Librarian action figure and copyright traps

If you have the Nancy Pearl Librarian Action Figure you need to upgrade to the Deluxe Nancy Pearl Librarian Action Figure! The action figure is available from McPHEE.com for $12.95 and comes complete with tiny book cart, tiny computer and tiny books! I heard the real Nancy Pearl speak at a conference and she is very interesting!

Wired Magazine (11/2005) reports that publishers of reference works are adding bits of bogus information so that they can identify competitors who steal their work. According to Wired, the New Oxford American Dictionary invented the word: esquivalience which later turned up on Dictionary.com. The problem is that courts have ruled that fake facts, like real facts, cannot be copyrighted.

Survey says, videos on iPods and Wikipedia in print!

If you are like most Americans you want to try new technologies: gizmos, gadgets and devices… but you get frustrated learning how to use them. A USA Today/Gallup Poll of 1,004 Americans indicates that 72% said they get excited when they first use a new technology. On the other side of the coin, 64% said they get frustrated some of the time or most of the time when learning how to use the new technology.

It’s nice to know that most Americans are not afraid of trying new technologies. Apparently, a little bit of frustration will not deter us from trying a new gadget! Oh, except for that 5% who feel “panicked” when they try a new gadget.

Apple recently came out with the new iPod with video (please don’t call it the “Video iPod”!). You may have read that the Apple online music store iTunes has made available some downloadable TV programs for $1.99 each. Only a few programs are available so far: Desperate Housewives, Lost, That’s So Raven, The Suite Life and The Night Stalker. You can download episodes after they have aired on TV. They also have some music videos and some Pixar (get the connection?) trailers available.

You may wonder who would really want to download a TV show on a 2.5 inch iPod screen for viewing??? Apple sold 1 million video downloads during the first 20 days they were available. You can bet that many more TV shows will become available soon. Read the article in the LA Times for more information.

Many Americans spend more time on the Internet and watching TV than sleeping according to a
study reported by BBC Monitoring. Researchers found that many Americans spend nine hours a day on the Internet, a cell phone or watching TV. One third of those people use two forms of media at one time.

Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, may soon be available in print for countries in the developing world. Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, announced that he wants to make print copies available. Content from the website may also be burned onto CDs and DVDs for countries who lack high-speed Internet but who could use the content on computers that are offline. For more information please read the article from USA Today.