The Bookstore’s Last Stand

IN March 2009, an eternity ago in Silicon Valley, a small team of engineers here was in a big hurry to rethink the future of books. Not the paper-and-ink books that have been around since the days of Gutenberg, the ones that the doomsayers proclaim — with glee or dread — will go the way of vinyl records.

No, the engineers were instead fixated on the forces that are upending the way books are published, sold, bought and read: e-books and e-readers. Working in secret, behind an unmarked door in a former bread bakery, they rushed to build a device that might capture the imagination of readers and maybe even save the book industry.

They had six months to do it.

Running this sprint was, of all companies, Barnes & Noble, the giant that helped put so many independent booksellers out of business and that now finds itself locked in the fight of its life. What its engineers dreamed up was the Nook, a relative e-reader latecomer that has nonetheless become the great e-hope of Barnes & Noble and, in fact, of many in the book business.    Full article

Stephen Colbert gets wild with author Maurice Sendak

“First Sendak gave his impressions of other writer’s kiddie classics. His take on “Green Eggs and Ham”? “Good.” And “Give a Mouse a Cookie”? “Ugh.”

“I’m with you on that one,” Colbert said. “You shouldn’t give a mouse a cookie. The mouse should earn the cookie.”  Or just go with Sendak’s option: “You should open the door and say, ‘Get the hell out of my house!’”

Later, Sendak set about the task of giving his interview rival some illustration tips, but even that took a strange turn.    “You ever sniff a marker?” Colbert asked.  “No. Is that a good thing?” Sendak responded while sniffing a marker. “It’s a cheap high,” the host shot back.”   Watch interview (2 parts)

Bleak News for Library Science Majors, According to WSJ

“The Wall Street Journal published a sortable listing of how college majors fare in the job market, based on 2010 Census data.  Unfortunately, library science fared as one of the worst majors.  Among the 173 majors listed, library science majors had the fourth highest unemployment rate at 15 percent.  The median salary of $36,000 was fifth from the bottom. And in terms of popularity it held the 159th place out of 173.

LJ’s in-depth 2011 Placements & Salaries Survey found pockets of optimism but generally it reported  similarly distressing numbers, particularly in the public library sector. For example, among reports  from LIS programs, 34% indicated there was less demand for talent to fill positions than previous years. Employers described getting 200 or more applications for one available spot. Of the 1,547 graduates reporting a job of any type, a mere 59.2%  described those jobs as being both permanent and professional.”  Source

Cat Soothes Crying Baby – The Internet Should Have Imploded From This

Google Adds Public Alerts to Maps

“You can’t deny that Google often hands out marvelous tools for the masses to utilize (yes, some can be a miss), and today the King of Search is launching a fresh virtual apparatus as part of its Crisis Response project. Dubbed “Public Alerts,” the feature is accessible from within Google Maps, keeping you in the loop during times of high alert. Your search query will trigger things like weather relevant to your area, public safety and earthquake alerts — all of which are provided by the NOAA, the National Weather Service and the US Geological Survey. ”  Full

Tablet and E-Reader Sales Soar

There was no must-have toy of Christmas 2011 — for youngsters, anyway.

For adults, tablet computers and e-readers were the gifts of choice, judging by a new report that indicates the number of adults in the United States who own tablets and e-readers nearly doubled from mid-December to early January.

The report, which is expected to be released on Monday, confirms what book publishers say they have experienced in the last few weeks: a big jump in e-book sales after the holidays. A similar e-book boom came immediately after Christmas 2010.

The report, from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, found that the share of adults who owned tablet computers increased to 19 percent from 10 percent, with the same increase for adults who owned e-readers.  Full article

The authors who are going it alone online – and winning

“It means that now, in bestseller lists, alongside literature’s world-famous, you’ll discover the likes of John Locke.  Last year, he became the eighth member of a highly desirable pack – the Kindle Million Club – a special few who have surpassed the one million sales mark in Amazon’s Kindle store.

“We’re in the stages of a complete transition,” Mr Locke told the BBC, “Self-published authors were made to feel second rate, and ridiculed. It’s perhaps the only industry where that takes place. Now, the playing field has levelled because of the access to electronic media.”

Self-publishing specialists not only make unleashing a book into the world a free, five-minute process – but they also give authors the lion’s share of the profits, in some cases as high as 80% or 90%. Traditional publishers, meanwhile, are more likely to give their authors around 25% of e-book sales. For printed copies, even less.”  Full Story

Order your groceries while you wait for your train…

Tesco, the British chain, has been opening virtual grocery stores in subway stations and bus stops in Seoul, Korea. Commuters use their smartphones to scan and purchase these virtual items, which are delivered to their homes.

BBC Earthflight – Amazing New Footage of Birds Flying

What You (Really) Need to Know

A PARADOX of American higher education is this: The expectations of leading universities do much to define what secondary schools teach, and much to establish a template for what it means to be an educated man or woman. College campuses are seen as the source for the newest thinking and for the generation of new ideas, as society’s cutting edge…

…Nonetheless, it is interesting to speculate: Suppose the educational system is drastically altered to reflect the structure of society and what we now understand about how people learn. How will what universities teach be different? Here are some guesses and hopes.  Full NYT opinion article