Windows 8 and Office 365 Microsoft

Do you know that some Windows 8 tablets will be unable to run Microsoft Office?
Office 365 will be widely used by the time Windows 8 comes along and offers everything that the iPad and Android tablets don't. As an example: Word, Excel and Power Point.
Office 365, the new cloud based version of Microsoft Office designed for corporate users, and Windows 8, the tablet optimized release of Microsoft's operating system set for launch in 2012.

Writer and Illustrator Benjamin Lacombe

I know this is not a post about technology but I want to share with you some of the books that I fell in love with while at the Book Fair in Madrid. Benjamin Lacombe is a great illustrator. Here's a little peek preview of some of his books we will add to our Spanish Collection.

Click the following link:
http://ifitshipitshere.blogspot.com/2010/09/benjamin-lacombes-beautifully.html

Blue birds singing a song. Nothing but blue birds all day long: being an exhaustively brief treatise on WHO tweets?

Like a songbird with no song, is the twitter user with no tweets a useless anomaly too?

After my own pathetic showing during the twitter session at Staff Day, it occurred to me to re-examine my use of Twitter especially as it compared to others' use of the social networking site. In the spirit of full disclosure, I don't tweet. I have a twitter account, and will, on occasion, derive a few chuckles from following the likes of Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) and Neil Patrick Harris (@ActuallyNPH) (LOVE!), or pretend like I am keeping up with news by following my favorite (and some not-so-favorite) news outlets.  Write a tweet myself?  Never crossed my mind.  In my admittedly smaller social circle, I know very few people that tweet.  I have often participated in communal bewilderment with my peers about the purpose of Twitter, and why it is so darn popular.  It seems that the few people I have met that actively tweet generally fall into two categories:  They either LOVE the sound of their own voices or are promoting themselves (artists, actors, musicians), their companies, or their pet projects.  Legit.

Am I wrong to view Twitter as some superfluous entity that appears to be very important, if not pivotal, to 'others', but not myself?  Is my tweeting reticence reactionary?  If I'M not tweeting and my tens of friends aren't tweeting, then WHO TWEETS?

Luckily, the Pew Research Institute has asked this very question, and here are a few of the highlights from their 2011 update to their original query of Twitter adoption from November 2010:

• 13% of online adults use Twitter
• Twitter adoption is particularly high among non-whites
• Twitter usage by those ages 25-44 has grown significantly since late 2010

And now for some visuals:
(right-click on the charts and open them in another window/tab to be able to see them better)

Okay...to be honest, 13% is not a huge percentage, which would explain the lack of tweeters I personally know. 

The Neighborhood Libraries of ALD serve a diverse community, which, according to the numbers, are increasingly using Twitter.  Maybe I need to get over my Twitter hang-ups? 

Or... (thanks to Lab42)

So, let's say I'm sold.  I now want to venture into the world of being an active Twitter participant.  I am ready to Tweet.  How can I make sure it is valuable and not just more of the meaningless blather that initially turned me off from Twitter?  

Check out this article from PCWorld on how to 'Twitter Like a Pro':
The best take-away for me? To 'tweet' Twitter like a conversation, and to provide value.  Single line slogans come across as false.

Is that the sweet song of bluebirds on a blue sky day I hear?  Ah, yes.  Twitter.

NL Techie of the Month for September

Hi all! It's already October 11th and I haven't named a Techie of the Month for September yet. Fall is flying by! My pick for September is Laura Knox of Eloise May Library for her post on how to get a disc unstuck. She helped us solve a problem, referred to two different expert sources, one from ALD and another from the web, and entertained us with her playful writing style. She also got some good comments from others on our team. So thanks for this helpful tip, Laura. You are officially the NL Techie of the Month for September. A $10 Amazon gift card is making its way to your mailbox.

Facebook Changes

I guess it's been awhile since I checked out my Facebook page, because when I logged on last week, I had trouble recognizing the formatting of the screens, and also realized that the Navigation Bar moved!!! I started googling some articles and have learned that Facebook is going head to head with Google+ and these changes took place within hours of the time Google+ went live. I went on the Facebook blog : https://blog.facebook.com/ to see what else had changed. I found that Post size has expanded from 500 characters to 5,000, pictures posted are now larger and download in twice the time(even your previously uploaded profile pictures will be displayed at this higher resolution.) The Navigation Bar is now anchored to the top of your page. Facebook has also combined "Top Stories" and the old "Most Recent" features. A new"ticker" has been added on the upper right hand corner of the news feed section, providing a "snapshot" of what your friends are doing right now. Also, seems like you can now share music with your friends using Spotify www.spotify.com on Facebook.
(Spotify is a digital music service that gives you access to millions of songs) Stay tuned for more changes to come by checking back frequently with this Blog.

Is This the Solution?

I just read this article, "Why I Dumped my iPhone--and I'm Not Going Back," and it kind of irritated me! This writer claims that his iPhone was keeping him from living life in the present moment -- he spent too much time checking on networks and news online. So he traded it in for a plain, calls-and-texts-only Nokia.

But is the iPhone the problem, or is it his lack of self-control? If he can't keep from checking his Facebook during dinner with his wife, is the device really the issue?

Oh Mark Zuckerberg, you Facebook fiend!

Sorry to bombard the NL Tech Talk Blogosphere with Facebook related entries, I hope this will complement Barb's excellent post.

Mr. Zuckerberg is at it again (and yes, I know THAT is not a picture of Mark Zuckerberg, but of the actor who portrayed him in 'that Facebook movie'.), so brace yourself for a revamping of Facebook once again.

Mashable.com has a pretty great recap of the changes, but I am going to recap the recap.

1. Facebook wants to be your life's scrapbook. Facebook will help you share your past, present, and future by means of a Timeline which will dominate the top part of your profile page, and constantly scroll through your pictures, status updates, apps, places you've been, etc. seemingly until birth, or your facebook 'rebirth', whichever came sooner. For now the Timeline will be 'opt-in', but it will eventually replace the standard profile page. Not to worry! The further back you go (or the more oversharing you partake in) Facebook will compress the seemingly worthless information, and you will still look cool.

2. They say that negative emotions are stronger than positive emotions, and I can attest that I rarely have a desire to 'like' something on Facebook, but many a day I would vehemently like to 'dislike' something (usually I end up unfriending those people instead...). But wait! I no longer have to swallow the bile my newsfeed creates, because now I can "[verb] any [noun]" on Facebook. Huzzah! Wait... does this mean people will be oversharing more of the banal details of their daily lives? Oh Facebook, you double-edged sword, you!

3. Play a little farm-ville? Now the Facebook apps you love will ask you only once if they can share your personal information, instead of every time they want to share your personal information. This change must be for the facebook app-adventurers. I'm personally too scared of the viruses that could be lurking in any colorful pop-up box to try them.

4. Like Barb said, 'lightweight' (think all those quizzes and game related status updates) information will be banished to a ticker in the top right corner, but more stalk-worthy information (pictures, relationship status, 'is that what his new girlfriend looks like?', etc.) will still be in your newsfeed.

5. Oh happy day! Oh happy day! Your entire entertainment consumption experience can now be mediated through Facebook and shared with all your 'friends'! You can watch Hulu via facebook, read Yahoo News with your ever faithful f-book, listen to music, and share! Share! Share! Why do anything if you can't inform the world of it instantly?

In summation, Zuckerberg, you sly dog, is keeping it classy while his leviathan company continues to revolutionize the 'human experience'; growing past 800 million users (most active), and insinuating itself deeper into our daily lives. (resist if you can)