Freebies

In honor of Memorial Day, Soldier/Geek: An Army Science Advisor’s Journal of the War in Afghanistan by Glenn Dean is today’s Free eBook of the Day.

Here is more about the book from Smashwords: “In 2009, an Army Major deployed a small team of specialists to Afghanistan to identify new technologies needed to fight the war. Braving rockets and IEDs, fighting the Army bureaucracy more than the enemy, this small team worked to improve everything from robots to mine-resistant trucks, boots, and parachutes. This is their story, from the team leader’s journal.”

Smashwords has the  download available For Soldier / Geek: An Army Science Advisor’s Journal of the War in Afghanistan, follow the link and enter coupon code LF95M at checkout to get the free download.

For more free eBooks, check out our Free eBook of the Day archive.

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

Amazon gives away a fee app every day, and today’s app shows you why that’s not always as good of a deal as you might think.

It’s an ebook app built around the data published each year by the CIA. Don’t worry, there’s nothing sinister here; the World Fact Book is an annual publication of the CIA which has been released every year since the 1960s.

The World Fact Book contains basic current statistics on all countries in the world, including who is in charge, major political parties, population statistics, and more. The content for the Fact Book is freely available on the web, and that makes it easy for developers to turn it into ebooks, apps, and so on. And lots have. The app that’s on sale today normally sells for $3, but you can also find any number of apps which offer the same information but cost nothing.

My point here is that there’s one thing you need to keep in mind when shopping for apps: for every paid app, there is likely a couple free alternatives that are better. That’s certainly true here. Today’s deal is no deal at all.

Lonely Planet Travel Guides, Phrasebooks, and maps is today’s free eBook App of the Day.

The app includes language tools, lite versions of city guides and maps. For a limited time it includes a free guide to Mexico City iTunes has more: “Start your journey by downloading the free Lonely Planet Travel Guides app. You can buy and store your Lonely Planet country guides, city guides, audio phrasebooks and audio walking tours. You can also check out some of the free ‘lite’ guides.”

iTunes has the free download.

For more free eBooks, check out our Free eBook of the Day archive.

I have a fun free eBook app for you today.

The Wonderful Adventures of Nils is a classic Swedish children’s story which was originally published in 1907 as Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige. The book stars Nils, a naughty boy who redeems himself after being turned into a tomte, or gnome, and having adventures across Sweden. Read more

Green Spring Farm by Nan Netherton and Ross DeWitt Netherton.

The book is about farming in colonial America. Here is an excerpt from the book:

With the effort to establish scientific farming came experiments in crop rotation, with use of clovers and grasses interspersed between other crops, increased use of manure and artificial fertilizers, better plows and methods of soil preparation, and more attention to control of erosion. Interest in improving farm animals during this period led to introduction of merino sheep and new breeds of mules.

Project Gutenberg has the free download.

For more free downloads, check out our Free eBook of the Day archive.

Today’s Free eBook of the Day is A Planet of Viruses by Carl Zimmer.

Here is more about the book from The University of Chicago’s website: “Carl Zimmer wrote these essays for the World of Viruses project as part of a Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). World of Viruses was created to help people understand more about viruses and virology research through radio documentaries, graphic stories, teacher professional development, mobile phone and iPad applications, and other materials.”

The University of Chicago has the free download available for the month of May.

For more free eBooks, check out our Free eBook of the Day archive.

The classic horror adventure game is free today for iOS and OSX. For those who haven’t played it, this is a port of a game which was originally released in 1993. It’s regarded as one of the early great successes of the CD based interactive movie games and it’s remembered for the lengthy, pre-rendered videos which drove the story.

The iOS version runs on both the iPad an iPhone and weighs in at a hefty 640MB. That makes this game not only a testimony to the revival of old games but to the value of physical media as well. It would take me less time to drive to a store to buy it than it would to download the app from iTunes.
iOS, OSX

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Baen Books is running a special promotion that lets beta testers for online gamers win free eBooks.  Internet users who sign up to play Plant Baen, the publisher’s social game, will receive a free eBook. Players can earn additional eBooks if they do well in the game.

Here is more about the game from Planet Baen’s Facebook page: “The object of the game is to found a settlement on a lawless planet on the galactic frontier. The OTHER object of the game is to earn free Baen Ebooks by playing. We, of course, hope a player will stop playing, read and enjoy the book, buy all the other books in a series, then come back to the game and play some more. And for developing writers out there, we have a short story anthology that will be linked to the game, Stories from the Bars of Planet Baen.” Read more

Encyclopaedia Britannica is having a special today on one of their iPad apps, and this is definitely one worth getting.

As you can probably guess from the name, Britannica Kids: Rainforests teaches kids about the zoology, botany, and the people found in a rain forest. It includes extensive information including entries on 21 animals and explanations of the parts of a rain forest. This exclusive Encyclopaedia Britannica curriculum-based content was written specifically for ages 8-12. And if that’s not enough, the app also has photos, maps, videos, and numerous puzzles.

iTunes

To celebrate Friday the 13th, why not read some paranormal horror? Today’s Free eBook of the Day is just that, The Proposal by Elysabeth Eldering.

Here is more about the book from its description:

April 1st, a day filled with practical jokes and Stella’s 25th birthday. It looks to be a day filled with wonderful surprises and not of the killjoy jokes that Stella is the victim of because her boyfriend, Henry, the most straight-laced man she has ever met, who also has been the victim of many practical jokes from her family, takes her out to dinner at a fancy restaurant. Stella hopes this will be the night he proposes. Her mother’s hand in playing practical jokes on Stella shows up throughout the evening. Stella and Henry devise a joke of their own to play on her mother. After all, turn around is fair play. Find out if Stella accepts Henry’s proposal in The Proposal (An April Fools Day story).

Amazon has the free download.

For more free eBooks, check out our Free eBook of the Day archive.