| In a major update to Skype, you can continue your video call without interruption if you leave the app with picture-in-picture support. This means the person you are calling won’t know if you’ve left the app to check your email (or browse Facebook), with Skype now maintaining a clear video picture all the while (in a re-positionable window that runs on top of whatever you are doing so it remains visible on your end). Other additions in this latest package allow you to receive photos from Skype for iPhone users (and other clients), adds support for formatted text (like bold, italic, and Microsoft has been paying a lot of attention to Skype lately –adding the messaging software to their Office Online apps, giving users the chance to chat and collaborate on Word and PowerPoint documents within each native app. If you haven’t made your first call with Skype for Android, download it now for free and give it a try.
Skype Update Lets You Multitask During Calls is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Skype Update Lets You Multitask During Calls
Sony Cuts Back Smartphone Lineup
| It wasn’t very long ago that Samsung announced their plans to cut back their smartphone line-up –this time, it’s Sony doing the same thing. Where once it seemed like Sony was on top of the tech world and could do no wrong, now they are struggling to carve out a competitive piece of the mobile market. Reducing their smartphone lineup by as much as 30% should help return Sony to profitability, while also giving a smaller portfolio of devices to support. Unfortunately, reducing the number of devices being offered does little to compete with smartphone leaders like Apple and Samsung. On the plus side, Sony’s latest Android-powered handsets are receiving great reviews even though sales figures don’t support them. The reality is that there are plenty of devices to choose from, and a large number of users already have smartphones (and are upgrading with less frequency than in the past). Sony isn’t just scaling back smartphones –their TV business is also taking a similar hit. The only divisions left untouched are related to console gaming and their image sensor equipment (currently found in devices made by companies like Apple).
Sony Cuts Back Smartphone Lineup is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Moscow Metro Riders Get Free eBooks
| The Moscow Metro has unveiled an ambitious new plan to give free eBooks away to riders. This pilot project is only starting at a handful of subway stations and once all of the kinks have been worked out will expand to over 195. Riders will be able to get free access to Nikolai Gogol's Nose, Alexander Pushkin's Egyptian Nights, Anton Chekhov's About Love, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Mr. Prokharchin by scanning QR codes. The codes will be read on a smartphone or tablet and instantly download the book to your device. The first few stations to get this service will be Dinamo, Belorussky, and Krasnye Vorota. It will eventually spread to all of the system's 195 metro stations, and is already available on about 700 of the city's trams, trolleys, and buses. The metro system is always going to be unveiling a new WIFI system by the end of the year. This will allow users to not only download the books but also the reading apps necessary to view them. Moscow Metro Riders Get Free eBooks is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Onyx Boox I62A is an Entry-Level Android eReader for $89
| The Onyx Boox I62A is yet another new Onyx Boox ebook reader to add to the seemingly endless list of new devices from Onyx this year. The I62A is more of a basic ereader than the Onyx Boox C67ML and some of the others. It’s a lot like the Onyx Boox Classic that Arta Tech […] |
Onyx Boox C67ML eReader with Android 4.2, Frontlight, and HD E Ink Costs $129
| Earlier this month Arta Tech released the Onyx Boox AfterGlow 2, a 6-inch ebook reader with a frontlight, HD E Ink screen and Android 4.2.2. Soon after Banggood.com started selling an almost identical device called the Onyx Boox C67ML (upgraded version). It appears to be about 95% the same as the AfterGlow 2, though there […] |
Can e-Books Ever Overtake Print?
| A number of analysts have been proclaiming that within a few years digital eBooks will overtake print. PricewaterhouseCoopers is one of the most notorious, who recently said this will occur in 2018. Is this possible? In the United States and Britain, sales of eBooks represent between a quarter and a third of the consumer book market. According to a recent survey by Nielsen Books, eBook sales made up 23% of unit sales for the first six months of 2014, while hardcover's accounted for 25% and paperbacks 42%. Ever since the Kindle was released in 2007 digital sales have consistently increased by double digit figures. In 2013, sales growth for eBooks slowed to single digits, and the new numbers from Nielsen suggest the leveling off was no anomaly. Can we ever get to the point where eBook sales will outsell print, whether its in 2018, as PWC expects, or beyond? I think its possible, but a number of things have to occur for the general public to really embrace it. One of the big drawbacks in North America and the UK is the fact digital books are merely licensed and not truly owned. When you buy an eBook from Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Kobo you don’t actually own it, you are basically just buying a temporary license. The lack of ownership can create a host of problems that end up being mainstream news. In 2013 Amazon remotely deleted purchased copies of George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from customers' Kindles after providing them a refund for the purchased products. This was primarily due to a rift with the original publisher and rights issues. Additionally, a Norwegian women tried to purchase a Kindle book from the UK bookstore. Under Amazon's rules, this type of action is barred, as the publisher seeks to control what content is read in which territory of the world. Her account was promptly deleted and all content lost. Another big reason why eBooks likely won’t overtake print anytime soon is chiefly due to Adobe DRM. Digital Rights Management is a form of encryption that prevents unauthorized access or distribution of eBooks you purchase. This is primarily why if you borrow a digital title from the library or buy an eBook online, you need to use Adobe Digital Editions to load it on your e-reader. Unlike real books, you can’t loan out purchased content out to friends, unless you give out your account information to a friend, which is against the terms of service. Some publishers have opted into a program for the sharing of a title for up to two weeks, one time on the Kindle and Nook ecosystem. But these companies do little to promote it and the actual process is a bit complicated. I think what the eBook industry needs to do is gravitate away from using Adobe Digital Editions as the default standard to protect publishers content. Instead, they need to start embracing Social DRM or Digital Watermarks. In the last few weeks I have conducted interviews with Digimarc and Booxtream, which have been eye opening. They basically outlined their technology in such a way that I thought “why isn’t everyone doing this?” Right now digital watermarking is big in Europe and is considered the de'facto standard in the publishing arena, but now North Americans are slowly starting to realize the potential. The watermark is imperceptible to the average book reader because the underlying technology is invisible to the naked eye. The way it handles data can take two distinctive forms: personal information about the user who purchased the eBook (such as an email address) or an ID number that the distributor can use to look up the user or transaction in a database. This technology basically allows users to easily loan an eBook to a friend or load it on their smartphone, tablet, or e-reader without the need to use any 3rd party programs. Its as simple as using Windows Explorer when your gadget is plugged into your computer and copy/paste. Finally, the worldwide market has failed to embrace eBooks in a meaningful way, as readers in North America have. Last year, digital books made up 8% of the consumer book market in France, less than 4% in Germany and Italy, and 1% in Sweden and Norway. In Asia, Japan led the eBook markets with 15% of the country's total consumer book revenues; China and India, meanwhile, lagged far behind at 3%. Part of the reason why the adoption is so low is the actual cost of eBooks. If you look at the top 10 bestseller list, the average title is around $12.00 in the US, but in France its $24.99, $20.00 in Germany and 19.02 in Sweden. So to sum everything up. In order for eBooks to have a shot at overtaking print there has to be a clear defined path of ownership. There also has to be a stabilization of pricing and it has to be very intuitive to loan a book to a friend or load it on as many devices as you desire. Can e-Books Ever Overtake Print? is a post from: Good e-Reader |
How to Give Kindle eBooks and Kindle Unlimited as Gifts
| Unlike most major ebook retailers, one good thing about Amazon is how easy they making giving Kindle books as gifts. They even make it super easy to give Kindle Unlimited as a gift, Amazon’s new ebook subscription service where users get unlimited access to a library of over 700,000 ebooks and several thousand audiobooks for […] |
Is your digital library ready for the holiday rush?
| As the end of the year approaches, we're gearing up for what is traditionally the busiest time of year for your digital library. To help you prepare, the Account Specialists from the Library Partner Services team share some of their tips for a successful holiday season:
2. Highlight your holiday titles with Curated Collections: It is easy to curate your own collection to feature titles on your digital library site. Spotlight your holiday themed eBooks and audiobooks on your homepage and get those seasonal titles circulating. To get started curating collections, log into OverDrive Marketplace and select Switch to Curate from the SHOP drop-down menu (if you don't see the Switch to Curate option, talk to your Marketplace administrator about getting you "Library site admin" permission). Read more details about how to curate a collection here or check out illustrated, step-by-step instructions in the "Curate" section of the Marketplace User Guide. 3. Stock your collection (and be entered to win a prize!): The biggest sale of the year is in full swing now in OverDrive Marketplace. More than 50,000 titles are marked down, some up to 50% off. Plus, every purchase order submitted through OverDrive Marketplace through January 11th will automatically be entered into a raffle to win a device for the 2014-2015 Holiday Bonus giveaway. Read more here and get shopping! 4. Prepare your staff with live training webinars: Attend one of OverDrive's training sessions to learn about OverDrive Read, the OverDrive app and some Marketplace Basics to e prepared to answer all those first-time user questions. Visit the Learning Center to register for these free webinars: http://partners.overdrive.com/learning-center/live-sessions/ 5. Make your digital titles easy to find: During the holidays, many new tablet, smart phone and eReader owners will be looking for free content to load to their devices. Make it easy to point users to your digital collection with some of the following best practices:
6. Server maintenance & Technical Support: If your library is planning server maintenance that will affect authentication over the holidays, please alert our Support Team. OverDrive's Support Services team is also always here to help library staff that assist users. If at any time you need to escalate issues to our Support Services team for assistance or you need to alert OverDrive about maintenance, please complete the "General Support" web form in OverDrive Marketplace > Support tab. 7. Explore how service enhancements can add value to your digital collection: Engage new users this holiday season by adding any of the following features (click the hyperlinks for more details):
Contact your Account Specialist with any questions. Happy Holidays! Melissa Marin is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive.  |
Prepare your school’s digital library for the holiday rush
| The holiday season is traditionally one of the busiest times of year for school library websites. To help you prepare, the Account Specialists from the School Partner Services team share some of their tips for a successful holiday season:
2. Highlight your holiday titles with Curated Collections: It is easy to curate your own collection to feature titles of your choosing on your digital library site. Spotlight your holiday themed eBooks and audiobooks right on your homepage and get those seasonal titles circulating. To get started curating collections, log into OverDrive Marketplace and select Switch to Curate from the SHOP drop-down menu (if you don't see the Switch to Curate option, talk to your Marketplace administrator about getting you "Library site admin" permission). Read more details about how to curate a collection here or check out illustrated, step-by-step instructions in the "Curate" section of the Marketplace User Guide. 3. Learn new things or get a refresher with live training webinars: Attend one of OverDrive's training sessions to learn about OverDrive Read, the OverDrive app and some Marketplace Basics. Visit the Learning Center to register for these free webinars: http://partners.overdrive.com/learning-center/live-sessions/ 4. Stock your collection (and be entered to win a prize!): The biggest sale of the year is in full swing now in OverDrive Marketplace. More than 50,000 titles are marked down, some up to 50% off. Plus, every purchase order submitted through OverDrive Marketplace through January 11th will automatically be entered into a raffle to win a device for the 2014-2015 Holiday Bonus giveaway. Read more here and get shopping! 5. Make your digital titles easy to find: During the holidays, many students will unwrap new tablets, smart phones and eReaders and they will be looking for free content to load to their devices. Make it easy to point students to your digital collection with some of the following best practices:
6. Server maintenance & Technical Support: If server maintenance that will affect authentication is planned for over the holidays, please alert OverDrive Support. OverDrive's Support Services team is also always here to help staff that assists users. If at any time you need to escalate issues to our Support Services team or alert them about maintenance, please complete the "General Support" form in OverDrive Marketplace > Support tab. Contact your Account Specialist with any questions. Happy Holidays! Melissa Marin is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive.  |
Amazon Bundling Kindle Unlimited with Select Kindle and Fire Devices
| Today I noticed Amazon offering a new promotion where they are bundling six months of Kindle Unlimited at a discount with the purchase of certain Kindle ereaders and Fire tablets. Kindle Unlimited is Amazon’s new ebook subscription service that they first started rolling out this past July in the United States, and then in the […] |
Warning: Avoid Sony eBook Gift Cards Still Being Sold Online
| Sony decided to closed down their ebook store in the United States and Canada back in March of this year. Then they proceeded to close their European and Australian ebook stores in June. But that hasn’t stopped dishonest retailers from continuing to sell Sony ebook gift cards online. Last week I was browsing Walmart’s website […] |
Join us at the Bett Show 2015
| In my former life as a Computing and ICT teacher and even before that as an ICT Technician, I always looked forward to the Bett Show in London. The Bett Show is the world’s leading learning technology event. Imagine a trade show meets teachers conference and you might have some idea of what it is like. Every year the event is opened by the Education Secretary here in England, followed by keynotes from some of the world’s leading educationalists. The next event’s line-up includes Sir Ken Robinson and Jimmy Wales! Not bad for a free event. As a technician I attended to see what cool new tech was available for teachers, and to see if we could replace any of our current systems with something more efficient and cost effective. As a teacher I attended for much the same reasons, to get my hands on all the cool tech, but also to attend the free talks and workshops in the many areas over the course of four days.  The Raspberry Pi Foundation Education Team at Bett 2014 Last year the Raspberry Pi education team were hosted by the OCR stand and you can read about what we got up to here. The next Bett Show takes place this coming January from Wednesday 21st January to Saturday 24th January 2015 at Excel London and we at Raspberry Pi plan to have a presence like never before. We want everyone who attends to be able to experience what it is like to teach, learn and make with Raspberry Pi. To do this we need your help. We need you! We are looking for members of our wonderful community to help us run workshops, give talks or demos and be a part of sharing what we do with teachers and technicians. Teachers, Raspberry Pi certified educators, digital leaders, technicians, academics, parents, code club mentors, workshop leaders, Raspberry Jam event organisers, or Pi enthusiasts. Over the course of the four days, we have 20 minute and 50 minute slots to fill on our stand that includes a Raspberry Pi classroom. You can give a talk about how you engage young people with Raspberry Pi or how to setup a Raspberry Jam. You could run a Minecraft Pi or Pibrella workshop. You could bring your code club or group of digital leaders to present what they have done with Raspberry Pi. To submit your session or sessions for our Bett Show stand for 2015, please complete this form. |
Weekly eHighlights: Adult Nonfiction Edition (Bonus edition)
| There were so many blockbuster authors who had new titles published in our November 6 edition of eHighlights that we decided to publish a bonus edition to feature some of the other great titles available in time for the Holiday shopping season. Here are some of the notable nonfiction titles you won’t want to miss. Click here to view the Marketplace cart of these titles and more. 
Peter Ackroyd – Charlie Chaplin: A Brief Life – Random House eBook – A brief, yet excellent new biography. PW and Booklist starred reviews. Peter Ackroyd – Rebellion: The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution – Macmillan eBook - One of the greatest living chroniclers of Britain and its people covers the Stuart era. Kirkus & Booklist starred reviews.** Fred Armisen – The Portlandia Cookbook – Random House eBook - This companion book to the hit show has humorous stories and sidebars along with 50 recipes. 75,000 print run. Thomas Asbridge – The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, the Power Behind Five English Thrones – HarperCollins eBook - Billed as the Lancelot of his day, Marshal is brought to life by a renowned scholar. LJ starred review. Catherine Bailey – Black Diamonds: The Downfall of an Aristocratic Dynasty and the Fifty Years That Changed England – Penguin eBook - The wealthy Fitzwilliam family had wealth tied to coal. Using their story and the stories of the miners, Bailey traces the ends of two classes in England–the lower and the very upper. Sven Beckert – Empire of Cotton – Random House eBook - Details the rise and fall of cotton in the world economy. LJ PrePub Alert. Rose Levy Beranbaum – The Baking Bible – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt eBook – A legendary baker shares her recipes. LJ & PW starred reviews. Mark Bittman – How to Cook Everything Fast – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt eBook - Newest entry in Bittman’s bestselling How to Cook Everything series. Booklist & PW starred reviews. Anais Bordier & Samantha Futerman – Separated @ Birth: A True Love Story of Twin Sisters United – Penguin eBook – Adopted identical twins discover each other through social media and manage to reunite. One of Facebook’s Top 10 Stories of 2013. Christina Boyle – American Cardinal: The Biography of Cardinal Timothy Dolan – Macmillan eBook - A positive biography of the controversial cardinal who rose from humble beginnings in Missouri.LJ starred review. Andy Cohen – The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look at a Shallow Year – Macmillan eBook - A dishy diary from the producer and host of Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live. Dick Couch and William Doyle – Navy SEALs: Their Untold Story – HarperCollins eBook and audiobook read by Will Damron - The complete history. Judi Dench – Behind the Scenes – Macmillan eBook - Famed actress Dame Judi Dench has a new memoir with lots of photos. Downton Abbey: Rules for Household Staff – Macmillan eBook – A “procedure manual” for new staff members written by Carson the Butler from Downton Abbey, the blockbuster television series. Editors of Martha Stewart Living – Clean Slate: A Cookbook and Guide: Reset Your Health, Detox Your Body, and Feel Your Best – 100,000 print run. Douglas J. Emlen – Animal Weapons – Macmillan eBook - How the weapons that animals use bear an uncanny resemblance to those of humans. LJ starred review.** Fodor’s England 2015 and Fodor’s Spain 2015 – Random House eBooks – No introduction necessary. Gabriele Galimberti – In Her Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Grandmas Around the World – Random House eBook - Stunning photographs of grandmothers from 60 different countries with their signature dishes. Includes the recipes. Laurie Garrett – Ebola: Story of an Outbreak – Hachette eBook - The highly respected science writer worked on the ground with an earlier Ebola outbreak in Zaire. Here’s a book filled with facts, not myths. Dorie Greenspan – Baking Chez Moi: Recipes from My Paris Home to Your Home Anywhere – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt eBook – The legendary French chef has collected the best baking recipes from her friends who bake at home.LJ starred review. H. Winter Griffith – Complete Guide to Prescription and Nonprescription Drugs 2015 – Penguin eBook. Mireille Guiliano – Meet Paris Oyster: A Love Affair with the Perfect Food – Blackstone Audiobook – From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of French Women Don't Get Fat comes a memorable look at the French appetite for oysters, the characters who harvest and serve them, and the compelling reasons why we should all enjoy them. Janice Hadlow – A Royal Experiment: The Private Life of King George III – Macmillan eBook – We’ve long known George III as the mad king, but Hadlow shows a totally different side of the man. Before he slipped into madness he was a loving family man determined to be a force for the good. Booklist starred review. James L. Haley – Captive Paradise: A History of Hawaii – Macmillan eBook - The first complete history of Hawaii for adults in a long time. Sarah Helm – Ravensbruck: Life and Death in Hitler’s Concentration Camp for Women - By the end of the war, 130,000 women from 20 countries had been imprisoned in Ravensbruck. Here’s its history. Austen Ivereigh – The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope – Macmillan eBook - A biography of the new Pope by a British journalist. Marilyn Johnson – Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble – HarperCollins eBook - An archaeologist uses personal experiences to show what archaeology is really all about. Kirkus, LJ and PW starred reviews! Eric Kaplan – Does Santa Exist? A Philosophical Investigation – Penguin eBook – Kaplan, a PhD candidate in philosophy, and co-executive producer and writer for The Big Bang Theory, tries to make sense of the contradiction of insisting that Santa Claus is real by looking at it through a philosophical lens. Kirkus called it “erudite, readable, and exceedingly funny.” Timothy Keller – Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God – Penguin eBook – PW called it the definitive book on Christian prayer. Stephen Kotkin – Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928 – Penguin eBook - The first volume of a projected three volume authoritative biography of Stalin.Booklist & Kirkus starred reviews. Gary Krist – Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans – Random House eBook – Great true crime story by the bestselling author. LJ & PW starred reviews. Joseph A. Maciariello – A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness - Maciariello worked alongside of Drucker, the foremost management guru, for many years. Carine McCandless – The Wild Truth – HarperCollins eBook - The sister of the man Jon Krakauer wrote about in Into the Wild sets the record straight. Diana Muldrow – Everything I Need to Know About Love I Learned from a Little Golden Book – Random House eBook - The editorial director of Golden Books continues to mine wisdom from the archives of the popular children’s books. Adam Nicolson – Why Homer Matters – Macmillan eBook - An exploration of the ancient poet, exploring archaeological evidence, history, and positing that The Iliad and The Odyssey are much older than we thought. Kirkus starred review. Bill Nye – Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation – Macmillan eBook and audiobook read by the author - Bill Nye the Science Guy gives a sweeping overview of evolution and the proof of its validity for the average reader. Yotam Ottolenghi – Plenty More: Vibrant Vegetable Cooking from London’s Ottolenghi - From the vegetarian superstar.LJ & PW starred reviews. Bill Parcells – Parcells: A Football Life – Random House eBook and Books on Tape audiobook read by Jason Culp – Autobiography of an iconic football coach. 150,000 print run. Pamela Paul – By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from the New York Times Book Review – Macmillan eBook – A collection of author interviews from the weekly New York Times Book Review By the Book column. LJ starred review. Ana Sofia Pelaez – The Cuban Table: A Celebration of Food, Flavors, and History – Macmillan eBook – LJ & PW starred reviews. Barnaby Rogerson – Rogerson’s Book of Numbers – Macmillan eBook - A collection of the stories of various numbers from 1,001 Arabian Nights to 666 to the 4 suits of cards or 12 signs of the Zodiac based on cultural beliefs and symbolism. Fascinating. Michael Ruhlman – Ruhlman’s How to Roast: Foolproof Techniques and Recipes for the Home Cook – Hachette eBook - Award winning cookbook author Ruhlman adds roasting to his series covering cooking techniques that chefs use explained in simple terms for everyone. John Safran – God’ll Cut You Down – Penguin eBook - True crime. It’s not often that a true crime book is full of humor!Kirkus & LJ starred reviews. Mark Schultz – Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother’s Murder, John du Pont’s Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold – Penguin eBook – True crime soon to be a movie. Gene Simmons – Me Inc.: Build an Army of One, Unleash Your Inner Rock God, Win in Life and Business – HarperCollins eBook – The founder of the rock band KISS reveals the business methods that made it one of the most successful bands ever. 100,000 print run. Hector Tobar – Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free – Macmillan eBook – Kirkus and PW starred reviews. A. N. Wilson – Victoria: A Life – Penguin eBook - Kirkus called it a “shimmering portrait of a tempestuous monarch.”Booklist, Kirkus, and LJ starred reviews. Richard Zoglin – Hope: Entertainer of the Century – Simon & Schuster eBook - The first definitive biography of Bob Hope by Time magazine’s theater critic. Kirkus starred review. Click here to view the Marketplace cart of these titles and more. Geographical rights may vary by title. Cindy Orr is a Digital Collection Advisor at OverDrive.  |
The Best e-Readers and Tablets for the 2014 Holidays
| Welcome to another Video Installment of the Good e-Reader Gift Giving Guide! Last month we did one on the best e-readers of 2014 and today we are basically looking back on 2014 and giving our advice for the best devices to buy yourself or a loved one. Peter and myself have very different views on technology, so you can get a sense on what we loved the most.
The Best e-Readers and Tablets for the 2014 Holidays is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Monday, November 24, 2014
JetBlue to Provide eBooks as in-flight Entertainment
| If you are a seasoned airline traveler, likely you will be familiar with the quintessential in-flight entertainment system. It provides an animated map with the location of your flight and also a host of movies, television shows, music and children’s content. You can now add eBooks to the list to keep the literary minded entertained. Starting November 26, HarperCollins will be providing excerpts from a selection of bestselling eBooks, and each digital sample will include buy buttons to a variety of retailers. Excerpted titles include Flesh and Blood by Patricia Cornwell, Yes Please by Amy Poehler, Endgame: The Calling by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton, and Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses by James Dean. I think its great that Jetblue recognizes that more and more airline flyers are reading on their e-readers and tablets. This is chiefly because of the relaxing of restrictions regarding the gate to gate use of these gadgets. JetBlue to Provide eBooks as in-flight Entertainment is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Gates Foundation Mandates Research it Funds Must Provide Free Digital Access
| The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funds thousands of health and research scientists to solve many of the worlds most dire issues. Until this point, the reports and data the foundation funded were sometimes published in magazines, sold online and generally out of reach for the general public. This is set to change. The Gates Foundation has announced that starting in 2017 it will require that the researchers it funds publish only in immediate open-access journals. In order to setup a proper pipeline for scientists the Foundation is mandating that current grantees can publish in subscription-based journals as long as their paper is freely available within 12 months. But after that, the journal must be open access, meaning papers are free for anyone to read immediately upon publication. Articles must also be published with a license that allows anyone to freely reuse and distribute the material. And the underlying data must be freely available. "By reinforcing the global health community's commitment to sharing research data and information, we can accelerate the development of new solutions to tackle infectious diseases, cut maternal and child mortality, and reduce malnutrition in the world's poorest places," wrote Trevor Mundel, president of the foundation's Global Health Division, on the group's website on 20 November. The Gates Foundation spends roughly $900 million dollars a year on research. This equates to 1400 papers a year that soon will be available for anyone to read right away. Only 30% of the existing reports actually are open-access right now, so within a few years this number will increase to 100%, which will be a boon for free digital access. Gates Foundation Mandates Research it Funds Must Provide Free Digital Access is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Amazon Prepares for Free Video Service
| In many ways, Netflix has enjoyed being the de facto standard in the video streaming game –but that is all starting to change. Other services are gaining ground, particularly Amazon, and especially with their plans for a free video service (where currently you must have a $99/year Prime membership). Some of you might recall that this isn’t the first time that the rumour has circulated stating Amazon is readying a free video service, but they aren’t denying it anymore (at least not exactly). When asked for a comment, Amazon spokesperson Sally Fouts stated:
Expanding upon the ad-supported service that currently offers the first episode of certain TV shows makes sense, offering Amazon a means by which to expand their advertising network (known as the Amazon Media Group and operating across all of their properties: Amazon.com, Quidsy, Imdb.com, and DPReview). A larger video streaming service would also help encourage brand loyalty, making sales of their devices more attractive for would-be consumers. For some, choosing a video streaming service comes down to pricing; others won’t (can’t) stray from their first choice because of the growing library of original content being produced (any other Netflix subscribers completely addicted to House of Cards?).
Amazon Prepares for Free Video Service is a post from: Good e-Reader |
ramanPi: an open source 3D-printable Raman spectrometer
| The 2014 Hackaday Prize offered fabulous prizes for the best exemplars of an open, clearly documented device involving connected electronics. Committed hardware hacker fl@c@ (we understand that’s pronounced “flatcat”) wasn’t in the habit of opening up their work, but had been thinking that perhaps they should, and this seemed the perfect opportunity to give it a go. They decided to make an entry of one of their current works-in-progress, a DIY Raman spectrometer based on a Raspberry Pi. The project, named ramanPi, made it to the final of the contest, and was declared fifth prize winner at the prize announcement in Munich a couple of weeks ago. Raman spectroscopy is a molecular identification technique that, like other spectroscopic techniques, works by detecting and analysing the characteristic ways in which substances absorb and emit radiation in various regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It relies on the phenomenon of Raman scattering, in which a tiny proportion of the light falling on a sample is absorbed and then re-emitted at a different frequency; the shift in frequency is characteristic of the structure of the material, and can be used to identify it. The ideal molecular identification technique is sensitive (requiring only small quantities of sample), non-destructive of the sample, unambiguous, fast, and cheap; spectroscopic methods perform pretty well against all but the final criterion. This means that fl@c@’s Raman spectrometer, which uses a Raspberry Pi and 3D-printed parts together with readily available off-the-shelf components, removes an obstacle to using a very valuable technique for individuals and organisations lacking a large equipment budget. The ramanPi uses a remote interface so that it can be viewed and controlled from anywhere. Like conventional Raman spectrometers, it uses a laser as a powerful monochromatic light source; uniquely, however, its design:
Once a cuvette containing the sample to be tested is loaded into the ramanPi, the laser is powered up behind a shutter and the first filter is selected while the cuvette’s temperature is stabilised. Then the shutter is disengaged and the sample exposed to laser light, and scattered light is collected, filtered and passed to a Raspberry Pi camera module for capturing and then analysis. The laser shutter is re-engaged and the process is repeated with the second filter. The Raspberry Pi combines multiple exposures into a single image and carries out further image processing to derive the sample’s Raman spectrum. Finally, the spectrum is compared with spectra in online databases, and any match found is displayed. fl@c@ says,
We’re very glad fl@c@ did decide to share this – ramanPi is an astonishing first contribution to the open source movement, and something that’s likely to be of interest to schools, chemists, biologists, home brew enthusiasts, people who want to know what’s in their water, businesses, ecologists and the simply curious. You can read about ramanPi in much more detail, with further videos, diagrams, discussion and build instructions, on its Hackaday project page. We hope that this is far from the last we’ll hear of this project, or of fl@c@! |
Readers who Borrow e-Books from the Library Don’t Buy More Books
| Sometimes we get spoiled in North America with the sheer of amount of options available to borrow eBooks from the library. Statistically over 90% of all libraries in North America have a digital collection and patrons can access all of the content remotely. Things are different in the United Kingdom where only a few major libraries have bothered with a modern eBook collection. In May 2013 the UK government funded a review looking into the viability of allowing customers to borrow eBook, without all of the drama. The Sieghart Review said publishers should not limit the supply of e-books in the same way that physical book loans are controlled, including the lending of each digital copy to one reader at a time, securely removing eBooks after lending and having digital books "deteriorate after a number of loans”. A pilot project was initiated in four UK libraries in March 2014 that augmented the digital loaning period for up to 21 days and included a number of front-list titles, including bestsellers that just came out. The essence of the pilot is to carry out real-time, real-world research into the impact of eBook lending in public libraries on authors, publishers and on the library service so that a suitable and sustainable model. Its been around six months since the pilot was first initiated and there has been some interesting findings. All four participating authorities have seen a significant increase in e-lending, with longer loan periods leading to more titles being borrowed. The project has also found the increase in e-lending is not decreasing physical lending or footfall to libraries. One of the most important elements to the six month report is the fact that the increase in digital loans is not driving people to buy more eBooks. "There has been extremely low take up of the opportunity to buy the borrowed eBook through use of the 'click to purchase' facility," the Publishers Association said. Click to Purchase is a relatively new e-commerce strategy Simon & Schuster and other publishers have been employing in order to allow libraries to generate additional revenue by selling the books on their website. The actual eBook sales are facilitated by companies such as Overdrive. Readers who Borrow e-Books from the Library Don’t Buy More Books is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Never got an Autograph from your Favorite Author? B&N Has you Covered
| Serious readers have their favorite fiction or non-fiction authors and getting their autograph can be tremendously fulfilling. If you don’t live in a major urban center the prospects of getting something signed is challenging to say the least. Barnes and Noble, the largest bookseller in the US is undertaking a massive new initiative this upcoming Black Friday, by offering over 500,000 signed titles by 100 authors. Starting November 28th, the bookseller will offer 500,000 signed editions from more than 100 of today's biggest authors, with a selection of 100 being available in every Barnes & Noble store nationwide beginning on Black Friday. An impressive group of leading authors including Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Amy Poehler, Donna Tartt, George W. Bush, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Jeff Kinney, Joel Osteen, Mario Batali, Mo Willems, Rick Riordan, Rick Yancey, Rainbow Rowell and many more personally signed thousands of copies of their books as part of this unique campaign to deliver meaningful gifts to Barnes & Noble customers. Barnes & Noble has been planning this program for the last seven months, as getting this many autographs can be fairly daunting. Some authors went beyond their signature to personalize the books, with Mo Willems, bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator of popular children's books (Pigeon series, Elephant & Piggie series, Knuffle Bunny series) drawing the head of his popular Pigeon character in his signed editions. Brandon Stanton, author of last year's runaway hit Humans of New York, included an illustration of a dinosaur in what he referred to as his special "dino" edition of all of the copies he signed. All signed editions will be featured on a special front-of-store display when customers walk through the doors of their local Barnes & Noble on Black Friday. Want to see exactly what books will be available? Check out the press release below, it lists every title and who autographed it. Never got an Autograph from your Favorite Author? B&N Has you Covered is a post from: Good e-Reader |
