| Another week, another maelstrom of apps hit the Android ecosystem and today Good e-Reader gives you the heads up on the most essential ones you need to know about! Assassin's Creed IV Companion for Android – Assassin's Creed Black Flag's Companion is an indispensable tool for all would-be pirate captains. It acts like your very own quartermaster, so that you will never need to break the immersion and flow of gameplay by pausing the game to navigate through certain menus. You are now free to fully concentrate on the job at hand – to gain wealth and infamy on the high seas and in exotic cities. GT Racing 2: The Real Car Exp for Android – Gameloft just released GT Racing 2: The Real Car Experience is a true-to-life automotive journey featuring the most prestigious cars in the world! The best-selling franchise is back for free and it's designed to offer an unprecedented level of driving enjoyment, whether playing solo or multiplayer. Bakery Story: Thanksgiving for Android – Design the bakery of your dreams and share with your friends! Impress your customers with fun Thanksgiving decorations and mouth-watering sweets! Now with THANKSGIVING themed treats, decorations, and REWARDING storylines! Internet Explorer Unofficial for Android – This app was designed mostly for smartphones and tablet users may not enjoy the most robust experience. This is a cool unofficial app that emulates the look and feel of the one designed for Windows 8. Thor: The Dark World LWP for Android – Feel just like your favorite Asgardian with this official Thor: The Dark World app… Marvel Comics and Thor fans can recreate the excitement of the sequel with this incredible Live Wallpaper app for your Android device's home screen! Nest for Android – Connect to your Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide alarm from one place – the Nest app on your Android device. You can adjust the temperature on your Nest Thermostat from anywhere and get notifications for important events, like Heads-Up and Emergency Alarm. Reddit Now for Android – Reddit Now is a great way to browse content published on Reddit, a popular social news and entertainment website, using your Android phone or tablet. Featuring a unique "card based" Holo-styled interface Reddit Now aims to provide you with an intuitive, gesture based, Reddit experience. Greed for Glory: Dragon Cities for Android – Prepare for Glory….and DRAGONS! Build up a mighty army and use strategy to defeat your enemies in this brilliant expansion for the hit free-to-play game Greed for Glory. Raid, destroy defenses, and steal resources in glorious and fun 3D battles. Defeat dragons in an all new campaign, and receive fun new items and additional resources. Escape The Titanic for Android - Join over 2 million fans who've taken the challenge – Do you have the skills to Escape the Titanic before it's too late? Face the ultimate test of wits, cunning, and speed in this challenging and unique puzzle adventure. No two scenes are alike, so be prepared for anything as you race to escape the world's most infamous ocean liner. Put your device through its paces as you pinch, twist, tap & swipe your way through ingenious puzzle challenges. Prove that you have what it takes to outsmart, outrun, and outmaneuver any obstacle. Good luck! Tank Battles for Android – Get ready for Tank Battles! This is General McTankerson, the greatest tank commander in the world, speaking! Many have come to my island for the Tank Battles Tournament, but only one can be crowned the Tank King. Will it be you? Roll out and let the Tank Battles begin! Top 10 Android Apps of the Week is a post from: E-Reader News |
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Top 10 Android Apps of the Week
Shop e-Readers Launches New Holiday Campaign – Save 10% on eBook Readers and Tablets
| Online retail giant Shop e-Readers has just unveiled their new Holiday promotion that will save customers money gearing up for the Holiday Season! The company has unveiled their new 10% off promotion that is not only good for every single e-reader they stock, but also tablets, cases and accessories. Shop e-Readers is the official North American distributor for Wexler and Icarus. They stock every single device those companies sell and save customers a ton of money ordering from within Canada and the US, instead of buying direct from Europe. Shop e-Readers also sells e-readers that are often not available in most international markets. You can get your hands on the new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2, Sony PRS-T3, Kobo Aura, Kobo Arc 10 HD and over 100 other devices. Peter Carotenuto of Shop e-Readers commented “We are very excited to offer mad savings on all of our products. Our big advantage is that we personally review all of the units we sell and only stock the ones we think are the best. Many retail stores will just stock whatever they are told to and customers end up get let down buying inferior products. We have been around since 2009 and have sold thousands of e-readers, we are the best.” When you order one product or a bunch, simply enter the coupon code Holiday101 at checkout to save 10% on the entire order. This promotion will be running until December 25th 2013. Shop e-Readers Launches New Holiday Campaign – Save 10% on eBook Readers and Tablets is a post from: E-Reader News |
Viz Launches on Google Play with 1,700 Volumes of Manga
| You gotta give Viz credit, when they move onto a new platform, they don’t mess around. When they launched on Google Play this week, they launched with 1,700 volumes across over 170 series. Viz already has an Android app, so it’s reasonable to ask why a reader would want to buy the manga individually in the Google Play store. Here are two reasons: Mature titles: It was only last year that Viz started releasing mature-rated titles, such as Dorohedoro, Nana, and Tenjho Tenge, digitally, and you can’t buy them in-app. You can buy them on the Viz website, but unlike comiXology, it won’t sync to the apps on your other devices. If you buy them on Google Play, though, you can sync to the Google Play app on your Android device. The mature titles are also available via Kindle, Nook, and iBooks, so this offers one more option. Savings! Viz recently raised the prices on their digital manga, but the Google Play store is offering a price break on three titles for this week only: Every volume of One Piece (the best-selling manga in Japan), Demon Love Spell (a romance/comedy fantasy about a shrine maiden who accidentally seals a sexy demon and has to team up with him to fight monsters), and Case Closed (a detective series) is only $5.99, a buck off list. If you want to catch up on one of those series, this would be a good time to do it. It’s also worth noting that Viz releases manga digitally the same day they come out in print, and unlike the Big Two, they offer a substantial price break to digital buyers. “Google Play is one of the most-visited and fastest-growing online entertainment destinations, and we look forward to the platform's large mainstream audience discovering and enjoying one of the most substantial digital manga catalogs available anywhere,” said Viz executive vice president and chief technology officer Gagan Singh. That’s an interesting point: Google Play really is mainstream, and it offers games, movies, and music as well as books, so it’s a place for new readers to discover manga. Viz Launches on Google Play with 1,700 Volumes of Manga is a post from: E-Reader News |
Kindle Paperwhite 2 gets Goodreads Integration – Hands On
| The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2 received a new firmware update today that adds GoodReads to the main navigation bar. This allows readers to connect up to the service with their Facebook or GoodReads account and participate in a social eBook community. There are a few ways that GoodReads will impact your day to day live on the Kindle. First of all, next to the store is a new G logo that will allow you to logan to your account. If you don’t already have one, it is fairly easily to register. If you have purchased books from Amazon before they will be in your library and you have the ability to add them to your “want to read” category or if you have completed it, select “I read this.” If you are new to the service you can use this social platform to connect up and befriend other likeminded souls that have the same taste in books as you do. You can click on their name and see all of the books they have ever read and what books they are in the process of reading. If you see a book you like, you can click on it and be directed to the Kindle store, where you can check out reviews, ratings and buy it. When you are reading a Kindle eBook and tap on the social button you can now update your status just on GoodReads. Before, you could only share it on Facebook and Twitter. It obviously makes sense to update your status on a book social site then it does spamming your friend-list on Facebook. There are a few bugs with the recent firmware. If you click on a user and then check out what books they are reading and then click on one you are not directed to the exact listing in the Kindle Store. Instead, it takes the name of the book and does a broad search, sometimes not giving you the book you were looking for and listing others that are completely unrelatable. I live in Canada and I could not fetch the update automatically with my Paperwhite 2. Instead you have to visit the Kindle Firmware Update Page, download it to your PC and then copy the file to the root of your device. You then click settings and Update Your Kindle will be clickable and it takes around 10 minutes to fully update. Kindle Paperwhite 2 gets Goodreads Integration – Hands On is a post from: E-Reader News |
Kindle Paperwhite 2 Software Update Adds Goodreads, Cloud Collections, and Kindle FreeTime
| Yesterday Amazon released Fire OS 3.1 for their latest line of Kindle Fire tablets, so we knew an update for the new Kindle Paperwhite 2 was soon to be coming as well since some of the new features overlap, and that didn’t take long to transpire as Amazon released the update for the 2nd gen […] |
College Funding eBook Now Available
| As the costs of higher education continues to rise in the US, especially where textbooks are concerned, a new ebook from the team at US News & World Report is aimed specifically at parents and college students who are already wondering how they’re going to pay for education. “For nearly three decades U.S. News has provided expert advice and resources for families navigating the college process,” said Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News, in a press release. “Paying for college is one of the most challenging and confusing parts of the process, so we’ve assembled our best advice to help students and parents plan for such an important financial investment.” While also available in print (which ironically demonstrates the need for digital textbooks, since the print edition of the guide to affording college costs more than triple the price of the ebook), the U.S. News Guide to Paying for College was created and distributed by ebook platform Vook and is formatted for a wide variety of device and PC consumption. Crucial chapters in the guide include:
This ebook comes in a far-reaching move towards digital, as the US News Weekly magazine is already a digital-only publication. The U.S. News Guide to Paying for College is available by searching HERE.
College Funding eBook Now Available is a post from: E-Reader News |
eBooks Sales in Japan Still Lagging Behind Printed Books
| Notwithstanding the rapid proliferation that ebooks have made among the reading community the world over, Japan has emerged as a slow adopter of the digital versions. Conventional books continue to be used among the majority of Japanese citizens, even though ebooks have made serious inroads in the market of late. eBook sales have shown a positive growth during the last few years, while conventional printed books have shown a steady decline in sales for the last eight years in row. For those who’d prefer solid figures, ebook sales accounted for ¥36.8 billion in 2012 which marks a healthy growth over the ¥11.2 billion recorded in sale from ebooks in 2011. In contrast, paper books still command a market that is worth a substantial ¥1.7 trillion. As for reason behind the relatively slow growth rate of ebooks, experts attribute it to the large number of bookstores that dot the Japanese landscape. With a landmass and a population that is a fraction of that of the US, Japan still has more (14,696) bookstores compared to 12,703 in the US. The bookstores are also better stocked than the ebook stores, which has ensured they enjoy a wider acceptance among the populace compared to their online counterparts. While the biggest ebook stores generally top out at 100,000 to 300,000 titles, bookstore offer a far bigger collection, usually more than a million titles. Publishers have also shown a general dislike towards adopting digital technologies as this would entail investing resources as well as acquiring the technical knowledge to survive in the digital era. This has especially proven to be a hindrance for small publishers, and Japan is home to many publishers that can’t boast of enough financial clout to explore digital. However, in spite of the slow growth rate that the ebook segment has been witnessing, there is a lot of effort being put in to ensure greater acceptance of ebooks in future. There has also been no dearth of ebook reading devices dotting the store shelves to support the ebook cause, be it tablet PCs, smartphones or ebook readers. There also are quite a few big names associated with the ebook industry in Japan: Sharp, Toshiba, Sony, Rakuten (who acquired controlling stake in Kobo), and of course, Amazon. Publisher Dai Nippon Printing Co. has set up an ebook store of its own, promoting ebooks by making tablet PCs available on each table in its Tokyo cafe where visitors can browse through ebooks. Promoting ebooks in schools is another area where the country can see considerable uptake, not only for the duration of the academic curricula but far beyond that, helping students grow accustomed to reading on ebooks in the future. As Yoshiyuki Oshita, chief director of the center for art policy and management at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting, puts it: “There are movements to incorporate more IT into education, including textbooks. In that case, textbooks would become e-books," he said. "Children in the future will grow up with e-books, so it will be natural for them to use e-books, unlike people like us who grew up with regular books and may be reluctant to change.” However, given the traditional Japanese culture of reading printed material, it could be some time before ebooks begin taking center stage over print.
eBooks Sales in Japan Still Lagging Behind Printed Books is a post from: E-Reader News |
Coby Electronics goes Bankrupt
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The Gordon Brothers Group purchased a number of Coby assets a few months ago. GBG specializes in purchasing defunct companies and try to turn them around. In recent years they purchased Polaroid and The Sharper Image, two other companies that have a track record of shoddy products and abysmal customer support. One of the big losers of this sale are the customers. Coby devices continued to be sold at Walmart, Big Lots, Toys R US and a myriad of other retailers. GBG has no intention of honoring product warranties, as the transaction was structured as an asset purchase, not an outright acquisition. Customer calls to Coby’s support line go unanswered and their main 1-800 number has been shut down. Most troubling of all, products sent in for warranty service in the last few months were never returned or replaced. Presumably, then, there is a big pile of warrantied Coby stuff sitting in one of the company’s warehouses somewhere. Many customers had to actually spend money to have their tablet devices fixed, in addition to having to ship it out. This entire situation has spawned a litany of posts on Facebook and other social media channels about faulty units and no way to repair them. Why did Coby go out of business when it had an extensive line of consumer electronics and high visibility in the US? A source told us that they tried to aggressively expand too quickly with expensive executive hires, investments into factories and the costs of manufacturing the products. They bet the farm on Android tablets and customers did not embrace their line of products as anticipated.
Coby Electronics goes Bankrupt is a post from: E-Reader News |
The Rainbow Orchid Now Available Digitally
| I first found out about Garen Ewing’s The Rainbow Orchid years ago, because he posted the first few chapters online as a webcomic. It’s an adventure story in the Tintin mold, set in the 1920s and drawn in the same “ligne claire” (clear line) style that is so popular with European creators. The graphic novel reads a bit like a caper movie, with a colorful cast of characters chasing after a mythical flower, the rainbow orchid of the title. It’s a great all-ages title, the sort of thing that both children and adults find entertaining, and it’s a great read for any fan of Tintin and other adventure comics. Until last year, however, the book was only available in print form in the UK, which made it tough to find; now you can get it on Amazon but it looks like it’s still an import, so it’s not something you’re likely to find in your local bookstore. So I was delighted when an e-mail arrived in my in-box today to tell me that The Rainbow Orchid is now available via the Sequential iPad app. It’s priced right, too, at $5.99 per volume or $13.99 for the complete three-volume set. The book has won plenty of critical acclaim—creator Bryan Talbot (Grandville) called it “easily one of the best graphic novels of the year”—and it has been shortlisted for the Young People’s Comic Award in the British Comic Awards, which will be announced this Saturday. The Rainbow Orchid Now Available Digitally is a post from: E-Reader News |
Ryanteck’s RTK-000-001 motor controller – robotics on a budget
| We first met Ryan Walmsley when he was fifteen, back in May 2012. He’d been emailing and tweeting with us for months at that point (mostly variations on WHEN CAN I BUY ONE?), and he then proceeded to knock our socks off very shortly after we started shipping by producing, out of the blue, the Rastrack map, which Pi users can register their Pis on, showing the geographical spread of the project. We still use Rastrack regularly: it’s a great visual aid at talks and workshops. At that point, Ryan had only really worked on web programming, but since buying his (first) Pi he’s gone on to learn Python, has done a huge amount of work on electronics and physical computing, and has been running Raspberry Jams in Stevenage, all while studying at sixth-form college. Ryan’s a really important part of the Raspberry Pi community. We rely on the passion, enthusiasm and skill of people like Ryan to get the word about Raspberry Pi out, and we think he’s great.  Ryan showing me his motor controller at work, at this weekend’s Manchester Raspberry Jam Once he’d done a bit of dabbling with a soldering iron, we discovered that Ryan had a bit of a gift for electronics, and he’s visited Pi Towers a couple of times since we moved into our new offices to give us a hand adapting 1980s educational robots to work with Raspberry Pi. (Lots of schools still have discontinued equipment hanging around in cupboards.) He’s coming back in January for some formal work experience, and we are preparing to set him to work on some office-automation hacking when he gets here. We encouraged him to put his expertise to work in the meantime by contributing to the add-on board ecosystem, and so Ryan has developed something he himself felt was missing: a cheap, simple, solder-it-yourself motor controller board. RTK-000-001 is a very straightforward, inexpensive motor controller for the Raspberry Pi, designed for hobbyist and schools robotics. It can drive two DC motors at 0.5A each, which screw into terminals on the board. The board itself clips neatly to the top of the Pi, and you can then mount the whole assembly on a robot of your choice. Ryan’s made demo code available, so you can get started right away: in under 25 lines of Python you can get your robot spinning in alternate directions at five-second intervals, and it’s easy to progress from there to start programming it yourself. Ryan has a Tindie running to get the fifty orders he needs to get the price to the low level he thinks the RTK-000-001 should sell at. Please think about ordering one yourself: we get very excited when we see young people like Ryan building businesses around the Raspberry Pi, and we’re looking forward to using the board in our own offices. (Ryan, I have plans for getting you motorising all *kinds* of stuff in January. Our life-sized Minecraft sword would be 100% better if it started spinning on the wall when sent a command.) |
ComiXology Launches eGift Cards Program
| ComiXology is one of the quickest growing comic distribution companies in the world. The company recently hit the 200 million download milestone and many industry experts agree that it is only a matter of time before they are the target of an acquisition attempt. To prepare for the holidays ComiXology has just announced the launch of their new eGift Card program. The cards are bought online and are emailed out to the target. There are cards available from $10 to $500 or set your own gift value. ComiXology eGift Cards are redeemable to purchase single issues or graphic novels on their main website or via their multitude of mobile apps. The Gift cards last forever and have no hidden fees or expiration dates. This may be a cool gift idea for people who are inept in buying real presents. I mean what little boy wouldn’t love the ability to pick his own comics out with some digital cash? ComiXology Launches eGift Cards Program is a post from: E-Reader News |
Monday, November 18, 2013
Batman Team Shares a Glimpse of a Black Robin—From the Future
| Writer Scott Snyder and artist Sean Murphy revealed this week that Detective Comics #27 will include a glimpse at a Batman first: A black Robin. Batman has had a sidekick named Robin for almost as long as he has been around himself: Batman debuted in Detective Comics #27 in 1939, and Robin came along less than a year later, in Detective Comics #38. For the first 43 years, Robin was Dick Grayson, but since then, Batman’s sidekick has changed frequently: Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and Batman’s own son, Damian Wayne. Currently, there is a vacancy for the position. But Snyder and Murphy aren’t planning to fill it anytime soon. CBR compiled some of their Tweets, in which they discuss the new character, and it’s clear that this will be just a fleeting glimpse of a possible future Robin. “Now the structure of the story is such that you see a LOT of time pass, and w/o giving too much away, the Robin in question only appears in a brief moment. And whether or not he’ll ever make it into some future continuity, I have no idea,” Snyder Tweeted. DC started renumbering Detective Comics with #1 when they rebooted it two years ago as part of the New 52. With the historic issue #27 coming around again, group editor Mike Marts explained in another CBR article, DC decided to do a special issue, kicking off the “Gothtopia” storyline, written by John Layman and illustrated by Jason Fabok, and backing it up with a number of short stories that comment on Batman’s timeless, mythic nature. Snyder and Murphy’s future-Robin story is one of these side stories. (DC has a number of comics that feature the Caped Crusader; Snyder is the lead writer on Batman and Murphy has done some Batman work as well.) Reaction has been so positive, though, that this Robin might become a reality after all. “to be clear-NO ONE seemed upset about a black Robin, dude,” Snyder Tweeted on Friday after word got out. “Opposite. I don’t want to get people’s hopes up about his role is all” “Agreed–people seem thrilled about this,” Murphy responded. “Hope the book does well so we get a chance to do more with him.” Batman Team Shares a Glimpse of a Black Robin—From the Future is a post from: E-Reader News |
Good e-Reader Radio – GoodReads Update, Kindle Accessories and iPad News
| Welcome to another edition of the Good e-Reader Radio Show with Michael Kozlowski and Jeremy Greenfield. Today we talk about the new firmware update for Amazon Kindle Tablets that adds GoodReads functionality. This allows customers to be able to share, review and talk with other like minded souls about the books they love. We live in a world of personalization where people have the ability to craft their technology to their own needs. Motorola is allowing customers to change the colors on their phone cases, camera lens and accents. Amazon just launched their new customized cases that allow people to upload their own pictures and designs on Kindle accessories. Sourcebooks has just signed an agreement with Hello Kitty to put your child in the books. We talk about all of this and more! Finally, there is a new Barnes and Noble Nook Glowlight e-Reader and Apple iPad Mini with Retina tablet available now. We tell you a bit about about these devices and how they will do in the current market climate this holiday season. A great show as always, so check it out! Good e-Reader Radio – GoodReads Update, Kindle Accessories and iPad News is a post from: E-Reader News |
AASL 2013 conference wrap up
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What do you get when you cross 2,400 school librarians and the world's leading distributor of digital content? Lots of excitement in the OverDrive booth at the AASL Conference in Hartford, Conn.!
It was a busy few days with lots of exciting events and announcements:
OverDrive looks forward to meeting with school librarians in Columbus, Ohio for AASL 2015!
Bailey Hotujac is a School Launch Specialist in Collection Development at OverDrive.
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ePubDirect Partners with Oyster for eBook Distribution
| Publishers using the ePubDirect system can select Oyster as an outlet on their distribution platform, only titles with US rights will be sent to Oyster at the moment as Oyster is a US based subscription service. There are currently more than 200 publishers using the ePubDirect eBook distribution system . In addition to supplying the channel, ePubDirect also provide analytics and sales reports for the channel to publishers who have selected Oyster. These reports show details of sales by title, territory, date and revenue. App based, Oyster allows users to get unlimited access to a library of books for one monthly price. Designed for Apple iOS7, the easy to use app was designed from the ground up to optimize the reading experience on mobile devices. Oyster combines discovery with access and reading, so users will be able to get recommendations and immediately begin reading. "ePubDirect work continuously to add the most relevant retailers to our eBook Distribution service, and we are very excited to be able to add Oyster to our platform", explained Gareth Cuddy, CEO, ePubDirect. "Oysters app based subscription model extends our publishers reach and offers our customers new discoverability and sales opportunities." ePubDirect Partners with Oyster for eBook Distribution is a post from: E-Reader News |
OverDrive Launches Streaming Video Service Pilot Program
| Overdrive revealed exclusively to Good e-Reader at Book Expo America their new streaming video platform that allows libraries to offer video in addition to eBooks and audiobooks. Today the first phase of their pilot project is finally getting off the ground at the Los Angeles Public Library. The video service ties into libraries existing ILS systems and titles are available to purchase instantly. The video titles are housed on the same platform as all of your eBook, audiobook and music titles, creating a simple, one-location user experience for the patrons. This means, that users can watch the videos in the same app as they use to read eBooks. When libraries purchase videos a large number of titles are available under a one copy/one user access plan. They also offer Streaming Video collections under simultaneous access plans. OverDrive will also support new metered access models for streaming video such as Cost per Checkout (CPC) as required by select studios. "OverDrive's Streaming Video service allows us to expand the library's e-media offerings while dramatically improving convenience and our users' experience," says Peggy Murphy, Principal Librarian and Collection Services Manager. "For the user, it couldn't be easier. There are no apps to install, no software to download – like they're used to doing with OverDrive Read, they can just click on a title and instantly enjoy!" OverDrive Launches Streaming Video Service Pilot Program is a post from: E-Reader News |
Amazon adds Goodreads Functionality to Kindle Fire HDX
| Amazon acquired the eBook social community website GoodReads back in March for $100 million dollars. The intent behind the purchase was to integrate social reviews and book discovery experience into the Kindle Fire and Paperwhite e-Readers. Today, almost a full month after the new Kindle tablets have been out, Amazon has announced a new firmware update that gives users new GoodReads interface. The free OTA update will give Kindle Fire HDX users a number of new abilities, such as; Effortlessly capture and share favorite quotes with Goodreads friends from inside the book, See what friends are reading with the Goodreads updates feed and add books to your want-to-read shelf, making choosing a new book easier than ever, Rate and review a book you’ve've just finished and immediately share it with Goodreads friends and Import all of the books you'you’ve purchased from Amazon—print and Kindle books—into your Goodreads account. Goodreads was founded in 2007 and currently has over 16 million members and over 30,000 bookclubs. Users have added 530 million books to their shelves and written more than 23 million reviews. Authors are attracted to the GoodReads ecosystem, mainly because this is where the users are and the entire interface is fairly intuitive. Over 74,000 authors are registered in the system, actively engaging in Q/A and addressing questions from their fan base. James Patterson, Margaret Atwood, John Grisham, Nicolas Sparks, E.L. James, and Neil Gaiman are a few examples of the more active names. Amazon adds Goodreads Functionality to Kindle Fire HDX is a post from: E-Reader News |
Google Court Decision Has Implications for Readers with Print Disabilities
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According to a blog post by Bill Steele for Cornell University, access to books is not universal. “Perhaps we should just say ‘equal’ access. Most people can walk into a library, pick up a book and read it, but a person with a visual impairment or a reading disability such as dyslexia must rely on computer assistance, using software that reads digital text out loud, enlarges the type on a screen or converts the text to braille. This requires access to the full text of the work in digital form.” Like many libraries, Cornell had initially begun scanning its collection for its own uses, including use by students and faculty members with limitations on print consumption, as well as supporting the national HathiTrust with its scanned content. When Google launched its worldwide project, Cornell began turning over content to the project, to the tune of about 1,000 items per week. But when the Authors Guild put a temporary stop to the undertaking, a great number of students and researchers stood to lose out, not just from not having geographical access to the various international collections, but by not having the basic ability to consume a book that many readers take for granted. As Steele points out in his post, this access to digitized editions for those with specific needs is not the free-for-all that critics might argue. There are verifiable steps that patrons must take in order to have access to scanned works, steps that–again–the average reader not only does not have to endure, but also does not even have to think about. The recent decision to dismiss the Authors Guild’s case against Google will hopefully speed up the once forward-moving project to enable book access for everyone.
Google Court Decision Has Implications for Readers with Print Disabilities is a post from: E-Reader News |
Fire OS 3.1 Software Update for Kindle Fire HDX Adds Lots of New Features
| Today Amazon released the promised mid-November software update for their new line of Kindle Fire HDX tablets as well as this year’s $139 Kindle Fire HD that adds a number of new features, including Goodreads integration, Cloud Collections, and more. Most of these new features have been advertised all along, so it’s good to see […] |
Grab the popcorn: OverDrive is going Hollywood with Streaming Video!
| OverDrive's much-anticipated Streaming Video lending service has launched in its first pilot at Los Angeles Public Library (http://lapl.lib.overdrive.com) with great success. The Streaming Video service is a convenient and exciting way to instantly watch videos anytime, anywhere, on any computer, tablet or mobile device with an internet connection.
Adding streaming video titles is completely seamless for our library partners; there is no software installation or learning curve involved. The video titles are housed on the same platform as all of your eBook, audiobook and music titles, creating a simple, one-location user experience for your patrons. The OverDrive APIs and our free MARC records integrate your streaming videos into your OPAC or ILS, so your patrons don't have to go anywhere else to get the materials they want.
Once you adopt our Streaming Video service, titles are available for you to curate and purchase from within the OverDrive Marketplace just as you would find an eBook or audiobook today. Streaming Video titles are offered with familiar access models (one title/one user and simultaneous access) to keep purchasing as easy as possible. OverDrive Streaming Videos can be sampled on the OverDrive Media Station and showcased right within your library so you can introduce the new service to your patrons easily. "OverDrive's Streaming Video service allows us to expand the library's e-media offerings while dramatically improving convenience and our users' experience," says Peggy Murphy, Principal Librarian and Collection Services Manager. "For the user, it couldn't be easier. There are no apps to install, no software to download – like they're used to doing with OverDrive Read, they can just click on a title and instantly enjoy!"
One title/one user and simultaneous access models go live in pilot
Patrons can have fun just viewing samples or checking out streaming video titles of all kinds including award-winning Independent films, children's videos, foreign films, documentaries, comedies, dramas, educational videos and more. Movies starring Academy Award-winning actors such as Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, Cate Blanchett, Susan Sarandon, Philip Seymour Hoffman and others are accessible with one click through the OverDrive-powered digital library website. Whether you're interested in learning guitar, catching up on classical adaptations of Huckleberry Finn or The Gift of the Magi, or entertaining your family with titles like Inspector Gadget or The Adventures of Paddington Bear, we've got you covered. Lee Milstein, Erica Lazzaro and team have been busy in California talking with major motion picture studios, and big announcements are coming soon! Thousands of additional titles in all genres from major studios, including Hollywood blockbusters, will be added on a continual basis.
The new Streaming Video service is replacing OverDrive's download video (WMV) service that has been on the market for many years. Library WMV titles will be removed from the website and replaced automatically with streaming video titles wherever possible.
OverDrive is going live with several libraries as part of a limited pilot program starting this month. Additional information about OverDrive Streaming Video service is coming soon – keep reading our blog for the latest updates, and contact your Collection Development Specialist to learn more. In the meantime, check out search.overdrive.com to see our available Streaming Video titles.
Heather Tunstall is the Public Relations Specialist at OverDrive.
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