Africa

Opera may get most of its press for its web browser, data compression tech, and business services, but that's not all it does.

Earlier this month Worldreader announced a partnership with Opera, Wordlreader is a nonprofit dedicated to boosting literacy in the third world, and it has been working with Opera to develop a browser-based reading app for smartphones and feature phones.

The app,  Worldreader Mobile Web (WRM-Web), offers free access to a catalog of 15,500 titles which spans 43 languages and a dozen genres,

A new e-book subscription startup is cataloguing exclusive African literature on its website and has recently launched mobile app.

"Digitalback Books is an ebook subscription platform with an exclusive focus on Black interest writing," Digitalback creator, Ifeanyi Ejomofo told Techcabal.

The platform launched last December, the product of a £15, 000 self-funded project.

We'll be discussing ebook subscription and discoverability with Scribd's VP of Content Acquisition Andrew Weinstein at the Executive Summit on Digital Publishing. Join us March 31st at the NYC Union League for this free invite-only event. Email Matt Steinmetz to request your invitation.

Pearson has become the latest blue-chip company to increase its venture investments, committing $50m to education start-ups in Africa and Asia.

The world's largest education company by revenues, which owns the Financial Times, is expanding a fund it set up in 2012 with $15m to invest in companies focused on improving low-cost private education.

Many media and telecoms groups, including Sky, the pay-television company, and publisher Reed Elsevier, are opting for venture investments in an attempt to increase innovation and growth. Bertelsmann, the family-owned German media group, has committed at least $100m to education start-ups.

Amazon Most Visited Website on Black Friday (GoodeReader) Many US-based retailers and business owners came into the holidays this year in a state of pre-panic, which was understandable given that this year’s holiday calendar means there are six fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. *** Taking the Temperature of Libraries and Bookstores (Digital Book World) [...]

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