Vision Circle

Tech Notes

Just some thoughts on "technology":

• Techie "Device" of 2005 - The techie "device" of the year, for me, has to be Google Desktop. I've "found" so many "lost" web pages and PDF files that I saved it's not funny. Yes, it's my fault for not putting them in a directory scheme that I remember, but with so much space, available, it was bound to happen. When I get my "server" back online, I'm going to index that sucka.
• Google Book Search -- While I'm on Google, I have to say that Google's idea of scanning books and making excerpts available for searching should be embraced by publishers.

  I worked on a project that had scanning component involved. People scanned items, OCR'ed them, and then software would make it available for searching. If Google wants to take older books and go through the boring, manpower intensive task of scanning them, let them spend their cash. A forward thinking publisher would make a deal with Google that would benefit them both.
  

• HDTV - I brought an HDTV recently. Other than researching what I thought I wanted, and what was the "best HDTV" for me, I thought that HD programming would just be the same television programming in better resolution. Little did I know that after programming the over the air HD channels, that not only would I see normal programming in great quality, but I would also see weather radar, a CNN type of local broadcast, and a "video channel" type of local channel.

  Watching football in HD is awesome. The only thing I don't like is that they seem to amplify the crowd sound and minimize the sports casters.
  

If Napster Couldn't Do It, Why Would Google Be Allowed To Do It?

When the news went out that stated Google would scan books and put them online for searching, I knew that it wouldn't happen. At the time I thought to myself, "If the music industry goes after people who share music because the industry says they are losing money and it's stealing, why would the book publishers let Google do, essentially, the same thing?"

Well, here it is:

Publishers Sue Google

Association of American Publishers sues search giant for copyright
infringement from book-scanning project.
October 19, 2005

The Association of American Publishers filed suit against Google
Wednesday, charging the search giant with copyright infringement for
its plan to scan and digitize books for its Google Print online
library program.

The suit came after lengthy discussions between Google management and
the AAP broke down. The association had earlier lent its support to a
suit filed in September against Google by the Authors Guild, but the
lawsuit filed on Wednesday is a separate one.

In August, Google temporarily suspended the Google Print program until November after hearing complaints from publishers and authors alike (see Google to Library: Shush!).

Publishers had objected to the opt-out nature of the program, which
requires them to specify which books they don't want scanned in by
Google. On Tuesday, however, Google said it would expand the program
to eight countries in Europe (see Google Print Expands in Europe).

Google's Microsoft Strategy

Steady clocking this meme cause I use googletalk with my boyz, today this slashdotted ditty turns up.