Find eBook Readers Blog   Reading in the Digital Age

This week has seen the arrival of several new Kindle games:

Slingo is a sort of combination of Bingo and slots. The object is to accumulate the highest number of points by spinning the reel and matching the numbers to those on the game card.  $3.99.

Jumble, 20 Puzzles is a word scramble game in which you unscramble words to reveal letters that can then be used to solve a bonus phrase.  $0.99.  There is also a version with 50 puzzles for $2.49.

Blackjack for Kindle includes most of the aspects of the card game including splits, double down, surrender and insurance.  There is also an advice feature which can be turned on or off.  Free.

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While we’re on the subject of games rather than reading,  NaturalMotion Games has released an iPad version of the popular game Jenga.  The game takes advantage of the iPad’s multitouch controls and features real tower physics. 

Jenga utilizes stunning physics and all the fun and accessibility of the original game with three modes, including the original Classic mode and the new Jenga Arcade mode, in which players score points by matching colors, and earn coins to spend on special boosts. To facilitate the social play of the original game, the four-player Pass’n’Play mode lets players hand their device and tower to their neighbor and back—first to topple loses! For extra motivation, players can compare their current tower height with the best efforts of friends from around the world.

Jenga is available for the iPad,  iPhone and iPod touch at iTunes.

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If, like me, you were less than impressed with the promised wireless printing directly from the iPad feature as delivered in iOS 4.2 (requiring you to buy a new AirPrint-enabled printer from HP), then this new announcement from Epson may cheer you up a bit:

Epson America, Inc., a leading provider of superior performing desktop printing solutions, and Thinxtream™ Technologies today announced that the PrintJinni™ for Epson® mobile printing App will be available for free and offers native support for the Apple® iPad™, making it easier for Apple mobile device users to print documents on the go.

PrintJinni for Epson allows Apple iPhone®, iPod Touch® and iPad users (iOS 3 and 4) to easily print Microsoft® Office, PDF, and JPEG attachments from Apple MobileMe(SM), Gmail™, Microsoft Exchange, and AOL®  e-mail accounts to any Epson wireless all-in-one, including WorkForce®, Artisan® and Epson Stylus® NX models(1).

"Whether you’re printing a document at home or a presentation for an important meeting, PrintJinni for Epson allows you to preview and print to any Epson wireless all-in-one near your Apple device," said Gregg Brunnick, group product manager, Consumer Ink Jets, Epson America, Inc. "Epson is committed to delivering superior printing performance to mobile device users, that’s why we are also happy to offer expanded iPad printing capabilities and make the App free to our customers."

Unlike other mobile printing solutions, PrintJinni for Epson allows users to easily download, preview and wirelessly print e-mail attachments that maintain their original formatting – the print preview matches the print. Printing is easy and truly direct without the need to install printer drivers or additional software on a Mac or PC.

PrintJinni for Epson will be available from Thinxtream Technologies free in the U.S. and Canada on the Apple App Store by the end of December, and includes a one-year subscription to PrintJinni Cloud Services. The App will continue to be priced at $6.99 until the Apple App Store processes the price change. More information about Epson’s mobile printing solutions is available on Epson’s website.

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Also on the iPad, Smarty Ears publishes over 15 apps designed for speech therapists, teachers and parents to help improve communications skills of children and adults with communications delays and disabilities. 

The developer’s newest app, Articulate it!, is aimed at children and allows up to four students to have individualized goals including one or more phonemes, one or more types of speech errors or one or more modes of articulation.  Articulate it! also saves all therapy sessions so that progress can be tracked and allows data to be emailed.

The new app includes over a thousand images covering all of the sounds in the English language.  Sounds can be grouped by manner of articulation or phonological processes.

Smarty Ears apps are available at iTunes.

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Scientific, technical and medical book publisher Elsevier announced today that it has enabled text-to-speech in all of its ebooks published in ePub format.  This will facilitate access by readers who would otherwise face a range of access challenges through blindness, dyslexia, or motor difficulties.

With 10-15% of the global population struggling with some form of print disability, the accessibility of publications is essential to open up access for a broad array of people. Text-to-speech enables access by people with disabilities who might otherwise struggle to see, read, or interact with ebooks. Elsevier is committed to providing universal access to quality content in sustainable ways, and works to identify and close access gaps. For those who struggle to see or read text, ebooks that read aloud can provide a powerful form of access. This will make it easier for bright and talented people who happen to have print disabilities to become scientists in the future.

While the press release applies to ebooks in the ePub format, the Elsevier titles I checked in the Kindle Storealso have TTS enabled.

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• Apple brings etextbooks to iBooks on the iPad
• PressReader for iPad gets major update
• Encyclopaedia Britannica iPad app now available
• eBook Search for iPad/iPhone