Weak Signals Getting Stronger

by stephen

Some news lately that implies some big changes are moving faster.

"With official release in December 2008, the iRex DR1000 will join a growing list of handheld devices on which PressDisplay.com is available, offering 800+ newspapers and magazines from 80+ countries. These include Apple iPhone, Apple iPod Touch, BlackBerry and numerous smartphones."

Have a gander at the New York Times mobile site.

You can also play with the Washington Post’s mobile edition.

Teleread blog notes that the Kindle isn't about to be left behind. The Amazon Kindle Blog "has a summary of all the newspapers available on the Kindle, along with a discussion of their ratings by Kindle users. Anyone interested in Kindle newspapers should go over and take a look. There’s a Kindle Newspapers section of the Kindle Store."

Interesting. Following the financial challenges in traditional media lately, many are surely trying to innovate.

eBook Sales Up Says AAP

by spolanka

AAP reports eBook sales jumped 77.8% to 5.1 million for September year to date.  However, overall book sales decreased.  Details of other categories below:

AAP Book Sales: Declines for September, Year-to-Date

In September, net sales decreased 2% to $1.062 billion for 80 publishers that reported to the Association of American Publishers. Net sales for the year through September have fallen 1.5% to $7.718 billion.
 
E-books jumped 77.8% to $5.1 million.
Children’s/YA hardcover increased 41.9% to $119.8 million.
Higher education rose 18.4% to $338.2 million.
Professional and scholarly edged up 6.8% to $60.5 million.
University press paperbacks gained 4.4% to $6.5 million.

Adult hardcover fell 29.8% to $173.3 million.
Children’s/YA paperback declined 19.1% to $51.5 million.
El-Hi dropped 17.6% to $325.1 million.
Audiobooks decreased 12.3% to $18.7 million.
Religious books fell 11.8% to $76.8 million.
Adult paperback decreased 8.6% to $134.7 million.
Adult mass market dropped 8.3% to $67.4 million.
University press hardcovers slid 3.6% to $6.3 million.

ebrary’s new QuickView

by spolanka

According to an ebrary press release, they have launched their new QuickView.  QuickView “enables end-users to instantly view documents in many of the leading web browsers and even works on the iPhone. No software downloads or installations are needed.”  Groovy.  QuickView will not replace the existing Java Based Reader, it is offered in conjunction.

ebrary’s key features of QuickView:

•  
  • Instant viewing and page flipping in a web browser
  • Relevancy ranking at the chapter level with links to specific sections
  • Navigate to search terms or specified pages
  • Search within documents for key words
  • View and navigate to highlights and notes created using an ebrary Reader
  • Multiple view magnifications

 I’ll check this out at Charleston this week and give it a whirl on the iPhone.  Anxious to see how legible that will be!

Stanford University Libraries and SirsiDynix Partner for State-of-the-Art, Original Script Access

(October 31, 2008). Stanford University and SirsiDynix officially announced the completion of a project that now allows searching and display of the library's Chinese, Japanese, and Korean holdings in the original scripts. In a previous related project, functionality for searching, sorting, and displaying was made available for Arabic and Hebrew scripts

eXtensible Catalog - New Website

(October 17, 2008). The eXtensible Catalog Project announced the launch of a new website at http://www.extensiblecatalog.org/. This new website will be the main vehicle for distributing our open-source software once it is released in 2009. In the mean time, the website contains a wealth of information regarding the project, including publications, an overview of the software we are developing and the technologies that software will use, and a blog that has already been in use.

Blog Search Engines : The Complete Overview

by Ellyssa

Wondering about which search engine is the best when looking for blog content? Search Engine Journal provides a breakdown of the features and functionality of today’s top blog search tools inBlog Search Engines : The Complete Overview. Applications discussed include:

• Google Blog Search
• Technorati
• Blog Pulse
• Bloglines

LinkedIn Applications

by Nicole Engard

Apps are popping up everywhere.  LinkedIn announced earlier this week that they too were adding apps to their site.  The first invite to add an app I got was from SlideShare.

With the SlideShare app on LinkedIn, you can display presentations on your LinkedIn profile. You can browse presentations from your network and find out what’s going on with your connections.

You don’t need to upload your presentations twice. Just sync your LinkedIn and SlideShare profiles and all your

SlideShare presentations will start showing up on LinkedIn.

How to add SlideShare LinkedIn app (learn how to)
1. Go to the SlideShare App
2. After installing app, click on the tab: “Share on SlideShare.net”
3. Put in your SlideShare username & password, and viola! All your presentations
will appear on LinkedIn.

This is a great example of adding value to my resume on LinkedIn.  Now in addition to a link to my portfolio, there is a small section on my profile that shows my presentations from SlideShare. I love sites that let me bring all the important info into one place.