A Great Year of Tech News

Thank you to everyone who contributed by reading or posting to Tech Talk this last year.  It was quite an adventure for our Neighborhood Libraries team!  We have reached almost 10,000 page views on our blog. We will be no longer be actively posting to this site, but please feel free to continue to use the information provided.  We are now into full swing into Summer Reading on Pinterest. 

WeTransfer for sending big files

Sometimes you need to send a really big file to someone. Often times it is too big to send in an email. However; you don't want to sign up for a program and have to remember your username and password every time. With WeTransfer, you can send a file up to 2G in size, no sign up necessary. You just need to have an email address (no password needed) and of course you need to know who to send it to. 
Here are the steps:
-Go to: www.wetransfer.com
-Pick the file you want to send (If you want to send multiple files, create a zipfile)
-Enter your email address
-Enter recipient's email address
-Send!
The other person gets an email that says they can download the file. It stays on a 3rd party server for 2 weeks, then disappears.

This is a good website if you just need to send something that is a one-time deal. :)
 

ifttt: If this, then that

I came across an article about "ifttt: If This Then That". This is a web-based service that you an use with your various online identities, services, and places for storing and recording info. In the channels feature it describes numerous items, such as Evernote, Zootool, foursquare, and many more. Several of them I was not acquainted with, so this helped me.

10 ways to re-use your old gadgets

Sometimes technology moves so fast that we don't know what we can do with our old gadgets!
(You may need to get some help though!)


Here's a link to some interesting ways to find another use for your older items.
http://lifehacker.com/5901650/top-10-awesome-things-you-can-do-with-the-underused-gadgets-you-already-own?tag=lifehacker-top-10

Facebook's Biggest Privacy Threat May Be You

According to an article posted in the Techlicious Blog, Facebook's Biggest Privacy Threat May Be You. 
There are also several ideas in the blog to help you with setting and protecting your privacy.

Diigo

I always loved the idea of bookmarking sites, where you can store bookmarks to sites you visit in the cloud, but I never wound up using a service consistently. I tried delicious, but never got used to how it organized your sites, and when it looked like they were going to be sold and shut down, I shifted over to Google Bookmarks. I loved their "list" feature because it was similar to using folders instead of having to tag every link like on delicious. But then, Google shut down their list feature--just turned it off! All my beautifully curated lists were thrown into one big pile with one tag. Needless to say I was frustrated and looked again for another alternative. After surfing, reading, and researching, at the beginning of February I started up on Diigo.

Like delicious, Diigo is a web-based social bookmarking site. So far I think it's the best of the 3 sites I've used! Here are some of the reasons I like it:

• The toolbar is easy to use. If I highlight text on a webpage before I click "Bookmark this page," the highlighted text is automatically saved to the "Description" box. Very handy!
• I can mark everything private, or allow others to see what I've saved.
• I can highlight sentences on the website, and Diigo saves them for me! When I go back and visit a bookmarked site, my highlights are still there. (No more wondering why exactly I thought this site was worth bookmarking!)
• I can also post "sticky notes" on a page, too, with my own comments about it. Kind of like writing in the margins of a book!
• You can email your highlighted, sticky-noted site to a friend, and THEY can see your highlights and notes, too.
• When I go back and look at my bookmarks, the sentences I've highlighted show up in the annotated list...which means I can see the pieces I thought were valuable without clicking through to the site itself.
• Diigo runs on tags, just like delicious and Google, but it also supports a list feature. The cool thing is you can turn your lists into handouts of links, and Diigo does all the formatting for you. 
• I haven't used the social features of Diigo yet, but I could follow other people on Diigo, just like on Twitter, and see what they bookmark. Or I could be part of a group that collects bookmarks together.

The other reason Diigo is working better for me than the other services doesn't have anything to do with them! I noticed when using Google that I had a hard time remembering what tags I used to save a site with. I knew something was there, but couldn't figure out how to get at it easily.

So before I saved a single site on Diigo, I wrote down a starter taxonomy for myself. I tried to think of the ways I remembered sites, and then came up with a brief list of tags to use consistently. For instance, I will remember if something was a slide set, or a pdf, or a video. So now I always tag each site with a format tag. I also tend to remember what type of content it was--like was it a research study, or  blog post, or a news article. So I tag everything that way too. Then I also tag something by what project I'm researching at the time. So I might tag a site with "Storytime Newsletter," or "Spark Activity Cards" or the name of a training class I'm working on. And then last but not least I also tag by subject words.

The other technique I'm using is to bookmark everything I land on while I'm researching. In the past, I would remember visiting a site, but at the time I didn't think it was worth bookmarking, and then I had a hard time finding it again! Now I try to bookmark everything I read most of the way through. Now when something I've read is nagging at me, I can be pretty sure it's in my Diigo list somewhere, and my new combination of tags helps me find it.

Pinterest Curiosity

Who uses Pinterest?  I have heard people using pinterest for work, for library programming and displays, for personal use for recipes, hairstyles and decorating ideas.  I am curious to know who in our Neighborhood Libraries uses it and how.  Pretend I was patron, who had just heard about this, so I came into the library to find out more.  How would you describe it?  What are its best features? If you took them to the website and were showing them how to navigate it, what would you search by to present it to them? 

Tech Talk Winner for March - Jenny P!

It's a little late in the month to be announcing the Tech Talk winner for March, but I've had a few other things on my plate of late;) This month's winner is Jenny P. She got us talking and thinking about our ereaders and kept this and other conversations going on our blog. Thanks for asking thought-provoking questions, Jenny! Jenny's prize is a $10 gift card to Amazon.com. Congrats, Jenny!

This will mark the end of the monthly prize unless the new manager decides to continue the incentive. I know you don't need an incentive to talk to each other about the cool things you're learning as you explore the frontiers of technology. Keep it up!

Sign now

Usually, if we need to sign something (new hire documents, apartment leases, bank account documents, you name it) you have to print it, sign it in pen, then fax it (since many places won't accept things by email)

I've stumbled upon a site (which is legally legit) called SIGN NOW {www.signnow.com}

This site allows you to upload a document from your computer, electronically sign it (you can draw in your signature, or have the site pick a font), then you save it, and you can either email it to yourself or download it back to your computer. No lengthy registrations needed, just an email address/password.

If the receiving end needs you to fax it and you don't have a fax machine, you can use: http://faxzero.com/ for easy fax jobs.

Since a lot happens between library branches, this may come in handy! (Especially for staff at the Deer Trail branch!)

I understand this is a tech blog, but I leave you with some food for thought:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/the-upsides-to-working-without-internet-access-for-80-days/255606/

Happy signing everyone!

Improve your cellphone photos with Instagram

I don't take many photos with my cellphone but if I did I think I would try out Instagram. This article about Instagram sounds like it would be a good app to use to improve photos that you take with your android/smartphone. http://www.techlicious.com/review/instagram-for-your-android-smartphone/

The Future of Libraries

If you are looking for a positive Monday morning pick-me-up, I advise against reading the article by Steve Coffman that appears in InformationToday.com. It is entitled "The Decline and Fall of the Library Empire". Basically, Coffman argues that all of the things libraries thought they could do to re-position themselves in the digital age have been a bust - including web directories, Library 2.0 (never caught on), virtual reference, intermediated searching, public access to computers (actually showing signs of decline due to rise of smartphones and ipad devices), and even e-books (too many publisher restrictions/not a good investment for libraries). He says "The Electric Library is here - it just isn't us. It is Amazon, Google, Apple and Barnes and Noble". Interestingly, he says our fallback is to embrace the tangible property we started with - our physical books, the thousands of buildings,and the millions of people who still walk through our doors. He offers hope that in a world where physical bookstores may become uneconomical, we'll need places where people can get together to listen to stories or discuss books and ideas.
So is he right? It does seem that ALD is doing a good job both of responding to the public's technological needs and repositioning itself in accordance with Coffman's vision that libraries should hang on to their physical presence in the community . Are there any other options?
http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/apr12/Coffman--The-Decline-and-Fall-of-the-Library-Empire.shtml

Harry Potter ebooks

The Pottermore standalone digital book store, which Christina mentioned in her blog, is taking an innovative approach in the battle between publishers, ebook providers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and libraries. Rowling is allowing the Potter books to be available on every platform, and providing unlimited check-outs. There is also the ability to download 8 copies of each book. Matthew Ingram gives a good run-down of what's happening at Pottermore in a GigaOm article. http://gigaom.com/2012/03/27/what-book-publishers-should-learn-from-harry-potter/

Harry Potter Now on Kindle!

If (like me) you are a huge Harry Potter fan and also happen to own a Kindle, you might be interested to know that the entire series is now available for purchase.

They are being advertised on the front page of Amazon but you actually need to sign up for an account with Pottermore, which can be found here: http://shop.pottermore.com/en_US. The books are compatible with all e-readers and foreign language translations are coming soon.

I Fix it

If you have ever wondered how to fix that broken electronic device yourself, your in luck. http://www.ifixit.com/ is an online repair community that has step by step repair guides and troubleshooting tips. Their mission is for everyone to have a free repair manual for everything they own! Fixing things keeps them out of landfills and working longer. Whether you use the site to fix it yourself or contribute a guide to help others. Take a minute to read their manifesto, and see if your not convinced that repair is the way to go!
http://www.ifixit.com/Manifesto

Whentowork + google calendar

Attention google calendar & when-to-work users:

Do you use google calendar frequently?

Do you rely on when-to-work to know what your work schedule is?

If you answered yes to these questions, you, my friend, are in luck.

You can sync your when-to-work calendar with google calendar so you don't have to log in to 2 places or manually put your work schedule in.

1. Log into the when-to-work program (www.whentowork.com)

2. click INFO on the top bar

3. hit the button that says "CONNECT OR REMOVE GOOGLE CALENDAR"

4.Follow directions to allow google calendar to get your when-to-work info.

Voila! Worked wonders for me!

What do you like about your ereader, revisited

I am curious as to what everyone likes and/or dislikes about their ereaders. We first talking about this in December and early January but I thought our views may have changed since then as we have become more familiar with our devices. Many of us had new ereaders then but what have we discovered now? Here is what I found....

• I love lending ebooks from the library! I had put some on hold when I first got my ereader and downloaded some just to see what it was like. At first I wasn't too impressed, but I also didn't download one of my favorite authors or books I would typically read. Once I read one I was more accustomed to reading in print, I was hooked at its convenience.


• I love the light weight and percentage read features! I typically enjoy holding a book and flipping pages so I still checkout 'real' books for this since nothing can really beat flipping real pages rather than tapping. However, another aspect of book reading that I always like is seeing how much I read in the time I have been reading. Its a vague measurement that usually consists of me seeing where my bookmark is and how long I have had the book. I love the percent read feature on the ebook for this reason. I find when I am engaged in a book, it goes super fast and I like to anticipate where I am at in relation to the entire story.


• I love browsing the free book section on my ereader! I know its a strange one, but I do. I have often used Amazon's site to see the feature "people who liked this or bought this also liked/bought....' I use this for recommendations and branching out in authors I have never tried. I also use the free book section this way. Recently I downloaded my first one and I honestly thought it probably wouldn't be very good because it was free. But I loved it! Perhaps they are being savvy in providing free books that get you hooked so you want to buy all the rest written by the author?


• I have a love-hate relationship using textbooks on my ereader -- mostly hate if I am being honest. I tried this out because I thought it I would like this method because I am a bit more tech oriented, but I definitely don't. I hate citing from my ereader. I don't know if since the ebooks are newer, citing rules are harder than for physical books, but it was an awful and time consuming experience for me. It was also harder for me to understand more complicated material on the ereader. I am more visual and I like the way textbooks lay out material rather than ereaders. Its not always as easy as just reading a regular book. After two weeks of citing and re-reading material, I gave up and bought the textbook. I used the textbook as my main source and the ereader as a back-up which I will explain more. The one aspect I did like about having a textbook on my ereader was that when I came to word I was unfamiliar with or couldn't remember the definition, I was able to tap & define. The other feature I found was instead of using an index and searching for material as one would with a physical textbook, I used the search feature which saved me some time. But these last two reasons are not enough to ever make me buy one again!This personal experiment has actually made me question all the articles I have read about schools using online textbooks and ebooks. Maybe it depends on the type of learner you are, but I can say it isn't for me!

So what have you discovered? Do you love it - what's your favorite part? Is it just okay - what would make it better?

DS/LMS Meeting March 20

Hi, I attended the DS/LMS meeting today at the MA library. Several of us believe it is the most important meeting of the district each month.

Padma brought up the topic of the various Tech Blogs around the district and that we are all in our own little worlds.

It was a very active and useful discussion with nearly everyone in the room participating.

The over-all consensus was that the Tech Blog is the vehicle and we as staff are to provide content.

Nearly all posts will in some way assist a patron at one time or another and that the posts need not be "Tech" content only.

Linda Maola shared at the meeting several videos on what a Danish library is doing to become more relevant.

Oli showcased the new update to the Staffbook, a Facebook type interaction.

I'd like to hear what others have to say. Blogs are to be conversations.

Draw Something!

My new favorite app for my iPhone is DrawSomething...it's like a Pictionary game that you can play with anyone else who has the app, whether they are near or far. (The app is available for both Apple and Android devices.) I have played with my daughters while we're all sitting on the same couch and I am having lots of fun playing with my colleagues from Twitter across the country!

You start by finding your friends online, and beginning a game with them. You'll need to know their username in the game or their email to track them down. Or, you can link up through Facebook.

Then you get three words to choose from: easy, medium, or hard. (My last three choices were anchor, bookmark, or Golem.) Once you choose your word, you are sent to a draw screen. Use your finger to draw a picture that represents your word. You get a few colors to start with, and can choose skinny or thick lines. You do have an eraser too!

Once your picture is complete, you send it to your friend. The fun thing about this game is that it's asynchronous. Just like with Words With Friends, you don't have to be playing at exactly the same time. You send turns back and forth to each other and play when you can.

The other thing I love about this game is it doesn't just share your finished picture with your friend. It saves a little video of the picture as you drew it, then when your friend is ready to play, the game will show it to them. They can watch your picture appear, and try to guess what it is!

There are 12 letters at the bottom of your screen as you watch the drawing. Once you know what the picture is, you use those letters to spell the name of the object. If you're wrong, you get to keep guessing. There's no time limit, and there are other helps too, such as being able to reduce the number of letters you see, or a button that rescrambles the letters in case you need some inspiration.

Once you guess correctly, you both earn 1, 2, or 3 coins, depending on the difficulty of the word you chose. You can use the coins to buy more colors, or you can add more colors by purchasing them within the app.

The game has been incredibly successful--it spread through a good chunk of my Twitter network in just under a week--and they report 12 million downloads in just a month.

It's quick, and creative, and I highly recommend it! There's a free version as well as a $1 version, but I do suggest that you go for the paid version since the free version seems a little buggier.

And if you want to play, my username is MelJean!

e-only patrons

I had a lady come in today for a library card. When I offered to help her find something she said that she just wanted to borrow books for her ipad. I am wondering if other libraries are experiencing e-only patrons. Also, after reading the article that Christina published recently, I am wondering about the Amazon lending library. For $79.00/yr. you can access their library, get free 2 day shipping, and stream thousands of t.v. shows and movies. Any speculations on how this will impact us?

Helping Teens

"Multiple studies have shown that, while young people are adept at downloading their favorite songs from the Internet or instant messaging with their friends, the majority lack critical thinking and information literacy skills."

That is a quote from this article I read about ALA's Teen Tech Week, which is this week.

(http://www.ala.org/news/pr?id=9503)

I just thought it was a good reminder that, while a teen asking a technology question might know more about ipods, webcams, or google than we do, we are the ones with the critical thinking and information literacy skills that the teen may be lacking. Just because a teen's question is about using the webcam and we may never have used one doesn't mean we won't be able to help him figure it out.

February Tech Talk Winner: Charleen Hajka

Congratulations to Sheridan's Charleen Hajka for being our NL Techie of the Month. Charleen shared her challenges with us about downloading to her Kindle. Charleen demonstrated intellectual curiosity by reading up on this problem, trying a few different things at home, checking in with another staff person and then posting her challenge on our blog to see if others' experiences could help her. While we didn't see too much discussion on this post, it did have 16 page views, so we know some of you out there were listening!

Thanks for sharing your challenge with us, Charleen. It's helps us all when you walk us through the steps you took and where you got stuck. Let us know if you solved this yet! A $10 iTunes gift card is on its way to you at Sheridan.

Kindle Chaos

Was reading the Denver Post's Andy Vuong's blog section and read that others are having some problem with downloading their Kindle. This article reminded me of my problem.
My problem seems to only happen at home when trying to use the USC cable that attaches my Kindle to the computer. I have tried changing the portals(there are two) and am able to download from the site to the computer but NOT from the computer to the Kindle.
With the 48 hour timeframe, I had to go to my neighbors to ask to "borrow" his WiFi. I can download everything at work using our WiFi and my Kindle Sifu(Christina) has turned off the WiFi and used the USB cord to show me how to download books. What's up??? Please help!

Alternatives to Piknik

Just a quick post today! Google announced recently that it would be closing down their Piknik service on April 19. This was a free, streamlined photo-editing service that worked with Picasa. Recently there was a conversation on the Flannel Friday Facebook page about what you could use instead. Here's a couple of links that were posted with some alternatives.

One thing to know is that Google has a new photo editing tool within Google+ called Creative Kit, so there is still a free option in the Google family. I haven't tried it yet, though, so I don't know how it flows with Picasa.

Three Best Alternatives to the Piknik Photo Editing Tools
from Make Use Of
12 Free Photo Editing Sites: Piknik Alternatives
from Between Naps on the Porch
Seven Alternatives to Piknik
from Free Technology for Teachers

Good Old Goodreads

A lot of what we all post here on Tech Talk is our exciting finds and current news, which is great! But I found myself thinking the other day how much I appreciate an "old" tool--Goodreads.

Goodreads, if it's new to you, is a site that allows you to keep track of books, to see what your friends (and strangers) are reading, and to read and write reviews. One of the things that I think makes it so successful and such a valuable tool is that there's so many different ways that you can use it.

You can just keep track of the books you've read, or list all the books you'd like to read, or list all the books you own as well. You can "tag" or create "shelves" for your books--sort them by subject in any way you want. You can keep track of when you read a book, who recommended it to you, and what you thought about it. You can keep your notes private, or write a review that the whole world can see. It's up to you!

It's flexible enough that I've used it in different ways over the four years that I've had an account. (Find my picture books here and my other books here.) Here's some of the ways it has helped me do my job better!

• When I was still doing some adult readers' advisory, I would read book reviews and add interesting titles that I knew I was never going to have time to read myself--but were good to recommend to others. This was especially great for genres that I don't read a lot of.
• When I know I've read something but can't remember the title or author, the "cover view" option is a super quick way to nudge my memory and scan dozens (or hundreds!) of book possibilities quickly.
• When my daughters read a book that they love and want me to read, I add it to my lists, so I can remember the titles, but also so I can recommend tried-and-true titles to other kids. 
• I love the "to-read" category! I used to have so many paper lists and Word docs floating around with all the titles that sounded good. Now I have all those ideas in one place. I know I'll never get to all of them, but when I'm in the mood for a certain type of book, I have a lot of good ideas at my fingertips! 
• I've used Goodreads to keep track of various reading challenges that I've participated in.
• I have one account just for picture books, and one for everything else I read. I decided to keep them separate because there so MANY picture books I want to keep track of that I didn't want to have to sort through them when I was looking for other types of titles. Also, having a separate account means I can tag and categorize picture books differently, and more easily, than I could if they were all mixed together with my other books. 
• I keep track of the books I use in storytime.
• All year long I make notes of great illustrations, so when Alyson and I are ready to start compiling our Caldecott Hopeful list, I haven't forgotten any of the great books from the beginning of the year.
• Sometimes patrons want to find a picture book that has a particular illustration style or uses a certain media--I have trouble finding lists for that online, so I started tagging the picture books I read by media, creating my own resource for this question. 
• When I can't make up my mind about a title, I use GoodReads to access a lot of other people's opinions and reviews all at once! It gives me an overview of reactions to test my reactions against, and hone my own opinion. 
• I use GoodReads to see what other children's librarians around the country are reading and enjoying. It's a great way to find out about titles that we don't have here at ALD.

So finding new tech tools is great, but finding a new tool that works so well it turns into an "old" tool--that's fabulous! What are your "old" tech tools that help you do your job? 

e-book publishers and libraries

One of the greatest features of e-reader devices is their simplicity. If you have access to WiFi, you literally have the book from your computer to your Kindle in less than a minute. But for publishers like Penguin, it's just a little too convenient, especially when you consider that you can do the same for free from your local library. The article linked at the bottom discusses the growing concerns of publishers, retailers and (most importantly) readers.

http://www.extremetech.com/mobile/118005-amazon-bn-and-publishers-slug-it-out-over-e-books-while-libraries-suffer

De-Google-ifying?

Here are two blog posts about Google’s new privacy policy that I found helpful:

Life After Google: You Have Options from Lane Wilkinsen’s Sense and Reference blog A nice summary of what the concerns are for some users, as well as reporting on Lane’s experiment to go Google-free for 90 days, and some of the alternative sites/services he used.

Should Google’s New Privacy Policy Concern You? On Blomberg Businessweek.Another good summary of the issues, considering pros and cons of data consolidation.

As for what I’m doing in response, I’m not going to give up using Google products and services completely, but I did take this opportunity to do a little audit of what products and services I do use.

I signed in to Google and went to my “Account Settings” and scrolled down  to “Google Privacy.” I clicked on “Sign into Dashboard” which allowed me to look at an overview of all my information that is stored with the various Google products such as Picasa, Google Docs, Calendar, and so forth. I deleted stuff I don’t need from the services I’m no longer using and made sure I had the privacy settings I wanted for everything else. Going forward, I'm also going to try to stop being lazy in having Google be my default app for everything, and make sure I explore other alternatives before I choose.

I think it’s clear that more and more of online services are going to be looking for ways to use our data in order to either improve their services to us or to improve their ability to direct ads and make money for themselves. Or both. (Even more recently, the social network Path ran into trouble after it automatically uploaded users' entire address books from their phones to Path’s servers.)

I’m not worried about having some of my data out in the world, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being conservative in what you share and how. “Conservative” will mean different things to different people, but part of what I think it does mean is being proactive in finding out how the services you use are using your data and making decisions accordingly about how you use that service.

Google's New Privacy Policy - what does it mean for you?

Hi NL Tech Talkers! I have a something on my mind and would love to hear what you're thinking...
What do you think of Google's new privacy policy? What have you learned about it? What are the best sources for learning what it really means? What concerns you about it? What excites you about it? Are you going to change your search or email behaviors as a result? Have you thought about how you will give an opinion-neutral response to a patron who asks what it all means?

Share with us. Help us learn from each other.

Winner for January NL Tech Talk

Hi all, Sorry for the delay in announcing the winner for January for our Tech Talk blog. And the NL Techie of the Month for January is Julie Luplow from the Jail Library. We chose Julie for her post on the ALD mobile app. Even though the app has been discussed before, we liked how she also let us know that it wasn’t just for apple products and explained how to use the barcode scanner to look up items. We were impressed that she was using the newer technology she found out about and also asking for help with something she was struggling with. Julie had a 3 part post consisting of discovery, trial and curiosity. That set her post apart for us.

Congratulations, Julie! A $10 Amazon gift card is on its way to you.

Reading barcodes (A UPC-A, Lorem ipsum, QR Code, etc.)

If you have and iPhone or any smartphone, you have to have unloaded the iTunes software in your computer which is free unloading, you get it from the web site and you unload it, then to your iPhone. After that you have to get an iTunes account and that software will keep your smartphone updated; also you can download music in it with that if you want. In the iPhone there is an application named "app store" which is already unloaded in your smartphone and that one allows you to look for different web applications which can be or can not be free. When you want to unload a barcode application in your smartphone it will asks you about your iTunes password: after you type it, it will unload it (without plugging your iPhone to the computer). Application you can unload to read barcodes in your smartphone is "bakodo", but there are lots of different ones you can use, you can look for them in the internet search, type "barcode" and you will get the following ones and more: "shopSavvy, "qr droid", etc.

Thanks and ALWAYS ENJOY LIFE IN ALL WAYS!.

ALD App not just for Apple Products!

I am confessing an assumption I recently made. After downloading the ALD app to my iPad, I "assumed" it was only available for Apple products. And you guessed it, that's what I get for assuming such a silly thing! I recently checked the App Market on my Android phone and was pleased to see the ALD app available for my phone. And, I can't quite say enough about this fantastic app, powered by Boopsie. I love placing items on hold with a few quick taps on my screen. Checking my account is also a breeze (and renewing items, as well!)

Finding branch locations, hours and programs is also available.

Did you know you can quickly look up materials with the app's bar-code scanner? If you're shopping and find an item that looks interesting, simply pull up the app, touch the "BookLook" tab and then activate the scanner. Position the scanner over the ISBN bar code and shake to focus.

Question: I am struggling to properly maneuver the scanner. Any tips? I shake to focus, tap the screen when the small green dot appears and even change the lighting above the book itself.

Thank you for any help you can offer me.

Digital Resolutions!

We're almost done with January--how is everyone doing on their New Year Resolutions?

Yeah, me neither. :)

I came across this list of recommended action steps to stay on top of your digital presence. Some of them are specific towards educators, but almost all of them--like changing your passwords, backing up your data, and checking your privacy settings--are valuable reminders!

10 Super Geeky Tips for the New Year

Pandigital Novel

My Pandigital is back to life. I checked everything I downloaded, and I found out there were no books which I downloaded using Overdrive app. Remember ? The pages were not formated and text size adjustment didn't work. I decided to practice downloading again. Dowloaded an e-book on my computer and started reading it. Following Katya's recommendations, which I didn't remember well, I dragged the ebook from the computer into Pandigital. It died again. While Katya says "opening it with some other than Overdrive". As Customer Service didn't get in touch with me, I will probably go to Barnes and Noble to register it and see if they could help me.

When I got my Nook Simple Touch last year I was excited to pick out a cover for it. I didn’t really know anything more about covers than what I saw at Barnes & Noble so I found one in a nice color with a nice quote on it and bought it. When I bought the Nook Color Tablet I again looked at the covers at Barnes & Noble and wasn’t very impressed. Nothing I found really said anything about me – the owner of that particular e-reader (although I did like the simple sophisticated Saffiano leather Kate Spade cover – I just couldn’t justify the $89 price tag). So I did what I do so often in my purchasing role for Neighborhood Libraries – I started researching what else is out there. I found a lot more covers – pages & pages on Amazon – but still nothing was catching my eye. Then I searched for “the best Nook tablet covers” and finally found what I was looking for. Oberon Design (www.oberondesign.com) offers handcrafted leather covers and sleeves for all Kindle and Nook e-readers in a variety of designs and colors. They are unique and my red paisley sleeve is a beautiful work of art. So if you’re looking for an e-reader cover, check out Oberon Design’s website.

E-Reader Notes

My e-reader is Nook Simple Touch. I found it to be easy and pleasant to use. I discovered that in order to operate a Nook the owner has to register it with Barnes & Noble. To register the e-reader, the owner has to establish a Barnes & Noble personal account. The registration process requires access to wireless Internet connection. The easiest place to register a Nook is one of the Barnes & Noble stores. After registering my Nook, I was able to check out ALD e-books. I also wanted to read books in Russian. I used Katya’s article in Tech Talk blog at http://aldnlreadtolead.blogspot.com/2011/06/popular-russian-formats-for-e-books.html  to guide me through the process (thank you, Katya!). I was able to download a book in Russian to my computer and convert the Russian format to e-pub. I could read the book in Calibre, a format converter I used. However, when I transferred the book to my Adobe Digital Editions library, the text consisted of question marks. I went through the procedure several times but could not make Adobe display the Russian text. I decided to connect my Nook to the computer and see if I would get question marks there as well. To my surprise, the Nook displayed the text properly. I realized that Calibre did accomplish the format conversion. Even though Adobe could not display the Russian font, it transferred the format conversion to the Nook.

Compact flash cards and new XQD

This blog may not interest everyone but if you or your patrons own and use Nikon or Sony cameras that use Compact Flash Cards, you may be interested in this article. http://news.yahoo.com/goodbye-compactflash-cards-nikon-sony-welcome-xqd-format-021005443.html
I know I have had a harder time finding Compact Flash cards in the last few months unless I go to a camera store etc. I used to be able to buy them almost anywhere, including Costco but no more.

NEW NOOK COLOR USB PROBLEM

My Nook Color worked fine in the beginning and there was no problem using ALD's website, checking out and reading overdrive materials, etc. Last week I got an error message when trying to Sync my Nook Color with my Computer to pick up my overdrive epub hold. When I plugged my Nook's USB into my computer an error message/warning came up saying that the USB device is not recognized by this computer. I rebooted my Computer and the Nook, made sure the Nook was fully charged and turned on when I connected it. I also tried plugging in to a different USB port. Nothing worked. I "Googled" this problem and see lots of other NookColor owners have experienced similar problems. B & N Customer support is not very helpful. I requested a new USB cord. Any other suggestions????
Thanks

Overdrive issues in Pandigital Novel device

Here is an Overdrive issue with Pandigital Novel I came across while doing a BAL and I think it may be an issue for some other non-mainstream e-readers.

The problem is that even though one can easily download both Overdrive app and e-books on Pandigital, when opening such a book in Overdrive one can see only a part of the text: about 2/3 to be exact. Text size adjustment does not do the trick, nor do any changes in Settings.

The only way out that I found was sideloading a book on the device and then opening it with some app other than Overdrive (such as B&A app on Pandigital, for example) or getting a Kindle app and downloading a Kindle format book from our collection.

Online Education for Kids

Hi NL Staff! This perhaps a strange topic to be posting for work, but it is a new technological adventure I have embarked on and one that I am extremely excited about!

Some of you may be familiar with all of the educational options out there for students. I only recently became aware of online schooling options for my 13 year old, 8th grade son. What I learned, and what we ended up setting up for him, is that you can create a combination of online and "traditional" (brick and mortar classroom) learning. This was all done for FREE through the school distrcit we live in, they even provide a macbook which they check out to us. So my son takes his "core" classes online and attends his former middle school for two electives and after-school athletics. I cannot say enough about how well this is working out for him and for our family.

What is super exciting to me is the technology piece in this. This is a real world opportunity for my son to continue to develop his skills technologically by using the following on a regular basis:
*Virtual Classes weekely using camera, mike, and/or instant messaging
*Online presentations with peers including presentations and desktop sharing to present
*Updated/latest technology for documents, presentations, etc
*Google docs, calendars, etc between teachers and with students
*Variety of communications tools with teachers and students
*Online textbooks, assignments, quizzes, tests

Additionally, this gives him a great combination of structured and independent learning/working...a great lifeskill for the future. Because parental involvement is such an important piece with this type of learning, I have been able to brush up on my tech skills and learn new things!!

I thought I would pass this information on as you may find more and more online learners in your libraries...the numbers keep growing annually!

December Techie of the Month

Hi all! December was an exciting month on our NL Tech Talk blog! We had lots of great posts to help us learn, especially about ereaders. Thanks to all for sharing.

So who wins the honors this month? After much deliberation, our esteemed panel of judges decided that Sharon Chinn of Sheridan Library deserves to be the December Techie of the Month for her post on 12/3. We were impressed with Sharon's discovery of a children's book that integrated new technologies into the text to make it an interactive experience for families. Sharon showed curiosity about a new kind of children's book, talked to the author, and generated excitement about how families could use this book. We liked learning about this from Sharon. This very same book was featured in the Denver Post soon after Sharon's post. We heard about it here first! Congratulations, Sharon! An Amazon gift card is on the way to you.

Multimedia Novel 7"

Time to share my experience with my device - Multimedia Novel 7", or Pandigital Novel, Android system, Multimedia Tablet and Color eReader. It was a gift from my children for my birthday, which was in June. I was excited very much. First of all, downloaded pictures of my family and my friends, but of course! Then I practised downloading Ebooks (EPUB and PDF are the supported formats). Then I was happy to download music from Freegal! Told my granddaughter that she would be able to do this, 3 songs per week for free!
Not long ago I booked a librarian (Thank you Katya!) and learned how to download Russian books.
Then time came to learn how to download ebooks directly on my device using Overdrive (Thank you Laura!). We all noticed that the device was a little bit too slow. But I said : "Patience, Tanya! You are discovering a new land!"
So I was enjoying reading my books. One day my husband decided to buy a memory stick for my Novel. We incerted it, found it in the Novel, formatted it, and ..... the device died, I remember the date - January 7. We kept it charged and in 2 days it came back to life! Hurray! I worked with it for some time, for an hour or so, wanted to download another book from the library, did it and it died again!.
I registered it on Pandigital website, asked if they could help me, because I am not satisfied with it.
Does anybody else has the same device and can share their experience with me? Was it just my luck? Because I am on the edge of saying: Don't buy it guys!

Free method to sign and send digital documents

SignNow.com is a free website which allows users to sign and send digital documents. It includes features like uploading or creating a new document, inviting another signer, adding notes and CC emails, and drawing, printing or uploading your personal signature. Check it out; it can be useful for you or your patrons http://signnow.com

About my Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus with 16GB Memory

I spent some time for comparing all Tablets before I chose to buy the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus with 16GB Memory. Finally I made my decision. Some of the reasons are:
1. The Samsung’s are known to have amazing screen quality.
2. The Samsung’s hardware has a great reputation in the business when it comes to quality.
3. This device is amazingly Thin, Light and Stylish
Once I get to use the Tab more, I'll update on books, music, movies and other uses for it. I've only had it for less than a week so hasn’t had time to get fully acquainted with it.
If you are looking to get a tablet now for yourself or someone else, you will not go wrong with the Samsung Galaxy Tab, no doubt. I know I am more than delighted about mine!

I wanted to add a bit of my own advice on how to protect these great devices that we have all become to love! Touch screens have become the standart for ereaders, but let's face it, they are delicate, and it makes me nervous to drop my iPad in my purse/backpack and just go. I would first recommend a cover for your device, and second, I think it is imperative to purchase a screen protector. If you go to a major retailer you can pay big bucks for one of these, some people pay up to $60! I went online to ebay, and bought a pack of 3 screen protectors for only a few dollars! The screen protector I am using is: 99% transparent, anti-scratch, reduces smudging and the material is from Japan. Small tip on the application of these protectors that I found from research online: apply the screen in a humid bathroom after a shower, it minimizes the tiny fuzz particles and makes your device look like you don't even have a protector on it!

First of all, I would like to add my thanks to ALD for their generosity and desire to truly integrate their staff with today's technology. I purchased an iPad, and although it was daunting to use it at first, I quickly learned how easy it was to download books from our web site, surf the web, and do so much more. What great timing from ALD for this reimbursement opportunity, many patrons came to the library after the holidays to ask our assistance, as ereaders have become such a hit in the market and were given as gifts to many. Although training was helpful and created a great foundation for this technology for the staff, it is of course the personal hands on experience you gain from owning one of these products and using it daily that allows you to really understand it and its capabilities.

Ten years later, Windows XP still dominates the Web

By Philip Elmer-DeWitt January 1, 2012: 10:56 AM ET

And in the Apple market, Lion is still trailing two-year-old Snow Leopard

In its final monthly report for 2011, NetApplications offers a window on the shifting fates of the various flavors of Microsoft (MSFT) Windows and Mac OS X that show up at its 40,000 clients' websites.

As a rule, creaky old legacy systems dominate.

Windows XP, which Microsoft introduced in August 2001, is still the single most-present PC operating system, with a 46.5% share of global Web traffic.

And Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), which Apple (AAPL) launched in Aug. 2009, still has a 3.1% market share to Lion's 2.0%

But despite the persistence of aging OSs, there was a lot of rapid movement in 2011. Lion's Web presence went from 0% to 2% in just over two months. And Windows 7, for its part, went from 21.7% to 37% in the space of a year, a 71% increase.

It was not a good year for Vista or "Other," however. Both experienced significant share drops in 2011