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Weekly News Digest

September 21, 2009 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today. CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.

Wall Street Journal to Charge for Mobile Service

Beginning Oct. 24, the WSJ Mobile Reader application, currently available on BlackBerry smartphones and Apple iPhone and iPod touch devices, will require a separate mobile subscription for full access to Wall Street Journal subscription content. The application itself will remain free to download and contain both free and subscription content, emulating the experience found on WSJ.com. As a special promotion, both current WSJ Mobile Reader users and new users who register prior to Oct. 24 will receive a 90-day extension before a mobile subscription is required.

In addition to the new subscription offering, several new features will be added to the WSJ Mobile Reader, including advanced save and share functions, enhanced market data, stock tracking, and personalization capabilities.

Users may subscribe for full access directly from their mobile device. A mobile-only subscription will cost $2 a week, while a mobile subscription combined with either a print Wall Street Journal or WSJ.com subscription will be $1a week. Subscribers of both the print and online editions of The Wall Street Journal will receive free access to all subscription content on the WSJ Mobile Reader.

In conjunction with the launch of the WSJ Mobile Reader subscription offering, the WSJ.com mobile-optimized website (http://m.wsj.com) will also require a WSJ.com subscription for full access to subscription content.

Source: Dow Jones & Co.

Google Book Search Settlement Hearing to Be Postponed

On Sept. 22, the parties involved in the Google Book Search settlement have asked the federal court to postpone the scheduled Oct. 7 hearing to give them time to work with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) so that the parties can "(a) amend the Settlement Agreement and (b) seek approval of an amended settlement agreement" (http://thepublicindex.org/docs/motions/hearing/adjourn_memo.pdf). They also asked the court to schedule a "status conference" for Nov. 6.

The key deadlines in the settlement had already been extended by U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin-from May 5 to Sept. 4 for opting out, and from June 11 to Oct. 7 for the hearing. (See http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/Spotlight/Update-on-the-Google-Book-Settlement-54998.asp.)

The parties filing for postponement include the plaintiffs: The Authors Guild, Inc.; Association of American Publishers, Inc.; et al. In addition, the memorandum in support of the motion to postpone states, "Google has agreed that plaintiffs may represent that it does not oppose this motion."

The memorandum noted:

As of September 8, 2009, approximately 400 objections, briefs of amici curiae, and statements, both in support of and in opposition to the Settlement Agreement, have been filed with the Court. These include hundreds of objections from individuals and corporate entities within and from outside of the United States, from the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of France, and from the Attorneys General of six states (Connecticut, Kansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington).

For a compilation of available documents to view or download in the settlement, see http://news.justia.com/cases/featured/new-york/nysdce/1:2005cv08136/273913/#20090401.

For additional information, see the Google Book Search Bibliography compiled by Charles W. Bailey Jr. at www.digital-scholarship.org/gbsb/gbsb.htm.

Google Signs Agreements With On Demand Books

Google has agreed to provide On Demand Books, LLC (ODB; www.ondemandbooks.com), the maker of the Espresso Book Machine (EBM), with immediate access to more than 2 million public domain titles in the Google digital files. This is in addition to the current 1.6 million titles already available directly to consumers via the Espresso Book Machine.

The Espresso Book Machine is a small, patented, high-speed, automated bookmaking machine. In just a few minutes, it can print, bind, and trim a single-copy, library-quality paperback book complete with a full-color paperback cover. The Espresso Book Machine is powered by EspressNet, a proprietary and copyrighted software system that connects EBM to a network of permissioned content. Using industry-standard encryption methods, EspressNet assures the security of publishers' titles, tracks all jobs, and provides for payments to publishers. Content owners retain full ownership and control of their digital files.

"ODB, in effect an ATM for books, will radically decentralize direct-to-consumer distribution," says Jason Epstein, chairman and co-founder of ODB. "With the Google inventory the EBM will make it possible for readers everywhere to have access to millions of digital titles in multiple languages, including rare and out of print public domain titles."

Source: On Demand Books

New EBSCO Database for the Food Industry

EBSCO Publishing (www.ebscohost.com) has released a new database designed to provide food-related content to food industry experts, related academic programs, and government researchers. Food Science Source includes hundreds of publications, food industry and market reports, and benchmarks and best practices. Food Science Source encompasses sectors such as food science, food service, processing, packaging, and shipping.

Food Science Source offers cover-to-cover content from hundreds of publications, including journals, monographs, magazines, and trade publications all dealing directly with food industry-related issues. Researchers will also have access to more than 1,000 key food industry and market reports as well as tens of thousands of additional highly relevant articles, benchmarks, and best practices selected from thousands of trade and industry publications.

The release of this new resource marks another addition to the collection of scientific and technical databases offered via EBSCOhost. FSTA-Food Science and Technology Abstracts provides more than 750,000 records with retrospective coverage dating from 1969 to the present. Academic Search R&D is a full-text database, geared specifically toward addressing the needs of research and development. Food Science Source serves as a complement to these resources and provides users with extensive coverage on one platform.

Source: EBSCO Publishing

Trademarkia Launches New Free Trademark Search Service

Trademarkia (www.trademarkia.com) previewed its new free service at the recent TechCrunch50. The company says that "Trademarkia is for busy people who want an effortless way to create a business name from the millions of trademarks filed at the United States Trademark Office that have now gone abandoned. ..."

People have really had only two ways to create a new brand in the past: come up with it on their own and hire a consultant. An estimated 6 million businesses in the U.S. need to create brands for their business, products, and services each year. Until Trademarkia, the option of creating a business name from abandoned names did not exist anywhere on the web because there was no way to find such names.

Startup entrepreneur and intellectual property attorney Raj Abhyanker considered these things when creating Trademarkia. "Trademarkia is essentially creating a market in which abandoned business names can be recycled similar to the now $1 billion+ expired domain industry." Trademarkia exposes the millions of historical business names, slogans, and logos since the year 1870 that have now gone abandoned and makes them available for re-registration.

Trademarkia provides detailed visibility into expired and abandoned business names, slogans, and logos. It proactively alerts users about upcoming issues and counterfeit marks, and it offers personalized suggestions for interesting brands. The service is accessible via the web or cell phone. The service is safe and secure; Trademarkia is updated every day with fresh data, and it offers secondary checking services to users.

Source: Trademarkia

SirsiDynix Announces General Availability of Enterprise 3.0

SirsiDynix (www.sirsidynix.com) announced the general availability of SirsiDynix Enterprise 3.0, a hosted discovery solution. Enterprise 3.0 offers users a single search well to discover all resources the library makes available. Those resources might include one or more library catalogs, digital collections, selected websites, and federated resources.

Because Enterprise is a hosted solution, it will scale to accommodate any amount of searchable content. At the same time, the administrative user interface is designed to adapt the product to the needs of both independent small libraries and consortia. Enterprise can have a footprint as small as a search box widget, or it can serve as a full library web presence and content management system.

Enterprise 3.0 offers superior local control in a hosted discovery tool. The Enterprise administrative user interface gives libraries the ability to define profiles for specific local patron groups. Library administrators have the ability to configure all of the following according to local needs:

• Search Scope: Users searching through a locally defined profile may search everything the library offers or a subset of particular interest. Enterprise lets libraries define custom search limits for use within specific profiles. These limits allow patrons to focus searches on records or documents that match an enormous range of possible attributes including content source, location, language, reading level, and format.

• Look and Feel: Libraries can upload their own headers, footers, and navigation panels. They can also upload their own cascading style sheets to control fonts, colors, backgrounds, and layout.

• Authentication: Libraries can decide whether or not authentication is required for a given profile and whether to use LDAP or the ILS user repository.

• Available Content: In consortia, not all members have the same content subscriptions. Profiles allow configuration for individual members.

• Reporting: With built-in Google Analytics, libraries will have unprecedented visibility into the usage trends of their Enterprise 3.0 discovery tool.

• Search Displays: Libraries can select which fields appear in search results and detail displays as well as the arrangement and behavior of those fields.

• Content Management: Libraries that use the content management features will enjoy the ability to select which content is available to specific profiles and can use both a WYSIWYG interface for editing and creating content or a built-in HTML editor.

In addition, Enterprise has essential elements that have become standard for a modern library discovery tool including real-time availability information, integration with industrywide social network (through ChiliFresh.com), seamless placement of holds, enriched content integration, "did you mean" search suggestions, and RSS/ATOM feeds.

Source: SirsiDynix