GWeekly_October_20.txt *The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, October 20, 2004 PT1* *******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******* Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart@pobox.com or gbnewby@pglaf.org Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart@pobox.com "Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill." Barbara Tuchman TABLE OF CONTENTS [Search for "*eBook" or "*Intro". . .to jump to that section, etc.] *eBook Milestones *Introduction *Hot Requests New Sites and Announcements *Continuing Requests and Announcements *Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders *Permanent Requests For Assistance: *Donation Information *Access To The Project Gutenberg Collections *Mirror Site Information *Instant Access To Our Latest eBooks *Have We Given Away A Trillion Yet? *Flashback *Weekly eBook update: This is now in PT2 of the Weekly Newsletter Also collected in the Monthly Newsletter Corrections in separate section 3 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.] 77 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright *Headline News from NewsScan and Edupage *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists *** *eBook Milestones Nearly 11,100 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001! We Have Now Produced about 3,250 eBooks In 2004! 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This "cost" is down from about $1.00 when we had 10,004 eBooks a year ago Can you imagine ~14,156 books each costing ~$.29 less a year later??? Or. . .would this say it better? Can you imagine ~14,156 books each costing 1/3 less a year later??? At 14,156 eBooks in 33 Years and 03.50 Months We Averaged 425 Per Year [We do about 3/4 that much per month these days!] 35.4 Per Month 1.16 Per Day At 3249 eBooks Done In The 293 Days Of 2004 We Averaged 11.1 Per Day 79.2 Per Week 342.0 Per Month The production statistics are calculated based on full weeks' production; each production-week starts/ends Wednesday noon, starts with the first Wednesday of January. January 7th was the first Wednesday of 2004, and thus ended PG's production year of 2003 and began the production year of 2004 at noon. This year there will be 52 Wednesdays, thus no extra week. *Flashback!!! 3219 New eBooks So Far in 2004 It took us ~31 years for the first 3219 ! That's the 9.50 months of 2004 as Compared to ~31 years!!! Here Is A Sample Of What Books Were Being Done Around #3219 May 2002 Helen of Troy, by Andrew Lang [Andrew Lang #31][hlntyxxx.xxx] 3229 May 2002 Poems of Progress, by Ella W. Wilcox [Wilcox #1][pmprgxxx.xxx] 3228 May 2002 The Defenders of Democracy by The Militia of Mercy[?dfdmxxx.xxx] 3227 May 2002 Albrecht Durer's Memoirs of Journeys to Venice....[admjvxxx.xxx] 3226 May 2002 Mr. Honey's Work Study Dictionary English-German [8woedxxx.xxx]3225C and various others of his dictionary collection take us down to number 3208C *Headline News from NewsScan and Edupage [PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]

From NewsScan:

GOOGLE TACKLES DESKTOP SEARCH [I'd love to hear from anyone trying this out!] Google has released free Desktop Search software that addresses an ongoing headache for users -- finding e-mails and files on their own computers. The move pits Google directly against Microsoft, which includes a file-search feature in its operating systems and is planning a more comprehensive tool in the future. Google's Desktop Search (http://desktop.google.com/) sifts through Microsoft Office and text files, e-mails, AOL instant messenger exchanges, and Web sites that users have visited in the past. Once installed, the software creates an index of the PC owner's files to speed up the search process, and when the owner then uses Google to search for something, a small box showing related files will appear above the Web results. "Our goal for the application is to have it act like a photographic memory for your computer," says Google consumer Web products director Marissa Mayer. (Wall Street Journal 14 Oct 2004) <http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109776260102945353,00.html> (sub req'd) [more] GOOGLE'S PC SEARCH TOOL MIGHT PROVE THE 'PERFECT SPY' Google Desktop Search, released last Thursday in a "beta" test phase, may prove a boon to disorganized PC users who need assistance in finding data on their computers, but it also has a downside for those who use public or workplace computers. Its indexing function may compromise the privacy of users who share computers for such tasks as processing e-mail, online shopping, medical research, banking or any activity that requires a password. "It's clearly a very powerful tool for locating information on the computer," says one privacy consultant. "On the flip side of things, it's a perfect spy program." The program, which is currently available only for Windows PCs, automatically records any e-mail read through Outlook, Outlook Express or the Internet Explorer browser, and also saves pages viewed through IE and conversations conducted via AOL Instant Messenger. In addition, it finds Word, Excel and PowerPoint files stored on the computer. And unlike the built-in cache of recent Web sites visited that's included in most browser histories, Google's index is permanent, although individuals can delete items individually. Acknowledging potential privacy concerns, a Google executive says managers of shared computers should think twice about installing the tool before advanced features like password protection and multi-user support are available. (AP/Washington Post 19 Oct 2004) <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43548-2004Oct18.html> DELL TAKES A BITE OUT OF APPLE Dell launched its diminutive Dell Digital Jukebox music player, dubbed the DJ 5, which features 5GB of storage for $199. The move signals a direct challenge to Apple, whose 4GB iPod Mini sells for $249. In addition, Dell lowered the price on its existing 20GB Dell DJ from $279 to $249 and introduced a new line of plasma TVs, which start at $2,299. The PC maker's aggressive move into consumer electronics reflects its determination to stake out a strong position in the so-called digital home market. (CNet News.com 14 Oct 2004) news.com.com/iPod+Mini+gets+new+challenge+from+Dell/2009-1041_3-5409195.html VATICAN TAPS RFID TECHNOLOGY TO TRACK BOOKS The Vatican Library has tagged about 30,000 of its books with RFID (radio frequency identification) tags since last year, and says plans call for tagging 2 million of the 40-million piece collection in the near future. That would enable the staff to complete the library's annual inventory in less than a day -- a task that previously forced it to close for a whole month. Emilia Di Bernardo, VP of Seret, the company that installed the RFID system, says initially the Vatican staff were interested only in an efficient inventory process. "But we came up with something that is not only an inventory but a way to manage the books. This way staff always know where all the books are." Di Bernardo says it is relatively inexpensive to maintain the system and the technology does not harm the books in any way. "The most expensive part is the tags and the hardware." The RFID tags cost between five and 10 cents each, but Texas Instruments, which manufactures the tags, anticipates the costs coming down. "It's robust and as the price comes down, you will see it being used more and more, including in bus ticketing and concert ticketing," says a TI spokesman. (CNN.com 14 Oct 2004) <http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/10/14/spark.rfid.vatican/index.html> 7-ELEVEN TESTS WIRELESS INVENTORY SYSTEM Prompted by the example of Wal-Mart, convenience store giant 7-Eleven is testing a wireless system in 10 Dallas-area stores that enable managers to scan shelves using a handheld device and instantly order products that need replenishing. Many retailers already use point-of-sale systems that deduct sold items from an overall inventory list, but 7-Eleven officials say the handheld computer takes the process one step further. The device, made by NEC, features software that helps predict demand for perishable food -- from sandwiches to milk -- by taking factors such as the weather forecast into account. Rainy days produce sales slumps, while hot weather triggers a run on Slurpees. Balancing supply and demand in the margin-thin world of food stores is critical, according to a 2002 study by Emory University, which estimated stores lose 4% of potential sales because they run out of items consumers want. (AP/SiliconValley.com 13 Oct 2004) <http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/9907516.htm> [I have personally found out that the stores I go to have more often been out of what I wanted since the dreaded MBAs [Masters of Business Administration] have taken over with their "just in time ordering." The MBAs would apparent prefer to lose that 4%, and the customer- satisfaction that goes along with it, and thus some friends will NOT go with me to Wendy's for example, because all too often they are out of something they want to eat, and there is no time to go elsewhere. [Why else eat fast food, if you know it might not be there fast?] I was at Wendy's recently when FIVE CUSTOMERS IN A ROW ordered and were told they were out of luck. . .they were out of at least five different things. And when I asked, they told me that for certain they would not have all five items after the next truck arrived, because the MBAs had decided to limit how many items they ordered, no matter how much would fit on the truck. . . . GO FIGURE!"] You have been reading excerpts from NewsScan: NewsScan Daily is underwritten by RLG, a world-class organization making significant and sustained contributions to the effective management and appropriate use of information technology. To subscribe or unsubscribe to the text, html, or handheld versions of NewsScan Daily, send the appropriate subscribe or unsubscribe messages (i.e., with the word 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in the subject line) to: Text version: Send message to NewsScan@NewsScan.com Html version: Send mail to NewsScan-html@NewsScan.com NewsScan-To-Go: http://www.newsscan.com/handheld/current.html *

From Edupage

LAPTOPS PREPARE STUDENTS FOR COLLEGE, BRIDGE INCOME GAPS Laptop programs are showing up at a number of high schools around the United States, including T.C. Williams High School in Washington, D.C., which this week issued 2,100 laptops to its students. Technology literacy is one of the primary goals of such programs, as is ensuring that students from varying socioeconomic backgrounds have equal access to such technology. John Crites, head of technical support for the Alexandria school district, said of the $1.4 million program to supply all students with laptops, "It gives us the ability to level the playing field." In an effort to control how the computers are used, administrators of the program at T.C. Williams configured the school's laptops to allow Internet access only on school grounds, installed several Web filters, and elected not to allow instant messaging or e-mail, though a limited e-mail system may be added later. Washington Post, 13 October 2004 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28050-2004Oct12.html [Yes, keeping students from emailing each other or their teachers is obviously a high priority. . .though this seems to be where a lot of education takes place. . .though it also includes a lot of yadda yadda yadda.] You have been reading excerpts from Edupage: If you have questions or comments about Edupage, http://news.com.com/2100-1040-958352.html or send e-mail to: edupage@educause.edu To SUBSCRIBE to Edupage, send a message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU and in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName *** More Headline News Avoided By Most Of The Major U.S. Media Diebold Coughs Up Cash in Copyright Case False Accusation of Infringement Results in Hefty Payment of Legal Fees, Damages California - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) capped its historic victory in a copyright abuse case against electronic voting machine manufacturer Diebold today. The corporation agreed to pay $125,000 in damages and fees. The settlement, a win for free speech advocates, comes after a California district court found that Diebold had knowingly misrepresented that online commentators, including Indymedia and two Swarthmore college students, had infringed the company's copyrights. "It makes me happy that students in this situation in the future won't have to worry about big corporations breathing down their necks," said Nelson Pavlosky, one of the students. Diebold is the first company to be held liable for violating section 512(f) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which makes it unlawful to use DMCA takedown threats when the copyright holder knows that infringement has not actually occurred. The section also stipulates that anyone who issues such frivolous threats must pay damages, including costs and attorneys' fees, to those harmed by the misrepresentations. EFF and the Center for Internet and Society Cyberlaw Clinic at Stanford Law School sued on behalf of nonprofit Internet Service Provider (ISP) Online Policy Group (OPG) and the two students to prevent Diebold's abusive copyright claims from silencing public debate about voting. Diebold sent dozens of cease-and-desist letters to ISPs hosting leaked internal documents revealing flaws in Diebold's e-voting machines. The company claimed copyright violations and used the DMCA to demand that the documents be taken down. OPG refused to remove them in the name of free speech. "The risk of substantial damages and fees should make companies pause before sending unfounded copyright threats," said EFF staff attorney Wendy Seltzer. "Plus ISPs can fight back against these false claims without taking a financial hit." "As a nonprofit ISP it's great to have legal recourse when a company threatens us or our clients with frivolous lawsuits," added OPG Executive Director Will Doherty. EFF is a member-supported nonprofit which represented OPG and the Swarthmore students pro bono. Thanks to the settlement, Diebold will pay the costs of the case. For this release: http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2004_10.php#002009 * "Meanwhile, last week was some sort of national holiday in Spain. In past years there was a US contingent in the military parade, but it seems that they were left out this year. The French were invited as substitutes." "It's Fleet Week here in SF again, and we usually get the Navy's Blue Angels aerobatics team... this year it was outsourced to the Canadian Snow Birds ...I can't decide whether it was a deliberate insult to the Bay Area, or just a sign of astounding lameness..." "News from your man in Tempe: You already know what happened inside at the third joint campaign appearance yesterday, and it's a good thing because I couldn't get anywhere near it. (I just can't call it a blsfrgl ... see, I can't!) Grady Gammage Auditorium was named for a former ASU president, designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and originally intended to be built as an opera house in Baghdad. (Yes, the one in Iraq. The project fell through when King Faisal II was murdered by a military coup in 1958. It was built here in 1959 without the original parking ziggurat.) "So here's the news from outside. I was amazed at the size and number of power transformers on the lawn, probably for lights in the circus tents erected in the parking lot. Hey, you can't have a media circus without tents! There was also an eight foot (2.4384 m) chain link fence surrounding the whole shootin' match about where the perimeter of the ziggurat would have been. "Traffic was a mess as slightly over one bazillion motorcycle officers lined every street within bazooka distance of the president's hotel. When his handlers told him it was time, those same streets were closed. At least it was during rush hour, to maximize the disruption." *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK Crude oil is up 62% this year, while heating oil is up 77%. Various voter registrations in the U.S. are showing more people have registered to vote than there are people entitled to vote. Of course, they are all saying that these are only plain errors and no one is trying to vote more than once. However, this is only going to increase, as there are large numbers of brand new registrations still waiting to be processed, so we can expect a lot more of these "irregularities and anomalies" to come shortly. Experts are predicting that the effect of the lack of flu shots will cause a measurable downturn in productivity in flu season. [Some are also precdicting a measurable downturn in productivity in Boston this week due to the fact of having one of the baseball playoff games run so late that people didn't get to bet until well after midnight while they have start getting ready to get back in their seats for the next game only half a day after getting home.] [Of course these predictions don't always pan out, as when the big electrical blackouts did NOT result in a higher birth rate than normal nine months later.] [More on the flu: about 40,000 people in the U.S. die of the flu every year, 144,000 are hospitalized. 3,000,000 die each year from malaria. Nothing on worldwide flu deaths that I can find.] *STRANGE QUOTE OF THE WEEK "When you are poor enough, everything has some value." Barbara Ann Porte *PREDICTION OF THE WEEK Flat screen TVs, monitors, etc., are going to be a MAJOR retail industry for a least a decade or two. *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists For more information about the Project Gutenberg's mailing lists, including the Project Gutenberg Weekly and Monthly Newsletters: and the other Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists: The weekly is sent on Wednesdays, and the monthly is sent on the first Wednesday of the month. To subscribe to any (or to unsubscribe or adjust your subscription preferences), visit the Project Gutenberg mailing list server: http://lists.pglaf.org If you are having trouble with your subscription, please email the list's human administrators at: help@pglaf.org ***