A Fond Farewell...
Friday, 11.20.09 will be my last day here at Huntingtown High School. I will be taking on a new job which will allow me to explore Open Source Online Learning Management Systems that will let us provide classes for both students and teachers online throughout the state of Maryland. Every school in which I have worked has a special place in my heart, and HHS will be no different. I have learned so much from the HHS staff and students, and for that I thank you! I wish each and every one of you happiness and success in your future endeavors. Don't be afraid to embrace change and sieze opportunities that come your way. Remembe...
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Huntingtown High School Library Media Center - November 18, 2010 Author: Mrs. Voelker
Let the guessing begin…
Word went out in the last couple of days that Oprah was going to announce her new book group pick on September 17th. And the crowds went wild. At least they did online.
The guessing yesterday was leaning towards the idea that Oprah might channel Alanis Morissette’s Isn’t it Ironic and choose Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom. Yes that Franzen. The guy who said ‘no thanks’ the first time Oprah wanted to feature his book. The guy who is getting so much press that other authors are feeling the lack for themselves. The guy who has a hashtag on twitter devoted to the whole shebang - #franzenfr...
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MADreads - September 2, 2010 Author: Jane J. - Central Library Tags: Book Groups General
New site reviews Smashwords books
Neil Crab has started a Smashwords book review site called, appropriately, Smashwords Books Reviewed. Neil is a Smashwords author himself, with a book of short stories, Believable Lies, and is about ready to publish a novel and has a second novel on the way.
His first review is The Storm Killer, by Mike Jastrzebski.
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 2, 2010 Author: Paul Biba Tags: Paul Biba Smashwords book review ebook Neil Crab
Some tips and cautions on using a new Kindle; a gmail shortcut
The photo at the left is by “legendarypoet” and I was struck by what a beautiful b&w shot it is, of a b&w e-reader. Click on the image to see his original, or click on screen name to see his photo page.
I spent time yesterday, by request, taking more comparison photos of font and text differences between the Kindle 3 and Kindle 2, and I’ll get some up later on.
I’ll touch instead this morning on some subjects that have come up in comment-areas here and in topics being discussed on the various Kindle forums.
FULLY CHARGE A NEW KINDLE
One thing to know as you open the Kindle pack...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 2, 2010 Author: Andrys Basten Tags: Andrys Basten Paul Biba ereader kindle Kindle 3
Scribd charging for free ebooks but not paying anything to authors?
This is a part of a post from author Lynn Viehl’s Paperback Writer blog.. It deserves to be read in full, but I must point out that I can’t verify anything that it contains:
It’s been brought to my attention that Scribd.com has begun charging people to download my free e-books hosted on their site. To get around my copyright and the free distribution notice I’ve placed in each e-book, they are using an archive subscription scam to make their money (this also neatly avoids them having to pay me any royalties on the profits they make.) Evidently all the money they’ve been raking in from the Go...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 2, 2010 Author: Paul Biba Tags: Paul Biba Scribd copyright
Here’s one reason why ebooks are catching on
How Bookofjoe finds this stuff I don’t know. But, it shows you why I no longer read the 3 pound bricks that are being published. Give me an ereader over this any day!
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 2, 2010 Author: Paul Biba Tags: Paul Biba ereader BookofJoe ebook
Mongoliad is live
From Boing Boing. I hate serials so I won’t jump in, but I’ll probably buy the thing when it’s finished.
The Mongoliad is live! This is the collaborative, participatory shared-world project from Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, and pals. It’s an epic fantasy novel about the Mongol conquest, told in installment form, with lots of supplementary material (video, stills, short fiction, etc), and a strong audience participation component in the form of a Wikipedia-style concordance, fanfic, etc. You can read the free samples without registration, but you need an account to edit the “Pedia.”
For $...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 2, 2010 Author: Paul Biba Tags: Paul Biba publishing Greg Bear Mongoliad Neal Stephenson serial
ebrary’s Academic Complete E-Book Database tops 50K titles
From the press release:
ebrary®, a leading provider of digital content products and technologies, today announced that its flagship subscription e-book database, Academic Complete™, now exceeds 50,000 titles from the world’s leading publishers. Academic Complete continues to be the largest multidisciplinary e-book database licensed to libraries throughout the world, under a simultaneous, multi-user access model with continual growth. Furthermore, ebrary’s Academic Complete, Government Complete™, Public Library Complete™, and College Complete™ are the only e-book products that enables libraries to upload and in...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 2, 2010 Author: Paul Biba Tags: Paul Biba ebook ebrary Academic Complete
OverDrive’s most downloaded ebooks for August
More info, and other categories, here.
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 2, 2010 Author: Paul Biba Tags: Overdrive Paul Biba ebook
Quick Note: Audible for Android released
Audible is now available in the Android Market. It features chapter navigation, bookmarking, sleep mode and button free mode. It will support wireless transfer from My Library to your android phone.
More info here.
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 2, 2010 Author: Paul Biba Tags: Android Paul Biba audiobooks Audible
US told European Union to hide ACTA from the public
This pressure by the US to keep the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement secret is unfathomable, especially in an Obama administration which professes more open government. Campaign contributions at work?
From EurActiv:
The United States is behind the wall of secrecy surrounding global trade talks to combat counterfeiting, say EU policy sources, who claim that American officials are refusing to let their European counterparts publish the draft agreement online.
American officials blocked European attempts to publish the latest draft of the global Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on an EU website after a Washingto...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 2, 2010 Author: Paul Biba Tags: Paul Biba copyright ACTA European Union
New Media Writing Prize – last call for entries
From the press release:
Poole Literary Festival in partnership with the Media School at Bournemouth University has established a prize for new media writing. The prize creates an exciting opportunity for writers working with new media to showcase their skills, provoke discussion and raise awareness of new media writing and the future of the written word. The competition deadline is approaching rapidly, with a cut-off point of Midday (GMT – UK time) on 15 September for entries.
There are two awards, one for Best New Media Writing and one for Best Student New Media Writing. Prizes will be awarded at a prestigious Awa...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 2, 2010 Author: Paul Biba Tags: Britain Paul Biba UK Poole Literary Festival
Kobo brings ereading to Samsung Galaxy Tab
As I mentioned below, we will be at the US release of the Tab, and now here is some great news for Kobo. From the Samsung press release:
As a new category of device, the Samsung GALAXY Tab brings a wealth of mobile experiences. Its striking 7” TFT-LCD display delivers exciting mobile experience for watching films, viewing pictures, e-reading or sharing documents. In design, its light (380g) build provides perfect portability, with its svelte dimensions making it easy to grip and use. Supporting the latest Adobe Flash Player 10.1, the Samsung GALAXY Tab fully supports swift, seamless viewing of every single page of the w...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 2, 2010 Author: Paul Biba Tags: Kobo Paul Biba Tablet ereader Galaxy Galaxy Tab Samsung
Refurbished iPod Touch prices fall
As the new iPod Touches (iPods Touch?) have been announced, are pre-ordering, and shipping in a week or so, it’s also time to look at the “shadow market” that trails the new devices—the last-gen refurbs, for those people who don’t mind going a generation or two back in search of a bargain.
While it’s true that last-gen iPod Touches won’t have the nifty new Retina Display, their screens have been “good enough” for e-reading up to now, and won’t be made any worse by something better coming out except by comparison. And looking at the Apple Store’s refurbished iPods page (which is subject to change after...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 2, 2010 Author: Chris Meadows Tags: Apple Chris Meadows iPod Touch pricing refurbished
Does Apple price for success?
Ben Kunz at Bloomberg Businessweek has an interesting post on Apple’s pricing practices. Kunz posits that Apple uses psychological pricing tricks such as reference prices and price “decoys” to boost sales of more expensive items. I can’t say I agree with all of his points, but he brings up some interesting things to consider.
Kunz first discusses price decoys, items that don’t really look like very good deals in order to make slightly better items look much better. He suggests that the rumored 7” iPad is such a price decoy, to make a 10”, more featureful version look like a bargain and defend against the impe...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 2, 2010 Author: Chris Meadows Tags: Apple Chris Meadows cellphone iPad iPhone iPod Touch mobile phone smartphones economics pricing
TeleRead to implement reCAPTCHA
Along with the site redesign, I’ve asked our owners, NAPCO, to implement reCAPTCHA. You have undoubtedly seen this on other sites you’ve visited.
Since May we have received over 172,000 spam comments. Why is this important? It’s important because all those spam comments are held by our filter for review before being deleted. That means that Chris and I have reviewed over 172,000 spam comments to be sure that they do not contain false positives. We regularly find false positives and have to approve them. This isn’t the end, though, because an “approved” spam then becomes, in WordPres...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 1, 2010 Author: Paul Biba Tags: TeleRead Paul Biba recaptcha
TeleRead to implement reCAPTCHA
Along with the site redesign, I’ve asked our owners, NAPCO, to implement reCAPTCHA. You have undoubtedly seen this on other sites you’ve visited.
Since May we have received over 172,000 spam comments. Why is this important? It’s important because all those spam comments are held by our filter for review before being deleted. That means that Chris and I have reviewed over 172,000 spam comments to be sure that they do not contain false positives. We regularly find false positives and have to approve them. This isn’t the end, though, because an “approved” spam then becomes, in WordPres...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 1, 2010 Author: Paul Biba Tags: TeleRead Paul Biba recaptcha
Tony Blair's memoirs: Gordon Brown holds fire over old rival's criticisms
Battle that dominated decade of Labour government reopened as former PM's draft of history becomes instant bestsellerTony Blair repeatedly assured Gordon Brown that he would not contest the Labour leadership, then resolved within minutes of hearing of John Smith's death to stand, telling Peter Mandelson "it's mine", the former prime minister admits for the first time in his autobiography.Blair reveals that even before Smith's death he was "straining at the leash", straying out of his policy brief and becoming more convinced that "something was missing" in Brown's ability to lead. He admits that he toyed with the idea of le...
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Guardian Unlimited Books - September 1, 2010 Author: Polly Curtis Tags: Tony Blair Gordon Brown Politics Peter Mandelson Books UK news The Guardian
Jobs reveals new iPod line, Apple TV, iOS 4.1, iTunes 10
Steve Jobs had some interesting things to reveal today. In the iPod line, the Shuffle, Nano, and Touch get refreshes. No mention at all of the Classic line; I suppose they’ve had their day.
The Shuffle moves forward by taking a step back—the new one resembles a smaller version of the second in form factor, bringing back the buttons everybody missed from the third, but with the Voiceover and other nifty features that people did like from the third.
The Nano loses the physical controls and goes multitouch, looking like a smaller version of the iPod Touch (but without apps). Now we know what that mysterious small square t...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 1, 2010 Author: Chris Meadows Tags: Apple Chris Meadows iPad iPhone iPod Touch Apple TV iOS iOS 4.1 Steve Jobs
Jobs reveals new iPod line, Apple TV, iOS 4.1, iTunes 10
Steve Jobs had some interesting things to reveal today. In the iPod line, the Shuffle, Nano, and Touch get refreshes. No mention at all of the Classic line; I suppose they’ve had their day.
The Shuffle moves forward by taking a step back—the new one resembles a smaller version of the second in form factor, bringing back the buttons everybody missed from the third, but with the Voiceover and other nifty features that people did like from the third.
The Nano loses the physical controls and goes multitouch, looking like a smaller version of the iPod Touch (but without apps). Now we know what that mysterious small square t...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 1, 2010 Author: Chris Meadows Tags: Apple Chris Meadows iPad iPhone iPod Touch Apple TV iOS iOS 4.1 Steve Jobs
Welcome Nathan Yang, guest blogger for September and thanks Emily Keller!
August just flew by didn't it? And that means it's time to introduce our next blogger of the month. So welcome to the FGI podium Nathan Yang. Nathan is a Ph.D candidate in Economics at the University of Toronto. Although his thesis is about industry dynamics and social learning, he has recently done some research on why politicians adopt twitter. Take it away Nathan.
And thanks also to Emily Keller, our August blogger from the University of Washington!!
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Free Government Information (FGI) blogs - September 1, 2010 Author: jrjacobs Tags: BOTM
1906 Chicago Manual of Style: Free, but not DRM-free
This month’s free e-book from the University of Chicago Press is a replica of the very first, 1906 edition of the Chicago Manual of Style to commemorate the 16th edition of that work.
Of course, as with all University of Chicago Press free e-books, this book comes wrapped in Adobe Digital Editions DRM—even though, since it was originally published in 1906, this book is well within the public domain by now. (Oddly, I can’t seem to find any public domain version of it on-line, at least not in Project Gutenberg, Feedbooks, or Manybooks. There is a somewhat rough scan of a 1911 edition on Wikimedia Commons, however.)
It...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 1, 2010 Author: Chris Meadows Tags: Chris Meadows DRM Free ebooks copyright e-book public domain Chicago Manual of Style free e-book University of Chicago Press
1906 Chicago Manual of Style: Free, but not DRM-free
This month’s free e-book from the University of Chicago Press is a replica of the very first, 1906 edition of the Chicago Manual of Style to commemorate the 16th edition of that work.
Of course, as with all University of Chicago Press free e-books, this book comes wrapped in Adobe Digital Editions DRM—even though, since it was originally published in 1906, this book is well within the public domain by now. (Oddly, I can’t seem to find any public domain version of it on-line, at least not in Project Gutenberg, Feedbooks, or Manybooks. There is a somewhat rough scan of a 1911 edition on Wikimedia Commons, however.)
It...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 1, 2010 Author: Chris Meadows Tags: Chris Meadows DRM Free ebooks copyright e-book public domain Chicago Manual of Style free e-book University of Chicago Press
TeleRead meets with Sony in New York to see Sony’s new ereaders; impression – sophisticated refinement
I just spent about 45 minutes with Phil Lubell, Vice President of Digital Reading, to get a hands-on with the new ereaders.
All three readers are touch enabled and Phil started out by saying that, much to Sony’s surprise, the $100 premium old Sony Touch had a larger demand than the cheaper Pocket Edition. Surveys they have done have shown that 78% of readers want touch and 81% of reading is done in homes.
The new readers use the Pearl screen, just like the Kindle, and it is remarkable that Sony’s new touch interface does not seem to interfere with the screen’s sharpness or contrast at all. I couldn’...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 1, 2010 Author: Paul Biba Tags: Uncategorized or off-topic digital edition Paul Biba Sony Sony Reader
TeleRead meets with Sony in New York to see Sony’s new ereaders; impression – sophisticated refinement
I just spent about 45 minutes with Phil Lubell, Vice President of Digital Reading, to get a hands-on with the new ereaders.
All three readers are touch enabled and Phil started out by saying that, much to Sony’s surprise, the $100 premium old Sony Touch had a larger demand than the cheaper Pocket Edition. Surveys they have done have shown that 78% of readers want touch and 81% of reading is done in homes.
The new readers use the Pearl screen, just like the Kindle, and it is remarkable that Sony’s new touch interface does not seem to interfere with the screen’s sharpness or contrast at all. I couldn’...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 1, 2010 Author: Paul Biba Tags: Uncategorized or off-topic digital edition Paul Biba Sony Sony Reader
The music event: Why Apple is streaming it, and how to watch without Apple
A couple of further notes about Apple’s event, due to start in just over an hour. Leander Kahney at Cult of Mac has an exclusive tip from an insider who explains that the streaming process is going to serve as a stress test for Apple’s new server farm, which will later be used to stream a version of iTunes for iOS devices.
Kahney notes:
Some have speculated that Apple is streaming the show to thwart livebloggers, who may have sabotaged Jobs’ iPhone 4 keynote at Apple’s WWDC event in June. Problems with the venue’s WiFi network ruined Jobs’ FaceTime demo and forced him to ask bloggers in the audience to shut the...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 1, 2010 Author: Chris Meadows Tags: Apple Chris Meadows iPad iPod Touch event ITunes streaming video
The music event: Why Apple is streaming it, and how to watch without Apple
A couple of further notes about Apple’s event, due to start in just over an hour. Leander Kahney at Cult of Mac has an exclusive tip from an insider who explains that the streaming process is going to serve as a stress test for Apple’s new server farm, which will later be used to stream a version of iTunes for iOS devices.
Kahney notes:
Some have speculated that Apple is streaming the show to thwart livebloggers, who may have sabotaged Jobs’ iPhone 4 keynote at Apple’s WWDC event in June. Problems with the venue’s WiFi network ruined Jobs’ FaceTime demo and forced him to ask bloggers in the audience to shut the...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 1, 2010 Author: Chris Meadows Tags: Apple Chris Meadows iPad iPod Touch event ITunes streaming video
Upcoming Events and Digital Media Roundup
BERKMAN CENTER FOR INTERNET & SOCIETY AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Upcoming events and digital media // September 1, 2010
[1] [TUESDAY 9/7] Berkman Center Fall Open House (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2010/09/openhouse)
[2] [CONFERENCE 9/25] "Media Law in the Digital Age: The Rules Have
Changed, Have You?" Conference in Atlanta, GA
(http://csjconferences.org/medialaw/)
[TUESDAY] BERKMAN CENTER OPEN HOUSE
==================================================================================
Tuesday, September 7, 6:00 pm
Ropes Gray Room, Pound Hall, Harvard Law School Campus (Map: http://bit.ly/poundmap)
Free and Open to...
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Berkman Blog - September 1, 2010 Author: ashar
Scott Pilgrim vs The World fr Xbox 360 and PS3 | Game review
Xbox 360/PS3; £10; cert 12+; UbisoftAnyone familiar with Edgar Wright's oeuvre (and especially Spaced) can't have failed to notice the director of Scott Pilgrim vs The World is a major-league video game obsessive, and the film itself rams that point home.Happily, this is not the usual game-as-merchandising tat – indeed, it takes an approach that should be made compulsory for all games publishers looking to cash in on Hollywood's enduring mass appeal. Instead of seeking to extract more cash from you than it would take to see the film, Scott Pilgrim vs The World joins the burgeoning ranks of the retro homages found on the...
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Guardian Unlimited Books - September 1, 2010 Author: Steve Boxer Tags: Games Technology Xbox PS3 Comics guardian.co.uk Reviews
New Sony Readers announced; iPhone and Android apps on the way
I’m in NYC waiting to get a hands-on with the new devices. However I just received this press release which I’m reprinting in full. Pictures at the end of the release:
SONY BRINGS DIGITAL READING EXPERIENCE TO LIFE
WITH THE LAUNCH OF ITS NEW LINE OF READERS
New Readers Feature Sony’s Unique Touch Screens with
Anti-Glare Technology for the Optimal Digital Book Reading Experience
SAN DIEGO, September 1, 2010 – Continuing to provide book lovers with the most natural, immersive digital reading experience, Sony today announced the launch of its beautifully-designed new line of Reader digital books,...
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TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - September 1, 2010 Author: Paul Biba Tags: Paul Biba Sony Sony Reader
