Librarians Share: San Antonio Public Library engages young readers with eReading Rooms for kids and teens

OverDrive’s eReading Room for Kids has been a runaway hit this year for public libraries looking for an exciting way to engage young readers in a safe environment. In addition to the Kids' eReading Room, public libraries now have the option of a dedicated eReading Room for Teens. One of the first public libraries to go live with two eReading Rooms for Kids and Teens is San Antonio Public Library. San Antonio Public Library is continually at the forefront of innovation with fresh perspectives on reaching new audiences through their digital collection. Caitlin Cowart, Community and Public Relations Manager, was kind enough to share more about her library's plans with the eReading Rooms. What led to your decision to incorporate two eReading Rooms dedicated to kids and teens? The San Antonio Public Library (SAPL) is committed to providing the best possible customer service to our patrons, and kids and teens represent large segments of our patron population. The ability to customize the collections within the eReading Rooms allows us to tailor the content to align with library initiatives like the Summer Reading Program and Teen Tech Week and yearly themed content such as National Poetry Month and Women's History Month. Also, developmentally appropriate material is now more easily accessible to teachers and parents since content can be searched by reading and interest level. These eReading Rooms bring attention to the great richness of SAPL's collections, while helping us to accommodate the evolving interest that our patrons have for accessing content digitally. What are your expectations for success with the new destinations for young readers? We expect that awareness and usage of such eBook collections – targeted at children and teens – will increase notably. Because the eReading Rooms simulate a familiar retail experience except with items that are absolutely free, SAPL expects an increased number of digital library users and even increased library card sign-ups. The user-friendly platform and personalized search capabilities allow SAPL an opportunity to establish relationships with these newest generations, to ensure that we continue to be perceived as valuable and relevant. What are your plans for promotion? The first step taken toward promotion of the eReading Rooms was the design and implementation of digital banners on the website and in branches. The first day the eReading Rooms were made available to our patrons set a record for the highest number of users to check out a digital item since we started circulating eBooks through our Overdrive Digital Collection in August of 2007. Also, a key aspect to promotion is through relationships with school districts and other community partners that share similar goals of the San Antonio Public Library. Our Children's and Teen librarians are promoting the eReading Rooms through outreach to these groups and working in creative ways to increase usage with area students in and out of the classroom that support school-age learning. In general, please share any details related to your library's initiatives to increase readership among younger patrons. Readership among younger patrons is encouraged through many Library initiatives including Every Child Ready to Read and the Summer Reading Program. Teen Tech Week is a recent, successful initiative that was all about extending learning beyond the classroom where teens can explore, create and share digital content with activities with 3D printers, meme generating, cube music, making videos and coding. This is one example of how an out-of-school learning activity also inspires readership since it peaks an interest for further knowledge and study. Our teen services department keeps an active blog at http://210teenlibrary.wordpress.com/, which increases Library engagement and involvement among this group. One of the teen regulars even writes her own book reviews to share with her fellow teens! How will the eReading Rooms support those initiatives? The library understands that the digital marketplace is maturing. Remote, online access to library content and resources that is personalized and user-friendly drives the virtual user and positions SAPL as a responsive, innovative resource for a new, technology-conscious generation of library patrons. If your library has an eReading Room, feel free to utilize our Marketing Kit to get the word out. The success of your eReading Rooms can be tracked via the Circulation Activity report going forward from February 1, 2014 in OverDrive Marketplace. Contact your Collection Development Specialist today at collectionteam@overdrive.com if you're interested in eReading Rooms for your library.   Heather Valentine-Gold is an Account Specialist at OverDrive.

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London Book Fair’s Digital Minds Conference Kicks Off with a Stab at Amazon

The broken record of the publishing industry is playing the same old song: Amazon is evil and must be destroyed. At least, that’s the sentiment that came out of the first day conference of the London Book Fair. The digital publishing-themed pre-event got underway with an in-depth look at how Amazon continues to destroy basically the entire world. This particular rendition of the song that has been playing since the rise of the Kindle e-reader included a sentiment that is far-too-prevalent in the industry: Amazon is horrible, but yes, as a matter of fact, I do sell my content on their site. The particular hypocrite in question is UK author Anthony Horowitz, whose keynote address at the conference referred to Amazon as “evil bastards” before continuing by saying, “I loathe them.” Horowitz, the author of the Alex Rider series and a number of other titles, currently has several bestselling titles listed on the site, and his own Amazon author page offers a very tongue-in-cheek peek into what is possibly one of the worst childhoods in the history of children; if his candid profile is any indication, it’s possible that Horowitz’s opening remarks were intended to make light of the fact that these conference have an agenda against the online retailer. The worst thing about this keynote is not the blatant hypocrisy or the name-calling, it’s the fact that this is not a new revelation. Countless conferences around the world continue to open and close with lengthy boring treatises on what Amazon has done to destroy publishing, bookselling, reading, and even democracy, but there’s nothing new to be said. Instead of coming up with viable alternatives or solutions to the crisis-level loss of bookstores and libraries, the same talking heads continue to spout the same paranoia, all while listing their books with Amazon. Horowitz did have an admonishment for the assembled audience: if they want to continue to be profitable, they will have to embrace digital publishing and all that goes with it. The only way to continue to have a market is to grow one through avid readership, something that cannot happen if book access is denied. London Book Fair’s Digital Minds Conference Kicks Off with a Stab at Amazon is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/london-book-fairs-digital-minds-conference-kicks-off-with-a-stab-at-amazon?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=london-book-fairs-digital-minds-conference-kicks-off-with-a-stab-at-amazon

Raspberry Pi Compute Module: new product!

As regular readers will know, it's been a busy time here at Pi Towers recently with the launch of our new website, free educational materials and £1m education fund. On the engineering side of things we've also been very busy over the past year, and not to be outdone by the education team, we are ready to take the wraps off something special, this time aimed at business and industrial users. What’s this little thing? Read on to find out. From humble beginnings, the Raspberry Pi platform has grown and matured: the software is now full-featured and stable, and is still constantly improving thanks to the continuing hard work of our heroic community of volunteers; as well as targeted injections of funding to solve some specific issues. The Pi, and the Broadcom BCM2835 SoC at its heart, are also steadily becoming more open. We love hearing about what users are doing with their Raspberry Pis, and are constantly amazed at the range of projects, as well as the inventiveness and creativeness of the community. We are also aware that there are a very significant number of users out there who are embedding the Raspberry Pi into systems and even commercial products. We think there needs to be a better way to allow people to get their hands on this great technology in a more flexible form factor, but still keep things at a sensible price. Like proud parents, we want to free the core technology of the Raspberry Pi to go forth and become an integral part of new and exciting products and devices, and so today we are announcing the forthcoming Raspberry Pi Compute Module. Compute Module on the left. What does it do? Read on to find out. The compute module contains the guts of a Raspberry Pi (the BCM2835 processor and 512Mbyte of RAM) as well as a 4Gbyte eMMC Flash device (which is the equivalent of the SD card in the Pi). This is all integrated on to a small 67.6x30mm board which fits into a standard DDR2 SODIMM connector (the same type of connector as used for laptop memory*). The Flash memory is connected directly to the processor on the board, but the remaining processor interfaces are available to the user via the connector pins. You get the full flexibility of the BCM2835 SoC (which means that many more GPIOs and interfaces are available as compared to the Raspberry Pi), and designing the module into a custom system should be relatively straightforward as we've put all the tricky bits onto the module itself. So what you are seeing here is a Raspberry Pi shrunk down to fit on a SODIMM with onboard memory, whose connectors you can customise for your own needs. The Compute Module is primarily designed for those who are going to create their own PCB. However, we are also launching something called the Compute Module IO Board to help designers get started. Empty IO Board on the left: Compute Module snapped into place on the right. The Compute Module IO Board is a simple, open-source breakout board that you can plug a Compute Module into. It provides the necessary power to the module, and gives you the ability to program the module's Flash memory, access the processor interfaces in a slightly more friendly fashion (pin headers and flexi connectors, much like the Pi) and provides the necessary HDMI and USB connectors so that you have an entire system that can boot Raspbian (or the OS of your choice). This board provides both a starting template for those who want to design with the Compute Module, and a quick way to start experimenting with the hardware and building and testing a system before going to the expense of fabricating a custom board. IO Board Initially, the Compute Module and IO Board will be available to buy together as the Raspberry Pi Compute Module Development Kit. These kits will be available from RS and Farnell sometime in June. Shortly after that the Compute Module will be available to buy separately, with a unit cost of around $30 in batches of 100; you will also be able to buy them individually, but the price will be slightly higher. The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a charity, and as with everything we make here, all profits are pushed straight back into educating kids in computing. I'm sure people will be keen to get their design process started; initially we are releasing just the schematics for both the Compute Module and IO Board, but we will be adding plenty more documentation over the coming days and weeks. Happy creating! *But don't go plugging the Compute Module into your laptop – the pins assignments aren't even remotely the same!

URL: http://www.raspberrypi.org/raspberry-pi-compute-module-new-product/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=raspberry-pi-compute-module-new-product

National Library Week Gadget Giveaway!

National Library week is April 13-19.  We’re starting early and celebrating all month by giving away a gadget every day – because every week should be library week, around the world! From April 7 through May 2, we are giving away dozens of 16GB Google Nexus tablets during our "Daily Gadget Giveaway." To enter, simply place an order in OverDrive Marketplace. Every day, one shopper who placed an order that day will be chosen at random and declared the winner. Daily winners will be posted in Marketplace every afternoon at 4:30 EST, so check back daily to see if that day is your lucky day. If you are logged into Marketplace at that time, you will see our "Daily Gadget Giveaway" widget make the live selection and display the winner. Remember to shop often – the more days you submit an order, the better your chances of winning. This may be the perfect chance to invite other members of your library or school team to submit an order. Marketplace is compatible on all PCs, Macs, tablets and smartphones. You can shop (and enter the daily giveaway) anytime, anywhere, even at home in your PJs! Show us how you select and develop your digital media collection: send us photo submissions of you shopping for eMedia to blogs@overdrive.com  for a chance to be featured on the OverDrive Library Blog or the Marketplace homepage. Best of luck!   Terms and conditions: Offer is open to Marketplace customers, age 18 or older, except where prohibited by law or policy. The prize is a Google Nexus 7 Tablet (16GB), and is subject to change based on availability. Limit of one entry per day per Marketplace account. Qualifying purchases must be placed between April 7, 2014, at 12:00 am Eastern Daylight Time (“EDT”) and May 2, 2014, at 12:00 am EDT. No purchase necessary; to enter without a purchase, mail your contact information (name, address, email, telephone) and your Marketplace account name to: OverDrive, Inc., Gadget Give-A-Way, One OverDrive Way, Cleveland, Ohio 44125. Mail entries must be postmarked by May 2, 2014. Winners will be selected at random by OverDrive from qualifying entries. Winners will be posted on the Marketplace homepage every day at 4:30 pm EDT through the qualifying period. OverDrive will pay all shipping and handling fees for prizes. This offer may be modified, canceled or revoked at any time by OverDrive in its sole discretion. OverDrive employees and family members are not eligible for this promotion. Odds of winning depend on the total number of qualifying entries submitted.

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalDistributionBlogOverdrive/~3/kbPg7J9pE14/

Amazon Dash Reinvents Online Grocery Shopping

Amazon Dash is a new remote sized product that scans barcodes and incorporates a microphone for audio orders. The premise is to order groceries online and have them shipped out to you the next day via Amazon Fresh. It takes the computer out of the shopping equation, simplifying the entire process. When customers scan barcodes of products they want to order or use the microphone, all items are added to your Amazon Fresh account via WIFI. After you are happy with the number of products added to your account simple open the Amazon Fresh app for phones and tablets to pull up your list, check it over, and dispatch the order. There’s free delivery on orders over $35, and if the order is placed by 10am, Amazon promises that its customers will “have it by dinner”. In an interview earlier this week, Paul Cousineau, Amazon's director of mobile shopping, said that his division spends a lot of time thinking about how to make it easier for shoppers using touchscreen devices to quickly find the products on Amazon they want to buy. "If you never had to type again on a phone that would be great," he said. "We want you to go from 'I want that' to 'I bought that' in 30 seconds or 10 seconds … a very short period of time." Dash is designed not just to work with Amazon Fresh, but to also buy over 500,000 items from the main Amazon website. You could be playing guitar, break one and use Dash to ship you a new pair. I think this new program will turn a bunch of new people onto online shopping, because it doesn’t require technical knowledge. You just scan, confirm and pay. Recently, the Amazon Fresh Android App has received a major update and now has Dash Support. You can download it from the Good e-Reader App Store. Amazon Dash Reinvents Online Grocery Shopping is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/technology/amazon-dash-reinvents-online-grocery-shopping?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=amazon-dash-reinvents-online-grocery-shopping

Skytex SkyPad 7S Android Tablet Review

Welcome to another Good e-Reader Video Review! Today Peter takes a look at the Skytex SkyPad 7S. This is the company’s latest generation tablet running 4.2 Jellybean. The Skytex SkyPad 7S has a 7 inch capacitive display screen with a resolution of 1024×600. Powered by a 1.2GHz Dual Core processor, Android 4.2 operating system, 1GB RAM, 8GB of storage, 32GB expandable MicroSD card slot, Mali-400MP2 graphics processor, and Wi-Fi that are all optimized to bring lightning fast experiences for music, videos, and games. I like the fact it has solid grip on the back of it, which makes it easy to hold when reading an eBook. Customers may dig the fact this device is brimming with different App Stores to tap into. SKytex has their own App Store, and there is also 1Mobile and a link to download the Amazon App Store. Check out the full unboxing and video review below to see how the SkyPad handles eBooks, movies, gaming and internet searches. Skytex SkyPad 7S Android Tablet Review is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/tablet-slates/skytex-skypad-7s-android-tablet-review?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=skytex-skypad-7s-android-tablet-review

Barnes and Noble Nook Glowlight Now $99

Barnes and Noble has just announced the first big discount on their latest generation e-reader. The Nook Glowlight came out late last year and really improved the hardware, putting the front-lit display on par with the Kindle Paperwhite. Today, the Nation’s largest bookseller has announced a price drop from $119 to $99 for a limited time. The Barnes and Noble Nook Glowlight features a six inch IR touchscreen display with a resolution of 1024 X 758-pixel and 212 PPI. This is a huge upgrade from the previous generation Nook that only had 800×600 for the resolution. Under heavy tests we noticed that the blacks were deeper in cover art and the way fonts look when you maximize their levels. The Glowlight technology that allow you to read in the dark has been dramatically enhanced. B&N still continues the philosophy of bucking the major industry trend of putting the LED lights on the top of the device, instead of the bottom. Overall, the light is now almost pure white, where the NST with Glowlight would often have a blue hue to it. The entire Good e-Reader review team think that that the new model has 75% brighter and clearer lighting. All Barnes and Noble retail stores will be offering the discount starting today. You may also elect to purchase it online from the official Nook website. There is no indication on how long this promotion will go on for, but it is a USA exclusive. Barnes and Noble Nook Glowlight Now $99 is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/barnes-and-noble-nook-glowlight-now-99?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=barnes-and-noble-nook-glowlight-now-99

Book Promo Tours Help Authors Stay Relevant in the Digital Era

Publishers, agents, and publicists are taking a cue from the film and music industries by making their authors into superstars, at least in the eyes of their fans. By scheduling red carpet-style events for readers to engage with the authors who write their favorite characters and stories, the industry is working to increase exposure and make authors an even bigger household name. Readers used to discover favorite books and authors by casually browsing the shelves of their local booksellers or reading the review sections of print newspapers. As both of those entities slowly (and sadly) disappear for consumers, replaced by online retail websites and book recommendation metadata, professionals are working to put their authors “out there” and in front of would-be readers with elaborate book tours. An upcoming event, called the Belles on Wheels tour, is staged by Gallery Books (Simon and Schuster) and will feature authors Christina Lauren, Kresley Cole, Kyra Davis, Alice Clayton, Lisa Renee Jones, Emma Chase, S.C. Stephens, Krisen Proby, Jennifer Probst, and Katy Evans. The tour bus will travel across the southeastern United States and make stops in Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, Dallas, Austin, Houston, Greenwood (MS), and New Orleans. Along the way, those authors will be signing books, staging readings, and attending meet-and-greets with reader fans. Similarly, Penguin Random House UK just announced that it has sold over 10,000 tickets to meet one of its bestselling authors, Caitlin Moran. While innovation is key to staying relevant in the minds and interests of readers, some experts warn that publishers and industry professionals shouldn’t be too quick to jump on the hype. There’s something to be said for the stoic and stately bookstore, and some readers may be put off by the glitzy approach to author-reader interaction. But with more data coming out that shows many consumers are more apt to buy a DVD than a book, modeling this type of fandom after movie goers is not too far fetched. Book Promo Tours Help Authors Stay Relevant in the Digital Era is a post from: Good e-Reader

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Nook GlowLight on Sale for $99, But Don’t Get the Clip Cover

This past week Barnes and Noble issued an update for the Nook GlowLight to improve the on-board shopping experience and to add a few new features. Now this week Barnes and Noble is running a sale on the Nook GlowLight to try and get it out into more people’s hands. The Nook GlowLight normally sells […]

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Samsung Unveils a Puzzling New Line of Android Tablets

This past week Samsung announced their latest trio of Android tablets, dubbed the Galaxy Tab4 series. The three models have varying screen sizes—7-inches, 8-inches, and 10.1-inches—but all the the exact same 16:10 aspect ratio and 1280 x 800 screen resolution. Unlike Samsung’s Pro series of high-end tablets released earlier this year with high-resolution screens, the […]

URL: http://feeds.the-ebook-reader.com/~r/feedburner/cmWU/~3/txifdbl_puE/

Emerging Markets Embracing Tablets with Cellular Technology

The vast majority of tablets on the market only have WIFI capabilities and only the odd one has cellular data. The Apple iPad is the most successful when it comes to not relying on wireless signals to surf the internet or download apps. Emerging markets are starting to embrace cheap Android tablets thanks to the prices coming down in China and Taiwan. Many indie companies in the US, UK and Canada often deal with white label tablets to get their products to market. The average company simply cannot afford to devote the resources to design and contract out the manufacturing to an existing fab. Instead, they contact existing companies with the hardware already built, load in a splash screen and customize the software. Companies like Monster, Pocketbook, Pandigital, Pioneer, Skytex, Wexler and many others all do this. In the second half of the year it is estimated that out of the 12 million tablets intended to be shipped out in the second quarter of 2014, half will have cellular functionality. This is critical to emerging markets such as South Africa, Vietnam, Philippines and the Middle East. These countries have little to no infrastructure to WIFi and being able to use the tablet and use a cheap data plan is essential to have everyone connected. via Digitimes Emerging Markets Embracing Tablets with Cellular Technology is a post from: Good e-Reader

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Nook Android Update Lets Anyone Sample

The Nook app for android has been updated, providing easier access to Barnes and Noble's extensive catalogue of books, newspapers, magazines and comics. According to the Google Play store, Nook has been updated to fix bugs, allow users to browse and sample books without an account and to get deal and book notifications. It is clear Barnes and Noble doesn't want the pain of creating an account be a barrier for new users in experiencing the quality of its catalogue. By not requiring an account, this no commitment relationship could be enough to get users from other ebook stores hooked and wanting more. One of the downsides of the new update is the addition of notifications. Barne's and Noble may view it as a way to make you aware of deals and recommendations. In our view, having a notification that acts more like spam is not the best way to make friends. According to Barnes and Noble it can be disabled by following the these steps: Follow these steps based on your Android version. On Jelly Bean 4.1 or higher devices 1) Go to the device settings and open “Apps” or “Application manager” 2) Select “NOOK” 3) Uncheck “Show notifications”. On Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.x and lower devices 1) In the NOOK app go to Settings 2) Uncheck “Show notifications” The new update provides a great opportunity to go check out deals or to try out that book, magazine etc. that your are not sure about. Just make sure to turn off the notifications first. The Nook app offers access to over 2.5 million books, which includes 1 million free books. Users also have access to magazines, newspapers, graphic novels and comics all from their phones and tablets. You can download Nook for Android from the Good e-Reader App Store. Nook Android Update Lets Anyone Sample is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/nook-android-update-lets-anyone-sample?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nook-android-update-lets-anyone-sample

The Death of the Great American eNovel

Authors are battling the economics of words in the modern era of traditional and self-publishing. Many book deals encourage authors to release a set number of books a year and indies need to engineer their own ebooks, do their own layouts and generate the books to ePub and Kindle friendly formats. Trade authors need to pump out as many books as possible and indies shoulder a tremendous amount of burden to not only write a book, but market it stronger to get sales. All of these factors are contributing to the overall decline of quality and the death of the great American novel. Author Tracy Hickman was responsible for the success of TCR publishing with his Dragonlance chronicles. Dragons of Autumn Twilight captured the imaginations of many youth in 1984. After his run with the publisher he engaged in self-publishing six years ago. He now works 12-14 hours a day writing four times the books he's comfortable writing because he makes a fourth of what he used to. During a recent interview at AnomalyCon in Denver Tracy said “My audience of 6 million no longer find me because the book store is dying. A book signing in older days would have fans lining around blocks just to have my signature, but a booksigning now might only get six people. I have a 6 million following and they don’t remember me." Tracys comments of self-publishing eliminating success on the physical retail level are quite telling. Borders, B. Daltons and Waldens are all bankrupt and out of business, the process of book discovery has been severely diminished. Self-publishers normally just do it digitally and it limits the reach of the books, but does allow them to make more money. Authors like Stephen King, James Patterson, Danielle Steele, Maya Banks and many others pump out more than five titles a year. They have big publishing deals that mandate X amount of books being sent out. Authors who do not have a well known names are often forced to either not write at all or change their genres. Many big New York publishing companies are not really accepting submissions for vampire paranormal or erotica books because the market is too saturated. Unless you are a EL James, Silva Day or Anne Rice you will have to write about something else. Lee Siegel wrote a piece for the New York Observer back in 2010 declaring that the American public no longer talk about novels and that this creative form, once so full of fire, has lost its spark for ever. “For about a million reasons,” Siegel claimed, “fiction has now become a museum-piece genre most of whose practitioners are more like cripplingly self-conscious curators or theoreticians than writers. For better or for worse, the greatest storytellers of our time are the non-fiction writers.” There has been no notable great American novels since self-publishing became popular in 2007. Authors who switch from trade to self-pub like having more flexibility and a greater revenue stream. The stark truth is that they are under the gun to write serialized fiction, short fiction and Kindle Singles in order to make mortgage payments and to sustain their lifestyle. There is no time to write that epic novel because they need to be making money pronto. Authors who sign with a publishing label are often stifled by their chosen literary genre and are discouraged by editors and agents to not branch out. All authors have to sell themselves by visiting libraries, doing book signings, visiting literary events, writing on a blog and engaging in social media. It is a full time job to promote yourself and write at the same time, all of these factors combine degrade the quality of literature. The Death of the Great American eNovel is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/commentary/the-death-of-the-great-american-novel?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-death-of-the-great-american-novel

Kobo Begins Offering eBook Refunds

Last week Amazon and Barnes & Noble begun issuing credits for eBooks that customers purchased from 2010 to 2012 under the agency model. Kobo has now begun to issue credits to customers accounts for titles purchased from Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster. New York Times bestsellers are eligible for a credit of $3.17 per ebook, and non-NYT bestsellers get a credit of $0.73. Kobo has just sent out the first run of emails that let you know how many credits you have owing. All of the emails are not sent out all at once and will be dispatched during the next week. You want to make sure if you are eligible for credits that you use them by April 2014. Below is a copy of the correspondence they are sending out. Dear Kobo Customer, You previously received an email informing you that you were eligible for a credit in your Kobo account. This credit results from the Settlements reached with publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Penguin in antitrust lawsuits filed by the State Attorneys General and Class Plaintiffs about the price of electronic books ("E-books"). If you did not receive that email, you can read more about the Settlements at www.EbookAGSettlements.com. We are happy to inform you that the Court in charge of these cases has approved the Settlements. As a result of this settlement, an account credit of X has been added to your account. You can use it to purchase eBooks regardless of publisher. Kobo Begins Offering eBook Refunds is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/kobo-begins-offering-ebook-refunds?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=kobo-begins-offering-ebook-refunds

Screwpulp’s Launch May Be the Salvation of Book Reviews

Readers and authors alike have been crying foul over book reviews from a variety of sources lately. Between the mysterious disappearing act that happens quite often with reviews posted to Amazon, the widespread news of authors buying favorable reviews from pay-per-star services, and the scandalous situation with author and reviewer bullying, reading consumers have had a hard time trusting any sort of reader feedback on a book. A new startup has devised a mechanism that stands to erase most of those issues, even while not intentionally setting out to solve these problems. Screwpulp, a mash-up of the name of Gutenberg’s original printing press and the term for inexpensive yet intriguing reads, actually sought to be a new discovery marketplace for books that worked to price them according to what they’re actually worth. The end result, however, can be a revamping of the entire structure of book reviews. “The idea was to come up with a way to price books properly,” explained Screwpulp’s CEO Richard Billings in an interview with Good e-Reader. “We felt like Amazon and some other places were devaluing what a book is worth, and there seems to be no mechanism that shows what the market can bear, supply and demand being the typical way. There’s an endless supply of digital products, and even major publishers are having trouble with pricing.” Screwpulp works by letting authors or publishers submit their books to the site, then those books are available for free until they have twenty-five reviews. Once a book reaches that threshold, its price goes up to one dollar. It continues to increase in increments based on the number of reviews. Since it would be far too easy to play the system and gather supporters to post fake reviews in order to monetize on the book, Screwpulp has come up with an ingenious system for weighting the reviews, for giving more credence to reviews from habitual users (as opposed to an author’s college roommate coming in and leaving one review), and for helping ensure that bullying is not an issue by comparing the reviews against each other and giving more weight to reviews that are obviously genuine. Readers and authors will have the ability to flag a review for removal for inappropriate content or for very obvious signs that the reviewer did not read the book. While the platform is in beta, there’s a submission process for new titles. Once the platform goes public, there will be a submission form that lets anyone upload titles. A vetting process will look for offensive content or plagiarized material, but otherwise everyone is welcome to submit their work. Other tools are expected to roll out as the platform progresses, including design tools and promotion. “We see indie authors as a start up, and we want to provide them with all of the viable tools to be a business.” Screwpulp’s Launch May Be the Salvation of Book Reviews is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/screwpulps-launch-may-be-the-salvation-of-book-reviews?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=screwpulps-launch-may-be-the-salvation-of-book-reviews

Top 10 New Android APPS of the Week – April 4th 2014

Last week was a big week for new apps with Cut the Rope 2, Captain America Winter Soldier and many other big titles. This week kind of slowed down in comparison and we still don’t have Angry Birds Epic yet. Today, we look at the Top 10 new android apps to come out this week and they are all available on the Good e-Reader App Store. Inkling eBooks – Beta – Inkling's interactive eBooks are designed to help you learn, study, and discover just about anything, whether it's for school, work, or play. Our books cover the gamut from anatomy to photography and travel to cooking. Demon Clash – The Lord of Death has been banished for centuries, but mysterious forces have revived this mighty fiend. Now evil creatures gather under his banner to march against the races of the Alliance. Not a single force has been strong enough to stop them… until now! Nitro Nation – Nitro Nation Online takes drag racing to the next level with a 3D world full of stunning new customizable cars, amazing racing physics and unlimited in-depth gameplay that guarantees racers an unforgettable experience, all on your mobile device! Unriddle Riddle – Unriddle Riddle – you are about to play something really cool! FREE levels of awesomeness! Every level consists of riddle – and we challenge you to unriddle it! Some pictures are partially hidden to make it even more interesting for you! Collect plenty of coins and spend them however you want. It's a fun, simple and super addictive brainteaser! You can play it with your family, friends and if you'll need some help (we've got plenty of tricky ones for you) you can share puzzle on Facebook! Just tap the Facebook icon and post it on your wall! SUMMON MASTERS – Realistic Real-time Battle system! Turn the Battle in favor of You with Brilliant and Powerful Skills! Take 7 Units in total with 1 Helper, And You're ready to go into the Battle! CSR Classics – A brand new game in the CSR series, CSR Classics is setting a new benchmark in graphics and gameplay. Get ready to race! RunBot – A stunning 3-D infinite runner where you're RunBot, an advanced robotic weapon system. You've rejected your protocol as a killing machine and now you've made a brave dash for freedom – you won't let laser towers, drone attacks, or obstacles slow you down! Talking Tony Stark – There are so many different super heroes living in the world. Some of them got their ability by successful or failure scientific experiment. Someone born with super powers, and someone got them accidentally. But what to do, if nature did not give you such abilities, but you still want to be a hero? Then all you need is charisma, and three milliard money. About such super hero will be discussed in the game Talking Tony Stark. Famous playboy, genius, billionaire and philanthropist, visited the famous series of talking games to tell you how to become a super hero without super powers! Chilie – Follow this simple animated story with funny characters in an imaginary Asia world, and try to help Chilie and her guardian to achieve their goals. Get ready to rack your brain in this stylish pastel colored promenade ! Real Football 2014 – Pick your favorite premier league team and lead them to glory by scoring the most goals.Face different opponents as you make your way through the competition and attempt to become the champion. Top 10 New Android APPS of the Week – April 4th 2014 is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/top-10-apps/top-10-new-android-apps-of-the-week-april-4th-2014?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=top-10-new-android-apps-of-the-week-april-4th-2014

New Inkling eBooks App Hits Android

Inkling, a leader in the reimagining digital publishing, has released a beta version of its app for Android. Once downloaded, users have access to Inkling's entire library of learning content both online and off. The company's catalogue, which focuses on innovative learning, can now be read and synced across Android and iOS devices as well as on your PC or Mac. The ebooks promise a rich media experience, which includes access to embedded videos, images and audio. "Today marks an important milestone for us," said founder and CEO, Matt MacInnis. "We've realized the promise of build-once, publish-anywhere reflowable content on virtually any device. For consumers, that means buy once, access anywhere. In a multi-platform world, this is critical to both our partners and our consumers." Users must remember that the app is a beta version, so functionality is still limited. For example readers cannot highlight content or make notes within the ebooks. We view this as a major limiting factor for textbooks. Nor can they adjust the brightness of the screen to provide a custom level of brightness for their eye's comfort. Furthermore, videos cannot be viewed offline as they are streamed in order to reduce the size of the ebook file. If you're a price sensitive shopper, like a student accessing textbooks, you may not be that excited. In a random sample of six books we noticed that only once did Inkling provide a cheaper alternative than Amazon Kindle's offerings. However, the company does provide the ability to purchase a book by chapter and offers one free chapter to every book it has available. In our view, the reading experience on Android is seamless and provides an intuitive interface both on the phone and tablet. The media within the ebooks allow for a more indepth understanding of concepts and breaks up the tiresomeness feeling of seeing a wall of words. The company is sure to provide frequent updates, adding in features like highlighting, as it focusing on growing the Android platform. Inkling provides publishers with a collaborative publishing platform called Inkling Habitat to build and distribute media rich ebooks. The company has signed leading publishers like Pearson, McGraw Hill, Wiley, Kaplan, Elsevier, DK and Lonley Planet. It is also backed by Sequoia Capital. You can download Inkling eBooks for Android from the Good e-Reader App Store. New Inkling eBooks App Hits Android is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/tablet-slates/new-inkling-ebooks-app-hits-android?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-inkling-ebooks-app-hits-android

Game of Thrones. Are you ready?

It's almost here. Sunday. Daenerys and her dragons. Jamie Lannister back at King's Landing. Poor Theon Greyjoy. The Red Wedding. Tyrion and Sansa. Bran going after the whitewalkers. And Arya, will she get her vengeance? While I'm counting down the hours until the season four premiere of Game of Thrones this weekend, I'll be occupying my time reading anything I can remotely similar to the series. Your patrons may want to do the same… Game of Thrones Readalikes If you would like more suggestions, your Collection Development Specialist is always available to help create custom lists. Email collectionteam@overdrive.com for more information today! *Some titles may have limited regional or platform availability.   Rachel Somerville is a Collection Development Analyst at OverDrive.

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OverdrivesDigitalLibraryBlog/~3/ZvxuHi_rjhU/

DigitalBookmobile.com gets fancy

Don't get us wrong: we loved our old DigitalBookmobile.com. It served its purpose, and was a great place to find pictures, updates on where OverDrive's 74-foot-long tractor-trailer would be next, and what local media are saying about the events. But really, there's no comparison to the newly redesigned website. If you haven't had a chance to look around, we invite you to take some time and explore the new website. The design is clean, modern, and beautiful with large graphics and simple navigation. All of your old favorites are right there on the home page: local news coverage, a list of upcoming events, and the ability to search for a library near you that offers OverDrive eBooks and audiobooks. The blog is a brand new feature, giving you the opportunity to not only hear directly from the Digital Bookmobile staff on the road, but also to join the conversation and share your thoughts with us. From the menu in the upper-right corner (or simply by scrolling down), you can learn more about the Digital Bookmobile experience, watch a video on the traveling exhibit, have a sneak peek of what's inside the truck, connect with OverDrive on social media, or contact us. The new calendar of events gives a clear view of where we're heading next, along with driving directions via Google Maps. Libraries and schools who would like to schedule an event with the Digital Bookmobile are able to fill out a simple form directly from the home page. Members of the media can also contact us using this form, or browse our robust media kit, packed with high quality images free for use and videos for B-roll. We'd love to hear what you think about this new website, the Digital Bookmobile in general, or the OverDrive service. Please feel free to contact us using the form on the home page of www.digitalbookmobile.com, or by leaving comments here on the blog. We hope to see you soon at your local Digital Bookmobile event!

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PA Consulting Raspberry Pi Competition

The PA Raspberry Pi competition challenges young people to use the Raspberry Pi to help the environment. Last year I helped judge the competition, and was amazed by the creativity and innovation of the entries (the excellent AirPi was one of last year's winners). This year's event was held in the Science Museum, and I went along to judge the Year 4-6 and Year 7-11 categories, and to run some workshops along the way. The Sonic Pi workshops were fantastic—they almost ran themselves, with the students continually trying out new things in quest to make the best music or silliest sounds (the exploding farmyard was a particular favourite). I've said it before, but Sonic Pi is genius. In the afternoon I joined my fellow judges: Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC’s technology correspondent, and Claire Sutcliffe, co-founder of Code Club. We spent 15 minutes talking to each of the seven teams.  The winning project had to have the potential to benefit the world in some way and we were also looking for things like innovation, creativity and originality. What really stood out was the energy of the teams—they all talked passionately and knowledgeably about their projects and how they had used the Raspberry Pi to solve real world problems. St Mary’s CE Primary, with Pi ‘n’ Mighty, their recycling robot The year 4-6 category was won by St Mary's CE Primary School with their recycling robot Pi 'n' Mighty. The robot scans packaging barcodes and then tells you if it can be recycled and which bin to put it in. The team was bursting with energy and falling over themselves to explain how they'd made it and what it did. I'd love to see a Pi 'n' Mighty in every school canteen, encouraging recycling and helping children learn about the topic. And it looks fantastic, exactly how a robot should look! Frome Community College won the year 7-11 category prize with their prodigious Plant Pi, a system to care for plants and monitor their environment. The team had covered every aspect including hardware and web monitoring, and they had even created an app. It really is a brilliantly designed and engineered solution that already has the makings of a commercial product. The project is open source and includes code, instructions, parts list and documentation. It was a great day and it was a real pleasure to speak to the finalists and to see young people doing remarkable and useful things with the Raspberry Pi. If I could bottle the innovation, enthusiasm, creativity and technical skills in that room then I would have a Phial of Awesome +10. (I would carry it around with me in a belt holster and open it for the occasional sniff when feeling uninspired.) Best of all, I know that we'll be seeing some of these finalists again: skills like computational thinking stay with you for life, and will serve these kids in whatever they end up doing in the future.

URL: http://www.raspberrypi.org/pa-consulting-raspberry-pi-competition/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pa-consulting-raspberry-pi-competition