The Daring Librarian

With the caveat IF you're a dedicated reader The Kindle has changed my life as a reader. After turning [cough] 40 I couldn't read regular books comfortably with or without my new (cute) reading glasses (& forget paperback books!) and I stopped reading as much as I used to. [sad face] During a Bethany Beach VaCa or summer break I used to read at least a book a day! Heck, I read the last Harry Potter in like one (long) sitting! (ok, it was 5am! but still) Thus, the Kindle, with it's comfy E-Ink better than paper display which allows for reading in extreme lighting situations and minimizes eye-strain, and it's ability to change font size has changed all that. I am back to reading again and it feels SO RIGHT! iPad-Licious! I've been thinking about this for a long time - holding out to buy an iPad for gen 2 -(and if you follow me on Twitter you know that I happily lost that fight) I even got a smaller NEW graphite Kindle for Christmas for travel! (see above ...

(Click above for more sizes & to download or to embed! ) As promised! Please feel free to Take, Use, Share! Creative Commons - Share Alike! Like these Comic Tutorials? I have a whole slew of 'em! From Blabberize, Customizing Blogger & blog design, downloading YouTube videos to your HD to a Two part Twitter Primer - I seem addicted to creating these bright fun direction sheets! Enjoy! What Techie Topic or subject would you like to see me do next? Leave a comment with your suggestions! (ps. Dear Howard Rheingold...don't worry I'm still working on yours for the book! Hush hush) UPDATE! My Mini Moo QR Cards Arrived! -- and they WORK! They scan beautifully & auto launch to this blog...woohoo! AND I got my Zazzle QR Code Square Buttons! and they work, too! BUT...the shiny surface seems to take a little longer so maybe wearing them will be easier to scan than under my stove lights! LOL Will this end my geeky QR Code Obsession? Should I splurge for a QR Code Hoodie? ...

Geek Chic: I am addicted to a few things. OK... I have guilty pleasures. Fine Coach handbags, & Fine (and/or funky/steampunk/freaky/unique) Jewelry - basically Self-Indulgent Fripperies and geeky tools & swag. (Oh and Bravo TV reality shows) Get the hippest geekiest social media hipster bling from Zazzle. Use my favorite QR Code Generator , grab your QR Code PNG, & start designing! Wear your QR around your neck for a coy geeky promo of your blog, wiki, or site. Go to Zazzle : Click on CREATE & go to the custom create page Look for Necklaces-NEW ! Go to the bottom Right & Click Choose your style - choose Square Upload your QR Code pic - adjust size Add text under the QR code if you like - you can change the font & size. Voila! ( see cool examples from my friends Diane Cordell, Shannon Miller, & Joquetta Johnson at the bottom !) Buttoned Down: Proudly pin your QR Code to your chest at conferences and in addition to handing out your MooCards like candy y...

QR Codes are popping up everywhere! On the back of my Sephora catalog, windows of shops, and in my library! They're already big in Japan - and now in New York & LA. Calvin Klein Jeans recently put up three billboards - 2 in NYC and 1 in LA - to promote the brand’s upcoming campaign for Winter 2010. Rather than a racy montage of scantily clad models, but with a bright red QR code - all the rage in Japan - under the words “Get It Uncensored.” The code allows you to use your smartphone to scan the image, being lead to an exclusive 40-second sexy commercial - "It’s often difficult to measure engagement with billboards, and QR codes help advertisers better measure their impact." The commercial might be sexy but I think the QR code is even HOTTER! -Mashable Source: Lauren Indvik They look cool, matrixy, and very graphic... but what heck ARE they? A Quick Response (QR) code is a two-dimensional or 2D bar code which can be interpreted by any mobile phone with camera ca...

photo © 2007 Darren Stone | more info (via: Wylio ) A Year in Review What an amazing & astonishing year it has been for our PLN (that's you, too dear reader!), Geek Tribe, & Librarians! So many of our tribe have been recognized by the Edublog Award Nominations for our achievements in the last year - it's astonishing! This posting is an unashamed and repentant thank you & celebration of what we ALL have done in the last year. Fakey false-modesty is NOT how I roll. I'm flippin psyched! WARNING: I use !!!'s & say YAY & AWEsome a LOT To all those who are looking at this blog because it was nominated - Hi! How you doin? I use these !!!!!'s and AWEsome a lot....or as Bob Edwards of NPR recently said of me after an interview that I " speak almost entirely in exclamation points ." Heh heh heh Like Elaine Bennis in Seinfeld - yeah...I own it. " There’s an 'embarrassment of riches' in the education blogosphere !" - Larry Fe...

or... It's a Maccabeats Chanuka! Our middle school kids really got into the Maccabeats Candlelight ( lyrics ) video this morning on MHTV- our live TV news broadcast. In fact, people were singing it all over the school! I just had to share the Maccabeats because they are a bucket full of AWEsome! This music video re-mix mash-up teaches diversity, history, and pure potato latkes love! A great video to show your school to celebrate Haunnukah & teach multiculturalism Oh and FUN! YAY! Our Lead Story Intro Script: In our continuing celebration of Chanuka , the festival of lights, we bring you a special music video created by the Maccabeats , an a capella group from Yeshiva University. Strongly committed to the "integration of traditional and non-traditional wisdom, the Maccabeats perform remixes of an array of Jewish, American, and Israeli songs." Here is their Chanuka mixup titled Candlelight. - (show video) We couldn't help filming our TV studio kids as they spon...