I just started rereading Operating System Concepts, 8th Ed. Why? Largely because now I can, or more precisely now I can for a reasonable price. I read Operating System Concepts the first time while generally avoiding more productive uses of my time at U of T's engineering library. How is it that now all of […]
Of all the Toronto Public Library Blogs, the Computer and Library Learning Blog is probably the one that addresses actual books the least. In a mild attempt to redress this I'd like to write a bit about a book I finished recently, Stephen Levy's In The Plex. Levy's previous work defines the genre of […]
In previous posts I’ve mentioned bookmarklets as a means for adding additional functionality to web sites. They are also becoming increasingly common as a way for web services to integrate with other web sites and services. Two of the more notable examples of services that rely heavily on bookmarklets are Instapaper and Evernote. On the iPad they can also be […]
Last week Google went live with an interesting tool called the Google Ngram Viewer. Most will recall that a number of years ago Google began digitising the collections of a number of university libraries, as well as soliciting contributions directly from publishers. At the time,the potential of the project seemed enormous. Unfortunately little has […]
Computer people like to talk about the "killer app". By "killer app" they generally mean the one thing that a device or application does that will make it valuable to a large number of people. Or the one additional thing that when added makes both indispensable. VisiCalc for the Apple 2 is one of the […]
I recently read the book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr. Carr’s proposition is not new; that the constant distractions caused by the barrage of information and visual stimuli to which we are subjected any time we sit down at a computer aren’t good for us. However, he […]
With Media Literacy Week (November 1 – 5) just past, it seems apt that a newly released piece of software is causing quite a stir among computer privacy and security experts. The software, known as Firesheep, comes as an addition to the popular open source browser Firefox and takes advantage of a significant flaw in […]
The first in what will hopefully be a weekly review of ebook news. Blurring the Line Between Apps and Books The NYTimes ran an interesting piece this past Sunday on authors that are choosing to package their books as applications that can be installed on mobile devices, rather than simply as digital text. Packaging books […]
In a previous post I wrote about the benefits of using RSS feeds to keep abreast of new posts, articles or changes on web sites. RSS Feeds themselves aren't particularly useful without something to read them with. At one time RSS readers were big business and there was quite a bit of competition. Gradually as […]
The British Library is running an interesting exhibit from now until July of next year. The exhibit, Growing Knowledge is meant to illustrate the changes computers, the Internet and the Web have brought about in how research is done, what tools are used and what challenges researchers face. Many like myself probably won't make it […]