Tag Archives: books

Have Your Mac Read A Book To You In Mavericks And iBooks [OS X Tips] | Cult of Mac

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Have Your Mac Read A Book To You In Mavericks And iBooks [OS X Tips] | Cult of Mac

For those of you who might want to listen to a book via iBooks, one option is to load an iBook on your iPhone or iPad and turn on VoiceOver.

That can change the way your iOS device works, though, so it can be tricky to the uninitiated.

Now that iBooks is on Mavericks, however, you have another option: get your Mac to read your iBook to you.

If you’ve upgraded to Mavericks (and you should, it’s free and optimized for older machines), you have a copy of iBooks on your Mac. Launch it with a double click to the iBooks icon in the Dock or the Applications folder, and then double click one of your iBooks to open it.

Click your mouse in front of where you’d like your MAc to start reading to you, and then head up to the Edit menu. Select the Speech option in the menu, and then choose “Start Speaking.” Your Mac will read to you in the voice that’s chosen in the System Preferences Dictation & Speech preference pane.

Your Mac will keep reading the book until you choose Stop Speaking in the same Edit > Speech menu, though it won’t turn pages when it gets to a new page. If you want to follow along while it reads (a great option for folks with print or other reading disabilities), you’ll need to click the arrow keys or swipe along your trackpad as you go.

If you just want to have your Mac read a selection of text to you, simply click and drag to highlight that section, and then choose Start Speaking from the Edit menu, or right-click and choose Start Speaking from the More option in the contextual menu.

via Have Your Mac Read A Book To You In Mavericks And iBooks [OS X Tips] | Cult of Mac.

Pakistani schools ban teenage activist Malala’s book from libraries | The Globe and Mail

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Officials say they have banned teenage education activist Malala Yousafzai’s book from private schools across Pakistan, calling her a tool of the West.

Malala attracted global attention last year when the Taliban shot her in the head northwest Pakistan for criticizing the group. She released a memoir in October, “I Am Malala,” that was co-written with British journalist Christina Lamb.

Adeeb Javedani, president of the All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association, said Sunday his group banned Malala’s book from the libraries of its 40,000 affiliated schools. He said Malala was representing the West, not Pakistan.

Malala has become an international hero for opposing the Taliban and standing up for girls’ education. But conspiracy theories have flourished in Pakistan that her shooting was staged to create a hero for the West.

via Pakistani schools ban teenage activist Malala’s book from libraries | The Globe and Mail.

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BuzzFeed Decides Criticizing Awful Books Is Too Mean | The Atlantic
Put away the hatchets, BuzzFeed book reviewers. The Internet’s foremost listicle-maker will now be taking its ‘No Haters’ policy over to its rising books section, as BuzzFeed’s new books editor said…that he will only accept warm and cuddly book reviews.

Music & Film

Why Video Games Succeed Where The Movie And Music Industries Fail | FastCompany
The video-game industry is projected to grow from $67 billion in 2013 to $82 billion in 2017. At the same time, global movie revenue, both DVD and ticket sales, hit an estimated $94 billion in 2010, down 17% after inflation from 2001. Why is the video-game industry on the ascendance? And are there any lessons that the movie (and to a lesser extent, the music) industry can take from its success?

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Indigo being pushed further away from bookselling as sales slide | Canada.com
Indigo Books and Music Inc. shares plunged to their lowest price in more than a year on Wednesday, a day after the national retailer reported a $10-million loss and plans to suspend its dividend.

For This Iconic Bookstore, Digital Isn’t Just a Footnote | Mashable. Discussing The Strand’s digital and social strategy.

Teen Poet Sparks New Debate on Islam in Denmark | WSJ
Hassan – the 18-year-old son of Palestinian immigrants who are Muslims – is now creating his own brand of controversy in Islamic circles and elsewhere with a new book of poetry that was published in Denmark last month. The writing student’s self-titled book contains around 150 poems, many of which are severely critical of the religious environment he grew up in.

EW has  bracket to discover the best YA novel of all time. Vote: What is the best YA novel of all time? Round two | EW. Also see: EW asks: What’s the best YA novel of all time? Also Voting for Goodreads Choice Awards Now Open | LitReactor

Music & Film

‘Big Disconnect’ Offers Guidance for Parents in a Tech-Crazed World | PBS

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Did you hear the one about the 7-year-old boy who opened a Wii on Christmas morning and when his parents finally checked on him, he’d played for 18 hours? Or the one about the 13-year-old girl who accidentally “butt-dialed” an old acquaintance whose number now belonged to a transsexual prostitute, who then launched a vendetta against the girl? Catherine Steiner-Adair, a psychologist whom parents seem to call whenever there’s a digital/psychological crisis at home, has heard all these stories and more, and shares them in “The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age.”

A new policy statement issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics on October 28 recommends parents control the quantity and content of the media their children consume, keep tech gadgets out of kids’ bedrooms, and model good behavior for kids by limiting their own tech use. Steiner-Adair advises the same limits, and backs these up with examples from the children and families she works with as a counselor. Here are the key lessons “The Big Disconnect” taught me, and the grades I’d give myself for how well I’m handling tech at each age.

Read: ‘Big Disconnect’ Offers Guidance for Parents in a Tech-Crazed World | Mediashift | PBS.

I wonder what it’s like to be dyslexic by Sam Barclay [Kickstarter Project] | Kickstarter UK

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This would be a great addition to any library’s collection on disabilities. 

A beautiful, design led experience of what it feels like to struggle with reading. See more about the project: I wonder what it’s like to be dyslexic by Sam Barclay | Kickstarter.

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Amazon signs up for ‘future of streaming’ ORBX | CNET – Amazon becomes the first major partner to agree to use lightweight new technology from Mozilla and OTOY for streaming games, video, and software. More Amazon news: Amazon employee rebukes wife over Jeff Bezos biography | the guardian. Also: Amazon Offers Kindles, Cut of E-Book Sales to Indie Bookstores | PCMag – another take: Amazon’s New Kindle Offer Rejected by Indie Bookstores | WIRED.

Confessions of a Booker Prize Judge | BookRiot
Stuart Kelly…offers Book Riot some insights into the pressures and the joys of choosing a Booker winner, why a graphic novel should win it one day, why The Luminaries changes what the novel can do, and what impact the Americans will have under the redrawn eligibility criteria for the prize.

Agatha Christie and Poirot scoop best ever status from Crime Writers | Telegraph
The Crime Writers Association crowned Agatha Christie best ever author and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd best ever novel, while Scandinavian crime missed out

Music & Film

Swedish Theaters Now Using Bechdel Test To Rate Films On Gender Bias
A group of four movie theaters in Sweden have adopted a new rating system to expose gender bias–if a film passes the Bechdel Test, it gets an A rating. Qualifying films must a.) have at least two women with names, who b.) talk to each other and c.) talk about something other than a man. The paradox of this test is that it seems simple enough to meet these requirements, and yet countless films fail to do so each year.

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Forgotten Books, Discovered | HuffPost
Pacing through the website of Forgotten Books, an online library with hundreds of thousands of titles, is like walking through the aisles of a favorite bookstore.

The Library Vending Machine | BookRiot
Changing demographics and difficulty securing new funds for new libraries, The Pioneer Library System in Norman, Oklahoma decided to to use technology to meet its patrons needs. So last week, it opened the first 24-hour library vending machine in the United States. Built by EnvisionWare, this fully automated machine will be able to to dispense more than 400 pieces of media (books/DVDs/audiobooks) and store more than 1000 returned items.

Music & Film

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Jeff Bezos’ Wife And Co-Workers Call Out Brad Stone’s Amazon Book As Inaccurate…On Amazon | TechCrunch
In what can only be seen as a moment of delicious cyclical irony, a new fairly negative review of the book has been posted by none other than Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos’ wife, MacKenzie Bezos. We’ve confirmed the identity of the reviewer, the only peson to leave a one-star reaction so far.

Readmill is my new Favorite eBook Reading App [Review] | Beautiful Pixels
One of the biggest problems faced while upgrading to the paperless world — at least when it comes to reading ebooks — is that the system is horribly fragmented. Some ebooks are available on one platform while some on others. Keeping track of all your purchases and syncing them with different devices is always a pain. Readmill wants to take some of that pain away from you.

New E-Book Services Borrow a Page From Netflix [Review] | AllThingsD
Review of Oyster and Scribd e-book subscription services.

Music & Film

What is the best YA novel of all time? Round one | PopWatch | EW.com

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Check out EW’s bracket game to vote on the best young adult novel of all time.

We’re pitting 64 young adult books against each other in a March-Madness style game to determine which you think is the best of all time. Check out the full bracket and vote!

Vote: What is the best YA novel of all time? Round one | PopWatch | EW.com.

Also see: EW asks: What’s the best YA novel of all time?

EW YA Bracket