Chapters of literary game unlocked with micropayments
In such a tough industry – and with extra competition from digital alternatives – it’s no wonder that even larger publishing institutions are looking for new business models for their output. We recently wrote about Random House Australia’s Mailbooks For Good scheme, and now it seems the UK branch of the company is also innovating. Black Crown is a web-based story-game that will use micropayments to unlock extra narratives and social elements. READ MORE…
Magazine ad offers free wifi to readers
Considering its value to consumers, offering free wifi is by now an established way to promote products, and we recently wrote about the wifi movie posters used to market The Berlin File film in South Korea. Now Microsoft has offered a twist on the concept, launching a wifi-enabled print ad to promote its Office 365 software. READ MORE…
Serialized iPad novel unlocks extra content only at real-world locations
Often the enjoyment of a creative work can be enhanced by location, and we’ve seen this demonstrated before with the Bluebrain app, which reveals audio content specific to the area the listener is walking through. Now a similar innovation, this time in the publishing world, comes in the form of a new iPad novel titled The Silent History, which presents readers with short excerpts each day and offers additional content when they travel to specific real-world locations. READ MORE…
Online medical journal aims to better share research results
Cancer Commons has already explored the possibility of using the combined forces of web users’ knowledge to create an open database of potential treatments for the disease. Aiming to move medical research out of niche journals and into the public domain, Cureus is a platform for anyone conducting trials to publish their results straight onto the web. READ MORE…
iPad magazine turns news into art via ‘comics journalism’
The recent demise of The Daily may have cast some doubt on the feasibility of the iPad-only model of publishing, but Symbolia is now attempting a novel twist. Specifically, Symbolia is a new iPad magazine that uses classic comics illustration to help bring the news to life. READ MORE…
Plug-in book offers digital content when the page is turned
Physical books and new technology are often placed in contrast to each other but – as we have seen with projects such as Between Page and Screen – they can actually exist in harmony. Adding weight to this point, the Elektrobiblioteka, or Electrobook, contains sensors between its pages that generate extra, dynamic content for readers when the book is plugged into a computer. READ MORE…
Wise Words with Eric Hellman
Founder of the open access book site, Unglue.it, Eric Hellman gained a Ph.D from Stanford University before working as a Library Technologist at a company called Openly Informatics, which seeks to encourage academics, researchers and other sector professionals to share their knowledge in one database. Taking his passion for open access to knowledge, he went on to form Unglue.it in May of this year, having experienced the frustrations of digital licensing limits firsthand through his library work. READ MORE…
Crowdfunding site pays authors to release DRM-free e-books
E-books may have opened up a whole new medium for enjoying the world’s literature, but the DRM – digital rights management – technologies they’re often coupled with have also imposed new restrictions on the way that literature is shared. Enter Unglue.it, a new site from New Jersey-based Gluejar that uses crowdfunding to pay authors to “free” their work as e-books published under a Creative Commons license. READ MORE…
In Austria, virtual library contained in public QR code stickers
Spain has already tried to encourage its citizens to regularly pick up a book with its National Reading Plan project which involved adding QR codes that linked to the first chapters of books on its public trains. Now the Austrian city of Klagenfurt has unveiled its own plan with Projekt Ingeborg, which aims to provide residents with a virtual library through QR code stickers placed around the municipality. READ MORE...
Book printed in ink that vanishes after two months
We’ve seen a few innovations that have offered a twist on traditional reading habits, from offering short works by new authors based on the duration of train delays to temporary edible and smokeable books. Taking elements of both of these ideas, Buenos Aires-based bookshop and publisher Eternal Cadencia has released El Libro que No Puede Esperar – which translates as ‘The Book that Cannot Wait’ – an anthology of new fiction printed in ink that disappears after two months of opening the book. READ MORE…
