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Thursday, January 24, 2002 |
Can you tell I'm starting to feel better? Antibiotics are your friends, folks. I'll never catch up on all of the news I missed, but I do need to return to my regularly scheduled life for the rest of the night. Tomorrow, responses to emails I've received during the last few days. You won't have to wait much longer!
10:45:52 PM Permanent link here
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NHL Scores with Sun's Web Services - fourth interesting article from today's PC World
"Hockey fans will have access to a wide range of scores and stats online and on their wireless devices.... The companies demonstrated a hockey game being streamed live to a wireless handheld device. Another option they showed was to watch a representation of a game in real-time, with the ability to track play and chat with fellow fans and experts."
I'm not a big hockey fan so this won't really impact me (shucky darns), but let's go NCAA basketball - get with the program! In a few years, this will be normal. (Sidebar: Go Jayhawks!)
10:41:47 PM Permanent link here
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The Price of Free E-Mail Rises - third interesting articles from today's PC World
"Will you pay to hang on to your Web e-mail address? Hotmail, Yahoo, and others apparently aim to find out."
Yahoo has already been heading down this road, but now Hotmail joins them. Be prepared for patron questions if they can't access their Hotmail account at your workstations. The articles notes that "Microsoft appears to be the most aggressive marketer of premium services. If you're a Hotmail user who hasn't checked your Hotmail e-mail in the past month, you've likely lost your account." It's a good overview of the industry (if you can call it that yet) if you're directing patrons to Web-based email services.
10:27:19 PM Permanent link here
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Vendors Team on Voice-Enabled PDA - second interesting article from today's PC World
"The personal digital assistant will use RIM's wireless e-mail technology and Motorola's integrated digital enhanced network technology on Nextel's nationwide network in the United States, offering voice and two-way radio service, text and numeric paging, and Nextel Wireless Web online services, RIM said in a statement."
I was excited to read this until I realized that they just mean a phone-PDA combo. Not that this isn't great news, especially with the Nextel service for two-way radio, but I thought I was finally going to be able to talk TO my phone-PDA, not through it.
10:22:35 PM Permanent link here
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Lots of interesting articles from today's PC World. First up, Microsoft Takes on MapQuest: "MSN launches MapPoint online mapping service, offering maps, directions, and more."
Apparently this is going to be yet another component of MS' push for .Net services with hooks into other MSN services. MapPoint is XML-based, which makes it interesting in other ways, and there it launches with a phone-based direction service. The articles notes that this is another step towards location-based services. "For example, you might someday be able to click on a Windows Messenger buddy's name and retrieve a map showing the location of his or her home."
Good or bad? You make the call. I like parts of this, but I'm incredibly wary of .Net.
10:17:30 PM Permanent link here
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Flexible display [e-ink] gains momentum "Researchers at Cambridge, MA-based E Ink have completed the first working prototype of an electronic ink display attached to a flexible, silicon-based thin-film transistor backplane, the sheet of electronics that controls display pixels. The prototype is a functional display that you can twist, bend or throw against the wall without disturbing a single electron.... Researchers at E Ink don't know exactly when their prototype will go into full production, but they estimate that by sometime in 2005 they'll be building fully-flexible displays for commercial use. For now, the company is working with Philips Electronics to produce displays using electronic ink against rigid, glass backplanes, to be built into mobile, handheld devices starting next year." [via ia]
You know why ebook devices are failing right now? Usability. Plain and simple. If they'd get their acts together and share a single open standard that makes their devices interoperable and then make a device you'd actually want to use, folks might be more open to using them, espcially for nonfiction purposes. But you know what, I believe that electronic ink (the concept, not necessarily the company) is going to beat them to the punch. It's got more benefits right out of the starting gate, and it has more built-in usability than a device dedicated purely to reading ebooks. Here's hoping that this industry learns from the mistakes of the companies that make ebook devices so they don't kill their chances before anyone even cares.
9:57:27 PM Permanent link here
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Cool tool alert: Current IP Check will tell you what your current IP address is. Can be helpful, helpful. SLS folks - if you need to check you're in the IP range you gave us for reaching our server, check it here first! [via 'brary blog]
8:58:10 PM Permanent link here
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I don't know why I find 555-LIST interesting, but I do. Maybe it's because it's another example of someone more obsessive than me.
8:10:07 PM Permanent link here
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"Aimster changes name, adds fee service. The file-swapping company, which is working to attract paying members, hands America Online its name and rebrands itself Madster.com." [in News.com]
Does a Big Company on Campus finally get it? Does AOL understand that they need to start working with these grass-roots start-ups or will Aimster/Madster die a slow death, too?
8:06:06 PM Permanent link here
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eTForecasts: PDA-Phones Will Revitalize the PDA Market After rapid growth for five years, the PDA market growth rate slowed significantly in 2001--especially in the USA. But help is on the way in the form of PDA-Phones, which will see explosive growth in the next five years. PDA-Phones, which is a web cell phone with PDA functionality or vice-versa, will grow from only 0.2M+ units in 2000 to nearly 19M units in 2007 for a compound annual growth rate of 87.5%. PDA-Phones in use will increase from 0.9M units at year-end 2001 to nearly 49M in 2007 or 21% of all PDAs in use. PDA-Phones in use in the USA will grow to over 14M units in 2007 or nearly 18% of all PDAs in use." [in PDABuzz]
So listen up, libraries. You have less than five years to make your library's electronic resources available to wireless users. Kids that are ten years old now are going to expect to be able to search your catalog, request a book, etc., all from their phone. Start thinking now about how you're going to provide this access. Don't say I didn't warn you....
7:38:43 PM Permanent link here
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For those of you that haven't seen them, Blogstickers are the hot new trend to add to your blog. Naturally I will be adding some towards the bottom of the page. Hundreds to choose from me!
7:32:47 PM Permanent link here
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Don't think blogging is the biggest thing going these days? Check out Blog Rolling and try to browse through the more than 5000 sites it lists! Now we just need a librariran to catalog them all.... [via Burning Bird]
7:21:24 PM Permanent link here
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© Copyright 2004 Jenny Levine.
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