| The Blackberry Playbook is still relevant for a small segment of tablet owners. It was the only tablet Blackberry ever released and even though its getting long in the tooth, people still swear by it. One of the most common tasks any longtime user will have done is sideloading their own apps. When you use 3rd party tools like DDPB or the Chrome plugin some apps don’t work and you get errors. The most common ones is -9 and -12, but does that even mean? Blackberry ceased to support the Playbook with firmware updates and does not maintain their app store anymore. This puts the tablet owners in a position of having to convert the the files themselves and manually load them on their device. The process is easy with the online tools we downloaded, that allow anyone to take an APK file and convert to a Blackberry friendly BAR file. The most common error code users see when installing apps is Error code -12. This means that the app was designed for a higher version of Android and will not work on the Playbook. The Playbook only has Android 2.3 emulator, so anything that is not backwards compatible will fail to install. Error code -9 means that specific libraries are not available and are required. This can be due to the app needing an external Data file (OBB) and the emulator does not install them in the right place. In other occasions it may require Google Services. If you are new to converting apps or sideloading in your own apps not only for the Playbook, but ANY Blackberry 10 enabled device, see what all of the fuss is about. Understanding the -9 and -12 Playbook Errors is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Friday, October 31, 2014
Understanding the -9 and -12 Playbook Errors
Yahoo Launches DIY Digital Magazine
| Yahoo has been totally revising the way they show digital content on some of their biggest properties. They have adopted a unified magazine layout to Travel, Movies, Health and Food which makes it seem fresh and modern. Yahoo DIY is the latest magazine to launch and will appeal to enthusiasts looking for ideas for their next project. Yahoo DIY will initially focus on news items, slideshows, listicles, and original videos. They will evaluate how each one of these segments performs and make editorial changes as needed. This is uncharted terrority for Yahoo, so they brought in Katie Brown who used to do a television show on Create TV. The DIY videos will probably require the most work. The company is currently planning three series: "Daily Made" shows off solutions for common household problems, "Home Made" provides crafters with how-to tips, and "Katie Made" offers a sneak peek inside the Editor-in-Chief's own quirky DIY projects. It remains to be seen if Yahoo can make this concept work, as DIY enthusiasts are fairly loyal to their forum communities and platforms. Likely, the search engine giant is looking for novel concepts to see what sticks and eventually kill off the low performers. Yahoo Launches DIY Digital Magazine is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Wacom to release Digital Comic Anthology
| Wacom is employed by serious art creators in the comic and gaming industry, everyday thousands of artists are penciling, inking, coloring, lettering or simply cleaning up traditionally illustrated scanned artwork. In order to broaden their customer base and really show what their technology can do for digital comics, Wacom is partnering with a ton of great artists to release a 32 page digital anthology. Pressure/Sensitivity is the name of the new comic and it will feature original, creator-owned short stories by Meredith Gran (Octopus Pie, Marceline and the Scream Queens), Ming Doyle (The Kitchen, Mara), Giannis Milonogiannis (Old City Blues, Prophet, All-New Ultimates) and one more still-to-be announced. All of the interior comics goodness comes wrapped in a cover by artist Ulises Farinas (Gamma, Judge Dredd: Mega City Two) and colorist Ryan Hill (Terrible Lizard, Stumptown). The comic anthology will be available in early 2015 and Wacom is going to be teasing its community with behind the scenes looks at the creation process. Wacom to release Digital Comic Anthology is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Halloween reads
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*Some titles may have limited regional or platform availability. If you would like more suggestions, the Collection Development Team is available to help create recommended lists. Email collectionteam@overdrive.com for more information today! Michelle Ross is a Collection Development Analyst with OverDrive.  |
Halloween!
| There’s a lot of spooky Pi shenanigans going on this Halloween. Here at Pi Towers, our very own Rachel Rayns is trialling the first run of the Raspberry Pi Digital Creatives Bronze award we plan to be running formally from 2015. (More of that in a later post.) Amy and Dan Mather are acting as our guinea pigs for this trial; and here are the (orange, approximately spherical) fruits of their first day’s labour. I’ll be prodding the Mather kids for a write-up on how to rotoscope your own face onto a pumpkin soon. A little further from home, at one of my favourite places in the UK, the team at the Lost Gardens of Heligan have made a slightly-too-successful Halloween project. People walking past this installation trigger a motion sensor, which makes a speaker up in the tree hoot in a Halloween fashion. “Slightly-too-successful” in this instance means that at twilight, visitors walking past triggered the audio: and real, female tawny owls responded to it, and were attracted to the tree. Which is great for owl-spotters, but a bit unfair on the owls. So the Heligan team swapped out the audio for the blood-curdling howls of a wolf (not native to Cornwall), and all was well again. You can read more about the project over at our friend Phil Atkin’s blog. Further afield, Cabe Atwell in the USA has a haunted porch. (Careful watching this one if you have small children in the room – it’s a bit unsettling.) There’s a lot of how-to detail in Cabe’s video, and a full write-up over at element14. Back in the UK, Halloween’s being used as a teaching tool by TeCoEd. Here’s a how-to video, and you’ll find everything you need to make one yourself next year at TeCoEd’s website. You’ll find plenty more projects from previous years under the Halloween tag. Have you made something spooky with a Pi this year? Let us know in the comments! |
Nintendo Brings Classic Secret of Mana Game to Android
| Japan first enjoyed Secret of Mana back in 1993, at a time when this real-time, top-down view battle system was truly unique and innovative. Add to that the ring command menu system that the game introduced: allowing players to user items, change weapons and perform all of their requisite actions without the need to switch screens. With thanks to the developers at Square Enix, Android games can experience some of the same joy we felt at our Nintendo consoles all those years ago. Don’t be fooled, this title is ported but not really upgraded (aside from accommodating 360-degree movement and a touch-screen interface, unless you decide to employ peripheral controllers). The graphics are still delightfully old-school, which is a style that is very hip and popular these days. The story behind the game focuses on the mystical power of Mana, encouraging you to befriend the eight elementals who wield all of nature’s forces. Nostalgia doesn’t come cheap, so the $9 price-tag won’t scare many would-be Secret of Mana gamers who remember console gaming from way back when. Nintendo Brings Classic Secret of Mana Game to Android is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Dip in Customer Satisfaction Causes Apple To Lose Tablet Market Share
| A report released by J.D Power and IDC, indicates that Apple is starting to lose tablet market share again (despite remaining at the top of the list of those device manufacturers). The survey also showed that Apple has slipped into the number two slot for customer satisfaction, right behind Amazon (and their line of inexpensive Fire tablets). Of course, if the survey is to be believed, there is no satisfying these consumers. On one hand they state that Apple isn’t innovating fast enough, but then they say that even with upgraded iPads launched this fall, users are upgrading more slowly. It is my opinion that Apple doesn’t really care whether people are upgrading their old iPads… not really, anyway. Sure they want users to have iPads (and other iOS devices), and sure they want those users to keep them reasonably current (so they can run the latest operating system version), but hardware isn’t where they make there money. It isn’t where any of these manufacturers make their money. Profit is realized within the app ecosystem –with Apple taking a sizeable portion of the monies charged for apps and their now-famed in-app purchases. Add to this the fact that market share does not equate to profit share. It’s easy to take a huge number of inexpensive tablets and drop them in the laps of consumers who wouldn’t be Apple customers anyway. That isn’t a loss for Apple. With the new iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 shipping and the 2014 holiday season just getting started, the results from the next quarter could tell us a little more than these numbers do –which tablets are being wrapped and put under our trees? Which app store sees the most traffic in the early part of the new year?
Dip in Customer Satisfaction Causes Apple To Lose Tablet Market Share is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Flipboard News App Receives Major Redesign
| Flipboard describes itself as being your personal magazine, and that is about as an accurate a picture as they could paint. From the first moment you download the app, there is little question that it is refined and a joy to use –and with a complete redesign and a generous helping of updates, this is even more true now. By choosing the categories and then the stories within them that you most enjoy, a personal magazine is crafted –from there you can flip through your news in a way that feels very visual and enjoyable. Thanks to the latest round of changes, there are over 30,000 new topics to follow. If you aren’t sure where to begin, take a stroll through the Daily Edition, featuring articles (complete with breaking news and an accompanying audio track) hand-picked by the Flipboard team each morning by 7 AM. Content isn’t the only one way that Flipboard has been enhanced. A complete graphic redesign is also ready to be enjoyed, the focus of which being a new top tab bar that allows you to quickly navigate around Flipboard (between those you are following, search, notifications and your profile). If you still need to try Flipboard: Your News Magazine, download it now and see what you have been missing. Flipboard News App Receives Major Redesign is a post from: Good e-Reader |
NHL 2K Brings Mobile Joy to Hockey Fans
| Hockey is very important (and when I say that as a Canadian, you can believe it is true). With the season having gotten underway just a few weeks ago, our appetites are whet and we want more. Fortunately, NHL 2K is now available for Android (a little behind schedule, but we can forgive the developers at 2K Games, Inc). The game offers three styles of play: 3v3 mini rink mode, turn-based multiplayer shootouts and an immersive My Career Mode. While the 3v3 is fast-paced and challenging, there is something satisfying about My Career Mode –which allows you to invest yourself in a single player as he trains and plays throughout the league. There are reports of issues with this game not running smoothly on a few devices, but given its origins from a reputable development house I am sure you can expect tha any that exist will be resolved quickly. If you love hockey, and you have $7.99 USD burning a hole in your digital pocket, download NHL 2K for Android and get your season started!
NHL 2K Brings Mobile Joy to Hockey Fans is a post from: Good e-Reader |
How to Load eBooks on the Amazon Kindle Voyage
| The Kindle Voyage is the latest generation flagship e-reader from Amazon. Many people find themselves exclusively relying on the online bookstore and are aware they can load in their own PDF files or eBooks from the internet. Today, you will learn how to load in your own books. First of all, Amazon Kindle e-readers read AZW and MOBI as a primary format that are easily found online. Many European bookstores actually sell eBooks in MOBI format and embed them with digital watermarks to curb piracy. There are also many bookstores and websites all over the internet that sell or allow people to download them. Sure you can buy or download, but whats the step steps? Amazon has feature many people are unaware of. It allows you to send attachments via Email to your Amazon Kindle. If you have have registered an Amazon account and attached your Kindle to do, during the setup, you are half-way done. You need to visit your Account Management Page and then visit Settings. Near the bottom you will see a few email address and the associated devices. It should give your first name and a few random numbers, mine is michael_95121@kindle.com. You can then enter that email has the destination email address and attach any MOBI books you have downloaded from the internet and in a few minutes they will be on your Kindle Basic! I really like a program called CALIBRE. It does some powerful stuff, like allowing you to add coverart to an eBook you have downloaded that may not have one, or to change the authors name. The feature I dig the most is being able to convert eBooks from one format to another. EPUB is one of the most common book formats out there, and is 100% incompatible with the Kindle. In the video below, I will show you how to convert an EPUB book to a MOBI one and also how to use this program on a very general level. Finally, many people simply copy books to their Kindle Documents directory via a file manager or Windows Explorer. You can get a sense of the internal directory structure of your e-Reader and where you should be copying books manually.
How to Load eBooks on the Amazon Kindle Voyage is a post from: Good e-Reader |
LG Quietly Becoming a Flexible e-Paper Juggernaut
| LG is quietly refining their flexible e-paper technology and has actually seen some commercial success along the way. New innovations will pave the way for super large screen displays that will transcend into the television arena. In 2012 LG first entered the flexible e-paper arena and developed a screen that was crafted from a flexible plastic substrate, the display measuring 0.03 inches (0.7 millimeters) thick and weighs 0.5 ounces (13 grams), making it one-third slimmer and half the weight of currently available glass EPD devices. LG also has made it fairly durable with it being able to easily withstand dropping it from up to six feet. The battery life is also fairly amazing with two or three months of usage. Russian based e-reader company Wexler was the only company to adopt the LG technology into their Flex One. LG has just announced a massive, 18-inch OLED display that can be rolled up into a tight cylinder with a radius of just 3 centimeters (1.2 inches). In addition, LG has mentioned they developed a version that was highly transparent. The flexible 18-inch OLED display has a fairly paltry resolution that clocks in at 1280×810. The main breakthrough seems to be the use of polyimide for the display's backplane. Polyimides are strong, flexible plastics that are already used extensively in the electronics industry — for example in the ribbon that attaches a laptop's display to the motherboard, which is put through huge stresses during thousands of open/close cycles. LG says it achieved "maximum curvature radius" because polyimide allowed for a much thinner and flexible backplane than "conventional plastic." Truly flexible e-paper technology that can be rolled up, able to be read and folded up again is the holy grail. It not only can be used in the e-reader sector, but also smartwatches and advertising. The one hindrance in mass adoption is the fact the motherboards, battery, processor, RAM and most other internal components are not designed to be flexible and this will require a monumental effort by the entire supply chain to make a future of flexible e-paper a reality. LG Quietly Becoming a Flexible e-Paper Juggernaut is a post from: Good e-Reader |
New LCD Technology Draws No Power with Static Images
| One of the big benefits of e-Ink technology is that it draws no power when a simple static image is being displayed or when you are reading a page in an eBook. The only time power is being drawn is when a full page refresh occurs or if you are interacting with the screen. A new LCD initiative is underway at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. They have developed a new type of LCD screen that works in a similar fashion to e-Ink. It can hold a static image for years, with no power. The University has developed Optical Rewritable liquid crystal technology that carries no electrodes and uses polarizer’s as a substitute. It will show images in full color, but not draw any power as the image is shown. This would be tremendously beneficial to luggage tags, grocery price-tags or even in the next generation of color e-reader. There are many benefits to what this technology is capable of, in regards to previous screens made by Pixel QI or Plastic Logic. First of all, the lack of electrodes means the ORWLCD panel can be much thinner than a conventional LCD. It also uses much less power, requires no plastic substrate, is simpler to construct, and therefore cheaper to manufacturer for mass production. The technology as a whole is going one step further, by incorporating 3D elements. The report states “The whole panel has been divided into three parts with different image appearance. One for the left eye, a second for the right eye, and a third for the background and front of the image. The complete 3D image with a good light printer can be updated on the ORWLCD panel in one step and thereafter could be permanently stored without consuming any power. With the feasibility of one-step 3D image writing, wide-viewing angles, high contrast and low power consumption, this technology is suitable for many applications.” I would kill for an e-reader for full color LCD that had the battery life of e-Ink. The one problem I have with reading on an Android tablet or iPad is that I have to charge it on a daily basis. This ORWLCD does have promise, but whether it gets out of the research and development phase is another matter entirely. New LCD Technology Draws No Power with Static Images is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Kobo Aura H2O vs Amazon Kindle Voyage
| Amazon and Kobo have been battling all over the world to attain new readers and promote their own distinctive ecosystem. Amazon especially has been building out their media empire by key acquisitions of GoodReads and Comixology, and boosting up their catalog of audiobooks via Audible. When it comes to dedicated e-ink based devices, they tend to do one thing really well, which is to read eBooks. Today, we look at both companies flagship models going into the holiday season and to check out how they perform. The Kobo Aura H2O is the first waterproof e-reader issued by a mainstream company. The main benefit is that you can bring it in your backyard, bathtub, beach, or bus and not have to worry about it getting destroyed. It is truly the first e-reader that you can take with you anywhere. The Voyage is being billed as an e-reader packed with innovation. It has Page Press technology that incorporates haptic feedback to turn the pages of whatever you are reading. It also has an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust the illumination levels on the front-lit display. Our comparison video outlines the hardware specs of both devices and what makes them both entirely unique. In addition, you can get a sense on how the DPI and resolution factor in when placing the same eBook and PDF file on each unit. Basically, if you are thinking of upgrading to either of these devices or buying your very first digital reader, you don’t want to miss this.
Kobo Aura H2O vs Amazon Kindle Voyage is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Kindle Basic Touch VS Kindle Voyage
| Amazon has released a totally new product line for their Fire tablets, which is getting most of the mainstream media attention. Flying under the radar is the Kindle Basic and Kindle Voyage, two e-ink based readers. Today, we take a look at both devices to give you a sense on what they are capable of and the main differences.
Kindle Basic Touch VS Kindle Voyage is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Kobo Adds eBook Preview Option to Website
| Kobo has recently started to rollout a new feature on their website that lets anyone preview an ebook using a web browser directly from the ebook description page. You don’t have to be logged in or even have a Kobo account to view the previews. All you have to do is click the “Preview Now” […] |
Gameboy Halloween costume
| The good people at Adafruit pointed us at this video. Besides the fact that the costume is driven by a Raspberry Pi, we don’t know much about the build (or the guy who made it – he goes by MikeHandidate on YouTube, but we suspect that’s not actually his name) – good though, isn’t it? More Halloween goodies to come tomorrow. Are you using a Pi in your costume or house decorations this year? |
Audible Attains Thousands of New Comedy Audiobooks
| Amazon has just signed a deal to purchase Comedy service Rooftop Media. The ten person company will be joining Audible in an effort to boost the catalog with new content. Audible founder and Chief Executive Donald Katz said in a statement on Monday the company had been attracted by Rooftop’s content as well as its pool of comic talent. Rooftop does something very unique in the recording industry. They setup shop in comedy clubs all over the US and record the sets of established names and up and coming talent. They attain the full licenses and own the digital rights to thousands of hours of comedy, which is broadcast either live or later on demand. The company’s media partners include Apple and Yahoo, and they stream it out via Sirius, Rdio, Hulu, Spotify and Pandora. Audible has been struggling with the Comedy category of their audiobook store and currently has 3,300 titles. With the addition of content from Rooftop, it should easily double what they have now. Audible was acquired by Amazon in 2008 for $300 million. Bringing Rooftop under the e-commerce giant’s umbrella also boosts the company’s growing digital media business, which includes video and music services through Amazon Prime and original television production via Amazon Studios. Amazon also recently acquired live gaming streamer Twitch. Audible Attains Thousands of New Comedy Audiobooks is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2 vs Kindle Voyage
| The Kindle Voyage builds upon the software and design principles of the Paperwhite line of e-readers. Today, we evaluate if it makes enough sense to upgrade from the second generation Kindle Paperwhite over to the Voyage. The Voyage has superior resolution and DPI compared to the Kindle Paperwhite, but how does this play out in real world conditions? We show off the eBook and PDF experience to give you a sense on how the same content looks, side by side.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2 vs Kindle Voyage is a post from: Good e-Reader |
The Longest Journey Finds Its Way to iOS
| If you like games that are equal parts book, movie, and game… The Longest Journey is something to be excited about. Described as being an interactive and beautifully created universe, The Longest Journey is told from the perspective of a young art student named April Ryan who possesses the power to pass between worlds (like others are able to pass between being awake and asleep). Feel free to get yourself addicted to this franchise. Developed by Ragnar Tornquist and his team at development house, Red Thread Games, The Longest Journey: Dreamfall Chapters sequel was recently brought to computer and console gaming platforms by way of a tremendously successful Kickstarter campaign (they set out to raise $850,000, and ended up with over $1.5 million) –so chances are good that mobile games won’t have seen the last of these characters! The Longest Journey Remastered has already been available for iOS users in New Zealand with an $8.99 price-tag, but there are plans for a North American release very soon. If you are ready for a real iOS gaming adventure, prepare to purchase and download The Longest Journey Remastered from the Apple App Store.
The Longest Journey Finds Its Way to iOS is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Deep Loot Brings Old-School Gaming Charm to Android
| The developers of Deep Loot describe the game as being about “swimming, digging and fighting your way through an infinitely explorable ocean to discover lost ruins, plunder hidden treasures and earn some chunky paychecks!” In reality, for those of us who used to spend their quarters in old-school arcades, Deep Loot is a trip down memory lane (even though it didn’t technically exist back then). On the surface, the app is pretty simple: your friends push your pixelated self off of the boat, and you start searching for treasure. As you collect unique artifacts and complete challenges, you can upgrade your equipment and stay under-water longer. Adding to the game is the unique musical score (comprised of 8 original tracks) that play in the background as you reminisce about how video games used to look (in a completely enchanting and charming way). If you’d like to do a little deep sea diving on your Android device, download Deep Loot and give your luck a try.
Deep Loot Brings Old-School Gaming Charm to Android is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Pi Talks at PyConUK
| You may remember our Education team attended PyConUK in Coventry last month. We ran the Education Track, which involved giving workshops to teachers and running a Raspberry Jam day for kids at the weekend. We also gave talks on the main developer track of the conference. Carrie Anne gave a fantastic keynote entitled Miss Adventures in Raspberry Pi wherein she spoke of her journey through teaching the new computing curriculum with Raspberry Pi, attending PyConUK the last two years, being hired by the Foundation, and everything she’s done in her role as Education Pioneer. I also gave my talk PyPi (not that one) – Python on the Raspberry Pi showing interesting Pi projects that use Python and demonstrating what you can do with a Pi that you can’t on other computers. Alex gave his talk Teaching children to program Python with the Pyland game - a project Alex led over the summer with a group of interns at the Computer Lab. The conference ended with a sprint day where Alex led a team building and testing Pyland and adding challenges, and I worked with a group of developers porting Minecraft Pi to Python 3. If you missed it last week, we posted Annabel’s Goblin Detector, a Father-daughter project the 8 year old demonstrated at PyConUK while enjoying the Raspberry Jam day. |
Kindle Voyage and New $79 Kindle Don’t Support Active Content (Games and Apps)
| I’ve got some bad news for those of you that use Kindle Active Content, the games and apps designed specially for E Ink Kindle ebook readers. Amazon has decided to drop support for Kindle Active Content on newer Kindle models. In fact neither the Kindle Voyage or the new touchscreen Kindle support Active Content at […] |
Amazon Decreases Review Times on New eBooks
| Apple has dispatched an email to authors who publish through iBooks, informing them on a number of new policy changes. The first, is to decrease the amount of time that the editorial staff approves for new titles for inclusion into the Apple Bookstore, it went from ten days to one business change. The second should really help authors in giving out free copies of their digital book for review, with 250 promo codes. Apple has revised the iBooks experience with the advent of iOS 8 and the new line of iPhone 6 smartphones. It is far easier to purchase and discover new content with the UI changes on the bottom of the screen. In the past, the store itself, was buried in sub-menus at the top of the screen, now it is more intuitive. One of the big new initiatives on the iBooks app is the curation and editorial content. There is now more seasonal and topical lists that abide by cool themes. Oh, and one of the biggest cleanups was removing Breakout Books, which was sourced by Smashwords. Indie authors have been booted off from the platform, in order to help readers find more quality content. In the future, you will soon be able to get book recommendations before and after purchases with technology leveraged by Booklamp, a company Apple bought a few months ago. Amazon Decreases Review Times on New eBooks is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Amazon Kindle Voyage Review
| Amazon has been making e-readers since 2007 and over the years they have refined their hardware technology constantly. The new Kindle Voyage might very well be the best e-reader currently on the market, due to the innovative new tech and expansive eBook ecosystem. The Voyage is nothing but innovative and it has enhancements that are not found on any other e-readers on the market. One is the inclusion of Page Press technology, and the other is an ambient light sensor. Today, we take a look at the Kindle Voyage, from the prospective of looking at its core technology and what makes it entirely unique. Hardware The Amazon Kindle Voyage features a six inch e-ink Carta display with a resolution of 1430 x 1080. It has 300 PPI, which is the highest we have ever seen. In contrast, the Paperwhite 2, which this model replaces only has a resolution of 1024 X 768 and 212 PPI. Lets look at what the competition is doing, the Kobo Aura H20, which came out a month ago has a 6.8 inch screen with the same resolution as the Voyage, but has 265 DPI. The Barnes and Noble Nook Glowlight has been on the market for most of the year, but its 1024 x 758 and 212 PPI is somewhat depressing. One of the big design changes with the Voyage is the screen is completely flush with the bezel. All prior Kindle e-readers had a sunken screen and employed infrared touchscreen technology. The new capacitive screen is much easier to interact with and allows for more pin-point procession. The Voyage has really refined their front-lit technology, which allows you to read in the dark. It has five LED lights on the bottom of the bezel, which projects light evenly across the screen. This is ideal for reading compared to smartphones and tablets which has the light emitting from behind the screen. The lighting system is a marginal improvement over the Paperwhite 2, but completely blows away anything that Kobo has ever done. Amazon has really hyped the new ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts in the brightness of the screen. On paper, this sounds really cool, but it misses the mark. When reading in complete darkness, it makes the screen too dark to read properly. I often had to find myself relying on the manual settings. Many older e-readers had physical page turn keys that protruded from the bezel and had a audible mechanical click when turning a page forward or backward. Page Press technology actually has the page turn keys flush completely with the bezel. You can turn a page and there is a small vibration that is courtesy of haptic feedback. Within the settings menu there are a number of options to tweak how hard you have to press in order to turn a page, or you can remove it completely. If you are not a fan of turning pages by clicking on the bezel, you can disable Page Press completely and rely on the touchscreen to swipe pages. In the past, all prior Kindle e-readers had a power button on the bottom of the chassis, right next to the MicroUSB and status indicator light. Amazon has borrowed design elements from the Kindle Fire line of tablets and implemented a sweet rounded button that is easily accessible when holding the e-reader normally. When I first noticed it and turned it onto standby mode, it was one of the those moments when I said to myself “man this is so intuitive, why din’t they do this all along?” The back of the Kindle Voyage is not 100% plastic or rubber anymore, but uses a new hybrid magnesium alloy. This not only makes the e-reader lighter than previous iterations, but prevents scuffs and fingerprints when taking it in and out of your bag on a daily basis. I really like the angular aspects of the design, which again, is much akin to the Kindle Fire. Underneath the hood of the Voyage is a 1 GHZ single core processor, 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of internal storage. Battery life should last around a month, and if you don’t use it much, standby should easily last you six months. On paper, the Voyage has super high DPI and crazy resolution, but how does it play out in real world conditions? During the last few days we have been putting the Voyage head to head against the Kindle Basic Touch, Kobo Aura H2O and Paperwhite 2. We tested the Glowlight, eBooks, and PDF files. The new Voyage really stands out in the crowd by having more clarity on the screen and the fonts really do look better. Software The Amazon Kindle Voyage borrows heavy design elements on the software front from the Kindle Basic Touch and second generation Kindle Paperwhite. You have the main navigation bar which allows you to quickly access the Kindle Store, search for books or access social media website GoodReads. Amazon has promised new features such as Kindle Family Sharing, which allows you to share the same purchased content accross all other Amazon tablets and reading apps in a few months. They also will be introducing another new feature upon opening a new book will tell you who the author is and other books they have written. You also will be able to establish the book as “currently being read” on GoodReads. Ironically, the new Kindle HD6, HD7 and HDX 8.9 all have “currently reading” out of the box. What I can say about the software that it is really polished. Its easier to interact with all of the menu and settings features due to the screen being flush with the bezel. It basically feels like you are interacting with a smartphone in terms of performance. This fact is really evident when you are typing notes or entering your WIFI password with the keyboard. In the past, many e-readers had a noticeable delay between when you hit a key, to when it actually projected the character on the display. e-Ink Carta really addresses this shortcoming and doing anything touchscreen related on the Voyage is pure bliss. e-Reading Experience Amazon has really simplified the entire reading experience on the Kindle. It is really easy to adjust the font type and font size by clicking on the top half of the e-reader. There are six options, and the rare book will have a seventh, which is the publisher default. Changing the margins and line spaces is also a walk in the park, I like the fact Amazon does not make the adjusting of the core e-reading experience complicated or advanced. It provides enough customization options to appeal to the average user, but isn’t a barrier to the non-tech-savvy. The high PPI and resolution are really evident when you are reading a standard eBook or anything that involves heavy imagery, such as Manga or digital newspapers. The text just pops, its hard to quantify exactly how, but there is no pixelation, even when you crank up the font size to maximum. Its times like this, that I wish I knew someone with a quantum microscope to really dive deep into the matter. All I can say, is its a step up from the Paperwhite 2. Amazon has really refined their entire PDF rendering engine in 2014. I remember when the Paperwhite 2 first came out, the page turn rates would be really slow and files over 100 MB would simply crash. Engineers released a series of firmware updates that solved this problem. When you read a PDF file, you get a small preview pane on the upper left hand corner, which helps orient you on where exactly in the document you are. If you have zoomed in to a very high degree and feel lost, this feature lends the assist. Pinching and zooming PDF files has never felt as robust as it does now. The capacitive touchscreen makes this possible and images look great. One feature many people aren’t aware of, is when you click on the top center to access the settings menu. Normally when reading an eBook, this brings you to the font option screen. On the Kindle Voyage you can increase or decrease the level of darkness or brightness in a document. So if you notice things become very dark or shady in an image, and it becomes hard to discern exactly what it is, like things getting lost in the shadows, you can adjust this. Kindle is the only e-reader to include this type of tech, which makes it stand out in a crowd. Wrap Up The Kindle Voyage is a priemium e-reader with a high cost. It retails for $199 right out of the gates, but is comparable to the Kobo Aura H2O which hit the market at $179.99. I remember a time when basic e-readers cost $349 for a six inch model, so the price tag is not really a barrier. If you have an older model Kindle should you upgrade to the Voyage? Well, it depends. If you have the an older model with a physical keyboard or a Kindle Basic 2013, the answer is yes. If you bought the Paperwhite 2 in the last year, the Voyage on a fundamental level is an incremental update, with a few new bells and whistles. PROS Screen is Flush with Bezel, much like the Kobo Aura CONS Page Press feels like a gimmick Rating – 9.5/10
Amazon Kindle Voyage Review is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Twitch Eliminates Topless and Sexually Suggestive Streaming
| Unfortunately for all of you that had weekend plans to strip down before broadcasting videos of your gaming exploits, Twitch has updated their Rules of Conduct. Inspired by their new owners at family-friendly Amazon, this adjustment likely shouldn’t come as a surprise. It doesn’t matter how good you look naked (or nearly naked), Twitch’s new rules are very clear:
While some people may feel this is unnecessary censorship, some of us are wondering if it was a really big problem to begin with? It seems the change was kept fairly quiet by Twitch, but that is likely moreso because they didn’t want to make it seem like they used to be all about the nudity.
Twitch Eliminates Topless and Sexually Suggestive Streaming is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Real-time depth perception with the Compute Module
| Liz: We’ve got a number of good friends at Argon Design, a tech consultancy in Cambridge. (James Adams, our Director of Hardware, used to work there; as did my friend from the time of Noah, @eyebrowsofpower; the disgustingly clever Peter de Rivaz, who wrote Penguins Puzzle, is an Argon employee; and Steve Barlow, who heads Argon up, used to run AlphaMosaic, which became Broadcom’s Cambridge arm, and employed several of the people who work at Pi Towers back in the day.) We gave the Argon team a Compute Module to play with this summer, and they set David Barker, one of their interns, to work with it. Here’s what he came up with: thanks David, and thanks Argon! This summer I spent 11 weeks interning at a local tech company called Argon Design, working with the new Raspberry Pi Compute Module. “Local” in this case means Cambridge, UK, where I am currently studying for a mathematics degree. I found the experience extremely valuable and a lot of fun, and I have learnt a great deal about the hardware side of the Raspberry Pi. And here I would like to share a bit of what I did. My assignment was to develop an example of real-time video processing on the Raspberry Pi. Argon know a lot about the Pi and its capabilities and are experts in real-time video processing, and we wanted to create something which would demonstrate both. The problem we settled on was depth perception using the two cameras on the Compute Module. The CTO, Steve Barlow, who has a good knowledge of stereo depth algorithms gave me a Python implementation of a suitable one. The algorithm we used is a variant of one which is widely used in video compression. The basic idea is to divide each frame into small blocks and to find the best match with blocks from other frames – this tells us how far the block has moved between the two images. The video version is designed to detect motion, so it tries to match against the previous few frames. Meanwhile, the depth perception version tries to match the left and right camera images against each other, allowing it to measure the parallax between the two images. The other main difference from video compression is that we used a different measure of correlation between blocks. The one we used is designed to work well in the presence of sharp edges and when the exposure differs between the cameras. This means that it is considerably more accurate, at the cost of being more expensive to calculate. When I arrived, my first task was to translate this algorithm from Python to C, to see what sort of speeds we could reasonably expect. While doing this, I made several algorithmic improvements. This turned out to be extremely successful – the final C version was over 1000 times as fast as the original Python version, on the same hardware! However, even with this much improvement, it was still taking around a second to process a moderate-sized image on the Pi’s ARM core. Clearly another approach was needed. There are two other processors on the Pi: a dual-core video processing unit called the VPU and a 12-core GPU, both of which are part of the VideoCore block. They both run at a relatively slow 250MHz, but are designed in such a way that they are actually much faster than the ARM core for video and imaging tasks. The team at Argon has done a lot of VideoCore programming and is familiar with how to get the best out of these processors. So I set about rewriting the program, from C into VPU assembler. This sped up the processing on the Pi to around 90 milliseconds. Dropping the size of the image slightly, we eventually managed to get the whole process – get image from cameras, process on VPU, display on screen – to run at 12fps. Not bad for 11 weeks’ work! I also coded up a demonstration app, which can do green-screen-free background removal, as well as producing false-colour depth maps. There are screenshots below; the results are not exactly perfect, but we are aware of several ways in which this could be improved. This was simply a matter of not having enough time – implementing the algorithm to the standard of a commercial product, rather than a proof-of-concept, would have taken quite a bit longer than the time I had for my internship. To demonstrate our results, we ran the algorithm on a standard image pair produced by the University of Tsukuba. Below are the test images, the exact depth map, and our calculated one.   We also set up a simple scene in our office to test the results on some slightly more “real-world” data: However, programming wasn’t the only task I had. I also got to design and build a camera mount, which was quite a culture shock compared to the software work I’m used to. Liz: I know that stereo vision is something a lot of compute module customers have been interested in exploring. David has made a more technical write-up of this case study available on Argon’s website for those of you who want to look at this problem in more…depth. (Sorry.)
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Monday, October 27, 2014
Amazon Introduces Fire TV Streaming Media Stick
| It looks like Apple isn’t the only one bracing for the impact Chromecast will have on the way we watch TV, Amazon has released their Fire TV Stick as a viable contender. Built using powerful hardware (a dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, dual-band, and dual-antenna Wi-Fi with MIMO), the Fire TV Stick boasts Amazon’s award-winning user interface accessible by the included remote control (or “you can use your phone as a remote with the free mobile app that includes voice search”). Beyond just being easy to use (plug it in and you’re basically ready to stream in a matter of moments as it arrives pre-registered), the Amazon Fire TV Stick is content rich:
Like the Chromecast, you can fling or mirror content directly from your smartphone or tablet to the Fire TV Stick as well. If you are now curious enough to give the Fire TV Stick a try, it will be available for sale on November 19th and can be pre-ordered now for $39 USD. Lucky Amazon Prime members ordering before 6:00 a.m. (PT) on October 29, 2014 will receive a significant discount and only have to pay $19 USD. As an added benefit, eligible customers will also enjoy free trial periods with Neflix and Amazon Prime with their purchase of a Fire TV Stick.
Amazon Introduces Fire TV Streaming Media Stick is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Amazon Fire Phone Unboxing Video
| The Amazon Fire Phone has not been selling very well, and recently the Seattle company said they had to write off close to $170 million in loses. Things have got so bad, that AT&T is throwing in a free Fire Tablet in a bid to lure people over. What is all the fuss about, is this a legit good phone? Today, we do a proper unboxing video, showing you everything that comes in the box. You can get a sense on the form factor and core features that makes this unique in the marketplace.
Amazon Fire Phone Unboxing Video is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Amazon Fire HD Kids Edition Unboxing Video
| Amazon has been focusing on making their entire lineup of tablets family friendly. In the last few years they have developed a system called Freetime, which automatically blocks access to the Silk Browser and Kindle content stores, disables location-based services, in-app purchases, or social features, and requires your parental controls password to enable or disable the feature. Amazon also unveiled Freetime Unlimited in 2012, which is a subscription based service that lets parents download thousands of movies, television shows, books and apps for a low monthly fee. Amazon has packaged all of this into the brand new Fire HD Kids Edition, which spec wise, is exactly the same as the Kindle Fire HD6 and HD7. The main difference is the rubberized padding that spans the entire circumference of the tablet. This is an accessory that is shipped with the tablet and is not built right into it. Today, we unbox a brand new entry into the Amazon product line, the Fire HD Kids Edition. We show you everything that comes in the box and power it on for the first time.
Amazon Fire HD Kids Edition Unboxing Video is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Monster Strike Arrives from Japan on Android
| Fans of classic video game titles such as Street Fighter 2 and Final Flight will be excited to play the latest release from Yoshiki Okamoto: Monster Strike. The game is reminiscent of other monster collecting games, like Pokemon and Digimon, but with action and RPG elements added in. Originally released in Japan, Monster Strike is now available on Android (and iOS) across North America. You begin by selecting your first monster teammate (I went with Blue Smydra –he didn’t have the highest attack or HP stats, but he was the fastest choice), then setting forth to pull back and sling him into your enemies in an effort to attack! There are a series of special moves that you can unleash as you defeat bosses and progress through the game, keeping you engaged and interested as you play. While it sounds simple, there is a lot of detail and complexity that will make you grateful there is a detailed tutorial mode that guides you through getting started. The game also features a social media component that allows you to team up with friends in groups of 4! If you are in the mood to play a game that gives you a true feeling of what classic pinball arcade games should be like with a touchscreen, modern, RPG-inspired twist, then give Monster Strike a try and download it for free now.
Monster Strike Arrives from Japan on Android is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 2014 Unboxing
| The Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 2014 edition is the Seattle companies flagship large screen tablet, meant to carry the battle to Apple, Samsung and Sony. This device has amazing resolution and has been slimmed down and enhanced with a new version of Android. It also has better hardware under the hood, compared to the HDX 8.9 2013 version. Today, we do a proper unboxing video, showing you everything that comes in the box and power it on the first time.
Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 2014 Unboxing is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Amazon Kindle Fire HD 6 Unboxing
| When Amazon first started making tablets they focused on seven and eight inch models and adhered to this size convention for the first few generations. This year, the Seattle based company broke the mold and developed a six inch tablet, called the HD6. Today, we take this out of the box and show you everything that comes inside. As an added bonus, we power it on for the first time so you can get a sense of new design changes and an updated version of Android.
Amazon Kindle Fire HD 6 Unboxing is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Amazon Kindle Voyage Unboxing Video
| The Amazon Kindle Voyage is one of the most cutting edge e-readers we have ever seen. The screen is completely flush with the bezel, has amazing screen clarity and haptic enabled page turn buttons. Today, we take this little puppy out of the box, show you everything that comes inside and power it on for the first time.
Amazon Kindle Voyage Unboxing Video is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Say “Yes” to Yes Please
| “Before we begin, I want to let you know that I’m broadcasting from my own personal audio booth that I built at the base of Mount Rushmore 15 years ago. And I built it before I had even written one word and here I am now, reading my book to you. What a country.” – Amy Poehler, Yes Please Amy Poehler is well-known for her starring role as Leslie Knope on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” her years on “Saturday Night Live” and films like “Baby Mama” (and well-known in my heart as my imaginary best friend). In addition to her accomplishments in comedy, TV and film, she has now added author to her resume with her first book, Yes Please, out today from HarperCollins and Harper Audio. Part memoir, part words of wisdom, part essays – the book offers a variety of interesting and often hilarious stories from throughout Poehler’s life and career. For fans of Bossypants and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Yes Please will be a must-read. The digital audiobook is highly recommended, as it truly stands apart from the written text. As a performer, Amy Poehler is an engaging narrator and takes advantage of the audio format. In addition to the author, audiobook listeners will get to enjoy guest readers including Poehler’s former “Saturday Night Live” Weekend Update co-anchor Seth Meyers, “Parks and Recreation” creator Mike Schur, Patrick Stewart, Carol Burnett, Kathleen Turner, and even Amy’s parents. Another exciting feature of the audiobook is the element of live performance. The last chapter of the audiobook was recorded live on stage at the UCB Theater in Los Angeles. Check out the video below for a preview of Amy getting ready for that event and make sure to meet what is sure to be high demand from your patrons by visiting OverDrive Marketplace and adding Yes Please to your digital collection today!
*The audiobook format of this title is available to U.S. public and school libraries only. The eBook format of this title is available worldwide. Melissa Marin is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive. Amy Poehler is her spirit animal.  |
Amazon Kindle Voyage Reading in the Dark Test
| The Amazon Kindle Voyage has just been released and is a refinement of two generations worth of Paperwhites. Today, we look at the illumination settings in a completely dark environment, chiefly to see if its completely viable to read when going to sleep. The Voyage has two different settings when it comes to controlling the brightness of the front-lit display. One is called “Auto brightness” which basically uses the ambient light sensor to automatically adjust the levels, based on your environment. You can also tap on the icon, on the main navigation bar to manually set it yourself. In this video, we check out the screen clarity in complete darkness and check out every single level of illumination.
Amazon Kindle Voyage Reading in the Dark Test is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Stunted iPad Sales Not Due to Apple’s App Store
| Following a swirl of Internet discussion that is trying desperately to suggest that the iPad is circling the drain (so to speak), Fast Company charted the growth of iOS and iPad apps between June 2010 and October 2014. The results of their research makes one thing clear: whether the iPad succeeds or not, the iOS app marketplace is growing steadily. So why is it that iPad year-over-year sales have declined during the last three quarters? \Apple CEO Tim Cook suggests that existing users are upgrading more slowly, and other products (such as the iPhone and Mac) are cannibalizing the iPad. Those reasons certainly seem more likely than the reason being offered up by anecdotal bloggers telling us that nearly 675,000 tablet-optimized apps are disappointing to would-be iPad owners (not to mention the overwhelming evidence to the contrary showing that people using tablets are doing so in very limited ways: games, social media, surfing the web, and streaming media). It is just as likely that the tablet market is becoming saturated, or that the larger 5.5″ iPhone 6 Plus (nicknamed the phablet) is blurring the lines between smartphones and tablets enough that users don’t want both… regardless of the reason, news that the app marketplace is thriving is good news. Oh, and as everybody tries to speculate that Apple is going to be in some kind of financial trouble because they are selling fewer tablets, should remember that the 30% they are making off each iOS app purchase is a much larger margin than they typically make on hardware.
Stunted iPad Sales Not Due to Apple’s App Store is a post from: Good e-Reader |
The Cost of eBooks to Dramatically Increase in 2015
| The cost of eBooks are poised to dramatically increase at the beginning of the new year, due to changes in VAT. Readers will end up having to pay anywhere from 17% to 25% more on each title, depending on the country they live in. The European Commission recently unveiled a new ruling where member states will be taxed in the European member state in which the consumer is located, as opposed to the country from which the product is sold. Starting in January 2015 the new tax rates will be in effect for eBooks. The new VAT laws will prevent Amazon, Nook and Kobo from getting away with charging a paltry 3% tax on eBooks, magazines, graphic novels and newspapers sold to European countries, because their headquarters are in Luxembourg. In a few months, UK customers will have to pay the 20% VAT on eBooks from Amazon, instead of the 3%. This will increase eBooks accross the board by 17%. The Luxembourg government stands to lose around €800 million a year from the ruling, while the UK and Germany stand to gain around €350 million each by the higher VAT rates. Patrons of Amazon and Barnes and Noble in Europe are obviously going to be disgruntled that they will be paying more money for books, but the evening out of the VAT will allow Waterstones, Thalia, Txtr, Ciando, and Virtualo to compete better on price and hopefully gain more traction in the industry going forward. In the United Kingdom Amazon accounts for 75% of all eBook sales. They have been able to capture the vast majority of readers due to the low prices and solid discovery experience. Will customers remain loyal if the prices increase dramatically? The Cost of eBooks to Dramatically Increase in 2015 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Kindle Voyage Covers and Cases List
| After nearly one week of using the Kindle Voyage, I’ve come to the conclusion that a cover is pretty much required to get the best out of the PagePress sensors. And of course the whole providing protection thing… I mentioned in my Kindle Voyage first impressions review that I had a hard time holding the […] |
Digital Marvel Graphic Novels Now Available at Kobo
| Kobo has reached an agreement with Marvel to sell over 250 graphic novels on their global online bookstore. The new comics can be purchased using any of the official Kobo tablets, their main website or bought in one of their many apps for Android, Blackberry or Windows. The inclusion of Marvel graphic novels joins Archie, DC and Dark Horse on the Kobo ecosystem. With so many Marvel movies on the horizon like X-Men Apocalypse, Ant-Man and Avengers 2, and the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, readers will want to become familiar with the source properties. “For more than 75 years, Marvel has been transporting comic fans to exciting new galaxies," says Santiago Melo, Merchandiser, Kobo. "Tackling big issues with larger than life characters, these stories continue to be a constant source of enrichment in our popular culture and we couldn't be happier to welcome them to the Kobo family." "Marvel is excited about our partnership with Kobo and happy to have the opportunity to provide fans, new and existing, another great way to experience our legendary content," says David Gabriel, SVP Sales and Marketing for Marvel Entertainment. Digital Marvel Graphic Novels Now Available at Kobo is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Making a Unicorn HAT
| Our good friends at Pimoroni have made a very sparkly HAT. We thought you’d like to see where unicorns come from. The Unicorn HAT is available at Pimoroni for £24 – get them while they’re warm (but not hot)! Clive’s busy writing a graphics resource for learners featuring this particular HAT – watch this space for more details. |
Anatomy of a Misfit read-alikes
| If you loved the Big Library Read pick Anatomy of a Misfit as much as we did at OverDrive, it will be hard to move on. To make it easier on you, our staff librarians have curated a list of read-alikes. Check out the list highlights below.
Andrea Portes – Hick Unbridled Books Hick is Portes’ debut novel. It is a coming-of-age tale about 13-year-old Luli, who has had enough of small-town life and hits the road to Las Vegas. The film adaptation (from Phase 4 Films (USA), LLC) starring Blake Lively and Chole Mertz is also available in streaming video. Andrea Portes – Bury This Soft Skull Press In Bury This a 25-year-old cold case is reignited when a group of film students start making a documentary about the victim’s life. Can’t get enough of misfits like Anika? Pick up these titles: Stephen Chbosky – The Perks of Being a Wallflower MTV Books This cult favorite follows wallflower Charlie as he navigates freshman year, first dates, new friends, and family dramas. Leah Rae Miller – The Summer I Became a Nerd Entangled Teen Madelyne Summers is a typical blonde cheerleader on the outside and a comic-loving nerd on the inside. When Logan, an adorkable comic shop employee, discovers her secret Madelyn faces a difficult decision: keep denying who she really is or risk losing Logan forever. Lauren Oliver – Before I Fall HarperCollins e-books “Cupid Day” should be the best day of popular Samantha Kingston’s life, and it is… until she dies in an awful accident. However, she still wakes up the next morning.In fact, Sam lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she ever imagined. Courtney Summers – Some Girls Are St. Martin’s Griffin Regina Afton used to be a member of the Fearsome Fivesome, an all-girl clique both feared and revered by the students at Hallowell High… until vicious rumors about her and her best friend’s boyfriend start going around. Now Regina’s been “frozen out” and her ex-best friends are out for revenge.
*Some titles may have limited regional or platform availability. If you would like more suggestions, the Collection Development Team is available to help create recommended lists. Email collectionteam@overdrive.com for more information today!
Michelle Ross is a Collection Development Analyst at OverDrive. Michelle Ross is a Collection Development Analyst with OverDrive.  |