Library

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Seattle Public Library Website and Ebook Lending Are Down Following Ransomware Attack

Physical books, CDs, and DVDs can still be checked out using paper forms.

Privacy & Security Matt Novak May 28

Donald Trump Calls Facebook an ‘Enemy of the People’ While Buying Ads on the Platform

One recent ad features Trump groping an American flag, offering Facebook users the chace to win it.

Social Media Matt Novak Mar 11

Internet Archive Faces Uphill Battle in Lawsuit Over Its Free Digital Library

The fate of a nonprofit online book library is in the hands of a judge after four book publishers filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement.

Internet Nikki Main Mar 20

U.S. Indicts Two Russians for Allegedly Profiting Off Copyrighted Books Through Z-Library

Federal law enforcement took down the ebook repository earlier this month, claiming its owners had violated copyright laws.

Crime Kyle Barr Nov 17

This Minecraft Library Provides a Platform for Censored Journalists

Today is World Day Against Cyber Censorship. Launched by Reporters Without Borders in 2008, its goal is to raise awareness of how various governments around the world are censoring free speech online, whether it’s by blocking keywords on social media, removing individual articles and blogs, or in extreme cases, jailing and executing those individuals. With…

Games Joanna Nelius Mar 12

Get Your Ebooks From the Library, Dummy

Public libraries are a national treasure that few people seem to appreciate anymore, but I am here to tell you that you are ignoring a precious resource because these bastions of socialism don’t just have free books. They have free ebooks. We’ve definitely preached the benefits of library ebooks before, but like the DVDs and…

Gadgets Caitlin McGarry Jan 25

Watch the New York Public Library’s Beautiful Reading Room Get Reshelved with Books

The New York Public Library’s Rose Main Reading Room is one of the most majestic spaces in the city. Unfortunately it’s been closed for repairs for two years after an ornamental plaster rosette fell from the ceiling. But after fixing that, reinforcing the other 900 rosettes with steel cables, and restoring the ceiling, the beautiful…

Sploid Casey Chan Oct 11

Ride Along on a Four-Mile-Long Roller Coaster for Library Books

A few weeks ago we showed you images of incredible robotic library logistics, including the Telelift system of the National Széchényi Library in Budapest, Hungary. Last week I had a special opportunity to visit that library and take a look at its automated book transportation system—basically a roller coaster for books. The Telelift conveyor system…

Books & Comics Attila Nagy May 24

Lose Yourself In These Photos Of Europe’s Most Magnificent Libraries

Across Europe there are buildings that are nothing short of temples of literature, glorious structures where books are not just available, but placed in beautiful and honored shelves. Take a virtual tour through the stacks of some of the world’s most jaw-dropping libraries. University of Salamanca Library, Salamanca, Spain, founded in 1218 (via janny, Wikimedia…

io9 Vincze Miklós Jan 13

Where Should Obama’s Presidential Library Be Built–And By Whom?

Barack Obama may still have three years left in his presidency, but the debate over his presidential library is already reaching fever pitch. Planning the outgoing POTUS’ library is an extremely sweet gig, and it’s already been assigned to one of Obama’s advisors. Still up in the air, though, is where it will be built—and…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan Jan 12

Scientific Data Is Disappearing All the Time

When a study gets published and its results enter our collective body of scientific knowledge it feels like it’s there to stay. But without the raw data behind the study, it’s hard to revisit the research and use it to take new ideas to the next level. Which is why it’s such a problem that…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Dec 22

Watch the world’s longest domino chain made of books

To kick off its 2013 Summer Reading Program, the Seattle Public Library set a world record with a library-appropriate domino chain. Twenty-seven volunteers lined up 2,131 books and knocked them all down. It took the volunteers seven hours and five failed attempts to create this record-setting chain. The books aren’t part of the library’s current…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis Jun 16

A glass pyramid filled with nothing but books

Rotterdam has a new public library called Book Mountain, and it’s exactly what the name suggests. A pyramid-shaped glass shell several floors designed to look like a mountain made of books. This is exactly the kind of place where the angels in Wings of Desire would have hung out. According to My Modern Met: The…

io9 Annalee Newitz Oct 11

To Prevent Student Suicides, a Digitally-Inspired Screen Flecked with Gold

Since 2003, three students at New York University have jumped to their deaths from the atrium-facing staircases insides the university’s Elmer Holmes Bobst Library. The building remains very much as it was when first built in the early 1970s by Philip Johnson and Richard T. Foster: a gaping 150ft void from floor to ceiling, staircases…

Tech News Molly Oswaks Aug 29

Girl Leaves Laptop Open in Quiet Library, Porn Plays at Full Volume, Mortification Ensues

We all watch porn. We all like porn. We don’t all need to watch the porn we like in the library. In fact, we should never, ever, not ever try to—not even with headphones and in a distant corner of the stacks—because inevitably your cans will come unplugged and all of a sudden it’s Ooooh!…

Tech News Molly Oswaks Jun 1

Phone Booths Reincarnated As Bookshelves Finally Make Phone Booths Useful

If you pay close attention to the streets of any city, you might notice the boxy, armored shields that house telephones. Yes! Phone booths still exist. Of course no one ever uses them because everyone has a cell phone but yet they still stand, like unwavering artificial trees. But what if we convert phone booths…

Tech News Casey Chan Feb 20

Get Free Kindle Books from Your Public Library

If you were worried that ebooks might kill off the public good of the library loaner, here’s reason to worry a little less: Amazon’s teamed up with 11,000 public libraries that’ll beam books to your Kindle for free. It’s unclear whether the full overlap of your library’s collection and Amazon’s kindle catalog will be available,…

Commerce Sam Biddle Sep 21

A Towering Temple of Bookshelves for Books and Readers

This library in Japan is made with bookshelves. Which doesn’t sound all that cool, right? A library in ordinary town, middle America has freaking bookshelves. But these bookshelves are 30 feet tall, line the walls and tower over the library. What’s impressive is that instead of having bookshelves placed against the walls of the library,…

Tech News Casey Chan Jun 27

Google’s Helping the British Library Digitize 250,000 Books

250,000 of the British Library’s out-of-copyright books from 1700 to 1870 will be digitized by Google, both sides confirmed today. This means the whole world will get access to important tomes, pamphlets and periodicals spanning some 40 million pages, via Google Books and the British Library’s website. As the British Library says, this period “saw…

Tech News Kat Hannaford Jun 20

Library Porn Lover Punched Out by Vigilante

Man, sometimes all you want is to just settle in at the library, fire up some internet porn, and have yourself a time. That’s what Brooklynite Santiago Real had in mind before he was beat up by another patron. The two proceeded to punch the crap out of each other, after which Santiago’s attacker, Durail…

Tech News Sam Biddle Apr 20

Library

Seattle Public Library Website and Ebook Lending Are Down Following Ransomware Attack

Donald Trump Calls Facebook an ‘Enemy of the People’ While Buying Ads on the Platform

Internet Archive Faces Uphill Battle in Lawsuit Over Its Free Digital Library

U.S. Indicts Two Russians for Allegedly Profiting Off Copyrighted Books Through Z-Library

This Minecraft Library Provides a Platform for Censored Journalists

Get Your Ebooks From the Library, Dummy

Watch the New York Public Library’s Beautiful Reading Room Get Reshelved with Books

Ride Along on a Four-Mile-Long Roller Coaster for Library Books

Lose Yourself In These Photos Of Europe’s Most Magnificent Libraries

Where Should Obama’s Presidential Library Be Built–And By Whom?

Scientific Data Is Disappearing All the Time

Watch the world’s longest domino chain made of books

A glass pyramid filled with nothing but books

To Prevent Student Suicides, a Digitally-Inspired Screen Flecked with Gold

Girl Leaves Laptop Open in Quiet Library, Porn Plays at Full Volume, Mortification Ensues

Phone Booths Reincarnated As Bookshelves Finally Make Phone Booths Useful

Get Free Kindle Books from Your Public Library

A Towering Temple of Bookshelves for Books and Readers

Google’s Helping the British Library Digitize 250,000 Books

Library Porn Lover Punched Out by Vigilante

8GB of RAM Hasn’t Hurt MacBook Neo Sales at All

Forget Mac Mini, Kamrui Windows 11 Pro Mini PC Is Practically a Steal at 44% Off for Amazon Prime Members Only

Steven Soderbergh Is Done With His Ben Solo Movie Idea, Now That We All Know About It

Google Nest Doorbell (Wired, 3rd Gen) Hits Its Cheapest Price, Making Home Security More Affordable

Mint Mobile Takes on Big Cable With One Simple Plan, Bundle Internet and Wireless for Just $45/Month

Toshiba 43-Inch Smart Fire TV Crashes 53%, Now Costs About as Much as a Small Portable Monitor

Tom Holland Teases New Tweaks for ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Reshoots

Bose SoundLink Home Speaker Quietly Falls to an All-Time Low After Months of Stable Pricing, No Major Sale Event Needed

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

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AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

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