The Digital Reader |
- The Morning Coffee – 7 March 2014
- Google Updates Text-to-Speech Engine With New Voices
- Amazon Rolls out an Update for the Original Kindle Paperwhite
- The Not-GoodReads Book Community BookLikes Adds Kindle Integration
- HP Launches the HP8 1401 Budget Android Tablet – $170
- Two Economists File Pro-Apple Brief in eBook Antitrust Case
- A New Perspective on B&N: Staples to Close 12% of their Stores by 2014
- New Persian eBookstore Launches in Iran
- ComiXology Discovers Security Breach, Wants You to Reset Your Password
- Kobo Relaunches their Reading App for Windows 8, Windows Phone App is in the Works
| The Morning Coffee – 7 March 2014 Posted: 06 Mar 2014 09:30 PM PST This week wraps up with a morning coffee that includes tips on how to prepare for tech withdrawal when we unplug on Saturday (link), 5 reading rules to break (link), Facebook’s new news feed (link), Apple’s latest protest in the antitrust case (link), and more.
The post The Morning Coffee – 7 March 2014 appeared first on The Digital Reader. |
| Google Updates Text-to-Speech Engine With New Voices Posted: 06 Mar 2014 05:03 PM PST Google The app now features high-definition male and female voice packs for the UK language option, as well as a high-definition female voice pack for the US language option. All 3 packs have smoother enunciation and more natural intonation than the standard speaking voices. Speaking of which, Google has also added new voice options for Brazilian Portuguese and US Spanish (in addition to Spanish Spanish). This brings the total number of supported languages to 7 (or, if you count the duplicate Spanish and English options separately, 9 language options). Actually, now that I have tried the voices I think we should count US Spanish separately; it’s basically the American English voice shouting at you, with the volume controlled by speaking the word “que”. Once you have the updated app (I’m still waiting), you can download the new voice packs from one of the settings menus. Look for the Language & Input option, and after you go about 3 menus deeper you’ll find the download menu. You will have to sit through a sizable download to enjoy the new higher quality voice packs, however – they each take up over 200MB, while the normal quality recordings are only 6.8MB. Google released text-to-speech as its app in Google Play back in October, opening the way for fast, seamless updates to this important part of the Android user experience. I believe this is the second or third update since October, and like the previous update this update should be pushed out to compatible devices automatically. The post Google Updates Text-to-Speech Engine With New Voices appeared first on The Digital Reader. |
| Amazon Rolls out an Update for the Original Kindle Paperwhite Posted: 06 Mar 2014 01:33 PM PST Amazon The publisher’s bane has just released a new update for the 18 month old ereader, and it more or less gives the first-gen Kindle Paperwhite all of the features found on the newer model, including Kindle Freetime, Goodreads integration, vocabulary builder, and more. (Now if only Amazon would release a similar update for the Kindle Touch, that would be great.) As with all Kindle updates, this update will be sent out automatically to your Kindle Paperwhite when you connect to Wifi or 3G. If you would like to install the update yourself, or if your current firmware is out of date and this needs to be manually updated (a problem suffered by Kindle Touch owners) then you can download the update from the link listed below. Kindle Paperwhite 1st Generation Software Updates Here's the entire list of changes with the new update:
The post Amazon Rolls out an Update for the Original Kindle Paperwhite appeared first on The Digital Reader. |
| The Not-GoodReads Book Community BookLikes Adds Kindle Integration Posted: 06 Mar 2014 12:42 PM PST Booklovers BookLikes members can now sync their Kindle account with BookLikes and share their reading stats with other members. Members can share their reading status and the latest information on the ebooks they have read and rated. I’ve just checked it out, and apparently BookLikes handles the Kindle integration via a member’s Twitter account, and not directly with Amazon. So if you want to integrate BookLikes with your Kindle account you’ll also have to add Twitter as well. In addition to letting members share their Kindle reading stats, BookLikes also supports Facebook and Goodreads integration. And if you have an account at LibraryThing or Lovely Books you can also import your bookshelf. Book lovers use BookLikes to share their reading milestones, connect with book bloggers and share book reviews and book recommendations with their followers. The site offers a unique blog-like focus that lets each member decide whether they want to share a status update, post a snippet of text, or write an entire blog post. The site is a couple years old, but its current focus dates to a May 2013 redesign that changed Booklikes layout as well as how members interacted. The post The Not-GoodReads Book Community BookLikes Adds Kindle Integration appeared first on The Digital Reader. |
| HP Launches the HP8 1401 Budget Android Tablet – $170 Posted: 06 Mar 2014 10:33 AM PST
The HP 8 1401 is an iPad Mini sized tablet which is just launching today in the US. HP is listing the retail at $169, which is a rather steep price given the unimpressive screen resolution, underwhelming CPU, and generally meh specs. This tablet is running Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean on an Allwinner Quad-Core A31s CPU. It has 1GB RAM, 16GB Flash storage, a microSD card slot, and 2 cameras. At 7.85″, the screen is about the same size as on the iPad Mini, but at 1024 x 768 the resolution is only that of the original iPad Mini.
This tablet has an accelerometer, gyro, stereo speakers, and a VGA camera on the front and a 2MP camera on the back. It weighs in at 11 ounces and comes equipped with a 3.8Ah battery which is projected to offer 7 hours of runtime before needing to be recharged. All in all, this tablet offers little to justify its price – not even the CPU. I’ve encountered the Allwinner A31s chip before, and it offered about the same performance as dual-core CPUs. If you’re lucky, the cameras will be better than average but I would not bet on it. The post HP Launches the HP8 1401 Budget Android Tablet – $170 appeared first on The Digital Reader. |
| Two Economists File Pro-Apple Brief in eBook Antitrust Case Posted: 06 Mar 2014 09:19 AM PST When Two economists, including one who had previously testified for Apple as an expert witness, filed an amicus curiae brief on Wednesday. The 33 page brief (PDF) supports Apple’s appeal to overturn the verdict for the ebook antitrust case which Apple lost last year, and it presents a very different view of Apple’s motivations. The brief is the work of CalTech’s Bradford Cornell, who has no obvious ties to Apple that I can find, and NYU’s Janusz Ordover, who had previously testified in one of the Samsung-Apple trademark /patent/schoolyard squabbles. It’s long and detailed, but the heart of their argument is laid out in a three-paragraph summary:
Apple appealed Judge Cote’s ruling two weeks ago. A DOJ spokesperson said it would file its brief in May. The post Two Economists File Pro-Apple Brief in eBook Antitrust Case appeared first on The Digital Reader. |
| A New Perspective on B&N: Staples to Close 12% of their Stores by 2014 Posted: 06 Mar 2014 08:33 AM PST Staples The office supply company released their quarterly and annual earnings report this morning and the picture isn't terribly rosy for Staples stockholders or its employees. Staples’s retail and online sales totaled $23.1 billion in 2013, down more than $1.2 billion from 2012. Even when you factor out the extra week in fiscal year 2012 in that the 2013, Staples’s revenue for 2013 was still down 3.4% ($800 million).
And since most of the drop in revenue can be attributed to Staples’s NA stores ($700 million, in fact), they’ll be the first to go. The company plans to close up to 225 stores in North America by the end of 2015. Staples has also initiated a multi-year cost savings plan which is expected to generate pre-tax cost savings of approximately $500 million a year by the end of 2015. So what does this have to do with Barnes & Noble? Remember last January when B&N let slip that they plan shutter 20 stores a year for the next decade? A story in the WSJ caused a shitstorm of negative press in the blogosphere when a senior manager revealed B&N had plans to shrink for the next decade. At the time it seemed reasonable to freak out over the news, but in light of recent news from other retailers I think it might have been a mistake. After Tuesday’s news about Radio Shack and today’s news about Staples, I think we may have over reacted to the report. I still think B&N should not have let that remark slip, not given the holiday season they had just had, but in their defense it now appears to have been blown out of proportion. The post A New Perspective on B&N: Staples to Close 12% of their Stores by 2014 appeared first on The Digital Reader. |
| New Persian eBookstore Launches in Iran Posted: 06 Mar 2014 07:46 AM PST Iran’s first A ceremony was held to celebrate the opening, and in attendance were Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati, his cultural deputy Seyyed Abbas salehi and some of the members of the Union of Tehran Booksellers and Publishers. The site sells ebooks in Persian and English, and it also reportedly offers a wide selection of out of copyright titles. Customers can read the ebooks in apps for Android, Windows, OSX, iPad, and iPhone. A live internet connection is required in order to read the ebooks. According to my source, that live connection is supposed to guarantee that the ebooks cannot be pirated, but I am not so sure. Netflix has similar restrictions on their streaming content, and shows like House of Cards are readily available on pirate sites.
Fidibo is the latest in a growing trend of ebookstores that focus on just a single niche market. While the indie stores are quite common in Europe and in eastern Asia, much of Africa and the Middle East are still an underserved ebook market, presenting a ripe opportunity for sites like Fidibo or the recently launched Kotobi ebookstore, which got a lot of press last month. The post New Persian eBookstore Launches in Iran appeared first on The Digital Reader. |
| ComiXology Discovers Security Breach, Wants You to Reset Your Password Posted: 06 Mar 2014 06:55 AM PST Digital According to the email I got this morning, the blanket password reset is being called a "precautionary measure" by comiXology. They report that an unidentified individual had gained unauthorized access to one of comiXology’s databases which contained passwords, emails, and usernames. Yes, the hacker may have gained access to your email, giving them a good opportunity to phish for your password by sending a fake email. Just to be safe, I went and confirmed this report via comiXology‘s Twitter accounts. (If the hacker got control of both accounts as well the database info then I just give up; I welcome my new hacker overlord.) If you have an account with comiXology, go here to reset your password ASAP. I have already changed mine, and I don’t even have any payment info attached to the account. Here’s the email comiXology sent out:
The post ComiXology Discovers Security Breach, Wants You to Reset Your Password appeared first on The Digital Reader. |
| Kobo Relaunches their Reading App for Windows 8, Windows Phone App is in the Works Posted: 06 Mar 2014 05:26 AM PST Just The new app boasts access to a catalog of 4 million titles, all of which can be read via a friendly user interface and synced across a reader’s Kobo account. The app also features a new ability to pin specific ebook titles as live tiles to the Start screen. “We are excited to give our Readers access to their Kobo eBooks on the Microsoft Windows ecosystem. Just like Kobo, Microsoft understands the importance of providing users with greater mobility and new ways to enjoy their favourite content. The Kobo for Windows app is designed to make Kobo content come alive on Windows devices,” said Sameer Hasan, Director of Reading and Mobile Platforms, Kobo. Kobo had been one of the first to release a reading app for Windows 8 when that OS launched in 2012, and many pundits were surprised when they pulled their app back in November 2013. They never gave an explanation for its removal, but one user commented at the time that:
If that is the reason for the removal then it was a smart move. Kobo probably took the last 5 months to rebuild the app from the bottom up and fix all of the issues with the old app. Of course, this is just speculation; all we know is that the app has been restored. In related news, Kobo is also reporting today that they will soon be launching a reading app for Windows Phone.The Windows Phone experience will operate with the same functions as the Windows App for notebooks, tablets and desktops, offering the best content and experience to its readers. So have you tried the new Kobo Window s8 app? How well does it work?
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