At our last meeting we discussed the ins and outs of using Google Hangouts for video conferencing. This week Google just announced some updates and changes to the service, making it even easier to use. http://mashable.com/2013/05/16/google-hangouts-app-analysis/
Here is the resource list on video conferencing that Robin put together. Communicating Through Video Conferencing
Last week Google announced that Google Reader would reach end of life status as of July 1. The internet responded with it’s usual bombast, hand wringing and general spectacle. Tech sites were quick to point out that usage of Reader has largely fallen away and new social media such as Twitter do a better job anyway and have quickly posted lists of viable alternatives to Google Reader, (Life Hacker, C|net, PCWorld, ExtremeTech to name a few). Myself, I have moved on to Feedly. I like the interface and the mobile apps look good on both my phone and tablet. The biggest plus had to be the transition was as simple as simple could be. I have used Pulse and currently Flipboard (two other often mentioned alternatives). These apps are very attractive and cover most of the news feeds you would be looking for. Still, I find them a little distracting to use on a day to day basis.
All this talk about alternatives does bring up one question. Does anyone still use RSS? Obviously the writers for many of the websites mentioned above do, but what about everyone else? Twitter has been named as the most logical replacement for what RSS provided. Certainly the community of Twitterers, (is that a real world), come very close to this application of the technology. Rather than going away has RSS simply grown up and moved onto a more social version of itself? If the goal is to have news and interesting websites pushed to you Twitter certainly can do that, but what about the articles? I liked the summary feature in RSS that let me read the first few lines or in some cases all of the article. You are not going to do that in 140 characters. You sometimes cannot even get the URL to fit in 140 characters. So to reiterate I will not be using Twitter as my Reader / RSS alternative. So where does that leave RSS technology, on the back page of our web history book or still in a very viable table of contents? At this point I really do not know. What do you think?
Our meeting this month will be on Thursday February 28, at the Burton Bar Library. The topic will be Reference services from the cloud. See you all there.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. The number of viewers is impressive, but lets work for more discussion for 2013.
Here’s an excerpt:
The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,400 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.
There are three ways to learn about the new gadgets that have come out that patrons (or you) may want for the holidays.
The first is our Holiday Gadget Party at Burton Barr Library this Thursday at 10:30 am. Come get hands on with new gadgets.
Second, Overdrive also has an online presentation this Wednesday and Thursdays that will talk about the new gadgets. Go to http://www.overdrive.com/learningcenter/registration.aspx to find out more and to register.
Third, Overdrive’s blog at http://www.overdriveblogs.com/library has some good reviews of the latest gadgets.
The past week Nintendo, makers of the DS and Wii, has released a new console. Their name for it is the Wii U and you may have seen some of the commercials already. In terms of video games we are now entering a transition period from the current generation to the next. Nintendo headed off the competition by being the first out with new hardware.
The Wii U represents a lot of firsts for Nintendo and a few for video games in general. It is the first Nintendo console to use HD graphics, the first to feature non-gaming applications and the first with social networking built in. Then there is the tablet controller. Imagine a video game system where the TV is optional. The controller brings a whole host of new options to video game developers. While still in it’s infancy the potential is immense.
You can read more about it in thus review from IGN.com.
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A survey on e-reader preferences released by Pew Research Center showed a distinct difference between the ages of those surveyed and the devices they choose to read on. As reported by KVOA.com younger readers prefer to read e-books on their cellphones while older readers prefer dedicated devices. This is interesting but I think just follows the trend for smartphone adoption. Still as smartphone screen sizes increase and dedicated reader screens decrease the two appear to be converging. Also obvious is the convenience of having that once device that is phone, email, Facebook, audio video player and e-reader all in one. The trade off there, however, is the complexity that such a device brings when compared to a single minded device like a Kindle or Nook. As suggested by, Paidcontent.org the data used in the survey is a year old and may have changed. I would like to see newer data, but I suspect, if anything, the gap may have widened. The survey also shows that teen readers make up the lowest percentage of e-book readers. This may be do to the lack of access to e-books, (that teens want to read), from their school or public libraries. What do you think? The comments section is open.
