New Fire HDX 8.9 has Dynamic Light Control to Mimic the Look of Paper (Video)

I’ll admit, when Amazon announced their new lineup of Kindle ereaders and Fire tablets for this year, I barely paid any attention whatsoever to the new Fire HDX 8.9. I was too interested in the Kindle Voyage and new 6-inch Fire HD to care much about a Fire HDX with only a couple upgrades from […]

URL: http://feeds.the-ebook-reader.com/~r/feedburner/cmWU/~3/po3ZU9zO6Is/

Investors Satisfied with Blackberry 10 Fire Sale

Blackberry is undergoing a resurgence under the leadership of John Chen and the fruits of their new strategy are resonating well with investors. No one really knows how many Blackberry Passport devices were sold, but 200,000 units were gone right away. The main Blackberry website has been sold out every day of the week since launch and the upcoming Classic phone is highly anticipated with its core customers. Blackberry is trying to liquidate their current inventory of older phones by having a fire sale during the month of November. The BlackBerry’s Q10 price dropped one hundred dollars to $199, ahead of the release of the Classic. Likely, Blackberry saw no need for a single keyboard device competing for the same market. The Classic features the inclusion of navigation buttons and trackpad, something that was missing from the Q10. The Z30 price drop is very dramatic and the phone itself was a victim of bad timing. When it got released the Blackberry leadership was changing and the company did not allocate enough of a marketing budget to run any kind of sustained media campaign. Can this be a sign to come that the company might be developing a phablet type of device? The two devices Blackberry is getting behind and pushing in a big way is the Passport and Classic. I like the fact it hearkens back to the glory days of Blackberry, where all of their phones had a great keyboard. According to SeekingAlpha “Investors are not convinced shares of BlackBerry should trade above the $10.50 level. There are still concerns of falling revenue from the services division. The company will make up for the drop first through BES 12 subscriptions. On the hardware sales side, speculation of strong Passport sales could finally push shares towards back to the $15 level. This is unlikely in the short-term. BlackBerry still needs a phablet or a tablet-like smart phone. This signals the company is confident with the BBOS 10.3 release. More importantly, it implies BlackBerry is confident demand for its family of devices will improve now, and heading into 2015.” Investors Satisfied with Blackberry 10 Fire Sale is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/smartphones-2/investors-satisfied-with-blackberry-10-fire-sale

Raspberry Pi Model A+ on sale now at $20

When we announced the Model B+ back in July, we said that we’d also be producing a lower-cost variant, analogous to the original Model A. Since then, James has been beavering away, and today we’re pleased to announce the release of the Raspberry Pi Model A+ at a new low price of $20. Smaller, more energy-efficient and crazy-affordable Like the Model A, the Model A+ uses the BCM2835 application processor and has 256MB RAM, but it is significantly smaller (65mm in length, versus 86mm for the Model A), consumes less power, and inherits the many improvements that we made to the Model B+, including: More GPIO. The GPIO header has grown to 40 pins. The Model A+ is compatible with the HAT standard for add-on boards. Micro SD. The old friction-fit SD card socket has been replaced with a much nicer push-push micro SD version. Better audio. The audio circuit incorporates a dedicated low-noise power supply. When we announced Raspberry Pi back in 2011, the idea of producing an “ARM GNU/Linux box for $25″ seemed ambitious, so it’s pretty mind-bending to be able to knock another $5 off the cost while continuing to build it here in the UK, at the same Sony factory in South Wales we use to manufacture the Model B+. You can buy the Model A+ today from our partners Farnell/element14/Newark. We handed out a very few preview units to some people we know with video cameras and microphones. Here’s what they had to say:

URL: http://www.raspberrypi.org/raspberry-pi-model-a-plus-on-sale/

Marvel Secret Wars Battleworld the Big Digital Comic Event of 2015

Marvel is rebooting the Secret Wars into a new project called Battleworld, which will launch in May 2015 and continue well into the summer. In the original Secret Wars, the villain known as The Beyonder took pieces from various planets and combined them to create Battleworld where he forced the heroes and villains of Earth to fight each other. This new Secret Wars seems to be taking that basic concept but using pieces from Earths of different realities. This trailer shows that each reality has their own separate region on Battleworld. Given the name of this planet, it's safe to assume that the heroes and villains of these worlds will have to battle one another. This event will hopefully be a do over from the original Secret Wars, which had a high concept but terrible execution. I am hoping this is going to be better than Age of Ultron or AVX, which has been fairly lackluster. Marvel Secret Wars Battleworld the Big Digital Comic Event of 2015 is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/digital-comic-news/marvel-secret-wars-battleworld-the-big-digital-comic-event-of-2015

e-Reader Buyers Guide – Winter 2014

This year it seems more new e-readers have come out than almost any other year and it can be quite daunting to choose the best one as a gift, upgrade or just buying one for the first time. Some devices have built in bookstores that allow you to buy eBooks, magazines and newspapers on demand, others make the users rely on finding their own books online and loading them in via the USB cable. e-Readers tend to come in two sizes for the most part, six inches and 9.7 inches. Six inch e-readers tend to be the most popular, because of their pocket friendly nature and low entry price point. Larger readers tend to be most expensive because less people buy them and it costs more to manufacture small batches. What is an e-Reader? An e-Reader typically uses e-Ink technology, which mimics real paper. Smartphones and tablets use LCD displays which has light emitting from behind the screen into your eyes. This has been known to cause melatonin suppression, which basically  makes you stay up  late, unable to sleep properly. e-Readers this year have mostly adopted front-lit displays, which has the light emitting from underneath the bezel, splashing light evenly across the screen. This allows you to read in the dark, controlling the brightness levels, without the need of ambient lighting or a reading light. e-Readers for the most part have a singular use, to read eBooks. 95% of all electronic readers were designed to purely enjoy a great book, without the distractions that smartphones and tablets provide via emails, notifications and overall distractions. The Best Six Inch e-Readers Amazon Kindle Voyage – The Voyage is Amazons new flagship e-reader and has a six inch screen with the best resolution in the business. Amazon has incorporated some new technology in this  model that no other e-reader on the market currently has. The first is manual page turn keys that are flush with the bezel, the buttons do not protrude. When you press down on the button to turn the page you are met with a barely noticeable haptic feedback vibration to let you know you turned a page. There is also an ambient light sensor that will automatically adjust the brightness of the screen based on your lighting conditions. Amazon currently has the best in class  eBook ecosystem, they control 75% of the market in North America and the UK. They have everything from fan-fiction to being able to read books before they officially hit the bookstores and even an unlimited membership that allows you to check out as many books a month as you want. The Seattle based company is in the news a lot, for good reason, they are the best. There are some drawbacks to the Amazon ecosystem as a whole. They have their own eBook format, which makes it impossible to buy books from other stores and load them on the device. The Voyage also  has no SD Card support, so you have to use the 3.5 GB of memory with caution, especially if you are loading big PDF files on it. Kobo Aura H2O – Canadian based Kobo released a singular e-reader this year, that is being billed as the first device you can take with you anywhere. It is completely waterproof up to five meters, fully submerged, which makes it appealing to take with you in the bathtub to the beach or on vacation. The Aura H2O has the same resolution as the Kindle Voyage, but has a 6.8 inch screen instead of the standard six. It has an SD Card, so you can load up even more books than the Kindle and the Kobo bookstore is populated with millions of titles. The larger screen makes reading a bit more enjoyable because more text can be displayed, making books seem a bit shorter. Flexible font control allows you to change it on the fly and advanced options allow you to even load in your own fonts. Speaking of advanced options, Kobo is the only company to balance general level options to control simple functions but it also appeals to power users with being able to control font weight or even the bright/dark levels of the text. Kobo is second most popular eBook store in the world and  you can buy digital content in almost every country. They use the EPUB format, so  you can easily borrow books from your local library or even from other online bookstores and load them in via Adobe Digital Editions. Icarus Illumina HD – E653 – One of the big trends of 2014 was indie e-reader companies adopting the concept of open Android. This is the same type of user experience that smartphones and tablet owners enjoy, by being able to install their own apps. The HD model runs Android 4.2, which makes it highly capable of being able to run Kindle, Kobo, Nook or any other app such as Moon+ Reader or Aldiko. The Illumina HD is highly versatile and is able to read most popular eBook formats, you can buy books in EPUB or PDF formats from any major store and load them onto the unit via Adobe Digital Editions. There is no bookstore built into the unit of note, but because you can basically install your store of choice, this e-reader allows for unparalleled freedom and is more solid than any of the e-readers Onyx sells. Barnes and Noble Nook Glowlight – Barnes and Noble remains a force to be reckoned with in the e-reader industry, even though their market share has diminished due to Amazon and Kobo. The Glowlight was the only model the largest bookseller in the US released in 2014. One of the ways B&N continues to be successful is due to the fact the e-Reader is sold in bookstores and most people in the US and UK live in close proximity to one. Users who experience issues with the hardware only have to drive down to their local store and receive intimidate support or to have it replaced. Barnes and Noble was the first company to pioneer the very concept of glowlight technology and their online bookstore is well designed and highly curated. They put an emphasis on editorial and discovery in order to find the next good read. The Nook line of e-readers tends to get lambasted by the media because it makes a click worthy headline that the company is doomed. This is the similar type of syndrome that Blackberry has experienced over the year, but Nook remains relevant and a good e-reader. Best Large Screen e-Readers There are a number of reasons why people tend to buy large screen e-readers. As we get older, the eyesight tends to degrade and book lovers tend to buy the large print editions of books in their local store. Doing this can get expensive as these variants often cost two or three times the cost of a paperback,. Another popular reason why people love large screen e-readers is due to the screen real estate. PDF Files and eBooks can fit more text on the screen, which appeals to students and industry professionals. Icarus Excel – For the most demanding user that works with A4 sized documents, PDFs and has the need to interact with the content (notes, annotations, highlighting), the ICARUS Reader eXceL is unmatched. The 9.7" E-Ink PEARL touch screen has great contrast and swiftly responds to any command . With 1200 x 825 pixels it has much more detail than most e-readers (800 x 600). With the stylus you can make handwritten notes, highlight text, and make annotations. And with Wi-Fi connectivity you can wirelessly browse the web and access content on the go. The Icarus eXceLis perfect for professional environments or education, where interactivity is essential. This e-reader also runs Android 4.0 which allows users to select the digital ecosystem of their choice, but also install other news/RSS or magazine apps. Sony Digital Paper – Sony abandoned the consumer e-reader sector earlier this year. They developed a new product that sticky appeals towards people who need to get large PDF files. This reader is 13.3 inches in size and retails for around $999.99 in the US and has higher international availability via Shop e-Readers. The Sony Digital Paper features a 13.3 inch e-Ink Mobius e-paper screen with a resolution of 1200 by 1600. It was designed to give you a true A4 experience, displaying PDF files as they were originally intended. The lightweight nature of Mobius gives you amazing clarity in the fonts and pictures. It also one of the most lightweight products in its class, clocking in at .08 pounds. To give you some comparison, The Kindle DX has a 9.7 inch screen and weighs 0.91 pounds and the iPad Air is 1.3 pounds. The Digital Paper only reads PDF documents but it is possible to convert your standard eBook to PDF using online tools or eBook editing software like Calibre. Wrap up There was a number of notable e-readers that did not make our buying list for various reasons. Pocketbook has been making them for a number of years, but has made missteps with the internals, such as CPU and RAM which makes using it tedious. Onyx Boox also has a number of new units this year, but none of them were especially compelling. Our recommendations reflect the best new e-readers of 2014, in terms of usability, features and ecosystem. You could get any of these for holiday gifts or give them to someone and they will not have to go through much of a learning curve. e-Reader Buyers Guide – Winter 2014 is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/e-reader/e-reader-buyers-guide-winter-2014

The Benefits of an e-Reader – Fewer Notifcations

If you have a tablet or smartphone running Android or iOS you are used to a constant barrage of notifications. Notifications have been a blunt instrument for apps to try to get our attention. Every time you install something new, you get a pop-up message that asks if you want to allow it to send you notifications. If you say yes, they arrive with the same intensity as emails, draining precious battery life, making your phone more annoying than savvy. e-Readers on the other hand have never had this issue, which gives it a higher level of immersion. I have been using an iPad for a number of years and my attention while reading an eBook is constantly shifting towards the notifications I receive. Simpsons Tapped Out is letting me know there are more aliens to be squashed or Spider-Man Unlimited is informing me that my energy is now full. Haven’t played a game in awhile, a ton of prompts suddenly say “we miss you, please come back”. Obviously you can turn these off, but if you have a ton of apps and games installed, it can take hours to tweak all of the settings. Dedicated e-readers such as the Kindle Voyage or Kobo Aura H2O are a very different beast than your average smartphone or tablet. There are almost zero notifications, aside from low battery life or new content being synced. Some tablets by Amazon and Kobo have tried to tackle the notification system with an improvement called “Quiet Mode” or “Quiet Time.” Its a simple feature found in the setting menu that will automatically disable all push notifications and disable popups. Sadly, these tablets have not been embraced by the global market and remain niche devices. If you find yourself being detracted by a constant barrage of notifications while reading on your mobile device, you might want to look at buying an e-reader instead. They certainly don’t provide the same type of generalist functionality, but if you want to lose yourself in a good book, you don’t want to buy anything else. The Benefits of an e-Reader – Fewer Notifcations is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/the-benefits-of-an-e-reader-fewer-notifcations

Recent comScore Report Places Android on Top in U.S.

According to the latest comScore metrics, Android is in the lead as the dominant smartphone platform in the mobile marketplace. With 52.1% of the market share, Android is a fair step ahead of Apple who is lagging behind at 41.7% (third place went to Microsoft at a pitiful 3.6%, with fourth landing in BlackBerry’s lap at 2.3%). Android didn’t lead every statistic, however… with Apple leading the pack as the top smartphone manufacturer (based on 174 million people with U.S.-owned devices), securing 41.7% of that market share as well. By comparison, Samsung is next in line with only 29.0% –leaving LG to secure third place with 6.9%. While it may seem a little difficult to understand how Android can lead in the platform category while lagging in the hardware division –it’s due to the range of OEM manufacturers. Samsung may be making the most sales, but others like LG, Motorola, and HTC are also delivering a large number of units that contribute to the overall total number of smartphones. The comScore report also identified the most downloaded smartphone apps (for U.S. smartphone mobile media users, aged 18+ on both iOS and Android platforms): placing Facebook on top, followed by YouTube in a distant second place. Boasting themselves as a leading Internet technology company, comScore “measures what people do as they navigate the digital world – and turns that information into insights and actions for our clients to maximize the value of their digital investments.” Recent comScore Report Places Android on Top in U.S. is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/spotlight-on-android/recent-comscore-report-places-android-on-top-in-u-s

Free Kindle eBook and Audiobook: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

This month’s Whispersync for Voice freebie is a classic tale that delves into the darker side of humanity, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. After you get the free version of the Kindle ebook, the audiobook copy of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde will […]

URL: http://feeds.the-ebook-reader.com/~r/feedburner/cmWU/~3/VLQr9Fqj6L8/

Amazon Fire HDX 8.9 vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook 10.1

Amazon and Barnes and Noble both have flagship large screen tablets in the form of the Fire HDX 8.9 2014 edition and the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook 10.1. These devices both  cost over $300 and provide large screens to read digital books, newspapers, magazines, comics and graphic novels. How well do they compete against each other head to head? Today we compare the full experience to give you a sense of how the hardware and software elements play out. Lately, I have not been going into full details about the specs during these comparison videos. Tablets these days all give you quad-core processors, plenty of RAM and internal storage, on paper they are fairly even. My opinion is that it is all about real world conditions and how content looks. The Fire HDX 8.9 model has a few software functions that make it standout in a crowd.  You can listen to a song and quickly ID it, and then buy it from Amazon, or scan a bar code, UPC and just snap a picture of a physical book and instantly get a price comparison. There is also the consumer friendly  technical support system that allows you to talk to a real person via Mayday. The best aspect of the HDX, is the Dolby Audio, which really fills a room with full and vibrant sounds, currently the sound quality is the best of ANY tablet in the world right now. The Nook 10.1 has the larger screen, which really makes visual content look really good. It is certainly no slouch in the sound department either, with the stereo speakers. I think the most compelling aspects is the ability to access the classic Nook Store to buy any content you need, but also the inclusion of Google Play greatly enhances customers ability to download other reading apps, such as Kindle, Kobo, Comixology, and thousands of others. In this comparison video we mainly look at how the same content looks side by side, to give you a sense of the resolution and quality. We look at an eBook, magazine, and comic book experience. Amazon Fire HDX 8.9 vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook 10.1 is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/amazon-fire-hdx-8-9-vs-samsung-galaxy-tab-4-nook-10-1

Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook 7 VS Nook 10.1

Barnes and Noble issued two new tablet devices in 2014 and they ironed out an agreement with Samsung to provide the hardware. This was the first time the hardware was outsourced and provides a very unique experience, compared to the Nook HD and HD+. Today, we look at the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook 7 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook 10.1. In this official comparison video by Good e-Reader we look at the overall user experience. During this process we noticed that the 10.1 inch model had an extra widget on the home screen to give you quick access to your library. What are the main differences between these two models? We dive deep into the reading experience. We compare eBooks, digital magazines, digital newspapers and look at all of the Nook apps that come loaded on it. Both of these tablets have Google Play, Galaxy App Store and the Nook App Store. There is no shortage of content distribution systems available, and its really easy to download whatever 3rd party e-reading app or game you want. This is total freedom, something Nook users of the past were not able to really enjoy. Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook 7 VS Nook 10.1 is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/samsung-galaxy-tab-4-nook-7-vs-nook-10-1

Blackberry CEO Pens Open Letter to Former Users

Blackberry CEO John Chen has just penned an open letter to existing and former users touting the abilities of the new Blackberry Classic. This phone reminds many of the Bold, which was the quintessential business device of its time. The Blackberry Classic, otherwise known as the Q20, will come with a complete top row of navigation keys and a trackpad. Those are features that many BlackBerry fans missed when the company rolled out its revamped BlackBerry 10 line of devices last year. The device is powered by a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB internal memory size. There is also a microSD card slot that allows memory expansion of up to 128 GB. It is also reportedly sporting a 13-megapixel primary camera with a 2-megapixel secondary camera for video calls. The Amazon App Store is bundled on the phone as well, to provide not only a wellspring of apps, but also video and music. Chen conceded in a blog post that the company has made some mistakes in the last few years saying: “It’s tempting in a rapidly changing, rapidly growing mobile market to change for the sake of change – to mimic what’s trendy and match the industry-standard, kitchen-sink approach of trying to be all things to all people. When we lose sight of what you want and you need, we lose you.” In my opinion, the Classic will sell. It hearkens back to the days of when Blackberry meant something to the business world. The physical keyboard still has a place in the world for people who don’t like touchscreens. Being a former Blackberry user myself, I have noticed that when I respond to text messages on an iPhone, I usually speak in Ebonics. My thoughts were more cohesively laid out when using a Blackberry. Blackberry CEO Pens Open Letter to Former Users is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/smartphones-2/blackberry-ceo-pens-open-letter-to-former-users

New Onyx Boox AfterGlow 2 Features Android 4.2 and Google Play

Onyx Boox dramatically enhanced their e-reader portfolio in 2014 with the advent of the T68 Lynx, M96 Universe and the Midia e-ink Smartphone. The company has just quietly released the last new product, the Afterglow 2. The Onyx Afterglow 2 features a six inch capacitive touchscreen with e-Ink Pearl HD with a resolution of 1024×758. You will be able to read in the dark via the front-lit display, which is the same sort of tech you see in the Kindle Voyage and Kobo Aura H2O. This e-reader has a few things really going for it that makes it standout in a crowded marketplace. I really like the dual core 1.2 GHZ processor which should keep things really speedy, most other digital book readers all have single cores. It also has a stock version of Google Android 4.2 and the Google Play store in order to access all of the apps you can shake a stick at. There is a 3.55mm headphone jack to take advantage of Ivona text to speech. Onyx has incorporated this technology in the Lynx e-reader, but it was bug ridden and did not work properly, it remains to be seen if they have solved the bug with this new product. I don’t know if there is much of a market for this product, despite the inclusion of a better processor and the ability to install your favorite apps via Google Play. Anyways, the Afterglow 2 is available now and costs $154 US. New Onyx Boox AfterGlow 2 Features Android 4.2 and Google Play is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/new-onyx-boox-afterglow-2-features-android-4-2-and-google-play

Facebook Allows Better Customization of Your News Feed

I would ask if any of you have been annoyed by the content featured on your Facebook news feed, but we all know the answer. What you see (and don’t see) has long been a bone of contention for those who check Facebook regularly… filled with things you don’t want to see. While it may seem like an easy solution to say that we can just unfriend those people who we find annoying, it isn’t always that easy (everybody has a few people on their friends list that can’t be removed without offending somebody or causing unnecessary drama). Or maybe you really like the person who keeps posting sappy Internet memes and game requests. Either way, Facebook has rolled out an update that allows for better news feed customization. Now you will see a list of the top people and pages found in your news feed, complete with a one-click option that provides the option to unfollow them. Using a filtered view is also a choice, giving more granular control over people, groups, or pages (letting you identify whether it was the person or the content you would really rather not look at again). Of course, if you change your mind about anything you’ve eliminated, you can reverse these decisions at any time. This functionality already existed to a lesser extent, but now it applies to more than just an alphabetical list of friends that you have unfollowed. This update is available today for mobile and desktop. Are you thrilled with the changes –or is this another instance where Facebook should have just left well enough alone? Facebook Allows Better Customization of Your News Feed is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/spotlight-on-android/facebook-allows-better-customization-of-your-news-feed

Zuckerberg Hosts First Townhall Q&A at Facebook HQ

There are two types of people interested in quizzing Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg: those who envy his success and others who are avid users of his social media website (or perhaps better described as a sort of empire). Fortunately for both groups, Zuckerberg opened himself up to questions at the first Townhall Q&A session held at the Facebook HQ this week. A few questions and responses stand out: Why did you force us to install Facebook Messenger? Zuckerberg: "The first thing I want to do is acknowledge that asking everyone in our community to install a new app is a big ask. We really believe that this is a better experience and the messaging is really important. Each app can do one thing well." What I heard: We want to do serious development in the messaging arena –and to keep our options open in the future, it is being modularized such that it can be sold or implemented without dependence on the core Facebook app. If Facebook is getting set to launch a more comprehensive mobile platform (perhaps even as an independent operating system), having a full-featured and securing messaging service is very important. How accurate is the movie Social Network? Zuckerberg: "I kinda blocked that one out. It was a very interesting experience that was supposedly about my life. The reality is that, writing a code and building a product is not that exciting.” He also went on to describe that the filmmakers “just kind of made up a bunch of stuff” that he thought was hurtful. What I heard: With no specifics being called out, Zuckerberg wanted us to believe that anything negative in the movie was a part of the ‘made up stuff’. Is Facebook intending to take over the mobile industry? Zuckerberg: His answer was as vague as the question, noting primarily that a large number of people live in areas without Internet access (or no way to get themselves online). He did express that it was his view that Facebook has a social responsibility to spread the Internet (with activities like working with large companies in the industry that can beam Facebook access to phones). What I heard: It felt very much like Zuckerberg was saying that even if you don’t have Internet access, you can still have Facebook. He could have said they were ‘beaming educational materials,’ or something slightly more philanthropic… indicating that at least in small part, Facebook does intend to dominate the mobile industry (and more). How do you keep the passion running for Facebook? Zuckerberg: "It starts with doing something that you think is actually important." What I heard: I am not sure ‘important’ is the word I would use. Perhaps something more along the lines of: innovative, exciting, or entertaining. I suppose it is important that social media giants believe in their cause, but in the grand scheme of things… it’s mostly just window dressing of sorts. Is Facebook becoming boring? Zuckerberg: "My goal was never to make Facebook cool." Basically, he feels that it is their job to be present and reliable. What I heard: Facebook isn’t in the content business, they only deliver the things we provide (by way of text, photos and video)… and that makes sense. The sessions ended with a lot of questions that carried less weight, wanting to know what Zuckerberg’s passion is or how Facebook intends to get involved in the fight against Ebola… but this is the point where my interest kind of trailed off (unless you count that we learned he wears the same shirt everyday because he thinks it is a waste of his precious time to make frivolous decisions of this type –I am paraphrasing, but barely). Zuckerberg Hosts First Townhall Q&A at Facebook HQ is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/spotlight-on-android/zuckerberg-hosts-first-townhall-qa-at-facebook-hq

Team OverDrive’s Best Books of 2014

2014 was a great year for books and eBooks and it’s hard to believe we’re nearing the end. To commemorate some of the great reads, we polled our staff here at OverDrive and asked for everyone’s favorites. Click here for the complete list of titles! All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr Melissa Higey, School Account Specialist II I love the twists and turns of this book, as it moves back and forth in time and between several different narrators. The life of Marie-Laure, as a blind child and teen living during WWII is fascinating and beautiful. Loved it! Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson Dan Potash, Product Manager In 2014 Tor published Words of Radiance, the second book to his "The Stormlight Archive" series. The series itself is a great read for anyone into Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings. It combines elements of a feudalistic society centered on the Hellenic ideas of honor and glory through war, with a hidden but emerging world of magic. As the protagonists become more aware of their own importance and power, they come closer to the knowledge of a world-ending event and the preparations needed to thwart such a catastrophe. Red Rising by Pierce Brown Heather Valentine-Gold, Account Specialist II I borrowed the eBook from Cuyahoga County Public Library without knowing much about it, other than it came highly recommended, and I ended up loving the story and characters. While many of the sci-fi themes are familiar, they're wide-ranging and Brown manages to weave them all together in a completely new and entertaining way. The Weirdness by Jeremy Bushnell Rachel Kray, Collection Development Analyst I A “hipster” sells his soul to the devil in a last ditch attempt to sell his novel. And there’s also werewolves and an evil wizard trying to end the world with a very special lucky cat. Hilarious with brilliant prose, this book in unlike anything else I’ve ever read. The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen Christina Samek, Launch Specialist I It's part of a planned trilogy that I cannot wait to get my hands on! It's a fantasy novel with suspenseful and tragic elements. It's definitely not YA, but it's not strictly Adult, either. I'd rate it 17+. I love the use of the quest motif present in the novel and coupling that with a female lead makes the literary trope feel brand new. It's just great, everyone who has ever felt small or insignificant should read this. Anyone who has ever felt powerful should read this. Everyone should read this! Redeployment by Phil Klay Jim Monastra, Account Specialist Redeployment is a collection of short stories about the war in Iraq, and the soldiers that are fighting. The stories are brutally honest, and at times hard to read, but difficult to put down because of the terrific writing. I'm really excited to see what Klay has in store for the future. Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh Michelle Ross, Collection Development Analyst Reminiscent of Raymond Chandler and Ready Player One, this was an awesome futuristic and suspenseful read. The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear / Read by Nicola Barber Deb Halinski, Manager of Knowledge Services – Learning Systems I love audiobooks because I do so much driving. This year I happened upon an extraordinary reader, Nicola Barber. Her voice is expressive and versatile (male, female, child, elder, British/American/Scottish/Irish and more) — so much so I can forget I'm listening to a single reader. Even more remarkable, she has the ability to spin individual words to portray complex emotions. I'm immediately pulled into the story, and I am sad every time I reach the end of one of her narrations! We Were Liars by E. Lockhart Melissa Marin, Marketing Specialist II This book really stayed with me after I read it. The writing style is unusual and while it kept me at arm's length at first, I realized that it was for a reason. As the story unfolded, I found the writing more engaging. The more you learn about the mystery and the lies that are the core of the book, the more the book opens up, secrets become exposed and things become clearer. Very interesting. The Jim Henson Biography by Brian Jay Jones Adam Sockel, Marketing Specialist I It's a must-read for anyone who grew up with the Muppets or Sesame Street. Reading about how his vision became a reality was fascinating. I highly recommend it.   If you would like more recommendations, we're always happy to create custom lists. Email us at collectionteam@overdrive.com for more information today! **Please note that title availability may vary by geographic location and platform.* Rachel Kray is a Collection Development Analyst at OverDrive.

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalDistributionBlogOverdrive/~3/WdWDcDIHf7A/

Onyx Boox AfterGlow 2 Released with Android 4.2 and HD E Ink Screen

There’s another new ebook reader from Onyx that was just released yesterday through Onyx-Boox.com (Arta Tech). It’s called the AfterGlow 2. It’s a lot like the Boox T68 and Boox M96, but it’s smaller and comes with newer software and a faster processor. The AfterGlow 2 has a 6-inch E Ink screen with a resolution […]

URL: http://feeds.the-ebook-reader.com/~r/feedburner/cmWU/~3/5A5k_1nJTtY/

Scribd Adds Audiobooks to eBook Subscription Plan

Yesterday Scribd, an online ebook subscription service, announced that they have added 30,000 audiobooks to their catalog. The audiobooks are available through Scribd’s monthly service plan that costs $8.99 per month, along with over 400,000 ebook titles. Both audiobooks and ebooks are offered together through the same monthly plan. Once subscribed, users gain unlimited access […]

URL: http://feeds.the-ebook-reader.com/~r/feedburner/cmWU/~3/rdkeD0LItZU/

Blurb Connects Authors with eBook Editors and Other Writing Talent

Blurb is one of the largest self-publishing services in the world and was originally launched in 2006. The company has assisted eBook authors in launching over three million titles globally and they have launched a new program that will allow them to better compete with Amazon. Dream Team is a new initiative that will connect aspiring or existing eBook authors with talent to help them take their title to the next level. The online marketplace is a creative hotbed of industry professionals with expertise in copy editing, developmental editing, book design, art direction, illustration, photography, cover design, ghostwriting, ebook conversion, and more. Here is how it works. Blurb has tapped publishing industry veterans Richard Nash and Molly Barton to handpick and vet the Dream Team collaborators, populating the group with a range of experience that offers a commensurate range of price points. In order to hire anyone in the marketplace you have to be an existing Blurb member and agree to self-publish your title through them. You basically just browse profiles, checking out their rates and connect up with them to ask questions or to hire them. When it comes to payment, this is done outside of Blurb and its up to the talent to determine how they want to be paid, Blurb abstains from the entire payment process. Blurb makes no money from this. They are simply connectors. The benefit for them is that statistically, when authors have help they more likely to complete their books. Therefore title completion and unit rates will increase. A marketplace connecting writers with freelance talent was originally pioneered by Amazon with their seminal Creation Exchange platform. Sadly, this only is relevant for audiobooks, connecting writers with producers, mixers and narrators. Blurb might have stumbled upon a unified service to assist authors in all aspects of eBook creation, under a single platform. Blurb Connects Authors with eBook Editors and Other Writing Talent is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/digital-publishing/blurb-connects-authors-with-ebook-editors-and-other-writing-talent

Watching an endangered Tuatara hatch

As I type this, Emma is hugging herself and shouting “LOOK AT THE LOVELY BABY!” We believe that every office environment is enriched by biologists. The little guy/gal in the video above is a Tuatara – and I didn’t have to go to Wikipedia to learn more about them, because Emma is amazingly well-versed in New Zealand’s endemic lizards. One of her friends works in conserving Tuataras, which are endangered, in New Zealand. (Emma says, sadly, that we can’t have one of these in the office – they live for more than a hundred years, and we won’t be around to feed it forever.) This video was filmed in a specially prepared, laser-cut incubator, with a Pi NoIR camera, hacked together with a DSLR lens. Over at Hackaday, Warren (what’s your surname, Warren? Let us know, and we’ll add it here), the maker, has put together a detailed how-to. He says: Ok so a few weeks ago I was asked to film the hatching of a endangered species of reptile called a Tuatara. It isn’t often that you get a chance actually be involved in this sort of project. So needless to say I said yup I am happy to do it. Then I was told what the restrictions were….. first problem was they are in an incubator, I was thinking incubator as in the sort we see on TV with windows and such so it would be easy to pop a camera on the side focus thru a window and ta-dah video footage complete, job done, but no! No windows or no light.. The space is a temperature and humidity controlled space. So time to think laterally. I had a friend who used Raspberry pi’s and had rav’d about how cool they were. I had been tinkering with the idea of getting one for home and having a bit of a play. The results speak for themselves. Thanks Warren; we love it.

URL: http://www.raspberrypi.org/watching-an-endangered-tuatara-hatch/

New $400 eInk Clock Goes on Sale

ClockOne has debuted a 40 inch clock made of the same e-paper that you would find on your Kindle or Nook e-Reader. The company has just launched a new Kickstarter campaign where you can pre-order one for $400, and  shipments expected to begin in May 2015. The Clock was designed to not only be a novelty but appeal to thousands of people looking to make a statement with e-paper.  This thing is giant, it clocks in (no pun intended) 40 inches wide, 14 inches tall, and weighs 4.6 pounds. You will need a magnetic wall mount in order to effective graft it into your ideal position. There are a few options in regards to the color options, It comes preassembled with white, pink, orange, green, or blue bezels. Prior to the Kickstarter campaign, Twelve24 showcased ClockOne prototypes at the International CES tech show, as well as the Dwell on Design and the International Contemporary Furniture Fair design shows. At CES, the company found that people loved the technology (they wanted to know how the shape was cut, and how it was powered), but were completely turned off by the price. This clock is not aimed at the consumer market and likely will never catch on in a big way. I can see interior designers using it as a statement piece or using it in the office as a topic of conversation. New $400 eInk Clock Goes on Sale is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/e-paper/new-400-eink-clock-goes-on-sale