Apple Launches Blog and Podcast Server (Micro Persuasion)

Apple has quietly launched a blog and podcasting server for the education market. The server dishes out course content and supplemental materials for students (as well as professional development offerings for educators) for automatic delivery to iPods.

In addition, Apple has also started up a new podcast (ITMS link), called The Apple Digital Campus Podcast. It features conversations with leading thought leaders and practitioners on technology's impact on higher education. Last, but not least, they have published this guide to creating a podcast (PDF).

Apple, education, podcasts, podcasting

The Web Will Read You a Story (Wired News)

By Cyrus Farivar
02:00 AM Dec. 16, 2005 PT

This summer, Hugh McGuire was searching for free audio books online from his home in Montreal. He didn't find very much.

So McGuire launched LibriVox by recruiting amateur readers to create audio files of works of literature. The project now includes almost two dozen complete works, including Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent, Jack London's The Call of the Wild and other classic novels and poems.

(more...)

Google Zeitgeist of 2005

It turns out that looking at the aggregation of billions of search queries people type into Google reveals something about our curiosity, our thirst for news, and perhaps even our desires. Considering all that has occurred in 2005, we thought it would be interesting to study just a few of the significant events, and names that make this a memorable year. (We’ll leave it to the historians to determine which ones are lasting and which ephemeral.) We hope you enjoy this selective view of our collective year.

(more...)

A look back at 2005 wouldn't be complete without some lists. Here are three from us to you, representing some of the most popular searches this year on Google.

Google.com - Top Gainers of 2005
1. Myspace
2. Ares
3. Baidu
4. wikipedia
5. orkut
6. iTunes
7. Sky News
8. World of Warcraft
9. Green Day
10. Leonardo da Vinci

Google News - Top Searches in 2005
1. Janet Jackson
2. Hurricane Katrina
3. tsunami4. xbox 360
5. Brad Pitt
6. Michael Jackson
7. American Idol
8. Britney Spears
9. Angelina Jolie
10. Harry Potter

Froogle - Top Searches in 2005
1. ipod
2. digital camera
3. mp3 player
4. ipod mini
5. psp
6. laptop
7. xbox
8. ipod shuffle
9. computer desk
10. ipod nano

[via Slashdot]

google, search, zeitgeist

Google Launches Mobile-Friendly Gmail (TechNewsWorld)

By Keith Regan

Telecom analyst Jeff Kagan said that all Web companies want to extend their reach to the mobile phone as the device evolves from a communications tool to a "third screen" for customers, after the TV and PC. "Companies like Google and Yahoo are entering the wireless space because they know the future of wireless is much more than phone calls," he added.


Search leader Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has launched a mobile-friendly version of its popular Web-based e-mail service, Gmail, offering a streamlined interface meant to be more compatible with small screens.

Anyone with a Gmail account and a Web-enabled phone can access Gmail remotely. Google said the service detects the type of device being used to access the mail account and returns message listings and e-mails in an appropriate format based on the size of the screen and other factors.

The service will also automatically synchronize Gmail accounts, showing messages viewed remotely as read the next time a user logs on from a PC, and will enable mobile users to open certain attachments, including text files in Office or in PDF format.

Gmail mobile also offers a "call to reply" feature that works this way: If a user has stored the phone number of an e-mail sender in his or her contacts list, an opened message can be replied to either by a return text message or by calling that person's number.

(more...)

Google, handheld, mobile

10 Great Programs for you PDA

From the December Issue of Medical Economics...


"The 10 software programs we present won't break the bank. Many are free, and you can buy the remaining programs together for under $1,300 (prices are per year unless stated otherwise). Add a powerful PDA for between $200 and $400, and all of a sudden you're a digital doctor."


Epocrates Rx
Source: Epocrates (www2.epocrates.com)
Price: Free
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

Shots 2005
Source: The Group on Immunization Education of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (www.immunizationed.org
Price: Free
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

Griffith's 5-Minute Clinical Consult
Source: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (www.lww.com).
Also available through other PDA software providers like Epocrates, Lexi-Comp (www.lexi.com), and Skyscape (www.skyscape.com)
Price: $59.99 to $139.99, depending on the vendor and software package
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

InfoRetriever
Source: InfoPOEMs (www.infopoems.com)
Price: $249
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy
Source: Antimicrobial Therapy (www.sanfordguide.com)
Price: $27.50
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

PatientKeeper Clinical Results
Source: PatientKeeper (www.patientkeeper.com)
Price: Vendor would not disclose
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

MedCalc
Source: Mathias Tschopp, MD (www.med-ia.ch/medcalc)
Price: Free
Works with: Palm OS only

STAT Cholesterol
Source: StatCoder.com (www.statcoder.com)
Price: Free
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

STAT E&M Coder
Source: StatCoder.com (www.statcoder.com)
Price: $75 for two years
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

TouchScript
Source: Allscripts (www.allscripts.com)
Price: $69 per month
Works with: Palm (Pocket PC in future)

Handhelds Go to School (Wired News)

Associated Press

OLATHE, Kansas -- Aesop's fables came beaming across the classroom and landed in Eva Hernandez's Palm handheld. On the bottom floor of Ridgeview Elementary School, she sat scrolling, using her stylus to navigate through "The Flies and the Honeypot."

"Hmmm," said the 12-year-old. "I think I can animate the flies."

Eva, a sixth grader, is part of a new generation of kids using handhelds to read, write, do math, take pictures of the human eye or research Egyptian hieroglyphics -- all as a regular part of their curriculum.

As school districts scout ways to engage students already accustomed to instant messaging and interactive video games, they're buying up the kind of tech tools once reserved for jet-setting corporate executives.

Educational sales of personal digital assistants, laptop computers and handheld remote controls called "clickers" are ballooning nationwide. Last year, a survey by Quality Education Data found that 28 percent of U.S. school districts offered handhelds for student and teacher use. One of every four computers purchased by schools was a laptop.

One of the frontrunners was Yankton High School in South Dakota, which adopted Palm handhelds in 2001 and found they improved students' grades.

(more...)
education, handheld, pda, Palm, Treo

LibraryULive! Presents Day of the Digital Audio Book

Library U + OPAL = LibraryU Live!

LibraryU (http://www.libraryu.org) and OPAL - Online Programming for All Libraries (http://www.opal-online.org) are pleased to announce expanded online learning opportunities for librarians and the general public featuring web-based instruction combined with live online presentations.

These live events will be held in online rooms where participants can interact via voice-over-IP, text chatting, and synchronized browsing featuring instructional material from LibraryU.

The first combined initiative – “The Day of the Digital Audio Book” – is scheduled for February 16, 2006 and will include an online self-paced LibraryU module and a live event in the OPAL online auditorium. “The Day of the Digital Audio Book” will feature three separate sessions on the exciting and innovative activities going on in libraries in the area of digital audio books, and an additional “brown bag lunch” with a panel of experts discussing their practical experience in digital audio programming.

Session I will contain an introduction to and overview of digital audio books; Session II will provide libraries interested in offering digital audio books with important considerations and questions to ask vendors; and Session III will discuss the vendors and products available to libraries interested in offering these services. As an added bonus, a panel of experts will present an overview of current digital audio programs during a brown bag lunch session.

Participants may attend any or all of the sessions. After the session is completed, learners may supplement their knowledge or review what they have learned in the live sessions through the corresponding LibraryU tutorials on digital audio books. Registration for “The Day of the Digital Audio Book” is free. Please go to http://www.libraryu.org and register to take advantage of this exciting and timely opportunity.

LibraryU provides free web based training to Illinois librarians and their patrons 24/7, and was initially developed by the Illinois State Library and a number of Illinois regional library systems through a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant. In recent years, an initiative to enhance and widen the impact of the original LibraryU web site and make it a statewide training model was funded by a grant awarded to Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White and the Illinois State Library from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. There are currently 45 modules available on the LibraryU site, and more than 2500 registered users. Under the leadership of the Illinois State Library, Lisa Barnhart and Dawne Tortorella coordinate LibraryU.

OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries) is an international collaborative effort by libraries of all types to provide web-based programs and training for library users and library staff members. These live events are held in online rooms where participants can interact via voice-over-IP, text chatting, and synchronized browsing. There are approximately 25 library members of OPAL from all over the world. Events are free to librarians and the public from anywhere in the world. Programs are also archived and podcast for those who cannot attend live events. Tom Peters of TAP Information Services coordinates OPAL. The Alliance Library System/Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center and the Illinois State Library Talking Book and Braille Service administer OPAL.

For more information on these programs or to join, please contact Lisa Barnhart at barnhart@gridcom.net or Tom Peters at tapinformation@yahoo.com

PSP gets podcasts in new 2.60 upgrade (PalmAddicts)

Sony have released another new firmware upgrade for the PlayStation Portable today, bringing with it support for Microsoft's WMA format and a new RSS Channel tool opening up the world of Podcasts to the PSP.

The addition of Windows Media Audio to the existing audio formats is a huge boost to owners who wanted to have more flexibility with the music files that could be played on the PSP, which was previously limited to MP3 and AAC, and ignored Microsoft's widespread WMA format, requiring files to be converted first - much like Apple's iPod.

Perhaps more important though is the new RSS Channel which has been added to the Network menu, and gives the PSP full blogcast (or podcasting as it's become known) support. When you first run the RSS Channel you'll be directed to an FAQ on Sony's site giving detailed information about how the service works and how to subscribe to the RSS channels, along with specifications of RSS feeds for webmasters wanting to check that their feeds are correct.

(more...)

Baby Boomer Librarian: Gorman insulting Bloggers again

Baby Boomer Librarian: Gorman insulting Bloggers again

Computers in Libraries 2006 Preliminary Program available

The Computers in Libraries 2006 Conference is now available. Megan Fox, one of the Handheld Librarians, is a keynote speaker discussing the topic of "Planning for a Handheld Mobile Future." The conference will be held March 22-24 in Washington D. C. at the Washington Hilton.

iTunes Sharing Marketing the Collection (Tame the Web: Libraries and Technology)

Bruce Connoly has an article in the new Computers in Libraries that presents an incredible idea: use iTunes built in sharing capaibilty to share music with library users! Connoly discovers other folks music librraies showing up when he opens iTunes. His thinking, sparked by the recent EDUCAUSE conference and Joan Lippincott's article on serving Net Gen users, leads to this:

We started by creating a playlist called "Schaffer Library - New Music" consisting of about 2 dozen songs. We used complete songs, not samples. Generally, we included no more than a track or two from any one CD title. We decided to add the Schaffer Library call number in the Comments field (although this is an optional display field and users may not have it turned on) and to include additional information sometimes.

(more...)

Query from Rita Vine about library handheld product vendors direct marketing library users

Are any of you aware of vendors of library handheld products who are
sending direct marketing emails to your library's users who register to use
these products? A direct marketing email would be one that would be sent
directlyto a registered user of one or your library-licensed handheld products,
intended to advertise other electronic handheld products that an end
user could purchase directly, or one that would, as an example, suggest to
anend-user to "tell your library to buy handheld product X."

Contact me directly at rita DOT vine AT utoronto DOT ca , or you can
alsoreach me by phone 416 946 4041

Thanks,

R i t a V i n e
Gerstein Science Information Centre
University of Toronto
rita.vine@utoronto.ca

Handheld Librarian Welcomes Megan Fox!

A huge warm welcome to new Handheld Librarian Megan Fox! Megan is one of the national leaders in handheld technology and applications for libraries! Megan is the Web and Electronic Services Librarian at Simmons College and has spoken all over the country at numerous conferences on handhelds and libraries. A wonderful site by Megan on PDAs, Handhelds and Mobile Technology in Libraries is at http://web.simmons.edu/~fox/pda.

Thanks to Megan for joining us and to Grace Lee in New York for her ongoing posts to Handheld Librarian!

Thomson Gale adds Podcasts

Thomson has announced the addition of podcasts to various Gale InfoTrac databases.

To enable them to jump on the podcasting trend, Thomson is using the more liberal interpretation of the concept of "podcast" - meaning any online audio, as opposed to the stricter initial conception of the term, which is defined as a technology that allows users to subscribe to a set of feeds to listen to regularly updated syndicated audio Web content (pcwebopedia).

Podcast feeds are being added to the General Reference Center, Student Resource Center, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, History Resource Center, and more. Weekly presidential radio addresses by George W. Bush from January 2005 to the present will be podcast beginning November 8, 2005. New presidential radio addresses will be added weekly.

While this addition marks the first podcast ever loaded to Thomson Gale reference databases, the company says it will add more podcasts in the coming months.

EBSCO's DynaMed Now Available via PDA

Building on the prominent adoption of handheld devices in the health and medical arena, EBSCO has made its DynaMed evidence based medicine database available for PDAs. It's great to see another one of the major library aggregators moving towards providing information for the mobile handheld library, especially a vendor that services the public and academic library markets, where PDA content development had been a bit slower...

From the Nov 2 press release: "PDA users can choose from a downloadable version of DynaMed, or access a live version of the database through available wireless connectivity. DynaMed is the only evidence-based reference shown to answer most clinical questions in primary care. DynaMed was created by a physician for physicians and other health care professionals as a point-of-care clinical reference tool to replace most routine textbook and article searches. In addition, this resource is a great tool for medical students and residency programs."

Dolphin Announces Pocket Hal screenreader for mainstream PDAs

The Dolphin Group just announced the availability of Pocket Hal, a screen reader designed for standard PDAs. Until now, visually impaired users had to spend a lot of money to get a PDA which had accessible features. Now, they can enjoy the same PDAs at the same prices as mainstream users. See this Dolphin press release for more information.

Metro PDA & Handheld Computing SIG meeting, 11/30/05

The next meeting of the New York Metropolitan Library Association (METRO) PDA & Handheld Computing SIG will be co-sponsored with the Web SIG. It will be held on Wednesday, November 30, 2005 from 3:00-4:30 at METRO (57 East 11th Street, 4th floor).

The topic will be optimizing web sites for PDAs and handheld devices. We have two great speakers lined up, so it should be an interesting meeting. Denise O'Shea from National Network of Libraries of Medicine will talk about the PubMed interface for handhelds. Grace Lee of New York Law School and Jurispda.com will discuss how she uses iSilo and Plucker in her library.

Information on the PDA SIG is available at http://www.metro.org/SIGs/pda.html.
Information on the Web SIG is available at http://www.metro.org/SIGs/web.html.

For further information or to RSVP, please contact Nancy Glassman.

Handheld Puts AIDS Fight in Field (Wired News)

By Courtney Barry

A new HIV test the size of a credit card promises to diagnose the disease in minutes rather than weeks, and could be deployed in sub-Saharan Africa as early as next year.

The chip array circle shows the heart of the biochip wherein the sample collection and processing is done within a microfaricated structure.The optics that are used to count the cells using the CD4 system.Whole blood (top) and processed blood (bottom). The processed blood is stained and then cells are counted to yield immune function testing.Prototype for the CD4 analyzer and biochip sensor.

The device could solve one of the vexing problems of AIDS treatment in underdeveloped countries, where patients are not within easy reach of medical facilities. By providing an on-the-spot diagnosis, doctors hope to close the gap between test and treatment, and prevent known cases from slipping through the cracks.

The technology is similar to "blending digital camera technology with the brains of a Palm Pilot," says Dr. Bruce Walker, director of AIDS research at Harvard Medical School. Walker is part of a team of scientists at Harvard and the University of Texas at Austin who developed the sensor system. In tests, it has detected the amount of CD4 cells in the blood in as little as 10 minutes. The CD4 count indicates the stage of HIV in a patient, and helps doctors determine the best treatment and how much of it to administer. (more...)

Library Journal Webcast on Ebooks in Academic Libraries

Library Journal is offering a free webcast about ebooks in academic and
research libraries: eBooks Take the Ivory Tower. This promises to be
an exciting and informative event, and there is no travel time or
expense for you to attend.

It will begin on Tuesday, November 15, beginning at 2:00 p.m. Eastern
Standard Time, 1:00 Central, noon Mountain, and 11:00 a.m. Pacific.

There is no charge to attend, but registration is required at the
following URL.

http://web1.media.globix.net/client/lj/2005_1115/launch.htm

This one-hour round-table discussion will feature three experts on the
current scene and future trends in the academic ebook movment:
Warren Holder from the University of Toronto,
Suzanne Weiner from North Carolina State University,
Jim Mouw from the University of Chicago.

Francine Fialkoff from Library Journal will be the host, and Tom
Peters, will facilitate the discussion.

Several broad topical areas will be discussed, including:

Trends in publishing and pricing models and agreement terms
Enhancements to ebooks that improve and expand usability
Acceptance and use by different disciplines and demographic groups
Managing ebook collections and the electronic/print book
relationship
Impact of massive digitization projects, such as Google Library and
the Open Content Alliance

Library Journal is organizing this online event as the inaugural
program in their new URLearning series. The topics of future online events
in the URLearning series will be announced soon.

Thomson Gale and ABC-CLIO are the sponsors of this November 15th
kickoff event.

The URL for more information is:
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6271543.html

Everyone is welcome to attend. There will be some online Q&A time with
the panelists.

Digital Textbooks Struggle to Gain a Foothold on Campus (Wired Campus Blog)

A pilot program that lets college students buy digital textbooks from their campus bookstores has gotten off to a slow start. But the company that runs the project says the early returns show at the very least that students are interested in e-books.

MBS Textbook Exchange, Inc., has released sales data from 10 colleges that started offering digital textbooks through the company's Web site this fall. According to the company, e-books now account for 5.7% of the textbook sales at those institutions.

For more details on the digital-textbook project, see an article from The Chronicle by Andrea Foster. (Subscription req'd)

ebook, ebooks, EBOOK

After Songs and Videos, Crib Notes Become the Latest Offering for iPods (Chronicle of HIgher Ed)

By BROCK READ

With iPods slowly working their way into college classrooms, it was only a matter of time before someone put the devices to use as a way of cutting corners on course work.

Now a pair of companies has stepped up, offering a line of iPod-ready crib notes to such literary classics as The Great Gatsby and The Scarlet Letter. The notes are taken from study guides published by SparkNotes -- a company that has marketed itself as a hipper version of CliffsNotes, the giant of the field -- and are sold by iPREPpress, a business that retails reference material that can be viewed on the digital music players.

Right now about a dozen titles are available at $4.95 apiece. But the companies plan to publish digital guides for about 50 English-department cornerstones, according to Kurt Goszyk, the founder of iPREPpress.

The guides basically turn the iPod into a text-based browser: Students can read biographical sketches of characters, review themes and motifs, and test themselves with study questions and answers -- all by using the iPod's click wheel to navigate a series of hyperlinks.

But students can also listen to overviews of the books' plots and protagonists while they work out at the gym or walk from class to class. The study guides each include about six or seven minutes of audio material for students on the go, said Mr. Goszyk. "But in areas where you really have to concentrate" -- like SparkNotes' more detailed summaries of quotations and symbolism -- "we kept it as only text," he said. (more...)

Drexel U. to Hand Out Video-Playing iPods (Wired Campus Blog)

It certainly didn't take long for the newest iPod to work its way into a college curriculum.

Earlier this week, Apple unveiled the latest version of its popular music player, a model that can play videos on its tiny color screen. And already, officials at Drexel University say they've come up with a plan to give the devices to the 33 students enrolled in their online master's program in higher education.

The university distributed iPods to students at its School of Education earlier this fall. But the new program will "up the ante," according to William Lynch, the school's director: Students, he says, will be asked to edit their own research journal using podcasting technology.

Why Libraries Matter: A Story Long OverDue - new animated audio ebook for libraries

Why Libraries Matter: A Story Long Overdue.

The Alliance Library System, www.LibrariesMatter.com, and TumbleBooks Inc are pleased to announce the launch of a new animated online book entitled "Why Libraries Matter: A Story Long Overdue."

The book, in both online and downloadable format, is available free to all public libraries and elementary schools in North America for use on their websites.
"Why Libraries Matter: A Story Long Overdue" is the charming tale, told in rhyming verse, of a young girl who shows her family and neighbors how important the library is to them and their community.

The link below is an example of what the icon will look like on your website. It will also give you the opportunity to view, download, and e-mail the book for yourself.
http://www.librariesmatter.com/books/index.cfm

The project is the latest in a series of initiatives from the Alliance Library System who, last year, introduced the Libraries Matter campaign (ww.LibrariesMatter.com ) to public libraries across the world.

"We wanted to raise awareness," says Kitty Pope, Executive Director of Alliance, "and thought, what better way than to produce a book about 'Why Libraries Matter'? One of Alliance's main goals is to develop webcontent for our members." So Ms. Pope amd her team contacted TumbleBooks Inc., a company which specializes in creating animated, taking picture books for their online collection, TumbleBookLibrary, which is used by over 2000 public libraries and elementary schools across the world.

"We're a TumbleBookLibrary subscriber," explains Pope, "and we just love TumbleBooks. We thought it would be a perfect way to publish and distribute the book."

The result is an animated, talking picture book which can be viewed online, downloaded, and even e-mailed to friends and family. Alliance and TumbleBooks are providing the book for free to public libraries and elementary schools. It is the first in a series of awareness and fundraising projects Alliance and TumbleBooks will be collaborating on.

To receive "Why Libraries Matter: A Story Long Overdue" for your website, or for more information about the book and campaign, contact:

Ron Zevy
President
TumbleBooks Inc
(416) 781-4010
rz@tumblebooks.com
or
Sandy Albrow
Webmaster
Alliance Library System
(309) 694-9230
salbrow@alliancelibrarysystem.com

Factiva Upgrades Mobile Capability (Factiva press release)

New York (September 29, 2005) - Factiva®, a Dow Jones and Reuters Company, today announced that its Wireless Beta program, “Factiva Mobile”, is now available to all customers leveraging Factiva.com, Factiva SalesWorks™ and Factiva Companies & Executives™. It will provide time-pressed, mobile executives with access to business news and company information that will help them to more effectively prepare for sales calls, meetings, and business planning, anytime and anywhere.

“As Factiva continues to provide information where, when, and how our customers need it, mobile delivery has become an important part of our vision,” said Alan Scott, chief marketing officer at Factiva. “The capabilities offered by Factiva truly gives executives a competitive edge by arming them with the most current facts about their customers, prospects, competitors and markets.”

Compatible with BlackBerry® devices, Factiva Mobile for Factiva SalesWorks and Factiva Companies & Executives delivers snapshots of key information for more than 1.5 million companies worldwide, including company news, financials, contact details, executive lists, stock quotes, and more. (more...)

Audio archives and podcasts available from the Audio Book Expo

On Wednesday of this week a one-day conference was held in East Peoria, Illinois and online on the topics of digital audio books and multimedia ebooks.

Speakers included Steve Potash from OverDrive, Paul Cappezzello from OCLC/NetLibrary, Judy Dixon from the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Geoff Freed from the National Center for Accessible Media, Charlotte Johnson from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, William Harroff from McKendree College, Tom Peters from TAP Information Services, and others.

The conference was sponsored by the Alliance Library System, the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center, and the Illinois State Library Talking Book and Braille Service.

The archive of the conference, including the PowerPoint slides and audio recordings of each session, is now available online at the following URL:

http://www.opal-online.org/archivespecial.htm

The MP3 audio recordings also are available as podcasts at the following URL:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/OpalPodcast

Bill and Ed’s Excellent Adventure (Newsweek.com)

By Brad Stone

Sept. 28, 2005 - It took me a few years of using the Palm operating system—first on the Palm V PDA, and now in my Samsung i500 phone—before I finally figured out how to draw the “k” on the Palm graffiti pad. You use the stylus to pen a sidewise, cursive “L” Really.

Unfortunately, my breakthrough is now irrelevant. Palm upgraded Grafitti and made the K easier to draw. But more significantly, market dynamics, consumer preferences and the prevailing strength of software giant Microsoft Corp. have earmarked the once revolutionary Palm operating system to the technology platform dustbin.

Earlier this week, Palm, Inc. CEO Ed Colligan joined with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates in a San Francisco hotel conference room to announce a new product in Palm’s popular line of keyboard-equipped cell phones, the Treo. Unlike previous incarnations, this one will run Windows Mobile, instead of the Palm OS. That’s a bit like an Apple desktop running Windows XP. Or a Chevy car with a Ford engine.

It marks the beginning of the end for the Palm OS; the inevitable disappearance of a remarkably easy to use mobile operating system (“K” not withstanding) that enabled the very first generation of tech-equipped road warriors to tote around their calendars and Rolodexes in digital form. (more...)

A hand-held kiosk (NorthJersey.com)

When Travis Misurell arrived for freshman orientation at Montclair State University last month, he received the ultimate welcome gift.

School officials handed him a $250 Motorola cellphone - and told him to use it.

Not for phone calls, but to tap into a multitude of "channels" packed with news and updates on campus happenings.

Misurell and his classmates soon discovered they could use the phone to display everything from daily dining hall menus to a map updated every few seconds showing the exact location of campus shuttle buses.

"It's pretty useful, and it's going to get better and better," said Misurell, a 19-year-old from Little Silver.

So far, more than 1,400 of Montclair's 16,000 students are using the phones, and more are signing up daily. Incoming freshmen living on campus received the phones for free. Other students pay $50. (more...)

NEXT\TEXT

A project of: The Institute for the Future of the Book

In this networked age, the printed textbook has likely reached the end of its useful life cycle, but a robust digital competitor has yet to emerge. The next\text project seeks to encourage the creation of born-digital learning materials that enhance, expand, and ultimately replace the printed textbook. The work presented here offers multiple visions of what might be possible. (more...)

Man's best friend (outside of a dog) (IBM DeveloperWorks)

Joshua Fruhlinger (pdwe@jfruh.com), Editor and Writer, Freelance

13 Sep 2005

When is the electronic book going to be as useable as the old-fashioned kind? How do technologies need to change to bring e-books out of the geeky, early adopter ghetto and into digital bookstalls everywhere? Power Architecture™ readers provide the answers in this month's Power Architecture challenge.

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." -- Groucho Marx

Don't let anyone tell you different: the future is not here.

Our cars? Not flying. Our food? Not in pill form. Our books? Not electronic.

"Now hold on a minute, buster," I'm sure you're saying. "Why, I read sci-fi e-books from the Baen Free Library all the time! Every time I have a few spare moments, I just pop out my PDA and advance through a few dozen screens of tasty e-book action! The future is here -- for me!"

I hate to break it to you, though, but it looks like e-books in their current form aren't going to break out of their early adopter ghetto any time soon. Certainly books stored in electronic form have flourished in a number of niche markets -- reference books, in particular, are becoming more and more prevalent as electronic form rather than paper (see Resources for more on this and other wacky links). But when it comes to the books that make up the bulk of our reading lives, the vast majority of us are still reading words printed with ink on paper bound with glue and string. (more...)

Accessibility Trial of the Downloadable Digital Audio Book Service from netLibrary and Recorded Books LLC

Over 180 print-impaired readers in 15 states took part in a 2 month trial of the new netLibrary/Recorded Books downloadable digital audio book service. You can nowread the report by Tom Peters.

One Book Many Formats: The Magic of Multimedia

One Book Many Formats: The Magic of Multimedia

Wednesday, September 28 from 9:00 a.m. - 3:45 p.m.


Audio books in all formats are currently a red hot
technology in libraries, the general consumer market,
and for the visually impaired. Soon libraries will be
able to offer other exciting new medias on the
Internet, including video on demand and ebooks with
interactive audio and video. We will explore all the
exciting new formats for ebooks and audiobooks which
create a personal and customized reading experience
for all those who have trouble with regular print
because of a visual, physical, or learning
disabilities. Books in these new formats also benefit
and make reading more fun for children and adults who
have trouble reading, who are learning English as a
second language, or who just want to listen to
audiobooks for entertainment.

Join us for the second Annual Audio Ebook Expo to be
held in East Peoria at the Alliance Library System on
Wednesday, September 28 from 9:00 a.m. - 3:45 p.m. You
will hear from a variety of experts in the field and
get the wonderful opportunity to experience these new
technologies. The workshop is sponsored by the
Alliance Library System, Mid-Illinois Talking Book
Center, and the Illinois State Library Talking Book
and Braille Service. The workshop will also be
broadcast online for people who wish to attend the
programs from their desktops.

Speakers include Geoff Freed, WGBH; Tom Peters, TAP
Information Services; Steve Potash, OverDrive; Judy
Dixon, Library of Congress/NLS; Paul Cappuzzello,
OCLC; Bill Harroff, McKendree College; Charlotte
Johnson, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville;
Nancy Gilfillan, consultant; and Sharon Ruda,
Director, Illinois State Library Talking Book and
Braille Service.

More information on the program can be found at the
event website at
http://www.mitbc.org/audiobookexpo/index.html.
Cost to attend the in-person event is $10 for a cost
recovery lunch. There is no cost to attend online or
for talking book readers. To register for the
in-person event, please go to CLEO at
http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/cleo/index.asp or
you can also register for the in-person or online
event at
http://www.mitbc.org/audiobookexpo/registration.htm

To attend online, go to the OPAL auditorium at
http://67.19.231.218/v4/login.asp?r=67955673&p=0
type your name and click enter. A small software
applet will download to your machine as you go into
the online room.

This exciting event will be fun and educational. For
more information, contact Lori Bell at the
Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center at 1-800-426-0709 or
via email at lbell@alliancelibrarysystem.com

Libraries Offering Audiobook Downloads (Technology Review)

By Michael Hill August 29, 2005

Associated Press Writer

GUILDERLAND, N.Y. (AP) -- A new way to borrow audiobooks from the library involves no CDs, no car trips, no fines and no risk of being shushed.

Rather, public libraries from New York City to Alameda, Calif., are letting patrons download Tom Clancy techno-thrillers, Arabic tutorials and other titles to which they can listen on their computers or portable music players -- all without leaving home.

Librarians say such offerings help libraries stay relevant in the digital age.

Barbara Nichols Randall, director of the Guilderland Public Library in suburban Albany, said the library considered the needs of younger readers and those too busy to visit.

"This is a way for us to have library access 24/7," she said.

There's still one big hitch, though: The leading library services offer Windows-friendly audiobook files that can't be played on Apple Computer Inc.'s massively popular iPod player. (more...)

[via if:book]

Purdue Plans Academic Podcasts (Podcasting News)

This year at Purdue University, students won't just be listening to the latest tunes on their MP3 players. Students also will be using the devices to replay class lectures.

"Many universities are experimenting with podcasting, but I'm not aware of any other university that is deploying a podcasting service on the scale that we are," says Michael Gay, manager of Broadcast Networks & Services for Information Technology at Purdue. "As far as I know, we are the only university that is offering both streaming and podcasting of lectures in this manner as a central university service."

Students and faculty will be able to listen to podcasts of some large lectures on campus beginning immediately. Any faculty member can request that their course be available via the podcasting service, which is called BoilerCast.

"Once the students have this set up, they don't have to revisit the Web site to get the content," Gay says. "The most recent lectures of the courses they've subscribed to will be downloaded to their computer - and possibly to their media player - automatically."

Justin Williams, a senior in computer technology at Purdue, says that he's been asking individual instructors to podcast their courses for the past year.

"Having the audio of lectures and review sessions is a great way to complement the presentation slides many professors already offer," Williams says. "Being able to subscribe to the BoilerCast feed and have the new lectures automatically synchronized with my iPod sweetens the deal even more."

BoilerCast audio content also can be streamed to a person's computer if they don't want to download a file.

BoilerCast lectures have several advantages. Among them:

* Students are able to repeat lectures at their convenience, whether that's while exercising, driving or walking on campus.
* Non-native English speaking students can replay lectures to increase their comprehension.
* Students can review lectures before exams.
* Instructors can listen to their own lectures to improve their presentations.
* Students can listen in on classes they've missed.

Although the potential exists for students to use the service to skip classes, Gay says that he doesn't expect this to be a problem.

"Our experience has been that students who are going to skip class will come up with a reason to do so regardless. However, to put instructors' fears at ease, we will only BoilerCast a course if the instructor specifically requests the service," Gay says.

Purdue has offered audio recordings of certain lectures since the early 1970s. However, students needed to go to the undergraduate library to check out cassette tapes. Gay says BoilerCast is more convenient than the previous service.

"How many students even come to campus in 2005 with a cassette player?" he says. "Probably not very many."

The university also is evaluating other uses of the BoilerCast service. One of the first uses outside of the classroom is by Purdue Libraries, which is using the BoilerCast service to deliver self-tours of undergraduate library resources.

podcasts, podcasting

iPod Minis Moving to Flash Memory (Podcasting News)

August 24, 2005
Apple plans use flash memory for its new iPod Mini MP3 players, industry analysts
said on Wednesday.

Apple is expected to introduce a 4-gigabyte version of the iPod Mini that uses NAND flash memory instead of a hard disk drive for the Christmas season.

"To support production of its flash memory-based iPods, Apple has booked as much as 40 percent of the NAND output of Samsung for the second half of 2005, according to our industry sources," said iSuppli Corp. analyst Nam Hyung Kim.

Source: Reuters

How Mobile Phones Conquered Japan (Wired News)

By Xeni Jardin

Blue-haired Harajuku high schoolers thumb-text distant pals on stickered keitai. Cell phones become cookie brokers, beaming snack requests to vending machines that zap back digital payment demands. Teen girls book illicit "compensation dates" with salarymen, sending snapshots to potential johns via camera-phones.

The popular myth of Japan as a surreal, warp-speed incubator for all things handheld and digital is nothing new.

But rarely do outsiders have an opportunity to venture beyond iconic anecdotes for a matter-of-fact understanding of how mobile technology shapes that country's culture -- and our own.

Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life is touted as the first English-language book to attempt just that, and it succeeds.

Co-edited by University of Southern California research scientist Mizuko Ito, Keio University lecturer Daisuke Okabe and Misa Matsuda of Tokyo's Chuo University, the book debunks popular assumptions about why mobile culture evolved as it did in Japan.

Through a series of real-world case studies, it examines the relationship between mobile technology and Japanese society. In doing so, it sheds light on the way handheld connectivity tends to reshape cultures worldwide. (more...)

A Novel Approach to Podcasting (The Book Standard)

August 26, 2005
By Anna Weinberg

Scott Sigler first published his science-fiction novel EarthCore in 2001 with iPublish, an AOL/Time Warner imprint. When a promotional ebook version came out first, it hit No. 1 on Barnes & Noble’s website, and as plans to release the print version were going full steam ahead, Time Warner decided to scrap the whole imprint. After making sure he held the rights to the book, Sigler started looking for another way to get it an audience. In March, the author began podcasting a serialized version of his novel, which has now been downloaded more than 10,000 times. “When podcasting rolled around, I thought it would be a great way to release a novel,” he says. “I did a lot of research on it. There are 23 million Americans with an MP3 player, and the most popular form of radio is talk radio. So I thought, ‘This is just going to be huge.’ ”

As recently as this time last year, a podcast—a digital audio program that lives on the Internet—would have meant very little to most people. But today there are thousands of websites devoted to the technology; major media outlets have started releasing some of their broadcasts via podcast; and even cult favorite Neil Gaiman has posted the first few chapters of the audio version of his Anansi Boys on his blog. Sigler’s podcasting got him a deal with the publisher Dragon Moon Press after the publisher heard his audio version of EarthCore. And a new site, Podiobooks.com, has launched, with five titles already available for download. Its co-founder, Evo Terra, a podcaster for the online talk show The Dragon Page, notes that, as of this writing, 19 new authors have signed on to release free audio versions of their books through the site.

But Terra’s ambitions for the site are grander. “I see Podiobooks.com as the springboard for other authors who want to explore this new side to their craft,” he says. “I want a hundred books up by the first of the year, and I want each book to have thousands of subscribers. I want it to be a community resource for people looking for new and interesting work, and I want it to act as a catalyst for the sale of other forms of books, including print.” (more...)

WFU To Pilot Pocket PC Phone Edition in Campus (Geekzone)

Pocket PC Phone Edition devices will be in the hands of about 120 Wake Forest University students as the university begins a pilot program to explore potential campus uses for converged mobile technology.

The pilot program, called MobileU, will explore the ways students are already communicating and find out if one mobile device can meet their needs and enhance academic and student life.

"What we've seen over the past two or three years is students moving away from more traditional messaging like e-mail to newer technologies such as instant messaging and text messaging," said Jay Dominick, chief information officer at Wake Forest. "Student communication patterns are diverging. We want to find out if we can use mobile technology to close that gap, to deliver new things in ways students want to get them."

The Windows Moble Pocket PC Phone Edition in the pilot combine the functions of a cell phone and a mobile computer with wireless access and are equipped with instant messaging, text messaging and various customized software. Participants in the pilot will provide feedback on specific applications, but are also encouraged to come up with their own creative uses for the devices.

The pilot program will focus on three key functions: mobile messaging (such as instant messaging, text messaging); mobile access to information (including a calendar, the campus information network and specialized features such as campus shuttle bus tracking and laundry monitoring); and control over the device (including features such as turning off the ringer during a student's scheduled class times). (more...)

Metropolitan New York Library Council PDA and Handheld Computer Special Interest Group

The Metropolitan New York Library Council's PDA & Handheld Computing
Special Interest Group will hold its
inaugural meeting on Wednesday, September 14, 2005, from 3:00 to 4:30 at METRO's
office at 57 East 11th Street, 4th Floor (between Broadway and
University Place, near Union Square) in Manhattan. This SIG is for librarians,
from all types of libraries, interested in PDAs and other emerging handheld
computer technologies (e.g. smart phones, tablet PCs), and exploring
innovative ways libraries can use these technologies to enhance staff
workflow, provide patron services, and support patrons who use PDAs.

At this inaugural meeting we will use "UI Current LIS Clips: Personal
Digital Assistants (PDAs)"
http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/clips/2005_07.htm
compiled by Sue Searing as our jumping-off point for discussion.

Since this is our first meeting, we'll also spend a little bit of time
getting organized, finding out where people's interests lie, and
exploring topics for future meetings.

Whether you are already using a PDA, smartphone, tablet PC, or are just
curious about these gadgets, I hope you'll join us!

To RSVP or if you have any questions contact the SIG Convener Nancy
Glassman
at glassman@aecom.yu.edu.

Nancy Glassman
Information Technology Librarian
D. Samuel Gottesman Library
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

E-Audiobooks--from Emily Bronte to Dr. Phil--Now Available Free from the Los Angeles Public Library (Overdrive.com press release)

(Los Angeles, OH) - August 15, 2005 - To the list of things you can do while stuck in traffic, climbing the Stairmaster, eating lunch at your desk or just relaxing at home, you can now add listening to a downloaded best-selling book, thanks to the new e-audiobook service from the Los Angeles Public Library. Debuting August 15, the free service is available 24/7 on the library's Web site, www.lapl.org.

With a library card and an Internet connection, patrons can select from hundreds of fiction and non-fiction titles, then download the complete work as an audio file to a PC or laptop, then transfer the file to a supported MP3 player, PDA (personal digital assistant), or Smartphone. Most files can even be burned to CD for convenient play in a car, home, office, boat or other location.

The library has long offered a large collection of audiobooks in cassette and CD formats, but this marks its first foray into digital audio technology. "Audiobooks are in such high demand that we can barely keep them on the shelf," says City Librarian Fontayne Holmes. "The new technology makes this popular resource even more accessible and widely available. (more...)

Publishers loosen rules on e-textbooks (C|Net)

The pilot project, which will see textbooks sold in downloadable form at 10 university bookstores this fall, went into operation earlier this week. Under the initial version of the program, the downloads were to be sold for 33 percent off the cost of a new, printed copy, but would only be usable for about five months.

On Friday, MBS Textbook Exchange--the textbook wholesaler that is organizing the program--said publishers had agreed to extend the expiration dates for the digital textbooks. The downloads will now last from 12 months to an unlimited time, depending on the publisher.

"All of us have always been committed to putting together a program that delivers a cost savings to the student through the traditional channel, which is the bookstore," MBS Direct Chief Executive Officer Dennis Flanagan, who is heading the project, said in a statement. "Adapting to student recommendations is what this test is all about."

The experiment, which is already ongoing at several schools including the University of Utah, is one of the most ambitious efforts offering students digital versions of textbooks instead of the heavy printed copies they're used to.

A handful of textbook publishers already offer downloadable versions of their works through their own Web sites or through partners. But the programs have been only lightly used--in part because most students tend to buy their books all at once either onlin

The new program will see little cards produced by MBS sold on the shelves next to used and new copies of textbooks, offering students the discount if they buy online instead. The generic cards--similar to phone cards--are associated with a specific book at the bookstore's check-out desk, and the student downloads the book later.

Formatted and copy-protected using Adobe technology, the books can be searched by keyword and read out loud by the software. But antipiracy protections will prevent them from being sold back to the bookstore or to other students once a class is finished. (more...)

At Duke U., Public Radio Comes to iPods (Wired Campus Blog)

MP3 players aren't much use in the classroom if you don't have any content to put on them. But officials at Duke University -- which has drawn a great deal of publicity for its efforts to incorporate iPods into pedagogy -- seem to have anticipated that concern: They've struck a deal with Public Radio International to provide digital audio files for classroom use.

Under the arrangement, Duke professors will be able to use portions of popular public-radio shows like "This American Life" and "Studio 360" in class at no charge. And students will be able to download some of the shows to their portable MP3 players.

The deal will run through December, at which point Duke officials will decide whether to extend the program.

Also see an article from The Chronicle, by Brock Read, on Duke's assessment of the educational value of its iPod experiment.

podcasts, podcasting

Coming to campus: E-books with expiration dates (C|Net.com)

By John Borland
Story last modified Tue Aug 09 11:26:00 PDT 2005

When students at Princeton University, the University of Utah and eight other colleges start combing their school bookstore shelves for fall semester textbooks, they'll find a new alternative to the hard-covered tomes they're used to buying.

Alongside the new and used versions of Dante's "Inferno" and "Essentials of Psychology" will be little cards offering 33 percent off if students decide to download a digital version of a text instead of buying a hard copy.

That's not a bad deal for a cash-strapped student facing book bills in the hundreds of dollars. But there are trade-offs. The new digital textbook program imposes strict guidelines on how the books can be used, including locking the downloaded books to a single computer and setting a five-month expiration date, after which the book can't be read. (more...)

HOW TO make DRM-free ebooks for the Sony Librie e-ink ebook reader (Make)

The Sony Librie is a stunning e-ink ebook reading device with the most print-like book reading experience you can have at this time (the display moves microscopic black and white particles held within spherical microcapsules). For the most part, it hasn't been a success in the market; Sony crippled it with DRM, and only released in it Japan. But the hackers and tinkerers of the world have taken this device and modded the firmware. Now we're going to show you how to make non-DRMed ebooks for free..

[via BoingBoing]

Technorati blog search engine - new Mobile version

Blog search engine Technorati now offers a version optimized for mobile phones (like the Treo 600/650). It may also be the thing if you're not happy with the new redesign.

search, Technorati

Risks of Losing Portable Devices

As PDAs become more powerful, and memory becomes cheaper, more people are carrying around a lot of personal information in an easy-to-lose format. The Washington Post has a story about this:

Personal devices "are carrying incredibly sensitive information," said Joel Yarmon, who, as technology director for the staff of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), had to scramble over a weekend last month after a colleague lost one of the office's wireless messaging devices. In this case, the data included "personal phone numbers of leaders of Congress. . . . If that were to leak, that would be very embarrassing," Yarmon said.

[via PalmAddicts]

The Library in the Palm of Your Hand(PDAs)

The Library in the Palm of Your Hand(PDAs) compiled by Sue Searing is now available on the web as a UI Current Awareness Clip. She has selected and annotated articles on a variety of topics related to libraries and PDAs including the ten myths about PDAs, library services for PDA users, the PDA Librarian, redesigning library applications for PDA use, and more. "UI Current LIS Clips, an electronic current awareness service, helps you stay up-to-date with the latest issues in library and information science. This free service offers thoughtful, easy-to-read summaries of the key recent publications in the field, for practicing librarias, information professionals and academics. Each issue focuses
on a topic of current concern to the Library and Information community." This issue was very nicely done and informative. UI Clips is a joint project of the School of Library and Information Science and the Library and Information Science Library at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Rapid-Fire Reading on Your Cell Phone (Mobile Magazine)

I don't know of anyone who likes e-books as much as I do. I'm fanatical about them. I do almost all my reading on Palm OS devices. I buy books from eReader.com, read news from AvantGo, and copy articles from the web onto my handheld. My Tapwave Zodiac is an insurance policy against boredom. The interminable lines at the DMV are no match for the half-dozen digital books and 50-odd articles I carry in my pocket at all times.

Maybe I'm just a lousy evangelist, but I haven't convinced many wood-pulp aficionados to go digital. Treeware users typically complain that small displays make it difficult to read. And they have a point. There's only so much text you can cram onto a small display before it becomes illegible, and when the text is large you have to press the Next button a lot, which interrupts your reading flow.

There's a possible solution to the problem that doesn't require devices with bigger displays. In fact, the displays could be even smaller than they are now. It's called "rapid serial visual presentation" (RSVP for short), and it involves displaying text one word at a time on a phone or handheld screen.

[via BoingBoing]

Beethoven beats Bono in battle of the internet downloads (Guardian)

Music industry forced to take note as composer's complete symphonies outshine rock acts in online chart

Charlotte Higgins, arts correspondent
Thursday July 21, 2005
The Guardian

Forget Coldplay and James Blunt. Forget even Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which, in the version performed at Live8 by Sir Paul McCartney and U2, has become the fastest online-selling song ever. Beethoven has routed the lot of them.

Final figures from the BBC show that the complete Beethoven symphonies on its website were downloaded 1.4m times, with individual works downloaded between 89,000 and 220,000 times. The works were each available for a week, in two tranches, in June.

Sgt Pepper could well end up as the best-selling online track of all time. But its sales figure of just 20,000 online in the two weeks since it has been available contrasts poorly with the admittedly free Beethoven symphonies. (Sgt Pepper cost 79p on the iTunes website.) (more...)

handheld, podcasts, mp3, music

New Self Playing Digital Audiobook

Playaway has announced that they will soon offer "the world's first self-playing audiobook." Consumers will be able to purchase a device with a specific title on it for the price of a current downloadable digital audiobook or audiobook on CDs or cassettes, put some batteries in it and connect headphones and listen to the book. The device/book will be portable enough to put in your pocket, and has a simple keypad to control the experience. For libraries, this could be very exciting. No more worrying about lending or recommending devices, the reader does not have to have a computer to download or listen to a book, and the self-playing book can be checked out to the patron, returned and then used again. For talking book centers where we mail out players and cassettes, we could just mail out the selected book or books; then the reader can mail back and we can make available for the next reader. It will be interesting to experience this new type of digital audiobook! For more information, contact Mike Belsito at
mike.belsito@findawayworld.com.

Thinking Inside the Box: Games, Teens and Libraries

Thinking Inside the Box: Games, Teens and Libraries - Bloomington Public Library
Friday, July 15, 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Are video games and their related programs the next hot trend? Bloomington Public Library has a good track record in this area and is keen to share their experience. Join Matt Gullett, Kelly Czarnecki, Chuck, Chad Brekke, and Diane Colletti as they explore the issue and potential partnerships. You can attend online by going to the OPAL auditorium at
http://67.19.231.218/v4/login.asp?r=67955673&p=0
type your name and click login. Please email Lori Bell
if you plan to attend. (lbell@alliancelibrarysystem.com)
The event will also be made available as a podcast.

LISPodcasts.com: Where librarians sound off

LISPodcasts.com serves as a central clearinghouse of everything that is happening in the world of LIS Internet Audio.

July 2005

• 07: Introduction to OPAL
• 06: Welcome to LISPodcasts.com
• 05: Most of My Friends Are Two-Thirds Water

librarians, mp3 podcasts, podcasting

eReader.com free ebook promotion

eReader.com sells ebooks in a number of electronic books formats (Palm, Pocket PC, Mac, Symbian, Windows). For the month of July, they are offering a different book as a completely free download. There is something for everyone from mysteries and thrillers to mind-expanding science fiction, sexy romances, heart-stopping adventures and many more. You will need to set up an account in order to download books.

handheld, E-Books, EBOOK, Palm, pocket pc

Linux Finds Its Way to More Handheld Devices (Slashdot)

from the promises-promises dept.
LXrider writes "The coolest new handheld to pick Linux as its OS is the Pepper Pad. This device was one of the most exciting products to be found at this year's otherwise lackluster C3 Expo in NYC. The Pepper Pad runs MontaVista Linux on a Intel XScale PXA270 (624 MHz) processor and it used for viewing multimedia, surfing the net, and controlling your home's electronics."

Let's Go Library Expo: Books, Ebooks and Audiobooks

“LET’S GO LIBRARY EXPO” ONLINE CONFERENCES

On Thursday, July 28, 2005 the first of an ongoing series of online conferences about hot topics in librarianship and information technology will be held. The series is called “Let’s Go Library Expo” and the July 28 online conference will focus on “Books, eBooks, and Audiobooks.” The keynote speaker will be author Asra Nomani (Author of the new book Standing Alone in Mecca, one woman's pilgrimage to reclaim the rightful role of women in Islam).

Participation in this inaugural conference is free of charge for conference attendees. All you need to participate is a computer with a sound card, speakers, and an Internet connection. If you want to speak using Voice-over-IP (in addition to text chat) you need a computer microphone.

The Let’s Go Library Expo series of online conferences will offer the things you value from in-person conference, such as:

Thought-provoking keynote speeches
Informative panel discussions
Exciting vendor exhibits and demonstrations
Ample opportunities for informal networking
Great handouts and other takeaways


Online conferences avoid the less-lovely aspects of in-person conferences, such as:

Outrageous travel expenses
Long walks in cavernous convention centers
Crowded, stuffy meeting rooms
Shuttle buses
Lost travel time
Uncomfortable beds


For more information about “Let’s Go Library Expo: Books, eBooks, and Audiobooks,” the July 28 online conference, please visit http://www.planetlibrary.info/lgle200508.htm. This online conference is supported by the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center (http://www.mitbc.org/), the North Suburban Library System (http://www.nsls.info/) near Chicago, and the Alliance Library System (http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/) in central Illinois.


Fees for exhibitors and sponsors are very reasonable, and you avoid all of the related travel expenses. For more information about sponsorship and exhibition options within the “Let’s Go Library Expo” online conference (either for single events or the entire series), please contact Tom Peters (816.228.6406 or tpeters@tapinformation.com).

For additional information about the entire “Let’s Go Library Expo” series, please visit http://www.planetlibrary.info/lgleindex.htm.

“Let’s Go Library Expo” is a service of Planet Library (http://www.planetlibrary.info/index.html), an emerging full-service online library that will provide a wide variety of content and services for library users worldwide.

A Yahoo Group has been created to facilitate discussion and announcements regarding Planet Library and its services, such as the Let's Go Library Expo series of online conferences. All library users worldwide are welcome to join this Yahoo Group.
To join the Planet Library Yahoo Group, please visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PlanetLibrary/join

The “Let’s Go Library Expo” series and Planet Library are sponsored by TAP Information Services (http://www.tapinformation.com/), which provides a wide variety of high quality planning, consulting, research, and assessment services supporting libraries, consortia, government agencies, publishers, and other information-intensive organizations.

Full Text Searching Via Amazon and Google

Thursday, July 14, 2005 beginning at 2:00 p.m. Eastern
Daylight Time, 1:00 Central, noon Mountain, 11:00 a.m.
Pacific, and 6:00 p.m. GMT:
Full Text Searching via Amazon.com and Google
One of the drawbacks of online library catalogs is
that they lack full text searchability. You cannot
look for every occurrence in every book of any single
library collection of phrases such as "social
networking", "molybdenum" or "Paradise Lost." If you
could do this, you might locate valuable information
buried deep inside a book. Amazon.com and Google have
added new services and functionalities that will soon
make this kind of search not only possible, but
efficient and, in any case, extend the value of any
library collection when used in tandem with an online
library catalog. Learn about Amazon.com's
"statistically improbable phrases," "concordance," and
"Search-inside-the-book" features and about Google
Print and Google Scholar, which provide free (if
limited) access to books and scholarly journals. This
session requires no programming knowledge and only a
basic familiarity with Amazon.com and Google.
Presented by William Thompson and Marcy Allen from
Western Illinois University.

To participate, go to the
online auditorium at
http://67.19.231.218/v4/login.asp?r=67955673&p=0
Type your name and click login to enter the online
room. All that is needed to participate are an
Internet connection, sound card, and speakers.

The Awkward Smart Phone Grows Up (New York Times)

By DAVID POGUE
Published: June 30, 2005 (Reg. req'd)

AND now, another episode of gadgetry's long-running corporate soap opera, "As the Palm Turns."

Previously on "A.P.T.": In Season 1 (1996), Palm Computing developed the smash-hit Pilot organizer. The company was swallowed by U.S. Robotics, which in turn was snapped up by 3Com. Frustrated, Palm's founders resigned and founded the rival Handspring. 3Com then spun out Palm as an independent entity once again, whereupon it soon split into two companies, PalmOne (hardware) and PalmSource (software), and PalmOne acquired the ailing Handspring.

In the latest exciting installment, PalmOne has bought back the name Palm from the struggling PalmSource, whose future is in doubt. By year's end, PalmOne will once again be called Palm, making you wonder if the whole thing was a nine-year-long dream.

Now, if you watch Seasons 6 through 9 closely on DVD, you'll see a minor character gradually rise to prominence: the Treo smart phone, introduced by Handspring in 2002. From the very beginning, the name reflected the Treo's triple goal: to combine an organizer, a cellphone and a pocket Internet terminal with as few compromises as possible. More than 1.7 million have been sold.

With its string of marriages and divorces behind it - at least for now - Palm has realized that the Treo is its future. The market for stand-alone organizers is cooling, so Palm has announced that it is "shifting its emphasis to the smart phone space."

pda, Palmone, smartphone, Treo

Grokster May Haunt Podcasting (Wired News)

By Katie Dean 02:00 AM Jun. 29, 2005 PT

Apple's new podcasting service could be in a sticky situation if podcasters post copyrighted material, thanks to Monday's Grokster decision by the Supreme Court, some experts say.

But others suggested Apple's new podcast hub could prove to be an ideal one-stop-shop for securing music licenses for homebrew radio shows.

Launched on Tuesday, Apple's podcasting service is built into its online iTunes Music Store. The new service encourages iTunes users to subscribe to podcasts -- self-published radio programming -- for free, and allows them to publish their own.

Like the iTMS, the podcast service features a list of the top 100 podcasts and highlights programs in different categories, such as public radio, morning shows and talk radio.

Apple, ipod, itunes, podcasts, podcasting

Google to offer SMS services

Google has SMS (short message service) in beta. SMS allows a user on a mobile device to query the web via text messaging to get weather information, short answers to questions, driving directions, local business listings, and more. You can get Google SMS help information sent directly to your phone by sending the word 'help' as a text message to 46645. For information on a question such as the population of a country, who wrote a certain book, etc. the user puts in a short query and Google goes to work to find the fact and a source for you with its search engine. Users can also do image searches and partner with google to make sure their website is indexed and added to mobile search results. Google even translates regular web pages on the fly to fit a small screen.

Altarama is a company out of Australia which has formed a virtual reference service using SMS for libraries. The text message is translated into an email question which is sent to the library's email address. The librarian sends an answer to the user which is translated back as a text message. The service can also be used to send other short messages to clients such as overdue notices.

Grading iPods in the Classroom (Chronicle)

from the Wired Campus Blog:

Duke University tracked the uses that students and professors made of iPods that the institution distributed to every freshman last fall and, in a report released on Wednesday, concluded that the electronic gadgets had educational merit, but not in every course. (The Chronicle, subscription required)

Technorati Tags: education, ipods

OverDrive announces video on demand and old time radio shows for ebook platform

OverDrive has just announced some major and exciting initiatives for libraries. Yesterday, they announced that they will soon be offering video on demand for public libraries. See announcement at http://www.overdrive.com/news/pr/20050615.asp.

They are also adding old-time radio shows which are very popular with senior citizens. These new services will be demonstrated at the ALA Conference in Chicago later this month.

One Book, Many Formats: The Magic of Multimedia

The Alliance Library System, the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center, and the Illinois State Library Talking Book and Braille Service are pleased to announce the second annual Audio Ebook Expo! The theme for the one day in-person and online conference is “One Book, Many Formats: The Magic of Multimedia.”

The Expo will be held at Alliance headquarters in East Peoria and as an online conference on Wednesday September 28, 2005 from 9:00 A.M. - 3:45 P.M. central time. Speakers and participants will explore all the exciting new formats for ebooks and audio books which create a personal and customized reading experience for all those who have trouble with regular print because of visual, physical, or learning disabilities. Books in these new formats also benefit and make reading more fun for children and adults who have trouble reading, who are learning English as a second language, or who just want to listen to audio books for entertainment.

Speakers include Geoff Freed from WGBH from the “Beyond the Text Project;” Bill Harroff, McKendree College; Charlotte Johnson, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; Judy Dixon from Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped; Tom Peters of TAP Information Services; Steve Potash from Overdrive; Paul Cappuzzello from OCLC/netLibrary; and Sharon Ruda from the Illinois State Library Talking Book and Braille Service.

For more information on the program and to register, go to the conference website at http://www.mitbc.org/audiobookexpo/index.html. For those attending in person, there is a $10 registration cost to cover lunch. There is no charge for talking book readers. There is no charge for online attendance. For more information, contact Lori Bell at the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center at lbell@alliancelibrarysystem.com.

MAKE ebooks for your iPod guide

from Make:Blog:

There’s a somewhat little know and often-unused function of iPod called "Notes" which can actually be quite handy for storing and reading text, creating a locked "kiosk mode", quizzes, games as well a full-length ebooks. The Notes reader is located in Menu > Extras > Notes. Only the more recent 3G and 4G iPods, including the iPod photo and iPod mini both have the iPod Notes application. Here’s our how-to on making them!...

[via BoingBoing]

audiobooks, ipods

palmOne LifeDrive Review Roundup

• BargainPDA
• CNET
• DavesPDA
• MSNBC (Gary Krakow)
• MobileTechReview
• New York Times (David Pogue)
• Palm Boulevard
• PalminfoCenter
• PC Magazine
• Pocket Factory

palmone, pda, handheld, lifedrive, palm

Online Interview on netLibrary/Recorded Books

Join us on OPAL for an online program on netLibrary Recorded Books.

Monday, June 13, 2005 beginning at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, 2:00 p.m. Central, 1:00 p.m. Mountain, Noon Pacific, and 7:00 p.m. GMT:
Interview with Paul Cappuzzello and Gillian Harrison regarding the digital audiobook service from netLibrary
In January 2005 netLibrary and Recorded Books LLC launched a new digital audiobook service. The WMA (Windows Media Audio) files can be checked out, downloaded, listened to on a computer, and transferred to a portable playback device. Paul and Gillian will describe how the new service works and answer questions from Tom Peters, the interviewer, and from the audience.

To participate, go to the online auditorium at
http://67.19.231.218/v4/login.asp?r=67955673&p=0
type your name in the box and click enter. All that is needed to participate is an internet connection, sound card and speakers. You can interact with a pc microphone although it is not required or text chat.

For more info on the program, contact Tom Peters at tapinformation@yahoo.com

Library Journal has new website and new TechBlog

Library Journal has a new site up at http://www.libraryjournal.com and has also launched a new Tech Blog at http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/670000067.html

Blog authors include ring leader Dodie Ownes, Blake Carver, Aaron Schmidt, Michael Stephens, Chad Haefele, Robin Hastings, Jacquie Samples, Lori Bell, and Brian Kenney.

There are also room for comments and questions.

Digital Talking Book Standard Approved

from LISNews.com:

NLS/BPH: Press Release: The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announced today that the national standard for the Digital Talking Book (ANSI/NISO Z39.86-2002) has been approved. A Digital Talking Book (DTB) is a collection of electronic files arranged to present information to the blind and physically handicapped reader via alternative media. The most common medium will be human speech. However, a DTB produced in accordance with the new standard can include a file containing the contents of the document in text form, thereby permitting output via synthetic speech, refreshable braille display devices, or visual display in large print.

Amazon to Launch Own Digital Audiobook Service

In a note to publishers on its e-Books & Documents Web page, the retailer wrote: "Amazon is developing a new store to offer downloadable audiobooks to our customers. If you are a publisher of audiobooks or other spoken audio content and would like your products to be included in our store, please e-mail us."

Amazon currently partners with Audible to provide this service.

ebook piracy

Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing writes about:

Why writers should stop worrying about "ebook piracy"

copyright, copyfight, ebooks, piracy

Top e-book techies helping OpenReader

Top e-book techies, even one from Adobe, are starting to respond to calls to help develop the OpenReader standard for e-books and other digipubs.

Check out the format and development email lists. Then volunteer. [via TeleRead]

pda, ebooks, OpenReader

PDA Sales on the rise

Google News search

tags: PDA, handheld, smartphone

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Links to ebook and iSilo versions

tags: books, Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, ebooks, fiction,

OpenReader seeks Librarian participation

Librarians are invited to participate in the Open Reader movement
headed up by Jon Noring, a veteran ebook standards setter. The proprietary
formats of both ebook devices and software adds to the tremendous challenge
of ebooks for libraries and consumers.

Epocrates Launches MobileCME(R)

Epocrates Launches MobileCME(R) First PDA-Based Medical Education Product Fully Integrated With Clinical Reference Software

Leveraging content from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and other respected clinical organizations, Epocrates has launched the MobileCME(TM) on-the-go continuing medical education system, which enables physicians to take continuing medical education (CME) courses on handheld devices such as Palm- and Pocket PC-based operating system devices and smartphones. The free product, available at http://www.epocrates.com, offers physicians a convenient and flexible option to earn required CME credits anytime, anywhere.

Download the free program

Requirements
MobileCME requires the latest version of one of the following installed on your device: Epocrates Rx, Epocrates Rx Pro or Epocrates Essentials.

[via PalmAddicts]

tags: CME, Epocrates, pda, Palm, Treo

Podcasting Roundup

News, Blogs

• BBC Radio podcasts 20 more shows (BBC)
• Infinity Broadcasting Launches Podcast Station (Reuters)
• Podcasting Killed the Radio Star (Wired)
• Podcasting: Making Waves (Forbes)
• Stage two of the podcasting revolution (CNet)
• Why I’m Not Smoking the Podcasting Dope (Darren Barefoot)

Podcasts

• aurgasm : your favorite music you've never heard
• KYOUR Radio (Infinity Broadcasting)
• Microsoft Mobile & Embedded DevCon
• Newsweek On Air
• Pod 101 (WGBH)
• http://www.wnyc.org/about/podcasting.html (Podcasting @ WNYC)
• PublicRadioFan.com - features program listings for hundreds of public radio stations around the world

Resources

• audio content on my library's website, podcasting by default (Aaron Schmidt)
• Audiolicious: Turn Any RSS Feed Into A Podcast, Using Text-To-Speech
• Bittorrent Podcasting
• How to support enclosures in aggregators
• IT Conversations: Podcasting Panel (South by Southwest Interactive 2005)
• Live Music Archive (Internet Archive)
• Open Media Network: free storage and free bandwidth for your videos, audio files, photos, text or software
• Podcasting 101 (Tod Maffin)
• podifier: automates the creation of an RSS feed, the enclosing of one or more MP3 files, and the ftp application to upload them to a server.
• podscope search engine
• Recording a Podcast (Jake Ludington's MediaBlab)
• Skype + Podcast Recorder = SkypeCasters (Unbound spiral)
• Using Bloglines To Track Podcasts
• You Subscribe: RSS (Rss/podcast news aggregator for Outlook

tags: audio, internet, music, podcasting, podcasts, technology, radio

Audiobooks in Windows Media Audio format

Illinois is one of several states participating in a consortia "Unabridged" at http://unabridged.lib.overdrive.com with Overdrive audio books in Windows Media. We see that this may be a problem because they will not play on IPODs, the most popular MP3 player at this time. However, many of our readers are older and may not have purchased an MP3 player yet; there are over 500 devices that will work with Windows Media Audio. OverDrive is working on a children's collection but it is not available yet to my knowledge. These just came out in November 2004.

netLibrary/Recorded Books introduced their digital audiobook service in February 2005 - not even a full three months ago. Theirs are in Windows Media audio format also.

These two new services in addition to new audio books from Tumble, are offered by vendors who are constantly seeking feedback from libraries and users about this service. Several of these vendors have even changed pricing plans to better meet library needs and to make it more affordable for small libraries to offer these books.

Audible.com offers audiobooks that will play on an IPOD, but they do not have a library management model, which makes it difficult and labor-intensive for libraries to provide this content.

Soon, these services will also be offering downloadable music, and I think this is where it may hit the hardest with younger users. If, and I know a number of librarians feel that Windows Media Audio is a problem that needs to be addressed sooner than later, they should contact OverDrive, and OCLC/netLibrary and let them know that this is a problem and may affect their sales.

Fairfax Public Library - Windows Media books

Phil Shapiro writes:

The Fairfax County Public Library system is a large library system in Northern Virginia, a suburb of Washington DC. Leaders of the Fairfax Public Libraries think it's a good idea to distribute downloadable audio books to the public in Windows Media format. These digital rights managed (DRM) files will not play on Macintosh computers, GNU/Linux computers or iPods. Taxpayer funds are being used to purchase these audio books.

[via BoingBoing]

tags: DRM, libraries, ipod, mp3

Welcome PalmAddict Readers

The Handheld Librarian is now a featured news feed on the PalmAddicts home page. Welcome PalmAddict readers!

Introduction to PDA's for Librarians (Metro Workshop)

Date: Friday, May 6, 2005
Time: 10:00 AM — 1:00 PM
Location: METRO Training Center, 57 East 11th Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY

Are you considering buying a PDA for yourself or want to know how they are being used by libraries? If so, you will want to attend this workshop. The registration fee is $75. Save $20 by registering two weeks in advance.

To register, go to: http://www.metro.org/2005_spring/in_palm_hand.html

Audience/Prerequisites: No prior PDA experience is necessary. You don’t have to own a PDA, but if you do, please bring it. Emphasis will be placed on devices using the Palm OS, but PocketPC and Blackberry systems will also be discussed.

Do you notice more and more people in the library, on the subway, at the supermarket tapping away at tiny computer screens, and wonder what they are doing? Are you thinking of buying a personal digital assistant (PDA), but aren’t sure what to get? Do you own a PDA, and are not sure how to make the most of it? Are you trying to incorporate PDA support as part of your library’s services? Then this is the workshop for you!

Topics of discussion will include:
* What is a PDA?
* The different brands, models and operating systems on the market.
* Considerations for purchase.
* Basic (out of the box) functionality.
* Freeware, shareware, and proprietary applications
* Uses for staff and patrons in the library.
* Tools for PDA training.
* Security issues.
* Wireless capabilities.
* Keeping up to date with the technology.

Presenter: Nancy R. Glassman is the Information Technology Librarian at the D. Samuel Gottesman Library, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she is implementing Reference Manager and EndNote training programs, developing a bibliographic management software information website, and writing “cheat sheets” for AECOM Library patrons. She contributes a technology column to the New York / New Jersey Chapter of the Medical Library Association’s newsletter. She earned her MLS from Kent State University.

Sponsored by METRO, the Metropolitan New York Library Council

tag: handheld, librarians, Palm,, pda, technology, Treo, wireless

The Mobile Searcher and Medical Information

Gary Price of SearchEngineWatch writes:

The combo of mobile and local search is all the rage these days but mobile access to health and medical info/research has been building momentum for several years. In fact, the National Library of Medicine released a mobile interface to PubMed back in 2003 and since then has released several other mobile tools. This new compilation has intro info and links to the growing list of resources that NLM offers mobile web searchers. Since the topic is mobile search and health info, I recently learned that a mobile versions of the Merck Manual and other reference tools are available (free).

Source: ResourceShelf

tags: NLM, Palm, Pocket PC, PubMed

Sims 2 coming to consoles, handhelds, and cellphones

Electronic Arts has announced that its popular The Sims 2 game will soon be ported to gaming consoles, handhelds, and mobile phones. The EA press release is here.

Source: PDAGeek

tags: Games, gaming, Sims