In the bag & pocketses #techtools #edutech #mobile

Thinking back over the last five years about tech tools that have been in my bag or pocket there are some proven stayers and some other, more recent essentials that make my life connected, pleasant and productive.* Hardware My MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7 comes most places with me […]

Some reflective thoughts about social reading…

We read to know we are not alone.   SOURCE I have recently purchased a new Kindle e-reader. You can click on that last link and read the specs but in short it has “Amazon’s 6″ Paperwhite display technology with E Ink Carta™ and built-in light, 300 ppi, optimised font technology, 16-level gray scale“. It is […]

Where do you get your books?

I haven’t analysed how much money I spend proportionally on hardcover, paperback, audio or ebooks each year but know it is not as predicted several years back. The truth is, I spend almost as much money on traditionally bound books as the other two combined rather than my expenditure slowing to a trickle, as expected. […]

Eggs & baskets, Kobo & Calibre

It always concerned me that Amazon had such a monopoly on ebooks. However, my customer satisfaction since purchasing my first kindle in 2009, compared with the obvious inferiority of other e-readers, has been high. The price, ease and massive catalogue of ebooks available did not make it seems so bad to have all my eggs in one basket. I […]

Amazon Fails Social Reader

I have written many posts about social reading but this one is focused on the the decline in Amazon’s (previously excellent) customer service. It is really difficult to understand how the loop I am currently in with Amazon is not dealt with more positively by the people employed to maintain the standard the company has set since […]

My tools

Two years ago I posted about the tech tools I use daily. Many I continue to find essential, others have fallen by the wayside. What follows is a brief update to close 2013. Best wishes for the New Year! Reading, writing, saving & sharing WordPress: my blog records some of my professional thinking and life. Often I share […]

What have you read (so far) in 2013?

Darcy tapped the page of his book and the next appeared. It had been years since he had to physically labour, turning page after page, of a novel or heavy non fiction tome and he knew he would resent having to make that much effort to read when his Kindle iPad app was so convenient. […]

Social Reading: Fad or Future?

Reading has always been a solitary pursuit – by definition – in my mind. I never sought membership of any kind of club or group that met to discuss books, other than being an English teacher spending my days in classroom conversation about reading, writing and literature. The idea of attending a ‘festival’ to listen […]

Teacher-Librarians

Thanks to Robyn Beyer and the organising committee of the Northern Sydney Regional Teacher-Librarian conference for kindly inviting me to present the keynote today. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The delegates were enthusiastic and treated me very kindly indeed. cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by Darcy Moore My pre-conference survey […]

Social Reading

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by Darcy Moore Reading has always been a solitary pursuit – by definition – in my mind. I never sought membership of any kind of club that met to discuss books. The idea of attending a ‘festival’ to listen to an author, or ask them […]

myPad

My 5 and 8 year old daughters have monopolised our iPad since we bought it in 2010. I never really used it that much but my partner, who is not at all geeky, would prise it away from the kids for email, browsing, Plants vs Zombies, ABC iView and reading the ‘newspaper’. Wikipanion is her […]

The best of both worlds: an anecdote

I have been asked to ‘lecture’ at the University of Wollongong this year. This position gives me the privilege of working with tertiary students preparing to become English teachers. This is an exciting opportunity and while preparing, thinking about the idealistic and the pragmatic, it became evident to me that the experience of organising to teach […]

Your Daily Bread?

What online and tech tools do you use daily in your personal and professional life? Have they changed in the last two years? What has failed to ‘work’ for you? I am having a little tidy – before the New Year – and was thinking about 2011. This is a brief ‘Christmas’ post (a list […]

My Spines

@LiteraryMinded asked about ‘our spines’ today and I have obliged below. However, it is my Kindle that has the most titles, especially chapter samples to read.

Anthill: A Novel

“The cycles of other species can be destroyed, and the biosphere corrupted. But for each careless step we take, our species will ultimately pay an unwelcome price – always” I have just finished Anthill, set mostly in Alabama and occasionally underground, by two times Pultizer Prize winner and first time novelist, aged 81, E.O. Wilson. Pre-ordered ages ago, it arrived […]

The Genius in All of Us: Part II

Now, having finished David Shenk’s, The Genius in All of Us, I’d like to continue my reflection on the importance of this work to educators, students and parents.   The notes I made while reading, using that function on my Kindle, highlight that our quintessential thinkers, in Western civilisation, have always suspected that giftedness’ was a […]

My Kindle Review

I’ve now read a book on my Kindle and feel the time has come for a brief review.  Firstly, I’m glad I purchased the device and have no reservations about the outlay of approximately $300. I am happy with the leather cover and the weight of the Kindle. The fact that one can add documents , […]

Disruptive Technologies: Kindle in Australia

Disruptive technologies You may remember that I almost bought an iLiad last year. I had been after an e-reader for quite a while but the available product was just not good enough to purchase. The release of the Kindle 2 re-awakened my digital lust earlier this year. Today, my Google Reader presented *drum roll* Amazon’s Reader Comes to Australia  […]

The Kindle 2

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iLiad

Actually went to Dymocks in George Street and checked out the iLiad. I really wanted to buy one with the money earned judging the SMH Young Writer Comp but couldn’t justify the outlay for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I had the salesman search for the PDF of the last few novels I read and […]

‘The Revolution Will Be Digitalized’

The Revolution Will Be Digitalized is an interesting article on the Kindle and future of books. If you wander into Dymock’s you can have a look at the iLiad, an Australian released equivalent as, to my knowledge, Kindle is unavailable here.