the next computer??

Take a look at the new product Microsoft Surface and another demo . As John Blyberg says on his blog "Can you imagine plopping a CD or DVD down on this thing and getting an instant preview, then checking it out by simply placing your library card anywhere on the table?"

Westernport Renovation

The Westernport renovation is still in the design phase. Light fixtures have not been selected or laid out yet. The floor plan is set but the furniture and fabrics and floor covering have not been determined yet. Spectrum Design is working on some ideas to make the story hour area even more special. We expect that work to start in November or December.

Last Stages of the budgeting process for next year

this morning the county commissioner's passed the county operating and capital budget which allocates the funds to operate for the year starting July 1 and also their match for funds to complete the Westernport Renovation project. The Library board will vote on our operating budget on June 13.

LaVale renovation info

The application package for the FY09 state capital grant came today. It is due July 2, 2007, yikes short turn around. The County's commitment for matching funds will be due before the county's application for FY09 CIP funding is due. This will call for some working the levers of power to pull this one off. Anyway is we fill in the space in the "L" we will add about 4000 new square feet of space. and current estimates of $200 per square foot, we need $800,000. State grants require matching funds so they could put up as much as half but that still leaves the county with a $400,000 bill. Looks like much time in June will be spent of this application. It has to be done by June 22, because I am going to the beach.

Pandora radio

pandora radio is a really cool internet radio station. You start by naming a band or artist that you like as a "station" and pandora starts to play music from that band and others that have musical characteristics simlar to the one you picked. Its a great way to discover other music and artists that you wouldn't hear on radio stations around town. You can also sign on to "shared" stations and see what others have picked. Pandora is also moving toward a product that alows you to listen in the home or moible phone without a computer. For me this stopped me from signing on to XM or Sirius. now if they can get it to work in the car... if you like pandora, you should also check out slacker radio as well. Both require free registration.

Technorati universal search

Technorati has also expanded and/or modified their home page so that search results are returned and grouped by format. I always knew technorati as the bestplace to find blogs. Now a single search term like "Moab", returns links to blogs, links to posts within blogs, pictures, videos, music and events. But not web sites. pretty neat.

Searchmash as precursor to Universal Search

Thinking back to lisa's post about www.searchmash.com The same without the google branding?

Google's Universal Search

Like our own webfeat search, Google has expanded their search capabilities. You can now search text, videos, blogs, images with one search term. So a search for martin luther king would yield text, a sound file, images, etc. I say it is similar to our webfeat search because we combined our book and magazine and internet search in to one search box. The next for us would be to integrate our own blog posting and comments from our users into our catalog search. See the NYT article.

Transparency Tyranny

A web site I check for new trends called trendwatching .com has an interesting article this month called Transparency Tyranny. They point to the fact that over a billion consumers are now online and they have opinions and reviews that they freely share on the web. They posit that new reviews will be posted about everything on a hour by hour basis. In short, these reviews can either make or break your brand or company based on the reviews one gets and the fact that the 1 billion other savvy online customers read the reviews before they buy.

An extension is that as more cell phone get/give web access, these reviews can be read and posted whiel the customer is in the store while th egood or bad experience is still fresh. In addition, with the ease it is to post reviews about something, many reviews can come from "staff on the inside" who can say good or bad things as well as serve in the whistle blower capacity.

One positive note to this is that if your issues get exposed, you may get advice from other companies or entities on how to handle the problem.

In short, they say,

" "Old economy fog is clearing: no longer can incompetence, below-par performance, ignored global standards, anti-social & anti-eco behavior, or opaque pricing be obscured. In its place has come a transparent, fully informed marketplace, where producers have no excuse left to underperform. TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY for some, TRANSPARENCY TRIUMPH for others."

HIghlight of MLA Conference

One of the highlights of the MLA conference last week was getting 50 free bookends from our new best friend Eric Titter of Storage Logic. These bookends have been on George's Creek's Wish list for 4 years or so and I am sure they will put them to good use.

Unique searches in Google

Chris Anderson, author of the Long Tail stated that 97% of all searches on Google were unique. He said this in support that the kids today (digital natives) are much much better at searching than us older digital immigants.

PodCast on PodCasting for Learning

From our Friends Elliot Masie and the Learning Consortium.

1. PodCast on PodCasting for Learning: Here is a free PodCast that we did last week for our Learning CONSORTIUM on how to "Podcast for Learning".
This is a 55 minute dialogue with Russ White from Apple and a dozen learning executives from our CONSORTIUM. I share a few different models for PodCast design and we explore the challenges and approaches to creating. Normally, these monthly calls are for the exclusive use of our CONSORTIUM, but we wanted to share this very timely content with TRENDS readers this month. Go to this URL to stream, download or read this
segment:

http://www.masieweb.com/pod4learning