The Contra Costa County Library has been awarded a $60,000 Bay Area Library and Information Systems (BALIS) Innovation grant to create a mobile platform that will push new and existing library content and services into the hands of cell phone users.

The “Snap & Go” project will allow Contra Costa County residents with mobile phones and a library card to access library materials, enhanced content, and manage their accounts without having to visit a library building or gain access to a computer.

Of particular interest to me since I just heard of QR Codes is that the project will utilize them — a two-dimensional barcode technology to encode information and automatically launch web-accessible functions.

The library will develop a Mobile Patron Support System that will link customers with cell phones to library services and information through QR codes that are attached to library materials including books, DVDs, flyers, posters, library cards, and the catalog.

By taking a picture of the barcode, the phone will launch the library’s mobile website and provide access to three functional areas: detailed, dynamically generated information on titles scanned including reviews, first chapters, and read-alike information; links to library mobile web pages including hours and location information; and links to patron account functions.  Find out more about QR Codes here.  [via ResourceShelf ]

This is a nifty innovation.  Are there other libraries out there doing the same or something similar?  By the way, if you have a QR code reader (such as Barcode Scanner from the Android Market) on your phone, take a snap of the barcode on this post.

At paid.Content.org, there’s an article with predictions from Forrester Research for the E-Reader and the Ebook market in the coming year.

They note that this “has been a breakout year for e-readers and e-books—device sales will have more than tripled by the end of this year, and content sales are up 176% for the year. But next year will be anything but boring.” Here’s what they are saying:

1. E Ink will lose its claim to near-100% market share for e-reader displays. Competition will come in three forms: 1) cheaper substitutions for E Ink that use the same electrophoretic display technology; 2) dual-screen devices that have both an E Ink and an LCD screen; and 3) devices that use an entirely different display technology, such as transflective LCD or OLED.
2. Dual-screen mobile phones and netbooks will eat into e-reader demand.  Consumer electronics manufacturers will tap into the growing digital reading trend by launching new versions of their devices with reading-optimized screens. For instance, mobile phones like the Samsung Alias 2 already have secondary E Ink screens, which could be repurposed for reading rather than typing or time-telling. Netbooks will also launch with dual E Ink/LCD screens, like the Asus EEE PC prototype that debuted at CeBIT in 2009.
3. Apps will make non-reading devices more e-book-friendly.  Next year will see more e-book apps on more devices. These apps will make it easier to view reading content on non-reading-optimized devices, which will provide a “good enough” experience for the majority of consumers who don’t read enough to justify buying a single-function e-reader, and will provide multiplatform convenience for consumers who do own e-readers.
4. eReaders will get apps, too. As anyone with an iPhone knows, apps are where the magic happens: They make the device infinitely more useful.
5. Amazon will launch a suite of new touchscreen e-readers. Awkward Kindle keyboard, begone! We think 2010 will bring several entirely new e-readers from Amazon, featuring touchscreens, color (by the end of the year), and flexibility.
6. B&N will steal market share from Amazon and Sony. This year was a setup year for B&N, and 2010 will see its efforts start to pay off. In 2009, B&N acquired Fictionwise, launched its own eBookstore and reading app for mobile phones and PCs, announced partnerships with e-reader manufacturers Plastic Logic and iRex, and launched its own Nook e-reader (which it promptly sold out of). In 2010, B&N will rack up significant sales of Nooks and e-books, as some consumers look for an Amazon alternative. Sony will launch its own new devices, and will work on improving the software and book-buying experience. B&N will end up taking market share from both Amazon and Sony, but Amazon will retain its dominant position as market leader.
7. E-book content sales will top $500 million in the U.S.
8. E-textbooks will become more accessible, but sales will be modest.
9. Magazine and newspaper publishers will launch their own apps and devices. Magazine and newspaper publishers aren’t satisfied with the way their content looks and acts on the Kindle and Sony Readers—they want color, video, interactivity, the ability to sell ads and control the subscriber relationship.
10. China, India, Brazil, and the EU will propel global growth, but the U.S. will still be the biggest market. Right now, the U.S. is the biggest market for e-readers and e-books, and that won’t change in 2010. But the rest of the world will start to catch up.

Photo credit: goXunuReviews: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43602175@N06/ / CC BY 2.0

Mix together bar codes, your mobile phone, and “Favorite Places on Google” to get a new way to window shop.

100,000 local businesses (and more in the future) have received window decals with QR bar codes that can be scanned by hundreds of mobile devices, including iPhone, Android-powered phones, BlackBerry and more, to take you directly to the business’s Place Page where you may find reviews or coupons, if they are being offered.  See how it works in the video below.

This launch is part of Google’s overall effort to provide you with the best local business results whenever you’re trying to figure out where to go, “whether it’s a trendy Cuban restaurant in Philly, a comics shop in L.A., a hip hotel in NYC or a little bit of photographic history in Rochester, N.Y,” says The Official Google Blog.

They plan to periodically send out new waves of window decals to qualifying businesses. If you own or manage a business and weren’t selected in this round, your first step is to claim your listing with Google’s Local Business Center for free. That will help them determine that your business information is correct. Then, you can enhance your local business listing by adding enhanced content like photos and videos.

To explore a gallery of several hundred Favorite Places in 20 U.S. cities, to learn more about how to use the QR codes and to find out how your business can get involved, check out Google’s Favorite Places.  One of my Seattle favorites is seen in the image below.

It’s that time of year again…

In between — or to go along with — holiday shopping, we’re starting to see 2009’s “top” products, services, applications, etc. being touted.

Yesterday, ReadWriteWeb listed their top mobile web apps and have followed up today with their list of the top 10 consumer web apps of the year.

With regard to the consumer apps, they note that there are hundreds of new ones to choose from but “occasionally, we come across a service that stands out from the pack because it offers a novel solution, disrupts the way incumbent market leaders do business or changes the way we experience the Web.”  Not all the apps are newly launched, but reached a mainstream audience this year.

The mobile web apps heavily feature those for the iPhone as one might expect, but there is a mix of others.

Briefly, the mobile group includes:  Facebook 3.0 (iPhone), Tweetie 2 (iPhone), Twidroid – see image – (Android), Foursquare (Cross-platform), Google Voice, (Blackberry, Android), Spotify (Cross-Platform), Google Maps Navigation (Android), Layer (iPhone, Android), and a couple more.  See the article for details.

Among the top consumer apps are 2 search engines, Bing and WolframAlpha.  A couple of my favorites are included: light blogging site Posterous (here’s an example) and Tweetdeck, which I’ve recently posted about.  Of course, RWW didn’t leave off huge favorites like Twitter and Facebook.  See the article for more apps and information.

Twitter desktop client, Tweetdeck, has carried through in a big way on its promises to bring us desirable new features.

I use Tweetdeck regularly on my laptop, having found some of its basic features such as the ability to create groups and view them in columns, a big jump up from Twitter.com.  There are other desktop clients, but I hooked onto Tweetdeck and I’m sticking with it (for now anyway).  I use Twidroid on my Android-based T-Mobile MyTouch phone.

The new features let you integrate Twitter’s list function, view lists in columns and edit them easily.  You also have a choice of how to Retweet (RT) — stay with the previous Tweetdeck version which is editable, or go with the new Twitter version which emphasizes the original tweet.  The new version is not editable but shows the icon of both the original tweeter and the that of the retweeter (see image for example of both).

Those were the features I was mainly interested in, but there are more that may be important to you.  Take a look at the brief video to see what is new and how it works.

Then download Tweetdeck here and try it for yourself.

As soon as I started following more than a dozen people on Twitter I realized that I needed more help than the Twitter.com site could offer (at the time).  I saw recommendations for several Twitter desktop clients and after some experimentation, settled on Tweetdeck.  Thank goodness, since my “follow” list just keeps growing.  Tweetdeck helps me manage my Twitter stream (and my own updates from several accounts) with ease.

When Twitter_Tips mentioned this site with 10 very useful videos on how to get more out of Tweetdeck, I learned just how little of the power of Tweetdeck I was using.  These brief, well done tutorials are definitely worth your time if you are a Tweetdeck user.  If you aren’t, and feel that Twitter is overwhelming you, you might want to give Tweetdeck a try.

I was very excited to see Mashable’s post about Google Maps Navigation being available on nearly every Android-based phone.

When the Verizon Droid was released recently with the Android 2.0 OS and a new Google Maps Navigation system, I was jealous.  Google’s Navigation app spells trouble for stand-alone GPS systems since it has nearly every desirable feature of them and is free on Android phones.

I bought the T-Mobile MyTouch phone with Android 1.6 OS when it was launched in late July.  I really like Google Maps and used it and the “my location” satellite extensively on a recent trip in unknown territory.  But it didn’t speak to me and give me turn-by-turn directions.  Now it does!

I hadn’t received any indication that there was an update (usually I am notified when there is an update for software I have downloaded), but I went to the Android Market and looked at Google Maps.  It looked like there were new features, including “Navigation, so I downloaded it and I now have Google Maps Navigation.

The upgrade includes most of the basic GPS navigation features of the new system: voice guidance, automatic route recalculation, business information, and traffic data, among other features. That’s along with Google Maps and Wikipedia information and, of course, Street View.  However, the “navigate to” voice commands are missing.  Hopefully, that and more will be coming in the future.  Now if only I had one of those dashboard “car docks” that Droid has…

Despite problems, eBook checkouts in libraries increased to more than one million in 2009, up from 600,000 in 2007, according to OverDrive, a company offering both eaudio and ebooks to libraries.

“eBooks are quickly proving an unstoppable force, and opening the floodgates have given libraries the chance to increase readership and cater to a new age of information seekers.  Downloading a book in the comfort of home is no longer just a concept for most.  It’s a daily reality.  For libraries, it is still a relatively new venture, riddled with many obstacles, but even more opportunities,” says Project Gutenberg News.

It behooves libraries to attract the digitally savvy new generation.  The transition to digital downloadable books has been gradual for the library.  The New York Public library currently offers over 17,000 eBook titles, just a fraction of their 800,000 circulating print titles, a small percentage of their acquisitions budget.

Why the seeming reticence to stock up on eBooks?  “One obstacle libraries face is the inability to keep up with new devices now dominating the industry.  Although most libraries offer eBooks that are compatible with computers, Sony Reader and a handful of other digital devices, many of their downloadable offerings cannot be read on Amazon’s Kindle or the Apple’s iphone, both very popular e-readers.” 

The fault here lies not with the libraries, but with many of the makers of ebook readers thinking of their devices as a means to SELL books, not as another way to accommodate the reading public.

Another issue slowing down eBook acquisitions for libraries is publishers’ fear that eBook versions of their print copies in libraries will decrease sales of their print editions.  “This decision comes despite the fact that checking out a downloadable eBook greatly mirrors a checkout of a print copy.  Instead of physically walking out of a library with book copy in hand, all is done at home, or anywhere else, with a digital device. The differences, in the instance of library patronage, seem more academic than financial.”  In other words, it’s a non-issue.  Libraries buy a certain number of licenses for ebooks, just as they would buy a certain number of print books.  I wait for my turn to check out ebooks, just as I do for those in print.

We have seen “fear of format” over and over again whether it was a move from tape to CD, videotape to DVD, eaudio, or ebook, downloading or streaming.  I’d like to see businesses understand that new ways of doing the old things are going to happen with technological development.  Figure out what’s going to work for the consumer if you want to thrive, don’t just get in the way.  [via ResourceShelf]

The Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR) has published its 2009 study on the use of information technology by undergraduate students.  This is part of a longitudinal study begun in 2004 aiming to “shed light on how technology effects the college experience.”

Students are asked about their skill level with technology, their preferences, and how technology affects their learning.  The ultimate goal is to help colleges identify information technology environments that are a factor in student learning and overall satisfaction.

Briefly, the study found that college students want a balance between “real books and people” and the use of technology in the classroom.  They see a disparity in teacher expertise with technology. They are comfortable with many technologies, but are more likely to identify themselves as not early adopters and prefer only a moderate amount of IT in their courses.

They are also heavy users of mobile technology.  You can see in the image that 33% of students say they own and use an Internet-capable handheld device and another 11.8% plan to purchase one in the next 12 months.  18% own such a device but do not access the Internet with it.  However, half of the students, particularly older ones, agreed that instructors should have the authority to ban cell phone and handheld device use during class because it is distracting.

Take a look at the key findings (PDF).  Or find more information about the ECAR study and links to various reports here.

This Pew Internet Personal Networks and Community survey finds that Americans are not as isolated as has been previously reported.

People’s use of the mobile phone and the internet is associated with larger and more diverse discussion networks.  And internet use in general, and use of social networking services such as Facebook in particular, are associated with more diverse social networks.

Key findings challenge previous research and commonplace fears about the harmful social impact of new technology.  For instance:

• The extent of social isolation has hardly changed since 1985, contrary to concerns that the prevalence of severe isolation has tripled since then. Only 6% of the adult population has no one with whom they can discuss important matters.
• Although discussion networks have become less diverse, containing fewer non-family members, the survey shows that ownership of a mobile phone and participation in a variety of internet activities are associated with larger and more diverse core discussion networks.
• Social media activities are associated with several beneficial social activities, including having discussion networks that are more likely to contain people from different backgrounds.
• Internet use in general, and use of social networking services such as Facebook in particular, are associated with having a more diverse social network. This is contrary to the notion that technology pulls people away from social engagement.
• Most internet activities have little, or a positive relationship, to local activity.
• Internet use does not pull people away from public places. Rather, it is associated with engagement in places such as parks, cafes, and restaurants, the kinds of locales where research shows that people are likely to encounter a wider array of people and diverse points of view.
• People’s mobile phone use outpaces their use of landline phones as a primary method of staying in touch with their closest family and friends, but face-to-face contact still trumps all other methods.
• Challenging the assumption that internet use encourages social contact across vast distances, the survey finds that many internet technologies are used as much for local contact as they are for distant communication.

You can view the full report, either online or in PDF format, here .