| The only thing Apple loves more than profit, it is their privacy. Historically, Apple has done a very good job of keeping product upgrades all hush-hush –but the last few updates and upgrades were leaked ahead of time (and fairly accurately, I might add). In some ways, this is a good thing –having the inside track helps accessory manufacturers to be first to market, and it also lets us get that perfect case or dock at the moment we buy our new device. As you can likely imagine, Apple wants to seal those leaks and prevent anybody from getting pertinent details for new devices ahead of that much-anticipated keynote address. Luckily, there might be a compromise. If the latest Apple-related rumours are true, the company is considering partnerships with key accessory makes and technology providers. Reading between the lines, this would mean two things: partners who have signed an agreement (carefully designed by Apple’s lawyers) will recieve all of the technical specs for a new or updated device in exchange for secrecy, the end-user wouldn’t be stuck with less accurate details in the rumour mill. Really, I’m just happy that I could have a few case options on day 1.
Apple Looks For Partners To Provide Smoke and Mirrors is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Apple Looks For Partners To Provide Smoke and Mirrors
Soviet Illustrations of the Hobbit Are Scary
| The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien is one of the most important and influential fantasy books ever written. The books have gone on to influence a number of major properties such as Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance. We are likely familiar with the illustrations of the American and UK editions, but during the cold war in Soviet-era Russia, things were kind of dark. The 1976 edition of the Hobbit featured the typical Russian style: much more traditionally stylized than Tolkien's own drawings, they were more angular, friendlier, almost cartoonish. Lets look at some of the more notable drawings from the the book. Below, the wizard Gandalf, an ostensibly harmless soul, pays Bilbo a visit. Next, we have the three trolls, arguing about their various eating arrangements, with Bilbo hiding to the side. Here, Gollum, paddles his raft in the depths of the mountains. Finally, here's Bilbo, fulfilling his role as a burglar in Smaug's lair. Soviet Illustrations of the Hobbit Are Scary is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Video – Crunchyroll Becomes a Manga Publisher
| Crunchyroll is well known for their streaming anime service, but the company has been focusing on manga for the last two years. In order to become a juggernaut in western manga the company has gotten involved in publishing original content. Hypersonic Music Club is the first project, although it is only publishing a few things monthly. You can think of it as basically a web-comic at this point and not a fully featured new manga franchise.
Video – Crunchyroll Becomes a Manga Publisher is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Amazon Kindle Unlimited Launches in Canada
| Amazon Kindle Unlimited launched in the US last summer and now has expanded into Canada. Starting today, the all you can read subscription service can be accessed and over 750,000 titles are available for $9.99 a month. Canadians can get reading right away with a 30 day free trial with no financial commitment. You can read using your dedicated Kindle e-Reader, Fire tablet or any of the Kindle branded reading apps for Android and iOS. Kindle Unlimited's Canadian rollout also includes 15,000 French language titles. It's worth being slightly wary though, as the service was found to include a lot of self-published titles when it launched elsewhere. Amazon Kindle Unlimited Launches in Canada is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Happy Galentine’s Day! Books for you and your gals.
| Rest assured, you don't have to be a fan of the show Parks and Recreation to celebrate Galentine's Day. According to Leslie Knope (Actress and comedienne Amy Poehler's character on the show), February 13th is a day for women to leave their male significant others at home and spend time with their female friends. If you're a Parks and Rec purist, you "kick it breakfast style" with waffles and frittatas, but any celebration of lady friends and family counts as a Galentine's Day celebration. In the spirit of the holiday, the Collection Development Analyst team each pitched in title suggestions to bring you a list of titles that feature awesome lady characters, funny lady authors, waffle and brunch recipe books, and so much more. So treat yourself, and your patrons, to some of these great titles! Click the link below to get started. Galentine's Day: Ladies Celebrating Ladies
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10 Tips to Help Make Your eBook Reader Last Longer
| Most people in this day and age like to upgrade their ereaders and electronics every few years when new technology comes out, but if you’re the kind of person that likes your current ebook reader and want to make it last as long as possible, below are ten helpful tips to help maximize the life […] |
Kindle Unlimited Arrives in Canada for $9.99 a Month
| Today Amazon announced the arrival of Kindle Unlimited in Canada. It’s surprising that it has taken this long considering it first launched last July in the United States. Amazon has been steadily rolling out their ebook subscription service internationally for the past six months. Other countries that have Kindle Unlimited access include the United Kingdom, […] |
Tips for Authors Hosting an Amazon Giveaway – Part I
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While the tool is brand-new and will surely have updates and new features as genuine feedback rolls in, there are some ways that authors can leverage the platform by using it in the way that it’s actually intended. 1. Followers – You can set up your giveaway to include the mandate that entrants must follow you on Twitter in order to play along. There’s even a handy, oversized Follow button that lets them follow you immediately in order to continue with the giveaway process. Two of the complaints about this tool involve the Twitter following, first that they receive notifications because they followed you, and also that entrants can follow, win or lose your giveaway, and unfollow immediately. Your job during your giveaway is to be really, really interesting on Twitter. Step one is to offer up such great, personalized content on Twitter that these new followers ideally wouldn’t want to unfollow you. Beyond that, you can use a tool like ManageFlitter to see who has followed you and then who has unfollowed you. Reach out to those individuals on Twitter in a non-threatening way and develop a book-based relationship to retain them as followers. 2. Print vs eBook – Yes, you can host a giveaway with your own books, but right now this only applies to your print editions. There has to be something for Amazon to mail them, after all. Your first step then is to ensure that Kindle Matchbook is enabled on all of the print titles you plan to give away (this can be found in your KDP dashboard). When someone wins your print edition, he may go on to take advantage of the free ebook edition, thus improving your ebook rankings. However, you have to tell the winner that the ebook edition is also available, since the winner does not have to view your Amazon sales page to claim the book. It’s shipped automatically just by hitting Confirm. Look for more hints on taking full advantage of the giveaway tool in part two of this series.
Tips for Authors Hosting an Amazon Giveaway – Part I is a post from: Good e-Reader |
The MagPi – Issue 30 out now, and a Kickstarter for Volume 3 in print!
| Created by the community, for the community, The MagPi magazine is the world's first and only free, regular magazine about Raspberry Pi. It has been published online almost every month since May 2012, and every issue is packed full of hardware and software projects and tutorials for all skill levels. Now there’s a Kickstarter campaign to bring Volume 3 of the magazine into print.  Draft of the design for the Volume 3 binder cover Volume 3 comprises all ten issues published in 2014 (issues 20-29): that’s 468 full colour pages! They’ll come in a lovely smart binder, with a spine designed to match the Volume 1 and 2 binders so that they look neat beside one another on your shelves (we care about this kind of thing at Pi Towers, and we’re quite sure that MagPi readers feel no less strongly). And that’s not the end of this week’s MagPi goodness: Issue 30 is out now. It features electronic ping pong using the Pi’s GPIO and LEDs, an account of using Raspberry Pi to enhance navigation data on marine voyages, an air hockey arcade game in Scratch, an introduction to C#, Raspberry Pi 2 (of course!) and plenty more. Download your pdf copy now! |
Top 5 Shojo Manga
| Valentine’s Day is nearly upon us, and everyone is feeling the pull of Cupid’s bow. The flowers, the chocolates, the jewellery, and the heartfelt cards from your significant other, it’s all a staple of this holiday. But flowers and chocolates are such typical Valentines, and there are only so many fancy restaurants to attend on dates. Instead, why not spend this year with the best Valentine ever – a shojo manga? As Valentine’s Day fast approaches, here are the top 5 shojo manga, perfect for spending the day cuddling up with your loved one. 5. Lovely Complex What do you do when you’re the tallest girl in high school? Get a crush on a tall boy, of course. Certainly not get a crush on the shortest boy in high school – but that’s exactly what Risa Koizumi does. The romantic comedy by Aya Nakahara tells the story of Risa and her 5’1 love interest, Atsushi Otani, and their journey from snarky classmates to friends to something more. The series is fun and lighthearted, while still managing to get a few sad scenes as well. But those sad scenes do nothing to detract from the humour of Risa and Otani, often referred to by friends as the comedy duo. If you’re looking for a manga full of laughs to share with your lover, this is the one for you. Find it at Viz Manga! 4. Boys Over Flowers If you’re looking for more of a sweet, vintage taste this holiday season, this is the manga for you. Written by Yoko Kamio, Boys Over Flowers is the tale of a poor girl attending a rich academy for the elite. This ‘weed’, Tsukushi Makino, runs headlong into the Flower Four, otherwise called the F4, the most popular boys in the school. As the only girl who has never swooned over Tsukasa Domyouji, the leader of the F4, she unwittingly gains his attention. This attention later blooms into admiration and love in this slice of romance. Follow along with Tsukushi and Tsukasa and their love story at Viz Manga! 3. Kaichou wa Maid-Sama! When an all-boys school suddenly becomes co-ed, there’s bound to be a few bumps in the road. Misaki Ayuzawa is determined to smooth out those bumps in the road, becoming the student council president and determined to make the female experience better for her school. Along the way, she gains a reputation for being a boy-hating demon – but, as popular boy Takumi Usui discovers, this isn’t entirely true. The rigid Misaki atually has a part-time job…at a maid cafe. This series from the pen of Hiro Fujiwara has a great sense of humour, and the maid cafe theme might help put a little spin on your Valentine’s Day charm. Tokyopop distributes Maid-Sama, and can be found in your local bookstores! 2. Ouran High School Host Club You already knew this one was on the list. If you didn’t, this is one manga you need to read immediately. Bisco Hatori’s tale has been a staple in the shojo manga genre since its debut. The story follows Haruhi Fujioka, a poor girl attending a rich, elite school, who encounters a group of six popular boys. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? But Host Club differs from other series by satirizing many shojo cliches. The manga pokes fun at stereotypes, and characters will even break the fourth wall on occasion. But the humour of the series does nothing to detract from its plot, which is truly romantic at heart. Despite being mistake for a boy, and breaking an expensive vase on her first visit, Haruhi gains the love and affection of the Host Club, and finds love for herself in return. The misadventures of the Ouran High School Host Club can be found at Viz Manga. 1. Fruits Basket Picking the best is the hardest, but after reading this manga, you’ll be surprised there was even a contest. Written by Natsuki Takaya, this manga follows Tohru Honda, a girl who is temporarily homeless and living in a tent. These unfortunate condition are discovered by the Sohma family – specifically, by Yuki and his cousins Shigure and Kyo. Tohru quickly learns that the Sohma family is under a curse. They are possessed by the spirits of the Chinese Zodiac, and will transform into an animal whenever under stress, or hugged by a member of the opposite gender. This, of course, leads to problems as Tohru begins living with them. Instead of being afraid when she discovers their secret, Tohru sets out to break their family’s curse. It’s a true love story, a modern-day fairy tale that would warm the hardest of hearts. Sold through Tokyopop, this manga is available in just about every bookstore across North America. Instead of the typical flowers and chocolates, why not gift your Valentine with a basket of Fruits Basket? And for all the people out there who will be alone this Valentine’s Day, whether you’re single by choice, single and pining, or single and freshly out of a relationship, here’s a manga to boost your lonely spirits. Skip Beat! Drawn by Yoshiki Nakamura, this shojo is still going strong today. It tells the story of 16-year-old Kyoko Mogami, a girl who discovers that her boyfriend isn’t what she thought he was and thinks of her as a doormat. Instead of getting sad and depressed about it, Kyoko gets angry and swears she’ll get revenge. The only problem is, Kyoko’s boyfriend is a teen pop star, and the only way to get revenge on him is by overtaking his career. In true Legally Blonde fashion, Kyoko dives headfirst into the world of superstardom. Although the story begins as a revenge campaign by Kyoko, it evolves into more of a journey of self-discovery as she grows and changes. It’s a great manga for anyone looking to stand on their own two feet as opposed to leaning on someone else’s. If you’re going to be single this Valentine’s Day, don’t spend it alone – spend it with Kyoko and her story. Read it at Viz Manga! Top 5 Shojo Manga is a post from: Good e-Reader |
ALA to Craft a Monumental Survey on the State of Digital in Libraries
| Libraries in all over the world are embracing digital content as major publishers have firmly committed themselves making audiobooks and e-Books available. The American Library Association knows that 95% of all US libraries have an e-book collection. That's up from 89% in both 2013 and 2012, when researchers thought that adoption had plateaued for good. In provide key information on digital usage in libraries, ALA has partnered Book Industry Study Group and Nielsen for a monumental survey. The survey will seek to understand library patrons' use of digital resources and other services offered by public libraries, and will "examine the impact of digital consumption behaviors, including the adoption of new business models," on library usage across America. Over 10 different libraries in the US and Canada had over one million digital loans in 2014, with two libraries lending out two million e-Books. This number will likely double in 2015, as companies like 3M Cloud Library and Baker and Taylor begin to gain further traction. Likely the survey will talk about these companies and also new audiobook distributions systems like Hoopla. Results from the survey will announced at the American Library Association's Annual Conference in San Francisco at the end of June. Good e-Reader will be live on the scene making all of the key findings known. Currently, it is unknown what the exact questions on the survey will be. I pinged ALA and other people involved in the project and everyone said it was too early to talk about anything definitive. ALA to Craft a Monumental Survey on the State of Digital in Libraries is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Christian Fiction Experiences a Dramatic Decline in Sales
| Christian Fiction is on the decline, as overall book sales have plummeted 15% from 2013 to 2014. Today we look at some of the reasons why this sector is crashing and what the industry is doing about it. Publishers are not too concerned right now with the decrease in Christian book sales, whether its print or digital. Instead of lamenting how their industry is suffering, they are trying to make it work. David Lewis, the VP of sales and marketing at Baker Publishing Group, said "Our trade paper fiction revenue declined by 8%, our e-book revenue increased by 3%, and our cloth fiction has increased by 45%." HarperCollins Christian Publishing is pumping out close to 60 new titles each year and "our program is showing revenue growth over last year," said Daisy Hutton, VP of fiction. "Print is here to stay, but the category is undergoing a period of reinvention. The migration to digital reading is part of this, but the changing demands of our readers are an even bigger factor." The changing demands of readers basically boils down to two things, the amount of free content that is available digitally and brick and motor stores discounting Christian fiction in abundance. One of the big reasons why Christian fiction right now is on the decline is authors are no longer getting good incentives from traditional publishing companies. Literary agent Chip MacGregor said in a recent blog post that “Christian fiction is really struggling. That's become obvious to me over the past couple of years, and I’ve discussed it with many other agents. Several houses have stopped doing inspirational fiction, others have trimmed back their lists, still others have simply put a "freeze" on new acquisitions, so it's become evident that it's a tough time to be trying making a living writing Christian fiction.” When it comes to book data, Nielsen is likely the most trusted source. The company gets sales information from all of the major online retailers and stores that sell print. The big problem, is that they are only able to fetch data on content that have ISBN numbers. Self-published e-books do not necessary need one to be published by Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Kobo. Nobody really knows how well Christian fiction is doing on those platforms, as the companies rarely breakdown sales in this manner. Despite the unknowns, traditionally published authors are starting to take control over their own destiny and are electing to self-publish. Ava Morgan is a traditionally published author who stated “As an author who published traditionally for the Christian/inspirational market in the past, I agree about the changing demands of readers being one of the factors for sales decline. People come from all walks of life and the CBA (Christian Book Association)has been slow to address the lack of diversity in the titles it allows to be published. For instance, I tend to write stories with multicultural and multiethnic characters who overcome adversity, be it financial, social, etc. I've had several issues with editors and publishers asking me to tone down the characters' hardships or change their race because it may make the readership "a little nervous". As to whom this narrow readership is, I cannot say, because when I attend church and go to Christian events, I encounter people of many different colors, shapes, lifestyles, and levels of faith. Unfortunately, there are powers-that-be within the Christian book market who are so afraid of offending a select few, that they choose to continue offering books to appeal to one segment of the Christian population that is getting smaller every day. A problem very clearly seen in the secular book market as well, when publishers keep releasing the same one-storyline-fits-all books to generate sales. Inspirational writers are starting to self-publish as a way to reach the changing Christian reader demographic. As both a Christian and African-American woman, I feel that my demographic is not adequately represented in CBA fiction. Later this year, I'll be self-publishing under my real name a historical Christian romance featuring African-American protagonists. It's truly a blessing to live in an age of publishing where you can independently get your story out into the world without fear of gatekeepers.” Authors who elect to self-publish should be wary about the sheer number of options out there. Amazon is likely the best move, but requires technical knowledge on how to actually create a digital book from a Microsoft Word Document. It is important to beware of the scams and shady companies out there that are more concerned with taking your money, than publishing your book. Donald L. Hughes of Christian Writing Today offered some advice “There are many Christian companies these days that pretend to take the marketing and book manufacturing process off your shoulders. They include such names as Xulon, Westbow or Winepress. These companies will charge you an arm and a leg for services that you can do on your own or with the help of a consultant. These companies actually do little more than the old-time vanity presses; you have to think twice about what that will do to your credibility as a writer. And, if you use profitability as a measure of your ability to gain readership, then these companies will not help you. They take such a big chunk of money for their editorial and design services that they leave nothing on the table for you.”
Christian Fiction Experiences a Dramatic Decline in Sales is a post from: Good e-Reader |
PressReader, Kindle Update their iOS Apps
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The Kindle app now supports eTextbook reading, which is big news because the iPhone now supports this format. This has been one of the missing features from iBooks Author, but now that support for the smartphone is available to readers on the go. For its part, PressReader announced its update and the inclusion of digital content from over 100 countries, with language editions in more than 60 different languages. According to the announcement of the update, “PressReader partners worldwide are now sponsoring access to our entire library of more than 3,500 full-content publications from 100+ countries in 60+ languages in their places of business. Just open up your tablet or smartphone in one of their designated Wi-Fi zones called PressReader HotSpots for instant access to any newspaper or magazine. To find one near you, just open up the PressReader HotSpot Map from the app navigation menu. “The HotSpot map shows networks where premium PressReader access is sponsored by a network owner. If location services aren’t provided to the app, your location will be estimated by IP address. The search function displays HotSpots by name. If there are more HotSpots in the visible map area than can be shown without overlapping, one of the most popular HotSpots will be shown, and the full list will be shown on the right.” The HotSpot map feature is one of the standouts that has made PressReader a popular choice for the hospitality industry. A number of hotel chains and restaurant locations already work with the app developer to cover the associated cost of the content while their patrons are on location. This kind of free incentive is one of the many steps that hotel chains are taking to win loyal customers.
PressReader, Kindle Update their iOS Apps is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Fans Pick Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto as #1 Manga They Want Animated
| Last week, about 1,800 readers voted on a pole on Anime! Anime!’s website asking them what mangas they wanted to see turned into an anime. The voting took place between February 3-8th and the mot ranked manga was Nami Sano’s Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto (Sakamoto Desu Ga?) The series ranks in top book sales in Japan and won the best "male oriented" comics volume award from Da Vinci magazine in 2013 and Comic Natalie Grand Prize. The full list is as follows: Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto by Nami Sano One-Punch Man by ONE and Yuusuke Murata Yotsuba&! By Kiyohiko Azuma March Comes In Like A Lion by Chika Umino Drifters by Kouta Hirano Nijiro Days by Minami Mizuno Yandere Kanojo by Shinobi Amaama to Inazuma By Gido Amagakure Soul Catchers(S) by Hideo Shinkai And there we have it! I highly suggest checking out these mangas! Hopefully we will see their animated counter parts soon. Are there any mangas you’re hoping to see become an anime? Let us know! Fans Pick Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto as #1 Manga They Want Animated is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Kindle for iOS Software Updated to Version 4.7
| Amazon has issued an update for their iOS Kindle app for iPad and iPhone. The new software version 4.7 doesn’t add as many features as the last update; it’s more geared toward bringing the iPhone version up to par with the iPad version. With the last iOS Kindle update Amazon introduced a new feature called […] |
Oprah’s Book Club has Returned
| The Oprah Book Club ended four years ago when her official daytime show off the air. Her recommendations assisted authors in selling over 55 million copies since 1996. There is good news, Oprah Picks are now back and its time to discover some great new reads. The first author to gain Oprah's seal of approval is Cynthia Bond. She is an actress by trade and has been teaching writing to homeless and at-risk youth throughout Los Angeles for more than fifteen years. A writer whose "unflinching yet lyrical prose" O Magazine recently compared to Toni Morrison, Bond might just have penned the breakout novel of the year with Ruby, a period drama set in rural Texas. Ruby tells the epic story of a man determined to protect the woman he loves from the town desperate to destroy her. Utterly transfixing, with unforgettable characters, riveting suspense, and breathtaking, luminous prose, Ruby offers an unflinching portrait of man's dark acts and the promise of the redemptive power of love. "When I found out that Bond is 53 and hadn't written a book before, I thought, Wow. This woman was born to write. There's no other explanation for such a vivid, searing first-time novel that penetrates through the page to the reader's heart. Writing is Bond's calling. No question about it. And when I found out that she's spent more than 15 years teaching writing to homeless and at-risk youth, I knew she must be truly special. I couldn't wait to call and tell her that Ruby is our new OBC 2.0 pick." said Oprah. The novel will be out in paperback on Tuesday, with a printing of 250,000 copies. The hardcover currently has 20,000 copies in print, according to Hogarth, an imprint of Penguin Random House, and is available as an e-book. Oprah's Book Club has Returned is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Coming soon for U.S. and Canadian libraries: Disney streaming video!
| We are excited to announce an agreement with The Walt Disney Studios to offer more than 100 streaming video titles to public library partners in the U.S. and Canada. This licensing agreement strengthens a robust catalog of thousands of streaming video titles available through OverDrive, and reinforces the value of a single central platform for eBooks, audiobooks and streaming video. "Few brands evoke nostalgia and provide entertainment to all ages the way that Disney does with its iconic films," said Lee Milstein, Chief Strategy Officer at OverDrive. "We are thrilled to collaborate with such a respected and trusted company to make these animated and live action streaming videos available for lending through our U.S. and Canadian networks of library partners." Libraries will soon be able to browse or search for a selection of Disney and Touchstone titles in OverDrive Marketplace and tailor their collection to match the unique interests of their communities. As with other content and access models from OverDrive, libraries will set user lending policies for Disney movies to maximize value of their material budgets. Library patrons across the country soon will be able to use PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, Android Tablets or nearly any connected device to stream Disney titles such as Air Bud, The Muppet Movie (Jim Henson, Mel Brooks, Steve Martin), Billy Bathgate (Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman), Oliver & Company (Billy Joel, Joey Lawrence), Tom and Huck (Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Brad Renfro), I Love Trouble (Julia Roberts, Nick Nolte) and White Squall (Jeff Bridges, Scott Wolf, Ryan Phillippe). For more information about streaming video from OverDrive, visit our website.
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Shop e-Readers Unveils New Program to Sell your Old e-book readers
| Shop e-Readers is starting to compete with eBay and Amazon to sell your old e-readers and tablets. The company has unveiled a new program that allows anyone to list their used product with the website and then sell it. The used e-reader program was designed for people who just upgraded to a new device and is wondering what to do with the old one. Alternatively you might have received a Kindle or Nook as a gift and found you don't really like it. The Shop e-readers e-commerce site is the perfect fit, because its the only store in the world that carriers numerous brands and is exclusively geared towards the sale of e-readers, which makes it a very specialized service. Listing your e-reader on Shop e-Readers is free, simply fill out a form and it will be listed within a few hours. When a customer finds your product while browsing the site and decides to buy it, Shop e-Readers handles the transaction via credit card or Paypal. Once the sale has been confirmed the company will email you the customers address for you to ship out, once its been received you get paid! The one exciting thing about what Shop e-Readers is doing is they are not focused just on Canada or the US, but will accept used e-reader listings globally. Since the company has launched the service in the last 24 hours almost 12 new e-readers have been added. Get started today and list your used e-reader with Shop e-Readers. Shop e-Readers Unveils New Program to Sell your Old e-book readers is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Prepare for Pi Day!
| With the date formatting used in the United States, 3/14 is considered Pi Day, so it's a great excuse to get Raspberry Pi enthusiasts together to share what they do. Not only are we officially participating in Pi Day at SXSW in Austin, but we'd like to support and promote any kind of jams, bake-offs, user groups, showcases, or workshops that are taking place on March 14th throughout the United States. There are a few events that are already confirmed and I'll highlight them below. If you’re organizing a Raspberry Pi-focused Pi Day event that you'd like us to promote, please click here to submit your event information. We'll do another blog post leading up to Pi Day — ahem — rounding up all the events happening across the country so that Raspberry Pi fans can find one near them. Austin, TXMembers of the Raspberry Pi team (including Eben, Liz, Rachel, and yours truly) will have a stand at SX Create, which is part of the SXSW Interactive festival. We’ll have a few demos and hands on activities that we’re excited to share. We’ll also be surrounded by companies, products, and organizations all related to hacking and tinkering with technology. Even though we’re especially excited about Pi Day, we’ll be there for all of SX Create, which runs from March 13 to 15 and is free and open-to-the-public. Bay Area, CAOur friends at the absolutely fantastic Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA are planning a big Pi Day bash and they’re looking for Raspberry Pi projects to showcase. Here’s what they have to say about it:
Little Rock, ARIn Arkansas, a third annual bake-off will take place on March 14th at the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub. Organizers David J. Hinson and Tony Bates of Arkansas Geek Central had this to say:
Visit their site for more information about this Pi Day event. Your Event HereIf you’re planning a Pi Day event, let us know about it so that we can tell the rest of the Raspberry Pi community where they can find you. And if you’re excited about the prospect of bootstrapping your own Pi Day event, it’s not too late to start planning. |
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Still Time to Use $6 Play Store Credit for Chromecast Users
| Planning a quiet night in for Valentine’s Day? Thinking of renting a movie? Save a little of your hard-earned money and get those extra toppings on the pizza you order by using a $6 credit from Google exclusively for Chromecast users. Not a fan of movies? Use the credit to purchase something else from the Play Store (nothing says romance like a few extra bonuses in Candy Crush). It may seem a little strange for Google to give away something for nothing, but it makes excellent sense –get users in, get them thinking about the Play Store as their go-to source for entertainment, show them how easy it is… all while leaving a ‘no cost’ pleasant taste for everybody. Let’s just hope it works as advertised –if the process doesn’t work or feels tedious, the opposite effect will take place. Visit Google’s Chromecast Offers website if you want to find out for sure whether you are eligible for this credit. When you check, note that you have to be connected to the same network as your Chromecast device.
Still Time to Use $6 Play Store Credit for Chromecast Users is a post from: Good e-Reader |
