Google has announced a new effort to digitize old newspapers and make them readily available on the Internet.
The expanded Google News Archive will let you search for print publications from decades ago and see them in their original form. Content, naturally, is being added bit-by-bit. Some highlights of history are already included, though, such as a 1969 article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the first steps on the moon. Newspapers are being imported in their entirety, including smaller articles and even ads.
“Stories we’ve scanned under this initiative will appear alongside already-digitized material from publications like the New York Times as well as from archive aggregators and are marked ‘Google News Archive,’” Google Product Manager Punit Soni explains in his blog. “Over time, as we scan more articles and our index grows, we’ll also start blending these archives into our main search results so that when you search Google.com, you’ll be searching the full text of these newspapers as well,” he explains.
Google News Archive to Bring Old Newspapers Online Comments - Posted
09.08.08
Google has announced a new effort to digitize old newspapers and make them readily available on the Internet.
The expanded Google News Archive will let you search for print publications from decades ago and see them in their original form. Content, naturally, is being added bit-by-bit. Some highlights of history are already included, though, such as a 1969 article ... continue
DVD Copying Goes Mainstream, With Restrictions Comments - Posted
09.08.08
RealNetworks has unveiled plans for a mainstream, legal program to duplicate DVDs. RealDVD, to be sold for $30 on both Real.com and Amazon.com by the end of the month, will let you digitally copy any disc along with its artwork -- something the moviemaking industry has long resisted.
Of course, while legal battles have shut down companies such as DVD ... continue
DEMOFall08: iKnow Introduces Smart, Social Learning Tool Comments - Posted
09.08.08
For all our DEMOFall08 coverage, click here.
Tokyo-based Cerego has introduced a new "intelligent social learning platform" at DEMOFall '08. iKnow is designed to help you learn knowledge in a 2.0-type social environment. The tool measures your own personal learning style and speed and adjusts the program accordingly to cater to your needs. iKnow then lets you ... continue
DEMOFall08: Hey Cosmo launches MyConcierge, Blaster Comments - Posted
09.08.08
For all our DEMOFall08 coverage, click here.
HeyCosmo has launched two new free social utilities at DEMOfall 08, HeyCosmo MyConcierge and HeyCosmo Blaster.
HeyCosmo MyConcierge aims to eliminate the time wasted on everyday tasks such as finding a plumber at 3am or finding a restaurant on short notice by placing actual phone calls to service providers. Users enter their location and the ... continue
DEMOFall08: PaidInterviews pays candidates, not employers Comments - Posted
09.08.08
PaidInterviews has launched an interesting new employee finding service DEMOFall 08, one that rewards candidates, not employment agencies or finders.
PaidInterviews is billing the idea as a "disruptive model that is poised to transform the hiring process." Candidates name their asking fee, which is then matched with an employer’s bid fee, and are paid on a percantage basis of a candidates ... continue
DEMOFall08: iLovePhotos Puts Organizing and Sharing Photos on Autopilot Comments - Posted
09.08.08
For our full coverage of DEMOFall 08, click here.
iLovePhotos has launched what is billed as an interesting new way for Mac users to effortlessly manage and share their photos using facial detection technology.
iLovePhotos is a free desktop package for Macs that utilizes facial detection and visual tagging to help people quickly and easily organize, share, and enjoy their photos around ... continue
DEMOFall08: Toolgether joins the widget crowd [Free Invites] Comments - Posted
09.08.08
For our full coverage of DEMOFall 08, click here.
In a play for the SaaS market, Toolgether has unveiled a new online marketplace and platform allowing anyone to use, share, distribute, embed and monetize Web apps and widgets at DEMOFall 08.
The target market for Toolgether is SME's, who can utilize the Toolgether marketplace to search, discover and find helpful apps to ... continue
RealNetworks has unveiled plans for a mainstream, legal program to duplicate DVDs. RealDVD, to be sold for $30 on both Real.com and Amazon.com by the end of the month, will let you digitally copy any disc along with its artwork — something the moviemaking industry has long resisted.
Of course, while legal battles have shut down companies such as DVD X Copy — closed in 2004 after a lengthy MPAA lawsuit — most technologically inclined folks have still found ways to rip and burn DVDs at will. Still, Real’s software will make the process available to anyone, regardless of their computer knowledge. Now, it also comes with a catch, and it’s a pretty limiting one: The program will only let you make a single digital copy of any DVD, and the movie will play only on that same computer. It also will not work with Blu-ray discs.
Real execs told The New York Times a lawsuit in 2007 paved the way for the product. The DVD Copy Control Association — the group behind DVD encryption technology — tried to sue a startup that sold a server designed to copy and digitally store hundreds of films. It lost.
That decision, however, is now being appealed. If the DVD Copy Control Association ends up winning, RealDVD could face trouble as well.
Not to imply anything illegal here, but I’ll just saying that a certain other option with “Shrink” in its name lets you do a lot more, and without the hassle. Only for legitimate personal backups of non-copyrighted discs, of course.
Tokyo-based Cerego has introduced a new “intelligent social learning platform” at DEMOFall ‘08. iKnow is designed to help you learn knowledge in a 2.0-type social environment. The tool measures your own personal learning style and speed and adjusts the program accordingly to cater to your needs. iKnow then lets you collaborate with other users and share information publicly throughout the site. Right now, the tool is in beta testing for language — specifically for English speakers working to learn Japanese.
The programmers behind iKnow had previously been testing it for Japanese users studying English and say they saw great success. As they put it:
“Research has shown that there is an optimum moment to review whatever you’re studying — at that moment right before you’re likely to forget it,” said Andrew Smith Lewis, founder and chairman of Cerego. “The problem is that calculating this moment for a vast stream of information is far beyond the capacity of the human brain. But it’s not beyond the capacity of software. And now for the first time, we have not only the computing capacity to generate personalized learning schedules, but also a fertile venue for the creation and sharing of an infinite variety of learning content, the Web.”
iKnow’s expanded system will eventually let you use its algorithms for any type of learning exercise, not just limited to language. Cerego plans to release APIs and open the platform up completely to developers.
This isn’t something you’d use on a daily basis, but the technology — at least, as its touted — is fairly impressive. One could imagine it having strong implications for scholastic settings, particularly as an at-home supplement to in-class learning. As of now, the services are all offered free-of-charge.
HeyCosmo MyConcierge aims to eliminate the time wasted on everyday tasks such as finding a plumber at 3am or finding a restaurant on short notice by placing actual phone calls to service providers. Users enter their location and the type of business or service they need into HeyCosmo’s site, along with a list of requirements. Using the company’s “robo-call technology,” MyConcierge calls vendors or services to identify the ones that fit the user’s specific criteria.
HeyCosmo users receive a complete listing of all providers along with availability, price and other features without having to call each individually.
The idea is pretty cool, to quote HeyCosmo:
“The concept behind HeyCosmo MyConcierge is simple. Who hasn’t spent way too much time trying to find an electrician or a ride to the airport? Online directories and search engines are great, but there’s still a lot of manual work involved to see who is available for your timeslot and project, and can work within your budget,” said James Im, founder and CEO at Arsenal Interactive, Inc. “HeyCosmo MyConcierge handles the dirty work in 60 seconds or less – since we all have better things to do.”
HeyCosmo Blaster takes the same idea and applies it to social planning. Users enter a date, time, and place to meet up, along with the names and numbers of friends, and HeyCosmo Blaster makes simultaneous calls to all the user’s chosen recipients, complete with a personalized message and interactive options.
The service lets event organizers know, in real-time, who answered the call, listened to the message, and responded. Additionally, HeyCosmo’s model enables advertisers to deliver highly targeted messages to users. For instance, a group planning an overnight trip to Las Vegas can be given the option to hear specials on airfare, shows, restaurants, or clubs at the end of the call depending on the context of the message being delivered to the recipient.
Both very cool ideas, although we’re presuming limited to the United States at this time. If we get a video from DEMO, we’ll update the post with the demonstration.
PaidInterviews has launched an interesting new employee finding service DEMOFall 08, one that rewards candidates, not employment agencies or finders.
PaidInterviews is billing the idea as a “disruptive model that is poised to transform the hiring process.” Candidates name their asking fee, which is then matched with an employer’s bid fee, and are paid on a percantage basis of a candidates first year’s salary if they are hired. The idea is that by paying candidates for their time and efforts, employers are more likely to attract high-quality, ‘in-demand’ candidates.
PaidInterviews uses intelligent matching to bring candidates and employers together. Candidates are asked to define their ideal job based on standard aspects, including knowledge, skills and experience, in addition to ‘lifestyle factors,’ which can be just as critical to job satisfaction and career success.
It’s an interesting idea, a step away from the traditional model, and more radical than the pay for referral model that has recently emerged.
As much as I like the idea, I’m hoping that post DEMO launch that PaidInterviews does something about their website, which as I write this I’m thinking may have been the site Robert Scoble was talking about when he bagged DEMO companies.
iLovePhotos has launched what is billed as an interesting new way for Mac users to effortlessly manage and share their photos using facial detection technology.
iLovePhotos is a free desktop package for Macs that utilizes facial detection and visual tagging to help people quickly and easily organize, share, and enjoy their photos around the people in them. The iLovePhotos software can work with iPhoto or act as a a replacement image manager.
As users import pictures, the software detects the faces of the individuals in each picture, allowing users to filter their library to show only photos of specific people. For search, iLovePhotos will also pull full name and contact information from a user’s address book, allowing for automatic sharing of feeds
Slideshows can be embedded online or watched on an iPhone, iPod, or AppleTV.
I’d need to do a hands on review to give a full picture of what iLovePhoto’s is promising, but the specs look interesting, and there’s no better selling point than free.
In a play for the SaaS market, Toolgether has unveiled a new online marketplace and platform allowing anyone to use, share, distribute, embed and monetize Web apps and widgets at DEMOFall 08.
The target market for Toolgether is SME’s, who can utilize the Toolgether marketplace to search, discover and find helpful apps to embed in their Web sites and blogs in order to boost productivity and bring added value to their customers and visitors. General consumers can use Toolgether to find helpful tools in a variety of categories.
Provided samples include:
Education: school tuition comparison; online test preparation tool
Health: BMI index; drug and symptom lookup
Legal: promissory note generator; provisional patent application generator
Parenting: fertility calculator; college IRA planning
Personal Finance: mortgage calculator; investment portfolio analysis
Mobile: SMS message sending tool; location-based services tools
Travel: get real-time traffic info in an area; find hotel and restaurant info in an area
Web: find Google page rank; SEO analysis of a Web page
Social Networking: find connections between your Twitter friends; find out who among your Digg friends routinely Digg your submissions
Video/Photo: image resizing tool; Web video converter tool for easy conversion of different video file formats to flash video (.flv files)
For users who have created simple desktop apps and want to bring them to the web, share and monetize them, they are able to use Toolgether’s Web Application Interface Builder. In a simple to use interface, the can turn their IP into a widget that is ready for sharing with friends, family and others.
If the offer sounds appealing, you need to be quick. Toolgether is offering 500 signups prior to their full launch later this year. Click here to sign up, first in, best dressed.
“The initial reaction might be on the fence or leaning negative but the ad did its job,” says Dean Crutchfield, a brand consultant. “Most companies would have to spend a billion dollars on advertising to get this kind of attention.”
“The fact that they have the blogs, the business community and mass media talking about it means they hit a nerve,” says Allen Adamson, managing director of the New York office of Landor Associates, a corporate branding firm owned by WPP Group.
Now if this wasn’t a Microsoft commercial I’d agree with all those points: people are talking about the ad, it has created buzz, and the idea that there is no such thing as bad publicity holds true. But we’re not talking about another company, we’re talking about Microsoft. A multi-billion dollar organization with 80-90% marketshare on computers, the default standard in office software, and a range of other things. You can’t go anywhere on the planet without running into something from Microsoft, and very few have never heard of the company, going to zero percent in the developed world.
This isn’t a company that needs buzz, that needs people talking about a zany ad that says nothing. Microsoft has brand awareness. What Microsoft needs to do is change people’s perception of the brand, to make people think positively about the company, and this ad fails to deliver.
Where was the key message? where was any message for that matter? Do people think more positively about Microsoft after the ad because Jerry Seinfield and Bill Gates like cheap shoes?
It is, as I’ve said previously, too clever by half. The fact that the Journal’s experts think that the ad is a huge hit proves the point, because there are times where the ad world has lost touch with reality. This ad resonates for all the wrong reasons, and the buzz doesn’t address the key messages Microsoft needs to deliver.
Will it yet deliver in follow up spots? Microsoft is betting that it is, and until we see the ads, we have no way of knowing. On the bright side, the campaign can only improve, but perhaps that’s the point I’m missing: perhaps it is suppose to start bad so that we see a transformation of Microsoft from the cheap shoes of Windows to something cooler and more desirable. We will see.
Just over 4 days are left for your chance to buy a piece of Google history: a Google Chrome comic book, with the profit going to charity.
Bidding is currently at $320 AUD and has attracted 12 bidders. See the full auction details here, or our early post here.
Our thanks to everyone who has linked to the auction and promoted it. Two very good causes on the receiving end here, and the book isn’t half bad either!
One note on the legality of the sale (someone claimed it wasn’t legal to sell because I don’t have permission), I check with Matt Cutts just to be sure, and his response was that I’m free to do what I like with it.
If bidding is beyond your means but you’d like to help, please consider a small donation to Beth Kanter if you’re in the United States, or Beyond Blue if you’re in Australia.
The latest episode of Things You Can’t Say About The Internet with Steve Hodson, Cyndy Aleo-Carreria and myself was a vintage episode. Before you hit play though, a language warning, but it was perhaps our funnest yet.
In this episode we have a discussion about the newest entry of Google’s Chrome where I am accused of drinking too much kool-aid. Cyndy claims she will never use it come hell or high water but of couse they’ll have to release a Mac version first so time will tell there. Duncan of couse being the sensible one even though he did offer me another glass of kool-aid said he would try it when it comes out with a Mac version.
While Chrome did take up the better part of the show we did get onto a couple of other subjects such as the new version of Picasa and a bit of a discussion about blog design style which was prompter by my recent launch of The Hodson Report blog. This lead into a fun and heated discussion about advertising on blogs but all in all it was another great show with lots of laughs.
Comcast’s decision to implement a 250gb data cap on users continues to drive a ton of angst among American early adopters who believe the sky is falling. The latest round comes from Roku, makers of the Netflix box, who claim that they aren’t afraid of caps, but with others saying how much it will hurt their business.
There is a case in terms of limiting future growth in online content delivery; as we switch away from heritage media, the more content we consume online, the more data we use. But that time isn’t now, at least for the vast majority of users, because even with streaming content, most will never hit the 250gb cap. There are some exceptions, but we’ll get to that in a moment.
Living with a cap
The above shot is from my iiNet toolbox showing my volume usage from August 28, the starting day for the monthly calculation of my use cap, which is currently 65GB peak (noon-2am) and 65GB off-peak (2am-noon). 11 full days into the month, I’ve used 10gb peak, just over 2gb off peak, and 3gb in the free zone.
Now perhaps I haven’t downloaded a lot this month, so these figures may not be completely typical, but they are close enough, and my biggest month so far totaled 50gb. Consider the usage scenario: we rarely watch broadcast television, and on a typical night will stream one to two television programs. Other times we might rent a movie or stream some podcasts via our Apple TV, and if you note the freezone figure for the 6th, we purchased 300 on iTunes (it wasn’t available for rent) and watched it, resulting in a 1.5gb figure for that day. I’m also in front of a computer at home all day, and I regularly download content, and at least three times a week I’m playing online Poker as well, so there is a gaming component. Notably these figures include uploads as well, although it’s not clear whether the Comcast cap counts uploads. Our house has more internet enabled devices than people: three computers in regular use, Apple TV, two iPhones, and a Chumby used day in, day out. Continue…
The slate of films include: Afganistan Revealed, Beyond Belief, Saint of 9/11, and We Are Family. Just like with all the more than 300 non-fiction films in SnagFilms’ library, each of these documentary films can be re-streamed via a widget and embedded on another website or social network page.
Comprising footage culled from more than two-dozen filmmakers’ material produced on the day and immediate aftermath of September 11th, 2001, 7 Days in September has been called by New York Times film critic A.O. Scott “an almost unbearably powerful documentary.” Director Steven Rosenbaum wove together the journeys of 28 New Yorkers – each of whom recorded their most private experiences during the attacks on the World Trade Center, and the week that followed. The storytellers, included a postal worker, a college student, an artist, and Rosenbaum’s 11 year old son Max, who together captured the sorrow and solidarity of the 9/11 story.
Viewers of films presented by SnagFilms.com are encouraged to become “filmanthropists,” either by opening a new movie theater widget on their personal website or social networking page, or by contributing directly to a cause tied to the films they watch. Viewers who respond to the “support” button connected to any of the Remembrance films will be able to contribute funds to the National September 11th Memorial and Museum, the builder, programmer, and operator of the Memorial and Museum at Ground Zero.
SnagFilms would match its viewers’ contributions during the Remembrance Week.
Remember the July 5, 1993 cartoon in The New Yorker where a dog was telling another dog that “on the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”?
Yes, on the Internet, you can be who you want to be. You can be Steve Jobs, a fake one that is. You can even post comments on blogs using assumed names. You can create accounts in social networks and online communities using a different username.
On the Internet, you can be the opposite of yourself. Such is the case of this report from Chron.com where a drug lord maintains a website presents himself differently and the opposite.
In Mexico, Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, known as “El Padrino” is feared and reviled as the godfather of Mexico’s cocaine trade. On the web, however, he’s portrayed as a family man and a savvy business tycoon. The website was obviously made by supporters because Gallardo does not have Internet access from where he is now in Mexico’s highest-security prison.
You can visit his website at MiguelFelixGallardo.com. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much about what the website says because me no habla Espanol despite being born in a country colonized by Spain for more than 300 years.
Google has announced a new effort to digitize old newspapers and make them readily available on the Internet.
RealNetworks has unveiled plans for a mainstream, legal program to duplicate DVDs. 
For all our DEMOFall08 coverage, click 
Microsoft has responded to criticism of its 
Just over 4 days are left for your chance to buy a piece of Google history: a Google Chrome comic book, with the profit going to charity.
SnagFilms announced that it is streaming five films without advertising in its annual 
Remember the July 5, 1993 cartoon in The New Yorker where a dog was telling another dog that “on the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”?
