Top Ten Links – Week 3

January 22, 2010 · Posted in Links, Read This · View Comments

CC image used courtesy of holeymoon on flickr

My hand selected best links I shared on Twitter from 1/14/2010 through 1/21/2010 in no particular oder:

not enuf women have what it takes to behave like arrogant self-aggrandizing jerks Clay Shirky’s “Rant About Women” post. Both men and women should read this. I meant to blog my reaction to it but have run out of time, I may still do it next week. In a nutshell I agree with him.
RT @toptechtrends @sirexkathryn Talking about copia – @griffey and about blio #alamwttt #alamw10 – Take a look at blio & copia, I know I mentioned them in my Top Tech Trends notes, but these 2 things are probably the biggest changes we’ve seen to ebooks and how they work
sad to hear so much focus on tools & not the service they provide or needs they meet #alamw10 – This isn’t a link, its one of my tweets but I think it’s so important I’m including it. If you’ve heard me speak you’ve heard me say stop focusing on the tools, focus on your patrons and what’s best for them.
The Most Important Success Tip: Stop Lying Down with Dogs, Already from Johnny Truant over at Copyblogger. Did you know your salary & your habits are a reflection of the 5 people you spend the most time with? No, this article isn’t telling you to ditch your friends, and it provides some good advise.
stop judging yourself as “better” or “worse” than other people this post from The Confidence Guy blog is a response to Stop Lying Down with Dogs has some great thoughts too, including “…you need to stop judging yourself as “better” or “worse” than other people, which means you start thinking of yourself less, rather than thinking less of yourself.”
RT @theanalogdivide: So Gale is saying we should demand the right to choose which vendor screws us over? This tweet is in response to Gale’s Open Letter to the Library Community which is a response to Ebsco’s announcement that they will be the exclusive provider of content from many popular magazines. Read more here, here and here
New LJ Column on User Experience – Aaron Schmidt’s new Library Journal Column – The User Experience
Anticipating Apple Tablet, Amazon Bumps Kindle Royalty Cut – I think we’re all anticipating the Tablet
RT @ALALearning: RT @TheLiB: I am the newest contributor the to ALA Learning blog. Hurrah! YAY Sarah! – Sarah Houghton-Jan of Librarian in Black fame joins the crew (Peter,Maurice, Betha, Buffy, Lori, Marianne, Lauren, Paul, Jay, Stephanie and me! ) over at the ALA Learning Blog.
Library Day in the Life Round 4 begins Monday January 25th don’t forget to sign up – did you really think I wouldn’t include a mention of Day in the Life? Go sign up.

Tags: <ala learning, apple tablet, blio, copia, ebsco, empowerment, gale, improvement, journals, kindle, library day in the life, magazines, Patron Services, self esteem, Self Improvement, self promotion, Technology, tools, user experience, women>

E-Book Buyer’s Guide to Privacy

January 12, 2010 · Posted in Privacy, eBooks · View Comments

cc image courtesy of practicalowl on flickr

Thinking about an ebook reader? Concerned about ebooks and privacy? Just curious? The EFF’s E-Book Buyer’s Guide to Privacy v1.1 has answers to questions like

Can they monitor what you’re reading?
Is the device ONLY compatible with books purchased from an associated eBook store?
Can they keep track of book searches?
Can they keep track of book purchases?
With whom can they share the information collected in non-aggregated form?
Can they share information outside the company without the customer’s consent?
Do they lack mechanisms for customers to access, correct, or delete the information?

Tags: <ebook readers, eBooks, FBreader, google books, kindle, nook, Privacy, sony ereader>

The Nook from Barnes & Noble – I Want One, Here’s Why

October 21, 2009 · Posted in eBooks · View Comments

nook-money-shot I’m more excited about the Nook than I have been about any other ebook reader. This might be the one that finally gets me to buy one. Why?

8 Reasons You Can Finally Love Ebook Readers (Thanks to Nook) from Gizmodo

It’s cost-effective even with Wi-Fi, native PDF support, an SD slot and that crazy second screen makes it seem out of the Kindle’s league.
Lending and Sharing – 2 week loans to you can lend to tons of different devices: Mac, PC, iPhone, iPod Touch, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Mobile (soon).
Free in-store reading - take the Nook to any of Barnes & Noble’s stores and read one ebook, for free, each time—the same way you might wander into the store, pick up a book and read it for an hour or two. (I do this!)
Head-turning looks
Android – two things to be excited about when it comes to Android. First is the legit apps, which B&N seems open to. Second the more illicit possibilities: The Nook both runs Android (which we already know is easily and enthusiastically modified) and has a microUSB jack, which should make for easy hacking
The second screen - a keyboard and Cover-Flow-esque browsing in color without the awkwardness and lethargy of e-ink, allows for multitasking. You’ll be able to read a book and control your music at the same time, and because the music browser will be on the LCD screen, it won’t look like e-inked crap.
Battery Life – 10-days and it’s replaceable!
Both 3G and Wi-Fi

From the New York Times Live Blog: Barnes & Noble Unveils E-Reader

The digital books in Barnes & Noble’s e-bookstore are available in either epub or Adobe Pdf format. Customers who want to buy books in those formats from other digital bookstores may do so and transfer them onto the Nook, but those who want to buy e-books directly from the device will be connected to Barnes & Noble’s own bookstore.

From the Wall Street Journal Live From the Nook Launch (Don’t Call It a Kindle)

Digits commenter provides useful info: Derek writes, “Just bought 2 online – Per invoice ‘Expected Ship Date: November 30, 2009′.”

I have just one question – Will they play ball with libraries?

See more:

Watch a video demo Barnes & Noble Nook Up Close: Yep, It’s Real Nice
Compare to the Kindle
Barnes & Noble Compares Nook to Kindle 2: Biased But Fair
Barnes & Noble Unveils Kindle-Killing, Dual-Screen ‘Nook’ E-Reader (Updated)
Pre order one
Nook is Coming: Barnes & Noble’s Kindle Killer

Tags: <barnes and noble, book, borrowing, ebook, ereader, ereaders, in store, kindle, lending, nook, reader, wi-fi>

New ebook reader to watch – the Cooler

June 30, 2009 · Posted in eBooks · View Comments

I love the idea of an ebook reader, but I have problems with Amazon’s Kindle, foremost being price and inability to load my own content on without sending it through Amazon. I’ve been playing with the Sony Reader the last week or so but I don’t love it either. Since I want to love ebook readers I’m on the look out for anything that might improve them. The Cooler is an interesting venture in the market. It’s sleeker and well, prettier, it comes in 8 colours including ruby red, vivid violet and hot pink, you can view jpg, pdf, txt, and mp3 files right to it yourself. Its not without its problems, only one navigation buttons and books in the cooler store are more expensive than Amazon Kindle Books, although the selection seemed good. Overall its compares to Sony’s version than Amazon’s.