If the future of e-readers is getting weird, I’m here for it by

If I were Xteink or any similar hardware developer, I’d be looking hard at giving support to the CrossPoint project and then focusing my efforts on making a device with simpler controls (fewer buttons!). Adding lighting and potentially a touchscreen would make this interesting, too. There are a lot of directions this sort of product could go—so let’s get to experimenting.

I was similarly looking at this device. I had seen it somewhere on threads and thought this looked cool.

But then I looked at the feature set and given that most of my reading is happening via the e-library app. It did not make sense.

Spotify is testing a feature that syncs audiobooks with paper editions by Jess Weatherbed

Using Page Match will require users to unlock or purchase the audiobook on Spotify, and own either the paper or ebook version of the same book. The feature works by scanning the page you’re currently reading with your device camera, using optical character recognition (OCR) to identify passages that are then matched to specific timestamps in the audiobook.

I wrote about a similar idea in mixed format books. It would be good to see it out in the world.

Giving University Exams in the Age of Chatbots

Like every generation of students, there are good students, bad students and very brilliant students. It will always be the case, people evolve (I was, myself, not a very good student). Chatbots don’t change anything regarding that. Like every new technology, smart young people are very critical and, by defintion, smart about how they use it.

Interesting read.

Astro is joining Cloudflare

By joining forces with the Astro team, we are doubling down on making Astro the best framework for content-driven websites for many years to come.

I’m a little worried by this. This website uses Astro. I like Cloudflare. So hopefully this will be fine.

Microsoft is closing its employee library and cutting back on subscriptions by Tom Warren

In an internal FAQ about the changes, Microsoft notes that subscriptions aren’t being renewed as “part of Microsoft’s shift to a more modern, AI-powered learning experience through the Skilling Hub.” This means the physical library space is changing, too. “The Library closed as part of Microsoft’s move toward a more modern, connected learning experience through the Skilling Hub,” notes the FAQ. “We know this change affects a space many people valued.”

Disgusting to read this. Libraries are awesome.