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Hoopla Digital?
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This app was mentioned in 14 comments, with an average of 3.21 upvotes
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A friend of mine is a librarian. He told me about an app called Hoopla. It's an app that lets you check out movies, TV shows, ebooks, comic books, music and other stuff to your phone or tablet, using your library card.
It's like Netflix with movies AND books, for free.
You might not get every single thing the moment you want it, but the selection is pretty good, you get everything totally legally and delivered to your device, and you don't have to worry about late fees or trying to get to the library before it closes.
You can get a reasonable selection of audio books on Hoopla (Android, iOS) if you have a library card. In fact this app is literally the only reason I got a library card.
I think you can borrow up to 5 ebooks/audio books a month, and they can be stored to your device for offline listening. The app's audio player is pretty bad, but I can't complain if it's free...
Isn't it fantastic? What other comics have you enjoyed? Marvels is one-of-a-kind, and I'm not sure if I can even come up with suggestions that are like it in any way, but:
- Vision by Tom King. I mentioned this already, but I think you should give it a shot. If you want some background on that character, the one-shot Avengers Origins: Vision is an origin story with a slightly similar tone.
- Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules by James Sturm. If you're confused after reading a little bit, try reading this article before going on. If you want background on the Fantastic Four first, read Fantastic Four: Season One.
- Daredevil: The Man Without Fear by Frank Miller
- If you like that, Daredevil #227–233 (1986) by Frank Miller. Also called/collected as Daredevil: Born Again.
- The Marvels Project by Ed Brubaker
- Captain America (2004) by Ed Brubaker
I've just started these myself so I can't tell you whether I'd recommend them or not, but I'll throw them out there anyways:
- Earth X by Jim Krueger. Concepts and character designs by Alex Ross, who penciled Marvels.
- Avengers: Rage of Ultron by Rick Remender. Graphic novel. Not "Age of Ultron" movie tie-in.
Alex Ross also did the art for DC's Kingdom Come, written by Mark Waid, which is kind of like Marvels. I prefer Marvels, but Kingdom Come is also amazing and rightfully known as a DC classic. This and lots of other DC collected editions are available to borrow for free through Hoopla if your local library supports it.
The first year of teaching is tough. It runs a lot of people ragged and out of the profession. These things all made life a little easier for me:
Middle school students and high school students are still trying to work out hygene properly, so if they have your class after PE there can be a certain amount of B.O. that is unpleasant for all, if her school allows it something like this
Hand sanitizer and some of these will help stave off some of the seasonal germs.
One of these bad boys to really crush your lesson.
I play this guys music during in class student work time and the students love it as a hush falls over their hard work.
Gel pen rotating towers or this for grading in style and mood.
Stamps are good as well.
This is the stapler I've used it frequently for 8 years and it's still going strong, the school provided a crummy one that broke after a week and didn't staple into the bulletin board.
Save her back a bit with a Rolling Crate for all the work you have to haul from the classroom to the car to the home back to the car and back to the classroom; more often than not she'll just be taking the pile of student work for a ride in the car, and not actually getting to work on it like she planned, but she definitely meant to.
laptop bag This is a men's one that I use, so she may not be a fan of the masculine style.
Nice over sized umbrella to keep in the classroom so when she's on car line duty on a rainy day she doesn't ruin her clothes.
Not sure what her commute is like, but I know I never had time to read anything for fun my first couple of years teaching so I started listening to audio books. A subscription to audible if your local library doesn't have a way to check out audios through an app, such as overdrive or Hoopla would probably go over well.
A coffee tumbler, i like the YETI ones, for each day of the week if she drinks that coffee or tea.
I keep a big rubber made tupperware full of snacks in my back room in case I get hungry for a snack, but also as rewards for my students if all of them remembered to do their homework for a week straight, or a birthday, or if i need to reward some good choices on the fly, or a pick me up for some kid that forgot their snack for the day.
Bonus: Also suggest gift cards/appointments for massage for first day of Christmas break and first day of summer break. Wish her good luck with the first year!
Problem 1: Casting via Google play Movies, or Youtube (a purchased movie, purchased via google play movies)
When I first setup my Mi BOX, I made sure all apps were updated... There was an update for the GOOGLE CAST RECEIVER APP version 1.21.75534 - I updated to this version (which is the most recent available)
I then tried to cast a couple movies I had rented via GOOGLE PLAY. I first tried to CAST from the Play Movies app on my phone. After a minute or so of solid playback, the movie stopped playing and a Play movies screen appeared with the message: "We're having problems playing this video at the moment, please try again later. error Code 2"
This happened on different movies, always about a minute into the movie... restaring playback is possible, but the problem just happens a minute later.
I also have a regular chromecast device, and casting to the regular chromecast presents no problems - it works flawlessly. Its just the Mi Box with the issue.
In an effort to narrow down the problem. I uninstalled all updates for the GOOGLE CAST RECEIVER app.to the version that came installed on the Mi Box. version 1.17.46918..
I again attempted to cast a movie from Play Movies to the Mi BOX. with this older version of GOOGLE CAST RECEIVER APP --> I was able to watch an entire movie without experiencing the error message described above; however, every minute or so, there would be some kind of stutter or skipping...
I find it hard to believe that my gen 1 chromecast can perform better than this Mi BOX when casting a simple google play movie.
In addition to these casting tests with the Play Movies app. I performed similar tests casting from the youtube app. the same "purchased" (rented) GOOGLE PLAY Movies, using the youtube app. The sames result occurred in all cases.. although the error messages presented were slightly different, but no more informative...
Playing these same "purchased" (rented) movies via the YOUTUBE or PLAY MOVIES ANDROID TV APPS directly on the mi box.. worked mostly flawlessly... this appears to be only an issue with casting.
PROBLEM 2: HOOPLADIGITAL APP downloadable here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hoopladigital.android
I am using the latest version 4.8 installed on my phone, ipad and other android devices. If I attempt to cast from my phone or ipad to my regular gen 1 chromecast, I have no issues. Hoopla splash screen appears, the loading circle status thing spins for a few seconds and then "ready to cast" is on the screen. I can then select a movie in the hoopla app on my phone, or ipad and the movie plays back great.
casting to the Mi BOX.... not so much. When I initiate a cast from my phone, the hoopla splash screen appears but, the spinning status thing keep spinning forever, and we never get to the point where it says ready to cast.
very strange indeed..
with the ipad the situation was slightly worse, casting from ipad to regular chromecast works flawlessly ... casting from ipad to mibox3.. basically does nothing.. no splash screen.. its just liek you click the cast button then mibox3 an dnothing happens... clicking my gen 1 chromecast does everything flawlessly, but not the mi box.
Problem 3:
This does not involve casting. The PLEX android TV app. When I try to play videos (with AC3 Audio encoding), the video plays fine for about 15 seconds, then some kind of stutter happens. after that stutter.. the picture moves very quickly while the audio continues at the proper speed. and they are out of sync and the video is basically unwatchable.
cant figure out why this happens.
these are the 3 biggest problems I have experienced. The CAST is so flaky compared to a regular gen 1 chromecast...
I have not experienced too many problems with netflix.. but i havent spent a ton of time with it either.
If I notice any other issues in my testing I will post back..
I am quite tech savvy --> and am interested in helping to resolve these problems in any way I can.
Im not sure if its an issue with the apps I am uising, or with the mibox firmware, or some combination thereof.. Since all my chromecast issues were not occurring when using a regular gen 1 chromecast, it leads me to believe that the issue is related to some kind of firmware on the mibox and not the apps, since the apps clearly are able to function properly with chromecast.
The PLEX issue could either be an issue with the PLEX app, or with the MI BOX FIRMWARE< SYSTEM SOFTWARE..
I really hope all these issues are software related and get fixed via an update.. I find it hard to believe that these would be hardware issues that couldnt be resolved via software updates... Please let me know if you require furthur information.
Thanks!
EDIT: One final issue I ran into (but this is not as high priority as the others). I have a spare APPLE MAGIC MOUSE that is not being used. Shouldnt I be able to sync this to the MI BOX via bluetooth. I am able to sync it to my moto x play android phone.. but nothing happens when I try to sync it with the MI BOX. USB mouse works great.. no probelms there.. but I was surprised this bluetooth mouse wouldnt be detected... - Anyway this issue is not a high priority... just thought I would put it out there.
Also along these lines, try Hoopla: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hoopladigital.android
It let's you "borrow" digital titles from your library.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hoopladigital.android
they do have audio books. not sure which libraries work with the app but it's worth a shot because it's free.
Our public library loans ebooks and audiobook through OverDrive and Hoopla.
Hoopla lets me borrow up to 5 audiobooks per month. Decent selection, but you have to use the built in audiobook player. Anything in the Hoopla library, I can just download and read whenever I'm ready, no wait.
Overdrive lets me borrow up to 10 audiobooks at a time, and you can put 10 on hold (ie waiting for them to get checked back in). Really good selection and I can always recommend new books for the library to purchase. There are two different apps to access Overdrive. My preferred audiobook player is called Listen Audiobook, which works fine since if you download books using the Overdrive app, since it actually downloads the audiobooks as unencrypted MP3. They suggest Libby, but using Libby you have to use the Libby's built in audiobook player, which is better than then Overdrive's built in player, but not my favorite. The only downside with Overdrive/Libby is that I sometimes have to wait a few months for the book I want to read, but there are always dozens of other books I have ready to read while I wait.
If your public library doesn't have Overdrive, I believe some larger metropolitan libraries offer low priced "library subscriptions" so you can use their Overdrive libraries. Cleveland and New York maybe for a few bucks per year? Someone around here would know.
In addition to that, I still have my Audible subscription. I subscribe to Silver, which is one credit for $15 every other month. I still get the daily offers for $2-5, which I occasionally buy. I usually save my credits for 2 books for 1 credit sales. They now have the Audible Plus membership for $8/month, which lets you listen to anything in their special library, or Premium Plus membership for $15/month (2 credits per month plus that same special library?) but I haven't felt the need to switch as I probably have hundreds of Audible purchases that I haven't gotten around to reading yet.
Hoopla, if you are in the US and have a library card from a participating library.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hoopladigital.android