| So, what’s everybody reading in this first week of 2014? 1. X-Men: Days of Future Past See a pattern here? This is a pretty interesting week. For one thing, there is only one new release in the top ten, and it’s also the only DC comic, Superman Unchained #5. ComiXology is currently running a pretty good sale on Marvel graphic novels, which is why the X-Men and Fear Itself books are on the list. As for Age of Ultron, there was a 99-cent sale, but it ended on January 2. I’m guessing that the regular price of $3.99 for 20 pages of story made for a lot of pent-up demand, because it’s interesting that three days after the sale ended, Age of Ultron is still dominating the chart—all the more so because comiXology’s sales don’t usually affect their top ten list. 1. Hyperbole and a Half Amazon has the same sale on Marvel graphic novels right now, and that is also affecting their top ten, but Kindle users are an eclectic bunch and they aren’t going to march in lockstep just because one publisher has a sale. No, their top ten is all over the place. And since the DC graphic novel sale is still going on, it’s Battle of the Marked-Down Graphic Novels over there. 1. Smallville, Season 11 #1 After weeks and weeks of the same books in the same order, the Nook top ten finally shakes up a bit, probably because of all those Christmas gift cards. There’s a change you can’t see in this chart, however, which is that the top three most downloaded comics are free—the first paid book is in the fourth slot on the overall chart. Of course, that may be true of the other charts as well—only Barnes and Noble intermingles free and paid downloads. iBooks 1. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic #12 As usual, iBooks is dominated by My Little Pony and The Walking Dead, two franchises that make odd bedfellows, to say the least. There’s an oddball title in the number ten spot, though: Chapter 16 of a digital-first manga about a boy and his robot maid that came out last July. Manga hardly ever makes the top iBooks top ten, and this particular manga is pretty obscure; even stranger, none of the other chapters makes the charts. Digital Comics Best-Sellers for January 5, 2014 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Digital Comics Best-Sellers for January 5, 2014
Consumers Warned Against “Showrooming”
| A name has been given to an evil that plagues independent bookstores, a practice that was blamed largely for the demise of the Borders bookstore chain: showrooming. This practice, which affects mom-and-pop retailers across possibly every industry but especially the bookselling profession, occurs when consumers enter a local physical retail shop in order to find information and prices, then make their purchases online instead; some consumers have been caught in the act of making the online purchase even before leaving the store. While obviously not illegal and even supported by apps that are designed specifically to let consumers scan a barcode with their smartphones in order to compare prices from online retailers, the practice itself is fairly shameful. Many retailers are already feeling the pinch of losing out to online retailers who can conduct their businesses across a broader consumer base and without the same overhead as paying rent on Main Street, then add to this the fact that faux-customers enter these places of business only to comparison shop. It’s pretty shabby. One store, Elliott Bay Book Co., has taken to attempting to get customers to think about their actions. Signs are posted throughout the stacks that warn customers against the practice, even providing a QR code that links to an article that details the after effects of this practice. Yet another business, publisher Educational Development Corp., went so far as to pull their titles from Amazon due to their salesmen giving lengthy presentations to corporate consumers at company expense, and then having those potential customers make the purchase from Amazon. But will these tactics actually prove effective? After all, if a consumer is willing to physically stand in an independent bookstore and make the purchase on their smartphone (or on their tablet, using the store’s wifi connection as they do), will simply pointing out how it harms small businesses enough? One option would be to actively encourage the online purchasing, and even go so far as to provide a counter top computer to conduct these transactions while directing the customer to the retailer through the store’s own website. At the very least the store could earn affiliate benefits on the transaction. Customers who need the instant purchase of the title will buy it in store, and those who can afford to wait in order to save on the discount can still help the business. As companies call attention to the harmful effects of the problem, ideally consumers will think twice about the damage they are doing within their own communities; otherwise, they will hopefully not be the ones to complain about the death of small businesses at the hands of big box retailers.
Consumers Warned Against “Showrooming” is a post from: E-Reader News |
eBook Review: The Poisoned Island by Lloyd Shepherd
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Shepherd’s second title, The Poisoned Island (Washington Square Press), had an incredibly intriguing premise, but it dragged. The action got lost in chapter after chapter of descriptive narrative filled with back story, as opposed to dialogue and sequences. On the plus side, and at the risk of a vast spoiler alert, there is a tremendously intelligent juxtaposition between addiction to a substance and to a way of life. Set with the invasion of Tahiti by the English–and invasion is probably the incorrect, impolite term here, as evidenced by their exploration and later gathering of tropical plants; of course, once the captain of the ship rapes the daughter of the tribal king, it’s an invasion–the story follows the drama back in England surrounding the mysterious deaths of several members of the ship’s crew when they return from the island addicted to “leaf.” At times both compassionate and brutal, the story simply didn’t need four hundred pages to dole out the details. It was, however, a very human book, and I kept reading in hopes that the right people were brought to justice, or at least suffered at the hands of karma. It’s hard to feel much sympathy for the crew who helped spread contagious diseases, venereal and otherwise, among one of the many, many cultures that the English destroyed throughout the reign of the empire. One very important and enjoyable aspect of the book was Shepherd’s attention to accuracy. Both this book and his first title, The English Monster, were very obviously well researched, and the author’s knowledge of not only the setting and geography but also the time period are very evident. Fans of highly detailed stories complete with minute descriptions will possibly enjoy the book, if they can endure it. The Poisoned Island goes on sale on January 14th.
eBook Review: The Poisoned Island by Lloyd Shepherd is a post from: E-Reader News |
New Polaroid Tablets Run KitKat, Start at $129
| Android's biggest forte has always been the low cost tablet segment; the sheer number of tablet devices running Android in the sub $250 price bracket is ample proof of this. Polaroid is one more to join the line up with its Q branded devices – Q7, Q8 and Q10, offering 7, 8, and 10.1 inch displays. Details aren't available at the moment, though what is known is that all three siblings are powered by quad core chips and run the latest Android 4.4 KitKat version. These devices are expected to be sold in the low-end budget tablet segment, with the Q tablet range priced between $129 and $179, making it among the more affordable tablet devices running the latest Android KitKat version.
New Polaroid Tablets Run KitKat, Start at $129 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Qualcomm Ultra Sound NotePad Tech Can Transmit Paper Inscriptions to Tablet in Real Time
| What’s CES without a few extravagant tech demos? This time, Qualcomm has lined up a treat: an Ultra Sound NotePad. The real magic lies with a digital pen and the way it can transmit everything to the tablet in real time. The tablet in question is a test device and is powered by the company’s newest Snapdragon 85 chip. The way it works is that the ultrasonic sensor with the pen records the vibrations that are created when it is used to write or draw anything on real paper. This is then transferred to the tablet running the associated app, and an exact replica of what is inscribed on the paper is reflected on the tablet's screen as well. The video at the bottom demonstrates it in action. The same stylus that is just as effective to write on the tablet's display can deliver the same result when used to write on a real paper. This will help those who are more adept at writing on paper than on screens. Artists can have their creations transmitted to a tablet instantly, avoiding scanning their work to digital media; comic artists can also derive immense benefits from the new technology. The unique technology should also speed up back office operations (such as in banking sectors) where organizations maintain a dedicated workforce for scanning content. However, all of it is still in the demo stages and is yet to be launched commercially, but it shouldn’t be too far away given its huge potential. Engadget has also posted several videos that showcase the capabilities of the new Snapdragon 805 chip.
Qualcomm Ultra Sound NotePad Tech Can Transmit Paper Inscriptions to Tablet in Real Time is a post from: E-Reader News |
A Trio of New Comics to Kick Off 2014
| As we start the New Year, we have seen a number of new series launch from independent comics publishers. It’s nice to be able to jump onto a monthly series at the beginning, so here’s a quick look at three first issues that I enjoyed this week. Bad Blood: It’s hard to believe anyone could come up with an original twist on a vampire story, but Jonathan Mayberry has done it. His hero is Trick, a college student who used to have a bright future as a football player but is now struggling with cancer. Artist Tyler Crook doesn’t whitewash this at all—Trick already looks like a dead man walking—but I particularly liked the way his best friend Kyle applies a sort of bro therapy, hauling Trick out of bed and talking smack about his disease, while also getting serious for a few minutes when the situation warrants it. Just when it starts to look like a Lifetime movie, though, Trick gets bitten by a vampire and—here comes the twist—thanks to the chemo he has been going through, his blood is toxic to the vampire. As the enraged vampire is consumed by the poison, he declares war on Trick and does his best to ruin his life, so Trick heads out to go vampire-hunting. I usually don’t like vampire stories, but I’m a fan of Tyler Crook (Petrograd) and his watercolor style and intriguing character designs give this comic a very different look from most vampire comics—his vampire looks nothing like Dracula. It’s a smart take on the vampire myth and well worth a look; you can check out a preview here. (Dark Horse Digital) Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure: I mentioned this in this week’s best new comics post—it’s a steampunk story mashing up seven different pulp characters, but you don’t have to be a pulp fan to enjoy it. In fact, the first issue stars Vampirella and the Green Hornet, but those names are never mentioned—both appear as their alter egos, Madam Pendragon and Britt Reid. The series gets off to a leisurely start, allowing us to soak up a bit of the decadent faux-Victorian atmosphere, with a scene set in Madam Pendragon’s nightclub, where she and Reid are discussing the perfect martini. Suddenly a woman rushes in, pursued by a team of masked assassins. Madam Pendragon rescues her and tears the assassins apart with her bare hands in a spectacularly bloody fight sequence. When the attackers are unmasked, they all appear to be clones—they even have the same scar. On further investigation, we learn that the mystery woman is investigating the disappearance of her sister, and her quest has stirred up a dark conspiracy. The series is written by Bill Willingham (Fables), and the scripting is solid if a bit mannered at times. Artist Sergio Davila does a nice job with the characters and throws in a lot of steampunk touches, although, as Johanna Draper Carlson points out, he slips up on continuity in a few places. When Madam Pendragon rushes toward the assassins, for instance, she appears to shed all her clothes, but in the next scene she is wearing a complicated costume. Aside from that, it’s an enjoyable story for those who don’t mind willingly suspending their disbelief. (Available on comiXology and Dark Horse Digital) Revelations: Here’s a good ol’ Vatican mystery, pitting a chain-smoking British detective against some sort of quasi-supernatural conspiracy. The detective, Charlie Northern, is a fan of books about space aliens and looks like he will be an interesting guy to follow around; the other characters are straight out of central casting. The story begins with a cardinal being impaled on a railing and some guy reciting Latin-ish mumbo-jumbo as he tries to stab him with a knife; it’s hard to decode visually, but once the story moves on, the pieces start to fall into place. Aside from that, the art is pretty nice, with strongly caricatured character designs signaling us not to take anything too seriously. Which is just as well. Despite some preposterous moments, it’s a good read, especially if you like religio-historical conspiracy thrillers like The DaVinci Code. (comiXology) A Trio of New Comics to Kick Off 2014 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Has Google Demolished the Newspaper Industry?
| There has been quite a number of journalists weighing in on the role Google plays in the newspaper industry. The company has made billions of dollars of advertising revenue at the expense of content creators. The newspaper industry has lost billions of dollars in the last 10 years, which is directly proportionate to the sheer growth Google has garnered . Should Google be doing more for the newspaper industry? In 2011 Google made 37.9 billion dollars, of which 96% derived from advertising. Each quarter from 2012 to 2013 earned Google 14 billion dollars on average with the same amount coming from their core advertising market. "Our top 25 advertisers are spending over $150 million per year" on Google's ads business such as search, display and YouTube, said a Google Spokesman . Currently Google accounts for more than 41% of U.S. digital ad revenues, according to eMarketer. When Google first introduced their Adwords platform in the year 2000, newspapers in the US peaked at $48 billion dollars from direct advertising. This has since declined to 18.9 billion in 2012. It is painfully obvious that most advertisers are getting more bang for their buck by advertising on the internet, instead of physical papers. In the last few months many of techs leading innovators is trying to help journalism reach new heights and put a priority in the dailies. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos acquired the Washington Post for $250 million, then eBay founder Pierre Omidyar promised to spend a similar amount on a brand-new media entity called First Look Media. Google so far as done nothing to give back to the industry. Many European countries are not taking the advertising market share of Google laying down. Google generates an estimated €1.5 billion, or $2 billion, in France. The government is irate that the company pays almost no taxes in France, and instead is going to Belgium and Ireland. "We want to work to ensure that Europe is not a tax haven for a certain number of Internet giants," the digital economy minister, Fleur Pellerin mentioned. The fight against Google Advertising has been taken to European courtrooms for several years, with publishers in Belgium, Italy, and France bringing copyright cases against it for displaying and aggregating snippets of content in search results and on services such as its Google News aggregator. Basically, Google was taking newspaper articles and monetizing it and publishers were not being compensated. Google tried to defuse the France situation before they managed to convince the EU to pass sweeping new laws to tax Google for local news that makes Google News and is ridden with adverts. The government and Google passed a €60m digital innovation fund that will help local news companies start to monetize their newspapers in digital form. The commercial agreement will allow media organisations to profit from Google advertising platforms, including AdSense and AdMob for mobile phones. Google sends some 6bn clicks a month to publishers around the world, representing a big money-making potential by selling advertising next to it and drawing in new readers. Many industry experts agree that Craigslist led to the decline of the local classified advertising that was the cornerstone of newspapers revenue stream. Google has a pronounced effect on the consistent decline of advertising Simply put, Google has not done enough to aid the newspaper industry. If the company continues their profiteering ways at the expense of original content creators, more papers will fold and less content will be created. Has Google Demolished the Newspaper Industry? is a post from: E-Reader News |
Saturday, January 4, 2014
DreamTab Promises to be the Dream Tablet For Kids
| There is a new tablet device being developed for kids which promises to be unlike any other so far. The DreamTab, as it is named, will be a joint collaboration between Fuhu and DreamWorks, and does seem to live up to its name as both companies involved have extensive experience in producing content for kids. Fuhu produces the Nabi line of tablet devices, which has had over 2 million buyers in 2013. DreamWorks is already well known for its animation and is aiming to deliver content tailor made to suit tablet devices. “We could push out a new character moment every day of the year,” said Jim Mainard, head of digital strategy and new business development for DreamWorks, which goes to show how deeply they wish to infiltrate the kids’ market with the new tablet. Parental control regimes such as playing games only for the stipulated amount of time or switching off the device altogether are aligned with characters; what better way to make them do these then have friendly animation characters such as Shrek perform a skit to make the kids develop a habit of proper tablet usage? This is aimed at the dual purpose of drawing kids to using the tablet which in turn will contain enough of DreamWorks' own technology to promote its content. Both developers involved in the project have made it clear the device is expected to have an 8 inch display to be just as powerful as the iPad; there are expected the educational features as well. As part of this effort, the DreamTab will also include a stylus based on the same technology that the company's artists use to draw the characters that feature in their movies, meaning the company's top notch animators will be able to teach users to draw characters such as Po the panda or Toothless the dragon. The DreamTab will also comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, a law that mandates the way companies collect information on kids under 13. The kids otherwise will be able to communicate with their parents via email or other messaging options. The tablet will also include an entire class of DreamWorks themed accessories which includes cases, headphones, and protective bumpers around the device. Expect the DreamTab to make a debut at the CES, though actual availability could still be a few weeks away. As for its price, while nothing substantial is available as yet, what is known for sure is that the tablet will cost below $300.
DreamTab Promises to be the Dream Tablet For Kids is a post from: E-Reader News |
New Susbcribers to The Sun Thanks to Digital Paywall
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A number of newspaper publishers have experimented with putting limitations on their digital material. Some use a model where certain articles are free and easily accessible, while other more newsworthy articles are only available to paid subscribers. Other publishers have taken a different approach, one that was met with instant outcry but that has slowly come to be the norm: the paywall system. Under a typical paywall, readers can access only so many articles–of their own choosing–per time period, and then must subscribe to read any further news. While some critics saw this as baiting people with astonishing headlines in order to lure new subscribers, it is a model that is growing in popularity with publishers. According to new information on UK’s The Sun, that model has apparently grown popular with subscribes, too: an additional 117,000 subscribers, in fact, since the outlet began using a paywall system on its digital counterpart, The Sun+. According to information from The Guardian, those subscribers have all come on board since the August 1, 2013, implementation of the system. Unfortunately, some reports indicate that The Sun needs more than 250,000 subscribers in order to keep the cost effectiveness of the move in check.Unfortunately, there are reports that the more than 30 million online fans of the digital paper dropped dramatically once the paywall was rolled out, looking elsewhere for free content. David Dinsmore, editor, has admitted that there is no really clear social media strategy in place at the UK’s top selling tabloid, and that they are hiring a team to fix that in the immediate future. Having a clearer strategy in that regard can increase subscribership almost immediately.
New Susbcribers to The Sun Thanks to Digital Paywall is a post from: E-Reader News |
Acer Launches 2 Budget Android Tablets – Starting at $130
| As if there weren't already enough options in the Android budget tablet segment, Acer has just come out with a few more options – 2 to be precise – to entice buyers. Both the tablets form part of the Iconia model line-up and run Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean instead of the latest Android KitKat, which might be a small price to pay considering both are priced well within the affordable range. The range starts with the Iconia B1-720 and is priced a quite attractive $130. The tablet sports matching specs which includes a dual core 1.3 GHz chip, 1 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of storage that is complemented with a microSD card slot that can add another 32 GB of storage. The tablet also comes with a front facing camera with none at the rear. However, the real issue here could be the just 5 hours of battery life that the B1-720 has to offer. With specs that can support ebook reading, playing games, web surfing and so on, the paltry backup time can prove to be the deal breaker here. This since with that much of battery life, the use of the device for just reading ebooks, considered perhaps the most basic of tasks to be accomplished on a tablet can also turn out to be chore. With the Iconia A1-830, it's a slightly bigger device that we are looking at, one that offers a 7.9 inch 1024 x 768 pixel display. The rest of the specs are similar to its smaller sibling expect that it is powered by an Intel Atom Z2560 Clover trail chip clocked at 1.6GHz. The tablet also sports a micro USB port and comes with front 720p and rear HD webcam. Battery life is a bit more respectable 7.5 hours. All this for a price tag of $149 in the US and $199 in Canada. This makes us wonder why would anyone opt for the cheaper B1-720 when one can have a better and bigger device for just $20 more. Acer originally announced the price to be $180 though clarified it later to be $149. In any case, the Iconia A1-830 at $149 can be considered to have been priced just right as it comes across as an affordable option for the ultra-low cost tablet segment that is comprised mainly of products from tier-two companies while also coming across as an affordable option against better placed tablet offering such as the Galaxy Tab 3 or even the Nexus 7. True the A1-830 may lack the oomph factor of the Nexus 7 tablet that starts at $230 but comes across as an affordable option for those who are ready to sacrifice performance for a few bucks.
Acer Launches 2 Budget Android Tablets – Starting at $130 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Friday, January 3, 2014
Why Amazon’s Proprietary eBook Format is Better than ePub
| Amazon has been actively developing its own proprietary eBook format for the last six years. Unlike EPUB, Amazon has the ability to introduce new features in their digital format without waiting for a standards body to approve them. Amazon is clearly winning the eBook sales race with USA market penetration of over 75% and is primarily due to them having control over their own destiny. When Amazon first developed their Kindle e-Reader at Lab126, ePub did not yet exist. In order to roll out their Kindle and fledgling digital ecosystem that had to develop a digital standard that was in compliance with most reading software of its day. Instead of making it themselves, they purchased Mobipocket in 2005, and the MOBI format is still used to this day. Amazon then started to develop their own book formats, such as AZW and media friendly KF8. Around the same time Amazon was pursuing their digital book empire the entire industry was in disarray. Palm, Microsoft, Sony, Fictionbook, and many others were vying for standardization. The advantage Amazon had over their competition is that they sold eBooks on their website and owned hardware to deliver the content. EPUB has been around for a long time and is the brainchild of the IDPF, who is the governing body. They vote on standardization features brought to the table by developers, publishers and tech companies. To get anything done of note, takes years. EPUB3 was to be the solution for multimedia content and an attempt to deliver audio, video and interactive elements. The evolutionary growth of the platform has been stymied by a collective organization of incompetents and people loving to speak at conferences, but get very little done. This is why Apple comes along and dominates multimedia books with their own iBooks Author software. The Amazon eBook formats dominate the English speaking world and ePub tends to be advantageous for localization in countries like the Netherlands and Germany. It is very popular in countries that have a huge piracy problem like China and Vietnam. Readers and bookworms are the people that fuel Amazon’s growth. They certainly do not care what book format they use, they simply want to read. Amazon is in the position to pioneer innovation in a shorter period of time with their deep pockets and bright engineers. This is how features such as Public Notes, X-Ray and WhisperSync for Voice have been implemented. EPUB is developed by a collective body, nuff said. Why Amazon’s Proprietary eBook Format is Better than ePub is a post from: E-Reader News |
3D Gorilla Glass Announced by Corning for Wearable Tech
| Gorilla Glass is found on many tablets and smartphones, which helps in the survivability of your tech from everyday life. The company has announced today new technology that will see them enter the wearable tech space, mainly with smart watches. The 3D glass will allow it to conform to your wrist and allow manufacturing to product watches that have screens bending around your wrist. Traditional smart watches like the Toq, or Pebble have simple, non-bendable screens. Its newly available technique conforms to unusual designs without adding bulk or losing strength. Corning said in a statement that “Corning's 3D-forming technology can achieve precise tolerances and high throughput on a platform that is more economical than alternative two-mold forming methods. This technology uses Gorilla Glass of uniform thickness, assisting designers to introduce thinner and lighter devices and leverage the emergence of conformable displays for mobile and wearable applications.” Gorilla Glass is the primary company Apple deals with for their gadgets and many other companies rely on them for their durable screen technology. 3D Gorilla Glass Announced by Corning for Wearable Tech is a post from: E-Reader News |
Breaking: Disney to Move Star Wars Comics to Marvel
| Marvel and Dark Horse announced today that Disney is taking back the license for the Star Wars comics and will move it over to Marvel in 2015. Dark Horse has had the franchise for over 20 years, during which they not only spun out a series of prequels and sequels that added to the Star Wars universe but also, in the past year, launched two new series: Star Wars, which was set in the world of the first movie, and The Star Wars, a comic based on George Lucas’s first draft of the screenplay. There has been speculation that Disney would make this move ever since it acquired Lucasfilm in December 2012. Last year, they announced that they will make a new Star Wars trilogy, with the first movie scheduled for a summer 2015 release date—making 2015 the year that Star Wars comics turn into big money. Since Disney also owns Marvel, this is an obvious next step, but it’s one that many fans of Dark Horse’s Star Wars comics were hoping wouldn’t happen. I asked Dark Horse spokesman Aub Driver what would happen to Star Wars comics that were purchased digitally via the Dark Horse app and he said “All purchased titles residing in your account on Dark Horse Digital will remain in your account’s ‘Cloud’ forever. So, while the Star Wars titles may no longer be purchasable from the storefront after December 2014 – they will certainly remain viewable and readable in your account.” As for what will be the fate of the 20 years’ worth of comics produced by Dark Horse, Driver said, “Per our original contract with LucasFilm, reprints/usage of Dark Horse published material would require Disney to purchase the original files directly from Dark Horse.” Here’s what Dark Horse president Mike Richardson had to say, in a letter sent out today. “For those who are new to the industry, Dark Horse revolutionized the treatment of comics based on films. After a history of movie properties being poorly handled with little regard for execution and continuity, Dark Horse took a new approach, carefully choosing licenses and approaching them with excitement and creative energy.” He elaborated “Our goal was to create sequels and prequels to the films we loved, paying careful attention to quality and detail, essentially treating those films as though they were our own. Star Wars has been the crown jewel of this approach. We began chasing the title as far back as 1989, and with the launch of Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy's Dark Empire, a new era in comics was born. I'm not ashamed to admit that we were Star Wars geeks, and we have been determined to spare neither effort nor expense in the pursuit of excellence.” He also notes that Dark Horse has been preparing for this for some time and has added a number of new projects to its schedule for the next two years, and he concludes with this – “In the meantime, 2014 may be our last year at the helm of the Star Wars comics franchise, but we plan to make it a memorable one. We know that fans of the franchise will expect no less. The Force is with us still.” Breaking: Disney to Move Star Wars Comics to Marvel is a post from: E-Reader News |
Personal Shopping at Hoover High School
| Editor’s Note: This blog post was written by Nikki Robertson, school librarian at Hoover High School in Hoover, Ala., to showcase a unique way of engaging students and personalize the reading experience. Do you have a story you’d like to share on the OverDrive blog about how to engage readers with your digital collection? Email blogs@overdrive.com with your story.
School libraries are a hub of activity, offering an endless variety of services. At The Library@HHS, we like to refer to the library as the "One Stop Shop.” If we can't meet your needs, we can always connect you with someone who can. One service that gives us a great deal of joy is Personal Shopping for students. Personal shoppers help others shop by giving advice and making suggestions to customers usually found in department stores or specialty boutiques. We have taken the Personal Shopper concept and revamped it for the school library. Typically when we take on the role of a personal shopper, it is at the request of a teacher for the students in their classes. The students are asked to write down the following:
Occasionally, the teacher will write the student's lexile level on the back of the Personal Shopping Card and ask us to find book matches within the indicated reading level. Matching students to their perfect book is a meticulous process. On average, for a class of 25 students, it can take two to three days to find at least three book matches for each student. Here is a basic breakdown of the Personal Shopping process: The teacher collects the personal shopping detail cards from their students and gives them to the librarians. We take one card at a time, review the information provided and then begin searching our Destiny library management system and our OverDrive account for books that best match each student’s interests. This is just the beginning of the Personal Shopping process. Because we want to provide students with quality books, we spend a great deal of time reading book reviews, checking book award lists, and checking sites like Goodreads and Shelfari for ratings. Students at Hoover High School have a voracious appetite for books, which throws a kink in our personal shopping process as it is often a challenge to actually find the books we have chosen on the shelves available for check out, virtually or physically. This is a good yet challenging "problem" when serving as a personal shopper. Once all students have been matched to at least three book choices, we schedule the class to come to the library for the big "unveiling" of the books.
It is always fun watching students get excited about the books we have chosen for them. One girl exclaimed, "All of these books are perfect for me!"
Nikki Robertson is a school librarian at Hoover High School.
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New Digital Site and Conference from Founders of AllThingsD
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While the duo have decades of industry experience between them, the new venture will focus on digital technology news and reviews; the building of Re/Code will be to exert complete control over their brand. This included reaching new investors, including Windsor Media and NBCUniversal and its properties, CNBC, NBC News and MSNBC. This will mean expanded content collaboration between Re/Code and other involved news outlets. For its part, the Wall Street Journal has already announced its intentions for its replacement for AllThingsD, which will include long-form pieces on the industry and its own global technology conference, which isn’t surprising given the popularity and the attendance of the long-time AllThingsD conferences.
New Digital Site and Conference from Founders of AllThingsD is a post from: E-Reader News |
Digital First Media Announcement Finalized
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"This is an important moment for our Company and positions us to accelerate our growth under a single and innovative brand," said John Paton, Chief Executive Officer of Digital First Media, in a press release on the partnership. More than 67 million readers in the US consume Digital First Media’s 800 multi-platform offerings, making Digital First Media the second largest newspaper group in the US. One of the keys to success for newspapers going into the digital age is retaining subscribers in a time when news is available for free throughout the web. Another obstacle has been keeping advertisers happy and helping them see how much time is spent by their audiences interacting with digital ads. Companies like Aquafadas and solutions like Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite have stepped in to help companies with long histories of print media ease into a new comfort zone as digital content providers.
Digital First Media Announcement Finalized is a post from: E-Reader News |
News from Carrie Anne Philbin
| Carrie Anne’s end-of-year edition of Geek Gurl Diaries had some news in it that might interest you. The whole of the video (especially the book competition) is likely to be something you’ll find interesting – but the REALLY interesting bit is the announcement that Carrie Anne makes at around the 3:49 mark. Congratulations Carrie Anne – we’re really looking forward to seeing you on Monday morning! |
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Is Ultimate Spider-Man Coming to an End?
| Spider-Man has several incarnations, and one of the ones that got a lot of attention is Miles Morales, the black/Latino teenager who took over the Spidey-Suit in Brian Michael Bendis’s Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man, after the death of Peter Parker. Now Bendis is hinting that the series has run its course. In response to a question from a reader on his Tumblr about whether he would have another Marvel book, he replied,
But did he mean it? it’s true that at the Ultimate Marvel Panel in San Diego, nobody said attempted to dispel rumors that the Ultimates line was drawing to a close, and in fact the big announcement at that panel was of the event titled Cataclysm: The Ultimates Last Stand. Some folks think that the Ultimates comics will wind up with the Survive event next spring. The Ultimates comics are in a separate universe than the regular Marvel characters, and it is possible that even if Ultimate Comics Spider-Man comes to an end, Miles Morales will live on in the regular continuity. Is Ultimate Spider-Man Coming to an End? is a post from: E-Reader News |
Smart Watches to Make a Big Splash at CES 2014
| CES is occuring next week and Good e-Reader will be live on the scene covering all of the latest news, previews and industry wide coverage. Wearable tech is poised to be one of the biggest aspect of the show. Intel, Samsung, LG, Freescale and others will all be showing off various tech for this hot new segment. According to Juniper Research, retail revenue from smart wearable devices will reach $19 billion by 2018 compared with $1.4 billion in 2013. The firm also projects that sales of smart wearable devices will approach 130 million units by 2018, which is 10 times higher than estimated to sell in 2013. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said he is launching a full scale assault on wearable tech with their new Quark chip. Krzanich said he has been accelerating Intel’s shift toward ultra-mobile processors, the hardware unveiled at CES won’t ship until April at the earliest. Freescale is working on the The WaRP platform that is engineered to unleash design creativity for multiple vertical segments in the wearables market such as sports monitors, smart glasses, activity trackers, smart watches and healthcare/medical applications. Archos is showing off a new smartwatch that will have a lean and thin design similar to products from Pebble, and will be compatible with Apple's iOS and Google's Android OS devices, Archos said in a statement. It is set to cost only $83 US. ZTE is going to introduce their first smartwatch, called BlueWatch, which has a built-in pedometer and tethers to a smartphone via Bluetooth, enabling you to control calls, photography, and social media from your wrist. Sony according to a FCC filing seems to indicate we should expect another smartwatch very soon. It's supposed to be equipped with NFC and Bluetooth, and has been described as a "Bluetooth Wrist Notifier." The Sony CEO will be doing a keynote on the first day of CES, and we will let you know if they unveil it or not. Smart Watches to Make a Big Splash at CES 2014 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Books to Movies, a look back at 2013
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Either way, I'm enjoying the heck out of it. Sure, some of them are horrible (we won’t mention names), but others are truly great on the big screen. 2013 saw a whole lot of movies based on books—too many, in fact, for me to list here. So, instead, I've picked several that I was (and am still) pleased with the cinematic outcome. I'll follow up this post with another that lists some upcoming movies for 2014 that I'm excited about, so stay tuned.
What was your favorite book-to-movie in 2013? Did we miss any on the list? Let us know on the comments section below.
Quinton Lawman is a Technical Writer at OverDrive.
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