The Sentient Search Engine

It’s interesting what you learn when you are in the habit of poking around in the job postings companies put on their websites. I was touring around Overdrive’s corporate site and decided they might be looking for a librarian (they serve a lot of libraries after all). I found nothing I was qualified for, but I did find this:

Application Developer – Apple Mac OS X/iPhone OS  

The Developer’s responsibilities include developing and supporting Apple Cocoa and Cocoa Touch applications. Development responsabilities will require creating engaging multimedia Mac and iPhone programs that use web-connected technologies.

Responsibilities:

• Coordinating and participating in the implementation, testing, and supportof Mac and iPhone-based applications using Objective-C, Cocoa/Cocoa Touch, XCode 3, and the iPhone SDK.
• Programming, developing, and producing connected iPhone applications that communicate through web services to a host data source
• Maintenance of the code-base using Subversion source control database. Support to product management and business development teams for various projects
• Explicit and thorough documentation of all source code and resources, both in project documentation and in-code comments
• Assist in testing all applications against software and hardware versions. Provide timely turnaround and documentation of bug fixes during test cycle.
• Other duties as assigned

Desired Experience:

• Degree in Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, or equivalent experience
• Experience with Apple OS X 10.5, XCode 3.1, and Subversion.
• Knowledge of Objective-C 2, Cocoa/Cocoa Touch Framework, SQLite3, XML
• Experience consuming XML-based web services
• Knowledge of REST, SOAP and other web service technologies
• Experience developing in a mobile platform environment, such as optimization techniques and resource conservation.
• Knowledge of Subversion a plus
• Having an existing application available in the Apple App Store a definite plus
• Microsoft .NET and C# experience a plus

Desired Skills:

• Skilled in HTML, JavaScript, DHTML, and XML

Desired Qualities:

• Knowledge of SQL and general database organization/implementation
• Ability to prioritize multiple tasks based on project, urgency, etc
• Ability to coordinate tasks across multiple sites per project.  

Please email your resume and cover letter to jobs@overdrive.com.

It would appear that Overdrive is interested in creating an iPhone/iPod Touch app. I’m certainly interested in Overdrive making an iPhone/iPod Touch app. If you are a Mac savvy developer interested in making my day, please apply for this job and work as quickly as humanly possible to make this happen. K’Thanks!

Seriously, this is pretty big. When I think of how handy and relatively seamless the Kindle App and Stanza are, I get downright bubbly at the prospect of an iPhone app. Can you say wireless downloads? I just hope my prognosticating here isn’t too off base. At the very least this news along with recent news of Sony’s recent deal with Overdrive, gives me more reason than ever to have hope for the Library’s future as a digital content distributor.

Prior posts might leave you with the impression that I’m a bit of a pessimist when it comes to ebooks and eBook Readers, especially Amazon’s Kindle. I’m still a pessimist about Kindle and dedicated readers, but I have to tell you I’m coming around on eBooks.

I never doubted that eBooks would “take over” someday, as there are too many plusses to the technology. What I really objected to was the speed with which everyone though it would happen. The Kindle app has changed my mind.

I’ve had it on my iPod Touch for several months now, but I didn’t have anything to read on it, or any desire to acquire anything. Recently I left work without a book I wanted to finish. I had a largely unscheduled evening ahead of me and nothing to read! Being the type of guy I am, I decided to turn a problem into an opportunity. I went on Amazon’s site and bought a Kindle copy and started reading.

Let me start with the purchasing process. Its too easy, and I’m only partially kidding. I found the book, and clicked “buy with one click” and it was mine. Wow! All I had to do then was fire up the Kindle App and synch it with my Kindle account! My book came to me over my wifi connection almost instantly, no pluging in required. Wow again.

The recent 1.1 upgrade to the Kindle App is extraordinary. It uses the motion sensing capabilities of the iPhone\iPod touch to allow a landscape presentation and lets you lock in in your prefered orientation. This is huge for those among the uninitiated, for it lets you keep the print big enough to read without having to have only 3 words per line. One can therefore actually follow the book you’re reading as you can string coherent thoughts together! You advance the pages with a tap on the right side of the screen, and flip back with a tap on the left. It seems Amazon learned a few tricks from LexCycle when they bought them.

This app is whats going to sell eBooks for Amazon long term, not their overpriced one trick pony. When I think of what will be possible when the rumored large-form iPod/iPhone/Apple Tablet comes out…

This does leave me with a rather galling question for librarians. Why don’t we have a method of distributing digital material that is this easy to use? My library offers a collection of Overdrive eBooks, eFlicks, eAudiobooks, etc. Why can’t overdrive create an app(s) for the numerous portable devices out there to seamlessly deliver our material to where people want it? There are no technological limitations to this. Apple wouldn’t be stupid enough to deny such an app admittance to the App Store (I don’t think).

This would certianly allieveate some of the clunkiness assoicated with using Overdrive materials on iPods. One could browse ones “checked out” items and start it up immediately! This might also help with compatibility issues, who really knows what’s possible until someone does it! I might actually use my library’s digital collection if it was as easy as my Amazon experience!

Here’s hoping someone gets it togather and gets this done!

PS. Owners of the iPod Touch and iPhone need not spend money to try out their Kindle Apps. Amazon has several (good) titles available for FREE. I’m enjoying Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson at the moment. Also available (and highly recommended) is His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik (Anne McCaffery meets Patrick O’Brien, what could be better?).

At the same time it launches Kindle 2, Amazon is also coming out with a Kindle App for iPhone/iPod Touch. Perhaps this can be chalked up to them trying to reach the growing “installed base” of iPhone/Touch users and convert them to Kindle fans with the some of the nice connective features (the “page your on” in a given book is synchronized between your iPod/Phone and the Kindle, creepy…). 

I think they’re hedging their bets…

The original Kindle, while generally well thought of, had its share of problems. The new Kindle 2 solves many of those but some of them remain:

• The display is still color-free
• The DRM is still insanely restrictive (as DRM tends to be)
• It still costs $359.00.

I know that the iPod/iPhone is not exactly an ideal reading tool. The introduction of the App won’t stop anyone inclined to buy a Kindle from buying one.

I can’t help but feel that Amazon wants to ensure that if the Kindle hardware doesn’t fly, that they will still have their foot in the door with the App. If rumors of a “big iPod Touch” are true, I can’t help but feel that Amazon will be happy they took this particular step.

I hope I don’t come off as a Kindle hater. I think the Kindle is actually good for reading and I wish it well. I just have trouble understanding the business sense here. Why market a product for $360 that does only one thing exceptionally well in a day and age when the multiuse device is King? It might make sense for the “big readers” out there, but certainly not for everyone…

Okay, so I first started hearing rumors about a larger “tablet PC”-ish iPod Touch back in December. I remember thinking at the time that it was the most absurd thing I had heard or read in quite awhile (and remember, I work with the general public folks *wink*) . After all, we all saw how successful Tablet PCs turned out to be on the broader market.

However, I now know that I was simply not yet one of the converted. I bought myself a 32GB Touch in January, and I’m in love.  I really am. The only think I don’t like about it is that its not an iPhone. (I would have gotten an iPhone, but AT&T worries and my poor track record with gadgets prevented me.) The coolest thing about it is the app store. The idea that I could find and download programs for nearly every need (often for free) was a huge deal with me, especially since I didn’t have to be at a PC to do it, could download directly to my iPod.

Its this capability that sruck a cord with me when I revisited those “Big iPod” rumors. The new iPod, it is said, will be between 5 and 7 inches in diameter, so it will have a nice sized screen without being too huge to be travel-friendly.

What do you get when you combine the flexibility and ease of use of an iPod Touch (with the App store) with a significantly bigger screen? A renaissance (you heard me, renaissance) in mobile computing, that’s what. Think of the productivity that would afford. I could actually stand to compose a long document on something that size. I managed a post on this blog on my Touch, and I imagine a larger screen would have only made the experience more pleasant. Would people really want to go without the keyboard associated with traditional notebooks? Sure! If I can handle a iPod Touch keyboard with my bloated meathooks then a larger screen would only make that better!

The main pitfall of the Tablet PCs are complexity and size. They were PCs with primitive touchscreens neither of which is conducive to real productivity. The smaller form factor implied in the rumors coupled with the super-simple interface of the iPod makes for very exciting possibilities.

A big Ipod has important entertainment ramifications as well. After all, It will be more fun to watch a movie on a bigger screen, and browsing ones library will become simpler as longer song titles can be accomodated [This is one other minor shortcoming of the Touch for me. I listen to a lot of classical music, and the titles of most works are much too long to display a useful fragment of, let alone in their entirety]. The touch certainly looks to be a possible Kindle-Killer (not that it had THAT much life in the first place) as apps like Stanza will make the big iPod an effective eBook reader.

In a library note, the “Big iPod” would also be the ultimate roving reference tool. You could search the catalog and the web and demonstrate databases and Electronic Resources right from the floor with a device large enough to view with a customer, but small enough to carry casually (rather than lug around). Here’s an idea! Add a USB port for a barcode/RFID scanner to the Big iPod and you get the Weeder’s/Shelf Reader’s best friend…