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myebook aims to revolutionise the way we create, publish and share ebook content online. Built on a feature-rich social platform, complete with powerful, browser-based, builder software, and a slick reader environment, there's never been an easier way for anyone and everyone to 'get it out there'. With myebook.com, we've made it possible for anyone to upload, or create from scratch, beautifully simple or adventurously complex page designs and covers online, in no time. What's more, you can publish your book with a single button and release it to the world before the (virtual) ink's dry! You can create as many publications as you want. And it's all free.

Abstract Readers of fiction tend to have better abilities of empathy and theory of mind (Mar et al., 2006). We present a study designed to replicate this finding, rule out one possible explanation, and extend the assessment of social outcomes. In order to rule out the role of personality, we first identified Openness as the most consistent correlate. This trait was then statistically controlled for, along with two other important individual differences: the tendency to be drawn into stories and gender. Even after accounting for these variables, fiction exposure still predicted performance on an empathy task. Extending these results, we also found that exposure to fiction was positively correlated with social support. Exposure to nonfiction, in contrast, was associated with loneliness, and negatively related to social support.

This is a follow up to Bill Ferriter's much shared post What do we want students to do with technology? https://www.flickr.com/photos/plugusin/9223386478/in/set-72157625087347140

Jennifer Bromman-Bender, librarian at Lincoln-Way West High School (New Lenox, IL) and author of several books on booktalking, including R&L's Booktalking Nonfiction: 200 Sure-Fire Winners for Middle and High School Readers (2013), spoke about how to present nonfiction books to middle- and high-school students. She also gave a presentation of some of her most popular booktalks. Katie Mediatore Stover of the Kansas City (MO) Public Library (and author of several ALA Editions RA titles) was up next, with a ton of practical advice on how to booktalk informally-while in the stacks, or out in the community. She also discussed how to pull out the best elements of a book in order to sell it to a reader. Kaite incorporated a lot of RA tips (talking about tone, mood, warning the reader what to expect) on how to do what she calls a "bookmercial." Becky Spratford, author of ALA Edition's Readers Advisory Guide to Horror (2012) and librarian at the Berwyn (IL) Public Library, gave advice on how to get your staff comfortable with booktalking, and why booktalking is so important. Becky then finished up with a selection of her favorite horror books for booktalking.

Google Scholar is definitely one of the best academic search engines out there.  The search part which I am sharing with you today is only a small part of what you really can do with Google scholar. There are actually several other features that are indispensable for academics and student researchers. Staring from today, I will be sharing with you some of the tips and ideas on how to unravel the hidden mysteries of Google scholar and tap into its full educational potential.

"No matter how strong your math and science skills are, you still need to know how to learn, think and even write. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon (and the owner of this newspaper), insists that his senior executives write memos, often as long as six printed pages, and begins senior-management meetings with a period of quiet time, sometimes as long as 30 minutes, while everyone reads the "narratives" to themselves and makes notes on them. In an interview with Fortune's Adam Lashinsky, Bezos said: "Full sentences are harder to write. They have verbs. The paragraphs have topic sentences. There is no way to write a six-page, narratively structured memo and not have clear thinking.""

Although Wikipedia has long been viewed with suspicion by many educators, the Wikimedia Foundation has been working hard to forge alliances with academia, to build a better reputation, but also to elicit strong content contribution for the collaborative online encyclopedia.

As you might well know I am really enthusiastic about blogging with students. I have shared my adventures through several opportunities and I'm determined to keep spreading the word in order to bring other educators on board. Therefore, I have created a LiveBinder with useful tools, examples and resources. I thought this would be a good idea to encourage other teachers to get their kids blogging

"The Australian Government's Cybersafety Help Button provides internet users, particularly children and young people, with easy online access to cybersafety information and assistance available in Australia. It offers counselling, reporting and educational resources to assist young people deal with online risks including cyberbullying, unwanted contact, scams and fraud, and offensive or inappropriate material. The help button is a free application that is easily downloaded onto personal computers, mobile devices, and school and library networks."

"Recently, I've also been fascinated by the way the human mind interprets visual symbols. From doodling to reading and writing text, the brain is wired with a proclivity for visual sensory ability. In order to help students harness this power, we have been trying our hand at visual notes and sketchnoting in class. Then I decided to try some lessons with infographics."

Here's Joyce Valenza's take on the idea, with suggestions for collaboration with teachers and some other web 2.0 tools: http://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2013/06/20/recording-kids-history-as-readers/

"This FlackCheck category is concerned with political advertising and - increasingly - web-only videos. In cooperation with FactCheck.org, we find the ads, check the facts, and then expose the manipulation and inaccuracies."

The wheel outlines a wide variety of verbs and activities related to each thinking level of Blooms Taxonomy coupled with ipad apps that go with it.

Weekend payday loans are the better option when the Australian people are suffering form the adverse credit scores and with the shortage of the ample amount. http://www.weekendloans.com.au/

ALIA Schools promotes the interests of school libraries and teacher librarians, provides opportunities for professional development, lobbies for school libraries with state and local groups, liaises with other groups, identifies and analyses current trends in teacher librarianship, and maintains the profile of teacher librarianship within ALIA.

asteLink is a simple to use tool that allows teachers and students to send large files (up to 250MB) without having to sign up and register for a service. Users can also share as many files as they want and they will stay accessible to the other party for a full week. This is a great site that breaks the 10MB email cap that most schools enforce and it is simple to use with its drag-and-drop file loading and no registration requirement. A great way to quickly and easily send a large video or photo file that otherwise might require a service with a registration or a physical media exchange.

As with any "artistic decision," there will be consequences, which is that not everyone has a superhuman memory and/or the time to reread Divergent before reading Insurgent. Early readers of Insurgent have understandably had some trouble recalling all the necessary information to really be situated in the world of Insurgent. In order to help with this horrible thing I have done to you, I wrote this GIANT post to remind you of all the characters in Divergent, how you know them, and what happened at the end of Divergent.