| A survey to ascertain the pattern of ebook usage in Japan has thrown up some startling results. For what has come to the fore is that it is the older generation and not the gen next that has been found to be more comfortable adopting to the digital version the books. The survey was conducted by the e-book section of Toppan Printing Co and covered 826 individuals from all age groups who had been to the Tokyo International Book Fair. What the survey has revealed is that a whooping 70 percent of the respondents in their 20s have said they prefer reading off the traditional printed books than the corresponding digital version. However, what is surprising is that it is more than 50 percent of those on the other side of 70s said they'd rather prefer ebooks. As for reasons, 52.5 percent cited lower costs for ebooks to explain their preference for the digital format while those who have already been hooked on to the ebooks, a sizeable 70.4 percent said they look forward to more titles to be made into digital versions. The above defies the global trend where it is the younger generation that has been quick to adopt new emerging technology though it could just be a matter of time before the gen next too begin to begin to appreciate the many virtues that ebooks have to offer.
Seniors in Japan More Likely to Adopt eBooks is a post from: E-Reader News |
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Seniors in Japan More Likely to Adopt eBooks
Friday, August 16, 2013
Digital Comics Bargains for the Weekend
| ComiXology has two 99-cent sales going this weekend, on Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass and Marvel’s Ultimates line. If you’re curious about Brian Michael Bendis’s re-invention of Spider-Man as half-black, half-Latino teenager Miles Morales, now is the time to dive in. If you’re up for a more classic type of adventure tale, Dark Horse has a 99-cent sale on Conan and Red Sonja comics. The Conan comics are the ones written by Brian Wood and illustrated by Becky Cloonan and James Harren, which got a lot of buzz last year, and they are well worth a look. Digital Manga is celebrating Tezuka Week with 15% off the cost of the first ten issues of Astro Boy Magazine, as well as giveaways and other promotions. That makes each issue of Astro Boy Magazine $4.24, but be warned, it’s not downloadable—you can only read it online. And finally, don’t forget that Viz is still having their big sale on all their digital manga. Check out their website or apps and take a look—everything is 20% off. Digital Comics Bargains for the Weekend is a post from: E-Reader News |
e Ink suffers $33 Million Dollar Loss Q2 2013
| e Ink Holdings has had a massive setback with their reported $33.63 million dollar loss last quarter. The company is seeing decreased demand for their e-Reading panels that are the cornerstone of Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo’s e-reading technology. E Ink has seen a constant decline in their last two quarters, due to most of their customer base gravitating towards Android tablets. This quarter, revenue is expected to at least double last quarter's NT$2.93 billion, as many customers are going to release next generation e-Readers. e Ink always sees massive business in Q3 and Q4, as manufacturing kicks into overdrive. Although e-Paper technology accounts for 70% of the companies revalue, they are trying to make a go out of their screens in other commercial spaces. They are seeing modest gains in their signage for airports and transportation industries. They have also debuted new grocery store digital signage that will replace the static price tags. By the end of the year, this new revenue stream is expected to account for 5% of their total earnings. According to the Taipei Times “Last quarter, E Ink booked a one-time severance payment of NT$500 million for a 50 percent workforce layoff at its South Korean LCD manufacturing subsidiary Hydis Technologies Co. The number of Hydis employees has been halved to about 400 from between 800 or 900 before the personal adjustment. Meanwhile e Ink received a record high royalties fee at NT$400 million by licensing Hydis' patents to Sharp, LG Display and other panel makers to make high-resolution LCD panels that are partly used in Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics patents.” e Ink suffers $33 Million Dollar Loss Q2 2013 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Blackberry Q5 Review – The Curve of Blackberries
| Blackberry has officially released their Q5 smartphone that could be considered the spiritual successor of the Curve. It may not pack the punch in terms of overall hardware specs, like the Q10 does, but the price is right at around $300. Is there room in the world for a low-cost phone with a full QWERTY keyboard? Today, we give you a full hands on review of the new Q5, and let you know if we recommend it. The Blackberry Q5 features a 3.1 inch LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 720×720 pixels. The overall display screen gets the job done, but I feel that the Q10 Super AMOLED screen provides richer colors. This is more noticeable in graphic heavy content, such as comic books, magazines and videos. One thing that is important to note about the screen is that you are locked into a portrait exclusive view. You cannot turn the phone into landscape mode and watch videos or use it the same way as you would the Z10. Blackberry has locked the phone in such a way, that you will never be able to use in it landscape mode. Underneath the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 1.2 GHZ dual core processor and 2 GB of Ram. It has only 8 GB of internal memory, but you can enhance it via the SD Card up to 32 GB. Most Blackberry phones have the SD card underneath the removable battery, but the Q5 buckles that trend by having the SD and Micro Sim card slot on the side of the unit, underneath a plastic flap. Speaking of plastic, this phones build quality is all plastic and does have the elegant aluminum and glazed glass as the Q10. It does not necessarily feel like a cheap phone, but draws the distinction between a high end and lower end phone. Sort of like drawling the old parallels between the Blackberry Bold and Blackberry Curve. The Q10, has a faster processor, more memory and a bigger camera, but carries a hefty price of around $900. This unit is only $300 off contract, so it may have a more global appeal. The big draw about the Blackberry Q5 is the full QWERTY keyboard. This phone will make sense to current or former Blackberry users, that find typing a lot of texts and emails too cumbersome on a traditional touchscreen device. Personally, i get like 200 emails a day, and it is nice to power respond with a real keyboard, instead of relying on the predictive text correction features found on an iPhone. The keyboard, is the real reason you are buying this phone. In the end, this may not be the most glamorous smartphone out there, the plastic design does feel a bit tacky. Still, you can get the full Blackberry 10 experience with a keyboard at more then half the price as the Q10. Software Blackberry has invested heavily into their Blackberry 10 operating system, and this phone ships with version 10.1. One of the most seldom features of this new generation OS is the built in Android emulator. All BB10 phones have the ability to run Android files, this makes it easier for developers who submit apps into Blackberry World. They don’t have to redo their apps in the native language and can easily use tools to convert their existing library of Android content over to Blackberry. Currently, Blackberry 10.1 has a fairly outdated version of the Android Runtime, with 2.3. Blackberry is currently beta testing a new version of the emulator that will bring it all the way up to Jellybean. This will ensure that a greater number of apps will be compatible and will likely kindle renewed interest into Blackberry devices. There are a few things that remain attractive about the Blackberry ecosystem in general. First of all, email. Email is handled very differently on Blackberry then it is on Android or iOS devices. The most compelling feature is the ‘delete prior’ which will bulk delete all emails in a specific inbox. If you have an iPhone and get a bunch of emails, you have to manually delete each one. Again, I often get a few hundred a day, and the iPhone is unrealistic to manage large quantities. Blackberry makes email management a top priority and currently still offers the best service in the business. The second element is the revised Blackberry Messenger experience. This is one of the few services that have all data handled by the companies own data servers, so customers benefit from lower data usage. You can chat via text, voice or video chat with your BBM brethren. If you want to add a friend, you can use NFC to bump the phones to share contact details, or even generate a QR code to add a friend. No wonder the entire internet is enamored with the idea of BBM coming to iOS and Android. Blackberry World is the place to go if you want to download apps, movies, music and games. They have over 200,000 apps currently in their system, but most are painfully woeful. Most of the apps people use on a daily basis, such as Instagram, Vine, and Netflix are nowhere to be seen. Instead, customers have turn to 3rd party app stores to get these apps, such as our own Good e-Reader BB10 App Store. One of the big drawbacks about Blackberry World, is a large number of the content is converted Android apps. This type of content normally suffers from performance issues and can often provide a lackluster experience. There is no way to organize the store by apps that were developed natively for BB10 and what ones were converted. There are also a number of pirate apps and games issued by people who weren’t the original developer. Blackberry 10 on a whole, is a fairly polished operating system. You will likely never encounter crash issues and everything just works. Multi-tasking and Blackberry Balance remain two things that most competitors cannot touch. The severe downside is the quality of the apps out there, and people are obsessed with them. Readers in North America and Europe, often have dedicated e-Readers and tablets to consume media. A large demographic in China, Japan, Korea and South America mostly use their phones. Reading is big business and often the phone is always with you, which makes it easy to catch up on websites and news items. There really aren’t an extensive library of reading apps in the official Blackberry World app store. Amazon released a Kindle app for the Z10, but is only compatible with that specific model. You won’t find many apps at all and instead you will be forced to learn how to side-load in your own apps. Luckily we have put together some extensive tutorials on how do this, step by step. This will insure you can get Pulse, Flipboard, Feedly, Kindle, Kobo, Comixology, Manga, or anything else you want. I still find it odd that Blackberry has not really tried to focus more on e-Reading. The Blackberry Q5 only has a 3.1 inch screen, so it is not the most compelling e-Reader out there. I have found the type of apps best suited to the screen are ones that display pure text. eBook reading apps really shine, because you can chance the size of the font to suit your optimal needs. RSS apps are also fairly useful, because they normally strip away everything but the core story. We tried various newspaper, magazine and comic book apps, but the screen was really too small to read effectively. You will find yourself constantly pinching and zooming every single page to get the pictures large enough to read the built in text. Wrap Up When we first got this phone last week, I thought I would hate it. The Blackberry Q10 was a fine phone, but not worth the $900 it was available in Canada to buy off-contract. The Q5 is only a few hundred, and will reel in prior Blackberry users that may have shifted to another phone, because of the high costs. If you love physical keyboards, text like crazy or answer a ton of emails, this may be the phone for you. You will not break the bank and it has enough features to suit most peoples needs. For the advanced user, there is an entire new world of app-possibilities out there with sideloading. PROS Priced Right CONS Rating: 7/10
Blackberry Q5 Review – The Curve of Blackberries is a post from: E-Reader News |
Apple’s Court Date for Damages Is May 2104
| Consumers who are expecting some payouts as a result of the Department of Justice lawsuit against Apple and five of the Big Six publishers will be waiting a little longer for their refunds. While the court ruled that Apple was guilty of collaborating to raise ebook prices, and even though the publishers have already settled out of court for their involvement in the allegations, a court date to determine exactly how much Apple will pay is now schedule for May 2014. In addition to considering how much Apple will pay, an amount that could be in the neighborhood of half a billion dollars under existing anti-trust precedent which allows for triple that amount in cases involving price fixing, Judge Denise Cote will also consider the concerns that the DOJ has raised that Apple’s punishment wasn’t strict enough to prevent the tech giant from engaging in similar deals down the road. The newly proposed brief from the government calls for Apple to be barred from setting discount pricing with those publishers for five years, rather than the two years that the ruling currently considers. While May 2014 might seem like a long way off, it is the date that the DOJ attorneys requested; Apple has stayed quiet on the matter. Both sides will spend their time between now and that date interviewing potential contributors to the case and deciding how the plaintiffs will file. While the publishers have all stated rather vehemently that they are not guilty of any wrongdoing in the matter, they opted to settle the case out of court and pay damages in the millions of dollars because it would have been less expensive than going to trial over the allegations.
Apple’s Court Date for Damages Is May 2104 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Some Publishers Record High Print Circulation in the Face of Digital Onslaught
| We might be in the midst of a digital revolution right now, but the digital wave isn't as all-encompassing as it seems. Take, for instance, the recent trend as seen among publishers in the UK who reported a rise in sales of its print publications in spite of the digital versions selling well. Publications like Toxic or Girl Talk Art, for boys and girls, respectively, have reported a positive increase of their print versions. That tallies well with the findings of a survey conducted a few weeks ago in which it was reported that a majority (88 percent) of British readers still prefer reading a print magazine to digital edition on an electronic device such as the tablet, smartphone, or even the PC. Parents, too, seem more comfortable with the idea of their children reading a print version rather than the virtual edition. However, the two magazines mentioned above which cater to the kid community present a completely different picture than that of other publications. Some, such as Nuts and Zoo, have seen their circulation go down steadily in recent times in the face of digital versions making inroads among the reading community. In fact, with the rapid proliferation of smart- and mobile devices, readers have been showing an increasing preference for digital content the world over. While industry pundits have been quick to predict that the future belongs to digital, there are also those who seem to remain loyal to the print versions. The latter may make for a minority community compared to those who have switched to digital though the figure still is quite significant.
Some Publishers Record High Print Circulation in the Face of Digital Onslaught is a post from: E-Reader News |
American University of Nigeria to Unveil its New Digital Library this Fall
| The American University of Nigeria, which was established in 2003, is set to unveil its new digital library this fall. The university first got a library in 2005, though the move to digitization started only in 2012. The focus in 2013 is to evolve into what Library Director Amed Demirhan points out as the “mobile library.” "In 2012, we decided to change the library’s traditional focus to the e-library. This year we are focusing on becoming a ‘mobile’ library. This includes the use of more mobile applications and better use of space, including the arrangement and shape of the library’s furniture. For example, all the following pieces of equipment have been replaced by a smartphone: scanner, desktop computer, laptop, photocopy machine, and telephone. This is providing a new level of efficiency and effectiveness. It saves money, is more environmentally friendly, consumes less electricity, and takes up less space," said Demirhan. The aim of the digital makeover is to enhance access to the library material all year round and from just about anywhere. Needless to say, the move is already paying off with the uptake of ebooks having grown exponentially in 2012 compared to what it was just a year ago. For instance, while the total usage of ebooks stood at just 1,889 in 2011, in 2012 that number shot up to 45,442. Similarly, total usage of e-articles went up to 19,465 in 2012 compared to 11,773 in 2011. This growth has become possible after the digitization process has been introduced. "In 2013, the library has subscribed to more than 210,000 ebooks. This is more than most university libraries e-book collections in America," Demirhan further added, which is a clear indication of the zeal with which digitization is pursued by the AUN library. All of the efforts havn't gone unrecognized as the AUN was recently awarded a Presidential Citation by the American Library Association for its International Innovative Library Projects.
American University of Nigeria to Unveil its New Digital Library this Fall is a post from: E-Reader News |
Fireball Pinball HD
| We had some requests from people watching the video of What Gordon Did On His Holidays In Florida for more information about the Fireball Pinball machine that was being worked on at Familab, a huge and splendiferous hackspace. I wanted to learn more too, so I got in touch with Ian Cole, who is refurbishing the pinball machine. He’s been kind enough to prepare a blog post about the project, the educational reasons for starting it with his kids, and a blow-by-blow account of the build, along with a huge number of photographs documenting what he’s been doing.  Prototype wiring in progress
 The inevitable consequence of turning your back on prototype wiring in progress The Fireball Pinball machine is a 1976 game, which Ian bought in a very unloved state for a couple of hundred dollars. Using a Pi, he’s dragged it into the 21st century. Ian says: The basic system design has the Pi as an i2c master with the following functions:
(Your average pinball machine in 1976 did not have HD graphics. Or any graphics at all. And it did not have 512MB of RAM.) Here’s a demonstration of the electronics mounting. When the camera moves around to the back of the machine, you’ll see some grey rectangles appear on the video – hover your mouse pointer over them learn more. You can read much, much more about the project (which is a great jumping-off point if you feel like updating an old pinball machine yourself) at Ian’s blog, which has plenty of detail. Fireball Pinball HD is still a work in progress: Ian wants to add tilt sensors, event tournament capability with play tracking and prizes, and an accompanying website; NFC login for your phone; a thermal printer to output QR codes so new players can scan and register to claim their score; and a current sensor to look after the solenoids. He’s got cosmetic work to do as well, with plans to make custom bezel for the monitor, repaint the head and mount the speakers. And Ian’s commissioned custom artwork from Punkin Studios – a local artist he met last year at Orlando Mini Maker Faire. Ian says: I've asked him to start by recreating original Fireball backglass art without the scoring boxes. Here's the preliminary inked version…  Look at the muscles on that! If you live in Florida, you can see Fireball HD in action (and have a go yourself) at Orlando Mini Maker Faire on October 5th, 2013. |
More Publishing Blame: Craig’s List is Killing Newspapers
| It’s astonishing that so many aspects of publishing are so slow to adapt. From the fight that libraries are still facing over ebook lending to the snail’s pace of digital textbook adoption, as well as the realization from booksellers that they will have to do something to accommodate ebooks if they plan to keep their doors open with big box and online bookstores breathing down their necks, it often feels like the industry as a whole would like to look the other way and let digital reading burn itself out. Now, a new study by Robert Seamans of New York University’s Stern School of Business and Feng Zhu of the Harvard Business School highlights just another way industry watchers want to blame technology instead of adapt to where the readers actually are. The study demonstrated exactly how much money print newspapers lost thanks to Craig’s List, the online classified ad site. By their calculation, that number is around one billion dollars. According to the research, following the rise of Craig’s List newspapers made strong chances to their models: 20.7% drop in classified-ad rates While the blame-digital game has had merits in other publishing arenas, the fallacy is that Craig’s List and newspaper classifieds don’t operate on the same wavelength. Online listings such as Craig’s List and eBay serve to connect people who did not live in close physical proximity, although eBay is somewhat more globally connected than Craig’s List’s regional opportunities. But newspaper classified ads serve to inform subscribers of something noteworthy in their own town. While people who may be relocating would want to know what employment opportunities there are in their new home towns, do people in Virginia really subscribe to The New York Times with the specific intent of looking for a job or finding out what’s for sale in the Big Apple? While the numbers are clearly there in Seamans’s and Zhu’s study, this sounds a lot like the tired refrain of blame the technology instead of blaming publishers who haven’t evolved and followed their readers to where they read.
More Publishing Blame: Craig’s List is Killing Newspapers is a post from: E-Reader News |
Thursday, August 15, 2013
How to Load eBooks on the Pocketbook Color Lux
| Pocketbook has just come out with the Color Lux, which is the first e-reader in the world to use e-Ink Triton 2 and a front-lit display! This means it will easily display over 4600 colors and allow you to read in the dark. Many people are starting to purchase this device and want to know how to load in your own eBooks. Today, we show you how to load them in yourself, whether you have purchased them from another online retailer, or just downloaded from the internet. The first program we look at is Calibre. This is a free download and one of the best for e-Reader management. Often, when you download books from the internet they do not have cover art, or is the wrong one. In other cases you want to edit the authors name and title. Calibre allows you to not only do this, but also convert eBooks from one format to another. I will show you exactly what you need to do to accomplish all of this and then send the book over to your Pocketbook. Next, Adobe Digital Editions is a fairly popular program to load in books that you purchased from other retailers. The Pocketbook Color Lux has the ability to read books you purchased in EPUB or PDF format from companies like Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Sony and Smashwords. I will show you exactly how to use this program and offer advice on setting up an account. When it comes to storing your eBooks in the cloud, Dropbox makes it easy. Since the Pocketbook has a built in internet browser, you can access any of the music files, books, or pictures you have in your cloud locker and then have them instantly downloaded to your e-Reader. Since we live in a world where the average person has a number of devices, this is a good service to use. Finally, as a bonus feature, we check out the internal directory structure of the Color Lux. You can get a sense of how it is all managed and know exactly where you want to copy your books, mp3′s, pictures and other stuff! How to Load eBooks on the Pocketbook Color Lux is a post from: E-Reader News |
Overdrive Unveils New eBook in Big Library Read Program
| Overdrive Big Library Read program originally launched in May and had libraries all over North America to give away an eBook with no lending restrictions. The first title was Michael Malone's 'Four Corners of the Sky' and was checked out more than 44,000 times in less than three weeks—quite impressive compared to its 200 total checkouts prior to the Big Library Read. The Read program really showed that if you take a solid book and give it away for free, it will drive sales to the authors other titles. To capitalize on the momentum of the first title Overdrive announced the next eBook in the program today. HarperCollins is contributing author Jane O'Connor, with her title 'Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth'. The juvenile fiction title is the first in the Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy series and will be available in both eBook and audiobook format from September 16-30 at participating libraries that do business with Overdrive. O'Connor brings us back to the glamorous world of our favorite fancy girl. Nancy Clancy may be a bit older and more sophisticated, but she hasn't lost her love for fancy words, outrageous fashion and dramatic flair. This title is perfect for generating excitement among young readers just in time for back to school. Overdrive may see more success with this eBook, because the original program launched super quickly and did not give libraries enough time to prepare to promote it or even opt into the offer. Interested in learning more? We conducted a massive interview with Sourcebooks and Overdrive at Book Expo America, where the two sides talked about the formation of Big Library Read and where it is going in the future. Overdrive Unveils New eBook in Big Library Read Program is a post from: E-Reader News |
The Toronto Star Launches New Digital Paywall
| The Toronto Star unveiled a new digital paywall program to charge for access to their website and online news service. The price for digital access is about $5 if you subscribe to the newspaper and $10 if you do not. The newspaper will allow ten article views per month, until they prompt you to subscribe. Earlier in the year the Toronto Star implemented the first phase of their new digital strategy with a freshly designed website. It introduced exciting features that enhance the reading experience for their subscribers and address the needs of advertisers. These include more videos, live blogs, chats and breaking news, as well as the in-depth journalism. Subscribers to the Toronto Star Digital Access program will receive full access to thestar.com, including all the news articles, columnists, investigative reports, profiles, sports, blogs, multimedia features and much more. The Star is just the latest major Canadian newspaper to develop and implement a paywall. The Globe and Mail already has one in place, as do Postmedia papers, including the National Post and Montreal Gazette, and the Quebecor-owned newspapers including the Toronto Sun. Newspapers are embracing this model due to the success of the New York Times. The Toronto Star Launches New Digital Paywall is a post from: E-Reader News |
Harlequin Announces New Digital First eBooks
| Harlequin, one of the world's leading publishers of books for women, announced that they are doing quite a number of digital first eBooks. The Harlequin, Harlequin TEEN, Harlequin MIRA and Harlequin HQN imprints will all introduce original digital first titles in the coming months. Harlequin will extend its iconic series brand with Harlequin-E, a digital first series program that allows writers the chance to turn out-of-the-box ideas that don't fit into existing series romance lines into ebooks. Harlequin-E will initially focus on mystery, romance, erotic romance, young adult, fantasy, fantasy romance, sci-fi and sci-fi romance categories. Harlequin-E will launch its first digital story in fall 2013 and feature stories with a minimum word count of 10,000. Harlequin TEEN will launch its digital first program on October 1, 2013, with Stir Me Up by debut author Sabrina Elkins, a contemporary young adult novel with New Adult crossover appeal. With a demographic that increasingly reads, shops and interacts digitally, the Harlequin TEEN digital first platform is a natural extension of the existing program and allows the young adult imprint to introduce fresh new voices to readers and to let no great book go unpublished. Harlequin MIRA and Harlequin HQN will launch their digital first programs in the first quarter of 2014 and begin by publishing a select number of titles, including I See London, a New Adult novel by debut author Chanel Cleeton (Harlequin HQN), and Wonder Girl, a women's fiction novel by Rebecca Coleman (Harlequin MIRA). "We're thrilled to further expand our reach in the digital space," said Loriana Sacilotto, EVP, Global Editorial at Harlequin. "In a retail environment that's increasingly challenging for new and emerging authors, digital publication and promotion allows us to continue to encourage author discovery and growth, bring books to market more quickly, leverage popular digital trends and offer authors an outlet for their nontraditional and ancillary streams." Harlequin Announces New Digital First eBooks is a post from: E-Reader News |
Kobo Discounts their Arc Tablet Product Line
| Kobo has severely discounted the price of their 2nd generation e-Reading tablet, the Arc. The 16GB model now starts at $130, while the 32GB model is selling for $180 and the 64 GB edition for $200. Many of Kobo’s retail partners have also started to abide by the new pricing scheme, including Chapters/Indigo. The Kobo Arc features a seven inch HD display with a resolution of 1280×800 pixels and 215 PPI. The screen features IPS screen technology, which is an industry-leading display optimized for 178 degree viewing angles and ultra-durable glass, resistant to damage, scratches, bumps, and drops. Underneath the hood is a Texas Instruments OMAP 4470 1.5 GHZ dual core processor and 1 GB of RAM. It currently runs a fairly modern version of Google Android, with 4.1.1. The Arc even by today’s standards is fairly relevant with the hardware specs and overall performance. We consistently compare it against new tablets that come out on a monthly basis and it still keeps up. The big draw about this model is the focused attention on the entire e-Reading experience. There are a number of core features, such as Reading Life, and eBook discovery that are prominently displayed on the home screen. Kobo Discounts their Arc Tablet Product Line is a post from: E-Reader News |
Kindle Fire’s Silk Browser Gets First Major Update
| Remember the Silk browser that Amazon first introduced with the Kindle Fire about two years ago? You might be forgiven if you don't for the browser clearly lacked much of an appeal. Things though seem to be different this time round post a healthy dose of update that the browser has been provided with. Most of the update concerns ease of use for the users what with the brand new user interface to look forward to. Navigation has been made simpler while the new Reading View which presents a single page view of contents that is devoid of any sort of distractions in the form of ads and such. The new tab opens with an empty address bar as well as a list of the most visited sites, something that we have become used to with mainstream browsers such as the Firefox or the Chrome. Meanwhile, the update has also made the active tab more distinguishable than before, which is another nice aspect, it must be said. The same can also be said of the Full Screen view that does away with the top and bottom toolbar to open up more visible area. This apart, links to some of the most visited sites by other users of the Kindle Fire device can be reached via a tab on the top left corner. Similarly, other usual browser features such as Downloads, Bookmarks or the Most Visited section open up from the left. There are some enhancements meted out to the browser's rendering engines as well to allow for a smoother and faster performance. Overall, the Silk is now a lot more matured than what it was even just a year ago and while all of the improvements do make a positive change to the browser, it's still a work in progress sort of thing with the Silk. "We're in the early days of Amazon Silk, and there's plenty of work still to do," the team behind the browser revealed.
Kindle Fire’s Silk Browser Gets First Major Update is a post from: E-Reader News |
Rumor: LG Might Announce G Tab During IFA
| LG so far seems to have been over shadowed by its more illustrious domestic rival, Samsung though things seems to be poised for a change post the launch of the G2. LG's latest flagship smartphone device has garnered some positive reviews and the company now is training its gun on the tablet segment where it has largely been a non-player so far. However, as per the details that have emerged, it could be a very unusual 8.3 inch tablet that LG might be readying for a launch. The tablet though will still be handy given the extremely thin bezels that the tablet is reported to come with. With pixel count assuming just as importance as other aspects of the device, it's good to see LG considering no less than a full HD 1920 x 1200 pixel display for the tablet that is believed to have been named the G Pad. The source, which incidentally is a Greek website by the name Techblog further claim the tablet will be thin and light which again is another quality that manufacturers are eager to go after. LG is also said to offer voice calling capability to the device which if true will ensure the G Pad won't be relevant for a US release unless a modified version is introduced. Unfortunately, that's about all that is known of the device so far, leaving us to guess what chip the tablet will come powered with. However, given that the G2 has under its hoods the Snapdragon 800 chip, chances are that the G Pad too will benefit from the same as well, more so since the G Pad too is being projected to have voice calling feature. A 2 GB RAM is being touted to go with the quad core chip. More details are missing though with the IFA event coming up next month itself, chances are that we could be blessed with even a working prototype during the IFA.
Rumor: LG Might Announce G Tab During IFA is a post from: E-Reader News |
Next Big Library Read title unveiled!
| In May, OverDrive launched the Big Library Read program, designed to demonstrate the valuable role libraries play in connecting readers with books and authors. It was the first-ever global book club, connecting readers around the world who read the same book at the same time. Thousands of libraries embraced the program making it a huge success for its initial pilot. Users checked out Michael Malone's 'Four Corners of the Sky' more than 44,000 times in less than three weeks—quite impressive compared to its 200 total checkouts prior to the Big Library Read. Additionally, Malone's other titles experienced a sales increase, and checkout rate growth of more than 100%. Michael Malone trended on Goodreads long after the event as readers added his titles to bookshelves and provided reviews of 'Four Corners of the Sky'.
With the success of the first Big Library Read, OverDrive is excited to announce the next Big Library Read thanks to HarperCollins Publishers and author, Jane O'Connor: 'Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth'. The juvenile fiction title is the first in the Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy series and will be available in both eBook and audiobook format from September 16-30 at participating OverDrive-powered digital collections. O'Connor brings us back to the glamorous world of our favorite fancy girl. Nancy Clancy may be a bit older and more sophisticated, but she hasn't lost her love for fancy words, outrageous fashion and dramatic flair. This title is perfect for generating excitement among young readers just in time for back to school.
You can learn more about Big Library Read here . To participate in the Big Library Read, simply contact your Account Specialist today for more details.
You can access marketing materials in OverDrive's Partner Portal to promote Big Library Read to your community. Stay tuned for information about a Facebook chat with the author. Until then, you can join the conversation in our Facebook forum or on Twitter using #BigLibraryRead.
Adam Sockel is a Marketing Communications Specialist with OverDrive
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4 Things I’d Like to See on the New Kindle Paperwhite
| It’s the middle of August and that means new Kindles are just around the corner. There have been numerous reports online about what features and specs the new Kindle Fire HD tablets could have, but there’s been nary a whisper about what Amazon plans for the next generation Kindle Paperwhite. Don’t let the lack of […] |
Chegg Offers Subscription-Based Textbook Rentals to College Students
| A significant number of startups have tried–and for the most part, failed–to entice readers and publishers with a Netflix-style subscription model for reading. Users would pay a monthly fee or adhere to the freemium model of ads within the texts in order to get to read; the publishers would then receive compensation for the books that were consumed during that month, either in full or in page-view portions. This model hasn’t caught on in a global way, as access to inexpensive ebooks make it far too easy to find great books without paying a monthly fee. In addition, publishers have been wary of releasing digital copies of their authors’ works without a firm contracting stipulating the return. But one publishing arena that has had some success with subscription models for digital editions is the academic publishing sphere, specifically for digital textbooks. The difference in the two kinds of book consumption is what makes the model more attractive. Rather than paying a monthly fee for the right to technically borrow a book, something that hasn’t appealed to a lot of pleasure readers, students who consume textbooks are for the most part only doing so because it was required in order to participate in a college class. Even students who needed additional content for a better understanding of the concepts sought out expensive textbooks because they had to, not because they wanted to. This model is doing so well for one company, Chegg, that the group has just filed for IPO status with the Securities & Exchange Commission and is hoping to raise an additional $150 million dollars to grow its current offering as a digital textbook rental and online student learning hub into a much bigger entity. In the report on its filing with the SEC, Chegg stated, “In 2010, 2011 and 2012, we generated net revenues of $148.9 million, $172.0 million and $213.3 million, respectively. During the same periods, we had net losses of $26.0 million, $37.6 million and $49.0 million, respectively. In the six months ended June 30, 2012 and 2013, we generated net revenues of $92.5 million and $116.9 million, respectively, and net losses of $31.9 million and $21.2 million, respectively." Chegg has already operated with nearly $200 million dollars invested from other companies, but this move will make it a publicly traded company accepting investments from the consumer-level.
Chegg Offers Subscription-Based Textbook Rentals to College Students is a post from: E-Reader News |
This is your brain on Pi
| We’ve only just spotted Mens Amplio, an Indiegogo project which met its target last month. It’s now being put together for the Burning Man festival, where it’ll be displayed in a couple of weeks. Mens Amplio is a fifteen-foot tall, Pi-controlled sculpture: a part-buried, giant human head made from an enormous mesh of steel. And inside, there’s a brain packed full of Endlighten acrylic rods for its neuron branches, which diffuse light from LEDs along their length. Those lights are controlled by the brainwaves of a  Braaaaaains. Flames, also controlled by the Raspberry Pi, will be shooting out of the top of the thing. The Mens Amplio team is made up of people from all the backgrounds you’d need for this sort of thing: doctors, welders, graphic designers, Altzheimer’s and Parkinson’s researchers, electronics engineers, brain imaging specialists, kinetic fire artists – here they are, in the video produced for their (now completed) Indiegogo fundraiser. If you see Mens Amplio at Burning Man this year, be sure to take some video and send it to us. Best of luck to the ladies and gents of the Mens Amplio crew – we hope you have a blast on the Playa! Know about an art project using a Pi that you think we’d be interested in? Please tell us about it: while the hacker community is never backwards about coming forward, we’ve found that artists are curiously shy about approaching us when they’re using a Raspberry Pi, and we often learn about the Pi component of art projects like Mens Amplio too late to put the word out about fundraising or exhibitions. Rachel, our Artist in Residence, is busy doing artist and kids outreach, and we’ve got projects running with the UK Arts Council to introduce the Pi to young artists. We know there’s much, much more out there, but we need you to tell us about it. If you’ve seen something you think we should blog about, you can reach me at the usual address. |
