| Many people in the publishing industry claim that the primary reason Penguin and Random House merged was to not only account for 1/4 of all books printed in the world, but to have better negotiating power with Amazon. We have all read the stories about the feud between Amazon and Hachette and this is a situation that will likely never occur with the new publishing juggernaut. Penguin Random House are in the perfect position now to try new things, without disrupting their traditional business model of selling both print and eBooks. One new initiative that formally launched at the beginning of November was a Cloud Reader app, that allows readers to check out hundreds of eBooks and read them online. The primary benefit behind this program is to be able to read books on any internet browser on a PC, smartphone or tablet, without having to download an app. Pelican Books is UK based educational imprint that was discontinued in the latest 80’s, due to sagging sales. It was relaunched this year as an exclusive digital imprint, after 30 or so years away. Which means there's only a handful of Pelican titles at this point. But also means Pelican's 'startup' status within Penguin Random House allows for more risks to be taken with it. And specifically digital risks, which is exactly what traditional publishers need to be doing. Currently the Pelican browser experiment involves just five digital titles, and more are planned for next year. There is mind boggling title on economics, one on human evolution, another on the brain, plus the history title of the Russian revolution and a book about Greek and Roman political ideas. Readers visiting pelicanbooks.com on any device can sample one of the books by reading a chapter for free online. If you dig the sample, there is an option to pay £4.99 to be able to read the entire book in the browser. Reading eBooks in the cloud is nothing new. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and Overdrive all offer similar services. The main difference between what they are doing is that those guys are retailers and booksellers, while Penguin is the publisher. I think this is a very interesting program and developing and maintaining a cloud reader is more cost effective wihhout the need to develop and maintain a fleet of apps for Android, Blackberry, iOS or Windows. Penguin Develops Cloud Reader for Pelican eBooks is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Penguin Develops Cloud Reader for Pelican eBooks
Saturday, November 29, 2014
eBook Publishers May Soon Sue ISP Providers over Pirate eBooks
| BMG Rights Management and Round Hill Music have sued Cox Communications for music piracy. They did this because the internet service provider did not do enough to punish 200,000 users who downloaded illegal music. These two companies are clients of Rightscorp, a copyright enforcement agent whose business is based on threatening ISPs with a high-stakes lawsuit if they don’t forward settlement notices to users that Rightscorp believes are repeatedly infringing upon a copyright. Are eBooks next? In April 2014, Rightscorp announced their intention of entering the plans to expand its copyright monetization services into the consumer book publishing market. Rightscorp has been signing up a slew of clients, which include authors and publishing companies. Their main selling point is the monitoring of their digital assets and bringing in extra income by suing private citizens and internet service providers. Sales of eBooks reached $3 billion at the end of 2012, up from $68 million in 2008 according to a recent article posted on Yahoo! Finance. The article also cited that Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon, said that “Kindle owners buy more books now than they did before they owned an e-Reader”. PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates “consumer eBooks will drive $8.2 billion in sales by 2017, surpassing projected print book sales, which it thinks will shrink by more than half during that period.” Rightscorp is trying to establish a precedent with suing Cox Communication. If a judge finds Cox liable for the actions of users on its network, it will have major implications for the company, the cable industry and any ISP in the future who neglects to punish eBook pirates. Cable companies right now are in the habit of bundling services, such as phone, internet and television. Some customers spend well over $100 each month and Cox could be losing a copious amount of money if it terminated over 200,000 accounts. There is currently no idea right now if they plan on fighting the case, but recently YouTube spent over $100 million dollars fighting a case brought against them from Viacom. eBook piracy is becoming a large concern for many nations and their publishers. According to research by Dutch firm GfK, only 10% of all eBooks currently on e-readers, smartphones or tablets is actually paid for. Meanwhile a survey conducted by Book Industry Study Group found that during the Spring 2013 semester, 34% of college students in the United States illegally downloaded course materials from unauthorized websites. In 2010, the percentage of textbook piracy 20%. According to figures published by Russia: Beyond the Headlines, 70% of Russians read eBooks, nearly a quarter more than the number who did a year ago. Yet 92% of those readers download their books from pirate websites. eBook piracy resulted in €350 million ($467.1 million) in lost revenue for the €3 billion Spanish publishing industry in 2012. Rightscorps entry into the lucrative piracy industry for eBooks could not have come at a better time. Many publishers simply don’t see piracy as a big issue right now and fail to embrace countermeasures in a meaningful way. If the Cox Communications precedent can be established, we could see a spike in publishers going after large companies who provide internet access. This could be a long dark road filled with witch hunts and extortion. eBook Publishers May Soon Sue ISP Providers over Pirate eBooks is a post from: Good e-Reader |
O’Reilly Gives 50% off all eBooks until Dec 2nd
| O’Reily is best known for their large library of technical eBooks and the fact they are all DRM-Free. This allows users to copy them to all of their devices, without the need of the unwieldy Adobe Digital Editions. If you are in the market for books about programming in Android, HTML5, Java or C++ you are in luck. All eBook and video tutorials are 50% off until December 2nd for everything that is listed on the site. O'Reilly Gives 50% off all eBooks until Dec 2nd is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Friday, November 28, 2014
CNET Transcends Digital into Print
| CNET has been a mainstay of digital news, video and podcasts that covers the entire tech world since 1994. Whenever there is a big launch from Apple or Amazon these guys are on the front lines giving the complete lowdown. The company is transcending the digital realm and is going to be releasing an annual print edition. CNET Magazine, a quarterly, will retail for $5.99 at all the usual outlets. The first issue landed Monday with LL Cool J on the cover. Stories will range from thought-leader profiles to hands-on solutions to thorny tech challenges, the company says. CNET will move 200,000 copies and says all the content between its covers will be original and specific to the magazine, rather than being borrowed from the website. “The future for this brand is multiplatform,” said Jim Lanzone, president and chief executive of CNET parent company CBS Interactive. “We know the audience wants to experience CNET in multiple ways. This is a project we talked about for a number of years, and it got momentum in 2013, the best year in the history of CNET.” It will be interesting to see how well the CNET magazine does on the shelves. It does enjoy a ravenous following and might be an impulse buy when you are browsing the local stand at the drugstore, supermarket or bookstore. CNET Transcends Digital into Print is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Top e-Reader News Stories of the Week
| Today we look back at the top news items of the week! Make sense of the shifting climates of digital publishing, eBooks and e-Readers in one concise video! Some of the news stories we follow this week are updates to the Amazon Kindle Fire Silk Browser for better security and the Sony Digital Paper available in a few stores in California and New York.
Top e-Reader News Stories of the Week is a post from: Good e-Reader |
The Future of Computer Generated Novel Writing Begins Here
| National Novel Writing Month is an annual tradition for writers looking to compete a body of work within one month. Former winners have actually secured lucrative publishing contracts and its an interesting way to force yourself to write a torrent of prose everyday. Last year, a small alternative movement has been gaining momentum called NaNoGenMo, for National Novel Generation Month. The premise of NaNoGenMo is to spend all of November writing code that will allow a 50,000 page novel to be automatically generated by a computer program. Organizer Darius Kazemi started the project, not knowing how many people would find this idea strangely compelling. “I got a ton of people responding saying 'Oh my god, I'd totally do that,'” Kazemi says. The next day, he opened up a repository on Github where people could post their projects. Twide and Twejudice is one of the most interesting projects. It basically is a rendition of Pride and Prejudice, but with each word of dialogue substituted for a word used in a similar context on Twitter. The result is delightfully absurd, a normal-seeming Austen novel where characters break out in almost-intelligible gobbledegook. For instance, here is Mr. Bennett telling Mrs. Bennett that plenty more wealthy young men will move to town for their daughters to marry. I think this idea is very interesting, but the idea of a computer generated novel is nothing new. These sort of automated bots have been writing scientific research reports for years and likely you have received a Blackhat SEO email to you inbox that that has a story, that does not make any sense at all. Maybe one day authors can sit back, enter a few plot points, establish the dynamics of the heroes journey and just kick back and play video games all day. The Future of Computer Generated Novel Writing Begins Here is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Art Showcase: A Knight’s Peril
| Rachel here! This week we came across a fantastic application of Raspberry Pi to make a National Trust medieval castle come Medieval castle haunted using technology with a twist With its world-first adventure experience "A Knight's Peril', Bodiam Castle in East Sussex is quietly revolutionising what people expect from a day out at a National Trust property. When a company that describes itself as 'Architects of Extraordinary Adventures' claims to have revolutionised history interpretation through haunting a 14th century castle, you would expect some kind of technical wizardry to be centre stage. It would be easy to assume they've come up with another smartphone app or gamified tablet experience. Intriguingly however, they have chosen an opposite track. Splash & Ripple have taken Arthur C Clarke's declaration that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" as a guiding principal in creating their latest adventure. The result is digital heritage interpretation turned on its head. They've taken the magical abilities of pioneering technology and housed them in the theatrical disguise of a beautifully crafted 'Echo Horn'. The extra 'magic' of an Echo Horn actually creates a more convincing experience, in a medieval castle, than a distracting tablet app or audio guide ever could. It intuitively fits the feel of the beautiful 14th century Bodiam castle as you cross its moat and gaze at its stony ramparts, listening to the echoes you've caught with it. The beautiful sounds create a deeply evocative group experience, which enhances rather than distracts from the experience of being in the castle. Visitors carry the Echo Horn with them around the castle in an interactive audio investigation. They must use it to listen in on medieval conversations trapped in the castle walls in order to identify and stop a murderer before it's too late. It's effectively a choose-your-own adventure radio play where visitors' actions, defined by who they follow and who they accuse, affect the ending of their story. This encourages an active exploration of the historical content, which requires visitors to think about what life was like, rather than passively accept an authoritative interpretation. New historical research on the castle, which informed the creation of the script, was done in partnership with University of West of England History department. The experience is being specially showcased at Bodiam castle by the creative team on 4th Dec. It has been a year in the making, and is now available to the castle's 180,000 yearly visitors for at least the next 12 months. Players use an ancient map to navigate the castle, searching for seals that have emerged from the castle walls. These seals contain hidden RFID chips. Each echo horn contains a Raspberry Pi, a Mini Rig and RFID reader. Rachel again: thanks guys! We love it – I’m looking at organising an office awayday so we can play with the horns ourselves.
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Kobo Black Friday Sale: $99 Kobo Aura; up to 75% off Bestsellers
| Kobo is running a few different Black Friday sales from now through Sunday on Kobo.com. They are offering up to 75% off bestselling ebooks from every genre (don’t forget that Google is running a 75% off Cyber Monday weekend sale as well, and Amazon is price-matching many of the titles from both promotions). Kobo is […] |
O’Reilly Cyber Monday Sale: 50% off eBooks and Videos
| O’Reilly Media is running a big Cyber Monday sale that’s in effect from now until December 2nd at 5:00 am Pacific Time. O’Reilly specializes in technical books, and all 10,000+ ebooks and videos at shop.oreilly.com are 50% off during this Cyber Monday weekend sale. Orders over $100 save 60%. All of O’Reilly’s products are DRM-free, […] |
Thursday, November 27, 2014
French Publisher Opens up New Digital Bookstore in US
| Ebookezvous is a French distributor who has been involved in the eBook space since 1999. The company has just opened up a digital store in the US with over 170,000 titles from 400 different publishers. The new store is available online and has a English and French UI, to allow prospective patrons to browse their selection of books. You can read them by using Adobe Digital Editions to load them in your Kobo or Nook e-reder, but is currently incompatible with the Kindle. The company has also issued a new Android App, which can be used to buy and read. Word has it, a iPad variant is under construction and will likely be available in the new year. According to Denis Zwirn, President of Numilog “Ebookezvous is designed to be a digital ambassador of French literature. I hope this site and associated reading applications allow many Americans, French or Francophone cultures lovers, to finally have immediate access to a supply of very large selection of French books.” There is a large selection of eBooks in eBookezvous catalog. It has thousands of classics, all the way to the latest bestsellers. The companby is betting that they can find a place in the French Immersion programs at private and public schools all over the US. The bookseller also intends on rolling out English translations of French authors within the next year. French Publisher Opens up New Digital Bookstore in US is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Chapters Offers Kobo Aura for $99 and Autographed Books
| Chapters Indigo, the largest bookstore in Canada has just unveiled their Black Friday campaign. It is being spearheaded by the Kobo Aura, with a massive $40 savings, bringing the total cost to $99. There is also a free sleep cover being thrown into the deal to make this offer even more compelling. The Kobo Aura is likely the best e-reader the company has ever produced. The screen is flush with the bezel, so it has the same design as your smartphone or tablet. The big sell, is that it has bleeding edge e-Ink tech, giving you over a months worth of battery life and one of the largest online bookstores in the world. Chapters is also unveiling a “Signed by the Author” program that has thousands of books available in stores all over Canada by the authors themselves. You can buy a brand new copy of notable books such as Mr Hockey: My Story by Gordie Howe, Yes Please by Amy Poehler or even Uganda Be Kidding Me by Chelsea Handler. If you are book shopping for someone this holiday season, an autographed title by their favorite author is a must buy. Chapters Offers Kobo Aura for $99 and Autographed Books is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Lend Your Assistance to Good e-Reader with Patreon
| Good e-Reader has been going strong since 2007, when the original Kindle came out. We have made it our mission to chronicle the e-Reader, eBook and digital publishing sectors. We have been completely bootstrapped, using our own funds to travel to bookfairs and tech events to bring you all the latest trends in the industry. Additionally, whenever a new e-reader or tablet comes out, we certainly aren’t getting them for free. Some devices like the Sony Digital Paper e-reader ended up costing us $1400. To help balance things out and to keep us operational we need your support with our new Patreon Campaign. Patreon is a crowd funding platform that allows you to pay a monthly subscription to us, in exchange for some tremendous benefits. Not only do you guys keep us writing 2-6 articles a day, generating YouTube videos or reviewing the latest and greatest gadgets, but you get some subscriber benefits. We have some tiers that have us doing a video streaming session once a month, ask anything you want. Want to know if you should hold off buying that new Kindle now, because something is even better on the horizon? We can answer it live. We also get a ton of custom content ideas, does the Sony Digital Paper handle sheet music or is the Kobo H20 good for PDFS? Before you spend the money, we can answer your question with a custom video made just for you. For the last eight years Peter and Michael have basically just been basically just using their own funds to pay hosting fees, travel all over and buy everything they review. Google Ads help pay for the core fees, but doesn’t leave much left over to buy every new Kindle, Nook, or Onyx e-reader that comes out. Certainly when it comes to giving you the latest trends and forecasts travelling is essential, and all of these fees add up. Good e-Reader would love your support for our first ever Patreon campaign! This sort of thing is completely safe to use and they handle all of the financials on their end, we don’t have access to your private information. Apparently they are processing millions of dollars a month for blogs, web-comic artists and designers. Help keep Good e-Reader as the #1 independent news sites out there. Lend Your Assistance to Good e-Reader with Patreon is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Weekly eHighlights: Video edition
| This month you'll find that a great selection of classic films have been added to Marketplace. These movies feature some of the best stars from Hollywood's Golden Era: Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne, Vivien Leigh, Barbara Stanwyck, Marlon Brando and more! In addition to the classics, you'll also find some new holiday titles have been added. Get ready to be merry! Click here to view the full list in Marketplace.
Feature Films 1984 | Echelon Studios – Drama The 1956 adaptation of George Orwell's novel about a totalitarian future society and one man's struggle to rebel against it. Starring Michael Redgrave and Edmond O'Brien. eBook & audiobook also available. Anna Karenina | Echelon Studios – Drama Vivien Leigh (best-known for her role as Scarlett O'Hara) stars as the tragic title character in this adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel. *eBook & audiobook also available. * At First Sight | Echelon Studios – Drama, Romance A blind man has an operation to regain his sight at the urging of his girlfriend and must deal with the changes to his life. Starring Val Kilmer & Mira Sorvino. The Christmas Candle | Cinedigm – Drama, Holidays Based on the book by best-selling author, Max Lucado. Legend has it every twenty-five years an angel visits the village candlemaker and touches a single candle. Whoever lights the Christmas Candle will receive a miracle.** Features Britain's Got Talent sensation Susan Boyle. eBook & audiobook also available.** The Little Princess | Film Chest Media Group – Drama, Children's video A girl becomes a servant when they hear her father died. Starring Shirley Temple. eBook & audiobook also available. Night of the Living Dead | Film Chest Media Group – Horror George A. Romero's time-honored film of undead terror. A must-watch for all zombie fans. OverDrive staff favorite. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians | Film Chest Media Group – Sci-Fi, Holidays Santa Claus is kidnapped by Martians because they have no one to give presents to their children on Mars. This film will appeal to kitsch-lovers. Featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000. OverDrive staff favorite.
Television Casper & Wendy's Ghostly Adventures | Echelon Studios – Animated video, Children's video Everyone's favorite ghost is back! Join Casper & Wendy in 10 ghoulishly fun animated adventures. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | MPI Media Group – Drama, Mystery Relive Holmes' most famous cases with this highly-detailed television series.
Documentary & Instructional 20,000 Days on Earth | Cinedigm – Documentary, Music An inventive, lyrical ode to creativity featuring musician and cultural icon Nick Cave. 2014 Sundance Film Festival Directing Award & Editing Award winner. 2014 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize nominee. Bellydance Fitness for Beginners | Cerebellum Corporation – Instructional, Fitness & health Join Veena & Neena Bidasha for a wonderful introduction to the extraordinary benefits of bellydance! The Dog | Cinedigm – Documentary A documentary portrait of the late John Wojtowicz, whose attempted robbery of a Brooklyn bank to finance his male lover's sex-reassignment surgery was the real-life inspiration for the Oscar Nominated film Dog Day Afternoon. Machine Gun Preacher Documentary | Vision Films – Documentary, Drama Follows the raw story of a man who overcame a life of drugs and violence to become a rebel of hope, waging a 13 year war to free enslaved children. Marina Abramovic:The Artist is Present | Music Box Films – Documentary, Art A documentary that follows the Serbian performance artist as she prepares for a retrospective of her work at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. 2013 Peabody Award winner. 2012 Sundance Film Grand Jury Prize nominee. Click here to view the full list in Marketplace.
*Please note that title availability may vary by geographic location and platform. Michelle Ross is a Collection Development Analyst at OverDrive.  |
Training at Barnardo’s Hub Construction Skills Centre
| A few weeks ago Dave and I ran a workshop at the Hub Construction Skills Centre in Stepney Green. It was great: the young people were engaged, learned some basic computing skills and saw why it’s important to know how computers work. And that might normally have been a tweet or two from us but this workshop was a bit special… Firstly, the project was one of the first recipients of a grant from our education fund and is a partnership with Barnardo’s and UK2. The project will provide space, equipment and expertise for young people to learn and develop skills in computing and IT. It ticked all the boxes for us in terms of outreach and learning and introducing young people to the world of computing and tech. Secondly, the Hub provides training to young people for whom school is not necessarily an option. It runs after-school sessions aimed at improving attendance and encourages involvement in education and community life. It also supports those at risk of social exclusion and young mothers completing their education. This is important stuff. There’s a revolution going on in English classrooms at the moment due to the new curriculum as well as a continuing campaign in the UK to teach computing and at the Raspberry Pi foundation we’re proud to be a key part of that change. But education doesn’t just happen in schools and the school system doesn’t suit everybody. Places like the Hub have a huge part to play in vocational education and training, as well as informal education, by providing a supportive environment with access to equipment and expertise. We’re currently working with the Hub on a few projects and also on how we can provide support and training. We’ll blog about it here as the project progresses — we think that it has huge potential and could also serve as a useful model for similar organisations. As for how the workshop went — UK2 blogged about it and saved me a job. Thanks! |
Black Friday Deals List for Kindle eReaders & Fire Tablets
| As expected, there are a number of good deals to be had on Kindle ebook readers and Fire tablets this Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend. The good news is the sale prices can be had online so there’s no need to wait in line at retail stores. Feel free to post more deals in […] |
75% off Popular eBooks at Google, Amazon Price-Matching on Kindle
| Google has a list of popular bestselling ebooks marked down by 75% for Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend. Like usual, Amazon is price-matching most if not all of them over on the Kindle Store as well. The books are all highly-rated bestselling titles, and the prices are considerably lower than usual, so there’s no […] |
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Overdrive for Chomebooks Now Available
| Overdrive has just released their first app for Chrome OS, which also works as a standalone app for the Chrome internet browser. It was designed as a tool to primarily read eBooks that you borrow from the library. Over 35,000 libraries all over the world use Overdrive as their content distribution system of choice. When you borrow eBooks, audiobooks, music or videos from your local branch, chances are it stems from the Overdrive service. The functionality of the Chrome app is totally different, depending on if you are using the browser extension for Windows, Chrome OS, Chrome for Android and a myriad of other platforms. Thanks to a diligent young scholar over at MobileRead, here is the full list of supported features for each platform. Windows OS — Chrome Browser
Android OS — Android App
Chrome OS — Chrome Browser
Chrome OS — Chrome App
Some content is better than no content at all I guess. At least owners of the Chrome Pixel or any number of sub $200 Chromebooks can finally be able to read eBooks borrowed from the library. Overdrive for Chomebooks Now Available is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Amazon Giving Free Access to Kindle Unlimited
| Amazon has announced that it is giving away six months worth of free access to their eBook subscription platform, Kindle Unlimited. In order to qualify for this promotion you need to live in the US and purchase a new e-reader or tablet. Kindle Unlimited is billed as a Netflix for eBooks subscription system. It normally costs $10 a month and gives readers access to over 750,000 titles. Major publishers have not committed themselves to the platform yet, so its mainly populated by second rate companies and indie authors. Amazon is bundling access to Kindle Unlimited on the new Fire HD6, Fire HD7, Kindle Basic Touch and the Kindle Paperwhite. Likely, Amazon is including this range of products because they aren’t selling that well. Which is why they aren’t bundling it on the new Kindle Voyage, which continues to experience a long wait list for new orders. Amazon Giving Free Access to Kindle Unlimited is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Amazon and Barnes and Noble Reveal Black Friday Deals
| Amazon and Barnes and Noble are gearing up for one of the biggest shopping days in the US with some mighty deals. If you are looking for a new e-reader or tablet, you might want to check these out.
Barnes & Noble Announces Special, "In-Store Only" Black Friday Doorbuster on the 7-Inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK. Only $129.99 while supplies last. Customers Can Also Get 50% off Select New York Times Bestselling NOOK Books. The NOOK GlowLight is available at a permanent low price of only $99, down from $119, at Barnes & Noble stores nationwide and online at NOOK.com and BN.com. Customers will also receive a $5 starter credit towards any NOOK purchase. Barnes & Noble Members can get an even greater value with an additional 10% off NOOK GlowLight. Amazon and Barnes and Noble Reveal Black Friday Deals is a post from: Good e-Reader |
GraphicAudio Unveils New Guardians of the Galaxy Audiobook
| GraphicAudio is celebrating their ten year anniversary producing their own audiobooks in-house. The company has been pumping out a ton of content over the years and recently has gotten involved in licensing major comic book properties from major publishers such as DC. This has caught the attention of Disney owned Marvel, and a new audiobook is now available based on the Guardians of the Galaxy property, which indecently was the highest grossing Marvel movie of 2014. ROCKET RACCOON AND GROOT STEAL THE GALAXY features over 40 talented voice actors, original music, sound effects and a very special vocal performance by Groot. Filled with action and humor this audio production will captivate the whole family while driving cross country during this Holiday Season. This is not the first audiobook that Graphic has done with Marvel, but is likely the highest profile one to date. In the past they have done a few titles, including IRON MAN: EXTREMIS which was recently featured by AudioFile Magazine as a Best Audio Drama of 2014. Regular followers of the audiobook space might not have heard of Graphicaudio before, they certainly are not a household name, such as Audible. Michele Cobb mentioned “The Cutting Corporation is a small American business and was founded in 1971. Since 2004, GraphicAudio, an imprint of The Cutting Corporation has published approximately 1000 titles and 65 different series in their GraphicAudio A Movie in Your Mind audiobook entertainment format. We have in-house studios and directors, voice talent and sound designers that efficiently process the high number of hours we produce in this production value heavy format that includes sound effects and original music. In order to buy content you have to do it directly from their website and then download one of their apps for iOS or Android in order to listen to the titles on your mobile device. Graphic is actually one of the few audio producers that still sells all of their content on CD as well, and one of their big selling points is being able to listen to the books on your PC via MP3 or FLAC. GraphicAudio Unveils New Guardians of the Galaxy Audiobook is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Best E Ink eReaders 2014 Edition
| This is a quick note to mention that I’ve recently updated the Best eBook Readers page for 2014. It lists my top picks for E Ink ebook readers this year. The top choice may be a bit of a surprise to some seeing as how it wasn’t even released this calendar year. But price has […] |
Sony Developing an e Ink Smartwatch
| Sony has secretly been building their own skunk works department in Japan. 200 researchers are trying to flesh out ideas that have nothing to do with the core markets or products that Sony currently is marketing. One of them, to be released next year is a smartwatch, made entirely of e Ink Mobius. Mobius uses a TFT technology that will enable the watch to be much lighter and rugged . One of the main selling points behind this watch is that it will weigh less than 50% of an equivalent glass based TFT. One of the only consumer products on the market to use this technology was the Sony 13 inch writing Slate, that despite its 13.3 inch display weighs less than a six inch Kindle. The premise behind the new e Ink watch from Sony is that the screen and band are made entirely of e-paper. This will allow people to not only customize their watch face, which is standard fare int he world of watches, but also the wristband too. Unlike the Pebble, which actually does not use e Ink, the battery life should garner about a month of constant use. Sony Developing an e Ink Smartwatch is a post from: Good e-Reader |
PiPiano: a musical, educational add-on board
| Last week we received a surprise parcel from Mike Horne, containing a new add-on board for us to look at. Mike introduced it to us:
We wholeheartedly agree! The PiPiano uses an I2C port expander to give you thirteen buttons laid out like an octave of a piano keyboard, along with three LEDs and a piezo speaker; and as you’ll see if you watch the video, if the piezo speaker isn’t enough for you, there’s more than one way to use the PiPiano to create other sounds through speakers or headphones. Of course, all the buttons, LEDs and buzzer can be used as input or output for your other projects, and thanks to the I2C expander, the board uses only three of the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO pins – there’s an option to receive one with a stacking header so that you still have access to the rest of the pins if you have other plans for those. Back to Mike:
You’ll have noticed by now that Zach doesn’t do things by half, and we see from his campaign updates that, since launching, he’s been expanding the PiPiano website and teaching a nine-year-old how to use the board, with great success! We’ve spotted that he’ll be playing and demo-ing PiPiano at the Covent Garden Raspberry Jam this Saturday, too. This version of the board is only available via the PiPiano Indiegogo campaign. If you’d like your own, act now! |
Pinterest App Receives Makeover for Android Devices
| Those of you with a Pinterest addiction that rivals mine will be delighted to hear that the Android version of the app has received an overhaul that includes a move vibrant and intuitive user interface (iPhone users have been enjoying this major update for a few weeks now, so it’s about time). In addition to the new look and feel, loading the app is also opening faster than ever (down to about 2 seconds from the old clock time of 5.3 seconds). This is great news for anybody who opens web links inside the app as they will load nearly as quickly as in a browser tab. What this boils down to: you can learn every craft and helpful hint faster and easier than ever before. Because Google Play’s rollout feature is being used, it may be a few days before everybody is able to see the updates. If you have free time you no longer want control of, download Pinterest for Android now.
Pinterest App Receives Makeover for Android Devices is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Skype Update Lets You Multitask During Calls
| In a major update to Skype, you can continue your video call without interruption if you leave the app with picture-in-picture support. This means the person you are calling won’t know if you’ve left the app to check your email (or browse Facebook), with Skype now maintaining a clear video picture all the while (in a re-positionable window that runs on top of whatever you are doing so it remains visible on your end). Other additions in this latest package allow you to receive photos from Skype for iPhone users (and other clients), adds support for formatted text (like bold, italic, and Microsoft has been paying a lot of attention to Skype lately –adding the messaging software to their Office Online apps, giving users the chance to chat and collaborate on Word and PowerPoint documents within each native app. If you haven’t made your first call with Skype for Android, download it now for free and give it a try.
Skype Update Lets You Multitask During Calls is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Sony Cuts Back Smartphone Lineup
| It wasn’t very long ago that Samsung announced their plans to cut back their smartphone line-up –this time, it’s Sony doing the same thing. Where once it seemed like Sony was on top of the tech world and could do no wrong, now they are struggling to carve out a competitive piece of the mobile market. Reducing their smartphone lineup by as much as 30% should help return Sony to profitability, while also giving a smaller portfolio of devices to support. Unfortunately, reducing the number of devices being offered does little to compete with smartphone leaders like Apple and Samsung. On the plus side, Sony’s latest Android-powered handsets are receiving great reviews even though sales figures don’t support them. The reality is that there are plenty of devices to choose from, and a large number of users already have smartphones (and are upgrading with less frequency than in the past). Sony isn’t just scaling back smartphones –their TV business is also taking a similar hit. The only divisions left untouched are related to console gaming and their image sensor equipment (currently found in devices made by companies like Apple).
Sony Cuts Back Smartphone Lineup is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Moscow Metro Riders Get Free eBooks
| The Moscow Metro has unveiled an ambitious new plan to give free eBooks away to riders. This pilot project is only starting at a handful of subway stations and once all of the kinks have been worked out will expand to over 195. Riders will be able to get free access to Nikolai Gogol's Nose, Alexander Pushkin's Egyptian Nights, Anton Chekhov's About Love, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Mr. Prokharchin by scanning QR codes. The codes will be read on a smartphone or tablet and instantly download the book to your device. The first few stations to get this service will be Dinamo, Belorussky, and Krasnye Vorota. It will eventually spread to all of the system's 195 metro stations, and is already available on about 700 of the city's trams, trolleys, and buses. The metro system is always going to be unveiling a new WIFI system by the end of the year. This will allow users to not only download the books but also the reading apps necessary to view them. Moscow Metro Riders Get Free eBooks is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Onyx Boox I62A is an Entry-Level Android eReader for $89
| The Onyx Boox I62A is yet another new Onyx Boox ebook reader to add to the seemingly endless list of new devices from Onyx this year. The I62A is more of a basic ereader than the Onyx Boox C67ML and some of the others. It’s a lot like the Onyx Boox Classic that Arta Tech […] |
Onyx Boox C67ML eReader with Android 4.2, Frontlight, and HD E Ink Costs $129
| Earlier this month Arta Tech released the Onyx Boox AfterGlow 2, a 6-inch ebook reader with a frontlight, HD E Ink screen and Android 4.2.2. Soon after Banggood.com started selling an almost identical device called the Onyx Boox C67ML (upgraded version). It appears to be about 95% the same as the AfterGlow 2, though there […] |
Can e-Books Ever Overtake Print?
| A number of analysts have been proclaiming that within a few years digital eBooks will overtake print. PricewaterhouseCoopers is one of the most notorious, who recently said this will occur in 2018. Is this possible? In the United States and Britain, sales of eBooks represent between a quarter and a third of the consumer book market. According to a recent survey by Nielsen Books, eBook sales made up 23% of unit sales for the first six months of 2014, while hardcover's accounted for 25% and paperbacks 42%. Ever since the Kindle was released in 2007 digital sales have consistently increased by double digit figures. In 2013, sales growth for eBooks slowed to single digits, and the new numbers from Nielsen suggest the leveling off was no anomaly. Can we ever get to the point where eBook sales will outsell print, whether its in 2018, as PWC expects, or beyond? I think its possible, but a number of things have to occur for the general public to really embrace it. One of the big drawbacks in North America and the UK is the fact digital books are merely licensed and not truly owned. When you buy an eBook from Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Kobo you don’t actually own it, you are basically just buying a temporary license. The lack of ownership can create a host of problems that end up being mainstream news. In 2013 Amazon remotely deleted purchased copies of George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from customers' Kindles after providing them a refund for the purchased products. This was primarily due to a rift with the original publisher and rights issues. Additionally, a Norwegian women tried to purchase a Kindle book from the UK bookstore. Under Amazon's rules, this type of action is barred, as the publisher seeks to control what content is read in which territory of the world. Her account was promptly deleted and all content lost. Another big reason why eBooks likely won’t overtake print anytime soon is chiefly due to Adobe DRM. Digital Rights Management is a form of encryption that prevents unauthorized access or distribution of eBooks you purchase. This is primarily why if you borrow a digital title from the library or buy an eBook online, you need to use Adobe Digital Editions to load it on your e-reader. Unlike real books, you can’t loan out purchased content out to friends, unless you give out your account information to a friend, which is against the terms of service. Some publishers have opted into a program for the sharing of a title for up to two weeks, one time on the Kindle and Nook ecosystem. But these companies do little to promote it and the actual process is a bit complicated. I think what the eBook industry needs to do is gravitate away from using Adobe Digital Editions as the default standard to protect publishers content. Instead, they need to start embracing Social DRM or Digital Watermarks. In the last few weeks I have conducted interviews with Digimarc and Booxtream, which have been eye opening. They basically outlined their technology in such a way that I thought “why isn’t everyone doing this?” Right now digital watermarking is big in Europe and is considered the de'facto standard in the publishing arena, but now North Americans are slowly starting to realize the potential. The watermark is imperceptible to the average book reader because the underlying technology is invisible to the naked eye. The way it handles data can take two distinctive forms: personal information about the user who purchased the eBook (such as an email address) or an ID number that the distributor can use to look up the user or transaction in a database. This technology basically allows users to easily loan an eBook to a friend or load it on their smartphone, tablet, or e-reader without the need to use any 3rd party programs. Its as simple as using Windows Explorer when your gadget is plugged into your computer and copy/paste. Finally, the worldwide market has failed to embrace eBooks in a meaningful way, as readers in North America have. Last year, digital books made up 8% of the consumer book market in France, less than 4% in Germany and Italy, and 1% in Sweden and Norway. In Asia, Japan led the eBook markets with 15% of the country's total consumer book revenues; China and India, meanwhile, lagged far behind at 3%. Part of the reason why the adoption is so low is the actual cost of eBooks. If you look at the top 10 bestseller list, the average title is around $12.00 in the US, but in France its $24.99, $20.00 in Germany and 19.02 in Sweden. So to sum everything up. In order for eBooks to have a shot at overtaking print there has to be a clear defined path of ownership. There also has to be a stabilization of pricing and it has to be very intuitive to loan a book to a friend or load it on as many devices as you desire. Can e-Books Ever Overtake Print? is a post from: Good e-Reader |
How to Give Kindle eBooks and Kindle Unlimited as Gifts
| Unlike most major ebook retailers, one good thing about Amazon is how easy they making giving Kindle books as gifts. They even make it super easy to give Kindle Unlimited as a gift, Amazon’s new ebook subscription service where users get unlimited access to a library of over 700,000 ebooks and several thousand audiobooks for […] |
Is your digital library ready for the holiday rush?
| As the end of the year approaches, we're gearing up for what is traditionally the busiest time of year for your digital library. To help you prepare, the Account Specialists from the Library Partner Services team share some of their tips for a successful holiday season:
2. Highlight your holiday titles with Curated Collections: It is easy to curate your own collection to feature titles on your digital library site. Spotlight your holiday themed eBooks and audiobooks on your homepage and get those seasonal titles circulating. To get started curating collections, log into OverDrive Marketplace and select Switch to Curate from the SHOP drop-down menu (if you don't see the Switch to Curate option, talk to your Marketplace administrator about getting you "Library site admin" permission). Read more details about how to curate a collection here or check out illustrated, step-by-step instructions in the "Curate" section of the Marketplace User Guide. 3. Stock your collection (and be entered to win a prize!): The biggest sale of the year is in full swing now in OverDrive Marketplace. More than 50,000 titles are marked down, some up to 50% off. Plus, every purchase order submitted through OverDrive Marketplace through January 11th will automatically be entered into a raffle to win a device for the 2014-2015 Holiday Bonus giveaway. Read more here and get shopping! 4. Prepare your staff with live training webinars: Attend one of OverDrive's training sessions to learn about OverDrive Read, the OverDrive app and some Marketplace Basics to e prepared to answer all those first-time user questions. Visit the Learning Center to register for these free webinars: http://partners.overdrive.com/learning-center/live-sessions/ 5. Make your digital titles easy to find: During the holidays, many new tablet, smart phone and eReader owners will be looking for free content to load to their devices. Make it easy to point users to your digital collection with some of the following best practices:
6. Server maintenance & Technical Support: If your library is planning server maintenance that will affect authentication over the holidays, please alert our Support Team. OverDrive's Support Services team is also always here to help library staff that assist users. If at any time you need to escalate issues to our Support Services team for assistance or you need to alert OverDrive about maintenance, please complete the "General Support" web form in OverDrive Marketplace > Support tab. 7. Explore how service enhancements can add value to your digital collection: Engage new users this holiday season by adding any of the following features (click the hyperlinks for more details):
Contact your Account Specialist with any questions. Happy Holidays! Melissa Marin is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive.  |
Prepare your school’s digital library for the holiday rush
| The holiday season is traditionally one of the busiest times of year for school library websites. To help you prepare, the Account Specialists from the School Partner Services team share some of their tips for a successful holiday season:
2. Highlight your holiday titles with Curated Collections: It is easy to curate your own collection to feature titles of your choosing on your digital library site. Spotlight your holiday themed eBooks and audiobooks right on your homepage and get those seasonal titles circulating. To get started curating collections, log into OverDrive Marketplace and select Switch to Curate from the SHOP drop-down menu (if you don't see the Switch to Curate option, talk to your Marketplace administrator about getting you "Library site admin" permission). Read more details about how to curate a collection here or check out illustrated, step-by-step instructions in the "Curate" section of the Marketplace User Guide. 3. Learn new things or get a refresher with live training webinars: Attend one of OverDrive's training sessions to learn about OverDrive Read, the OverDrive app and some Marketplace Basics. Visit the Learning Center to register for these free webinars: http://partners.overdrive.com/learning-center/live-sessions/ 4. Stock your collection (and be entered to win a prize!): The biggest sale of the year is in full swing now in OverDrive Marketplace. More than 50,000 titles are marked down, some up to 50% off. Plus, every purchase order submitted through OverDrive Marketplace through January 11th will automatically be entered into a raffle to win a device for the 2014-2015 Holiday Bonus giveaway. Read more here and get shopping! 5. Make your digital titles easy to find: During the holidays, many students will unwrap new tablets, smart phones and eReaders and they will be looking for free content to load to their devices. Make it easy to point students to your digital collection with some of the following best practices:
6. Server maintenance & Technical Support: If server maintenance that will affect authentication is planned for over the holidays, please alert OverDrive Support. OverDrive's Support Services team is also always here to help staff that assists users. If at any time you need to escalate issues to our Support Services team or alert them about maintenance, please complete the "General Support" form in OverDrive Marketplace > Support tab. Contact your Account Specialist with any questions. Happy Holidays! Melissa Marin is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive.  |
Amazon Bundling Kindle Unlimited with Select Kindle and Fire Devices
| Today I noticed Amazon offering a new promotion where they are bundling six months of Kindle Unlimited at a discount with the purchase of certain Kindle ereaders and Fire tablets. Kindle Unlimited is Amazon’s new ebook subscription service that they first started rolling out this past July in the United States, and then in the […] |
Warning: Avoid Sony eBook Gift Cards Still Being Sold Online
| Sony decided to closed down their ebook store in the United States and Canada back in March of this year. Then they proceeded to close their European and Australian ebook stores in June. But that hasn’t stopped dishonest retailers from continuing to sell Sony ebook gift cards online. Last week I was browsing Walmart’s website […] |
Join us at the Bett Show 2015
| In my former life as a Computing and ICT teacher and even before that as an ICT Technician, I always looked forward to the Bett Show in London. The Bett Show is the world’s leading learning technology event. Imagine a trade show meets teachers conference and you might have some idea of what it is like. Every year the event is opened by the Education Secretary here in England, followed by keynotes from some of the world’s leading educationalists. The next event’s line-up includes Sir Ken Robinson and Jimmy Wales! Not bad for a free event. As a technician I attended to see what cool new tech was available for teachers, and to see if we could replace any of our current systems with something more efficient and cost effective. As a teacher I attended for much the same reasons, to get my hands on all the cool tech, but also to attend the free talks and workshops in the many areas over the course of four days.  The Raspberry Pi Foundation Education Team at Bett 2014 Last year the Raspberry Pi education team were hosted by the OCR stand and you can read about what we got up to here. The next Bett Show takes place this coming January from Wednesday 21st January to Saturday 24th January 2015 at Excel London and we at Raspberry Pi plan to have a presence like never before. We want everyone who attends to be able to experience what it is like to teach, learn and make with Raspberry Pi. To do this we need your help. We need you! We are looking for members of our wonderful community to help us run workshops, give talks or demos and be a part of sharing what we do with teachers and technicians. Teachers, Raspberry Pi certified educators, digital leaders, technicians, academics, parents, code club mentors, workshop leaders, Raspberry Jam event organisers, or Pi enthusiasts. Over the course of the four days, we have 20 minute and 50 minute slots to fill on our stand that includes a Raspberry Pi classroom. You can give a talk about how you engage young people with Raspberry Pi or how to setup a Raspberry Jam. You could run a Minecraft Pi or Pibrella workshop. You could bring your code club or group of digital leaders to present what they have done with Raspberry Pi. To submit your session or sessions for our Bett Show stand for 2015, please complete this form. |
