Penn State Great Valley Library Blog

Verizon Wireless announced today that they are launching an Ipod-like cellphone - Chocolate - “that will have full video capabilities, and also allow consumers to choose from more than 1.3 million songs from Verizon’s online music store for download,” the company said on their website. The cellphone will only be available to Verizon Wireless customers and will retail for approximately $199 US. The phone is currently available on Verizon Wireless’ website and will be distributed to stores on August 7th.

Also, the company added that it will no longer charge customers a $15 monthly fee to download music and will instead, charge around $2 per music download. The launch of this new product makes Verizon a direct competitor to Apple and their popular Itunes service.

Apple has announced the release of the new wireless Mighty Mouse that is twenty times more sensitive than the standard mouse and is Bluetooth 2.0 based. The mouse has an advanced power system that automatically switches to a low power mode during periods of inactivity. It also has an off switch to maintain battery power. The device works with either one or two AA batteries.

Currently retailing for $69, there is no word yet as to whether or not the 20th Century Fox (creators of the popular fictional pint size superhero who bears the same name) will dispute naming similiarities and licensing issues.

Close to 9 million people downloaded podcasts last month and more than 75% of those individuals are male according to a report released by Nielsen Analytics last week. This information coupled with increasing popularly of podcasting has peaked the interest of various advertisers. Supporting research comes from Forrester Research, Inc. which adds that approximately one-quarter of online consumers are interested in podcasts because it allows them to listen to audio and video programs at any time and place.

“Advertisers go wherever there are ears and eyes, especially when you get people who are highly engaged like podcast users,” said Larry Gerbrandt, senior vice president of Nielsen Analytics. “So many businesses are adopting it for different types of communications because it’s an extremely adaptable format.”

Read more at The Washington Post by clicking onto this link.

Google is currently testing a beta version of Accessible Search for the Visually Challenged. According to information on the site, Google Accessible Search is “designed to identify and prioritize search results that are more easily usable by blind and visually impaired users.” The project is lead by T.V. Raman, a former IBM researcher who became blind from glaucoma as a child.

The visually impaired have an assortment of tools available to translate HTML text into voice adaptable messaging. However, without the aid of tools like Accessible Search, some of the web text is often translated into gibberish.

There are nearly 8 million visually impaired Internet users in the United States. To learn more, visit Google’s Accessible Search site by clicking here.

JSTOR (the scholarly journal archive) has launched JSTOR Africa as “part of JSTOR’s mission to create an archive of scholarly literature and extend access to the archive as broadly as possible, we are proud to announce that JSTOR has adopted a plan to waive participation fees for any academic or not-for-profit institution on the continent of Africa. This plan affects new participants, as well as institutions that currently participate in JSTOR.”

The plan will provide three years of free access to institutions in Africa participating in the program. JSTOR’s provides a rationale for selecting the continent of Africa as follows:

“We understand that there are many other regions of the world and many institutions that would benefit from a similar policy. We have limited this access plan to Africa in part because barriers to sustainability and access are so broadly similar across this region. The Open Africa Program is the latest initiative we have taken in the last few years to address issues of affordability, utility, sustainability, and access.

JSTOR has taken steps to make access to the archive more accessible to the developing world, including an access plan for countries outside the United States that extend savings off of standard JSTOR participation fees based on criteria established by the World Bank’s analysis of Gross National Income (GNI).”

Learn more about this exciting initative by logging onto: www.jstor.org/about/africa/openafrica.html

A study released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project today shares new insights into the life of bloggers. While most people know that blogs currently available on the Internet reflect an assortment of various topics, what is more interesting is the majority of bloggers focus on blogging as a means of personal creative expression. Other bloggers use the weblogs as a means of keeping in touch with family and friends.

Megagoth social networking website MySpace has become the world’s #1 website, surpassing both Google and Yahoo! in terms of traffic. MySpace accounted for a little less than 5% of all US Internet visits and more than 80% all US visits to online social networking sites, according to Internet tracking firm Hitwise. Facebook, another online social networking site, trails a distant second to MySpace capturing less than 8% of total site visits.

Several colleges, universities, and libraries have MySpace pages in an effort to remain relevant and connected with their students and/or patrons. MySpace has recently been plagued with headlines and lawsuits regarding inappropriate adult/minor interaction. The company recently appointed Hemanshu (Hemu) Nigam as its chief security officer.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp bought MySpace for $580 million one year ago in an effort to boost his company’s Internet presence.

Are you stumped by the voluminous vocabulary of your instructor? Puzzled by proper word usage? Or, are you just curious as to what time it is in Dubai? The good folks at Merriam-Webster and Franklin have teamed up to unveil a snazzy lil’ tool that is a dictionary, world clock, MP3 player, recorder, and calculator all in one.

The news of this item is reported in today’s New York Times. It is currently retailing for approximately $100. Powered by two AA batteries, this handy dandy tech toy is sure to be on the gift list of many new and returning students this fall semester.

“Librarians and Google have a similar mission: to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. We support librarians who work each day to further that mission. This site is a first step toward improving and expanding that support.” Quote taken from the “Google Librarian” website

The role of the librarian and librarianship has been continously called into question internationally since the advent of Google (although these claims never came from Google itself). However, the search engine megagoth realized the role of librarian and search engine are uniquely intertwined. Rather than alienate librarians, Google decided to extend a proverbial “olive branch” to librarians worldwide with the creation of the Google Librarian Center.

Google has recently expanded its year old service to include a full website, searching tip sheets, multilingual blog, and extensive newsletter. Helpful hints are emailed to librarians who subscribe to their service monthly for free.

You can learn more about the Google Librarian center by clicking this link: www.googlelibrarian.com