libraryWould You Ask a Librarian for a Lap Dance? (Huffington Post)
In the 15 years that I’ve worked at my local public library, I’ve learned that we librarians do plenty of things for our patrons that aren’t in our job descriptions. After a patron asked me to change her flat tire, and another wanted to check out our pencil sharpener, I logged onto my favorite librarian hangout on Face Book and asked: What’s the oddest thing a patron has ever asked you to do?

TeleRead Take: Yes, the title is totally click bait. Why do you think I excerpted it? 🙂 But it’s also a good list of odd things librarians have been asked. I’m obviously neither creative nor twisted enough to frequent my local library.
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Apple Won’t Win Music Streaming Just Because It’s Apple (Wired)
For Apple, its Music app is a necessary Band-Aid. But it might not be big enough to stop the bleeding.

TeleRead Take: There were lots of articles yesterday discussing the new Apple Music, but this was one of the few that didn’t just get into comparisons with Spotify. While I’m not going to say they are wrong (and I don’t intend to sign up for it), I do think it will lead people to try streaming music who may not have yet. Will they pay after the free three month trial? Guess we’ll find out later this year.
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Awards Profiteers: How Writers Can Recognize and Avoid Them (Writer Beware)
If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you may have guessed that I’m not a big fan of writing contests and awards.

Partly this is because so many are a waste of time, with minimal prizes, negligible prestige, and zero cachet on your writing resume. Why not spend your energy on something that can get you closer to building a readership–submitting for publication, or publishing on your own?

TeleRead Take: Lots here to think about. And it makes me wonder if awards aren’t kind of like playing the lottery. By the time you add up what you paid to play vs what you won, how likely are you to be in the black?
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The “Cobra Effect” that is disabling paste on password fields (troyhunt.com)
This became known as the Cobra Effect or in other words, a solution to a problem that actually makes the whole thing a lot worse. Here’s a modern day implementation of the Cobra Effect as it relates to the ability to paste your password into a login field:

TeleRead Take: Pardon me while I indulge in a personal pet peeve. To remote deposit checks with my banking app, I need to be at my computer to look up my password in LastPass because of the paste disabling “feature.” That’s just wrong on so many levels.
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Kindle Daily Deals: Secret Daughter (and others)

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