| Ben: Last week while scouring the web for projects and articles for Pi Weekly, my Friday Raspberry Pi email round-up, I came across Rapanui, who were using a Raspberry Pi to provide a rather unique service: you tweet a picture to @tshirtplease and it automatically creates a product page for you and others to buy a t-shirt with that picture on it. I immediately contacted them for more information and Mart offered to write it up for us! Over to Mart… Rapanui is a fashion brand that makes clothes from more sustainable materials in a wind powered factory. To keep our prices down, we do a lot of automation and digital systems. The internet of things inspired us as a vision for the future of fashion – so over the past year or so we have been developing ways for other people to connect to our factory on the Isle of Wight. Our idea was – what if a whole factory could be plugged into the IoT and anyone (or any thing!) could connect to it to get clothes made. Recently, we have refined and packaged that service as a public API that app / web developers can integrate into their projects. It's free to use: An app can send through an image, and we'll reply with a link to buy that image on a t-shirt. Many of our jobs are created through apprenticeships or vocational training. Sometimes IT projects can take months and it's hard for new apprentices to see the light at the end of the tunnel! We wanted to launch a fun, fast project for our apprentices to get results, learn from and build confidence. Around the same time as launching the service, we had an interesting meeting with @andysc who works at IBM. He introduced us to Node-RED and gave us a lot of helpful pointers. We'd heard about Raspberry Pi but hadn't committed to trying it as we normally work with web based PHP type coding, and it seemed a bit alien to us. Andy invited us along to the Blackgang Chine Pi Jam, so we let one of our web developers out for the day and amazingly, he came back with a Raspi guitar pedal and an expertise in robotic dinosaurs… We immediately purchased a bunch of Raspberry Pis, soldering irons and accessories and put aside some time. Our idea was to see if we could connect a Raspberry Pi to our factory API via twitter. The result in a surprisingly fast 10 hours is @tshirtplease – a twitter account that is connected to a Raspberry Pi which is sat in our IT office running Node-RED around the clock. It uses the Twitter API to find all mentions of @tshirtplease. If a tweet has an image attached, we make a call to the Rapanui API which returns a link. The URL loads a product: Their image on a t-shirt. People can share that product, or buy it if they like it. @tshirtplease also accepts certain hashtags as options. For example #womens returns the image on a women's top (instead of the default unisex t-shirt). #edit is cool – It returns a link to our studio where they can tweak their design a bit. For us, previously spectators of the Raspi community, actually trying it has exceeded our expectations. Yes it was fun, educational and interesting. But what was surprising was the speed with which we got through it thanks to Node-Red, and the potential for genuine manufacturing applications. We now have more Raspi projects running various operations around our factory collecting and processing data. We're only just getting started on our journey with Raspberry Pi. I would suggest to anyone who is interested but hasn't tried it – get one! Get node red. And get stuck in. Update: Some meta recursion going on now…
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Thursday, April 2, 2015
Your Photo on a t-shirt from Rapanui
Game of Thrones Read alikes and streaming video picks
| Winter is coming…Alright let's hope winter is actually on its way out. The newest season of Game of Thrones is set to release in April, and I cannot wait. 
But since wait we must, here are some streaming videos for the lovers of high fantasy, sword play, and gratuitous violence. Speaking of waiting, George R.R. Martin is still working on The Winds of Winter, (sorry for the reminder) so be patient and in the meantime, get addicted to some of these books instead! 
Kristin Milks is a Collection Development Analyst with OverDrive |
Congratulations Digipalooza Scholarship Winners!
 As we get closer to Digipalooza '15, our program is falling into place, spaces are quickly filling up and Team OverDrive is busy gearing up for the best conference yet – and we want to see you there! Last month, conference partner Penguin Random House awarded 10 scholarships to cover the cost of registration to Digipalooza. A big congratulations goes out to the five public library professionals and five school librarians and media specialists selected as winners of the 2015 Penguin Random House Digipalooza scholarship! • Jill Graboski, Assistant Director at Newton Free Library, member of Minuteman Library Network (MA) Scholarship winners will be recognized at Digipalooza and are invited to an exclusive cocktail event during the conference with the sponsor. Thanks to our conference partner Penguin Random House for making this scholarship opportunity possible and thank you to everyone that took the time to enter! Digipalooza registration is open now to all OverDrive library and school partners and includes admission to conference sessions, meals, and entrance to special events, including an evening of dinner, dancing and access to all exhibits at the historic Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Space is limited so register soon! Learn more about the program, networking opportunities, and registration at http://digipalooza.com and keep an eye out for more updates in the coming weeks! Melissa Marin is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive and wants to see all of you at Digipalooza this August. |
HarperCollins e-Books will no Longer be Available on Amazon
| HarperCollins is one of the largest publishers in the world and they might soon be pulling all of their e-books and print titles from Amazon. The contract between these two companies is set to expire soon and HC is refusing to sign the new deal. The contract presented to HarperCollins was the same contract recently signed by Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan, Amazon confirmed. It is very risky to not sign a new deal with Amazon, since the Seattle company controls 75% of the digital book market in North America and 95% of the United Kingdom. I think HarperCollins may want the same publicity that Hachette got when their six month contract with Amazon dominated headlines and permeated into popular culture. Likely the lack of HarperCollins e-books on Amazon will drive readers to their own website where they sell e-books. They established it in 2013 and sought to have some measure of control over their own titles. Most people are unaware they can buy them from the publisher directly and they might bring their business to companies such as Barnes and Noble and Kobo. In addition, Entitle, Oyster and Scribd, three of the leading Netflix for e-books websites may get an influx of paid subscriptions.
HarperCollins e-Books will no Longer be Available on Amazon is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Best Buy Marketplace Coming to Canada
| The Best Buy Marketplace launched in the United States in 2011 and was designed to compete against Amazon. Unlike eBay where anyone can list anything, the Marketplace is chiefly for companies looking to sell their wares. The service is poised to expand to Canada in the coming weeks and Canadian tech companies will be able to list their commercial electronics. Third-party sellers on the Canadian version of the Best Buy Marketplace will handle product shipping and returns. Customers will use the same single shopping cart and checkout process. One of the big reasons why the Best Buy Marketplace is launching in Canada is primarily attributed to the elimination of the Future Shop brand. 66 Future Shop stores are closing and 65 will be converted to Best Buy. As a result of this consolidation, approximately 500 full-time and 1,000 part-time positions will be eliminated. Everything is now under the Best Buy banner and its easier to promote and market a singular online marketplace. We have heard from sources within Best Buy that the preliminary groundwork is all laid out and it should be launching in the next few weeks. Best Buy Marketplace Coming to Canada is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Digital Audiobook Usage on the Rise in Canada
| In 2007 a paltry 3,073 audiobook titles were produced and this figure rose exponentially to over 12,000 published in 2011. In 2013 many industry experts proclaimed that over 20,000 audiobooks were now available and in 2014 over 35,000 were released by major publishers and companies like Audible. The global audiobook industry is currently worth 2.6 billion dollars and part of the reason why we have seen a dramatic increase in profitability is due to digital. In a recent New York Times piece, they said "In the first eight months of 2014, sales were up 28% over the same period last year, far outstripping the growth of e-books, which rose 6%" The audiobook industry in the US and UK are fairly well documented, but Canada tends get lost in the shuffle. Booknet Canada seeks to remedy this situation with a comprehensive report on digital usage. Apparently 76% of Canadians only listen to the digital audiobook format and women account for 57% of the audience. Many audiobook users are actually purchasing the digital edition after they have read the print or e-book variant. 36% of the respondents stated that they generally read first and listen second. Meanwhile the majority of the respondents stated they want to see more bundling with the e-book and audiobook format. I won’t bore you with a summary of the 22 page report, but what I found that was the most interesting was how Canadian libraries are starting to see massive digital usage. Most of the big libraries in Canada have seen a 50% increase year on year in audiobook loans. Overdrive, likely the largest content provider indicated downloads have increased 38% in 2014, outpacing the 32% increase in eBook downloads. Digital Audiobook Usage on the Rise in Canada is a post from: Good e-Reader |
OverDrive Periodicals drive circulation growth
| Earlier this year, OverDrive went live with our digital magazine service, OverDrive Periodicals, offering over 1,000 magazines and newspapers, through our relationship with Barnes and Noble NOOK. The collection includes the best coverage of the top 200 circulating magazines including: Glamour, The New Yorker, USA Today, WIRED, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Bon Appetit and more. You can review the full list of magazines and newspapers by logging into Marketplace. OverDrive Periodicals are available on the same platform as your other digital content (Periodicals, Streaming Video, eBooks and Audiobooks —which proved to be a key decision making factor for our early adopter libraries. Now that we have several months of service across the library partners who have added OverDrive Periodicals, we have observed some promising trends:
A wide variety of OverDrive partners have added OverDrive Periodicals, including:
The data points are clear. If you're seeking the strongest ROI in digital magazines, as well as a lift in your overall circulation, add OverDrive Periodicals to your digital library today. To start providing your users access to digital magazines and newspapers simply contact your OverDrive Collection Development Specialist.
Title availability may vary by geographic location
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Crunchyroll Adds Fruit of Grisaia second season and I Can’t Understand What My Husband is Saying 2nd Season
| As the new spring season is upon us, plenty of new and wonderful animes will soon be airing on Crunchyrolls simulcast! Two new anime’s from the Fruit of Grisaia franchise as well as the 2nd season for the popular I can’t Understand What My Husband is Saying: 2nd Thread will be added to the Crunchyroll rosters! The Labyrinth of Grisaia is a 60 minute broadcast special and will air April 12th 2015 at 12:35 pm Pacific time. The Eden of Grisaia will be set to broadcast every Sunday Starting on April 19th at 10:00 am pacific time for it’s premium members, which will become free to watch one week later. Story Summary Based on the Japanese Visual Novel by Frontwing, The Fruit of Grisaia takes place in Mihama Academy, a prison-like school built to preserve fruit that have fallen too far from it’s tree. It is home to five female students who live their lives idly within the walls of the school. Although when Kazami Yuuji, the first male student to enroll at Mihama, arrives, the controlled rhythm of Mihama become off balance. Could Yuji be the one to get the girls to get a hold of their lives once more or will the ghosts from their pasts prove too steep to over overcome? Or does Yuji have a secret even heavier than the others? The Labyrinth of Grisaia will be a 60 minute specieal episode featuring the main character’s past and a collection of sequels for the five female characters. If it sounds interesting to you, you can go ahead and watch Season 1 right now and be ripe and ready for the second season! Ready to watch more hijinks by everyone’s favorite newly weds? Voice Actors Yukari Tamura and Kenichi Suzumura are back to reprise their roles as Kaoru and Hajime, as well as singing the opening theme: "Yuruganu Futari ~Ai no Sanka~". The animation will be handled again by Seven, with director Shinpei Nagai also returning to write the script! I Can’t Understand What My Husband Is Saying 2nd Thread is set to broadcast every Thursday starting on April 2nd, at 11:30 AM Pacific Time for Premium members, and free members will be able to watch one week later. Story Summary The series revolves around the daily lives of Kaoru, a hard working office lady and her otaku husband, Hajime. Using popular anime and otaku tropes and in-jokes, the characters explore the conflicts and similarities between daily and otaku life in urban Japan. If you want to get caught up before the new season starts up, you can go ahead and view the first one here! Crunchyroll Adds Fruit of Grisaia second season and I Can’t Understand What My Husband is Saying 2nd Season is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Magzter Digital Magazine App Adds New Titles to Unlimited Subscription Plan
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Unlike heavier platforms that can really only provide value to consumers through deals with libraries or other businesses that wish to offer content, Magzter GOLD is built and priced with the individual subscriber in mind. That’s why it’s $9.99-a-month plan, similar in price to all-you-can-read ebook subscription services, offers unlimited access to its catalog of over 5,000 magazines, comic books, and ebooks. "Since launching Magzter GOLD in late-January, we've seen a threefold increase in the number of magazines and pages read, and a similar increase in overall user engagement," said Girish Ramdas, CEO & Co-Founder of Magzter, in a press release. "Publishers are quickly taking note of these impressive metrics as the 'all-you-can-read' model proves capable of delivering a substantial ROI. We're thrilled to welcome major titles and publishers like American Media Inc., Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur and The Atlantic, and we look forward to entering additional publisher partnerships as we continue to expand our offering throughout the year." “With over 25 million users worldwide, we offer unmatched global scale for publishers and they continue to sign on,” added Vijay Radhakrishnan, President & Co-Founder of Magzter. “The ‘all-you-can-eat’ model is an increasingly popular format for all media, from movies to music, and magazine publishers can’t ignore the demand. With our userbase, technology and content, we expect even more to join our newsstand in the coming weeks.” One thing that content distributors learned early on about digital subscriptions is that eventually consumers can start to question the usefulness of the platform. Whereas unlimited magazine subscriptions make sense in terms of the quick consumption of the issue, ebook subscribers felt the pinch of paying for a service and then not having time to truly take advantage of the unlimited nature of it. Magzter GOLD launched with this obstacle in mind, and therefore also offers a “lite” subscription at only $4.99 a month, which allows subscribers to have unlimited access to only five titles of their choosing.
Magzter Digital Magazine App Adds New Titles to Unlimited Subscription Plan is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Reviewing The Wilderness of Ruin
| I am a self-professed true crime junkie. I drop everything when my TV is tuned to Investigation Discovery. Ann Rule and Harold Schechter are my superheroes. I am also a bit of a history geek; my undergrad degree is in the subject. When history and true crime intertwine in a single book, it is nerd heaven for this gal; and that's the case with The Wilderness of Ruin by Roseanne Montillo. The Wilderness of Ruin is a fascinating examination of the crimes and trial of Jesse Pomeroy, America's youngest serial killer and the original bad seed. Pomeroy's atrocious spree of violence took place in late 19th century Boston, a vulnerable town struggling to recover from a devastating fire. In 1872, at the tender age of twelve, Pomeroy abducted younger children for the purpose of torture. These acts of defilement resulted in a sixteen-month stint at the Lyman School for Boys. In 1874, mere months after his release, Jesse mutilated and murdered two children. Given his track record, it did not take Boston police long to pinpoint Pomeroy the culprit. The resulting trial sparked a national debate about mental health and capital punishment. With sparkling prose and perspicuous description, Montillo has created a supremely readable piece of nonfiction. Montillo maintains the lurid elements of a typical true crime novel while expertly capturing the essence of Gilded Age America. She offers an in-depth view of the tumultuous era by punctuating Jesse Pomeroy's tale with accounts from the likes of Boston fire chief, John Darnell; Herman Melville; and Oliver Wendell Holmes. The gruesomely detailed depictions of Pomeroy's horrific activities are evidence of Montillo's masterful research. The Wilderness of Ruin will keep you engaged page after grisly page. It is a standout among historical true crime novels. I believe it should be required reading for all who loved Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City. Michelle Ross is a Collection Development Analyst at OverDrive and she slept with the light on after finishing this book. |
First Pi in space
| Recently you may have seen some of the awesome things that Dave Akerman has been doing with Raspberry Pi and Balloons. For the eclipse he was able to capture this image from his high altitude payload. Dave who's been doing high altitude flights for some time has racked up some pretty impressive bragging rights including the first Raspberry Pi (B, A and A+) in near space. As many of you will also be aware we will be sending a pair of Raspberry Pi B+ to the International Space station later this year as part of our Astro Pi competition. We felt a little sorry for the Pi B 2, as it's never even been close to space! Having recently joined the education team, and with a little experience in launching a near space flight with my school, I wanted to do something about this. So for the last few weeks I've been working on launching a Pi 2 with a helium balloon and a Pi In The Sky (PITS) board. Here you can see the PITS+ board stacked on my Pi 2 ready for launch. This morning around 6:00am we launched our payload and sent it soaring to near space! However something quite remarkable happened…. The first part of the flight went well, the payload ascended rapidly and sent back some early flight images.
About 15 minutes later we re-established contact and were shocked to find it was at 37,000m above ground level! This is a much faster rate of ascent than we'd expected, roughly 6x quicker! In fact it didn't stop there, and appears to be rising still, the last piece of telemetry data we recieved put the payload at around 113,000m (that's technically outer space!) We don't know how but the payload appears to have reached escape velocity and is continuing to ascend. We've received a couple of images from the flight and are hoping they keep coming! Wow! This is the first Pi in Spaaaacceeee…… |
However, we then we lost contact with the payload at around 10,000m…
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Sony Digital Paper Price Reduced to $799
| The Sony Digital Paper is experiencing robust sales to industry professionals who demand a large e-paper screen. In order to broaden their reach and scope, Sony has just announced a price reduction on the DPT-S1 from $999 to $799. The Sony Digital Paper originally hit the market one year ago and the intention behind this 13.3 e-reader was establishing a new product category. Instead of being aimed at consumers, like Amazon and Kobo, Sony made the gambit of constructing a device aimed exclusively towards people who need a world class PDF experience. The DPT-S1 Digital Paper was first available at $1200 and higher education, lawyers and people involved in entertainment were the first ones to purchase the device. Once Sony had established an extensive sales record they discounted the price to $999 and started to sell it online to anyone who wanted one. The $799 price point now makes the Digital Paper extremely viable to not only professionals now, but the average consumer. If you pay attention to the e-reader sector you would have inevitably heard of e-ink Mobius. This is a flexible plastic based material that Sony had co-developed with e Ink Holdings. It weights 50% less than your traditional glass based TFT display and despite the 13.3 inch nature of the screen, it weighs less than a 9.7 inch Kindle DX. Sony has pioneered a new market for e-readers and this has spurned their competition into developing new products. Pocketbook is developing a 13.3 inch solution called the CAD, which is aimed at architects and designers who tend to use 3D modeling programs such as Maya or 3D Studio Max. Dasung has developed a 13.3 inch display that was designed to be a secondary screen for a PC and Onyx is in the process of making a commercial version of a 13.3 inch e-reader aimed at people who love reading e-book novels. The price reduction from $999 to $799 is primarily attributed to making the DPT-S1 more accessible. Likely this price will make sense to a lot of people looking for a large screen reader to use in their professional life. Sony Digital Paper Price Reduced to $799 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Microsoft Announces Intel Atom-Powered Windows 8.1 Surface 3
| Beginning in May there will be a new Surface 3 tablet in town, and this time it’s a more affordable version of Microsoft’s flagship Surface Pro 3. While the Surface Pro 3 floated on the high-end of tablet pricing starting at $799 USD, the new Surface 3 begins at a much lower $499 USD. Aimed at students and families, this new Surface 3 doesn’t appear to sacrifice features and function to lower the price-tag; powered by a 64-bit Intel Atom x7 processor, displaying HD graphics on a 10.8-inch 1920×1280 screen, taking photos with a front-facing 3.5MP camera or 8MP rear-facing camera, and outfitted with 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. You may not get the keyboard thrown in at that entry-level cost, but it does ship with Window 8.1 (with the promise of a free upgrade to Windows 10 once it hits general availability). My favourite feature is the built-in kickstand… it’s so simple and elegant, I can’t believe Apple hasn’t stolen the idea yet. Generally speaking, Microsoft has taken the closest aim at business customers (who are usually willing to pay a higher price as compared to the average mobile consumer), but having a less expensive model makes it tremendously more appealing for those wanting to outfit their families with the same device they use at the office. It also helps when the Surface is being marketed as having the full capabilities of a laptop (including a full USB 3.0 port, Mini DisplayPort, and a MicroSD card reader) –making it a very attractive option for those of us with children who need these kinds of devices for school work while doing double duty as a much-sought-after tablet as well. Add in the Surface Pen (for an additional cost of course), and you’ve got a powerful note-taking machine for those who may not type during a meeting or class as fast as they can write (not forgetting you can also use it to sketch a quick diagram, add notes to the margins of your PDF files, and paint with it on-screen as if were a brush on canvas… heck, you can even handwrite musical scores or do your crossword puzzles easily using the pen as long as you are willing to pay for the requisite titles like the New York Times Crossword app in the Windows store). Bottom line? It’s a contender (particularly if the Surface 3 can truly get 10 hours of moderate-use battery life from a single charge). Release video is linked below for those of you who would like to see a little more of this new tablet before it begins shipping in May (with pre-orders available starting today). Microsoft Announces Intel Atom-Powered Windows 8.1 Surface 3 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Goodreads Unveils Newly Redesigned Android App
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That’s why Goodreads, the online community based on reader-centric book interaction, has launched a redesign to its Android app. This update will present a cleaner interface for mobile device reading, as well as put users’ favorite features at their fingertips. According to a release from Goodreads about the newly updated app, “The app now features an easy-to-use navigation that puts your favorite features at your fingertips, and a cleaner design to help you discover great books and share your reading with friends…Now you can immediately discover new books your friends are reading, and still check your shelves on the go with just one tap. We've also included a fun new touch, a literary quote on the home screen while the app opens.” Reader reaction has been a little mixed but mostly positive, with many of the commenters asking for visibility on the home screen of their standing in the 2015 Book Challenge, one of the very popular features of the website. Others pointed to the book recommendations, something that Goodreads and parent company Amazon have prided themselves on, as one of the better uses for the app. The portability of an app like this is especially useful for book browsing and reading reviews on the go, especially as consumers make a concerted effort to shop in brick-and-morter and indie bookstores where reviews are less available. The app is currently available for download from the Google Play and Amazon app stores.
Goodreads Unveils Newly Redesigned Android App is a post from: Good e-Reader |
422 Free Art Books Available to Download and Read Online
| The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers over 50 years of out-of-print publications on art history for free online. You can view the books with a web browser and download full copies as PDF files. The paperback and hardcover versions of some of these titles cost over a hundred dollars each. So being able to get […] |
Preordering is now live in Marketplace
| OverDrive is happy to announce that support for Preorders in OverDrive Marketplace is now available for all libraries and schools, including consortia. Now, your library's digital collection has another reason to be the first stop for the hottest pre-release titles. With Preorders, you won't miss any big releases. This highly requested feature allows libraries and schools to preorder titles as many as 6 months ahead of the "street date" (date available to the public). Users can then place holds on Preorder titles on your public-facing site, and they will be among the first to enjoy new releases as soon as they become available on the street date. OverDrive worked with several librarians during the development process to assure that this new feature provided real benefits for selectors. Monty Masseurs, Collection Development librarian of Wellington City Libraries said, "We have many selectors choosing eBooks and audiobooks from OverDrive and having the ability to differentiate between Preorders and currently available titles in carts makes a lot of sense. It'll definitely help our team to track their monthly expenditure which is always of value." In Marketplace, Preorder titles are designated by a distinct Preorder font color with prominent messaging so they can be easily spotted. You can add Preorder titles to your cart, and when the cart is "purchased", the titles will be available on your site (for holds only) but your library will not be invoiced until the street date. Carts provide a convenient total for Preorder titles separate from the rest of the cart. Please note, the metadata (including price) for Preorder titles may change prior to the street date. 
At launch, we will begin with a segment of our catalog, including the Big 5 publishers among others, and additional publishers will be added in the following months. To help you identify and gather data on Preorder titles, the following reports have been updated: Collection Statistics, Current Waiting List, Library Statistics, and Purchase Order History. You will also find the following lists of the hottest Preorders featured in the Marketplace "Must Haves" for your convenience. Hottest Books (most popular next six months) http://bit.ly/1Ey4Yu4 Hottest Books of April http://bit.ly/1FLtrJq Hottest Books of April (Kids & Teens) http://bit.ly/1BKUYXd Hottest Books of May http://bit.ly/1C4FjIW Hottest Books of May (Kids & Teens) http://bit.ly/1BnR7Up Hottest Books of June http://bit.ly/1FGXLoy Hottest Books of June (Kids & Teens) http://bit.ly/1bqCIgF Hottest Books of July http://bit.ly/1C7OPbg Hottest Books of July (Kids & Teens) http://bit.ly/1DbIZsj Hottest Books of August http://bit.ly/1BKR28R Hottest Books of August (Kids & Teens) http://bit.ly/1b1ZqeT Hottest Books of Fall http://bit.ly/1FL9a6J Hottest Books of Fall (Kids & Teens) http://bit.ly/1Fg3zHJ If you have any questions on how to work with Preorders, please contact your OverDrive Collection Specialist. |
White Kindles Making a Comeback
| Amazon has started offering a white version of the current basic entry-level Kindle in China and Japan. The new white Kindle is available on a pre-order basis from Amazon.co.jp and Amazon.cn, and will be released on April 8th. It’s considerably odd that the white variation is only available in China and Japan. Usually any new […] |
MagPi Issue 32 – out now!
| In case you hadn’t noticed, Issue 32 of The MagPi, the Raspberry Pi magazine, came out at the end of last week – and we think it’s terrific. This month’s issue is packed with tutorials, reviews, features about your Pi projects, and much more. As always, you’ll find lots and lots of content from the Pi community. Build an IoT door lock with Dr Simon Monk! See if Willem Koopman can gurn so extravagantly that Open CV won’t recognise his face as a face! Dr Sam Aaron will walk you through some Sonic Pi tips and tricks, and we continue the series on writing games in Python. You can win a Raspberry Pi model A+; learn about some of the Raspberry Pi crowdfunding projects that shot for the moon (and find out which ones missed); and have an in-depth look at our distributed weather station project, the work Naturebytes is doing with the Pi, UNICEF’s Raspberry Pi work with Syrian refugees, and much, much more. As always the MagPi is a free download. (If you’d like to support us by buying a copy on Google Play or the Apple App Store so you can use the magazine on your tablet, we’d be really grateful – but we are committed to making sure a PDF will always be available for free.) This is Russell Barnes’ second month as editor; we think he’s doing an amazing job. Head over to www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/ to get your copy!
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Check out the latest Teen & YA titles available through OverDrive!
| This month, the Kids & Teens edition of our eHighlights catalog has a mix of exciting new titles, as well as some reissued classics that would both fit wonderfully into your existing collection.
Nickelodeon titles have recently been added to OverDrive to include the best from SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer, among other reader favorites. Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen is a can’t-miss read for teens and Susan Casey’s Women Heroes of the American Revolution is a wonderful title to add diversity and history to the reading list for ages 12 and up. Georg Rauch's Unlikely Warrior describes Rauch's efforts to help Jews escape from Vienna until he is drafted to the Nazi army, despite his admission that he is of Jewish descent. This book for ages 12 and up shares the details of his harrowing journey. Dive in to another month of fantastic books and stay tuned for upcoming editions featuring Adult fiction and nonfiction, as well as streaming video!
Emma Kanagaki is a Collection Development Analyst with OverDrive |
Amazon Announces New Ivory White Kindle
| Amazon has been fixated on piano black e-readers and tablets since the Kindle Keyboard. This mentality is apparently changing with the advent of a new ivory white edition of the Kindle Basic Touch. The new e-reader is now available for pre-order for ￥499.00 and the initial batch will be sent out by April 8th. The ivory white variant of the Kindle Basic Touch will released in China to begin with. This is the first time Amazon has changed the color on an e-reader since 2011, so its a bit of a big deal. We have heard from a source that Amazon has just filed a mystery device with the FCC. This could potentially be the white edition of the Kindle so Amazon can sell it in the United States. The Kindle Basic Touch came out in November 2014 and it is the first entry level model to include a touchscreen. It features a six inch display with a resolution of 800 x 600 at 167 ppi. The touchscreen technology is using Infrared, courtesy of Neonode. The fonts and overall screen clarity have been dramatically increased and in a head to head comparison with the Kindle Paperwhite 2, Basic surpassed it in many ways. Underneath the hood is a 1 GHZ Freescale processor and 512 MB of RAM. Amazon has doubled up the amount of internal memory from 2 GB on prior models of the basic model to 4 GB. This in effect gives you the ability to store more books and PDF files.
Amazon Announces New Ivory White Kindle is a post from: Good e-Reader |
