| As you may have heard, Apple made some news recently by adding a new product to their line of devices, the Apple Watch. Wearable technology has been trending One of the exciting pieces to the Apple Watch is that app developers now have a chance to create new experiences for users to interact with. We are currently in the process of looking into developing a unique experience for OverDrive users but in the meantime you can use Apple’s “Now Playing” feature to use our app with your brand new Apple Watch! Simply open the app on your phone and start playing your audiobook of choice. Your iPhone and Watch are synced via Bluetooth meaning that you can then control your playback options right on your phone. It’s never been easier to enjoy free audiobooks from your library and the Apple Watch provides an even more convenient way to access these titles.  |
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Using the OverDrive app with the Apple Watch
lately ever since fitness trackers like the FitBit and the Nike+ Fuelband became
Check out the latest eHighlights catalogs!
| The Collection Development team worked diligently to put together the latest editions of our eHighlights catalogs. There have been some great releases in April and May for Kids & Teens. We are finally seeing trends towards summer! Pool by Jihyeon Lee is the beautifully drawn story of a swimming pool, and of course we have Stingrays! Underwater Fliers, which will excite all little marine biologists. Then, of course, there are teen romances like City Love, 99 Days, The Summer After You and Me and Saint Anything (major fangirling is happening at OverDrive for Sarah Dessen's new book). June and July bring some blockbuster releases for Adults with new books from Harper Lee, Ernest Cline, Judy Blume, Meg Cabot, Aziz Ansari, Brad Meltzer, Paula McClain, Candace Bushnell, Janet Evanovich, Brad Thor, and Stephen King – there is something for everyone. This all-star lineup cannot be missed so make sure you stock up on titles for your patrons. Stay tuned for upcoming editions of our catalogs! For past issues, click here. 
Emma Kanagaki is a Collection Development Analyst with OverDrive  |
SSH shenanigans
| Password security is a big deal. No more so than when you've got smart kids who have learned about SSH, with a Raspberry Pi in their bedroom. The kids from Gurgleapps would like to show you what they've learned recently about the shell. We are impressed, and are reminded that we all need to change our passwords. The Gurgleapps folks have made a short tutorial available for those who aren't familiar with the shell – they've promised more tutorials soon, and we'll be keeping an eye on what they get up to! |
Amazon Kindle for iOS is Draining Your Battery
| The Amazon Kindle App for the iPhone and iPad has been a battery hog for the last month. Even when you aren’t reading an e-book and doing something else, the app remains in standby mode. The Kindle app was updated April 15th 2015 with the quintessential “performance and stability improvements”. This last update was the culprit and many people are finding their tablets or smartphones are not lasting as long as they should. I have an iPhone 6 Plus and most of the time I get about a day and a half of usage. The Kindle app has relegated it to about 15 hours, before it runs out of juice. I think the main problem is primarily due to a Whispersync timing issue. This is the Amazon system that fetches new content or books you purchased on other devices. There is no way to disable this with Background App Refresh, because Amazon does not have that feature on iOS 8. Amazon is aware of this issue and is working on a fix. Likely it will be pushed out in about a week. via Zednet Amazon Kindle for iOS is Draining Your Battery is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Confused About Overdrive? New Webinars Should Help
| Over the course of the last five years, libaries have embraced digital content in a big way. In North America, 95% of all libraries have an e-book collection, but there is m ore to a library than just books. Overdrive for example has audiobooks, magazines, music, newspapers, and videos. In order to get libraries educated on their portfolio and to address any questions or concerns, Overdrive has just launched a new webinar series. webinars are basically live video feeds where a series of people walk you through a concept or an idea and answer questions on the fly. This is something new for Overdrive, in the past they relied on their team to personally deal with libraries. On May 20th there is going to be a 60 minute series on audiobooks where a live discussion will talk about their merits. Another live video will take place on August the 4th, where they will discuss how to keep young adults engaged with audiobooks throughout the whole year. Why the infatuation with audiobooks? Well, apprently Overdrive launched their first videos at the end of April when they walked you through the basics of purchasing titles in Marketplace, using OverDrive Read and a live demonstration of the latest features with the OverDrive app. I have no idea where the archived videos are stored, Overdrive doesn’t seem to have any past content available for viewing yet. Confused About Overdrive? New Webinars Should Help is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Discover New Digital Manga with Jump Start
| Starting next week, Viz is giving two new manga a Jump Start. Next week, almost simultaneously to the release in Japan, we'll be seeing "Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club." This will be followed by "Devily Man" on May 25. As none of these manga have even had their Japanese debut yet, the story material and content are almost entirely unknown, although something named "Competitive Dance Club" should be fairly self-explanatory. "Devily Man" seems to be a oneshot, but with the potential for a further story. However, these two did beat out another manga having its debut this month in Japan called "Lady Justice." Viz Manga chose to run an English translation of the two over "Lady Justice,"so there must be something in them worth seeing. Jump Start is a program started by Viz Manga in an attempt to bring new and unknown manga to the forefront and help gain recognition. They'll run the first three chapters in Weekly Shonen Jump, and if the response is good, Viz Manga will consider running them as part of their weekly magazine. So if you read the chapters and enjoy them, pop on over to Viz and let them know! Discover New Digital Manga with Jump Start is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Best Inexpensive eReaders for Under $70
| It’s amazing how cheap ebook readers and tablets have become over the past few years. Back in 2009 when the Kindle 2 was first released it sold for $369. If you think that’s bad, the Kindle DX used to retail for $489. Now it’s possible to get a good inexpensive, multi-functional ereader for as little […] |
Onyx Boox i86 ML vs PocketBook InkPad Comparison Video
| I came across a video on YouTube that was uploaded yesterday comparing two 8-inch ebook readers, the Onyx Boox i86ML and PocketBook InkPad. The most interesting thing about the video isn’t the comparison itself, it’s the fact that the Onyx Boox i86 shown in the video, the i86 ML, has a frontlight, and the video […] |
The Sad Joke That Is the Hugo Awards
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It’s like being voted as the Homecoming Queen, only to find out later you’re the butt of a school-wide joke. Except in the case of this year’s Hugo Awards, it’s much, much worse. In order to be nominated for this award–whose previous winners have included Anne McCaffrey, Isaac Asimov, Ursula K. Le Guin, Harlan Ellison, and George R.R. Martin–titles are suggested by Worldcon members, then tabulated. The highest numbers of suggestions results in the nominees’ lists for each category. The ballots then go on to be voted on, again by Worldcon members, literally anyone who’d signed up to attend any of the conferences in 2014, 2015, or 2016. Unfortunately, this year’s nominations have allegedly been shanghaied by a small collective of people under the name “Sad Puppies” and a rival group “Rabid Puppies” who are disheartened with the “touchy feely” decline of science fiction into a genre that allows gay couples and women who don’t have giant breasts to exist. The groups have garnered enough voting support to send their favorites to the top of the lists, then have seemingly been quite open about achieving their goals. Sadly, one of the key members of Rabid Puppies is believed to be the owner and editor of a publishing house that now has several titles on the shortlist. The editor himself, Vox Day, is also shortlisted for two top editor awards. Basically, the groups managed to shift the lists not only towards their own agenda, but towards the financial gain of one of the groups leaders. Day is also one of the names associated with the now infamous Gamergate saga that pitted the video game world against three female game developers and resulted in threats of rape and murder of these women. The groups’ fight against recognizing diversity in both science fiction titles and science fiction authors has led to a serious backlash against this year’s Hugo Awards, with two authors withdrawing their works from nomination (refusing the honor, essentially), one fan writer nominee withdrawing from the awards, and one presenter stepping down from the awards event itself. The authors took this stance after learning that their works were in the slate of titles pushed by the groups, and have decided that no recognition is better than being used in this way. The Sad Joke That Is the Hugo Awards is a post from: Good e-Reader |
The next Reader’s Advisory project is coming soon!
| We're excited to invite your library and/or school to participate in OverDrive's next Reader's Advisory project. The project offers hand-picked titles to help users discover new favorites, leading to increased reader engagement and circulation for libraries. In March, libraries that participated in the Reader's Advisory initiative and curated the Read-Alike collection for OverDrive's Big Library Read title,Shakespeare Saved My Life, saw growth in circulation for the related titles. A case study of selected libraries and several titles included in the collection showed an average circulation increase of 255% for titles over one month (compared to one month before adding the curated collections). This round, we will be highlighting two collections: Book Club Picks for Adults and Fantastical Fairy Tales for Kids & Teens. Next steps Preview the collections here: If you plan to publish, please be sure to fill any gaps in the collection (or purchase additional copies in anticipation of increased demand) by Friday,May 15th. We will post in the blog to confirm when the collections are available. Your only action at that time will be to Publish the collection to the desired location on your public-facing website. To learn more about curating collections, you can: If you have any questions, please reach out to your OverDrive team (you can find the team members and their contact information in OverDrive Marketplace > Support tab in the right column).
Rachel Kray is a Collection Development Analyst for OverDrive  |
Meet the Raspberry Pi Creative Technologists
| In February Rachel Rayns, our Creative Producer, announced and opened entries for the new Raspberry Pi Creative Technologists mentorship programme. We selected final participants from the applicants at the beginning of this month – we’ve got a wonderful group of young people. Last weekend we held the induction weekend here at Pi Towers in Cambridge, which involved Pecha Kucha presentations (20 slides, 20 seconds per slide) from participants and mentors; introducing the CTs to their new Raspberry Pi starter kits; getting them up and running with their Pis with a Python and GPIO workshop using the CamJam EduKit and the camera module; and a punting trip through the heart of Cambridge. We then took the group on their second field trip – to Newcastle to visit Maker Faire UK and the Baltic Centre. Next up is a trip to Pimoroni‘s workshop for a hack weekend full of laser cutter fun, and we have plenty more in store. Meet the Creative Technologists
Andrew is 18, studying Computer Science at Queen’s University in Belfast. Readers of the blog will be familiar with Andrew as the developer of PiNet – he also runs the Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam.
Bawar is 18, studying Maths, Computer Science and English at a Sixth Form in West London. He found out about the programme the day before entries closed – and stayed up all night making his video (but says it was worth it).
Connor is 19 and works in Operations at Ragworm. With his work he’s exposed to the maker community and regularly attends Maker Faires and hackathons.
Hannah is 20 and studies Creative Writing and Theatre at Lancaster University. She’s been writing stories since she was 6 and has an interest in exploring video game script writing.
Javier is 17 and Spanish; he lives and goes to school in Corunna in North West Spain. He his first languages are Spanish and Galacian (he also speaks English better than some of we do), and he’s been programming since he was ten, and he likes to disassemble gadgets. He’s also a fan of dogecoin.
Maddy is 17, studying Visual Effects at college in Nottingham. She spent 3 months creating an animated music video for a local band (it’s brilliant). She is constantly dancing.
Milton is 21, and works as a web developer in London. He loves code and wants to create worlds within worlds. He has a strange obsession with identifying as a dessert.
Owen is 17, studying Science subjects at college in Lewes. He’s lightning fast with a Rubik’s cube (better than Gordon and me), does magic tricks (all the time) and he wondered if we were looking for people like him…
Yasmin is 21, and works as a front-end web developer in Devon. She’s a keen and successful Vlogger, a games enthusiast, content creator, storyteller and musician.
Yasmin also created this video after the induction weekend – we love it! We’ll be sharing more information about the Creative Technologists as the programme continues and the participants’ projects are developed. It’s a 12-month programme and we intend to run it again next year. Register your interest and we’ll email you when information about the 2016-17 programme is available. |
Monday, May 4, 2015
Why Are e-Readers Great for Reading in the Sun?
| I am sure everyone has run into the situation where you need to hunt around for a bit of shade and get out of direct sunlight to read on your phone or tablet. LCD screens tend to reflect light like nobodies business because the average screen has multiple layers. Serious readers often turn to their trusty Kindles or Nooks because E Ink enabled displays are easily readable even in direct sunlight because the electronic paper reflect light like ordinary paper. People tend to think that smartphones, tablets and e-readers are the same thing if you read on the device. This is simply not the case and there is a a fundamental difference between an iPad and a Kindle. The Apple iPad for example, has in-plane switching (IPS), light-emitting diode (LED), liquid crystal display (LCD) that produces crisp, clear colors under normal conditions. It's not laminated the same way the iPhone screen is, so it's even slightly more reflective when it catches rays. E Ink technology relies on reflected, not emitted, light. This ensures text looks natural in any lighting condition. We have conducted many reading tests in direct sunlight with tablets and it is basically unreadable. How does an e-reader perform in direct sunlight? Today, we have a series of videos that demonstrate how a few six inch and a 9.7 inch e-reader fare when reading outside. As an added bonus we show you exactly why tablets are bad for reading in the sun. We show you the iPad Air, iPad Mini 2 and the iPhone 4 all together.
Why Are e-Readers Great for Reading in the Sun? is a post from: Good e-Reader |
New e-Reader with GPS Does Innovative Things
| A new e-reader has just hit the market that has built in GPS that will change key locations in an e-book. Basically, this means that the book makes references to the city or place the reader is in as he progresses through the novel. This new e-reader called The Tripbook features e-paper technology that will give you an experience similar to a Kindle or Kobo. It is a byproduct of the '365 Reasons To Smile' campaign, that Brazilian loyalty program Smiles developed as part of their 20th anniversary. The book was written by Brazil author Marcelo Rubens Paiva and the construction of the interactive digital edition was done by FCB Brazil. I think removing the notion of a specific "place" from a the body of a piece of literature can completely destroy the context. It's akin to dropping the Pyramids of Giza in Kansas. If you don’t own a Tripbook or live Brazil and can download the interactive eBook app for both iOS and Android devices.
New e-Reader with GPS Does Innovative Things is a post from: Good e-Reader |
TOR Books Now Eligible for an e-Book Upgrade for $2.99
| TOR is one of the largest science fiction and fantasy publishers in the world and there is another compelling reason to do business with them. If you have purchased in the past or buy a new print edition you can now get the e-book for $2.99. Tor Books has just announced that they have forged a new partnership with Vancouver, BC based BitLit, a free app that lets you download digital copies of your paper library. By partnering with BitLit, they have made it possible for you to be able to download an e-book for any Tor/Forge book you own in print! Peter Hudson the CEO of BITLIT told Good e-Reader exclusivly “I’m incredibly excited to be adding Tor/Forge titles to the BitLit program. I’m a big Sci-fi fantasy fan, so adding Tor made a huge swath of my shelf eligible for digital upgrades. I’m also really excited that we’re able to provide Tor e-books DRM-free.” In order to redeem your TOR/Forge books you need to download the BITLIT app for iOS or Android. Take a picture of your bookshelf (a.k.a. a "shelfie"). The app will identify all of your books and tell you which books are eligible to bundle. Take a picture of your name on the copyright page to claim your bundled e-book. TOR Books Now Eligible for an e-Book Upgrade for $2.99 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
2015 Locus Award Finalists
| If you are a fan of Science Fiction and looking for a great read, you might be interested in the 2015 Locus Award Finalists. All of these titles sold very well in the e-book format, but also in traditional bookstores. SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
FANTASY NOVEL
YOUNG ADULT BOOK
FIRST NOVEL
NOVELLA
NOVELETTE
SHORT STORY
ANTHOLOGY
COLLECTION
MAGAZINE
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
ARTIST
NON-FICTION
ART BOOK
2015 Locus Award Finalists is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Devs Working on CM11 ROM (Android 4.4) for Nook Touch
| It’s always good to see the Nook Touch still getting some attention from developers, even after four years since its initial release. A couple months ago I posted an article about the Nook Touch running Windows 95 and other emulators, along with the Impossible Game. Now developers are working on getting the Nook Touch (and […] |
Kindle Unlimited is the Most Popular e-book Subscription Service
| Kindle Unlimited is the latest entrant into Netflix for e-books subscription style of service. In a short period of time Amazon has managed to attain more paid members using its platform than the competition. The Codex Group has reported in their April 2015 consumer survey, 12.4% of digital book consumers have a Kindle Unlimited subscription. In comparison, only 1.4% of respondents reported that they had a Scribd membership, and eve fewer were paying for Oyster. Good e-Reader Research also has Kindle Unlimited as the most dominant player in the field. In a recent study 117 people voted on the subscription site that was most appealing to them. Amazon has 52% of the vote, while Scribd had 28.21%, Oyster 6.84%, Entittle 0.85% and Other 12%. I think its very telling about our own recent report that so few people actually took part in the poll. Normally we have 600 people or more that participate and its very telling on the health of the overall industry that hardly anyone is captivated by thousands of books available for a low monthly fee. One of the largest barriers for customers to buy into this subscription style of service is international availability. Kindle Unlimited is only in a handful of countries, such as the US and select markets in Europe. Entittle and Oyster are exclusively targeted customers in the United States. This leaves Scribd as the only other player that actually has a far wider reach. Kindle Unlimited is the Most Popular e-book Subscription Service is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Mother’s Day Deals – Kindle, Kobo and Nook
| Amazon has several Kindle devices on sale from now until Mother’s Day, which is May 10th, this coming Sunday. The Kindle Paperwhite is marked down to $99 again, so is the Fire HD 7, the entry-level Kindle is $59, and the Fire HD Kids Edition tablets are $25-$40 off. The sales for Kindle ebook readers […] |
Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend Second Season Green-lit
| Fans of Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend, can be happy to know that that the anime adaption of the light novel series has been green lit for a second season. The good news was announced at an event on Sunday that production will begin for the romantic comedy and the official website now confirms the sequel series. Sadly, there are no further details to that have been released such as release date or format of the sequel series, but we will just have to be patient for more news on the popular show! The original light novels, with illustrations by Kurehito Misaki, revolve around Tomoya Aki, an Otaku who is working part time to earn money to buy anime on Blu-Ray. On his way home from Spring vacation, Tomoya meets a beautiful young girl ad eventually models the heroine of his own game after. A month later, he learns this mysterious girl is actually a classmate of his named Megumi. Having no artistic ability or writing skills, Tomoya asks ace art club member Eiri Spencer Sawamura to provide the art as well as honour student Utaha Kasumigaoka to write the scenario. With they be able to produce a decent game for Comic Market? The first season began airing in January in Japan on Fuji TV’s Noitamina programming block. Aniplex of America liscenced the series and streamed it on the popular Aniplex Channel, Crunchyroll and Hulu! A PS Vita game based off of the anime shipped last week in Japan! Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend Second Season Green-lit is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Astro Pi: Mission Update 2
| Time for an Astro Pi update! The ‘big idea’ phase of the competition, where students were only required to submit an idea, closed at the beginning of April. The fully anonymised judging process took place over two long days at York’s National STEM Centre on the 17th of April.
Nearly 200 teams from primary schools and code clubs all over the UK submitted ideas for experiments and games to be run on Tim Peake’s Astro Pi on board the International Space Station (ISS) later this year. He will set the winning experiments running, collect the data generated and then download it to Earth where it will be distributed to the winning teams. Tim Peake has announced the primary school winners in a video message from Star City, where he is currently training. The secondary school competition is still open until the end of June. Hannah Belshaw from Cumnor House Girl's School in Croydon won top place with her idea to represent data from the Astro Pi in the world of Minecraft. The Cranmere Code Club team from Esher were also winners with their idea to investigate whether the Astro Pi can detect the presence of astronauts on the ISS using the temperature and humidity sensors.
Both schools will now receive a class set of Astro Pi kits which they’ll start coding on. They’ll also use them to get involved in the data logging activities once Tim starts his mission. Major Tim Peake – photo provided by UK Space Agency under CC BY-ND Hannah Belshaw's Minecraft idea was the top entry overall in the primary school category. The code will be written by us at Raspberry Pi under her guidance and, in addition to getting it flown and run on the ISS, a British satellite will be realigned to take a picture of her school from space! They can all go outside into the playground and make a huge space invader perhaps? We all recognised that Hannah's idea is an ingenious way to represent abstract sensor data captured by the Astro Pi in a way that would allow children to gain an intuitive understanding. The terrain in Minecraft will be used to visualise magnetometer and gyroscope measurements downloaded from the ISS and can then be replicated by anyone who owns a Raspberry Pi. Jonathan Bell, one of our software ninjas, said:
Cranmere Code Club's concept of investigating whether or not multiple sensors from the Astro Pi could be used to detect the nearby presence of an astronaut appealed to everyone because it exploits so much of the Astro Pi hardware. Cranmere Code Club will use the visible camera to take a photograph when an increase in temperature and humidity is detected, and will review the images to see if they caught anyone! Pat Norris from CGI said:
The standard of entries was so high that we also created a ‘highly commended’ category to reward outstanding effort. These entrants will individually receive an Astro Pi kit too.
Doug Liddle from SSTL said “The standard of entries was tremendously high. Ultimately, the winning teams had to propose ideas that were creative, practical and useful to stand a chance of winning. I hope that most of these talented primary school teams also decide to get involved in the next stage of the competition and give the secondary schools a run for their money.”
In the secondary school age group, the competition is running across three age categories, one for each of Key Stages 3, 4 and 5. Competitors have already submitted their ideas for experiments and applications with the best submissions in each age category winning an Astro Pi kit on which to code their idea and the two most promising ideas in each category winning a class set of kits. The teams who have earned a class set of kits are: Key Stage 3 and equivalent:
Key Stage 4 and equivalent:
Key Stage 5 and equivalent:
Phase two of the Astro Pi competition is all about secondary schools realising their ideas from phase one in code, testing it, refining it and eventually submitting it via the competition website by the 29th of June. Primary schools are not required to do this, but those that want to code will be put into the lowest age category for the secondary school competition. If you missed phase one, you can still enter! In fact, if you really wanted, you could turn up on the 28th of June with your code ready to go, enter, and submit the code on the same day! (That would be cutting it a bit fine though…) Go here to enter! After the end of June the entries will be judged for the last time. The best two from each key stage will then have their code flown on Tim Peake’s Astro Pi when he launches in November. The existing primary school entries will also be judged alongside these to be in with a chance to win the UK Space thematic prizes. We are also providing support through the Astro Pi forum and you can still apply for a free Astro Pi HAT (on its own) if you didn’t win a kit. Oh oh! Yes… free stuff is up for grabs. If you want to get one you need to send an email application to… …describing what you intend to do with the hardware. Hint: those who intend to enter the Astro Pi secondary school competition will be looked upon favourably. You should provide a good description of what your entry will do for Tim Peake on the ISS. This will not entitle you to a board though! There are only a limited number of them so we will be selecting based on what you write in your application. So choose your words carefully. In the future we hope that the European Space Agency will want to repeat the Astro Pi competition on a larger scale and so, currently, the UK competition is like a pilot. ESA are watching this with interest and they will be looking for the number of entries received and the number of students reached. Please do your bit by getting your school involved. |