Category: Uncategorized

Amazon Instant Video App Now Available For iPhone & iPod Touch, Google Maps App Appears in Apple’s App Store & In Appreciation of Ravi Shankar

Linda Reimer

Amazon Instant Video App For iPhone & iPod Touch: Apple’s App Store now offers the Amazon Instant Video App for iPhone and iPod Touch. The iPad app has been available since the summer and now you can stream any movies or TV shows you purchase, or have previously purchased, from Amazon to your iPhone or iPod Touch. And if you’re an Amazon Prime member you can also stream and watch TV shows and movies from the Prime Library. Endgadget offers a brief article on this subject today titled Amazon Instant Video streaming app now available for iPhone and iPod Touch. And just a related note, the author of the article notes that if you own an Apple TV box you cannot currently use AirPlay to stream movies or TV shows from your iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone to your TV; and that is true. However, you can purchase a Roku media streaming player (they start at $49.99) and the Roku has a native app for the Amazon Instant Video Store – The Apple TV doesn’t although both have Netflix apps. So just FYI if anyone is out there is shopping for media streaming players! And here’s the link to the article:  

http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/13/amazon-instant-video-now-available-ipod-touch-iphone/

Google Maps App Appears in Apple’s App Store: The TechCrunch article title says it all! It is titled “Shocker: Google Maps Surges To Top Free App In The App Store In Just One Night.” And considering the inaccuracy of the Apple maps app that replaced the Google Maps app as an out-of-the-box app on new iPads, iPods and iPhones one can understand why people are so pleased to have that very accurate Google Maps app back! The app is currently available in an iPhone/iPod Touch version only and not yet in an iPad version. So iPad owners can either use the iPhone app until the iPad app is ready or simply create a short cut app for the Google Maps webpage and place it on their iPad Start Screens.

Here’s the link to the TechCrunch article:  

http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/13/shocker-google-maps-surges-to-top-free-app-in-the-app-store-in-just-one-night/

In Appreciation of Ravi Shankar: The great musician Ravi Shankar, who brought sitar music to the attention of western music fans with a little help initially from The Beatles, died yesterday at age 92. And NPR offers a nice overview of his life and work and access to several of his songs in an article titled 5 Essential Ravi Shankar Recordings, From ‘West Meets East’ to ‘West Eats Meat’ from the NPR Music site. Here’s the link:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/12/12/167056814/5-essential-ravi-shankar-recordings-from-west-meets-east-to-west-eats-meat

Have a great day!

Linda R.

References

Crook, Jordan. (2012, December 13). Shocker Google Maps Surges To Top Free App In The App Store In Just One Night. TechCrunch. Online.

Murph, Darren. (2012, December 13). Amazon Instant Video streaming app now available for iPhone and iPod Touch. Endgadget. Online.

Tsioulcas, Anastasia. (2012, December 12). 5 Essential Ravi Shankar Recordings, From ‘West Meets East’ to West Eats Meat’. NPR Music. Online.

 

Microsoft Surface Tablet For Sale @ Best Buy & Staples, E-Book Sharing, Redbox Verizon Streaming Video Service & Apple TV Again!

Linda Reimer

Microsoft Surface Tablet For Sale @ Best Buy & Staples: The Microsoft Surface tablet will be available for purchase at Staples and Best Buy this week according to a ZDNet report. It is a good idea for Microsoft to sell the tablet through major retailers, other than the Microsoft Stores, because of course, there are many more Best Buy & Staples stores across the United States than Microsoft stores; and many people looking to purchase tech items do like to have the chance to check those tech times out in stores before they purchase them!

Here’s the link to the ZDNet article:

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-confirms-surfaces-coming-to-non-microsoft-retail-outlets-7000008643/

E-Book Sharing: Ownshelf is a new and free web service that launched in beta last Friday. This new service offers users cloud storage and the ability to easily share e-books with family and friends. The Mashable site offers an article on the subject that discusses the ease of using the service and the ways you can social network and share e-books via the service through Facebook. Rick Marazzani, the creator of the service says he is filling a need in people’s high tech reading lives. Specifically he says of e-books: “We don’t see what people read anymore because it’s not piled up on their coffee table, or on their bookshelf or their night stand,”” and “”Our goal is to replace that with something virtual, where you can get recommendations and say ‘Hey, try it, read it.'””

And of course no doubt the big publishing companies will object to this latest attempt at essentially an ownership of an e-book item – that is offering e-book fans the unrestricted ability to easily share e-books with friends and family members. The big publishing and e-book vendors have shown through their business model that they believe in licensing e-books to consumers instead of selling them those same e-books. And the difference seems to be just in the format as if you buy a print book you own it! And not surprisingly, being a librarian I happen to believe that you should actually be able to own the e-books you purchase, read them on any and all tech devices you own and lend them to whomever you wish just like you would with a paper book. And having gotten up on the consumer e-book rights (or lack thereof) soapbox – I’ll now get off it! Here’s the link to the Mashable article:

http://mashable.com/2012/12/12/ownshelf/

Redbox Verizon Streaming Video Service: Netflix will shortly have a new competitor! The new Redbox streaming service (co-hosted by Verizon) will debut in beta form this month with a wide launch of the service planned for early next year. So who knows 2013 may be the year that the video streaming flood gates burst open.

Here’s a link to a an All Things D article, titled The Redbox Verizon movie service is almost ready to take on Netflix  which offers more information on the subject:

http://allthingsd.com/20121211/the-redbox-verizon-movie-service-is-almost-ready-to-take-on-netflix/

Apple TV Again! The Wall Street Journal All Things D blog has reported that words has come from electronics manufacturers in China that Apple is indeed testing a television set. Speculation is that this new set, if it actually comes to market, may transform the way people watch television. Of course, until Apple actually announces that it is going to sell a television set we all have to take the rumors with a pinch of salt just because Apple is testing a TV design does not mean it will actually be a product that gets made and sold. But still…Tim Cook did mention that the television was an area of interest to Apple now in the recent interview he gave to NBC’s Brian Williams. So it is something tech to ponder!

Here’s a link to the Wall Street Journal All Things D article on the subject titled Apple Tests Designs for TV:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323981504578174532274021230.html

Have a great day!

Linda R.

References

Apple Tests Designs for TV. (2012, December 12). Wall Street Journal All Things D. Online.

Fiegerman, Seth. (2012, December 12). Ownshelf helps readers share their digital libraries with friends. Mashable. Online.

Foley, Mary Jo. (2012, December 11). Microsoft confirms Surfaces coming to non-Microsoft retail outlets. ZDNet. Online.

Kafka, Peter. (2012, December 11). The Redbox Verizon movie service is almost ready to take on Netflix. AllThingsDigital. Online.

 

NY Times Tech Gift Suggestions, Pope To Tweet And Photoshop & Illustrated Updated For Retina Displays

Linda Reimer

New York Times Tech Gift Suggestions: New York Times tech columnist David Pogue is offering up twelve gift suggestions for the tech fan on your holiday shopping list. His list is titled David Pogue’s 12 Days of Gadgets and the list includes gift suggestions that are all priced under $100; because as Pogue says how many people really have unlimited funds to buy all the tech fans on their gift list $500 iPads! And just because the tech items are less expensive does not mean they are not cool! Consider the first suggested gift — a “Zapped” version of Monopoly, which costs $25 and which requires the use of an iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone. This version of the game does away with paper money altogether and instead has the Apple device be the bank and allows players to use plastic Monopoly credit cards to pay for properties by passing them in front of the iPod, iPhone or iPad.

Here’s the link to the New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/technology/personaltech/201212-pogues-gadgets.html?ref=technology

Pope To Tweet: Pope Benedict now has an official Twitter handle @pontifex and will begin offering regular Twitter comments tomorrow, Wednesday, December 12, 2012.

There are a number of articles online regarding the Pope using Twitter and all the followers he has amassed (to his Twitter handle); the USA Today offers one article titled Twitter Faithful Await Pope Benedict’s Words. Here’s the link:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2012/12/10/pope-twitter-wednesday/1758409/

Photoshop & Illustrated Updated For Retina Displays: Adobe has updated its Photoshop and Illustrator software to work with Retina displays. So if you have a new MacBook Pro with a Retina Display the photos and graphics you create using Photoshop and Illustrator should be even more stunning! And that fact is cool! However, I must admit my favorite part of the MASHABLE! article on the subject,  Adobe Updates Photoshop and Illustrator For Retina Displays, is the photo they show of the cat playing with the candy canes! Cat fan that I am –that is cool too! Here’s the link to the article:

http://mashable.com/2012/12/10/adobe-photoshop-retina-update/

Have a great day!

Linda R.

References

Grossman, Kathy Lynn. (2012, December 11). Twitter Faithful Await Pope Benedict’s Words. USA Today. Online.

Pogue, David. (2012, December 11). David Pogue’s 12 Days of Christmas Gadgets. New York Times. Online.

Warren, Christina. (2012, December 11). Adobe Updates Photoshop and Illustrator For Retina Displays. Mashable! Online. 

Join Us For Our Reinventing The Slideshow Program, Smartphones Instead Of Wallets & New HD TV Cams

Linda Reimer

Join Us For Our Reinventing the Slideshow Program: On Wednesday we’re hosting our Reinventing The Slideshow program. Our tech wizard Jenn Gaylor will show attendees how to can create a slideshow on a PC with their favorite photos and music. Just in time for the holiday season! Registration is required. To register for the program stop by the library or call 936-3713 ext. 502.

Smart Phones Instead of Wallets: I came across a neat article on the New York Times Disruptions blog today. The article is titled How My Smartphone Emptied My Pockets. And despite the title the author, Nick Bilton, isn’t discussing how you can spend money by using your smartphone (although you certainly can!); instead he is discussing how you can use a cell phone to do things that previously would have required you to carry a thick wallet or billfold and possible another gadget or two.

The “things” you would previously have carried  include printed pictures, membership cards, portable music players, cameras, business cards, sound recorders, address books, membership cards and even in some instances cash. Today you can keep an address book, photos, business cards and membership cards on your smartphone. And you can also use your smartphone to pay for items in some stores (like coffee at Starbucks), house your IDs digitally (sans your driver’s license) and even to purchase movie tickets.

I thought the article was really interesting because it shows how the advancing technology is changing how we live. The author comments on how his father had to carry a wallet with stuff in it and that his wallet got larger and larger as the years went by and he needed to carry more and more stuff. Now the author carries one debit card, his driver’s license and his smartphone and that is all.

Here’s the link:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/disruptions-how-my-smartphone-emptied-my-pockets/?ref=technology

New HD TV Cams: Just in time for the holiday season The Red Ferret tech site is reviewing two new HD webcams that you can attach to your TV and then Skype away with family and friends and see those family members and friends on your TV. The TV cams are the Logitech TV Cam HD and the Tely Labs TelyHD Skype Camera. Just because I was curious I looked up the price of the TV cams and found Amazon & Best Buy both carry the TV Cams. And as of 12/10 the Logitech TV Cam HD is priced at $209.99 from Amazon and $199.99 from Best Buy and the Tely Labs TelyHD is priced at $229.98 from both Amazon and Best Buy.

And here’s the link to the Red Ferret review page:

http://www.redferret.net/?p=34732

Have a great Monday!

Linda R.

 

References

Bilton, Nick. (2012, December 9). Disruptions: How My Smartphone Emptied My Pockets. The New York Times. Online.

Head to Head: Logitech TV Cam HD vs Tely Labs TelyHD Skype Camera [Review]. (2012, December 9) Red Ferret Journal. Online. 

Assorted Cool Tech News Stories – Just In Time For The Weekend!

Linda Reimer

So many tech stories, so little time!

I am swamped today; however, I have found links to a number of interesting tech related stories that I thought I’d share! And I’ve listed the links for them below with their titles and a brief description of what each article is about.

Have a great weekend!

Linda R.

SSCL

1. Netflix Reaches Deal to Show New Disney Films in 2016:  Netflix will be the only outlet for streaming new Disney films starting in 2016. However, if you have a Netflix subscription you’ll be able to stream some older Disney films like Pocahontas and Dumbo immediately.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/netflix-bests-starz-in-bid-for-disney-movies/

2. What will TV look like in two years? Radically different (we hope): The author of this article, Hamish McKenzie, speculates on how TV will evolve in the near future. He makes the very valid point that the reason the evolution television is not keeping pace with the changing technology, and the corresponding demand of viewers to be able to content where they want and when they want, and that fact is due to the cable and media companies that prefer doing business on an outdated, but profitable, business model.

http://pandodaily.com/2012/12/06/what-will-tv-look-like-in-two-years-radically-different-we-hope/

3. Rallee – the clever Facebook walkie-talkie (freeware): I thought this article was cool! It is about a new app Rallee that allows you to turn your smart phone or tablet into a walkie-talkie and talk to your Facebook friends via that walkie-talkie:

http://www.redferret.net/?p=34640

4. Amazon bringing Voice Guide and Explore by Touch features to Kindle Fires for vision impaired users: These new features are actually already available for Kindle Fire users – there is an update to the article that says so! And Voice Guide is a tool for the visual impaired that allows users to hear what app they are touching or what function they are accessing via audio and Touch does the same thing for the visual impaired by providing text descriptions of apps and functions:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/06/amazon-bringing-voice-guide-and-explore-by-touch-features-to-kin/

5. You Know What Else Started Out Like Apple TV? The iPod: This one is from the Wall Street Journal’s All Things D blog and discusses some more reasons why Apple may well come out with a new television product in 2013 that revolutionizes the way TV shows and movies are accessed by viewers:

http://allthingsd.com/20121206/you-know-what-else-started-out-like-apple-tv-the-ipod/

6. The Importance of Album Track Order In The Digital Age: And this final article is from Billboard and offers a look at why the order of tracks on a digital album is still important – it has to do with the shortened attention span of listeners!

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/the-importance-of-album-track-order-in-the-1008037002.story

*By “evolution” I mean what new and catalog TV shows and movies are available and how they are available to be accessed (streaming – watching on smartphones, tablets or via TVs),

References

Barnes, Brooks. (4 December 2012). Netflix Reaches Deal to Show New Disney Films in 2016. The New York Times. Online.

McKenzie, Hamish. (6 December 2012). What will TV look like in two years? Radically different (we hope). Pandiodaily. Online.

Paczkowski, John. You Know What Else Started Out Like Apple TV? The iPod. Allthingsd.com. Online.

Rallee – the clever Facebook walkie-talkie (freeware). (6 December 2012). Redferret.net. Online.

Trust, Gary. The Importance of Album Track Order In The Digital Age. Billboard. Online.

Try It Before You Buy It Program Is Tonight & Tim Cook Interviewed by Brian Williams On Rock Center

Linda Reimer

Try It Before You Buy It Program Is Tonight: This evening the library‘s tech staff is hosting a Try It Before You Buy It program. We will have a variety of e-readers and tablets for people to play with and ask questions about. We will also have a MacBook Pro and a Windows 8 laptop for anyone who is interested in buying a new laptop to check out. The program starts at 6 PM and runs until 7 PMish. Staff will be on hand to answer any usage questions. Join us!

Tim Cook Interviewed By Brian Williams Tonight On Rock Center: Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple who succeeded Steve Jobs last year, will give his first major network news interview to Brian Williams on the RockCenter show tonight.  RockCenter will be shown on NBC Stations and starts at 10 PM. Topics discussed in the interview include Apple’s decision to begin assembling some Macs in the U.S. again and the Apple maps debacle. Cook also is quoted as saying, regarding television that: “When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years,” Cook told NBC News anchor Brian Williams in an interview. “It’s an area of intense interest. I can’t say more than that.” So just perhaps Apple is either working on a real television or some type of super media streaming player; check out the full interview tonight at 10 PM or via the free Rock Center app tomorrow.

Here’s the link to the RockCenter article, titled Apple CEO Tim Cook announces plans to manufacture Mac computers in USA, which relays the basic information regarding the interview.

http://goo.gl/3nz9M

Have a great afternoon!

Linda R.

References:

Polidoro, Ronnie. (2012, December 6). Apple CEO Tim Cook announces plans to manufacture Mac computers in USA. Rock Center. Online.

New Amazon FreeTime Unlimited Service For Kids & And More

Linda Reimer

New Amazon Unlimited Service For Kids: Amazon has just introduced a new service for kids called Kindle FreeTime. This new service can be accessed through newer Kindle Fires and offers users unlimited access to the Kindle FreeTime Unlimited library which includes access to thousands of e-books, games, movies, TV shows and educational apps for kids ages 3 to 8. FreeTime Unlimited is a subscription service that has two tiers of costs; one tier for Amazon Prime members and another for all other Amazon customers. Amazon Prime members pay $2.99 per month per child for the service or $6.99 per month for a family of children (up to 6 children); the cost for all other Amazon customers is $4.99 per month for one child or $9.99 for a family of children (up to 6 children).

And just in case you were wondering, you can indeed set up Kindle Fires so that kids can’t buy anything while they are using the Kindles, so they cannot access the web browser and you can also adjust the setting so that kids using Kindle FreeTime can only access certain formats for a certain period of time. So for example, if you want to you can allow your kids to read at all times but limit their watching of videos to a hour an day and their usage of apps to an hour a day.

The PaidContent site offers an article on this new service today titled Amazon’s All You Can Eat Kids Kindle Content Should Scare Competitors – here’s the link:

http://paidcontent.org/2012/12/05/amazons-all-you-can-eat-kids-kindle-content-should-scare-competitors/

And here’s the link to the official Amazon Kindle FreeTime Unlimited page:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?&docId=1000863021

And More: The “And More” in the blog title for today referrers to the fact that I came across several tech articles that I thought I’d share but that I didn’t want to write a book length blog posting to discuss (who me write a long blog posting!). So here are the links as well as a brief description of the articles:

There are five “More” tech articles links listed below.

Tech articles one and two are the second and third articles in the Mac Observer series, that was first mentioned in this blog on November 30, that discusses the differing types of e-reading devices, the different types of e-book formats and highlights the big differences between dedicated e-ink e-readers, reading tablets (like the Kindle Fire and B&N Nook HD) and fully fledged tablets (like the iPad and Google Nexus).

Article 3 is from Forbes, is titled When Self-Published Ebooks Become Best-Sellers and discusses the growing trend of authors self-publishing their works online; article 4 is Wall Street Journal tech guru Walt Mossberg’s review of iTunes 11; and article 5 is from CNET and offers a quick review of how you can pre-order e-books for your new Android tablet or smart phone – from the Google Play Store.

1. Mac Observer Everything About eBooks & eReaders, Pt 2: eBook Types:

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/everything-about-ebooks-ereaders-pt-2-ebook-types

2. Everything About eBooks & eReaders, Pt 3: Apple’s iPad:

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/everything-about-ebooks-ereaders-pt-3-apples-ipad

3. When Self-Published Ebooks Become Best-Sellers:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremygreenfield/2012/12/03/when-self-published-ebooks-become-best-sellers/

4. iTunes Gets an Upgrade Without Missing a Beat:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324355904578159220876451226.html

5. Preorder E-Books From Google Play Store:

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57555623-285/preorder-e-books-from-google-play/

Have a great day!

Linda R.

References

Amazon Kindle FreeTime Unlimited. (2012, December 5). Amazon.com.

Cozma, Nicole. (2012, November 28). Preorder E-Books From Google Play. CNET.

Greenfield, J. (2012, December 3). When Self-Published Ebooks Become Best-Sellers. Forbes.

Martellaro, John. (2012, November 29). Everything About eBooks & eReaders, Pt 2: eBook Types. The Mac Observer.

Martellaro, John. (2012, December 4). Everything About eBooks & eReaders, Pt 3: Apple’s iPad. The Mac Observer.

Mossberg, Walt. (2012, December 4). iTunes Gets an Upgrade Without Missing a Beat. The Wall Street Journal.

 

 

Tech Programs of the Week & How To Work At A Computer All Day And Reap The Benefits Of Not Sitting All Day!

Linda Reimer

Tech Program of the Week: Hi everyone, we have three tech programs scheduled for this week: Dream & Create with Pinterest which is tonight, an iPad basics workshop tomorrow and a tech Try It Before You Buy It on Thursday.

Here are the descriptions for the programs:

Dream & Create with Pinterest! (Tuesday, December 4; Time: 5:30 – 7:30 PM): Tonight hostess Jenn Gaylor will be assisting all attendees in creating tomato cage Christmas Trees and making avocado salsa puffs. It should be fun and delicious! Join us!

Wednesday One Hour Tech: iPad Basics (Wednesday, December 5; Time 2:00 – 3:00 PM): Our next iPad workshop will be held this Wednesday, December 5 from 2:00 – 3:00 PMish. The “ish” simply means that the official program is from 2 to 3 and that if anyone has an extra question or two members of our tech staff will be on hand past that time to answer any additional questions. So if you just bought an iPad or an iPad Mini – Join us!

Try It Before You Buy It! (Thursday, December 6; Time: 6:00 – 7:30ish): This is more of a question and answer session than an official sit-down-and-go-over-how-to use-a tech-device program. We’ll have tablets, e-readers, a Windows 8 touchscreen laptop and a MacBook Pro set out on tablets for attendees to come in and try out as a precursor to purchasing a new tablet, e-reader or other tech device during the holiday shopping season. So if you interested in purchasing a new tablet or e-reader feel free to stop in and check out our devices before you buy one!

How To Work At A Computer All Day And Reap The Benefits Of Not Sitting All Day! I found an interesting article on the New York Times site titled Taking A Stand For Office Ergonomics. The article discusses the growing scientific evidence that indicates that people shouldn’t sit for long periods of time and that, of course, this is a big issue today because so many people spend their working lives sitting in front of a computer for hours at a stretch. Basic suggested for improved heath, i.e. reaping the benefits of not sitting all day, include the obvious getting up and moving periodically and utilizing adjustable work stations that allow workers to stand up while working or even to walk on a treadmill while working. It is a cool article that makes the valid point that we shouldn’t simply sit in front of a computer for hours on end we should stand up and move at least periodically!

Here’s the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/business/stand-up-desks-gaining-favor-in-the-workplace.html?_r=0

Have a great day!

Linda R.

References

Lohr, S. (2012, December 1). Taking A Stand For Office Ergonomics. The New York Times.

Video Streaming: Netflix, Vs. Hulu Plus & Amazon Instant Video Available for Wii U

Linda Reimer

Video Streaming: Netflix Vs. Hulu Plus: The Geek website offers an article today that is a basic introduction to the differences between the Netflix and Hulu Plus streaming video services.

Both services cost $7.99 per month for unlimited streaming and both services are available via laptops, Macs, PCs, smart phones, most smart TVs, some gaming consoles and traditional (aka non-smart) TVs via inexpensive media streaming players (Roku, Apple TV etc). Netflix offers a more extensive catalog of movies and TV shows but Hulu Plus offers more currently-on-the-air shows.

So just FYI if you’re thinking of buying a new tablet, smart TV or media streaming player this season!

And I will also put in a good word in for this cord cutter’s favorite streaming video service – Amazon Instant Video (and Pandora via Roku) which actually offers most television shows for streaming the day after they air – and I find Amazon Instant Video offers a more extensive catalog of newer movies and TV shows than Netflix or Hulu Plus so it is another service to consider. And you can try out any of these video streaming services on your computer if like. You can rent or buy movies and TV shows from Amazon without subscribing to a service.

Netflix and offers a 30 day trial version of their service and Hulu Plus offers a free one week trial.

Also of note, in addition to their Instant Video service, Amazon offers a “Prime” streaming service that you can try for free for 30 days. It costs $79 per year and allows movie and TV fans unlimited streaming access to any of the videos in the prime library.

And here’s the link to the Geek article which discusses the differences between the Netflix and Hulu Plus streaming subscriptions:

http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/netflix-vs-hulu-plus-video-streaming-2012123/

Amazon Instant Video Available For New Wii U: And here’s a second link that discusses the fact that Amazon Instant Video is available for the new Wii U so if you are one of the thousands of people nationwide that have purchased the new Wii U – or if you receive one during the holiday season — you can check out Amazon’s Instant Video store – when you’ve completed the current level of whatever game you’re playing that is!

Here’s a link to the aptly titled Slashgear article, Amazon Instant Video For Wii U Released, on the subject:

http://www.slashgear.com/amazon-instant-video-for-wii-u-released-22258024/

Have a great day!

Linda R.

Internet Privacy Bill Going Before Congress In The New Year

Linda Reimer

As a complement to the November 26th library tech blog posting titled Tweaked Senate Bill Would Allow Government To Read E0Mails Without Warrant– here is essentially an update!

In essence, a new bill, which will go before congress in the next year, focuses on Internet privacy and would require law enforcement officers to obtain a warrant from a judge before they could access someone’s personal emails. So this bill is just the opposite of the dropped bill and would do much more to protect the right of individuals to keep the contents of their personal e-mail correspondence private.

The New York Times offers an article on this new bill titled Panel Approves a Bill to Safeguard E-Mail (Written by Savage, C. 11-29-12)

Here’s the link to the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/technology/senate-committee-approves-stricter-privacy-for-e-mail.html?ref=technology&_r=0

Have a great evening!

Linda R.