If you are looking for more than clips of funny babies and American Idol contestants (come on, I'm grandmother - what else would I watch?) check out openculture for links to content with signs of "intelligent life" on YouTube.
See also 10 Ways to Make Your iPod a Better Learning Gadget .
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Free unzipping utility for Windows
There are quite a few unzip utilities, but IZArc claims to unzip almost every known format out there and it's free! So, if you don't want to load your PC with a bunch of utilities or pay for something you may only need to use once or twice, this may be the way to go.
Zipeg is another free utility that has versions for Windows and Mac OS X users too.
Sites with other free zip/unzip software: freeware.intrastar.net and Thefreesite.com
Zipeg is another free utility that has versions for Windows and Mac OS X users too.
Sites with other free zip/unzip software: freeware.intrastar.net and Thefreesite.com
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Free Neil Gaiman audio story
Here's a link to a story about one of Neil Gaiman's short stories, in MP3 audio read by the author: http://tinyurl.com/26avjf. The story includes a link to a free download provided by the publisher.
This caught my eye because it seems like a great marketing device for publishers. Some people who habitually watch Book TV (well, my mother, anyway) cite as a reason the chance to watch authors read from and talk about their work. That's remarkably hard to come across these in these days of highly managed media. Authors appearing on talk shows, for example, get about three minutes to talk, minus the time eaten up by the host's hilarity. Public readings used to be a pretty common thing. I know there are still readings, but they're relatively hard to come across and are typically undertaken by lesser-known authors. I, for one, think it's promising to see publishers using tech as an efficient platform to re-imagine those free readings.
This caught my eye because it seems like a great marketing device for publishers. Some people who habitually watch Book TV (well, my mother, anyway) cite as a reason the chance to watch authors read from and talk about their work. That's remarkably hard to come across these in these days of highly managed media. Authors appearing on talk shows, for example, get about three minutes to talk, minus the time eaten up by the host's hilarity. Public readings used to be a pretty common thing. I know there are still readings, but they're relatively hard to come across and are typically undertaken by lesser-known authors. I, for one, think it's promising to see publishers using tech as an efficient platform to re-imagine those free readings.
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Creating Your Own Social Network
www.ning.com does for social networking what blogger.com does for blogging. It provides templates and features that will allow you to be up and running in minutes. You have more control of your network than simply creating a page on myspace or facebook.You can even add it as a subdirectory to your web page, but that will cost you $5.00/mo. For the really ambitious, Ning will provide the source code to create your network from scratch. This might be a good tool to provide the social networking experience for young people in a safer environment.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Guess who's using Flickr?
You not only get a chance to view some of the hidden treasures of the Library of Congress' prints and photos, but you can also create tags to help describe the collection. Check out The Library of Congress Pilot Project on Flickr.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Installing videos on your ipods or other video players
I've been asking myself - what good is it having a video iPod or Creative Zen V if you can't download videos? Even the new Harry Potter DVD comes with a digital version for you to download legally, but it is not compatible with iPods!
Today I heard about an open-source program called HandBrake that is supposed to convert files and it is available for Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows. I may have some time this weekend to try it out. I was really disappointed that our Creative Zen V was not compatible with Overdrive's collection of downloadable videos. It works great with audiobooks, but not videos.
Today I heard about an open-source program called HandBrake that is supposed to convert files and it is available for Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows. I may have some time this weekend to try it out. I was really disappointed that our Creative Zen V was not compatible with Overdrive's collection of downloadable videos. It works great with audiobooks, but not videos.
The Amazon Kindle
Staff member Katie Salley tested the Amazon Kindle for a week. Here is her review of the device! Please comment with questions. Katie is always very happy to talk about the Kindle!
-Cari D., Reference Librarian
Katie's Review
Likes:
1. The dictionary feature - it's nice to be able to look up words that are unfamiliar with ease.
2. The ease with which you can browse the Amazon store - it's really cool that you are able to read reviews and browse chapters before you buy a book. The ability is also there to write reviews while on your Kindle, but I am not all that comfortable with using the tiny keyboard so I would still prefer to do this on a normal computer.
3. The speed at which files are downloaded to your device - once we purchased a book, it was on the Kindle in less than 30 seconds. By the time I realized that it was downloading my book, it was already done!
4. The e-ink technology - it's nice to be able to read the text, no matter at what angle I view it. Yes, you need a light to read (there is no backlight, which gives for great battery life) but you need a light to read a book, so I don't see the merit in other people’s complaints of this feature.
5. Ability to change font size - while reading, I love that I can change the font size to be either bigger or smaller. When my eyes get tired and have a hard time focusing, it will be nice that I can make the font bigger to make reading easier.
6. Because text is only on one side of the “book”, I am able to stay in the same comfortable position for longer. When laying in bed and reading a normal book, I have to resituate myself every time I turn the page. This is alleviated with the Kindle.
7. I was able to upload a text file with my class notes onto the Kindle. I then took the Kindle to class with me to study before a final. Since I was so infatuated with the Kindle (it was like a new toy to me!) I was able to study longer and better. And my eyes didn’t get as tired.
8. Battery life is fantastic. I browsed the Kindle store, surfed the internet, read an entire book, studied for an exam, and the battery still lasted 6 days. I was incredibly impressed! However, I did have the wireless option turned off more often that I had it on, so that definitely helped prolong the battery life.
Dislikes:
1. Too easy to hit the "next page" button; there's no good way to hold it without the case without hitting buttons. This became less of an issue once I used the case it came with. Also, once I got used to the buttons, I was less likely to hit them just from normal handling. I also found out that you can lock the keys (by hitting Alt+aA, which is the alt key and the key to change fonts). This is handy when you are just setting the Kindle down for a short time, but do not want to turn it off completely.
2. Initial cost - it's $400, enough said. Although, I looked at the cost of the Sony Reader, and it’s $300 (and their books cost more and they don’t use Whispernet, which wirelessly downloads the books within seconds). With the Kindle, you also have free internet wherever you go, so I think that the Kindle is a better deal than the other e-book readers out there, as long as the internet stays free. That being said, I am a poor college student, so I will be waiting until the price drops before purchasing one.
3. The keypad worked a little slow for my liking. I’m a fairly fast typist, even on this smaller keyboard and it bothered me that the letters didn’t show up immediately. It’s not a huge deal but it was enough to make me frustrated every now and then.
Not sure if I like or dislike:
1. It plays audio books as well. Now, the Kindle is great as an e-book reader, but I don't think it was necessary to make it work for audio books as well. There are far better devices out there that would work with audio books, and this device is too clunky to be using it for audio books on a daily basis. One idea that would be neat would be to play the book while you read it, but unfortunately, you cannot multitask while listening to an audio book.
2. It plays MP3s. I'm tempted to put this one under the "dislike" column. It's an e-book reader. It should stick to what it's good for. There is no way to organize songs (which is fine by me) and there's no way to skip tracks (also fine by me). I know that some people will complain about this feature, but if you want something that plays MP3s in that way, get an ipod.
Places to download eBooks for free:
http://manybooks.net/
http://www.feedbooks.com/discover/index
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
From what I have used these sites, I actually do not like the Project Gutenberg site all that well. The PG site makes formatting strange when you change fonts or even use the default font on the Kindle. Feedbooks was by far my favorite. Once you download a book for the Kindle, you get a short biography of the author and a list of some of their other works. From that list, you can wirelessly download more books by that author (very handy!). You can also download a guide to all the books they have and keep that guide on the Kindle. Through this guide, you are also able to download the books with just a few clicks of a button!
-Cari D., Reference Librarian
Katie's Review
Likes:
1. The dictionary feature - it's nice to be able to look up words that are unfamiliar with ease.
2. The ease with which you can browse the Amazon store - it's really cool that you are able to read reviews and browse chapters before you buy a book. The ability is also there to write reviews while on your Kindle, but I am not all that comfortable with using the tiny keyboard so I would still prefer to do this on a normal computer.
3. The speed at which files are downloaded to your device - once we purchased a book, it was on the Kindle in less than 30 seconds. By the time I realized that it was downloading my book, it was already done!
4. The e-ink technology - it's nice to be able to read the text, no matter at what angle I view it. Yes, you need a light to read (there is no backlight, which gives for great battery life) but you need a light to read a book, so I don't see the merit in other people’s complaints of this feature.
5. Ability to change font size - while reading, I love that I can change the font size to be either bigger or smaller. When my eyes get tired and have a hard time focusing, it will be nice that I can make the font bigger to make reading easier.
6. Because text is only on one side of the “book”, I am able to stay in the same comfortable position for longer. When laying in bed and reading a normal book, I have to resituate myself every time I turn the page. This is alleviated with the Kindle.
7. I was able to upload a text file with my class notes onto the Kindle. I then took the Kindle to class with me to study before a final. Since I was so infatuated with the Kindle (it was like a new toy to me!) I was able to study longer and better. And my eyes didn’t get as tired.
8. Battery life is fantastic. I browsed the Kindle store, surfed the internet, read an entire book, studied for an exam, and the battery still lasted 6 days. I was incredibly impressed! However, I did have the wireless option turned off more often that I had it on, so that definitely helped prolong the battery life.
Dislikes:
1. Too easy to hit the "next page" button; there's no good way to hold it without the case without hitting buttons. This became less of an issue once I used the case it came with. Also, once I got used to the buttons, I was less likely to hit them just from normal handling. I also found out that you can lock the keys (by hitting Alt+aA, which is the alt key and the key to change fonts). This is handy when you are just setting the Kindle down for a short time, but do not want to turn it off completely.
2. Initial cost - it's $400, enough said. Although, I looked at the cost of the Sony Reader, and it’s $300 (and their books cost more and they don’t use Whispernet, which wirelessly downloads the books within seconds). With the Kindle, you also have free internet wherever you go, so I think that the Kindle is a better deal than the other e-book readers out there, as long as the internet stays free. That being said, I am a poor college student, so I will be waiting until the price drops before purchasing one.
3. The keypad worked a little slow for my liking. I’m a fairly fast typist, even on this smaller keyboard and it bothered me that the letters didn’t show up immediately. It’s not a huge deal but it was enough to make me frustrated every now and then.
Not sure if I like or dislike:
1. It plays audio books as well. Now, the Kindle is great as an e-book reader, but I don't think it was necessary to make it work for audio books as well. There are far better devices out there that would work with audio books, and this device is too clunky to be using it for audio books on a daily basis. One idea that would be neat would be to play the book while you read it, but unfortunately, you cannot multitask while listening to an audio book.
2. It plays MP3s. I'm tempted to put this one under the "dislike" column. It's an e-book reader. It should stick to what it's good for. There is no way to organize songs (which is fine by me) and there's no way to skip tracks (also fine by me). I know that some people will complain about this feature, but if you want something that plays MP3s in that way, get an ipod.
Places to download eBooks for free:
http://manybooks.net/
http://www.feedbooks.com/discover/index
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
From what I have used these sites, I actually do not like the Project Gutenberg site all that well. The PG site makes formatting strange when you change fonts or even use the default font on the Kindle. Feedbooks was by far my favorite. Once you download a book for the Kindle, you get a short biography of the author and a list of some of their other works. From that list, you can wirelessly download more books by that author (very handy!). You can also download a guide to all the books they have and keep that guide on the Kindle. Through this guide, you are also able to download the books with just a few clicks of a button!
Friday, January 4, 2008
Free Office software
If you received a new laptop during the holidays that didn't come already installed with Microsoft Office - what do you do? Microsoft does offer very deep discounts for students and educators. But if you don't teach or have munchkins at home, you still have some good choices.
For PCs with Windows or Unix/Linux OS - OpenOffice is a good choice and it's free!
For Macs - take a look at NeoOffice, it is a straight conversion of OpenOffice to the Apple platform and also free; there are a few complications loading OpenOffice on a Mac, not insurmountable but does require a bit of expertise.
These are full-featured sets of office applications, including word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, and database programs.
For PCs with Windows or Unix/Linux OS - OpenOffice is a good choice and it's free!
For Macs - take a look at NeoOffice, it is a straight conversion of OpenOffice to the Apple platform and also free; there are a few complications loading OpenOffice on a Mac, not insurmountable but does require a bit of expertise.
These are full-featured sets of office applications, including word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, and database programs.
A New Website for Free Ebook Downloads
I also posted this on our DigiDownload blog, because I was so impressed by it. Please excuse the duplication.
This is a pretty snazzy site to acquire free ebook downloads. I'm not sure that some of these titles couldn't be found elsewhere, but the format and content should appeal to Gen Ys.
What attracted me first was the layout of the website and then the categories - these are not all classics and public domain titles. Yes, they have comics and graphic novels and great cookbooks! WOWIO books are free because sponsors pay authors and publishers on subscribers' behalf, so some are rather new releases.
Important things to note: you need to register to download titles; these are pdf files, so you will need the latest Adobe reader installed on your pc; you create a queue of titles you want to read, but only three titles may be downloaded each day. I think there is a time limit to access your titles, but I'm guessing that you can request it again if you need it for a longer period of time.
So far I've checked out - Stargate: The Graphic Novel, Excel 2007 Miracles Made Easy, and Stews, Casseroles & One Pot: 365 Recipes.
The site also provides RSS feeds to be notified about new releases.
The OLPC - FBReader installation
Check out TeleRead blog - FBReader running on OLPC laptop. Epub books soon for One Laptop per Child kids—and public libraries interested in laptop?
"We’re a little closer to e-book nirvana. FBReader, which in most incarnations can read .epub, the new standard e-book format from the IDPF, is now running on the OLPC laptop."
Currently these little gems cost about $400 for 2 laptops - you keep one and one is sent to a needy child somewhere in the world. The goal of the OLPC project is that the laptop will eventually sell for just $100.
Along with the Asus eeePC, these keyboards are made for very little fingers - but they're bigger than screens for text messaging and both may be viable ebook readers.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Kindle's Hidden Features Discovered
I'm not recommending that anyone try to reverse engineer their recently acquired Kindles, but it was just a matter of time before someone started messing around with this new device. The latest easter eggs - a basic photo viewer, a minesweeper game, and a rudimentary GPS feature. See Crave: the gadget blog
PC World story about libraries
I got really frustrated over the holiday while watching "I Robot"; a perfectly good movie that just had to slip in a line about libraries being made obsolete by the Internet.
Well, here's a PC World article that made it all better: http://tinyurl.com/yo4kyb
A new study shows Gen Y is coming to the library specifically for the computers. Actually, the largest group of adult visitors to libraries are in the 18-30 age group. That group tends to make heavy use of research databases, the Web catalog, and other online library resources like IM reference.
Maybe "I Robot" was wrong and there won't be a shortage of libraries (or an over-abundance of killer robots) in the future.
Well, here's a PC World article that made it all better: http://tinyurl.com/yo4kyb
A new study shows Gen Y is coming to the library specifically for the computers. Actually, the largest group of adult visitors to libraries are in the 18-30 age group. That group tends to make heavy use of research databases, the Web catalog, and other online library resources like IM reference.
Maybe "I Robot" was wrong and there won't be a shortage of libraries (or an over-abundance of killer robots) in the future.
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Tuesday, January 1, 2008
For the New Year I Want an eeeKindaPod
After trying out all the new gadgets at home and at the Library, I decided that I want one device that does it all and I'm calling it an "eeeKindaPod". Now I just need a New Year's miracle to get Amazon.com, Asus, and Apple to work together to create it.
My device would not only download ebooks from Amazon in less than three seconds, but it would also allow me to browse Amazon's entire website for other stuff as well. While I'm at it, I'd like to be able to check my e-mail and view any other website that strikes my fancy with Amazon's free wireless Whispernet.
I'd also like to be able to access web based applications like Google Docs, while I'm listening to music or audio books that I've downloaded from iTunes or the Library.
I really don't think these are unrealistic expectations. The Kindle, eeePC, and the new iPod Touch are all pretty remarkable devices. Each have unique features:
My device would not only download ebooks from Amazon in less than three seconds, but it would also allow me to browse Amazon's entire website for other stuff as well. While I'm at it, I'd like to be able to check my e-mail and view any other website that strikes my fancy with Amazon's free wireless Whispernet.
I'd also like to be able to access web based applications like Google Docs, while I'm listening to music or audio books that I've downloaded from iTunes or the Library.
I really don't think these are unrealistic expectations. The Kindle, eeePC, and the new iPod Touch are all pretty remarkable devices. Each have unique features:
- Amazon.com's The Kindle - uses Sprint's EVDO broadband network for mobile phones
- Asus' - direct links to Google Docs and wikipedia; can also be installed with either Linux or Windows OS
- iPod Touch - has Safari built in and enough memory to store a ton of music, TV shows and audiobooks
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