15
May
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Google Play Books Updated To Allow Uploading Your Own Documents And Books, Plus Additional Tweaks

Posted by in News

Google's Play Books service launched last year as a competent reading app, and a necessary pillar for Google Play. But one feature readers have since been asking for is the ability to incorporate their own files into the library, and now Google is adding that option to the service.

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Play Books supports PDF and EPUB files, which can be uploaded through the online library on your desktop. The feature appears to still be rolling out, so don't worry if you get a 404 right now. For comparison, Amazon's Kindle service has long supported uploaded content, but it relies on awkward email attachments.

15
Feb
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[New App] Tapestry Is A Collection Of Short Stories That You Read By Tapping, But You Can't Go Back

Posted by in Applications, Apps/Games, News

There are plenty of ways to read books, blog posts, and essays on a mobile device. Although, nothing has quite the same feel as a new app called Tapestry. This app offers a cool reading experience for exclusive short stores written by professionals and random people around the internet. Just tap to advance, but there is no going back if you miss something.

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Tapestry is whimsical from the start when it makes the tapping mechanic clear by having you tap on specific locations around the screen, only to reveal that you can actually tap anywhere you want. The app lists a handful of quirky little tales that are updated regularly.

18
Jan
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[New App] Umano Is An App That Has Real People Read The News To You

Posted by in Applications, Apps/Games, News
Last Updated: January 20th, 2013

Sometimes using your eyes is just so darn tedious. It can be preferable at times like that to just get information directly through your ear-holes. Radio? Sure. Audiobooks? Alright. News? Surprisingly, yes. Umano is an app that lets you find news stories on the internet and hear them read to you by real people – not some robotic monstrosity that can't even pronounce names correctly.

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The selection in Umano is fairly broad, but not that deep. There's finance, politics, science, and  there's even some tech.  You just won't be able to hear stories from your favorite blog unless it's a very popular site.

13
Dec
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EE Continuing Its UK 4G Rollout, Bringing The Service To A Further 17 Towns And Cities By March 2013

Posted by in Everything Everywhere (EE), News

EE is continuing its fast-paced rollout of 4G in the UK, promising to bring the service to 17 new towns and cities across the region by March next year.

14 locations in the UK, including London, Manchester, and Glasgow, have been enjoying the fast speeds provided by the network since its rollout earlier this year, and they will soon be joined by the likes of Coventry, Leicester, and Reading as the network's expansion continues.

EE has set itself the ambitious target of 98% coverage across the UK by the end of 2014, so if you can't see your town or city on the list just yet, don't worry too much.

19
Jul
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DC Comics Partners With ComiXology, Unveils Their New App

Posted by in Applications, News

A large amount of that comics market has been claimed to the app ComiXology; it's usually been the gold standard for a lot of comic-dom's digital offerings. However, as with other things, it's almost impossible to enforce a standard.

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DC Comics has partnered with ComiXology in order to produce their own digital offerings, and distribute them to their audiences. This app uses a lot of the same technologies as ComiXology's, like the Guided View, which allows for easy touch-based scrolling. Readers will be able to buy and read individual issues of comics, as well as large collections of back issues at once.

18
May
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[Review] ReadItLater Strips Dirty Articles, Stores Them on Your Phone

Posted by in App Reviews, Applications, Reviews
Last Updated: August 2nd, 2011

It's not exactly news that mobile devices are quickly becoming one of the most popular ways to consume data. From Twitter feeds to RSS, it's becoming increasingly common to see people reading on their devices, whether it be a tablet, e-reader or phone.

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The Search for Simplicity

However, a problem I ran into was that not all web sites are optimized for reading on a mobile device. While some sites have the decency to have a mobile theme, others load in full view and have trouble wrapping text to a zoomed-in screen. Dealing with page formatting while reading long articles wasn't something I felt like doing, so I began looking for alternatives.