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Garmin eTrex GPS Units Now In Circulation

In a recent blog entry, Case CIO Lev Gonick mentioned geographic information systems as the #3 tech story of the year. Did you know that Case students, faculty, and staff can check out GPS devices in the Freedman Center?

Why does Kelvin Smith Library loan GPS units? Because the library has a Center for Statistics and Geospatial Data. You can use our GPS units to go on-site and collect your own GIS data for statistical analysis. The devices can also be used for the sport "geocaching" as you familiarize yourself with the GPS system.

The GPS units have a 48hr loan time and check out on your library card just like a book.

22,307 Pages Scanned to PDF

We checked the counter on our Sidekick document scanner yesterday. The count was an amazing 22,307 pages scanned since our opening in September! This little scanner is one of my personal favorites. You can stack 100 pages into the feeder. Press the green scan arrow and it converts your documents to PDF at a rate of 30 pagers per minute. It can handle double sided paper, both black & white and color, and scans at up to 600dpi.

The scanner has become a quick favorite to faculty looking to digitize handouts for blackboard and students looking to digitize their notes from an entire semester. Stop by and check it out!

8mm and Hi8 Now Available

We have added an 8mm and Hi8 video player to our collection, so now you can capture and digitize your old 8mm tapes in the Freedman Center*. We are looking to add a Betamax player in the future but it has proven difficult to find a working model. This brings our list of video capture sources to:
- DVD (any region)
- VHS & SVHS (NTSC, PAL, & SECAM)
- MiniDV
- 8mm & Hi8
- 16mm Reel-to-Reel
- Any video source with RCA outputs

Why would you want to digitize your old tapes? Several professors have educational content filmed on 8mm. We help them capture the content and move it to DVD or PowerPoint for use in the classroom or for posting online.

The service is not limited to professors though. The center is open to all students, faculty, & staff. You can digitize your own home footage too. It does not have to be for a classroom! You will learn a lot about digital video in the process and that learning process is part of our mission. Last semester we helped a student digitize footage of his father's football games from 16mm film to DVD, for example. What a great holiday gift!

*in compliance with copyright law.

Testing "Enhanced" Podcast

This podcast is a sample .M4B file I created and is posted here to test functionality. It includes images and chapter points as specified in the MPEG-4 standard for audiobooks (M4B). Specifically, I am interested in whether this podcast can be listened to and watched on non-ipod music devices, on Linux, and on Windows without iTunes installed. I'm also testing to see if the MTEnclosure tag correctly recognizes this audio file and adds it to the RSS feed.

Interesting note: iTunes lists all M4B files as protected audio files even though many, like this one, are not protected.