Looking Ahead!

I was checking the tech blogs and came accross this article!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/03/cashmore.web.trends.2010/index.html

It seems like "real-time applications will still gain more popularity as we advance into 2010.
Along with it social network games like "farmville"
Check it out!

My reaction to blogging

I am using the short week to write my reaction to blogging.
As with any academic exercise, blogging requires discipline to do research everyweek and write something "Meanful" and not just words to check a box.

It was easier to do than other courses because I was writing about things that related to my job so looking for "creditable" information was easy. The techonrati has been more challenging because it is a bit limited in the amount of information.

Because you are writing about the topic, you need to understand how your reader will preceive your post. The biggest problem was keeping the length down to a short (2 to 3 paragraphs) post. Blogs tend to short in nature. I used a number references to introduce and explain the topic then added details that thought would of interest to the group.

Benefits, surprizingly my blog on e-readers was posted on another group (technology group) list. This shows that some of your work is being picked up by others to read.
I will be interested in their reactions.

This has been enjoyable as well as benefical experience.

Do You Tag your Blogs?

Do you tag your blogs? In our world of web searches it is becoming more important to tag our blogs to something meaningful to us and others like this blog. Tools like technorati look at all those boxes at the bottom of the page to help "speed up" the search process. It is easier to look at a few words instead of twenty pages of text. It is also tagged by the author for the intent that the author had for it.
It is simple, but adds value to your posts. It may make looking for your own posts easier. You can even mark your blogs using Delicious! (Hint, HINT)

It helps you to share what you know with the rest of the world that may be looking for information.

Start Tagging!

The How Of Blogging

Today I checked out the state of the blogsphere. These are articles (blogs) about other blogs or bloggers. You can find information on Professional Bloggers (news reporters and advisors) to the "above average" blogger.
I am putting a link in to show where blogs orginate from.

http://technorati.com/article/day-3-the-how-of-blogging1/

There are some nice statistics to show where people obtain there information for blogs and how often they blog.

Enjoy!

They do police the blogs!

I was searching for another topic when at the heading of the catorgy was this post
http://technorati.com/blogs/www.dlisted.com

It seems that a write was use technocrati as a public forum for airing his differences with celeberaties. Well, his five minute of fame is over and he has been delisted as per the policy.

The only reason I even mention this is other lists have policies but do not enforce them. I am for free speech when you have something to say. Making a personal attack on a individual is not neccesarly "free speech"

When trying to build a "creditable open source" tool this is something as a designer you may want to consider.

What is on the inside?

What blogs are being followed on Technocrati?
Well here is a list for you view

Entertainment (9977)
· • Celeb (430)
· • Film (847)
· • Music (511)
· • Television (130)
· • Comics (277)
· • Anime (120)
· • Gaming (576)
· • Books (3040)
Business (7968)
· • Finance (664)
· • Real Estate (238)
· • Small Business (1595)
Sports (4826)
· • Baseball (625)
· • Football (600)
· • Basketball (67)
· • Hockey (153)
· • Tennis (41)
· • Golf (65)
· • Motorsport (85)
Politics (7107)
· • U.S. Politics (3836)
· • World (2597)
Autos (714)
Technology (9045)
· • Info Tech (3847)
· • Gadgets (2618)
Living (12930)
· • Health (1417)
· • Religion (2933)
· • Arts (156)
· • Pets (151)
· • Fashion (141)
· • Food (6922)
· • Family (432)
· • Home (50)
· • Travel (810)
Green (2231)
Science (791)

My daughter will be happy to know there is a blog on Anime! For those of use who are technology minded there are 9045 blogs to follow. However, it is living especially food and travel that lead with the most blogs (12,930)

As you can see, Technocrati is divided and subdivided into categories for easy navigation.

Techoncrati: real news or soap box

Ella made a astute comment about the content of information on Technocrati.
I would like to address that in my blog today. Is all the content on Technocrati "relieable" ? Simple answer is Yes and No. Not everyone is a trained journalist so there is a fair amopunt bias in the blogs but some blogs are lifted from reporters so it is quite reliable.

I would like to take the example of the political turmoil in 23rd congressional district (I live in the district) Truth is the Republican canidate very unexpectantly left the race. Another, peice of truth is she endorssed the democratic canidate instead of the conservate/Republican canadate. Two blogs had the truth with "their" spin on the reason why which has not been stated by her. One blog was discussing the censorship of democrats at public events (stated that police were ordered to taze him if he asked a question.) I do not feel that is truth and need to be taken with a HUGE grain of salt.

I remind you dear reads of my blog about the discussion we had concerning reliable sources. I would say more so here as yours truely is now an offical reporter for Technocrati. It was simple process of completing a profile and submiting it to the editorial officals of the site. So Bog on folks!
George reporting some where in cyperspace.

Technorati

As popular as blogging has become it would be only a matter of time before someone developed a search engine to look at blogs (yes, even this one) and organize them into a nice neat package.
Welcome to Technorati, the search engine that searchs blogs , all kinds of blogs on every topic and now social media (Facebook, Myspace, Twine, Ning and many others)
I have put in below a post from Wikipedia on Technorati.

Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs. By June 2008, Technorati indexes 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media.[2] The name Technorati is a portmanteau of the words technology and literati, which invokes the notion of technological intelligence or intellectualism.
Technorati was founded by Dave Sifry and its headquarters are in San Francisco, California, USA. Tantek Çelik was the site's Chief Technologist.
Technorati uses and contributes to open source software. Technorati has an active software developer community, many of them from open-source culture. Sifry is a major open-source advocate, and was a founder of LinuxCare and later of Wi-Fi access point software developer Sputnik. Technorati includes a public developer's wiki, where developers and contributors collaborate, also various open APIs.
The site won the SXSW 2006 awards for Best Technical Achievement and also Best of Show.[3] It was also nominated for a 2006 Webby Award for Best Practices, but lost to Flickr and Google Maps.[4]


[edit] Technology
Technorati looks at tags that authors have placed on their websites. These tags help categorize search results, with recent results coming first[citation needed].
Technorati rates each blog's "authority", the number of unique blogs linking to the blog over the previous six months.
[edit] Criticism
In February 2006, Debi Jones pointed out that Technorati's "State of the Blogosphere" postings, which then claimed to track 27.7 million blogs, did not take into account MySpace blogs, of which she said there were 56 million. As a result, she said that the utility of Technorati as a gauge of blog popularity was questionable.[5] However by March 2006, Aaron Brazell pointed out that Technorati had started tracking MySpace blogs.[6]
In May 2006 Technorati teamed up with the PR agency Edelman. The deal earned a lot of criticism, both on principle and as a result of Edelman's 2006 fake blog scandals. Edelman and Technorati officially ended the deal in December 2006. That month, Oliver Reichenstein pointed out that the so called "State of the Blogosphere" was more of a PR-tool and money maker for Edelman and Technorati than a reliable source, explaining in particular a) why Technorati/Edelman's claim that "31% of the blogs are written in Japanese" was "bogus" and b) where the financial profit for the involved parties was in this. [7]
In May 2007, Andrew Orlowski writing for the tech tabloid The Register criticized Technorati's May 2007 redesign. He suggests that Technorati has decided to focus more on returning image thumbnails rather than blog results. He also claims that Technorati never quite worked correctly in the past and that the alleged refocus is "a tacit admission that it's given up on its original mission".[8]

If you have blogged chances are you are hiding on Technorati somewhere.

A New reader and a Partial list of ETextbook vendors

This morning in the morning mail was another book seller pffering their version of e book reader.
Barnes & Noble [BarnesandNobleEmail@email.bn.com]
It is a name you know but they are now getting in to the market with the "Nano"
I did not realize how many readers there are. The bad thing is I did not touch the download readers for computers. There are equally as many of those programs .

Apps for I phones have a number of applications in which you can download books directly to your I-phone. This requires 3G contectivity. My "anceint" Motorola will not do it.

Here is the link to the vendors for E-Textbooks

E Textbooks

http://www.ichapters.com/market/index.html?cid=GSEM1 IChapters in which you can buy only the chapters you need. Limited number of titles.

http://www.coursesmart.com/?gclid=COSGzPS5yZ0CFdZM5QodIkEgyA This one you can get whole textbooks in a number of e formats. This is the most poplar and supported by anumber of publishers. Many websites link to this site.

http://books.google.com/books?q=date%3A0-1923&as_brr=1?utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-google&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=pdf%20books Google books mostly PDF

http://www.textbooks.com/etextbooks.php Buy E textbooks. I have never used this.

http://www.textbookrevolution.org/index.php/Main_Page I would be careful with this site as it request users to contribute e textbooks to this site.

http://www.freeloadpress.com/students.html Freeload Press has pricing for viewing on-line but if you download it it gets expensive quick.

http://etextbookshop.com/authors/distribution.asp This is similar to coursesmart. You need to use their software.

http://www.ecampus.com/AllEBooks.asp Reseller of college textbooks

www.amazon.com Textbooks for Kindles

www.borders.com A limited number of textbooks

http://ebookstore.sony.com Sony E book store.

www.netlibrary.com Electronic books in college libraries. We will get Syracuse Universities titles.

http://access.safarix.com/ E textbooks for Macs

http://www.palgrave.com/help/etextbooks.asp Palgrave Macmillan Publishing

www.projectgutenberg.org/catalog Project Gutenberg mostly classic books

www.ebooks.com Has textbooks but not mainstream textbooks.

http://www.questia.com/Index.jsp An online library where you can do research.



There many other vendors for leisure reading.

The future of E Books

Here is and article that looks at the future of E Books
http://www.nmc.org/blog/keene-haywood/7173

It is a short read but interesting.

Here is another
http://chronicle.com/article/This-Could-Be-the-Year-of-D/48305/

This is sharing about the future of e textbooks.for the Chronicle.

In case you are wondering about how ETextbook are received?
http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/ACampusWideETextbookInitiative/174581
This is a study showing how students responded to to E Textbooks.

Where to get E-books

I am working on a list as to places to obtain or buy e-books. I was looking for a site that would lead me to many place as there are many places to purchase to but e-books. So I am creating one.
Please bear with me as this is a large task and I may only have a sample vs a comprehensive list.

Everything you wanted to about Ebooks

I found this article in a search for ebook vendors.
I caution you that it is dated (2000) and there have been several changes to make ebooks work on more readers than just their own.
What is good is the history (breif) and who is involved in ebook industry.
It is lenghty but reads quickly.
http://aalbc.com/writers/ebooks/Allaboutebooks.htm

Here is a digest of formats that you will find from Ebook vendors
http://www.ebookmall.com/aboutebooks.htm

enjoy!

I present to you the e-book Readers

I am using two sources to present the different links. The first is Google Squared which searchs the World Wide Web for information on their serch engine and returns the information in a table for easy comparsion.
The second is bit more detailed but a nice comparsion Ebook reader Guide .

In most post I am going to try to show where e-books are available.

News from Kindle and Apple

Technology players are figuring e-books are going to catch on. Apple is introducing a tablet computer with ability to receive and read E-books. Kindle is going international.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/10/07/amazon.kindle.international.ft/index.html?eref=rss_tech.

Some terminology for e-book readers

As Promised the teminology for e-book readers as to file formats:
Some Terminology you might want to be familiar with when looking at E-readers
BBeB (for Broad Band eBook) is a proprietary eBook file format developed by Sony. Although initially designed for the Sony Reader, it is also supported by other e-book readers.[1] BBeB files have the extension LRF. (From wikipedia)

EPUB (electronic publication) is an e-book standard, by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), which consists of three file format standards (files have the extension .epub), described below. It supersedes the Open eBook standard.

AZW, probably standing for Amazon Whispernet, is an eBook format used exclusively on the Amazon Kindle. It is basically the MOBI format using the high compression option. The AZW extension is used on eBook files that are protected with DRM and files that are not protected.

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange. PDF is used for representing two-dimensional documents in a manner independent of the application software, hardware, and operating system.[1] Each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout 2D document (and, with Acrobat 3D, embedded 3D documents) that includes the text, fonts, images, and 2D vector graphics which compose the documents.
Formerly a proprietary format, PDF was officially released as an open standard on July 1, 2008, and published by the International Organization for Standardization as ISO/IEC 32000-1:2008.[3][clarification needed]

TXT A text file (sometimes spelled "textfile": an old alternate name is "flatfile") is a kind of computer file that is structured as a sequence of lines. A text file exists within a computer file system. The end of a text file is often denoted by placing one or more special characters, known as an end-of-file marker, after the last line in a text file.
"Text file" refers to a type of container, while plain text refers to a type of content. Text files can contain plain text, but they are not limited to such.

Audible's .aa file format encapsulates sound encoded in either MP3 or the ACELP speech codec, but includes unauthorized playback prevention by means of an Audible user name and password, which can be used on up to three computers at a time. Licenses are available for schools and libraries. Audible's software does enable users to burn a limited number of CDs for unrestricted playback


MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer audio storage, as well as a de facto standard of digital audio compression for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio players. MP3 is an audio-specific format that was designed by the Moving Picture Experts Group as part of its MPEG-1 standard
.mobi (also known informally as dotMobi) is a top-level domain (TLD) approved by ICANN on 11 July 2005 and managed by the mTLD global registry[citation needed] dedicated to delivering the Internet to mobile devices via the Mobile Web. It is financially backed and sponsored by Google, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, Ericsson, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Telefónica Móviles, Telecom Italia Mobile, Orascom Telecom, GSM Association , Hutchison Whampoa, Syniverse Technologies, and Visa,

PRC- formats for palm readers.

HTML- Hyper text markup language

DOC- Microsoft text

RTF- Rich Text Format

In computing, JPEG is a commonly used method of compression for photographic images. The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality.

The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability.
Portable Network Graphics (PNG) is a bitmapped image format that employs lossless data compression. PNG was created to improve upon and replace GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) as an image-file format not requiring a patent license. It is spelled out as P-N-G. The

PNG acronym is optionally recursive, unofficially standing for “PNG's Not GIF”.[2]

BNB- The only application I could connect with this is doing higher order of engineering mathematics.

If you want to go in GREATER depth may I refer you to Wikipedia. Warning it becomes detailed very quickly in programming language very fast. For our purposes as end-users, a basic understanding of what the different formats is what you need to know to make a decision on a e-reader. If you are going to use it for work (receive files from clients or co-workers, you will recognize the formats that you use most frequently.
I obtained my information from Wikipedia .com on September 29, 2009

Kindle in the Library

According to the Daily Orange library has now purchased several kindles for student use. There was an article in the Daily Orange about it.
http://media.www.dailyorange.com/media/storage/paper522/news/2009/10/01/News/Libraries.Add.Kindle.To.Collection.In.Pilot.Program-3789707.shtml?reffeature=htmlemailedition

The kindles the library are using are the Kindle DX. This is the larger and more expensive version of the Kindle two. Should you decide to go and preview it (which I would recommend) just bear in mind that most e-book readers are about half the size of this. When you see a it hardly seems that they can store 700 full-size textbooks on it. But that's how technology is today.

Palm teams Amazon

This is more for the MP3 market than the digital book but it cannot be that far way.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/30/palm.pre.amazon/index.html?eref=rss_tech

This means Amazon will be available to more devices so , maybe, hopefully a reduction in the cost of E-books in the future.

I will share about those e-book vendors later.
Terminology will be posted tomorrow!

Which reader is right for me?

I was doing some research on this and was quickly overwhelmed by the amount of matterial on Ebook readers. However, there is a guide to help you to sort through the sales pitches and glitter of these products to find the "right one for you".

Here are the key point

1. What does it look like? Readers are fairly large while others ar small and sleak. It is something to consider depending on where you might be carrying it.

2. Screen size. Have a screen size about the size of an Ipod and others are almost the size of 8 x 11 sheet of paper.

3. Greyscales. Is there difference in grayscale or just one. This could make reading colored print more difficult if just one.

4. Connectivity. How does the reader connect and with who. Most have a WiFi connection which means you need a wireless service. Others will take a download from your computer through a cable. It pays to check.

5. Memory. Some readers can hold several hundred books. Others you can swap memory cards like in camaras. Again it depends on what you wish to do with it. Also bear in mind that some of these can receive emails and documents send electronically. so the person who is very moble can keep up.

6. Ability to edit. Some are now offering these feature as an option.

7. Battery. How many pages can you view before the battery goes dead. Also remember you have to charge witrh a computer and a USB connection.

8. Weight. Some readers are very lightweight others are not. Think about where you will be carrying this device.

9. Audio. Some readers will read you books to you if you buy them that way.

10. Input device. Most readers require a computer to recharge and upload or download information.

11. Screen refresh. How often does the screen refresh and how long. Blinks can be annoying when you are trying to read something.

12. File formats supported. Some readers handle as many formats as an computer does. again thing about how you are going to receive the material on your reader.

13. Release Date. This technology is changing fast so you really need to think about getting the "latest" release.

14. Cost. This I put last because there is a world of difference in cost of these devices, More features and memory, the more dollars.

I used this site for my information. http://www.resourceshelf.com/2009/09/25/compare-and-contrast-ebook-readers-with-the-e-book-reader-guide/

In my next post terminology of ebook readers

Opps

I am way behind because I thought I had this set up up I did not. Some how it went to a previuos blog I had been using

To start I am talking about Electronic books( E-Books) and E-book readers. There are thre major ways to access e-books.
1) through an e-book reader (self contained device)
2) through PDA, I-pod, or cellphone
3) through a computer

As name implies the books are in a electronic format with encyrped code to prevent sharing or alteration of the printed material.

How this is done is the printed text is scanned then processed by optical charcture recgonition (OCR). The OCR then converts to a format of the creators choosing to deliver the book. Proofing,coding is added to prevent sharing of the material and altering the text and images on the page.

The major formats available are Microsoft e-reader, Adobe's digital editions. Amazon's Kindle.
I will discus these this weekend.