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Monday, September 10, 2012
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Amazon Fires Up the Tablet and Ebook Markets
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by Paula J. Hane
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Amazon is turning up the heat—again—in the competition for the tablet and ebook reader markets. At a press conference in Santa Monica, Calif. on Sept. 6, 2012, with several hundred media folks in attendance, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos gave 90-minute presentation about its latest Kindle products that are aimed directly at challenging Apple's iPad and, indeed, all other tablets and e-readers. The company introduced some impressive new technologies and features for its Kindle line and has definitely pushed pricing to a new low. More importantly, Bezos made it clear that the company plans to derive its revenue from the sale of content that the devices drive. "We make money when people use our devices, not when they buy our devices." The gauntlet is down.
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Bowker Syndetics Solutions Adds Reviews VOYA and Quill and Quire
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Bowker Syndetics Solutions, the OPAC and discovery layer enrichment tool, is adding more than 25,000 reviews from key literary journals Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) and Quill and Quire. Libraries who subscribe to Syndetics Solutions can add the reviews to the bibliographic data displayed to patrons through their OPAC or discovery layer, the most common entry points to the library collection.
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New Anthropology Databases Now Available via EBSCOhost
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EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) added three new anthropology databases to the EBSCOhost platform. Anthropological Index, Anthropological Literature, and Anthropology Plus, cover the fields of anthropology, archaeology, and related interdisciplinary research. The three databases were formerly available from OCLC First Search.
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OCLC’s WebJunction Receives Operating Grant From The Gates Foundation
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OCLC received a $4.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support 5 years of ongoing operations of WebJunction, the learning place for libraries. Built with grant funding from the Gates Foundation and launched in 2003, OCLC's WebJunction has helped more than 70,000 library staff build the job skills they need to meet the challenges of today's environment.
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Apple-Samsung Case Highlights America’s Troubled Patent System
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by Paula J. Hane
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It's clear that Apple scored a major victory over Samsung in its recent and highly publicized patent dispute. A jury found that a number of Samsung's mobile devices infringed on Apple's patented designs and awarded damages of $1.05 billion to Apple. The jury also found that Apple had not violated any of the five patents Samsung asserted in the case. Apple then requested a ban on the sale of eight models of Samsung smartphones. Both companies are considering their next steps, while the media and blogosphere continue to buzz with reactions.
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