Getting Into Google Book Search - Google Print
source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/index.php?p=937

Google Print, Google Print, Argh Argh Argh! Since I got back from Web Search University I have been buried in sites and resources to review. I despair of catching up. And they keep piling on, as evidenced by the launch of Google Print. But if all the resources I have to review raise in me the tide of ambivalence that Google Print does, I may find myself with a pile of neatly-reviewed resources and all my hair torn out.

Google Print information is available at http://print.google.com/ . Google describes the project thus: “Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Since a lot of the world’s information isn’t yet online, we’re helping to get it there.”

Which leads me to two immediate questions: 1) What’s the procedure for universities and other institutions which already have books indexed online? How can they add their books to the Google Print index? A Google rep tells me there’s no program for those institutions at this time. There is a program for publishers to add content ( https://print.google.com/publisher/faq ) but nothing else at the moment. (Considering that Google is going to share ad revenue with the publishers according to the FAQ, this is really disappointing.) Interestingly the program at the moment will only accept hardcopy books; h’m. I guess it’s better to build one intake infrastructure at a time.

The second question is “How is Project Ocean doing?” You may remember a reference in the February New York Times to Project Ocean. Lisnews has a good quote and rundown: ” And Google has embarked on an ambitious secret effort known as Project Ocean, according to a person involved with the operation. With the cooperation of Stanford University, the company now plans to digitize the entire collection of the vast Stanford Library published before 1923, which is no longer limited by copyright restrictions.”

Can you imagine what such a collection would do to something like Google Print? When I asked the Google rep about this, though, they pointed out that the article was speculation, and they don’t comment on speculation. Okay.

Back to what is known and confirmed: Google Print. The fact that they’ve got a free program to index books in their search engine is very exciting and I can imagine it’ll be a lot more useful to me in my searching than a similar effort, Google Catalogs (where you could send them hardcopy catalogs and they’d index ‘em.) However, with the launch of the program one big thing has changed.

Before the program was officially announced, the content of Google Print was integrated into the Google index. This meant that with some judicious use of special syntax you could search just the print materials. (See my example at ResearchBuzz.) You could also set up Web alerts to find out when new material was added to the Google index (see the above article.)

However, the Google rep informs me that “Unlike the first phase of Google Print, these results are not integrated into the main Google search index.”

What does this mean? a) No ability to isolate the Google Print content – possibly no ability to run extensive general searches for content, b) No ability to set up search alerts to get information on new content as it’s added to the index, and c) no ability to access Google Print content through Google API calls.

However, there may be a ray of hope. The rep went on to say, “Also, keep in mind that this is just a test of the integration of book content into Google search results and things are changing as we learn more.”

So what do you get now? Try searching for books about x, substituting your preferred keywords for x. You’ll get a little book icon and links at the top of the page. If it doesn’t work, try refreshing a few times – I’m told some datacenters may still be in the process of updating.

On one hand I can’t help but be supportive of an initiative like this to get more-credible information into search engines in large chunks. If Google’s behind it there’s going to be a lot of muscle going into it, and I’m sure a lot of publishers are going to jump on board. However, the changes that have been made to the integration of this content (which makes it harder to isolate in a search) and the fact that they’re apparently concentrating on publishers first and not on existing collections of digitized content (of which there’s a lot, including unique stuff that might be really hard to find in a regular search) is disappointing.

Google tests short message service

Google on Thursday announced a new test service that allows people to use mobile phones or handheld devices to tap Google's Web search via text messages, or short message service.

Called Google SMS, the service is the newly public company's broadest push yet in the mobile market and comes as Google and its rivals in the hotly competitive Web search industry race to expand their reach.

Google SMS delivers business and residential listings, product prices and dictionary look-up. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company is not taking a percentage of the 5-cent to 10-cent per-message charge levied by mobile carriers, nor will advertisers influence results.

'In all of these cases you do not pay to be included,' Georges Harik, director of Google's incubator Googlettes said, referring to the businesses that show up in the SMS listings.

'We're not charging anything for the service and we have no plans to do so in the near future. We're trying to see if this is compelling enough to get people to use"

T-Mobile adds security measure to hot spots
source: CNET
curses! spoiled again

The company is adding the 802.1x security standard throughout its hot-spot network.

T-Mobile USA announced Tuesday it is adding the 802.1x security standard throughout its hot-spot network--a feat that should be finished by the second quarter of next year.
A hot spot is a public area where a wireless network has been installed so resources, such as a broadband connection, can be shared using Wi-Fi gear. The security standard ensures that data sent between an access point and Wi-Fi device isn't intercepted.

Security is one of the chief concerns of customers, according to T-Mobile USA. The standard is incorporated in its Connection Manager software, which is needed to securely connect to its hot spots. The software is distributed on CD and can be downloaded from the company's Web site.
T-Mobile USA said it is has installed about 8,300 hot spots. It aims to have 10,000 hot spots installed worldwide by the end of the year.

Amsterdam Start-Up to Offer WiFi Internet Citywide

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Amsterdam's Web surfers could soon be liberated from their home computers and Internet cafes, with plans by a start-up firm to make their city the first European capital where laptops can hook up anywhere to the Web.
 
HotSpot Amsterdam launched a wireless computer network on Monday with a supercharged version of the WiFi technology that is used to turn homes, airports, hotels and cafes into Web-connected "hot spots."
 
The first seven base stations are up and running, connecting historic areas that date back to the 13th century, while the entire city center will be covered by 40 to 60 antennas within three months, HotSpot Amsterdam founder Carl Harper said.
 
That network would be able to support several thousand users, he said.
 
"We'll go on to cover all of Amsterdam with 125 base stations. The idea is to prove to the big boys that it can be done, and that consumers can live with a mobile phone and mobile Internet. The landline is dead," he said. Many computer makers build WiFi chips and access cards into their products as a standard feature.
 
Mobile phone makers like Nokia have also started to add WiFi to some of their handset models, allowing much faster Internet access than would be possible with the standard GPRS and UMTS connections offered by mobile phone operators. HotSpot Amsterdam charges 4.95 euros ($5.98) a day or 14.95 euros a month for a connection of 256 kilobits per second, equivalent in price and speed to a low-end home broadband connection, while 24.95 euros a month will buy a connection twice that fast.
 
That undercuts fees charged by bigger suppliers such as Dutch telecommunications carrier KPN , which sells one hour of WiFi access for 5 euros and one month for 30 euros. And the dozen or so hotspots offered by KPN in Amsterdam have a range of just a few hundred meters each.
 
SUPERCHARGED HOT SPOTS
 
Although WiFi hot spots have traditionally covered only a small area -- a home, cafe, hotel room or reception area -- technology companies are developing a more powerful version that works with fewer base stations and covers much larger areas.
 
In addition, radio base stations can now be linked to each other in a loop network, without separate connections to the Internet, making it much easier and cheaper to build a network.
 
HotSpot Amsterdam estimates it will invest around 200,000 euros for the initial network covering Amsterdam's city center and a handful of surrounding areas.
 
The company's founders said their service was cheap enough that residents could choose a WiFi subscription in place of a fixed-line broadband connection from a cable TV company or from a provider of digital subscriber line services, which run through normal copper phone lines.
 
"The users we're aiming at are expatriates, students and people who share accommodation. They need Internet access, but are not able to install fixed-line broadband, or they do not want it for the minimum period of a year," Harper said.
 
Other target groups include tourists and business travelers.
 
The Finnish town of Mantsala has an 11 square-kilometer WiFi network, available to the public and schools, while New York plans to build a city-wide WiFi network.
 
The Port of Amsterdam installed a WiFi network three months ago, covering its 30 square kilometers, but that network is not for public use.

The Woz has got game
source: CNET

Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak joins advisory board of start-up Eye Games.

Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak has joined the advisory board of a small software upstart, Eye Games. Wozniak, an entrepreneur and founder of wireless technology company Wheels of Zeus, and Stuart Moulder, former general manager of Microsoft's gaming business, joined the advisory board this week, according to Eye Games CEO Gina Smith.

The Orinda, Calif.-based company, which debuted at E3 in May, sells software with a companion Webcam for enhancing PC games. In the model of Sony's Eye Toy for the PlayStation, Eye Games lets players cast their own image into a PC computer game and manipulate play with their own movements. Eye Games sells a preview version of its software for $19.95; and it plans to release a product in retail outlets over Christmas with a major partner that's yet to be named, according to Smith.

$50 download? Just a picture of the $50 bill
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. government will offer over the Internet low-quality images of its new $50 bill for artists, students and others who discover that their computers, scanners or printers won't allow them to view or copy pictures of the new currency.

Uncle Sam is making sure that computers won't cooperate with would-be counterfeiters -- even as it tries to accommodate consumers who legitimately want or need images of the currency.

The government said it also will consider individual requests for higher-quality images -- such as might be used in commercial art projects.

The low-quality images, suitable for school projects and other uses, will be available free at www.moneyfactory.com, a Web site run by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The new $50 bill was introduced this week.

"There is no limit on the ways that people may use images of currency. What we don't want is people whipping currency out of their pockets and making copies," said Eugenie Foster, cash project leader in the Federal Reserve Board's division of reserve bank operations and payment systems.

Making these digital copies is getting harder, thanks to secretive anti-counterfeiting technology built into some popular consumer hardware and software products at the request of government regulators and international bankers.

The technology detects and blocks attempts to view, scan or print copies of the redesigned $20 and $50 bills and, in a pop-up window, urges consumers to visit a Web site, www.rulesforuse.org, to learn about international counterfeit laws.

The technology, known as the Counterfeit Deterrence System, was designed by a consortium of 27 central banks in the United States, England, Japan, Canada and across the European Union, the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group.

Its broad adoption represents one of the rare occasions when the U.S. technology industry has quietly agreed to requests by government and finance officials to include third-party software code in commercial products. Most companies have never publicly revealed to customers they include such counterfeit protections in products.

Precisely how the technology works is a mystery. The U.S. government keeps its inner workings a closely guarded secret, arguing that disclosing too much information could help counterfeiters circumvent protections.

It also has declined to identify which companies have agreed to add the technology in their products, although Kodak, Xerox, Adobe Systems, Ulead Systems and Hewlett-Packard are among those known to use it. The European Union is considering a proposal to require all software companies to include such anti-counterfeit technology.

"We are very pleased with the amount of cooperation we've gotten," said Foster, who serves as U.S. representative to the international anti-counterfeit group. "Most (companies) have recognized that counterfeit currency is a threat to their customers and the public."

The Federal Reserve earlier this year denied a request and an appeal by The Associated Press under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act to learn some details about the system. The AP, which first revealed the program's existence in January, sought to learn whether the technology surreptitiously tracks consumers who try to copy bills, which U.S. agencies and private vendors built it, and how much it cost.

The reserve's board of governors told the AP it located a stack of papers 52 inches tall about the mysterious technology but agreed to release only 14 pages. It said the other documents represented trade secrets, internal letters or law enforcement procedures that couldn't be disclosed under the information act.

One document obtained by the AP, a 1998 U.S. government business solicitation, mandated that "any color printer must include a tracing system that encodes system identification in any output. This will tie the output to the originating equipment so that forensic identification of the equipment is possible in the event of illegal printing of currency images due to failure or circumvention of the recognition system(s)...."

Other papers turned over to the AP said the anti-counterfeit technology "does not have the capacity to track the use of a personal computer or digital imaging tool."

Foster also said the technology doesn't trace attempts to copy bills.

"The only thing this system does is prevent someone from making a copy of a currency note," she said. "It does not trace or report back any information about the individual."

Foster said the counterfeit protections built into consumer products recognize only the newly redesigned $20 and $50 bills, but upcoming changes to other currencies also will be expected to trigger the system.
CNN.com - U.S. offers download of new $50 bill - Oct 1, 2004