Fri - September 26, 2008
So where is Overdrive's Mac-compatible Console?
I wish Overdrive would get a move on and release the
Mac-compatible version of their Console application.
As it stands, if you want to get any Overdrive MP3's
onto your iPod, it needs to be formatted for PC, and you have to use a PC to
transfer them over. Another complaint, none of the MP3 titles are multiple-user.
Until these problems are rectified, our download circs are going to remain like
they have been, anemic. We are taking another look at MP3 CD's for our patrons.
They're a hell of a lot cheaper than what Overdrive charges, and they give us
better circ numbers. They can be returned in the same day, unlike the
downloadable versions, with their draconian restrictions. Meanwhile, our
consortium still is buying WMA versions of titles. Dumb, dumb, dumb. When the
budget crunch comes, all this stuff is going to get cut, and we'll be stuck with
nothing but a digital albatross.
Posted at 09:50 AM Read More
Mon - July 7, 2008
Ruby on Rails, Python, Lua
I've been teaching myself Ruby and Python, and a
little Lua, mostly for fun, then I've been trying to apply it to what we do at
the library.
RUBY
So far, I'm using Ruby on Rails to maintain our online statistics database, process our daily pull lists, and speed up and automate our selection/acquisitions system.
For our stats database, I quit using Excel, and switched to the RoR + mySQL method. I probably cut an hour off of my monthly stats collection by creating it. I hooked up Gruff, a Ruby gem which generates quick graphs, to use with it. It's simple and efficient. Visual display of quantitative information is the way to go. I use it to compare fiscal years as well as month to month. I like creating algorithms in Ruby and Python so much better than in anything Microsoft offers, i.e., Excel, VB. With macros, I never felt like I was in complete control.
The daily pull list database takes a downloaded text file we export from our ILS, and sorts and reformats it into separate PDF's for the various departments who hunt the items down. I actually have an off-shoot of this that I use with my iPhone. As I find the items, I tap on them, and remove them from my list, via Ajax. Unfortunately, there's no quick mechanism to update the item records in the ILS, so that has to be done item by item.
The consortium doesn't have an acquisitions module with its ILS, so each library fends for itself. Our historical record keeping still depends on FileMaker, but I've been able to move the data entry method over to Rails. It's pretty cool. I added a GreaseMonkey script to trigger the data grab from Amazon. I used to do the same thing with FileMaker and AppleScript, but once Amazon updated their AWS, I had to migrate it. It's actually better with Rails. The challenge now is to duplicate the acquisitions side of the FileMaker database, i.e., ordering, reception, accounting. Batch ordering via Amazon is pretty seamless. Exporting CSV files for Ingram and Baker & Taylor works alright, if you've got ISBN's. For AV materials, it's not so good. B&T doesn't have a method to batch import UPC codes yet, even though they allow one to search individually on UPC's.
PYTHON
I started learning Python after I watched the Google App Engine demo that's available online. The App Engine is kind of like what Heroku is doing with Ruby on Rails. With Google, it's Python plus Django. That setup didn't look as straight forward as RoR, but I did take a shine to Python itself. I looked around for something to do with it, and I decided to redo the consortium's Receipt Printer application, that was originally written in Visual Basic. The core function of the receipt printer script is the file system watcher. I surfed around looking for a python version of the watcher, and while I didn't find anything useful, I did come across IronPython. What's more, inside the IronPython tutorial is a quick file system watcher example. So I modified that, and retooled the rest of the printer script using pure Python as much as possible. The Python code looks so much cleaner and easier to understand. I like it a lot. I wish I didn't have to use the .Net stuff at all, but better than nothing. Plus IronPython is in Microsoft's stable, so it's got active support.
LUA
I wrote a quick Lua program to reformat an extremely long emailed report from the consortium we get once a month or so. Lua is extremely fast, almost C speed, so if you have need to zoom through megabytes of text, parsing, etc., check it out. It's a popular programming language for game add-ons, especially WoW.
So far, I'm using Ruby on Rails to maintain our online statistics database, process our daily pull lists, and speed up and automate our selection/acquisitions system.
For our stats database, I quit using Excel, and switched to the RoR + mySQL method. I probably cut an hour off of my monthly stats collection by creating it. I hooked up Gruff, a Ruby gem which generates quick graphs, to use with it. It's simple and efficient. Visual display of quantitative information is the way to go. I use it to compare fiscal years as well as month to month. I like creating algorithms in Ruby and Python so much better than in anything Microsoft offers, i.e., Excel, VB. With macros, I never felt like I was in complete control.
The daily pull list database takes a downloaded text file we export from our ILS, and sorts and reformats it into separate PDF's for the various departments who hunt the items down. I actually have an off-shoot of this that I use with my iPhone. As I find the items, I tap on them, and remove them from my list, via Ajax. Unfortunately, there's no quick mechanism to update the item records in the ILS, so that has to be done item by item.
The consortium doesn't have an acquisitions module with its ILS, so each library fends for itself. Our historical record keeping still depends on FileMaker, but I've been able to move the data entry method over to Rails. It's pretty cool. I added a GreaseMonkey script to trigger the data grab from Amazon. I used to do the same thing with FileMaker and AppleScript, but once Amazon updated their AWS, I had to migrate it. It's actually better with Rails. The challenge now is to duplicate the acquisitions side of the FileMaker database, i.e., ordering, reception, accounting. Batch ordering via Amazon is pretty seamless. Exporting CSV files for Ingram and Baker & Taylor works alright, if you've got ISBN's. For AV materials, it's not so good. B&T doesn't have a method to batch import UPC codes yet, even though they allow one to search individually on UPC's.
PYTHON
I started learning Python after I watched the Google App Engine demo that's available online. The App Engine is kind of like what Heroku is doing with Ruby on Rails. With Google, it's Python plus Django. That setup didn't look as straight forward as RoR, but I did take a shine to Python itself. I looked around for something to do with it, and I decided to redo the consortium's Receipt Printer application, that was originally written in Visual Basic. The core function of the receipt printer script is the file system watcher. I surfed around looking for a python version of the watcher, and while I didn't find anything useful, I did come across IronPython. What's more, inside the IronPython tutorial is a quick file system watcher example. So I modified that, and retooled the rest of the printer script using pure Python as much as possible. The Python code looks so much cleaner and easier to understand. I like it a lot. I wish I didn't have to use the .Net stuff at all, but better than nothing. Plus IronPython is in Microsoft's stable, so it's got active support.
LUA
I wrote a quick Lua program to reformat an extremely long emailed report from the consortium we get once a month or so. Lua is extremely fast, almost C speed, so if you have need to zoom through megabytes of text, parsing, etc., check it out. It's a popular programming language for game add-ons, especially WoW.
Posted at 04:59 PM Read More
Wed - March 19, 2008
Receipt Printer App Email Capable
I've had a commented-out sub-routine in my library's
receipt printer code that can email the receipt rather than print it for some
time now. It required me to use Horizon's table editor to modify our receipt
slip to include the patron email address. But now, with our push to go green and
cut costs, I've done further testing on it, and it looks good to
go.
The logic is pretty basic. If an email address
exists for the patron, the program generates an email with the formatted data
and sends it off piggy-backing on the consortium's mail server. No receipt gets
printed. It looks like the 3M self-checkout stations we have do essentially the
same thing, so I think it's kosher. The staff member at the circ desk gets
feedback two ways: I added a "beep" line, and I write to the console window that
the email was sent and where. What's really nice is that the emailed receipts
are perfectly formatted for my iPhone. I didn't have to tweak
anything.
If the mail gets sent, but the address is bad, we get the bounceback through our normal channels, which is great. I'm now just putting a little "try" loopback that will print out a receipt for email users only in the case that the mail server is unavailable. I think that patrons who sign up for email notification services will really like it. I'm just waiting for final approval from the consortium's mail server administrators.
Knowing this is possible, it was very disheartening to discover that there isn't yet any way to get isbns out. Horizon's kind of clunky when it comes to customizations like that. For now, I think the only bib record info that can come out to the checkout receipt is the title. It's too bad, because once the isbns can come out, a lot of nice apps could use that data, e.g., LibraryThing, Delicious Library, etc.
If the mail gets sent, but the address is bad, we get the bounceback through our normal channels, which is great. I'm now just putting a little "try" loopback that will print out a receipt for email users only in the case that the mail server is unavailable. I think that patrons who sign up for email notification services will really like it. I'm just waiting for final approval from the consortium's mail server administrators.
Knowing this is possible, it was very disheartening to discover that there isn't yet any way to get isbns out. Horizon's kind of clunky when it comes to customizations like that. For now, I think the only bib record info that can come out to the checkout receipt is the title. It's too bad, because once the isbns can come out, a lot of nice apps could use that data, e.g., LibraryThing, Delicious Library, etc.
Posted at 09:27 AM Read More
Mostly good news from Overdrive
Overdrive sent out a PLA preview to its customers
that says they will soon begin offering MP3 downloads as well as their usual DRM
WMA fare. Also that they are going to provide a Mac version of their Console
application to download those MP3s. The downside is that their titles from
Random House will continue to be WMA, PC only, no-iPod garbage, which isn't
their fault, but Random House's.
I think it's great that Overdrive is working to
expand their range. Our consortium will probably lean heavily toward buying the
MP3 titles, and shunning the WMA stuff, hearing the news. We're serving a niche
market with the WMA's as it is. Once we can offer downloadable audio for folks
with iPods, the floodgates are going to open for Overdrive. Good for them, and
good for public libraries. Until Random House Audio opens up their model, I
recommend that public libraries avoid buying their downloadable audio. Stick to
buying their CDs and tapes.
Posted at 08:29 AM Read More
Fri - March 7, 2008
iPhone SDK released
Apple released their developer kit for iPhone
yesterday. I watched the presentation
off their website this morning. Yowza. That whole market is just gonna explode.
I will be very surprised if Apple's iPhone doesn't end up dominating mobile.
Even now, they're impressive.
It's interesting that Apple has made iPhone
development only possible via a Mac running Leopard. Hell, I can't even use it!
Gotta get Leopard. It was kind of like Vista with me. BFD. I was also happy to
hear them to tout the Model-Controller-View philosophy. I'm all over that,
having been messing with Ruby on Rails for the last few months.
For big companies, the news that Exchange Server will be accessible via iPhones must be good news. The demos that various companies showed were worth watching: EA Games, Epocrates, SalesForce.com, AOL. The premise of that game Spore from EA was funny. You start out as a paramecium, a slime mold, or something like that and work your way up. Kinda like you and me. Karma Heights. Available upgrades: spinal column, gills, opposable thumbs, massive Chess Club brain, etc. I don't know. I'm making most of that stuff up. I did see a spine in there though.
Anyhoo, the bottom line is that iPhones are probably going to do what everyone hoped PDA's and Blackberries would do. As I've said before, Apple gets it. Sure, they're like Microsoft, control freaks, yadda yadda, but unlike Microsoft, they get it. And that's why they're successful. What is it they get, you ask? Aesthetics, simplicity, logic, coolness. Something Microsoft can't buy. Even Microsoft's wanna-purchases are uncool. Yahoo? Come on.
So, what can libraries do with iPhones? Practically any report you run can be made paperless and mobile. Straight to PDF is the simplest, but for interaction, I've been toying with Ruby on Rails. Using Rails, you can omit items from your list once you've found them, tag problems, upload changes back to the ILS. Talking to the ILS is the biggest problem.
I've been working on a method to run our pull lists, so that a staff member using an iPhone can do it all, eliminating the need for a paper copy. We still need to generate the list within Horizon, then export that text file. From there, it's uploaded to a Rails app that slices and dices the report for us. If I could get the last activity date info out from the ILS, then we could give up printing it entirely. I'm envisioning that this pull list formatter/archiver could reside at the central site, and all agencies within our consortium would use it.
I have an iPhone library success story of my own: I was working the reference desk, and a patron needed to make some color copies, which we don't offer. So, I told him about Staples, FedEx/Kinko's, etc. I was about to look up the location of a Kinko's on the web for him, when it dawned on me that I had my iPhone. I went to Google Maps, searched on Kinkos, and it displayed all the locations in my area. I tapped on the pin closest to my location, and up popped the phone number, URL, etc. of that location. I tapped the phone number, and when their answering machine told me they were closed, I was able to tell the patron to save himself a trip. Not as cool as searching for all the Thai restaurants in my area, but still. I was impressed. The patron was too.
If you're a reference librarian or a systems librarian, I would recommend getting an iPhone.
For big companies, the news that Exchange Server will be accessible via iPhones must be good news. The demos that various companies showed were worth watching: EA Games, Epocrates, SalesForce.com, AOL. The premise of that game Spore from EA was funny. You start out as a paramecium, a slime mold, or something like that and work your way up. Kinda like you and me. Karma Heights. Available upgrades: spinal column, gills, opposable thumbs, massive Chess Club brain, etc. I don't know. I'm making most of that stuff up. I did see a spine in there though.
Anyhoo, the bottom line is that iPhones are probably going to do what everyone hoped PDA's and Blackberries would do. As I've said before, Apple gets it. Sure, they're like Microsoft, control freaks, yadda yadda, but unlike Microsoft, they get it. And that's why they're successful. What is it they get, you ask? Aesthetics, simplicity, logic, coolness. Something Microsoft can't buy. Even Microsoft's wanna-purchases are uncool. Yahoo? Come on.
So, what can libraries do with iPhones? Practically any report you run can be made paperless and mobile. Straight to PDF is the simplest, but for interaction, I've been toying with Ruby on Rails. Using Rails, you can omit items from your list once you've found them, tag problems, upload changes back to the ILS. Talking to the ILS is the biggest problem.
I've been working on a method to run our pull lists, so that a staff member using an iPhone can do it all, eliminating the need for a paper copy. We still need to generate the list within Horizon, then export that text file. From there, it's uploaded to a Rails app that slices and dices the report for us. If I could get the last activity date info out from the ILS, then we could give up printing it entirely. I'm envisioning that this pull list formatter/archiver could reside at the central site, and all agencies within our consortium would use it.
I have an iPhone library success story of my own: I was working the reference desk, and a patron needed to make some color copies, which we don't offer. So, I told him about Staples, FedEx/Kinko's, etc. I was about to look up the location of a Kinko's on the web for him, when it dawned on me that I had my iPhone. I went to Google Maps, searched on Kinkos, and it displayed all the locations in my area. I tapped on the pin closest to my location, and up popped the phone number, URL, etc. of that location. I tapped the phone number, and when their answering machine told me they were closed, I was able to tell the patron to save himself a trip. Not as cool as searching for all the Thai restaurants in my area, but still. I was impressed. The patron was too.
If you're a reference librarian or a systems librarian, I would recommend getting an iPhone.
Posted at 01:14 PM Read More
Wed - February 27, 2008
Random House Giving Up DRM
Now that Random House is going to sell their digital
audiobooks DRM-free to all vendors, I can only hope that Overdrive and Audible
open up their systems. Once Audible becomes a full-fledged part of Amazon, I
think they'll change their ways, but Overdrive? They're probably too beholden to
the Microsoft DRM mess to retool. If they don't retool, I hope they wither and
die, frankly. The only thing Overdrive offers libraries is a legal way to check
out digital audio. We don't own the files, can't take them anywhere else...who
needs that?
What libraries need is a stand alone mechanism that
can store files and serve them up via some kind of SIP authentication,
integrated somehow with the ILS. Any vendors doing that? I could probably tool
something together using Ruby on Rails, but the ol' ILS in and out, my droogies,
there's the rub.
Plan B:
Instead of Playaways, which we have been buying, we could just get a couple of eMusic accounts, each account allowing two monthly audiobook downloads for $19.99 a month, and buy some cheap mp3 players that have displays, and circ those. If the iPod shuffle only had a display. The price is right: $49. Those would take care of the folks who don't have computers or their own players, then we could allow the technophiles come in and download onto their own devices. We could even burn the files to MP3 CD for circulation. Still not the optimal solution, but better and cheaper than what we give them now: Playaways, Books on CD, and Overdrive. Blech.
Link to the Random House Story on Boing Boing
Plan B:
Instead of Playaways, which we have been buying, we could just get a couple of eMusic accounts, each account allowing two monthly audiobook downloads for $19.99 a month, and buy some cheap mp3 players that have displays, and circ those. If the iPod shuffle only had a display. The price is right: $49. Those would take care of the folks who don't have computers or their own players, then we could allow the technophiles come in and download onto their own devices. We could even burn the files to MP3 CD for circulation. Still not the optimal solution, but better and cheaper than what we give them now: Playaways, Books on CD, and Overdrive. Blech.
Link to the Random House Story on Boing Boing
Posted at 08:41 AM Read More
Fri - November 9, 2007
Guitar Hero Episode on South Park
This week's episode poked fun at the Guitar Hero
phenomenon.
I really enjoyed when Stan's dad whips out his
guitar and starts playing Kansas' "Wayward Son", telling the boys, "see, I can
play it on a real guitar!", and the boys aren't impressed at all. That's my
house. Only my youngest son contemplates (can you contemplate something when
you're only six?) stepping up to a real guitar. He's already halfway there. He's
got attitude: "When I have my own band, I'm gonna
rock!"
We just got Guitar Hero III : Legends of Rock, which actually is Guitar Hero IV, if you include Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. It came with a wireless controller/guitar that looks like a Stratocaster, which is sort of interesting, since Gibson must have paid for exclusive rights to be the only guitar maker in the game.
Some of the songs are ancient, which is funny. "Sunshine of Your Love", "Paint It Black", "Black Magic Woman"? Those songs were old when I was a kid. Plus it has what must be the requisite Sabbath and ZZ Top songs. Like all the games in the series, the final set of songs sucks. "Devil Went Down To Georgia"? WTF?
We just got Guitar Hero III : Legends of Rock, which actually is Guitar Hero IV, if you include Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. It came with a wireless controller/guitar that looks like a Stratocaster, which is sort of interesting, since Gibson must have paid for exclusive rights to be the only guitar maker in the game.
Some of the songs are ancient, which is funny. "Sunshine of Your Love", "Paint It Black", "Black Magic Woman"? Those songs were old when I was a kid. Plus it has what must be the requisite Sabbath and ZZ Top songs. Like all the games in the series, the final set of songs sucks. "Devil Went Down To Georgia"? WTF?
Posted at 12:48 PM Read More
Tue - October 2, 2007
I Love Lucy, The Daughter of the Devil
What's good on TV? My vote is for
Lucy, the Daughter of the
Devil.
This show is on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. It's a
fifteen minute mini-show, so minus the commercials, it's probably ten minutes
max. The basic premise is that Lucy is a typical teenage girl, dating someone
her father doesn't approve of, etc. Plus she's the Anti-Christ. Hilarity ensues.
It's on Sunday nights.
A couple of mentions:
Loren Bouchard, the creator, who worked on Dr. Katz, was also responsible, along with Brendon Small, for Home Movies. Here's an interview with him. He and the interviewer talk about Animal Collective in there coincidentally. Plus he mentions the "Jealous Guy" cover by Donnie Hathaway, who sounds like Stevie Wonder, which you can find on Soul Sides : Volume One. Place a hold today! Ein kleine Welt, mein Freund.
H. Jon Benjamin provides the voice of the devil, among other characters on the show. He is a very talented voice actor/comedian, who hails from Worcester, Massachusetts. He has done the voice of Dr. Katz' son, as well as Jason and Coach McGuirk on Home Movies. He gets around. I just heard his voice in a Family Guy episode too.
Highly recommended. The pilot can be found on YouTube: Lucy Daughter of the Devil, while additional episodes can be purchased on iTunes.
A couple of mentions:
Loren Bouchard, the creator, who worked on Dr. Katz, was also responsible, along with Brendon Small, for Home Movies. Here's an interview with him. He and the interviewer talk about Animal Collective in there coincidentally. Plus he mentions the "Jealous Guy" cover by Donnie Hathaway, who sounds like Stevie Wonder, which you can find on Soul Sides : Volume One. Place a hold today! Ein kleine Welt, mein Freund.
H. Jon Benjamin provides the voice of the devil, among other characters on the show. He is a very talented voice actor/comedian, who hails from Worcester, Massachusetts. He has done the voice of Dr. Katz' son, as well as Jason and Coach McGuirk on Home Movies. He gets around. I just heard his voice in a Family Guy episode too.
Highly recommended. The pilot can be found on YouTube: Lucy Daughter of the Devil, while additional episodes can be purchased on iTunes.
Posted at 11:11 AM Read More
Thu - September 27, 2007
DRM must die
With Amazon debuting their beta MP3 download site,
the time has come for libraries to really start thinking about the future of
digital.
I gave it a whirl yesterday. Amazon's selection
isn't the best, and their classification scheme is weak, but the purchase and
transfer parts of the deal worked pretty well. And that's on a mac, folks. The
files were imported without a hitch into my iTunes library. There is a small
program Amazon has you download to facilitate the transfer into your music
library, but that wasn't painful like Overdrive's system is. Bring on the price
wars!
Finally, cheap, easy to download DRM-free MP3s. eMusic is another website offering up DRM free files. What's more, they have audiobooks available. So, how will libraries get into the act? Will we buy the files, burn a disc, and then circ the disc? What about circulating iPod fatties? What are we going to do? Is there anything we can do that doesn't break the law?
If we put the material on devices, and circulate the devices, why is that considered different from a library buying a book and circulating it? If the worry is that we might put the same title on two devices at the same time, why can't we pay a simple licensing fee to do that sort of thing? Why does DRM have to be involved?
Having said DRM must die, maybe I should qualify that. The way it works now sucks. Maybe we should revisit the idea of DRM working something like PGP. The product is unfettered. Perhaps we could circulate it, with our own key pair, based on patron barcode and PIN, as opposed to a platform-dependent, software-dependent, model. I know that it's been thought about, but I can't say what the problems with that model are. Or how about a simple DRM, that opens up with the PGP, and shuts down three weeks later. It registers renewals on the library server. The server keeps tabs on residuals, and we pay the publishers that. One price to purchase the title, a lower price to renew, since that's no sweat off the publisher's back at all. We need to create an open source, secure, cross-platform compliant, transaction method that doesn't line anyone's pockets, or tie us into a single vendor.
Finally, cheap, easy to download DRM-free MP3s. eMusic is another website offering up DRM free files. What's more, they have audiobooks available. So, how will libraries get into the act? Will we buy the files, burn a disc, and then circ the disc? What about circulating iPod fatties? What are we going to do? Is there anything we can do that doesn't break the law?
If we put the material on devices, and circulate the devices, why is that considered different from a library buying a book and circulating it? If the worry is that we might put the same title on two devices at the same time, why can't we pay a simple licensing fee to do that sort of thing? Why does DRM have to be involved?
Having said DRM must die, maybe I should qualify that. The way it works now sucks. Maybe we should revisit the idea of DRM working something like PGP. The product is unfettered. Perhaps we could circulate it, with our own key pair, based on patron barcode and PIN, as opposed to a platform-dependent, software-dependent, model. I know that it's been thought about, but I can't say what the problems with that model are. Or how about a simple DRM, that opens up with the PGP, and shuts down three weeks later. It registers renewals on the library server. The server keeps tabs on residuals, and we pay the publishers that. One price to purchase the title, a lower price to renew, since that's no sweat off the publisher's back at all. We need to create an open source, secure, cross-platform compliant, transaction method that doesn't line anyone's pockets, or tie us into a single vendor.
Posted at 01:26 PM Read More
Big Doings in the Wacky World of Warcraft
Blizzard Entertainment just released a new patch to
its wildly popular MMPORG, World of Warcraft. The two big things are voice chat
and movie recording.
I've bought a few machinima books for the library,
and having seen the work of folks out on YouTube who've made machinima via WoW,
I can see its appeal. So this update, that will allow players to record their
play within the game seems to address that popularity. I haven't tried it out
yet, but I might try my hand at it, and pop a short demo here. I think my kids
might run with it.
Voice chat, the other new thing, isn't actually running yet. My oldest son is all fired up, because voice chat is really useful when running instances, and he was actually trying to get me to shell out for a Ventrio account. If you've ever seen the "Make Love, Not Warcraft" episode of South Park (Season 10), you might understand what I'm talking about. Wow as a standalone application doesn't have, or at least it didn't use to have, voice chat. It was all text chat. Voice chat, in the form that Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny are using, works outside of Blizzard's software, via voice chat servers. Ventrio is one of these companies that offers voice chat. So, seeing this the next day as a free upgrade was a godsend. What's it gonna be like? I don't know. One thought I did have is that it would be harder to disguise your gender, plus it would be obvious to other players when I'm playing a character versus my son playing the same character. Stay tuned.
And then on top of all that, there's another expansion coming this fall, the Wrath of the Lich King. I guess it will be the size of the Burning Crusade expansion, i.e., it'll raise the top level to 80, throw in a few new areas, new quests, new classes or races maybe. The boys are psyched.
Which brings me to the topic of gaming and reading. My two older sons read a lot about their games. Not just cheats, walkthroughs, but the storyline stuff. I find it rather amusing. They will talk about characters in their games as if they really existed. Everything gets kinda blurry. But it's good to see them reading, huh?
Voice chat, the other new thing, isn't actually running yet. My oldest son is all fired up, because voice chat is really useful when running instances, and he was actually trying to get me to shell out for a Ventrio account. If you've ever seen the "Make Love, Not Warcraft" episode of South Park (Season 10), you might understand what I'm talking about. Wow as a standalone application doesn't have, or at least it didn't use to have, voice chat. It was all text chat. Voice chat, in the form that Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny are using, works outside of Blizzard's software, via voice chat servers. Ventrio is one of these companies that offers voice chat. So, seeing this the next day as a free upgrade was a godsend. What's it gonna be like? I don't know. One thought I did have is that it would be harder to disguise your gender, plus it would be obvious to other players when I'm playing a character versus my son playing the same character. Stay tuned.
And then on top of all that, there's another expansion coming this fall, the Wrath of the Lich King. I guess it will be the size of the Burning Crusade expansion, i.e., it'll raise the top level to 80, throw in a few new areas, new quests, new classes or races maybe. The boys are psyched.
Which brings me to the topic of gaming and reading. My two older sons read a lot about their games. Not just cheats, walkthroughs, but the storyline stuff. I find it rather amusing. They will talk about characters in their games as if they really existed. Everything gets kinda blurry. But it's good to see them reading, huh?
Posted at 01:01 PM Read More
Fri - May 11, 2007
Making the receipt printer program better
Our head of circulation came back from the regional
library delivery meeting with the news that we might be changing our routing
codes. She asked me whether it would be a problem for our receipt printer
program. I told her that I'd mess around with it and give her a reply. So, I've
been working on taking the location specific code, i.e., library names, routing
codes, exceptions, etc. out of the receipt printer program, and making them
external ini files that can be changed without recompiling the
source.
I banged out a rough version to send to Dean for the
once over, and it made the cut, then I just got off the phone with Michele who
has modified the code for NOBLE. I asked her to send me some samples of the text
files that their ILS spits out, specifically the In Transit slips. I want to
integrate her work into one program "to rule them all". A grand unified program
for our regional delivery system. Alles klar, Herr Kommissar? Schmeckt
gut!
What I've done is make three new ini files: routing_codes.ini, exceptions.ini, and main_locations.ini to take care of the problem. If an agency string isn't found in the routing codes, the program looks in the exceptions "table", which tells if the exception is a branch or a alternate spelling/name, then gets the appropriate routing code. With the routing code known, it then goes back to the main locations table to get the name for the route location.
The folks that sort for the region don't need to worry about the subdivisions of the individual libraries, so I continued to keep the main location name and routing number prominent, but for the benefit of "in-house" sorting, e.g., when the staff at Chelmsford's main library sort the items going to their branch, I emphasized the word "branch". I still have the original name printed on the slip, but lower down.
Once Michele shows me what her slip input looks like, and we get that system's routing handled, we'll be able to put a line for consortium name in the setup.ini, and use a single program for both consortia. And then it might be usable on any Horizon or III system. It might be worth setting up a source forge collaboration for the future, if it pans out.
What I've done is make three new ini files: routing_codes.ini, exceptions.ini, and main_locations.ini to take care of the problem. If an agency string isn't found in the routing codes, the program looks in the exceptions "table", which tells if the exception is a branch or a alternate spelling/name, then gets the appropriate routing code. With the routing code known, it then goes back to the main locations table to get the name for the route location.
The folks that sort for the region don't need to worry about the subdivisions of the individual libraries, so I continued to keep the main location name and routing number prominent, but for the benefit of "in-house" sorting, e.g., when the staff at Chelmsford's main library sort the items going to their branch, I emphasized the word "branch". I still have the original name printed on the slip, but lower down.
Once Michele shows me what her slip input looks like, and we get that system's routing handled, we'll be able to put a line for consortium name in the setup.ini, and use a single program for both consortia. And then it might be usable on any Horizon or III system. It might be worth setting up a source forge collaboration for the future, if it pans out.
Posted at 03:50 PM Read More
Wed - May 2, 2007
Moving Autodialer Over to an Intel Mac Mini
Bad news, good news. The bad news is that the Mac
over at our branch just wasn't getting enough action, so we decided to pull it
outta there.
"I'm a simple caveman. Your world frightens and confuses me. My primitive mind can't grasp these concepts." -- Phil Hartman
The good news is that I can now get the autodialer software off my iBook and put it on a computer that the library actually owns.
"I'm a simple caveman. Your world frightens and confuses me. My primitive mind can't grasp these concepts." -- Phil Hartman
The good news is that I can now get the autodialer software off my iBook and put it on a computer that the library actually owns.
My iBook is an old 500MHz G3, so I won't be playing
WoW on it, ;-), but for mobility and Unix power, "what power, what power...does
all the work, so you don't have tooooooo!" (Name the reference, folks), I was
missing it, yea, verily.
Here are some reminders for anyone else doing this that came up on transferring PhoneHerald over:
1. Exporting then importing the iCal "calling calendar" works fine, except it's likely that you will need to relink the file paths to the AppleScripts. The paths looked correct, but the scripts didn't run until I did that over.
2. I scripted PhoneHerald using UI scripting. You need to enable access for assistive devices, located in "System Preferences > Unversal Access" for it to work.
3. Create a job manually before you set it on automatic, PhoneHerald's file browser is set to retain the last browse it performed, it appears.
4. Keeping sound files in a directory out on a server works fine. No need to copy!
5. I use Mac OS X's date formatting to name my call lists, but colons don't behave in AppleScript, so I had to tweak the date & time formatting in "System Prefs > International".
Here are some reminders for anyone else doing this that came up on transferring PhoneHerald over:
1. Exporting then importing the iCal "calling calendar" works fine, except it's likely that you will need to relink the file paths to the AppleScripts. The paths looked correct, but the scripts didn't run until I did that over.
2. I scripted PhoneHerald using UI scripting. You need to enable access for assistive devices, located in "System Preferences > Unversal Access" for it to work.
3. Create a job manually before you set it on automatic, PhoneHerald's file browser is set to retain the last browse it performed, it appears.
4. Keeping sound files in a directory out on a server works fine. No need to copy!
5. I use Mac OS X's date formatting to name my call lists, but colons don't behave in AppleScript, so I had to tweak the date & time formatting in "System Prefs > International".
Posted at 11:49 AM Read More
Thu - April 19, 2007
Computers in Libraries 2007
Got back from Washington, D.C. last night around 2
a.m., which put a down note on an otherwise very positive trip. The main things
that I got out of the conference were hearing about all the support for gaming
and learning in the library community, and the positive steps to an open-source
future for the ILS. I met a lot of great people, and I had a lot of fun. I want
to just give a couple highlights now, and let my brain continue to absorb what I
experienced. But for me, these were the best moments:
The Sunday afternoon workshop presented by Jenny
Levine and Aaron Schmidt was a great way to start. I was lucky enough to arrive
a little early, so I got to play Jenny's Nintendo Wii for a bit before we got
going. Jenny and Aaron are both very engaging, and they definitely got the point
across that gaming has a big future, and librarians need to jump in. Aaron's
this young guy, probably not even thirty years old, and he was wearing jeans and
a hoodie, and Jenny brought a bunch of games along with the systems: the Wii,
PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, although PS3 was not available. I still haven't
played one of those things.
Jenny opened with the "theory" behind the fun, describing The MacArthur Foundation's Digital Media and Learning Initiative, and we discussed some of the recent books that explore the issue. There is a lot of activity going on in the field. There's a conference in late July in Chicago, BTW. I'm in a rush, so I'll have to link to it later. I've mentioned this some on this blog, about the way my sons attack problems, work together, and share their "knowledge base" when they play, and it's the same way I do things at work. Organizations, businesses, that have incorporated this and give it their blessing are going to be the innovators. Jenny brought up the example of the guy getting hired by Yahoo! for his management skills, learned by running a guild in Wow. Aaron spoke more about the practical side of running gaming nights, holding tournaments, which games to use, etc. I left there pretty pumped. The YA librarian here received a grant to get some consoles and games, so we are definitely going to be having gaming nights at CPL. I met an interesting retired librarian who does consulting now who also plays WoW. She has two level 70 characters (!) and she plays it on a Mac too. Very cool. I loved being surprised by that.
My coworker went to what he said was a very good RSS how-to workshop while I was slacking in the gamer one. So we were both full of motivation on Sunday evening. We ended up taking the Metro to Foggy Bottom and walking to Georgetown, although being the dumbass that I am, I had us going in the opposite direction for 15 minutes. We had dinner in a bistro and we were both amazed at all the foreign languages we heard. I kind of take pride at picking them out, but there were a couple of women seated behind me that I just couldn't get a bead on.
Jessamyn West's talk on pimping the Firefox browser was very entertaining. It was a very practical talk, here's this addon, here's another extension that does this, here's the cool stuff that Greasemonkey can do for you, etc. I didn't even know about the developer stuff, which will really come in handy. Which reminds me, just an aside, but Apple laptops were everywhere at this thing: it's especially surprising given that practically none of the ILS's run on Mac. I mentioned that to Aaron at the workshop, and somehow we ended up agreeing that we're both getting an iPhone when those puppies come out this summer.
We were lucky to get a staff tour of the Capitol building on Monday. We heard the news about the Virginia Tech shooting while we were waiting. We had called our state rep's office about a month before, and we were escorted around by a college student from Methuen who is interning for the semester. The whole complex is amazing: the catacombs below, the marble everywhere, the symmetry, etc. We also had a brush with fame: Newt Gingrich was going into the men's room as we headed over to the House chambers. Woohoo! We all wondered what he was doing on the Hill. After the tour, we bummed around the Rayburn Office Building looking for other offices of representatives we knew, then we headed over to the National Archives. We saw the totally washed out Declaration of Independence, Constitution, etc. Then we explored some of the exhibits. The one that sticks in my mind is the Presidents at school exhibit. They had report cards and class photos, essays and other objects on display. I didn't know that Nixon could play so many instruments, or that Eisenhower was so good in Greek and Latin and math. We stayed till close at 7 p.m.
I'm already getting my days mixed up, but sometime in there I went to the National Gallery of Art. Very enjoyable. I especially liked the French sculptures and the portraits. I wasn't very impressed with the Jasper Johns exhibit in the East building, except for his Numbers stuff. The version in lead is cool. That building is so empty, it felt underused.
Back to work, I enjoyed listening to the state of the ILS on Wednesday. I'm glad to hear that Evergreen is still looking promising, and that no one is very happy with the proprietary ILS's. Roy Tennant's talk was also good, although the height of the Potomac Room's ceiling was making me claustrophobic.
I saw a little of the Ancien Régime toward the end of the conference. There was one presenter from a public library, who was probably in his late forties, early fifties, who used a lot of military analogies in his talk, and it really bugged me, at the reptilian brainstem level, his "business" speak.
Overall, I thought it was a very good conference. I'm definitely pumped.
Jenny opened with the "theory" behind the fun, describing The MacArthur Foundation's Digital Media and Learning Initiative, and we discussed some of the recent books that explore the issue. There is a lot of activity going on in the field. There's a conference in late July in Chicago, BTW. I'm in a rush, so I'll have to link to it later. I've mentioned this some on this blog, about the way my sons attack problems, work together, and share their "knowledge base" when they play, and it's the same way I do things at work. Organizations, businesses, that have incorporated this and give it their blessing are going to be the innovators. Jenny brought up the example of the guy getting hired by Yahoo! for his management skills, learned by running a guild in Wow. Aaron spoke more about the practical side of running gaming nights, holding tournaments, which games to use, etc. I left there pretty pumped. The YA librarian here received a grant to get some consoles and games, so we are definitely going to be having gaming nights at CPL. I met an interesting retired librarian who does consulting now who also plays WoW. She has two level 70 characters (!) and she plays it on a Mac too. Very cool. I loved being surprised by that.
My coworker went to what he said was a very good RSS how-to workshop while I was slacking in the gamer one. So we were both full of motivation on Sunday evening. We ended up taking the Metro to Foggy Bottom and walking to Georgetown, although being the dumbass that I am, I had us going in the opposite direction for 15 minutes. We had dinner in a bistro and we were both amazed at all the foreign languages we heard. I kind of take pride at picking them out, but there were a couple of women seated behind me that I just couldn't get a bead on.
Jessamyn West's talk on pimping the Firefox browser was very entertaining. It was a very practical talk, here's this addon, here's another extension that does this, here's the cool stuff that Greasemonkey can do for you, etc. I didn't even know about the developer stuff, which will really come in handy. Which reminds me, just an aside, but Apple laptops were everywhere at this thing: it's especially surprising given that practically none of the ILS's run on Mac. I mentioned that to Aaron at the workshop, and somehow we ended up agreeing that we're both getting an iPhone when those puppies come out this summer.
We were lucky to get a staff tour of the Capitol building on Monday. We heard the news about the Virginia Tech shooting while we were waiting. We had called our state rep's office about a month before, and we were escorted around by a college student from Methuen who is interning for the semester. The whole complex is amazing: the catacombs below, the marble everywhere, the symmetry, etc. We also had a brush with fame: Newt Gingrich was going into the men's room as we headed over to the House chambers. Woohoo! We all wondered what he was doing on the Hill. After the tour, we bummed around the Rayburn Office Building looking for other offices of representatives we knew, then we headed over to the National Archives. We saw the totally washed out Declaration of Independence, Constitution, etc. Then we explored some of the exhibits. The one that sticks in my mind is the Presidents at school exhibit. They had report cards and class photos, essays and other objects on display. I didn't know that Nixon could play so many instruments, or that Eisenhower was so good in Greek and Latin and math. We stayed till close at 7 p.m.
I'm already getting my days mixed up, but sometime in there I went to the National Gallery of Art. Very enjoyable. I especially liked the French sculptures and the portraits. I wasn't very impressed with the Jasper Johns exhibit in the East building, except for his Numbers stuff. The version in lead is cool. That building is so empty, it felt underused.
Back to work, I enjoyed listening to the state of the ILS on Wednesday. I'm glad to hear that Evergreen is still looking promising, and that no one is very happy with the proprietary ILS's. Roy Tennant's talk was also good, although the height of the Potomac Room's ceiling was making me claustrophobic.
I saw a little of the Ancien Régime toward the end of the conference. There was one presenter from a public library, who was probably in his late forties, early fifties, who used a lot of military analogies in his talk, and it really bugged me, at the reptilian brainstem level, his "business" speak.
Overall, I thought it was a very good conference. I'm definitely pumped.
Posted at 08:17 PM Read More
Genetic Line of Succession
I just got back from Computers in Libraries down in
DC, and I'll have lots more to say about that, but on the flight back, I had
this crazy thought. First, read this for a little background on where I'm coming
from: The
Genographic Project. I mentioned their research before on my blog,
because I actually ponied up and bought the kit. It's fascinating stuff. Then
come back, and read my post.
Got it? Bottom line, since genetic mutations occur
at a consistent rate over long periods of time, you can compare the DNA from two
different "beings", and determine roughly the number of years since those two
DNA strands diverged. So, all humans alive today can trace their genetic lineage
to a common male African ancestor who lived around 60,000 years
ago.
As I was sitting on the plane, I'm thinking, ok, let's keep going back, how far back do we need to go to find a common primate ancestor, a common mammal ancestor, a common land animal ancestor, a common animal ancestor, a common ancestor of plants and animals?
Then I had the craziest thought: Let's say some freak virus wastes all animal life on the planet, completely eradicates all animals, lizards, fish, sea anemones, coral, rabbits, birds, all of them. Only plants survive. The question, and it's so stupid, I laughed out loud as soon as I formulated it: according to the British rule of succession, which plant gets to be the King of England?
As I was sitting on the plane, I'm thinking, ok, let's keep going back, how far back do we need to go to find a common primate ancestor, a common mammal ancestor, a common land animal ancestor, a common animal ancestor, a common ancestor of plants and animals?
Then I had the craziest thought: Let's say some freak virus wastes all animal life on the planet, completely eradicates all animals, lizards, fish, sea anemones, coral, rabbits, birds, all of them. Only plants survive. The question, and it's so stupid, I laughed out loud as soon as I formulated it: according to the British rule of succession, which plant gets to be the King of England?
Posted at 08:37 AM Read More
Mon - April 2, 2007
Apple and EMI announce DRM-free downloads
EMI will release its catalog in DRM-free 256 kbps
AAC format on iTunes starting in May.
They upped the price of the tracks to $1.29 a pop,
and iTunes will still have the DRM 128 kbps AAC version available for purchase.
Looks like the number crunchers did some calculations on how much they would
need to charge if they were to allow DRM-free files out into the digital
ecosystem, and thirty cents was the answer. To recoup their losses and make a
decent profit, that is. Increasing the sound quality and getting a DRM-free file
for an extra trinta centavos? Porque no! Here's the press release from
Apple:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/04/02itunes.html
Steve Jobs says he expects to offer more than half of the songs on iTunes in DRM-free format by the end of the year. Finally, we're seeing some movement. I've been saying this for a couple years now, the market will accept a higher price, just get rid of that DRM rubbish. Look who's the instigator here: the owner of the content. Let's hope book publishers start waking up and ditch the DRM. It's a painful nuisance. Libraries are willing to cough up extra when it means giving their patrons better service. To DRM providers: Overdrive, NetLibrary, Rhapsody! Listen up! Follow Apple's lead, work with the content providers and serve the consumer. Tell the publishers the truth: the consumer hates DRM. Your digital sales will not expand until you accept that fact. You force the consumer to buy inferior products to listen to your stuff. What idiocy is that? I hate having to tell patrons who come in that they have to go buy a lousy MP3 player to listen to Overdrive audiobooks, when the iPods are so much better. And let's be honest here: everything out there that plays Microsoft DRM is lame. It's like back when Eastern Europe was still communist. Yeah, the West has BMWs and Mercedes, but you can't have them. But look, we've got the Skoda and the Yugo! Such a deal!
It's probably just wishful thinking, but I hope this is the beginning of the end for DRM. Another thing going on here: which MP3 player companies already support AAC files? Answer: Apple, obviously, but also Sony, and surprisingly, Microsoft. Yes, the Zune supports AAC format. Who knew? Who cared? ;-) File conversion is also an option, but a cumbersome one, so I would think that Creative will pony up and support AAC format soon. Why not? Really, if Microsoft's doing it, that's pretty much a green light for all of its lackeys to follow.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/04/02itunes.html
Steve Jobs says he expects to offer more than half of the songs on iTunes in DRM-free format by the end of the year. Finally, we're seeing some movement. I've been saying this for a couple years now, the market will accept a higher price, just get rid of that DRM rubbish. Look who's the instigator here: the owner of the content. Let's hope book publishers start waking up and ditch the DRM. It's a painful nuisance. Libraries are willing to cough up extra when it means giving their patrons better service. To DRM providers: Overdrive, NetLibrary, Rhapsody! Listen up! Follow Apple's lead, work with the content providers and serve the consumer. Tell the publishers the truth: the consumer hates DRM. Your digital sales will not expand until you accept that fact. You force the consumer to buy inferior products to listen to your stuff. What idiocy is that? I hate having to tell patrons who come in that they have to go buy a lousy MP3 player to listen to Overdrive audiobooks, when the iPods are so much better. And let's be honest here: everything out there that plays Microsoft DRM is lame. It's like back when Eastern Europe was still communist. Yeah, the West has BMWs and Mercedes, but you can't have them. But look, we've got the Skoda and the Yugo! Such a deal!
It's probably just wishful thinking, but I hope this is the beginning of the end for DRM. Another thing going on here: which MP3 player companies already support AAC files? Answer: Apple, obviously, but also Sony, and surprisingly, Microsoft. Yes, the Zune supports AAC format. Who knew? Who cared? ;-) File conversion is also an option, but a cumbersome one, so I would think that Creative will pony up and support AAC format soon. Why not? Really, if Microsoft's doing it, that's pretty much a green light for all of its lackeys to follow.
Posted at 10:40 AM Read More
Yes, it IS a popularity contest!
Computers in Libraries 2007 & WoW
Free Publicity!
Yahoo! Message Boards
Boston Overreacts to ATHF ads
LPT1, COM1, HIHRD1
Pull List Workflow
Calling Patron Holds on the Cheap
Advanced Receipt Printing Solutions for Horizon 7.3
Use iTunes Store Info to Search Your Public Library's Catalog
Apple gave us an upgrade
Overdrive coming to town
Laughing Librarian
Genographic Project
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Published On: Sep 26, 2008 10:10 AM
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