Simon & Schuster’s e-book releases to be held back 4-months

E-book versions of 35 of Simon & Schuster’s upcoming major releases will only be made available 4 months after the hardcover release date.  That’s equal to the time it takes for most theatrical films to arrive on dvd!  Naturally, this decision is being made to maximize revenues, since hardcovers sell for $27, while most e-books are available for closer to $10.

But let’s not forget that it costs virtually nothing to produce and distribute a digital book, compared to a paper one. Why should that get in the way of profits, and why should the customer’s needs be considered before corporate ones?  We’ll see how well this strategy works in an increasingly digital market.   It’s unfortunately when companies seek to profit by by methods contrary to meeting the needs of their customers, but these are frightening times for publishers used to a century old sales model.   Story

This walrus looks like Wilford Brimley

At least I hope it’s a walrus.  Has anyone seen Brimley lately?  This cat also looks a lot like him.

Magazine and Newspaper Pubs Introduce Digital Newsstand

Five major magazine and newspaper publishers on Tuesday announced plans to build an industry-standard platform to present their work on the Web, phones and e-readers in a richer, more flexible and more lucrative form than is possible today.

The consortium of Time Inc., Conde Nast, the Hearst Corporation, Meredith and the News Corporation does not lack for ambition, hoping to design software primarily for devices that do not yet exist – cellphones more advanced than anything now on the market and e-readers far more sophisticated than today’s mostly static, black-and-white devices.   Full story

Google going real-time, with Live Updates beginning this week

From New York Times:  ”As part of its much-anticipated entrance into the field known as real-time search, Google said that over the next few days its users would begin seeing brand-new tweets, blog items, news articles and social networking updates in results for certain topical searches.”  Full Story

New catalog feature!

As per Ruth at PALS:

“This afternoon, December 7th, 2009, we will be “going live” with a new User Reviews feature in the catalog. This new feature, a subscription from LibraryThing for Libraries, will allow patrons to read reviews of materials by other users, as well as submit their own for inclusion in the catalog. As part of this enhancement, the former “My Ratings” function will be removed
from the catalog.

All reviews submitted by patrons will be moderated by SCLS staff according to guidelines established by the Technical Advisory Committee. Submitted reviews will not appear in the catalog until they have gone through the moderation process.”

Any questions, please see Renee or myself.

-Denise

FYI – OCLC News

For those interested, OCLC has posted some news of the organization at this link

Another Controversial Google Move

For many of its users, Google offers Web search results that are customized based on their previous search history and clicks. For example, if someone consistently favors a particular sports site, Google will put that site high in the results when they look up sports topics in its search engine.

But there has always been one catch: people had to be signed in to a Google account to see such customization.

On Friday Google said it was extending these personalized search results, and the resulting improvement in ad targeting, to people who are not logged into the service.  Full article

Engadget: Barnes & Noble Nook review

“Is the Nook the answer to our e-reader prayers, or just a stepping stone to greener pastures? We’ve taken a long, hard look at the device — so read on for the official Engadget review.”

For those who just want to cut to the chase, here’s their final words on the Nook:

“In the end, the Nook is an intriguing product launched by a powerful force in the world of booksellers, but the initial offering feels long on promises and short on delivery. With the right software revisions, the Nook could be a tsunami, but as it stands right now, it’s only a mild swell.”

Full Review

‘Smell of Old Books’ Offers Clues to Help Preserve Them

“…a new test that can measure the degradation of old books and precious historical documents based on their smell. The nondestructive “sniff” test could help libraries and museums preserve a range of prized paper-based objects, some of which are degrading rapidly due to advancing age, the scientists say.”   Story

Google’s been busy, making changes, adding services

You may have noticed that Google looks much simpler lately.  If you go to the web page, all the options are missing until you move you mouse, at which point the normal options, like images, videos, news, maps and gmail will fade in.  This design choice was made so that if you’re just entering text for a search, it’s an exceedingly clean page, but all the functionality is still there.

Google has been busy with other things too.  They have introduced Google Public DNS, a technical change that makes the we faster.

They have added their own dictionary, replacing Answer.com when you click on the “definition” link next to your search term on the results page.  Proper definitions are provided as well as “web definitions” for phrases, acronyms, slang and idioms that wouldn’t be in any proper dictionary. If the word you’re searching for is found in another language, Google provides a link to that dictionary as well, and particularly difficult or unusual words include an audio file to let you hear how the word is pronounced, like this result for schadenfreude.

Lastly, they’ve added a new “Translated search” tool in the Search Options panel that makes finding and reading content written in other languages easier. Translated search is great because it helps you find information from sites written in other languages.  They’ve offered this feature in Google Translate for a while, but now are integrating it fully into Google search, making it easier for you to find and read results from pages across the web, even if they weren’t written in a language you speak.