Are We at Year One of Texting in Libraries? No.

Grok Headline matches for Are We at Year One of Texting in Libraries? No.

Free Spam Software (for a Year) for
Libraries

Free Spam Software (for a Year) for
Libraries 04/08/2005 10:25 AM

Read Books, Not Spam

To celebrate "National Library Week," TechSoup Stock and Mailshell are sponsoring the "Read Books, Not Spam!" campaign to help U.S. public libraries protect themselves against spam. In recognition of the value of our public libraries, on April 20, 2005 all U.S. public libraries will be eligible to order at http://ga0.org/ct/Up1JO4S1pXgp/ a free, full year donation of Mailshell anti-spam desktop software for each employee.

In addition, the TechSoup website will provide informative articles for libraries to learn more about spam - and how to have a safer, spam-free computing environment. TechSoup Stock is a nonprofit service of TechSoup that offers donated and discounted technology products for libraries and nonprofits from leading technology providers at low administrative fees.

Registration is required to receive the donation. To learn more and pre-register, visit http://ga0.org/ct/y11JO4S1pXgP/ .

HOW TO ORDER YOUR FREE SOFTWARE

If you have pre-registered your library on TechSoup Stock, you can just visit the TechSoup Stock website on April 20th at
http://ga0.org/ct/y11JO4S1pXgP/ and place your order. This completely free offer is available for one day only - April 20, 2005 between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT).

To expedite the processing of your order on April 20, please register your organization so that we can pre-qualify your organization as an eligible U.S. public library. Just follow these two steps:

* Download and complete the special Mailshell Anti-Spam Donation
Pre-Qualification Form (PDF) at http://ga0.org/ct/yd1JO4S1pXgQ/ .
* Fax your completed form to (415) 633-9444. If your library is a 501(c)(3) organization, please also fax your library's 501(c)(3) letter of determination from the IRS.

If you have ordered from TechSoup Stock before, no additional registration is necessary to participate. Note: TechSoup Stock conducts a thorough qualification process to ensure that all organizations participating in our donation programs are qualified U.S. public libraries with a 501(c)(3) designation or FSCS ID.

LEARN HOW TO FIGHT SPAM

"Read Books, Not Spam" is more than free software. It is an educational campaign to help libraries manage the negative effects of spam on their organization. At TechSoup.org you can find helpful articles and resources on topics such as how to avoid being a spammer and how to prevent spam. Visit: http://ga0.org/ct/U71JO4S1pXg0/ .

The amount of office space that
corporations allocate to their libraries
has fallen by 8.36% over the past five
years, according to a new survey of
corporate libraries "Corporate Library
Benchmarks, 2004-05 Edition" ISBN:
1-57440-069-X.

The amount of office space that
corporations allocate to their libraries
has fallen by 8.36% over the past five
years, according to a new survey of
corporate libraries "Corporate Library
Benchmarks, 2004-05 Edition" ISBN:
1-57440-069-X. 09/03/2004 02:51 AM
Reports on results of a major survey of corporate and other business libraries. Gives extensive data on management policies and practices and details on spending trends for salaries, electronic and print materials, and library services. [PRWEB Sep 3, 2004]

Texting without the hassle

Texting without the hassle 09/04/2004 03:21 AM
The launch of Z-text by NTS Telecom bridges the gap between email and mobile to mobile texting. [PRWEB Sep 4, 2004]

Texting classes for over 50s

Texting classes for over 50s 07/23/2004 08:12 AM
Lessons in sending mobile phone text messages are held for a group of over 50s in Glasgow.

Texting teens use SMS for help

Texting teens use SMS for help 09/08/2004 05:29 AM
Talking to youngsters in the language of text could increase their access to services.

Texting to help SA HIV patients

Texting to help SA HIV patients 04/13/2005 05:46 AM
Mobile phone text messaging in South Africa is used to help HIV patients with the complicated process of taking drugs.

Texting lights up Glasto

Texting lights up Glasto 06/26/2004 02:20 PM
Techzonez Jun 26 2004 5:12PM GMT

World Record Texting

World Record Texting 05/06/2004 12:55 PM
It's amazing the sort of stuff they keep track of for world records these days. However, for the "thumb generation" there's a new standard to aspire to. Already considered the world's fastest text message writer, James Trusler, has set a new world record for speed texting on his mobile phone by tapping out "The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human." in 67 seconds. The article doesn't get into the (oh so important) details like what type of phone he used and whether it had helpful software like T9 to make texting faster. Of course, how do you judge such records when the technology is always changing? Is it fair to compare someone texting on a regular keypad against someone using a full Treo keyboard? What about the new DigitWireless phones with letter keys spaced between the number keys? There are going to be a lot of sub-categories for this record set.

2 Fast 2 Furious Texting

2 Fast 2 Furious Texting 05/07/2004 12:44 AM
The World Record for Fastest Text Messaging

"Setting a world speed record for the one skill that we hope will become obsolete in the very near future, James Trusler has emerged as the world’s fastest text messager, tapping out, 'The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human' on his cellphone in a mere 67 seconds, shaving nearly a minute off of the previous record. [Via TechDirt]" [Engadget]

Adults everywhere are shaking their head in dismay that anyone could text that fast. Of course, it's not like that record is going to last all that long, especially given the fact that the Nintendo Game Boy Advance is getting a text messaging add-on.

World texting record

World texting record 06/29/2004 05:48 AM
A Singaporean woman has set a world record for mobile-phone texting, keying in the benchmark phrase (below) in 43.24 seconds, without the benefit of any predictive text utilities.

The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.

Link (via Waxy)

New Year's texting breaks record

New Year's texting breaks record 01/05/2005 11:52 AM
A record 133m text message were set on New Year's Eve, bringing the total for 2004 to over 25bn.

Texting lights up Glasto's tents

Texting lights up Glasto's tents 06/26/2004 01:18 AM
BBC Jun 26 2004 5:01AM GMT

Germans addicted to texting (Reuters)

Germans addicted to texting (Reuters) 07/09/2004 12:10 PM
Reuters - Growing numbers of Germans are becoming addicted to text-messaging, a German doctor has warned, estimating there are some 380,000 sufferers nationwide.

The World's Tiniest Violin Texting You

The World's Tiniest Violin Texting You 04/09/2004 03:55 PM
JOEL JOHNSON -- The AP wire has a touching story about a woman who convinced a thief to return her car via text messages. He left the vehicle in an abandoned lot, but still made off with her son's mobile (which is how she contacted him in the first place)...

Good And Bad Reasons For Texting Behind
The Wheel

Good And Bad Reasons For Texting Behind
The Wheel 08/02/2004 06:16 AM
Ever wanted to communicate with a driver in another car? There are plenty of legitimate reasons why you might. They could have a faulty light, you may have accidentally scratched their car while parking (and are honest enough to admit it) or they may be double-parked and blocking you. Textuall y points out a new service (which sounds very familiar) in Malaysia that would let someone send a text message to the owner of another car, simply by knowing their license plate. You send a text message to a specific number with the plate number in the message, and the service matches it up and forwards the message -- but only if (and it's quite an "only if") the other car owner has registered with the same service. Of course, while there may be good reasons for this service, it's likely many might want to use it for less than friendly reasons as well, such as stalking or yelling at a bad driver. Of course, the biggest reason this might be a bad idea is suggested in differen t Textually post: an increasing number of fatal car accidents from idiots texting while driving.

Texting passion sets new record

Texting passion sets new record 07/23/2004 06:07 AM
Britons' continue their love affair with text messaging, making it another record month for June.

Fixed-line texting is the next big
thing, says report

Fixed-line texting is the next big
thing, says report 05/09/2004 11:00 PM

EducationGuardian.co.uk | News crumb |
Texting 'is no bar to literacy'

EducationGuardian.co.uk | News crumb |
Texting 'is no bar to literacy' 12/24/2004 01:08 PM
kids who text have comparable writing skills .. CALEM-SE

education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,1378951,00.ht ml
track this site | 3 links

Kids Understand The Difference Between
Texting And Writing

Kids Understand The Difference Between
Texting And Writing 12/24/2004 12:18 PM
For years, now, we've been hearing horror stories about how kids who are growing up learning "txt spk" on instant messenger programs and via phone SMS messages are hurting their ability to write proper English. There was never actually any evidence of this -- other than some anecdotal horror stories. Also, as we pointed out, there's nothing wrong with understanding txt abbreviations as long as the person knows what is appropriate at the right time. It's like knowing two different languages -- which most parents and teachers consider to be a good thing. Thus, the focus shouldn't be on freaking out about kids learning to tap away in abbreviated format, but in making sure they know what's appropriate for what venues. Supporting this theory is a new study suggesting that kids who text have comparable writing skills to those who don't. The study was quite small, and the methodology could clearly be questioned -- but it is some initial evidence that kids are smart enough to understand when text talk is appropriate and when it's not. Much more interesting, though, was the finding that those who used messaging regularly also wrote more concisely. While the article suggests this is a downside, being able to write concisely is a useful talent. If text messaging helps people better organize their thoughts this way, perhaps it's a benefit.

Philippine telcos lead world in texting
profits (AFP)

Philippine telcos lead world in texting
profits (AFP) 09/21/2004 02:43 AM
AFP - Philippine carriers Smart Communications and Globe Telecom lead telcos worldwide in reaping revenues from cellular data transfers, according to a report in Business World.

BT brings texting to fixed-line phones
with Text launch

BT brings texting to fixed-line phones
with Text launch 04/26/2004 03:46 PM
newmediazero Apr 26 2004 7:49PM GMT

Merge old iPhoto libraries on CD with
iPhoto 5 libraries

Merge old iPhoto libraries on CD with
iPhoto 5 libraries 03/19/2005 02:40 AM
I had several iPhoto libraries burned to CD backups from iPhoto 3 or 4 that I wanted to merge with my nearly complete iPhoto 5 library. However, because I burned the libraries directly to CD from the Finder or Toast, and not ...

Sony's profits slide 23 per cent for
year; expects bounce this year

Sony's profits slide 23 per cent for
year; expects bounce this year 04/27/2004 10:22 AM
National Post Apr 27 2004 2:06PM GMT

"How do the members of a string quartet
play together and tour together year in,
year out, without killing each other?"

"How do the members of a string quartet
play together and tour together year in,
year out, without killing each other?" 01/25/2004 03:03 PM

Forward Concepts Forecasts a Very Good
Year for 3G Cell Phone Shipments, but a
Down Year for Those of Older Te

Forward Concepts Forecasts a Very Good
Year for 3G Cell Phone Shipments, but a
Down Year for Those of Older Te 04/11/2005 10:52 AM
Business Wire UK Apr 11 2005 2:12PM GMT

Digitally Unique reports December sales
up more than 100% year-to-year

Digitally Unique reports December sales
up more than 100% year-to-year 01/03/2005 05:55 PM
InternetRetailer.com Jan 3 2005 9:36PM GMT

Q1 Internet sales rise 59%
year-over-year at Williams-Sonoma

Q1 Internet sales rise 59%
year-over-year at Williams-Sonoma 05/25/2004 11:41 PM
InternetRetailer.com May 26 2004 4:11AM GMT

Apple U.S. market share declines year
over year

Apple U.S. market share declines year
over year 01/16/2004 11:33 AM
Apple captured 3.2 percent of the U.S...

Web sales at J.C. Penney rise 40%
year-over-year in first half

Web sales at J.C. Penney rise 40%
year-over-year in first half 08/17/2004 05:43 PM
InternetRetailer.com Aug 17 2004 9:36PM GMT

2D Graphics Libraries

2D Graphics Libraries 05/05/2004 07:45 PM

While platforms these days have fairly good 2D graphics support like Quartz on OSX, GDI+ on XP, and , and Gnome Canvas, developers like me often have to use third-party libraries for whatever reasons.  On Win32, for example, GDI+ support is missing in legacy platforms which means either giving up on fancy graphics, redistributing GDI+ binaries, use a third party library, or writing one yourself.  Writing one yourself is fun (I have done it a couple of times over 20 years) but, unless it offers some unique features, you'll always end up migrating to a third party library.

BTW, Flash has an excellent 2D graphics engine but it's lacks an API so it's like a sports car without a driving wheel.  Yes, you can embed the Flash ActiveX and generate SWF on-the-fly but it's unwieldy for dynamic interaction and even handling gets tricky.  Embedding Adobe SVG ActiveX is just as unwieldy if not more.

While there are proprietary 2D engines out there, typically written by a few guys at a small company, they tend to disappear within a couple of years, either bought by companies (i.e. Apple, Adobe, Macromind, and Microsoft), or abandoned out of lack of interest or workable revenue model.  Besides, they charge fairly steep fees so I tend to avoid them.

Out of all the freely available 2D libraries out there, Libart stands out in features and quality. It offers fast anti-aliased rendering and it's use in Gnome Canvas over the years means most of the bugs have already been stepped on.  Libart is also used to drive librsvg, a SVG engine, and Java 2D, Java's graphics API, although Sun made extensive changes to tap hardware acceleration.  While Libart can and has been used cross-platform, it's not exactly cakewalk to use in non-Linix platofrms.  Cairo has some interesting features and rising interest could mean it will replace Libart someday, but it's still in development.

Third-party 2D graphics library I really like these days is Anti-Grain Geometry (AGG) which, although dormant for the last two years, has been rejuvenated with the released of version 2.1.  AGG is written in C++ and uses templates extensively like ATL does.  AGG is lightweight, very fast, flexible, and full of features.  It even comes with a partial implementation of SVG viewer as an example.  AGG supports Win32, X11, and SDL as is.  It doesn't yet support features variable stroke effects like Creature House's Expression 3 engine and Fractal Design's Painter support but then it's just me being unreasonable. :-)

I should note that subpixel graphics was first done 20 years ago in Word Handler to display 70 columns of hi-res text on Apple II.Silicon Valley Systems, the company that published Word Handler, was based just 5 minutes from where I live now and I enjoy fond memories of working there every time I pass by the old office on El Camino.  I guess everybody remembers their first job.  LCD screens were just starting to replace LED on calculators at the time, so Steve Gibson and Microsoft ClearType can claim to be the first to use subpixel graphics on LCD screen.  Lenny Elekman, where are you now?

YSL Coding Libraries

YSL Coding Libraries 12/11/2003 06:12 PM
Transfer of CVS repository in progress

PlanetaMessenger.org Libraries

PlanetaMessenger.org Libraries 11/01/2003 10:43 AM
JMML 0.4 released

Libraries 8, Amazon 0

Libraries 8, Amazon 0 12/09/2003 12:13 PM

Have You Ever Wondered....

"Have you ever wondered if the library were like Amazon.com?" [The J-Walk Blog]

NB Parser Libraries

NB Parser Libraries 06/11/2004 09:55 AM
Project started

slack-get 0.2 (Libraries)

slack-get 0.2 (Libraries) 05/04/2004 04:41 PM
A tool like 'apt-get' for Slackware.

New IM Record in Libraries

New IM Record in Libraries 03/14/2005 06:23 PM

I've been so short on time lately that I've been trying to avoid using what little blogging time I do have to simply repost what other library bloggers are already putting up. This one, however, was just too good to pass up.

when was the last time you had this kind of response to a new library service?

"Brian didn’t give me permission to publish a portion of his email, but I’m so excited about it I’m going to throw caution into the wind. He wrote [emphasis mine]:

'Rule number 1: Don’t send out IM reference fliers to every middle school and jr. high classroom on the same day!

Had to have been at least 100 IMs in the first 2 hours after the kiddies got home. For a while, I had about 20 IM windows up at once.' "

Someone recently observed that there are a lot of Eeyo res in the library community, but I think we can officially declare IM reference a Martha-Stewart-good-thing for (at least) public libraries and move it to Pooh status.

Cost of purchasing the AIM software: $0.
Cost of staff time to "man" the AIM service during those two hours: already paid for.
Satisfaction of having 100 kids respond positively and view the library in a new light: PRICELESS.

It’s the Libraries, Stupid

It’s the Libraries, Stupid 06/09/2004 11:39 PM
Via Jeff Dillon, some insightful words on programming in Java and in the C#/.NET/Mono ecosystem. I hadn’t thought about it that way.

England Libraries May All Get Wi-Fi

England Libraries May All Get Wi-Fi 12/04/2003 01:07 PM
The majority of libraries in England already have broadband access but now the government is working on adding Wi-Fi: Most of the libraries in King County, outside of Seattle, have Wi-Fi. It's a great, low-cost way for libraries to offer Internet access without having to provide computers for everyone. My library always has a line of people waiting to get on its computers so perhaps with Wi-Fi some people could come in with their own computers to use the Internet. But I wonder how many of the people I see waiting in line there actually have laptops that they could bring with them instead....

Echidna Libraries

Echidna Libraries 07/15/2004 07:16 AM
Added 8Bit Targa Support
Grok Description matches for Are We at Year One of Texting in Libraries? No.
GrokA matches for Are We at Year One of Texting in Libraries? No.

Are We at Year One of Texting in Libraries? No.

The following phrases have been identified by the grok system as matching this entry: