Take Advantage of Technology
Build Your English Reading Skills and your Digital Library
by Mike Ugilini
Innovative advances in technology always present new opportunities for engaging in learning activities. When it comes to building your English reading skills you no longer have to limit yourself to print format presentations of your favourite works. Today, you have the luxury of utilizing new tools for learning English and building a digital library.
What does new technology have to offer these days when it comes to books? Primarily, the new technology offers mobility and efficient storage of those tomes you find enjoyable and interesting. Of course, it?s not just books that are available digitally. There are magazines, newspapers, blogs, special reports, articles, and more that you can access from diverse sources.
What does new technology have to offer these days when it comes to books? Primarily, the new technology offers mobility and efficient storage of those tomes you find enjoyable and interesting. Of course, it?s not just books that are available digitally. There are magazines, newspapers, blogs, special reports, articles, and more that you can access from diverse sources.
With that in mind, we?re going to give a brief overview of a few of the things available to you for accessing, saving, and storing the content you wish to savour and make part of your personal library. The following are a sample of what?s creating a buzz on the market today:
Amazon Kindle Reader
The Amazon Kindle Reader is a wireless handheld reading device. Amazon has their original version of this device and their new Kindle II, which has upgraded features. With this reader, you can travel with your library readily at hand. Advanced technology makes this slim and lightweight device capable of holding more than 1,500 titles. That means less likelihood of your bookshelves becoming overloaded with various sizes of books.
You can shop for titles from the Amazon Kindle store wirelessly. This means shopping from anywhere with no computer or special cables or attachments required. You have the ability to upload that novel from your favourite author in about a minute, and at a lower cost than a hard copy version. The Kindle store has approximately 230,000 titles available for download to this roughly large paperback size reader.
The Kindle reader reads like real paper, without the look of a computer screen and without the glare. It has various shades of gray for clear text and sharp images. The device also has a voice-read feature. In other words, if you?re not in the mood to read, you can let the device read to you. You can learn English by reading the words yourself or by listening to the device relate a story verbally. This can help you build your English listening skills. You will gain an understanding of English pronunciation with this feature. The Kindle II is just over a third of an inch thick and weighs only 10.2 ounces.
Sony’s Reader Digital Book
The Reader Digital Book also means not having to store hordes of books on bookshelves. The internal memory holds approximately 350 average size digital books. You can also store much more with their optional removable Memory Stick Duo? media or SD memory cards.
With the Reader Digital Book you can search, browse, find, and buy new releases, classics, and popular digital book titles from The eBook Store from Sony. You can also do all of this from other participating Websites. In addition, you can explore other sites that have DRM Free eBooks in file formats supported by this Reader^* * from Sony. You can also access more than 500,000 free public domain titles from Google.
Reader Digital Book has a 6-inch display, which uses E Ink? technology. Like the Kindle, the display of text is paper-like. This makes it easy to read outside at the beach, the park or wherever. Of course, it too is compact and mobile, great for use on a train, bus, subway, or in-flight. The screen allows for high contrast and high resolution as well.
In addition, the Reader has touch screen technology that allows you to interact with the Reader. A slide of a finger lets you turn pages easily. You can also activate the bookmark. The Sony Reader Digital book features a virtual keyboard that you can use for rapid annotation or search.
Shortcovers.com
At Shortcovers you can access tons of reading material and download it to your personal computer, or your Blackberry or other handheld mobile phone. That means you do not have to own an Amazon Kindle, or the Sony Reader Digital Book. The Shortcovers website has a Reading list and library that you can access at any time if you?re online with a PC or going mobile.
If you choose not to buy an e-reading device as mentioned above you can take advantage of Shortcovers? applications for iPhone, iPod Touch, and Blackberry? Smartphones, and Google Android?-Enabled Phones and read your stories on your cell phone. They also design their applications so that the downloads for reading are easy on the eyes.
At Shortcovers you can search and browse a plethora of bestselling books, magazine articles, chapters, blogs, stories, digital shorts, and more. You can also build your English language skills by writing your own stories and then uploading them to the Shortcovers site. There, you can find an audience for your work and have readers vote on how well they like your stories. In this way, you can get feedback from readers via comments and ratings, which can help you improve your writing skills.
Fictionwise.com
Fictionwise is an independent eBook seller. They offer award-winning eBooks for all PDAs and PCs. They also offer Palm, PocketPC, Hiebook, eBookMan, Adobe, MS Reader, and WinCE eBooks. In addition, Fictionwise discounts all new eBooks each week.* *Fictionwise is free to join and a Fictionwise member has entitlement to free eBooks, discounts and specials, newsletters, prize eligibility as well as other benefits.
Mobileread.com (Forums)
MobileRead Forums is an online community dedicated to the exchange of ideas and information. This relates to all aspects of the Mobile Internet boom. This site offers information related to the mobile devices that you will use to read content. They also offer eBook downloads for these devices. It?s a resource for talking about and accessing books of all sorts to help you build your English language skills and it?s quick and easy to register with the site.
Take advantage of technology to build your English reading skills and your digital library. You?ll find it?s easy and convenient to take that novel, short story collection, poetry, and/or non-fiction book along with you on a device of your choosing. While cracking open a good hardcover or paperback is still an attractive option, so are the new options for accessing those stories and other literary works you love to read.