| Amazon is in the process of launching its services in Russia and towards that, the retail giant has begun forging partnership with publishing houses to ensure it has enough ebooks to offer when it launches. The focus will be to offer ebooks initially though printed books too will be added to the catalogue at a later stage. Rosman, one of Russia's largest publishers of children's books has already been roped in to supply content when Amazon rolls out its service in that country. As publishingperspectives points out, it will be about 100 – 150 titles that will be on offer to begin with, that deals with 'reference, children's and YA titles'. The title count is expected to go up to twice the figure by the end of the year. Interestingly, Russians are already known to buy printed books worth millions of dollars from Amazon's overseas sites. Naturally, Russians will have a lot to save in reduced shipping costs once Amazon sets up shop in that country and begin offering printed books. What remains to be seen is how the US online retail giant copes up with the tyranny of Russian geography that is vast and equally varied, something that can easily be termed as a logistical nightmare. It is also this together with the lack of a pan Russian book sales network like Barnes &Noble that presents the perfect setting for ebooks to thrive, and as is evident elsewhere in the world, the digital version have already turned out to lure more readers than their printed counterparts. Amazon is known to have hired the services of former publisher of ABC-Atticus, Mr. Arkady Vitrukas to head its operations in Russia. Once launched, Amazon will be up against Litres who are the leading distributor of ebooks in the country. Meanwhile, Amazon is reported to be in discussion with several other domestic publishers though no other names are available as yet. Also not known is when Amazon is expected to launch its operation in Russia.
Amazon Russia To Launch Soon, eBook Contracts Being Negotiated Now is a post from: E-Reader News |
Friday, August 9, 2013
Amazon Russia To Launch Soon, eBook Contracts Being Negotiated Now
Google eTextbooks now Available via Play Books
| Google has just officially launched their new eTextbook rental and purchasing service in the USA. It does not currently have its own section, instead it is an integral part of Google Books. The new digital textbook section has offerings from most major publishers, such as Pearson, Wiley, Macmillian Higher Education, McGraw-Hill and Cengage Learning. The current textbooks only offer the ability to buy or rent, with only a handful allowing you to do both. Each edition as a free sample, that often covers a few chapters, to give you a sense on how the books look. When you purchase any digital edition, it is automatically delivered to you via the Google Books app. If the official e-reading app is not for you, there is a internet browser alternative and some even allow you to export it to your favorite reader, such as the Nook or Kobo. Google eTextbooks now Available via Play Books is a post from: E-Reader News |
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Viz Slashes Prices for Summer Manga Sale
| Viz’s summer sale has become an annual event, and it’s a good one: From now through September 5, all the manga on their digital service (web, iOS, Android) and on the Nook are on sale, up to 20% off the standard price (which starts at $4.99). That means there are a lot of manga you can read right now for $3.99 to $5.99. Bakuman: The ultimate manga about manga, Bakuman follows two would-be manga creators as they work their way up the ladder. They start out in high school, and it’s a bit manic, but this series really provides an interesting glimpse at the manga biz (some characters are supposedly based on real Shonen Jump editors) and the clean-lined art is a perfect fit with the subject matter. This book is by the team of Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba, who are also responsible for Death Note—another manga well worth checking out. Children of the Sea: A haunting and beautiful story of two boys who were raised at the bottom of the sea, and the ways that the sea and humans interact. Parts are like an adventure story, and parts are like folklore. The art is absolutely stunning. At $5.99 per volume, this one is a little pricey, but the volumes are 300 pages long and the series is only five volumes. Saturn Apartments: Splendidly drawn and cleverly thought out, this is a story about a ring-shaped apartment building that orbits the earth. The class structure of the apartments is defined by the physical space: Rich people live in the top level, and they are the healthiest because they have the greatest exposure to sunlight, while the poor and working classes live in darkness in the bottom level. The lead character, Mitsu, is a window washer who is one of the few who can travel between levels, and he and his compatriots see all sides of life in the complex. (The link is to a free preview.) Vampire Knight: We have to have a good shoujo manga in the mix, and Vampire Knight is a dark romance that really delivers the goods. It’s set in a special school that has a night class for vampires, and Yuki Cross is the only point of contact between the day and the night classes. There’s plenty of romance, melodrama, and angst in this splendid potboiler of a manga. Oishinbo: The ultimate Japanese foodie manga, Oishinbo is the story of a reporter on assignment to assemble a meal composed of Japan’s greatest foods. He takes his own sweet time about it, and each volume of this series is based on a specific type of food (except the first, which is a mix). Although there is a bit of a narrative thread—the reporter is the estranged son of a famous gourmet—each volume is a collection of self-contained short stories and can be read on its own. Viz Slashes Prices for Summer Manga Sale is a post from: E-Reader News |
Congratulations 2013 Digital Library Champions Contest Winners!
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The time has come to publicly congratulate our winners for the 2013 Digital Library Champions contest! Dozens of entries were submitted from library and school partners all over the world and 12 great semi-finalists were selected. The final winners were handpicked by members of the editorial staff at Library Journal, who graciously partnered with us to find the best of the best for this year's contest. Thank you Library Journal for your involvement!
As announced on stage during this year's Digipalooza, our winners are:
Online Oregon Digital Library Consortium – Jackson County Library Services (OR)
JCLS created a fun video to promote the Next Generation website design changes! Check it out on YouTube.
Inside the Library
With custom eBook handouts for patrons and several eReader Kits prepared for staff use during training classes, Hennepin has seen growing success with their digital collection. Their eReader Kits each include at least 6 popular tablets and eReaders; a laptop loaded with appropriate software and library card information; a practice guide for staff who need additional help; and adapters that allow the iPads to be used with a projector.
Outside the Library North Carolina Digital Library – High Point Public Library (NC)
To promote the library’s eBooks to new eReader and tablet owners, High Point Public Library provided complimentary gift boxes (with tissue paper, ribbon and gift tag included) that were perfect for wrapping up new devices. In the gift box, they included information on how to use the library’s digital resources and customized the information in the box based on the type of device being given. This popular campaign ran during the winter holidays and again around Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and graduation.
Test Drive Rapid City Public Library (SD)
In addition to eReader classes and displaying and loaning devices within the library, the Rapid City Public Libraries offers a homebound delivery service where patrons that are unable to travel to the library can have library materials delivered to their homes, including Sony eReaders through the Test Drive program.
Excellent eBook Educator (K-12 Schools/Colleges)
Frisco Independent School District did a big month long push to promote OverDrive in a district-wide effort during February 2012. A wide variety of displays, promotional videos, community events, contests, and classroom presentations boosted checkouts by 375% for the month. Each school tailored promotion efforts to their campus featuring different mascots, school specific incentives and more.
OverDrive Allstar Award (Grand Prize) Kenton County Public Library (KY)
The grand prize winner, Kenton County Public Library, introduced a new mascot that represented their digital resources. Their mascot KC was used across multiple platforms to promote their eBooks. Some examples of where KC popped up include their OverDrive website logo, Pinterest, Twitter, screens and displays inside of the library and on cards handed out in the community with information about their eBook collection.
All of the winners of this year's Digital Library Champions contest will receive content credit to build their digital collection; an Android tablet, including a protective case or cover; and a plaque, to display in their library or school to celebrate their win.
We're proud to honor these creative and effective marketing campaigns and look forward to sharing their ideas in future Librarian's Share blog posts. Congratulations again to our winners!
Melissa Marin is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive.
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Good e-Reader Radio Show – DOJ Apple News, Washington Post Sold and Sony eBook Changes
| Welcome to another edition of the Good e-Reader Radio Show! Today we have Good e-Reader editor in chief Michael Kozlowski talking to Jeremy Greenfield of Digital Book World! They discuss the proposed Justice Department terms that would see Apple losing 30% royalties on eBooks and everything else. Initially, when the publishers settled with the courts, as part of the disbanded agency pricing model, they were told it would be two years before they could revisit this sales model. The DOJ is proposing that it be extended to five years, which is ruffling feathers. In other news, Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon has purchased the Washington Post. Obviously, the newspaper industry is sagging right now and a fresh new direction could be in store very soon. The Washington Post is considered one of the most valued newspapers in America. Finally, Sony has launched pre-orders for eBooks and a bunch of new discovery engines, is it just a gimmick? The Good e-Reader Radio Show is a weekly broadcast that focuses on the trends and major news items of the digital publishing, eBook and e-Reader industry! Good e-Reader Radio Show – DOJ Apple News, Washington Post Sold and Sony eBook Changes is a post from: E-Reader News |
Final Chapters of Prizoner of Azkaban Released on Pottermore
| Pottermore, the free interactive website that invites Harry Potter fans to more fully explore the in-depth world of the boy wizard, announced recently that the final chapters of book three, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, are available for users to explore. Registered users get a street’s eye view of Harry’s world, including the prestigious Hogwarts school and Diagon Alley. But more than just the chapters are new on the fan site. The Pottermore designers unveiled a host of new features on the site to make the experience more engaging and fulfilling. Features like a status bar help users know if they have completed all of the possible explorations, fully-illustrated Moments give fans a whole new perspective on Harry’s life, and even a fully updated home page where users sign in creates a brand-new experience. Other features include previously unpublished background information on some of the author’s favorite characters, an interactive map to help users navigate the sections of the site that have already been discovered, a new top and side bar with user data, and more. fe One new feature that will potentially enhance the experience for a variety of users is the ability to comment on individual pages of the site. This level of sharing brings the experience to a whole new level, as users are able to interact with one another and discuss insights gleaned from their explorations. This update marks the first time since the departure of CEO Charlie Redmayne for a return to HarperCollins that Pottermore has unveiled this much new content. A more complete explanation of the new upgrades can be found on the Pottermore Insider blog.
Final Chapters of Prizoner of Azkaban Released on Pottermore is a post from: E-Reader News |
Overdrive Media Console Update to be Released August 20th
| Overdrive is putting the finishing touches on the largest singular update they have ever released for their Media Console. The entirely redesigned user experience focuses around taps and swipes. It also syncs bookmarks and reading progress across multiple devices using a free, opt-in registration service called OverDrive One. If you are a fan of audiobooks, there is a new veritable speed controller now, that will allow you to increase the speed in which a book is being read aloud. Finally, there is lots of new social media integration with GoodReads and other networks.
Overdrive Media Console Update to be Released August 20th is a post from: E-Reader News |
Flipkart Launches e-Platform For Aspiring Authors in India
| Online retailer Flipkart is out to woo debutant authors in India by announcing the launch of a new e-platform which will serve as a launch pad for authors in the country. This should be seen as a boon to the author community, and particularly the aspiring and to-be authors which in any case contribute about 30 percent of the entire publishing task undertaken in India. However, the benefits of such an effort are both ways as it's not only the authors who get to enjoy a worldwide launch of their literary works, but the portal too has much to earn (along with the authors too) from the sale of the ebooks. Also, such a development on part of Flipkart does make a lot of sense considering the steep popularity curve that ebooks have hit upon in India. Such a trend is attributed to the growing popularity of smart connected devices such as smartphones and tablet devices together with the ease that these devices provide for towards ebook reading. Interestingly, Flipkart holds a sway over 40 – 45 percent of the printed books market, something that could come under strain once ebook sales pick up. Printed books have been witnessing a decrease in its appeal with the emergence of ebooks and the same could be seen getting repeated in India as well in the long run. Publishers though have stated they are witnessing a rise in demand for printed books which they have attributed to the increasing popularity of ebooks in the country. However, the immediate focus for Flipkart seems to be on ebooks and have stated they intend to increase their ebook count to a million from the current 2.5 lakhs. The retailer now has an app for iOS, Android and Windows platform and is keen to ramp up its efforts against piracy and security. Worth noting, Flipkart had started retailing books in India in Dec 2012.
Flipkart Launches e-Platform For Aspiring Authors in India is a post from: E-Reader News |
Guest post #5: Raspberry Pi tutorials for complete beginners
| When Henry asked us for a camera module to write a beginners’ tutorial we knew that he would put it to good use. We weren’t disappointed — keep up the good work Henry, we look forward to seeing more tutorials in future. My Name is Henry Budden and I am a 13 year old Pi enthusiast. Since the Raspberry Pi came out, I have been very busy programming, tinkering and teaching in all of my spare time. I am the owner of the site www.raspberrypitutorials.yolasite.com. This site is designed to teach computing beginners how to use the raspberry pi to the max! On this site I have tutorials on gaming, printing, and lots more!  Raspberry Pi stuff in the post — happy days! I set up my site about half a year ago, and I have been very successful, as I have 255 followers at this moment, and about 100 people visit my site each day. Recently, I received an email from a computing teacher from Jersey. He told me that he was running an after-school club and that he has put a link to my site on the school's page. This will be used in all of the after-school sessions. I felt pretty proud of myself when I read this! I have also made a holder / case for my camera module (very kindly donated by the foundation) which you can view on my twitter account [and above], and judge my woodwork skills! If you wish to contact me for any reason at all, then please do not hesitate. I have a Facebook page and a Twitter account. I also have a separate email address: raspberrypitutorials@hotmail.com Thank you very much for taking your time to read my short blog post. Henry |
What tutorial would you like to see GCFLearnFree.org offer next?
Take our latest poll to offer feedback about what tutorials you'd most like to see. |
Podcast: New and Featured Content for August
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Head over to OverDrive's Learning Center to listen to our brand-new collection highlights podcast for the month of August. We'll give you the low-down on the newest publishers in OverDrive Marketplace, and we'll also highlight this month's featured publishers and share news about publishers who'll be joining us soon.
This month's publishers include purveyors of genre romance, career development titles, educational eBook series for kids and teens, award-winning eBooks and audiobooks, indie films, and much more.
You can access this month's podcast all month on our Learning Center, where you can also find additional training about collection development and placing orders in OverDrive Marketplace. Happy listening!
Carrie Smith is a Technical Writer at OverDrive.  |
Review: Asus Travel Cover for 2nd Gen Nexus 7 (Video)
| Last week I posted an article with a list of 10 covers and cases for the 2nd gen Google Nexus 7 tablet. Before posting the article I had already ordered the official travel cover for the Nexus 7 that is made by Asus. At the time there weren’t any reviews for it so it was […] |
Publishers Displeased with DOJ Terms against Apple
 Photo courtesy of tablet-news.com The first stage in the Department of Justice anti-trust lawsuit against Apple and five of the Big Six publishers was to secure settlements from the publishers involved. The publishers, who at the time were Penguin, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette but who only now include Random House due to its merger with Penguin (Random House took no part in the price fixing allegations), settled for around $166 million without admitting to any wrongdoing, only agreeing to the settlement terms because it would have been far more expensive to go to trial to defend themselves. Following the recent ruling that found Apple guilty of the allegations, in which Apple is believed to be responsible for as much as $500 million in damages, the publishers have now had to come forward to voice their complaint against some of the terms in the ruling. A brief submitted on behalf of those publishers contends that the terms set forth by the Department of Justice will prevent Apple from entering into agency-model pricing for five years, thereby eliminating any chance of discounting ebooks. And who still gets to discount ebooks? Amazon. Part of the publishers’ settlement terms included allowing retailers like Amazon to discount new releases for certain time periods, but the DOJ’s terms have severed Apple’s contracts on agency pricing for five years. Apple also isn’t allowed to enter into new agreements during that time period. Given that the terms also included requiring Apple to hire its own inside person to oversee anti-trust behaviors, as well as hire a “court appointed” outside person to look over their shoulder, this portion of the terms might actually have merit. Is the DOJ really looking out for the consumers with this section of the ruling, or is it looking to make an example of Apple by being overly punitive? And isn’t it really the publishers who will be affected by a major retailer’s inability to sell ebooks at comparable prices, effectively hurting the authors as well? According to the publishers, they’ve paid their dues. They agreed to their settlement terms and the amount, yet they feel this measure will punish them all over again.
Publishers Displeased with DOJ Terms against Apple is a post from: E-Reader News |
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Contest: Win a Cybook Odyssey HD with Front-Light
| Welcome to another exclusive Good e-Reader Contest! Today, we have a brand new Cybook Odyssey HD with Front-Light and an official red case to protect your e-Reader while you are out of the home! The Cybook Odyssey HD features a six inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1024×758 pixels. It uses the same type of XGA technology found on the Kobo Glo and Kindle Paperwhite. Underneath the hood is an 800 MHZ Texas Instruments Cortex A8 processor and 128 MB of RAM. The hardware is perfectly adequate for an e-reader and navigating the menu and opening books occurs very quickly. You will have 2 GB of internal storage for all of your ebooks, and you can enhance it further via the Micro SD for up to 32 GB of additional memory. Battery life is also very solid with the 1600 mAh, which will normally provide up to a month of battery life. If you tend not to use the front light very much, you should be able to have it last a little bit longer. One of the ways this device conserves battery life is the automatic disabling of wireless internet access when you leave your reader idle. You can charge it via the accompanied Micro USB cable by plugging it into your computer. Contest Details This contest is available to anyone, in any country in the world. We will ship via standard ground shipping, so if you live overseas, be prepared to wait! What do you have to do to enter? Simply comment on this post about your favorite Movie based on a book. You can enter only once, and must have a DISQUS profile, so we can contact you if you win. As soon as we hit 200 comments we will award the e-Reader to one lucky winner! Good luck to everyone! Contest: Win a Cybook Odyssey HD with Front-Light is a post from: E-Reader News |
Digital AudioBooks begin to Gain Momentum
| The audiobook industry is starting to undergo dramatic shifts in their content delivery methods and major publishing companies are now investing millions of dollars into expensive productions. The entire audiobook industry is currently worth around 1.6 billion dollars and that figure should climb further. The main reason? Audio book producers have been increasing their output. 13,255 titles came out in 2012, up from 4,602 in 2009. The main reason audiobooks are starting to appeal to more readers is because of the sheer amount of mobile devices and tablets available. It was not too long ago that you had to purchase an audio edition on CD and Cassette. You would often have to pay $60 to $100 for a fairly good audio edition and now the prices have plummeted to under $40. Currently, digital audiobooks now account for over 60% of all purchases made. “Everybody has an audio book player in their pocket at this point,” says Anthony Goff, vice president of Hachette Audio, where sales have jumped by 31% this spring over last. “It makes that much easier for the masses to try it.” “It’s one of the few times in history that technology has reinvigorated an art form rather than crushing it,” said Max Brooks, author of the zombie novel “World War Z,” which was released in May ahead of the Brad Pitt movie in an elaborate new audio edition with 40 cast members, including Alan Alda, John Turturro, and Martin Scorsese. It sold 60,000 CDs and digital-audio copies. “Now, because there is such demand and the production value is so inexpensive, it opens the door for more creative storytelling.” he said. The most dominant content distribution platform for audiobooks currently is Amazon owned Audible. This company has the highest market penetration and has seen a 33% increase in sales in 2012. They have created over 26,000 audiobooks and adding close to 1,000 titles a month. Most of their success derives from their new technologies that allow readers a myriad of options. If you purchase both the audiobook and eBook you can have the book professionally narrated to you, as you are reading. Else, you can read a few chapters on your Kindle and pick up exactly where you left off on the audio edition. This type of synergy is fairly compelling for people who read at night and do things during the day. Matthew Thornton of Audible commented – “We’re seeing heavy growth among younger listeners, people in and getting out of college who are part of the emerging app culture.” The creation of audiobooks are not only reserved for major publishing companies, but many others provide some low-cost options to get going. Audible offers the most expansive creation suite of tools for authors to get massive distribution and gain solid royalties. Indie companies are also making it easy for authors to create their own audiobooks. The most notable are www.acx.com and www.voices123.com who drive down the cost of audiobook production. Audiobooks are normally synonymous with being a mirrored replica of the print edition. This is starting to shift, as publishers are starting to experiment with audio exclusive content. The Wall Street Journal recently talked a company called AudioGo, whom has produced about 25 works exclusively for audio, including “Baseball Forever,” a remix of radio broadcasts of some of the top moments in the history of baseball. One of their most successful is a property entitled “Dreadtime Stories,” a collection of original horror stories, and a series of apocalyptic zombie stories. They have also resurrected old fashioned radio plays and hired actor Val Kilmer to play Zorro in an audio dramatization titled “The Mark of Zorro.” Audiobook consumption is certainly increasing and many pundits are debating on how this may adversely effect the way we consume literature. Print purists doubt that listening to a book while multitasking delivers the same experience as sitting down and silently reading. Scientific studies have repeatedly shown that for competent readers, there is virtually no difference between listening to a story and reading it. There are a few unknown factors when it comes to multitasking, while listening to an audiobook. People who commute to work make up nearly 1/2 of all audiobook listeners and studies are still ongoing on how much is retained with not having 100% focus. Daniel Willingham, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia who has studied reading and listening comprehension, said that multitasking compromises a listener’s attention, unless the task is truly automatic. Jogging on a treadmill would probably be fine, but running on a trail might be too distracting to fully absorb the text, he said. In the end, the audiobook industry is enjoying a boom period and is consistently increasing their market share. Customers have gravitated to digital downloads, instead of tangible goods. More companies are offering professional services to assist indie authors with getting an audio edition of their book out there and Audible continues to dominate the sales channels. Stay tunes for our next feature, as we look into the best companies out there to help indie authors get an audiobook made for them. Digital AudioBooks begin to Gain Momentum is a post from: E-Reader News |
Rockstand Announces New Alliances With Publishers
| Rockstand that counts itself among the leading ebook reading app in India has now forged alliances with several key publishers which includes Delhi Press, Next-Gen Publishing, Hay Market, BPB Publications & Magna Publishing. This will ensure Rockstand has on offer a more varied books and magazines to offer covering topics as varied as computer, lifestyle magazines to children's magazines, along with content in regional languages and so much more. For instance, BPB Publishers is known for their vast variety of books on computers and has been making them available at affordable rates. Similarly, Nextgen Publishing issues several popular magazines such as Smart Photography, Car India, Bike India, Computer Active etc. Rockstand will also benefit from its new found alliance with Hay Market that makes available magazines like Stuff, Autocar, What Hi-fi? Sound and Vision, What Car? and such. Users of the Rockstand app can also look forward to picking up several entertainment magazines such as Star Dust, Society, Society Interior, Savy, Starweek thanks to their tie up with Magna Publishing. Rockstand will also have under its ambit several regional titles likes Champak, Grihshobha, Sarita, BS Motoring, The Caravan, Farm n Food and many more. Speaking of the latest development, Mr. Rishi Mohan Jha, Head, RockASAP Retail Pvt Limited said: "We feel extremely proud in associating with these renowned publication houses. With this collaboration readers will get seamless reading experience of the popular titles for which they cannot wait to read. Now they will get a first-hand experience of the digital version of the popular titles, no matter where they are located or placed. The convenience to purchase and comfortable reading is what Rockstand known for and with this association we continue to set a benchmark for ourselves in the market." Rockstand has been striving to make available the widest possible ebook and emag offering to its subscribers and look forward to more such tie-ups in future.
Rockstand Announces New Alliances With Publishers is a post from: E-Reader News |
Boundless Continues to Make College Education Affordable For Students
| For the educational start up Boundless, the mission objective is simple, to provide college students with textbooks for free. No wonder it has already garnered the support of over a million loyal followers which can be explained by the ever increasing costs of college textbooks, something that is estimated to cost the student about $655 every year on average. While the figure represents a decline from the $702 that it would have taken about 4 years back, the present figure is still high enough for the students to explore alternative sources. "Students deserve better than the status quo of ineffective, overpriced textbooks," founder Ariel Diaz said. "They've grown up with amazing technology but are burdened with poorly-designed products or ancient technology when they get their education." With student debt already on the wrong side of a trillion dollars, Boundless does enjoy a lot of relevance in the US. What Boundless is aiming to provide the student community with is text books and study materials which might not exactly be considered to be akin to the traditional methods of teaching that is centered around textbooks but is even better and more involving. "It's not your assigned textbook, it's better" is how the company prefers to be tagged with. However, all of the efforts have not been without the occasional brush with the law as book publishers have not been too kind of Diaz's efforts to provide students with text books for free. Three of the big name publishers, Pearson Education Cengage Learning and Bedford Freeman & Worth Publishing Group had even sued Boundless on issues of copyright infringement. Diaz though is claiming none of that can dampen their spirits and they are looking for ways to further expand and grow. What comes as a source of strength for Boundless is that they serve more than a million students every month. It provides free resources for 21 college level courses while its premium services which costs $19.99 provides interactive study materials and other stuff to help students grasp the subject easily.
Boundless Continues to Make College Education Affordable For Students is a post from: E-Reader News |
Vanity Fair’s iOS Version Sorted by Reading Times
| In a nod to the understanding that consumers who read on mobile devices are probably on a time budget, the newly launched full-length issues of Vanity Fair have a new offer: reading times. Originally initiated by Liberty magazine in the 1920s, the reading time feature sorts articles for the reader by how long the article should take, which is perfect for the morning commute or for catching up on an article while waiting at a meeting or appointment. The new feature is only one part of what’s in store for Vanity Fair readers who utilize the new iPhone version of the magazine, created with Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite. In addition to the reading times listed in the table of contents–categorized as Short, Medium, Long, and Everything Else–the new version is optimized from the publisher’s print schematics specifically for the iPhone screen. As this is the second title from Conde Nast to be optimized for iPhone (The New Yorker launched first), additional new features were incorporated by the publisher’s design team. Those features include “videos, photo slide shows, interactive infographics, and archival articles; sharing capability via Twitter, Facebook, and e-mail; links to Web content on Vanityfair.com; and navigation tools, including the ‘scrubber.’” Individual issues can be purchased through the free app for $4.99, and a one-year subscription is $19.99. Current subscribers to the magazine through either print or iPad will receive the iPhone version at no extra charge.
Vanity Fair’s iOS Version Sorted by Reading Times is a post from: E-Reader News |
OverDrive Media Console 3.0 announced at Digipalooza
| Our previous post touched on some of the highlights of Digipalooza '13 including presentations given on topics including Big Data trends, the latest partnerships OverDrive has formed, what's coming next from major publishers and a memorable keynote speech by Mitch Albom. An important message came on Friday morning when it was announced that OverDrive Media Console v3.0 will be released on August 20th.
What's New
To help prepare your staff and users we will be providing helpful information about the new features here on the blog and through the help articles and videos which will be updated when the new version becomes available.
To inform your patrons about the new features, experience and updates we have created an email template and social media posts for you to share with your users. You can find those on the partner's portal here: http://partners.overdrive.com/marketing-outreach/
OverDrive Media Console v3.0 will offer an entirely redesigned user experience focusing around taps and swipes. You'll never be more than one movement away from reading your titles, managing your accounts or accessing your library's digital collection. You can preview OMC v3.0 here now!
Adam Sockel is a Marketing Communications Specialist with OverDrive
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OMC v3.0 has been completely redesigned with a focus on the user experience. The Next Generation of OMC will feature:Guest Blog #4: Excitement in Computer Programming
| Our very own Matthew Bennett talks about the last two years with Raspberry Pi and his recent educational workshop on “Excitement in Computer Programming”. Matthew (if you are forum denizen then you will know him better as ubermoderator ‘abishur’) has been involved in the Raspberry Pi community right from the beginning. He is a tireless moderator: prolifically helpful and unfailingly polite . We’re delighted that Matthew has stuck around and we’re proud to have him on the team. The Raspberry Pi ethos shines in Matthew’s article: just roll up your sleeves and get involved. All of us can make a difference if we decide to. N.B. Matthew tells me that there would have been more pictures but there was some excuse involving a baby… A lot has changed around here since there were just a handful of us posting comments on a rather small blog and clamoring for a forum so we could properly talk to one another. Back then, we thought that the 10 thousand boards they were making would take year(s?) to sell. We definitely thought that everyone on the blog and soon thereafter on the very modest WordPress forum would definitely get one of the Pi's from the first batch. Needless to say the response to the Raspberry Pi has been tremendous, far outpacing even our largest expectations. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of the demand has been the educational side of things hasn't gotten as much of a spot light as all the incredible things you, the community, have done with the Pi; we asked what you would do with your slice of the Pi and man have y'all ever responded! We are continuing to work hard on the educational aspects of the Pi and like updating you when fun educational things happen. One such event happened in the middle of July. Since the beginning of May I had been communicating with the Texas Industrial Vocational Association (TIVA). They had me come out to their state-wide continuing education conference, which thankfully was in my neck of the woods, and talk on “Excitement in Computer Programming”.  Sorry about the picture's quality, I shot it as I was on my way back home with a dying cell phone. During the first half of the session, I worked with the teachers over why we even wanted programming taught in schools, why using iPads or other tablet devices didn't work, and defined what we even mean when we talk about computer use vs computing vs programming. The goal was to make sure that every educator attending could have a clear and concise case to bring to a principal or board of educators when it came. The second half of the session was devoted to actual use of the Pi, we "installed" the OS, went through first boot, and then did the hello world of GPIOs: we lit up an LED! Here is the outline and PowerPoint presentation I made. I should warn everyone, however, that my outlines are tricky things. They look like they're written word for word what I plan to say, but they're not, it's still just an outline, it gives them a rough feel, but it's there if you'd like a good base. As way of example, here's some things we talked about outside the outline:
The parts I've bolded were reminders to advance the slide. Also, I had planned to write the presentation and make the outline during my two week vacation after my son was born. So if you pay attention there's a spot where the amount of slides I was making suddenly decreases as I ran out of time (who knew babies were so needy?). All in all, it was a lot of fun and we're wanting to do this again at their midyear conference and again at their next summer conference along with some advanced classes. One teacher is hoping we can set up a talk with his students during the school year. Everyone who attended was pretty excited about getting Pis in their curriculums.  It’s not a real breadboard if it has never seen a fire. Here’s a picture of my teaching setup. I use a Raspberry Pi Model A with Wi-Fi setup to connect to my phone as a mobile hot spot. My laptop also connects to the phone and then I can use my laptop to remote into the pi. If a projector is handy I just connect straight to the projector and use a combo keyboard/mouse instead of the wireless dongle. I use the 8 solid state relays to demonstrate how the Pi can interface with high voltage applications, and the breadboard to demonstrate lighting up a simple multi-color LED using software emulated PWM to control how bright each LED is. Oh, and there is a transistor array on that breadboard to demonstrate how easy it easy to add a layer of protections into the mix when interfacing with the 3v3 GPIO pins.
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