Technology

As the IndieCommerce team focuses on migrating the last several hundred stores on the Drupal 6 platform to Drupal 7 by the March 31 deadline, response times for dealing with routine issues may be affected.

Bookstores participating in the Kobo program can take advantage of a special one-time-only introductory order for the recently released Kobo Aura H2O. The deadline for ordering is Monday, October 27.

The IndieCommerce team has successfully addressed security concerns related to the Heartbleed bug. However, the next step to further secure both IndieCommerce stores and their customers is to effect a password change.

This week, the IndieCommerce team took steps to address a recently discovered OpenSSL software problem, which has been dubbed Heartbleed. Heartbleed is likely the most severe vulnerability ever discovered in basic Internet security.

As the IndieCommerce team begins to transition participating stores’ sites to the Drupal 7 platform, booksellers can keep up on all upgrade details by visiting the newly unveiled IndieCommerce informational site.

Preparations for the IndieCommerce upgrade to Drupal 7 might affect the functions of some store sites, including authorize.net accounts and store themes. As the upgrade progresses, it is increasingly important that members are informed of new action items and changes to the interface.

BISG to present first annual industry awards; More students seek illegal alternatives to textbooks; Media Coalition concludes gun violence and media connection flawed; Frommer’s to start releasing print titles; IPG and Trafalgar Square acquire new clients; 2014 BEA Global Market Forum to focus on books in translation; NCAC to host free speech benefit

World Book Night titles sales jump; Goodreads alternative Riffle now open to public; American Express study looks at small business owners’ purchasing; O’Reilly cancels Tools of Change conference; Memorial service planned for Bryan Pearce of University Bookstore

ABA is warning stores participating in the Kobo partnership that there could be unintended negative consequences to using a third-party e-mail service when distributing promotional links to customers.

On Thursday, September 6, Kobo announced a new lineup of e-readers. The news comes a week after ABA and Kobo announced an agreement for a new e-book solution for ABA member bookstores.

HarperCollins completes acquisition of Thomas Nelson; Google’s Nexus 7 tablet gets strong reviews; European e-book growth slow but inevitable

For booksellers and librarians who were among the first users of Small Demons, the new web resource has proved valuable in helping them respond to patrons seeking a title, or a list of titles, in which a particular person, place, or thing is mentioned.

The American Booksellers Association announced this week that Neil Strandberg, a longtime staff member at Denver’s Tattered Cover Book Store, would be joining the association in the newly created position of Director of Member Technology, on Monday, May 7.

Christine Onorati of WORD and Kelly Justice of Fountain Bookstore offer tips to increase online sales and to ensure your customers know that your website is always open for business.

Several indie booksellers who have made Pinterest part of their social media marketing efforts have found it easy and fun to use and better than Twitter for connecting with customers.