Chase Burns @ little weeds

Nice blog with photos from parties all over the damn place.

Lastnightsparty.com

Ho appena scoperto una pagina molto interessante di un famoso sito che si occupa prevalentemente di raccogliere tutte le indiscrezioni sul nuovo materiale Nikon in imminente uscita sul mercato. Sono spesso finito lì seguendo i rumors riguardo a probabili obiettivi e corpi macchina Nikon, ma non avevo mai notato questa bella paginetta dove vengono raccolti in una tabella tutti i prodotti Nikon più importanti, dai corpi macchina reflex ai flash, passando per gli obiettivi, e per ciascuno vengono fornite interessanti informazioni: il prezzo medio di mercato e la possibilità che stia per essere aggiornato o sostituito con un nuovo modello.

Questo ultimo parametro, indicato con un “buy” / “wait“, è fondamentale per effettuare un acquisto senza poi ritrovarsi dopo una settimana con un modello già “vecchio”. Non è che sia sempre necessario avere l’ultimo modello ma per lo meno disponendo delle informazioni corrette si può contrattare sul prezzo. Per lo stesso motivo vengono indicati anche i modelli aggiornati di recente, perchè spesso nei negozi che non hanno un grande smercio capita di trovare un fondo di magazzino allo stesso prezzo della versione più recente in attesa che qualche ingenuo lo prenda..

BookRiff has recently received mention in several news articles about the rise of self-publishing websites, a trend Roberto Rocha in the Calgary Herald calls “Self-publishing 2.0.” True, much like sites such as Lulu.com, WeBook.com, and the new Book Oven, BookRiff does provide online tools anyone can use to instantly publish their writing in a book they can sell online or have printed, sidestepping traditional models of publishing. Yes, it is a site for building your own book, where individuals- rather than editors and publishers- decide the content and order of a book. It increases the role readers play in the books they purchase, and allows them to contribute to the material available to other readers. But calling BookRiff a website for self-publishing is like saying cell phones are tools for taking pictures: you can do it, but there’s a lot more you could do with that tool, and a camera might work just as well if you only want to snap a photo. More than a tool for unpublished writers to publish their own works, BookRiff is a way for readers to access more written content and consume it in the way they want. It isn’t a platform that sidesteps traditional publishing, but one that traditional publishers and authors can use to make book and other written content go further by offering it up in new ways.

Take author Michael Turner, for example. He’s planning to use BookRiff to remix his upcoming book, 8×10, which will be published as a trade paperback by Doubleday Canada in September. The book is a series of 64 loosely related fictional events that lack any defined time or place, and are ordered only by Michael’s own logic. His plan is two-fold: he’ll create a Riff of 8×10 by assigning a random order to the chapters, then work with Doubleday to make the book “open to interpretation by recomposition” by allowing readers to assign their own order. You can read more about the experiment from his blog. This is just one way BookRiff will be used by authors and publishers to engage readers in their books.

In a nicely worded description of BookRiff on the BookNet Canada blog, Morgan Cowie calls the site an evolution of D&M Publishers’ core publishing platform: using new tools to continue making books that appeal to readers.

Self-Publishing: Harbinger of Doom or Puffy White Cloud of Hope?

I’ve recently done a spate of media interviews wherein the main topic was the ‘rise’ of self-publishing. It’s an interesting media trend, founded largely by the appearance and development of innovative new web communities that are focusing on bringing together those interested in creating great books – who may or may not already consider themselves book professionals.

There’s no doubt that it’s been an interesting summer for those interested in the evolution of book creation online. The alpha version of The Book Oven was released. The beta version of BookRiff is available to check out. WEbook, Protagonize, TextNovel and scores of other writer-based communities continue to work collaboratively to create, refine and display new talent from (mostly) unpublished authors.

So what does this all mean for traditional publishing?

Hugh McGuire, one of the founders of Book Oven, sees the role of his new site thusly (yep, I just wrote thusly. And I’m keeping it):

The key here is: cloud-publishing (and Book Oven) will provide the tools to allow groups of people to easily coalesce around the production, distribution and sale of a particular book or books. How those groups organize themselves will look different from book to book. But Book Oven’s tools will mean that book makers can focus on the important thing, the content, and not worry about the technical hurdles of making, printing & distributing books.

Hugh’s whole post is worth reading as it makes a compelling argument for the differences between ’self-publishing’ and the new tool and collaboration-based ‘cloud publishing’ that Book Oven, and arguably other sites like it, are developing.

For traditional publishing, this really invokes the spectre of what Neelan Choksi, CEO of Stanza, called a ‘flight to value’. As I’ve argued before, we as a professional industry exist because we can provide good books. Good service for authors who write those good books. Convenient access for readers who want those good books.

Is the blockbuster culture going to go away? I’m not sure. As much as we talk about Web 2.0 and the forces of collaborative culture, we’re also seeing the big head, rather than the long tail, stay big (or get bigger). But maybe that’s not the big question…maybe the question is where do projects like authoring communities, mash-up books and collaborative creation fit into the new publishing model? Where can partnerships be made to spur all to greater heights?

Instead of seeing self-publishing or cloud-publishing as a direct competitor to trade publishing, do as D&M is doing. BookRiff is not a threat to their publishing house but, rather, an evolution using new tools at hand to continue to do what they do best. Creating great books that are designed to make readers happy and keep them reading is what we all aspire to do. Working together seems like the best way to do that.

]]> http://asvbib.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/paneldebatt-mungdommar-i-panelet/ Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:38:15 +0000 asvbib http://asvbib.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/paneldebatt-mungdommar-i-panelet/

Deltakarar

• Kristian – 23 år
• Hanne – 17 år
• Tara – 18 år
• Rebecca – 21 år
• Jesper – 15 år

- Har de ein favorittdings?    Laptop, kamera, mobil, avtaleboka mi i lær, mac’en, iphone, skulle gjerne hatt ein ipod – fordi eg gjerne ikkjeskullekunneleveutan (trur kanskje alle meiner mobil utan å nemne det sidan det er så utenkeleg å vere uten)

- Dersom de treng info, kakeoppskrift – kva gjer de?     Google, matrprat.no, spørre mamma, bokfetisjisten går i boka først og så på Google

- Kva for nettsider brukar de mest for å finne info?   Wikipedia(gjerne sjekke på fleire språk, Facebook, SNL no som det er gratis, Google

- Halde kontakt med venner og familie?    Var imot Facebook men har funne ut at det er veldig greit, brukar litt mail og heldt på å lære opp mormor til det, kjem an på kven du prøver å få tak i, mobil

- Er de bekymra på privatlivet dykkar på nett?   Tenker på det og er forsiktig med kva ein skal legge ut, andre legg ut ganske mykje info utan å vere så veldig bekymra – mest bekymra for Facebook sidan dei eig innhaldet

- Kjøper de musikk i nettbutikk – NEI!   Mange artistar er for fildeling, det er plateselskapa som har eit problem der. Kjøper gjerne CD’en dersom eg likar låtane eg har lasta ned.  Enkelte kjøper CD’ar og legg den inn på eigen pc og ipod. Forskjell på kva eg lastar ned og kva eg kjøper på CD.

- Kva kunne biblioteket hatt som kunne gjort det meir interessant?    Det er jo kjekt at det har bøker og då gjerne meir på engelsk, pc’ar med Internett, syns biblioteket på Papirbredden er bra sidan dei har så mange forskjellige media i eit breitt utval. Gjerne endå fleire behagelege møblar, koselegare, masse sofaer – det nye biblioteket er litt sånn.

- Er det noko vi absolutt må ha – ikkje berre i Drammen?     Utlån av spel.

- Kva med eit skulebibliotek?    Dokument som passar til faga vi har, og ting til både skule og fritid. Nettilgang.  SOFA!!!

- Blir d ikke litt krampaktig når lærerne prøver å bruke ungdommens egne kanaler og verktøy for å sprite opp undervisningen? Jfr bestemor på facebook?    Kan vere positivt, t.d. har eg fått betre kontakt med tanta mi etter at ho kom på Facebook. At skolen tar i bruk nettverktøy når det gjeld meir sjølvstendig arbeid er positivt. Burde ikkje begynne å bruke nye media for å komme i kontakt med ungdommane men for å komme i kontakt med nye media. Skulen bør bruke det som faktisk blir brukt i verda.

- Hvordan ville dere ha likt å være venn med det lokale biblioteket på facebook? Og hva ville dere forventet av biblioteket der?   Å so koseli…, Trengs kanskje ikkje, men vi har jo MappaMi og slikt. Facebook hadde kanskje egna seg til å minne om events og slikt.

- Er Facebook på vei ut? I så fall, hva blir brukt i stedet?    Nei, trur ikkje det, trur det har komt for å bli og er ikkje spesielt ut.

- Vi skal lage nye nettsider for biblioteket. Kan dere si noe om hva deres drømmebibliotek sine nettsider skulle inneholdt?     Nyheter om ting som skal skje, betre design, nye bøker. Friskt design og oversiktlig. Ikkje sånne knotete kommunesider. Ikkje alt for mange menyer. Chatfunksjon – slik som Biblioteksvar har.  MappaMi-funksjon

- Liker ungdommen gode leseopplevelser?    Nei, det kan vi ikkje fordra!  Det er vel individuelt.  Nokon må kanskje lurast litt. “Få oss til å kjede oss så mykje at vi opnar ei bok i rein desperasjon – vel ikkje meg då, eg kan lese bøker mens eg er på pc’en”.  Fagbøker kan også vere ein god ting, folk les gjerne om det dei er interessert i. “Guttar skal liksom ikkje like skjønnlitteratur, men broren min smugles Twilight-serien akkurat no.” Det er ofte lett å sjå om boka er tenkt for gutar eller jenter og suksessane er ofte for begge. J.K.Rowling var lurt – gutar trur dei ikkje liker bøker av kvinnelege forfattarar.

- Kjøper de programvare?   Nei, broren min fiksar alt sånt utan at eg har tenkt på kossen han fiksar det. Brukar open source programvare som t.d. Open office.  Generelt – Nei!

- Kva for program vil de ha på biblioteket?   Kreativt skrivekurs, bokprat og høgtlesing av anna enn barnebøker.

- Vil de vere anonyme eller opne på nett?    Kjem heilt an på tema om du vil vere anonym eller open. Dersom eg kan stå for det så gjer eg det med eige namn. Lett å bli litt paranoid. Brukar fullt namn når eg meiner det er relevant

]]> http://asvbib.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/23-ting-om-2null/ Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:17:06 +0000 asvbib http://asvbib.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/23-ting-om-2null/

23 ting som alle som jobbar i bibliotek (og på ein skule) må vite noko om. Opplegget er til no gjennomført i 10 fylke, ca.500 i Norge har tatt kurset.

PowerPointpresentasjon på Slideshare.net

Kven som helst kan ta kurset, kursbloggen ligg på nettet.

Dei har gjennomført ei undersøking for å finne ut om 23-ting har medført noko endring på biblioteka.

114 respondentar frå alle typar bibliotek – Blogging var mest populært, og det finst etterkvart mange bibliotekbloggar rundt i Norge. Enkelte bibliotek har t.d. heilt gått over til blogg som biblioteknettside.

Flickr var også populært. Library of Congress brukar t.d. Flickr som ein bildeformidlingskanal og norske bibliotek vurderer å gjere det samme.

Info frå komferanse kan også finnast på Netvibes.

Enkelte syns jo sjølvsagt også at 23ting var berre tull

Framhald av 23 ting i biblioteksektoren og for pedagogar og bloggen heldt fram.

]]> http://rchampourlier.wordpress.com/2009/03/18/renewableenergyjobscom/ Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:13:43 +0000 rchampourlier http://rchampourlier.wordpress.com/2009/03/18/renewableenergyjobscom/

Hi!

Through my connection to the Green group in LinkedIn, I have been informed of the opening of a new worldwide recruitment website, which has the particularity to focus on Renewable Energy Jobs.

Shall you be interested in such kinds of jobs, this site may interest you. It still seems to be limited in volume, since it is quite new, but it helps a lot in selecting in what renewable energy you wish to work. Furthermore, it may help you to identify jobs you could try in this domain if you wish to change your work sector.

It’s worth a “coup d’oeil” (French expression for quick look).

]]> http://theunfoldinggene.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/ten-honest-things-about-myself/ Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:35:48 +0000 freakgene http://theunfoldinggene.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/ten-honest-things-about-myself/

TIME: 1:21 am

Being a loyal netizen, I went bloghopping some minutes ago.  Then, I happened to pass by these blogs – Ako.I.Io and Cen’s World – and I found something interesting.

The Ten Honest (but scrap? no scraps!) Things About Myself would be:

–in no particular order–

1. I have a pet named Saint. Yes, named after her.  She happened to like it so she brought it with her two years ago.

2.  I am a moron when it comes to cooking. I cannot even perfect the art of cooking rice.

3. I love my family. Yeah I know, my father’s not in the photo (taken 13 years ago). And that’s simply because we never had any family picture.

4. I make it a point to still keep in touch with my high school friends because I love them.

5. My college friends have made my college life easier and happier.  To those who are not in the photos, yes, I love you still.

6. I am very bold to say that I know how to swim – WITH A LIFE VEST! HAHAHA.

7. I am a drinker, but not a drunkenmaster. No hard please.

8. Yes, I smoke. (I don’t need to explain here right?) And I hope my parents won’t have the gall to read this, or else, I’m dead meat. But in any case that they’ll be able to read this, do I have a choice?

9. More than anything else in this cyberworld, this blog post has caused me so much tears. All because of this jerk. HAHA! Paspas kaayo ko nakakawat ug picture diba? Lol!

10. I am an achiever, but I still have a healthy social life.

I have a whole lot more to say, but since this HONEST SCRAP TAG is limited to ten, ok then, I’m following instructions. HAHA. This TAG was not even passed to me. I just felt like blogging about it. Care?

Now, I’m passing this TAG to seven interesting people I know (who blog) Hmm? Count: Beans, Gold, Gwyn, Peaches, Titit, Van, Corinne.

Rules for Posting the Honest Scrap Tag

1. Write a post about this tag and include the name (URL link) of the person(s) who passed this tag.
2. Write also 10 HONEST things about yourself.
3. Pass this tag to 7 friends/bloggers and leave comments on their blogs informing about this tag.

]]> http://asvbib.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/worldwideweb-fyller-20-ar/ Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:19:40 +0000 asvbib http://asvbib.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/worldwideweb-fyller-20-ar/

Fredag 13. mars fyller dei tre W’ane 20 år!

Gratulerer med dagen!

Det er mange som skriv om jubileet, her er nokre av dei:
Computerworld har laga ein kjekk liten bildehistorie.
Eirik Newth har blitt intervjua i Morgenbladet, og har lagt heile intervjusvaret sitt ut på sin eigen blogg.
Dagbladet har også ein lang artikkel om jubileet.

og Wikipedia skriv dette om WWW.

]]> http://zimmerpflanze.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/im-on-twitter/ Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:53:58 +0000 Pflanze http://zimmerpflanze.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/im-on-twitter/

Wollte mal wieder die Welt des Web2.0 weiter entdecken…

Heute also Twitter, falls ihr nicht wisst, was twitter ist. Hier ein kurzes erklärendes Video:

Also wer hat Lust mit mir zu twittern?

]]> http://theunfoldinggene.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/happy-horse-red-horse-beer/ Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:17:06 +0000 freakgene http://theunfoldinggene.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/happy-horse-red-horse-beer/

“Experience that distinctive full-flavored taste and extra-satisying strength of a world-class premium strong beer.”

 If you really are a red horse lover, you should have memorized the line at the back of the red horse bottle. Lol.

Oops! Don’t speak, I know what you’re thinking! Yes, that’s one of my beer drinking days. Wait, I looked addicted I know but I was not drunk, I was just tired. Haha.

Just a while ago, my friend asked me online about this happy horse red horse. Hmm? Sounds wut? Yes, she must have known I’m a red horse lover! Lol.

J: Rai, alam mo yung happy horse?

Ako: Happy horse? Ano yun?

J: Basta yung happy horse na red horse. Search mo sa yahoo.

Ako: Di ko alam yan ha. Haha.

J: Basta special daw eh. Mahahanap mo lang sa isang case ng red horse.

Ako: Sa isang case lang talaga?

J: May isa kada case daw.  Mas malakas daw ang tama.

Ako:  Wow. Search ko yan. Galing! Ang saya!

See, how come I do not know about it when I have been drinking red horse beer since God-knows-when and God-knows-how-often!  Whoa!

Red horse beer has ever since quenched the thirst of my driest days.

It has been one of the foundations of my friendships with different people.

It has witnessed the pinches and the punches of every breath I take and every move I make. (Haha!)

It has led me to a concert in the bathroom.

It has led me to know what a Red Horse can do and what it cannot.

It has always been RED HORSE. Tooooott! Hahaha.

Ngunit bakit? Ngayon na kung ano-ano na lang ang hinahalo ng barkada sa red horse para naman maiba. 

Ngayon na wala nang pinipiling oras ang barkada para mag Red Horse.

Ngayon ko pa lang nalaman na meron pa lang masayang red horse! 

Barkadahang tunay! Mag one case na tayo! Gusto ko sana akin ang unang happy horse! Pero dahil happy person na ako, iaalay ko na lang ang happy horse sa kung sino man ang hindi masaya sa ngayon. Yahoo!

Now, do you wanna know what makes a happy red horse a happy red horse? Check this out. HAPPY HORSE.  *Wink*

]]> http://danielst.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/most-inspiring-bits-and-bytes/ Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:11:53 +0000 dstaemmler http://danielst.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/most-inspiring-bits-and-bytes/

There are a few great speeches and other moving pictures available on various video website. I gathered some of them here that came to mind and that I personally like the most. The order in this post is random since I think all of them are pretty great.

Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

Paul Potts sings Opera ( Britain’s got talent )

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

The Free Hugs Campaign

Benjamin Zander on music and passion

[poll id="3"]

Feel free to post your most inspiring video!

UPDATE: Over night, while I was laying awake in my bed, I thought about a presentation my cousin sent me a little while ago. This one will fit perfectly into this post as an addition to inspiring website, not video and moving pictures necessarily. ChangeThis.com is a website whose goal it is “…to challenge the way ideas are created and spread.” The presentation I received and found very much worth reading is about “A Positive Attitude” from Dan Auito. Who honestly couldn’t use a little reminder every now and then

]]> http://blog.bookriff.com/2009/10/19/bookcamp-vancouver-remixed/ Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:18:55 +0000 Julie Morris http://blog.bookriff.com/2009/10/19/bookcamp-vancouver-remixed/

Last Friday I attended BookCamp Vancouver, an “unconference” to explore new ideas emerging in the publishing industry as reading is becoming ever more digital. The day was packed with presentations from a variety of publishing perspectives, including the session I led, along with Rob Ellis and Brock Whitten of Nitobi Software, on BookRiff as a new model for publishers, authors and readers. The dialogue during the BookRiff session began with an array of questions, mostly about copyright, mostly originating from the same fears of piracy that emerge whenever anyone poses an idea to place copyrighted works online, in any form. One important thing to remember is that BookRiff is a tool for copyright holders to profit from their works. So, while we’re not going to run around shutting down user accounts without clear evidence of piracy, we will take every reasonable means to make sure copyright is protected. That’s a no-brainer for us. And, though the discussion began with a hint of skepticism, the clear response by the end of our 45 minutes was that BookRiff takes advantage of the digital landscape to provide a complement to traditional publishing and authoring. (So encouraging to hear this message.)

There were more than a few voices contributing to the dialogue throughout the day, as authors and readers drilled publishers on everything from DRM to e-book pricing; newspaper editors defended the continual need for print circulation in an industry full of free online news; new publishing models were presented; and marketing folks hashed out best practices for web marketing and social networking tools to help sell more books. Each session concluded with a group-think on key takeaway points. Looking back at the day as a whole, here are mine:

• Publishing is in a process of evolution. As new tools are emerging for readers, traditional ideas of books and reading are changing, influenced by a variety of players both inside and outside of the traditional publishing industry. Book publishers must find ways to adapt their current business models to accommodate for shifting audience demands, while still holding on to their distinguishing value: curated books.
• Bookselling and marketing is undergoing a similar shift, as communities of readers are shifting from geographic to interest-based, and social networking tools are allowing global interest-based communities to develop. The key is to interact with these communities on a personal level. As Emiko Morita said, “every copy of Margaret Atwood’s new book is sold individually, whether by a book marketer, bookseller, or twitter user.”
• Amidst all of the change, there are a lot of myths that need debunking. Most importantly, there is the myth that publishers are behind the times, unwilling  and afraid to change, clutching on to traditional models, charging exorbitant prices for books and grappling for all the royalties we can pocket. This couldn’t be less true: innovation is happening in every corner of publishing. BookRiff is just one example; there’s Vooks, podcasts, Enhanced Editions and all sorts of other enhanced e-books, not to mention more free online sampling than one could hope for. Publishers, please give yourselves a pat on the back…and let’s keep moving.

I didn’t make it to all of the sessions, so I’d encourage others who attended to comment with their own key points to add to this list. You may also want to check out the ongoing BookCamp Twitter buzz (courtesy of Raul Pacheco @hummingbird604 ), and a nice post-BookCamp blog post by Darren Barefoot.
I’d like to thank the organizing team of BookCamp Vancouver, including Sean Cranbury, Books on the Radio; Monique Trottier, Boxcar Marketing; Crissy Campbell, Boxcar Marketing; Morgan Cowie, BookNet Canada; Nick Bouton, Taunt Media, Protagonize.com; John Maxwell, SFU Masters of Publishing Program; and Suzanne Norman, SFU Summer Publishing Workshops for putting together this event, as well as all of the other moderators for the ideas presented.

]]> http://ebvt.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/just-go-with-it/ Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:43:34 +0000 ebvt http://ebvt.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/just-go-with-it/

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