Top 100 book apps: Free Books - 23,469 classics to go!

Since we believe in the digital future of books as a way to reduce eventually the footprint of books, we also believe in apps. Book apps are integral part of the digital age of books and we want to share with you some great book apps we find and thus we are assembling a list of the top 100 book apps.

In order to get into our list apps need to both book/ebook related and affordable - we choose only apps that are either free or cost less than $2.

So every Monday we will update you with a new app on out list of top book apps. Today we're happy to introduce you an app that helps you find free books.

Our app today is Free Books - 23,469 classics to go by Spreadsong. This app is for iPhone and iPad and it's free.

Here are more details about the Free Books App:
Ah, to describe an app in two words... Free Books is just that- Free Books! Browse our handpicked collections, download any of our 23,469 classic books, and read with our fully featured ereader. Notes, highlights, bookmarks, dictionary support -- it’s all here.

Have your own ebooks? We have you covered, thanks to Dropbox integration and a fantastic ePUB reader. Just import your books and read anytime, anywhere.

Free Books unlocks a world of public domain content, allowing you to acquire the great books of human history. Letters of leaders, the collected works of geniuses, the finest Victorian novels, the plays of Shakespeare, the philosophy of Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, the autobiographies of Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Carnegie. It's all here, along with tens of thousands of other books.

We could go on- personalized recommendations, beautiful high resolution covers, author pages, Email to Computer, Night Mode reading- but that would just get away from the point.

23,469 of the greatest books in human history, accessible with the tap of your finger. Free.

If you have any questions or suggestions don't hesitate to drop us a line at hello@classicly.com- that's what we're here for!

Last book app - Weird but True

You can check top 100 book apps at http://www.ecolibris.net/bookapps.asp. As you'll see, this list is in work, but we promise to update it every week until we'll have all 100 book apps.

You're also welcome to check our list of 100 green apps.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Why the question now is when and not if Barnes and Noble will file for bankruptcy

In the last couple of years I started thinking B&N might file for bankruptcy because they have no strategy to transform their brick and mortar stores from a liability back to an asset. Now, after reading Julie Bosman's article 'The Bookstore’s Last Stand' on the New York Times, I'm more positive about it than ever.

Unfortunately after reading this article, I'm afraid the realistic question we need to ask is when B&N will go bankrupt and no if they'll actually do it. Here are five quotes from the article that will explain why:

1. "Mr. Lynch says Barnes & Noble stores will endure. The idea that devices like the Nook, Kindle and Apple iPad will make bookstores obsolete is nonsense, he says." - It's a 3-page article, yet you won't find there a word of explanation from CEO Lynch why its nonsense and how he plans to save his stores.

2. "For all the bells and whistles and high-minded talk, Barnes & Noble doesn’t exactly have the cool factor (or money) of, say, a Google or a Facebook." - Say no more. Do you really believe B&N can out-innovate Amazon and Apple with their very limited resources? I doubt that.

3. "Carolyn Reidy, president and chief executive of Simon & Schuster, says the biggest challenge is to give people a reason to step into Barnes & Noble stores in the first place. “They have figured out how to use the store to sell e-books," she said of the company. "Now, hopefully, we can figure out how to make that go full circle and see how the e-books can sell the print books.”" - She is right and I guess she also knows B&N haven't provided yet any good reason for most readers to step into their stores. I can only wonder if she believes they'll actually find a way to do it.

4. "And yet, in three years, he (William Lynch, CEO, B&N) has won a remarkable number of fans in the upper echelons of the book world. Most publishers in New York can’t say enough good things about him: smart, creative, tech-savvy — the list goes on." - It's definitely great to have a nice guy at the top of the pyramid, but with no answers on how to transform the stores back from a liability to an asset and with little vision on how to keep B&N in business, not to mention relatively poor results, Lynch needs less fans and more people that will tell you what he's doing wrong and how to fix it.

5. "No one expects Barnes & Noble to disappear overnight. The worry is that it might slowly wither as more readers embrace e-books." - two years ago no one in the media would even speculate such a thing. Now it has became a reasonable assumption, which shows you how high the probability that B&N will file for bankruptcy is.

To learn more on our B&N index series visit Barnes and Noble Bankruptcy Index on our website.

You can find more resources on the future of bookstores on our website at www.ecolibris.net/bookstores_future.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Working to green the book industry!

Recommended book on Kickstarter - Passion for Place: Community Reflections on the Carmel River Watershed

Kickstarter is a great place to fund interesting new products and projects, including books. Great books. So we decided we want to help spread the word on book projects we like on Kickstarter and every weekend we'll share one with you.

The first one is Passion for Place: Community Reflections on the Carmel River Watershed, a book and CD project for and by the community and serves as a prototype for people in other communities.

This project is about creativity and the possibility of cultural change, understanding what ecological integrity means, and knowing that we are a part of that integrity.

The current status of the project is as followed:

Goal: $4,000

Pledged so far: $2,920 (28 backers)

Still missing: $1,080

Days left: 28 days (until Feb 25)

Here's a description of the project:
Wherever we live, sharing stories of our connection to rivers and land connect us to each other and remind us of what is important in our lives. We are reminded of the beauty, wonder, and spirit of the natural world. Creativity, in its greatest depths of the human psyche and genetic coding, emerges from the wildness of the natural world. When we allow wildness, our own spirit, to flourish within, we can also respect and allow nature’s spirit, the wild outside, to exist.

The stories, poems, and essays in the book are organized from the headwaters and source of the Carmel River, through the valley, and out to the lagoon and ocean. In addition, a CD of natural sounds combined with excerpts from interviews of eight community members will complete the anthology, taking the reader on a virtual experience of the Carmel River Watershed.

The Foreword is written by Freeman House, author of Totem Salmon: Life Lessons from Another Species. Internationally recognized authors Terry Tempest Williams and Peter Forbes have granted use of quotes for the book. Dr. Barbara Mossberg has written the Introduction that will appear on the cover front flap.

Copies of Passion for Place will be given to local libraries, schools and public officials as well as to the writers and interviewees. I will do talks about the watershed and my paintings, read stories on my own and with other contributors to the book, have live music with readings, hold readings along the trails and river among other avenues of sharing.

Given Carmel Valley is a destination location, known around the country and world, this book will be a useful, informative, beautiful resource and anthology for people to get to know the community and land from various perspectives.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Top 100 green apps - Whirleo

We are creating a list of the top 100 apps that will help you go green as part of our effort to promote a more sustainable lifestyle. Apps become an integral part of our life and a valuable tool and we believe we should also take advantage of them when it comes go greening up our life.

Every Friday we update you with a new app on the list, and today we're happy to introduce an app that according to the Alternative Consumer is "an eco-themed app game that can help you connect with your kids while teaching them the importance of saving the planet and fighting pollution."

Our app is Whirleo from Smith & Tinker. This app is for iPhone and iPad and costs $0.99.

Here are more details about Whirleo App:
Take a spin with Whirleo to save the planet! Whirleo follows the journey of a group of spinning tops that whirl through planet Rotopolis. As they travel, each Whirleo cleans up pollutants released by the begrimed Guzzler. Now you can help Whirly and his friends clean-up their environment via your touch-based mobile gaming device.

Spin, tilt and jump with Whirleo as you travel across land, sky and water. Locate power-ups and use them to clean up Pollutos like Petros, Smokies, Nukies, Heaters and more. Discover hidden crystals and solve puzzles while earning Greeno to purchase special boosts and limited edition Whirleo.

Whirleo is a universal application supporting iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices. Please enable iCloud backup in settings to share purchases and points across your Apple mobile devices.

Presented by Smith & Tinker in conjunction with 1% for the Planet.

One good turn deserves another!

You can check top 100 green apps at http://www.ecolibris.net/greenapps.asp. As you'll see, this list is in work, but we promise to update it every week until we'll have all 100 green apps.

Last week's green app - Seafood Watch.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

What we can really learn from Booklr comparison between the top 100 Kindle and Nook lists

Booklr just released an interesting comparison between the prices of the top 100 sold ebooks on BN.com and Amazon. It's an interesting comparison, although it might have reached the wrong conclusion.

"With the Kindle Fire, Nook, and e-readers constantly in the news, Booklr took a look at the prices in the Amazon Top 100 Kindle List and the Barnes & Noble Top 100 Nook List over the past week. The results might surprise you. The price of ebooks from each retailer is not always uniform. Consumers should consider this important factor since once you choose a device, you’re locked in to that retailer."

As you can see from the comparison below, the average price of a book on the top 100 list on Amazon is $6.48, while the average price of an ebook on the top 100 list on BN.com is $8.94. As you can also see from the comparison below the main reason for the difference is that cheap ebooks, with a cost between $0-2, are 35 percent of the top list on Amazon.

What we can learn from this data?
1. Readers like cheap ebooks.
2. Amazon offers many cheap books.

What we can't learn from this data?
1. ebooks have different prices on Amazon and BN.com - it might be the case, but you can't learn it from this compassion.
2. Amazon is cheaper than B&N - to reach this conclusion, you need to compare apples to apples (the same books), not apples and oranges.























Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Levi's is implementing a new paper policy and cutting its ties with APP

Rainforest Action Network blog reported yesterday on another company that says goodbye to Asia Pulp and Paper. This time it's Levi's, following a new paper policy the company implemented.

"Levi Strauss & Company has become the latest major brand to ban business with Asia Pulp and Paper (APP). This comes on the heels of a major public cancellation with APP affiliate Mercury Paper at the end of December by Kroger, America’s largest grocery chain."

In an email I received from Robin Averbeck of RAN, who provided more details on this story:

In the fall of 2009, Levi’s received a letter from RAN asking it to cut any ties with notorious Indonesian rainforest destroyer Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and its affiliates. This was one of a hundred letters in RAN’s campaign to convince global fashion companies to stop buying from APP and choose responsible alternatives like recycled paper instead.

The Levi’s team called us and immediately began working with us to create a comprehensive paper policy that maximized recycled fiber and barred paper suppliers connected to rainforest destruction, like Asia Pulp & Paper.

We are pleased to announce today that Levi Strauss & Co. has implemented its new paper policy in its operations around the globe. This makes Levi’s the latest company in an ever-growing list of major corporate customers to exclude Asia Pulp & Paper for its human rights abuses and blatant rainforest destruction, and to take a stand to protect forests and the rights of communities that depend on them.

Kudos to RAN for its ongoing commitment to stop unsustainable logging and to Levi's for implementing a paper policy and walk the talk!

My guess is that until APP will get itself truly committed to sustainable logging practices (not just to 18% cut in energy and water use until 2015), the number of companies that cut the ties with them will keep growing.

More articles on APP:

Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) - good or bad? ITS is saying APP is good and actually Greenpeace is bad!

Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) - good or bad? Rolf Skar of Greenpeace is replying to Ian Lifshitz

APP - good or bad? An interview with the sustainability manager of the world's most controversial paper company

Photo credit: Rainforest Action Network blog

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Top 100 green apps - GreenITers for the followers/members of GreenITers.com

We are creating a list of the top 100 apps that will help you go green as part of our effort to promote a more sustainable lifestyle. Apps become an integral part of our life and a valuable tool and we believe we should also take advantage of them when it comes go greening up our life.

Every Friday we update you with a new app on the list, and today we're happy to introduce an app for those of you who are looking for a way to learn and share green knowledge with other eco minded peers.

Our app is GreenITers from Fullcircle Innovations. This app is for android and it is free.

Here are more details about GreenITers App:

GreenITers.com is the fastest growing Asia CleanTech / eco-innovations community. GreenITers App delivering mobility capability to all of our GreenITers.com (+70,000 and counting) followers/members.

Like most online communities you must register to take part in, Signing up for GreenITers.com is FREE, and takes 30 secs at max and can be done after downloading this app. You can easily sign up by going to GreenITers.com and clicking on the Sign Up button or click on the sign up icon in the app.

GreenITers Community Introduction:

GreenITers provides an online green community, where everyone from top academics to the average person with an interest in preserving the planet through eco-friendly technology, can get together online and share ideas, new gadgets, scientific news and break-through.

As a member, people can join groups, existing groups cover topics such as solar power, wind energy, ocean wave power Electric Vehicles, Green IT, Green Building, biofuel, Nature Protection, Climate Change and Green Innovations. These are great areas to post images, video, discuss ideas and collaborate on projects.

Other features include news share, photo library, and blog. Whether members are interested in green motoring technology or solar powered gadget re-chargers, or even how to generate energy from trees, this is a great place to whet your appetite, and work with or read posts from other GreenITers`s members.

It is going to take a global team effort to have an impact on climate change, and GreenITers.com provides a place where global green like-minded individuals can come together and progress into real clean technology solutions to the world.

GreenITers.com are for people who want to "Green it!" the world we are living in via eco innovations & technology.

You can check top 100 green apps at http://www.ecolibris.net/greenapps.asp. As you'll see, this list is in work, but we promise to update it every week until we'll have all 100 green apps.

Last week's green app - Seafood Watch.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

How green is your iPad? Update 1: Apple introduces the iPad Textbooks

We talked earlier this week about how green is the iPad, and we have two interesting updates about it. Here's the first one - Apple announced earlier today on a new software aimed at revolutionizing the way teachers teach, students learn and publishers create educational content.

Apple said, according to Mashable, that the iBooks store’s new textbook category will eventually include “every subject, every grade level, for every student.”For now, however, Apple is starting with high school textbooks from partners McGraw-Hill, Pearson and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Apple’s Phil Schiller said that 1.5 million iPads are already in use at schools, including more than 1,000 one-to-one development programs.

How will textbooks look on the iPad? Check this report from Engadget:



What's our take on this move? We think it definitely helps in making the iPad a greener device. Textbooks are very wasteful given the fact that they're updated very often, many times only with minor changes. Then more copies are been printed and students can't use used copies anymore and need to buy new ones. This system doesn't make any sense from an environmental and social perspectives and is far from being sustainable.

Now, on the iPad, they have not only more features and added value, but also an option to be updated without wasting paper or other resources. So kudos to Apple and hopefully other and cheaper tablets will provide similar options so students who can't afford paying $499 for the iPad would still be able to reduce their textbooks' footprint and read them on a tablet.

For more information on how green is the iPad visit our iPad webpage at http://www.ecolibris.net/ipad.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

How green is the iPad? Ask Mike Daisey

Although Mike Daisey describes himself as a lifelong Apple super fan, he'll probably say not so much, at least when it comes to the social impact of the iPad (as well as other Apple products). Why? Listen to the opening episode of the year of This American Life (see below) and receive the answer.

I also wrote about it today on Triple Pundit. Here's a paragraph from the article:

Mike Daisey describes himself as a lifelong Apple super fan. One day he saw some photos from a new iPhone, taken by workers at the factory where it was made and started wondering who makes his Apple gadgets. He decided to investigate and traveled to Shenzhen, where the main factory of Foxconn is located. Foxconn is the largest contract electronics manufacturer in the world with clients including Apple, HP and Microsoft. The manufacturer’s factories were also home to at least 12 workers suicides last year. Daisey wasn’t the first one to investigate what happens in Foxconn, yet his report is different and will probably trouble you more profoundly than written reports.

For more information on how green is the iPad visit our iPad webpage at http://www.ecolibris.net/ipad.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Top 100 book apps - Weird But True by National Geographic Society

Since we believe in the digital future of books as a way to reduce eventually the footprint of books, we also believe in apps. Book apps are integral part of the digital age of books and we want to share with you some great book apps we find and thus we are assembling a list of the top 100 book apps.

In order to get into our list apps need to both book/ebook related and affordable - we choose only apps that are either free or cost less than $2.

So every Monday we will update you with a new app on out list of top book apps. Today we're happy to introduce you the first iPad book app to redefine the experience of reading 19th century poetry. Our app today is Weird But True by National Geographic Society. This app is for iPhone and iPad and it costs $1.99.

Here are more details about the Weird But True app:
The first offering from digital book studio, Honeybee Labs, "Chasing Fireflies" is an interactive poetry experience, featuring over 150 classic Japanese haiku, complemented by elegant collage-style artwork and a cinematic original score. Readers can interact with the backgrounds, calling lightning in a storm, or conjuring fireflies at night. Readers can also share their favorite passages with friends via Facebook or Twitter.

Features:
* Over 150 hand-selected haiku poems by Basho, Buson, Kikaku, Issa and others
* Cinematic original score by composer Colin Wambsgans
* Book’s cover changes through time to display a new landscape each week
* Every page can be rotated to give four different perspectives
* Easily post your favorite passages to Twitter and Facebook
* Foreward by Caley Vickerman, founder of the Guerrilla Haiku movement

Last week's book app - Chasing Fireflies: A Haiku Collection

You can check top 100 book apps at http://www.ecolibris.net/bookapps.asp. As you'll see, this list is in work, but we promise to update it every week until we'll have all 100 book apps.

You're also welcome to check our list of 100 green apps.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Where print books still beat ebooks?

Apparently at the public library. Washington Post reported on Saturday on the growing lines (e-lines?) for ebooks in libraries, where the supply is far from meeting the demand.

"Want to take out the new John Grisham? Get in line. As of Friday morning, 288 people were ahead of you in the Fairfax County Public Library system, waiting for one of 43 copies. You’d be the 268th person waiting for “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” with 47 copies. And the Steve Jobs biography? Forget it. The publisher, Simon & Schuster, doesn’t make any of its digital titles available to libraries."

Another problem is that publishers still don't make many books available to libraries. Why? The article explains that "wary of piracy and the devastation it has caused the music and film industries, Penguin recently put its new e-book titles off-limits. Like Simon & Schuster, Macmillan doesn’t make its e-book content available to libraries. And last year, HarperCollins announced that it would require libraries to renew licenses for e-books after 26 checkouts, outraging some librarians."

I guess this balance of power will change eventually, but at least for now, the print book is still the king of the public library!

To read more of this interesting article, click here -As demand for e-books soars, libraries struggle to stock their virtual shelves.

To read more news and updates on ebook lending please visit our ebook lending webpage.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Top 100 green apps - The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch: Your Guide to Sustainable Seafood

We are creating a list of the top 100 apps that will help you go green as part of our effort to promote a more sustainable lifestyle. Apps become an integral part of our life and a valuable tool and we believe we should also take advantage of them when it comes go greening up our life.

Every Friday we update you with a new app on the list, and today we're happy to introduce you with an app for seafood lovers, which helps you choose ocean-friendly seafood at your favorite restaurants and stores.

Our app is Seafood Watch from Monterey Bay Aquarium. This app is for iPhone, iPad and android and it is free.

Here are more details about Seafood Watch App:

Description
Seafood Watch recommendations help you choose ocean-friendly seafood at your favorite restaurants and stores. Our app brings you the most current recommendations for seafood and sushi along with complete information about how each item should be fished or farmed. Our new Project FishMap feature lets you contribute to the app, adding the names of restaurants and stores in the U.S. where you’ve found sustainable seafood and locating what other users have found at businesses near you.

Features:
• Provides free, up-to-date recommendations at your fingertips with detailed seafood information
• Uses your phone’s GPS to load the right regional guide for your location
• Enables you to search for seafood quickly and easily by common market name
• Allows you to sort seafood by "Best Choice," "Good Alternative" or "Avoid" rankings
• Sushi guide lists fish by Japanese name as well as common market name
• Provides alternatives to seafood on the “Avoid” list
• New Project FishMap feature lets you contribute to the app by adding the names of restaurants and stores where you've found ocean-friendly seafood and locate businesses where others have found sustainable seafood
• Highlights our list of “Super Green” seafood that’s good for you and the oceans

You can check top 100 green apps at http://www.ecolibris.net/greenapps.asp. As you'll see, this list is in work, but we promise to update it every week until we'll have all 100 green apps.

Last week's green app - Green Power Free battery saver.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Don't be an iPhoney, buy where you shop!

Here's Harvard Bookstore's reply to Amazon's evil app (thanks to GalleyCat for the link):



Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

A new report find that kids prefer ebooks on print books - should parents encourage that?

I just saw an update on eBookNewser about a new report from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop that found that kids prefer to eBooks to print books.

"The Center observed 24 families with children ages 3-6 for this “QuickStudy” in the summer and fall of 2011. The kids were given both print and eBooks to read and according to the research children preferred reading an eBook to a print book though comprehension was equal."

The sample group used by the center was relatively small - only 24 families, but if you have kids in this age you would probably a similar conclusion. Yet, at least from my personal experience, these findings would probably be more accurate looking 5 or more years ahead. Many kids kids right now still enjoy and prefer print books, but they will probably switch in some point in the near future to e-books because they grow up with so much exposure to digital formats and its easier for them to do it compared to older generations.

One thing I'm not sure I understand is the following quote from the original report on Digital Book World - “If we can encourage kids to engage in books through an iPad, that’s a win already,” said Carly Shuler, senior consultant for industry studies at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. Why do we need to encourage kids to engage in books through an iPad and not through print book? They'll have enough time when they grow older to engage with digital formats, but in the meantime they could lose some valuable lessons from converting too early to ebooks.

I'd just like to quote Junko Yokota, a professor and director of the Center for Teaching Through Children’s Books at National Louis University in Chicago, who explained on the New York Times last November what is lost by taking a picture book and converting it to an e-book. She said that the shape and size of the book are often part of the reading experience. For example, wider pages might be used to convey broad landscapes, or a taller format might be chosen for stories about skyscrapers. "Size and shape “become part of the emotional experience, the intellectual experience. There’s a lot you can’t standardize and stick into an electronic format,” she said.

What do you think? What does your kid prefer? Are you happy with his or her choice? Drop us a comment and join the discussion.

Image credit: Tundra Books, Flickr Creative Commons

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Top 100 book apps - Chasing Fireflies: A Haiku Collection

Since we believe in the digital future of books as a way to reduce eventually the footprint of books, we also believe in apps. Book apps are integral part of the digital age of books and we want to share with you some great book apps we find and thus we are assembling a list of the top 100 book apps.

In order to get into our list apps need to both book/ebook related and affordable - we choose only apps that are either free or cost less than $2.

So every Monday we will update you with a new app on out list of top book apps. Today we're happy to introduce you the first iPad book app to redefine the experience of reading 19th century poetry. Our app today is Chasing Fireflies: A Haiku Collection by HoneyBee Labs. This app is for the iPad and it costs $1.99 (regularly it is priced $3.99, but it will be available for $1.99 on the App Store through January 31st, 2012).

Here are more details about the Chasing Fireflies: A Haiku Collection app:

The first offering from digital book studio, Honeybee Labs, "Chasing Fireflies" is an interactive poetry experience, featuring over 150 classic Japanese haiku, complemented by elegant collage-style artwork and a cinematic original score. Readers can interact with the backgrounds, calling lightning in a storm, or conjuring fireflies at night. Readers can also share their favorite passages with friends via Facebook or Twitter.

Features:
* Over 150 hand-selected haiku poems by Basho, Buson, Kikaku, Issa and others
* Cinematic original score by composer Colin Wambsgans
* Book’s cover changes through time to display a new landscape each week
* Every page can be rotated to give four different perspectives
* Easily post your favorite passages to Twitter and Facebook
* Foreward by Caley Vickerman, founder of the Guerrilla Haiku movement



Last week's book app - Subtext

You can check top 100 book apps at http://www.ecolibris.net/bookapps.asp. As you'll see, this list is in work, but we promise to update it every week until we'll have all 100 book apps.

You're also welcome to check our list of 100 green apps.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Winners of the Angel Esmeralda audiobook giveaway

We have winners on our giveaway of The Angel Esmeralda: Nine Stories by Don Delillo, a great audiobook with a collection of 9 short stories of Delillo.

We asked you to tell us who your favorite short stories author is and got great replies. And our winners are Heather (her favorite author - Charles de Lint) and JenBreesmom (her favorite author - O. Henry).

Thank you to all the participants and to Simon & Schuster Audio who provides the copies for the winners!

The audiobook is available on Amazon: http://amzn.to/nvNYNe and on iTunes: http://bit.ly/rLYYoA

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Top 100 green apps - Green Power Free battery saver

We are creating a list of the top 100 apps that will help you go green as part of our effort to promote a more sustainable lifestyle. Apps become an integral part of our life and a valuable tool and we believe we should also take advantage of them when it comes go greening up our life.

Every Friday we update you with a new app on the list, and today we're happy to introduce you with an app that will help you to save energy on your smartphone, making it more energy efficient!

Our app is Green Power Free battery saver from Gael Pouzerate. This app is for android and it is free (there's also a premium version available with some more features for $1.99).

Here are more details about Green Power Free batter saver:
Green Power battery saver: No need to charge your battery so often! Green Power battery saver brings many extra hours to your battery life!

Unlike other battery savers that require regular user manual actions, Green Power is fully automatic: Once configured, it runs and saves your battery by itself. It does so by smartly managing Wifi, Mobile data & Bluetooth (*): Turning them off when you don't need them, but ensure minimum disturbance: Automatic turned ON when needed by you or by other apps (e.g retrieving mails).
Similar but easier cleaner and faster than JuiceDefender!

"Green Power mainly does one thing, but does it so well and so flexibly that the benefits reaped are considerable." (InfoWorld)

"Green Power is a simple and easy to use power and network management software" (Engadget Chinese edition)

"Green Power Premium is a remarkable tool. Battery saver, time saver, top notch!" (AndroidPit)

HIGHLIGHTS
- Handles WIFI, Mobile Data (2G, 3G, some 4G) & BLUETOOTH
- Supports most phone types (both GSM & CDMA) and most carriers
- Supports Android ICE CREAM SANDWICH, HONEYCOMB, GINGERBREAD & FROYO
- Mobile Data toggling using clean Internal API or APN renaming (you can chose)
- Most features below available in Free version unless marked with (*)

INSTALL AND FORGET
Or take time to configure to get the most out of it!

FEATURES
- Wifi mgmt: Based on schedule, screen state, power connected, signal level...
- Mobile data mgmt: Based on schedule, screen state, power connected...
- Mobile data mgmt: Either Internal API or APN renaming
- BLUETOOTH (*) mgmt: Based on devices connected or in range, screen state, power etc
- Traffic check: Configurable to prevent disturbing other apps
- Apps Whitelist (*): To keep data on when using specific apps (like music streaming)
- Simple WIDGET (*): To quickly pause or resume
- NIGHT (*) mode fully configurable, Airplane mode...
- Tasker & Locale Plug-in (*)
- Compatible with Cerberus 2.0
- Very lightweight and fast app
- Easy and clean interface
- Fully configurable settings
- Settings backup / restore
- 20 Languages (changeable at run time)
- And more...

You can check top 100 green apps at http://www.ecolibris.net/greenapps.asp. As you'll see, this list is in work, but we promise to update it every week until we'll have all 100 green apps.

Last week's green app - GasHog: The Fuel Economy Tracker for iPhone.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Businesses rewarding environmental behaviour

This is a guest post.

As both customers and businesses become more environmentally aware, more and more companies are incorporating "green" measures into their everyday operations. When you consider the advantages to going with such a strategy - including cutting costs, increasing profits, gaining new business opportunities - it isn't difficult to understand why. You may also find that it boosts the collective morale of your employees, especially if you choose to reward their environmental behaviour in the workplace.

Some eco-printing businesses, including Flyerzone, have taken a rather innovative approach to maintaining the environment, as well as the satisfaction of their staff. Flyerzone is not only founded on green principles, but it also actively encourages its employees to behave in the same way. It offers rewards to its production staff for reducing wastage and pays bonuses to those who bring a new idea to the table that could get the company working even more efficiently.

You might also want to take inspiration from Flyerzone's office waste-reduction methods. For example, it only uses paper from well-managed forests and 99 per cent of its paper volume is certified under FSC's Chain-of Custody programme. The very little paper that is wasted is, of course, recycled or reprocessed, while Flyerzone also uses vegetable-based inks in its printing.

If you want to use eco-printing with such a philosophy at its core, a great way to do so is by investing in promotional materials and stationery from such a company. For example, there is a wide range of business cards, leaflets, flyers, posters and notepads on the market that prove there is such a thing as eco-friendly, functional and attractive printing.

In a world of social and corporate responsibility and growing eco-friendly opportunities, there has never been a better time to go green and reap the benefits.

5 reasons why the Nook spin off gets B&N closer to bankruptcy

Barnes & Noble announced this morning it is beginning “strategic exploratory work” to separate its rapidly growing Nook digital business. If you follow our blog, you're probably not that surprised - as we reported again and again on the B&N Bankruptcy Index series, B&N behaves for a long time like the Nook is its core business and not its 703 bookstore.

So you're probably wondering - would this spin-off will help B&N to avoid bankruptcy? Actually, I believe it only gets them closer to this unfortunate faith. Here's five reasons why:

1. B&N bookstore business is declining and B&N has no clear strategy how to transform it back from a liability to an asset. Frankly, this announcement only demonstrates that B&N is giving up on the brick and mortar stores and putting all its energy and resources just into the Nook. Don't believe me? Just count look how many times B&N mentions its bookstores in its press release from today (hint: less than one).

2. B&N is focusing all of its resources on one egg - the Nook. It's a good egg, but even if it will have a bright future as B&N is expecting it's still too risky, especially in a market where your competitors are are Amazon and Apple.

3. B&N doesn't have the deep pockets Apple and Amazon have. Just look at the balance sheets of these three and compare how much cash each of them has - Amazon has $2.8 billion, Apple has $9.8 billion, while B&N has $23 million in cash and cash equivalents (latest figures available). Now, who do you think has a better chance to develop better tablets and e-readers in the near future?

4. Bad management - B&N would have a much better chance if it would have spun off its management instead of the Nook. Why it's a bad management? How else you can call a management that takes an asset like 700+ bookstores and makes almost zero efforts to save it from bankruptcy?

5. "Mr. Lynch said Barnes & Noble doesn't see itself as a competitor with Apple, as it focuses more on digital reading, but said internal research shows customers prefer the Nook over the Kindle." (Wall Street Journal) I wish I have a faith in a company that this is the worldview that directs its strategy and this is the quality of research data it uses. Unfortunately I really can't.

To learn more on our B&N index series visit Barnes and Noble Bankruptcy Index on our website.

You can find more resources on the future of bookstores on our website at www.ecolibris.net/bookstores_future.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Working to green the book industry!

Top 100 book apps: Subtext - It's a community in the pages of your book

Since we believe in the digital future of books as a way to reduce eventually the footprint of books, we also believe in apps. Book apps are integral part of the digital age of books and we want to share with you some great book apps we find and thus we are assembling a list of the top 100 book apps.

In order to get into our list apps need to both book/ebook related and affordable - we choose only apps that are either free or cost less than $2.

So every Monday we will update you with a new app on out list of top book apps. Today we're happy to introduce you with a book app that believes that reading together is better. Our app today is Subtext by Subtext Video. This app is for the iPad and it's free.

Here are more details about the Subtext app:
Reading together is better—especially with access to the world’s largest collection of books! Subtext powers the first community in the pages of ebooks. With Subtext, you can engage in conversations with friends, authors and experts and access all types of information and multimedia—right in the margins of your books. It’s like sitting in your living room reading a book surrounded by your friends, the author and, if you’re up for the extra company, the most interesting people in the Subtext community. A totally new reading experience!

“...the app is just lovely to use.” —Gizmodo ‘App of the Day’

“...Subtext goes beyond the ‘enhanced ebook’ to actually offer an enhanced reading experience...” —VatorNews

“I love context when I’m reading, and if there is author commentary to be found, I’m not above scouring the Web to find it. Subtext pulls in this kind of supplementary information automatically...” —TechCrunch

Subtext from Subtext Video on Vimeo.

Last week's book app - Beatles Yellow Submarine

You can check top 100 book apps at http://www.ecolibris.net/bookapps.asp. As you'll see, this list is in work, but we promise to update it every week until we'll have all 100 book apps.

You're also welcome to check our list of 100 green apps.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Check our special holiday offer!