Netflix Separates DVD and Streaming; Creates Qwikster

Netflix announced today that they are splitting their DVD rental and internet streaming services into two distinct services.  The streaming service will retain the name and brand "Netflix" while the DVD will be labeled "Qwikster."  The same red envelopes will come to your doorstep, just with a different name attached.  Announced in an email to customers and on their official blog, the service will start sometime in the near future and each entity will bill separately and lose the integration.  The Qwikster site is already up and ready to start at qwikster.com

I was hanging in there.  I enjoy getting those little red envelopes in the mail, even though I have used the streaming service more and more since it started.  Let's be honest, I have only sent back a handful of movies the last couple of years.  Still, I liked that I could go on their website and know that if I really wanted to see a movie, my 1 DVD and streaming plan meant that within two days I would be seeing it.  Now I have to go to two different sites?

New services through Qwikster are also put forth, such as a video game rental, but this is not for me.  I tried other services (Gamefly) for video games and just did not like them, and I play a lot of video games.

Also, I think it is wrong to site other companies failures (AOL and Borders) in your apology/announcement.  Cheap tactic that did not make me rise to save you but pity your demise.  Times they are changing and this loss of inter-connectivity will break Netflix.

I don't mean to whine, but I thought we had a good thing going, Netflix.  You've changed.  Reed Hastings claims "I messed up."  Yeah, you did, and you lost another customer to your DVD rental, too.

Chinese Students Dislike Intrusion of Computer Lab in Library

Some students at Peking University are protesting the inclusion of an Apple study center into a library they call "sacred."  The 430 square foot computer lab is taking up valuable space in an already cramped study environment, student against the lab say, as well a promoting commercialism in a pure academic environment through education discounts that can be bought from the computers.  Some have no problem with the addition of more study aid tools, while others simply wish it could have been created off site.  People's Daily via MacObserver

I love that people want to use and academic library for, ya know, studying.  I am all for progress and moving forward with online databases in libraries, but some people type like they are trying to kill ants on the keys.  Brenda from Reference, pasta preserve her, used to type so loud dust would fall from the ceiling before she finished the ".com" in "vikinglibrarian.blogspot.com"  If only she could have updated that site more.  It could disturb study behavior, I'm just saying.

Goodreads Recommendations Thinks I Am A Bisexual Teenager With a Classic Lit Fetish

Goodreads, one of the most popular book review/social network hybrid websites, has launched a recommendations feature.  The new feature uses an algorithim based on what you have read and reviewed (with 'stars') to give books you may also be interested in.  The site now also has the ability to give recommendations by genre, by community suggestions, and by the virtual 'shelves' each user may create.  LibraryJournal

I checked out the recommendations on Goodreads.  Yeah.  It looks like my Netflix did after my EXroomate finished rating all those damn anime movies.  Recommendation lists are not good for reviews, kids.  When I started the 100 Books review list, I created a "to-read" and a "100 Book" shelf.  Does anyone remember what those books are?  Yep, the banned book list from 2000-2009.  That includes everything from the classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to The Joy of Gay Sex.  I am not embarrassed by reading anything on that list, but I have the feeling that at the end of the final review, when I really do not know what to read and need recommendations, my personal list is going to look like something a teenage goth girl Bella from Twilight would create because she's so much more "intelligent and edgy" than others her age.

And in case anyone asks, yes, I have rated more than just the stuff on the 100 list.  Does not seem to matter though... now the recommendations look like a schizophrenic's morphine-induced hallucination of a library with horror and comics next to nonfiction sex and classical literature
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Be my goodread friend here

Hollywood Librarian Screening Tour

The Teaneck Public Library in will host a screening of "The Hollywood Librarian: A Look at Librarian's in Film" Friday as part of a lecture tour the film is making.  The film explores what it is to be a librarian, the stereotypes one faces, and the everyday life.

"Interviews with actual librarians, intercut with film clips of cinematic librarians, examine such issues as literature, books and reading, censorship, library funding, citizenship and democracy. For the first time, we see and understand the real lives and real work of American librarians who for decades have been a cultural force hiding in plain sight." NorthJersey.com

Can I say I love that they used the term "actual librarians"?  "I'm not a librarian, but I play one in that one movie that was made about librarians."  I applaud the making of this movie and its message.  It is rare that the library community gets a big screen shout-out without a scowling face and kung fu shushing motion.  Part of me really wishes this was a silent movie, though.

Now for the UnGood News: All in One Go

Okay, like a band-aid, let us get through this bad library news quickly and back to the funny.

A library worker in East Brunswick, NJ has pleaded guilty to having over 600 images of child pornography on his home computer, some graphically violent and sadistic.  I'm gonna be sick. nj.com

After a lengthy fight with the county, the city of Lake Elmo, MN has split from the Washington County library system to start its own library.  What this means for residents of either library system has yet to be decided.  This is what happens when you let your cities go to spring break without you.  twincities.com

The Palo Alto, CA community is in an uproar over the soaring price of the construction of their new library and community center.  The price has risen almost 25 percent since construction began, with only 33 percent of the project completed.  Do you feel better I started with the worst of these stories? MercuryNews

Starbucks Free eBook Is Too Good to Be True

Starbucks has announced that along with the iTunes App Store "Pick of the Week" free song, it will give its customers a free ebook as well.  However, the fine print claims that the ebook is an "extended sample."  For instance, the first book up is Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and contains 330 pages of the complete text.  The book is only 400 pages long.  The last page of the 'free' version has a link to buy the 'full' version for $12.99. This has caused some users to become a little angry at the company.  MyNorthwest

I can not decide if I like this or not.  On one hand, I dislike Starbucks.  I have a coffee maker, it makes coffee.  It cost $35, has a timer and not much else.  In my estimation it paid for itself in three days of not buying my coffee outside.  It makes me feel good to see Starbucks get negative press.

On the other hand, I also like to see suckers mad when they did not read the little writing under "free."  I mean, wow, that's a dick move to charge $13 for 70 pages, but you were also paying $6 for a cup of coffee with foamy milk, whip cream and some flavored sugar powder so I can not feel bad for ya.

Google to Attempt Take Over of English

Google is set to launch it's Google eBooks store simultaneously in the UK, Canada, and Australia.  Both Canada and Australia have seen massive book and ebook system drops in the last year with the collapse of companies such as Borders, and this will be a welcome addition.  No date has been set for the launch of the service, but Google hopes to have it running by the end of the year.  GoodEReader

And so it came to pass, the mighty Google put out its hands and grasped the empires of old.  "Care to Feel Lucky?" the diety said, casting his head back in laughter.