One in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, resulting in about 200,000 new cases during the next 12 months.

These astonishing figures inspired Dr. Gerald Chodak to create awareness about prostate cancer in his Vook, “Prostate Cancer: Reducing Your Risks,” which is available in the iTunes App Store and iBookstore.

“Prostate health and prostate cancer are topics with considerable confusion among men and considerable bias among physicians,” he said. “The Vook was created to help men make choices that reflect their age, health and quality of life.”

Dr. Chodak has dedicated his life’s work to prostate cancer, which is the most common serious cancer in men and the second most common cause of death from cancer. He has published more than 150 articles on the subject and has been invited to speak about topics in prostate cancer throughout the US and in more than 14 countries. In addition to founding his own prostate cancer support group, Dr. Chodak has also been a medical commentator for PBS channel WTTW in Chicago.

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Dr. Chodak gave us some helpful tips about prostate cancer, from commonly overlooked warning signs to dietary needs:

Tip 1: Although urinary complaints may be associated with prostate cancer, most men who have the disease will not have any symptoms until it is advanced.

Tip 2: Eat a healthy balanced diet, have periodic exams including a blood test for PSA beginning at age 50 unless there is a high risk, such as having a brother or father with the disease or being African-American.

Tip 3: Good studies show that vitamin E, selenium and vitamin C are not effective in reducing the risk of developing this disease but two drugs used to treat and enlarged prostate can lower the chance of getting diagnosed. They do have trade-offs so men should discuss the pros and cons with their doctor.

And Dr. Chodak’s final tip? Be informed.

Aubree Munar contributed to this article.

One of our new arrivals on Friday in the iTunes App Store was the third animated TextVook from our second imprint, which we are very excited about. Check out a snippet below and download the full app. We’ll have a lot more TextVook news for you shortly, and who knows, Dr. Vook, Ph.D, might stop by the blog again for another intellectually stimulating interview. Stay tuned.

In addition to our TextVooks launching on the Nook and Kindle devices, we are also very happy to announce their arrival in the iBookstore. TextVook is the second imprint that has been launched by Vook, featuring animation sensation Dr. Vook, Ph.D.

Just type “TextVook” in the iBookstore and all of Dr. Vook, Ph.D’s titles will appear, leading with his enhanced e-books, which include eight animations per title. Download them to see how you can become a great genius like Dr. Vook, Ph.D in 30 minutes or less.

Stayed tuned for more exciting TextVook news.

Vook is very happy to announce its debut on the Nook platform over the weekend, where 11 TextVooks became live in the NOOKbooks store. The TextVooks mark the text-only arrival of e-books for Vook, featuring topics that span throughout history, such as the Civil War and Ancient Greece.

Vook will have more news about its TextVook launch within the coming weeks along with more titles, so stay tuned to our blog for the most recent updates.

Yoga and pilates expert David Moreno has trained world-class athletes, coached the 2004/2008 Olympics U.S. Men’s Swim Team and has been featured in a number of notable publications, such as LA Yoga Magazine. Now, he has brought his concept of Deep Flow Yoga to life in his new Vook series.

“Yoga allows us to move outside of fear and anxiety and brings us fully into the present moment where everything is usually all right,” he said. “It can help take us out of our clinging to the past and our fantasies about the future and connect us to the peace, which is always present no matter how much is going on around or inside of us.”

His series features engaging text and instructional videos revolving around Deep Flow Yoga, which he said was developed out of a preference for a fluid asana practice without bringing up excessive heat in both body and mind — thus preventing dehydration, exhaustion and the ambitious nature that arises in aerobic-oriented yoga.

“Healthy Backs: Deep Flow Yoga” is available in the iTunes App Store. The other two titles in the series are available to download from inside the app.

The first Vook, “Healthy Backs,” shows different poses, such as Tortoise Pose, Animal Relaxation Pose and Himalayan Forward Bend throughout eight chapters. Readers can also learn about energy invocation and chanting.

“The greatest pose, the most favorite posture of position becomes the one I am doing,” he said. “Each posture has its own signature, both in feeling and in energy, and when I open to that experience within each pose then I fall in love with it, even when it’s challenging or mind boggling.”

For those who are new to practicing yoga, David said to have self-acceptance, patience and compassion. He said he started down his yoga path once he stopped dancing professionally.

“Finding a good teacher was challenging in the late 70s even in a city like Los Angeles, and when I did find one it was a commitment to driving up to an hour to study,” he said.

David now teaches yoga classes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Overview
Vook is recruiting for an exceptional Product Manager to join our team.  As the leader in the digital publishing arena, this presents a great opportunity for someone interested in getting in on the ground floor of a company focused on leading the development in the exciting, fast moving area of digital publishing.  The product manager will play a key role in working closely with the core internal cross functional team to identifying customer needs, market opportunities, and assure the successful execution of Vook’s mission through development and deployment of the company’s digital publishing and distribution platform as well as our web presence.

Location
New York, New York

Job Responsibilities

• Participate in creation and management of product vision and roadmap with a focus on delivering next generation digital publishing products and experiences
• Perform consumer needs analysis, market sizing, and competitive analysis to determine which online features will address key consumer opportunities
• Gather, synthesize and prioritize market needs and business requirements
• Transform those business requirements into detailed product requirements and lead cross-functional teams in product definition and design.
• Take ownership of a set of features and work closely with Design, Engineering, Acquisitions, Production and Distribution to map out the goals, vision and requirements for those features that will accomplish the business goals.
• Champion the consumers’ online experience, with a keen eye on developing a superior and differentiated user experience
• Create detailed product requirements that describe the products and features to be built.
• Manage tradeoffs and dependencies to make sure the end result is a great user experience that drives the business forward
• Partner with our Engineering team throughout the creative, build and implementation phases to ensure high quality, on time releases that balances consumer and business needs.
• Act as product evangelist and solicit feedback to quickly build consensus around decisions
• Ensure future product releases reflect experience gained from external market activities, customer discussions, usage analysis, competitive response and market research
• Analyze and articulate emerging technologies and market trends.

• Deliverables include page wireframes, market research documents, detailed product specifications and product roadmaps

What We’re Looking For

• Passion for building great innovative digital products and a strong aptitude for business strategy
• Startup management experience a plus
• Decisiveness and knowledge of when to ask tough questions about projects
• Ability to debate ideas with both business owners and technical counterparts
• Knowledge of when and when not to follow the latest trends
• A mix of intelligence, integrity, domain knowledge, communication skills, and diplomacy that will allow you to rapidly earn the respect of internal team, partners, and customers
• Minimum 3-5 years software or internet product management experience
• Consumer internet or digital publishing product development experience a plus
• Experience writing product requirements and communicating project details with project team (business owners, IA/Design, Technology)
• Experience working closely with engineering, marketing, operations and customer service teams.
• Extensive experience creating product strategy and roadmap
• Experience creating complete product/feature specification documents
• Solution and team oriented  with the ability to build trust and influence others
• Self-motivated, able to proactively work toward a goal independently without significant management
• Energetic with a strong work ethic and drive to succeed
• Ability to work and lead direct and cross-functional teams
• Ability to adjust constantly, adapt and manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced Internet environment

Power players on Wall Street often project a larger than life image — but for Stefan Pinto, who was working on the Street as a programmer, a diet of white chocolate mochas and pizza lunches had made him physically larger than he ever wanted to be.

And when he saw a photo of himself taken at a barbeque, reality hit home.

“I thought it fashionable to tuck my Gap sweater into my Old Navy pants,” he said. “Well, that fashion faux pas showed off more than my big butt — it showed my growing, cubicle-induced … marshmallow sundae belly.”

Stefan, found himself going from 60 pounds overweight to rock-hard abs and is now a successful model and actor at age 40 — who’s been featured in The New York Times, The Huffington Post and Playgirl.

His new vook, “Fat to Fit: 50 Easy Ways to Lose Weight,” shows you how to slim down and look great fast.

Stefan cites comments from fans on Facebook as the reason why he wanted to create a Vook.

“One in particular was from a woman in Stockton, California who wrote to tell me that my daily posts, inspired her to lose weight and, this is a quote from the letter, ‘They are making a difference in my life, and making me want to be better. Not just on the outside, but inside!’”

Stefan has a lot of advice to offer, such as cutting food intake in half.

“What you can change is how much you eat,” he said. “Did you know eating ages you? The body literally has to work to digest the food you ate. This is why you sweat after a big meal.”

He also suggests that those who are trying to lose weight must understand what the term “calorie” means.

“Starbucks attempts to help by putting the calorie content of their pastries and sandwiches on a card in front of the fare — ‘Mini Coconut Cake 694 calories’,” he said. “But what exactly does 694 calories look like on your body? Or, better how long will it take to use 694 calories?”

Stefan’s Vook is now available in the iTunes App Store.

“Poor peabody, peabody, peabody.”

“Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?”

“Tea-kettle, tea-kettle, tea-kettle.”

Sound like nonsense? Not to Sam Crow – author of Vooks “Birdwatching Essentials: Birdzilla” and “New York Birds: Birdzilla.” These are the mnemonic sentences he devised to describe the sound of bird songs, in this case the White-Throated Sparrow, the Barred Owl and the Carolina Wren.

His Birdwatching Essentials Vook is filled with eight chapters of information about wild bird preferences, birdbaths, binoculars, field guide selection and settings for bird photography.

“The Vook is a great introduction to the diversity of bird life in New York while helping those that feed birds identify the birds they hear and see in their own yard,” he said. “Vook has developed the technology to provide the information in fun and effective ways on a variety of platforms.”

Sam, who has more than 30 years of birdwatching experience with a list of more than 2,000 birds species throughout the world, said his passion began in college during a class he needed to graduate.

“My college botany professor was a birder and offered to give me the two hours of credit if I would do some research for him and help him develop a checklist of the birds of small state park near Austin, Texas,” he said. “I had to be able to identify 100 species by site and 25 by sound, plus the research and hauling all of his equipment around.”

Sam, also the owner of the Birdzilla.com network, said south Texas is one of the best areas in the country to do birdwatching.

“Many colorful, tropical species reach their northernmost range in the southern tip of Texas, and rare birds are always showing up,” he said.

His guide to New York bird species includes images and songs of 50 of the most frequently spotted birds in New York, including 25 kinds that will regularly visit bird feeders.  

“The Vook is a great introduction to the diversity of bird life in New York while helping those that feed birds identify the birds they hear and see in their own yard,” he said.

Overview
Vook is recruiting for an exceptional Creative and User Experience Director to join our team.  As the leader in the digital publishing arena, this presents a great opportunity for someone interested in getting in on the ground floor of a company focused on leading the development in the exciting, fast moving area of digital publishing.

A successful Creative and User Experience Director is an innovative designer, a decisive product owner, a confident manager, a helpful mentor, a team player, and a skilled client partner all rolled into one. The Creative and User Experience Director will help shape the Creative department, manage and mentor the team, and play a major role in business development.

A key task for the Creative and User Experience Director will be the creation of a variety of templates for Vook’s digital book technology creation engine that will allow Vook to produce innovative and great looking digital books without hands on design for each title. Creating these templates will require an understanding of the marketplace the titles will serve, an understanding of what users want in a digital book, and an emphasis on keeping design clean, simple and practical without adding over the top bells and whistles. Another key responsibility will be developing and designing the UI/UX for the in house publishing platform that generates the templated content.
Vook is a small company and every employee is expected to execute tasks and not simply manage others to execution. Hands on work is required, not just directional oversight.

Location
New York, New York

Job Responsibilities

• Establish creative direction for Vook’s entire line of products
• Supervise and inspire the creative team
• In conjunction with the Chief Product Officer, develop creative programs and design concepts that meet the business objectives of the organization and that advance our products and brand strategy
• Perform consumer needs analysis, market sizing, and competitive analysis to determine how the user experience and design will address key consumer opportunities
• Champion the consumers’ online experience, with a keen eye on developing a superior and differentiated user experience
• Manage and provide quality control for multiple projects from concept through completion
• Work to create templates for Vook’s in house technology platform to provide a scope of design choices for different types of digital books
• Work with Vook’s in house publishing platform MotherVook to design and create its UI/UX
• Partner with our Product Management and Technology teams throughout the creative, build and implementation phases to ensure high quality, on time releases that balances consumer and business needs.
• Champion principles of usability and user-centered design
• Collaborate with the cross functional team to create project scopes, schedules, and road maps
• Analyze and articulate emerging trends in design and user experience.

What We’re Looking For

• Passion for building great innovative digital products and a strong aptitude for user experience and business strategy
• Desire to produce the best experiences in the industry hands-down
• Startup management experience a plus
• Full understanding of how to apply the methodologies of interaction design and research to website and product development
• A strong working knowledge of experience design, brand development, interactive commerce and creative process
• Knowledge of layouts, graphic fundamentals, typography & limitations of applications and devices; must have the ability to storyboard or translate ideas to designers and develop innovative motion graphics solutions
• A mix of intelligence, integrity, domain knowledge, communication skills, and diplomacy that will allow you to rapidly earn the respect of internal team, partners, and customers
• Minimum 5-7 years consumer facing digital creative or user experience creating interfaces, large scale websites, or applications; digital publishing a plus
• Hand-on experience generating concepts, wireframes, designs, style guides and working with project team (clients, business owners, Technology) to deliver
• Experience creating complete product/feature specification documents
• Solution and team oriented  with the ability to build trust and influence others
• Self-motivated, able to proactively work toward a goal independently without significant oversight
• Energetic with a strong work ethic and drive to succeed
• Engaging presentation style
• Solid writing and visual communication skills
• Familiarity with usability heuristics and relevant HCI literature
• Knowledge of InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, AfterEffects and other tools for generating wireframes and behavior specifications

Interested parties can contact Vook at matthew@vook.tv

I just had the pleasure to once again chat with Dr. Vook, Ph.D, who dropped by the Vook New York office yesterday. He’s hard at work on his upcoming TextVooks, which include the Civil War, World War I, Western Civilization and History of the Middle East. I can’t wait to check them out. If you haven’t had a chance to download his American History 101 TextVook, click here. Make sure you also follow the great doctor on Twitter @drvookphd.

Q. I see you have a rock ‘n’ roll TextVook coming out. Have you met any rock stars? Any interesting experiences you wish to share with us?

A. I once was invited to a party at David Lee Roth’s hotel room in New York City. It was me, the staff of CBGB’s and the gentlemen who went on to found the Blue Man Group. That was an interesting experience, to say the least.

Q. You also have a Middle East TextVook … how exciting. What marvels of the world have you seen while you were visiting?

A. The list is too long but here it goes: the Hanging Gardens of Bablyon, the Pyramids, the Wailing Wall and the tallest building in the world in Dubai. Did you know that coffee, toothpaste and the celestial globe were invented in the Middle East?

Q. I am really excited to read your Psychology Vook. Have you met Jung or Freud? Were they cool guys?

A. All of the above. Cool yes, but I generally think psychology is overrated, like home cooking and the FBI.

Q. Did you get up to any adventures while you’re here in New York City?

A. I visited the Morgan Library this morning and checked out the Guttenberg Bible, seems relevant to this Vook project, would you agree? By the way, Vook is the digital printing press.

Q. Anything else you wish to share about what you have been up to since we last chatted?

A. Did you know that New York City was briefly the U.S. capital from 1789-90 and that Central Park in the middle of Manhattan covers a larger area than the principality of Monaco?

Thank you, Doctor.