| Soon library patrons throughout the United States and United Kingdom will be able to access hundreds of digital magazines and newspapers for free through the OverDrive platform. Today OverDrive and Nook Media announced that they’ve collaborated to start a new partnership that will bring the most popular digital magazines and newspapers from the Nook Newsstand […] |
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
OverDrive Partners with Nook to Bring Digital Magazines and Newspapers to Libraries
Sony Drops Price of DPT-S1 Digital PDF Reader to $999
| The most expensive E Ink ereader on the market recently became a little less expensive. Sony has dropped the price of their DPT-S1 PDF Reader from $1100 to $999 on the Sony Store. It’s not a big difference in price but at least it’s progress in the right direction. Sony started selling the DPT-S1 online […] |
Google Play Store May Offer Trials for Apps and Games
| Despite the fact that all reports indicate Android dominates the smartphone market, being able to brag having an over 80% share, app revenue continues to lag behind Apple (by a shocking average of almost $4 million dollars per day). Understandably, Google would like to do something about that imbalance –especially with such a firm position as Android’s biggest cheerleader. You’ve likely heard that there are statistics for anything, and generally they don’t mean much. In this case, the details aren’t known but would tell us a lot. Are there fewer paid apps in the Google Play Store as compared to the Apple App Store? Does the average price differ between the two stores? These and more questions abound. One option Google is courting appears to be the idea of offering a trial version of paid apps and games. This would allow users to take things for a test drive before taking the plunge (even if it is just $0.99). My immediate question is how this might work. Most reporting on this news are suggesting Google would offer a smaller, specific portion of the app or game –making it a smaller download than the full version, and offering demo-like functionality. This would be a mistake. I don’t want to deal with or download an app twice. Even though the idea of a quick download and peek sounds romantic, it also seems like a lot of hassle –especially for something that may cost a dollar. Generally speaking, most apps aren’t that large anyway. Plus, a subset of the full functionality may not actually give an accurate forecast of what it would be like to use. Is there a way it could work? With Google offering refunds when you dislike an app (if you decide quickly), I’m not sure it’s really necessary to offer a trial, but there may be marketing appeal for saying it’s available. I suppose I could be persuaded to support an expiry function, forcing you to either make the purchase or delete the app after a specific period of time… but only if it’s virtually effortless to do so. None of this addresses the fact that Apple is already making far more money in their App Store than Google without offering this feature. Perhaps Google should consider other ways of monetizing apps that more closely mimic the competition they are trying to dominate.
Google Play Store May Offer Trials for Apps and Games is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Google Says Reddit, Blogs, Social Media are News Sources
| As you search Google for news stories, you may be seeing some unexpected results. According to the search engine giant, non-traditional news sources like Reddit, blogs, and social media should be considered relevant. This is a topic that could be debated time and again: on one hand, anybody can have a blog… but many of the prolific writers online are well-reputed and have contributed to many of the more traditional news outlets. Some people are going to argue that the inclusion of these new sources will dilute search results such that higher profile sources fall below the fold, but others will delight in knowing there are other points of view to read other than what the likes of CNN is able to choose and then shove in our faces. Sure it means you have to be a little cautious about who you cite and what information you believe, but we shouldn’t be trusting any sources blindly. At a time when universities need to remind students that community-contributed content collections like Wikipedia are not considered authorities you can attribute, this lesson is already being taught. “We are always working to give our users the best possible answer to their question. That might come in the form of a video, a press release, a blog, a photo, a social media post or a news article,” noted a Google Spokesperson during a discussion with Search Engine Land. Do you think including these anecdotal news sources is wise? Does a broader definition of news make Google more or less valuable as a search engine?
Google Says Reddit, Blogs, Social Media are News Sources is a post from: Good e-Reader |
NOOK® and OverDrive partner to provide digital magazines and newspapers to libraries
| NOOK Media, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), and OverDrive, the leading eBook platform for libraries, today announced a new partnership to enable public libraries to provide readers with access to hundreds of the most popular digital magazines and newspapers from the NOOK Newsstand®. Utilizing OverDrive platforms integrated with library catalogs, library patrons in the U.S. and U.K. will be able to discover, access and read a huge selection of NOOK Newsstand titles on their NOOK tablet device and on tablets, smartphones and PCs via the suite of Free NOOK Reading Apps™. The new service is expected to roll out to customers in the coming months. NOOK Newsstand features the largest digital collection of the top 100 bestselling U.S. magazines, available for both digital subscriptions and single copy sales, and a vast collection of newspapers and magazines from around the world. A huge selection of that content will be available for readers to check out for free from their local library. The new partnership between OverDrive and NOOK Newsstand will enable readers to access popular magazines and newspapers in the same manner, and on the same website, as they discover and borrow OverDrive eBooks, audiobooks and streaming video. Libraries will be able to purchase concurrent access to all selected publications. Library patrons can check out these digital magazines and newspapers with a valid library card and read them through their NOOK account via a NOOK tablet device or Free NOOK Reading App available for a multitude of smartphones and tablets. Customers who download NOOK Newsstand content through their local library always have access to the free in-store support and expertise provided by the booksellers at Barnes & Noble's more than 650 bookstores across the U.S. "NOOK Newsstand is one of the leading providers of digital magazines and newspapers and this new partnership with OverDrive is another example of our commitment to delivering great content to all readers," said Jonathan Shar, Vice President and General Manager of Emerging Digital Content at NOOK Media LLC. "OverDrive is the foremost supplier of eBooks to libraries and we are thrilled to partner with them to offer library patrons the opportunity to access our award-winning content and reading technology." "The new digital service for periodicals will provide readers the ability to read digital magazines and newspapers with a best-in-class user experience," said David Burleigh, Director of Marketing & Communication at OverDrive. "Your library card, a NOOK Account, and an Internet connection are all you need to enjoy visually stunning magazines and familiar newspaper layouts on almost all tablets and smartphones.”  |
OverDrive adds more than 200 new publishers to Global eBook catalog for schools and libraries
| OverDrive, the leading platform for eBooks, audiobooks and streaming video to libraries and schools, announced today that more than 200 publishers have joined the company's network in 2014, 64 of which represent partners outside of North America. Now offering content in 40 languages in more than 50 countries, OverDrive continues to grow its global footprint and expand and diversify its catalog of more than 2.5 million in-copyright digital titles. Earlier this year OverDrive and MediaDo formed a strategic alliance to extend the OverDrive global eBook catalog into the Japanese market, as well as make popular and bestselling Japanese content available to OverDrive's worldwide network of 30,000 libraries and schools. Through this agreement, Japanese Manga titles, including Arpeggio of Blue Steel, are now live at pilot libraries in the U.S. Initial publishers available through MediaDo include LEED, Group Zero Ltd., Shonen-gahosha, Kaoru tada/minato-pro, M'z-plan, and Thirdline. This year alone, OverDrive expanded their global network with 127 newly-added international library and school partners in 24 countries. As a result, OverDrive is now supplying eBooks, audiobooks and streaming video to libraries and schools in Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Philippines, India, Qatar, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Hungary, Australia, Thailand, U.K., and Columbia, among others, and serving millions of readers and students. New partners such as De La Salle Santiago Zobel School (Phillipines), Dainfern College (South Africa), Baja Libros (Uruguay), and National Taiwan Normal University (Taiwan) have all launched digital books services with OverDrive in 2014. In support of global diverse communities, libraries and schools partnering with OverDrive are able to integrate a complete non-English user interface to search, browse and borrow titles. "Our continued success with international markets and our expansion of non-English eBooks from publishers around the world are accelerating eBook sales worldwide," said Alexis Petric-Black, manager of Publisher Account Services at OverDrive. "Providing diverse distribution channels in key markets for publishers on the most popular service for libraries and schools helps connects readers with eBooks, authors, and publishers and creates a profitable and efficient global sales channels for publishers and authors.” Publishers and aggregators such as RCS Group, Libranda, and Zebralution are selling thousands of Italian, Spanish, French and German titles through the OverDrive catalog from authors such as Timur Vermes, Phillip Müller, Dan Brown and Ken Follet. OverDrive's catalog of popular English-language titles are also expanding globally, with Simon & Schuster eBooks now available to Australia and New Zealand public libraries, and HarperCollins becoming available to U.K. libraries and schools earlier this year. Using open industry standards, OverDrive Read's HTML5 browser-based technology launched support for fixed-layout EPUB3 eBooks earlier this year, allowing illustrated titles for children and adults to be displayed with two-page views. Thousands of titles are now available in fixed-layout and represent an increasing share of sales. Support for audio narration within an EPUB (audio-sync-text) is coming later this year.  |
Waterproof Tolino Vision 2 Unveiled
| The Tolino Alliance was formed in 2013 and their mandate was to combat Amazon in Germany. This was the first time Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Club Bertelsmann, Deutsche Telekom banded together to sell their own e-readers and digital books. Today, the alliance has announced the brand new Tolino Vision 2, which is a waterproof e-reader and will come out this November. The Tolino Vision 2 has basically the same design as the first generation model that came out in April. The main differences is this model is waterproof, much akin to the Kobo H2O and Pocketbook Aqua. It also has a new function called Tap2Flip. It basically turns the entire back into a pressure sensitive touchscreen, allowing you to turn pages in an eBook. The Tolino Vision 2 features the latest in e-Paper innovation, e Ink Carta. This is the exact screen technology found on the Kindle Paperwhite 2 and Kobo Aura H2O. This will not only provide higher contrast, but also eliminate the full page refresh issues that have plagued e-readers since the very beginning. The overall resolution is a very respectable 1024 × 758 pixels and has 212 ppi. The dimensions are identical to the first generation reader, but the new model is four grams lighter (174 grams instead of 178). Underneath the hood is a Freescale iMx6 1 GHz processor and 512 MB RAM. There is 4GB of internal memory, but after you take it out of the box for the first time, you are relegated to two. This will store around 1,500 eBooks on average, but you can expand it up to 32GB via the Micro SD. Battery life is very solid and should net you around seven weeks of constant use. This is not truly a waterproof e-reader, although its being billed that way. You can think of it as being splash resistant and likely will not be able to stand up to being completely submerged in water. This is primarily due to the fact that the bottom Micro USB does not have a waterproof protective flap. The Vision 2 is a viable e-reader if you speak German as your primary language, because the online bookstore only sells eBooks in that language. The new e-reader is going to be released in early November and can be pre-ordered from the Thalia website for 149 euros.
Waterproof Tolino Vision 2 Unveiled is a post from: Good e-Reader |
James Bond Digital Comics to be Released in 2015
| Dynamite Entertainment has just signed a new deal with Ian Fleming Publications. Starting in 2015 Dynamite will publish comic books, digital comics and graphic novels starring 007. Readers will be able to re-live the exploits that have thrilled and captivated fans for over half a century in fresh visual adaptations of the classic Bond stories. Dynamite plans to create a series of brand new adventures unveiling the defining – and largely undocumented – early years of Bond's career. These new stories will draw inspiration from the Fleming canon to explore Bond's 'origins': his raw early years before he gambled with his life in the first novel, Casino Royale. Some other familiar faces from the expansive 007 mythos will also make appearances in this series – criminal masterminds, hired henchmen, glamorous Bond Girls and secret service allies – alongside all-new characters. The first James Bond comic books will be published in 2015, soliciting periodical issues in Diamond Comic Distributors' Previews catalog, the premiere source of merchandise for the comic book specialty market. Digital and print editions will be available simultaneously through such platforms as Comixology, Dynamite Digital, iVerse, and Dark Horse Digital. Original graphic novels and collections will be released through the comic book specialty market, digital platforms, and numerous book market channels including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and more. James Bond Digital Comics to be Released in 2015 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Samsung Slowly Becoming a Leader in Digital Publishing
| Samsung has been enjoying the position of being the number one device maker in the world for Android driven smartphones and tablets. They have been enjoying a solid Samsung is serving as the inaugural Innovation Partner at this years Frankfurt Book Fair. They are showcasing the company's mobile devices and their digital reading capabilities at the world's largest trade fair for the international publishing industry. It is currently running from October 8th to the 12th. At the Frankfurt Book Fair, Samsung will work with its partners to engage and support both publishers and consumers through a series of events, such as panels and experiential areas. This includes the Samsung Galaxy Studio, where attendees can experience Samsung's latest mobile devices which represent the next step in mobile lifestyle and culture, such as the Galaxy Tab S, Galaxy Note 4, Gear VR, Gear Circle and the Level series premium audio products. "As books continue to reach consumers in various electronic forms, we strive to deliver the most advanced and innovative device options that embrace new forms of creative storytelling and content," said Younghee Lee, Executive Vice President of Global Marketing, IT & Mobile Division at Samsung Electronics. "In that spirit, we partnered with the Frankfurt Book Fair, where we have been demonstrating our commitment to the global publishing industry and our devotion to address the diversifying reading experience, as evidenced in our industry-leading suite of mobile products, led by the latest Galaxy Note 4 and Tab S." "The publishing industry is rapidly advancing as consumers move from an analog reading experience to a digital one," said Juergen Boos, director of the Frankfurt Book Fair. "We are proud to have Samsung as our first ever Innovation Partner and are delighted to showcase the way technology is changing people's lives and the way they consume content." Samsung began to focus on digital reading in 2010 when it developed the Readers Hub. This was a dedicated area that made available eBooks from Kobo, Newspapers from PressReader and magazines from Zinio. In 2013 they developed a cool feature called Reading Mode, which adjusts the background color of the tablet for easier reading. Amazon and Samsung make for some very strange bedfellows, but earlier this year a specialized Kindle app was developed for the Samsung Galaxy S5. This gave new smartphone owners the ability to buy and read eBooks from Amazon. As an added incentive every month 4 free eBooks are made available and readers can select one to read, without having to pay a dime. One of the largest e-reading partnerships ever struck was a deal Sasmung made with Barnes and Noble. In late 2014 the two sides formally unveiled the Sasmung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK in the United States, the first-ever full-featured Android tablet optimized for reading. "Samsung understands the importance of digital reading as well as the challenges that face the market, from both a device and content perspective," said Michael P. Huseby, Chief Executive Office of Barnes & Noble, Inc. "By putting reading first with the Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK, Samsung has responded to consumers in a way previously unseen in the mobile technology industry." Samsung continues to develop innovative mobile technology to enhance and refine the digital reading experience. With the company's Adaptive Display technology, the long challenge of tablet display glare has been solved, making digital reading outdoors and in low light easy on the eyes. In June 2014, Samsung partnered with Marvel to bring its incredible library of 15,000 digital comics to Galaxy Tab S owners through its Marvel Unlimited application. The two companies are also working together to extend Marvel content into new mediums with premium content on both the Galaxy Tab S and Gear VR. "At Marvel, we aim to create an incredible digital entertainment experience that duplicates the same joy and emotional connection users feel when reading traditional print content," said Joe Quesada, Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment. "Our partnership with Samsung has helped us maintain that level of quality with the ability to deliver our digital comics on innovative devices that not only recreate, but go beyond the colors and quality of print. We are also collaborating with Samsung to take our creative storytelling off the page with exclusive film and virtual reality content that can be accessed on their incredible mobile products." Samsung Slowly Becoming a Leader in Digital Publishing is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Barnes & Noble Gets into the Library Game with Digital Newspapers and Magazines
| Barnes and Noble has quietly been building a large catalog of digital newspapers and magazines for their Nook line of e-readers and tablets. In order to glean more market share, the largest bookseller in the US has just partnered with Overdrive to make available content from the Nook Newsstand to libraries. NOOK Newsstand features the largest digital collection of the top 100 bestselling U.S. magazines, available for both digital subscriptions and single copy sales, and a vast collection of newspapers and magazines from around the world. A huge selection of that content will be available for readers to check out for free from their local library. The new partnership between OverDrive and NOOK Newsstand will enable readers to access popular magazines and newspapers in the same manner, and on the same website, as they discover and borrow OverDrive eBooks, audiobooks and streaming video. Libraries will be able to purchase concurrent access to all selected publications. Library patrons can check out these digital magazines and newspapers with a valid library card and read them through their NOOK account via a NOOK tablet device or Free NOOK Reading App available for a multitude of smartphones and tablets. Customers who download NOOK Newsstand content through their local library always have access to the free in-store support and expertise provided by the booksellers at Barnes & Noble's more than 650 bookstores across the U.S. "NOOK Newsstand is one of the leading providers of digital magazines and newspapers and this new partnership with OverDrive is another example of our commitment to delivering great content to all readers," said Jonathan Shar, Vice President and General Manager of Emerging Digital Content at NOOK Media LLC. "OverDrive is the foremost supplier of eBooks to libraries and we are thrilled to partner with them to offer library patrons the opportunity to access our award-winning content and reading technology." "The new digital service for periodicals will provide readers the ability to read digital magazines and newspapers with a best-in-class user experience," said David Burleigh, Director of Marketing & Communication at OverDrive. "Your library card, a NOOK Account, and an Internet connection are all you need to enjoy visually stunning magazines and familiar newspaper layouts on almost all tablets and smartphones.” Barnes & Noble Gets into the Library Game with Digital Newspapers and Magazines is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Facebook Allows Local Advertisers to Stalk You
| Facebook began rolling out a new feature this week that gives local (to you) advertisers the opportunity to target users based on how close they have been to their physical location. This means that as you travel around your city, an add could pop up in your Facebook feed for that coffee shop across the way (though it may also be visible some time later). This hyper-local functionality may scare some people as much as it excites would-be advertisers. Truth be told, my opinion is torn; if I have to look at advertising anyway, I’d almost prefer that it was as relevant as possible. If the feature works as intended, smaller businesses should see a larger reward from placing ads on Facebook; though it would be difficult to accurately measure conversion if you are walking through a door instead of clicking through. This may not be the goal anyway: local ads may be more about raising awareness than expecting to generate sales directly. Don’t forget that Facebook is already using your browsing history to generate advertising traffic, so this results in a double whammy (with twice the reward as well)… I can sense that I’m going to be aggressively targeted by coffee shops and anywhere that sells craft supplies. Consider also that this functionality should work no matter where you are; it may not be helpful to know there is an Italian restaurant around the corner in your neighbourhood, but it may be seen as incredibly handy while on vacation. How do you feel about Facebook using your location information in this way? Do you agree with their viewpoint that seeing an ad for a business you are physically right beside might encourage you to go inside when you otherwise wouldn’t have?
Facebook Allows Local Advertisers to Stalk You is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Google News & Weather App Released for iOS
| I don’t know if you have noticed this, but no two weather apps on your smartphone will ever agree. In fact, even this morning there is a several degree discrepancy between the temperature broadcast by The Weather Network app that runs natively on my iPhone and the old de facto standard from iOS 7 – Yahoo Weather. To this end, you may wish to employ yet another weather app: Google News & Weather. It is difficult to decide whether to be excited by this app release, with so many other options already available for news and weather reporting. Even though the app comes equipped with coverage from over 65,000 publications, it isn’t full featured enough to truly deliver mass quantities of news –but with that said, if you are a fan of hitting http://news.google.com on a regular basis to see the most recent (and therefore probably most prominent and important) headlines, it may be just what the doctor ordered. Just like on their website, news can be tailored to your country of choice and tuned to particular categories (with choices like “Hollywood”, “NASA”, or “Fashion”). On the landing page inside the app, a brief summary is displayed for each story with full articles and additional details available with a single on-screen tap. Whether this is a must-have app or not, it is nice to see Google giving iOS users the option to use the same software available on Android; it certainly isn’t a courtesy that is often returned by Apple. If you’d like to take advantage of Google News & Weather on your iOS device, download it for free now from the Apple App Store. I can’t promise it is any more accurate than the zillions of other weather apps already available, but it should be of a certain quality given that it comes to us from Google.
Google News & Weather App Released for iOS is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Insert Juggling Pun Here
| Martin, our financial director, dropped by for a budget meeting yesterday. “How’s it going, Liz?” “I’m trying to think up a title for a blog post. There’s this juggler who was on America’s got Talent, who’s using programmable juggling clubs that light up and synchronise. They’re powered by a Pi. And the person who built them is a totally amazing sixteen-year-old girl who interns at NASA.” “Don’t ask me for ideas,” said Martin. “I’m an accountant.”  Juggling with magical Pi clubs, on a long exposure setting Let’s start with that sixteen-year-old girl. Lauren Egts is pretty exceptional. She’s a busy and incredibly articulate advocate for open source software, she’s a seasoned Pi hacker (check out the summer vacation project she worked on at NASA, which was also Pi-powered). And we are absolutely love the fact that there’s a Raspberry Pi in her LinkedIn profile photo. Lauren got an email from the company she did work experience with last summer, saying they’d been approached by a juggler (Charles Peachock, whose juggling got him into the quarterfinals of America’s Got Talent) who, in the way of modern jugglers (we think), needed some technical support. He wanted clubs to use in his act that could have lights embedded which could be synchronised to a routine, and Lauren’s former colleagues thought she’d be able to help. Lauren, being Lauren, rose to the challenge, and the results are pretty spectacular. You can read Lauren’s explanation of how she hacked together the juggling pin setup over at opensource.com. RasPi Today also interviewed her about the project. You can see the Pi-powered clubs in action in Charles Peachock’s demo reel: he starts using them at 3m 39s in – it’s a very short segment of the video, and the quality’s not the best, but the whole video’s worth watching. Who knew that gravity worked quite like that? Even now, our very own Ben Nuttall is trying to work out how to make his elbows do that thing. |
Google Now Can Remind You to Pay Your Bills
| It is either the best feature Google Now offers, or the scariest. Apparently, Google can scan your email account looking for bills –so when you tap the microphone in the app and ask “Show me my bills” or “Which of my bills are due this week”, a detailed list of what is owed and a summary of past bills will be presented. This is one more extension of the growing Google Now personal assistant technology, aimed at providing important information to users before they even know to ask for it. “When you can't remember whether you've paid your bills — or you simply can't remember how much money you need to pay — you can now just ask Google,” says the company. Of course, if you also forget to ask the question to begin with… Scanning your email for content cues isn’t a new thing for Google, their search app has already been on the lookout for details regarding flight information and hotel reservations. Those concerned about privacy and security are likely to be a little outraged (or at least a tad nervous and concerned). Even though Google Now does require that you grant permission for email review initially, who knows what will be cataloged going forward.
Google Now Can Remind You to Pay Your Bills is a post from: Good e-Reader |
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