Tag: Books and Technology

Text-Off

The folks at the app judgement show on the Revision3 network hold a text-off.The rules: Who can type the sentence "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" the fastest on their mobile device.It begins with the first mobile typing device, a typewriter!A few info nuggets:"Words Per Minute" is generally the standard used to measure the speed at which someone types and according to a study quoted by Wikipedia, the "average" typing speed for the average "fast", "moderate", and "slow" typists is 40, 35, and 23 words per minute respectively.Also according to Wikipedia, the average professional typist reaches 50...

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E-books for beginners and a reminder for the book inclined

(click to enlarge)Here's a nifty flow chart courtesy of Bookbee covering the basics of e-books in 5 easy steps. As you can plainly see it is far from a streamlined universal process and I trust it will only become more complicated before  it gets better.And for those who remain on the paper side of the aisle. This handy reminder is for you. Note: one can easily substitute used, rare or collectible with "New."Thanks to Teleread for the lead on the flow chart and to Gearfuse for the image above

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Books and Fire: A New App and a Fiery Bookshelf

The folks at Snarky Apps have created an app that allows you to burn a book on the privacy of your own iPhone.from the description:“Have you ever had the urge to burn a book? Well there’s never been a better time to exercise your freedom of expression with a nice and toasty bonfire and a good book! Choose from The Bible, The Koran, the Baha’i Writings and many more!Fortunately, the app is more of an attention getter then a tool of biblioclasm. Yes, you get to choose what book you would like burn, mostly from the religious texts of the...

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It’s a Book and the first annual Unplug Day

A mouse, a jackass, and a monkey walk into a bookstore....Well not really, but Lane Smith's latest book, It's a Book, features these three characters grappling with the ever-changing world of books and technology.The publisher calls it "a delightful manifesto on behalf of print in the digital age" and it is a welcome addition to the p vs. e debate.To celebrate the release of the book, Macmillan has created the first annual Unplug Day and is urging everyone on August 31st to "unplug. unwind. recharge. read a book!"click to enlarge I'm in.Facebook group for Unplug Day

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The Rise of the Digital Book Cover

Tintin and The Secret of Literature—The Digital Book Cover "I went from assuming the cover might someday disappear completely, to believing that it could take on a whole new life" said Charlie Orr in a post he did back in May on the blog The Hypothetical Library.As he pondered the digital explosion of content delivery that is currently underway in the book world he "couldn't decide what was worse, the poor quality of covers when the e-books included them, or the fact that most e-books on the Kindle and other e-ink based readers didn't bother with them at all."This was enough...

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