Category «Gadgets»

Text to speech in new $80 Kindle demolishes lobbyists’ case against legally required TTS

David Rothman argues forcefully for uniform, immediate government and industry support for and implementation of text-to-speech technology. Rothman highlights Amazon’s use of Bluetooth-based TTS in the new $80 Kindle. The reader permits blind individuals as well as those with reading challenges to use Bluetooth headphones to hear the TTS via a wireless connection without the requirement for any special adapter.

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Subjects: E-Books

Fight for Kindle all-text bold option: Why you STILL need to write Amazon – and the media

David Rothman has been proactively and consistently engaged in an effort to increase visual usability of the Kindle for K-12 kids, the elderly and others with contrast-sensitivity problems. He has requested the company implement either an all-text-bold option or the ability to use a slider to vary the boldness.

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Subjects: E-Books, Product Reviews, Technology Trends

Bill Gates: A billionaire book critic who apparently shuns e-books

E-book pioneer and advocate David Rothman’s commentary shines a critical light on the reading habits of Microsoft founder Bill Gates who reads his average 50 books each year, in print format. The potential impact of Microsoft in the e-book market as well as in funding support of e-books for public libraries has been muted. Rothman’s insights include hope to win over much needed support for free public sector digital libraries.

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Subjects: E-Books, Libraries & Librarians, Library Marketing, Library Software & Technology

Student Research Resources on the Internet 2016

Marcus Zillman’s comprehensive, actionable guide provides links to hundreds of resources that assist students of all ages to leverage free and low cost resources to facilitate more efficient, effective learning – either as an individual, as part of a team, in a classroom, or as a member of a project oriented group. Whether you are seeking best practices for individual or team study – including guides, apps, wikis, tutorials, links to free courses and academic topical and subject guides, or how to locate e-text books and how to correctly create bibliographies and citations, this guide has all this information and so much more. If you are a student, an educator, a librarian or a researcher, these resources, many of which are from colleges, universities, libraries and schools, will expand your horizons and support your effort to be a creative, innovative, successful learner.

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Subjects: Evaluation of Internet Resources, Information Management, Internet Resources - Web Links, KM, Mobile Technology, Product Reviews, Reference Services, Search Engines, Social Media, Technology Trends, Wiki, Writing Skills

The Next Librarian of Congress – What to do about the Internet Archive and Google Books scanning project?

David Rothman offers his insights and perspective on the work and challenges that await the next Librarian of Congress. He calls for an individual who is not only steeped in the requisite expertise of research, technology, learning, teaching and freedom of information, but in following with a cause he has long championed he states “we need someone with “a love of reading—including the e-book variety.”

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Subjects: Archives, E-Books, Internet Trends, KM, Leadership, Libraries & Librarians, Library Marketing, Library Software & Technology, Management, Technology Trends

New Chips are Using Deep Learning to Enhance Mobile, Camera and Auto Image Processing Capabilities

Alan Rothman takes a look at the expanding experience of how we interface with our devices’ screens for inputs and outputs nearly all day and everyday. He explains how what many of the gadgets will soon be able to display and, moreover, understand about digital imagery is about to take a significant leap forward. This is a result of the pending arrival of new chips embedded into their circuitry that are enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms.

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Subjects: Blogs, Gadgets

Seven ways to grow the e-book business while helping libraries and readers: Ideas based on my two decades of writing about it

E-book sales are not posting impressive sales increases, at least not among big publishers. One major reason is that much of the technology is difficult to use. Even increased library statistics for e-loans are not resulting in corresponding increases in funding and support for libraries around the country. Based on more than two decades of writing about e-books, David Rothman suggests seven library-and-consumer friendly ways to boost e-book growth.

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Subjects: E-Books, Libraries & Librarians, Library Marketing, Library Software & Technology, Mobile Technology

Book review: Bexar BiblioTech: The Evolution of the Countrys First All-digital Public Library

David Rothman describes why the BiblioTech library in Bexar County, Texas is a landmark achievement worthy of implementation and iteration in towns and cities throughout the US. His article describes the success of this variation on a library system detailed in a new book authored by Nelson Wolff, the visionary behind the country’s first all-digital public library system. Wolff is the judge of Bexar County, which includes the city of San Antonio. The title is roughly equivalent to the head of a county board. Judge Wolff and his wife, Tracy, are donors and fund-raisers for BiblioTech and other civic causes, and his book is a how-to pathfinder to “bridge the literacy and technology gaps.”

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Subjects: Book Reviews, Digital Archives, E-Books, Libraries & Librarians, Library Marketing, Library Software & Technology

No Paperwhite read-aloud for you! FCC again lets Amazon and friends diss people with disabilities

David Rothman continues his reporting on the status of Text to Speech applications that have yet to be added to E-Ink readers due to the FCC’s extension of vendor exemptions from complying with a key benefit for the disabled that is part of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010.

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Subjects: E-Books, Gadgets, Government Resources, Internet Trends, Legislative, Utilities (Software)
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