Tag: Kindle

Win A Kindle – Drop By The Library Today Or Tomorrow & Register For Our Free Raffle

Linda Reimer

Don’t forget to drop in the library, ask us about our new Makerspace — Creation Station — and fill out a raffle ticket today or tomorrow.

You may just win one of three raffle gift bags of this final Summer Reading Season week — and two of those gift bags contain Kindle e-readers!

Raffle Gift Bag 1: Kindle Paperwhite e-reader

Raffle Gift Bag 2: Kindle Paperwhite e-reader

Raffle Gift Bag 3: Book & CD gift bag: Love Letters by Beverly Lewis & the CD Dylan, Cash, and The Nashville Cats: A New Music City.

Help us celebrate the end of a great Summer Reading Season and register to win a raffle prize today!

We’ll be picking the winners at the beginning of our Monthly Science Fiction Film tomorrow night at 7 p.m.

This months’ film is Silent Running starring Bruce Dern.

Join us!
Linda, SSCL

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067756/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

Adult Services, Digital Literacy & Creation Station Events Week of August 10, 2015

Linda Reimer

Before our listing of events for this week just a quick FYI — this week we’ll be raffling off two Kindle Paperwhite e-readers for our End of Summer Reading Season – Kindle Raffle Week!

Drop by the library this week and ask the staff about Creation Station, the new SSCL Makerspace — and you be eligible to fill out a raffle ticket for one of our End of Summer Reading Season gift raffles!

Raffle 1: Kindle Paperwhite e-reader
Raffle 2: Kindle Paperwhite e-reader
Raffle 3: Book & CD gift bag: Love Letters by Beverly Lewis & the CD Dylan, Cash, and The Nashville Cats: A New Music City.

Help us celebrate the end of a great Summer Reading Season and register to win a raffle prize today!

You can even drop into @ The Creation Station itself during our summer hours of operation: Tuesday afternoon from 1-4 or Thursday evening from 5-8 and check it out – and also fill out a raffle ticket!

And onto the events items of the week…

Tuesday, August 11, 2015:

Creation Station, The Southeast Steuben County Library’s Makerspace, will be open from 1-4 p.m.

About Creation Station:
Creation Station (Makerspace) projects that will be available to be created at the Southeast Steuben County Library include:

3 D Printer created projects*

Computer created projects

Sewing projects*

Scanning

Art projects*

Scrapbooking projects*

Drawing

All Patrons interested in using the Creation Station will be required to receive training before using the space. Projects that require training are only accessible upon staff availability.

*Some projects will require a small fee for materials.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015:

Digital Literacy Walking Club: Using Fitness Trackers, Mobile Music Players and Fitness Apps: Join the Digital Literacy Services Team and learn how to use a fitness tracker, MP3 player and health apps to improve your walking experience. We will have a brief presentation each week discussing popular fitness trackers, MP3 Players and health apps available. Then, we will put on our walking shoes and hit the pavement for a nice walk around our new Tioga Avenue walking park and utilize some of those devices to see how they work! Bring your walking shoes, bottled water and any new health tracking device you might already own or try one of ours!

Time: 10:00 am – 11:00 am

Thursday, August 13, 2015:

Creation Station, The Southeast Steuben County Library’s Makerspace, will be open from 5-8 p.m.

About Creation Station:
Creation Station (Makerspace) projects that will be available to be created at the Southeast Steuben County Library include:

3 D Printer created projects*

Computer created projects

Sewing projects*

Scanning

Art projects*

Scrapbooking projects*

Drawing

All Patrons interested in using the Creation Station will be required to receive training before using the space. Projects that require training are only accessible upon staff availability.

*Some projects will require a small fee for materials.

Corning Area Writer’s 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.

Time: 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Phenomenon and Paranormal Investigations: Exploring Seneca and Beyond: What lurks in the depths of the Finger Lakes? Join us for a viewing of the short documentary “Exploring Seneca” from PPI Investigations then hear stories about their other investigations and ask questions of your own.

Time: 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Friday, August 14, 2015:

Monthly Science Fiction Film: Silent Running (1972): As this science fiction classic opens, botanist Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) has spent eight years aboard the space freighter “Valley Forge” preserving the only botanical specimens left from Earth under huge geodesic domes. When he receives orders to destroy the project and return home, Lowell rebels and hijacks the freighter, while plunging the craft into the gaseous Rings of Saturn. From that moment on, he has only the trees, the gardens and two “Drone” robots, Huey and Dewey, to keep him company on his greatest adventure of all. MPAA Rating: G. Run Time: 90 minutes.

Time: 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.

Write In: We’ll have food, electricity, inspiration and door prizes. Bring your writing materials of choice and join us for an afternoon of creativity.
Made possible by the Friends of the Library, S.S.C.

Time: 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Also Available During Each Week:

One-On-One Personal Technology Sessions are available by appointment during the week! You can make an appointment with a member of our Digital Literacy Services staff to learn how to use a new computer, Mac, e-reader, tablet, smartphone or a variety of software including the Microsoft Office Suite and more; at a variety of times throughout each week.

This is a free service the library offers!

To make an appointment call the library at: 607-936-3713

Or send an email to us at: DIGLIT@STLS.ORG

Coming Up Next Week…

Wednesday, August 19:

Walking Club: Join the Digital Literacy Services Team and learn how to use a fitness tracker, MP3 player and health apps to improve your walking experience. We will have a brief presentation each week discussing popular fitness trackers, MP3 Players and health apps available. Then, we will put on our walking shoes and hit the pavement for a nice walk around our new Tioga Avenue walking park and utilize some of those devices to see how they work! Bring your walking shoes, bottled water and any new health tracking device you might already own or try one of ours!
Time: 10:00 am – 11:00 am

Register by phone (607)936-3713 ext. 502 or email diglit@stls.org.

Thursday, August 20:

Spin a Yarn! Bring in a knitting or crochet project you are working on, get instructions or help or use club materials to make something for a greater good. For more details, call (607)936-3713. All skill levels welcome.

Time: 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

All library programs are sponsored by the Friends of the Library, SSC.

Have a great week!

Linda, SSCL

End of Summer Reading Season Gift Raffles!

Linda Reimer

Drop in this week and ask the staff about Creation Station, the new SSCL Makerspace — and you can fill out a raffle ticket for one of our End of Summer Reading Season gift raffles!

Raffle 1: Kindle Paperwhite e-reader
Raffle 2: Kindle Paperwhite e-reader
Raffle 3: Book & CD gift bag: Love Letters by Beverly Lewis & the CD Dylan, Cash, and The Nashville Cats: A New Music City.

Help us celebrate the end of a great Summer Reading Season and register to win a raffle prize today!

Linda, SSCL

P.S. You can even drop into @ The Creation Station itself during our summer hours of operation: Tuesday afternoon from 1-4 or Thursday evening from 5-8.

Click on the photo for a larger view!

Dig Lit Summer Reading Raffle Poster End of Season Raffles

Digital Literacy Services Summer Reading Season Raffle Winners – Week 5

Linda Reimer

The Digital Literacy Services Summer Reading Season Raffle Winners for this Week are:

Paul Dohn who has won the The Wright Brothers by David McCullough gift bag

&

Susan Brown who has won Turn: Washington’s Spies: The Complete First Season DVD set.

Congratulations to our winners!

With fall quickly marching our way, next week is the final week of the Summer Reading Program Season here in Library Land; and to celebrate a great season we’ll be raffling off two Kindle Paperwhite e-readers!

To register to win a Kindle Paperwhite simply stop by the library and ask a staff member about the library’s new Makerspace, Creation Station, or attend a tech program or One-On-One sessions to receive a raffle form. You can also drop in and ask the Creation Station crew about all the things you can make in our Makerspace and fill out a raffle ticket while you’re there!

Creation Station hours for the summer are:

Tuesdays: 1 – 4 p.m. & Thursdays: 5 – 8 p.m.

Have a great weekend!

Linda, SSCL

Kindle Romance Podcasts & PBS MediaShift Begins Publishing E-Books

Linda Reimer

Kindle Romance Podcasts: Amazon is launching a weekly romance podcast series this week titled “Kindle Love Stories.” The Kindle podcast will feature reviews, interviews with authors and news on new and exciting trends in the romance book field.

Here’s a link to a USA Today article, Breaking news! Amazon launches Kindle Love Stories podcast, focused on romance books, that offers a link to the podcast and more information on the subject:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/happyeverafter/2013/05/13/kindle-love-stories-podcast-amazon-laura-roppe-tracy-brogan/2154253/

And here’s a direct link to the Amazon Romance webpage which notes all the new and popular romance books you might like to read!

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=lp_283155_nr_n_23?rh=n%3A283155%2Cn%3A%211000%2Cn%3A23&bbn=1000&ie=UTF8&qid=1368475623&rnid=1000

PBS MediaShift Begins Publishing E-Books: If you’re not familiar with it MediaShift is a site established by PBS in 2006, with a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, that studies how citizen journalism, podcasts, social media, weblogs, online video, news aggregators and other digitally created and accessed media items are changing our lives and what we want and expect from online media.

And MediaShift, as an offshoot of PBS, has just launched a new e-book publishing service which will publish e-books and on demand print books based upon the subjects discussed and information found on the MediaShift website.

The first two titles in this new PBS/MediaShift publishing company are 1. “Your Guide to Cutting the Cord to Cable TV (Updated 2013 Edition)” By Mark Glaser, with essays by Dan Reimold and Seth Shapiro and 2. “How to Self-Publish Your Book” by Carla King; both titles obviously delve into tech related subjects. And as anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows – I am all for streaming video and cord cutting! Give me that Netflix subscription, iTunes and Amazon Instant Video and I am all set!

Here’s a link to a PBS/Media Shift page on the new publishing company:

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/e-books

A link to a related article from the paidContent website which offers more information on this new publishing service:

http://paidcontent.org/2013/05/13/pbs-mediashift-starts-publishing-ebooks-first-topics-cord-cutting-and-self-publishing/

And a link to the About page on the MediaShift website just in case you’d like to know more about MediaShift:

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/about

Have a great day!

Linda R.

References

About. MediaShift. Online. Accessed May 13, 2013.

E-Books. MediaShift. Online. Accessed May 13, 2013.

Lamb, Joyce. (2013, May 13). Breaking news! Amazon launches Kindle Love Stories podcast. USA Today. Onlien.

Owen, Laura Hazard. (2013, May 13). Amazon Publishing launches Kindle Love Stories podcast, focused on romance books. paidContent. Online. http://paidcontent.org/2013/05/13/amazon-publishing-launches-kindle-love-stories-podcast-focused-on-romance-books/

Owen, Laura Hazard. (2013, May 13). PBS MediaShift starts publishing ebooks; first topics: cord-cutting and self-publishing. paidContent. Online.

Amazon Offers Free MP3s To CD Buyers, Kindle Touch Software Update & Why Power Outlets Are Different In Different Countries

Linda Reimer

Amazon Offers Free MP3s To CD Buyers:  Amazon has just introduced a new service called “Auto-Rip” which offers music fans that purchase designated CDs from Amazon to receive both a CD and an MP3 version of the same album*. So if you still have a CD player in your car you can now buy a new CD from Amazon on your smart phone or tablet and immediately access the MP3 version of the album and listen to it on your smart phone or tablet while waiting for the CD to arrive in the mail.

There are a number of articles to be found online today regarding this new service. Here’s a link to a  PaidContent article on the subject titled Amazon gives free digital album to anyone who buys the CD:

http://paidcontent.org/2013/01/10/amazon-gives-free-digital-album-to-anyone-who-buys-the-cd/

And here’s a link to the Amazon Music page which allows you to hear all about this new service from the horse’s mouth as the expression goes!

http://goo.gl/o9C1X

Kindle Touch Software Update: Amazon has also just issued a software update for its Kindle Touch series of touch screen e-readers. The update offers Kindle Touch owners a bunch of new features including a new and improved user interface and Whispersync for Voice. Here’s a link to an Engadget article on the subject titled Kindle Touch updated with new UI, Whispersync for Voice and comic book navigation:

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/10/kindle-touch-updated-with-new-ui-whipersync-for-voice-and-comic/

And if you are wondering – “What on Earth is Whispersynch for Voice anyway?” – here’s a link to a page on the Amazon site that offers an in-depth explanation of the term – and the cliff notes version is if you own a Kindle and download the Audible app (Amazon owns the Audible audio book company) than you can switch between reading an e-book version and listening to an audio book version of the same book.

Why Power Outlets Are Different In Different Countries: The Gizmodo tech site is offering readers a cool article with a bit of history to it! The article discusses the reasons why, as the article states “Why Power Outlets Look So Weird in Other Countries” (of course people who live in other countries can say the same thing about the power outlets in the United States); basically you have to go back to the dawn of the age of electricity when you had inventors,  scientists and industrialists like Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse coming up with and promoting competing HZ electric frequency standards – and long story short – the electric standards were not standardized internationally – the U.S. selected one frequency and other western countries other frequencies so in essence today there is no international standard HZ frequency  for electricity; hence electric outlets look different in other countries. Here’s the link to the articles which offers a more in-depth explanation of the subject:

http://gizmodo.com/5972640/why-power-outlets-look-so-weird-in-other-countries

Have a great day!

Linda R.

*The new Amazon Auto Rip service includes qualifying CDs Amazon customers have already purchased so you may be able to access songs you purchased from Amazon years ago and download them to your PC, tablet or smart phone.

References

Buckley, Sean. (2013, January 10). Kindle Touch updated with new UI, Whispersync for Voice and comic book navigation. Engadget. Online.

Roberts, Jeff John. (2013, January 10). Amazon gives free digital album to anyone who buys the CD. PaidContent. Online

Tarantola, Andrew. (2013, January 8). Why Power Outlets Look So Weird in Other Countries. Gizmodo. Online. 

Humorous David Pogue Post On The E-Reader Wars!

Linda Reimer

And I had to share this! David Pogue, the New York Times resident tech guru and reviewer, has a humorous article on the e-reader war going on between Amazon and Barnes & Noble. And he notes how exhausting it must for the e-reader development teams at both companies to try and continually out-do each other – and he compares the new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite e-reader to the Barnes & Noble Glowlight e-reader to do so. It is a fun and informative article titled New E-Reader Lets There Be More Light and it can be accessed via this link:

http://goo.gl/BAMlS

Enjoy!

Linda R.

New Kindle Fires & Kindle Paperwhite

Linda Reimer

Wow, I just got back from a short vacation and not only is it rip-roaring busy in library land today but additionally Amazon has introduced multiple new tablets. The new tablets consist of three new Kindle Fires and a new e-ink Kindle with a built-in lighting system called the Kindle Paperwhite.

The new Kindles are:

1. The Kindle Fire: This is the new entry-level Kindle Fire. It features a 7” screen, is Wi-Fi only, features 1024×600 pixel screen resolution (a higher screen resolution than the 1st generation Kindle Fire), has stereo speakers and 8 GB of storage. Price: $159.

2. The Kindle Fire HD: This version features a 7” screen, is Wi-Fi only, has a front facing video camera for video calls, offers 1280×800 pixel screen resolution, has Dolby Audio dual-driver stereo speakers and either 16 or 32 GB of storage. The 16 GB model costs $299 and the 32 GB model is $369.

3. The Kindle Fire HD 4G: This Kindle features an 8.9” screen, a front facing camera for video calls, 1920×1200 pixel screen resolution, has Dolby Audio dual-driver stereo speakers and either 32 or 64 GB of storage. The 32 GB version costs $499 and the 64 GB version is $599. Additionally of note regarding the 4G cellular connectivity Amazon states that “Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ offers the most affordable 4G tablet data package. Amazon’s 12 month 4G data package includes 250 MB a month of blazing fast 4G data, 20 GB of additional Cloud Drive storage, and $10 Amazon Appstore promotional credit, all for a one-time payment of only $49.99, no monthly payments required. If you need more data, additional 3 GB and 5 GB data plans are also available for purchase. You can sign up for a data plan right from your device.” So you can in essence tack another $49.95 onto the price of whichever of the two Kindle Fire HD 4G model you pick if you decide to purchase the Kindle Fire HD 4G.

4. The Kindle Paperwhite: And the e-ink Kindle Paperwhite is Wi-Fi only, features a built in lighting system (like the Barnes & Noble Glowlight) and a higher screen resolution than previous e-ink Kindle models. In fact, Amazon says of the screen resolution of the Paperwhite that it offers: “62% more pixels for unsurpassed resolution.”  Additionally of note, this Kindle costs $139 for the add free version or $119 for the “Special Offers” version that features screen saver adds. 

And you can find more information on all the new Kindle models at the Amazon website located at WWW.AMAZON.COM

And the Gizmodo tech site has a nice overview of the new models in the aptly named article Amazon’s New Kindle Avalanche Everything You Need to Know:

http://gizmodo.com/5941083/amazons-new-kindle-avalanche-everything-you-need-to-know

And if you’re in the market to buy a new tablet – or even your first tablet you may want to wait a bit despite Amazon’s new offerings as there are other new tablets forthcoming that may be even better than the ones Amazon introduced today. Google has, of course, already introduced its Nexus 7 tablet which has gained good reviews for its features and $199 price tag. Microsoft is coming out with its Surface tablet in October and Apple is likely to introduce a 7 or 8” Apple Mini iPad also in October. And just to add my two cents worth – I’m sure the Amazon’s HD 4G tablet is quite nice, and granted I haven’t seen it yet; however, if you’re spending more than $499 on tablet – I would still suggest you check out an iPad. You can come to the library and sit down with one of ours to test drive it before you buy it!

 Have a great evening everyone!

Linda R.

Kindle App Upgrade, Amazon Prime Versus Netflix, Californian Legislature Approves Self Driving Cars & New Kindle Fire To Be Introduced Next Week

Linda Reimer

Kindle App Upgrade : Amazon has updated its Kindle App for iOS (aka Apple) mobile devices. The new features include advanced highlighting, a new brightness control and the ability to change the backlight background from the usual white backlighting to sepia (a shade of beige) or black (with white letters).

CNET offers an in-depth article on the subject today titled Kindle ios app is now easier on the eyes and can be accessed via the following link:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57503398-93/kindle-ios-app-is-now-easier-on-the-eyes/

Amazon Prime Versus Netflix: Head New York Times tech guru David Pogue offers a comparison of video streaming via Netflix or Amazon. In essence, Pogue notes that both services offer unlimited streaming of video content from their streaming video libraries, Netflix for $7.99 a month and Amazon for $79.99 per year, and that the bulk of their titles which do number in the thousands are several years old. What Pogue doesn’t mention something is this video streamer knows well and that is that with Netflix what they have in their streaming video catalog is what they have – there is nothing else you can access. In contrast, Amazon offers streaming video fans the option to purchase and/or rent new movies and new TV episodes so if there is a new episode of Mad Men or Downton Abbey you can see that episode within 24 hours of its TV broadcast by purchasing it.

The New York Times article is titled Potluck for the Eyeballs: Amazon’s Streaming Service. Here’s the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/technology/personaltech/amazons-streaming-movie-service-offers-its-own-potluck-state-of-the-art.html?_r=1&ref=technology

Californian Legislature Approves Self Driving Cars: You may have heard that Google has developed a self driving car also known as an “autonomous car.” The car drives by an advanced computer system and additional high tech bells and whistles that allow the car to know where it is and sense where other vehicles or obstacles in the road are and is much safer in theory than human driven car because it has the proverbial eyes in the back of its head (and on all sides too!). Google has been testing its self driving cars for quite a while, with actual non-driving-the-car humans in the car, in California and Nevada and the California Legislature has just approved a law that will if approved by the governor allow these cars to operate sans humans on California roads. The Ars Technica article is titled Robot cars on public roads? California says yes and can be accessed via the following link:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/08/robot-cars-on-public-roads-california-says-yes/

And here’s a link to a related Forbes article that discusses how some of the self-driving car options are already being built into cars today. For example, the 2013 Mercedes-Benz GL sport-utility vehicle has an built in scanning device that will stop the car of the car’s computer system sense the driver is about to back into an object. Here’s the link to the article titled Cars That Can Drive Themselves Are Still A Ways Off; Cars That Can Stop Themselves Are Already On Sale:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimhenry/2012/08/30/cars-that-can-drive-themselves-are-still-a-ways-off-cars-that-can-stop-themselves-are-already-on-sale/

And another related article from 360 Yale titled Self-Driving Cars: Coming Soon to a Highway Near You which is cool because it offers a few practical illustrations of how self-driving car technology would benefit one and all:

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/self-driving_cars_coming_soon_to_a_highway_near_you/2554/

New Kindle Fire To Be Introduced Next Week: Amazon has completely sold out of its popular Kindle Fire tablets. This is usual in the tech world – that is to sell through the old model before the new model of a tech item is released. And next week Amazon is holding a press event to introduce new products which will most assuredly include a new and improve (and possible larger) Kindle Fire.

Here’s a link to a Washington Post article on the subject, with a super long title! Titled Fire’s gone out: Amazon says Kindle Fire is sold out, as announcement of new model expected:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/fires-gone-out-amazon-says-kindle-fire-is-sold-out-has-mystery-event-next-week/2012/08/30/f65afc66-f2a7-11e1-b74c-84ed55e0300b_story.html

And on a final tech note — the library will be closed tomorrow for cleaning and staff development. We’ll be open our usual hours on Saturday, closed on Monday, September 3 for the Labor Day holiday and will re-open at 9 AM on Thursday.

And on another hours note — our fall/winter/spring hours start September 9, 2012 and they are:

Monday 10-6 pm
Tuesday 10-8 pm
Wednesday 10-6 pm
Thursday 10-8 pm
Friday 10-6 pm
Saturday 10-4 pm
Sunday 11-4 pm

Linda R.

Microsoft Has A New Logo, Amazon To Unveil New Kindles & Possibly A New Video Streaming Box

Linda Reimer

Microsoft Has A New Logo: Microsoft has unveiled a new logo to replace the old one and it isn’t hard to see why. The old Windows flag logo has been the Start Menu symbol for Windows 7 and Windows Vista computers and could previously have been seen on the Start Menu of Windows XP PCs and since Microsoft is doing away with Start Menu for Windows 8* it does seem that the time is right for Microsoft to adopt a new logo!

Here’s a link to a Reuters article on the subject:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/23/us-microsoft-logo-idUSBRE87M0MO20120823

And a link to a colorful Microsoft Youtube video that shows off the new logo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzkZWvAJUr0

Amazon To Unveil New Kindles & Possible A New Video Streaming Box: Amazon has announced it will hold a press event on September 6 and the tech news mill is a-buzz with speculation that the new Kindles including a 10” Kindle Fire tablet may be unveiled at the event and possibly that Amazon may introduce a media streaming player to compete with the Roku player and Apple’s Apple TV.

And I must say the date of the press event is interesting to note as Apple has scheduled a press event for September 12 when it is expected to unveil the iPhone 5, possibly an iPad Mini and a new Apple TV device; so obviously Amazon wants to get its new products out in front of the public before Apple does! September is likely to be an interesting month for tech fans!

Here’s a link to a CNET article on the subject titled Amazon set to introduce new Kindles at September 6 event:

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33198_7-57499257-286/amazon-set-to-introduce-new-kindles-at-september-6-event/

Linda R.

*Windows 8 is coming to a store near you on October 26, 2012.