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Entries Tagged as 'Freebies'

Marvel is Giving Away 700 Issue #1 Comics

March 11th, 2013 by Nate Hoffelder · digital comics, Freebies → No Comments

marvel[1]Marvel is making a big deal over SxSW this week, and it’s your lucky day.

For the next couple days they will be giving away 700 different first issues of their various titles and series.You can find the free comics on the Marvel website, or at least you would if it had not crashed. They are also available via comiXology.

This is definitely one worth getting. The selection includes not just the first issues of long running series but also includes a number of standalone titles as well as the first issue of volume in a series. For example, there are free first issues from Book One and Book Two of Ender’s Shadow (by Orson Scott Card).

The deal runs through tomorrow.

comiXology

Marvel

B&N Launches Free App Fridays – First Free App is OfficeSuite Professional 7

March 8th, 2013 by Nate Hoffelder · Barnes & Noble, Freebies → 4 Comments

2940043856395_p1_v8_s600[1]Barnes & Noble has long had a limited app store for their Nook media devices, but so far as I know they have never done much to promote it. That changed today.

B&N has just announced that they will be adding a Free App to their Nook Free Friday promotions. Each week B&N will give away a different paid app from the Nook App Store.

Today’s free app is OfficeSuite Professional 7. It is the full version of the app and normally retails for $15.

Nook App Store

Amazon is Giving Away 15 Android Apps Today

December 26th, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · Freebies → 4 Comments

For the past couple years Amazon has been giving away one free Android app everyday, They’ve given away everything from junky generic games to expensive office suite apps, and if you’ve been following the sales like I have you probably have built up an impressive collection of apps. But if you missed the sales then I have some good news for you.

Amazon is having a sale today. They’re giving away 15 different apps today, including several that cost $5 to $15. While some of these titles ae unremarkable, this sale also includes OfficeSuite Pro 6,  and Splashtop, a remote desktop app. The total value is around $50, so I would definitely say that this sale is worth a look.

On a related note, I have been tracking each day’s free app and post it to an RSS feed. You can also find the free apps on the Appazonia page on this blog.

Amazon

Author’s eBook Giveaway Runs Afoul of Google Copyright Bots

September 27th, 2012 by Chris Meadows · free ebooks, Freebies, Google → No Comments

pythonbookApparently Google has a problem with its ads being posted on sites that “distribute copyrighted materials.” (Never mind that this should mean they shouldn’t have ads on any sites, given that under the law any material that is created is instantly copyrighted to its creator.) Techdirt’s Mike Masnick posts about technical author Cody Jackson, who decided to give away electronically a book he wrote about the Python programming language as a way to give back to the open source community—which resulted in Google disabling AdSense ads on his site because of this violation of its policy.

Puzzled, Jackson pointed out that he is the author and copyright holder of the work in question, and he had explicitly granted permission for this distribution. No dice, Google said. So he removed the links to torrents on Pirate Bay and Demonoid, even though he felt they were still perfectly legitimate…and Google still refused to reinstate ads on his site, apparently because he had the temerity to mention Pirate Bay and Demonoid—but Google won’t actually explain exactly why.


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Girl Genius, Catena Cafe, City of Heroes, and the Freemium Model: How Much to Give Away?

August 31st, 2012 by Chris Meadows · Freebies → 7 Comments

gg-omnibusWhat’s the right amount to give away free in order to make money by selling extras? It’s a good question, and it’s one that a lot of digital media struggle with. Though the name is relatively recent, the “Freemium” model has gotten quite popular over the last decade or so. Baen gives away free e-books in order to sell more e-books and print. Webcomic artists have given away their comics online to make money from banner ads and print sales ever since there have been webcomics. Newspapers have been erecting paywalls of varying heights. And more and more computer games have been trying out the model of free to play but pay for upgrades—everything from Facebook games to MMOs.

The freemium model isn’t a panacea. Just today, NCSoft announced it is shuttering Paragon Studios and closing down the City of Heroes MMO—which went freemium a year ago in the hopes of finding a new lease on life—by the end of the year. (Found via Slashdot.) As a long-time City of Heroes player myself, I find it sad to see it go, though I can’t say it’s a surprise given how the player numbers were trending. But even before this happened, I was pondering a remarkable difference in the way a couple of webcomics I read go about it: Girl Genius and Catena Manor/Café.


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Amazing Stories Celebrates E-Zine Relaunch By Offering Free Issue

August 13th, 2012 by Chris Meadows · DRM, free ebooks, Freebies, publishing news → 4 Comments

amazing-JULY-ISSUE-final-cover-600-e1344678664647.gifAmazing Stories magazine, the oldest SF magazine in the world, stopped publishing in 2005. However, it’s coming back in 2012, and in order to build some publicity, as well as satisfy trademark registration requirements, its publisher is offering a free electronic issue of the magazine to all comers.

Steve Davidson writes that the e-zine will be available for purchase on Amazon and other e-book outlets soon, but if you want a free copy you can send him an e-mail, explaining why you think you deserve a free copy in the body of the message. It is currently available as a PDF, with MOBI and EPUB versions coming soon—and all will be DRM-free.


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Free to a Good Home: 3 Dozen Thumb Drives (All Gone)

January 18th, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · Freebies → 18 Comments

click to enlarge

The theme of this year’s CES was “Going Green”. It’s an excellent idea, and I would like to make a small contribution.

A lot of companies ignored the theme this year and they gave out their press kits on thumb drives. Rather than let them pile up (like I have done before), I’m giving them away.

I have far more than I need, so I am hoping to find some nonprofit group or institution that could use them. I have a pile of about 36 thumb drives in all sizes and shapes (mostly 1GB, but I’m not sure). If you want all of them or just  some, leave a comment.

Update: All were shipped on Saturday.

New Free Game for the Kindle: Hamster Habitat

January 17th, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · Freebies → No Comments

Amazon released another free app for the Kindle today. As you can see from the image at right, it’s a map type of puzzle game. The goal is to link the beginning and end of the puzzle. But to do that you will also have to go through several intermediate points. It looks like fun.

As always, this app only works on the actual Kindles, and you have to have a US address in order to get it (but you can cheat).

Hamster Habitat

In case you’re interested, I’ve collected all the free Kindle games: 17 Free Games

New Free Game for the Kindle

December 21st, 2011 by Nate Hoffelder · Amazon, Freebies → 4 Comments

Did you just buy a Kindle for Christmas? Then you might want to pick up the 14 free games that Amazon has released for the Kindle.

Amazon has their own in-house development team for the Kindle games, and every so often they release a new one . They released a new free app today, and it’s an expansion on a grid puzzle game called Pixel Perfect.

This kind of puzzle isn’t my thing, but it is free.

Amazon

14 Free Games

“Pay With a Tweet” – An Old Idea With a Little Polish Added

December 14th, 2011 by Nate Hoffelder · Freebies → 6 Comments

I’ve just come across a service for giving away digital content. Pay With a Tweet has been in the news a lot this past week, but most of those stories slipped by unread. I actually first found this on Twitter, which is a testament to the concept.

This service is based on a very old situation. Users want free stuff and creators want publicity. But that old situation comes with a problem: how do you trade one for the other? Pay With a Tweet was created to solve that problem. (To be honest, it didn’t seem like much of a problem until this service came along to fix it.)


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