Wednesday 9 October 2013
New E-Book Lending Service Aims To Be Netflix For Books
The website Scribd, online for several years now as a document
storehouse, is beginning an e-book subscription service that will offer
unlimited e-books for a flat monthly fee. Lynn Neary reports that Scribd
is working with HarperCollins, which is the first major American
publisher to take part in this kind of subscription service.
Thursday 3 October 2013
The Abomination of Ebooks: They Price People Out of Reading
This is not one of those rants about missing the texture, touch,
colors, whatever of paper contrasted with the sterility of reading on a
tablet. No, the real abomination of ebooks is often overlooked: Some are
so ingrained in the product itself that they are hiding in plain sight,
while others are well concealed beneath layers of commerce and
government.
The real problem with ebooks is that they’re more “e” than book, so
an entirely different set of rules govern what someone — from an
individual to a library — can and can’t do with them compared to
physical books, especially when it comes to pricing.
The collusion
of large ebook distributors in pricing has been a public issue for a
while, but we need to talk more about how they are priced differently to
consumers and to libraries. That’s how ebooks contribute to the ever-growing divide between the literary haves and have-nots.
JSTOR Launches JPASS Access Accounts for Individual Researchers
In an effort to enhance access options for people who aren’t affiliated
with universities, colleges, or high schools, not-for-profit digital
library JSTOR has launched JPASS, a
new program offering individual users access to 1,500 journals from
JSTOR’s archive collection. The move follows the March 2012 launch of
JSTOR’s Register & Read
program, which allowed independent researchers to register for a free
MyJSTOR account, and receive free, online-only access to three full-text
articles every 14 days. That service has since attracted almost one
million users including independent scholars, writers, business people,
adjunct faculty, and others, and JSTOR plans to continue offering the
service in its current form. However, in a recent survey, many of
Register & Read users expressed interest in an individual
subscription model that would offer enhanced access, encouraging JSTOR
to move ahead with JPASS.
Google unveils major upgrade to search algorithm
Google has unveiled an upgrade to the way it interprets users' search requests.The new algorithm, codenamed Hummingbird, is the first major upgrade for three years.It has already been in use for about a month, and affects about 90% of Google searches.At a presentation on Thursday, the search giant was short on
specifics but said Hummingbird is especially useful for longer and more
complex queries.
Google stressed that a new algorithm is important as users
expect more natural and conversational interactions with a search engine
- for example, using their voice to speak requests into mobile phones,
smart watches and other wearable technology
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