May 12, 012. Noon Mountain time.

More information and registration at the RMSLA site.

Slides posted here.

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Learn about the biggest technology trends affecting information centers, from 3D printing to econtent directions and mobile strategies. This session by Joe Murphy explores the most current trends in technology, including the social media landscape, how shifting smartphone usage is shaping information engagement, and how the roles of special librarians are continuing to evolve.

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“Sources: Google Is Close to Buying Meebo” for about $100 million. Meebo was a popular messaging aggregator in IM’s heyday, with some interesting pivots since to reposition for relevancy. Reported by AllThingsD

Pew report “Just-in-time Information through Mobile Connections”

“New Amazon Kindle Details Reportedly Leak” – may include front lighting.

“ITU: There Are Now Over 1 Billion Users Of Social Media Worldwide, Most On Mobile.”

Facebook business cards for your library (extension of FB cards for people) http://us.moo.com/products/facebook-cards.html

Facebook buys mobile apps developer as part of its ongoing mobile strategy http://blog.lightbox.com/post/23107101360/lightbox-is-joining-facebook

Foursquare check ins added to Facebook timeline map https://twitter.com/#!/foursquare/status/202119297651322880

“Shakespeare Library Makes The Bard Accessible.”

“Virgin offers in-flight mobile calls.”

“BenchPrep Teams Up With The Princeton Review To Gamify Test Prep.”

“Google Docs Research sidebar looks up terms, adds images, quotes, and citations.”

“Poll: Half of Americans call Facebook a fad.”

Apple will most likely replace Google Maps with its own mapping feature on the enxt iteration of iOS devices – AllThingsD story.

“Facebook is expanding file-sharing to all Groups” with a feature for reporting if copyrighted files are shared.

“Introducing the App Center” from Facebook. With access via web and mobile devices.

“Survey: More than half of Americans play video games.”

Khan Academy and Quora also come to Facebook Timeline, and more info about the impacts of Timeline integration from Techcrunch.

“Bing search engine gets major overhaul” More from WSJ Digits blog

Apple my update iCloud to include social sharing of files (pictures, videos and more) and not just storage. Details at Techcrunch.

Pin from Flickr to Pinterest with Greater Ease and Better Attribution Protection:

Flickr announced on its Blog that Pinning from Flickr photos just got more convenient with the addition of Pinterest to the Flickr share tab to skip use the Pin It browser button. Great way for Flickr to stay relevant, helps with proper attribution of Pinned content (your library’s and those you Pin from), and good way to streamline your Flickr and Pinterest projects.

- Also Comes to Vimeo and YouTube also http://allthingsd.com/20120501/flickr-behance-vimeo-and-youtube-add-new-pinterest-atttribution-tool/

Spotify App for iPad Arrives, and It’s Beautiful:

New visual layout that maximizes the tablet screen and includes improved

searching and much more.  http://itunes.apple.com/app/spotify/id324684580?mt=8 This is a great example of pay for more access model: premium subscribers alone have access to mobile versions of the streaming service.

Amazon Claims 54.4% of the Android Tablet Market:

“Kindle Fire taking over Android side of tablet market, report says.” Amazon may be winning because the focus on the tablet for content consumption.

Twitter Updates its Discovery Engine:

Twitter announced on its blog, “Discover better stories,” a bit of Twitter news of obvious interest to info pros. The new Discovery Tab prioritizes social connections in a more personalized display.

Frommers Travel Guides as iOS Mobile Apps:

“Passport? Check. Sunscreen? Check. Interactive Frommer’s Guide for iPad? Check.” This iPad app looks exciting to me: as a traveler and as a librarian who has worked in libraries serving travelers. Produced by Inkling (remember that promising iAuthor competitor with a scalable publishing model?) Purchase the guides online through Inkling or iTunes for a very reasonable $10 – $15. I love that notes added to entries can be shared publicly with other traveling souls.

“Instagram Passes 50 Million Users, Adds 5 Million a Week.”

Foursquare Adds Easier way for Business (and Libraries) to get Verified and Connect with Visitors:

In A blog post, “A faster way for businesses to start connecting with customers on foursquare,” Foursquare announced that the process for claiming your location’s venue and providing rewards had been streamlined. Verify your approved management of your library online with a $10 fee (all of a sudden not a free social tool anymore) instead of via snail mail, easy quality control of your library’s Foursquare meta data, and statistics tracking.

- This update to the venue verification process makes a huge difference for libraries. I discuss the entire process in my book Location-Aware Services and QR Codes for Libraries.

In More Foursquare nNews: Tristan Walker, longtime Foursquare Business Developer leaves to become Entrepreneur in Residence at Andreessen Horowitz. http://justtristan.com/post/22257016740/whats-next

Facebook Sent 160 Million Visitors to Mobile Apps Last Month:

In a blog post, “Growth and Mobile Apps,” Facebook outlined how it is a very strong element in mobile. These 160 million visitors are up from 60 million in February and they made up over a billion visits to mobile apps. Facebook also notes that “Seven of the top ten grossing iOS apps and six of the top ten grossing Android apps are integrated with Facebook.”

Target Will no Longer Sell the Kindle. More info from The Verge.

UC Berkeley to Offer a Course on Big Data with Twitter Focus:

The course, Analyzing Big Data with Twitter, at the Berkeley School of Information will have a special focus on analyzing Twitter’s huge data flow.  Found via “Twitter Pairs With UC Berkeley for Big Data 10.”

“Harvard and MIT Launch $60M Nonprofit Online EdX Platform.”

Open source, free, and nonprofit platform for online classes from both Harvard and MIT will open up to other universities in the future.

Amazon is Now a Video Content Producer:

Amazon Studios will make and distribute the shows via Amazon’s Instant Video service.  More info.

Bing Redesigns its Search Results Page:

“Bing Strips Down Results Page To Make Google Look Like “Search Overload””

A Deeper Look at A Major Contender in the Battle of Mobile Payments:

A nice review of Pay with Square.

A Tool for Quickly Converting Documents to Html5 Format:

Crocodoc, similar to but more powerful than Scribd, uses HTML5 to embed PDF and Microsoft Office documents into your web resource or mobile app. Crocodoc’s current customers include Dropbox and Linkedin.  More from All Things D.

Hyperink Makes it Easy to Produce Short Books from Their Existing Content Including Blogs:

“Next-Generation Publishing Platform Hyperink Wants To Transform Blogs Into Books.”

Gmail Labs Graduates Automatic Message Translation from Beta:

“Say hello (or olá or halo or salam) to automatic message translation in Gmail.”

“What Does it Mean to be Human Being in the Context of 16 gigs?”

Portable Codex eVr1 to contain basic pieces representing the history of human knowledge on a sixteen GB Micro SDHC card. http://www.evr1.co/pages/evr1-canon.   “eVr1 Turns The High Points Of Human Knowledge Into A Portable Codex.”

“Facebook to Make it Easier to Become Organ Donor” from AP.

More on wearable computing hardware from Techcrunch.

“‘Angry Birds Space’ Downloaded 50 Million Times.”

I account for 2 of those downloads.

More on vVoice Control of info “Access Your Thumb Drive Using Your Voice.”

An Update to Google Docs http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2012/05/april-in-review-new-fonts-galore-and.html

“How Microsoft’s Cash Will Bolster Barnes & Noble e-readers.”

“New Barnes & Noble subsidiary that will house the digital and college businesses of the bookseller and include a Nook application for Windows 8” (from AP Story http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_289563/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=PP2Iu7sT ). Might we see a further joining of B&N’s content with Microsoft’s products?

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Very impressive ALLA conference lanyard created by Elin Glenn, Wendy Geist, and Mike Benson. All from the Hoover Public Library.

Arrival: Surviving Rapid Tech Change.”

In this information age: Librarians are rock stars. So rock like a library star.

My session was generously sponsored by Bibliothecha.

Program Description:

Libraries are constantly inundated with new technologies. This session covers the top tech areas to watch so we can be librarian rock stars in the information arena. Hear about the most important tech trends, how they are impacting libraries and the services that we provide, and how to implement them right away. Explore the current transformational trends in digital content and information access as we provide access to all.

The conference badge lanyard (pictured above) reflecting the theme of Librarian Rock Stars and all access, is one of the coolest I’ve ever seen.

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“The 17 Most-Visited Sites Of 2011 Ranked By Google .” Facebook tops the list.

“A Texas University’s Mind-Boggling Database Of Teens’ Daily Text Messages, Emails, and IMs Over Four Years.” Will add Facebook to the study as well. “Every text message, email, photo, and IM sent on Blackberries” provided to 175 students by a developmental psychology professor. Whew.

A book based on “Shit Girls Say” internet meme. “Harlequin Picks Up “Sh*t Girls Say” Book, ….”

“Facebook Tests ‘Trending Articles’ Insert in the Newsfeed.” New display model being tested that leverages social discovery of online content from news social reader apps.

“AT&T Opening Watson Speech Recognition To Developers With New APIs In June.” “the release of the APIs means that developers of every stripe will soon be able to access AT&T’s voice transcription engine.”

Google’s Cloud storage product is worth watching. “Analyst: Dropbox and Box should be seriously worried about Google Drive.” We all need cloud storage services, and Google Drive may spell more trouble for favorite including Dropbox.

Forbes on how Google Drive can compete.  /  On Google’s Dropbox competitor from USA Today.  /  “Google Drive to Launch Next Week With 5 GB of Free Storage [REPORT].”

“RingCentral Launches New Mobile, Cloud-Based Phone System For Businesses.” This release allows for the management of cloud phone systems from mobile devices.

“More Than 200K Merchants Have Signed Up For PayPal Here” Square’s competitor.

“Experts: Most people will make purchases via phones by 2020.” CNN

“Google Pumps Up Their Cloud Print Service With New FedEx Partnership.” Techcrunch. Google’s Cloud Print service now makes printing to FedEx Office locations easier.

Time’s “The 100 Most Influential People in the World.” http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2111975,00.html Includes some very interesting people of note, including: Daniel Ek – Spotify CEO, Salman Khan – of  khanacademy.org, Author E.L. James, Louis CK for disrupting content sharing models, Ann Patchett – Writer and book store supporter.

“The Noteboard Is An Amazing $10 Foldable Pocket Whiteboard.” Fold this whiteboard to take creativity with you.

“Report: Wearable Computing Will Soon Intensify The Platform Wars” “a new report by Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps argues that “in three years, wearables will matter to every product strategist””

“Career Killer: Baby Photos on Facebook” Photos of your baby on Facebook may even harm your career

Pivoting to adapt to new generations and their behaviors.   “Watch teenagers and see the future of Intuit, says CEO Brad Smith.” Members of the upcoming generation “are the ones actually dictating technology change.”

“The age of flexible electronics is upon us.” More on hardware platform directions.

“How to turn big data into engaging infographics with a single app.”  ““With data, we want to do what YouTube did for video,” Vladimir Bougay, founder and CTO of startup Knoema, told VentureBeat.” With Knoema: create infographics with data, even good for teaching.

Running software through the cloud. “RollApp launches cloud-enabled beta of ‘Open Office on iPad’.” Goal is to run existing software on iPad browser.

Restaurant experience through your mobile phone from start to finish. “New app for wait staff & diners takes restaurants into the future.” From viewing the menu to paying all with your smartphone. And the most important aspect, mobile engagement is for both parties: customers and the staff.

“MyGeoTrex: A collaborative museum tour for any location.” An answer to mobile tours for libraries, museums, and more.    “MyGeoTrex, a new startup launching today at the DEMO Spring 2012 conference in Santa Clara, Calif., is a lot like a museum tour for any location in the world — only without the bad narration, and with the power to create your own media entries for locations using your smartphone.”     Collaborative and open. Adding data about the real world encountered though smartphones, much like augmented Reality.

“Splunk, Big Data’s First IPO, Begins Trading on Nasdaq Today.” Big data makes it big.

“Foursquare Tops 20 Million Users.”

Foursquare checks in with the entertainment industry in partnership with UTA.  “Foursquare signs with UTA. Social-media firm eyes entertainment biz.”

“Forecast Takes The Hassle Out Of Ambient Check-Ins Without Draining Your Battery.”   Where you plan to check in, and auto check ins when you arrive.

Reading Is Fundamental’s (RIF) “Book People Unite” campaign http://www.bookpeopleunite.org/ Pledge your love for books on social media (Twitter hashtag #bookpeopleunite) and receive a free song about the cause featuring some great artists. More info.

Impressed by that Tupac Hologram? “Holographic Storage: Coming Soon to a Cloud Service Near You? [VIDEO].”

Study of millennial behavior “The Millennial Consumer. Debunking Stereotypes.” Discovered via “Millennial Consumers: Engaged, Optimistic, Charitable [STUDY].”

“‘Tumblr’ to Overtake ‘Blog’ in Google Searches.” reflecting the growth of the micro publishing blog platform.

Heavy emphasis on the ethical topics and research applications. Brief introduction to Pinterest itself and its context with information and technology trends.

Date/Time:

April 24. 2pm Eastern. Online via Elluminate www.ala.org/acrl/pinterest

General topics covered:

The research and discovery applications of Pinterest, how to use Pinterest in an academic library, the ethical and legal concerns, advanced project implementations.  Pinterest, now the third largest social network, has implications for the way we find, share, and use online resources.

ACRL Site Info and Registration:

Online http://www.ala.org/acrl/pinterest (ACRL member: $50, ALA member: $75, Nonmember: $90, Student: $40, Group: $295).

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Man Behind the Commodore 64 Dies

Google+ gets a makeover.

“I’ll Take “PC Disruptors” for $500, Alex. (What Is “a Tablet”?)”:

“35 percent of tablet owners say they use their laptops less frequently since getting a tablet, while 45 percent have no plans to buy an e-reader now that they own a tablet.” Tablet use still compliments TV consumption.

“Smartphone Sales to Hit 1 Billion in 2014”

According to a study cited by Mashable.

“The Apple e-book conspiracy: Three days in January”:

About the Apple eBook price fixing charges.

Social network that helps with info overload:

“Wavii Distills Information Overload Into Plot Points”. Tool’s algorithm takes authority of sources into account.

Spotify adds a Play Button to embed in your site  http://www.spotify.com/us/about/play/

“iPhone-Friendly Watch Gets $500,000 Kickstarter Funding in a Day”

Connect with your mobile patrons … through their wrist.

TripAdvisor Plays the Kevin Bacon Game to Make Reviews More Social (Sort Of):

Reviews from peers may carry more weight.

“Content takes center stage in Yahoo overhaul”.

Yahoo’s shake up includes an emphasis on content.

Infographic shows how Facebook use at work increases productivity:

From Keas via Mashable.

Open Government is Go for Launch at NASA

Renewed open data sharing plan http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasa-releases-new-open-government-plan-146673755.html

NETFLIX forms Political Action Committee – Streaming Content Lobbying:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/74929.html and

Netflix Starts a PAC. Will It Lobby For a New SOPA?

38% of Children on Facebook Are Younger Than 12

– despite the age restriction of 13.

Facebook Groups for Schools launched.

61% of US Homes and1/4 Worldwide now have WIFI:

Research conducted by Strategy Analytics about WIFI and broadband networks in global households reveals that 73% of homes in the UK, 61% in the US, and 80.3% in South Korea have WIFIF access. “A Quarter of Households Worldwide Now Have Wireless Home Networks”

Google Ending its Program of Selling to Bookstores, Focus on Google Play:

“A Change to Our Retailer Partner Program: eBooks Resellers to Wind Down Next Year”

Amazon’s cloud Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) 905 billion objects in the last quarter:

Amazon S3 also handled 650,000 requests per second and a billion objects are added every day. http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2012/04/amazon-s3-905-billion-objects-and-650000-requestssecond.html Found through Techcrunch

Location App AroundMe passes 6 Million Monthly Users, Surpassing Yelp’s Mobile User Base:

AroundMe also getting more than 1 million downloads monthly and 27 million searches per month. From Techcrunch.

Example of how to take a new look at where change is needed:

“Rethinking How to Sell Women’s Clothes, This Time With Bra Sizes”

Sales of Last Britannica Edition in Print Skyrocket:

“Britannica’s halt of print edition triggers sales” From AP.

Because I know You are Coffee Lovers:

An espresso machine for your car.

Pinterest Becomes the #3 Social Media site:

Only Facebook and Twitter are more popular than Pinterest in the US. Mashable shares data from a report by Experian. Pinterest gathered about 20 million more visitors last month than Linkedin.

Check out my upcoming webcast with ACRL about Pinterest and Academics http://www.ala.org/acrl/pinterest

Korean Augmented Reality Company has Some Image Analysis Tech to watch:

“Korea’s Olaworks is bringing smarter augmented reality to camera phones.” Most pertinent to us is the Oalworks company’s  work in object analysis with a tool it calls Mnemonics, which searches for images contextually and not by meta data through groupings of online images based on similarities, found image connection webs are projected on models.

Digital Public Library of America to Probably Launch in 2013:

Some coverage of the Digital Public Library of America in Techcrunch, Publishers Weekly story.

Content Engagement – Shazam Partners with American Idol:

Shazam, which has more than 200 million users, has teamed up with Shazam to tag and access more of the show’s content. From VentureBeat by Jennifer Van Grove.

What is Actual Penetration of NFC Like?:

A look at where NFC for mobile payments is and what a more realistic timeline for mass use may look like. Video and interview questions from Techcrunch.

Google Provides App to Improve Indoor Location Mapping:

Android app helps further improve the location accuracy of your visitors using Google Maps Floor Plans of your venue. http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/04/help-improve-blue-dot-for-people.html

Google Will Likely Release a Self Branded 7 Inch Tablet:

Release date pushed back to July.

Apple May Introduce Wireless Charging from Original Packaging:

Patent application reveals possible plans for in store displays and charging of devices while still in their packaging http://venturebeat.com/2012/04/06/apple-patent-wireless-charging/

Dropbox Adds Drag and Drop:

The cloud storage service everyone uses added a feature for browsers that allows drag and drop uploads http://blog.dropbox.com/?p=1116

Path Uses Crowd Sourcing for Adding New Languages to the App:

20 new languages being added to the privacy centered social network with a crowdsourecd approach. From VentureBeat by Jolie O’Dell.

Next Kindles MAY Have a Lit Screen:

Possible future for next Kindles’ screens http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/06/next-generation-of-e-ink-kindle-to-sport-new-front-lit-screen/

About.me Releases a Mobile App:

New iOS Mobile Application for About.me

Amazing eBook reading stats,Harry Potter eBook sales figures, Draw Something see 1 million downloads a day and reaches 50 million, Uber now allows for Scanning Credit Cards in-App with smart phone camera for easy sign up, cutting the cable cord, 2nd screen engagement, YouTube adds 3D Viewing Option, Amazon Adds Spanish Language Section to US Kindle store, Microsoft’s nswer to Google Project Glass, Online Movies May Overtake Physical Film Content via DVDs this Year, IT Plans for Deploying Tablets in the Classroom, Crowd sourcing book segments, iBrain brain reading devices, cutting spam texts.

1 in 5 Americans say they’ve read an eBook in the last year:

21% of US adults report having read an eBook in the past year, up 4% since just last December, and 4 times more than 2 years ago  – data from new Pew report shows. eBooks are favored when considering quick access and portability. eBook readers also read more (average of 24 books read in last year as opposed o 15 by print only readers) and in more formats, they read a wide variety of content from research to leisure reading, they spend more time reading (especially tablet owners), almost a third read on their smart phone, and they are more likely to purchase electronic content instead of borrowing.

Harry Potter eBook sales Through Pottermore Reach $1.5 Million in First 3 Days:

Mashable and AllThingsD (“Incendio! Pottermore E-Book Sales on Fire”) report from a Podcast interview with Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne. Probably surpassing 160,000 digital copies sold according to PaidContent.

DrawSomething Passes 50 Million Downloads & Has Been Downloaded About 1 Million Times per Day:

OMGPOP’s casual game can now boast 6 billion drawings. Draw something beats Angry Birds as the new top paid AND free iOS App.

Scan Credit Cards in-App with Smart Phone Camera:

Uber, the mobile car service reservation start up, has announced a new feature for simplifying the signing up process that allows user to enter their credit card information simply by holding it in front of their smart phone’s camera. http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/04/uber-speeds-up-sign-up-process-just-hold-up-your-credit-card-youre-in/

More Americans are Cutting the Cable Cord:

Mashable shares info from a report by the Convergence Consulting Group about the continuing trend of turning away from traditional TV. More online streaming of content may be in store.

Nielsen Report Reveals Stats on Second Screen Usage While Engaging TV Content:

“In the U.S., 88 percent of tablet owners and 86 percent of smartphone owners said they used their device while watching TV.”  While watching TV, viewers were using their devices to check email or engage the TV content, possibly through Getglue or Twitter etc.  Techcrunch’s take.

YouTube adds 3D Viewing Option:

See the YouTube blog and this Techcrunch piece.

Amazon Adds Spanish Language Section to US Kindle store:

Offers Spanish langue titles, as well as customer experience created for Spanish language speakers within the US. Amazon Press Release, Techcrunch article.

Microsoft’s SemanticMap Makes Location Sensitive Experience Unique to Each User:

“The idea is technology that lets physical signage change based on a specific user, that user’s location and what that person is looking for” as reported in Techcrunch. Instead of device reliant augmented reality, Microsoft’s tool will use “face analysis, gesture recognition and proximity detection.” A next stage in information interface beyond the smart phone or glasses/head gear.

Online Movies May Overtake Physical Film Content via DVDs this Year:

“This year, for the first time, US consumers will pay more for online movies than they will for DVDs and Blu-ray discs” reports eMarketer from research done by IHS Screen Digest.

Plans for Deploying Tablets in the Classroom:

“Research outfit Piper Jaffray recently surveyed a small group of public-school IT managers (18) about their mobile device deployments and found 78 percent to be testing iPads and/or Chromebooks (6 percent said they were testing Android tablets).”Article on survey by Piper Jaffray.

Collaborative Authorship With Nicolas Sparks:

“Help write the next great Nicholas Sparks book with USA Weekend” http://usat.ly/HTc1MG

More Crowd Sourced Book Content:

“Author Jennifer Egan, used PowerPoint to crowd source a chapter of her Pulitzer Prize winning book. Now it’s being made into a TV series on HBO” via Slideshare Google+

The iBrain and new Generation of Brain Reading Devices:

“A Device to Read Your Thoughts” The iBrain is being tested with Stephen Hawking, the device may hold potential for future of networked interaction. NYT.

Cutting Spam Texts:

Getting too many spam text messages on your library’s mobile phone? Try these methods to stop them.

Connecting Facebook Chat to other for Virtual Reference:

Tip Of The Week from NYT Gadgetwise may help your library’s answer service.

A third of teens own an iPhone, Google Augmented Reality glasses, rent Paramount movies through Google, Android claims ½ of platform share, a Netflix for online magazines, printing robots, Google Play vs. Apple store earnings, Amazon Instant Video streaming to PlayStation 3, Aviary replaces Picnik in Flickr, Ustream comes to Facebook Timeline, Windows Phone has 80 thousand apps, and Changes in Google search.

1/3 of US Teens Have an iPhone:

Report also shows that about a third of teens own a tablet, 70% of those are iPads http://allthingsd.com/20120404/daddy-i-want-an-iphone-now/

Google’s AR Glasses are more than Rumor:

The Google Augmented Reality glasses, discussed in my favorite venue, the Howstuffworks Techstuff podcast, are in fact real. The AR Glasses overlay digital info on top of the real world in front of you uniquely through a pair of glasses-like product instead of the smartphone screen. See the full story from the NYT Bits blog.

Google’s Project Glass is being tested now and not yet available to the public. “We think technology should work for you—to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don’t.  We started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment.” See also TechCrunch’s coverage

Rent 500 more movies through YouTube & Google Play:

“Paramount, Google Link Up for Movie Rentals” “The announcement means that Google, which has been struggling for years to figure out Hollywood, now has rental deals with five of the six big studios: Paramount, Sony, Time Warner’s Warner Bros., Disney, and Comcast’s Universal.”

104 million smart phones in America, Android claims 50% platform share:

New comScore report shows that 104 million Americas have smartphones, “234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices,” Android boats 50% platform share, Apple has about 30% of platform share, Apple is now 3^rd in OEM device market share. See my full post for more details.

Netflix Model for Digital Magazines:

A product released by Next Issue Media (NIM), similar to Netflix in function and form, plans to be a “digital storefront and reading experience that meets readers’ needs across all the many new platforms coming into the market.” The app will be Android first with Apple app coming soon, offers the benefits of: simplicity and central place “a unified tablet newsstand,” buying/subscribing in bulk, single navigational features across titles, and will include 32 titles at launch.

Subscription models include an all access subscription for $14.99 and a subscription only for monthly titles at $9.99. This is cheaper it is noted, than subscribing directly to certain titles included. From the Forbes story

“Business model — curated bundles of content sponsored primarily by advertising.” Allows subscribers to swap out content and not commit to single titles. Success can really count on its ability to attract more publishing partners. The big change here is the new subscription model: from title based to bundle. Publishers may receive revenue based on the time readers spend on their titles within the app.

This AllTingsD story reports not hearing any plans for Kindle Fire version of the app and that the iOS app may not come until this summer.

3D Printing of … Robots:

Printing robots that can perform to meet your functional needs. “MIT Project Aims to Deliver Printable, Mass-Market Robots.” From a Wired article.

Google Play Brings in 1/8 the Revenue that the Apple App Store Earns Daily:

Inside Mobile Apps reports on findings from a new study. “Apple pulled in more than $5.41 million a day in January. By comparison, the Android Market (now renamed Google Play) registered average daily revenues of $679,000 for both smartphones and tablet apps in the same period.” Original report from CCS Insight and Distimo. “In–‐app purchases now account for 60 percent of revenue among the 200 highest–‐grossing applications for Apple and Android.”

Amazon Instant Video can now be streamed on Sony PlayStation 3:

For the first time, Amazon Video content streams on a game console. This new service is available for Amazon Prime customers and includes “more than 17,000 TV shows and movies” through the Amazon Instant Video app.

Press Release Amazon Instant Video Now Available on PlayStation 3 System

Flickr replaces its photo editor Picnik with Aviary:

As Google shuts down Picnik, Flickr sought a replacement photo editing tool in Aviary. Aviary provides photo editing features for mobile app developers. Aviary is based on HTML5 so the same photo editing functions can be used in the tablet and smart phone apps (might this help Flickr survive in the face of Instagram?).  Flickr still has 75 million users, including many libraries and librarians.  From Techcrunch

Ustream comes to Facebook Timeline:

http://www.allfacebook.com/ustream-2012-04 and from Techcrunch

Windows Phone Marketplace now has 80 thousand apps:

Reported by Techcrunch on the growth of the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Google search changes in March:

See the Google Inside Search blog for a list if Google search updates.