Asia

1. Why is there no e-ink innovation in the U.S. (MobileRead) The TeleRead take:  Why is the Kindle line—well, so meh? All kinds of E Ink goodies are on sale from companies in Asia and European (more information here). But from Amazon? Well, better screens, and we read plausible rumors of a powerful chip in […]

The post TeleRead Links: U.S. lags in E Ink reader development—why? ePub creation tips. Why Zuckerberg and Musk read utopian sci-fi. appeared first on TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics.

QR Codes Link Subway Riders to Library eBooks (iQR.me) Naysayers of the efficiency of QR codes always make the excuse that the popularity in Asia is due to their love of mobile devices and new technology. And that’s a problem? How can over a billion users be wrong? Well the latest QR code ‘fad’ is […]

The post Morning Links: Library e-books and QR codes on Beijing subway. Kobo wooing indie U.S. bookstores in new ways. appeared first on TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics.

Rakuten is beefing up its digital content chops after it announced the acquisition of ebook and audiobook marketplace OverDrive for $410 million.

The Japanese e-commerce giant got into the e-reader game when it picked up hardware maker Kobo for $315 million in 2011. It stands to reason then that U.S.-based OverDrive, which was founded way back in 1986 and offers over 2.5 million titles from more than 5,000 publishers today, will be put to work providing greater choice and reading material for Kobo owners.

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.

French photographer Franck Bohbot has created a marvelous series of photographs of the great libraries of Europe – although Harvard Public Library does feature as well – as part of an ongoing project called House of Books which will eventually expand to embrace South America, Asia and North America. “This is about the places that we have […]

The post Franck Bohbot captures the world’s grandest libraries appeared first on TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics.

“Auld Lang Syne” is a song you’ll hear the world over, from Tokyo to Tashkent. (And after many years in Asia, I can testify to that.) Chances are that a fair slice of the world’s population, of multiple ethnicities, will be either singing it or hearing it at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s […]

The post The origins of Auld Lang Syne – the world’s most popular poem appeared first on TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics.

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