Drive up to almost any McDonald’s drive-through window and you will see stickers proclaiming that the restaurant now takes payments through Apple Pay and Android Pay. Visa has just rolled out a program so that New Yorkers can use their phones to pay for the subway. Even the Girl Scouts are taking mobile payments and,… Continue reading Is your library ready for mobile payments?
Category: mobile
Why responsive design can be scarier than dating Taylor Swift
If you didn’t know already, your library’s site should be responsive. Having a separate mobile site is no longer good practice. Heck, even Google is penalizing non-responsive websites. If your library’s website isn’t responsive already, you’re way, way behind the curve and you should feel horribly guilty about it. That’s the message you’ve probably… Continue reading Why responsive design can be scarier than dating Taylor Swift
Broadcasting with Qik
As more people start using smartphones (e.g., Droids, Blackberries, iPhones, et al), we’re also starting to see a lot more applications that can be downloaded and used on them. One I’ve been doing a bit of experimenting with is Qik (prounounced like “quick”). While the tagline for YouTube is “Broadcast Yourself,” I feel that might… Continue reading Broadcasting with Qik
Figuring out Foursquare
Physical locations in combination with the web are starting to hit it big, and is predicted to seriously take off this year. One example of an application that is rapidly heading that way is Foursquare. From Wikipedia: Foursquare is a location-based social networking website, software for mobile devices, and game. Users “check-in” at venues using… Continue reading Figuring out Foursquare
Considering 2010 for libraries and technology
At the end of every year, lots of media outlets and assorted gurus make predictions about what is going to be happening in the next 365-odd days. But how often do libraries stop to think about what those predictions might mean for the services they offer? I’ve taken a selection of technology-related predictions and offered… Continue reading Considering 2010 for libraries and technology
Sharing your slides
Whether you do presentations in Powerpoint, OpenOffice or something else, making your slides publicly available can sometimes be a headache. Enter Slideshare, which could arguably be considered the YouTube of presentation slides. Slideshare allows you to create a (free) account, then upload slide presentations easily. You can choose to make the presentations private or public,… Continue reading Sharing your slides
Cloud computing
What does weather have to do with computers? Well, not much, actually. But cloud computing is a term that has gained in the buzz department recently, although it has actually been around for several years. “Cloud computing” is really just a metaphor for doing your work entirely online. In computer network diagrams, the Internet is… Continue reading Cloud computing
Augmented reality: the future is truly here
First, there was virtual reality. Then there were virtual worlds. Now, we have augmented reality, and it may change the landscape of books entirely. It’s the stuff of many science fiction scenes; open up a newspaper or a book and, instead of 2-dimensional text, 3-dimensional images pop up. Imagine looking at an Ikea catalog and… Continue reading Augmented reality: the future is truly here
Is your library coded?
Well, I am. See that 2-dimensional code to the left? That code contains the following information about me: First & last name Email address Web site URL Phone number Physical address, including country of origin All that is in there? What is it for? And why would you use it? That thing is called a… Continue reading Is your library coded?