Ruckus Media has found some refuge with mobile app company KiwiTech, which is acquiring a 75 percent stake in the digital children’s media company that has struggled to find a lasting business model. Ruckus founder and ceo Rick Richter will depart following the sale, though he will continue to serve as an advisor. Chief content officer Jason Root will move up to ceo of Ruckus, reporting to KiwiTech ceo Rakesh Gupta. The company’s Wilton, CT office will close, yet Ruckus will still “remain Connecticut based.” Venture capital firm Alsop Louie Partners, which led a $3.5 million series A funding round […]
Children's
People, Etc.: Elmore Leonard Dies, and More
Elmore Leonard, 87, author of more than 40 novels who helped redefine the crime genre over the past four decades, died Tuesday morning at his home outside of Detroit from complications of a stroke he suffered earlier this month. His novels, many of which were the basis of successful film and television adaptations, included GET SHORTY, RUM PUNCH, 3:10 to YUMA, OUT OF SIGHT and, most recently, RAYLAN, and the Library of America had recently announced plans to publish the first of a three-volume collection of his books beginning in fall 2014. As part of S&S Children’s reorganization of its […]
Anonymous Microsoft Insider Denies Nook Story; Barnes & Noble Stock Suffers
The grain of salt we advised on the flawed TechCrunch report of potential interest in Microsoft buying out the digital assets of Nook Media has turned into a veritable salt flat. Another site, Insider Monkey, posted an item early Monday afternoon said to come from “a highly placed source inside Microsoft” denying the likelihood of a deal. Barnes & Noble stock fell 13 percent in about 30 minutes Monday afternoon on very heavy volume. It hit a trough and by 3 PM started to recover some of the losses, off about $2.20 a share or 9.5 percent for the day, […]
Corporate: HMH Buys Tribal Nova; Penguin Partners with Mind Candy; Amazon Defends “Heavy Investments”
Two new acquisitions highlight publishers’ increasing interest in game development. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced they acquired Montreal-based educational technology company Tribal Nova, which develops digital games, products and services for pre-school children. The Tribal Nova team will continue to operate out of Montreal, though they will be absorbed into HMH’s Content and Product Innovation group, dedicated to the incubation and development of next-generation content for both K-12 and consumer markets. “The combination of Tribal Nova’s game development expertise with HMH’s proven educational content and learning design capabilities will enable HMH to bring a more holistic and personalized gaming experience to market,” […]
Kids Retain Strong Preference for Print, As Influence of Online Bookstores and Friends Rises
Bookigee founder Kristen McLean and Bowker executive Carl Kulo kicked off this morning’s Publishers Launch conference Children’s Publishing Goes Digital with updated data findings from fall 2012, the latest installment in their ongoing analysis of the purchase and discovery of children’s books. McLean underscored the overall stability of the children’s book market: As to “the fear–that we were going to lose readers” with the rise of other electronic media, “there’s no data we’ve seen to support the idea that kids are reading less, and we’ve seen some data to support the idea that kids are reading more. We really believe […]
eNews: McGraw-Hill’s eTextbooks Adapt to Students; BabyFirst Digital Imprint; PIA Awards; and More
At the Consumer Electronics Show, McGraw-Hill has announced an “adaptive e-book” for college texts, which “focuses students’ attention on the content that is most critical to their learning.” They will launch in the late spring for about 90 course areas. As the WSJ describes it: “All readers essentially see the same textbook as they read for the first five minutes. But as a reader answers review questions placed throughout the chapter, different passages become highlighted to point the reader to where he or she should focus attention.” A company called Area9 developed the technology. Though digital textbooks have lagged so far, McGraw-Hill […]