 Wednesday, February 04, 2004
Handmark® and Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions Sign Long Term Publishing Agreement
"Handmark®, the # 1 publisher of software for both Palm OS® and Windows Mobile™ platforms for handheld devices, has signed a long term publishing agreement with Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, the world leader in test prep and a division of global educational services provider Kaplan, Inc. Handmark will publish a variety of test preparation and admissions testing titles sold through online distribution and in retail packages. The comprehensive agreement covers test prep titles such at ACT, SAT/PSAT, GRE, and others for Palm OS based devices as well as for Windows Mobile for Pocket PC and Smartphone platforms.
The first titles, based on Kaplan ACT and SAT test preparation materials, will be available for back-to-school shopping in the summer of 2004...." [Handmark, via Daily Palm]
I wonder if libraries will be able to circulate these titles.
Schoolhouse Rock
"I just love this:
Schoolhouse Rock - "Playlists and discussion topics from a weekly radio show on WSCB 89.9 FM, Springfield College, Springfield, MA, hosted by reference librarians Emily Alling and James Miller." (no feed)
Sadly, the radio station doesn't stream, but check out the playlist from their first week:
Sam Cooke, Having a Party
Belle & Sebastian, Wrapped Up In Books
Rolling Stones, You Can't Always Get What You Want
Smiths, Bigmouth Strikes Again
Led Zeppelin, The Girl I Love, She Got Long Black Wavy Hair
Internet Gem of the Week: Howard Dean, Remixed (http://deangoesnuts.com)
Ben Folds, The Luckiest
Modern Lovers, Girlfriend
Lauryn Hill, Can't Take My Eyes Off You
Plus, discussion of Boolean logic.
Anyone who can blend Belle and Sebastian, Ben Folds and logical operators scores big points in my book." [Open Stacks]
And here is more from the description on the Library's web site:
"Schoolhouse Rock will feature an eclectic mix of music (from jazz to indie to punk to old standards), news about the library (how to make your research easier than ever!), and conversation about information and society (everything from music downloading and record company lawsuits to the USA PATRIOT Act and your privacy).
During the show, you can call in your requests, ask research questions, or weigh in on the issue of the day by calling the WSCB request line at x3722."
What a great idea! It's too bad the station doesn't stream or archive the shows, but I'm sure the problem is the royalties they would owe for playing the songs. Seriously too bad, because it would be cool if they posted MP3s of the shows that the students could download and listen to.
Ray Bradbury Invites You to Go Find Your Bliss in a Book
"Berenson was so fascinated that at lunch one day at I Totti he said, 'Why not a sequel to 'Fahrenheit 451' in which all the great books are remembered by the Wilderness People and are finally reprinted from memory. What then?
'Wouldn't it be,' he continued, 'that all would be misremembered, none would come forth in their original garb? Wouldn't they be longer, shorter, taller, fatter, disfigured, or more beautiful?
'Instead of angels in the alcove, might they be gargoyles off the roof?'
I was so fired by Berenson's suggestion that I wrote an outline, thinking, Oh God, if only I had the genius to know some of the really great books of history and rewrite them, pretending to be my future Book People, trying to recall the details of an incredible literature.
I never did this.
But coming upon my note and remembering Berenson 50 years later I thought, Why not outline Berenson's idea and urge my readers to follow and do the same?
What if you could pick your favorite? Kipling, Dickens, Wilde, Shaw, Poe. These, memorized and reborn 30 years from today, how would they, unwillingly, change?...
Go find your bliss, name your favorites, and see if your long umbilical memory has been cut or you are still wonderfully tied to the things you loved in libraries a long time ago." [Yahoo, Good News!, via MetaFilter]
Come home from a day of being a librarian and sit on the couch surfing the net on my laptop using my broadband connection over my wireless network while watching Desk Set.
Update: the networks must have a secret agreement that it's library night on TV! I'm now watching the Seinfeld library episode. "...libraries are the government-funded pathetic friend."
From my aggregator today, two new sayings I'm adding to my vocabulary (in bold below)!
Mobile Phone Gaming
"Mobile gaming substitutes micro-moments of boredom for entertainment; you don't need to be wired to a console and TV and now you can be part of a wider community. Local communications is a useful addition to the gaming experience, if not directly to the operators' coffers." [The Register, via MMS Memo]
Treolicious [jasonyormark.com]
BTW, "substitutes micro-moments of boredom" is THE perfect phrase for the Treo 600, and not just for playing games. Truly. It should be the device's slogan.
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