Books and water are usually not so good a mix but The Drinkable Book is a game-changer. Created by DDB for Water Is Life The Drinkable Book is a complete water purification device in which each page is printed with warnings and tips while being smothered in bacteria-killing silver nanoparticles Tear out a page, place it in the 3D printed slipcase, pour the dirty water over it and there you go - drinkable water! About the project: The Drinkable Book is a life saving tool that filters water and teaches proper sanitation & hygiene to those...
Reading in the Mobile Era
A student in Kenya with her library of e-books. photo by @NdilaiG Another highlight from this years World Book & Copyright Day was the release of Reading in the Mobile Era by UNESCO. Based on interviews and 4,000 completed surveys in seven developing countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Uganda and Zimbabwe) this landmark report "paints the most detailed picture to date of who reads books and stories on mobile devices and why." We learn that celluar networks reach over 95% of the worlds population and more people have access to cell phones than toilets. Then there is this tragic fact that most people in Sub-Shararan...
The latest in e-reading: Pay by the page at Total BooX
Total Boox is hoping to make its mark on the e-reading market by offering a new pay as you go model. Think of it as a toll both for e-books and as with most drivers these days you pay for your pass upfront. Here's how it works: If you read 10% of the book you pay 10% of the full retail price, etc. I'm not sure what to make of the tagline - Read Books Rather Than Buy Them - perhaps Buy The Words Not The Books is more appropriate. I'm also a bit skeptical regarding its direct to consumer application since for most books one...
FOMO: The next disruptive technology for the publishing industry?
The FOMObile It stands for Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and could be the next disruptive technology for the publishing industry. It makes its debut at Design Week in Milan and will "trawl content from social media" and the scheduled programming to produce a newspaper that will be distributed for free. The software, developed by Space Caviar, "will automatically create written articles from live speech and social media streams" during the three-day event. FOMO will use voice recognition software, combined with information scraped from online data including tweets and instagram activity using the hashtag #OnTheFlyMilan, to automatically generate a PDF document....
AudioEngine: An audiobook platform that is not from Amazon
Findaway World, "a leading provider of technology for the delivery of digital audiobook and eBook content" has just launched AudioEngine - a platform that allows audiobook integration for online sellers. I am hoping the technology trickles down to independent bookstores and small publishers for it would be a boon to be able to offer the audio option to their users. Here's the full Press Release: Findaway World Unveils AudioEngine Leader in digital audiobook delivery launches new platform to enable integration of audiobooks into partner products and applications SOLON, OH (March 31, 2014) — As consumer adoption of audiobooks reaches an all-time...