Google eBooks has been Integrated Into Google Play from @Goodereader

Google today has overhauled their Google Android Market and metamorphosed all of its content into Google Play. The move was to make its apps, games, videos and books all fly under one singular flagship banner. Google eBooks now redirects all users to Google Play and the company says it does not change the experience, or does it?
Google Play was developed mainly because people say the App Store on their devices and thought to themselves, it just has apps. Google has slowly integrated videos, music and other content into the store and it was time for it to be changed up after its three year milestone.
Google eBooks is basically redirecting all of their old links to the new ones on Google Play. The Google eBooks retailer API will not be changing as a result of the Play launch. Books sold through Google retailer partners will still be called Google eBooks. Users who purchase Google eBooks through retailer partners will now read those books on Google Play. Google will provide verbiage for retailer partners to help inform users of this change. What if you are a retailer that sells Google Books on your website? There is no immediate change to you as a Retailer partner of Google Books. You will continue to sell Google eBooks via your website and your customers will receive and read their books the same as they have been. The only change is that your customers will be redirected to their Google Play books library to access their purchased books.

http://wtr.mn/xxLPuX

"Day of Books" @drupa May 8 | The role of books within the media mix - new business models and busines strategies

http://wtr.mn/wU4TGm

Do you feel guilty about shopping less in physical stores? The Amazon Paradox from @TheAtlantic

 Despite consumer uncertainty about buying online, and publisher uncertainty in partnering with Amazon, e-books sales are dominating the market

An anomaly of the extraordinary spread of e-books in recent years is the number of people who say they feel guilty about shopping less in brick and mortar stores. While this feeling has been growing since the advent of online book buying, it has greatly accelerated with the recent surge in e-book usage. The clout of Amazon and the popularity of its Kindle device in particular have resulted in a dramatic shift in overall buying habits, yet many consumers actually seem apologetic about taking advantage of this new convenience.

http://wtr.mn/yVe4Cm

Remote Instagram Printer Instaprint Going from Prototype to Product from @petapixel

One year ago we featured a novel new device called Instaprint, which is a location based photo booth that lets people create instant Instagram prints by simply tagging their photos with a specific tag. It constantly scans Instagram for its tag, and when a photo is found, it’s immediately printed out as a Zink print. Now Breakfast, the company behind the prototype, is trying to turn it into an actual product. They’re trying to raise half a million bucks through Kickstarter, and $400 will allow you to preorder your own.

http://wtr.mn/w3bhUT 

Manage. Edit. Create.Lightroom 4 withBlurb built in.

Since Photoshop Album 2.0.1 there has been no integrated way to produce photo books in the Photoshop family of products.  That's all changed now with the total integration of Blurb books into the newly released Lightroom 4.  Months in the making, LR4 allows for in-application creation, pricing, and ordering of the Blurb book line seamlessly.

We're really excited about this (obviously!) and we're pleased to offer 20% off your first LR4 book.  Jump over to our site to learn more at http://www.blurb.com/lightroom.  And happy bookmaking.

Join me at Dscoop 7--just over two weeks away!

My regular readers know I'm a big fan of Dscoop, a cooperative of HP Graphic Arts Users.  Sometimes referred to as the Indigo Users Group, it's made up primarily of printers with HP Indigo, HP Scitex, and HP Ink Jet output devices.

I truly feel that the Dscoop Annual Conference is one of the best uses of time and money that those in the digital printing marketplace can make.  This year's event, Dscoop 7 in Washington DC, will be no exception.  Once again the Dscoop Board and supporting staff have put together a stellar event, with sessions sure to benefit anyone that puts ink on paper for profit.

I'll be participating in two panels.  I'm moderating a session on how digital printers can profit from the rise in eBooks and self publishing.  "eBooks to pBooks: the opportunity for printing in the new author marketplace" will include panelists from Jouve, Issuu, Lulu, and John Wiley & Sons and will take the audience through the new ways that eBooks are being created and how to get them to print.  You can get a bit more information on the session here.

I'll also be joining Marci Kinter from The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership and Stephen Goddard from HP during the deep dive session "Sustainable Green Printing Partnership Workshop -- Your Roadmap to Certification". Blurb believes strongly in furthering the promise of digital printing to reduce waste and remainders, but the SGP is making it easier for individual printers to maintain the highest and best standards for themselves and, in turn, to their clients.  I'm very much looking forward to hearing how forward-thinking companies are viewing sustainability not as a burden but an opportunity.

The Dscoop Annual Conference always sells out so if you are still on the fence get off of it and register! I'm sure you'll find that, like the many folks that come back year after year, it is money and time well spent.

Bookmaking with Blurb: Seattle InDesign & Photoshop (LR) Users Unite!

Blurb will be sponsoring the first ever mash-up between the Seattle Adobe InDesign User Group and the Seattle Photoshop User Group next week Tuesday, March 13th, at the Adobe Conference Center, 801 N 34th St, Seattle, WA.

Published author and professional photographer Jay Graham will walk you through making a Blurb book with the new Book Module in Lightroom 4 as well as with InDesign. Jay will cover how photographers (and other creatives) can use their books to promote, share, and sell their work to clients and prospects. Jay will bring along his Blurb books to share as examples.  

Attendees are also encouraged to "show and tell" there creations and successes in created unique books. A special prize will go to the audience's favorite book of the evening.

Please register at the InDesign User site or the Photoshop User site right away.  Seats are filling fast!