New IM Record in Libraries

Grok Headline matches for New IM Record in Libraries

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]

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 ...

Record Industry making record amounts of
money!

Record Industry making record amounts of
money! 09/04/2004 07:27 PM

Apparently BMI is pretty proud that they have been paying record royalties to their artist. This is at the same time that the RIAA and others are complaining that P2P is costing them Billions. Bunch of hypocrites [Techdirt]

Even more amazing links and contradictions. [Arstechnic a]

Tossing A Verbal Egg At Dick Cheney's
Military Record, Sen. Frank Lautenberg
Blasted The Vice President Wednesday As
The "Lead Chickenhawk," Who Squawks
About John Kerry's Vietnam War Record
Despite Never Serving Himself

Tossing A Verbal Egg At Dick Cheney's
Military Record, Sen. Frank Lautenberg
Blasted The Vice President Wednesday As
The "Lead Chickenhawk," Who Squawks
About John Kerry's Vietnam War Record
Despite Never Serving Himself 04/29/2004 07:47 AM
squawking .. You go

newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-nj--lautenberg-defend0428apr28, 0,2540034,print.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire
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The Record Ass. of America's subpoena
tactics for sueing Kazaa users is
declared unlawful - good news for music
fans, bad news for fat cat record execs

The Record Ass. of America's subpoena
tactics for sueing Kazaa users is
declared unlawful - good news for music
fans, bad news for fat cat record execs 12/21/2003 08:35 AM
loses two court cases .. According to the BBC .. BBC

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3335063.stm
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Merlin Libraries

Merlin Libraries 06/06/2004 05:02 AM
Merlin Libraries v0.1.103 (unstable) Released

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.

PlanetaMessenger.org Libraries

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

slack-get 0.3 (Libraries)

slack-get 0.3 (Libraries) 05/26/2004 10:49 PM
A tool like 'apt-get' for Slackware.

"http://p2p.libraries.psu.edu/"

"http://p2p.libraries.psu.edu/" 11/18/2003 03:32 AM

Salon in Libraries?

Salon in Libraries? 03/19/2003 10:45 PM

Last year I said I thought Salon should look into licensing content to libraries, and now they're finally doing something about it. Adrienne Crew, their Content Licensing Manager, sent me the following:

"Thought you'd like to know that Salon's Premium Institutional Subscription program for libraries is finally up and running.... Currently we are offering a one year subscription in the $300-400 range and feeds all access to the articles on the site via an IP authentication system or a single password."

More details as I get them.

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?

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....

Libraries and the Internet

Libraries and the Internet 12/19/2004 03:00 PM
Kudos to Google and its new university allies -- including my alma mater, the University of Michigan, as well as Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford -- for their exciting project to open the stacks (Wall Street Journal, via Paul Kedrosky). It's a great day for the dissemination of knowledge! Bloggers from these institutions are relaying the emails received from their administrators: ...

'UK libraries out of use by 2020'

'UK libraries out of use by 2020' 04/26/2004 09:46 PM
The public will stop using libraries if visitor numbers and book loans continue to fall, according to a new report.

Essential in Libraries?

Essential in Libraries? 04/27/2004 10:48 PM
SMS an Essential Communication Tool

"The Mobile Data Association (MDA) reports that 2.1 billion text messages were sent in March 2004 in the U.K which is a 25% rise on the total from the same month last year.At present, on average, around 69 million text messages are sent each day in the UK.This article from the BBC states.'It is evident that in the last five years texting has grown from a popular craze among teenagers to an essential communication tool.'
Text messaging reaches new high" [Smart Mobs]

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]

YSL Coding Libraries

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

Echidna Libraries

Echidna Libraries 07/15/2004 07:16 AM
Added 8Bit Targa Support

slack-get 0.2 (Libraries)

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

NB Parser Libraries

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

Islamic Tools and Libraries 0.6

Islamic Tools and Libraries 0.6 08/29/2004 03:47 AM
Islamic tools and applications, including an Islam-centric library.

RSS Screen Saver for Libraries!

RSS Screen Saver for Libraries! 08/27/2004 01:54 PM

C# Express RSS Screen Saver Starter Kit 

"One of my favorite features of C# Express is the built-in RSS Screen saver Starter Kit. If you’ve never built a screensaver before, or if you have never written code that uses RSS, then you’ll find the RSS Screen saver a great way to start programming.

In a nutshell, the RSS Screen saver is a screen saver that lets you select and validate an RSS feed, select a background directory for images to loop through, and the screensaver will loop through the items in the RSS feed." [Dan Fernandez's Blog, via del.icio.us/tag/rss]

I'm not enough of a programmer to run with this one, but this could be a very cool tool for libraries. Imagine being able to display your current news on your workstations via the screensaver in real-time without any manual intervention. Just update your "what's new" blog and it magically appears on all of your workstations. Major, major woot with a happy dance thrown in for good measure!

 

Arran4's Libraries (A4lib)

Arran4's Libraries (A4lib) 08/20/2004 09:28 PM
Project registered

Enlightenment Foundation Libraries

Enlightenment Foundation Libraries 08/02/2004 05:18 PM

Who's Hot Today? Nashville; All U.S.
Libraries

Who's Hot Today? Nashville; All U.S.
Libraries 06/24/2005 10:01 PM
Nashville, Tenn., has 600 computers in its Metro library system and waiting lines: Adding Wi-Fi is a natural for their patrons who can bring their own laptops. The system will cost just under $70,000 across the system through 50-50 federal and local money. The AP reports on an library study showing 99.6 percent of libraries connected to the Internet: Almost of those offer Internet access to their patrons. This number from the American Library Association is up from 20.9 percent in 1994, when the commercial Internet was brand-spanking new. (I founded a Web site development firm in 1994, and had a T-1 to the Net that August--when it was pretty rare.) Eighteen percent of libraries offer Wi-Fi, but a whopping 21 percent plan to offer it in the next year. Only 42 percent of libraries have high-speed connections, and often broadband is coupled with Wi-Fi: sharing a single dial-up modem over Wi-Fi isn't much of an incentive over home dial-up to library patrons. Public libraries' biggest problem is having enough computers to go around....

Libraries and culture, from a trench

Libraries and culture, from a trench 07/02/2004 01:28 PM
Today (July 1, 2004) marks a new chapter for many libraries across the US of A. Today is the first day of mandatory Internet filtering, if your library accepts federal telecommunications funds. Mine does.

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

Are We at Year One of Texting in
Libraries? No. 12/27/2004 12:53 AM

I'll Give You a Bell : 20 Years of the Mobile Phone

"In just two decades, the mobile phone has become the fastest-selling, most loved - and hated - consumer product. Britain is the world's most mature mobile market, with more mobiles per head of population and higher bills than any other country. Almost all adults now have at least one mobile phone, one in two teenagers has a 'moby' and a new British firm, Communic8, has just launched MyMo, a simple phone for four- to eight-year-olds. Some 23 billion texts have been sent this year and more than 20 billion calls made. The total value of this electronic white noise is £15 billion....

Perhaps the biggest change mobiles have wrought is in the language of communication we all use. Textsperanto - the amalgam of abbreviated words, acronyms and coded punctuation that teenagers developed so that they can fit more words into their space-limited SMS messages - was designed to be impenetrable to adults but most of us have a grasp of it now. When a pupil at a Scottish secondary school handed in an essay entirely written 'in txt', her teacher gave her a 'C+ 4 e4t'....

For the refuseniks, however, the battle against the tiny power tools is about to get a lot tougher. Twenty years after Ernie Wise first pressed the green 'call send' button on a brick-sized Motorola handset, the latest tiny, third-generation - 3G - phones are about to hit the market. Today, thousands of teenagers and adults are poring over geeky phone manuals, configuring their new handsets so that they can surf the internet, download real-time TV and video clips, take photographs, make video calls and play MP3 music files." [The Guardian, via textually.org]

I had to call Sprint today to find out why I haven't been able to access any data services at home on my Treo for the last 10 days or so. The new recording that you hear - first thing - is a message noting that activations may take up to 24 hours because so many people are revving up their new phones.

I find the following overheard conversation to be pretty typical:

"College Girl: Yeah, I called mom and dad and left a message on their machine. I've been calling their cell phones too but they never pick up. They just don't understand. (pause....) Yeah, they don't get it -- cell phones are supposed to be carried around with them." [CamWorld]

Google Scans the Libraries

Google Scans the Libraries 12/17/2004 06:43 PM

Google to scan books from big libraries: Google is going to start scanning the books in libraries.

The New York library is allowing Google to include a small portion of its books no longer covered by copyright while Harvard is confining its participation to 40,000 volumes so it can gauge how well the process works. Oxford wants Google to scan all its books originally published before 1901.

Google to index libraries

Google to index libraries 12/17/2004 06:37 PM

In yeste rday's link dump, I inexplicitly buried a link to the big news about Google's plan to index the books at The Libraries of Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, the University of Oxford, and The New York Public Library. Wow!

In the meantime, Microsoft released a toolbar suite. Uhmmm, wow?

Note to Microsoft: I like your OS, but you're falling waaay yy behind.

BBC NEWS | UK | 'UK libraries out of use
by 2020'

BBC NEWS | UK | 'UK libraries out of use
by 2020' 04/28/2004 11:04 PM
die britischen Bibliotheken im Jahre 2020 unbenutzt seien .. 'UK libraries out of use by 2020' .. failing users .. BBC

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3661831.stm
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How NOT to Market WiFi in Libraries

How NOT to Market WiFi in Libraries 12/12/2003 10:21 AM

Marketing Wireless in Libraries

"Someone on Web4Lib asked about posting symbols or signage to identify wireless access in libraries. This is a slightly revised version of my reply on the list, sent after several folks referred the original poster to the wireless warchalking symbols popular among the digerati.

Essentially, this is basic library marketing 101. If you're planning to market wireless services not only to the folks who will seek it, but to folks who would either find a way to use it if they knew what it was or may never even use it but will mentally file this service under 'what a great library this is,' then integrate the fancy symbols with very plainspoken, large, plain-lettered wording. Go to a site that offers wireless for its customers and see how they peddle it. (Remember, that's what you're doing: selling a service.)

Make the language achingly clear. 'Wireless hotspot' comes to mind... but maybe something else makes more sense locally. Assuming you have a bookmark or brochure advertising this service, repeat the logo and the phrase throughout the materials. I know that libraries offer things for free anyway, but why not push that as well? Wireless--FREE!...

Or you could practice another kind of library marketing, and either put up one tiny, very obscure sign, or make it very large and then title it 'Bibligraphic WEP-enabled 802.11* Access.' And in your assessment of the service, observe that very few people use it. ;) " [Free Range Librarian]

I just had to blog Karen's response because it's so true it's tragically funny.

SSTTR Java Libraries 1.0.1

SSTTR Java Libraries 1.0.1 12/14/2003 04:07 PM
Miscellaneous Java libraries for XML, crypto, and other things.

Java Atomic Libraries

Java Atomic Libraries 09/10/2004 05:05 PM
First checkin!

ACCESS AT UK PUBLIC LIBRARIES

ACCESS AT UK PUBLIC LIBRARIES 12/30/2003 07:42 PM
IN THE UK MOST PUBLIC LIBRARIES CAN BE ACCESSED. THEN AGAIN WHY NOT JUST POP IN AS THE WEB IS ACCESSED FREE ANYWAY.

Webl0gs: Do They Belong in Libraries?

Webl0gs: Do They Belong in Libraries? 08/01/2004 06:44 AM
Weblogs: Do They Belong in Libraries?
htt p://www.ariadne.ac.uk/area-dna-155ue40/public-libraries/

Penny Garrod takes a look at weblogs and weblogging activities in libraries and considers some of the ways they can be used to support public library users.

Anarchists, Libraries and Freedom

Anarchists, Libraries and Freedom 05/17/2004 08:50 PM

Siva Vaidhyanathan is in town today to promote his new book, The Anarchist in the Library, which I've read and highly recommend. I'll explain why in an upcoming posting.

SSTTR Java Libraries 1.1

SSTTR Java Libraries 1.1 05/09/2004 04:42 AM
Miscellaneous Java libraries for XML, crypto, and other things.

Building Testing Libraries

Building Testing Libraries 05/07/2004 07:22 PM
Save time, test more, and use what the CPAN has made available to enhance your development. Casey West demonstrates examples of good techniques when testing Perl-based software.
Grok Description matches for New IM Record in Libraries
GrokA matches for New IM Record in Libraries

New IM Record in Libraries

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