book – Official TechtalkRadio Blog https://blog.techtalkradio.com The Blog for the TechtalkRadio Show Sun, 09 Sep 2012 12:31:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 63714750 new Kindles… https://blog.techtalkradio.com/new-kindles/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-kindles https://blog.techtalkradio.com/new-kindles/#respond Sun, 09 Sep 2012 12:28:57 +0000 http://blog.techtalkradio.com/?p=1766 Read More]]> There’s too much to try to summarize…the press releases can be found at:

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1732545&highlight=

and…

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1732546&highlight=

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Other press releases you might find interesting are promoting:

Audible and Amazon Introduce “Immersion Reading” and “Whispersync for Voice”—Two Momentous Steps Forward for Reading

Introducing “X-Ray for Movies,” Powered by IMDb and Available Exclusively on the All-New Kindle Fire Family

Amazon Publishing Introduces Kindle Serials—Great Stories, One Episode at a Time

Amazon and EPIX Announce New Prime Instant Video Agreement – Prime Instant Video Selection has more than Doubled since the Launch of Kindle Fire Last Year

Amazon Announces Expanded Prime Instant Video Agreement with NBCUniversal Cable & New Media Distribution

Amazon Brings Award Winning ESPN 30 for 30 Film Series to Prime Instant Video

Amazon Launches Textbook Rental

Amazon Instant Video App Now Available for iPad

On Prime Instant Video First: Amazon Announces Digital Video License Agreement with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, Bringing Acclaimed TV Shows

Exclusively to Kindle Fire and Prime Customers

Hundreds of Classic TV and Movie Titles from MGM Coming to Prime Instant Video

Amazon Instant Video Now Available on Xbox 360, with Access to ‘Your Video Library’ and Prime Instant Video

Hundreds of Critically-Acclaimed and Blockbuster Films from Paramount Pictures Coming to Prime Instant Video

They can be found at http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-news&nyo=0

 

]]> https://blog.techtalkradio.com/new-kindles/feed/ 0 1766 Record the voice of cherished person reading a storybook https://blog.techtalkradio.com/record-the-voice-of-cherished-person-reading-a-storybook/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=record-the-voice-of-cherished-person-reading-a-storybook https://blog.techtalkradio.com/record-the-voice-of-cherished-person-reading-a-storybook/#comments Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:27:24 +0000 http://blog.techtalkradio.com/?p=1274 Read More]]>
Still wondering what gift to give for Christmas?  I gotta great idea!

Hallmark has Recordable Storybooks…
“…record each page of a book and have it played back over and over as the recipient turns the pages.  The recording will not be lost, even when the batteries need to be replaced…”

Titles include:
The Night Before Christmas
All the Ways I Love You
Bright & Beautiful
Hey Diddle Diddle!
I Love You Grandma
My Grandpa and Me
My Little Princess
Thank You God For Everything
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
and We’re Not Scared of Anything.

“…Hallmark expects to have about 15 Recordable Storybook titles available.  The original books were designed for an adult to read to a child. Subsequent titles also are perfect for adults and children to record together or for children to record for a grandparent.”

Consumers have found many creative ways to use Recordable Storybooks, including:
Parents stationed overseas in the military have recorded books for their children waiting for them at home.
Grandparents and other family members who live far away have recorded the books for the children they love as a way to be with them even when they can’t be physically present.
Family members took turns recording each page of a book for a loved one in a nursing home.
Adoptive parents have recorded a storybook for the child they were waiting to adopt in another country so the child would recognize their voices.
An entire family recorded a storybook for an adult child who lived overseas and couldn’t be with them for the holidays.

I received a copy of The Night Before Christmas.

When I had completed recording the story, I needed to use a small Phillips screwdriver to remove a cover to access a switch, and move it from the “UNLOCK” position to “LOCK”.  This is the same location that houses the three replaceable AAA size batteries.

When my daughters were young, I found birthday cards that allowed me to record my voice on them.  In their late teen years, they reminded me about them, and stated that they had liked them.

The Hallmark Recordable Storybook reminded me that, when I was a child, I had been given a small portable reel-to-reel recorder, had recorded the voice of my great-grandmother, and for many years had listened to it for comfort.  The recorder and recordings have been lost for many decades…but I can remember what she said, and how she said it.
]]> https://blog.techtalkradio.com/record-the-voice-of-cherished-person-reading-a-storybook/feed/ 2 1274 The Facebook Effect, book review https://blog.techtalkradio.com/the-facebook-effect-book-review/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-facebook-effect-book-review https://blog.techtalkradio.com/the-facebook-effect-book-review/#respond Fri, 01 Oct 2010 09:59:42 +0000 http://blog.techtalkradio.com/?p=598 Read More]]> “The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company that is Connecting the World”
By David Kirkpatrick

book cover

The website “Thefacebook” was created in 2004 (February 4) at Harvard University.  It has become what we know today as “Facebook”…

On page seven, it is explained that:  “…The Facebook Effect happens when the service puts people in touch with each other…about a common experience, interest, problem, or cause…”

The book begins with the story of Mark Zuckerberg’s arrival at Harvard, and an initial computer project he designed that would lead to the beginnings of the type of service Facebook has become.

If you’re interested in the history of social networking, there is a lot of information in (chapter three of) the book about it:  services that were, and are, in this category….some of them no longer exist, some do…how others have matured from what they were, to what they are…

As I’m reading the book, I’m seriously considering NOT watching the upcoming movie “The Social Network”.  I can’t imagine that I will appreciate it because I expect the movie to take some artistic liberties in its presentation of events, as other similar movies have.  I guess I’m more interested in facts than drama…

There’s much explanation about how Facebook was financed.  A lot I don’t understand, but anyone interested in how business investement can be done should enjoy the depictions of how some funding was courted…and others discouraged.

For me, some of the major timeline markers of the evolution of Facebook are:

  • changing from “Thefacebook” to “Facebook” (2005 September 20)…
  • when it began, Thefacebook was designed to service college students…in the fall of 2005, it allowed students in high school to use the service…
  • in May of 2006, Facebook was opened to businesses and companines including the military…
  • September 26th (2006), Facebook launched open registration which allowed the general public to become members…
  • and (as of 2009) Facebook is the world’s largest photo site, besting Flickr.

After reading halfway through the book, it becomes less “sexy” to me.  There’s a lot of great information in it about the organism of Facebook…the people in the company, and how they have functioned together…but after long periods of reading I am reminded of Charlie Brown’s teacher (what I take-away is in a haze of information, scenarios, and stories).  I don’t think it’s the writing…my perception is probably enhanced by the circumstances under which I am reading the book…

[After learning about the movie “The Social Network”, and the “The Facebook Effect”, I wanted to review this book and have my review available (at least a week) before the movie was in theaters.  The week before the movie was released, I needed to spend an entire week attempting to salvage data from old hard drives.  When I was able to return to reading, it seemed that all the stuff that held my attention had been read…and, with only a few days left before the release of the film, I found myself trudging through the book.]

There are a lot of great descriptions of how Facebook came to be, and where it may go.  Take your time digesting this book.  Some of what is in it can come in handy in the future if you are in similar situations and need to consider what actions to take, and how to react to issues of a beginning and growing organization.

On page 340 I found the “Notes” section:  notes that pertain to pages I have read.  As I was reading, I did not see ANY footnote markings, so you need to be aware of this BEFORE you being to read so you can consider referring to this “Notes” section as you go along (to see if any of the notes enhance the section you are reading).  My preference is to have the “Notes” section at the beginning of the book so I know it’s there, and can refer to it as I am reading the book…

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Facebook-Effect/David-Kirkpatrick/9781439102114

http://www.facebook.com/thefacebookeffect

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