1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Twenty five thousand free books for teachers and students. I'm 2 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: Rich Dmiro. This is rich on Tech Daily. Recently, I've 3 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: been testing out a new app called Epic. This is 4 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:17,239 Speaker 1: sort of like Netflix or Spotify, but for books more 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,959 Speaker 1: than twenty five thousand of them, to be exact. And 6 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:22,960 Speaker 1: here's the interesting part. You can subscribe for eight dollars 7 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:25,799 Speaker 1: a month at home, but if you're a teacher with 8 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: a classroom and students, you can get access to all 9 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:32,360 Speaker 1: of these books for free, the same exact experience, but 10 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 1: free when you're in the classroom. So we visited a 11 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: classroom at Aolian elementary school in Whittier, California, where Epic 12 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,279 Speaker 1: is being used, and it works just like it does 13 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:44,879 Speaker 1: at home, except all the kids get to access this 14 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: for free. So Epic is an app. It's in the 15 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,600 Speaker 1: app Store. You can download it to a variety of devices. 16 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:52,560 Speaker 1: We saw it running on iPads and chromebooks. My son 17 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: has also been using it at home on an iPad 18 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: with a test account. And basically, it's a bunch of 19 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: books kind of organized in very so you can organize 20 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,120 Speaker 1: by topic, you can organize by reading level, you can 21 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:08,399 Speaker 1: organize by age, whatever you want, and there's tons of 22 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: stuff to find in here, twenty five thousand books for 23 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: major publishers, including HarperCollins, McMillan, National Geographic Kids. A lot 24 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:18,680 Speaker 1: of the big series are in there, but you do 25 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: have to pick and choose and find stuff. Not every 26 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: book imaginable is in here, but there's definitely enough to 27 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: make up for the fee of eight dollars a month 28 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: if you're paying at home, and it's certainly good enough 29 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 1: for free at school. And one of the features that 30 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:33,640 Speaker 1: I really like are the quizzes. My son also really 31 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:36,119 Speaker 1: likes these, So after you're done reading a book, there 32 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 1: are quizzes at the end, and these can test your 33 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: kids reading proficiency. Another feature parents and teachers will like 34 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: and kids is the read to you feature. So this 35 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: is where kind of like an audiobook, but the books 36 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 1: read to you, but they highlight some of the words 37 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: as they go along, so kids can become more confident readers. 38 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:58,080 Speaker 1: Another feature parents will like. You can get weekly report cards, 39 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 1: so you can see in an email what your kids 40 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: are reading. The email will include the books that they've 41 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:06,880 Speaker 1: looked through, how many pages they've turned, how long they 42 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:10,240 Speaker 1: spent reading all that good stuff, and the co founder 43 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: Kevin Donahue of Epic and a Skype interview, told me 44 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:15,640 Speaker 1: that this is all about seeing how the child is 45 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: improving with their reading and showing the parent some of 46 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 1: the interests their kids has around reading. I thought it 47 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:23,640 Speaker 1: was really interesting some of the books that my kid 48 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:25,960 Speaker 1: was reading it was based on stuff he was learning 49 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,360 Speaker 1: in the classroom. He went home and then looked up 50 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: books on those same topics. I thought that was really interesting. So, again, 51 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:35,079 Speaker 1: Epic is completely free for kids while they're in the classroom, 52 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: and the way they do this is the teachers basically 53 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:39,560 Speaker 1: log in and then they share some sort of code 54 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: with the kids that only works while they're in the class. 55 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: But if you want to do this at home, you 56 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:45,600 Speaker 1: can get a subscription for about eight dollars a month. 57 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,079 Speaker 1: Seems like a pretty good deal considering Netflix a little 58 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 1: bit more than that. But I also found a bunch 59 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: of deals, like a special teacher offer at six dollars 60 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:55,720 Speaker 1: a month, And I think, you know, six bucks a 61 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 1: month for all these books is not bad, especially if 62 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: you've purchased books for your kids. They can get pretty 63 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,359 Speaker 1: expensive at the bookstore. So when it comes to privacy, 64 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: since this is geared for kids twelve and under. I 65 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 1: had to ask about the privacy aspects. There are no 66 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:13,119 Speaker 1: ads on Epic and there is no social networking aspect. 67 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:16,200 Speaker 1: Kevin Donahue again, the co founder, told me they don't 68 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:18,799 Speaker 1: enable kids to connect or chat or message each other. 69 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: It's really just a content consumption platform. And so when 70 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,640 Speaker 1: I talked to the teacher at aol in elementary, I 71 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: asked what is the downside to Epic, and the teacher, 72 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:32,639 Speaker 1: Han Buie told me she said, if there is one downside, 73 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: it's that the kids just want to keep reading. And 74 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: I think that sounds like a pretty good problem for 75 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: teachers and parents. All right, If you want to get 76 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: a link to Epic and check it out, you can 77 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: go to my website. Just go to Rich on tech 78 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: dot tv. Again, the app is called Epic. It's got 79 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 1: a big exclamation point at the end. You can search 80 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: for it in the app store, check it out for yourself, 81 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: or tell your kids teacher about it so they can 82 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: get access for free at school. Thanks so much for listening. 83 00:03:57,200 --> 00:03:59,000 Speaker 1: The best thing you can do for me is to 84 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: rate and review the in the Apple Podcasts app. I 85 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: really do appreciate that that way Apple shows it to 86 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: more people. I'm Rich Damiro. Thanks for listening. I'll talk 87 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: to you soon.