GAME OF THRONES IBOOKS VERSION STORMS INTO THE MARKET AND OTHER NEWS
- Hoopla digital, which now partners with over 1,300 library systems across the U.S. and Canada, today announced the addition of thousands of eBooks and audiobook titles to its expansive collection as a result of content deals with major publishers including ABRAMS, Britannica Digital Learning, The Quarto Group, Sourcebooks, and Lonely Planet, as well as hundreds of additional publishers through Ingram Content Group's CoreSource? Plus service, Independent Publishers Group (IPG) and eBOUND Canada. (Full report here: https://goo.gl/BqXRCk )
- Is publishing about to get Spotified? The platform publishing future. Publishing could be Spotified within five years. iTunes only needed a year to take ascendancy over record labels, and now Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) and Facebook Instant Articles (IA) promise the same fate for publishers. The implied end goal for both is a platform publishing future that mirrors the platform-dominated present of the music industry, where publishers are pure content creators with exclusive output channels. (Full report here: https://goo.gl/EnCrlU)
- Apple now offers enhanced versions of the Game of Thrones books in the iBooks store. Game of Thrones has proven to be one of the most popular book series ever written. It has also become huge ratings draw on TV via the HBO series. Millions of people love venturing into the dangerous world of Westeros to encounter dragons, vicious battles for power, and many unexpected twists and turns. Apple recently welcomed enhanced versions of the Game of Thrones books into the iBooks store. These books differ from previous releases by including interactive maps, author notes, illustrations, family trees and glossaries. (Full report here: https://goo.gl/j29umH )
- Today, Disney and ABC announced it will donate up to one million books to First Book, a nonprofit that provides new books to educators and organizations serving children from low-income families, during its fifth annual Magic of Storytelling campaign from now through March 31. The Magic of Storytelling campaign aims to inspire families' imaginations, cultivate a lifelong love of reading in kids, and bring books to underserved communities across the country. Over the past 16 years, Disney has donated 57 million books to First Book. Together with First Book, Disney Publishing Worldwide and Disney|ABC Television Group are committed to placing up to one million more books in the hands of children in need across the country. (Full report here: https://goo.gl/1dFX2I )
- Quickly Add Electronic Signature To PDF, Microsoft Documents with HelloSign. Sharing contracts, documents, etc. online isn’t new anymore. Physically signing documents is outdated. HelloSign comes into picture when we look at software’s giving us options of signing. It is a web based document signing service supporting a good number of file formats including PDF, Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel, etc. Once logged in, you need to upload the document to sign, an image of signature (or type/draw it in), place the signature at appropriate location and that’s it! (Full report here: https://goo.gl/tz28a4 )
- Students have high expectations for their learning as they head off to four-year institutions, and rightly so–why would they want how they use technology for learning to be years behind how they use technology in their personal lives? A recent survey gauges’ student satisfaction with the digital programs, focusing specifically on eTextbook programs, offered by universities in the United Kingdom, and reveals that progress is happening, despite barriers. (Full report here: https://goo.gl/yMHORl )