Daily Links: Wattpad goes Freemium

I found a lot of goodies today!

Several interesting articles from the Digital Reader:wattpad

From Fortune: More on the Apple e-books litigation.

A couple fun links from Teleread:

And look at this: The Yotaphone 2 is a dual screen phone with epaper and amoled screens, from The Ebook Reader.

From Publishers Weekly, In libraries, digital audiobook lending is finding its groove.

In Today’s Deals,  Amazon is offering a interesting bundle: Rosetta Stone software with the Kindle Fire HD 7. The language software is offered in eight different languages.

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.

Daily Links: Germans want reduced taxes on ebooks

file8851243269241From The Digital Reader, Germans call for reduced taxes on ebooks.

Barnes and Nobele has launched their new audiobook app( with free ebooks), via The Ebook Reader.

From Publishing Perspectives, Book Dash uses crowd-sourced publishing to tackle book poverty in Africa.  

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.

 

Daily Links: Airbnb launches own print magazine

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.

Stream Unlimited Audiobooks

SkybriteIf you are an avid audiobook listener, you may be interested in Skybrite, a subscription service that offers unlimited streaming of audiobooks for your phone or tablet for a flat rate of $9.99 per month. The service is mobile only (no web service) and has apps for both IOS and Android.

However, according a CNET review of the service, there are a few limitations. First, you can only stream content. That means no download and offline listening. So unless you have a constant Wi-fi signal or a truly unlimited data, plan, this may be a deal breaker.

The Google Play store description  sounds promising:

With Skybrite, you can instantly stream thousands of best-selling audiobooks, entertaining performances, how-to courses, revealing interviews, spiritual talks, informative lectures, and more, on your Android phone or tablet.

You can listen to every title, as much as you want, wherever you are, unlimited to you.

FEATURES

* Discover a huge selection of premium audio programs from best-selling authors, entertainers, teachers, celebrities, and more.

* Enjoy unlimited fiction and non-fiction audiobooks, contemporary novels, classic literature, famous biographies, engaging memoirs, and more.

* Be entertained with unlimited stand-up comedy albums, audio theater performances, celebrity interviews, music biographies, and more.

* Improve your life and relationships with unlimited personal development, business trainings, spiritual talks, guided meditations, and more.

* Get healthy with unlimited fitness classes, yoga classes, self-help classes, nutrition classes, and more.

* Kids will love the selection of unlimited children’s stories, nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and more.

* Take unlimited courses to quickly learn Spanish, learn Chinese, learn French, learn Portuguese, learn Japanese, learn Russian, learn German, and more.

* Never any ads, commercials, or interruptions. Available worldwide.

* Stream every title instantly at the push of a button. It’s easy and fun to use!

The feedback in the Google Play is mostly positive, although the app has few download and reviews yet.

The CNET review describes the content a bit less favorably:

Even so, there’s very little high-profile content to be found at the moment. Save for the “Hunger Games” trilogy, most of the titles in the Literature & Fiction category are from little-known authors, or are public-domain works like “Les Miserables.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but anyone hoping for mainstream, Audible-caliber selection will be disappointed.

Skybrite says that it is working on expanding content in 2015.

The service offers a 7 day free trial and doesn’t require a credit card for sign up.

I may give the trial a whirl to check it out. How about you? Does the service sound tempting?