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UN partners with Worldreader to give Kindles to students in refugee camps


Laura Hazard Owen's avatarGigaom

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is partnering with nonprofit Worldreader on a pilot project to provide Kindles (s AMZN) loaded with ebooks to 2,300 students in refugee camps in Tanzania.

Worldreader was cofounded by former Microsoft (s MSFT) and Amazon executive David Risher and economist Colin McElwee in 2010 and is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Europe and Africa. It has launched pilot programs providing Kindles to schools in nine sub-Saharan African countries over the past two years, but McElwee said that this is arguably its most important partnership because the UN is “an enormous potential scaling partner” aiding “the most vulnerable people on the planet.” If the pilot works, the program could expand to other refugee camps overseen by the UN.

A student at the Ntimigom School in Kilgoris, Kenya. http://www.flickr.com/photos/48114529@N06/6776770558/in/set-72157629062449936/ A student at the Ntimigom School in Kilgoris, Kenya. http://www.flickr.com/photos/48114529@N06/6776770558/in/set-72157629062449936/

The Tanzanian camps house about 105,000 refugees affected by the conflicts in the Democratic…

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Here’s a Bed That Looks Like a Book


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Taking candy from babies: HarperCollins illegally gathered personal information from children


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Not My Review: The Confidence Trap – A History of Democracy from World War I to the Present by David Runciman


The link below is to a book review of ‘The Confidence Trap – A History of Democracy from World War I to the Present,’ by David Runciman.

For more visit:
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2014/02/18/book-review-the-confidence-trap-by-david-runciman/

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Pocketbook Reader


The link below is to an article that takes a look at Pocketbook’s new iPad and iPhone app – Pocketbook Reader.

For more visit:
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2014/02/20/pocketbook-releases-new-reading-app-iphone/

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Are Public Libraries Obsolete?


Atekka's avatarPromoting the Love of Words

What are libraries for? To the generations that have grown up with free access to local public libraries, this may seem like a stupid question. The recent library closures in UK have generated heated debate. Should we forget about libraries now that we have the iPad and Amazon Kindle? Should we force our children to look things up in printed encyclopaedias when it’s so much easier to search for things on the Internet? Should we continue to pay for a building full of books?

According to author and motivational speaker Seth Godin, libraries were initially just “warehouses for books worth sharing“. This at a time when books cost “about as much as a small house”. We’ve come a long way from that. Books have been accessible priced, widely available and part of our everyday lives for centuries. There are, of course, regions of the world where books are…

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Inside Nubico


The link below is to an article that takes a look at Spain’s ebook subscription service – Nubico.

For more visit:
http://publishingperspectives.com/2014/02/inside-nubico-spains-latest-ebook-subscription-service/

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Wikipedia in Print?


The link below is to an article reporting on a project aiming to bring Wikipedia into print.

For more visit:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/20/wikipedia-1000-volume-print-edition-crowdfunding

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Anne Frank Books Vandalized in Japan


The link below is to an article reporting on the deliberate vandalism of Anne Frank books in Japanese libraries. What is going on here?

For more visit:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/21/anne-frank-books-vandal-attacks-tokyo-libraries

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Are bookshelves becoming obsolete?


The link below is to an article that asks the question, ‘are bookshelves becoming obsolete?’

For more visit:
http://io9.com/are-bookshelves-becoming-obsolete-1527286157