| Amazon is developing a 12 inch variant of the fire tablet that will be released in limited quantities. Unlike the Kindle e-reader that is produced in ungodly quantities Amazon has only placed an order for 100,000 units a month for the 12 inch tablet. The large-size tablet’s panel is supplied by a Taiwan-based touch panel maker, sources have said. Although Amazon is estimated to be able to ship 4-5 million tablets in a year, most of them are 7- to 8-inch models, with their panels being supplied by China-based touch panel makers. Apple has been rumored to be developing a 12 inch iPad Pro for a number of years, but it has not come to fruition yet. I think Amazon could make a go out of a large screen tablet in order to watch content from Amazon Instant Video. |
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Amazon is Developing a 12 Inch Fire Tablet
Tablet Keyboard Cover With an E Ink Screen (Video)
| Here’s something a bit different. The Microsoft Applied Sciences Group has built a prototype of a keyboard cover for tablets that includes a secondary E Ink display that offers some unique new ways to use a tablet and help make productivity easier. It’s called the DisplayCover. It’s a new take on the two displays experiment. […] |
There’s something for everyone in our Back to School sale!
 As August starts to sundown into September and the back to school season kicks into high gear, it's time for librarians and educators to turn our attention to the great mission before us: engaging young readers. The voracious readers are easy, but how do you encourage the more reluctant ones? Or how do you support the regular readers by fostering their love of the written word? One of the best ways to capture the attention of readers of all levels and interests is by continually providing them more new content. This isn't just a job of school librarians. The public library serves an equally important role in the development of the community's children. Of course, we here at OverDrive are aware that there are always budget concerns to keep in mind and for that reason we’re excited to share with you some of the awesome things happening in our Back to School sale, which runs through the end of September. If one of the obstacles you find is that the kids and teens you work with don't want to read a book, consider encouraging them to give audiobooks a try or even a comic or graphic novel. For younger audiences there is a fantastic collection of Narrated eBooks which mom and dad will surely appreciate as it means they won't have to be the one to read the same book over and over again each night before bed time. This is also a chance to build your collection to meet the needs of community language speaking kids and to that end we have a Spanish Language list as well as Asian Content titles. For school librarians, consider seeing this as an opportunity to support the faculty and staff at your school thanks to the Teacher Essentials list which is full of professional development tools. We've also curated lists of STEM titles as well as Classroom Essentials and Novel Sets. Our Back to School sale features over 30,000 titles across multiple platforms and publishers with savings up to 50% off. Also, don't let the Back to School moniker stop you from really digging into the deals as there is a collection of fiction and non-fiction Adult titles on sale and our Australian partners, currently in the middle of their winter season, can stock up on Kids & Teen titles. Happy shopping!
Jill Grunenwald is a Collection Development Analyst with OverDrive  |
Amazon Discontinues the Fire TV
| Amazon has just discontinued selling their Fire TV media streaming box. You can no longer place an order on their US website and many European countries are also showing it as unavailable. It is likely that Amazon is in the process of developing a second generation model that has more internal memory. |
