ComicBookBin App adds calendar features

The ComicBookBin apps for the Apple iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) and now Palm webOS help comic book collectors plan comic book conventions attendance, locate comic book stores in multiple locations, as well as provide access to over 10,000 articles published about comics, toys, movies and books since 2002.

Just in time for the massive San Diego Comic-Con 2010, ComicBookBin for iOS and webOS has been released - an App that allows comic book collectors to add conventions to their calendars, including scheduled activities like panels, signings and workshops.

"We’ve scrapped the comic book convention utility we had on the first versions of ComicBookBin for the iPhone and created something that is truly unique and useful to comic book readers," says Comic Book Bin founder Hervé St-Louis. "More than ever, these apps are comic book collectors’ utility belts.”

Based in Calgary, Canada, the Comic Book Bin is an independent web site filling comic book readers in since 2002. Founder Hervé St-Louis is a graduate student at the Center for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary.

iPhone users can mail themselves or others events that can be added to their iCal, Outlook or Gmail calendar. All of the San Diego sessions are programmed in the app. On webOS phones, users can add any event to their Palm webOS Calendar app.

Users can also find multiple comic book stores in various locations in both apps. By default, the ComicBookBin app only lists comic book stores in the surrounding area of the user, but it can also search for comics shops in various cities and countries.

Anyone planning a visit to the San Diego con using ComicBookBin apps will find all the local comic book stores there before leaving their hometown.

Each app was created to take advantage of the platform it is made for. For example, on the iPhone ComicBookBin 2.0’s newsreader features a nifty gallery interface in landscape mode while the webOS version allows multitasking in multiple cards when using the store locator.

“These apps” says Hervé St-Louis “are native to the mobile operating system they were designed for. There’s no compromise.”

Working on each app was difficult and a lot of work. We’re still working on the Android version of ComicBookBin which will again be as close to the Android look and feel as possible. It should be out within a few weeks.

• Download this app for the iPhone and iPod from iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/comicbookbin/id360213878?mt=8


• Download this app for the Palm Pre and the Palm Pixi from Palm at http://developer.palm.com/webChannel/index.php?packageid=com.comicbookbin.cbb

Cory Doctorow headlines UK Digital Rights Conference

Comic creator and BoingBoing co-founder Cory Doctorow is one of the key guests heading up the first ever conference dedicated to digital rights in the UK later this month.

Over 300 people are booked to attend ORGCon at the City University in London - and event described by the organisers as "a crash course in digital rights" on Saturday 24 July and tickets are apparently running out fast.

This one-day conference organised by the bon-profit group the Open Rights Group is intended to deliver everything you need to get campaigning on issues like the Digital Economy Act and the Database State.

Cory Doctorow will talk and be part of a panel on how artists can make copyright work for them, while
Professor James Boyle will speak on the future of copyright. He's in London especially for this talk.

Other panels will cover what MPs are doing about Digital Economy Act, and what exactly does the 'Right to Data' mean? Privacy International will deliver a session on opening up the Data Protection Directive, while No2ID will outline their proposals for the dismantling the Database State.

• Book your ticket here: orgcon.eventbrite.com

StripGenerator Revamped, now includes social network features

Slovenia-based ThirdFrameStudios has just released Stripgenerator 1.6, the latest version of its hugely popular online software that enables users to easily create comic strips, share them with friends, rate, comment them and more.

The new Stripgenerator brings many useful new features, including the ability to post your strips to social network sites, a gorgeous design and what the creators describe as "a vastly improved experience for the users".

Stripgenerator, which was one of the first online comics creation tools I used and has been bought in adapted by a range of media companies inclding funytimes.com and the Big Brother show - was great at inception. It's even better now and includes new theme packs with strip characters and items, community based creating strips on topic, better creation tools, detailed statistics for Stripgenerator artists and all-round improvements.

Check it out at: www.stripgenerator.com