CDs, going, going….

Did you see this article in today’s USAToday?

What is Augmented Reality?

Social Media Examiner has an excellent article on Augmented Reality: 5 Ways it Can Your World. Using an iPad2 or smartphone with a camera you can turn a virtual world into a 3D world. Be sure to view the videos as they show you how it all works. Any ideas on how the Library could [...]

ALA Top Tech Trends Recapped

Today I attended a webinar from ALA recapping the top tech trends found at the ALA conference. The archive of the session is available on the ALA TechSource blog. Here’s a few high points: Will the mouse die?  Most likely eventually but not right away.  The  Touch interface is the future.  MAC’s new OSX 10.7 [...]

Trends in Library Training and Learning Webinar

Here’s free programs for Library staff on August 10th and 11th. WebJunction  Conference – Trends in Library Training and Learning (click to see the list of programs). If you wish to attend any session and need the Virtual Library to host any of these sessions, please let me know which sessions.  

QR Codes

Lexi McEwen, Enterprise Library provided the following how to create and use QR codes in library. They use this link:  http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ to create the codes. There you can either type in a URL and hit generate or Sal and I decided that we wanted just text that was specific to the are the QR codes were [...]

OverDrive to provide DRM-free eBook titles from O’Reilly Media

Today OverDrive announced it will offer 1500 DRM free eBook titles from O’Reilly is in relation to the new WIN platform.  Great news! More from the press release:  OverDrive announced today that booksellers, libraries, and schools in its global network will soon have access to DRM-free eBook titles from O’Reilly Media. The publisher’s entire eBook [...]

Sharing Links on Event Details

Over a week ago we added the ‘share’ buttons to the detail page of each event.  This is the same share button which can be found in the Library Catalog.  It allows patrons to share an event to email addresses, tweet it, add it to their Facebook page, etc. The idea, is to provide a [...]

Next Generation of eBooks

Software developer Mike Matas demos the first full-length interactive book for the iPad — with clever, swipeable video and graphics and some very cool data visualizations to play with. The book is “Our Choice,” Al Gore’s sequel to “An Inconvenient Truth.” About Mike Matas While at Apple, Mike Matas helped write the user interface for [...]

iPad 2 Review

In an ever changing and evolving technology-hungry world, the iPad 2 hit the market about a month ago and there has been a lot of talk whether Apple has raised the bar for tablets…again. In many cases, Apple has done it again by releasing a solid product that is user friendly. I showcased the iPad [...]

Tablets, Compared

Looking at buying a tablet? check out this New York Times article – Tablets, Compared. “This interactive guide can help sort through the latest offerings. Use the checkbox at the top of each listing to select it for comparison. And check back frequently — this page will be updated as new information or models are [...]

Airpac for Smartphones

Do you have a smartphone?  If so, please give our new version of Airpac a try and let me know what you like and don’t like about.  Do we need to change anything? http://smartphone.lvccld.org/

Libraries at the Tipping Point?

There has been some discussion about what is scary about ebooks? Here is an excellent presentation that, in my opinion, explains the issue pretty well. It’s from the “ebooks: Libraries @ the tipping point” was an interesting online conference that occurred on September 29, 2010. Eli Neiberger (Ann Arbor Public Library) gave a brilliant 20-minute [...]

Tech Trends for Non-Techies

Today I listened to a webinar  on technology trends which discussed not gadgets but general technologies and what to watch for in the near future. The archive of the program is available at Archived Webcasts & Webinars later today. Here are some high points: All library jobs are touched by technology so it’s important to [...]

iPad App for eBooks

Recently received an email about a free app for the iPad which allows one to read eBooks from OverDrive. The Bluefire Reader has just been released and should allow you to download to your iPAD from Overdrive via Adobe Digital Reader.  I’ve used it with my Touch, but it is supposed to support iPAD also. [...]

eBook Reader – Pandigital Review

Here’s a new term to add to your ever growing tech-related vocabulary: ‘multimedia device’. The Pandigital Novel is not just an eBook Reader. It is, in fact, a multimedia device allowing access to Facebook, email, games, photos, and eBooks (let’s not forget the reason I’m reviewing this device). You’re probably more familiar with Pandigital from [...]

Cool Website – Vintage Technology

Vintage Technology – is a site that seeks to showcase the evolution of devices in our lives through the archiving of old advertisements from the 1950s.”… A fun component of the site is a game called “hit or miss” in which the reader has to determine whether a product survived the marketplace or fell into [...]

Sign-a-Palooza

There is a great article in the October 2010 issue of Computers in Libraries on how New City Library is using 10 inch digital photo frames at their service points to promote their events and services instead of paper signs. If you need a copy of the article go to Academic Search Premier and search [...]

Blackberry Announces Playbook

This morning Blackberry announced a new tablet device (Playbook) which will challenge iPad. At early looks of specifications on the device it appears it will support eAudio (WMA) and eVideo (WMV) overdrive formats. Kindle is making an app for it so not yet sure if the Adobe Digital Editions will be supported as well. Adobe [...]

New Sony eBook Reader

PC Pro reviews the new Sony eReader.  Below is a few of the highlights of the review: ..big improvement and nearly as good the new Amazon Kindle’s screen! Sony has hatched a deal with Google to place a custom search of Google books on the Sony website, opening an estimated 500,000 titles up for quick and [...]

On the Road – Virtually

We have launched our podcast/videocast website – On the Road – Virtually.  The link can be found on the Book, Movies and More page. This  was a LSTA grant project and I would appreciate it very much if you and your patrons  would leave some comments on the Updates page.  This is one of the [...]