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The Video Game History Foundation will open a digital version of its research library
The Video Game History Foundation has unveiled a digital library that offers remote access to the archive’s collection of gaming magazines, art books and various historical materials. This has been in the works for two years.
Libby is making it easier to access magazines for free with a supported library card
Libby is getting some updates that should make it easier to read the likes of 'The New Yorker,' 'Rolling Stone,' 'Bon Appetit' and 'Wired' for free.
The Internet Archive is building a library of amateur radio broadcasts
It's also looking for print materials to digitize, as well as early-internet communications.
My to-read list exploded thanks to free books through the Libby app
Kris Naudus describes how the Libby library app helped restore her sanity during lockdown.
Quibi's content library could make its way to Roku
It looks like Quibi's 'quick bites' content catalog may be sold to streaming app and hardware manufacturer Roku.
Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library to close early amid lawsuit
Four major publishers filed a lawsuit against the IA on June 1st alleging “willful mass copyright infringement.” The library was originally going to be live through June 30th, but will now close June 16th.
Book publishers sue Internet Archive for allegedly enabling piracy
Four major publishers filed a lawsuit against the Internet Archive for alleged “willful mass copyright infringement" related to its Open Library.
How to find free ebooks while libraries are closed
University presses around the world, including MIT, Cambridge and Duke, are offering free ebooks and course materials during the quarantine to their students and faculty. More than 80 publishers have signed on to make their content free during the outbreak.
YouTube Music explains how its long-overdue cloud locker will work
Earlier this month it came to light that YouTube was finally working on a way to let you upload your own music to its library. Now, that feature is almost good to go. Google has published a support document explaining how users will be able to add their personal music collection to their library, either by dragging files to any surface on music.youtube.com, or by tapping "upload music" within the profile menu. The feature supports FLAC, M4A, MP3, OGG and WMA files.
New Yorkers are losing the Public Library's free movie streaming (updated)
There's no such thing as a free lunch, nor apparently a free movie streaming service. From July 1st, New York library patrons will no longer be able to stream movies for free from their homes as the nonprofit is ending its partnership with streaming service Kanopy, Gizmodo reports.
Facebook will show who paid for political ads in the UK
Facebook is pushing its transparency agenda again, this time with the introduction of a tool that reveals information about political ads in the UK. From today, all advertisers that run ads in the UK referencing political figures and parties, elections and legislation before parliament will have to verify their location and identity, and the adverts will have to carry a "paid for by" disclaimer.
Marvel comics arrive in Hoopla's public library app
Comic books are a brilliant medium, but keeping up with the latest releases can be expensive. If you live in the US, it's worth checking out Hoopla; the service is supported by more than 1,500 public libraries, and offers free digital access to DC, Image and IDW titles. And starting today, another major publisher is joining the platform: Marvel. More than 250 collections and graphic novels will be available, including Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet book one — by author, journalist and comic book writer Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates — Civil War and X-Men: The Dark Pheonix Saga.
Your local library’s e-books will now show up in Google searches
Google has made life a little easier for those who like to check out e-books from their local library. Now, when you search for a book through Google, results for libraries near you that carry that e-book will show up along with outlets where you can buy it.
'The Daily Show' celebrates the tweets of Donald Trump in new exhibit
The president tweets a lot. It's quickly becoming part of his legacy, offering an unprecedented level of access to the commander in chief and leaving others in government scrambling to deal with the after-effects of each post. Usually, reflections on presidential legacies tend to come at the end of the individual's term in office, with an official presidential library foremost on the list. However, given the current pace of the Trump administration, The Daily Show decided to act a little sooner. This weekend it opened its own presidential Twitter library in midtown Manhattan to illustrate how our interactions with the president may have changed forever.
ICYMI: Boston's book cleaning machine and Disney's new SFX tricks
Today on In Case You Missed It: We take a look at the Boston Public Library's novel method of keeping its archives clean. Hint: it involves pushing them through a portable vacuum cleaner. The Depulvera book cleaning machine, as it's called, can scrub the dust and accumulated grime from up to 12 ancient tomes a minute without damaging the books themselves. Disney is also making headlines with a pair of new special effects tricks. The first will enable Disney CG animators to motion capture real life hairstyles and port them directly into computer generated simulations. The second uses high speed cameras and infrared lasers to map and project digital images and animations onto actors' faces. One will result in more lifelike and naturals doos in kids movies, the other will serve as a steady source of nightmare fuel for the parents. Good times. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @Terrortola.
Honest Few turns your social media posts into money for books
With e-book libraries, Amazon Prime Reading and the plethora of online services available putting free publications in your various devices, it's a wonder that people still pay any money for books anymore. But a new website called Honest Few is founded on the belief that you should still give something in return for your digital books: social media shares. Instead of shelling out the $3 to $20 you would normally drop for an Amazon bestseller, Honest Few is offering popular titles for free, as long as you spread word of the service and book on Twitter or Facebook. As a former bookworm who now only borrows books via New York Public Library's app or Prime Reading, I was intrigued by this new way of getting a good novel for free.
Europe rules that libraries can lend e-books like normal ones
Europe has ruled (PDF) that e-books can be lent out just like their physical counterparts. That is, as noticed by Ars Technica, one copy can be "checked out" by one person at a time. After the lending period expires, that user can no longer use the book and it goes to the next person who wants it. This might sound kind of expected, but you have to remember that it took until 2014 for the European Union to approve digitizing library books in the first place. And even then, you could only use them within the library's walls and at dedicated terminals.
iTunes update delivers 'simpler design' with modest changes
Apple is still trying to figure out how to improve the usability of iTunes. Today, the company released an update that tweaked the interface a bit, adding a sidebar and media selection tool that make navigating through libraries a bit easier. That sidebar menu is the biggest and most useful change, bringing back a UI feature from older versions of the app. From there, you can easily edit playlists, drag and drop songs to build playlists and hide or expand parts of the menu.
British Library digitizes George III's massive map collection
King George III was quite the map collector, and his massive catalog of cartographic relics is being digitized by the British Library. In total, the collection encompasses over 50,000 maps, including the Klencke Atlas which is the second largest atlas in the world. It measures 1.8 x 2.3 meters (about 6 x 7.5 feet) and includes 41 maps bound together in a single book. The library is a quarter of the way through photographing the collection, and once it's finished, the maps will be accessible online through its Transforming Typography website.
Hoopla's public library app gets Chromecast support
Hoopla, the app that lets you borrow videos, books and music from your local library digitally, has been on a roll this year when it comes to adding comics. Now, it's making a play for your living room by adding Chromecast support for videos. You'll need a public library card to access Hoopla's streaming catalog, as always, but at least you won't have to worry about late fees. Anything you borrow from Hoopla expires automatically (and yes, multiple people can view the same file at once). Digital lending isn't anything new for libraries, but usually it involves fighting with a clunky library website, rather than having everything accessible through a simple app. Hoopla currently covers 865 library systems, and its library now has more than 400,000 pieces of media.
