Internet and American Life

The elves over at Google Labs have emerged once again with yet another interesting information experience--Google Fast Flip, which they announced on Monday on the Official Google Blog. Fast Flip was designed to address one of the nagging problems of using the Web as a news source: when trying to browse quickly through several news sites to get up to date on what’s happening, many users, including those with “fast” Internet connections, find that it takes too long to load all of the content and pop-up laden webpages of the major newspapers and magazines. Thus, users in search of an informative web experience get a frustrating one instead. Read More »

The release of the Kindle 2 has set of a firestorm of speculation about how e-readers are going to transform (destroy?) the publishing industry. Anything with the potential to transform reading has the potential to transform librarianship. If widely adopted, these e-readers have the potential to allow libraries new ways to house and circulate material. But could there be downsides as well?  Jason, Tom and Cindi weigh in with their predictions on how e-readers are going to change librarianship in coming years. Read More »

Despite some valiant efforts by librarians and other tech crusaders, money allocated for contributing to America's broadband infrastructure has been removed from the stimulus bill. Read More »

With the stimulus debate heating up in Washington, librarians are wondering where (if anywhere) we fit in to the economic recovery plan. David Bigwood at Catablogging raised the question yesterday, and our own Jenny Levine pointed out that our Washington office is on the case.

But what about Library Technology specifically?

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I mentioned yesterday that ALA TechSource has started to use Twitter as a way to expand our coverage. It didn't take long for one of the fundamental facts about life on Twitter to emerge: Twitter is a fantastic tool for communication, but that communication is a double-edged sword.

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In his first two days in office, President Obama has definitely given a lot of us the impression that he intends to be President 2.0. Obama's campaign famously used online social networking to tremendous effect, he has since been giving weekly addresses via YouTube and now the new White House Web Page includes a blog.

Now that the President has taken office and new policies are being enacted, what changes will we see in national policy towards libraries generally, and technology specifically?  Read More »

This is not a political blog, but when politics and technology collide, we'll be there. CNET reported yesterday that the Democrats attempted to place net-neutrality legislation deep within the $825 billion bill. Supporters of net neutrality have been extremely vocal about their desire for President-elect Obama and the new Congress to push for Net Neutrality legislation, and it looks like Congress may be starting to comply.

While the excitement surrounding the incoming administration and the urgency of our current economic problems will probably push this issue to the side (at least for now), I have no doubt that the blogosphere will be keeping a close eye on any new developments. Read More »

It's no secret that these are tough times for the publishing industry. We've been discussing the precarious position of the publishing industry for some time now, and the current economic crisis certainly isn't making things any easier. Meanwhile, new, mostly free Web 2.0 technology is flourishing, its popularity growing at an astonishing rate.

Stephen's Lighthouse has some fantastic coverage of this dynamic, particularly the contrast between the sharp decline in newspaper sales and the recent explosion in the popularity of twitter and other social networking tools. Read More »

In the culture of the Internet, the sound byte and 24/7 cable news networks, as soon as something is praised, it gets torn down and trounced. This process has accelerated so quickly that it sometimes seems like the two things are happening simultaneously.

This has definitely been the case with Cuil As soon as Cuil developed a mainstream media buzz, the mainstream media was there to kill the buzz, declaring it “No Threat to Google”. As anyone who watches cable news knows, it can be tough to have a conversation when all you’ve got is two diametrically opposed sides screaming their heads off at one another. Read More »

You don’t have to Ask Jeeves to know that a lot of search engines have come and gone since the web went mainstream. While in the past we may have yahooed, hot botted or altavista’d our way around the web, today there is no question that Google is king. Even if Google isn’t your preferred search engine, it’s hard to deny that it is the most popular engine, an industry standard and an unparalleled innovator. Google has been on top of the world for some time, but the race for something newer, bigger and better never stops.

Enter Cuil. Designed by a group of engineers and programmers who were instrumental in developing Google itself, this new search engine was launched today with the goal of “solv[ing] the two great problems of search: how to index the whole Internet—not just part of it—and how to analyze and sort out its pages so you get relevant results.” Cuil claims to index 120 billion web pages--3 times more than Google. It also boasts an innovative, customizable search results interface that is markedly different from the interface on Google or anything seen on previous search engines. Read More »