"Holland counts 4 million registered MSN users out of an internet population of 11 million. With 26 million MSN users for Europe all together this puts Holland far ahead of other countries.

55% of the dutch MSN population is younger than 25 years, with a fast growing group between 15-19. With an average of 49 buddies it is not uncommon for dutch youngsters to reach the maximum of 150 peers on their list. These numbers are unheard of in the United States, according to the dutch MSN marketing manager Marc Hoenke, who recently requested Ms headquarters to add to the maximum.

Dutch trendwatcher, cultural sociologist Carl Rohde of the universtiy of Utrecht says that MSN is the most common means for young people in Holland to keep in touch with peers and relatives.

Today MSN Messenger is even more popular in Holland than sms-services on mobile telephones. This is due to the growing number of households with a broadband connection on either cable or ADSL. MSN manager Joost Nienhuis beliefs that MSN has the potential to become more popular than email. He expects that Holland's MSN subscriber base will grow to 10 million users." [Smart Mobs]

150 buddies on their lists? Just imagine the social networks these kids are going to have when they enter the work force and what kinds of expectations they'll have for interacting with them!

I wonder how many of these kids use MSN or similar services to contact the library?

Wi-Fi Market Surges on Consumer Sales

"Consumer holiday purchases contributed to rapid growth of WiFi gear sales in 2003. Synergy Research Group said that total revenue for WiFi gear was up more than 55 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003, reaching $751.9 million. Revenue for the year was up about 40 percent, reaching $2.5 billion.

The consumer sector drove the market, increasing about 74 percent in the fourth quarter to $517.6 million -- up 66 percent for the year, for a total of $1.6 billion. The enterprise sector was up about 26 percent for the quarter, to $234.3 million, and about 9 percent, to $869.7 million, for the year.

The rapid growth in the consumer market is consistent with past performance, but the good numbers from the business sector show that enterprises are beginning to overcome their initial unease about WiFi security and other perceived weaknesses of WLANs.' " [ZDNet, via TechnoBiblio]

cj then goes on to ask, "Do these sales figures bode the same thing for libraries?" Of course, I think the answer is yes. I just helped another non-techie co-worker purchase wireless equipment to install at home. She doesn't even have internet service, but she bought a laptop and it came with 802.11b in it. She's skipping dial-up and going straight to cable internet and installing wireless from day one. She's even going to try installing the equipment herself, which I think speaks to how far WiFi has permeated the collective consciousness of computer users, even at this early stage.

More of my neighbors are going broadband, so personally I'm seeing a definite trend. They're not all going wireless - yet. But when we talk about it, it's no longer a foreign concept and it's accepted as something they will eventually do, even if they're not ready quite yet.

Consumers are getting a taste of the convenience Wi-Fi provides, and the number of users and devices will only grow. Best to start preparing now.

Low Cost Memory Cards to the Corner Grocery

"The first members of the Shoot & Store line include 32 MB CompactFlash and SD cards. These will be sold in grocery stores and pharmacies for $14.99.

By the middle of the year, SanDisk plans to distribute 64MB cards at an initial price of $24.99, as well as add other card formats including Memory Stick PRO." [Brighthand, via PDA 24/7]

Further down on the page, Brighthand then notes "SanDisk also just announced the first 4 GB CompactFlash card that can be used in any CompactFlash device." Granted, it will cost $1000 when it hits the market in April, but that price should fall significantly over the next year.

It's amazing that you can carry 4GB on you on a card the size of a quarter. But wait, there's more!

SimpleTech Announces 8GB Compact Flash Card

""Digital Photography Review is reporting that SimpleTech has announced 2, 4, 5 and 8GB Type II Compact Flash Cards utilizing its patented IC Tower stacking technology." [Slashdot]

It's like a crazy game of poker - "I'll see your 2GB card, and raise you another 2GB." "Well, I'll double your bet and raise you another 4GB to 8...."

In 2000, I had a 128MB memory stick for my digital camera during our summer vacation. I ran out of room pretty quickly, and we had to scramble to find a place to buy another one. I paid premium price for it, and there was only one store in town that even sold them. Now I wonder how long will it be until you can buy a terabyte on a quarter-size card at the grocery store.

This type of ubiquity and utility is going to have a major effect on how we view, keep, and use digital bits and bytes, whether they be pictures, music, video, or text (information). It's the ultimate shift to have remote access to your data and files while also being able to carry the most important ones with you all the time.

Good news for SLS libraries! In addition to offering free Movable Type blogs for our members, we are now offering a hands-on training class for MT. Actually, all librarians are welcome to take the class, so non-SLS librarians can email itdept@sls.lib.il.us to register.

Introduction to Blogging: Making Your Web Duties Easier
Instructor: Aaron Schmidt
Dates: April 15, May 20, September 16, and October 14
Time: 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Cost: $60
Limit: 10 registrants per class

"In this hands-on class you'll learn how to start a blog and why you'd want to in the first place! Using Movable Type software on the SLS server, you'll learn how to change the look of your blog and touch on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in the process. If you'd like to add an easy to update, dynamic portion to your web site, or even use a blog as the basis for your web site, this is the class for you! SLS offers a free Movable Type blog on its server to every member library!"

Aaron runs the Thomas Ford Memorial Library web site, which is composed entirely with MT blogs.

Keep RSS Free for All

"Cast your vote for free choice, and away from restricted, proprietary services, by using open RSS news readers and all feeds. Walling RSS up inside a proprietary garden is wrong. And expensive too!" [eWeek]

This one went through the blogosphere over the weekend, dusting up some controversy about NewsGator. However, what really caught my eye is this little image almost thrown away towards the end of the article.

Now, isn't that graphic waaaaaaaaay better than a button that says "XML"? Here's the URL syntax that goes behind it: http://add.my.yahoo.com/rss?url=http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/rss.xml.

So now, your library can add this graphic to allow MyYahoo users to easily subscribe to your site! That would what is known as an "inroad" into the mainstream.

Request: I hope quickSub adds MyYahoo!