Monthly Archives: November 2014

Daily Links: Airbnb launches own print magazine

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airbnb_horizontal_lockup_webFrom Talking New Media,  Airbnb launches a quarterly print magazine for hosts and guests called Pineapple. 

Goodbye, phone booths! New York City to offer free gigabit wi-fi in 2015, from Recode.

From Teleread, a nice write-up about the addition of audiobooks to the Scribd service.

Amazon’s Daily Deal today is a Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 (Previous Generation-3rd). It is available in 16, 32 or 64 GB configuration, with either Wi-fi or 4G connectivity, The today-only prices start at $259.This is seems to be a new device, not a refurb.

Daily Links are interesting links I discover as I go about my online day. The frequency and number of links posted depend upon the daily news. I also post other, different links of interest on the Google Plus eBook Evangelist Page.

Anyone else have a problem with Canadian/UK spelling?

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American versus Canadian/UK spelling – What do you think?

I tend to get confused if I don’t know going in. And sometimes, as Steve Vernon points out, trying to turn Canadian spelling in to what we are used to in the US makes it even more complicated. What’s your preference?

Steve Vernon's avatarYOURS IN STORYTELLING...

So what is wrong with this cover?

Some folks might say it is the spelling.

We Canadians have certain ways of spelling words.

What an American might call a “harbor” we call a “harbour”.

It isn’t pronounced ANY differently but we’ve got that darned letter “u” stuck there in the middle of it.

Speaking of middle if you row out into the heart of an American harbor you are probably at the center of things – but if you row out into the heart of a Canadian harbour you will find yourself at the centre.

Is this making sense?

Let us say that you are out there in the center of that American harbor and you wanted to practice up on your home surgery techniques – well, you might want to indulge in a little American anesthesia.

While, if you are practicing up on that Youtube video of “How…

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Barnes and Noble offers print, e-book bundles

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bnsyncE-book aficionados have long been asking for for e-books to be bundled with the sale of a paper copy. Barnes and Noble is fulfilling that wish–at least for the holiday season. With the new B & N Sync Up! promotion, customers can purchase a paperback at a B & N store then get the e-book for $4.99. There are over 70 books to choose from, including bestsellers such as Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep, Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander,  Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees and the Life of Pi by Yann Martel.  Eligible titles will be marked with a “B & N Sync Up!” bookmark.

The program offers a  great value because the purchaser can either keep both copies or give one away as a gift. Details of how the program works are available here at Barnes and Noble.com.

This is a special offer for the holidays, but the web site does not list the begining and end dates for the promotion. It is live on B & N now.

 

 

Scribd, Barnes and Noble add on Audio books

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scribdIf you are an audio book fan, today definitely brings exciting news! Scribd has announced that they are adding  30,000 audiobooks to their subscription service. According to their blog:

… That makes us (we’re extremely pleased to say) the largest unlimited e-book & audiobook subscription service around.

Audiobooks have been one of our most requested features since the day we launched, and today we’re so excited to say they’re here.

The service will include new releases and bestsellers. Scribd has greatly expanded their offings this year with the addition of e-books by Harlequin, HarperCollins  and Simon and Schuster. Juli Monroe from TeleRead has some additional info in an article here.

I wasn’t clear from the announcement exactly when the audiobooks would be available on the  service. (It wasn’t yet on my Android tablet as of 9:30 CST.)

Barnes and Noble is also getting back into the audiobook game. The company has also just released a new Android app for purchasing and listening to audio books. The app is still in beta but seems to have good reviews on Google Play.

In comparison, Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited subscription only has about 2,ooo titles.

Audible, also owned by Amazon, still has the largest selection of audiobooks with over 150,000 titles available.

It is exciting to see so many new options for audiobooks becoming available. 🙂

Certified refurbished Kindles and Fire tablets sale

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Kindle FireRight now, Amazon has Certified refurbished Kindles and Fire tablets on sale for 25% off. There are a variety of devices available. There are several Kindle e-ink Paperwhites in various 3G and Wi-fi, 1st and 2nd generation devices starting at $89.  There are also some good deals on previous generation Kindle Fires – these are the ones with the micro-HDMI connector that is no longer included on current models. There is even a 4G LTE model. All of the devices I saw had special offers, but Amazon will remove the offers for a fee.

All certified refurbished Kindles and Fire tablets come with a one year warranty. These are a great deal for someone looking for a value.

Over the years, I have bought several refurbished Kindles and Fires and they have performed beautifully. How about you? Would you buy a refurb?

EU Ebooks soon to cost more

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KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERAFor readers in the EU and, particularly, the  UK: The price of e-books will be going up in 2015. The culprit? VAT taxes. Starting in January, 2015, there is a huge change in the way VAT will be calculated in European countries.

According to writer Chris Lynch:

Following a European Commission ruling dating back to 2008, e-books are to be taxed in the European member state in which the consumer is located, at the tax rate of that country, as opposed to the country from which the product is sold. The move prevents Amazon, Nook and Kobo from applying the low 3% tax on e-books sold to European countries, just because their headquarters are in Luxembourg. Instead, the e-book retailers will have to apply the standard UK VAT rate (20% at the time of writing) to e-books sold into the UK.

The big problem behind this for publishers, writers and consumers alike is the fact that print books have a 0% VAT rate. E-books, however, are taxed. While the tax will undoubtedly be helpful for the governments like that of the UK which will benefit from the added tax income, the new costs will affect consumers in the form of higher prices.

Before the prices go up,may I suggest e-books for Christmas? 🙂