penguins

Penguin halts libraries' e-book lending, citing security fears

Penguin Group is the latest company to balk at allowing libraries to lend digital copies of its books to patrons.

The book publisher, whose imprints include Viking, Riverhead Books, and Dutton, among others, has suspended authorization for libraries to distribute its books electronically, citing security concerns.

"Due to new concerns about the security of our digital editions, we find it necessary to delay the availability of our new titles in the digital format while we resolve these concerns with our business partners," Penguin spokeswoman Erica Glass said in a statement.

Glass didn't disclose Penguin's specific security … Read more

Pocket Penguins app: Live-streaming aquatic critters

Live streaming penguins. Need I say more? This article could easily have stopped at those first three words and you would have gotten the idea.

The free Pocket Penguins app from the California Academy of Sciences offers three different live video views on the academy's endangered African penguin exhibit. The app is free and is available for both Android and iPhone.

The sleekly feathered little birdies romp, swim, nest, snooze, and paddle right up to the camera. Choose from the main view, underwater camera, or the biologist's-view Webcam.

The penguins are adorable at any time of the day, but the action really gets hopping during feeding times at 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. PT. The live audio presentation, chatter from the penguin feeder, and penguin eating frenzy make for riveting viewing. … Read more

Disney's Club Penguin domain name lapses

Disney was willing to pay up to $700 million for Club Penguin, but apparently forgot to renew its domain. Parents can't be happy.

If you go to Club Penguin--like my daughter did--you may get an odd-looking Network Solutions page. It's the page you get when you haven't renewed a domain name. The page has been down for a good chunk of the day. CBS News reported that Club Penguin returned about noon, but a lot of folks still can't get to the site. The outage has been widely reported on Club Penguin blogs such as the … Read more

Air Penguin soars to No. 1 in the App Store

Don't be alarmed, but birds are taking over. Tiny birds, angry birds, and now flightless Antarctic birds. If only Alfred Hitchcock were alive to see this.

The latest fowl to fly to the top of the App Store charts? Penguins--specifically, Air Penguin, which currently holds the No. 1 spot. It's ahead of Cut the Rope, ahead of Tiny Wings, and even ahead of all three Angry Birds games (including the recently updated-for-Easter Angry Birds Seasons).

Why all the fuss? At first I wasn't quite sure. Air Penguin is a pretty straightforward tilt-control game--not unlike Doodle Jump, but putting two axes into play instead of just one. It's your job to guide your bouncing, somersaulting, sliding, occasionally flying penguin from one ice floe to the next, tilting your iDevice left, right, forward, and backward to steer him. One bad landing and you plop into the water; game over.

Along the way you'll encounter increasingly difficult obstacles: smaller ice floes that are harder to land on, floes that are already cracked (and therefore can't be landed on), jumping swordfish, and, of course, sharks (which leap out of the water in a suitably fearsome fashion).… Read more

The 404 785: Where it's our so-called MemeMolly (podcast)

The 404 Digest for Episode 785

Our guest today is MemeMolly, who gives us an update on the latest memes, Internet culture, and why nobody can stand the word "viral." Add Molly on Twitter and follow her Tumblr.

Top Dog: one is tough, the other is a dog. Where are they now, featuring Star Wars Kid and Numa Numa Guy? Is Cathymay15 a troll, a genius, or another victim of online bullying? EU proposes right to be forgotten online.… Read more

CES: Mouse and keyboard control coming to Xbox 360

LAS VEGAS--Ask any hardened PC gamer and they'll tell you there's no better way to control a first-person shooter than a mouse-and-keyboard combination. We completely agree, and with the Eagle Eye 360 from Penguin United, Xbox 360 gamers can do just that.

While the company has already had a PlayStation 3 offering that provides the same functionality, the Xbox 360 version is new for CES. The device can bind all of the Xbox 360 controller commands to mouse and keyboard buttons and store up to two key-mapping schemes.

You'll need a wired Xbox 360 controller for the … Read more

Penguin book innovates in publishing...again

Penguin, the fabled English publisher, is plunging head first into the world of iPad content. Not iPad books, exactly, as these things are not recognizable as books in the normal sense--they are closer to games and full-fledged apps. Even in the case where they are adapting existing print books, there is enough new stuff going on where it diverges significantly from what we normally think of as "book". A Kindle e-book, these are not. Check out the video above for an intriguing peep into what they have planned.

Dan Nosowitz at Fast Company observes:

[P]enguin doesn't … Read more

DSiWare, WiiWare, and Virtual Console releases for this week

This week brings us plenty of Animal Crossing accessories for your DSi as well as a Commodore 64 classic.

DSiWare Animal Crossing Calculator (Nintendo, 200 DSi Points): This download isn't necessarily a game, it's actually just a calculator with Animal Crossing-themed buttons. Use conversions and other features everywhere you bring your DSi. Animal Crossing Clock (Nintendo, 200 DSi Points): Another download that isn't actually a real game, Animal Crossing Clock is just that. It's a clock--with Animal Crossing characters plastered all over it. You can view an analog or digital display as well as set an … Read more

Complete your table with an (easy) ice sculpture

Admit it. Go on, admit it. You always wanted an ice sculpture centerpiece. I know I have. I'm not ashamed to admit it. An ice sculpture may be cheesy or fancy depending on your perspective (not to mention the sculpture), but there is no denying there is something just kind of neat about watching an ice sculpture slowly melt before your eyes. With little or no work, you can now have your very own ice sculpture (over and over again).

These Ice Sculpture Molds, available in Penguin or Angelfish, may not be the high art ice sculpture you would … Read more

Littlest Pet Shop virtual world about to yip

Awwwwwwwww!

Littlest Pet Shop is going virtual.

Those tiny, plastic creatures with the larger-than-life googly eyes are set to come to life in the virtual world this fall, with manufacturer Hasbro and gaming giant Electronic Arts teaming up to launch the site, the companies said Thursday.

The site, which will be banking on the popularity of the 2-inch idols, will be jumping into a tween market that is already heavily populated with the likes of the Webkinz, Disney's Club Penguin, and start-up Dizzywood.

Once launched, the Littlest Pet Shop site aims to offer preteens the ability to customize their … Read more