Penn State Great Valley Library Blog

In an effort to tap into the lucrative college and youth technology market, Sony has unveiled plans to launch a wireless handheld - the Mylo (which stand for “my life online”). The pocket size device is primarily for instant messaging and Internet based communications. The device can not support corporate email programs. The Mylo is not a cellular phone and will not require a service contract.

Sony has teamed with eBay Inc.’s Skype VoIP service, which offers free voice chats for its registered users. Read more about the Mylo by clicking onto this link.

With technology changing so quickly, it can be somewhat confusing to determine when you should upgrade your computer versus purchasing a new one. The answer to this question varies based on the needs of the primary user of the computer. However, to maximize logging onto library resources remotely (particularly large size databases), your computer should have a signifigant amount of memory or RAM. This will allow you the ability to move through databases quickly and toggle between programs (ie running a Powerpoint presentation and surfing databases simultaneously).

To learn more about upgrading versus replacing your computer, click onto this link.

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.

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

A new Pew/Internet report states that 73% of Americans now use the Internet. Many of the users feel that the Internet has greatly improved their ability to shop, pursue hobbies and interests, do their job, or get information about healthcare.
To read the entire report go to
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Internet_Impact.pdf.