The Distant Librarian

Author: Paul R. Pival

  • Updates on Talkr and Feed2Podcast

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    Paul R. Pival
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    Well so far only one other person has subscribed to my two audiofeed versions (which is fine, ’cause this really isn’t a podcast), but I just thought I’d give you my impressions.  I continue to be impressed with how well both Talkr and Feed2Podcast translate text to voice – very rarely to they really screw…

  • The state of co-browsing

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    Paul R. Pival
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    Caleb at the Oregon Libraries Information Network blog has a lengthy post on the state of co-browsing and virtual reference.  In large part, it’s a response to Sarah’s post on the Librarian In Black about what she heard at the most recent Virtual Reference Desk conference.  Some difference in opinions here, and both posts are…

  • Followup on PowerGramo (voice recording for Skype)

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    Paul R. Pival
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    I’ve had a chance to try out PowerGramo (Skype voice recorder for Windows) and it sounds incredible!  It starts recording as soon as the call is initiated – you have the option of turning it off right away, but this is a nice feature as you don’t have to remember to turn it on.  Of…

  • More RSS to voice

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    Paul R. Pival
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    Strange, I’m honestly not even looking for these things, and already I’ve tripped across another RSS – voice/podcast service.  This one’s called Feed2Podcast, and it features a male robot voice instead of a female one like Talkr uses.  Again, it’s pretty decent, and if you want to, you can subscribe to my male robot podcast…

  • Podcasting with The Distant Librarian (sorta)

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    Paul R. Pival
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    This is a little experiment.  I just found a service called Talkr that will take any RSS feed and turn the text into an mp3 file, read by a nice robot female voice.  It’s surprisingly good!  Not only can you give them an RSS feed to turn into mp3s, but I can, and have, given…

  • Skype Recording

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    Paul R. Pival
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    Will Richardson at Weblogg-ed posts about Skype Recording using a free plugin called PowerGramo.  Not a single one of my Skype contacts has signed in this AM so I haven’t tested it, but it seems pretty straightforward.  As per usual, it only works on WinXP and Win2K, sorry Macfans 🙁  Will raves about it, and…

  • HarperCollins Plans to Control Its Digital Books

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    Paul R. Pival
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    I wonder if they’re going to ask permission of all their authors first 😉  Seriously though, as long as this collection is openly available to the standard search engines I think this is a great idea that they’re taking matters into their own hands. Said the HarperCollins CEO "We didn’t like being seen as Luddites,"…

  • ::schwagbag::: Michigan students may require online course to graduate

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    Paul R. Pival
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    Sherri reports that Michigan students may require online course to graduate.  These are HS students, but I agree with her – what an interesting idea, and neat to hear that someone in Michigan understands how important distance education is.  Now I wish I’d kept a link to a recent report that showed quite a few…

  • 7 Things You Should Know About Instant Messaging

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    Paul R. Pival
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    A nice, concise, 2-page PDF from EDUCAUSE that summarizes what educators need to know about Instant Messaging.  Nothing new here for those of you following the topic, but it’s a nice presentation from an authoritative source.

  • Triangulation 1: Google Print

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    Paul R. Pival
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    One of my favourite podcasts is Leo Laporte’s This Week in Tech (TWiT).  Very high production values and good, current topics.  Leo and John C. Dvorak (not my favourite) have started a new podcast called Triangulation, in which they have three experts (presumably they will always be two of the three?) discuss a given topic. …