Library Stuff

Very sad.

New York Review of Books – “Google has by now digitized some ten million books. On what terms will it make those texts available to readers? That is the question before Judge Chin. If he construes the case narrowly, according to precedents in class-action suits, he could conclude that none of the parties had been slighted. That decision would remove all obstacles to Google’s attempt to transform its digitizing of texts into the largest library and book-selling business the world has ever known. If Judge Chin were to take a broad view of the case, the settlement could be modified in ways that would protect the public against potential abuses of Google’s monopolistic power.”

CNET – “When an open-source project is working optimally, can proprietary-software companies hope to compete? Greg Kroah-Hartman, a prominent Linux kernel developer and Novell fellow, suggests that the answer is no. Speaking to the How Software Is Built blog, Kroah-Hartman makes the case that the pace of Linux development leaves competition in the dust”

AP – ” An Italian prosecutor demanded jail time Wednesday for four Google executives charged in absentia with defamation and violating privacy for allowing a video to be posted online showing an autistic youth being abused. Prosecutor Alfredo Robledo is seeking a one-year term for three executives for violating privacy, and six months for a fourth for defamation in the case. Sentencing is expected Dec. 23.”

AP – “FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski sounded a clarion call for universal broadband access, comparing it to the great undertakings of earlier generations to build transportation networks across the U.S. “Broadband has immense power to improve the quality of lives of our citizens in innumerable ways,” he said, “whether it’s our troops serving in Iraq or a family living in Little Rock.”

Torontoist – “Last night at Toronto’s packed Canon Theatre, fans of Stephen King were treated to a 15-minute reading from the author’s new novel, Under the Dome, and nearly an hour’s worth of typically funny anecdotes and keen observations during an on-stage interview with director David Cronenberg. Then King dropped a fan bombshell on the crowd by casually describing a novel idea he began working on last summer. Seems King was wondering whatever happened to Danny Torrance of The Shining, who when readers last saw him was recovering from his ordeal at the Overlook Hotel at a resort in Maine with fellow survivors Wendy Torrance and chef Dick Halloran (who dies in the Kubrick film version). King remarked that though he ended his 1977 novel on a positive note, the Overlook was bound to have left young Danny with a lifetime’s worth of emotional scars. What Danny made of those traumatic experiences, and with the psychic powers that saved him from his father at the Overlook, is a question that King believes might make a damn fine sequel.”

OK, maybe not

A wrap-up from Above The Law

NYT – “It is all the more odd, then, that Hachette Audio recently announced that the latest audiobook by David Sedaris, “Live for Your Listening Pleasure,” which features readings before audiences, would be available on the least portable of formats: vinyl. Reminiscent of Blue Note albums from the 1950s and 1960s, the cover features a photograph of a woman sprawled on a white shag rug with a come-hither look, albums strewn about.”

Bloomberg – “Publishers of the Denver Post and the Dallas Morning News may pull some of their stories from Google Inc.’s news site, a move that would emulate News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch.”

AP – “Google is documenting Iraq’s national museum and will post photographs of its ancient treasures on the Internet early next year, Google chief Eric Schmidt announced Tuesday. The museum was ransacked in the chaotic aftermath of Saddam Hussein’s ouster in April 2003, and only reopened to visitors early this year. Schmidt, who toured the museum with U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill on Tuesday, said it was important for the world to see Iraq’s rich heritage and contribution to world culture.”