PT1a Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
pt1a1.206 Weekly_February_08.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, February 08, 2006 PT1* *******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******** !!! I will be on the road next month, Newsletter Editor Needed !!! Editor's comments appear in [brackets]. 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 * WANTED!
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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
*Distributed Proofreaders Collection Report
*Project Gutenberg Consortia Center Report
*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 This Week From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
6 New This Week From PGEu [European Copyrights, Life + 50 and 70]
0 New This Week From PG PrePrints
60 New This Week To Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
69 New This Week [Including PG Australia, PG Europe and PrePrints]
[I'm sure there are a few bugs in the new accounting]
*Headline News from Edupage, etc.
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists
***
*eBook Milestones*
8,000 From Distributed Proofreaders!!!
[Exactly, as of this very moment]
18,450 eBooks As Of Today!!!
Including 530 Australian eBooks [+3]
and 250 Project Gutenberg Europe [+6]
And 1 From The New PrePrint Site [+0]
[We do have 150 in the pipeline]
We Are ~92% of the Way to 20,000!!!
***531 eBooks Averaged Per Year Since July 4, 1971***
15,388 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001
That's ~255 eBooks per Month for ~61 Months
We Have Produced 308 eBooks in 2006
1,550 to go to 20,000!!!
20 New eBooks From Distributed Proofreaders
8,000 total from Distributed Proofreaders
Since October, 2000 [Details in PT1B]
[Currently over 36,000 DP volunteers]
We Averaged ~339 eBooks Per Month In 2004
We Averaged ~248 eBooks Per Month In 2005
[Including PG Australia]
We Are Averaging ~246 eBooks Per Month This Year
[Including PGAu, PGEu and PrePrints]
[This change is due to the opening of Project Gutenberg
sites other than the original one at www.gutenberg.org]
[Now including totals from both Australia and Europe and PrePrints]
[Apologies, it will take a while to integrate everything
not all statistics may be totally equalized yet]
[PGEu Statistics Are Counted Monthly Not Weekly]
All Four Sites Combined Are Averaging 62 eBooks Per Week In 2006
69 This Week
It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks
It took ~32 months, from 2003 to 2006 for our last 10,000 eBooks
It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to 10,100
It took ~2.00 years from Oct. 2003 to Nov. 2005 from 10,000 to 17,500
*
***Introduction
[The Newsletter is now being sent in two sections, so you can directly
go to the portions you find most interesting: 1. Founder's Comments,
News, Notes & Queries, and 2. Weekly eBook Update Listing. Note bene
that PT1 is now being sent as PT1A and PT1B.
[Since we are between Newsletter editors, these 2 parts may undergo a
few changes while we are finding a new Newsletter editor. Email us:
hart@pobox.com and gbnewby@pglaf.org if you would like to volunteer.]
This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter
*Headline News from Edupage
[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]
MIT PLANS WIRELESS NETWORK IN CAMBRIDGE
MIT has announced plans to deploy a wireless network covering
Cambridge, Mass., where the university is located. Working with Harvard
University and Boston's Museum of Science, MIT will set up the network
using mesh technology, which, although not as fast as commercial
service, is significantly less expensive. With a traditional wireless
network, wireless access points are installed to cover the desired
area, and every access point is hardwired to the network. Mesh
technology eliminates much of the wiring by relying on a small number
of wired antennae and many other antennae that relay signals to the
wired ones. Jerrold M. Grochow, vice president for information services
and technology at MIT, described it as "hopping from antenna to antenna
to antenna." Mary P. Hart, CIO for Cambridge, commented that the
proposed network will allow the city to determine the demand for
wireless access. Other cities have spent large sums developing wireless
coverage without knowing if residents want it, she said. Grochow noted
that unlike the situation in other municipalities, MIT's project has
not run into opposition from commercial Internet providers.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 6 February 2006 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/02/2006020601t.htm
AOL AND YAHOO EXPERIMENT WITH E-MAIL POSTAGE
In an effort to limit unwanted and fraudulent e-mail, AOL and Yahoo
have announced plans to begin charging "postage" for delivering some
e-mail to their customers. Under the system, companies that pay to have
their e-mail delivered--between 1/4 and 1 cent per message--will
receive preferential service. A third party, Goodmail, will collect the
fees and verify the source of messages. E-mail from nonpaying senders
will still be delivered, but it will be routed through spam filters and
other mechanisms, which could prevent it from reaching its target. The
hope is that the fees will discourage spammers from sending billions of
unsolicited messages every day. A spokesperson from AOL compared the
plan to the current functioning of the postal system. Certified mail,
for example, is guaranteed to be delivered "in a way that is different
from other mail," he said. Some analysts said e-mail postage will only
lead to disagreements between senders and ISPs. Many e-mail marketers
also rejected the idea, saying that there are already mechanisms in
place, such as a service called Bonded Sender, that verify the legitimacy
of e-mail and that cost significantly less than the proposed charges.
New York Times, 5 February 2006 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/technology/05AOL.html
PUBLISHER LAUNCHES AD-SUPPORTED ONLINE TEXT
HarperCollins has announced a new program that will make book content
available free online, supported by advertiser links that share the
page with the text. Officials from the publisher said the Harper
program will focus on nonfiction and reference books, noting that
advertisers are likely not as interested in paying to support literary
fiction. The first book offered in the program, "Go It Alone! The
Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own" by Bruce Judson,
was published in 2004 and later released in paperback. One test of the
program will be whether ad sales offset lost sales, according to
Murray, group president of HarperCollins. Despite the ongoing squabbles
over online access to books, supporters of the idea still believe it
has potential. Author M.J. Rose said that no one wants to read an
entire book online but that if they have easy access to a text on the
Web and they like it, they will be encouraged to buy a copy.
Associated Press, 6 February 2006
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060206/ap_en_bu/publishing_free_text
["One test of the program will be whether ad sales offset lost sales"
Of course this assumption flies in the face of all the studies, each
of which indicated that free eBook editions caused increased sales
rather than "lost sales."]
CELL PHONES AS TRACKING TOOLS
Companies that use cell phones to track people have seen significant
increases in business in the past few years. In Britain, firms such as
Followus and Verilocation frequently work with employers who want to
keep tabs on staff, despite concerns that the service infringes on
individuals' civil rights. Kevin Brown of Followus noted that his
company's service requires the consent of those being tracked. Users
must agree to having their cell phones tracked, and periodic messages
are sent randomly to users reminding them that their movements are
being followed. Officials at Verilocation pointed to such events as the
bombings in London last summer as times when being able to locate all
of your employees is highly valuable. Experts on business processes
said being able to track employees can allow companies to provide
better service to customers by, for example, letting them know exactly
where a technician is and when he will arrive at a customer's home.
Officials from Liberty, a civil rights group, were unconvinced, saying
that employees' rights in the workplace have been eroded and that
there is a significant risk that businesses will misuse tracking data.
CNET, 5 February 2006
http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-6035317.html
EFF SUES AT&T OVER COOPERATION WITH NSA
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed suit against AT&T
for allegedly cooperating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in
eavesdropping on individuals without a warrant. President Bush ordered
the wiretaps following the terrorist attacks of 2001 and has vigorously
defended them, saying the Constitution and Congressional resolutions
allow them. Civil liberties groups and others reject that, saying that
the wiretaps violate existing laws on surveillance. The EFF said it
identified AT&T as one company involved in the activities and has filed
suit "to stop this invasion of privacy, prevent it from occurring
again, and make sure AT&T and all the other carriers understand there
are going to be legal and economic consequences when they fail to
follow the law." The EFF alleges that AT&T provided the NSA with access
to its network, which carries both voice and data, and to its vast
databases that store information on phone calls and Internet activity.
AT&T refused to comment on the litigation.
Yahoo, 31 January 2006
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060201/ap_on_hi_te/domestic_spying_lawsuit
CONGRESS HOLDS HEARINGS ON CELL-PHONE CUSTOMER PRIVACY
A Congressional hearing this week will address cell phone companies'
efforts to protect the privacy of their customers. The hearing comes
after recent revelations that a number of data brokers have been able
to con cell phone companies into disclosing data about customers and
their calling habits, which was then sold to third parties. The premise
is that certain individuals, such as attorneys, might want details of
cell phone calls, and data brokers supply that data. Cell phone
companies and some members of Congress, however, object to the methods
that data brokers use to obtain that information, including posing as
people they are not and using information such as Social Security
numbers without authorization. Some critics have pointed to weak
policies and practices among cell phone companies for protecting such
data as the root of the problem. Rep. Joe L. Barton (R-Tex.), chairman of
the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement that he intends
to make the practice of fraudulently obtaining such data "very illegal."
ZDNet, 1 February 2006
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6033688.html
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*HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA
[As requested adding sources, etc., when possible.
Remember, the subject is not the article's subject,
the subject is the manipulation of the world news.]
[Reply from one of our readers follows this reprint.]
Bill Gates Says It Will Take 10 Years To Stop Piracy In China/India
"In India and China it will be a decade before we get that level,"
meaning the current protection level achieved in the United States,
as is currently in progress in Taiwan and South Korea.
Mr. Gates was addressing the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
[However, what I think he really means is that it will take 10 years
or so, for China and India to grow economically to the point where a
person of their average means can really afford MicroSoft programs.]
[By the way, I got the first clues to this story from the BBC, but a
recent search shows the story is already missing after a short time,
so the follow up was through The Express, of India.]
[In my own personal experiences outside the Asia major urbana center
locations, there is no place you can find legal copies of anything--
the manufacturers are just not interested in making them available.]
If the product is not made available, how can we buy The Real Thing?
Source:
BBC
Express India
Reply from Martin Ward
participants (1)
-
Michael Hart