Tuesday News: Giving blood helps save lives; Kobo lauches new reading device; eBooks 23% of US sales
Massachusetts and Rhode Island Blood Donations | American Red Cross – You have probably already heard but more than one explosion occurred in Boston yesterday, two near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, resulting in numerous injuries and casualties. One thing that people can do in circumstances like these is to donate blood. This is the link for the Massachusetts Red Cross, but you can give blood anywhere and it will be a help to injured people everywhere. American Red Cross
Kobo Aura HD Overview – Kobo has launched a larger eink front light device which they are pitching to the “discerning reader” who they also deem to be price insensitive. For more money, you are getting a larger screen (6.9″ instead of the 6″) and a higher quality display. According to Engadget, the screen display for the Kobo Aura HD is 265 ppi v the Kindle Paperwhite’s 221 ppi. The price of the Kobo Aura HD is $169. The nook and Kindle front lit devices are $119. I stopped recommending people buy a Kobo device because the customer service stories have been terrible. I’m interested in hearing whether that has changed. Kobo
Engadget has a pretty good review. It says that the light is better than on the nook and slightly better than on the Kindle.
Ebooks made up 23 percent of US publisher sales in 2012, says the AAP – According to the year end report by the Association of American Publishers, ebooks accounted for 22.5 percent of US sales in 2012, however, ebook growth is continuing at decreased numbers. paidContent
Penguin to publish next Mind Candy brands – Penguin Publishing is diversifying by becoming exclusive publisher to brands like Moshi Monsters, Skylanders, and Angry Birds. More interesting is that Penguin is producing apps for these games and brands. Licensing.biz
Instead of donating blood right now, consider setting an appointment (or putting it in your calendar) to give blood in a couple weeks. The Red Cross rep in Boston yesterday said it would be then that the blood donations would be particularly useful. They said they had sufficient capacity right now, but the stock would be low later, as a result of what was transferred to the Boston trauma centers yesterday.
I have always bought Kobo and haven’t had any issues with their customer service – I prefer epub so I have never bought Amazon. Being in Canada, we couldn’t easily get Amazon devices initially so that’s why I started out with Kobo – now though that I use calibre etc, I still prefer Kobo for the ability to download files right off of their website. I’ve used Amazon but quite honestly have been thoroughly frustrated with the interface – maybe I’m a rare one in the e-reading world but for some reason I truly hate the fact that you can only read Amazon files on Amazon devices. I now buy from multiple sites and haven’t had any issues reading them on my Kobo.
@MILLY: if you use Calibre, you can buy from Amazon and convert to epub. I do it all the time. I even set my 70 yo mother up to do the same on the weekend.
Hi, So I own a Kobo that I bought it about a year and a half ago and my husband got a Kobo from his parents for Christmas. I love the Kobo. It’s super light (weight) and the customer service has been excellent. The instructions that I got came from a Swiss store (FNAC) and I think they collaborated with Kobo. I have called the Swiss help line a number of times because of bad formatting in a few of the books (I got my money back), and once because I couldn’t get it to turn on and they walked me through the process of getting it to work again. I’ve also sent emails to the UK Kobo (about why a book that I bought wasn’t in my library) and they fixed that in two or three days (I think there is a 48 hour period between the time that you send the email and when they read it). I would absolutely recommend Kobo but you do need a little patience.
I’ve had pretty bad experiences with Kobo customer service, but they’ve been far overshadowed by my astonishingly bad experiences with B&N. Next ereader will be a Sony, if they come up with a lighted one.
@willaful: I would be in alt if Sony came out with a lighted reader. Please please please make it so Mr. (or Ms.) Sony CEO.