By reusing and repurposing existing writing into viral fragments on Twitter, the account functioned like today’s chatbots. The Guardian spoke to Jacob Bakkila, the human behind the accountMore than a decade before an AI-powered chatbot could do your homework, help you make dinner or pass the bar exam, there was @Horse_ebooks. The primitive predecessor to today’s chatbot renaissance began as a Twitter account in 2010, tweeting automated excerpts from ebooks that, decontextualized, took on unexpected and strangely poetic meanings.Purportedly a spambot, the account surfaced quotes from ebooks that went viral for their absurdist fragments – phrases like “Hello saxophone,” “COULD THIS BE THE”, and “Today we are lucky to be talking”. It amassed more than 200,000 followers at its peak and now, despite being inactive for a decade, the account still holds 131,000 followers. Its most memorable quip – “everything happens so much” – still resonates today. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-01-03 15:00:04 UTC ]
Call for inquiry into academic publishers as locked-down students unable to access study material onlineCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageLibrarians at UK universities say students’ reading lists for this term are being torn up because of publishers’ “eye-watering”... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-01-29 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Distributor Bookwire and digital publisher Saga Egmont partner to make thousands of Spanish-language ebooks and audiobooks available. The post Germany’s Bookwire and Denmark’s Saga Egmont: Spanish-Language Content appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-01-28 18:48:43 UTC ]
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Class action lawsuit filed in US claims the houses have colluded with the online giant to keep prices artificially highAmazon.com and the “Big Five” publishers – Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster – have been accused of colluding to fix ebook... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-01-15 13:04:33 UTC ]
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IN THE 21ST CENTURY, digital literary culture originating from the African continent has exploded. I still remember the early years, when Kindles first came into our lives and everyone was weighing in on whether ebooks were going to mean the death of literature. Back then, everything was fresh... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-01-04 18:00:58 UTC ]
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From ebooks to digital prints to subscriptions, here’s a list of last-minute literary gift ideas for readers of all ages. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-12-21 11:39:00 UTC ]
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Reading books is for nerds, right? Well, that depends on your definition of "nerd," I suppose. While I must confess to not being a regular reader, I greatly admire those that are. Reading is surely a better way to spend time than mindlessly watching sports on TV -- something I am quite guilty of... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2020-12-09 18:41:58 UTC ]
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Here’s a heartening update to a terrible story: In November, Allegheny County Jail came under fire for instituting a draconian policy banning its incarcerated population from receiving physical books in the mail, only giving them access to 263 pre-approved eBooks on prison-owned tablets. Now,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-03 17:31:58 UTC ]
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Dealing with Security Holes in Chips — system security starts at the hardware layer. Ubooquity — free home server for your comics and ebooks library. “Like plex for books.” Noisepage — a relational database management system developed by the Carnegie Mellon Database Group. The research goal of... Continue reading at O'Reilly Radar
[ O'Reilly Radar | 2020-11-06 11:59:34 UTC ]
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Checkouts of digital books from a popular service are up 52 percent since March. Publishers say their easy availability hurts sales. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2020-10-01 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Unit sales of romance ebooks 'increased 17 percentage points from January through May 2020' in the US market, NPD Books reports. The post Trade-Published Romance Sees a Coronavirus Boost in the States appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-08-20 14:14:36 UTC ]
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Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough sold 950,000 copiesLegal attempts to prevent book’s publication failedThe bombshell family tell-all book by Mary Trump, the US president’s niece, sold almost a million copies by the end of its first day on sale and remains firmly at the top of Amazon’s... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-07-16 21:20:12 UTC ]
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Give the little ones some tools to better understand this unprecedented event with these free children's books about coronavirus. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-06-24 10:37:25 UTC ]
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Give the little ones some tools to better understand this unprecedented event with these free children's books about coronavirus. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-06-24 10:37:25 UTC ]
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Here are some free ebooks about police violence to read right now, in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests across the world. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-06-04 18:15:44 UTC ]
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Shelter in place orders throughout the country haven’t just brought the economy to a grinding halt, but frozen civic infrastructure as well. Sure, water still flows from our taps, police and firefighters are still on the job, but your local library l... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2020-05-11 15:00:59 UTC ]
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Chancellor drops 20% levy on online news subscriptions and books as industry strugglesAmazon has confirmed it will cut the price of its Kindle ebooks from Friday, after the government announced it would bring forward plans to stop charging VAT on online publications because of the pandemic.The... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-04-30 18:11:42 UTC ]
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With the coronavirus pandemic keeping us indoors, early numbers suggest a surge in book sales. Audio and eBooks in particular have seen a sudden rise. It has also been a tough time for bookstores. Independent bookstores have had to move online, many offering free shipping to compete with Amazon... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-28 08:48:50 UTC ]
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For the duration of the coronavirus crisis, Granta Books is running special offers on weekly, themed selections of our ebooks. The post 99p Ebooks for Lockdown Reading appeared first on Granta. Continue reading at Granta
[ Granta | 2020-04-20 00:31:17 UTC ]
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Your local library might have closed its physical doors, but its digital holdings are still open to the public—and at all hours.Free loans on ebooks, movies, audiobooks, and magazines represent just one aspect of your library’s offerings for enrichment. Your library might also let you read... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2020-04-08 10:00:00 UTC ]
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The Spanish and Latin American markets are expected to have 14,000 Spanish-language audiobooks available this year, and, with ebooks, continued to see growth in 2019. The post Bookwire Cites Growth in Spanish-Language Audiobooks, Ebooks appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-04-06 13:00:46 UTC ]
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