You can now view 100 of The British Library’s rarest works on your iPhone, iPad or an Android device.
Search categories such as Science, History, Music, Literature, Religion, Map, and Illuminated Manuscripts and discover treasures you will not require white glove to handle. The mobile app presents high-resolution images of rare works such as the world's oldest bible, Nelson's battle plan for Trafalgar and sketches by Leonardo da Vinci. Expert curators can even guide you through audio excerpts and videos.
The Treasures mobile app is available for the iPhone and Android versions at a cost of £2.39 ($3.99 in the US) and for the iPad at £3.49 ($5.99). However, they can be bought before 24th January at £1.19 ($1.99) and £2.39 ($3.99) respectively.
You now have the potential to visit national libraries and museums, view rare works and do so on the move for what is chump change.
Showing posts with label digtal content. Show all posts
Showing posts with label digtal content. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Kindle DX Fails The College Test
Last year Amazon went on a campaign to win over college campuses with to their Kindle DX. The big question is whether it passed or failed their exam? Jeff Bezos said at Pace University in New York that the 10” screen and storage capacity were especially suited for college students but they agree?.
They passed the reading test with 90% approval among MBA students at The University of Virginia, but failed the classroom study test with some 80 percent saying they would not recommend it. Others such as at the Princeton University and Portland-based Reed College, liked its long battery life, paper savings and portability, but importantly said no to the inability to scribble notes in the margins, highlight passages or fully appreciate colour charts and graphics.
A continual issues is the availability of digital content and devices that are able to meet student needs.
Amazon appears undaunted and have announced software upgrades to sort books into collections and zoom in on PDF documents. After all, the market is huge with a prize worth some $4.3 billion and a growing concern by both students and colleges on spending budgets and the cost of higher education. Market-research firm Student Monitor claim that the average student spent $659 on textbooks in 2009. The used book trade is significant and ironically one of the benefactors is Amazon.
Now the iPad steps up to the exam table with a number of colleges planning to test it. However its limited capabilities are likely to put it into the same result band as the Kindle and unless textbook prices fall the intial investment may prove a test to far.
Source: Seattle Times
They passed the reading test with 90% approval among MBA students at The University of Virginia, but failed the classroom study test with some 80 percent saying they would not recommend it. Others such as at the Princeton University and Portland-based Reed College, liked its long battery life, paper savings and portability, but importantly said no to the inability to scribble notes in the margins, highlight passages or fully appreciate colour charts and graphics.
A continual issues is the availability of digital content and devices that are able to meet student needs.
Amazon appears undaunted and have announced software upgrades to sort books into collections and zoom in on PDF documents. After all, the market is huge with a prize worth some $4.3 billion and a growing concern by both students and colleges on spending budgets and the cost of higher education. Market-research firm Student Monitor claim that the average student spent $659 on textbooks in 2009. The used book trade is significant and ironically one of the benefactors is Amazon.
Now the iPad steps up to the exam table with a number of colleges planning to test it. However its limited capabilities are likely to put it into the same result band as the Kindle and unless textbook prices fall the intial investment may prove a test to far.
Source: Seattle Times
Friday, March 20, 2009
The Digital Content Divide
So where is all the digital content? We have heard pleas from the UK resellers for more content and the promises of things coming from the UK publishers. So what are the issues and why have so many been so slow to embrace digital?
‘There isn’t enough resellers to justify the effort?’ Well Waterstones have been up and running 6 months and want more. Gardners are now about to launch having got the critical mass of content and offer all resellers the opportunity to play. Amazon may not have the UK Kindle, but do have the iPhone option, Stanza is on the iPhone, Overdrive is making a big play for the UK libraries, the academic publisher of the year, Taylor and Francis are one of the leading digital players and now reaping the financial rewards. There are a myriad of ebook stores available today so does the channel argument hold water? Many would say not.
‘There isn’t the consumer demand?’ Well hello, when did you last open up a newspaper or watch the news and not hear something most weeks about ebooks, digitization or the changes in publishing? People are even buying limited devices such as the current ebook readers. The media is providing the feeding frenzy, but the content is clearly lacking.
‘It costs too much to convert?’ Well in some cases it can cost a fair amount, but a lot of that is down to the analogue manner in which books are developed today for a physical world and then converted into digital often as an afterthought. However, anyone can take the typesetters PDF and convert it to an Adobe eBook for little cost. It costs more to satisfy all the other formats, but to just get started isn’t expensive.
The latest one we heard was that ‘all the conversion houses are working flat out at full stretch and there isn’t the capacity for more’. We can only say from a position of knowledge that this is pure rubbish. Some may be busy, but walk around LBF in a month’s time and discover for yourself if this is myth or reality.
The excuses can continue, there many more. The reality is that there is a logjam on one side of the Atlantic and a concerted push on the other. Does it matter? In the days of physical only and strong territorial rights it was not an issue. However, today this imbalance is a serious threat to the market. In recent weeks Hachette has already had to fire a shot across the bows of some US aggregators for territorial infringement or lack of territorial control. We regularly use US and other services that are not available in the UK and a US content domination goes with strong US centric channels and aggregation. Apart from Gardners name one serious UK content aggregator, many of those resellers out there today are using are merely fronting US services and content. Before we can buy British content we have to produce it.
‘There isn’t enough resellers to justify the effort?’ Well Waterstones have been up and running 6 months and want more. Gardners are now about to launch having got the critical mass of content and offer all resellers the opportunity to play. Amazon may not have the UK Kindle, but do have the iPhone option, Stanza is on the iPhone, Overdrive is making a big play for the UK libraries, the academic publisher of the year, Taylor and Francis are one of the leading digital players and now reaping the financial rewards. There are a myriad of ebook stores available today so does the channel argument hold water? Many would say not.
‘There isn’t the consumer demand?’ Well hello, when did you last open up a newspaper or watch the news and not hear something most weeks about ebooks, digitization or the changes in publishing? People are even buying limited devices such as the current ebook readers. The media is providing the feeding frenzy, but the content is clearly lacking.
‘It costs too much to convert?’ Well in some cases it can cost a fair amount, but a lot of that is down to the analogue manner in which books are developed today for a physical world and then converted into digital often as an afterthought. However, anyone can take the typesetters PDF and convert it to an Adobe eBook for little cost. It costs more to satisfy all the other formats, but to just get started isn’t expensive.
The latest one we heard was that ‘all the conversion houses are working flat out at full stretch and there isn’t the capacity for more’. We can only say from a position of knowledge that this is pure rubbish. Some may be busy, but walk around LBF in a month’s time and discover for yourself if this is myth or reality.
The excuses can continue, there many more. The reality is that there is a logjam on one side of the Atlantic and a concerted push on the other. Does it matter? In the days of physical only and strong territorial rights it was not an issue. However, today this imbalance is a serious threat to the market. In recent weeks Hachette has already had to fire a shot across the bows of some US aggregators for territorial infringement or lack of territorial control. We regularly use US and other services that are not available in the UK and a US content domination goes with strong US centric channels and aggregation. Apart from Gardners name one serious UK content aggregator, many of those resellers out there today are using are merely fronting US services and content. Before we can buy British content we have to produce it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)