Apps

Kindle and Kobo aren’t the only names in the UK eBook market. Earlier this week the London based bookseller Foyles released a pair of new reading apps for iOS and Android.

The apps were developed by txtr, and they’re integrated with Foyles eBookstore, where readers can choose from over 200,000 eBooks, including leading titles from major publishers. The Android app has an eBookstore built-in, and the iOS app allows readers to download previously purchased titles. Both apps also allow readers to side load Epub eBooks that hve been downloaded from elsewhere.

The apps are available in iTunes and the Android Market. There’s no word on whether Foyles plans to release an eReader, though.

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Foyles

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Automattic rolled out a new update yesterday for their Android app yesterday, and it looks like the app will finally be useful for mobile blogging.

In addition to now being listed in the Nook App Store and the Amazon Appstore, the updated app also got a number of bug fixes as well as a new viewing option. Bloggers can now use the app to view the regular blog Dashboard. This is intended to be seen on  desktop browser, not  mobile device, but it is still useful even in cramped conditions.

The standard Dashboard offers info that the app does not. For example, the app won’t tell you which posts just got which comment. This of course makes it hard to continue a conversation in the comments of  blog post, so I’m glad that I can now access the Dashboard.

The app is available in the Amazon Appstore and Nook Store.

WordPress

The Bluefire Reader app for Android is available in the Amazon App Store for Android, but since Amazon has blocked eReader apps that compete with Kindle,  it’s not available in the Kindle Fire App Store.

But don’t worry, Bluefire has created a work around. The company has outlined instructions on how to install the Blue Reader for Android on the Kindle Fire in a blog post on its site. It only takes a few steps. Here is more from the post:

• Tap “Settings” on your Kindle Fire (it’s the icon that looks like a gear)
• Tap “More”
• Scroll down until you see “Device”
• In the Device tab, set “Allow installation of Applications” to ON, and tap OK when you see the Warning prompt
• Tap here to download the Bluefire Reader APK (the Android app)

Remember that the app won’t update automatically with this workaround, so you’ll have to do that by manually reinstalling the app.

Digital children’s publisher TouchyBooks is relaunching its bookstore app. The PlayTales Book store app is available in iTunes and through the Android Marketplace. The first version of the app has already been downloaded more than a million times.

The update for the app includes interactive games and adds Chinese and Japanese eBooks to the existing titles in English, French, Spanish, German and Italian. New interactive titles will include versions of The Little Mermaid, The Beauty and the Beast and The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids.

And on February 7th, UNICEF will be launching a book via PlayTales called Give A Day. The eBook will feature English and Spanish narrations by Lakers basketball star Pau Gasol. Proceeds of the book will be donated to UNICEF.

Madbrook Publishing has a new kids book app out that helps kids learn how to draw zoo animals.

Butt Art is a free app that teaches drawing with a step-by-step approach beginning with the butt of the animal.

Here is more from the app’s description: “We’re parents so we know kids can learn and be creative while also being silly. That’s why we created Everything Butt Art. Our iPad app and printed books teach step-by-step drawing with a twist – drawings start with a butt shape (a rounded lowercase w).”

Madbrook Publishing founder talked to GigaOm about the app: “If your kids are drawing on a device and the parents are not engaged, that’s not a sustainable approach. There’s no substitution for an engaged parent. We’re trying to bring in parents in a way that’s low friction.”

Kids can save their drawings as galleries and then share them across their social networks be it Facebook or Twitter.

The Google eBookstore lets readers buy eBooks from their favorite independent book store and read them on various different devices.

If you’ve got an iPhone or an iPad, all you have to do is download the Google Books app to be on your way to reading.

PC Advisor has more: “You’ll be presented your My Google eBook account, and if you have previously downloaded any eBooks, they will be displayed with the most-recently read appearing first. To begin reading simply tap the book’s icon and you’ll be presented either with the first chapter, or the last place if you left off reading the book, if you’ve previously opened it on another device. You scan scroll backwards and forward through the pages simply by swiping left or right on your device’s screen.”

Penguin has launched a new app to help inspire creativity called Artist’s Way Toolkit.

The free app, which is based on Julia Cameron‘s bestselling novel The Artist’s Way, the app gives readers exercises and meditations to help artists and writers get inspired. The app lets users take notes, photos and listen to soundbites. There is also a social sharing feature.

Penguin has been making their mark in the app space over the last year by creating interactive eBook apps for classic books. They are the publisher behind Jack Kerouac‘s On the Road app and Wreck This App, the digital version of Keri Smith’s bestselling Wreck This Journal. The company also released an app edition of  Ayn Rand‘s Atlas Shrugged.

In an interview with The Toronto Review of Books, app designer Chris Stevens talks about how he and his friend took a public domain book, Alice in Wonderland, and built an interactive book app, Alice for the iPad, that became an Oprah favorite. The $8.99 app has already been installed on over 500,000 iPads. His secret? “Great content.”

After being fired from a writing job at The Times newspaper in London, Stevens teamed up with his also recently unemployed friend, and worked tirelessly for three months to create the app focusing on the user experience.

Despite trying to explain his approach to publishers, Stevens thinks they just don’t get it. He said in the interview: “I’m desperate for the book industry to produce some work that blows me away, but for now there’s a few Alice clones and not much else. I can see exactly why this is happening. The major publishers have completely abdicated responsibility for producing the digital versions of their catalogues: it’s all handed over to amateurs. You see it throughout the industry. From the typographical horror of most eBooks, through to the lacklustre iPad titles being produced.”

Dr. Seuss’ classic children’s book If I Ran The Zoo, is now available in app form from digital publishing company Oceanhouse Media.

The app incorporates the original story and drawings from the children’s book into a new digital experience. New elements include picture word association, an audio narration track and custom background noise for each scene.

Oceanhouse Media is also responsible for other Dr. Seuss apps such as Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat. The company has adapted the Berenstain Bears and Mercer Meyer’s books into apps, both of which have also made our best apps lists.

The app is available for Android and iOS and is currently on sale for $2.99.

Back in May of this year 3M announced the Cloud Library, their new digital library platform. The 3M Cloud Library was conceived as a direct competitor to OverDrive, one of the biggest digital library distributor, and it was going to offer many of the same services, including reading apps and one thing OverDrive doesn’t offer: an eReader.

3M is still planning to release an integrated eReader, but it’s not ready yet. Today I learned that their apps are now available. Like OverDrive, 3M has released apps for Android and iOS.  You can download the apps and then browse a participating library’s eBook selection (library card required).

The apps were developed by txtr, the ebook reader and app developer that 3M bought earlier this year. I’d like to tell you what they are like, but right now the apps will only work for library patrons in the Mobile (Alabama) Public Library System. Starting some time this week, patrons of the Kansas Public Library Consortium will also be able to use it as the  new system comes on line.

Android Market

iTunes