Thursday, June 25, 2015

Qualcomm is not giving up on Mirasol

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Qualcomm Mirasol technology was originally developed for the next generation of color e-readers. The company has spent over two billion dollars trying to make it work but only a handful of devices ever employed it, such as the Kyobo and Koobe Jin Yong Reader. Since they failed to make a meaningful impact in the digital reader space they pivoted and started to optimize it for smartwatches and phones, but no one launched any meaningful products. Today, Qualcomm is hoping this will all change with the advent of Optica.

Using a simple structure comprising a mirror and an absorbing layer to take advantage of the wave properties of light, researchers at Qualcomm MEMS have developed a display technology that harnesses natural ambient light to produce an unprecedented range of colors and superior viewing experience.

This display technology, which could greatly reduce the amount of power used in multiple consumer electronics products, is the latest version of an established commercial product known as Qualcomm Mirasol. Based on a new color rendering format that the researchers call Continuous Color, the new design helps solve many key problems affecting mobile displays such as how to provide an always-on display function without requiring more frequent battery charging and a high quality viewing experience anywhere, especially in bright outdoor environments.

The innovation was made possible by using a combination of a mirror with a thin absorbing layer separated by a precise and controllable gap.  While the mirror by itself would simply reflect all of the incident light energy, the absorbing layer selectively filters out a narrow slice of the spectrum, thus coloring the reflected light.  The gap is controlled to produce nearly every conceivable color, not just the red, green, and blue (RGB) of earlier display technologies.

"We have developed an entirely new way of creating a color display," said John Hong, a researcher with Qualcomm MEMS Technologies, Inc. and lead author on the Optica paper.  "The incredibly efficient display is able to create a rich palette of colors using only ambient light for viewing, much like the way we would read and view printed material."

Harnessing Ambient Light
Typical color displays are essential yet power-hungry components of virtually every digital product with a human-machine interface, from cell phones and computers to home televisions and massive displays at sporting events. Since even the most energy-efficient models require some form of backlighting, they can quickly draw-down a power supply.

To save on power and extend the life of these devices, engineers have been exploring ways to replace emissive technologies with displays that can reflect ambient light.

Earlier attempts to create reflective light color displays, however, presented a number of vexing problems. The designs required using three separate pixels to produce the red, green and blue of a traditional display.  Though adequate for certain applications, the fact that only one-third of the incoming light can be reflected back toward the viewer in a typical reflective RGB format limits the gamut of colors and brightness of the display.

The new display reported in Optica is able to overcome these hurdles by reflecting more of the incoming light and enabling the full spectrum of visible light to be displayed, including bright white and deep black.

Hong and his colleagues were able achieve these results by using a property of light they call interferometric absorption to create a broad spectrum of colors. To produce this effect, the researchers designed, in essence, a two-layer device. The first layer consists of a thin absorbing material that lets most of the light pass through to the second mirror layer where it is reflected back upon itself.

With this design, the incoming light and the reflected light interfere with one another, producing a variety of standing waves with each component periodicity producing a unique color in the spectrum.

By adjusting the distance between the reflective and absorbing layers with tiny actuators known as Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), the absorbing layer is moved to match a node in the standing wave that corresponds to a desired color.  The spectral components not associated with that node are efficiently absorbed, allowing only the desired color to leak through the structure and back toward the viewer.  Each pixel therefore behaves as a colored mirror, with the color tunable across the entire visible spectrum.

Extending Power and Saving Energy
Depending on how the display is used, the power savings can exceed current backlit technologies tenfold. The greatest benefit is when a particular image is retained on the display, which then operates like a form of analog memory in a virtually power-free display mode.

The design presented in the paper consists of a panel that is about 1.5 inches across and contains approximately 149,000 pixels. Both the resolution and area of the display, however, can be scaled to match those of various mobile devices such as Internet-of-Things (IoT) enabled wearables and smartphones.

Fabrication can be achieved in one piece, with the MEMS, upper layer, and lower layer created using the same deposition, lithography and etching processes that are used to create liquid crystal displays.

"Our goal is to improve the technology and design so it can be easily integrated into manufacturing processes at existing factories." said Hong.  The researchers believe that this technology has the potential to change the smartphone experience and that of other personal devices.

"No more squinting at a hard to read display outdoors where we spend much of our time," noted Hong.  "We ultimately hope to create a paper-like viewing experience, which is probably the best display experience that one can expect, with only the light behind you shining on the page."

Kindle Paperwhite 1st Gen Firmware Update Adds New Features

Amazon has started rolling out a new software update for the first generation Kindle Paperwhite that adds several new features, including support for Family Library and Word Wise. The new software version is 5.6.1.1—it basically takes the first gen Paperwhite to the same level as the second gen Paperwhite with these newly added features. Like […]

Amazon Adding More Sharing Features and Instant Previews to Kindle eBooks

Today Amazon announced that they’ve introduced some new social reading features to the Kindle for Android app. The sharing features will be coming to Kindle ereaders and other devices later this year as well. The new Kindle sharing features let users share quotes and recommendations with specific friends using popular messaging apps like Facebook Messenger […]

Barnes and Noble Nook Sales Decrease by 40%

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Barnes and Noble has announced that they have had a dramatic decrease in Nook sales and sales have plummeted 40% in their last quarter.  The Bookseller has also scraped their plans to spin the Nook division into its own company and has decided to keep the business in-house.

Barnes and Noble just issued a press release that breaks down the 4th quarter results, but also gives us prospective on how they did during the entire year.

The NOOK segment (including digital content, devices and accessories) had revenues of $52 million for the 4th quarter and $264 million for the full year, decreasing 39.8% for the quarter and 47.8% for the year. Device and accessories sales were $13 million for the quarter and $86 million for the full year, declining 48.2% and 66.7%, respectively, due to lower unit selling volume.  Digital content sales were $40 million for the quarter and $177 million for the full year, declining 36.5% and 27.8%, respectively, due primarily to lower device unit sales.

Barnes and Noble once had plans to sell one million Samsung Galaxy 4 Nook tablets, and it looks like according to these figures it might be a pipe dream. Additionally their market share for e-books have fallen from double digits in the US to single digits. A few weeks ago the bookseller announced they closed their Luxembourg head office in Europe and ceased all future plans for international expansion.

I cannot say I am surprised about this latest figures, the constant decline in sales of hardware and digital content is unending. Normally when companies see a decline of 1-3% it is a big deal, but Barnes and Noble consistently reports loses of double digits, every quarter, without fail.

iOS Reading Tip: Using Low Light Filter and Inverted Colors

I recently stumbled upon a trick that makes reading on an iPad or iPhone at night a lot easier on the eyes. There are two things you can do: lower the screen’s brightness beyond normal limits and/or use inverted colors. This also reduces blue light so that it helps maintain healthy sleeping habits, as some […]

Chickens redux

Regular readers with an interest in poultry will be all agog to find out what we’re posting about today; yesterday’s post covered a chicken coop with automated doors, and we promised more chickens today. (AND TOMORROW! It’s all chickens all the way down at Pi Towers this week.)

Darren Steele, a Pi owner from Lancashire, was faced with the same chickens/predators problem that Eric Escobar dealt with in yesterday’s post by mechanising the coop door, and programming it to shut after dark.

It turns out that a couple of years ago, Darren also automated his chicken coop to solve the same problem.

The way he automated it is perhaps not the first solution that might have sprung to your mind or to mine; but that’s why Darren got a spot on the BBC news and you and I didn’t.

Speechless.

The post Chickens redux appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

CBC Interviews Michael Kozlowski on Library e-books

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Libraries all over Canada are disheartened because of the high cost associated with e-books. This has prompted a new coalition to be formed that is trying to bring public awareness to just how bad it is getting.

The Toronto Public Library, Canadian Library Council, Ontario Library Association and the Canadian Library Association want to bring awareness to the super high prices publishers are charging them for e-books. They cite number examples, such as the new Michael Connelly novel Burning Room costs $14.99 on Amazon, but their libraries are paying $106.00 per copy. John Grisham's Grey Mountain costs $15.99 for a retail edition but costs libraries $85.00.

Not only do some e-books cost an arm and a leg but some publishers charge a more “reasonable” price, such as $30 per copy, but allow access for a limited period of time, such as a year, or a limited number of borrowers. Once the limit is reached, the book disappears and the library has to repurchase it.

Many Canadian media outlets have been reporting extensively about this issue including the Toronto Star and Good e-Reader. The high cost of e-books is even attracting the national media outlets, such as the CBC who ran a story a few days ago on television in Ontario and the web.

When the CBC runs a story about e-books and the library they turn to experts in the field, including the Toronto City Librarian Vickery Bowles and Good e-Readers own Michael Kozlowski.

Here is the video they posted below, so you can get a sense of the plight most libraries are facing and how their budgets have gone sky high as the demand for digital content intensifies.


Wednesday, June 24, 2015

EL James Grey Sells 1.1 Million Copies in 4 Days

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E.L. James has just released a new book that is entitled Grey. It retells the original 50 Shades of Grey from the prospective of Christian Grey and it looks to be a smash for the book selling industry. The title has sold over 1.1 million copies in the first four days.

Vintage Books has confirmed that 1.1 million copies of Grey have been sold in audiobook, e-book and print in the first 4 days. This is prompting the publisher to order a third, fourth and fifth reprint of Grey – working with multiple printers – bringing the total number of copies in print up to 2.1 million in the US alone.

James herself has appeared at American bookstores to celebrate the release of “Grey.” She did a book signing in New York at Barnes & Noble and then, with very little notice, appeared outside Dallas in Sulphur Springs, Texas, where she signed books for fans at a sold-out event.

“I am not the least bit surprised,” says Sara Nelson, editorial director of books and Kindle at Amazon. “I imagine it will be No. 1 for a while.” Grey will debut this week at No. 1 and has remained No. 1 in print and digital sales on the site for four straight days.

Harlequin Launches Innovative Rewards Program

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Harlequin has just launched a new rewards program in Canada and the United States. Readers can get Skype conversations with their favorite authors, gift basket or autographed books.

A new website has been established called Harlequin My Rewards and readers can earn points by leaving online book reviews, buying books and participating in fun mini surveys.

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Now I know what you might be thinking, surveys? Tradtionally surveys are daunting and time consuming. Harlequin has made mini-surveys where they get you to role play or vote on your favorite summertime hunk. They often comprise of a single answer and you earn points with each vote.

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Likely the most innovative element about this rewards program is that you earn points not only on e-book purchases but also on print. If you buy a print book from Chapters/Indigo or Barnes and Noble you can take a picture of your receipt and then email it to Harlequin or use the automatic upload tool. If you buy an e-book from Amazon or Barnes and Noble you merely have to upload your purchase confirmation to get points.

What I find most interesting about this program is that you don’t need to horde points for years in order to get anything for free. You get 2,000 points from just signing up and 2,000 points from setting up your romance profile. Earn 200 points from filling out the mini surveys or 100 points from submitting a receipt of a book purchase. You can get free books for 5,000 points, which means you can immediately get something for just signing up.

Harlequin My Rewards is the first program of this type setup by a well known publisher. Women who read romance and erotica are fairly loyal to the genre and this service gives you rewards for reading books. You only have to go out of your way a little bit with My Rewards and I think the publishing industry will be watching this closely, if its successful it will be emulated by others.

Dark Horse Digital Comics now on ComiXology

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Dark Horse has finally made the decision to make their entire library of digital comics available on ComiXology. The publisher was the last major holdout from signing a deal and they now join Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Dynamite, BOOM! Studios, IDW, Archie, Top Cow and Image Comics — along with a slew of smaller publishers.

More than 800 Dark Horse Comics titles have become available digitally on ComiXology, including “Hellboy,” “Sin City,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” “The Goon” and “Usagi Yojimbo.” Under the agreement, Dark Horse Comics collections, graphic novels and manga will be available on comiXology the same day the print versions arrive in bookstores.

There are now 75,000 comics, graphic novels and manga from more than 75 publishers on the comiXology platform.

Nook Simple Touch FastMode & USB Sound ROM (Video)

Earlier this week I came across a YouTube video showing a Nook Simple Touch running the latest and final version of the FastMode + USB Sound ROM. As the name implies, FastMode helps make the Nook refresh the E Ink screen faster—even fast enough to play videos—and USB Sound adds audio support to the Nook […]

Celebrate the power of audiobooks all year long

If you are reading this, you are probably a lover of words. Written before you or broadcasted through you headphones, words matter to you. They matter to us too. Audiobooks may take a backseat to their shinier, newer eBook counterparts sometimes but they offer a world of possibilities eBooks can't always compete with.

Audiobooks_1Maybe they'll work for that little boy who can't seem to connect with the characters in his assigned summer reading. Or they'll help that truck driver on his long commutes across the country. They may work for the woman who's eyes have gone bad from years of squinting at a computer and then later at home before bed, reading her favorite words. Or, they might make the girl writing this post smile because they remind her what it was like when her father read books aloud. It's okay to love both. It's what happens in that secret place inside your mind that makes reading, reading.

June is Audiobook Month and as it comes to an end, we want to help you promote your collection now and though out the year. On OverDrive's Partner Portal you'll find updated promotional Audiobook materials for schools and public libraries. Offered as a zip folder, you'll find bookmarks, half and quarter sheets and even stickers to reach the different audiences visiting your digital collection.

Words matter. Reading matters. Reach all imaginations and highlight your Audiobook collection today.

 

Christina Samek is a Launch Specialist with OverDrive

Mechanise your chickens

My friend Tony always excuses himself early from parties, because he has to get home at dusk to shut his chickens in their coop. Tony, this one’s for you so that next time, you get to stick around for dessert.

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Chickens are birds of habit. You don’t need to shepherd (bird-herd?) them into their coops when the sun goes down; they’re programmed to head to their perches as night falls. Foxes and other predators, unfortunately, take advantage of this to chew on stationary, sleeping chickens, so the door of the coop needs to be firmly closed once all the birds are roosting, and opened again at a repellently early hour in the morning. Usually a human will go and do that job. (When I was a kid, I had to do the same for our family’s ducks. I hated those ducks.)

Let’s face it: given a chance to exercise a bit of laziness, most of us will jump at it. (Metaphorically. Lazy people don’t like jumping.)

Eric Escobar has a very neat Pi-powered solution to the problem of night-time chicken imprisonment, which is safer than some others we’ve seen, which use linear actuators. This door’s lowered using gravity, so there will be no very, very, very slow and eventually deadly crushing of any chickens or small children with Eric’s setup. The door is programmed to be lowered at a certain time of day, once it’s dark enough for all the chickens to have moved indoors.

Everything you need to replicate it yourself, right down to schematics, is at Eric’s GitHub.

The nice thing about using a Pi for this sort of thing is that it enables a certain amount of feature-creep. Now the basic functionality’s there, Eric (or you) can add things like the ability to count chickens in and out of the coop; a camera; automated feeding…I’m trying to come up with a way to get the Pi to collect eggs, too, but I’ve got nothing. Ideas in the comments please!

Chicken-owners will be pleased to hear that we’ve got more chicken-husbandry content for you coming up tomorrow. And something that’s a bit like a chicken for Friday. We’re all about the poultry this week at Pi Towers.

 

 

The post Mechanise your chickens appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Australia Passes New Law to Stem the Tide of e-Book Piracy

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Australia has just passed a new law that would require internet service providers to block websites that show pirated material, such as e-books. The websites are not up to the internet companies, instead publishers and rights holders have to make a case to the Federal government and demand sites whose “primary purpose” is the illegal sharing of copyrighted material be blocked.

This is a big win for the publishing and entertainment industry and the popular torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay and KickAssTorrents, which allow people to illicitly download books, movies and TV shows online without paying, are expected to be among the first websites in rights holders’ sights. This is expected to garner lots of publicity because the Pirate Bay is the largest of its kind and a household name.

Australia is now the second country to pass laws to block piracy websites. Four years ago in the United Kingdom the Voluntary Copyright Alert Program was established between the government, entertainment industry and the internet service providers. Their first big bust occurred last month when a UK high court ruled that five of the largest internet providers had to block access to several pirate websites. BT, Virgin Media, Sky, EE, and TalkTalk were told that had not display any links from AvaxHome, Bookfi, Bookre Ebookee, Freebookspot, Freshwap, and LibGen. The sites were said to offer more than ten million titles for download, more than 80% of which infringed copyright according to the Publishers Association. The websites in question had 1.75 million take down requests from authors and publishers in the last year.

English Bookstores are Thriving in China

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There has been a steady tide of new bookstores opening in China in the last few years and English titles are selling at a rapid pace. This is primarily attributed to foreignness and the rising middle class looking to learn the language.

Research data shows that there are ten million English-language speakers in China, and three hundred million English-language learners. This might sound like big numbers to a Westerner, but in the grand scheme of China, that's a drop in the bucket.  Still, there is an emerging market for this type of content and sales are thriving. 

One of the big success stories in China in recent years is Page One Bookstore. Zhang Ying, chief of Page One’s marketing department, said English-language books account for 65% of the books on sale at the three Beijing stores, with most patrons being people aged 20-35, who hold at least a college degree and have medium-to-high incomes.

Page One Bookstore is focusing on the Chinese market because their Taiwan businesses are not doing so well. The company has just announced they are closing their Taipei 101 outlet, the largest bookstore in Taiwan which opened in 2004, as it has suffered from a continuous decline in sales in recent years. The store will follow in the footsteps of Page One’s Fuxing Road outlet at Sogo Department Store in Taipei, which closed in 2009 not long after opening.

China is a huge market and many publishers from the United States and Europe are trying to break  into the market. This has proved challenging in the past because most of the publishing is done by the State and they limit the number of imports that can be brought in.

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This year at Book Expo America there was a very large Chinese publishing delegation that had almost 500 people and they had a massive 25,000 square feet pavilion  which was an "unprecedented" amount, according to BEA director Steve Rosato.  It was led by Wu Shangzhi, deputy director of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) – the body that oversees books and other media in the country, answerable ultimately to the State Council and Central Propaganda Department. Their goal was to learn more about the way publishers in the US operate and to talk about relaxing restrictions on some imports.

The Chinese book selling market is massive, in 2014, approximately 446,000 books were published.  This generated over $8.7 billion dollars, which makes it the second-largest in the world, after the US.

There are hundreds of bookstores in Beijing alone that serve English books, so what’s selling? According to the New York Times Genre fiction is exploding. In bookstores, crime stories and romantic fiction rub alongside wuxia, adventure stories of chivalrous martial heroes, and so-called "officialdom" fiction, tales of political intrigue that double as how-to guides for aspiring officials.  Popular nonfiction books include self-help tracts on how to get rich or find love. Publishers at the Beijing Book fair last year described a growing children's book market propelled by the one-child policy: Chinese parents are eager to pour their resources into their single offspring. And English-language books — from novels to learning aids — are in demand among those who want to improve their language skills.

Monday, June 22, 2015

Amazon is Changing Product Reviews

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Amazon has taken the first steps to augment product reviews, one of the largest initiatives the company has taken in their 20 year history.  Amazon reviews have proved to be critical for people looking to buy a product and have come to trust Amazon more than any other website.

A new in-house machine learning program will be putting more weight on verified purchases, new reviews and reviews that people have rated as being useful. This will be a tremendous benefit to books that often have a ton of negative reviews from customers who haven’t even read it.

There is a stark contrast between negative reviews and critical reviews. Critical reviews won’t be buried at all if they are helpful with this new system. They could instead jump up to the front page. Unhelpful critical reviews will be buried — as they should be.

“The system will learn what reviews are most helpful to customers…and it improves over time,” Amazon spokeswoman Julie Law said in an interview. “It’s all meant to make customer reviews more useful.”

The new review system sounds swell, and should go a long way with combating paid review services and internet trolls. On the other hand I know plenty of book reviewers that might not buy a book or Kindle e-book from Amazon, but leave amazing reviews. Does this new system mean that just because its not a verified purchase, less weight will be given to it? I guess if enough people give it an up-vote, it might not.

The Future of E-Readers is IMX 7

CIHTOxEVEAER--2Freescale has  played a pivotal role in the e-reader industry  from the very first Sony e-Reader to the modern day Amazon Kindle Voyage. Their processors and internals allow e-paper to truly shine and directly impact everything from page turns to battery life. Today, Freescale has just announced the future of e-reader tech, IMX 7.

The IMX 7 Dual (1 GHZ)  and IMX 7 Solo Lite (800 MHZ) are two new processors that will power the e-reader industry for the next four years.

The main attraction of the new product line is the dual core processor and how e-readers will basically take a huge jump forward in terms of overall performance, while remaining future proof.

The IMX 7 Dual will be the saving grace of e-readers, it has been totally optimized for e-ink Regal and whatever new technologies that are released by E INK in the future.  Why is this important? Page turn speed will be dramatically increased.  In the past this mechanism was handled by software, which prevented companies like Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo from taking a big step forward in innovation. Now, page turns are handled by the hardware itself, so each page turn will be less than 100 milliseconds.

Solving the page turn program is a big step forward, but that’s not the only thing that is being remedied. Ghosting will also be solved with this framework, which is a huge deal. Normally with e-readers you will have a full page refresh every six pages or in some cases every chapter. The reason for this, is the longer the display goes without a full page refresh text gradually starts super imposing itself, which makes it difficult to read.  I have never liked full page refreshes, as it breaks reading immersion.   Now, this will also be fixed, which means less full page refreshes because again, its now hardware based, instead of software.

Likely the largest innovation in the IMX product line is the support for hardware dithering.  This will allow e-reader companies that work with the Linux or Android platforms to be able to include animated content. This will include truly animated page turns, interactive menus and video.

The big trend in 2014 were European companies starting to adopt Android as the operating system of choice to power e-readers. Many brands empowered users to install their own e-reading apps, such as Kindle, Kobo and Nook. Sadly, all of these apps were designed for smartphones and tablets and had lots of animated page turns that really struggled with e-ink screens. The IMX 7 dual solves this and will make e-reading on Android way more viable.

Battery life has always been a big issue with e-readers. The companies who make them always are walking a fine line between developing cool features that users want and battery performance.  Batteries are often one of the biggest costs when designing an e-reader, but this is no longer the case. Using the new processor framework companies can now use smaller batteries, saving on manufacturing costs and also gain 3x the performance vs IMX 6.

Mass production on the new IMX 7 product line will begin this November and I was told it was very likely we might see a commercial product from a big name company towards the end of the year. If Amazon, Kobo or Barnes and Noble can be first to the market with a next generation e-reader it could be game changing.


How OverDrive helps you take your library anywhere…even in the pool!

This week we had a chance to speak with a user of OverDrive who has been listening to audiobooks from the library to help pass the time during his physical therapy. Using a simple Bluetooth connection and water safe headphones, he user was able to break up the monotony of his workouts by “reading” while he swims. His story is another example of how, with OverDrive, you can take the library with you wherever you go:

Recently, my knees became so bad that I had to give up biking last fall.The doctor recommended I try swimming which has been incredible and my knees feel the best they have in 20 years. It has allowed me to continue to be an avid golfer. Unfortunately, after a while I was ready to give up swimming due to the boredom when I was just listening to music. This is when my good friend, Steve Potash, suggested I try listening to audiobooks instead which has made the time fly by.

I use the Underwater Audio Waterproof iPod Shuffle by Underwater Audio and the headphones I use are Swimbuds SPORT Waterproof. I always carry extra earbud ends with me to the pool since they do come off and get lost now and then. Since the IPod shuffle is slightly older technology I only load one book at a time and set it on non-shuffle mode. It returns to the portion of the book I was listening to even when I need to recharge it.

I swim for an hour at a time and use a snorkel and mask to make it easier on my neck. The iPod has a built in clip that attaches to my mask strap and the headphones are made at perfect (shorter) length for this use but do come with an extension if you need it. Using the OverDrive app to listen to library audiobooks has been great. I end up working out even longer because I want to hear what happens next!

10 Free Kindle Books for Monday June 22nd

It’s time for another installment of 10 free Kindle ebooks to help get your week off to a good start. The 10 free Kindle ebooks are free as of June 22nd, 2015. Please note that most of these titles are free for a limited-time only and will expire in a few days. Owning a Kindle […]

Skycademy – Free High Altitude CPD

We’re looking for 24 teachers (or youth leaders) to take part in a FREE two-and-a-half day Continuing Professional Developmet (CPD) event aiming to give attendees some experience of high altitude ballooning, and showing them how they can use it as a teaching tool. Read on to find out more…

Over the last few year I’ve seen many awesome uses of the Raspberry Pi, but one of my favourites by far is seeing the Pi used as a payload tracker for High Altitude Ballooning (HAB) projects.

One of the most prolific HAB enthusiasts is Dave Akerman, who has launched many flights using the Raspberry Pi, from the first flight back in 2012:

To the launch of a potato for Heston Blumenthal’s “Great British Food”:

And even capturing some amazing images of the recent Solar Eclipse from 30km up.

Many schools are also seeing the opportunities for learning that a HAB flight presents, incorporating physics, maths, computing and geography into one project.

Here’s a project from William Howard School in Cumbria, whose students built their own tracker connected to a Pi.

In my previous life as a teacher, I organised a launch with my own students, we had help from Dave Akerman on the day. This turned out to be super helpful, as it takes some planning and there’s a lot to remember.

One of the hardest parts of running a flight is the number of different aspects you have to plan and manage. You can test the hardware and software to a certain point, but there’s limited opportunity for a practice flight. Having experience is really helpful.

For this reason we’re running our first “Skycademy”, during which we will be giving attendees hands-on experience of a flight. The event will be free to attend and will be spread over two and a half days between the 24th and 26th of August.

  • Day 1 – Planning and workshop sessions on all aspects of HAB flights.
  • Day 2 – Each team launches their payload, tracks, follows and recovers it.
  • Day 3 – Teams gather together for plenary morning.

Our aim is support and inspire teachers and other adults working with young people. The hope is that those that attend will return to lead a project with their groups that will do something amazing.

Attendees will be supported throughout the course by experienced HAB enthusiasts and the Raspberry Pi Education Team. If you are a UK teacher or work with young people (scout leader, youth leader etc), you can apply here.

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