There’s a good chance you’ve done at least a little online shopping on Amazon.com. Amazon has started a program called Amazon Smile, which allows a percentage of each eligible purchase to be donated to the charity of your choice. More good news, you can support the East Greenbush Community Library with each eligible purchase!
To begin, go to smile.amazon.com and sign in with your regular Amazon account.
Next, you will be asked to choose a charity you’d like to support. If you would like to support the East Greenbush Library, you can type in East Greenbush Friends of the Library.
Next, click the select button next to the charity name.
Once your charity of choice has been selected, you will see a confirmation message. After you make your first eligible purchase, you can see the total amount of how much has been donated to your selected charity through Amazon Smile.
If you would ever like to change your charity selection, from the Amazon Smile homepage, mouse over where it says Hello, (Your Name) and click on the Amazon Smile link.
Have you tried out Amazon Smile? Let us know in the comments!
If you have a Kindle and use the Libby app, you may have been wondering how to send e-books to your Kindle.
Libby is an app made by OverDrive that allows you to browse for and read and listen to e-books, digital audiobooks, and digital magazines. If you have a Kindle, you also have the option to checkout e-books and read them on your Kindle device.
To get started, open the Libby app on your phone or tablet, which is available on iOS (Apple) and Android devices. If you have a Kindle Fire or another device that does not support the Libby app, you can go to https://libbyapp.com/
Once the app is open, click on the shelf icon on the bottom of the screen.
Next, find the book you want to send to your Kindle and tap or click on Read With.
If this is your first time accessing the book after borrowing it and there is no “Read With” text and it only displays “Open in Libby,” that means that particular e-book is not available in Kindle format. If you have previously opened the book within the Libby app and would like to send it to your Kindle, tap on “Manage Loan” and then tap on “Read With.”
Next, tap on Kindle.
From here, a browser window will pop up prompting you to log in to Amazon if you aren’t already logged in. Once you are logged into Amazon, you’ll see a screen with more info about library loaning as well as a “Get Library Book” button.
If you have more than one Kindle or device with a Kindle app (for example if you have the Kindle app installed on your phone), you will have the option to choose where you’d like to deliver the book.
Above the Get Library Book button, the email address you use to log in to Amazon is displayed. If that is not the email address of the account you used to register your Kindle, click or tap sign out and log in with the correct account.
Also on this page, you will see when your loan period ends. After the loan expires, the title will automatically be returned.
Tap or click “Get Library Book” to send your e-book to your Kindle.
Once you have sent your e-book to your Kindle, you will get a confirmation screen that it was successful. The e-book will automatically be downloaded to your Kindle and it will be displayed in the Your Library section of your Kindle. If you are using a Kindle Fire, open up the Kindle app, which is called either Kindle or Books. If you don’t see the e-book on your Kindle, make sure that it is connected to WiFi.
Here is a step-by-step video showing the process when using the Libby app on an iPad:
Have you used the Libby app to send books to your Kindle? Let us know in the comments!
One of the most common requests we get from patrons, aside from book recommendations, is for technology help. Gone are the days when you could avoid using computers, as technology has crept into every corner of our daily lives. Our librarians are very helpful, but it’s just not possible for them to stay updated on all things about all tech and still have time left over to do the rest of their jobs.
We have created services and acquired resources to get you the help you need, and we have a landing page where we have gathered them all. To get there without a direct link, go to https://eglibrary.org and use the menu to choose: what we offer>services>technology help.
At the top of the page, you will find links to our digital literacy classes. We have recently partnered with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rensselaer County to provide our in-person classes. This area also contains information about our appointment-based individual help service – Book a Librarian. As you scroll down you will see online resources by subject. Click on the subject title to see the resources.
One service we offer, Tech-Talk, is actually several services in one. It is a collection of articles, short videos, and webinars about a wide variety of tech topics. We have featured them in several of our posts. They also offer a subscription newsletter that drops a tech tip in your inbox once a week. We’ve made a video to show you how to use Tech-Talk and embedded it here.
If you have used some of the resources on our technology help site, let us know what you think! Is there any subject or information you would like to see added? Let us know in the comments.
The East Greenbush Library provides technology help in a variety of formats. We conduct classes, offer one-on-one assistance by appointment, post help videos, and have a page dedicated to online help articles and videos gathered from vetted websites around the internet. Did you know we also have a subscription resource available to our patrons with great articles, videos, and webinars for users of all skill levels? Whether you’re a technology pro or you’re just getting started, Tech-Talk has something for everyone.
While we’ve featured Tech-Talk and some of their articles before, this time we’ve made a quick video to highlight how to find what you are looking for in Tech-Talk. Can’t find what you’re looking for? You can submit requests for future articles and videos on whatever tech topic you need.
If you’d like to receive a weekly quick tip from Tech-Talk in your inbox, along with information about upcoming webinars, sign up for the Tech-Talk newsletter on the main page.
Have you tried Tech-Talk yet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Have you ever been researching a purchase and found a product whose reviews are too good to be true? Or read a review that was so general it could have been anything? Chances are, you’ve seen some fake reviews in your time. How can you tell if a review is real?
The folks at Wired have already written a great article on this subject, and I’d encourage you to read it. They have done a fantastic job of listing possible red flags and showing you how to get the most recent reviews for a product.
Use Fakespot to Automate Checks
If you would rather not pick through reviews manually, there is a service called Fakespot that can help. You can open the Fakespot analyzer page and copy/paste the URL for each item you’d like to check, or you can install an extension in Chrome or Firefox from the Fakespot home page (scroll halfway down for the link).
I was using Firefox, so the middle of the home page offered the Firefox extension.
If you are using a mobile device, you can download the app version for iOS or Android.
How Does Fakespot Work?
Fakespot uses artificial intelligence (AI) to spot red flags and suspicious patterns that may or may not be obvious to human observers.
To test it, I pasted a link for an automatic cat feeder I found on Amazon into the Fakespot analyzer page. Not only did it give me an overall grade for the review quality, but it also picked out some of the most helpful information that was buried in all those reviews. Here are some screen shots from the results page:
Under the “B”, notice that Fakespot adjusts the Amazon rating based on how reliable the reviews are.Some pros and cons culled from the reviewsSome more tidbits are found in the “highlights” section
Other available information includes an overview of how reliable the reviews are, the most positive and negative reviews, seller warnings, and other helpful insights.
If you decide to install the browser extension, using Fakespot is even easier. It automatically adds insights on the selling page itself:
Fakespot’s grade is above the price
Link to highlights below item title
Note: When installing the app or extension, you may be prompted to give permission for app to know your email. This allows you to save settings without an account. You may be prompted for permission to read or change data on sites you visit. This is so Fakespot info can be added to a site that isn’t already supported (see below).
Limitations
Keeping in mind that AI technology is not infallible, Fakespot can be a great tool to help you spot dodgy sellers and items using fake reviews to boost sales. While the tool is not compatible with all e-commerce sites, it does automatically cover:
Amazon™
BestBuy™
Sephora™
Steam™
TripAdvisor™
Yelp™
Walmart™
To use the browser extension on sites other than these, you will need to give your browser permission to edit the page, as mentioned above.
Summary
Fakespot is an awesome free tool for automating the vetting of online reviews. With Black Friday coming up in a couple of months, would you be inclined to use this tool?
