Category Archives: Technology

Media, On the Web, Technology

Small Demons and Connecting the Dots

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Small Demons launched in beta this week and is trying to help us discover new things by connecting all the dots for us. How vague is that? But seriously that what it does. You can start with a person, book, movie, music, brand or thing. I chose a specific bourbon, Old Grand-Dad. Small Demons was able to list out three books that specifically mention that bourbon and cite the passages.

Want to know a character’s favorite recipe? Small Demons will eventually be the place to go. There is also a “My Library” tab, that is not yet active and I’m not sure how deep the social component will go. I’ve only been in for a day.

The “Books Mentioned in Other Books” is quite a big rabbit hole to start down. It goes on and on and on, but it’s fun to see what books, genres and author share certain things. As fun as it is, Small Demon’s bookshelf is still small, so all of the results feel a little truncated. There are many many books that will be added and indexed.

It’s one of those things that could only happen (and scale) thanks to the internet. It’s on the same track as LibraryThing (one of the most awesome services the internet has birthed). Here’s a quick under-two-minute video they produced to promo the new search/relationship/discovery engine:

Digital Publishing, E-Books, Publishing Industry News, Technology

Sony Catches Up with new eReader

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No doubt the eReader sector is a tough business. One has to have the right balance of device manufacturing skills, end-user service, available titles, etc. Sony has been late to the show, even though they were an early mover. Their devices were over-priced and their customer-facing services and stores were cumbersome at best.

But yesterday, Sony has jumped in with both feet and announced a device that meets readers’ needs.

Available in October, the PRS-T1:

  • sports a 6″ eInk screen that is full TOUCHSCREEN (works with both fingers and stylus)
  • wi-fi enabled
  • weighs less than 6 ounces (making it barely lighter than Nook and Kindle)
  • costs only $149
  • has native support for checking out library books from Jefferson County libraries

That’s a pretty impressive list of specs for a company that’s been lagging behind. And it is about time. One thing Sony knows how to do is make things. They should have done this years ago. I’m just glad they did. Competition is a good thing and will keep Amazon, Apple, etc. honest and customer-focused. Which is where Sony has to focus now. Their Harry Potter deal is interesting, but not the overhaul that’s needed. I started e-reading on a PRS-505 and Sony lost me as a customer years ago. Everything was just too hard to do. I know it was early in the industry and I tried to cit them some slack. But Amazon and others just blew past them and I jumped ship. They seem to have come a long way since then.

Of course, we still have to wait on some real-world testing. I wonder if the screen really can work as advertised. But I’m anxious to see how the reading public responds to the $149 price-point and what Sony does to try and keep their readers coming back to buy books.

On the Web, Recommendations, Technology

Netflix is Not a Better Librarian

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Someone shared Seth Godin’s post The Future of the Library, via Twitter. In it Godin says “Netflix is a better librarian…”. Something that I totally disagree with. I have a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old at home. Ninety-five percent of what gets streamed to my house is kids’ programming. From which the Netflix-librarian-bot makes the following not-so-helpful recommendations:

I took these screen shots today and stopped halfway through Page 2 of the recommendations. Now, none of these are offensive (Netflix once recommended Teeth to us, based on VeggieTales and Strawberry Shortcake) , but I’m not sure which one of these programs my Dora-loving 2-year-old would want to watch.

To be fair, Netflix-bot has gotten better over the past year. We really enjoy the service. But they are a looooooong ways away from being “a better librarian.” I do hope you all read Godin’s post, he does end up highlighting the need for people to curate and determine selections. Even if he does over reach with his esteem for bot-driven recommendation engines. People are still better.

Bookstore Ideas, Bookstores, Digital Publishing, Publishing Industry News, Technology

Bookstores Make Your Inventory Mobile, Please

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Hello independent bookstore owner. I am Trav. I believe in what you do and what you add to my community. I am your customer… and I have tools. You need to wake up and start participating, so I know you’re still there. Here is one thing all independent bookstore owners need to be aware of and learn how to do:

make your inventory public and accessible from mobile devices.

I use a few bard code scanning app. Currently, Red Laser is my favorite. I was in a big-box home improvement store the other day pricing closet organization systems. Up by the registers, I picked up a $17 book on closet makeovers. It seemed to be just what I needed. I was curious what else was out there, so I scanned it. Here are the results:

See that? There at the bottom? It should list everywhere that I could pick up this book locally. I only see some big-box chain stores and… my wonderful local library system. They understand what’s happening. You need to also.

These things aren’t too hard to learn and don’t cost tons of cash to implement. Bookstores of all sizes need to follow and study folks like LibraryThing (local books app and libanywhere app) and the scanning apps. Just doing that much is the surest way to remain relevant.