| Today we bring you another beloved installment of the Good e-Reader Outdoor Reading Test! How exactly does the Sony PRS-T2 handle reading in direct sunlight? What are the benefits of an e-paper display vs an LCD? This video should give you a clear indication on how the entire line of PRS-T1, PRS-T2 and PRS-T3 e-readers function in the light. Towards the end of the video we bring in a Sony Experia 2 smartphone to provide a little bit of juxtaposition.
Outdoor Reading Test – Sony PRS-T2 e-Reader is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Outdoor Reading Test – Sony PRS-T2 e-Reader
Why Print Books Declined in 2013
| eBooks have grown to be a billion dollar business and now accounts for 27% of all book sales in the US. Print books are still holding their own and have only declined slightly in 2013 at a paltry 1%. The decrease in tangible book sales is partly attributed to less books being printed. Bowker reports that 304,912 books were produced by traditional publishers in 2013 compared to 309,957 in 2012. The non-traditional publishing sector was hit the hardest due to the rise of public domain and indie authors switching to digital. The print industries output for 2013 was projected at 1,108,183 titles, a decrease of 46% from its production of 2,042,840 titles in 2012 and a dramatic reverse from its 55% growth in 2012 over 2011. It is very interesting to see the multitude of factors that make up that 1% decline in the print industry. Public domain titles such as Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice and Moby Dick are all available for free online, but in the stores they range from $5-$29 a pop. Why Print Books Declined in 2013 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Now available: two highly requested features for holds
| On August 4, OverDrive introduced two new features designed to make it even easier for your users to borrow and enjoy in-demand titles from your digital collection. First, we're pleased to announce that users can now turn on automatic borrowing for titles they've placed on hold. When a user places a hold, they'll now see the option to have that title automatically borrowed for them as soon as it becomes available. With automatic borrowing, not only will your users no longer have to worry about missing hold pickup windows, but your library will most likely fill more holds, thus boosting circulations in your digital collection. You can learn more about automatic borrowing for holds in this help article.  The second feature that's just been added to library sites is the ability to suspend a hold. When a user suspends a hold, they'll continue to move up the waiting list for that title, but the system won't fill their hold until their suspension period is over. For example, if a user is getting close to the top of a waiting list for a popular title, but they're in the middle of reading another book, they might want to suspend their hold to make sure that they won't receive the new title until they're ready for it. You can learn more about suspending a hold here.  We hope that you and your users take advantage of these new features and enjoy the added conveniences surrounding placing holds in your digital collection. Carrie Smith is a Technical Writer at OverDrive.  |
Bookeen Partners with Saraiva Bookstore for a Pair of e-Readers
| Bookeen has announced a new partnership with one of the largest bookstores in Brazil. Saraiva is launching the Saraiva Lev and Saraiva Lev Luz that will connect to their integrated online bookstore. The Cybook Odyssey and Cybook Odyssey HD are the two new devices that will be repurposed and rebranded for the Brazilian launch. Both are really solid and sell moderately well in Europe. Both of these e-readers were designed with with the ability to key in a link to the bookstore of your choice in the settings menu. By default both of them will connect up to the Saraiva digital bookstore. Saraiva is mainly known as a bookstore that specializes in educational material. They are one of the largest schoolbook and textbook companies and provides solutions for primary and high schools, as well as digital content for the educational market, such as distance learning, cooperative learning and library subscription services. Saraiva currently offers 15,000 eBook titles in Portuguese and 250,000 in other languages. One of the most popular ways that people have consuming the content is via the Saraiva Reader app for Android and iOS. It was originally launched in 2010 and has had over 1.6 million downloads. The Cybook Odyssey HD, rebranded as the Saraiva Lev Luz, is likely the better of the two e-readers. It features a six inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1024×758 pixels. It uses the same type of XGA technology found on the Kobo Glo and Kindle Paperwhite. You can read in the dark with the built in frontlight and unlike an LCD display this e-paper is better on the eyes. Underneath the hood is an 800 MHZ Texas Instruments Cortex A8 processor and 128 MB of RAM. Michael Dahan, CEO at Bookeen: "We are delighted to partner with Saraiva, a true leader in reading. We brought our experience and technology in a very constructive collaboration. With this launch, I believe Saraiva provides the best e-reading solution on the market and Saraiva customers will discover in the stores how the Saraiva Lev offer is competitive." Bookeen Partners with Saraiva Bookstore for a Pair of e-Readers is a post from: Good e-Reader |
The MagPi issue 26 – out now!
| August’s MagPi, the magazine for the Raspberry Pi community written by the Raspberry Pi community, is out now. As always, it covers the whole spectrum of Pi users, from absolute beginners to people looking for challenges; and as always, it’s a free download. This month you’ll find a continuation of the robot series that kicked off last month, adding voice control, facial recognition and speech to your home-made friend. There’s a fun persistence of vision (POV) magic wand project, an in-depth introduction to the new Model B+, and a great example of a dynamic art application for total beginners. Our favourite project this month is Mashberry, a home brewery project which you can control using a TV remote. There’s lots more too: click on the image above (or here) to read the latest issue. The MagPi team are always looking for volunteers to help produce the magazine: there’s a lot involved in getting a monthly publication ready beyond the writing and proofing. They’re always looking for writers and proofreaders, but if you’re interested in the production side of things in particular – that’s layout, typesetting, graphical work and testing – they’d especially love you to get in touch. If you can help, email editor@themagpi.com, or comment on their Facebook |
Macmillan frontlist titles now live for U.S. and Canadian public libraries
| The full frontlist catalog from Macmillan Publishers is now live in OverDrive Marketplace for U.S. and Canadian public libraries. As previously announced, this is an expansion of their March 2013 eBook lending pilot, which included Macmillan eBooks published 12 or more months ago. With addition of the frontlist catalog, OverDrive libraries now have access to over 10,000+ titles, including What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey, Beating Goliath by Art Briles, and Landline by Rainbow Rowell. These new additions carry the same terms as current Macmillan titles: 52 checkouts or two years, whichever comes first. The frontlist catalog is priced $60.00 USD and backlist content $40.00 USD. As a reminder, Macmillan titles can be purchased by standalone libraries and consortia members who use OverDrive Advantage. You can view the complete lending terms here.  |
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