The Open Road Blog

It's probably safe to say more than 10 million ereaders were gifted this holiday season [and, of course, that includes "gifting" oneself!].  For many, now, the big question looming is: Where to begin?  

There's a lot of advice to be had on the subject—I'm particularly partial to Open Road Media's StarterPack Flowchart System—but let's say you already know what you want to read, right now. . . a spinetingling mystery.  The only question is: Which one?  

Check out Open Road's Ultimate Perfect Crime Sampler Pack over at Scribd.com for excerpts from more than two dozen beloved and ...

It's December 22nd. . . and whether you're feeling festive, frazzled—or a bit of both—there's no better time of year to curl up with a cozy and a "cuppa tea"—or maybe some cocoa.   

Herewith, a few of our seasonal favorites: 

Treat yourself to four unforgettable tales of holiday romance filled with sugar and spice and everything nice.  This festive collection includes short stories from bestselling authors Beverly Barton (The Ghost of Christmas Past), Joanne Fluke (The Twelve Desserts of Christmas), Fern Michaels (The Christmas Stocking), and Shirley Jump (Twelve Days)....

Hello, Nature. Meet iPad! Nature, outdoors, hiking, camping, and leaf-peeping (West Wing reference, anyone?). None of these words have ever come to mind when I'm using my iPad. Until now. This is a fascinating app by the researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institute. Using the iPad camera and/or the browse feature, you can identify the leaf you're looking at, the fruits and flowers of the same tree (as well as its "bloom time"), where the tree is native to, and more! You can also pull up a map that shows you the trees ...

Via Boing Boing, I found and enjoyed General Electric's Instagram feed. It's a visual guide of artistic photos inside their technology, research and history.—Lauren

These are some of the cutest images I've seen in a long time. Check out photos from the National Spelling Bee ("the nation's largest and longest-running educational promotion") over on The Atlantic today. Also, learn the definition of C-Y-M-O-T-R-I-C-H-O-U-S.—Laura

The New York Public Library has gone the extra mile with their new app (to be an ongoing series) released on Tuesday, May 31. The first "issue" of their iPad app, NYPL Biblion, focuses on the ...

Remember producing spin art at childhood carnivals (and, if you were really fancy, with your in-home toy set)? Claire O'Neill's NPR piece, "How Sound Can Create Sculpture," tapped into my fondest paint memories this week. Dentsu London—the creative agency behind last year's iPad light painting video—has merged music, paint, and photography to create Water Figures. "Water Figures are sculpted by the action of sound waves which eject water based paints into the air from the surface of a rubber membrane (balloon) placed over the front of a small speaker like those used for computers," explains Linden Gledhill, the biochemist/photographer who ...