Blouin on Google book scanning

F.X. Blouin in the current issue of RBM writes about the Google Book scanning Thoughts on Special Collections and Our Research Communities: (in RBM) Toward the end of August in 2009, a van pulled up to the loading dock of the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. Book trucks were unloaded and moved… Continue reading Blouin on Google book scanning

Google Editions and Open Source

From GigaOM at Salon (and a bit dated), but this article by Matthew Ingram has some more reporting than the WSJ article. Open vs. Closed: Google Takes on Amazon and Apple in e-Books – Technology News | GigaOM Network – Salon.com Whatever pricing scheme it chooses, it seems clear that Google wants to come down… Continue reading Google Editions and Open Source

Google Editions to premiere this Summer

The Wall Street Journal had the main story which most bloggers played off, with these interesting details: While Mr. Palma didn’t go into details, users of Google Editions would be able to read books from a web browser—meaning that the type of e-reader device wouldn’t matter. The company also could build software to optimize reading… Continue reading Google Editions to premiere this Summer

Viacom-YouTube Secrets Exposed In Lawsuit

Viacom-YouTube Secrets Exposed In Lawsuit Pretty amazing (and damaging) report about Viacom (owner of Comedy Central, among other properties) and Google (owner of YouTube) on the Huffington Post. According to YouTube’s Zahavah Levine (quoted in the news story): For, Viacom continuously and secretly uploaded its content to YouTube, even while publicly complaining about its presence… Continue reading Viacom-YouTube Secrets Exposed In Lawsuit

Italy and Google to digitize pre-1868 books

The AP reports that Italy and Google have agreed to digitize pre-1868 books: Google will cover the costs of the scanning of the books, all of them out-of-copyright Italian works, including 19th-century literature and 18th-century scientific volumes. The Italian libraries already had embarked on their own project to put their collections online, and so far… Continue reading Italy and Google to digitize pre-1868 books

Google Translate and Google Voice: a mass experiment

Image via Wikipedia The New York Times has what strikes me as an important article on Google’s translation service, and while it emphasizes processing power and data, there’s more here. (The section on their original data is interesting too.) Using Computing Might, Google Improves Translation Tool – NYTimes.com Google’s quick rise to the top echelons… Continue reading Google Translate and Google Voice: a mass experiment