| Michael Bloomberg is a man on the mission. One of his lifelong goals is purchasing one of the most influential newspapers in the world, the New York Times. A few years ago he formally approached Chairman Arthur Sulzberger about a possible deal, but was told “The New York Times will never be for sale.” Recently the New York Magazine published a speculation piece and for all sense and purposes, Michael’s interest has not waned. Michael Bloomberg is the former mayor of New York and held the office for three terms. He is considered to be the wealthiest person in New York, whose reported net worth is north of $33 billion, could certainly afford to acquire a publicly traded media company with a market capitalization of a mere $2 billion—even if he had to pay a substantial premium. Many of the most popular newspapers in the US also proclaimed that they would never be for sale, but look how it all panned out. The Wall Street Journal was not for sale until Rupert Murdoch made an offer that was 67% above their shares' trading value. The Washington Post wasn’t on the market until Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos came knocking and bought it in August 2013. The New York Times has been under the gun lately to produce. In October they reported a loss of $9 million compared to a profit of $12.9 million in the third quarter of 2013. The loss was driven, in part, by the cost of buyouts and over 100 layoffs, as well as a capital investment in new products. The company bet big on NYT Opinion, a mobile app dedicated to opinionated content and NYT Now, which was aimed at younger readers. Both had not gained the traction the Times had wanted and were quickly shuttered. One ally that Bloomberg has in a possible buyout situation is Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, who also expressed an interest in purchasing the Times. Last week, Mr. Slim exercised warrants to become the largest shareholder of the company with a 17% stake and told Reuters last July that his holdings in the company are a "financial investment." If Bloomberg paid a dramatic above average rate for the company, Slim would make a copious amount of money. Will the Times sell? It looks highly unlikely, primarily due to the way the company is structured. Poynter outlined the current situation by saying “The structure of the family trust is the heart of the matter . It would be almost impossible unless there was unanimity" among family shareholders to sell the company to an outsider. Even were there a block of dissident family members, stock in the Trust would have to be offered first to the other Class B Trust shareholders before it could go to anyone else.” The New York Times core business is sound. Their online digital strategy is paying off big time. They basically pioneered the paywall system, that gives people a limited amount of content they can read, before they have to take out a subscription. Over 900,000 people are currently paying for this and via their official line of apps for Android and iOS apps. Third party companies are also lending the assist in generation additional revenue. PressReader is marketing the NYT replica edition to a ravenous audience. Mike Bloomberg Covets the New York Times is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Mike Bloomberg Covets the New York Times
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Crunchyroll Manga VS Viz Manga
| Two of the biggest sites for fans to read the very latest manga online are Viz Manga and Crunchyroll Manga. While both companies offer this type of content, they both offer very different features. While Crunchyroll is known for being a reliable site sourcing all of it’s content from Japan, Viz Manga is the official North American distributor of most manga. Many people getting into manga for the first time might be wondering what site offers the most compelling value proposition? Today, we look into what each company does and what makes the most sense for you, the reader.
Crunchyroll can also be used for free – but with a catch. The quality may not be as high, and you won’t be able to read it until a week after the official release, in comparison to members who can read new chapters just hours after their release in Japan. Another con about using Crunchyroll is there are a wide array of various memberships, and many times people won’t know which to sign up for. It can be confusing, and hard if you don’t know exactly what you want to get. Viz Manga runs a little differently. They are an offshoot to Viz Media, the company that distributes most of the official English translations of manga, including the popular magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump. Because of this, using Viz Manga allows you to read the magazine. Not only does this involve multiple new manga chapters, but any other specials the magazine could be offering that week, such as artist interviews or new announcements. Viz Manga also offers free previews to some of their titles, allowing reader a taste of what’s in store before they make a commitment. All of the purchased content from Viz Manga goes directly to the user’s personal library. It gives a feeling of really, truly owning the manga, and you can come back to it any time you want. However, Viz is a bit limited to the titles they have the rights to. Still, it does have a ton of the most popular manga you would want, but also stuff you might not have read before, such as Knights of the Zodiac (Saint Seiya). Both Viz Manga and Crunchyroll have official apps for Android and iOS, so it makes it easy to read while on the go. As for what’s the best option, it really comes down to what kind of person you are. Crunchyroll might offer the best bang for your buck, being able to subscribe to both their anime and manga service is very compelling. Manga collectors who prefer the feeling of true ownership, or want to read the best new manga as it comes out, will likely go with Viz Manga. If you are hardcore though, you might just want to sign up with both of them! After all, subscribing to these companies puts more money into their pockets, which means more mainstream manga can crossover from Japan and be translated into English. Crunchyroll Manga VS Viz Manga is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Crunchyroll is certainly the more popular option. It has been a go-to for manga readers and anime watchers for years. One of the great things about Crunchyroll is the selection. They keep up with the popular manga, and almost anything you’ve been recommended to watch, they will have. Crunchyroll also offers a forum for their users, either for reviews or to address any questions or concerns. Another reason Crunchyroll has been so popular is the additional feature of watching anime, and this has become even more appealing as Crunchyroll’s Premium membership now gives full access to both anime and manga titles.Draft2Digital Authors Can Distribute e-Books into the Tolino Bookstore
| Draft2Digital has announced that self-publishers who use their service have a new distribution channel. The US company has ironed out a new agreement with Tolino, a German based online bookstore. The Tolino Alliance was formed in 2013 and their mandate was to combat Amazon in Germany. This marked the first occasion that Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Club Bertelsmann, Deutsche Telekom all banded together to forge a series of e-reading devices and launch an online bookstore. Not only are books and readers sold all over Germany but recently they expanded to Belgium via Standaard Boekhandel. It has been said that Tolino controls 42% of the German e-Book market, which is the third largest English-language e-Book market in the world. Draft2Digital currently has a catalog of 40,000+ books, which makes it a minor player in self-publishing. Many American authors are pleased at the new distribution channel. In order to enroll your books there is a big red button that will add your titles to Tolino all at once, which makes things easier than doing it one by one. Draft2Digital Authors Can Distribute e-Books into the Tolino Bookstore is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Anyone Using New Kindle Bookerly Font?
| Amazon has started rolling out a new font called Bookerly to the Kindle reading app on some Fire tablets. Amazon says that Bookerly was made specifically for Kindle, and that it was designed for digital screens. They even claim their new font makes reading easier and helps reduce eye strain. I got a notification about […] |
Breaking – Kobo to Take Over Blinkbox Books Business
| Tesco and Kobo have come to terms on the Blinkbox Books business unit. Customers will be able to transition all of their past purchases to the Kobo ecosystem and have the option to buy new e-Books from Kobo in the future. Blinkbox will be emailing their customers in two to three weeks with a unique code and a link to a specially created Kobo registration page – You will need to click the link in that email where you will be able to transfer your blinkbox Books library to Kobo. The existing Blinkbox Books app will be discontinued within a few months, once the majority of customers have transferred their past purchases to Kobo. In the future, you will need to install the dedicated Kobo app if you want to make new purchases. A firmware update will be sent off to Hudl tablet owners removing the Tesco store and automatically installing the Kobo version. Kobo has done quite well for themselves over the course of the last few years by taking over the e-book business from companies that went under. Last year Sony closed down their longstanding Reader Store and transferred all past purchases to Kobo. This was a boon to the Canadian based company because it added over 100,000 active customers who started to buy e-books from Kobo, instead of Sony. The same thing is happening now with Tesco and their Blinkbox Books platform. Breaking – Kobo to Take Over Blinkbox Books Business is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Top 10 Anime You Need to Watch Right Now – 2015
| Some people are really new to anime or have taken a break and have recently come back. There is a ton of content out there right now but what had the best story line? Art style and animation? What was the most engaging to viewers? Well you’ve come to the right place! Here you will get an essential list to the top 10 anime that you should be watching right now! Puella Magi Madoka Magica Genre: Magical Girl, Dark Fantasy, Horror Middle school students Madoka Kaname and her friend Sayaka Meiki encounter a small mysterious creature named Kyubey who offers them an interesting opportunity. A contract in which a girl may have any wish granted in exchange for magical powers and the task to fight against witches. While Madoka struggles to determine if she will make the contract, a transfer student and mysterious magical girl, Akemi Homura, tries to stop Madoka from making the contract at all costs. After meeting an upperclassman at the same school, Mami Tomoe reveals she too is a magical girl and agrees to take the girls witch hunting. When devastating events occur, Madoka has to wonder just what it means to be a magical girl and the perils that it will force them to face. Available on Crunchyroll - Hulu Attack on Titan Genre: Dark Fantasy, Post Apocalyptic Over one hundred years ago, giant humanoid creatures called Titans suddenly appeared and nearly wiped out humanity, devouring everyone without any remorse or reason. What remains of the human race now resides in three enormous concentric walls and inside, humanity has lived in peace. After a seemingly normal day, the wall that protected them for so long has been breached and young Eren Yeager, along with his adopted sister Mikasa Ackerman, rush to find their parents. Eren watches in horror as a titan devours his mother and makes a vow to kill all the titans and enlists in the military with the other survivors from the attack. Available on Hulu, Crunchyroll, Funimation Sword Art Online Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance In 2022, a company has perfected virtual reality. With the use of the Nerve Gear, a virtual reality helmet that stimulates the users five senses through their brain, players can now journey to Sword Art Online, becoming their personas and go on grand adventures. However once players try to log out, it is announced that they are trapped inside a life or death situation. In order to live, you must win the game. To die in the game, means to die in the real world. The main protagonist, Kirito, is a master swordsman who sets out to save the trapped minds of Aincrad with the help of his companion Asuna along with other friends. Available on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Netflix Durarara Genre: Action, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy Mikado Ryūgamine, a young boy who yearns for the exciting life of a big city, decides to move to Ikebukuro to attend Raira Academy with his childhood friend Masaomi Kida, who he has not seen since they were young. After the two meet up, they set out at night of the streets of the bustling city. Masaomi warns Mikado of the people he doesn’t want to cross in the city, such as a violent and super humanly strong man named Shizuo Heiwajima, the information broker Izaya Orihara and the mysterious gang known as "The Dollars". Nervous after the stories his friend tells him, Mikado witnesses an urban legend on his first night in the city, the Headless Rider astride a black motorcycle that occasionally neigh’s like a horse. From then on, the existence of supernatural cases and a gang called the Yellow Scarves will rise to surface, and Ikebukuro will be pushed to it’s limits. Available on Crunchyroll, Hulu Mushi-Shi Genre: Occult detective Ginko is a Mushi Master, travelling from place to place to research and discover more about the mysterious creatures called Mushi. It is implied there are many and have more lifeforms more primitive than "Normal" living things such as animals, plants, fungi and bacteria, also wielding supernatural powers. Ginko sets off on a journey to aid people that have suffered from the Mushi. Available on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Funimation, Bakemonogatari Genre: Occult Detective, Romantic Comedy The story follows Koyomi Araragi, a third year high school student who has become human again after becoming a vampire for a short time. One day, a classmate, the reclusive Hitagi Senjōgahara falls down the stairs into Koyomi’s hands to realize, she was weightless. Despite being threatened to keep away, Koyomi tells her of an old man who helped his problem and could help hers too. After helping Hitagi’s problem, it turns out various other girls in the school will be in need of aid due to their oddities as well. Available on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Angel Beats! Genre: Action, Comedy-Drama, Fantasy, Tragedy Otonashi has lost his memories of his life after his death and finds himself at a high school that acts as limbo to those who have died, where students learn to give up any lingering attachments they may still have from life before passing on. Otonashi then meets Yuri, who invites him to join the Afterlife Battlefront, SSS, an organization she founded and leads a fight against God. Available on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Magi Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy A young boy named Aladdin travels around a strange land in which mysterious ruins called Dungeons are said to house priceless treasures. Together with his friend Alibaba, a young man he met during his travels, Aladdin strives to conquer all of the Dungeons and obtain their treasures. But little does Aladdin know, that with every Dungeon conquered and every treasure found, he’s closer and closer to learning what fate has in store for him. Available on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Netflix Fate Zero Genre: Action, Fantasy Taking place 10 years before the events in Fate/Stay Night, details the events of the 4th Holy Grail war. The Einzbern family is determined to achieve success after three consecutive failures no mater what the cost. As a result, they have selected a magus killer, Kiritsugu Emiya into their ranks despite his methods and reputation as a mercenary and hitman. Available on Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Genre: Action, Comedy, Adventure, Mecha In a dark future where humanity is oppressed by an army of mutants and forced to live their lives underground, a young orphan unearths a powerful robot. Together a boisterious man named Kamina, a beautiful sharpshooter named Yoko and many other friends, Simon will use rob bots to fight against their oppressors and take back what was one theirs. Available on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Netflix Tokyo Ghoul Genre: Dark Fantasy, Action, Tragedy This story follows Kaneki Ken, a college student who barely survives a deadly encounter with Rize Kamishiro, a ghoul, a human-like creature that devours flesh. Kaneki is taken to a hospital in critical condition but upon waking up, discovers that he had somehow underwent surgery to become a half ghoul. With no one else to turn to, he is taken in by the ghouls who manage "Antieku", a coffee who is run by ghouls will teach him how to deal with his new life. Available on Hulu, Funimation Top 10 Anime You Need to Watch Right Now – 2015 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
MakerBot Mobile Brings 3D Printing to Android
| It hasn’t been that long since the concept of 3D printing seemed more like a dream than it did a reality. Fortunately for those of us who love technology, this isn’t the case anymore. The ability to print in 3D is becoming more affordable, which means many people have even given it a try with their own printers (lucky dogs). If you are among them, and your hardware is made by MakerBot, a new mobile app for Android allows you to monitor and control your device from the palm of your hand (the iOS version has been available for a while longer, so this news was much anticipated). As long as you are connected to the same wireless network as your MakerBot 3D printer, you can access it to print jobs (using images saved to your library using the MakerBot desktop). In addition, functionality exists to monitor, cancel, or pause printing as required. Describing the functionality in more detail, MakerBot explains:
If you have a Replicator 3D Printer, consider grabbing MakerBot for your Android device and giving it a try.
MakerBot Mobile Brings 3D Printing to Android is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Microsoft Sees 1.1B in Revenue from Surface Tablet
| Microsoft should be celebrating right now with news that their Surface tablet has realized $1.1 billion in revenue during the December quarter. Even though they are still lagging a fair ways behind the competition (with Apple seeing $5.3B in iPad sales during the same period), this dollar value represents a 24% increase year-over-year. These revenue numbers include more than just units sold, accessories like the optional (but not really) keyboard cover. In the earnings report presented by Microsoft, the company revealed that there were other successes –the Lumia smartphone had sales of $10.5 million for the quarter, which is a new record for them. Other news wasn’t as good, with only 6.6 million Xbox consoles sold this period (which has been characterized as strong, despite representing an overall decline from the 7.4 million units moved a year earlier). Reading between the lines, it would seem one thing is clear: Microsoft has more hardware out there in consumer hands now, which means Windows 10 has the potential to reach (and hopefully impress) even more users. Microsoft Sees 1.1B in Revenue from Surface Tablet is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Blinkbox Books Closing Next Month, Kobo to the Rescue?
| UK-based Tesco has announced that they will be closing their blinkbox branded ebook store at the end of February 2015, according to a report by The Bookseller. "We have taken the decision to close our e-book service blinkbox Books,” a Tesco representative said. “We've learnt a lot since launching the service and whilst we saw […] |
Displio: A Small E Ink Display Wi-Fi Widget
| There’s a new E Ink gadget on Kickstarter called Displio. The device has a tiny 2.7-inch E Ink screen that can display all kinds of things like the weather, email notifications, traffic reports, stock updates, checklists, social network updates and a lot more. So far the crowdfunding campaign is off to a good start; they’ve […] |
Big Birthday Weekend – what’s happening, where and when
| More than 1000 of you have signed up already to come to our Big Birthday Weekend at the end of February. Tickets for Saturday are now sold out, but there are still about 80 left for the Sunday event. We’ve had lots of excited email from people who are coming, who want to know more about what we’ll be getting up to. Mike Horne (who many of you know as Recantha) and Tim Richardson, who the Cambridge Jams and who are doing the lion’s share of the organising for this event, have been kind enough to provide an update for everybody. We’d like to say a HUGE thank you to Mike, Tim and Lisa Mather, who are all members of our wonderful community who have volunteered to do the massive bulk of the organisational work on this event for us for free – we’re a very small team and we simply couldn’t have managed this without them all. Thanks guys! Hello everyone. Mike Horne and Tim Richardson here to update you on the Raspberry Pi Big Birthday Weekend. What has been happening? It has been quite a couple of weeks. On the 13th of January, we visited the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory in the hope that it would act as the venue for the Raspberry Pi Big Birthday Weekend. We were incredibly impressed with the place and we would like to thank Professor Jon Crowcroft for making us feel so welcome and showing us around. It is a brilliant venue and we are very lucky to be able to hold it there. Since that visit, it would be fair to say that we haven't stopped! We opened up booking on the 14th January and since then we have sold over 1000 tickets across the two days and the party. The party sold out first, closely followed by the Saturday day event. There are still tickets available for the Sunday, and we are now running a waiting list for the Saturday. If you'd like to join us on the Sunday or join the waiting list, please register. What will be happening at the Big Birthday Weekend? Each person who has registered has been asked how they would like to be involved with the weekend, and we have been absolutely inundated with offers of talks, requests to join discussion panels, offers to help run workshops and to take part in show and tell. Mike has been collating all these different offers and requests and the timetables are now being worked on with Liz and the team at the Raspberry Pi Foundation. We hope to be able to release a firm programme within the next week after we've contacted everyone involved again. What we can say so far is the following:
Party time! On the Saturday evening there is, of course, a birthday party. We have had to limit this to 275 people, due to catering arrangements. Logistics for the party are being spearheaded by Lisa Mather and Tim. Lisa has been an absolute star for agreeing to help with the party, especially as she's way up in Manchester. From there, she has been organising goodie bags and decorations and generally being brilliant, coming up with ideas to make the Lab look welcoming and exciting, as well as lending her party planning experience to help us not to miss anything! Tim and Lisa are also working out what Pi-powered party games we will be having, as well as organising Pi-powered music for the occasion. Marketplace Tim has also been organising the Marketplace for the event. The Marketplace will feature many well-known names in the Pi community including The Pi Hut, PiBorg, 4Tronix, Pimoroni and also a newcomer to the Pi arena: IQaudio who specialise in GPIO audio boards. We are hoping that there will be another couple of vendors joining us, but they need to confirm with us. Robots! We’re inviting anyone who has their own Raspberry Pi-based robot to bring it along to show it off. At Pi Wars we had a highly popular obstacle course. This course will be making an appearance at the Birthday Weekend (after Tim has carefully put it all back together again!) and you are invited to bring your own robot to try it out!  Picture from www.pi-tutorials.co.uk Further information One of the other things we have been working on with the Foundation team is an information page for the event. On this page you will find information on the venue, parking and where to stay in Cambridge if you require accommodation. We hope you'll find the information there useful. If you have any questions about the event, please mail mike.horne@raspberrypi.org and we'll attempt to answer them as best we can and then add that information, if appropriate, to the information page. That's it for now – we are aiming to keep you up-to-date with what has been happening every week, so don't forget to keep on checking back! |
SelfPublishing Info Sessions for Indie Authors
|
Two of the many reliable, on-going sources of information will be staging their monthly online events today with topics aimed at furthering the careers and success of self-published authors. The first is the Alliance of Independent Authors’ monthly “Ask ALLi” roundtable with guest experts Joanna Penn and Orna Ross. Penn, a New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author who was named one of The Guardian UK Top 100 Creative Professionals in 2013, will share insights into the current state of self-publishing with author, ALLi director, and sought-after industry expert Orna Ross. Together the pair will take questions and offer tips and solutions. Later tonight, the weekly Bibliocrunch Twitter chat #IndieChat will take place at its usual time, only this week’s guest is far from usual. One of the top issues that continues to plague indie authors isn’t in the writing, editing, or publishing side of the business, but in the marketing and promotion aspect. Tonight’s #IndieChat guest is Shari Stauch, founder of Where Writers Win, a company dedicated to working with authors with a spectrum of budgetary allowances to offer every type of promotion service, from outright media campaigns to simply building their websites. Participation in both events is free and simple. For the ALLi event, simply sign in to join the Google Hangout by following THIS LINK. The event kicks off at 11am ET/4pm GMT. For the #IndieChat hosted by Bibliocrunch, simply sign into your Twitter account and follow the hashtag at 9pm ET. Remember to include the hashtag in your tweets to join in the conversation.
SelfPublishing Info Sessions for Indie Authors is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Monday, January 26, 2015
Blinkbox Books to Close in February
| Tesco has announced their intentions to close their digital e-Book platform at the end of February. The supermarket chain had been in covert negotiations with Waterstones, but the two sides could not agree on a purchase price. A spokesperson for Tesco said: "We have taken the decision to close our e-book service blinkbox Books. We’ve learnt a lot since launching the service and whilst we saw encouraging levels of take up, we believe that we can do more for our customers by focusing on our core business. The service will close by the end of February." The spokesperson added: "Our focus now is on the colleagues affected and our customers." Tesco had been operating their online bookstore since March 2014. They tried to promote their new business unit to their established base of shoppers, leveraging their loyalty cards to get discounts. Not only could customers buy e-books on their website, which included a book blog, but also via their dedicated Android app. This app was available via Google Play, but also came pre-loaded on the Hudl line of budget tablets. Ultimately the customer will be the one to suffer from blinkbox books shutting down. The app locked content will be unable to be backed up properly and read on any other device. Tesco has not publicly divulged if they will continue to support the app for the foreseeable future or whether they will close it entirely, leaving thousands of customers unable to read their purchased content. Blinkbox Books to Close in February is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Digital Content Connects Business Travelers
|
New data on travel, specifically the numbers that pertain to business travel, may provide a correlation between the increase in individual trips and the steady increase in popularity of digital newspaper and magazine apps. Numbers from the Travel Industry Association of America indicate that:
With so much travel taking place in far flung destinations when the individual is required to travel, one of the small comforts that airports and hotels have been able to offer is access to internet connectivity and digital magazines and newspapers. This allows the business traveler to connect to content and news from back home, rather than experience the sense of relief from getting away from it all, as when on vacation. “With todays' competitive hospitality industry, retention is usually a result of high guest satisfaction,” explains the logic behind digital amenities as offered by digital content app PressReader. “Value added guest amenities, like PressReader, give hoteliers an ideal solution to gain a competitive edge in the market resulting in higher guest satisfaction and repeat visits. With a library of over 2,000 same-day digital newspapers and magazines including the Washington Post, Elle Magazine, Business Traveler, The Globe and Mail and Le Monde, PressReader is a cost-effective luxury amenity that leisure and business travelers alike would appreciate.”
Digital Content Connects Business Travelers is a post from: Good e-Reader |
iPhone 5 vs iPhone 6 Plus – Reading
| Many people skip a generation before buying the latest and greatest Apple product. The S line of smartphones tends to get lost in the shuffle between major updates in technology. With the advent of the iPhone 6 Plus, the question is, is it good for e-reading? Today, we look at the iPhone 5 and 6 Plus and put them side by side showing the exact same content. This should give you an indication on how both devices handle manga, comics and e-Books. If reading is important to you and you tend to be invested in the whole Apple ecosystem, you don’t want to miss this!
iPhone 5 vs iPhone 6 Plus – Reading is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Video Update About Earl, an E Ink Survival Tablet
| Back in May 2013, a “backcountry survival tablet” named Earl with a 6-inch E Ink screen, solar panels, various radios and other goodies was introduced as part of a crowdfunding project. The goal was to earn $250,000 to make the Earl tablet a reality, but in fact expectations were far exceeded with over 2200 backers […] |
Is the iPhone 6 Plus Good for e-Reading?
| The iPhone 6 Plus is the first large screen phone that Apple has ever released and is quite excellent at reading e-Books, comics, manga and staying on top of the daily news. Unlike iPhones of the past, the 6 Plus actually makes the process of digital reading very enjoyable. The 6 Plus by Apple features a 5.5 inch display with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels and 401 PPI. The sheer size of the screen and high resolution makes reading HD content extremely viable, such as comics and magazines. It is important to note that if you are consuming a large portion of this type of media to invest in an iPhone 6 Plus with more memory, because the average HD comics for example is around 150 to 250 MB. The base 16 MB model might not cut it. I have been a Blackberry user for a number of years, so reading on my phone has never really been a viable option. The square screen really prevented landscape mode, which a lot of e-reading apps require. Things improved when I bought my first iPhone 5 a few years ago, and started using news apps such as Digg and Thompson Reuters. The screen on the 5 was only 4 inches, which made reading e-books, magazines, newspapers and manga a lackluster experience. I found myself constantly having to pinch and zoom to find that virtual sweet spot, only to lose it when I flipped a page and had to reconfigure the zooming levels again. When I gravitated to the iPhone 6 Plus it really felt large and unwieldy for the first couple of days. I constantly found myself bending and flexing it to see if the entire “Bendgate” saga were true and to put my mind at ease that I was not going to bend the thing completely in half. I have never had an Android phone such as the Galaxy Note, so this was my first “Phablet.” Its now been a few weeks since I have been using the iPhone 6 Plus as my primary smartphone and find myself reading more on it than my Kindle. This is not because its new and therefore novel, but it can more easily install dedicated apps for the content I really like. My standard e-reading apps are Manga Rock, Crunchyroll Manga, Kindle, Zinio, Pressreader, Pulse Reader, Reuters, Digg Marvel comics. Almost all of these apps don’t even require pinching and zooming, all of the content really shines on the large screen. Do you come for a dedicated e-reader background? I am talking about e-ink based readers such as the Kindle, Kobo Nook or Sony readers. These brands for the most part have been going strong since 2007. These companies all realized early on that six inches made the ideal device, in terms of portability and overall e-reading experience. The iPhone 6 Plus is only half an inch smaller and is always in your pocket due to the fact it functions as your primary phone. In the video below, you will get a sense on how e-books, manga, comics and how dedicated news apps function on the iPhone 6 Plus. If you are on the fence about buying or upgrading to this model, watching this video should lend the assist.
Is the iPhone 6 Plus Good for e-Reading? is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Join the first ever #ODchat – Jan. 28th
|
The format will be similar to that of other Twitter chats like #TLchat, #Libchat and the #EdTech chats. We will ask a series of questions to start off the conversation and then anyone can respond with their answers and thoughts. Each month's conversation will feature a specific theme, with this first chat centering around how digital reading has changed your reading habits. We hope you'll join us at 8 p.m. this Wednesday! Adam Sockel is a Marketing Communications Specialist at OverDrive |
Self-Publishing the Family Cookbook
|
This has led to an increase in interest in private self-publishing, or a model of publishing in which an individual simply wants to have a professional-looking print or digital edition of a book that will not be listed for major sale. While outlets like CreateSpace function to list a professional-grade print copy on Amazon’s retail website, others like the addition of print services from Nook Press simply make print-on-demand copies available for the author to purchase. A recent article for Economic Times highlighted the need for cookbooks to have a publishing process, as more and more people are sharing their old family recipes within their group of relatives, and are looking for a professional option. While church cookbooks in particular have long been a fundraising option, the results were often shoddy plastic spiral bindings between two pieces of card stock, while the books themselves had to be ordered in minimum shipments of bulk that the organizations then had to turn around and sell at an astounding price, just to make a return. With print-on-demand, though, not only is the option available for single-purchase at much lower prices, the option to list the book on sites like Amazon is still there if organizations choose to direct their customers to the retailer and make their royalty that way. Of course, they are also free (and encouraged, even) to order their own copies at a significant savings and sell them at events as impulse purchases. In the case on the family cookbook featured in Economic Times, the book actually went on to be picked up by HarperCollins India, given that it was a large collection of regional favorites and nothing else like it was available at the time. The publisher has gone on to actively seek out other cookbooks for the same reason.
Self-Publishing the Family Cookbook is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Education, space, hacking and explosions – Bett 2015
| Last Tuesday the Raspberry Pi education team beetled down to the ExCeL London for Bett, the gargantuan learning technology event. We spent the next four days on our new and fabulous stand talking, educating, demo-ing, entertaining, showboating, dancing and gerrymandering. There were astounding demonstrations of technological ingenuity, feats of strength and curious electro-mechanical devices.  Ready for action: the education team plus James Robinson (leftest), Martin O’Hanlon (bluest) and Sam Aaron (tallest). Clive is weeping openly but laughing inside.
We were happily overrun by what seemed like most of the Raspberry Pi community, many of whom made guest appearances in our back to back schedule. We ran hands-on-workshops in Minecraft Pi, Sonic Pi, physical computing, games programming and much more. We stormed the BETT arena with Astro Pi and Fran Scott’s pyro-computing show. We ran about and hooted. It was a brilliant show. My post-show brain is far too fried to write so here are some of our favourite bits:  Set-up day. Dave claims that this is the only place he could get electricity.  I am not a number, I am a free man! James about to send up a time-lapse Pi on a helium balloon to spy on other stands.
 Laura Dixon’s (@codeboom) students from the Royal High School Bath talking about Minecraft coding and their computing club  Dr Sam Aaron, creator of Sonic Pi, showing people how to create beautiful music with code  Stunned silence then cheering: a blackout at Bett. (Nothing to do with us, honest.)  Dave Honess introducing Astro Pi and the ISS. His pitch-roll-yaw demo is now legend  Lance Howarth and Astro Pi on Bett Arena “My favourite moment was being rushed for Astro Pi leaflets at the end of the opening ceremony of the main arena. I have a great feeling about this whole thing” — Dave Honess  A first for Bett we think: Fran Scott exploding hydrogen-filled balloons in the Arena. Of course it’s not so easy to blow up stuff in the classroom so we made a safe version, the Balloon Pi-tay Popper:  Fran demonstrating the explosive-free Balloon Pi-tay popper resource.  Connecting Minecraft Pi to the real world: @whaleygeek’s Big Red Button of Doom!  Our friends from Pimoroni show off their brilliant Flotilla  Andrew Mulholland, a student at Queen’s University Belfast, and his LTSP classroom management system for Raspberry Pi  Stewards Academy student @jaymegisbourne demonstrating his Porta-Pi  Raspberry Pi Certified Educators Cat Lamin and Tom Sale show how easy it is to use Pis in primary schools  Carrie Anne picks up her well-deserved Best Author award for Adventures in Raspberry Pi…  …and then celebrates in style with David Whale (@whaleygeek) And that was that. Four days of manic educational goodness. Thanks to CPC for supporting us, we couldn’t have done it without them. We had a fabulous stand and a great team across the way to give hardware advice and support. A huge thanks to everyone who gave talks and demos and who helped out on the stand including: Sam Aaron, Laura Dixon, Martin O Hanlon, Alasdair Davies, Dave Honess & UK Space, Eliot Williams, Paul Beech, Jon Williamson, Phil Howard, David Whale, Tim Mockford, Simon Belshaw, Lauren Hyams, Fran Scott, Mike Horne, Tim Richardson, Jamie Mann, Matthew Parry, Cat Lamin, Tom Sale, Wolfram, Stephen Norbury, Naturebytes, Samantha Lubbe, Barry Byford, Karl-Ludwig Butte, Robin Newman, Andrew Mulholland, Spencer Organ, Geraldine Wright, Stewards Academy Raspberry Pi Club, and Cefn Hoile. If I’ve missed anyone then sorry and please email me! Lastly a big thank you to all of the teachers, students, parents, educators and anyone else who came to see us. See you again next year! |
