Eco-Libris blog

100 Days to Die by Russell Jensen is joining the 100 trees Project!

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:50:00 +0000

What do you do when you know that you've got only 100 days to live? This is a question most people don't really think about, but the hero of '100 Days to Die' by Russell Jensen has to once he's diagnosed with Leukemia and learns he has only one hundred days to live.

We're also happy to update you that this great book has just joined the "100 Trees Project"!

This joint program was launched by Infinity Publishing, a leading self-publishing company together with Eco-Libris to promote environmental sustainability among its authors. Through the program, authors that publish with Infinity are able to plant 100 trees for the title they publish. These authors also have the option to add a special "100 trees planted for this book" logo to their book's design, as a way to showcase their commitment to environmental sustainability.

What's 100 Days to Die about? Diagnosed with Leukemia and only one hundred days to live, Earl Roberts wants to leave a dynamic impression on the world, but how? The explosive answer is beyond shocking.

About the author:

Russell Jensen is the author of this book, as well as a two foot high stack of articles that are yearning to be published. His great passion for fishing has earned him over 20 world records throughout the Americas in Alaska, New York and the Amazon of Brazil. Russell is a member of the International Game Fish Association.

As a youth in the military, Russell was part of the airborne division and became a paratrooper. The lessons learned in that time have served him well. The discipline of mind and body continue to motivate and inspire.

100 Days to Die is available for sale on Infinity's website.

Other books on the "100 Trees Project":

My Name is Grace

The Last Original Idea: A Cynic's View to Internet Marketing

Buffalo on the Ridge by Deanna Meyer

What Love Is...A-Z by by Elle Febbo

Raven Wings and 13 More Twisted Tales

Ishift- Innovation Shift

Good Management is Not Firefighting

Play on Words

This is Your Brain on God

DRIVEN! Remembrance, Reflection, & Revelation

X-POSED: The Painful Truth Behind Yoga & Pilates

Last Male Born: Revenge

Reduced Load Ballistics Research Manual

Ligiea / Bryndt

My Million Dollar Mom

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Half the forest isn't enough - A smart (and funny) video of Great Bear Rainforest explains why!

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:50:00 +0000

Who said that activism can't be funny, even when it deals with serious issues?

Check out this video from the Rainforest Solutions Project:

Take It Taller from Great Bear Rainforest on Vimeo.

Here are more details on this important campaign, which is organized by a joint initiative of Greenpeace, ForestEthics, and Sierra Club BC:

No matter which way you cut it, protecting 50% of a forest isn't enough to save the whole.

British Columbians helped put this province on the map by calling for the protection of the Great Bear Rainforest. In 2006, provincial and First Nations decision-makers heard you and signed an agreement to save one of the last coastal temperate rainforests of its kind from being destroyed by clearcut logging.

But today, logging is still allowed in 50% of the Great Bear Rainforest. It’s time to take action again and tell the provincial government to Take It Taller by committing to protect more than just half of the Great Bear Rainforest from logging.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Recommended book on Kickstarter: Ballad of a Bottom Feeder- A love story

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 21:52:00 +0000

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.

Today's Kickstarter book is Ballad of a Bottom Feeder- A love story, a love story by Andre Karpov that takes place on the bottom of the ocean between a Hermit Crab and a Sea Anemone. Their courtship is based on an actual occurrence in nature known as a symbiotic relationship.

Goal: $5,000

Pledged so far: $1,520 (32 backers)

Still missing: $3,480

Days left: 27 days (until March 4)

Here's a description of the project:

I first came upon this example of symbiosis while visiting the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. I was fascinated by the idea that members of two different biological species could bond and live together while helping in each others' survival. I extensively researched this and gathered much inspiration while living and working on the coast of Northern California. I wrote a 24-page children's story and illustrated it with pen & ink and watercolor. With your help, this book can be published! Some of the Illustrations and story can be viewed below.

I will also be releasing a song based on the story: "ballad of the bottom feeder available for download with a purchase of the book.

The story begins:
In the company of urchins and abalone, Its easy to get lonely.

With their SPINY skin and hardened shells whether or not they're feeling I can't tell.

Let them be angry, let them be sad, I am a happy hermit crab.

Insignificantly small on the bottom I feed and crawl.

The rest of the story involves their romance and adventures as they dodge predators and find prey, bonded in a symbiotic relationship; the hermit crab benefits by gaining the added protection from predators using the anemone's stinging tentacles, and the anemone benefits by gaining mobility and sharing portions of the hermit crab's meals.

I would like this book to gently teach our children to respect nature in her many forms of symbiotic partnerships and to instill an awareness of the smaller creatures who share our biosphere.

You can learn more about Ballad of a Bottom Feeder- A love story at http://kck.st/y21LGp

Last week's Kickstarter recommendation - Passion for Place: Community Reflections on the Carmel River Watershed

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Top 100 green apps - Locavore

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:14:00 +0000

**WE ARE UPDATING THE SEASONALITY INFORMATION RIGHT NOW**
It’s your seasonal, local food network.

Based on your phone’s GPS location, Locavore will make searching for in-season, local food a breeze by pinpointing farms and farmers’ markets nearest you. Read all about them on their profile page, find that specific local item you have been looking for or just check out what’s in-season right now. Plus, you can get recipe suggestions to make with your delicious local food and then, brag about it to all your friends through Facebook.
Features:
1 - Browse what’s in-season and soon to come
2 - Locate farms and farmers’ markets near you
3 - Find who is selling it and where
4 - Get details about your local farmers’ market
5 - Discover recipes for local, in-season items
6 - Post what you ate locally to Facebook

Locavore is powered by Local Dirt. www.LocalDirt.com is an online site where anyone can buy, sell, feature and find local food. Part of us is located in beautiful Madison, WI and the others are in sunny (sometimes foggy) San Francisco, CA. We are always looking for inventive ways to improve the Local Food movement; we’re listening, so leave us your feedback. If something is not working as expected, contact us before you leave a review and we are happy to help.
For news and updates on the app, follow @enjoy_locavore on Twitter

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 - Whirleo.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

A new children's book, Calyx of Teversall by Maia Appleby, is going green with Eco-Libris!

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:24:00 +0000

We are happy to update you on a new book that is going green with Eco-Libris. This time it is a great children's book - Calyx of Teversall by Mia Appleby.

The book is published by our partner, Brighter Books, a Canadian independent publishing house dedicated to bringing only the best books to life. Brighter Books is planting 300 trees with Eco-Libris for Calyx as part of its commitment to plant a tree for every book sold!

Brighter Books Publishing House was founded by Angela and Dean Jurgensen, a couple with a diverse background. Angela is a Brazilian artist, illustrator, writer and business owner, who grew up surrounded by fiction books, particularly the classics; Dean is a Canadian electronic engineer with a passion for learning new things, who spends most of his free time reading educational books. They have a positive outlook for the world, as long as everyone does their part to make the world a better place; Brighter Books Publishing House is their attempt to do their part.

Here are more details on Calyx of Teversall:

Written by Maia Appleby, Illustrations by Angela Souza
Category: Middle Readers
Imprint: Platypus
Age: 8 and up

After a few years of learning his uncle’s business at the curio shop -- and singlehandedly establishing a trading partnership with the gnomes -- the clever and resourceful Calyx can practically run the shop himself.

Things are going so well that he almost forgets why he’s living with his aunt and uncle: his mother is hiding him from a menacing, manipulative Borgh elf named Fenbeck, who could arrive in town any day to claim Calyx as his apprentice. With a classical pace, hints of Rumpelstiltskin and touches of gnome wisdom, this exciting, endearing tale will be treasured by parents and children alike.

Calyx is available on Amazon.com. For more details on the book, visit Brighter Books at http://www.brighterbooks.com/

Other books we green up with Brighter Books:

The Guardian by C.J. Gosling.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:58:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:17:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 22:08:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:45:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:05:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:14:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:36:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:46:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:00:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:40:00 +0000

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?

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:22:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 02:45:00 +0000

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!

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:09:00 +0000

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?

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:13:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:46:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:55:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:34:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:13:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Raz Godelnik) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 04:05:00 +0000

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!