Neal sez, "This is a White House petition to reform U.S. copyright law in regard to libraries. Due to DRM and other publisher restrictions, libraries have lost their first sale right for ebooks and other digital media. The current ability of libraries to purchase digital content to loan to patrons is largely at the whim and discretion of the various publishers. Some only allow libraries to purchase restricted copies that 'expire' after so many checkouts, others refuse to sell digital content to libraries at all. Libraries have long been equalizers. The rich and poor could both have access to the same information. The current digital landscape threatens this vital component of our education system and by extension our democracy. Read more in my column for American libraries."
White House petition: fix copyright for 21st century libraries
Slack is back: "J.R. 'Bob' Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius" trailer drops
A SubGenius documentary? Yes, please, and Praise "Bob"! MovieWeb: What started out as an inside joke amongst two self-proclaimed weirdos in Ft. Worth, Texas became something much more than they bargained for. Reverend Ivan Stang (Douglass St. Clair Smith) and Dr. Philo Drummond (Steve Wilcox) had no idea what would happen when they decided to turn their… READ THE REST
Celebrity Storytime: Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal to host online event benefiting Children's Fairyland
Children's Fairyland is the circa 1950 storybook theme park in Oakland, California where… Walt Disney took inspiration from to build Disneyland; Frank Oz got his start as a puppeteer; It's also where Blindspotting creators Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal will host an online event called Celebrity Storytime this Saturday, September 26 at 6:30 p.m. Rafael,… READ THE REST
Postcards for Democracy: Mark Mothersbaugh and Beatie Wolfe challenge you to make mail art
Visionaries Mark Mothersbaugh and Beatie Wolfe have a request: Please send hand-decorated postcards STAT. Their mail-art challenge, Postcards for Democracy, is described as "a demonstration to support the 225 yr old U.S. Postal Service & the right to VOTE." It's easy to play: Just make & mail your original postcard creations (you can also recycle… READ THE REST
The DeliverySafe is the ultimate foil for porch pirates and it could save your holidays
With everyone stuck in COVID quarantine for much of the year, online sales for Amazon and other retailers have gone through the roof. That means more and more packages coming right to your door, to the sheer delight of a more loathsome brand of COVID opportunist: the porch pirate. Thieves taking off with delivered packages… READ THE REST
Become a machine learning aficionado with this training bundle
In the past few days, the U.S. Air Force rolled out new tools fueled by machine learning to help stem the spread of misinformation about COVID. Additionally, the Library of Congress has launched a project on how to use machine learning to better cross-reference all 170 million items in its overflowing archives. Every day, we… READ THE REST
This portable USB charger can get an Apple Watch back to full power on the go
The Apple Watch is a great addition to any tech arsenal–until it runs out of juice, that is. Then, you have to go about the process of recharging. Of course, the Apple Watch only recharges via wireless charging, meaning it can sometimes end up being pretty inconvenient to power up, especially if you're out and… READ THE REST