| The New York Times has digitized over 17,000 recipes by diet, cuisine type, preparation method, meal type and more in a new iPhone app. You can save your favorite recipes to your own bookshelf or share them via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. I think this app is beautifully done, with recipe intros by Times contributors. One of the more interesting features are daily delights where there are themed categories such as 12 veggie pizza recipes. The app presumes you know where your kitchen is and how to turn on stove. Beginners will really appreciate this app, but there are a number of elements catered for more advanced culinary specialists. |
Sunday, August 23, 2015
New York Times Publishes 17,000 Digital Recipes
10 Free Kindle eBooks and Kindle Deals
| Below is a list of ten free highly-rated Kindle ebooks, along with current Kindle book deals, including some new Kindle magazine sales. Please note that these Kindle ebooks are free as of August 23rd, 2015. Most of these titles are free for a limited time and could expire in a few days or hours, so […] |
The Best Book Review Sites – 2015
| Sometimes you buy books on impulse or because you heard it was good. In other cases due diligence is necessary and maybe you want to read a few reviews first. There are many review sites out there that have spoilers that can ruin the reading experience, while others are really solid. Today, we are going to look at the best book review sites out there. BookLikes – BookLikes, the Poland-based multi-national site whose eight month beta launch went public in 2013, does bring some new twists to book discovery. While still incorporating the same kinds of features that have made sites like Goodreads so popular and well-trafficked, BookLinks offers its users a greater scope by creating book blogs rather than profiles. Goodreads – GoodReads is a book discovery site and online book club community. There are millions of reviews and people buzzing about new books coming out. It has a strong social media vibe, with some books generating thousands and thousands of comments. GoodReads is basically the Facebook of books. NPR – The NPR has excellent book reviews and podcasts. I like this one better than the CBC or BBC equivalents. Kirkus Reviews – Founded in 1933, Kirkus has been an authoritative voice in book discovery for 80 years. Kirkus Reviews magazine gives industry professionals a sneak peek at the most notable books being published weeks before they're released. Kirkus serves the book reviews to consumers in a weekly email newsletter and on the website, giving readers unbiased, critical recommendations they can trust. Oomnivoracious – Omnivoracious is a blog run by the books editors at Amazon.com. They aim to share their passion for the written word through news, reviews, interviews, and more. This is our space to talk books and publishing. From the Critics – New York Times Book Blog is different from the perennial New York Times bestseller list. You will find better crafted book reviews and interviews with authors. The New York Review of Books is a different site, but equally great and so is the London Review of Books. |
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Do you Want to take a Vacation and Sell Books?
| Aspiring booksellers and indie authors might have a new alternative when they are planning their next vacation. The Open Book in Wigtown Scotland is offering an Airbnb stay for the cost of £150 a week. You can sell books during the day and customize the bookstore to your liking and sleep above the location in a small flat. If you decide this might be for you the Airbnd listing says you have to spend 40 hours a week working in the bookstore while living in the flat above the shop. You will also be given training in bookselling from Wigtown's community of booksellers, and you will also have the opportunity to put your "own stamp" on the store. "The bookshop residency's aim is to celebrate bookshops, encourage education in running independent bookshops and welcome people around the world to Scotland's national book town," says the AirBnB listing. "I wouldn't call it a working holiday," said Adrian Turpin, director of the Wigtown book festival. "It's a particular kind of holiday [for people] who don't feel that running a bookshop is work. It's not about cheap labor – it's about offering people an experience … It's one of those great fantasies." I think this vacation while working at a bookshop is quite endearing. If you ever had a dream of opening up your own bookstore, this will give you practical real world experience on what the day to day logistics comprise of. Indie authors will be able to sell their own books and setup their own display stands in order to try and hype their own novels. |
Scribd’s Subscription Service Changing Unlimited Audiobooks Plan
| Last November Scribd added audiobooks to their ebook subscription plan, which costs $8.99 per month to get unlimited access to Scribd’s library of several hundred thousand ebooks. Since then audiobooks have been apart of the unlimited monthly plan, but now that’s going to change. Starting September 20th, Scribd will be switching to an audiobook credit […] |
Romania City Gives Free Bus Rides if You Read a Book
| A Romanian city has just unveiled a new program to get people reading, free bus rides. If you live in Cluj-Napoca in north-western Romania you can ride public transit without paying anything, as long as you have a book with you. The project was part of a series of events to celebrate Cluj-Napoca winning the title of European Youth Capital 2015. Other initiatives to celebrate the event and promote reading in the city included using the city's buses and trams to display inspiring quotes from classic and contemporary authors, giving out bookmarks to the general public and a weekly book club which ran throughout June in the Cluj-Napoca's botanical garden. |
Scribd is Limiting the Number of Audiobooks you Can Listen to
| Scribd has announced that they are making cuts to their audiobook system because they are losing money on this particular enterprise. Starting next month they are ditching their unlimited audiobook package and subscribers can only listen to a single title per month. If you want to listen to another audio edition, you have to pay an additional $8.99. It is not all dire news for Scribd, the company has confirmed that they will offer “a rotating catalog of thousands of audiobooks for unlimited listening” which “are being made available through special arrangements with publishing partners”. Scribd initially got into audiobooks back in 2014 when they ironed out an agreement with Findaway World to include over 30,000 titles. They expanded their network in April of 2015 with directly fetching audiobooks from major publishers. This is not the first time Scribd has dialed back on a product category. Last month they got rid of almost 200,000 romance titles, because readers were devouring them at such a ravenous pace that Scribd was losing money. Scribd is in a delicate position where they have balance a large content category full of comics, graphic novels, e-books and audiobooks and try and make money at the same time. This is something they have been successful at, unlike Entittle who tried to make a go out of it and went bankrupt. It is not easy for a company to offer an unlimited amount of content and then impose limitations. There will obviously be some consumer backlash, but Scribd needed to do this to stay alive. They are the true alternative to Kindle Unlimited, and no one wants a world where everything is Amazon. |
Friday, August 21, 2015
People Get their News Online by a Wide Margin
| When it comes to getting your daily news fix, most people are reading online instead of watching TV or picking up a newspaper. A recent Reuters Institute Digital News Report found that 43% of Americans tapped online sources as their “main source of news” compared to 40% for TV, which for decades was the top news source in the nation. It also found that “printed newspapers” are at their lowest point for being a news source, even below social media websites. Magazines are also declining as circulation has decreased 11.4% this year following a 14.2% drop in the last six months of 2014. The biannual Alliance for Audited Media found that “total paid circulation” for 86 of the 125 top magazines, reported a staggering 71% circulation drop, according to a report in Media Life Magazine. I think when it comes down to it, people don’t want to pay for news anymore and growth for the print industry is either falling or flat lining. |
When public libraries and community schools work together everybody wins
| I'm lucky. I grew up in a household that believed in the importance of reading every day. Our mother, a teacher for nearly four decades, instilled in us how books can enrich our lives. We went to the library often, participating in reading programs like "Book It" and "Accelerated Reader". We got lost in the seemingly endless aisles and stacks of books.
Many libraries and schools still partner this way but if you aren't doing so, now is the perfect time to start. Back to school time is a great "excuse" to introduce students to the library and with access to your digital collection it's never been easier for them to access titles for required reading, source materials for papers or, of course, for enjoyment! Many students aren't as lucky as I was. They may not have a strong influence in their household guiding them to the library. By joining forces with local schools you can help be that driving force. Working with your community schools provides the students greater access to vital resources and it also creates a brand new group of users for you. It's a win-win. September is Library Card Sign Up Month and a free library card is the most important back-to-school supply. What better time to introduce young readers to everything you have to offer. You never know, you might be the one thing that makes today a young student's lucky day.
Adam Sockel is a Social Media Specialist with OverDrive  |
Skycademy Update
| The last month here at Pi Towers has been a busy one, as we’ve been preparing for our first ever Skycademy event. Since announcing it a couple of months ago we’ve had a great response from educators and youth leaders looking to run their own high-altitude project. Having only ever done one launch myself, the team and I decided that a practice run was necessary. So back in July we invited Dave Akerman up to Cambridge and launched, chased and recovered our own payload. The whole experience was shared via Twitter. From launch… …throughout the flight…
…to recovery.
We even got to traipse through a ditch (an obligatory part of any HAB recovery surely?) The day was great and now were really excited to be repeating the experience with our 24 Skycademy attendees, who will join us next week from the 24th – 26th. Some of them have been quite excited too…
The plan for the three days is loosely as follows:
If you would like to follow what’s going on over the three days you can do so by keeping an eye on the #skycademy hashtag on Twitter, where you’ll find out how to track the payloads using links that we will share on the day. Also keep an eye on the hourly predictions for landing sites. Let’s hope conditions improve a little, or we’ll all need boats!
The post Skycademy Update appeared first on Raspberry Pi. |
Thursday, August 20, 2015
The Jolla Tab Sailfish Tablet is Available for Pre-Order
| The Jolla Tab is the first tablet in the world to run the Sailfish OS, which was developed to be heavily gesture based. The big selling point is not only can it run native apps, but also has support for Android. Today, the company has announced that it is available for pre-order in limited quantities and will ship to European Union, Norway, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, Australia, India, Hong Kong and Russia for €267. The tablet has a 64-bit quad-core Intel Atom processor based on the Bay Trail design inside, running at 1.8GHz. Its IPS display has a resolution of 2048×1536. Inside, there’s 2GB of RAM, a 5MP rear camera, a 2MP front facing camera and a 4450mAh battery. The tablet also has a microSD card slot to add additional storage. When you pre-order this tablet it should be shipped out within a month or so, if you supported their crowdsourced campaign those are shipping out in a week. We live in a world of Android and iOS, and to a limited degree Windows and Blackberry. It will be a pleasant change of pace to have a new operating system that had tablets in mind. |
Google to Nix Bloatware on your New Phone or Tablet
| When companies want to make a new phone or tablet and use Google Android as an operating system there are certain apps that have to be installed as part of the agreement. This is why when you buy a new device there are often two or three pages of apps when you take it out of the box for the first time. This will all change in the near future as Google is relaxing restrictions on this sort of thing. Google Play Games, Google Play Books, Google+ and Google Newsstand now join the ranks with Google Earth and Google Keep as apps that aren’t a required part of the Google applications package. If you direly need these apps, you can just download them manually from the Google Play Store. I like the fact that there will be less bloatware on future phones, but this won’t stop carriers from installing their own programs. |
New York Times Revamps Children’s Bestseller List
| The New York Times has augmented their children’s bestseller list for the better. They are now separating hardcover middle grade and young adult titles from paperback and e-book bestsellers. This will obviously be beneficial towards young readers, but also authors. I really like this move because in the past paperback titles were overwhelming new hardcover titles, and often, the same authors were dominating the list for weeks at a time, despite the book being several years old. Having separation between hardcover and paperback will be good for readers, giving us a sense of what is new and trending. |
Give your teachers a digital place of their own
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OverDrive has borrowed that idea. We are happy to promote our 'Teacher's Lounge', a tailored digital collection for teachers. It is a dedicated space within your OverDrive-powered website focused on your teachers' needs. It features your professional development, adult-oriented materials and filters out your school's juvenile and young adult content. It can be accessed via a special URL or the Collections of your OverDrive-powered website. Your teachers and faculty will find streamlined menu options along with a clean, modern design with applicable touts. Teachers can sign into their accounts and borrow titles as normal from the Teachers' Lounge – their bookshelf, holds, wish list and rated titles will always be the same, whether they sign in through the Teachers' Lounge or the main website. And, if a teacher decides that they do want to check out a juvenile or young adult title, they can always navigate back to your full digital collection by selecting the Digital Library link in the top-left corner of the screen. OverDrive Marketplace has tons of professional development content available to feature at your Teacher's Lounge. We have must-have content from Corwin Press, ASCD, International Society for Technology Education (ISTE) and Jossey-Bass, to name a few.
Contact your OverDrive Account Specialist today to add a Teachers' Lounge!  |
Dasung PaperLike E Ink Monitor Video Reviews
| Earlier this year we first saw the PaperLike E Ink Monitor from Dasung, and now there are several video reviews on YouTube showing it in action. The PaperLike is a 13.3-inch E Ink monitor that connects to a computer’s USB port to use as a secondary display. It uses so little power that the USB […] |
Forumula AllCode – robotics course
| Liz: Robotics is a really powerful way to get kids excited about programming and electronics, and a Kickstarter from Formula AllCode, with its integrated course, has all the elements you need to get a kid from zero to robot overlord. I asked Liam Walton from Matrix TSL, the people behind Formula AllCode, to write a few words for us about what they’re doing with the project. We think the Formula AllCode robotics course is great for makers to test their skills and capabilities; it’s also great for introducing learners to programming and robotics in a fun and motivating way. Raspberry Pi is one of the hosts you can use for this neat little robot from Matrix TSL, designed as part of a course in robotics that aims to cater for beginners and advanced users alike. It’s controlled over Bluetooth from any platform that can support the Bluetooth RFCOMM protocol, so you can program for it in just about anything (popular examples are provided). Matrix TSL have also written a full tutorial about how users will talk to the Formula AllCode robot using the Raspberry Pi. Kitted out with a variety of sensors, microphone, speakers and LCD display, and with capacity for expansion, it has plenty of appeal, and it’s on Kickstarter now with 16 days left to go. You can back the project by clicking here. The project itself consists of:
The robot can be used with a number of hosts, including Raspberry Pi. A low cost robot buggy, the AllCode is great for makers to test their skills and capabilities using an interesting and diverse platform or for introducing younger school children to programming and robotics in a fun and motivating way with huge scope for further work and competitions. The video below explains more about the vision for Formula AllCode and provides some examples of what the robot itself can achieve when used with Raspberry Pi and other devices. The Formula AllCode Kickstarter campaign runs until 4th September. To back the campaign from as little as £5 click here. The post Forumula AllCode – robotics course appeared first on Raspberry Pi. |
Overdrive is Poised to Convert all PDF files to EPUB
| Overdrive has made a name for themselves for being the number one distribution company that facilitates e-book lending for thousands of libraries all over the world. Last year over 10 libraries in North America loaned out one million e-books and for the first time two of them loaned out over two million. Needless to say there is a large demand for this type of content and soon Overdrive will be doing something really special. They are implementing technology that will convert their vast content catalog from PDF to EPUB. Overdrive currently has close to one million PDF e-books and hardly any of them are in circulation. Libraries know that the vast majority of their patrons are using e-readers, smartphones and tablets and that PDF files are quite inflexible and not indicative of a fluid reading experience. The CEO of Overdrive Steve Potash conducted a "Crystal Ball" presentation at the Digipalooza conference where nearly 500 library and school partners from around the world came together with publishing executives in Cleveland to develop plans and enhance the future of the library world. Steve said "We want to unlock all of the old PDF books, PDF textbooks, PDF handbooks, travel guides—books that we've collected, millions of them—that were never optimized for mobile use," he said. Potash later added that "if we could translate these at little or no cost, and all of the sudden make them fully distributable, optimized just like the beautiful [fixed layout EPUB 3] titles you get from our key suppliers, I think this is going to be huge." If there is anyone capable of developing an in-house system that will convert millions of PDF files to EPUB, Overdrive has the best chance of doing it. Potash was a founding member of the Open E-book Forum, which later became the International Digital Publishing Forum. The IDPF has become the industry leader in EPUB development and works with publishers and companies all over the world to refine the format and implement best practices. There is no timeline on when Overdrive will develop the tools and push out millions of new titles to libraries. The big question is, will libraries buy into it? Overdrive has acknowledged that many of their PDF files are old, therefore travel guides, maps, and handbooks are likely years of out date. Who wants to borrow a London Travel Guide from the library, visit and find out the most of the cool bars and restaurants have been closed for a decade? |
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Amazon is Heavily Discounting Kindle e-readers
| Amazon will be announcing a number of new e-readers in the next few months and are heavily discounting a number of units in order to clear inventory. The Seattle company is now offering the Kindle Paperwhite 3 for $119.00 and the Kindle Basic Touch for $64.00. If you have your eyes on the Kindle Voyage, Amazon is selling the 3G/WIFI refurbished for $219.00, which is quite the savings since it normally costs $269.00 |
Final Fantasy 7 Launches on iOS
| Final Fantasy 7 is very beloved and when word come out that the game was getting a remake, millions of people turned into little kids again. If you have an iPhone or iPad, the PC version of Final Fantasy 7 has just launched today. One of the interesting things about this title is that it has been optimized for touchscreen displays and has the ability to disable the random battle system. There are built in cheat codes that can automatically level your party up, which might appeal to people who have played the game in the past and simply want to take a walk down memory lane. Right now this game is only available in New Zealand, which is often a launching pad for Square iOS titles. It should debut in North America sometime in the next few weeks.
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Amazon Announces Closure of Trade-In Program
| Amazon has announced the closure of their popular Trade-in service in the United Kingdom. Currently, books, video games and other items can be traded in on Amazon's website in return for Amazon gift cards. Starting August 31st 2015 the Amazon Trade-in program will be suspended. The company has acknowledged that all trade-in orders submitted online before 31 August 2015 will be processed as normal if dispatched them within 7 days after submission. Amazon is now encouraging people to sell their used content directly through them, instead of offering gift cards. If you employ the Sell on Amazon feature, you can sell in over 30 product categories across 5 European Marketplaces. If this is something you are interested in, you can find out more here. |
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