| The National Reading Campaign is a great Canadian initiative that leverages social media outlets and gets people to share their reading experiences. They also establish partnerships with schools, libraries and news outlets to focus on reading, whether its digital or tangible. Recently the company released the above infographic, in conjunction with CBC Books. It basically hypes the fact that reading leads to a more stress free lifestyle and is a major contributing factor towards your overall health. Reading Lowers Stress and Leads to a Healthy Body is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Monday, October 13, 2014
Reading Lowers Stress and Leads to a Healthy Body
Tired of Leaks, Apple Begins to Fine Suppliers
| If you are a regular reader of tech blogs on the internet, you might have a passing knowledge of Apple product leaks. Whenever new phones or tablets are in production, regular leaks occur on internal components, screens or batteries. Apple is getting fed up with their suppliers providing leaks and has now implemented a policy of fining them, close to $50 million dollars each. The fine may not affect companies like Samsung, but could be the kiss of death for smaller ones, that only make a component or two. GT Advanced Technologies, is the first company to feel the pain. They have just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after deciding to close and sell-off its loss-making sapphire facilitates. The problem with Apple fining suppliers for announcing they either have contracts with them or leaking component information is that these companies need the press. Apple is not their only contract, but the brand carries a lot of weight in the industry. GT was betting that news of Apple doing business with them, would attract other headset companies. This backfired and GT shares actually decreased. Apple is well known in the tech world for a process of controlled leaks. They throw bones to journalists they like, and grant them exclusive interviews or scoops. Suppliers who leak out everything like the logic boar or RAM are circumventing the status quo and the new policy is to hurt their wallets. Tired of Leaks, Apple Begins to Fine Suppliers is a post from: Good e-Reader |
French Watchdog Accuses Scribd of eBook Piracy
| A French watchdog is warning publishers that eBook subscription service Scribd offers hundreds of titles that don’t have an agreement with a publisher or author. Scribd is billing itself as a Netflix for eBooks and offers customers the ability to pay a low monthly fee and read as many digital titles as they want. This can be accomplished via their official e-reading apps for iOS and Android. A number of larger publishers such as Simon and Shuster, Lonely Planet and Smashwords all contribute titles, which validates the platform as a viable alternative to buying each book one by one. One of the problems, is that publishers can upload titles without restriction and quality and control normally comes later. The Group for the Development of Digital Reading aims to be the hub for all professionals working in the publishing industry to organize and structure the digital industry in a constructive complement to the paper. You can think of them as the poor mans IDPF of France, where they try and lobby for standards and bring issues into public light. GDN is basically accusing Scribd of eBook piracy by offering hundreds of titles by French publisher Bragelonne, otherwise known as Albin Michel. The publisher has not sanctioned the titles to be included into Scribds platform. French Watchdog Accuses Scribd of eBook Piracy is a post from: Good e-Reader |
B&T Axis 360 Now Available for New Zealand Libaries
| Baker and Taylor has just expanded into New Zealand, giving public libraries the ability to loan out eBooks and audiobooks. The first libraries to offer digital content will be in Wellington City. In order to expand into NZ, B&T needed to leverage their Australian subsidiary James Bennett. This is similar to Overdrive using Softlink as a partner in Australia, except they don’t actually own the company. The agreement between Baker & Taylor/James Bennett and Wellington City Council offers all New Zealand public libraries an opportunity to sign onto a Participating Agency Agreement (PAA) and receive the terms and services outlined in the contract. Participating public libraries will have access to a wide range of areas in which Baker & Taylor/James Bennett have developed industry-leading expertise and technology, including collection development, ordering and procurement services and customized library solutions/technical services. Working in partnership with Baker & Taylor/James Bennett also ensures that New Zealand libraries can quickly and easily receive all major titles from New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom through James Bennett's warehouse in Sydney, as well as U.S. titles through Baker & Taylor's American operations. Baker and Taylor is the last major library to have a presence in New Zealand. Overdrive launched there in 2011 and 3M Cloud Library entered the market in 2013. B&T Axis 360 Now Available for New Zealand Libaries is a post from: Good e-Reader |
OverDrive readers’ top 10 favorite book series
| Last month we asked readers to take a quick, one question survey. All they needed to do was pick all of their favorite series from a list we provided (or write any in that they did not see on said list). Thousands of votes later, we’re excited to present to you the top 10 favorite book series of OverDrive readers! Team OverDrive anticipated Harry Potter being number one, with nearly half of all voters selecting it as one of their favorites, but there were some surprises on the list as well as a wonderful mix of genres and time periods. The series with the most staying power was Little House on the Prairie, the first book of which was published back in 1932! In addition to sharing this fun infographic, we’re also excited to announce the addition of series pages and book numbers to overdrive.com. Now, when you search for a book that’s a part of a series, you be able to tell what number of the series that book is and see all the other titles in proper order. At overdrive.com, now if you search for a title that is a part of a series, The Magician’s Nephew for example, you’ll be able to go straight to the series page as well. To see this great new feature in action, simply click on the infographic snippet below to see the full top 10 and select any series you’d like to learn more about. You can also check out it out by searching for any title belonging to a series at overdrive.com! 
Adam Sockel is a Marketing Communications Specialist at OverDrive. He’s a Potterhead from House Gryffindor and has a scarf to prove it.  |
Big Library Read is back!
| The fifth installment of the Big Library Read officially kicks off today, giving readers an opportunity to join the world’s largest “global eBook club.” For the next two weeks, patrons of participating libraries can read Anatomy of a Misfit by best selling author Andrea Portes without any wait lists or holds. Anatomy of a Misfit is a Young Adult novel that follows the familiar story of a high school girl, Anika, struggling to maintain her social status in her small Nebraska town. This is a book that adults will adore as it brings nostalgic feelings of youth, first loves and first heartbreaks. Anatomy of a Misfit is Andrea’s third novel, and first venture into the Young Adult realm, following the best selling success of Hick and Bury This. This title has already received rave reviews from Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal and PopCrush, among others. Be sure to join the conversation on social media by sharing your thoughts on Twitter using the hashtag #BigLibraryRead (and encourage your patrons to do the same)! If you have any questions for Andrea, you can ask them via Twitter using the hashtag, and on October 20th we will post an exclusive interview with the author where she’ll answer you questions. Adam Sockel is a Marketing Communications Specialist with OverDrive.  |
Make a Tweeting Babbage
| At Picademy, our awesome free training course for teachers, I run a workshop to introduce teachers to using the camera module with Python, and show them how to wire up a GPIO button they can use to trigger the camera. I always make a point of saying “now you know this, what can you make it do?” and suggest some uses for the setup – stop-motion animation, motion sensing or sending pictures to Twitter. On the second day of Picademy, we give teachers the chance to work in teams on a project of their choice, and there’s always at least one group that extends upon the camera workshop. At Picademy #3 in July, one group decided to take a Babbage Bear apart, shove a Pi inside and have it take pictures and tweet them – it was great fun to help them build the project and we got some funny pictures out of it… Then at Picademy #4 last month, another group took the idea further and made Abuse Bear – a Babbage that tweeted a picture when punched! Perhaps this one’s not quite such a good idea for the classroom. Again, some brilliant pictures… The idea has been so popular at Picademy that I decided to write the Tweeting Babbage project up as an educational resource! There’s a full set of instructions for building up the code to send simple text tweets from Python, taking pictures with the camera, wiring up the GPIO button, uploading pictures to Twitter, putting it all together and performing surgery on the bear to insert the hardware.  Making the incision Removing the eye Inserting the camera 
I was at PyCon Ireland in Dublin this weekend, where I gave a talk about Raspberry Pi in education. I brought the modified Babbage along (yes, I got it through airport security) and showed the pictures above during my talk. There was a very audible aww of sentimental attachment to the cute bear I just introduced them to.  Tweeting Babbage: the finished product Go check out the resource and make your own Tweeting Babbage! |
Sunday, October 12, 2014
How Day Z is Increasing Literacy
| Day Z Standalone is not simply a video game that millions of people enjoy to play, but it is single handily responsible for increasing literary in youth. How have they done it? Well this title has spawned over twenty five million guides, tutorials and walk-through’s. These are not being penned by professional writers, but the very kids that are playing them. Day Z comes with minimal instructions on how the play the game. There is no tutorials or newbie guides that transpire, before you are thrust into the online world. You simply start in a random location on the map and are expected to learn by doing. How do you open a door or pickup a weapon or say hello to a fellow player? You have no idea unless you browse the command list or Google the question. Countless communities have risen to the challenge of educating the players on the various game play elements. Internet wide, there is currently over 323,000,000 articles written by youth. Many of them are reading above their current age level. Constance Steinkuehler, a games researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, asked middle and high school students who were struggling readers to choose a game topic they were interested in, and then she picked texts from game sites for them to read—some as difficult as first-year-college language. The kids devoured them with no help and nearly perfect accuracy. According to a recent article in Wired Magazine, Hannah Gerber, a literacy researcher at Sam Houston State University monitored several 10th-grade students at school and at home and saw that they read only 10 minutes a day in English class—but an astonishing 70 minutes at home as they boned up on games. School libraries are starting to realize that game guides written by major publishers are being devoured at record levels. Scholastic recently released three new Minecraft illustrated books that librarians report they can't keep on the shelves. The books, aimed at kids in Grades 3 through 7, have already sold more than 6 million copies combined since their release in November. Librarians noticed that kids were again were reading far above their level. The books not only appeal and fascinate children, they encourage kids to become better readers so they can learn more tricks to get ahead in Minecraft. Currently, DayZ encourages nothing; it’s absolute freedom, absolutely. Two million active players are currently participating in the post-apocalyptic wasteland, so you could speculate there is some sort of allure. In the end, more kids are reading because of games like this and reading above their age level. That certainly is a good thing. How Day Z is Increasing Literacy is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Trajectory Digital Comics Now Available at Schools and Libraries
 Gone are the days Trajectory started in 2011 and their core business model is assisting publishers in converting their comics and graphic novels to the digital arena. They also formulated their own fledgling distribution network and marketed the content overseas, where many people were curious about the west. In order to gain more traction in the industry the company signed agreements with Diamond Distributors earlier this year, to basically provide conversion services for their entire list of contacts. This relationship has paid off, as Trajectory just announced a new movement to bring digital comics and graphic novels to libraries. At the New York Comic Con 2014, Trajectory announced that it has signed an agreement with Ingram Content Group and Follett School Solutions. Over 10,000 comics and graphic novels will now be available for schools and libraries to purchase through their existing relationship with either Ingram or Follett. Diamond Comic Distributors v-p of purchasing John Wurzer said, "Schools and libraries can be incubators for the future appreciation of comic books and graphic novels and we are happy to be working with Trajectory to foster that." Kelly Gallagher, v-p content acquisition, Ingram Content Group, said, "Comic and graphic novel content is in demand by readers." He added that "Ingram is excited about our collaborative work with Trajectory to be providing comics and graphic novel content to the library market through our leading MyiLibrary e-book platform." Trajectory Digital Comics Now Available at Schools and Libraries is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Simon and Schuster Offers DRM-Free eBooks
| Major publishers are notoriously fickle about embracing new trends and give sloths a run for their money. We have seen this transpire with eBook subscription services and getting involved in digital libraries. The Science fiction community has been one of the most agile, and many companies such as TOR have completely embraced the DRM-Free mentality. Saga, a division of Simon and Schuster has just announced they are also going DRM-Free. Saga is being billed as an all-inclusive fantasy and science fiction imprint publishing great books across the spectrum of genre, from fantasy to science fiction, commercial to literary, speculative fiction to slipstream, urban fantasy to supernatural suspense. Saga’s first list will be released next spring with four titles by Ken Liu, Genevieve Valentine, Lee Kelly, and Zachary Brown. The eBooks will be available at all major e-book retailers and simonandschuster.com. This is a good move for S&S to take a gambit with a new imprint that actually hasn’t sold any books yet. I think the most important aspect of this story is that the publisher is setting up an internal infrastructure to monitor the ramifications of going DRM-Free and how this will effect eBook piracy. Will readers embrace Saga just because its DRM-Free? Will the media give them kudos and endless free publicity like they did TOR? This all remains to be seen. Simon and Schuster Offers DRM-Free eBooks is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Plastc Card Replaces Credit and Gift Cards using e-Ink
| Avid consumers find themselves with a wallet or purse full of credit and gift cards. Startup Plastc is seeking to solve this situation with the advent of the Plastc Card. It utilizes touchscreen e-ink technology and you can add all of your credit, debit, gift and loyalty cards to one single card and flip between them with a single touch. Plastc helps you pay any way and anywhere you want. It features a magnetic stripe and barcode display, your Plastc Card will work in all the places you already frequent. The card employs NFC, Chip and PIN capabilities and you can even attach your photo ID to the card. Within the next few months it will have support for Google Wallet, Apple Pay, PayPal and other payment options. The one cool thing about this new card is that the magnetic stripe and NFC chip are disabled until you select your card, preventing any fraudulent activity. If you end up losing the card, you can remotely wipe all data from it using the official app. So how does this actually work? Well, you need to download the Plastic Companion app for iOS and Android. You can link any of your credit cards, debit cards or gift cards by inputting the numbers into the app. You can also add in a signature and photo ID for those big purchases. Once this is all done, you can use the card at the ATM or when you are shopping. If you have a bunch of cards tied into the Plastc Card, you can just swipe the physical card to scroll between them. While the idea of combining of multiple credit, debit, and gift cards into one secure package may be an enticing tech novelty, the card comes at a price: $155 to preorder. It will not start shipping until summer 2015. It also operates on a rechargeable battery with a 30-day charge. In the end, I think this is one of the coolest uses of e-ink that is not found on a dedicated e-reader like a Kindle or Nook. Plastc Card Replaces Credit and Gift Cards using e-Ink is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Fire HD and HDX: How to Use & Install Chrome Web Browser (Video)
| I’ve been working on the review for the Fire HD 6 and I’ve come to the conclusion that the so-called “improvements” to the built in Silk web browser aren’t enough to keep me interested. So yesterday I decided to install a better web browser. There are a number of Android browsers that can be sideload […] |
Subscribe to the Raspberry Pi in Education Newsletter
| As an educational charity, education is at the heart of what we do here at Raspberry Pi. This year has seen the education team grow in number, resulting in the development of our new learning and teaching materials (a set of resources we’re adding to all the time), a free teacher training programme (Picademy), the introduction of competitions like the Poster Competition and the current Sonic Pi competition, all at the same time as running and participating in outreach events across the globe.  Spot Raspberry Pi Edu team members from Picademy cohort 4! We often contribute posts to this blog to inform you, our wonderful community, about what we have been up to, and about future developments; and you often respond and interact with us to help us improve. To help us inform teachers, school IT administrators, governors, head teachers, home educators and parents about what’s up in the world of Raspberry Pi in education, we have created a new email newsletter to keep educators and other interested folk up to date on all of our projects.  Our inaugural issue of the newsletter You can sign up for our newsletter here, and enjoy a monthly email penned by one of the Raspberry Pi Education Team. It is super easy to both subscribe and unsubscribe to the newsletter, and we shall be keeping an archive of all issues on the education page of the website. We promise never to use your email address for spam, and we promise never to sell it, fold, bend, spindle or mutilate it. Go and sign up – we think you’ll find it really useful!
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Friday, October 10, 2014
Archie Meets Predator – A Battle for the Ages
| Archie Comics has been undergoing a resonance the last few years, as the comic company tries to diversify its target audience. They introduced the openly gay character Keven Keller and tapped into our infatuation with Zomibes with Afterlife with Archie. What would happen if Archie married Betty or Veronica? Life with Archie chronicles the quintessential What If scenario. The next chapter in Archie comics has just been announced and it involves the Predator. Jesse ‘the body’ Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger famously battled the Predator in the 1980’s classic. Since then, the franchise has spawned many sequels, mash-ups and comic books. The next comic book hero to take on the Predator is Riverdales favorite son. Dark Horse Comics and Archie Comics are combining two popular franchises for Archie Meets Predator, a four-issue series coming in spring 2015 by writer Alex de Campi, that puts Archie and the gang in the alien hunter’s sights while they’re on spring break in Costa Rica. It all starts with Jughead winning a vacation prize from a lucky bag of chips and hi-jinks start to ensue when Betty runs off into the Jungle after losing a “Best Dressed” contest with Veronica. In an interview with the USA Today de Campi said “Let’s take this gentle, beloved, classic teen cast and hunt them down and slaughter them one by one. Seriously, if you wouldn’t jump at the chance to write something like this, you need your head examined.” Archie meeting other entertainment properties is nothing new. It all started with 1994’s “Archie Meets the Punisher” crossover with Marvel Comics, and continued in 2011’s “Archie Meets KISS.” Archie Meets Predator – A Battle for the Ages is a post from: Good e-Reader |
$79 Kindle Review and Video Walkthrough
| Amazon’s new Kindle arrived at the beginning of the month. Last week I posted a first impressions review, and now I’ve got the full 2014 Kindle review posted. It includes a video walkthrough showing the new Kindle’s hardware and software in action, there are a few pictures, and a list of all the Kindle-related software […] |
Collection Highlights: Trending Titles for October
| Learn about some of our favorite new eBook and audiobook releases in OverDrive Collection Highlights: Trending Titles for October. We’ll also introduce you to some of the latest additions to OverDrive Marketplace, including new Chinese publishers, educational content, and streaming video for kids and adults. Interested in any of the titles you see? Click the links in the presentation to be taken right to the featured content in OverDrive Marketplace. Note: For the best audio experience, we recommend watching this presentation in Chrome.
Carrie Smith is a Technical Writer at OverDrive.  |
Video – Amazon Fire Phone Review
| The Amazon Fire phone is getting skewed heavily in the smartphone world and the average rating on the main Amazon website is a paltry two out of five stars. This device is basically a gateway to shopping on Amazon and Prime members ultimately benefit the most from having his as their primary handset. How relevant is the Fire Phone in Canada or outside of the US? Today, Peter does a hands on video review to see if this phone is solid or not. If you have ever heard of the Fire phone before, no worries. It is primary marketed to the US and UK. It is notable for its hallmark feature “Dynamic Perspective”: using four front-facing cameras and the gyroscope to track the user’s movements, the OS adjusts the UI so that it gives the impression of depth and 3D. Other notable Amazon services on the phone include X-Ray, used for identifying and finding information about media; Mayday, the 24-hour customer service tool; and Firefly, a tool that automatically recognizes text, sounds, and objects then offers a way to buy it through Amazon’s online store. Amazon is really hyping the 4.7 inch IPS display that is optimized to using it outdoors. How does this really perform in real world tests? As an added bonus, Peter does an outdoor reading test, using the Kindle app.
Video – Amazon Fire Phone Review is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Snapchat Photos Stolen and Leaked
| It seems Snapchat is the latest victim in what is becoming a long line of apps and services experiencing security breaches and compromises, though it’s a little confusing just how or where it happened. What we do know is that a 13GB database of private user photographs is circulating around the Internet (which translates into as many as 200,000 images now public in 4chan and other forums). They could have come directly from the Snapchat client Snapsave, or from SnapSaved.com, both options allowing users to save the photos and videos they view. So far, Snapchat is denying they have anything to do with it:
There is a saying somewhere about pointing fingers at others resulting in them being pointed back at you… but it could be the truth as well. Either way, reading about these security breeches should teach you one very important lesson: don’t take photographs of things you wouldn’t like other people to see. As you can imagine, it isn’t the photographs of what you had for supper that people are looking to peek at. Snapchat tries to help maintain a user’s privacy by alerting the sender if the recipient takes a screenshot of their photo, but many third-party apps can circumvent this feature; and while they actively search for and report these apps, it is near impossible for them to keep up.
Snapchat Photos Stolen and Leaked is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Dragon Quest II Goes Mobile with Android App
| The celebrated Dragon Quest series has gone mobile once again with the second installment of the series arriving on Android and iOS this week. Fans of the franchise should feel very fortunate as they have only been waiting a month since the first volume hit the Google Play store last month. Developed by the famed Square Enix, Dragon Quest II bring the fair lands and foul dungeons made famous by the classic RPG to your mobile devices! Picking up where the first episode left off, you are forced to restore peace to a land on the verge of ruin thanks to demon hosts summoned by the fallen High Priest Hargon. Dragon Quest II is an open-world adventure game, within which you are free to wander monster-infested dungeons or sail the seas; all the while, discovering more powerful abilities, treasures, and gaining the experience you need to succeed. It never ceases to amaze me how accurately sophisticated RPG style strategy games translate to touch-screen mobile devices, but Dragon Quest II doesn’t disappoint. The game’s controls are very easy to get the hang of and can be repositioned on the screen to accommodate your preference between one or two-handed play (which works well for those of us who cut our teeth on console games with a more traditional controller). If you are dying to devote some gameplay time Dragon Quest II, grab it now from the Google Play Store for $4.99 USD. Don’t let the price tag scare you off –the game is challenging and the storyline complex enough that you will turn to it time and again for entertainment.
Dragon Quest II Goes Mobile with Android App is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Moving pictures
| Earlier this year, we blogged about a shampoo ad that was running in the Swedish subway. A Pi hooked up to a motion sensor triggered a video effect on a billboard, so the model’s hair blew around in what looked like a response to the wind created every time a train came into the station. Swedish ad agency Garberg have done something similar to that original project – but this time something’s different (and all their work on this ad has been pro bono). This has become the most-viewed video in Sweden this week, and it brought us all up short. We think it’ll have the same effect on you. |
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