We pick out and present here some of the best and most interesting news to come around recently regarding e-books, digital libararies and related topics. And packaged it up for you to browse for your pleasure. Enjoy!
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Compaq founder pushes for academic library online
Personally, I believe online digital libraries are inevitable. We'll see lots more news like this in the future.
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Publishers call for library digitisation boycott at Book Fair
Okay, I admit it - there are a few obstacles between us and the future.
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E-book machines with roll-out displays not shipping until 2007
That's okay. By now we are used to display technology delays and disappointments.
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The Secret Lives of Fonts
Pay attention to what fonts you use. This student found that it affected his grades!
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Biblioroll ereader
Seems to be some fancy device to simulate library shelves full of books in a tactile way.
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Ever wonder how movies are played?
I found this fascinating. Plus I like to be a geek and predict the second cue flash at movies without letting anyone know it's easy because they come in pairs to indicate reel switches.
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PalmAddicts: Free Text-to-Speech Software
It's not the most natural or accurate, but it's still pretty neat that your Palm can read to you!
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Who Gave Google Permission to be the Judge and Jury of Mobile Content?
This news story never really picked up much steam, but mark my words... I predict this will be a HUGE issue in just a few years!
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A reading list for aspiring knowledge workers.
We just love those reading lists!
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The Jinke Hanlin E Ink machines: A hands-on review and speculation on a Librie connection
Seems this connection has now been confirmed, and they are even going to test market a model in China.
We are going from famine to feast with respect to e-ink devices!
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FeedYes.com gives rss feeds to sites without feeds
Once you get hooked on RSS readers, most sites without an RSS feed aren't worth the effort. Here's an alternative to ignoring the sites altogether.
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Larry Lessig on the PDEA
About "orphaned works" that have copyright owners who can't be reached. Surely there should be some fair use allowed in such cases, or else the content might as well be locked in jail.
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Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits
Jazz musician says most of the best commercial music will be free in two years. How's that for optimism?!
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New Technologies and Public Libraries
Technology is no longer putting libraries out of business. It's actually a compelling reason for increasing library support.
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Electronics to roll and stretch
It's not just flexible displays anymore. Now the whole device is flexible. More cool technology that we can't buy!
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Dangers of Digitization
Turns out that people are dying from digitization efforts. No.. I'm kidding, of course! Actually, the problem is that you may not get all the text, kind of like when the finale of Battlestar Galactica went past the Tivo time window and viewers missed the end. But you can't blame technology too much. We humans do stupid stuff like this all the time all by ourselves.
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Librarian and Information Science News
This article wouldn't load for me. And I can't even remember what the link was for. But that's no reason for you to miss out on this mystery story, so here's the link if you are adventurous!
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Book distributor sued for 'errors' in dictionary
Obviously, there's not much you can do these days without risking a lawsuit.
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Click, download, publish
Self-publishing needs POD (Publish On Demand) to succeed.
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Librarians choose Mockingbird over Bible
UK librarians were asked what book every adult should read. And somehow these experts have decided that 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is a much more significant work of literature than the Bible. Wow. And you'll never believe what came in third!
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Free Nebula Awards Nominees eBooks
Fictionwise added some more free award-winning scifi books for our enjoyment. And to boost their sales, of course. But we're not complaining, and I hope the sales get a big boost. Free stuff is good!