| Kobo has just expanded into India, bringing their entire line of e-readers, tablets and eBooks into one of the worlds most populous markets. Starting today, Kobo will be available in retail locations across India through its partnerships with Crossword, WHSmith and Croma. Readers will also have access to Kobo’s eBookstore, one of the largest in the world, featuring nearly 4-million titles across 68 languages including ninety-five percent of India’s bestselling content featuring work from top-selling Indian authors including Jhumpa Lahiri, Ramachandra Guha and Sachin Garg to international bestselling authors like Dan Brown, John Grisham and Lee Child. “As e-commerce continues to expand and demand for digital content continues to grow, we are thrilled to be launching in India and look forward to introducing passionate Readers to our world-class digital reading platform,” said Wayne White, Executive Vice President & General Manager, Kobo. “India is in the early stages of what we believe is a 25-year transformation from print to digital reading. In partnership with some of the leading booksellers and retailers in the country, Kobo is poised to lead this transformation, by delivering a fully localized experience designed to meet the increased demand for digital content in India.” In a survey commissioned by Kobo and conducted by Ipsos India, 93 percent of self-identified Readers, said they are familiar with eReading devices or apps that allow for reading across a variety of devices and 56 percent said they would prefer to read digital content on a dedicated eReading device. Furthermore, 54 percent of respondents said they would read more if they had an eReader that provided them with access to their own digital library anytime, anywhere, anyplace. This is a bold move for Kobo and most people did not see this one coming. India is a natural fit, and with the high availability of their devices to be available in most bookstores, customer acceptance is all but assured. They have also discounted their e-readers to get people embracing it right away with the Kobo Arc available for Rs. 9999 and the Kobo Touch at Rs. 6999. Kobo Expands into India with e-Readers and eBooks is a post from: E-Reader News |
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Kobo Expands into India with e-Readers and eBooks
Nook Update for Windows 8.1 Launched
| Only last week, Theresa Horner, VP at Barnes and Noble, sat down with Good e-Reader at the Frankfurt Book Fair and effectively put to rest the ongoing rumors that B&N was working to distance itself from the Nook division. Today, Barnes and Noble backed up that point by launching the update for Windows 8.1 to power the Nook app. "NOOK is one of the highest-rated reading and digital bookstore apps for Windows 8 and we've added even more great features to coincide with the launch of Windows 8.1," said Mahesh Veerina, Chief Operating Officer at NOOK Media LLC, in a press release today. "With the NOOK App for Windows 8.1, customers get an incredible reading experience and can choose from over 3 million NOOK Books™, including 1 million free titles, as well as magazines, newspapers and comics on any Windows 8.1 device." According to the release, there’s an added incentive for customers who take advantage of the app update: “To celebrate the launch of the NOOK App for Windows 8.1, customers who download the app have access to an exclusive list of first-in-the-series titles available for $2.99 or less, for a limited time. Popular books available in this offer include One for the Money (Stephanie Plum Series #1) by Janet Evanovich, Liars and Thieves (Tommy Carmellini Series #1) by Stephen Coonts and A Time to Dance (Timeless Love Series #1) by Karen Kingsbury, and many more. NOOK for Windows 8.1 customers can simply scroll to "Shop Popular Lists" in the app to find and download these great titles for $2.99 or less.” While the complete description of the updated and enhanced features can be found HERE, some of those features include better search capabilities, the ability to sign in through Microsoft accounts, the ability to import ePub and PDF files directly from the users’ SkyDrives, and much more.
Nook Update for Windows 8.1 Launched is a post from: E-Reader News |
Kobo Announces the Launch of its India Platform
| It’s very interesting that the e-reader and ebookstore company that holds the number three market share in the US is the only one who is present in over 190 countries–make that 190 countries plus one–but that is the case for Kobo, who announced today the launch of its bookselling in India. Kobo will be available through retailers across India through its partnerships with Crossword, WHSmith, and Croma, and will be bringing the Kobo Touch, Kobo Glo, Kobo Arc, and “As e-commerce continues to expand and demand for digital content continues >to grow, we are thrilled to be launching in India and look forward to introducing passionate Readers to our world-class digital reading platform,” said Wayne White, Executive Vice President & General Manager, Kobo, in a press release today. “India is in the early stages of what we believe is a 25-year transformation from print to digital reading. In partnership with some of the leading booksellers and retailers in the country, Kobo is poised to lead this transformation, by delivering a fully localized experience designed to meet the increased demand for digital content in India.” Ever in tune with the culture of reading within the countries it serves, Kobo is celebrating its launch in India–which coincides with the Festival of Lights, “special Diwali
Kobo Announces the Launch of its India Platform is a post from: E-Reader News |
New CourseSmart Research Revealed at EDUCAUSE Conference
| One of the key factors that educational stakeholders often cite as a source of major concern for a digital classroom is how to effectively measure student outcomes and mastery. Despite the prevalence of computer-based testing around the world, online or digital learning still leaves some administrators with more questions than answers. Today, one of the world’s largest developers of digital educational content revealed the results of an independent study on the effectiveness of its CourseSmart platform in a white paper entitled, “Evaluating How the CourseSmart Engagement Index Predicts Student Course Outcome.” "My analyses of these data show that the CourseSmart Engagement Index is a powerful predictor of student course grades and that the Index can serve as an effective barometer to help faculty evaluate how students are performing in their courses" said Reynol Junco, Associate Professor of Library Science at Purdue University, and Fellow at Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University, in a press release. "Previous research has shown that time spent reading course materials is a strong predictor of student success; however, it is difficult for instructors to evaluate exactly how much their students are reading since asking them directly often does not yield effective information. The CourseSmart Engagement Index can show instructors how much students are reading in real-time in order toplan appropriate interventions." At last year’s EDUCAUSE conference, CourseSmart first unveiled its CourseSmart Analytics platform, as well as shared the initial numbers of participation in the pilot program. Over 3,700 students, 76 faculty members, and 26 administrators tested the product during the spring 2013 term, and Junco compiled his research from that program. This research defined CourseSmart’s effectiveness as:
The results of the survey and its data can be found at CourseSmart.com.
New CourseSmart Research Revealed at EDUCAUSE Conference is a post from: E-Reader News |
Teenagers in Love: YA eBooks for Sweetest Day
| Did you know that this Saturday October 19th is Sweetest Day? As a native Midwesterner, I only recently learned that Sweetest Day is a regional celebration. Started right here in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1920s, it’s similar to Valentine’s Day with significant others gifting each other with cards and candy. In fact, according to Wikipedia, the first Sweetest Day was actually planned by a committee of candy makers! While I can’t promise you candy this Sweetest Day, I can suggest a delicious batch of young adult eBooks to help celebrate both Sweetest Day and Teen Read Week, which wraps up this Saturday. To find these love stories and many more, visit OverDrive Marketplace.
Click any title below to read a sample:
Don’t forget that you can promote your Teen Literature eBooks any time throughout the year with our Teen Lit bookmarks, available in the OverDrive Partners Portal. Happy reading and happy Sweetest Day!
*Some titles are metered access and may have limited regional or platform availability. Check OverDrive Marketplace to find what is available for you.
Melissa Marin is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive.
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Infrared camera – you asked us, so we’re making them!
| You may have heard rumours about something we’re calling Pi NoIR (Pi, no infrared) – it’s been a very badly kept secret. Some months ago we featured some work that was being done at Reading Hackspace, where members were removing the infrared filter to use the camera to sense infrared signals, and for low-light work, especially with wildlife. The Reading camera boards ended up going to the Horniman Museum in London, where they’re currently being used to track the activity of corals at night. A lot of you are interested in wildlife monitoring and photography. London Zoo mentioned to us that the infrared filter on the standard Pi camera board is a barrier to using it in projects like the Kenyan rhino-tracking project they’re running based around the Pi – although the Pi is used as the base of the project and does all the computational tasks required, they started out having to use a more expensive and more power-hungry camera than the Pi camera board, because that IR filter meant that it wasn’t useable at night. Once the news from Reading Hackspace and the Horniman got out, we were inundated by emails from you, along with comments here on the blog and on the forums, asking for a camera variant with no IR filter. You wanted it for camera effects, for instances where you wanted to be able to see IR beams from remote controls and the like, for low-light photography illuminated by IR, and especially for wildlife photography. Archeologists wanted to take aerial photographs of fields with an IR camera to better see traces of lost buildings and settlements. Some botanists got in touch too: apparently some health problems in trees can be detected early with an IR camera. Initially we thought it wasn’t going to be something we could do: Sunny, who make the sensor, filter and lens package that’s at the heart of our camera board, did not offer a package without the filter at all. Removing it would mean an extra production line would have to be set up just for us – and they had other worries when we started to talk to them about adding an infrared camera option. They told us they were particularly concerned that users would try to use a camera board without a filter for regular daytime photography, and be would be upset at the image quality. (There’s a reason that camera products usually integrate an infrared filter – the world looks a little odd to our eyes with an extra colour added to the visible spectrum.) We convinced them that you Pi users are a pragmatic and sensible lot, and would not try to replace a regular camera board with a Pi NoIR – the Pi NoIR is a piece of equipment for special circumstances. So Sunny set up an extra line just for us, to produce the Pi NoIR as a special variant. We will be launching Real Soon Now – modules are on their way and we’re aiming for early November – so keep an eye out here for news about release. RS Components have got their hands on an early prototype, and Andrew Back produced a blog post about using it in timelapse wildlife photography at night, with infrared illumination. You can read it at DesignSpark, RS’s community hub. Andrew’s garden is a paradise of slugs. Jon and JamesH would like you to be aware that the red flashes are most likely due to not letting the camera “warm up” sufficiently before taking each picture. Jon says: “Raspistill defaults to 5 second previews before capture which should be enough. If using the “-t” parameter then don’t set it below 2000. The “-tl” parameter is for timelapse, which doesn’t shut the camera down between picture grabs.” (We’re checking the white balance before release all the same, though.) Let us know if you’re in the market for a Pi NoIR in the comments. We’d love to hear your plans for one! We’re planning to sell it for $25, the same price as a regular camera module. Check back here: we’ll tell you as soon as it’s released. |
Oyster Subscription Reading Goes Live to the Public, Brings an iPad App with It
| One of the most elusive arms of digital publishing has been a viable solution for Netflix-style subscription-based reading. With everything from freemium models to all-you-can-eat reading, solutions providers, publishers, and reading consumers have struggled to find a model that works for everyone. In September, New York-based Oyster launched an invitation-only beta period for iPhone only that seemed to be taking subscriptions in the right direction. Currently priced at $9.95 per month for unlimited online reading and up to ten offline titles per month, Oyster has also added an iPad app that takes full advantage of the additional screen space over the iPhone. The public launch of Oyster subscriptions went live yesterday, offering the public access to a catalog of over 100,000 titles. But the key issue that plagued subscription-based reading from the start seems to still be a problem, which may affect customers and publishers alike. When companies like 24Symbols introduced this model, very few publishers were willing to take a risk on a model that may or may not result in due compensation for their authors and their bottom lines. As a result, the publishers who were willing to take a chance on this new revenue stream often offered up only their back list titles, and some reviews of the launch have stated that this seems to be the case as of now. The iPad app only works with iOS 7, but users of previous versions can view the iPhone version of the app on their tablets. They will still have to request the invite, as the app is the older beta model. All in all, the layout and aesthetic of the app are appealing, but only user feedback will determine whether or not this is finally a solution that works for subscription-based reading. New users can enjoy a 30-day free trial of the service before deciding to join.
Oyster Subscription Reading Goes Live to the Public, Brings an iPad App with It is a post from: E-Reader News |
Meet GCF’s Newest Mobile App, GCF Quiz!
Quizzes have a bad reputation. GCF Quiz is trying to fix that.  |
Baidu Likely to Acquire Ailing Chinese Literature Site Zongheng
| According to rumors from China, the domestic game developer Perfect World has reached some sort of a conclusion in its talks with Baidu to acquire the former's literature oriented website, Zongheng.com. Baidu is hailed as the Chinese equivalent of Google and its attempt to acquire Zongheng can be seen as a move towards emerging as a viable player who offers content services as well. Zongheng plays host to more than 100,000 works of literature and has its own set of permanent authors. This make up just one among the scores of other sectors where Perfect World is reported to have poured millions of RMB into the site, though the returns from the investment have not yet been to the satisfaction of Perfect World. This has prompted the parent company to restructure their operations, culminating in seeking a new buyer for Zongheng. Baidu has emerged to acquire the literature site with the deal said to be worth anywhere between CNY300 million and CNY400 million. Zongheng has some impressive statistics as well, including more than 60 million page views on a daily basis, drawing in visitors from over 2.6 million individual IP addresses every day. The site records about a third of its traffic from mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones, and has seen its mobile traffic jump by about 50 percent during 2012-2013. Maybe next in line will be an ebook reading device from Baidu that will cement its position as a viable Google alternative in China.
Baidu Likely to Acquire Ailing Chinese Literature Site Zongheng is a post from: E-Reader News |
Whitcoulls Shuts Down eBook Store in New Zealand due to Erotic eBooks
| Whitcoulls is one of the largest bookstore chains in New Zealand and has been running a Kobo powered eBook store since 2010. Today, the company has announced that it has completely shut down their bookstore, leaving customers unable to buy content. The New Zealand bookstore released a terse statement today that said “Due to recent publicity surrounding eBook publishing through automated feeds provided by our eBook partner, Kobo, Whitcoulls has suspended the sale of eBooks through our website. This suspension will remain in place until we can guarantee that any inappropriate material, that has been available through self published eBooks, has been removed from the Kobo eBook catalog.” Indie Authors are currently abusing the system and having hardcore erotica placed in the kids section of many popular bookstores. This is mainly attributed to self-published content not having its own category and all of the titles are intermixed with everything else. This results in innocent searches for Daddy’s little girl, to be books about incest and rape, while in the kids section, somewhere once thought safe. Many of the leading online bookstores all offer self-publishing programs and allow other traditional bookstores to tap into their feed. The problem is when you have so much self-published content being added every single day, there is no quality and control. There is no way to curate the content and make sure there is not graphic depictions of sex on the cover. Digital bookstores MUST take a page out of the traditional bookstore, where that type of content is sequestrated in a small section, away from everything else. Whitcoulls Shuts Down eBook Store in New Zealand due to Erotic eBooks is a post from: E-Reader News |
‘Japan Digital Library Service Co.’ to Come Into Being in Early 2014, Aims to Define Standards of Digital Library Services
| An as-of-yet unformed Japanese company wishes to accomplish something that none has attempted befor:, setting standards for digital book distribution, their prices, and terms of using the service. The Japan Digital Library Service Co. is expected to become a reality during the first half of 2014 and comprises of equal stakes of publishers Kadokawa Corp. and Kodansha Ltd. as well as the bookstore Kinokuniya Co. The consortium has made it known that they are open to investments from other bookstores or publishers in future. The company, once formed, will look to provide services to schools and public libraries in future. The attempt to set standards of operations for digital libraries does seem befitting of a country that has seen the evolution of ebooks and dedicated ebook reading devices earlier than anywhere else in the world. Sony, Sharp, and Toshiba were the initial players in this segment, and the ebook and ereader markets have seen massive overhaul since then, and ebooks and other digital content are a thriving business in Japan. However, it’s still Amazon that has gone on to become the market leader there after making its debt in 2012. Among the other major developments in the ebook scene in the far eastern nation is the acquisition of Kobo by the Japanese firm Rakuten.
‘Japan Digital Library Service Co.’ to Come Into Being in Early 2014, Aims to Define Standards of Digital Library Services is a post from: E-Reader News |
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
NYCC: NARR8 Creates Comics with a Twist
 Darya Trushkina and Rebecca Buttle of NARR8 In the beginning, digital comics were just print comics scanned in and posted to digital devices, but as the medium has evolved, more and more creators are experimenting with adding features to native digital comics. NARR8 is an app that stretches the boundaries of comics, adding in motion, music, and gameplay elements. Sometimes the motion is as simple as a background of TV static, sometimes it’s as complex as a scene where the camera angle shifts while the characters are moving. The comics and picture book I sampled all used the full screen as a single panel, but with each swipe or page turn something happened: Word balloons dropped in, someone came crashing through a door, a squirrel dove from a tree. Once the main action is completed, the figures have a tendency to continue to move slightly, as if they were breathing heavily or maybe undulating underwater. But if you don’t linger on a page, the effect is fairly seamless. NARR8 launched last November—I saw a preview of it at last year’s New York Comic Con—and according to vice president of business development Darya Trushkina, they have already reached 1 million users. I spoke to Trushkina and NARR8 PR associate Rebecca Buttle at this year’s New York Comic Con. NARR8 launched as an iOS app, and now there are Android, Windows 8, Kindle Fire, and Facebook versions available. There are English, Russian, Spanish, and Korean versions, and it is available in 50 countries. And with NARR8′s Story Builder tool, anyone on earth can create stories and upload them, Trushkina said (although NARR8 does screen the stories before putting them on the app). “We have 20 series, and you as the user can look at two episodes of every series for free,” explained Trushkina. Readers can purchase additional episodes with in-app credits. “You have to be active within the application to earn credits,” Trushkina said. “You have to be posting on Facebook and Twitter, interacting with other users on the forum, checking out new series—and you also can buy them with real money. The best part is the gamification of it. We have a background in games, we do mobile and social games, and they are only freemium. We have collectibles within NARR8, so you can read an episode and collect a favorite character.” The comics and e-books on the app span a number of genres, including children’s comics, mysteries, science fiction, and horror, but Trushkina said they are putting a special emphasis on educational content. Next year, children’s content will take priority. “We are developing five series,: Trushkina said, “and we are also talking to the big guys, trying to get content based on their IPs [intellectual properties], so that is probably going to be a priority for the next couple of months. And sports content—it’s in development.” She described NARR8 as “for everybody, from 5 to 95.” Also to come in the next year are improvements to the app’s rather confusing user interface. “The biggest improvement in terms of product is that we are going to structure it in a catalog more properly, so at login you see a young kids’ section, a teachers’ section,” said Trushkina. The most important question about motion comics is why they exist at all—is this something readers want? Trushkina has a simple answer: “It boosts our retention rate and boosts usage significantly,” she said. “Our retention rate is 50%—that’s users coming back to the app. It’s not just logging in—how many times do you check Facebook? But you only check Facebook for 20 seconds. With NARR8, the average user session is 15 minutes, and it’s not just I’m going to my favorite comics or series or reading other episodes; [the users] interact within the app. They go into forums not just to complain but to talk about the series. We do see a lot of traction on social media, and it is all organic growth. For some people, 1 million downloads in a year might seem a little low, but if you think about it, we didn’t spend any money on marketing or user acquisition.” “These days, it is very important to keep user interest in content,” Trushkina concluded. “That’s what NARR8 does. When you add motion and interaction to a simple book or text, that makes it interesting. It’s not just about storyline, it’s about the special details that we add to it.” NYCC: NARR8 Creates Comics with a Twist is a post from: E-Reader News |
Kobo Arc 7 and Kobo Arc 7 HD Now Available at Chapters
| The brand new seven inch line of Kobo Tablets are available at Chapters and Indigo stores in Canada tomorrow. The Arc 7 HD will be available for $199.99, while the Kobo Arc 7 will be a paltry $149.99. The Kobo Arc 7 features a seven-inch capacitive LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 1024×600 pixels. Kobo had to sacrifice screen quality to drive down the price, but if you are buying this just to read eBooks, magazines, and newspapers, it should be more than sufficient. Underneath the hood is a MTK 8125 Quad-Core, 1.2 GHz. processor and 1 GB of RAM, with8 GB of internal memory. One of the great things about this model is that users can expand the memory via the Micro SD card up to an additional 32 GB. This might not be a full HD tablet, but it does have a Micro HDMI Port, so users can watch movies, play games, or display content on a television or projector. It also has a front facing camera, but has a fairly woeful .03 MP, which is pretty well VGA. The Kobo Arc 7 HD features a seven inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1920×1200 pixels. It currently has over 323 PPI and will play back videos in pure 1080p. This is quite an upgrade in screen technology over the original Arc, which only had 1280 x 800 HD resolution and 215 PPI. Underneath the hood is an Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor that is running a very solid 1.7 GHZ. There is also 1 GB of RAM and 16/32 GB variants for storage space. There is no expandable storage with this model, so make sure you buy the one that suits your needs. One thing Kobo has added to the Arc HD is the inclusion of a Micro HDMI port. This will allow you to hook it up to your television or projector. This is very useful, as not many e-reading focused tablets even bother with HDMI. Other ports include Micro USB, 3.5 mm headphone jack, front facing 1.3 MP camera and a rear facing speaker. The speaker is actually positioned right at the top of the device, and looks to be creeping to the top of bezel. The HD model is Good e-Readers recommendation if you are going to purchase one tomorrow. It has beefier hardware and should still be going strong in a few years, the lower-end model, not so much. If you live in the US, or overseas you can purchase them right now from Shop e-Readers and have them shipped out tomorrow to any country in the world. Kobo Arc 7 and Kobo Arc 7 HD Now Available at Chapters is a post from: E-Reader News |
The better features of the newest iOS and Android operating systems
| In the modern world, technology moves fast – way to state the obvious, right? One of the drawbacks is the transition period between the old software and the new software, like when one goes from Windows 7 to 8, or from Android's Ice Cream Sandwich to Jelly Bean, or from Apple's iOS 6 to 7.
The initial time spent with the new OS is often determining which apps are broken and which ones need updated, or how drastically the OS was changed from the previous version to now. When the dust settles though, you have a moment to reflect on the cool things that happened with that massive update, which robbed you of precious time that could have been spent browsing your library site on your phone or tablet in search of some new reading material.
Top 3 Cool, New Features in Android 4.3 AKA "Jelly Bean":
Top 3 Cool, New Features in iOS7:
Apple's cooler features are much simpler to describe, which really speaks to their design aesthetic of giving you just enough to get going. By contrast, Android's cooler features are a little more granular, and require more explanation, speaking loud and clear to the more "techie" aesthetic of Android. Either way, both Google and Apple are working day and night to provide the best their respective operating systems have to offer. It's also great to see that so many of the new features can also help to improve your OverDrive reading experience.
Justin Noszek is a Support Services Specialist at OverDrive.
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McGraw-Hill Education Launches Higher Ed Adaptive Math Platform
| Higher education in the US is facing an alarming trend: as tuition costs increase, the graduation rates among students who needed some level of core subject remediation is decreasing. Research indicates that this is partly due to students who need developmental coursework to prepare for higher classes are being incorrectly placed in courses, leading to drop-outs and failure to attend the class. Today, McGraw-Hill Education launched a platform aimed at correctly identifying the needs of students who might need some measure of support in math or science classes. The ALEKS Placement program helps to identify areas of need and more accurately recommend courses that meet those needs for students, with the goal of progressing beyond remediation and into credit-earning courses as quickly as possible. This is done through locating the individual student’s “ceiling of knowledge,” or level of mastery. "Research tells us that students who are incorrectly placed in courses become frustrated, leading to thousands of students who were accepted to college to never show up to class. What's more, less than 1 in 10 remedial students graduate from community colleges within three years, and we know that inaccurate placement contributes to this problem," said Brian Kibby, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education, in a press release. The online format of the program lets students work at their own pace and achieve assessment benchmarks on a time frame that works for them. At work in over seventy colleges during this initial testing year, some schools saw as much as a 24% increase in students’ completion of higher math courses, as well as a ten percent decrease in the numbers of students dropping math classes due to unpreparedness. More information about ALEKS Placement can be found at ALEKS.com.
McGraw-Hill Education Launches Higher Ed Adaptive Math Platform is a post from: E-Reader News |
Onyx Readies Android E Ink Phone and Android 4.0 Onyx M96 9.7″ eReader (Video)
| Onyx International is one of the bigger E Ink ebook reader companies that’s not named Amazon, Kobo, or Sony. They sell their products mostly in Europe and a few other countries worldwide. Unfortunately the United States is no longer one of them, but Onyx has sold their ereaders here in the past. Charbax from ARMdevices.net […] |
Issuu Wins Europe’s Lovie Award for Web Services
| The well-known and very prestigious Webby Awards are given to digital innovators across a variety of technology fields, but in Europe, that same honor is bestowed under the jurisdiction of the Lovie Awards. This year’s Silver winner of the 3rd annual Lovie Award for the Web Services and Applications category was digital publishing provider Issuu. "Issuu is honored to be chosen as the winner of a Lovie Award," said Scott Kinzie, Vice President of Marketing at Issuu, in a press release. "We are committed to building a world class content discovery ecosystem, connecting people to content they love, and helping publishers build a global audience for their content. This award is validation for our hard work." Issuu has only recently opened an office in Palo Alto, California, but has a catalog of over 15 million titles going out to its 70 million+ unique users each month. The Awards, under the direction of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, are chosen from a field of over 2000 entrants in the category. The organization and its judges include such members as The Academy is an intellectually diverse organization that includes members such as musician David Bowie, Internet Co-inventor Vint Cerf, Arianna Huffington, President and Editor-in-Chief of Huffington Post Media Group, Twitter Co-founder Biz Stone, Chairman and Founder of R/GA Bob Greenberg, Co-Founder ofInstagram Kevin Systrom, Executive Creative Director at Google Lab, Iain Tait, Mozilla CEO and Chair Mitchell Baker, Tumblr Founder David Karp, and Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, Lawrence Lessig. “Issuu has excelled in its category, showing fantastic prowess in digital innovation and creativity," said Nik Roope, Executive Chair of IADAS. “This award is a testament to the skill, ingenuity, and vision of its creators.”
Issuu Wins Europe’s Lovie Award for Web Services is a post from: E-Reader News |
New French Law Bars Online Booksellers to Offer Discounts With Free Shipping
| The French parliament has passed a law that makes it illegal for online stores to deliver books for free while also offering a 5 percent discount on the price of the book. The move is being seen as a means of protecting the interests of independent booksellers as much as it is to limit Amazon's monopoly in the segment. As Christian Kert, the conservative MP who tabled the bill puts it, the bill is aimed at ensuring "that the price of a book sold online is higher than one sold by an independent bookshop.” The government stated they look forward to “restricting predatory behaviour” with the new bill. This marks the first amendment to the Lang law that has been in place since 1981 and had set fixed prices for books. Retailers, both online and real, will now have the maximum leveraging margin of 5 percent but can't include free shipping on top of that, something that Amazon has offered. What remains to be seen is how Amazon, which controls more than 70 percent of the market, is affected by the ruling. In any case, the world's largest online retailer has already been at the receiving end of French tax system, who accuses Amazon of evading most taxes by basing its operations in France in neighboring Luxembourg. Online bookstores now form the third biggest trading segment in France, though it is left to the independent booksellers to maintain their own individual web presence. The brick and mortar bookstores may all owe their allegiance to a single body, the French Booksellers Association or SLF, but there is no unified website for all the booksellers, the reason being that the last time they attempted such a venture, it resulted in a huge financial loss. It’s left to the individual booksellers to maintain a web presence of their own. "All bookshops are losing money at present, even if they have an internet outlet, but at the same time they cannot afford not to be represented online,” says Guillaume Husson. Meanwhile, the new ruling also runs the risk of attracting the ire of other European nations who accuse France of breaching the European Union's common market policies and practices by enforcing a fixed price structure for books.
New French Law Bars Online Booksellers to Offer Discounts With Free Shipping is a post from: E-Reader News |
Email of the month: worshipping Pis in Kathmandu
| I just received an email from Nepal. Sakar is a member of Karkhana, a Kathmandu makerspace, and their Raspberry Pis have just experienced a day quite unlike that of any other Raspberry Pis in the world. It’s important to remember before you read Sakar’s mail that the religious and cultural experience in Kathmandu can be extraordinarily involved, and is much more central to daily life than it is in, say, Cambridge. I’m not sure we in Cambridge get the best end of the deal here. Sakar says: Hi Liz, This might tickle your fancy. I’m writing from Karkhana, a makerspace in Kathmandu. We are just about getting done with our biggest festival, Dasai, which celebrates the story of one of the two big Hindu epics, Ramayana. It’s a 10 day festival that pretty much brings the country to a complete halt as attention shifts to home, family, playing cards and chowing down on goat. On the 9th day of festival is a special puja called the “Astra” puja, i.e a worship of implements. The army worships their guns and helicopters. The taxi drivers worship their engines. And we got a Brahmin priest to conduct the ceremony for our 3d printer, our tables saws, our soldering irons, and, of course, our Raspberry Pi’s. Some photos are attached. Enjoy! |
Singapore Digitizing 50 Years of Tamil Literature
| Singapore has initiated the Tamil Digital Heritage Project which aims to digitize all works of local Tamil authors. The project will cover all the literary works from 1965 till 2015 and is being targeted for completion before the nation gets to celebrate its 50th Independence Day on August 4. The project will involve the active participation of the National Library Board, National Heritage Board, National Art Council, National Book Development Council of Singapore along with of course the Tamil authors organizations. Speaking of the project, S Iswaran, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office said, "The main aspect of this project is that it brings Tamil literature that’s been conceived and developed in Singapore; it’s digitising it and therefore bringing it to a new platform, to the broader community in Singapore and around the world.” The National Library Board plays hosts to more than 500 titles including those of noted Tamil authors from the regions such as K T M Iqbal, M Elangkannan and Singai Mukilan. Arun Mahizhnan, chief coordinator of the Tamil Digital Heritage Group rued the lack of accessibility to Tamil literary works even they have been published in the island nation since 1800. He applauded the recent initiative citing the obvious benefit of opening up Tamil literature to the new generation anywhere in the world. Worth mentioning here, the National Library Board is currently engaged in another digitization project in collaboration with the British Library to make digital copies of rare Malay manuscripts.
Singapore Digitizing 50 Years of Tamil Literature is a post from: E-Reader News |
