Category Archives: Article

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Kobo stops using the Amazon-owned Goodreads API

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Laura Hazard Owen's avatarGigaom

Maybe this was inevitable since Amazon (s AMZN) acquired book-based social network Goodreads (see disclosure), but Kobo has stopped using the Goodreads API on its website and in its apps, Good E-Reader reports.

That means no more Goodreads ratings and reviews on Kobo book pages. It sounds as if the decision was driven by Kobo, not Goodreads or Amazon: The company’s chief content officer Michael Tamblyn tells Good E-reader that Kobo might re-add the Goodreads API in the future. And back in March when Amazon acquired Goodreads, the companies told me they would leave the Goodreads API open and would not shut off the Kobo feed. (Update: Goodreads confirmed it’s made no changes to its API.)

Nonetheless, the move demonstrates the risk of relying on what is now a competing retailer’s API. At one point, Goodreads actually encountered a similar problem itself: In early 2012, it stopped sourcing its…

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Digital now makes up 11.3% of Hachette’s revenues worldwide, and 20% of Random House’s

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Article: Kobo Suspends Usage of the GoodReads API

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The link below is to an article reporting on yet another bookseller shooting itself in the foot – Kobo has suspended Goodreads from its ebook readers.

For more visit:
http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/kobo-suspends-usage-of-the-goodreads-api

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Article: Seamus Heaney Dies

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The link below is to an article reporting on the death of Seamus Heaney.

For more visit:
http://www.teleread.com/poetry/r-i-p-seamus-heaney-the-passing-of-a-giant/

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Article: Seamus Heaney

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The link below is to an article that takes a look at the life of Seamus Heaney, the Nobel laureate who recently died.

For more visit:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2013/aug/30/seamus-heaney-life-pictures-poetry

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Article: Negativity and Book Reviews

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The link below is to an article that comments on negative book reviews and bullying online.

For more visit:
http://www.teleread.com/internet/on-negative-reviews-and-bad-online-behavior/

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Article: Futuristic Libraries

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The link below is to an article that looks at 10 futuristic libraries from around the world.

For more visit:
http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/10-futuristic-libraries/

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Article: Book Found in the Wild

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The link below is to an article that reports on one real life story of a book found in the wild.

For more visit:
http://bookriot.com/2013/08/29/lost-bound-adventures-found-books/

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Article: Don’t Ask What I’m Writing

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The link below is to an article about what not to ask a writer.

For more visit:
<a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/dont-ask-what-im-writing/

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Come on, Kobo, a $399 tablet? Really?

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Laura Hazard Owen's avatarGigaom

Last September, Barnes & Noble (s BKS) launched two new tablets. The Nook HD and HD+, ranging in price from $199 to $299, were designed to be reader-centric devices. They included features like children’s accounts and curated “channels” to help readers discover new books.

These features, Barnes & Noble hoped, would be enough to attract buyers — but they weren’t kidding themselves that users would be persuaded to buy a Nook instead of an iPad. “You have an iPad, I have one,” a company exec said at a briefing at the time, seemingly acknowledging that the Nook HD wouldn’t be anybody’s first choice. Rather, Barnes & Noble clearly hoped that the Nook tablets’ prices and features might be enough to entice users away from other lower-priced tablets like the Kindle (s AMZN) Fire and Nexus (s GOOG) 7.

It didn’t work. Fast-forward a year and Barnes & Noble’s Nook business is…

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