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new widget for your blog
Posted by Otis on September 04, 2007
For all those who like to bling out your blog or MySpace profile, we have what we think is one of the coolest widgets ever. Designed and built in flash by a very talented designer, the new Goodreads widget looks really cool, and offers a very fun way to navigate a shelf.
But the coolest part is the customization. You can choose to display any shelf you like, in any order you like, and give it any title you like.
Customize your widget now!
Here's an example of the widget in action:
Posted by Otis on September 04, 2007
For all those who like to bling out your blog or MySpace profile, we have what we think is one of the coolest widgets ever. Designed and built in flash by a very talented designer, the new Goodreads widget looks really cool, and offers a very fun way to navigate a shelf.
But the coolest part is the customization. You can choose to display any shelf you like, in any order you like, and give it any title you like.
Customize your widget now!
Here's an example of the widget in action:
author videos
Posted by Otis on August 30, 2007
We just released a cool new feature for our author profiles - you can now add videos! You can add as many videos as you like to an author profile, and the videos must be hosted by BookVideos.tv or YouTube. We are open to other sites, just contact us and we'll be happy to oblige.
It's really interesting to not just see the authors you love, but to also hear and see them in action! For instance I just read Founders at Work, and got totally sidetracked listening to a speech by Jessica livingston. Google has a great program going listing authors on YouTube under the keyword authors@google. And the newly launched BookVideos.tv (a site by TurnHere and Simon & Schuster) has some great content like the William Shatner video below.
Posted by Otis on August 30, 2007
We just released a cool new feature for our author profiles - you can now add videos! You can add as many videos as you like to an author profile, and the videos must be hosted by BookVideos.tv or YouTube. We are open to other sites, just contact us and we'll be happy to oblige.
It's really interesting to not just see the authors you love, but to also hear and see them in action! For instance I just read Founders at Work, and got totally sidetracked listening to a speech by Jessica livingston. Google has a great program going listing authors on YouTube under the keyword authors@google. And the newly launched BookVideos.tv (a site by TurnHere and Simon & Schuster) has some great content like the William Shatner video below.
We Are Smarter Than Me
Posted by Otis on August 30, 2007
I found out about a new book today called We Are Smarter Than Me, which was written in a collaborative manner using a wiki. I think this is pretty cool. Open source books are nothing new - there are many examples of blogs turning into books. One of my favorites is Joel on Software, a popular tech blog that became a book. There are many more examples. Publishing in installments is also nothing new - The Three Musketeers, published 1844, was originally published in serial form in the French magazine Le Siècle.
But using a wiki is a much more rare approach, and I think is starting to hint on what can happen when you combine book publishing with the power of social software. Imagine if every book you read was full of links and dynamic interludes. Or if books were more of a full media experience, with photos and videos to accompany them. Sort of a movie/audio book/novel mashup. I'm starting to rant now, but I couldn't end this post without mentioning that there are even some novels starting to be written in the Goodreads Writing section, and we're hoping to continue that trend!
Posted by Otis on August 30, 2007
I found out about a new book today called We Are Smarter Than Me, which was written in a collaborative manner using a wiki. I think this is pretty cool. Open source books are nothing new - there are many examples of blogs turning into books. One of my favorites is Joel on Software, a popular tech blog that became a book. There are many more examples. Publishing in installments is also nothing new - The Three Musketeers, published 1844, was originally published in serial form in the French magazine Le Siècle.
But using a wiki is a much more rare approach, and I think is starting to hint on what can happen when you combine book publishing with the power of social software. Imagine if every book you read was full of links and dynamic interludes. Or if books were more of a full media experience, with photos and videos to accompany them. Sort of a movie/audio book/novel mashup. I'm starting to rant now, but I couldn't end this post without mentioning that there are even some novels starting to be written in the Goodreads Writing section, and we're hoping to continue that trend!
Goodreads hits 5 million books
Posted by Otis on August 29, 2007
We hit two major milestones this week - 5 million books added, and 300,000 members! The 5 millionth book was If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, and was added by Jessica, who gave it 5 stars. The five million books includes 398,233 books that people have marked as 'to-read', as well as 128,187 books people are currently- reading.
The most commonly added book is The Catcher in the Rye, which has been added by 27,360 people. To Kill a Mockingbird is a close second at 26,128. And of course, if you group the Harry Potter series together you get a whopping 158,973 people! The newly released Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows jumped to top of the 'currently-reading' list practically overnight, with 1,240 people already reading it.
Posted by Otis on August 29, 2007
We hit two major milestones this week - 5 million books added, and 300,000 members! The 5 millionth book was If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, and was added by Jessica, who gave it 5 stars. The five million books includes 398,233 books that people have marked as 'to-read', as well as 128,187 books people are currently- reading.
The most commonly added book is The Catcher in the Rye, which has been added by 27,360 people. To Kill a Mockingbird is a close second at 26,128. And of course, if you group the Harry Potter series together you get a whopping 158,973 people! The newly released Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows jumped to top of the 'currently-reading' list practically overnight, with 1,240 people already reading it.
search is sexy
Posted by Otis on August 20, 2007
We've made some major upgrades to our search capabilities last week. There should be three very noticeable differences:
Posted by Otis on August 20, 2007
We've made some major upgrades to our search capabilities last week. There should be three very noticeable differences:
- search is now very, very fast
- we now search editions and not books
- you can now search for groups by title or description
search is sexy (and fast)
Much like the woman in the red dress, the problem of search has always attracted smart engineers. This is because its a really hard problem to solve. Some companies, like Google, make it part of their corporate culture and image that that search is sexy and that they are good at it. Other companies, like Miss Dewey, take this a little too literally. At Goodreads, we are fortunate enough to be able to stand on the shoulders of Giants. Our search is now powered by some stellar open-source software called Lucene, running in a container called Solr. This is a major improvement from our previous database-based solution.search editions, not books
Goodreads relies on an army of volunteer librarians to combine all editions of books that, for the purposes of rating and reviewing a book, ought to be considered the same. Our new search servers are now capable of using this data to show more clear search results. We think the improvement is enormous. Enjoy!
spiffy new importer
Posted by Otis on August 15, 2007
We just launched some major improvements to our book importer. Here is a summary of the improvements:
So check it out!
Posted by Otis on August 15, 2007
We just launched some major improvements to our book importer. Here is a summary of the improvements:
- You can now import from a website! Amazon wishlists, or any page that lists isbn's will work.
- As long as there are ISBN's somewhere in the file, it no longer matters how its organized
- Loading now happens asynchronously. Thats a big word, but it basically means we can handle really big files now. Previously, people with thousands of books like some of our top readers had trouble.
So check it out!
some readers are cheaters
Posted by Otis on August 06, 2007
There was an interesting article in the New York Times last week titled Your Cheatin’ Listenin’ Ways which pointed out that for some reason book purists view audio books as 'cheating'. Here is a great quote from the article:
"I know it only matters that I got the content of the book and its ideas, but I still feel like I'm trying to cover up an affair."
I think Jeff Gomez got it right - this is silly. Some people are visual learners (myself included), and others need to hear things out loud. The point is that you are still learning and thinking and using your brain!
Either way, discuss it at the new Audio Books group.
Posted by Otis on August 06, 2007
There was an interesting article in the New York Times last week titled Your Cheatin’ Listenin’ Ways which pointed out that for some reason book purists view audio books as 'cheating'. Here is a great quote from the article:
"I know it only matters that I got the content of the book and its ideas, but I still feel like I'm trying to cover up an affair."
I think Jeff Gomez got it right - this is silly. Some people are visual learners (myself included), and others need to hear things out loud. The point is that you are still learning and thinking and using your brain!
Either way, discuss it at the new Audio Books group.
new amazon bookmarklet
Posted by Otis on July 24, 2007
At the request of an interested member, we've built an Amazon bookmarklet. This means if you're surfing Amazon and see a book you like you just have to click one button to add the book to your Goodreads shelf.
Check it out!
Posted by Otis on July 24, 2007
At the request of an interested member, we've built an Amazon bookmarklet. This means if you're surfing Amazon and see a book you like you just have to click one button to add the book to your Goodreads shelf.
Check it out!
Goodreads API
Posted by Otis on July 24, 2007
Announcing the launch of the Goodreads API! The Goodreads API so far offers two features:
The Goodreads API is a work in progress. If you have something you would like to build that isn't supported, please contact us — chances are good we will add what you need.
Posted by Otis on July 24, 2007
Announcing the launch of the Goodreads API! The Goodreads API so far offers two features:
- The ability to get a list of any members books from any shelf
- The ability to link to a book by isbn/title
The Goodreads API is a work in progress. If you have something you would like to build that isn't supported, please contact us — chances are good we will add what you need.
announcing friend updates
Posted by Otis on July 17, 2007
Goodreads just got a whole lot better. Now on your Goodreads homepage you will find a bunch of exciting new updates. Previously we displayed new reviews and comments on reviews from your friends, but now we are also displaying new comments from book and group discussion boards, notifications when a friend joins a group, and notifications when a friend adds a new friend.
We are very excited about this because we feel it will help foster more interesting discussions and make Goodreads even more enjoyable! There's a lot of action right now in our groups and on our book discussion boards and we believe that friends will want to know where their friend are gathering and what they are saying.
Somewhat recently another site launched a similar feature and experienced a large backlash because of poor privacy settings. We'd like to avoid making that mistake, so we made great strides to make sure our members have complete control over what gets added to their Update Feeds. So please be sure to check out the new settings on your my preferences page.
enjoy!
Otis
Posted by Otis on July 17, 2007
Goodreads just got a whole lot better. Now on your Goodreads homepage you will find a bunch of exciting new updates. Previously we displayed new reviews and comments on reviews from your friends, but now we are also displaying new comments from book and group discussion boards, notifications when a friend joins a group, and notifications when a friend adds a new friend.
We are very excited about this because we feel it will help foster more interesting discussions and make Goodreads even more enjoyable! There's a lot of action right now in our groups and on our book discussion boards and we believe that friends will want to know where their friend are gathering and what they are saying.
Somewhat recently another site launched a similar feature and experienced a large backlash because of poor privacy settings. We'd like to avoid making that mistake, so we made great strides to make sure our members have complete control over what gets added to their Update Feeds. So please be sure to check out the new settings on your my preferences page.
enjoy!
Otis
