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Ranging from the technical to the quirky to the essential, these holiday electives make great presents for animation pros and fans.

The post Cartoon Brew’s Last-Minute Animation Gift Guide appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

What's the right drawing tablet for you?

By Bruce Lidl The digital comics landscape has settled down significantly in recent months. Since Amazon’s acquisition of ComiXology in April 2014, it has become essentially the de facto standard for digital comics and now distributes just about every publisher around. Unless a real industry-wide Netflix-type subscription model ever takes off, it is hard to see […]

The tablet wars are heating up, and the winners are artists and animators.

The tablet wars are heating up, and the winners are artists and animators.

Will animation artists incorporate the new Apple Pencil stylus into their production workflows?

Title: Apple News
Cost: Free with iOS update
Platform: iOS 9

Think RSS is dead? Maybe it's really just hiding. Like Flipboard, the Apple News app delivered as part of the iOS 9 update earlier this month focuses on the very thing missing from earlier feedreaders: the aesthetic.

As part of the roll-out, Apple is offering development tools in the form of Apple News Format to inspire digital journalists to embed videos, animations, and photo galleries specifically for this application. And the channels of well-designed sites are especially attractive within this interface.

As with RSS readers, when you first launch Apple News, you can select from among legacy and online media outlets to add to your feed. You can follow particular sites (they become your "favorites") or browse by subject ("explore"), and search for breaking stories by keyword. The "channels" appear to be vetted through the application rather than simply allowing someone to pull in any site with a feed (like this blog).

Apple News is unapologetic about helping you construct a filter bubble, asserting that the more you read, the better the news will get at understanding your interests, since they will personalize the stories delivered to your screen based on your behavior. You can speed up the process  by assigning heart icons, a mechanism that prompts Apple to recommend stories its considers similar. Conceptually related stories with applicable keywords are found at the bottom of many articles.

The other mechanisms built into News are familiar from other iOS apps. You can bookmark stories for later offline reading,share stories via connected social media channels, and, if you use Apple News on multiple devices, you can sync your preferences via iCloud.

When Apple News was announced, some pundits theorized the de-coupling of editorial and advertising content would be complete. But while some metered and paywalled sources exist within the Apple News channels, many require logins for full access. With Apple scrambling to differentiate good advertising from bad advertising and pulling ad blocking apps, the evolving news landscape remains interesting.

Have a suggestion for an App of the Week? Let us know. And don't forget to check our App of the Week archive for more great tools.

Apple will pay consumers $450 million as part of its settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The ruling, which was filed last week, comes after a settlement between Apple and the DOJ last summer. Reuters has the scoop:

By a 2-1 vote, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that the conspiracy violated federal antitrust law, and that the judge acted properly two years ago in imposing an injunction to prevent a recurrence.

“While we want to put this behind us, the case is about principles and values,” Apple said in a statement. “We know we did nothing wrong back in 2010 and are assessing next steps.”

Apple may not have been a fan of Walter Isaacson‘s tome on Steve Jobs, but the company has nothing but nice things to say about a new book on the company’s founder.

High level executives at Apple have come out to support Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender.

“After a long period of reflection following Steve’s death, we felt a sense of responsibility to say more about the Steve we knew,” Apple spokesman Steve Dowling, told The New York Times. “We decided to participate in Brent and Rick’s book because of Brent’s long relationship with Steve, which gave him a unique perspective on Steve’s life. The book captures Steve better than anything else we’ve seen, and we are happy we decided to participate.”

Great news!

My book – Billy and the Monster who Ate All the Easter Eggs – has just been accepted by Bookbub and will be featured on March 21st.

Why is this great news I hear you say? Well it is great news as Bookbub has more than a million subscribers and will email everyone on their list interested in Children’s books. BookBub email their subscribers daily and offer to them eBooks at a discount. I have to admit that I have discovered and downloaded many eBooks recommended by BookBub. You can actually sign up here.

One of my books – I Love Baby Animals – got featured on Bookbub about a year ago and became a Top 10 best-selling book on the Amazon store in the Children’s category. What’s even more exciting this time, is that the book will be available to readers on Apple, Kobo, Scribd, Barnes and Noble plus Foundry.

If you can’t wait for March 21st, then grab a copy of Billy and the Monster who Ate All the Easter Eggs at the link below

Biily and Monster on Amazon

Billy and Monster on Apple

Billy and Monster on Barnes and Noble

Billy and Monster on Nook

Billy and Monster on Kobo

Billy and Monster on Scribd

Billy and Monster on Foundry

Fractured by Sydney Landon, a self-published title, has joined the iBooks Bestsellers List this week.

Apple has released its top selling books list for paid books from iBooks in the U.S. for week ending January 5, 2014. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand leads Apple’s Top Paid iBooks in the U.S. for the fifth week in a row. American Sniper (Enhanced Edition) by Chris Kyle is No. 2 and Gillian Flynn‘s Gone Girl is No. 3.

We’ve included Apple’s entire list after the jump. (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand leads Apple’s Top Paid iBooks in the U.S. for the fourth week in a row.

Apple has released its top selling books list for paid books from iBooks in the U.S. for week ending December 29, 2014. Gillian Flynn‘s Gone Girl is No. 2 and American Sniper (Enhanced Edition) by Chris Kyle has reached the No. 3 position on the list.

We’ve included Apple’s entire list after the jump.

(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand leads Apple’s Top Paid iBooks in the U.S. for the third week in a row.

Apple has released its top selling books list for paid books from iBooks in the U.S. for week ending December 22, 2014. Gillian Flynn‘s Gone Girl is No. 2 this week and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr holds the No. 3 position.

We’ve included Apple’s entire list after the jump. (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand leads Apple’s Top Paid iBooks in the U.S. for the second week in a row.

Apple has released its top selling books list for paid books from iBooks in the U.S. for week ending December 15, 2014. Wild by Cheryl Strayed is No. 3 and Gillian Flynn‘s Gone Girl is No. 3 this week.

We’ve included Apple’s entire list after the jump. (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Apple went to court yesterday to appeal Judge Cote’s decision that found the tech company guilty of conspiring to fix prices for eBooks.

According to reports, Apple looked good in the courtroom. Fortune has more:

At times Judge Jacobs came close to suggesting that the government had prosecuted the wrong company. At the very least, he said, a horizontal initiative “used to break the hold of a monopolist” ought not be found to be illegal per se. He likened any collusive conduct on the publishers’ part to “mice getting together to go put a bell on the cat.”

The justices are now considering the appeal and could take up to six months to decide the outcome.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Apple is heading to court today to appeal the DOJ’s 2013 decision in which the tech giant was found guilty of eBook price fixing.

Apple’s lawyers will be challenging antitrust rules “governing competition between marketing platforms—an important legal and economic issue that Judge Cote ignored,” according to The Wall Street Journal. Here is more from the publication:

On Monday Apple will ask the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York to overturn an antitrust verdict. U.S. v. Apple boils down to this: Amazon possessed a 90% market share in e-book sales, and Apple developed a method of carving into it, increasing competition. Nevertheless, federal Judge Denise Cote held that Apple violated the Sherman Act.

Since the judgement, Apple has faced a trial to determine the damages that Apple would have to pay.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand leads Apple’s Top Paid iBooks in the U.S. at No. 1.

Apple has released its top selling books list for paid books from iBooks in the U.S. for week ending December 1, 2014. Gillian Flynn‘s Gone Girl and Wild by Cheryl Strayed, are occupying the second and third spots on the list this week.

We’ve included Apple’s entire list after the jump. (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Gillian Flynn‘s Gone Girl leads Apple’s Top Paid iBooks in the U.S. at No. 1.

Apple has released its top selling books list for paid books from iBooks in the U.S. for week ending December 1, 2014. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and The Burning Room by Michael Connelly, are occupying the second and third spots on the list this week.

We’ve included Apple’s entire list after the jump. (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The latest installment of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series, The Burning Room, has joined Apple’s Top Paid iBooks in the U.S. The book came in at No. 1.

Apple has released its top selling books list for paid books from iBooks in the U.S. for week ending November 10, 2014. Gray Mountain by John Grisham and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn are occupying the second and third spots on the list this week.

We’ve included Apple’s entire list after the jump.
(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Amy Poehler’s new memoir, Yes Please, has joined Apple’s Top Paid iBooks in the U.S. this week at No. 2.

Apple has released its top selling books list for paid books from iBooks in the U.S. for week ending November 03, 2014. Gray Mountain by John Grisham and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn are occupying the first and third spots on the list this week.

We’ve included Apple’s entire list after the jump. (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Happy Halloween everyone! We’ve got something even better than treats today: great news in diversity!

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently came out in an editorial published by Bloomberg Businessweek, saying that he is “proud to be gay,” and making him the first openly gay leader of a major U.S. company. This was the first time Cook addressed his orientation publicly, saying, “I don’t consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I’ve benefited from the sacrifice of others,” Cook wrote. “So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy.” With more states and people accepting gay marriage and supporting LGBTQ rights, Cook’s move is inspirational and will hopefully lead to more acceptance within the workplace.

From left: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), and Chris Evans (Captain America) at a Marvel event in Hollywood

Marvel just recently announced their next phase of superhero movies and we’re excited to see that it’s going to include a Black Panther movie! The Black Panther (T’Challa) was the first black superhero in American comics. We’re also looking forward to seeing Jason Momoa as Aquaman and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman! DC announced that Momoa would be playing Aquaman in the highly anticipated “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” and the Wonder Woman movie will premier in 2017.

Have you heard more good news in diversity? Let us know in the comments!

John Grisham’s new fiction book, Gray Mountain, has joined Apple’s Top Paid iBooks in the U.S. this week at No. 2.

Apple has released its top selling books list for paid books from iBooks in the U.S. for week ending October 20, 2014. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult are occupying the first and third spots on the list this week.

We’ve included Apple’s entire list after the jump. (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Jodi Picoult’s new fiction book, Leaving Time, has joined Apple’s Top Paid iBooks in the U.S. this week at No. 2.

Apple has released its top selling books list for paid books from iBooks in the U.S. for week ending October 20, 2014. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks are occupying the first and third spots on the list this week.

We’ve included Apple’s entire list after the jump.
(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.