Categories Emerging Technology

http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/09/01/itunes-to-have-movie-downloads-this-month/ Via Tech Crunch: Rumors have been swirling for weeks (see here and here) that Apple will soon be selling full length movie downloads on the iTunes service. This morning, Business Week is stating, based on unnamed sources, that the the service will launch by mid-September. And adding color to the story: WalMart is pissed off. Apple is pushing for, and apparently getting, $14 wholesale movie prices on new releases. They plan to retail new releases for $14.99 and older movies for $9.99. Normal wholesale DVD prices are $17. Walmart pays that normal wholesale rate, and now anticipates losing a […]

For July/August, Rachel & I co-authored a piece on sites where librarians can share their expertise! One of librarians’ core strengths lies in the way we share knowledge and facilitate the free ex change of information. When we extend this strength to communicating, collaborating, and building networks with one another–in addition to the collaborative services we provide our patrons–we are truly unstoppable. And when we pool our knowledge and skills to share technology information and solutions, we are able to create a technical foundation that every library can build upon. The power of community and collaboration shines through in several […]

This month, Rachel and I cowrote a piece on sites where you can get help with technology, including PayITForward: Born out of Ann Arbor (Mich.) District Library’s recent Library 2.0 “Library Camp,” Pay “IT” Forward is the brainchild of Scan Robinson, IT manager at the Allen County (Ind.) Public Library. The wiki-based site, built from Web pages that any registered member can edit with just a few simple commands, lists a clearinghouse of public library IT professionals who offer their expertise in all things IT. (As of this writing, the site is still in beta, but is taking shape each […]

http://libraryjournal.com/article/CA6349047.html: How much better it will be, then, to make cell phones and related tools work for the library, rather than making librarians rush around like the zealous shushers of yestercentury, trying to keep this new tool off of our turf. Let’s shift this conversation. Though I suspect we’ll be shushing our users for a long time to come, the conversation should not be about whether to outlaw cell phone devices but how best to put the library into and onto these phones. After all, banning the cell phone will one day seem as silly as trying to ban the […]

Danny Sullivan in USA Today Originally uploaded by mstephens7. Nice article in the Money section! I saw Danny keynote in London a couple of years ago – he was great! www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2006-08-01-s…

Greetings from my Sidekick 3…this is a test.

From Helene Blowers’ Library TechBytes: http://libtechbytes.blogspot.com/2006/07/six-trends-driving-future-of-libraries.html A great list from Wired inspires Helene Blowers to ponder the trends librarians should consider for the future. Here’s some thoughts of mine on a few of them. This post has been unpublished since early July — I missed it in my MT software! 1. People Power Are you ready for Generation C? For anyone and everyone creating content online? I’m reminded of this passage from “Among the Audience” in The Economist Last November, the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 57% of American teenagers create content for the internet—from text to […]

Via Tech Crunch: http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/07/11/firefox-surgest-to-15-market-share-in-us/ There are some surprising country-by-country statistics included in the report as well. Firefox usage in the U.S. stands at 16%. Australia, 24%. And in Germany Firefox commands a whopping 39% market share. Even at just 16%, I think we’d be remiss if we didn’t offer Firefox on public/student/client access computers as well as other popular browsers. The Germans may be on to something! These numbers can only grow!