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Adult Services & Digital Literacy Programs @ The Library January 6 – 10, 2015

January 6, 2015January 6, 2015 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, we’ve got some great programs coming up this week!

Here’s a link to a PDF version that compliments the photo version of our list of programs for the week:

Weekly Programs Jan 5 -10, 2015

Registration is required for all program except the Monthly Tech Movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind — everyone is welcome just come to that one!

Have a great week!

Linda, SSCL

And here’s the pasted list of programs!

Adult Services & Digital Literacy Programs @ The Library: The Week of January 5 – 10, 2015:

Joy Unleashed Workshop Series: Are you ready for a change? Learn and practice ten behaviors that can make your life happier and more satisfying. Sessions include a presentation, discussion and sharing. Bring a bagged lunch, if you wish. Beverages provided. Series is based on the book, The Joy Diet: 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life by Martha Beck. Book is recommended but not required.

Note: Programs in this series will be held every Tuesday at noon through March 17.

Date & Time of Joy Unleashed Workshop: Tuesday, January 6, 2015: 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Microsoft Word Basics Workshop: This workshop will offer new Microsoft Word users tips on how to use banners & templates, how to create and space text, how to insert photos and more!

Date & Time of Microsoft Word Basics Workshop: Tuesday, January 6, 2015; 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.

iPad Workshop (Basic & Intermediate): We’re trying out something new! This iPad workshop includes a brief look at the material we usually cover in our iPad Basics Workshop and then…we jump into the more advanced material we will be covering in the future in our Intermediate iPad Workshops.

The intermediate subjects covered will include: Siri settings, keyboard layout options, renaming your iPad, enabling and using Bluetooth devices, how to make phone calls from your iPad, how to use AirPlay (in conjunction with an Apple TV box) to stream music and videos from your iPad to your TV and more.

Date & Time of iPad Combo Basics & Intermediate Workshop: Thursday, January 8, 2015; 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Adults Creative Writers Group: Inject some socialization into your solo writing time by join the library’s Adult Creative Writers Group for conversation, inspiration and feedback on writing projects. No sign up is required. This group meets every Thursday from 6-8 pm. On the third Thursday of the month the group meets in the library. On the other Thursdays the group meets at Soul Full Cup CoffeeHouse. For more information, please call Adult Services Director Michelle Wells at (607) 936-3713 ext 209 or email wellsm@stls.org.

Date & Time of Creative Writers Group Meeting: Thursday, January 8, 2015; 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Computer Security & Privacy Workshop: Computer Science expert D. J. Dates will host this program. Workshop attendees will gain insight on how to safely travel around their computer and the Internet. D. J. will also discuss Encryption and Script Blocking!

Date & Time of Computer Security & Privacy Workshop: Friday, January 9, 2015: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Monthly Technology Movie: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977): Richard Dreyfuss stars as cable worker Roy Neary, who along with several other stunned bystanders experience a close encounter of the first kind – witnessing UFOs soaring across the sky. After this life-changing event, the inexplicable vision of a strange, mountain-like formation haunts him. He becomes obsessed with discovering what it represents, much to the dismay of his wife and family. Meanwhile, bizarre occurrences are happening around the world. Government agents have close encounters of the second kind – discovering physical evidence of extraterrestrial visitors in the form of a lost fighter aircraft from World War II and a stranded military ship that disappeared decades earlier only to suddenly reappear in unusual places. Roy continues to chase his vision to a remote area where he and the agents follow the clues that have drawn them to reach a site where they will have a close encounter of the third kind – contact. MPAA Rating: PG. Run Time: 132 minutes. Technology Subjects: Extraterrestrial life.

Date & Time of January Tech Movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977): Friday, January 9, 2015; 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Reading and Workshop with Poet and Author Andrei Guruianu: Andrei Guruianu is releasing a new memoir, join us for a reading and a lesson on writing your own personal or lyrical essay.

Date & Time of Reading and Workshop with Poet and Author Andrei Guruianu program: Saturday, January 10, 2015: Time: 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.

And also this week is the first program in the 2015 Friends of the Library Books Sandwiched In series!

Join us at 12:10 p.m. on Wednesday, January 7, 2015!

Books Sandwiched In: Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life by William Deresiewicz

Excellent Sheep: will be reviewed by Kate Douglas

Here’s an overview of the book: A groundbreaking manifesto for people searching for the kind of insight on leading, thinking, and living that elite schools should be—but aren’t—providing.

As a professor at Yale, Bill Deresiewicz saw something that troubled him deeply. His students, some of the nation’s brightest minds, were adrift when it came to the big questions: how to think critically and creatively, and how to find a sense of purpose.

Excellent Sheep takes a sharp look at the high-pressure conveyor belt that begins with parents and counselors who demand perfect grades and culminates in the skewed applications Deresiewicz saw firsthand as a member of Yale’s admissions committee. As schools shift focus from the humanities to “practical” subjects like economics and computer science, students are losing the ability to think in innovative ways. Deresiewicz explains how college should be a time for self-discovery, when students can establish their own values and measures of success, so they can forge their own path. He addresses parents, students, educators, and anyone who’s interested in the direction of American society, featuring quotes from real students and graduates he has corresponded with over the years, candidly exposing where the system is broken and clearly presenting solutions.

Join the Friends of the Southeast Steuben County Library for its popular series of lunchtime book talks held Wednesdays in January and February.

Have a great week!

Linda, SSCL

Great Technology Programs Coming Up Next!

December 31, 2014 Linda Reimer

We’ve got some great technology, aka Digital Literacy, aka personal technology, programs coming up next week — join us! Linda, SSCL

Tech Stories You Might Have Missed December 15 – 19 & December 22 – 26, 2014

December 23, 2014December 23, 2014 Linda Reimer

Since most people are super busy at this time of year — here is a list of interesting tech articles you might have missed for last week and this week – in other words covering the two weeks of December 15 – 19 and December 22 – 26.

Have a great holiday season!

Linda, SSCL

And don’t forget although the library is closed on 12/24 & 12/25 — we are open our regular hours on Friday 12/26 (9 a.m. – 6 p.m.) and Saturday 12/27 — so while you’re out and about on Friday & Saturday drop by the library and pick up some books or DVDs!

Or, access digital content (e-books, digital audiobooks, streaming videos and music) through the OverDrive Media Console and Freegal Music apps found in your app store!

And here are the tech articles you might have missed!

Article 1: This first article discusses what a great level playing field for life is created by access to the Internet, and, correspondingly how this theoretical equality is actually unequal in practice due to a variety of issues including Net Neutrality and censorship issues – it is an interesting article!

Here’s the link:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30432487

Net is ‘less free and more unequal’, says web founder. (11 December, 2014). BBC. Online. Accessed December 17, 2014.

Article 2: Star Trek turbo lifts coming our way!

http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/12/star-trek-turbolifts-will-be-reality-in.html

Wang, Brian. (14 Decenber, 2014). Star Trek Turbolifts will be reality in 2016 with multidirectional elevator . nextBIGFuture. Online. Accessed December 17, 2014.

Article 3: Article 3 is a New York Times article that focuses on how the job market is changing due to the advancing technology and how advanced education is going to increasingly be a necessity for people as smart machines & robots do more and more tasks that have in the past been done manually by humans – here’s the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/16/upshot/as-robots-grow-smarter-american-workers-struggle-to-keep-up.html?ref=technology&_r=0&abt=0002&abg=1

Miller, Claire Cain. (15 December, 2014). As Robots Grow Smarter, American Workers Struggle to Keep Up. The New York Times. Online. Accessed December 16, 2014.

Article 4: And article 4 is another article on Amazon and how the company has changed the way it sells items over the last 15 years. It is an interesting article for those interested in how technology is changing society and also for those interested in business trends — here’s the link:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/the-price-of-books-at-jeff-bezoss-lemonade-shop/?ref=technology

Streitfeld, David. (14 December, 2014.) Jeff Bezos’ Lemonade Stand. The New York Times. Online. Accessed December 16, 2014.

Article 5: I found article 5 on a blog called “Coding Horror” which I had never heard of before! However, I think the article is cool because it does offer a “history” of e-ink, as in the e-ink technology of e-readers. And I put the word “history” in quotes because the first commercially successful e-reader, the first generation Kindle, only came out in 2007 – so from a long-term historical perspective that is short period of history!

Here’s the link to the article:

http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-evolution-of-eink/

Atwood, Jeff. (15 December, 2014). The Evolution of eInk. Coding Horror: programming and human factors. Online. Accessed December 17, 2014.

Article(s) 6: And you may have heard in the news in the past week that Apple won its long iPod antitrust law suite earlier this month – and here are links to two articles on the subject. The NPR article is short and the Bloomberg article offers more in-depth info on the subject:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/12/16/371217261/apple-wins-1b-ipod-antitrust-lawsuit

Calamur, Krishnadev. (16 December, 2014). Apple Wins $1B iPod Antitrust Lawsuit. NPR. Online. Accessed December 17, 2014.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-16/apple-prevails-at-1-billion-trial-over-digital-music.html

Gullo, Karen., & Burnson, Robert. (16 December, 2014). Apple Deafeauts $1 Billion iPod Antiturst Suite in Three hours. Bloomberg. Online. Accessed December 23, 2014.

Article 7: Article 7 focuses on a new cutting edge trend – being able to see a doctor via a video chat from wherever you are! Katherine Boehret of the re/code site offers a neat review of the technology:

http://recode.net/2014/12/17/a-doc-in-your-pocket-doctor-on-demand-gets-smarter/

Boehret, Katherine. (17 December, 2014.) A Soc in Your Pocket: Doctor on Demand Gets Smarter. re/code. Online. Accessed December 18, 2014.

Article 8: And believe it or not as successful as Amazon is they are not quite as unstoppable as their public images might suggest – NY Times tech columnist Farhad Manjoo offered and interesting look at the reason why this past week – here’s the link to his article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/technology/personaltech/amazon-not-as-unstoppable-as-it-may-appear.html?ref=technology&_r=0

Manjoo, Farhad. (17 December, 2014). Amazon Not as Unstoppable as It Might Appear. New York Times. Online. Accessed November 18, 2014.

Article 9: Article 9 is on a current item of local interest – how Corning is developing new glass – here the link to a Technology Review article on the subject:

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/533076/chemical-sensing-displays-and-other-surprising-uses-of-glass/

Bullis, Kevin. (17 December, 2014).Chemical-Sensing Displays and Other Surprising Uses of Glass: An inside look at Corning’s labs suggests what’s next for the inventor of Gorilla Glass. MIT Technical Review. Online. Accessed December 22, 2014.

Article 10: And another article on the ongoing subject of government surveillance of Internet users and just what can be done about it:

http://recode.net/2014/12/18/protecting-the-internet-from-government-control/

Upton, Fred., Waxman, Harry. Royce, Ed. et al. (18 December, 2014). Protecting the Internet From Government Control. Re/code. Online. Accessed December 19, 2014.

Article 11: And on the subject of self-driving cards – Google just unveiled a fully functional self driving car prototype which can be legally driven in California – here’s the link:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2474069,00.asp

Moscaritolo, Angela. (22 December, 2014). Google Unveils Fully Functional Self-Driving Car Prototype. PC Magazine. Online.

Article 12: And here’s a link to a Time’s article on just what really happened with that JP Morgan data breach earlier this year:

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/12/22/entry-point-of-jpmorgan-data-breach-is-identified/?ref=technology&_r=0

Goldstein, Matthew., Perloth, Nicole. & Corkery, Michael. (22 December, 2014). Entry Point of JPMorgan Data Breach Is Identified. The New York Times. Online. Accessed December 23, 2014.

Article 13: Article 13 is a quick and neat read for those who love both history and technology as it discusses how our looking to the future when discussing technology was really a though process developed during the Victorian Era – here’s the link:

http://aeon.co/magazine/society/how-the-victorians-imagined-and-invented-the-future/

Morus, Iwan Rhys. (10 December, 2014). aeon. Online. Accessed December 23, 2014.

Article 14: And the final article for this two week period is actually my favorite! This Venture Beat article discusses how the rapidly advancing technology is, and will continue to, transform the way we live and both cause certain manual jobs to disappear while fostering the creation of new jobs in newly emerging fields – here’s the link:

http://venturebeat.com/2014/12/22/our-future-of-unlimited-wealth-and-joblessness/

Wadhwa, Vivek. (22 December, 2014). Our future of unlimited wealth — and joblessness. Venture Beat. Online. Accessed December 23, 2014.

New STLS Digital Catalog Titles Up This Weekend!

December 19, 2014 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, new audiobooks, e-books and streaming videos should be up in the STLS Digital Catalog (and available through the OverDrive app) this weekend!

Here’s a link to a PDF list of the titles:

New Digital Catalog Titles December 19, 2014

Have a great weekend!

Linda, SSCL

Tech Articles For Your Weekend Reading Pleasure Week Ending December 12

December 12, 2014December 12, 2014 Linda Reimer

Article 1. An interesting Times’ article that focuses on how the use of technology can be used to help lessen income inequality

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/upshot/how-technology-could-help-fight-income-inequality.html?ref=technology&abt=0002&abg=0

Cowen, Tyler. (2014, December 6). How Technology Cold Help Fight Income Inequality. The New York Times. Online. Accessed December 6, 2014.

Article 2: A helpful re/code gift guide for those purchasing gifts for families that include young children – the gifts are mostly for young children although the lists includes a few items for the parents:

http://recode.net/2014/11/25/holiday-gift-guide-new-parents/

Boehret, Katherine. (2014, November 25). Holiday Gift Guide: Tech Relief for Parents of Young Children. re/code. Online. Accessed November 25, 2014.

Article 3. I found this article on the Quartz blog – Quartz is a blog owned by the Atlantic Publishing Group – the people behind The Atlantic magazine – and I thought this article was neat because it offers us a brief look at the divide between the U.S. where we collectively highly value technology and other parts of the world where the technology we value, and most of which is produced in the U.S., is seen in a more negative light as exemplified by the “Right to be Forgotten” issue which has been a huge bone of contention between European countries and Google – here’s the link to the article:

http://qz.com/303947/us-cultural-imperialism-has-a-new-name-gafa/

Chibber, Kabir. (1 December, 2014). American cultural imperialism has a new name: GAFA. qz. Online. Accessed December 2, 2014.

Article 4: This article is from the La Prensa (The Press) site and it discusses how a group of students at the U. S. C. Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism had a 15 week software production (aka Hackathon) session where the developed new software applications for Google Glass. The session was overseen by Web Journalism Professor Robert Hernandez.

Here’s the link to the article:

http://www.laprensasa.com/309_america-in-english/2825693_students-develop-google-glass-app-that-gives-users-encyclopedic-knowledge.html

And a link to the U. S. C. Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism’s website in case anyone wants to check that site out to learn more:

http://www.glassjournalism.io/

Students develop Google Glass app that gives users encyclopedic knowledge. La Prensa. Online. Accessed December 4, 2014.

Article 5: Article 5 offers info on the second Sony hack in recent weeks:

http://recode.net/2014/12/08/hackers-hit-sony-again/

Hesseldahl, Arik. (2014, December 8). Hackers Hit Sony, Again. re/code. Online. Accessed December 8, 2014.

Article 6: This article discusses how & why many people under the age of 30 expect that they can view and listen to digital content for free:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/08/technology/grappling-with-the-culture-of-free-in-napsters-aftermath.html?ref=technology

Grappling With the ‘Culture of Free’ in Napster’s Aftermath. New York Times. Online. Accessed December 8, 2014.

Article 7. Another cool re/code gift guide – this one focuses on the gadgets you might buy to please the combo tech and fitness people on your gift list:

http://recode.net/2014/11/25/holiday-gift-guide-active-people/

Goode, Lauren. (2014, November 25). Holiday Gift Guide: Gadgets for Fitness Freaks. re/code. Online. Accessed December 10, 2014,.

Article 8. This week T-Mobile launched a new and cheaper family plan that allows you to have two lines with unlimited date for only $100 per month!

Here’s the link:

http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/9/7362629/t-mobile-100-two-line-unlimited-family-plan

Seifert, Dan. (2014, December 9). T-Mobile launches $100 two-line family plan with unlimited data. The Verge. Online. Accessed December 9, 2014.

Article 9. If you have an Amazon Prime membership and i you purchased a new 4 K TV in 2014 then you might want to check out this article because Amazon has just updated its software so that you can access 4 K content from the Amazon Instant Video Store!

http://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-starts-4k-uhd-streams/

Katzmaier, David. (2014, December 12). Amazon 4K streams start (updated with hands-on). cnet. Online. Accessed December 12, 2014.

Article 10. And yet another sign of the fact that we live in a high tech era – The State of Iowa will soon put out a new app that will allow residents to keep their official drivers’ license – on their smartphone!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/12/12/370359601/coming-soon-to-iowa-drivers-license-on-a-smartphone-app

Calamur, Krishnadev. (2014, December 12). Coming Soon To Iowa: Driver’s License On A Smartphone App. NPR. Online. Accessed December 12, 2014.

Article 11. Here’s a tech column from the New York Times that offers info on just why Windows computers keep doing those annoying updates, and, what type of scanning & virus protection software you might use on a Mac:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/11/technology/personaltech/keeping-up-with-windows-update.html?ref=technology&_r=0

Biersdorfer, J. D. (2014, December 10). Keeping Up With Windows Update/Scanning A Mac. The New York Times. Online. Accessed December 12, 2014.

Article 12: And if you like cooking and technology checkout this cool NPR article that discusses a new high tech pan!

ttp://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/12/03/367995538/weekly-innovation-a-smart-pan-that-helps-you-cook-like-a-chef

Ralphelson, Samantha.(2014, December 3). Weekly Innovation: A Smart Pan That Helps You Cook Like A Chef. Online. Accessed December 8, 2014.

Monthly Tech Movie Friday Dec 12 – E.T.!

December 12, 2014 Linda Reimer

Don’t forget — we’re showing the classic film E.T. at the library tonight!

Library doors open to admit film goers at 6:45 p.m. and the film will start at 7 p.m. sharp!

A fun time will be had!

Join us!

Linda, SSCL

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083866/

Tech Stories You Might Have Missed Last Week – December 1 – 7, 2014

December 8, 2014December 8, 2014 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here’s a list of personal technology related stories that you might have missed over the past week!

Just in time for your weekday evening reading pleasure!

Have a great week!

Linda, SSCL

Tech Articles Week of December 1 – 7, 2014:

Article 1. The first link is to a Re/Code article that offers suggestions as to what holiday gift you can buy for that hard-to-buy-for teenager or college student:

http://recode.net/2014/11/25/holiday-gift-guide-college-students-and-teenagers/

Cha, Bonnie. (25 November, 2014). Holiday Gift Guide: Cool Tech for Teens and College Students. re/code. Online. Accessed December 2, 2014.

Article 2. In case you missed it the Girl Scouts will now be selling their delicious cookies online! Here’s a link to a New York Times article on the subject:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/01/technology/online-sales-for-girl-scout-cookies-are-approved.html?WT.mc_id=D-NYT-MKTG-MOD-38438-12-02-HD&WT.mc_ev=click&WT.mc_c=

Olson, Elizabeth. (1 December, 2014) Online Sales for Girl Scout Cookies Are Approved. The New York Times. Online. Accessed December 1, 2014.

Article 3. Article 3 offers insight into how Netflix is growing its streaming video service by offering original programming:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/business/media/how-to-build-an-empire-the-netflix-way-.html?ref=technology

Steel, Emily. (29 November, 2014) How to Build an Empire, the Netflix Way. The New York Times. Online. Accessed December 4, 2014.

Article 4. As you may have heard Sony Pictures had their computer system hacked last week & it is thought that the Korean Government was behind the hack. Here is a link to an NPR article on the subject:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/12/01/367838950/north-korean-government-thought-to-be-behind-sony-pictures-hack

Sanders, Sam. (1 December, 2014). North Korean Government Thought To Be Behind Sony Pictures Hack. NPR. Online. Accessed December 2, 2014.

Article 5. The use of robots in factories

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/12/01/367703789/amazon-unleashes-robot-army-to-send-your-holiday-packages-faster

Myrow, Rachel. (1 December, 2014). Amazon Unleashes Robot Army To Send Your Holiday Packages Faster. NPR. Online. Accessed December 4, 2014.

Article 6. CNET offers a review of the new Amazon Echo voice activated combination speaker and personal assistant:

http://www.cnet.com/products/amazon-echo/

Carnoy, David. (1 December, 2014). Amazon Echo talks the talk, but still needs a little work on walking the walk. CNET. Online. Accessed December 3, 2014.

Article 7. The Edutopia blog offers an interesting article on using photography as a digital literacy tool:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/literacy-through-photography-for-ells-tabitha-dellangelo

Dell’Angelo, Tabitha. edutopia. Literacy Through Photography for Enlish Language Learners. Online. Accessed December 2, 2014.

Article 8. Forbes offers a really cool article that discusses the fact that businesses that successfully use technology are not necessarily big technology business:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2014/11/29/paradox-it-takes-more-than-technology-to-lead-with-technology/

McKendrick, Joe. Paradox: It Takes More Than Technology To Lead With Technology. Forbes. Online. Accessed December 2, 2014.

Article 9. The New York Times offered an interesting article on the well-known Russian Programmer Pavel Durov who kept getting in hot water with the Putin government and has now left Russia and is promoting programming as a citizen of the world.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/technology/once-celebrated-in-russia-programmer-pavel-durov-chooses-exile.html?ref=technology&_r=0

Hakim, Danny. (2 December, 2014). Once Celebrated in Russia, the Programmer Pavel Durov Chooses Exile. The New York Times. Online. Accessed December 3, 2014.

Article 10. And tech columnist Molly Wood offers a timely article on how to be safe while shopping and paying with debit or credit cards during the holiday season:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/minimizing-in-store-shopping-dangers/?ref=technology

Wood, Molly. (2 December, 2014). Minimizing In-Store Shopping Dangers. The New York Times. Online. Accessed December 3, 2014.