Thursday, 27 November 2014

The Digital Reader

The Digital Reader

The Morning Coffee – 28 November 2014

Posted: 27 Nov 2014 07:47 PM PST

Better pour yourself half a cup this morning because the reading list is not long.

  • Because Reading is Fundamental (Coding Horror)
  • Copyright Office posts DMCA exemption petitions (TeleRead)
  • L.A. Unified adopts free history curriculum from Stanford University (LA Times)
  • Vision Statement: How to Lie with Charts (HBR)
  • What Should Authors & Publishers Expect in 2015? (Jane Friedman)
  • Where to sell your digital comics: The List of Digital Platforms (Zeno Telos Press)

The post The Morning Coffee – 28 November 2014 appeared first on The Digital Reader.

Numilog launches French-language ebookstore in the US

Posted: 27 Nov 2014 06:43 PM PST

logo3[1] English may be the dominant language spoken and read in the US, but Numilog  is betting that there is a market for French ebooks. This French ebook company opened a new ebookstore, eBookezvous, in the US this week, establishing a toehold in a market dominated by Amazon.

Actualitte reports that eBookezvous opened with a limited selection of French and translated works. It’s supported by an Android app, and an iOS app is in the works. The site is also planning to add audiobooks.

Numilog is described as the leading ebook distributor for France, and it has deals with 500 publishers and offers a catalog of 170,000 titles which is distributed through a network of 150 retailers.

ebookezvous

Not being able to read French, I can’t tell you how many titles are offered on Numilog’s new site, but I do know that the new site has its work cut out for it. Both Kindle and Nook have well established French language sections, with the Nook Store carrying a surprising 255 thousand titles to the Kindle Store’s 65 thousand. Both of those stores have an English language interface, while eBookezvous is in French, but I’m not sure that alone is enough to recommend it.

eBookezvous via Actualitte

The post Numilog launches French-language ebookstore in the US appeared first on The Digital Reader.

Black Friday Deals – the cheap tablet edition

Posted: 27 Nov 2014 09:58 AM PST

20111209172549enprnprn10-coby-electronics-corporation-android-internet-tablets-1y-1323451549mr[1]Looking to buy a tablet this year on Black Friday? Then you’ve come to the right place.

On Monday I rounded up a number of Black Friday deals, including deals on tablets, ereaders, and more, and due to the breadth of the coverage I wasn’t able to focus on my favorite type of gadget: cheap tablets. And so this morning I sat down to write a second Black Friday post covering solely tablets under $99.

A lot of the deals listed below are available today, but there’s a good chance you’ll still find them available tomorrow.

And if you’re in need of help on tablets, check out my reviews and useful stuff page where you’ll find getting started posts, how to guides, and more.  I also recently added a forum so I could better answer tech support questions (a single Q&A page just wasn’t cutting it.)

MicroCenter

To start, Microcenter has a Windows 8 tablet for $60. It’s in-store only, but I’m sure I’m not the only one thinking about shlepping to MicroCenter to satisfy my curiosity (except I don’t really want to drive into Fairfax this weekend).

Amazon

And as I reported on Monday, a number of stores have the Fire HD 6 on sale.

Walmart

Walmart has a bunch of cheap tablets listed for today’s sale. That is supposed to start tonight at 6pm, but some of the sale prices are already listed.

Toys r Us

These deals haven’t started yet.

Target

These sales have already started, but before you click the links let me warn you that the listed specs are not accurate.

 NewEgg

The post Black Friday Deals – the cheap tablet edition appeared first on The Digital Reader.

How to turn your Android device into the quintessential eReader

Posted: 27 Nov 2014 08:43 PM PST

android tablet mascotWhen it comes to distraction free reading, nothing beats an ereader. But when it comes to getting the most bang for your buck, the reading apps available for Android make that platform easily the best value.

Between the save for later apps, ebook apps, PDF apps, comic apps, audiobook apps, news and feed reader apps, and web browsers, there are apps for just about all kinds of ereading.

And that’s why I assembled this handy list of apps which you can use to turn your Android device into a superlative ereader.

To start, we have the ebook apps.

eBook Apps

eBook apps can be split into several broad categories, including the major apps which support many formats and sell DRMed ebooks, and 3rd-party apps which may or may not support DRM.

Most of the following apps support Epub and PDF, and some like FBReader also support other formats. If you need support for Adobe DRm, check out Bluefire or Aldiko.

Library eBooks

Save for Later

Sometimes you find an article online which you want to read right away, and other times you want to save it for later. That’s where these apps come in.

Audiobooks

Often the overlooked half-sibling of ebooks, audiobooks are available from a wide variety of sources. Please note, the Kindle app also supports audiobooks, and so does the Scribd app.

Comics & Manga

Please note that many of the reading apps mentioned above also support digital comics, and that there are two subscription services focused on comics.

(Apps which sell comics)

(Apps which let you read DRM-free comics)

PDF Readers

PDF is arguably the oldest and one of the most widely supported ebook formats. There are more apps which support it than you can shake a stick at, including the apps listed below as well as Kindle, Nook, office suite apps, and most of the ebook apps mentioned above.

eBook Subscription Services

Over the past year multiple tech companies launched services which let readers access vast catalogs for a monthly fee. Please note, the Kindle Unlimited service is available through the Kindle app for Android.

  • Kindle Unlimited –  750,000 titles for $9.99 per month
  • Scribd – 500,000 titles for $8.99 per month, including audiobooks
  • Oyster – over 600,000 titles for $9.95 per month
  • Skoobe - 80,000 titles for € 9.99 per month (and up)
  • Blloon – (not yet available for Android, but coming soon)
  • Bookmate – 400,000 titles
  • 24symbols – 15,000 titles, with a free service limited to public domain titles
  • Marvel Unlimited
  • Comicsfix

News and Feed Readers

Even after splitting out the magazine style apps like Flipboard, there are more news reader apps than you can shake a stick at. Here are some of the better ones.

Magazines, Newspapers, and Aggregators

This is a pretty broad category that includes apps released by a single publication, apps which aggregate articles from multiple sources, and apps which sell you either single issues, subscriptions, or Netflix-style access.

Please note that several of the ebook apps mentioned above, including Kindle and Kobo, also support magazines and newspapers.

(aggregators)

(magazines)

(newspapers)

Addendum

I’m not shy about saying that I think Android is currently the best mobile platform, and now that it is starting to show up on more ereaders I get to have the best of both worlds.

For more details on Android on E-ink, check out my companion post on the T68 Lynx, which has a 6.8″ E-ink screen and runs Android 4.0.

 

The post How to turn your Android device into the quintessential eReader appeared first on The Digital Reader.
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