| Here’s our weekly snapshot of the best-selling digital comics on four platforms—taken Sunday evening. 1. Injustice: Gods Among Us #34 We’re seeing DC’s Villains Month at comiXology, with the first issue of Forever Evil and two of their villain-focused comics, Batman #23.1 and Justice League #23.1, making the chart. Nothing beats Injustice: Gods Among Us, though. Marvel has the edge in market share, with five comics in the top ten, compared to four from DC and one from Image. 1. Injustice: Gods Among Us #34 What’s that at number 10? It sounds like a book for knitters, but Wool is actually a graphic-novel adaptation of Hugh Howey’s dystopian novel. It’s published by Amazon’s own comics imprint, Jet City, and it’s serialized in an interesting way: You pay $4.99 for the entire thing, with each new episode being automatically added to your Kindle for free. Making this even more interesting is the fact that the first episode doesn’t come out until October; this book charted on pre-orders alone. We’ll see if it’s still there next week. 1. Injustice: Gods Among Us #32 The folks at Barnes and Noble must be terribly grateful to the odd couple of Charles Schulz and Robert Kirkman, because without them they would have almost no comics sales on the Nook. OK, there are two issues of Injustice, but just like last week, there are more free than paid books on the Nook list. In fact, there are 25 free books that did better than that third volume of The Walking Dead. iBooks 1. Injustice: Gods Among Us #34 As usual, iBooks users show a lot of enthusiasm for Injustice and My Little Pony; it’s interesting that this is the only chart to show the latest issue of Batman Beyond 2.0, which came out on Saturday. Digital Comics Best-Sellers for September 8 2013 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Digital Comics Best-Sellers for September 8 2013
Amazon issues Mandatory Kindle for iOS 7 update
| Amazon has just pushed a new mandatory update to their apps for iPhone and iPad. This is to insure full compliance with massive new iOS 7 firmware update that should be available next week. Apple is holding a press party on Tuesday, where they are expected to announce a new two new iPhones, iBooks for iPhone and updates to their Apple TV service. The average tablet owner simply does not always keep their apps up to date. In your circle of friends, there is always one person who seems to have always have a thousand emails in their inbox or never updates their apps. This is the Amazon update that you should install because it preserves all of the books you have downloaded on your device. If you update to iOS 7 and don’t update the Amazon app you have to download all of your books again. Amazon issues Mandatory Kindle for iOS 7 update is a post from: E-Reader News |
Viz VP Explains Digital Manga Price Hike
| Viz Media is the largest manga publisher in the U.S., and when they launched their digital manga service, almost three years ago, they instantly became a pioneer in that realm. They quickly ramped up with a cross-platform service that worked on the web, iOS, and Android devices and also made their books available on Nook (and, more recently, Kobo). And their prices were reasonable: The standard price for a volume of digital manga was $4.99. About a week ago, Viz announced via a letter (which has since disappeared) on its Vizmanga site that it is raising the price of a volume of manga from $4.99 to $6.99 as of October 1. Some volumes, such as omnibuses and mature titles, are priced higher and their prices will go up commensurately. I asked Viz vice president and chief technical officer Gagan Singh to elaborate a bit on the price increases and why they were necessary. Here are his responses. Good E-Reader: Why did you decide to raise the price of your manga, and why now? Gagan Singh: We debuted our digital manga on the iPad at the end of 2010, and our prices have stayed constant since the launch of VIZ Manga. We’ve expanded from our own app on iPhones and the web, to having digital manga available on the Nook, as well as recently on the Kobo. In order to continue bringing great manga to North America, we now need to offer our digital manga at a slightly increased price. The increase helps support the manga creators (artists & writers), as well as the editors, producers, engineers, and more that make it possible to enjoy manga anywhere. Why did you decide to go with a $2 increase, rather than a series of smaller increases phased in over a period of time? Were you losing money before this? We wanted to provide stability and predictable prices in order to minimize any long-term aggravation smaller incremental increases would bring. Our digital manga sales have been doing well, but as is the case with any company, there are always increases in the cost of running business. Will you maintain price parity across all platforms (apps, Nook, Kobo)? Yes, the list price will be the same across all digital manga platforms. Are you worried that your sales will drop because of the increase? Or will the increase compensate for that? In the short term, perhaps. In the long term, we are confident, as more and more people adopt digital manga, our sales will continue growing. What about the problem of piracy—do you see it as sensitive to price, or is it simply a paid vs. free situation (i.e., people who go to bootleg sites won't pay no matter what the price)? It’s an education process. By purchasing manga through our digital platforms, fans are supporting the creators, the companies that bring out the manga in Japan, and in turn, us in bringing the manga to fans in North America. Outside of piracy, do you see your chief competition being other manga or print editions of your own manga—are you concerned that selling the digital at a lower price is undercutting your print business? Sales of our digital manga don't cannibalize those on our print side. We anticipate the same trend moving forward. In fact, we've noticed that the crossover between print and digital readers is relatively small, and that many of our digital readers prefer digital editions exclusively. Our biggest competitors for mindshare are actually the myriad of other entertainment options out there, from video games to mobile games, tv and movies. We've found that people tend to engage in activities friends recommend, rather than pick up something out of the blue. In the end, great content is the key to attracting and retaining fans. Do you have any plans for incentives, added content, or sales to mitigate the effect for your fans? We're always looking for ways to improve value for our customers; please stay tuned for updates! We want to thank our fans & readers, who have and continue to support our digital manga program. Their patronage is what drives us every day to work tirelessly to bring great manga to everyone faster and in their preferred format! Viz VP Explains Digital Manga Price Hike is a post from: E-Reader News |
eBook Review: Salinger by David Shields and Shane Salerno
| Verdict: 2 stars One of the most highly anticipated recent book launches has been Shields’ and Salerno’s Salinger, billed as an exhaustive biography of of one of the most reclusive writers of our time. What was actually published, unfortunately, was nothing more than transcripts written in interview format of discussions about the author with people who claimed to know him, nearly 200 people, in fact. While there is the occasional insight into the author’s life or the briefest of pieces of new information about the man, a lot of the material uncovered is very anecdotal tabloid-quality stuff. Was it really vital to share the status of Salinger’s testicles? No, I think not. (spoiler alert: apparently Salinger only had one, and for some reason, the authors of the book felt that knowledge was somehow important to our understanding of their subject) Over the years, Salinger’s son Matt has developed quite a reputation for taking his father’s privacy to extremes, even going so far as to disparage his own sister’s memoir as “gothic” and “unsupported.” At one point, he even sued for the return of a letter his father had written after a collectibles dealer put it up for auction, claiming that it was his father’s writing and therefore the property of the estate. Given that Salinger is the end result of not blocking the publication of information about a very private man, it’s easy to understand why Matt Salinger may have felt the need to be so protective. On a brighter note, the book is apparently almost a word-for-word transcript of the documentary film on the life of J.D. Salinger, and the film might be far less difficult to wade through given that it will be presented in video by the people who actually claim to have stories to share about the author. The film was released September 6th. Salinger is available now from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iTunes, and more.
eBook Review: Salinger by David Shields and Shane Salerno is a post from: E-Reader News |
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Opinion: Why It’s Trendy to Hate on Amazon
| I have attended many different publishing and technology events this year, such as IDPF and Book Expo America, and covered O’Reily Tools for Change, Digital Book World, FutureBook and the London Book Fair. I have sat in on close to 70 different speaking engagements and there is one consistent theme. It is trendy to hate on Amazon. Many speakers are capitalizing on anti-Amazon sentiments to attenuate a point or to give them instant credibility in the audience’s eyes. It’s quite easy to get a cheap pop by insulting them or to make a lighthearted joke. Almost every single speaker this year referenced Amazon or painted them in a negative light. It is quite easy to go after a target that has seen monumental success and pioneered both e-Readers, eBooks and digital publishing. Amazon gets unjustified hatred just to get a headline. I always laugh to myself when even well-known authors or owners of other publishing websites hate on Amazon. They often do it at the very beginning of their speaking engagements or when answering audience questions. I can expect about half of the speakers will do this and I laugh about their consistency to hate. You don’t have to insult a company or put them down just to illicit an audience response. Sure, it’s a company that everyone knows, but there is zero point in making yourself look like an idiot by jumping on the bandwagon. Amazon is the most profitable eBook company in the world and has the most dominant line of e-readers. They have the most successful self-publishing platform and give free digital copies away when consumers buy the print book. They make the most money out of all the other resellers online. People try and emulate them in this sector, just like so many tablet and phone companies tend to emulate Apple. I implore the greater internet at large and public speakers at publishing events to think twice before mindlessly placing blame on Amazon to get a cheap pop. If you have to seem relevant through insults and finger pointing, you don’t deserve to have people take what you say seriously. Opinion: Why It’s Trendy to Hate on Amazon is a post from: E-Reader News |
Opinion: Amazon – The Empire We Love to Hate
| You’d be hard pressed to attend a publishing event and hear someone sing the praises of the largest online retailer in the world. Amazon, who started life as a book and ebook selling website, was at one time the darling stepchild of the publishing industry, a way for the once-Big Six to reach a potentially larger audience than they were at the time. They were happy to pat Amazon on the head for a job well done if the retailer could help them sell a few more books. But from its humble beginnings, Amazon grew to be a force to be reckoned with. With a global reach and its dominance in both the book selling and book publishing industries, more than a few frowns appear when you talk about Amazon with publishing industry professionals. It has even been dubbed “The Evil Empire” in some circles. So when did the transition happen? Was it when Amazon decided it wasn’t enough to make a few cents per copy of books that the industry still had complete control over? Was it when ebooks came along and the technology giant proved that low-cost, instant access, digital reading was not the flash in the pan that critics predicted? Or was it when Amazon threw open the gates with KDP and let anyone become an author? While the fear and loathing were already well underway, the final straw in the coffin for Amazon’s reputation in publishing came with the creation of its own traditional publishing house, Amazon Publishing. The company brought industry icon Larry Kirshbaum to lead the way, and quickly turned a lot of long-held customs in publishing on their heads. Amazon Publishing offered higher royalties than traditionally published authors were used to receiving, as well as discarded the quarterly-payouts system of royalties in favor of the monthly payments that even no-name self-published authors enjoy. But whatever the cause of the animosity between Amazon and the rest of the industry, there still begs one question: if everyone hates Amazon, how did they get to be so big? Someone must have made them who they are. If consumers, authors, and industry professionals alike want to dismiss the retailer as the Evil Empire, why do they spend their money with the company? Are we guilty of proclaiming that Amazon is the death of books and bookstores, even while secretly hiding under the covers with our laptops and ordering low cost books and household items with free shipping? Through its own business practices of offering fast product delivery, above par customer service, and prices that no one else seems to be able to even reach, let alone beat, Amazon grew into the entity that it is now. But we’re the customers who put them up on that pedestal.
Opinion: Amazon – The Empire We Love to Hate is a post from: E-Reader News |
Cote Details Limits of Apple’s Relationships with Publishers
| In a seventeen page document from US Judge Denise Cote filed on September 5th, Apple learned the full extent of how it is expected to conduct business with publishers from now on. This expectation arose as a result of the price fixing allegations that rested on Apple and five of the then-Big Six publishers; Random House was not named in any of the investigations or resulting lawsuits, and has since merged with Penguin, who was named. In the ruling, Cote outlines not only what expectations there are for price adjustments, discounting, selling, and conduct, but also gives a strict deadline for Apple to report any future misconduct. Apple is also required to hire an outside non-Apple employee who will oversee all of its future deals with publishers in order to avoid anti-trust violations. The document even specified how many months Apple is to maintain this status with each publisher who was named in the lawsuit. A link to the full seventeen pages can be found on Scrib’d by clicking here. The full amount of damages that Apple will actually pay out will be determined by May 2014.
Cote Details Limits of Apple’s Relationships with Publishers is a post from: E-Reader News |
71% of Travelers Prefer Print Books Over e-books
| As the summer holidays come to an end, research conducted by Heathrow Airport has shown that 71% of travelers would rather pack their suitcases full of books than opt for a lightweight eReader. Books fare far better around sunscreen, swimming pools and sand, but our love of a good paperback goes deeper – 67% said they prefer to stick with print because they enjoy the feel of a real book in their hands. Over 1 in 10 (12%) want to leave technology behind altogether whilst abroad. Of the 2,000 people surveyed, 67% said they turn to friends and family for their reading recommendations, closely followed by librarians and book-sellers (22%). Auto-generated online suggestions were found to be least helpful – 33% felt that the recommendations were too stereotyped, and 15% argued that they were just plain dull. Heathrow Airport Retail Director Muriel Zingraff-Shariff said: “There's no doubt that the popularity of eBooks has boomed in recent years, but when it comes to relaxing on holiday it seems you just can't beat a good book. People want a break from technology whilst they're abroad, so it's understandable that people would rather swap their Blackberry for Malorie Blackman.” Simon Smith, Managing Director at WH Smith Travel said: "Books remain a valuable part of people's holiday experience. Our stores at Heathrow are always popular with customers and we're delighted to continue to offer a great range of bestselling titles, airport exclusives and fantastic promotions to the 70 million passengers who fly through the airport each year." 71% of Travelers Prefer Print Books Over e-books is a post from: E-Reader News |
Good e-Reader Magazine August Edition
| Welcome to another edition of the Good e-Reader Magazine! In this months issue we cover the Kobo Launch and all of the new devices they have officially announced. We also look at the top news from the month and essential stories you need to know about.
Good e-Reader Magazine August Edition is a post from: E-Reader News |
Friday, September 6, 2013
Whats the deal with Front-Lit e-Readers?
| e-Reader technology has come a long way since 2006 and many of the latest devices pack a front-lit display. Unlike LCD screens that emit light from behind the screen into your eyes, this e-paper technology evenly distributes the light from the bezel onto the screen. This is easier on the eyes for long reading sessions and the Kobo Aura, Kindle Paperwhite, Nook Glow and many others use this technology. Today we want to give you a visual demonstration about the virtues of front-lit technology. Many people like to read at night or next to sleeping partner and not keep them up like a lamp would. The e-Readers in this comparison all allow you to augment the luminosity levels to optimize your reading conditions. It is important to note that this technology is using e-ink display screens and lights that are on the bottom of the bezel, pointing upwards. Whats the deal with Front-Lit e-Readers? is a post from: E-Reader News |
Digital Comics Deals for the Weekend: Here Come the X-Men
| It’s all about superheroes this week, in one form or another. September 4 was the 50th anniversary of the X-Men, so comiXology has the Fall of the Mutants issues on sale for 99 cents each, and they are also offering the first volume of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men for $3.99, a substantial discount off the usual price of $8.99. Now, this is kind of interesting: I subscribe to Marvel Unlimited, so I could read most if not all of those Fall of the Mutants comics with that. But I just this week noticed that Marvel has special offers for MU subscribers. The latest offer (it’s good until October 7) is All-New X-Men #1-10 and Uncanny X-Men, vol. 3 #1-5, for 99 cents each. Since Marvel Unlimited is not a download service—you don’t keep the comics when your subscription ends—I was curious how this worked, so I bought a comic. I was shunted over to the Marvel comic store, which (although it doesn’t say this anywhere) is powered by comiXology, so when I opened the comiXology app on my iPad, the new comic appeared. It’s interesting to see Marvel building some synergy between these two digital comics services. Meanwhile, Dark Horse is putting the spotlight on their own superheroes in this weekend’s 99-cent sale. Highly recommended: Francesco Francavilla’s retro-noir Black Beetle comics, featuring action-packed stories and art ripped straight from the cover of a pulp novel. There’s also Sledgehammer, Michael Avon Oeming’s The Victories, and a good handful of others, so check ‘em out. The manga scene is quiet, but Digital Manga is offering 20% off on light novels through September 13. Digital Comics Deals for the Weekend: Here Come the X-Men is a post from: E-Reader News |
Kindle MatchBook: Buy a Paper Book, Get the eBook for Cheap or Free
| Earlier this week, before announcing the Kindle Paperwhite 2, Amazon made headlines by introducing something they plan on introducing in October called Kindle MatchBook (no, it’s not Kindle-branded matches). Kindle MatchBook allows customers who purchase the printed copy of a book to get the ebook copy for cheap—$2.99, $1.99, or $0.99—or even free. What’s great […] |
Oyster Offering All-You-Can-Read eBooks For $9.95/Month
| Oyster is out to win over the reading community with an offer that is hard to resist: a library full of ebooks for just $9.95 a month. No wonder the Oyster offer is being equated to Netflix, which has a similar monthly plan for watching videos. At present, there are 100,000 ebooks at Oyster, with none of them being free titles. Oyster has signed up directly with publishers such as HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Rodale. Smashwords titles are also available. Amazon has a similar offer in place, the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, where subscribers of Amazon Prime service have at their disposal over 350,000 ebooks for an annual fee of $79. However, Prime members will be limited to borrowing just one ebook a month. The Oyster offer stands out in that it offers as many ebook one might need for just a few bucks more. However, there is a catch: the service is only available for iOS right now and that too, only for the iPhone. The iPad version will be made available during fall though the team behind Oystem isn't revealing when will they appear on the Android landscape. Meanwhile, the service is as per invitation only at present as it's still under beta testing with about 100 subscribers trying out the service. Further, owners don't get to own the ebooks they have borrowed from Oyster, for the moment the monthly subscription is discontinued, all of the ebooks will vanish from your device. The Oyster offer though does make a lot of sense for the academicians or research professional who need to refer to lot of books. But then, there is no stopping anyone from trying out the service – once it is launched that is – for avid book lovers too will love to be part of the Oyster service. "We’re trying to allow people to spend less time deciding if they should read a book and more time just reading it," revealed Eric Stromberg, one of the co-founders of Oyster.
Oyster Offering All-You-Can-Read eBooks For $9.95/Month is a post from: E-Reader News |
McGraw-Hill Connect Update Makes the Platform More Versatile
 Photo courtesy of guardian.co.uk For the growing number of platforms that offer some form of digital learning or e-textbook options, the race to compete in the already crowded field is driving innovation. For companies who already began with a strong foundation in academic and K-12 publishing, all that remains is to improve the technology and offer the most comprehensive use of the digital capabilities. Educational mainstay McGraw-hill initially began its digital learning dashboard with Connect, and this week announced an update to the already strong platform. "For this update of Connect, we worked closely with researchers, instructors, and students to create the industry's most intuitive and effective online learning environment," said Stephen Laster, chief digital officer of McGraw-Hill Education, in a press release. "We made significant investments in real-time reporting for quicker insights into emerging classroom dynamics and process automation that frees professors for higher value teaching activities and adaptive learning technologies that personalize education. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with students, educators and institutions to ensure Connect and all of our digital learning solutions deliver the industry's strongest engagement, retention and learning results." While the comprehensive list of enhancements and features can be found at connect.mcgraw-hill.com, some of the new updates include Course Builder and Assignment Builder updates which opens access to LearnSmart Advantage™, and offers several time-saving elements, an update to the LearnSmart user interface, the introduction of a new Section Overview feature, and more comprehensive Share/Copy functionality.
McGraw-Hill Connect Update Makes the Platform More Versatile is a post from: E-Reader News |
Podcast: New and Featured Content for September
| Listen to our September collection highlights podcast to learn all about new content in OverDrive Marketplace and be automatically entered for a chance to win $500 in content credit.
This month's podcast features publishers of beloved mysteries and thrillers, best-selling Chinese language content, illustrated children's eBooks, high-low titles for struggling readers, contemporary Hispanic literature, and more. We also cover September sales, where you can receive 30–60% off select content from a variety of publishers—all in under 15 minutes.
But the perks don't stop there—just by listening to this month's podcast, you'll be entered into a drawing to win $500 in content credit, which you can use to purchase titles in OverDrive Marketplace for your collection.
September's podcast is available all month on OverDrive’s Learning Center. See you there!
Carrie Smith is a Technical Writer with OverDrive
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Waterproofing your timelapse rig
| You might remember the post we wrote about BerryCam, a way to operate your Pi’s camera board (available from any of our main distributors – check the “Buy a Pi” links at the top right of the page) from your mobile phone, from the other day. Jim, one of the BerryCam engineers, has also been playing with the camera board in another project: a waterproof timelapse rig in a coffee can. This is not, of course, the first timelapse setup we’ve showcased here: but it is probably the most robust and self-contained, and importantly, it’s waterproof, so you can use it outdoors in the sort of interesting weather that’s just begging to be filmed in timelapse. What you’re watching here is the tide on the Isle of Arran: a soggy environment. A parts list, instructions, code, tips on stopping someone mistaking your camera for an abandoned jar of delicious coffee, and tips on what adhesives etc. to use in environments with fluctuating temperatures and humidity are all available from Jim at Fotosyn’s blog. |
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Esquire Weekly Launches on the iPad
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Its curated content spans Style, Gear, Food & Drink, Culture and Women, using text, pictures, audio and video content and the ability to buy clothes, tickets, box sets, and reserve restaurant tables without leaving the magazine app. Sometimes the app will recommend music, videos or television shows and link directly to the iTunes store to make a purchase or rent it. Editor of Esquire Alex Bilmes said: “We are so excited to be the first men’s magazine to embark on this kind of digital innovation and it’s fantastic to see Esquire setting the standard for the men’s market. Esquire Weekly Launches on the iPad is a post from: E-Reader News |
Esquire has developed a new weekly magazine that is exclusive to the Apple iPad. The first 30 days are free and every Thursday a new issue will be automatically delivered to your device.Amazon Matchbook will Disrupt the Bookselling Industry
| Amazon has announced a new program to debut this October that will severely disrupt the traditional bookselling industry. The Seattle based e-commerce giant intends on offering the digital edition at a severely diminished price when you buy the physical book. You will find most eBooks available from $2.99 to free, which gives incentives to purchase both. Matchbook will be launching with over 10,000 titles. Publishers involved include Harper Collins and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Amazon is actively courting publishers to opt into the program and bundle the books together. “In addition to being a great new benefit for customers, this is an easy choice for publishers and authors who will now be able to earn more from each book they publish,” said Russ Grandinetti, vice president of Kindle Content. Indie authors can find the settings for this program enabled by default, but they have to make sure they are enrolled in Kindle Direct Publishing. Self-published writers are really going to add more books to the platform very quickly via the synergy between Createspace, which physically prints books on demand and Matchbook. Self-published authors will obviously will see more value out of this than traditional publishing companies. Many industry analysts are reporting that readers tend to purchase one or the other. Philip Jones, editor of trade publication the Bookseller magazine said “As far as I can tell most people read in one format, so they choose print or they choose digital and it’s quite rare that they read both.” I think this statement is misguided and Matchbook draws parallels between the success of Amazon Autorip, which gives you free MP3′s if you buy the physical CD and Ultraviolet. Consumers love options and some people may be on the fence whether they want to buy into the whole eBook revolution. Ultraviolet has seen a tremendous amount of success buy bundling their DVD and Blu-Ray movies with free digital editions. Barnes and Noble has experienced modest success in their Nook Video program by just doing business with Ultraviolet. You would be hard pressed to buy a disk and NOT have the digital edition. Obviously not everyone will even use the digital edition once they purchase the physical disk, but some will. These people often go on to make more online purchases, whether they use iTunes or Google TV. Amazon is betting that the allure of a free or discounted eBook may bring more people into buying Kindles. Amazon’s chief executive Jeff Bezos told the BBC last year that his firm made no profit on Kindle hardware. Instead it aims to ensure shoppers come to its site to buy compatible eBooks and other goods from which it does make money. Matchbook is going to put the traditional bookselling industry on notice if it even sees traction. Publishers and booksellers will feel a need to buy into alternative business models and bundle their content. This really drives home the buy once, read anywhere mentality that everyone is trying to promote. Amazon Matchbook will Disrupt the Bookselling Industry is a post from: E-Reader News |
Jeff Bezos to Washington Post: Don’t Be Boring
| It could not have been a good feeling to come to work at The Washington Post one fateful day recently and find a memo on your cubicle desk that said, “We’ve been bought out by the guy who founded Amazon.” The world’s largest online retailer is known for cutting edge technology and innovation, and print newspapers are known for covering yesterday’s news. Obviously, any fears about how this model would turn out were completely founded. According to an article for TheVerge.com, Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, has now attended two different meetings at The Post, and apparently this most recent meeting ended with a standing ovation for the man who just sunk a reported $250 million into a print newspaper, albeit a news company rooted in history and who is still known for its engaging investigative journalism. There has been a lot of speculation about how the Bezos Effect might impact the stalwart newspaper. One of the most widely thought views is that he will do his utmost to bring the technology behind the newspaper and its digital edition up to speed, something that a number of newspapers flounder with. It will also be interesting to see if the man behind one of the most value-conscious and successful retailers will have any impact on the current method newspapers employ of paywalling their digital content, allowing only so much of an article or a paper to be read for free before requiring payment. As The Verge so interestingly pointed out, this crop of staff members at the paper were not put off by the man who plans to make some digital changes. In fact, while an older group might have expressed some disdain for a changing model for how a newspaper should run, the staff who were in the meeting were pleased with what they heard. That could have a little something to do with the fact that Bezos firmly stated that if any more layoffs or spending cuts were to take place at The Post, there wouldn’t be a newspaper left.
Jeff Bezos to Washington Post: Don’t Be Boring is a post from: E-Reader News |
Interactive eBooks coming to the Apple iPhone
| Interactive eBooks created with iBooks Author have always been relegated to iPad version. The large screen makes optimizing textbooks, kids books and a slew of other content really shine. iBooks support for the Mac will be coming as part of Apple’s launch of the full iBooks experience in OS X Mavericks, and iPhone support may also be in the works. In the past, viewing an iBooks Author-created ebook online or via iTunes displayed the following message under the heading of 'requirements': "This book can only be viewed using iBooks 3.0 or later on an iPad. iOS 5.1 or later is required." Today the text has been updated in the iTunes Store and you now see "To view this book, you must have an iOS device with iBooks 3.0 or later and iOS 5.1 or later, or a Mac with iBooks 1.0 or later and OS X 10.9 or later." There is a strong likelihood that when Apple has their unveiling next week, where they will announce a new iPhone lineup, enhanced eBooks will play a role. This small change in text for iPhone on the iTunes store is an indication that they company plans to allow for EPUB 3 books to run on the iPhone. Interactive eBooks coming to the Apple iPhone is a post from: E-Reader News |
