The Distant Librarian

Thoughts on the Kindle in Canada

Today it was announced that the Kindle will finally be sold to Canada.  Not IN Canada, but TO Canada. Hate to just be a complainer, but here's what's not right about this launch.  I'm sure some of these will be addressed in time, but until pretty much all of them are, it won't be on my wish list.  

1. We have to pay duty to have it shipped from the States to Canada.  It should be shipped to me from within Canada.
2. The Kindle app isn't available in the Canadian iTunes store.
3. I pay the same US price as you do in the States, but my Kindle won't have full wireless capability.
4. Only four Canadian newspapers currently available.
5. I can't buy books for the Kindle from Amazon.ca - I was seriously set to buy (ironically) The Case for Books right now.  It is available for the Kindle at Amazon.com
6. I don't think that Canadian authors / publishers can publish to the Kindle platform.

How have I been coping w/o the Kindle?  Just fine, actually.  I've read well over a dozen novels on my iPhone this year.  My preferred ereader of choice is Stanza (ironically now owned by Amazon) - can't think of a single thing to do to improve it.  I buy most of my books from Fictionwise.  There's also the Canadian option of Shortcovers, with both a store and ereader.  Shortcovers just hasn't been quite as seamless as Stanza/Fictionwise for me.

For newspapers, yesterday I discovered PressDisplay.  It's got my local paper and an iPhone app, though if I do decide to subscribe I'll probably choose to read my morning paper on the laptop.  For me, I think newspapers and magazines on an ereader would be killer, and that's one thing I was hoping the Kindle would do for me.

It does indeed frost my shorts that I can't share the books I've purchased with anyone else.  I haven't yet, but will probably explore options for cracking the DRM in order to do so.

What am I missing, eh?

Webinar: The Future of the Library - How the Library Ecosystem is Evolving to Support 21st Century Information Demands

Library Journal has another interesting-sounding webinar coming up this week (11/18/2009 12:00 PM EST): The Future of the Library - How the Library Ecosystem is Evolving to Support 21st Century Information Demands.  From the registration page:

Libraries are continuing to evolve and are using new technologies to expand their presence as virtual knowledge centers for information sharing communities. Patrons conducting research remotely are increasingly using mobile devices and accessing resources in multiple languages.

Librarians as 21st century knowledge technologists as well as electronic information experts need to offer easily accessible library-specific solutions tailored to the unique data and information needs of their users. Technology solution providers are working with publishers and are moving towards more sharing of data, interoperability standards and electronic workflow required to meet these needs.

Listen to three industry notables share their view of how the industry is responding and changing to meet these evolving needs of the library ecosystem using today's emerging technologies to meet the needs of patrons today and for the future

PANELISTS:
Peter McCracken, Co-Founder & Director of Content and Business Development, Shipindex.org
Rob Mercer, General Manager, Serials Solutions
Andrew Pace, Executive Director, Networked Library Services, OCLC

You can register for free, and the event will also be archived.

ACTA - Quite possibly the biggest threat to your internet to date.

There's been a lot of traffic about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in the last week or so, but not nearly enough.  In a nutshell, instead of proposing legislation through transparent and traditional channels (Congress, Parliament, etc), member countries seem to be pushing to enact legislation via an international treaty which has so far been withheld from the public.  If the treaty is signed, wham-bam, thank-you ma'am, we've got a new law.  And know what?  It's not really about anti-counterfeiting as much as it is about copyright reform. 

Want some more background?  Take your pick on where to start reading. 

Want a number to make you sit up and take notice?  According to a statistic being passed around on twitter, the population of countries negotiating ACTA is 1,178,504,491 ... public with access to text: 42.

Want to listen instead of read? Michael Geist spoke for 20 minutes at the Washington College of Law:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a form you Americans can use to contact your CongressCritter about this issue.

One of the leaks around ACTA suggests that there's a provision which will require ISPs around the globe to monitor and adhere to takedown notices upon mere accusation of copyright infringement, as well as a three-strikes and you're off the internet forever.  You read that right.  The RIAA or whomever simply accuses you three times, and you're banned from the internet for life.  Sounds like a joke, doesn't it?  Apparently it's not.

Happy Friday the 13th :-(

Copyright Watch: Keeping a Global Eye on Copyright Law

New site launched by the Electronic Frontier Foundation today: Copyright Watch.

"Working with academics, libraries and copyright monitors from across the world, Copyright Watch brings together the most recent copies of laws from as many countries as we could find. And with that global team, we'll be tracking new proposals, consultations, and freshly passed regulations: finding the promising changes, and highlighting the spectacularly bad ideas hopefully before they can take hold."

Libraries and Online Video - Free Online Seminar with TechSoup

Techsoup.org is hosting the following videoconference on Wednesday, November 18:

Wouldn't it be great if complicated technology concepts were explained in a simple way that's easy to understand? Imagine how something like this could assist you in training sessions for patrons or staff. Well look no further, Common Craft creates explanatory videos "In Plain English" that cover topics like green, money, society and technology.
 
In this free webinar, Stephanie Gerding from TechSoup will interview Lee LeFever, from Common Craft to learn more about their videos and how they are created. We will also hear how Mary Beth Faccioli from the Colorado State Library and Carolyn Blatchley from Cumberland County Library System in Pennsylvania are using these videos to support the needs of their community.

You can register for this free event here.

1080p HD is coming to YouTube

I don't think it will have any real implications for screencasting in the library world, but the YouTube blog reports that starting the week of November 16 they'll support video resolution up to 1080p.

Dropbox - Random Tech Tip Thursday

I searched my archives and was surprised to learn I hadn't ever recommended Dropbox before.  I was reminded when I received an email from them letting me know they had a new video from CommonCraft (the xxx in Plain English folks) explaining how it all works.  In a nutshell, Dropbox is a cross-platform folder synchronization service.  After installing, you'll have a new folder on your Mac, Linux, and/or Windows machine (and iPhone) which syncs through the cloud, so if you pop a file into that folder on your PC, you can access it from your Mac or the web.  I use it daily - almost never use my USB key anymore.

The free service gives you 2GB of space, and you can upgrade to 50 or 100GB if you really need to.  I've been just fine with the 2GB.  If you decide to sign up, you can use my referral link and I'll get an extra 250MB, but you can sign up directly if you don't like that sort of thing :-)  Do sign up though, it's a great service!

What IS criticism?

Apparently the Annoyed Librarian continues to live up to the name.  I learn this second-hand by reading a post by Laura at Llyfrgellydd, and watching a great vlog post by David Rothman at davidrothman.net.  David, I too encourage you to communicate via this medium in the future - really enjoyed that!

I looked up ad hominem for my own edification - the Apple dictionary defines it thusly:

(of an argument or reaction) arising from or appealing to the emotions and not reason or logic.
• attacking an opponent’s motives or character rather than the policy or position they maintain : vicious ad hominem attacks.