| The Sony Digital Paper is experiencing robust sales to industry professionals who demand a large e-paper screen. In order to broaden their reach and scope, Sony has just announced a price reduction on the DPT-S1 from $999 to $799. The Sony Digital Paper originally hit the market one year ago and the intention behind this 13.3 e-reader was establishing a new product category. Instead of being aimed at consumers, like Amazon and Kobo, Sony made the gambit of constructing a device aimed exclusively towards people who need a world class PDF experience. The DPT-S1 Digital Paper was first available at $1200 and higher education, lawyers and people involved in entertainment were the first ones to purchase the device. Once Sony had established an extensive sales record they discounted the price to $999 and started to sell it online to anyone who wanted one. The $799 price point now makes the Digital Paper extremely viable to not only professionals now, but the average consumer. If you pay attention to the e-reader sector you would have inevitably heard of e-ink Mobius. This is a flexible plastic based material that Sony had co-developed with e Ink Holdings. It weights 50% less than your traditional glass based TFT display and despite the 13.3 inch nature of the screen, it weighs less than a 9.7 inch Kindle DX. Sony has pioneered a new market for e-readers and this has spurned their competition into developing new products. Pocketbook is developing a 13.3 inch solution called the CAD, which is aimed at architects and designers who tend to use 3D modeling programs such as Maya or 3D Studio Max. Dasung has developed a 13.3 inch display that was designed to be a secondary screen for a PC and Onyx is in the process of making a commercial version of a 13.3 inch e-reader aimed at people who love reading e-book novels. The price reduction from $999 to $799 is primarily attributed to making the DPT-S1 more accessible. Likely this price will make sense to a lot of people looking for a large screen reader to use in their professional life. Sony Digital Paper Price Reduced to $799 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Sony Digital Paper Price Reduced to $799
Microsoft Announces Intel Atom-Powered Windows 8.1 Surface 3
| Beginning in May there will be a new Surface 3 tablet in town, and this time it’s a more affordable version of Microsoft’s flagship Surface Pro 3. While the Surface Pro 3 floated on the high-end of tablet pricing starting at $799 USD, the new Surface 3 begins at a much lower $499 USD. Aimed at students and families, this new Surface 3 doesn’t appear to sacrifice features and function to lower the price-tag; powered by a 64-bit Intel Atom x7 processor, displaying HD graphics on a 10.8-inch 1920×1280 screen, taking photos with a front-facing 3.5MP camera or 8MP rear-facing camera, and outfitted with 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. You may not get the keyboard thrown in at that entry-level cost, but it does ship with Window 8.1 (with the promise of a free upgrade to Windows 10 once it hits general availability). My favourite feature is the built-in kickstand… it’s so simple and elegant, I can’t believe Apple hasn’t stolen the idea yet. Generally speaking, Microsoft has taken the closest aim at business customers (who are usually willing to pay a higher price as compared to the average mobile consumer), but having a less expensive model makes it tremendously more appealing for those wanting to outfit their families with the same device they use at the office. It also helps when the Surface is being marketed as having the full capabilities of a laptop (including a full USB 3.0 port, Mini DisplayPort, and a MicroSD card reader) –making it a very attractive option for those of us with children who need these kinds of devices for school work while doing double duty as a much-sought-after tablet as well. Add in the Surface Pen (for an additional cost of course), and you’ve got a powerful note-taking machine for those who may not type during a meeting or class as fast as they can write (not forgetting you can also use it to sketch a quick diagram, add notes to the margins of your PDF files, and paint with it on-screen as if were a brush on canvas… heck, you can even handwrite musical scores or do your crossword puzzles easily using the pen as long as you are willing to pay for the requisite titles like the New York Times Crossword app in the Windows store). Bottom line? It’s a contender (particularly if the Surface 3 can truly get 10 hours of moderate-use battery life from a single charge). Release video is linked below for those of you who would like to see a little more of this new tablet before it begins shipping in May (with pre-orders available starting today). Microsoft Announces Intel Atom-Powered Windows 8.1 Surface 3 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Goodreads Unveils Newly Redesigned Android App
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That’s why Goodreads, the online community based on reader-centric book interaction, has launched a redesign to its Android app. This update will present a cleaner interface for mobile device reading, as well as put users’ favorite features at their fingertips. According to a release from Goodreads about the newly updated app, “The app now features an easy-to-use navigation that puts your favorite features at your fingertips, and a cleaner design to help you discover great books and share your reading with friends…Now you can immediately discover new books your friends are reading, and still check your shelves on the go with just one tap. We've also included a fun new touch, a literary quote on the home screen while the app opens.” Reader reaction has been a little mixed but mostly positive, with many of the commenters asking for visibility on the home screen of their standing in the 2015 Book Challenge, one of the very popular features of the website. Others pointed to the book recommendations, something that Goodreads and parent company Amazon have prided themselves on, as one of the better uses for the app. The portability of an app like this is especially useful for book browsing and reading reviews on the go, especially as consumers make a concerted effort to shop in brick-and-morter and indie bookstores where reviews are less available. The app is currently available for download from the Google Play and Amazon app stores.
Goodreads Unveils Newly Redesigned Android App is a post from: Good e-Reader |
422 Free Art Books Available to Download and Read Online
| The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers over 50 years of out-of-print publications on art history for free online. You can view the books with a web browser and download full copies as PDF files. The paperback and hardcover versions of some of these titles cost over a hundred dollars each. So being able to get […] |
Preordering is now live in Marketplace
| OverDrive is happy to announce that support for Preorders in OverDrive Marketplace is now available for all libraries and schools, including consortia. Now, your library's digital collection has another reason to be the first stop for the hottest pre-release titles. With Preorders, you won't miss any big releases. This highly requested feature allows libraries and schools to preorder titles as many as 6 months ahead of the "street date" (date available to the public). Users can then place holds on Preorder titles on your public-facing site, and they will be among the first to enjoy new releases as soon as they become available on the street date. OverDrive worked with several librarians during the development process to assure that this new feature provided real benefits for selectors. Monty Masseurs, Collection Development librarian of Wellington City Libraries said, "We have many selectors choosing eBooks and audiobooks from OverDrive and having the ability to differentiate between Preorders and currently available titles in carts makes a lot of sense. It'll definitely help our team to track their monthly expenditure which is always of value." In Marketplace, Preorder titles are designated by a distinct Preorder font color with prominent messaging so they can be easily spotted. You can add Preorder titles to your cart, and when the cart is "purchased", the titles will be available on your site (for holds only) but your library will not be invoiced until the street date. Carts provide a convenient total for Preorder titles separate from the rest of the cart. Please note, the metadata (including price) for Preorder titles may change prior to the street date. 
At launch, we will begin with a segment of our catalog, including the Big 5 publishers among others, and additional publishers will be added in the following months. To help you identify and gather data on Preorder titles, the following reports have been updated: Collection Statistics, Current Waiting List, Library Statistics, and Purchase Order History. You will also find the following lists of the hottest Preorders featured in the Marketplace "Must Haves" for your convenience. Hottest Books (most popular next six months) http://bit.ly/1Ey4Yu4 Hottest Books of April http://bit.ly/1FLtrJq Hottest Books of April (Kids & Teens) http://bit.ly/1BKUYXd Hottest Books of May http://bit.ly/1C4FjIW Hottest Books of May (Kids & Teens) http://bit.ly/1BnR7Up Hottest Books of June http://bit.ly/1FGXLoy Hottest Books of June (Kids & Teens) http://bit.ly/1bqCIgF Hottest Books of July http://bit.ly/1C7OPbg Hottest Books of July (Kids & Teens) http://bit.ly/1DbIZsj Hottest Books of August http://bit.ly/1BKR28R Hottest Books of August (Kids & Teens) http://bit.ly/1b1ZqeT Hottest Books of Fall http://bit.ly/1FL9a6J Hottest Books of Fall (Kids & Teens) http://bit.ly/1Fg3zHJ If you have any questions on how to work with Preorders, please contact your OverDrive Collection Specialist. |
White Kindles Making a Comeback
| Amazon has started offering a white version of the current basic entry-level Kindle in China and Japan. The new white Kindle is available on a pre-order basis from Amazon.co.jp and Amazon.cn, and will be released on April 8th. It’s considerably odd that the white variation is only available in China and Japan. Usually any new […] |
MagPi Issue 32 – out now!
| In case you hadn’t noticed, Issue 32 of The MagPi, the Raspberry Pi magazine, came out at the end of last week – and we think it’s terrific. This month’s issue is packed with tutorials, reviews, features about your Pi projects, and much more. As always, you’ll find lots and lots of content from the Pi community. Build an IoT door lock with Dr Simon Monk! See if Willem Koopman can gurn so extravagantly that Open CV won’t recognise his face as a face! Dr Sam Aaron will walk you through some Sonic Pi tips and tricks, and we continue the series on writing games in Python. You can win a Raspberry Pi model A+; learn about some of the Raspberry Pi crowdfunding projects that shot for the moon (and find out which ones missed); and have an in-depth look at our distributed weather station project, the work Naturebytes is doing with the Pi, UNICEF’s Raspberry Pi work with Syrian refugees, and much, much more. As always the MagPi is a free download. (If you’d like to support us by buying a copy on Google Play or the Apple App Store so you can use the magazine on your tablet, we’d be really grateful – but we are committed to making sure a PDF will always be available for free.) This is Russell Barnes’ second month as editor; we think he’s doing an amazing job. Head over to www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/ to get your copy!
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Check out the latest Teen & YA titles available through OverDrive!
| This month, the Kids & Teens edition of our eHighlights catalog has a mix of exciting new titles, as well as some reissued classics that would both fit wonderfully into your existing collection.
Nickelodeon titles have recently been added to OverDrive to include the best from SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer, among other reader favorites. Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen is a can’t-miss read for teens and Susan Casey’s Women Heroes of the American Revolution is a wonderful title to add diversity and history to the reading list for ages 12 and up. Georg Rauch's Unlikely Warrior describes Rauch's efforts to help Jews escape from Vienna until he is drafted to the Nazi army, despite his admission that he is of Jewish descent. This book for ages 12 and up shares the details of his harrowing journey. Dive in to another month of fantastic books and stay tuned for upcoming editions featuring Adult fiction and nonfiction, as well as streaming video!
Emma Kanagaki is a Collection Development Analyst with OverDrive |
Amazon Announces New Ivory White Kindle
| Amazon has been fixated on piano black e-readers and tablets since the Kindle Keyboard. This mentality is apparently changing with the advent of a new ivory white edition of the Kindle Basic Touch. The new e-reader is now available for pre-order for ￥499.00 and the initial batch will be sent out by April 8th. The ivory white variant of the Kindle Basic Touch will released in China to begin with. This is the first time Amazon has changed the color on an e-reader since 2011, so its a bit of a big deal. We have heard from a source that Amazon has just filed a mystery device with the FCC. This could potentially be the white edition of the Kindle so Amazon can sell it in the United States. The Kindle Basic Touch came out in November 2014 and it is the first entry level model to include a touchscreen. It features a six inch display with a resolution of 800 x 600 at 167 ppi. The touchscreen technology is using Infrared, courtesy of Neonode. The fonts and overall screen clarity have been dramatically increased and in a head to head comparison with the Kindle Paperwhite 2, Basic surpassed it in many ways. Underneath the hood is a 1 GHZ Freescale processor and 512 MB of RAM. Amazon has doubled up the amount of internal memory from 2 GB on prior models of the basic model to 4 GB. This in effect gives you the ability to store more books and PDF files.
Amazon Announces New Ivory White Kindle is a post from: Good e-Reader |
