Linebaugh Library Techblog

Pootling around the Raspberry Pi forums late last night, I found something that rightfully shouldn’t exist. It’s a two-player chess game for the Pi – nothing so unusual there – written in assembly language, with no OS. Which is highly unusual.

Xu Ji, one of the three Imperial College students who wrote this piece of…bravura showing-off, had this to say in the forums:

My two friends and myself have successfully written a chess game for the Pi. It’s a graphical game with a colourful chess board, so we interface with the GPU and whatnot, and we do it all in assembly without an OS running on it.

We actually wrote the assembler too (in fact this was the actual assignment for the project), but it was based on the ARM7 assembler so it’s probably compatible with official assemblers (although we have not tested this).

It is due to the fact that we ourselves wrote the assembler (in C) and we only had 2 weeks for this that we only support a limited number of instructions in (our version of) assembly language. For example we are forced to use labels for variable names.

The game is written to replace kernel.img inside the OS and is about 15 thousand lines.

We thought some people may find the chess game interesting as a project, and it may inspire others to try writing games in assembly, so we are posting the link to the repo here:

https://github.com/xu-ji/assembly_chess/

Given our restrictive language we didn’t think we’d make it, but somehow it actually works…

It really does, too. Here are Xu Ji, Bora Mollamustafaoglu and Gun Pinyo, giving a storming demo. We hope you got top marks for this, guys: you totally deserve it.

If you’d like to learn more about assembly language, we highly recommend that you get your Pi out and start working through Baking Pi, a course developed last year by Alex Chadwick at the University of Cambridge, which will take you from knowing nothing at all to being able to build a simple operating system on the Pi. You can read more about Baking Pi here.

How cool is Image Comics?

So cool they have their own comics convention, the Image Expo, which happened today in San Francisco. And the big digital-comic news to come out of that event is that Image is now selling digital comics straight to consumers from their website as direct downloads. The comics are available in several formats—PDF, ePub, and the comics-specific CBR and CBZ.

Both comiXology and Comics Plus carry Image comics, but readers who buy from those services can only read their comics if they are logged in to an enabled device. Many readers feel they don’t really own the comics under those circumstances. Many comics benefit from the exposure of being on a multi-publisher app or storefront, but Image has built an impressive audience with titles like The Walking Dead and Saga and may be gambling that those readers will take the time to seek them out on the new platform. And while direct downloads offer readers the advantage of DRM-free files they can share or move from one device to another, they also offer the publisher a way to sell comics without sharing part of the price with a third party.

Kiel Phegley of Comic Book Resources got some more details from Image director of business development Ron Richards. Image will start with newer comics and gradually fill in the backlist. As on comiXology, the comics will be priced at full cover price for the first month of their release and then the price will drop.

Richards feels that digital comics sales complement sales of print comics, and that many digital customers simply don’t live near a comics shop, so there is no danger that digital sales will cannibalize print. He also said that many fans, especially less tech-savvy readers, will most likely stay with comiXology and Comics Plus, and that’s fine. “I think there are people who are loyal comiXology users who have built up a collection there, and they can continue to do that,” he said. “We’re not ceasing any agreements or partnerships with comiXology or iVerse or Apple or Amazon.”

What about the very thing that DRM was created to prevent—piracy? Richards isn’t worried, “Our thought on piracy is that the only content hurt by piracy is bad content. Look at the example of ‘Game of Thrones’ on HBO. That is the most torrented television show on the internet right now, and it’s also HBO’s highest-selling DVD set. Clearly, people are pirating it, sampling it and going, ‘I want that for my DVD collection now.’ If that’s happening, it’s happening. You’re never going to fight it. You’re never going to stop it all. But if people pirate a bad comic book, they’re going to stop pirating it — and they’re going to stop buying it, too.”

While Image doesn’t have a dedicated digital-first program like DC, this week does see the launch of their first digital-first comic, Warren Ellis and Jason Howard’s Scatterlands, which was originally published as a webcomic. “It’s clear that the stuff DC and Marvel have been experimenting with are successful, but for us it’s less about ‘Okay, we need to have a digital-first product. What can we do?’ and more about the fact that we want to have compelling content from good creators,” said Richards.

Image Comics Now Offers DRM-Free Downloads is a post from: E-Reader News

While here in Northeast Ohio we are enjoying summer with barbecues, graduation parties and baseball games, we can't forget that our partners in the Southern Hemisphere are in their winter season. Since many of our Southern Hemisphere partners come from Australia, and since I have never been there myself, I felt the need to do a bit of research (by the way, Australia's official tourism website, www.australia.com, is fantastic).

5 Things I Learned About Winter in Australia

Hiking and exploring are favorite winter-time activities since temperatures are normally mild. In Queensland and the Northern Territory the weather remains warm and dry, making these locations ideal for a vacation during school holiday.
If skiing or snowboarding is a winter necessity, Victoria and New South Wales offer plenty of locations for downhill adventures. Avid skiers also head to New Zealand for some fun on the slopes.
Over 12,000 species of wildflowers bloom in Western Australia from June through September.
Between May and November humpback whales travel north along the west and east coasts of Australia—a prime time for whale-watching!
Since Christmas occurs in the Australian summer, holiday festivities are plentiful during the winter. Yulefest in the Blue Mountains and the Fireside Festival in Canberra are perfect opportunities to get a taste of the holidays.

To read about hiking trails in Australia, check out Walks in Nature: Sydney and Walks in Nature: Melbourne—the maps are color-coded according to season! For additional information about whale-watching and holiday festivals (and to learn more about traveling in Australia) consider purchasing Lonely Planet's Australia or Discover Australia.

If you're in Australia and looking to engage your users this winter, why not start a Digital Book Club, or encourage your users to explore a new language, catch up on the classics, and read (or re-read!) the Harry Potter series? Our newly updated Marketing Kit has a plethora of resources for any of these winter-reading initiatives.

Do you live in Australia? What are you doing this winter to promote your digital library? In my opinion, winter in Australia sounds great—what other note-worthy winter events did my internet sleuthing not uncover?

Karen Jakubczak is an Account Specialist at OverDrive

Element14 recently held a competition for the best picture taken with the Raspberry Pi camera board. As it happens, we’d already featured the picture that won on Facebook and Google+: Dave Akerman, up to his usual very-high-jinks with more spacefaring balloons, managed to capture a pretty astonishing picture of Devon and Cornwall from the stratosphere. Today’s post is not about Dave’s picture, but here it is again for the historical record.

Click the picture to visit Dave’s blog post, explaining how a polystyrene raspberry ended up hovering in space over Devon.

The same picture, superimposed on Google Earth.

But enough about Dave; there’s lots about his flights here, and if you want to learn more you can go and have a look at his website, or check out our previous posts about his extraterrestrial Pis.

Element14′s competition could only have one winner. Which hurts my very soul, because we thought Mike Cook’s microscopy project was incredibly exciting. Emma, our office manager, who holds a PhD in entomology, has been all a-quiver with excitement about some of Mike’s pictures; I had never see the stuff that’s just behind the mouth of a blowfly before, but thanks to Mike I shall be having nightmares for decades to come. (Thanks also to Emma for the nightmares; my conversations with her about brain-altering parasites, prompted by this and by The Last of Us have been both fascinating and…lingering.)

Watch this video before you go any further.

I asked Mike to tell me a bit more about his setup. He says:

The lensman was an instrument produced by Science of Cambridge. I saw it years ago on Tomorrow’s World, about the same time as the launch of the original BBC Micro. I could not afford it then. About four years ago I wondered if eBay had one and I picked it up for about £30. It was an all green one which apparently was a special edition made for the Natural History Museum. Anyway when the Pi Camera arrived I built a mount for my telescope but what with there not being many planets in a good viewing position and it being mid summer I decided to try an make a mount for the Lensman Microscope instead. I used my home made milling machine to mill out two pieces of Lexan.

Mike’s home-made CNC milling machine. He’s that sort of guy.

Then I had to move a capacitor on the camera so I could get the bolt head in the board. Then I moved the LED to the back so it did not shine in the eye piece.

The Lensman gives 80X or 120X magnification, as well as several diffrent methods of illumination. I mainly used what is called dark field illumination for the shots I used.
The movie uses a pan effect to put a bit of movement into the stills.

Some of what you’re seeing is a couple of creatures Mike found in a pond near Wordsworth’s house in Grasmere (he named them Frank and Herbert). Other images you’re seeing are from the birdseed from his shed: Mike tells me that he thought what he was looking at was just dust, and he nearly jumped out of his skin on seeing it at 1080p on a 24-inch screen.

If you’re finding Mike’s name strangely familiar, it’s because he’s one of my childhood heros, and the author of Body Building with Mike Cook from Micro User Magazine back in the 80s. Of more relevance to people working with Pis today, he’s also co-author of Raspberry Pi for Dummies – you can read our review of the book, which we think is rather excellent, here.

If you’re at the London Maker Faire in Elephant and Castle this weekend, we’ll be there (Rob Bishop and Rachel, who you’ll read more about later this week will, at any rate); Mike will also be in attendance, so please go and say hi to him for me.

As our first month of summer comes to an end, we welcome in July: a month of barbeques, fireworks, blockbusters, and exciting new books to enjoy by the pool. Look for these hot new titles to be added to OverDrive Marketplace this summer:

This Man Confessed by Jodi Ellen Malpas

The stunning conclusion to the This Man Trilogy!

The Manor, the very place where their passionate love affair began, fills with guests on what should be the happiest day of Ava and Jesse’s lives. She has accepted that she’ll never tame the fierceness in Jesse-and she doesn’t want to. Their love is profound, their connection powerful, but just when she thinks that she’s finally gotten beneath his guarded exterior, more questions arise, leading Ava to believe that Jesse Ward may not be the man she thinks he is. He knows too well how to take her to a place beyond ecstasy . . . but will he also drive her to the brink of despair? It’s time for this man to confess.

The Bat by Jo Nesbo

Before Harry took on the neo-Nazi gangs of Oslo, before he met Rakel, before The Snowman tried to take everything he held dear, he went to Australia. Harry Hole is sent to Sydney to investigate the murder of Inger Holter, a young Norwegian girl, who was working in a bar. Initially sidelined as an outsider, Harry becomes central to the Australian police investigation when they start to notice a number of unsolved rape and murder cases around the country. The victims were usually young blondes. Then a circus performer is brutally murdered followed by yet another young woman. Harry is in a race against time to stop highly intelligent killer, who is bent on total destruction.

"Like Larsson’s, his novels are maddeningly addictive: be prepared for more whirlwind rides through those unpronounceable Scandinavian street names.”
—Vanity Fair

"A first-rate whodunit…. A twisty, fast-paced concoction stocked with ample red herrings…. This origin tale is both a groundbreaking operation and a sumptuous, satisfying meal."

—Winnipeg Free Press

Unseen: A Novel by Karin Slaughter

Will Trent is a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent whose latest case has him posing as Bill Black, a scary ex-con who rides a motorcycle around Macon, Georgia, and trails an air of violence wherever he goes. But undercover and cut off from the support of the woman he loves, Sara Linton, Will finds his demons catching up with him. Although she has no idea where Will has gone, or why, Sara herself has come to Macon because of a cop shooting: Her stepson, Jared, has been gunned down in his own home. Furious, Sara finds herself involved in the same case that Will is working without even knowing it, and soon danger is swirling around both of them.

In a novel of fierce intensity, shifting allegiances, and shocking twists, two investigations collide with a conspiracy straddling both sides of the law. Karin Slaughter's latest is both an electrifying thriller and a piercing study of human nature: what happens when good people face the unseen evils in their lives.

"Karin Slaughter is one of the best crime novelists in America."—The Washington Post

"Crime fiction at its finest."—Michael Connelly

"An absolute master."—Chicago Tribune

"Slaughter will have you on the edge of your seat."—Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Stay tuned for more new titles added later this month!

*Titles may vary by geographic location

Rob Mooney is a Collection Development Specialist at OverDrive

So often we see reports in the news that are difficult to fathom. Sometimes we hear about, and even experience, these stories from being all too familiar with bullying, teen suicide, eating disorders, and many others. Being a former instructor of writing, I will never forget the stories my students were brave enough to share and the issues they were strong enough to overcome.

We hear stories about topics like these every day and at one point or another, most of us have come into contact with something that is so mind blowing, so heart wrenching, we can never forget it. Moreover, these topics aren't exclusive to schools, suburban communities, or inner city districts – they're universal, HUMAN issues. Often teens and children are reluctant to talk about their problems – or feel like discussion and intervention will only lead to more trouble. In my opinion, the important thing is to in whatever way possible, let the person suffering know that he or she is not alone.

OverDrive has created a list of titles all dealing with these tough subjects. The topics range from teen pregnancy, drug abuse, addiction, coming out, bullying, suicide, and so many others.

Titles in this collection include:

Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher

"Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker—his classmate and crush—who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah’s voice explains that there are thirteen reasons she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out why."

Butter, Erin Jade Lange

"A lonely 423-pound boy everyone calls “Butter” is about to make history. He’s going to eat himself to death live on the Internet – and everyone will watch. When he makes this announcement online, he expects pity, insults, or possibly sheer indifference. Instead, his classmates become morbid cheerleaders for his deadly plan. But as their dark encouragement grows, a few voices begin to offer genuine support and Butter starts to have doubts."

See You at Harry's, Jo Knowles

"Twelve-year-old Fern feels invisible. It seems as though everyone in her family has better things to do than pay attention to her: Mom (when she’s not meditating) helps Dad run the family restaurant; Sarah is taking a gap year after high school, and Holden pretends that Mom and Dad and everyone else doesn’t know he’s gay, even as he fends off bullies at school. If it wasn’t for Ran, Fern’s calm and positive best friend, there’d be nowhere to turn."

We hope that libraries and schools can use these titles to reach those who need help. We also encourage you to ask your account specialist to provide you with the preview function in Marketplace so that you can read and examine the different titles available.

Stories unite us. They make the terrifying and awful seem a little less so. By reading about the experiences of others, we can attempt to make sense of our own feelings, and we learn that hopelessness can be overcome.

Kate Seivertson is a Collection Development Analyst at OverDrive

Your free copy of The MagPi, the magazine created by the Raspberry Pi community, is available from today.

This month’s cover star is the camera board; there’s an article from our very own JamesH, who has contributed a huge amount of work to the development of the board, and talks new users through the device. (He’s also extremely modest, and seems to have written the whole thing without mentioning that he worked on it, let alone that we simply wouldn’t have a camera board without him.) JamesH will continue with a second piece on the camera board next month, with more advanced users in mind; if you follow what he’s writing about this month you should be well-prepared for August’s article! I have promised James his choice of drinks for the evening later this week to thank him for all the work on this article – if you’ve got questions for him, leave them below and I’ll pass them on.

There’s lots of hardware besides the camera board to talk about this month: you’ll find a beginner’s tutorial using Python on the Pi to control the famously inexpensive Maplin robot arm, which makes a great starter project for budding roboticists wanting to get their heads around some of the basic concepts of physical computing. For advanced users, there’s the first part of a new input/output processor project, and Derek Campbell walks you through building your own Guzunty, a DIY expansion board. If you built the Pi Matrix from an earlier issue, you’ll learn more about controlling the individual LEDs as well as columns and lines of lights.

If you’re interested in setting up a Raspberry Pi event for families, there’s a article from Dr Mike Bartley and Caroline Higgins, who set up the Bristol Raspberry Pi Boot Camp. The Boot Camps are becoming very popular; there are events of all kinds popping up now, with Raspberry Jams, Raspberry Pint meetups, and much more, so you’re bound to be able to find a template that suits you if you fancy organising something yourself.

On the software side, there’s a continuation of the Charm tutorials, a piece on Java for beginners, and more advanced Python.

This is a packed issue; our huge thanks, as usual, to the MagPi team, who are all volunteers. Congratulations are also due to the MagPi folk for getting their binders full of the first year’s magazines out to their Kickstarter supporters; we’ve got a few of the binders in the office, and they’re really professional-looking bits of kit.

And please check out the ad on page 20; when you buy swag from us, you’re donating directly to the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and helping us to train teachers, and get Pis and learning materials into the hands of kids.

In celebration of Canada Day (Today!), we wanted to spotlight some of the extraordinary literature being produced by our neighbors up north. Here are ten exceptional titles by Canadian authors—a very small sampling of all the CanLit available in OverDrive Marketplace—from some of Canada's best-known writers as well as a few up-and-coming literary stars.

The Antagonist by Lynn Coady
Lynn Coady got her start early, publishing her critically acclaimed first novel in her twenties and earning the Canadian Authors Association's award for best writer under thirty. Her fifth and latest novel, The Antagonist, was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was described by the National Post as "a readable, quixotic coming-of-age story, a comedy of very bad manners, and a thoughtful inquiry into the very nature of self."

Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith by Andrew Preston
This expertly woven account of how religion has shaped American foreign policy won Andrew Preston the prestigious Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction in 2013. "A sharp, clear, deeply researched examination . . . a frank, exhaustive, marvelously readable study." –Kirkus Reviews

Journey with No Maps by Sandra Djwa
Sandra Djwa's extensively researched biography of beloved Canadian poet P.K. Page was also a finalist for the 2013 Charles Taylor Prize. Fellow Canadian poet Rosemary Sullivan called it "a fitting tribute to one of our greatest poets . . . an illuminating portrait of Canadian cultural life in the latter half of the twentieth century."

Time Lord by Clark Blaise
Clark Blaise was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for his lifetime contributions to Canadian letters, including his international bestseller Time Lord, a fascinating nonfiction account of how the world adopted standardized time.

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
This novel, the second book in the dystopian MaddAddam Trilogy, is the latest from Margaret Atwood, one of Canada's most renowned writers. The first in the trilogy, Oryx and Crake, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The third and final installment, MaddAddam, is slated for publication in August 2013.

The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje
This is the most recent novel by Michael Ondaatje, the celebrated Canadian author perhaps best known for The English Patient. The Cat's Table, the story of a young boy on a solitary sea voyage, was hailed by the Globe and Mail as "a completely original orchestration of a coming-of-age story, memoir, maritime adventure as powerful as Conrad or Stevenson."

Dear Life by Alice Munro
Dear Life is the latest, and perhaps the last, collection of stories from one of the greatest short-story writers of all time.

Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler
Barney's Version (1997) was the last novel published by acclaimed author and screenwriter Mordecai Richler before he died. This book is the fictional memoir of Barney Panofsky, who attempts to set his life story straight after being slandered by a one-time friend. "The book is always hilarious, but the humor is sharpened by the psychological accuracy/honesty and the richness of detail; in short, this is one well-written book." –Library Journal

The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary by Andrew Westoll
Journalist Andrew Westoll's account of life at a chimp sanctuary was awarded the 2012 Charles Taylor Prize. As Temple Grandin put it, "this book will make you think deeply about our relationship with great apes."

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Life of Pi, the tale of a boy and a tiger lost at sea after a shipwreck, won the 2001 Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and enjoyed renewed popularity after the movie version came out in 2012. This deeply moving and reflective novel, which claims to be "a story that will make you believe in God," has cemented its place as a modern classic.

Carrie Smith is a Technical Writer at OverDrive.

Kobo is running an unadvertised sale on the Kobo Glo through July 2nd at midnight. Instead of having to pay the usual $129, you can get it for $99 with promo code GL625 when ordered from Kobo.com. The catch is it is for US residents only (if you live in Canada you can still get [...]

There’s a special edition of the popular ereading app for Android called Moon+ Reader Pro that is available for free today only thanks to a promotion over at AppGratis, which gives away free paid apps everyday. Normally Moon+ Reader Pro sells for $4.99, so this is a good time to get it even if you’re [...]

Shop e-Readers has announced today that it has reached a new agreement with the Okanagan College to carry e-readers in its campus bookstore. Starting immediately, at the main branch in Kelowna, the Amazon Kindle Fire HD and Kindle e-Reader will be available for students to purchase. The new e-reader demo area will provide diligent young scholars with the ability to play with the devices and get information to aid in a buying decision.

Carla Macfarlane, General Merchandise Buyer, OC Campus Store, said, “Okanagan College Campus Store is excited to partner with Shop e-Readers, to provide students and staff with e-readers and tablets and digital content for them. We are looking forward to a successful relationship and expanding our line in the near future!”

Eric Johnson, Sales Director at Shop e-Readers, said, “We are very excited to offer students the latest generation Kindle tablets and e-readers at Okanagan College. It is important that Canadian students have access to the most cutting edge technology to enhance their education.”

Shop e-Readers currently deals with a number of universities and campus bookstores all over Canada. Okanagan College joins the University of British Columbia, Langara, University of Victoria, and Simon Fraser University in offering e-readers and tablets to the general student body.

Shop e-Readers and Okanagan College Deliver Amazon e-Readers to Students is a post from: E-Reader News

The issue of ebook piracy, or digital piracy in any form, is the topic of many debates all over the world. Within these discussions, it is generally concluded that those aiding in piracy are considered equal partners in the crime. One such site that does not have a clean record is BookOS.org, which many accuse of having a large number of pirated ebooks in its collection. The site, which claims itself to be the largest ebook library in the world, is also reported to have been down once, though it seems it’s back to business as usual.

Needless to say, the author community is up in arms against the site and they have a valid reason to do so. If their works are pirated and sold or doled out for free, the authors are deprived of their livelihood. Authors typically are paid a percentage (which can be up to 40%) of the sale from their ebook or agree to a flat fee from the publisher which will remain fixed regardless of the number of books sold. The latter is generally applicable to the more renowned authors, and while they are less prone to suffer from piracy as far as their livelihood is concerned, those that depend on royalties are the ones that suffer losses if their works end up being pirated.

Now imagine their surprise as authors discover their ebooks listed at bookos.org without their knowledge or consent. Bookos.org does have a provision for authors to have the links to their books removed, if they report it, although there have been many instances of ebooks coming back online again. A Facebook campaign called “Shut BookOS Down“ is also underway, though it only has a paltry 62 likes. The Facebook crusade seems to be working, however, due to constant pestering, which has forced BookOS to vastly limit its Facebook presence. In any case, BookOS still has managed to garner over 18k likes.

As for the users, they don't have anything to complain as long as they have their books delivered completely free. It can be hard to remain ethical, especially when it can be about saving a few hundred dollars. Opinions are divided throughout, and some believe it's only a book that is priced too high that runs the risk of being pirated. Tor Books UK, a publisher of science fiction and fantasy, ran an experiment in which they stripped all copy protection from their books for a year. They claim this did not lead to any remarkable increase in piracy for any of their titles.

However, in the end, what must kept in mind is that the author community runs the risk of being eroded in the digital age, where piracy is widely accepted. When a pirate website has more Likes than the site trying to shut it down, we have problems. When it comes to the success of BookOS, who is responsible for shutting it down? The publishers? Authors? Users? Pirate websites like this thrive when users refuse to pay for content, and in the end, authors suffer the most.

BookOS Accused of eBook Piracy is a post from: E-Reader News

The British publisher 2000AD has upped their game by adding Judge Dredd Megazine to their iOS Newsstand app, along with a major revamp that makes their comics easier to find and sort.

When I first took a look at the app, last November, I found it to be “pretty basic”—really, just a grid of comics that you can buy, arranged in numerical order, and a subscription page. The new app is a bit more sophisticated, with a store page that sorts the comics by title and publication year. You still can’t preview individual comics, but there are two good-sized freebies, a 69-page sampler issue and a 12-page prequel to the Judge Dredd movie. The update also brings in two features that have become fairly standard in digital comics apps: Bookmarking and panel zoom. (Since the app is available for the iPhone as well as iPad, the latter feature is really not optional.)

The biggest change, though, is the addition of Judge Dredd Megazine, a monthly magazine that is a thicker, richer version of 2000AD. The mix of stories usually includes some old and new Judge Dredd, creator interviews and other feature content, and a complete 64-page graphic novel drawn from the 2000AD archives.

I have been a fan of 2000AD since I jumped on with their Prog 1824, which featured four new stories. 2000AD is a great action comic that presents interesting characters in extreme situations without falling into the two greatest pitfalls of American superhero comics, sexism and overly complicated continuity and crossovers. The women in the comics I have read have all been sexy, but they are also smart, fully rounded characters who really move the story forward, and the stories themselves tend to be fairly short and self-contained. It’s easy to start reading 2000AD, but it’s not so easy to stop.

The app solves the biggest problem with these two comics, which has been distribution—the fan base has been limited for years by the fact that the print comics tend to show up irregularly in brick-and-mortar shops weeks after their UK publication date. The digital issues come out the same week as the UK versions, and at $2.99 for an issue of 2000AD (which is a weekly) and $7.99 for the much thicker Megazine, the prices are reasonable, although they can add up. The subscription shaves a bit off the cover price and also includes some back issues.

Judge Dredd Megazine Comes to the iPad is a post from: E-Reader News

Travelers who have spent much time in this air can probably recite the intercom warnings verbatim, reminding passengers that it is against Federal Aviation Association restrictions to use portable electronic devices during certain portions of the flight, namely during take-off and landing. Some airlines’ announcements go so far as to list specific products by name, such as Kindles, Nooks, or iPads, in an effort to make guarantee that passengers were aware of precisely which devices are in question. Interestingly, travelers are informed that the devices must be physically stowed in the carry-on bag and not left in the seat pocket, presumably because the device–which incidentally is the same size or smaller than the stash of magazines and catalogs in that very same seat pocket–can be ejected from the pocket and injure someone.

For Senator Claire McCaskill (D), this isn’t good enough. And in her role as chairman of Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, which presides over both aviation and communications policy, it is her job to be kept well-informed of the safety policies for airline travel and their justifications. Only there hasn’t been a justification.

McCaskill has been arguing with various agencies for several years now about the restrictions on portable device use during air travel, not in an attempt to brush aside the potential dangers caused by any interference with the aircraft’s finely tuned controls, but because no one has come forward with any evidence that such interference even exists.

This week, McCaskill’s office released a statement announcing that the FAA may soon lift much of the current restrictions on in-flight device use, and the Senator had following statement for the announcement:

"It's good to see the FAA may be on the verge of acknowledging what the traveling public has suspected for years—that current rules are arbitrary and lack real justification. In the meantime, I'll continue my effort to have these regulations rigorously examined until scientific evidence has been presented to justify them, or the rules are altered."

In her capacity as chairman, McCaskill has maintained that restrictions to protect consumers should be in place if the evidence supports the cautionary measures, but no evidence has been provided that tablets, e-readers, or cell phones are potential threats to passenger safety.

Restrictions on In-Flight Devices May Soon Be Relaxed is a post from: E-Reader News

One of the reasons many believe the Android Key Lime Pie release is being pushed back is to allow manufacturers more time to upgrade to the latest iteration of Android Jelly Bean. However, in some cases, even previous versions of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich or Gingerbread, are still being in used. The precise figures are illustrated in a pie chart released by Google.

Now Apple has now joined the ranks and has come up with a pie chart of its own, which shows the usage pattern of different iOS versions. What is immediately apparent is the overall simplicity of it. Revealed at the WWDC event, it depicts just three versions, with iOS 6 overwhelming being used by 93% of devices. A minuscule 6% have still remained faithful to iOS 5, which was released in 2011, while an even smaller fraction of 1% have kept to versions 4 and older. This basically shows that Apple users do not have a major issue with updating to the latest and greatest operating system updates.

Unfortunately, Android reports a vast majority, 36.5% of their users, are still stuck with Gingerbread, the version Google had launched more than 2 years ago. What is evident is that about two-thirds of Android users are lagging behind Jelly Bean, which is still being used by 33%. One main factor that Google charts don’t dive into is taking into account the devices that don’t have access to Google Play. Tablets such as the Kindle Fire and many devices originating from China are not officially licensed.

Apple Reveals Pie Chart Showing iOS Usage is a post from: E-Reader News

radio-stream
Welcome to another exciting edition of the Good e-Reader Radio Show! We are joined today by Jeremy Greenfield of Digital Book World. Every Friday, we will be bringing you the latest industry news on e-Readers, eBooks and Digital Publishing.

Today, we talk about the Justice Department case against Apple and how it will all play out. We also discuss Barnes and Noble, in regards to their latest slashing of hardware prices in the UK and US. Kobo has also lowered the entry level price on the Kobo Mini. A firestorm erupted this week with the recent commentary on Good e-Reader on self-publishing and eBook discovery. Jeremy contributes his unique perspective and makes some excellent suggestions. Finally, Digital Book World recently had a Women in Publishing event in New York, he sums up what exactly transpired. This is a great show as always, so check it out.

Good e-Reader Radio Show – with Jeremy Greenfield of Digital Book World is a post from: E-Reader News

The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards got a bit of a facelift this year, with one winner being selected from each of the separate categories, a new feature for the awards. Following the selection of each winner, one grand prize winner was also selected. This year’s grand prize winner, young adult category top author Rysa Walker, spoke to GoodEReader about her publishing journey and what this year’s round of awards meant to her and potentially to authors everywhere.

“This has been an incredible year. I entered hoping I would get to the point where I just got the Publisher’s Weekly review. I didn’t think about much beyond that,” explained Walker of the entry process. “The contest came by at a wonderful time.”

Walker’s young adult book, Timebound, was originally self-published last year and will now go on to be overseen by a team of people who will work to re-release the book this fall, along with the books written by Walker’s fellow category winners.

“I self-published because the traditional publishing industry wasn’t working for me. I tried for a year to get attention from an agent and in almost every case I didn’t even get an email back from them saying why they weren’t interested or even that they’d gotten my email with the attached file.” Walker attributes this lack of attention from the fact that the agents would often reply wanting more information about her background, and discover that she had published non-fiction in her field and feared that pigeon-holing her as an author might be behind the lack of notice.

“I feel like I’m putting my baby in the competent hands of a nurturing nanny, leaving me more time to continue to write,” said Walker of the process by which her book will now be published by Amazon Publishing’s Skyscape imprint, addressing one of the reasons other hybrid authors have given for accepting a traditional publishing deal that does result in relinquishing a significant portion of the royalties to the publisher. Walker’s advance, won as result of the ABNA awards, will afford her the opportunity to focus more on the planned novella and subsequent sequel.

Walker spoke about the benefits of this year’s updated format for the awards event this year, indicating that this was the first year that all of the winners were brought together at a ceremony in Seattle for the announcement of the grand prize winner. Each of the category winners was awarded a $15,000 advance and a publishing contract with the correct imprint from Amazon Publishing.

“I’m so glad that it was this year that I entered, because I could look out at the people that I had just had dinner with and know that everyone was leaving a winner. Any one of their books could do just as well as or better than mine, because their books are going to be out there and they’re going to have a chance to actually succeed.”

ABNA Winner Rysa Walker on her Publishing Journey is a post from: E-Reader News

The prices of Android tablets just keeps falling lower and lower all the time. Getting a 7-inch tablet for $99 used to be a good deal, but not anymore. E FUN is taking it to a new level of cheapness with the Nextbook Premium 7SE-8GP, which sells at Walmart for $69. It basically has the [...]

It’s big, it’s orange, and it’s on the move. Branded with the iconic Penguin logo and orange color scheme, a food truck-sized vehicle is making its way around the country, selling books and promoting the Penguin family of titles.

“The Penguin Book Truck was inspired by several things,” said John Fagan, Vice President & Director of Marketing at Penguin, in a blog post announcing the launch of the vehicle. “Back in 2010 when we celebrated the 75th Anniversary of Penguin Books, we acquired and designed the Penguin Car, a Mini-Cooper, painted Penguin Orange, with our famous brand all over it. The car was a great hit, visiting some of our most prominent authors in their hometowns across the U.S., and hosting anniversary celebrations at their local bookstores.”

The Book Truck made its debut at the recent BookExpo America conference, and from there will go on a national tour to cities such as Chicago for the ALA Conference, Hartford, Connecticut, for Tom Sawyer Day, and more. The truck will also be on the road to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Grapes of Wrath by traveling from Oklahoma to California on the same route that carried the historically famous Okie migrants during the Dust Bowl era.

Other stops on the book truck tour will Sallisaw, OK; Oklahoma City, OK; Canyon, TX; Albuquerque, NM; Flagstaff, AZ; Bakersfield, CA. For a complete look at the cities and the planned dates, as well as updates from the Book Truck’s travels, follow the truck on Twitter at @PenguinBkTruck.

Penguin Book Truck Takes Off on US Road Trip is a post from: E-Reader News

Many of the worlds leading publishers are now seeing 25% of their entire book sales stem from digital content. This figure should dramatically increase in the next few years and the traditional bookstores are fighting for their lives. One thing that might draw customers back into the fold is the art of book stacking.

In Japan, book stacking is taking the country by storm. With all of the manga and comic shops, it takes a fair bit to get noticed. This has prompted the industry to try and outdo each other with solid book display designs. People are flocking to the bookstores in record numbers to check out the new ways artists are stacking books.

The trend of stacking books is going viral on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. A movement is taking shape with who can take the best pictures of the displays, and often are buying the physical book as keep sake.

Book Display art is something that never took root in North America, as ergonomic design and the scientific approach, takes precedence over artistic sensibilities ability. Sure the odd boutique fashion store, goes the extra mile to really do up their front window, but bookstores themselves are static and uninspiring.

Book Stacking Techniques Taking Japan by Storm is a post from: E-Reader News

Linebaugh Library Techblog

Links

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Chess. Bare metal assembly language chess.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Image Comics Now Offers DRM-Free Downloads

Down Under: Winter in Australia

Mike-roscopy

3 Exciting titles coming in July!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Tough Topics for Teens: titles to help get them through

The MagPi issue 14, out today!

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Ten Titles to Celebrate Canadian Literature

Deal Alert: Kobo Glo for $99, Kindle Fire HD $169

Moon+ Reader Pro is Free Today Only via AppGratis

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Shop e-Readers and Okanagan College Deliver Amazon e-Readers to Students

BookOS Accused of eBook Piracy

Judge Dredd Megazine Comes to the iPad

Restrictions on In-Flight Devices May Soon Be Relaxed

Friday, June 21, 2013

Apple Reveals Pie Chart Showing iOS Usage

Good e-Reader Radio Show – with Jeremy Greenfield of Digital Book World

ABNA Winner Rysa Walker on her Publishing Journey

E FUN Launches 7″ Nextbook Tablet for $69, 8″ for $99, Both with Google Play

Monday, June 10, 2013

Penguin Book Truck Takes Off on US Road Trip

Book Stacking Techniques Taking Japan by Storm