Apple computer makes its opinion clear. Note: books behind the laptops are photographs. [thanks jack]
Category: books
why wal-mart and other megastores can be harfmul to the free exchange of ideas
A blurb in LISNews about Wal-Mart threatening [and later deciding against] pulling a newspaper from the stores shelves because it was critical of the store. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed, and it’s always nice to see Wal-Mart have to apologize.
radio book, book radio
When you look at the creative bleeding edge things people are doing with user interface design you have to wonder why we can’t hire someone like this to design our OPACs. [thanks adam]
Our final concept, the “book radio,†takes the mental model of a physical book where user can browse by flipping pages, read by keeping a page open, and create a reminder of a specific page by placing a bookmark.
Each page of the “book radio†represents a frequency. The user flips pages to scan the frequency spectrum; opens to a specific page to listen to a station; places the bookmark on a desired page to listen and store the station; and slides the bookmark up or down to control the volume. In addition, the “book radio” inherits other qualities of a book. The user can scribble in it, place stickers or take notes while listening.
read it yet?
If someone could drop me a note and let me know who dies in the Harry Potter & Half-Blood Prince, I’d really appreciate it. We got the book on CD at the library last week and I had a brief pang where I wanted to say “Please let me take it home, I’ll listen to all 12 hours tonight and have it back by morning!” but then I remembered I hadn’t liked the last book very much, and I’m suspicious of any book that sets off this sort of shopping frenzy (less merch this year though), not to mention these sorts of lawsuits. I’m happy that we have a literary celebrity in our other books’ midst, but let’s remember to try to parlay this love of reading this one book to learning to love reading for its own sake, not because you’ve been sucked in to the latest tween supernatural soap opera sensation. [update: thanks for the plot-summary emails, I think I’ve got it now] [ update 2: want more spoilers? check out thebookspoiler.com]
The Time Traveler’s Wife coming to the big screen
If, like me, you loved The Time Traveler’s Wife and its central librarian character, you might be happy to know that Gus Van Sant is saying it will be the next movie that he does. Briefest of updates on IMDB. [m&c]