are hoping to remedy it soon. Kobo CTO, Trevor Hunter, said "Kobo's mandate of allowing people to read anytime, anywhere, on any platform remains unchanged. We are aware of the issue where a small percentage of books are not able to be backed up, and are working quickly to resolve it. We are currently working on other enhancements that will further embrace our open platform concept, which will give customers ever more options as it relates to reading and the backing up of ePub files." Kobo has not established a timeline when the backing up feature will be solved. But its nice to know that they are not following Barnes and Noble in eliminating backups altogether. Kobo Promises to Solve eBook Backup Bug is a post from: Good e-Reader |
A digital making community for wildlife: Naturebytes camera traps
| Start-up Naturebytes hopes their 3D printed Raspberry Pi camera trap (a camera triggered by the presence of animals) will be the beginning of a very special community of makers. Supported by the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s Education Fund and Nesta, Naturebytes aims to establish a digital making community for wildlife with a very important purpose. Their gadgets, creations and maker kits (and, hopefully, those of others who get involved) will be put to use collecting real data for conservation and wildlife research projects – and to kick it all off, they took their prototype 3D printed birdbox-style camera trap kit to family festival Camp Bestival to see what everyone thought. If you were one of the lucky bunch to enjoy this year’s Camp Bestival, you’d have seen them over in the Science Tent with a colourful collection of their camera trap enclosures. The enclosure provides a snug home for a Raspberry Pi, Pi camera module, passive infrared sensor (PIR sensor), UBEC (a device used to regulate the power) and battery bank (they have plans to add external power capabilities, including solar, but for now they’re using eight trusty AA batteries to power the trap).  A colourful collection of camera trap enclosures The PIR sensor does the job of detecting any wildlife passing by, and they’re using Python to control the camera module, which in turn snaps photos to the SD card. If you’re looking for nocturnal animals then the Pi NoIR could be used instead, with a bank of infrared LEDs to provide illumination. Naturebytes says:
 Explaining how the camera trap enclosures are printed  Camp Bestival festival-goers assembling camera traps
 Naturebytes duct-taped a working camera trap to the back of a large TV so everyone could see a camera trap in action
 Job done, Camp Bestival! Keep your eyes peeled – Naturebytes is powering up for launch very soon! |
Rovio Releasing Angry Birds Transformers for iOS Ahead of Android
| Even if you aren’t familiar with Rovio, you have almost certainly played their games. As the creators of the Angry Bird franchise, Rovio is one of the most successful mobile development stories out there. In addition to the classic title that made them famous, the development house is constantly releasing updates and additional spins on the original physics-based bird-tossing game. This go around, Transformers is the lucky franchise to receive their attention. What’s interesting about this release, is that the Android version is slotted to follow the iOS version after a full 15-day exclusivity period. News that this was taking place came as a shock to many in the mobile world, especially considering that Android is dominating the smartphone market right now. The reason why this happened isn’t being publicized… it could be a deal struck with Apple, it could be Rovio snubbing Android, or it might just be that the iOS version is ready to go and they don’t want to delay release until the Android version is fully tested. Whatever the reason, it seems silly. If you are curious what you have to look forward to, the official game play trailer is below. It looks to be a little ‘more of the same’ that we have become used to with other co-branded versions of Angry Birds, but if you are fond of Transformers, the graphics are great and very reminiscent of that franchise. Are you still addicted to Angry Birds and loving it? Do you wish Rovio would give it up and stop trying to cash in with new versions of their hit game? If not, do you have a theme that you wish they would explore?
Rovio Releasing Angry Birds Transformers for iOS Ahead of Android is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Sneak Peek: Seasonal Marketing Resources for September – November
| It's officially fall here in the northern hemisphere and with the change of seasons, I thought it'd be a good time to share a sneak peek of marketing resources for holidays and events throughout the months of September, October and November. This is just a sample of the seasonal promotional kit for Fall (September-November) so make sure to visit the Partner Portal to explore all four seasonal kits! Fall (September – November) Banned Book Week (September 21-27, 2014) 
Back to School 
Fall into a Good eBook 
Teen Read Week (October 12-18, 2014) 
Halloween 
“Black Friday” (Friday after Thanksgiving) and “Cyber Monday” (Monday after Thanksgiving)  
Remember, there are always opportunities to promote your digital collection and help increase your circulation. If you would like to see marketing resources based around a specific holiday or event in your area, let us know. Leave a comment here or connect with your Account Specialist to share any new ideas! Melissa Marin is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive.
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Thursday, September 25, 2014
Good e-Reader Radio Show – September 25th
| The Good e-Reader Radio Show was on a brief one month hiatus and we are back with a vengeance! Lots of new electronic readers have been announced and have either come out or will imminently be released in the next few weeks. On today’s show I discuss all of the new Kindles, the Samsung 4 Nook and Kobo H2O. What device is the best of the bunch and which ones should you not consider? In addition, the Blackberry Passport has been announced and we have some idea now on what other new phones they have up their sleeves for 2015. We have been doing the Good e-Reader Radio show since 2009, covering the entire digital publishing, e-reader and e-paper sector! This is the only show of its type, where we dive deep into the issues and provide honest and candid information on the brands we write about. Join in on the fun and listen for free. Good e-Reader Radio Show – September 25th is a post from: Good e-Reader |
How to Export & Edit Kindle Notes and Highlights
| One of the benefits that Kindles offer is the ability to easily access and edit all the notes and highlights that you’ve added to Kindle books. Most reading apps and ebook readers offer the ability to add text notes and highlights to ebooks, but in most cases there is no option to export those annotations […] |
Kindle Unlimited eBook Subscription Service Arrives in UK
| Back in July, Amazon first introduced their new Kindle Unlimited ebook subscription service in the United States, where users pay a monthly subscription fee to gain unlimited access to the list of ebooks available in the program. Now Kindle Unlimited is available in the United Kingdom as well, and it comes with a 30-day free […] |
Updates to Minecraft Documentation – and a Python 3 version is on the way!
| No … we’re not adding a Start Menu or a paperclip assistant. This update has nothing to do with Microsoft’s acquisition of Mojang. See the note below for information about this.
You may remember when Mojang released Minecraft: Pi edition for free on Raspberry Pi back in early 2013. If you’re unfamiliar, Minecraft is a popular sandbox open world-building game (like on-screen lego) available for a number of different platforms like PCs, consoles and phones. The Pi edition has a Python programming interface allowing users to use code to build things and manipulate the virtual world around them. It’s a great way to learn coding, and there are plenty of great projects out there people have done and shared with the world. Last week when we announced the release of the new Raspbian image, we mentioned that Minecraft is now installed by default. Now if you download NOOBS or the standalone Raspbian image, it will come with Minecraft pre-installed. It’s also worth mentioning that the Minecraft application is packaged, so rather than downloading the zip file you can easily install it like a standard application: sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install minecraft-pi The accompanying Python module will be installed globally along with the game itself you don’t need to save your Python scripts in a particular folder like you did before. If you’re following books, guides, tutorials or worksheets that were written before, the code will still work the same and if you install Minecraft the new way you’ll be able to save your scripts anywhere. Once it’s installed, here’s the basic setup to get a “Hello world” in Minecraft: When we launched the new Raspberry Pi website in April it came with a documentation section, which we’ve been expanding ever since. In May we announced the usage guides within this documentation were complete, which features basic how to guides for getting started with each of the main applications on Raspberry Pi. We’ve just revamped the Minecraft section to explore more of the fundamental components of the Pi edition and its programming interface, including installation, running the game and Python side-by-side, exploring the programming interface and getting a good all-round introduction to what can be done. You’ll also find this guide in our resources section, and for a full API reference see Martin O’Hanlon’s website stuffaboutcode.com The edition we have at the moment was built for Python 2, and that’s still the case. However, the education team brought this up at PyConUK at the weekend and a team of developers offered to work on porting it to Python 3 – with some success! The project is on GitHub and you can download the repository and use it the way you would use the old version of Minecraft (when you downloaded a zip) if you want to test it – just use IDLE 3 instead! We’re also planning to make some improvements to the API to make it more Pythonic and more intuitive. I’m not sure what the timescale will be for the port, but watch this space for news. Python 3 is really important to us and we’re keen to make sure all libraries people use on the Pi are available in Python 3. Python 2 should not be the default, we should be pushing forward and adapting Python 3. As it says on the Python 2 or Python 3 page on python.org:
So if you’re the maintainer of a Python library, please help by making sure it’s available for Python 3. If you’re using a Python library that’s not available in Python 3 – please let us know so we can add it to the list and we’ll do what we can do get them ported. One last note about the Microsoft acquisition of the Minecraft development company Mojang: many people have asked us what this means for the future of Minecraft on Raspberry Pi. In statements on their website, Microsoft claim they intend to continue to support Minecraft on all existing platforms. We don’t know for sure what the future will bring but Minecraft is important to us, particularly its use in education, and we’re confident that it won’t be taken from us. |
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Weekly eHighlights: Video edition
 Our streaming video catalog just keeps getting better and better! This month we've added a plethora of new feature films, television series, and documentaries. Many of our new titles feature phenomenal stars: Matthew McConaughey, James Franco, Robert DiNiro, Nicole Kidman, Amy Poehler, and more. Below you'll find a sample of our hottest additions. To see all of our recently added videos, click on the link to the Marketplace cart. Click here to view the Marketplace cart of these titles and many more.
Feature Films Are You Here Womanizing local weatherman Steve must accompany his off-the-grid best friend Ben to his childhood home for Ben’s estranged father’s funeral. They soon discover that Ben has inherited the family fortune, leaving the ill-equipped duo to battle Ben’s formidable sister and deal with his father’s gorgeous 25-year-old widow. Starring: Owen Wilson, Zach Galifianakis, and Amy Poehler.
As I Lay Dying As I Lay Dying is adapted from the classic novel by William Faulkner. The story chronicles the Bundren family as they traverse the Mississippi countryside to bring the body of their deceased mother, Addie, to her hometown for burial. Directed by, written by, and starring Oscar-nominated James Franco.
Bernie In small-town Texas, an affable mortician strikes up a friendship with a wealthy widow, though when she starts to become controlling, he goes to great lengths to separate himself from her grasp. Based on a true story. Starring: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, and Matthew McConaughey.
Dragon Tattoo Trilogy The original Swedish adaptations of Stieg Larsson's best-selling trilogy are now available in streaming video! English subtitles.
The Great Buck Howard A young man, much to the chagrin of his father, becomes the new assistant to an illusionist in decline. Starring: John Malkovich, Colin Hanks, Emily Blunt, and Tom Hanks.
The Paperboy A reporter returns to his Florida hometown to investigate a case involving a death row inmate. Based on the novel by Pete Dexter. Starring: Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, and John Cusack.
What Just Happened? A movie producer desperately tries to save his two films from falling apart while managing the chaos of two marriages that already have. Based on the acclaimed, best-selling memoir by veteran Hollywood producer Art Linson and directed by Academy Award-winning Barry Levinson. Starring: Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, and Bruce Willis.
Television The Cisco Kid The Cisco Kid and his English-mangling sidekick Pancho travel the old west in the grand tradition of the Lone Ranger, righting wrongs and fighting injustice wherever they find it.
Dan Vs. A rude and selfish lunatic named Dan tries to get revenge on anyone and anything that he wants to stop from angering him. He gets his dimwitted best friend Chris and (sometimes) Chris’ beautiful and intelligent wife Elise to help Dan on his revenge plots.
Documentary and Instructional Food, Inc. Food Inc. lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing how our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers, and our own environment. Nominated for Best Documentary Feature Oscar.
I'm Still Here Documenting Joaquin Phoenix’s transition from the acting world to a career as an aspiring rapper. Starring: Joaquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck.
Put Your Heart on the Page Anne Perry started out as a good writer, but has won greatness inch by inch by reading other authors, listening to editors and agents, and adapting techniques from other creators. Now you, too, can have a lesson from an author who The New York Times has called ‘First Rate,’ and who’s included in the 100 Masters of the crime genre; who’s sold 25 million copies worldwide to continuing critical acclaim.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait In 1974, Tobe Hooper unleashed a film that was an intense study of homicidal madness in psychological horror. It has since become a cult phenomenon and the most successful independent horror film ever made. This is the first ever documentary of the making of this landmark film.
Click here to view the Marketplace cart of these titles and many more.
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