Amazon Kindle Voyage Not Available in Canada Due to a Patent

The Amazon Kindle Voyage e-reader first became available at the tail end of 2014. This device is really exciting because it features a high resolution display and innovative technologies such as Haptic feedback. Many Canadians have wanted to buy this device in the retail environment or online, but it hasn’t become available yet. This is primarily due to an outstanding patent that the Federal government has yet to approve. Amazon originally filed Patent 2750759 in 2010 and it has never been approved or disapproved by the Canadian government. In January 2015 Amazon filed for a reexamination in the hopes that they could secure a definitive answer to make the Voyage available. There hasn’t been any movement yet regarding this issue and likely this iteration of the Kindle will never come to Canada. So what exactly is Haptic feedback? Haptic technology, haptics, or kinesthetic communication, is tactile feedback technology which recreates the sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user. Most people who had an old Android phone four or five years ago experienced this when they clicked on the home or settings buttons and felt a little buzz. Amazon incorporated this technology at the expense of eliminating physical page turn buttons. The Seattle company dubbed the experience Page Press. Likely the main reason why the government has not approved this patent is because many old phones and tablets use Haptic feedback and it may set a bad prescient for future innovation if Amazon repackages it and gives it a different name.

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/amazon-kindle-voyage-not-available-in-canada-due-to-a-patent

How to Install the Kindle Bookerly Font on your Kobo

A few months ago Amazon released a new font called Bookerly and it is a big step towards better typography. It is the first typeface designed for the Kindle for scratch and solves a longstanding problems with text justification, kerning, drop caps, image positioning, and more. The big problem though, its only on limited devices, such as the Kindle Paperwhite. So how do you get the font file and install it on your Kobo? In order to install the Bookerly font on your Kobo e-reader you need to download the file from the Good e-Reader Forum. Next you want to unzip the file using WINZIP or your favorite file extracting program.  There should be four files in the extracted folder. Plug the Kobo into your computer  via the USB cable and use Windows Explorer to open up the device.  You want to then create a directory called  "fonts" if none exists.  This folder must NOT be created inside any other folder such as in the .Kobo folder.  It must be created in the main area where all your eBooks and welcome guides are. Copy and paste all of the files into the Kobo Font folder, you don’t need to make a directory within a directory. Simply just drag and drop all four files into the font folder you created. Eject your Kobo and wait for it to finish processing.  Then turn it off and back on.  Now you should be able to choose from your selection of new fonts when you open up an e-book and access the font menu.

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/how-to-install-the-kindle-bookerly-font-on-your-kobo

People Turn to Facebook and Twitter for Daily News

Do you visit dedicated websites anymore or are you reading the daily news on Facebook and Twitter? If you are turning to social media you are not alone, Pew has just released a new report that states 63% of US Facebook and Twitter users rely on the social networks as news sources, which is a  11% increase from two years ago. These findings come at a time when the two social media platforms are increasing their emphasis on news. Twitter is soon set to unveil its long-rumored news feature, "Project Lightning." The feature will allow anyone, whether they are a Twitter user or not, to view a feed of tweets, images and videos about live events as they happen, curated by a bevy of new employees with "newsroom experience." And, in early 2015, Twitter purchased and launched the live video-streaming app Periscope, further highlighting their focus on providing information about live events as they happen. Meanwhile, in May, Facebook launched Instant Articles, a trial project that allows media companies to publish stories directly to the Facebook platform instead of linking to outside sites, and, in late June, Facebook started introducing its "Trending" sidebar to allow users to filter by topic and see only trending news about politics, science and technology, sports or entertainment. I think the crux of this report is that more people are using social media more than ever for their daily news fix. The Pew report highlights that people tend to read individual articles from magazines or newspapers on Facebook, where Twitter is more indicative to breaking news coverage and following individual journalists.

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/people-turn-to-facebook-and-twitter-for-daily-news

Celebrating #JimmyV: Raising awareness for cancer research

Every year in the middle of July ESPN host's their annual award show, the ESPY's. The show honors the best athletes and athletic moments of the year but the most meaningful awards of the night are The Arthur Ashe Courage Award and the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance. The Arthur Ashe award is given to a person whose actions transcend sports. The first recipient was Jim Valvano, the coach who the Jimmy V award for Perseverance was named after. Coach Valvano's acceptance speech is perhaps the most famous in recent history and certainly the most meaningful as it launched The V Foundation for cancer research. ESPN now considers the day of the ESPYs as #JimmyV day where they auction off prizes and experiences to raise money for the V foundation. Valvano's motivational words to make sure you "Don't give up, don't ever give up." have touched millions. Someone else who Jimmy V inspired was Stuart Scott, who received the Perseverance Award for the way he battled cancer until the final days of his life. Stuart also left a lasting legacy and memory during his acceptance speech when he reminded the world that, "When you die, that does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and the manner in which you live. So live. Fight like hell. And when you get too tired to fight, lay down and rest and let somebody else fight for you." Shortly before he passed away Stuart Scott wrote his memoirs, a love letter to life itself, inspiring the world to keep fighting or, as Jimmy V would put it, "Don't ever give up." You can view Stuart's book and many others like it here. Today may be #JimmyV day but these moving stories of battling cancer can raise awareness about the fight of this disease all year long. These books will make you laugh, make you think and very likely, make you cry. But Jimmy V wouldn't have it any other way. As he would put it, "That's a full day."   Adam and Jason Sockel are brothers who work at OverDrive together. Jimmy V is an idol to them both.

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OverdrivesDigitalLibraryBlog/~3/zX4hzZnlwjA/

Check out the latest titles coming from Penguin Random House

In just a few short week hundreds of librarians will be joining Team OverDrive in Cleveland for Digipalooza for three days of education, networking and fun. We're excited to say that our friends at Penguin Random house will be joining us as well as one of the conferences great sponsors. Whether you can make it to Cleveland or not for the celebration we wanted to share with you the great titles they have coming out in the near future. You can add all of these titles to your collection by adding this list to your cart in Marketplace. City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg A big-hearted, boundary-vaulting novel that heralds a remarkable new talent: set in 1970s New York, it is a story outsized in its generosity, warmth, and ambition, its deep feeling for its characters, and its exuberant imagination. The Gates of Evangeline by Hester Young From a unique new author comes a fast-paced debut, introducing a heroine whose dark visions bring to light secrets that will heal or destroy those around her… The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra From the author of National Book Award longlist selection and New York Times bestseller A Constellation of Vital Phenomena come these dazzling, poignant and lyrical interwoven stories about family, sacrifice, the legacy of war and the redemptive power of art. Slade House by David Mitchell "Sharp, fast, flat-out spooky, Slade House is such a hypnotic read that you are likely to miss your subway stop in order to keep reading. And by you, I mean me."–Daniel Handler, New York Times bestselling author of We Are Pirates and the Lemony Snicket series These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly A mystery about deadly secrets and dark truths, These Shallow Graves is set in a gritty 1890s New York and tells the story of a strong young woman and how much she is willing to risk for love, revenge and to uncover the truth. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman First, survive. Then tell the truth. The year is 2575, and two rival mega-corporations are at war over a planet that's little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. Check out this intense book trailer! http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/illuminae/ Voyagers: Project Alpha by D. J. MacHale Earth is about to go dark. Without a new power source, life as we know it will be toast. A global competition is under way to determine who will join the secret mission that might just save us all. The Voyagers will venture to the far reaches of space, farther than anyone's ever gone before, and they must be prepared to face anything. The Rose Society by Marie Lu From New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu comes the second book in the exhilarating Young Elites series. Once upon a time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, and she destroyed them all. Appleblossom the Possum by Holly Goldberg Sloan Fans of E.B. White and Dick King-Smith will adore this heartwarming and funny animal adventure by the award-winning author of Counting by 7s . The audiobook will be narrated by Dustin Hoffman! We'd like to thank Penguin Random House for sponsoring this great event and showing their support for libraries!

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalDistributionBlogOverdrive/~3/iCnqlUFiQ6E/

What Would Make You Want to Buy a Kindle Voyage 2?

Now that Amazon has released the Kindle Paperwhite 3, a lot of people don’t think there’s enough extra features on the Kindle Voyage to justify the premium price of $199 and up, especially now that the Paperwhite 3 has the same high resolution 300 ppi E Ink screen as the Voyage, and for $80 less […]

URL: http://feeds.the-ebook-reader.com/~r/feedburner/cmWU/~3/Dcz_x2DHzhQ/

The Kindle Voyage isn’t Sold in Canada for a Good Reason

Ever since the Kindle Voyage was released back in October 2014, Canadians have been wondering when they would be able to purchase Amazon’s premium ebook reader. Then when the Kindle Paperwhite 3 was released last month and it’s been available in Canada since the get-go, people are wondering what’s the deal? Is the Voyage ever […]

URL: http://feeds.the-ebook-reader.com/~r/feedburner/cmWU/~3/1-r2i4FsXhg/

PatternCraft

Carrie Anne looked over my shoulder when I was researching this post. “I love kids with tools.” These particular kids with tools are using traditional wooden mallets and punches to make a very special set of punchcards, which they’re reading with a Raspberry Pi that creates a CSV file of 0s and 1s, and then interprets that data in the Minecraft universe. This workshop project is the work of Gemma May Latham, a collaborative maker, and David Whale, who, with Martin O’Hanlon, wrote the most excellent Adventures in Minecraft. Gemma has a particular interest in the Jacquard loom and punchcard technology, and worked with David to make a Pi-based card reader for kids to import data from a piece of paper into the Minecraft world. Gemma says: Housed in a laser cut plywood box, and built using a Pro Micro Arduino, IR LEDs and Phototransistors, the reader is set up to read rows of holes with an additional registration hole at the end for patterns where a row has no punched hole. The reader is then attached to a Raspberry Pi via the USB port allowing for the input of designs into Minecraft Pi via Python. You can build your own reader; Gemma will be putting instructions online soon (we’ll update this post when she does), and all the code you’ll need is available at David’s GitHub. There are no words for how much we approve of programming that involves hammers. The project was a big hit at Liverpool MakeFest – Gemma and David will be running the workshop again on a bigger scale at MOSI MakeFest in Manchester in August, so head along if you’d like to have a play yourself.   The post PatternCraft appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

URL: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/patterncraft/

Podcast – Books-A-Million, B&N and Amazon News

Today on the show we talk about all the major deals that Amazon will having for its one day Prime Day event on July 15th. Also, Books-A-Million has announced they are taking the company private and Barnes & Noble has given us a date in which the Nook College Bookstore and educational unit will become its own company. This week has been crazy for authors organizations trying to fight the power. The Authors Guild is demanding a revenue increase from 25% to 50% citing e-books are selling like crazy and they are partners with the publishers. Almost every single organisation that represents authors have simultaneously filed their own petitions to the US Justice Department to look into Amazon and how they control the e-book market. How will this play out and will anything actually happen? Tons of other tech and e-reader news is also on the show! Find out more about the new Kindle Paperwhite 3 and how it stacks up against the Kobo Glo HD.

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/e-reader-radio/podcast-books-a-million-barnes-noble-and-amazon
Enclosure: http://goodereader.com/blog/podpress_trac/feed/92108/0/goodereader-radio-july14-2015.mp3

Barnes and Noble to Form a New Education Company August 2nd

The Barnes and Noble board of directors has approved the spin off of their college bookstore and educational branch from the main company. The official date this will occur is on August 2nd 2015. Barnes and Noble operates their educational unit  at 714 campuses in the U.S. and posted a sales decline of 0.9 percent to $1.75 billion during the fiscal year ended in May. It accounted for about 27% of total revenue, which is very appealing for investors looking to buy into this new company. One of the biggest advantages the college division has over the retail stores is that it doesn't hold leases, so it has fewer costs. The unit instead signs multiyear contracts to run stores for the schools. John Tinker, an analyst at Maxim Group, said the new structure makes sense. "What this does is create a pure play for investors interested in the college market," said Mr. Tinker. "Keeping the Nook inside the retail group is logical because they don't currently know where it stands. Nook losses are shrinking, but it is still uncertain what's really happening there." NEW YORK, NY – July 14, 2015 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) ("Barnes & Noble", the "Company"), today announced the timing and details regarding the spin-off of Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. ("BNED") from Barnes & Noble. Contemporaneously with the approval of the spin-off, the Company also announced a new quarterly dividend policy for Barnes & Noble stockholders. Spin-Off of Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. The Barnes & Noble board of directors (the "Board") has approved the final distribution ratio and declared a pro rata dividend of the outstanding shares of BNED common stock, which will result in the complete legal and structural separation of the two companies. The distribution is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions as set forth in BNED's Registration Statement on Form S-1 (the "Prospectus"). On the distribution date of August 2, 2015, Barnes & Noble stockholders of record as of 5:00 p.m. on July 27, 2015, the record date for the distribution, will receive 0.632 shares of BNED common stock for each share of Barnes & Noble common stock they hold on the record date. No action or payment is required by Barnes & Noble stockholders to receive the shares of BNED common stock. Stockholders who hold Barnes & Noble common stock on the record date will receive a book-entry account statement reflecting their ownership of BNED common stock or their brokerage account will be credited with the BNED shares. The Prospectus, which contains details regarding the distribution of the BNED common stock and BNED's business and management following the BNED spin-off, is being mailed to Barnes & Noble stockholders. For U.S. federal income tax purposes, Barnes & Noble's U.S. stockholders (other than those subject to special rules) generally will not recognize gain or loss as a result of the distribution of BNED shares. Barnes & Noble stockholders are urged to consult with their tax advisors with respect to the U.S. federal, state and local or foreign tax consequences, as applicable, of the BNED spin-off. Shares of Barnes & Noble common stock will continue to trade "regular way" on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") under the symbol "BKS" through the distribution date of August 2, 2015, and thereafter. Investors are encouraged to consult with their financial advisors regarding the specific implications of buying or selling Barnes & Noble common stock on or before the distribution date. BNED common stock is expected to begin trading on a "when-issued" basis on the NYSE under the symbol "BNED WI" beginning on July 23, 2015. On August 3, 2015, when-issued trading of BNED common stock will end and "regular-way" trading under the symbol "BNED" will begin. The CUSIP number for the BNED common stock will be 06777U 101 when regular way trading begins. Dividend Policy Contemporaneously with the approval of the spin-off, the Board also approved a policy of paying dividends at an annual rate of $0.60 per share of common stock of the Company, payable in four installments of $0.15 per share of common stock of the Company, with such quarterly dividends to be declared on a quarterly basis by the Board. The timing, declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends to stockholders will fall within the discretion of the Board, taking into account such considerations as the Board may deem relevant at the time, including, without limitation, the Company's financial condition, financial performance, available liquidity, any applicable restrictions under the Company's credit facilities and applicable legal requirements. In accordance with the dividend policy, the Board has declared a dividend equal to $0.15 per share of common stock of the Company to the holders of record of the common stock of the Company as of the close of business on August 7, 2015, with such dividend being payable on August 17, 2015.

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/bookselling-3/barnes-and-noble-to-form-a-new-education-company-august-2nd

Overdrive Digital eBook Lending Now Available in Japan

Overdrive, the largest company devoted to digital library lending has just expanded into Japan. Ryugasaki Public Library is the first branch to children's and young adult literature, graphic novels, manga and much more. In the coming days, Itako Public Library will also launch their OverDrive-powered website enabling readers to take the library with them wherever they travel on their smartphones or tablets. These launches come as a result of OverDrive's partnership with Media Do whose experience in the Japanese market enables them to be in touch with new library users who may have been previously unaware of OverDrive. It also helps that Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten purchased Overdrive later this year and likely they are going to be introducing Overdrive to libraries all over Asia.

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/digital-library-news/overdrive-digital-ebook-lending-now-available-in-japan

Amazon to Heavily Discount Kindle e-Readers and Fire Tablets Tommorow

Starting at 12 AM and running all day tomorrow is the new Amazon holiday Prime Day.  If you are an existing Amazon Prime member there will be thousands of deals all day long for you to take advantage of, but if you are looking to buy a new tablet, there will be some mega deals. The company has sent out a press release just now to tease the kind of deals that will be up on Amazon tomorrow. For example the Fire TV Stick will be $15 off during the day, with $30 being cut off the entry level Kindle Basic Touch and $60 off the Fire HD 7 and Fire HD 7 Kids Edition. Amazon wants to get as many people signed up for its Prime service as possible, since members generally make a lot of purchases. Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimated in 2014 that Prime members spent an average of $1,500 per year, compared with $625 for non-members.  Beginning Wednesday, July 15, just after midnight PT, Prime members can shop thousands of exclusive lightning deals with new deals added as often as every ten minutes throughout the day. With more deals than Black Friday, members will enjoy thousands of deals from sought-after devices and tools to popular toys and pet supplies. Anyone can join Prime, to start a free 30-day trial and participate in Prime Day visit amazon.com/primeday. Join the Celebration: Transparent Red Carpet Experience: Amazon customers in the US, UK and Germany will have a chance to win a trip to the Transparent Season 2 premiere this fall. One winner and a guest from each country will receive round-trip airfare, hotel stay and transportation as well as a chance to meet the cast and creators from the Golden Globe-winning Amazon Original Series. For a chance to win in the US visit: amazon.com/redcarpet. Listen to Win: Prime members in the US who listen to any song on Prime Music will automatically be entered to win up-to $25,000 in Amazon Gift Cards. Prime members can stream a song, an album or listen to any Prime Station or Playlist for a chance to win Amazon.com Gift Card prizes, ranging from $1,000 to the Grand Prize of $25,000 in Amazon.com Gift Cards. For a chance to win visit: amazon.com/listentowin-rules. Deals Preview: The following are examples of some of the deals that will be available at various times throughout Prime Day. Fire TV Stick, fastest selling Amazon device of all time, $15 off Kindle, $30 off Fire HD 7, $60 off Fire HD 7 Kids Edition, $60 off 32-inch LED TV, $75 40-inch 1080p LED TV, $115 Brand-name 32-inch Smart HDTV, under $200 50-inch 4K TV bundle, under $1000 Bose headphones at the lowest price ever on Amazon Chromebook laptop, only $199 Over 50% off two Nikon COOLPIX cameras Highly rated binoculars, under $120 Two security camera-kits, $279.99 K’NEX 2-in-1 Ferris Wheel Building Set (Amazon Exclusive), $35.99 K’NEX Crossfire Chaos Roller Coaster Building Set (Amazon Exclusive), $23.99 Playskool Heroes Transformers Rescue Bots Optimus Prime Figure (Amazon Exclusive), $9.99 iRobot Roomba Pet Vacuum Cleaning Robot, under $300 Husqvarna mower, under $300 40 lightning deals on DVDs up to 75% off Up to 50% off any of the Harry Potter books Save more than 70% on the Divergent Series Complete Box Set of books Save up to 70% on select kitchen products from top brands like Cuisinart, KitchenAid, Foodsaver and Thermos Save up to 50% on select tools for the DIY auto enthusiast Connected Car and Scan Tool products starting at 60% off Road-trip-ready automotive products starting at 50% off Save more than 50% on Drinkwell Platinum Pet Fountain 30% off select clothing, shoes, jewelry, watches & more 60% off Amazon Elements Baby Wipes with code ELEMENTS60 Free luxury beauty sample box with $50 purchase of luxury beauty products, with promo code LUXSAMPLES Buy an Amazon.com Gift Card multipack, get $10 in Amazon.com promotional credit Get 25% bonus Amazon Coins when you buy 5,000 or 10,000 Amazon Coins Prime Now will also offer deals in the six cities where the service is offered #PrimeLiving Photo Contest: Through July 15, members are invited to snap a photo of #PrimeLiving moments and upload them at amazon.com/primeliving for the chance to win $10,000 in Amazon Gift Cards. To learn more about the #PrimeLiving photo contest and get inspiration from artists around the world, watch here. Prime Personalities: Amazon invites customers to take a quiz to discover what kind of Prime member they are, and enter for the chance to win a $2,000 Amazon.com Gift Card. No purchase necessary. See contest rules at amzn.to/QUIZ. Deals on the go: Prime members can shop Prime Day deals on any device, including smartphones and tablets and find deals anytime, anywhere. It's a great time to try Prime: Anyone can sign up for Prime and participate in Prime Day, eligible customers can sign up for a 30-day free trial of Prime at amazon.com/primeday. More to Prime Amazon Prime is an annual membership program for $99 a year that offers customers unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on more than 20 million items across all categories, unlimited streaming of tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes, more than one million songs, more than one thousand playlists and hundreds of stations with Prime Music, early access to select lightning deals all year long, free secure, unlimited photo storage in Amazon Cloud Drive with Prime Photos and access to more than 800,000 books to borrow with the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. Members in more than 500 cities times also receive unlimited Free Same-Day Delivery on more than a million items. In addition Prime members in Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Brooklyn, Dallas, Manhattan and Miami and even London receive one and two hour delivery on a selection of tens of thousands of everyday essentials with the dedicated Prime Now mobile app. Not a member? Start a free trial of Amazon Prime at amazon.com/primeday.

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/amazon-to-heavily-discount-kindle-e-readers-and-fire-tablets-tommorow

Firefox Now Blocks Adobe Flash Automatically

Indie authors are encouraged to update their websites and blogs as soon as possible because the Mozilla Firefox internet browser no longer supports Flash. Mark Schmidt, the head of the Firefox support team at Mozilla, tweeted that all versions of Flash Player are blocked in the browser as of its latest update. Adobe has scrambled to fix problems as they have become public, but they are unable to keep up with the rising tide of hackers exploiting vulnerabilities with the plugin.  This has promoted some serious companies from abandoning the platform altogether. Remember back in 2010 when Steve Jobs memorably explained his problems with Flash and why his iPhone and iPad wouldn’t support it? Or when YouTube dropped Flash as its default player in favor of HTML5 in January, or how Chrome now intelligently pauses instances of Flash video on its pages? Even Blackberry disabled Flash on their internet browser a few months ago. If you are browsing the internet and are using Chrome or Firefox you will likely start seeing a ton of popup messages telling you that Flash is disabled or you have to update your player.  If you want to disable these messages altogether you can uninstall Flash from your computer, using this tool. Many websites and blogs that indie authors run heavily depend on Flash, especially if they have been around for a number of years. I recommend that you visit your sites using Firefox and checkout what Flash elements are on your site so you can either remove them altogether or look for HTML5 alternatives. How do you detect Flash? Well, you can install a browser plugin called Firebug which is really popular.

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/technology/firefox-now-blocks-adobe-flash-automatically

Prime Day Deals: $30 off Kindle, $60 off Fire HD 7, Lots More

Tomorrow, July 15th, Amazon is going to be running a huge sale, with “more deals than Black Friday” to celebrate their 20th anniversary. It’s called Prime Day, so it’s only for Amazon Prime members, which costs $99 per year to join, but you can get setup with a 30 day free trial if you just […]

URL: http://feeds.the-ebook-reader.com/~r/feedburner/cmWU/~3/0ZWSvhV3lAk/

OverDrive launches the first two public library digital collections in Japan

This week Ryugasaki Public Library launched their OverDrive digital collection, becoming the first Japanese public library to do so. Ryugasaki offers their users everything from children's and young adult literature, graphic novels, manga and nonfiction titles for health and fitness, arts and crafts and much more. In the coming days, Itako Public Library will also launch their OverDrive-powered website enabling readers to take the library with them wherever they travel. These launches come as a result of OverDrive's partnership with Media Do whose experience in the Japanese market enables us to be in touch with new library users who may have been previously unaware of OverDrive. This venture has resulted in the launch of OverDrive Japan which enables us to acquire more Japanese native content. Media Do also have added to OverDrive's industry leading collection of titles available in Marketplace by providing bestselling, high quality content including Manga, comics, magazines and graphic novels in their original right to left fixed layout format. We're excited about expanding OverDrive's global reach and look forward to continuing to add new digital collections in libraries around the world. Be sure to check back soon to learn about the latest additions to the OverDrive network!

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalDistributionBlogOverdrive/~3/k0VkfhuT6ow/

Astro Pi: Mission Update 4

Just over a week ago now we closed the Secondary School phase of the Astro Pi competition after a one week extension to the deadline. Students from all over the UK have uploaded their code hoping that British ESA Astronaut Tim Peake win run it on the ISS later this year! Last week folks from the leading UK Space companies, the UK Space Agency and ESERO UK met with us at Pi Towers in Cambridge to do the judging. We used the actual flight Astro Pi units to test run the submitted code. You can see one of them on the table in the picture below: Secondary school judging in progress! @astro_timpeake @esa @spacegovuk pic.twitter.com/laPS88A5IL — Astro Pi (@astro_pi) July 7, 2015 The standard of entries was incredibly high and we were blown away by how clever some of them were! Doug Liddle of SSTL said: “We are delighted that the competition has reached so many school children and we hope that this inspires them to continue coding and look to Space for great career opportunities” British ESA Astronaut Tim Peake – photo provided by UK Space Agency under CC BY-ND Jeremy Curtis, Head of Education at the UK Space Agency, said: “We're incredibly impressed with the exciting and innovative Astro Pi proposals we've received and look forward to seeing them in action aboard the International Space Station. Not only will these students be learning incredibly useful coding skills, but will get the chance to translate those skills into real experiments that will take place in the unique environment of space.” When Tim Peake flies to the ISS in December he will have the two Astro Pis in his personal cargo allowance. He’ll also have 10 especially prepared SD cards which will contain the winning applications. Time is booked into his operations schedule to deploy the Astro Pis and set the code running and afterwards he will recover any output files created. These will then be returned to their respective owners and made available online for everyone to see. Code was received for all secondary school key stages and we even have several from key stage 2 primary schools. These were judged along with the key stage 3 entries. So without further adieu here comes a breakdown of who won and what their code does: Each of these programs have been assigned an operational code name that will be used when talking about them over the space to ground radio. These are essentially arbitrary so don’t read into them too much! Ops name: FLAGS School: Thirsk School Team name: Space-Byrds Key stage: 3 Teacher: Dan Aldred The judges had a lot of fun with this. Their program uses telemetry data provided by NORAD along with the Real Time Clock on the Astro Pi to computationally predict the location of the ISS (so it doesn’t need to be online). It then works out what country that location is within and shows its flag on the LED matrix along with a short phrase in the local language. Ops name: MISSION CONTROL School: Cottenham Village College Team name: Kieran Wand Key stage: 3 Teacher: Christopher Butcher Kieran’s program is an environmental system monitor and could be used to cross check the ISS’s own life support system. It continually measures the temperature, pressure and humidity and displays these in a cycling split-screen heads up display. It has the ability to raise alarms if these measurements move outside of acceptable parameters. We were especially impressed that code had been written to compensate for thermal transfer between the Pi CPU and Astro Pi sensors. Andy Powell of the Knowledge Transfer Network said: “All of the judges were impressed by the quality of work and the effort that had gone into the winning KS3 projects and they produced useful, well thought through and entertaining results” Ops name: TREES School: Westminster School Team name: EnviroPi Key stage: 4 (and equivalent) Teacher: Sam Page This entry will be run in the cupola module of the ISS with the Astro Pi NoIR camera pointing out of the window. The aim is to take pictures of the ground and to later analyse them using false colour image processing. This will produce a Normalised Differentiated Vegetation Index (NDVI) for each image which is a measure of plant health. They have one piece of code which will run on the ISS to capture the images and another that will run on the ground after the mission to post process and analyse the images captured. They even tested their code by going up in a light aircraft to take pictures of the ground! Ops name: REACTION GAMES School: Lincoln UTC Team name: Team Terminal Key stage: 4 (and equivalent) Teacher: Mark Hall These students have made a whole suite of various reaction games complete with a nice little menu system to let the user choose. The games also record your response times with the eventual goal to investigate how crew reaction time changes over the course of a long term space flight. This entry caused all work to cease during the judging for about half an hour! Lincoln UTC have also won the prize for the best overall submission in the Secondary School completion. This earns them a photograph of their school taken from space by an Airbus or SSTL satellite. Go and make a giant space invader please! Ops name: RADIATION School: Magdalen College School Team name: Arthur, Alexander and Kiran Key stage: 5 (and equivalent) Teacher: Dr Jesse Petersen This team have successfully made a radiation detector using the Raspberry Pi camera module, the possibility of which was hinted at during our Astro Pi animation video from a few months ago. The camera lens is blanked off to prevent light from getting in but this still allows high energy space radiation to get through. Due to the design of the camera the sensor sees the impacts of these particles as tiny specks of light. The code then uses OpenCV to measure the intensity of these specks and produces an overall measurement of the level of radiation happening. What blew us away was that they had taken their Astro Pi and camera module along to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and fired a neutron cannon at it to test it was working!!! The code can even compensate for dead pixels in the camera sensor. I am wondering if they killed some pixels with the neutron cannon and then had to add that code out of necessity? Brilliant. These winning programs will be joined on the ISS by the winners of the Primary School Competition which closed in April: Ops name: MINECRAFT School: Cumnor House Girl's School Team name: Hannah Belshaw Key stage: 2 Teacher: Peter Kelly Hannah’s entry is to log data from the Astro Pi sensors but to visualise it later using structures in a Minecraft world. So columns of blocks are used to represent environmental measurements and a giant blocky model of the ISS itself (that moves) is used to represent movement and orientation. The code was written, under Hannah’s guidance, by Martin O’Hanlon who runs Stuff About Code. The data logging program that will run on the ISS produces a CSV file that can be consumed later by the visualisation code to play back what happened when Tim Peak was running it in space. The code is already online here. A super creative entry "SpaceCRAFT" teaser for us all! By @martinohanlon #AstroPi pic.twitter.com/8ofkpl72I9 — Astro Pi (@astro_pi) June 30, 2015 Ops name: SWEATY ASTRONAUT School: Cranmere Primary School Team name: Cranmere Code Club Key stage: 2 Teacher: Richard Hayler Although they were entitled to have their entry coded by us at Raspberry Pi the kids of the Cranmere Code Club are collectively writing their program themselves. The aim is to try and detect the presence of a crew member by monitoring the environmental sensors of the Astro Pi. Particularly humidity. If a fluctuation is detected it will scroll a message asking if someone is there. They even made a Lego replica of the Astro Pi flight case for their testing! We've built a Lego version of the @astro_pi flight case to make sweaty-astronaut testing as realistic as possible. pic.twitter.com/pYETedeWgn — Richard Hayler ☀ (@rdhayler) July 9, 2015 Obviously the main winning prize is to have your code flown and run on the ISS. However the UK Space companies also offered a number of thematic prizes which were awarded independently of those that have been chosen to fly. Some cross over with the other winners was expected here. Space Sensors Hannah Belshaw, from Cumnor House Girl's School with her idea for Minecraft data visualisation. Space Measurements Kieran Wand from Cottenham Village College for his ISS environment monitoring system. Imaging and Remote Sensing The EnviroPi team from Westminster School with their experiment to measure plant health from space using NDVI images. Space Radiation Magdalen College, Oxford with their Space Radiation Detector. Data Fusion Nicole Ashworth, from Reading, for her weather reporting system; comparing historical weather data from the UK with the environment on the ISS. Coding Excellence Sarah and Charlie Maclean for their multiplayer Labyrinth game. Pat Norris of CGI said: “It has been great to see so many schools getting involved in coding and we hope that this competition has inspired the next generation to take up coding, space systems or any of the many other opportunities the UK space sector offers. We were particularly impressed by the way Charlie structured his code, added explanatory comments and used best practice in developing the functionality” We’re aiming to have all the code that was submitted to the competition on one of the ten SD cards that will fly. So your code will still fly even if it won’t be scheduled to be run in space. The hope is that, during periods of downtime, Tim may have a look through some of the other entries and run them manually. But this depends on a lot of factors outside of our control and so we can’t promise anything. But wait, there’s more? There is still opportunity for all schools to get involved with Astro Pi! There will be an on-orbit activity during the mission (probably in January or February) that you can all do at the same time as Tim. After the competition winning programs have all finished the Astro Pi will enter a phase of flight data recording. Just like the black box on an aircraft. This will make the Astro Pi continually record everything from all its sensors and save the data into a file that you can get! If you set your Astro Pi up in the same way (the software will be provided by us) then you can compare his measurements with yours taken on the ground. There is then a lot of educational value in looking at the differences and understanding why they occur. For instance you could look at the accelerometer data to find out when ISS reboosts occurred or study the magnetometer data to find out how the earth’s magnetic field changes as they orbit the earth. A number of free educational resources will be provided that will help you to leverage the value of this exercise. The general public can also get involved when the Sense HAT goes on general sale in a few weeks time. Libby Jackson of the UK Space Agency said: “Although the competition is over, the really exciting part of the project is just beginning. All of the winning entries will get see their code run in space and thousands more can take part in real life space experiments through the Flight Data phase” The post Astro Pi: Mission Update 4 appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

URL: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/astro-pi-mission-update-4/

Kindle Dictionary Guide: How to Add, Change, and Create Custom Kindle Dictionaries

Most people are misinformed on the subject of how dictionaries work on Kindle ebook readers, so I wanted to put together this guide explaining how to change, add, and create custom dictionaries for Kindle devices. Last week someone left a comment complaining about how Kindles sucked compared to Kobos because Kindles don’t allow you to […]

URL: http://feeds.the-ebook-reader.com/~r/feedburner/cmWU/~3/0DvdGsEEn_s/

Go window shopping for marketing materials!

We are excited to announce a few promotional updates to support you library or school's marketing efforts. You can always count on OverDrive to assist in helping you get the word out about your digital offerings. One of the reasons I like window shopping so much is because I am a visual person. I can be more decisive if I can actually picture my purchases. Sometimes you just need to see something to know it's for you. OverDrive took this approach in our new update to the Partner Portal. We offer a wealth of promotional materials for libraries and schools to take advantage of at the ultra-low price of free (my kind of shopping!), but sometimes you need to see it to know you need it. Our Getting Started pages for Libraries and K-12 Schools now offer visual graphics, with size dimensions, to accompany our links. On these pages you'll find posters, sticker sheets, flyers, bookmarks, web graphics and more. Scroll through the page to see our offerings and choose material that works best for your community. If you don't see what you are looking for, click the link at the bottom of each page to see additional options. Keep in mind, you can request custom updates to any of the materials you see by way of your library or school's Account Specialist! Speaking of visual, we now offer a short promotional video to embed or share on your library's social media page http://partners.overdrive.com/marketing-outreach/libraries/social-media/. We tried our hand at a commercial offering to simply make users aware of your OverDrive service and we think you'll like it. It's straight to the point and a lot of fun (School partners, you may notice the lack of youngsters, don't worry we hope to offer an equally creative short for you to share soon!). Lastly, on point with the 'visual' them of this post, don't forget to make your users aware of your exciting periodical collection, if you have one. Magazines and periodicals are still one of the most wildly read media—how do you think I became the master shopper I am today? Magazines are my guidebook to all things fabulous and fresh in fashion.  We have valuable resources to help you promote your periodical collection, including newly added "Also available as a digital magazine" stickers that can be put on the cover of your print copies. Stay fresh everyone and enjoy all the free options we offer before they go out of style!   Christina Samek is Launch Specialist with OverDrive

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OverdrivesDigitalLibraryBlog/~3/a_XuC79wLwM/

Best New Anime You Need to Watch – Summer 2015

Many of the top anime that debuted in the Spring is now over and a slew of new shows are just starting. Most of them are completely terrible, but there are number that are actually really solid. Today, we look at the top 10 new anime to debut on Funimation and Crunchyroll. Actually, I am – Asahi Kuromine is a high school student who supposedly cannot keep a secret. One day he spots his crush Yoko Shiragami, unfurling a large pair of wings from her back. She explains to him that she is a vampire and is only able to attend a normal school on the condition that no one discover her true identity. Asahi swears to keep her secret but finds it hard to maintain seeing as how Yoko herself is an airhead and Asahi’s friend Mikan keeps bullying the two of them. Eventually, he discovers more girls in his school with secrets of their own: a tiny alien who rides a human-sized exoskeleton of herself, a werewolf capable of switching gender at any depiction of a moon, a thousand-year-old demon who secretly runs the school, and more who pose a challenge as Asahi tries to keep Yoko’s secret. Gatchaman Crowds – “Gatchaman” is the general term for warriors who wear special power suits called NOTE, which are manifestations of special spiritual powers possessed by living beings. The Gatchaman force on Earth consists of aliens who have been dispatched by a council and Earthlings who have been scouted for their latent abilities, all of whom work together to protect Earth’s people and resources from alien criminals who have invaded the planet in violation of the probation enforced by the council. Most recently, their main duty is dealing with MESS, a mysterious entity about which even the council has little knowledge. MONSTER MUSUME EVERYDAY LIFE WITH MONSTER GIRLS – Three years ago, the world learned that harpies, centaurs, catgirls, and all manners of fabulous creatures are not merely fiction; they are flesh and blood – not to mention scale, feather, horn, and fang. Thanks to the “Cultural Exchange Between Species Act,” these once-mythical creatures have assimilated into society, or at least, they’re trying. GANGSTA. – In the city of Ergastulum, which is run by four crime families, a pair of “Handymen” provide a service doing dirty jobs for anyone who calls and hires them. A fifth power tries to gain a foothold within the city. Sky Wizards Academy – Forced to retreat to floating cities due to an invasion of magical armored insects, humanity must now depend on Sky Wizards to battle the menace via mid-air battles. Once known as the "Black Master Swordsman," Kanata Age is now considered a traitor and is assigned to lead an F-class of mismatched mages. Misora Whitale has all the enthusiasm to be a leader, but she's failed 100 consecutive tests. Rico Flamel is a genius sniper, but she's a little self-absorbed, and Lecty Eisenach is a candidate with all the ambition but zero confidence. It's up to Kanata Age to train the troubled trio to become accomplished Sky Wizards. Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Senyaku – The story takes place in Huanli (the Year of Dazzling) 3015. Donatia and Kouran, two countries fighting for supremacy, are causing the world to be torn apart due to the constant war. Amidst the strife is the island country Nil Kamui, which has lost its independence. Red Dragon, the guardian god of Nil Kamui, goes out of control. Will the island country be able to regain its independence? Classroom ☆ Crisis – Fourth Tokyo–one of Japan's new prefectures on Mars. Kirishina City, Fourth Tokyo's special economic zone, is home to the Kirishina Corporation, an elite corporation renowned for its aerospace business. The company has been expanding its market share in various industries, while also running a private school, the Kirishina Science and Technology Academy High School. That alone would make it unique, but there's also a high-profile class on campus.

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/manga-and-anime-news/best-new-anime-you-need-to-watch-summer-2015

Ted Cruz Memoir in a Battle with the New York Times

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has a new memoir has been climbing the online bestseller lists. Despite its strong multi-week performance the New York Times has refused to put it on its own bestseller list, citing that bulk sales account for the majority of purchases. This has promoted HarperCollins and Amazon to proclaim they find no evidence of anything shady going on. When political books first come out, they often climb to the top of the bestseller lists due to bulk purchases being made by people in their party or lobby groups who want to see media spotlight on their boy. The Cruz book is a bit of an anomaly though, because all of the sales seem to be organic. On Sunday, Sarah Gelman, Amazon’s director of press relations said that the company’s sales data showed no evidence of unusual bulk purchase activity, casting further doubt on the Times’ claim that the book — “A Time for Truth” — had been omitted from its list because sales had been driven by “strategic bulk purchases. “As of yesterday, ‘A Time for Truth’ was the number 13 best-selling book, and there is no evidence of unusual bulk purchase activity in our sales data.” HarperCollins, the book’s publisher, also found issue with the New York Times omission of the book. They said they have investigated the sales pattern and found “no evidence of bulk orders or sales through any retailer or organization.” Moments after that announcement, Cruz’s campaign issued a press release accusing the Times of lying and calling on the paper to provide evidence of bulk purchasing or else formally apologize. "A Time for Truth,” which was published on June 30, sold 11,854 copies in its first week — more than 18 of the 20 titles on the Times best-seller list for the week ending July 4, according to Nielsen Bookscan. If you look at all of the sales numbers, Cruz’s book would have finished at number three on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction category. However, the Times informed HarperCollins last week that Cruz’s book would not be on the list. In an email last week, Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy said “A Time for Truth” did not meet the paper’s “uniform standards,” which include “an analysis of book sales that goes beyond simply the number of books sold.” In the case of Cruz’s book, she said, “the overwhelming preponderance of evidence was that sales were limited to strategic bulk purchases.” This is the first time ever that Amazon, a major publisher and a US senator have ganged up on the New York Times in such a public fashion. Ted Cruz is being painted as someone who is selling a lot of books and the Times is refusing to include his title due to his political agenda.

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/business-news/ted-cruz-memoir-in-a-battle-with-the-new-york-times