| Barnes and Noble is offering a discount for online orders for the brand new Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook. US residents can order it directly from the Barnes and Noble website and get the tablet until September 14th for $169. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook is a stark contrast to all previous Nook tablets, because it has two cameras, a vanilla version of Android and the ability to really customize your own experience. Prior models of the Nook had a UI that was hard to change, this the Samsung Nook allows you to install your own keyboards, launchers and widgets. International users can get value from the new Samsung Nook tablet, since you can download apps now from the B&N official app store and get expanded content from Google Play. The only limitations right now is renting to buying television shows or movies directly from Barnes and Noble. eBooks, magazines, newspapers, graphic novels and kids books are all easily purchased. Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook Discounted to $169 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Friday, September 12, 2014
Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook Discounted to $169
Microsoft Demos New Windows 9 Start Menu
| Microsoft is no stranger to making huge mistakes with their Windows operating system. Beginning with Windows ME many moons ago, we all learned to be skeptical of the next best version that they have promised us. Even worse, some of us got so tired of Windows updates and service packs that we made the move to Apple and Mac OS. In a best effort to win back market-share and beg for market dominance once again, Windows 9 has been promised (and it will fix all that we hate about Window 8, they swear). Keeping in mind that it’s very early (heck, Microsoft promised us Windows 8 for a few years before we ever saw a meaningful release of the software), there are a few versions of things floating around –some start menus we see have tiles, while others seem to be lacking those annoying graphics. This may mean that they are optional and configurable (which is likely). The important takeaway from this leak –our comfort zone has been re-added… and those that missed the start menu desperately will be breathing a huge sigh of relief.
Microsoft Demos New Windows 9 Start Menu is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Kobo Aura HD vs Kobo Aura H2O
| Kobo released the HD e-reader in April 2013 and the company expected it to only account for 3% of their overall revenue. This was primarily due to the 6.8 inch screen being unproved in the market and the premium cost. Within six months, it quickly became a bestseller and CEO Michael Tamblyn said now accounts for 25% of hardware sales. This has prompted Kobo to developer a spiritual successor, the brand new waterproof H20 e-reader. Today, we take a look at the Kobo Aura HD and the Kobo Aura H20. You will get a sense of what the new model brings to the table and check out some of the advancements in e-paper technology. We also test the glowlight capabilities to see if there are any differences between the way the front-lit display functions. If you are thinking of upgrading from the HD to the H2o, you don’t want to miss this video comparison.
Kobo Aura HD vs Kobo Aura H2O is a post from: Good e-Reader |
There is a Literacy Crisis in the United Kingdom
| The United Kingdom is facing a literacy crisis of epic proportions as 1.5 million youth are unable to read properly. 11 year old’s were the focus of a new study and it proclaims that unless drastic action is taken, by 2025 the UK will be in dire straights. A report by "Read on. Get on." said England is now one of the developed world's most unequal countries in reading, with the gap between the strongest and weakest equivalent to seven years of schooling. The problem is acute in low-income groups, in particular white British boys, where 45% reach 11 are unable to read well. A total of 40% of poorer children are not proficient readers – almost double the rate of their better-off peers. The proportion of children reading well by 11 has dropped by 1% in five years since 2008. Even with an average annual improvement rate of 0.5 When children grow up, the ramifications of not reading regularly are having an adverse effect on the economy and higher learning. According to a recent OECD report, it proclaims that three-quarters of UK university graduates do not have high levels of literacy and there are currently 8.5 million adults in England and Northern Ireland with the numeracy levels of a 10-year-old. Basically, the lack of reading comprehension is costing the UK economy £32 billion. There are various initiatives that are seeking to remedy this situation, such as the Barnes and Noble sponsored “Get London Reading” campaign. Last year there was a read-a-thon take-over of Trafalgar Square which saw a number of West End shows such as War Horse, Billy Elliot and Matilda perform in front of a mesmerized audience of around 20,000 people. B&N also donated 1,000 Nook e-readers to schools and they all included free eBooks from Hachette UK, HarperCollins and Penguin Random House. Building on the success of the Get London Reading campaign, Barnes and Noble has just announced they are throwing down with the Best Play Award at the prestigious and star-studded Evening Standard Theatre Awards. They will be leveraging this new arrangement to have actress Cush Jumbo, winner of the Burberry Emerging Talent Award at the Evening Standard Theater Awards 2013, to visit a series of schools to read to children. It was also announced that a number of other high profile actors will be reading to students all over London. Its certainly nice to have e-readers, eBooks and publisher donated books to lower income children to build the foundation of reading, but what can really be done to solve the problem? Jonathan Douglas, director of the National Literacy Trust, said the research highlighted the vital role parents and carers played in reading with children, even for short periods. "They don't need to find big chunks of time," he said. "Parents, carers, grandparents and anyone with a child in their life can make a huge difference by reading for just 10 minutes a day." There is a Literacy Crisis in the United Kingdom is a post from: Good e-Reader |
eBooks on the Big Screen
Let’s get Physical! New physical computing animation
| With the success of the first two productions from Saladhouse, our animator friends in Manchester (What is a Raspberry Pi? and Setting up your Raspberry Pi), we proceeded to make plans for a third in the series. The topic we chose to cover this time is one which demonstrates the additional power of the Pi in learning – an introduction to the realm of physical computing. Look through the amazing projects in our blog, the MagPi or Pi Weekly and you’ll see many of them use the portability of the small form factor and low powered nature of the Pi along with the extensibility the GPIO pins give you – not to mention the wealth of community produced add-on boards available making it all much easier.  Those pins sticking out there. General Purpose Input/Output. Did we mention there are 40 on the B+? Here at Pi Towers we all love physical projects – from robotics and home automation to flatulence alarms and scaring the elderly – and we believe they’re a great way to introduce young people to coding, computational thinking, product development and understanding systems. The video refers to some resources for projects you can make yourself. We featured the hamster disco on our blog in July, and you may have heard talk of some of the others on twitter – which are all brand new, constructed and tested by our education team. They are:     See more in our resources section. Huge thanks to Sam and Scott from Saladhouse for their hard work on this – and also to our voice actors Arthur (son of Pi co-founder Pete Lomas) and Maia! And yes, that’s Eben narrating.      A little gift I brought Dave back from Memphis… |