Archive for: May 3, 2009

Google is serious about scanning books. Throughout the objections raised over the years by authors and publishers and the more recent delays in its settlement with the Authors Guild, Google has been scanning millions of books all along trying to digitize as many as it possibly can. It is so serious about capturing and indexing the knowledge stored in books that it has a patent , which was issued on March 24, 2009, on how to scan books faster than was previously possible. The basic technique it uses involves two infrared cameras which determine how flat or curved each page to be scanned is and then adjusting the optical character recognition software it uses to read the text accordingly. In other words, the infrared cameras help figure out a book’s three-dimensional shape and then back out any resulting distortions. This results in much faster book scanning since each page doesn’t need to be flattened by glass plates and spines don’t need to be broken. There are other book scanning projects besides the Google Book Project. The Internet Archive , for instance, runs 18 scanning centers around the world, which all together digitize only 1,000 books a day. I am not sure what kind fo technology the Internet Archive uses, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Google’s scanning operation is much faster. Those are billions of pages of high-quality information just waiting to be indexed and searched. For Google, the faster it can get those books scanned, the faster it can start to serve ads against those searches. Now, I wonder how it flips the pages. (Hat tip to Buzznewsroom ). Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

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Back in 1994, there was no album I wanted more than Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral. The problem was that I was 12 at the time, and the album carried the dreaded “Parental Advisory” sticker, which meant I couldn’t buy it at the store without my parents — and that wasn’t an option. You see, they (like most other parents) weren’t too fond of songs like “Closer,” on the album. You know the one. “I want to f**k you like an animal.” Yeah, that “Closer.” Well, now it’s 2009, I’m 27, and should be free to buy whatever the hell I want. Except I can’t once again. This time thanks to Apple. You see, Apple has apparently rejected an update to Nine Inch Nails’ iPhone app because it found the contents of The Downward Spiral to be “objectionable,” according to Nine Inch Nails’ frontman Trent Reznor. History repeats itself. But what’s odd here — and what continues to be odd about the App Store approval process — is that the first version of the Nine Inch Nails app was already accepted into the store a few weeks ago. In fact, I have it. Guess what’s on it? Content from The Downward Spiral. I’m listening to “Closer” right now. Let me assure everyone, this is not the radio edit version of the song or the album. So what gives, Apple? Well, it appears to be yet another ridiculous case of Apple’s uneven app approval process. I know I’ve written about this a half dozen times already. But you know what? I’m going to keep writing about it until Apple gets its act together with this. I have no problem if Apple wants to pick and choose which apps it accepts in their store — it is their store after ...

This is a guest post by Neil Patel, co-founder of KISSmetrics and blogger at QuickSprout.com . He also does consulting work for a number of major Internet properties, including TechCrunch. When you think about growing your blog, whether it is a personal, professional or company blog, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Chances are it is something related to traffic or subscribers. Getting more traffic or subscribers is never a bad thing, but if you really want more sustainable traffic you first have to understand the people coming to your blog. If you can’t make them happy, how can you expect your traffic to grow? Stop Assuming! You have a vision of how you see your blog and where you want it to go. The reality is that your vision may not match up with what your readers are expecting. So instead of assuming things about your readers, start getting feedback from them. Feedback – Through services like Skribit your readers and customers can provide post suggestions. The feedback is posted publicly and other readers can vote on it whether they agree or disagree. Polls – Polling services like Poll Daddy can allow you to figure out what direction you should take your content. For example, if you have some ideas for your blog, you can create a poll and have your reader’s vote on which ideas they would like to read more about. Reader surveys – No matter how small or large your reader base is, you can survey them. Eric Ries, who is a big advocate of customer development , started surveying his readers when he only had 5 RSS subscribers. He asked them the following things right within his blog post: On a scale of 1-10 (where 10 is most likely), how ...

Last month we reported on an interesting trademark case between online marketing guru Jeremy ‘ ShoeMoney ‘ Schoemaker and a Google employee named Keyen Farrell, who works as an AdWords Account Strategist. Schoemaker is accusing Farrell of violating his trademark by using the word ’shoemoney’ in the ad copy for Farrell’s own site - something that Google prohibits. AdWords disputes aren’t anything new, but the case is interesting because it involves a Google AdWords employee, who obviously should have been aware of the program’s Terms of Service. And there’s also the possibility that Farrell could have used his administrative access to bypass Google’s filters (which should have caught the trademark). In the latest developments, Farrell has filed an affadavit stating that he did not know that the word ’shoemoney’ was trademarked, and that he was working through Google’s standard system when he placed his ads, which failed to prevent him from registering the word. In effect, he’s saying that the blame lies with Google, which should have prevented this from happening in the first place. It’s worth noting that when Danny Sullivan attempted to use the word ’shoemoney’ in an ad last month the system rejected it, though it is possible that it was added to the filter database in the time since Farrell began using it. Farrell’s affadavit also denies any sinister action on his part through administrative access, stating that he never accessed the Google account for Jeremy Schoemaker and/or Shoemoney Media Group, Inc. Farrell and his father, who is also named in the case, are seeking the case’s dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction (the suit was filed in Nebraska, where neither of them live). The full documents are embedded below. We’ll be keeping an eye on this one. If Google does admit fault, Schoemaker could ...

OK folks, if you want to receive updates from the White House , they have created a new Twitter account, a spin off from Obama’s Twitter feed during the elections. Of course, it goes without saying that you can subscribe to their feed also through your mobile phone. Which brings me to ask — do you actually turn on mobile updates for your Twitter feed, or is it really just one big mess? I used to turn it on — but realized it was such a hassle having to keep up with so many messages involuntarily as they were pushed to my phone. Post from: Cellphone9

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White House begins Twitter again

By Andrew Liszewski I kind of wish I’d stumbled across this updated version of Russian Roulette, which features a novelty handgun designed to simply pop-up a balloon, before I threw that Deer Hunter themed birthday party for myself last month. I mean the decorations went over well, but things kind of took a turn for the worse when the games started. On the bright side, there was a lot of birthday cake left over at the end of the night. Get it from the EarlyShop for about $16 and save yourself the trouble of having to write a bunch of “Thank-you” and “I’m sorry for your loss” cards like I did. [ Russian Roulette 2 ] VIA [ ALT1040 ]

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Russian Roulette 2 - Easier To Clean Up Afterwards Edition

By Andrew Liszewski Yep, it’s official, I’m an idiot. This was indeed an April Fool’s gag, however, I have held a tube of actual bacon paste in my hand, so I know it’s a real product. Were it not for the fact that there was once a small tube of this stuff in my fridge that I brought back from Amsterdam, I would have assumed that Squeez Bacon was a holdover from ThinkGeek’s April Fool’s Day antics. But I’m afraid this stuff is as real as it gets. It was originally created by Vilhelm Lillefläsk shortly after WWII by precooking and blending real bacon to create a delicious paste. The process is still relatively similar today, though it’s been refined to a “patented electro-mechanical process” which actually results in a product that needs no preservatives or other additives, just old-fashioned bacon goodness! Available from ThinkGeek for $7.99 a bottle, Squeez Bacon is a bit more expensive than other domestic condiments, but it’s got one clear advantage over ketchup, mustard and relish; It’s bacon! [ Squeez Bacon - The World's Most Perfect Food ] VIA [ I New Idea Homepage ]

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Delicious Squeezable Bacon

Google has wandered into another social minefield, archiving controversial details of Japan's caste system.

Specifically, its Google Maps division has published an overlay of the historical locations of "burakumin," the Japanese underclass which was socially shunned because of its association with death, such as butchering animals and digging graves, the AP reports. The stigma also attaches itself to the historical villages, since razed and replaced by modern cities, where burakumin used to live. It's one of the Google-supplied maps, which uses the slur "eta" to describe one such village, that has publicized the locations of these largely-forgotten villages.

Although the prejudice dates back to the Japanese feudal era, modern descendants of burakumin face active discrimination; the AP quotes a hiring manager at a top Japanese company as saying that her firm actually works to prevent burakumin from being hired.

It might be easy to point the finger at Google here; after all, following flaps such as the privacy concerns surrounding Google Street View, its YouTube copyright issues, and the controversy surrounding its online book search, Google seems to have an unerring tendency to brush aside inconvenient legal and cultural issues.

But the story isn't all that simple. Is Google helping to expose and eradicate a cultural blight? And what about its quick elimination of the offending map overlay, when the practice was exposed? The issue has climbed to public prominence with a debate inside the Japanese government. Click on over to the story; it's definitely worth a read.