| We have unboxed and gave a comprehensive hands on review of the new InkCase Plus secondary e-ink screen for Android smartphones and now its time to do a giveaway! We have two units available in their original retail packaging! The Inkcase Plus connects up to your Android phone via Bluetooth. You can install the e-reading app from Google Play and use it as an autonomous e-book reader. It lasts about a month before you have to recharge it, and is a very unique piece of technology. In order to be in the running you have to simply Like our Facebook Page, Like the video and drop a comment on the video itself, to let us know you are in the running. In two weeks we will do the draw, good luck to everyone!
Contest – Two InkCase Plus Secondary Android Screens is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Contest – Two InkCase Plus Secondary Android Screens
Digital Magazines Now Qualify for the Pulitzer Prize
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In the past, publications that were identified as magazines were ineligible to compete for a Pulitzer in any category. Many Americans in the last few years have gravitated towards digital for their daily news fix. This is chiefly due to everything being tremendously accessible – from dedicated apps on Android and iOS to websites that allow you to read content online to replica editions made available on distribution systems such as PressReader, Zinio and the Apple Newsstand. The decision to broaden the spectrum makes sense. “After a considered review and discussion, we are adopting these changes in a spirit of experimentation, rooted in a commitment to the enduring values of great journalism.” said Pulitzer Prize administrator Mike Pride said in a statement. “We have chosen to focus our evolution on investigative reporting because of its relevance to public life and feature writing because of its emphasis on literary merit.” While broadening the competition, the Pulitzer Board stressed that all entered material should originate from the United States and that they are are "primarily dedicated to original news reporting and coverage of ongoing stories," and “adhere to the highest journalistic principles.” It goes without saying that there is going to be an influx of new material that is going to be submitted for award consideration. If this occurs, there will likely be an earlier submission date so that the juries have more time to consider the publication and to cast their votes. Mike Pride said that likely they will bring on more jurors to handle the extra workload. Digital Magazines Now Qualify for the Pulitzer Prize is a post from: Good e-Reader |
The Pulitzer Prize for journalism has now been extended to print and digital magazines. This category now contains not only magazines, but also feature length and investigative reporting for newspapers too.Fire Emblem Awakening Comic Anthology Out Now
| Intelligent Systems, the team that brought you the popular Nintendo 3DS game, Fire Emblem: Awakening, has recently unveiled a trading card game. The new Fire Emblem TCG will feature various guest artists and will follow characters that had appeared throughout the series. Intelligent Systems will also be developing the TCG and have plans to release this summer in Japan. The Fire Emblem: Awakening comic anthology was also published in Japan on Christmas day. The anthology will feature popular manga artists sand writers such as Hako Itagaki (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni manga), Ichigo Katsura (Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World manga), Ryuko Kanzaki (Dragon Quest and Star Ocean 4-koma manga) and many more. The new manga will follow the game and will follow characters like Chrom and Lucina, further developing their characters as well as learning how certain events truly tie in together. Unfortunately at this time, there has been no news on whether or not this manga will get a western release but I know a lot of fans would scoop it up in an instant! Fire Emblem Awakening Comic Anthology Out Now is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Kindle Keyboard Firmware Update Fixes Web Browser Issues
| The Kindle Keyboard is over 4 years old now, but that hasn’t stopped Amazon from issuing a software update to fix some problems with the web browser. The new software version is 3.4.1. The update will download and install automatically over wireless, which can sometimes take a few weeks, or you can manually download and […] |
Amazon is Heavily Invested into the Success of Kindle Unlimited
| Kindle Unlimited is an e-Book subscription platform with around 700,000 titles available. Users pay a monthly fee and can basically read as much as they want, similarly to what Netflix does for video and Crunchyroll for anime. Amazon has been heavily lambasted by authors and publishers because there is no set dollar amount they make on their content that is opted into the problem. Instead, there is a revolving pool of funds that Amazon makes available each month, with varying dollar amounts. For example, during the summoner and winter periods, when more people are reading, there are more funds available because loans are up. Amazon has stated during a recent book trade event that they are firmly behind the success of the platform. Kindle SVP Russ Grandinetti made a rare public appearance at the Digital Book World event in New York. He stated that Amazon is working to address authors' concerns that the subscription-based program is diminishing their revenue, asking for patience in the meantime. "It's only been six months," Grandinetti adds. On the subscription ebook model overall, Grandinetti says, "More approaches to publishing is pretty healthy" and reminds publishers they weren't happy at first when bookstores began selling used books. "In every single digital media category, subscriptions are succeeding at some level," and books won't be an exception. Amazon currently does not have the support of major publishers for their Unlimited platform. Instead, they have thrown in with Scribd, Oyster and Entittle, startups that pay publishers when a certain amount of pages in the book are read and have a definitive pricing structure. Publishers dig the fact the terms are transparent and for the most part, their content is secure. All of these companies distribute e-books through their official apps and are stored in the cloud. This prevents unauthorized copies being made and distributed to pirate websites. Publishers are obviously leery about being too heavily invested in the Amazon ecosystem and most are looking at alternative avenues to generate more revenue with their digital collections. Macmillan CEO John Sargent recently proclaimed that 64% of all e-Book sales are driven by Amazon and this “needs to change.” This prompted his company to enter into agreements with Scribd and Oyster to explore the viability of e-book subscription services with their back catalog and out of print materials. In all, close to 1,000 books have been added to their platforms because of this one deal. Amazon rarely deals with negative press about their entire e-Book ecosystem, but Unlimited has really raised the dander of the media, authors, publishers and rival companies. Mark Coker, CEO of Smashwords concluded that “Kindle Unlimited was a bad deal for authors because it requires exclusivity and gives Amazon free rein to control author compensation.” Best-selling author H.M.Ward pulled all her books out of KU and called for a rethink to the scheme after seeing her income plunge by 75% over two months despite getting a Kindle Select All Stars cash award for both months. She said that the Kindle Unlimited payout has been sinking steadily and hit a new low of $1.33 per borrow in October, down by nearly 40% from $2.20 in June before KU launched in July. Writing on the kboards forum, H M Ward says: "I had my serials in Kindle Unlimited for 60 days and lost approx 75% of my income. That's counting borrows and bonuses. My sales dropped like a stone. The number of borrows was higher than sales. They didn’t complement each other, as expected." Author testimonials like this is whats scaring the general publishing and self-publishing industry from throwing down with Amazon. Even the slick PR machine to constantly stay in the media limelight is unable to maintain full damage control. The companies that do blast Amazon are often excluded from their exclusive launch events where only “select” press are invited to attend. Despite all of this, the Seattle based e-commerce giant is firmly behind the success of Unlimited, as the overall media industry has gravitated towards subscription services. You don’t have to look much further than Apple, who currently abandoned their Single of the Week promotion and is rumored to be converting iTunes itself into a subscription service for audiobooks, music, video and other media content. Amazon is Heavily Invested into the Success of Kindle Unlimited is a post from: Good e-Reader |
