E Books

GET BUSY LIVING, or get busy dying. That line was uttered quite a bit in "The Shawshank Redemption," but it would have fit in just as well yesterday when Philadelphia Media Network, the company that owns the Daily News , Inquirer and Philly.com, announced that it would sell discounted tablet computers that feature digital versions of the papers. Some 5,000 of the Arnova 10 G2 tablets, which are powered by Google's Android operating system, are available beginning today for as little as $99. To get the tablets at that low price, buyers must sign up for a two-year, $10-a-month subscription for digital editions of the papers and the Inquirer 's newly developed Android multimedia app. Customers also have the option of purchasing a one-year, $13-a-month subscription to the digital editions, which would raise the price of the tablet to $129.

A RECENT OPINION piece called into question the Free Library's place in our digital world. A quick stop on freelibrary.org — our "online branch," which receives 8 million unique visits annually — immediately highlights just how relevant and digitally savvy the Free Library is. There, users will quickly and easily find access to: More than 30,000 e-books for checkout. Streaming and downloadable popular music. Hundreds of podcasts from our renowned Author Events series, which are downloaded at a rate of 26,000 per month.

Going back to school means filling a backpack or - more and more often - a digital device with textbooks. Here are some ways to get that chore done with smartphone applications. Amazon Student , by Amazon Mobile L.L.C. for Android and Apple, is one of many free apps from the online-retail powerhouse. This one is tooled for school, with an image of a satchel of books gracing the home screen. Amazon lets you scan a bar code to buy or sell textbooks - except, of all things, Kindle e-books from Amazon.

Going back to school means filling a backpack or - more and more often - a digital device with textbooks. Here are some ways to get that chore done with smartphone applications. Amazon Student , by Amazon Mobile L.L.C. for Android and Apple, is one of many free apps from the online retail powerhouse. This one is tooled for school, with an image of a satchel of books gracing the home screen. Amazon lets you scan a bar code to buy or sell textbooks - except, of all things, Kindle e-books from Amazon.

Gwynedd-Mercy College will add a master's degree in special education to its graduate offerings in the fall. Students who enroll in the program must have a bachelor's degree, but not necessarily a degree in education. The graduate program will offer certification in special education. The students who complete the program will earn a master of science degree rather than a master of education degree. The M.S. degree places more emphasis on research, said Deborah Schadler, assistant professor and coordinator of special education.

The tradition-laden book publishing industry logged on to the future yesterday when three publishing giants and Microsoft Corp. announced ventures aimed at encouraging people to read books on computers. Time Warner Inc. announced that it would create an imprint, iPublish.com, early next year to distribute books via the Internet. The move was designed to take "traditional Gutenberg" book publishing "into the 21st century," Laurence J. Kirshbaum, chairman and CEO of Time Warner Trade Publishing, said in a telephone interview.

Perhaps Jason Kaye should take a break from the "activism" and do some serious fact-checking before dispatching ill-informed missives. As a regular patron of the Free Library system, all I could do was continually shake my head at his May 16th article. If he's looking for a combination Kinkos/Staples/Best Buy/Starbucks, then perhaps the Free Library, or any library system, isn't for him, because that's not what a library is about. A library system should attempt to fulfill the needs of as many of its patrons as possible (keeping in mind that you cannot please everyone)

Yes, it makes your suitcase heavier. Yes, it takes up space. But all the travel e-books and mobile app guides in the world put together are still less handy than a sturdy little guidebook you can hold in your hand. Among the brands — Frommer's, Fodor's, Lonely Planet, Moon, DK, Rick Steves, and more — there are likely enough volumes to pave China. Many of them publish in e-book form, too, spinning travel advice through the digital realm. I am partial to print, but times are not good for the print travel guidebook.

By Siobhan A. Reardon Winter brings out the hibernator in all of us, but we shouldn't put off our self-improvement goals just because we're hunkered down inside. I want to challenge you as winter gives way to spring to exercise your brain, to take that first step in learning a new language, tracking your ancestry, getting hooked on a whole new genre of music, or diving into that novel that everyone keeps recommending. The best part? You can do all this at freelibrary.org without leaving the couch - and for free.

Don't forget Leslie Richards Larry Platt's column on the new amity among the Montgomery County commissioners lauds Chairman Josh Shapiro and minority commissioner Bruce Castor ("Functionality restored on Montco board," Sunday). However, Platt completely overlooks Leslie Richards, vice chairman of the commissioners, who has brought a strong background in civil engineering to the board, which is especially important with all the infrastructure problems the county faces. Also ignored was Richards' adept leadership of the Whitemarsh Township commissioners.