| Microsoft has come up with a cheaper but more personal alternative to its Office 365 subscription plans. Office 365 Personal, as the plan has been named, will cost $6.99 a month or $69.90 a year but will only be applicable to a single PC or Mac, and one tablet device. This is in contrast to the five PC or Mac devices (and five mobile devices such as a smartphone and tablet) that the Office Home Premium caters to, but costs a higher $9.99 per month or $99.90 a year. The new Office 365 Personal plan will be made available sometime in the spring and comes as a welcome choice for single users. Meanwhile, in another development, Microsoft has also announced a change of name for Office 365 Home Premium to just Office 365 Home. “We're committed to delivering a great Office experience to all of our customers and believe that giving you a choice about the Office 365 subscription that fits your unique needs is one way we can do that,” Chris Schneider, a senior marketing manager at Microsoft revealed in a blog post. “We'll have more details to share closer to availability.” Benefits and features more or less will remain the same, which includes access to the latest updates when those become available. Users will also have an hour of free international Skype calls every month along with 20 GB of free OneDrive (cloud) storage. There will also be the option to have the service for just one month, in which case it will cost just $7. Users can still opt for the internet free standalone version of Office which will cost them $140. While there will not be any updates available, it can serve customers well enough if all they need is just basic computing tasks done. Meanwhile, experts believe the Office 365 Personal could also be the precursor to an Office for iOS version. This has been rumored for a long time now; maybe the next announcement will be an Office version for iPad.
Microsoft Announces Office 365 Personal For Single Users this Spring is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Microsoft Announces Office 365 Personal For Single Users this Spring
Hachette Sees 30% of its Revenue Derive from eBooks
| Hachette has released new sales data that has 30% of their US revenue stem from eBooks. They also announced that 2014 was off to a great start in the UK with revenue up 40% from the same period last year. Part of the reason why Hachette has seen a dramatic increase in digital sales is primarily because they are betting on the right books. In the UK the profits were led by Sir Alex Feguson's autobiography, which was the best selling hardback sports memoir of all time, and with Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch. In the US 84 ebooks from Hachette made the New York Times Bestsellers List. The most notable titles were THE CUCKOO'S CALLING by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling), THE LONGEST RIDE by Nicholas Sparks, ALEX CROSS, RUN by James Patterson and David Ellis, DAVID AND GOLIATH by Malcolm Gladwell, THE HIT by David Baldacci, THE GOLDFINCH by Donna Tartt, and I AM MALALA by Malala Yousafzai. Hachette Sees 30% of its Revenue Derive from eBooks is a post from: Good e-Reader |
OverDrive is bringing you some fresh help
 OverDrive is launching a brand new help site on March 19! We've given help.overdrive.com a massive facelift and added a plethora of features based on some truly valuable feedback from you. In this post, I'll give you the run-down on what's new and different so you're prepared for launch on the 19th.
It’s easier to navigate  We've reorganized everything by platform, and provided persistent navigation to help you find what you need no matter where you are on the site. Across the top, you'll see links to the four main landing pages for help:
It's easier to peruse on a mobile device We've made the new help website fully responsive. That way, no matter what size screen you're using, you'll find the help you need with a minimal amount of fuss.
It's easier to get started
On each of these quick link category pages, we've split the content up by device or platform, and each has its own drop-down menu. Under each drop-down, you'll see a list of pertinent articles. Because these lists are dynamically generated, you can expect them to remain up-to-date.
It’s easier to see how things work  The new help videos landing page lets you pick which videos you want to watch, from any series, without having to scroll down a page or open a new tab. You can pick the series from the "Devices and platforms" menu and the video from the playlist. Each video and series will show up in the same space for fast load times and easy navigation.
It’s easier to understand compatibility  The new device profiles quickly and clearly spell out which services work on a given type of device. This eliminates the need to wade through long lists of devices you may have never heard of, or that may have different names in different regions.
It’s just easier There are really too many features here for me fully detail in a single, succinct blog post, but I'll give you a few more brief examples before wrapping up.
Wrap-up and what you need to know So, once again, we're launching the new help site on March 19, 2014. I'm sure you've got a question or two, so I'll try to address the biggies here:
I know that a new help website might not be the most exciting thing you read about today, but I'm undeniably excited to tell you all about it. I sincerely hope that you enjoy the fruits of our hard work as we help you more easily find the help you need.Feel free to post your first impressions in the comments section!
Quinton Lawman is a Technical Writer at OverDrive.
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eHighlights: Your Guide to What’s New at OverDrive – YA Edition
| This week's eHighlights edition is all superhot YA content! On the heels of the new Divergent movie release, now is a great time to emphasize the young adult materials in your collection. There is plenty to be excited about! This week's offerings bring sci-fi, fantasy, and wonderful mystery narratives to front and center. The great thing about these novels is the authors' abilities to bring a great story with fantastic and sci-fi elements to fulfillment while also interweaving heartwarming tales of growth, discovery, and coming of age – subjects that teens often struggle with. Inspire some of the young adult readers at your library! Check out the titles below – many hot dystopian lit – or contact your collection development specialist today for recommendations. Happy Reading! 
To easily order any of the titles listed below, please go to: eHighlights Mar 13, 2014 Metered Access eHighlights Mar 13, 2014 One Copy/One User
Cecilia Bernard – Inside Divergent: The Initiate's World The #1 New York Times bestselling novel Divergent is soon to be a major motion picture in theaters March 2014! Illustrated with more than 100 photographs–many never before seen–this eye-catching volume takes you inside the film version of Divergent where you’ll discover the factions, meet the initiates, and enter the thrilling dystopian world. Companion to the movie.
Helene Boudreau – Real Mermaids Don't Sell Seashells A tropical vacation sounds like the perfect way to spend fall break, even for an aqua-phobic mer-girl like Jade. She can’t wait to enjoy the warm sunshine and all-you-can-eat buffet with her best friend Cori and boyfriend Luke. But when a body splashes into the water as a cruise ship enters the harbor, Jade realizes there might be trouble in paradise. And the mysterious boy selling conch shells in the market definitely knows more than he’s letting on. Jade promised herself: No mer drama on vacation! But it couldn’t hurt to check things out, right? Book 1 in the series won a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Crystal Kite Award.
Heather Brewer – Third Strike Slayer Joss McMillan is assigned to his hometown to track down and take out a murderous vampire. But vampires aren’t the only things Joss has to deal with this summer. His girl-crazy cousin Henry is staying with him and hates Joss for trying to kill his best friend Vladimir Tod. Sirus, former mentor and supposedly dead vampire, is casting a shadow on Joss’s every turn. And Kat, Joss’s old friend, is in town and bent on revenge for past wrongs. Yet none of this even compares to the devastating secret Joss discovers about the murder of his sister, Cecile. In a story full of unexpected revelations, it is up to Joss to protect the ones he loves and discover the truth about his sister’s death – even if it means paying the ultimate price. Third in the Slayer Chronicles series. Brewer is a NY Times bestselling author.
T. Cooper & Allison Glock-Cooper – Drew Drew opens on the eve of Ethan Miller’s freshman year of high school in a brand-new town. He’s finally sporting a haircut he doesn’t hate, has grown two inches since middle school, and can’t wait to try out for the soccer team. At last, everything is looking up in life. Until the next morning, when Ethan awakens as a girl. Ethan is a Changer, a little-known, ancient race of humans who live out each of their four years of high school as a different person. After graduation, Changers choose which version of themselves they will be forever—and no, they cannot go back to who they were before the changes began. 1st in a 4-book series called Changers. PW starred review.
Jennifer Estep – Killer Frost 6th book in the Mythos Academy series, culminates with the final chapter in the story of Gwen and her time at Mythos Academy. Gwen must now face off against Loki as Nike's champion when someone she loves is put in grave danger. Gwen will wither succeed or die. Linus and the Protectorate show up at Mythos Academy with powerful magical artifacts that need protecting, but the evil God Loki needs one of the artifacts to restore him to his full strength and unleashes a full-scale attack at the Academy that will decide Gwen’s future–if she survives. NY Times and USA Today bestselling author.
Sally Green – Half Bad In modern-day England, witches live alongside humans: White witches, who are good; Black witches, who are evil; and fifteen-year-old Nathan, who is both. Nathan’s father is the world’s most powerful and cruel Black witch, and his mother is dead. He is hunted from all sides. Trapped in a cage, beaten and handcuffed, Nathan must escape before his sixteenth birthday, at which point he will receive three gifts from his father and come into his own as a witch—or else he will die. But how can Nathan find his father when his every action is tracked, when there is no one safe to trust—not even family, not even the girl he loves? Booklist and PW starred reviews.
Kathleen Hale – No One Else Can Have You The Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard meets the cult-classic film Fargo in this gripping and darkly humorous murder mystery by debut author Kathleen Hale. A quiet town like Friendship, Wisconsin, keeps most of its secrets buried . . . but when local teen Ruth Fried is found murdered in a cornfield, her best friend, Kippy Bushman, decides to uncover the truth and catch the killer. Since the police aren’t much help, Kippy looks to her idol, journalist Diane Sawyer, for tips on how to conduct her investigation. But Kippy soon discovers, if you want to dig up the truth, your hands have to get a little dirty. Starred reviews from Kirkus and The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. “A super-duper mystery…snort-inducingly funny, from start to finish.”—Booklist
Shannon Hale – Dangerous Maisie ‘Danger’ Brown needs excitement. When she wins a harmless-sounding competition to go to astronaut boot camp, that’s exactly what she gets. But she never imagined it would feature stumbling into a terrifying plot that kills her friends and might just kill her too. Now there’s no going back. Maisie has to live by her middle name if she wants to survive, and she’ll need to be equally courageous to untangle the romance in her life too. A clever, suspenseful thriller-adventure by New York Times bestselling author and master storyteller Shannon Hale. First in a new series. Hale is a Newberry Honor winner.
Christine Johnson, Amanda Hocking, Julie Kagawa et al. – Grim Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today: Ellen Hopkins, Amanda Hocking, Julie Kagawa, Claudia Gray, Rachel Hawkins, Kimberly Derting, Myra McEntire, Malinda Lo, Sarah Rees-Brennan, Jackson Pearce, and more.
Amber Kizer – Pieces of Me When high school oddball and introvert Jessica Chai is killed in a car accident, her parents decide that Jessica would have wanted her organs donated to those who so desperately need these gifts of life. But Jessica is angry about dying and being dismembered. Taking the idea of cell memory to the next level, not only do the recipients get pieces of Jessica, but gets pieces of their memories and lives moving forward–she knows what they know and keeps tabs on their growth, recovery, and development. This begins her journey to learn her purpose as she begins to grasp that her ties to these teenagers goes beyond random weirdness. It’s through their lives that Jessica learns about herself, as she watches the lives she literally touched continue to interlock. Kirkus starred review.
Sarah J. Maas – The Assassin's Blade Celaena Sardothien is her kingdom’s most feared assassin. Though she works for the powerful and ruthless Assassin’s Guild, Celaena yields to no one and trusts only her fellow killer for hire, Sam. When Celaena’s scheming master, Arobynn Hamel, dispatches her on missions that take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, she finds herself acting independently of his wishes and questioning her own allegiance. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies alike and discovers that she feels far more for Sam than just friendship. But by defying Arobynn’s orders, Celaena risks unimaginable punishment, and with Sam by her side, he is in danger, too. They will have to risk it all if they hope to escape Arobynn’s clutches, and if they fail, they’ll lose not just a chance at freedom but their lives. 5 prequel novellas to the bestselling Throne of Glass series.
Ian McDonald – Empress of the Sun The airship Everness makes a Heisenberg Jump to an alternate Earth unlike any her crew has ever seen. Everett, Sen, and the crew find themselves above a plain that goes on forever in every direction without any horizon. There they find an Alderson Disc, an astronomical megastructure of incredibly strong material reaching from the orbit of Mercury to the orbit of Jupiter. Then they meet the Jiju, the dominant species on a plane where the dinosaurs didn’t die out. They evolved, diversified, and have a twenty-five million year technology head-start on humanity. War between their kingdoms is inevitable, total and terrible. Book 3 of the Everness series. Kirkus starred review.
Emily Murdoch – If You Find Me Fifteen-year-old Carey and six-year-old Jenessa have been living in the woods with their mother for as long as they can remember; the sheltering trees and a broken-down camper are all they know. But what they’ve never been told is that Carey vanished from the real world ten years ago, when their mother took her, causing an uproar in the media and in her father’s life. Now, abandoned by the mother they trusted, they’re often left alone for long periods of time to fend for themselves, but in one moment, everything changes. They’re found by Carey’s father and thrust into a bright and perplexing new world, one of shopping malls, shiny appliances, new clothes, and mouth-watering food. Carey desperately wants to believe in this new reality but is held back by a deep and painful loyalty to her mentally ill mother, who gave Carey her violin. Booklist, Kirkus, and School Library Journal starred reviews.
Lauren Oliver – Panic Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of twelve thousand people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do. Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought. Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game; he’s sure of it. But what he doesn’t know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for. Kirkus starred review. Hunger Games readalike.
Marie Rutkoski – The Winner's Curse As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions. One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books and Publishers Weekly starred reviews.
Andrew Smith – Grasshopper Jungle In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend, Robby, have accidentally unleashed an unstoppable army. An army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises that only want to do two things. Funny, intense, complex, and brave, Grasshopper Jungle brilliantly weaves together everything from testicle-dissolving genetically modified corn to the struggles of recession-era, small-town America in this groundbreaking coming-of-age stunner. An Amazon Best Book of the Month. Good review in the NY Times. Compared to Kurt Vonnegut.
Dan Wells – Ruins As the clock ticks closer and closer to the final Partial expiration date, humans and Partials stand on the brink of war. Caught in the middle, thousands of miles apart, are Samm and Kira: Samm, who is trapped on the far side of the continent beyond the vast toxic wasteland of the American Midwest; and Kira, now in the hands of Dr. Morgan, who is hell-bent on saving what’s left of the Partials, even if she has to destroy Kira to do it. The only hope lies in the hands of the scattered people of both races who seek a way to prevent the rapidly escalating conflict. But in their midst appears a mysterious figure, neither human nor Partial, with solemn warnings of a new apocalypse, one that none of them may be able to avert. Final entry in the post-apocalyptic Partial Sequence trilogy. By the Hugo and Campbell Award nominee.
Kiersten White – Perfect Lies The wickedly smart sequel to Sister Assassin — a tale of two sisters trapped in a web of deceit. Annie and Fia have battled to survive within the sinister Keane Foundation for years, using their powers to defend each other. Now the sisters have allies; friends who might help them escape. But Annie’s visions of the future are never certain and Fia’s flawless instincts can’t always tell her who to trust. With only each other truly to rely on, their extraordinary gifts may not be enough to save them. Sequel to Mind Games. Bestselling author of the Paranormalcy series.
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Staggering tales of the human condition
| Recently, one of our U.K. partners introduced us to a popular biographical category trending overseas. They refer to it as "Misery Lit." These are distressing tales of childhood experiences much like Dave Pelzer's stories. I combed through our collection and found many other authors with similar tales to Pelzer's, including his own brother's side of the popular story, A Child Called "It." These awe-inspiring stories will keep you on the edge of your seat and are sure to leave quite an impact. Check out these titles and other Dave Pelzer read-a-likes available through OverDrive. And remember your Collection Development Specialist is always available to help create any recommended lists. Email collectionteam@overdrive.com for more information today!
Kristin Preyss is a Collection Development Analyst at OverDrive.
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Amazon Increases Prime Membership Fee To $99
| Amazon has increased its Prime membership fee, citing an increase in fuel and transportation costs. However, the new price structure is applicable to those whose term expires after April 17, 2014. Those whose membership expires before that date will still have the chance to renew their membership for $79. Those who need to renew after April 17 will pay the new annual rate of $99. Those who wish to enroll for the Amazon Prime service have until April 17 to save $20 in the annual subscription fee. Amazon Student Prime fees has also been increased from $10 to $49 a year. "We are working to expand selection even further, as we develop additional fulfillment and transportation capacity to make the Prime program even more valuable to our members. Even as fuel and transportation costs have increased, the price of Prime has remained the same. If you consider things like inflation and fuel costs, a Prime membership valued at $79 in 2005 would be worth more than $100 today," revealed Amazon. The increase in Prime subscription cost does not come as a surprise, as Amazon had already warned of the move back in January, stating then that rates could be raised by as much as $40; thankfully, the actual increase was half that amount. This is the first time that Amazon has resorted to a fee hike since the Prime service was launched nine years ago. Over the years, the service has become immensely popular and proved to be one of the biggest revenue sources for the online retail giant. Amazon revealed a record 1 million+ Prime customer registrations in the third week of December last year, its biggest increase so far. Prime services continue to be the same, which includes free two day shipping, access to 40,000 videos online, while also enabling members to borrow from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library that offers over half a million titles.
Amazon Increases Prime Membership Fee To $99 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Digital signal processing with teeny-tiny tap-dancers.
| When we wrote about accelerating Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs) on the Pi back in January, several people asked what sort of real-world application FFTs can have. We talked about numerical analysis, cryptography, spectrograms and software-defined radio, among other things, in the comments on that post. All the same, FFTs are something that those who don’t get excited by maths can find a bit dry, and it can be hard to find a good demonstration of FFTs that works for those of you who like to think about things visually. So I was really pleased to find a link to this project from Pavan Tumati, which makes digital signal processing…decorative. Not to mention festive. Here, FFTs are performed on music samples on the Raspberry Pi fast enough to detect a beat, and the Pi relays that information to some teeny-tiny tap-dancers, who produce an automated routine that’s synced to the music. These little tap-dancing guys are from a post-Christmas sales bin. They’re called Happy Tappers, and are made by Hallmark, who, for reasons known only to them, include a port which enables them to interface with their tippy-tapping brothers and sisters – which makes for exciting DIY project possibilities once you add something that’s able to feed them an input. I’ve never seen them on sale in the UK, but if you’re dead set on making your own tap-dancing Pi project, they seem to be available online at eBay, Amazon US, and at some Christmas shops. (I know: it’s a bit odd posting about Christmas decorations in mid-March. But if the family across the road from me, who still have multicoloured lights flashing away merrily on the tree in their front garden every evening, are anything to go by, Christmas decorations aren’t just for Christmas any more.) |
EBooks and the Fight Against Censorship
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Hopkins was scheduled to speak to students at Panther Valley High School yesterday, but leading up to the visit, parent protests, school board intervention, and even obstacles from the school’s administration almost prevented the visit from taking place, despite the fact that students raised the funds to pay Hopkin’s travel honorarium. Some students with signed parent permission slips were blocked from attending the author’s presentation, and one teacher reportedly gathered the students who attended his church and kept them in his classroom during the assembly to have a prayer meeting instead. According to a post on the author’s Facebook page, “The principal greeted me at the door, all fake smiles and handshakes. I found out he had to be talked into my appearing at all, and this was yesterday afternoon, and he was oh-so-close to banning me. The ninth school board member watched my presentation and still believed my message was dangerous somehow. Some of the MS kids who had permission slips were allowed to attend, but ONLY if they bought one of my books from the school. Those who bought books elsewhere couldn’t come, although the school did send those books for signing. An English teacher pulled a group of kids who go to his church and they had a prayer meeting instead. Apparently, he quoted a line said by a CHARACTER, and somehow couldn’t understand that I, the author, don’t share every one of my CHARACTER’s views. This guy teaches English?” While access to books is something that most of us might think only happens in certain oppressive societies in far flung places, this level of censorship–especially when parents have purchased the book and given permission for their children to take part–is shocking in the 21st century. Mark Coker, founder and CEO of Smashwords, spoke to Good e-Reader about the incident and how digital publishing’s very core principle is to make access to the written word a reality for everyone. “It’s really pretty pathetic. We have an American city acting like a third world, religious extremist country,” explained Coker. “eBooks make it easier for parents and for readers to access content that might be socially unacceptable. It’s even worse than censorship, it’s making kids feel bad about literature. They’re painting literature as a dangerous, evil, scary thing. It’s the intolerance that concerns me about this.” Coker has long been known as a champion for authors who’ve been denied the right to publish their books by the traditional publishing industry and is an ardent supporter of everyone’s right to at least access book creation. With this incident, Coker has also shared the importance of being an active supporter of readers’ rights to access both books and their authors. “Readers enjoy talking about books with a community, and the community around this book has been interrupted. Shame on the school for allowing this to happen.” Authors of every publishing model are cautioned vehemently now that they must have an online presence and actively engage with their fans. Authors are basically told they cannot have a career if they’re not accessible to their readers, yet when students take the initiative to raise thousands of dollars and an author comes to engage with her readers, the end result is a dark and judgmental unappreciation of an author’s efforts. “eBooks make content more accessible than ever before so people can experience it, so they can experience the joys of all kinds of literature without feeling this narrow-mindedness, guilt, peer pressure, and community pressure that would prevent them accessing books.”
EBooks and the Fight Against Censorship is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Amazon Prime Costs A Lot More Than $99 Per Year With All the Hidden Charges
| So the big news today is that Amazon has decided to increase the price of Amazon Prime from $79 per year to $99 per year. The new price goes into effect on March 20th, 2014. This come just five months after Amazon raised the threshold for their Super Saver Shipping (or as I like to […] |
New Appzine Machine Tool Enables Self-Published Digital Magazines for iOS
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“Appzine Machine is the first all-in-one solution that combines easy-to-use magazine building tools and world-class training on how to publish and profit,” said Len Wright, CEO of Appzine Machine, in a press release. “It is a fully turn-key system to help you earn monthly income, build your authority, or advertise your business.” While the price tag of the platform does mean that not just anyone will be able to afford to publish a digital magazine, the easy DIY drag-and-drop aspect of the tool can make it worthwhile. Taking into consideration what the cost would be to have a digital designer create the finished product and upload it through a monthly-fee service like Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, the savings can accumulate quickly. Ideally, there is also a return on the investment in the form of royalties, as Appzine doesn’t take further fees after the cost of using the tool. “Digital magazines open up a new world of possibilities for both new entrepreneurs and existing businesses. By combining the compelling content of a magazine with the interactivity of a mobile app, you can spread your message, drive revenue, and reach a growing audience of millions worldwide.”
New Appzine Machine Tool Enables Self-Published Digital Magazines for iOS is a post from: Good e-Reader |
