Tuesday News: Wearable technologies, Readgeek book recommender, audiobook albums, and growable books
Publishing Newsalbums / audiobooks / book search engine / childrens-books / fitness / health / privacy / technology6 Comments
The revolution will be digitized – A really interesting piece on the proliferation of “wearable” technologies (and we’re definitely closer to the beginning of this trend than the end), and the diverse implications of their use and potential abuse. While there is a huge benefit scientists and researchers identify in aggregated data drawn from these devices, there are also serious privacy concerns with the way this data is collected, transmitted, and used. And still, there are opportunities within these new technologies for individuals to better understand and take control of their own health concerns, which can be very empowering, especially in a medical and insurance environment that does not always pay the best attention to people and their symptoms.
Some physicians, academics and ethicists criticize the utility of tracking as prime evidence of the narcissism of the technological age — and one that raises serious questions about the accuracy and privacy of the health data collected, who owns it and how it should be used. There are also worries about the implications of the proliferation of devices for broader surveillance by the government, such as what happened with cellphone providers and the National Security Agency.
Critics point to the brouhaha in 2011, when some owners of Fitbit exercise sensors noticed that their sexual activity — including information about the duration of an episode and whether it was “passive, light effort” or “active and vigorous” — was being publicly shared by default.
They worry that wearables will be used as “black boxes” for a person’s body in legal matters. Three years ago, after a San Francisco cyclist struck and killed a 71-year-old pedestrian, prosecutors obtained his data from Strava, a GPS-enabled fitness tracker, to show he had been speeding and blew through several stop signs before the accident. More recently, a Calgary law firm is trying to use Fitbit data as evidence of injuries a client sustained in a car crash.–Washington Post
Readgeek: Book Recommendation Engine – Has anyone tried Readgeek? Given the often hilarious and sad recommendations Amazon provides for other books, it might be worth trying a recommendation search engine like this one. One advantage is that you can rate the options it gives you, so if you dislike any of them, the engine will search again. Although I still find that friends with similar tastes provide the best recommendations.
Users can rate books classic titles they have read in the past to determine what they might like next. For instance, we gave a 8.0 ratings for a couple of the Harry Potter books and the engine recommended The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson and The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse, among eight others. (Every vote will suggest 10 potential titles to read.) –GalleyCat
Old is New Again: HarperCollins Will Release Special “Vinyl Edition” of Amy Poehler’s Audiobook in September – In the past five years or so, the sale of vinyl records (yes, they still make these!) in the United States has zoomed from 2.8M in 2010 to 9.2M in 2014. Just within the year span between 2013 and 2014, sales grew by more than 3M units. Sales are rising both in classic and new artists, and in recognition of this growth, Harper Collins is going to be publishing Amy Poehler’s audiobook, Yes Please. The album will be released in September of this year. So does this mean record players are back, too? ‘Cause I could use a new one.
“Recordings published on vinyl and read by the author used to be the standard format for spoken word recordings, dating back to when Dylan Thomas first recorded for our Caedmon label in the 1950s,” said Ana Maria Allessi, Vice President Digital Innovation and Publisher of HarperAudio. “Yes Please is a terrific recording that exemplifies modern audiobook publishing at its finest and we’re happy to be able to broaden its reach by releasing a vinyl edition.”–infoDOCKET
You Can Plant This Children’s Book And It Will Grow Into A Tree – Although Mi Papá Estuvo en la Selva (My Dad Was in the Jungle), is written for kids from 8-12, this is exactly the kind of cool gift I’d buy for kids and grown-ups. Forget coloring books for adults; I vote for more books that transform into trees and flowers and plants – how about a special edition of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn next.
Publishing company Pequeño Editor created a hand-stitched children’s book made from acid-free paper, ecological ink and jacaranda seeds, as part of a project called, Tree Book Tree. After reading the story, kids can plant the book in soil and it will grow into a tree.–Huffington Post
Several companies manufacture and sell greeting cards that you can plant and will grow into flowers, herbs, and other plants. (Search for “plantable seed cards” and you’ll find a bunch of them.)
I personally find that more appealing than a book; if the story is good enough to read again, why destroy the book? If it isn’t, why bother to read it the first time?
Amy Poehler’s memoir is wonderful, but a vinyl? So if it gets scratched, you hear her say the same word over and over again, or not at all? I listened to the audiobook on Scribd, and it’s definitely worth listening to, but…
I got my record player out of storage after 20 years and was struck by how short LPs are. What can fit on one CD takes at minimum two sides of a record, and possibly 4 sides. You constantly have to hop up and change the record.
I think my brother the audiophile is personally responsible for part of the jump in vinyl sales. He has quite an expensive turntable and collection and is a lawyer who still moonlights once a month at the indie record store he’s worked at since college. I’m a digital gal all the way b/c I listen on the go whereas vinyl has to be listened to at home.
Robin, you can find some pretty good deals on Amazon as long as you’re going for a “record player” and not a “turntable”. Target usually has a couple of options, too, especially around gift-giving times.
I played around with ReadGeek. The first time it crashed. The second time it wasn’t fast enough to get to books I was interested in. For example, it didn’t manage to figure out I like Romance a lot more than fantasy. I might play around some more, but it would do better if it asked you for some books you’d like more similar to and some you hated.
I’m really interested in using ReadGeek. I’ve rated some books just to see what happens, and seems that it’s really promising for people who’re looking for recommendations. But there’re 3 things to observe:
1 – my TBR is already way bigger than it should be, so the last thing I need now is more recommendations
2 – I’ve been using goodreads for a while, so I definitely won’t be re-rating everything again. An import function would be great if they want people to start using the service
3 – As you said, friend’s recommendations (and youtube channels/blogs you follow) are great!