PGWeekly_March_31.txt
The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, March 31, 2004 PT0
*****eBooks Readable By Both Humans and Computers Since July 4, 1971******
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***Apologies for the delay. . .and more***
*** Our mainframe has been down all morning, so did statistics by hand,
*** and luckily we all seemed to agree on the following:
*** Currently based on 146 eBooks this week: minus the 25 Human Genome
*** files I reported last week, but didn't get listed until this week = 121
*** We are unofficially listing last week at 87 for convenience to our
*** statistical experts in the record books. . .and this week at 146,
*** in the statistical record books. . .sorry for the confusion. Michael
*** [It's all my fault for wanting to reach 12,000 last week, and then
*** much miscommunication about how and when we actually did it. . . .]
eBook Milestones
We Have Added 9,000 eBooks Since January 1, 2001 !!!
We Are Over 1/5 of the Way from 10,000 to 20,000
12145 eBooks As Of Today!!!
You Would Have To Read Twp Books Per Week To Read These In 100 Years!!!
It took 32.25 years from July, 1971 to October, 2003 to do our 1st 10,000
It took 3.9 years from April, 2000 to March, 2004 for our last 10,000
[From 2,145 to 12,145]
[The Newsletter is now being sent in three sections, so you can directly
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This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter
Over Our 32 3/4 Year History, We Have Now Averaged About 371 Ebooks/Yr
And This Year Averaged Over That Same New eBook Level. . .PER MONTH!!!!!
We Are Averaging About 452 Per Month This Year!!!
Just Over 103 Per Week!!!
By The Way, It's Been About 1.023 Billion Seconds Since The First eBook!!!
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In this issue of the Project Gutenberg Weekly newsletter:
- Intro (above)
- Hot Requests (above)
- Hot News (above)
- Requests For Assistance
- Progress Report
- Flashback
- Continuing Requests For Assistance
- Making Donations
- Access To The Collection
- Information About Mirror Sites
- Have We Given Away A Trillion eBooks/Dollars Yet?
- Weekly eBook update:
Updates/corrections in separate section
2 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
119 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
- Headline News from Newsscan and Edupage
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*** Progress Report
In the first 2.80 months of this year, we produced 1270 new eBooks.
It took us from July 1971 to Apr 1998 to produce our first 1,270 eBooks!
That's 10 WEEKS as Compared to ~27 Years!
121 New eBooks This Week
112 New eBooks Last Week
434 New eBooks This Month [March]
442 Average Per Month in 2004
355 Average Per Month in 2003
203 Average Per Month in 2002
103 Average Per Month in 2001
1238 New eBooks in 2004
4164 New eBooks in 2003
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
====
9083 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
That's Only 38.5 Months!
12,145 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
7,410 eBooks This Week Last Year
====
4,735 New eBooks In Last 12 Months
344 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia
We're still keeping up with Moore's Law!
Moore's law 12 month comparison = 106.67%
Moore's law 18 month comparison = 100.21%
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***
FLASHBACK!!!
1238 New eBooks So Far in 2004
It took us ~28 years for the first 1238!
That's the 12 WEEKS of 2004 as Compared to ~28 YEARS!!!
Here Is A Sample Of What Books Were Being Done Around #1238
Mar 1998 Le Mort d'Arthur, by Thomas Malory Volume 2[TM#2][2martxxx.xxx] 1252
Mar 1998 Le Mort d'Arthur, by Thomas Malory Volume 1[TM#1][1martxxx.xxx] 1251
Mar 1998 Anthem, by Ayn Rand [Alice Rosenblum][Ayn Rand #1][anthmxxx.xxx] 1250
Mar 1998 Anthem, by Ayn Rand [Comparison of anthm10 & 10a] [anthmxxz.xxx] 1249
Mar 1998 Last of the Great Scouts, by Helen Cody Wetmore [bbillxxx.xxx] 1248
[Title: Last Of The Great Scouts, The Life Story Of Col. William F. Cody
["Buffalo Bill", As Told By His Sister Helen Cody Wetmore]
Mar 1998 Second April, by Edna St. Vincent Millay[Millay#2][aprilxxx.xxx] 1247
Mar 1998 The House of Dust, by Conrad Aiken [Aiken #1][hdustxxx.xxx] 1246
Mar 1998 Night and Day, by Virginia Woolf [Woolf #2][nidayxxx.xxx] 1245
Mar 1998 Love for Love, by William Congreve [Congreve #3][lv4lvxxx.xxx] 1244
Mar 1998 Hearts of Controversy, by Alice Meynell [Alice #3][hrtcnxxx.xxx] 1243
Mar 1998 Unconscious Comedians, by Honore de Balzac [HDB#8][nccmdxxx.xxx] 1242
Mar 1998 The Well of the Saints, by J. M. Synge [Synge #3][welstxxx.xxx] 1241
Mar 1998 The Playboy of the Western World, by J. M. Synge#2[potwwxxx.xxx] 1240
Mar 1998 The Spirit of the Border, by Zane Grey [Grey #4] [sprtbxxx.xxx] 1239
Mar 1998 The City of Dreadful Night, by James Thomson [ctdntxxx.xxx] 1238
Mar 1998 Father Goriot, by Honore de Balzac [Balzac #8] [frgrtxxx.xxx] 1237
Mar 1998 First Across the Continent, by Noah Brooks [landcxxx.xxx] 1236
[Subtitle: Story of The Exploring Expedition of Lewis and Clark [1804-05-06]
Mar 1998 Captain Fracasse, by Theophile Gautier [cptnfxxx.xxx] 1235
Mar 1998 Organic Syntheses, James Bryant Conant, Editor [rgsynxxx.xxx] 1234
Mar 1998 Origin and Nature of Emotions, by George W. Crile [oanoexxx.xxx] 1233
Mar 1998 The Prince, by Nicolo Machiavelli, Tr. Marriott #3[tprncxxx.xxx] 1232
Also contains: Valentino, [#2]; Castracani, [#1]
Mar 1998 On the Track, by Henry Lawson [Henry Lawson #3][ontrkxxx.xxx] 1231
Mar 1998 Pierre Grassou, by Honore de Balzac [Balzac #7][prgrsxxx.xxx] 1230
Mar 1998 Select Poems of Sidney Lanier, Ed. Callaway [SL#3][sposlxxx.xxx] 1229
Mar 1998 On the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin [#3][otoosxxx.xxx] 1228
Mar 1998 Expression Emotion in Man & Animals, by Darwin #2 [eemaaxxx.xxx] 1227
Mar 1998 The Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Volume 10 [jap10xxx.xxx] 1226
Mar 1998 Faraday As A Discoverer, by John Tyndall [fdaydxxx.xxx] 1225
Feb 1998 [A Biography of] Sidney Lanier, by Edwin Mims [lanrbxxx.xxx] 1224
Feb 1998 Ursula, by Honore de Balzac [Balzac #6] [rsulaxxx.xxx] 1223
Feb 1998 Cobb's Anatomy, by Irvin S. Cobb [Humorous Spoof] [canatxxx.xxx] 1222
Feb 1998 North American Species of Cactus, by John Coulter [nasocxxx.xxx] 1221
Feb 1998 The Atheist's Mass, by Honore de Balzac [Balzac#5][athmsxxx.xxx] 1220
Feb 1998 Essay on Comedy, Comic Spirit George Meredith[#2][esycmxxx.xxx] 1219
Feb 1998 The Adventures of Jimmie Dale, by Frank L. Packard[advjdxxx.xxx] 1218
Feb 1998 Penelope's Experiences in Scotland, by Wiggin [#5][pesctxxx.xxx] 1217
[Author: Kate Douglas Wiggin]
Feb 1998 Decline of Science in England, by Charles Babbage [dosiexxx.xxx] 1216
Feb 1998 The Elixir of Life, by Honore de Balzac [Balzac#4][lxrlfxxx.xxx] 1215
Feb 1998 The Street of Seven Stars by Mary Roberts Rinehart[sstrsxxx.xxx] 1214
Feb 1998 Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, by Mark Twain [#13][hdlybxxx.xxx] 1213
Feb 1998 Love and Friendship, et. al., by Jane Austen [#7] [lvfndxxx.xxx] 1212
[Title: Love and Friendship and Other Early Works, also spelled Love
[and Freindship, A collection of juvenile writings]
Feb 1998 From The Lyrical Poems Of Robert Herrick[Palgrave][lporhxxx.xxx] 1211
Feb 1998 Kwaidan, by Lafcadio Hearn [Lafcadio Hearn #2] [kwidnxxx.xxx] 1210
Feb 1998 History Of The Conquest Of Peru, by Wm H. Prescott[hcpruxxx.xxx] 1209
Feb 1998 South Sea Tales, by Jack London [London #41-48][sosetxxx.xxx] 1208
Feb 1998 Nada the Lily, by H. Rider Haggard [Haggard #2] [ndllyxxx.xxx] 1207
Feb 1998 The Flying U Ranch, by B. M. Bower [Bower #5] [flurnxxx.xxx] 1206
Feb 1998 The Colour of Life, by Alice Meynell [Meynell #2] [clrlfxxx.xxx] 1205
Feb 1998 Cabin Fever, by B. M. Bower [B. M. Bower #4] [cabfvxxx.xxx] 1204
Feb 1998 Dolly Dialogues by Anthony Hope [Anthony Hope #4] [dlydlxxx.xxx] 1203
Feb 1998 Tales of Unrest, by Joseph Conrad [Conrad #20] [tnrstxxx.xxx] 1202
Feb 1998 Essay on the Trial By Jury, by Lysander Spooner[1][tbjryxxx.xxx] 1201
Feb 1998 Gargantua and Pantagruel, by Francis Rabelais [ggpntxxx.xxx] 1200
Feb 1998 An Anthology of Australian Verse, Bertram Stevens [ozvrsxxx.xxx] 1199
***
Today Is Day #084 of 2004
This Completes Week #12
280 Days/40 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year]
7855 Books To Go To #20,000
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
103 Weekly Average in 2004
79 Weekly Average in 2003
47 Weekly Average in 2002
24 Weekly Average in 2001
41 Only 41 Numbers Left On Our Reserved Numbers list
[Used to be well over 100]
*** Continuing Requests For Assistance:
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*** Have We Given Away A Trillion eBooks/Dollars Yet???
Statistical Review
In the 12 weeks of this year, we have produced 1287 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 1998 to produce our FIRST 1287 eBooks!!!
That's 12 WEEKS as Compared to ~28 YEARS!!!
With 12,145 eBooks online as of March 31, 2004 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.82 from each book,
for Project Gutenberg to have currently given away $1,000,000,000,000
[One Trillion Dollars] in books.
100,000,000 readers is only about 1.5% of the world's population!
This "cost" is down from about $1.34 when we had 7462 eBooks A Year Ago
Can you imagine 12,000 books each costing $.50 less a year later???
Or. . .would this say it better?
Can you imagine 12,000 books each costing 1/3 less a year later???
At 12,145 eBooks in 32 Years and 9.80 Months We Averaged
371 Per Year [We do more per than that month these days!]
31 Per Month
1.1 Per Day
At 1238 eBooks Done In The 084 Days Of 2004 We Averaged
14.7 Per Day
103.2 Per Week
449.5 Per Month
The production statistics are calculated based on full weeks'
production; each production-week starts/ends Wednesday noon,
starts with the first Wednesday of January. January 7th was
the first Wednesday of 2004, and thus ended PG's production
year of 2003 and began the production year of 2004 at noon.
This year there will be 52 Wednesdays, thus no extra week.
***Headline News***
[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]
>From Newsscan:
GATES ENVISIONS 'ALMOST FREE' HARDWARE
[But NOT "Almost Free" Software. . .hee hee!]
Hardware costs will decline dramatically in the coming decade,
predicts Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, leading the way for widespread
adoption of cutting edge technologies like voice and handwriting
recognition. "Ten years out, in terms of actual hardware costs, you can
almost think of hardware as being free -- I'm not saying it will be
absolutely free -- but in terms of the power of the servers, the power of
the network will not be a limiting factor^E Many of the holy grails of
computing that have been worked on over the last 30 years will be solved
within this 10-year period, with speech being in every device and having a
device that's like a tablet that you just carry around."
(Reuters/CNet 30 Mar 2004) http://news.com.com/2100-1012-5181789.html
STUDY CONTRADICTS MUSIC INDUSTRY'S PIRACY CLAIMS
Two university researchers have released a study that indicates online
music piracy has no negative effect on legitimate music sales, and in fact
boosts sales in some cases. "Consumption of music increases dramatically
with the introduction of file sharing, but not everybody who likes to
listen to music was a music customer before, so it's very important to
separate the two," says Felix Oberholzer-Gee, an associate professor at
Harvard Business School, who co-authored the study. Oberholzer-Gee and his
colleague, University of North Carolina professor Koleman Strumpf, say
their "most pessimistic" statistical model indicates that only 2 million CD
sales were lost due to illegal file-sharing in 2002, whereas CD sales
declined by 139 million units between 2000 and 2002. "From a statistical
point of view, what this means is that there is no effect between
downloading and sales," says Oberholzer-Gee. The study's results contradict
the recording industry's assertions that their financial decline is
attributable in large part to music piracy, citing several studies that
have supported that claim. However, some other research groups said the
Harvard-UNC study conclusions appeared to mirror their own research
findings. "While some people seemed to buy less after file sharing, more
people seemed to buy more," says Jupiter Research analyst Aram Sinnreich,
who conducted similar studies in 1999 and 2002. (Washington Post 29 Mar 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34300-2004Mar29.html
[I heard a "non-apology apology" on the NPR from an RIAA spokesperson,
who said that the results were different because this study focused on
actual buying of CDs, whereas the RIAA quoted studies that actully were
focusing on other behaviors than purchasing. No kidding, that's what it
really sounded like. They were saying sales went down due to sharing,
but without actually research the buying habits of the filesharers.]
MICROSOFT WANTS ITS OWN SEARCH ENGINE
Microsoft is determined to make up for time it lost by not aggressively
pursuing the search technology market. CEO Steve Ballmer now says the
company's goal is "to be absolutely the best from a user perspective and
from an advertiser perspective. It's probably the thing I feel worst about
over the last several years -- not making the R&D investments ourselves up
front." Microsoft is now planning to integrate its own new search technology
into "Longhorn," the next Windows operating system (due out in a couple of
years). Will the plan get Microsoft in trouble again with U.S. anti-trust
laws? Probably not right away, says anti-trust law expert Mark Ostrau: "My
guess is that including search by itself doesn't match the same kind of red
flags that you would have with middleware like browsers or media players.
They would have to take the next leap to make it work better with Windows or
better with Internet Explorer than competing search technologies. That's
where they potentially cross the line." (San Jose Mercury News 27 Mar 2004)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/8292516.htm
AMBULANCE-CHASING 21ST-CENTURY-STYLE
North Carolina's 1999 decision to electronically centralize 100
counties' court records every day has been used by information service
companies that previously had to send people to courthouses to dig for
files. A company pays the state 10 to 30 cents for each record it downloads
(an agreement which yields the state about $1.7 million a year), then
charges lawyers 50 cents to over $1 to relay the data or perform such
services as printing and mailing letters to prospective clients. Some
critics say it's merely an update to ambulance chasing. One couple whose son
was arrested charge that deputies failed to call them yet managed to inform
people who wanted to sell them legal services. "The whole situation was very
disturbing, that they would use this technology to benefit lawyers but they
couldn't even pick up a cell phone to call his father," the couple say. An
executive of one courthouse information service in California explains how
the business works: "We send people to courthouses with laptops, digital
scanners, even digital cameras -- we have to convert it all, effectively
digitize the information. If the person gets arrested before 11 a.m., we'll
have it that day." But Will Hornsby, staff counsel in the American Bar
Association's division for legal services, says that direct mail still
accounts for a small percentage of attorney advertising.
(Los Angeles Times 29 Mar 2004) http://tinyurl.com/2wqlg
WTO SAYS U.S. ONLINE GAMBLING POLICY IS AGAINST THE LAW
The World Trade Organization has ruled that U.S. policy prohibiting
Internet gambling violates international trade law. The decision came in
response to a case brought by island nation Antigua and Barbuda, which
licenses 19 companies that offer sports wagering and casino-type games over
the Internet. Antigua and Barbuda had argued that U.S. trade policy does
not prohibit cross-border gambling operations and that the government in
fact wants U.S. casino operations to operate land-based and Internet-based
units overseas. Sir Ronald Sanders, the islands' chief foreign affairs
representative, said the WTO's decision means that the U.S. must liberalize
its online gambling regulations or risk accusations of hypocrisy on its
free trade policy: "The U.S. says it wants open competition. But it only
wants free trade when it suits the U.S." Sebastian Sinclair, a research
analyst who studies the Internet gambling industry, says the WTO decision
could galvanize U.S. lawmakers who want to see online gambling banned. At
the same time, it revealed the chasm between U.S. policies and attitudes
toward gambling in the rest of the world. "We're going down one path, and
the rest of the world is going down a completely different path."
Meanwhile, many U.S. residents already use offshore online gambling services,
says Betonsports.com CEO David Carruthers, who said last year his company
took 33 million bets from people in North America, most of them in the U.S.
(New York Times 26 Mar 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/26/technology/26gamble.html
LIBRARIES USE INTERNET TO LURE PATRONS
Libraries are using the Internet to attract busy readers by e-mailing
patrons online book teasers -- a chapter or so of a book at regular
intervals. More than 3,000 libraries nationwide have latched onto the
strategy as a way to serve both bookworms and the time-pressed. "It gives
them an opportunity to know what's out there in the publishing world, to
hook onto new titles," says Public Library Association president Luis
Herrera. The service is provided by DearReader.com, owned by Suzanne
Beecher, who started out by e-mailing chapters to part-time employees of
her family's software business. "I realized that if you could get business
people and stay-at-home moms involved in a book so that reading is on their
short list, that's quite an accomplishment," says Beecher, who works
together with librarians to select the books. Beecher's employees -- mostly
stay-at-home moms -- type up and send out the chapters. Users can sign up
for specific genres, such as mystery, romance or teen. "We tell people to
read only what they enjoy reading. If you don't like a book, just hit the
delete key," says Beecher. (AP 26 Mar 2004)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040326/D81I4AC80.html
EU SLAPS MICROSOFT WITH $613M FINE
The European Commission, which enforces European Union antitrust law,
has declared Microsoft an abusive monopoly and levied a fine of $613
million. It also has ordered Microsoft to unbundle its Windows Media Player
application from its Windows operating system and offer computer makers a
choice of installing the streamlined version instead. Finally, Microsoft
must, within 120 days, divulge previously proprietary information about how
Windows works so that rival software companies can tailor their products to
work with it. More than 95% of the world's PCs are powered by Windows
software. Microsoft says it will appeal the ruling, but European
competition commission Mario Monti appeared unfazed. "I am confident that
we have produced here a decision that will stand before any appeal," said
Monti. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs analyst Rich Sherlund downplayed the
severity of the ruling: "I am not really concerned about the fine. It
represents about two weeks of cash flow for Microsoft. And unbundling the
music player is something they can live with." (New York Times 24 Mar 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/24/business/24CND-SOFT.html
TOSHIBA GOES WITH DUAL-FORMAT DVD DRIVES
Toshiba launched new dual-format DVD recordable drives for PCs and
laptops that support both the "-R/RW" and the "+R/RW" technologies, joining
Hewlett-Packard, Sony and Pioneer in offering consumers a dual system.
Toshiba, Sony and Pioneer had originally supported the "dash" format, while
HP and Philips promoted the "plus" technology as technologically superior.
By switching over to dual-format machines, a number of analysts say the
impasse between the two camps is now passe. (CNet News.com 23 Mar 2004)
http://news.com.com/2100-1041-5178207.html
[Reporters' Rule #1. . .Follow The MONEY]
INTERACTIVE FEATURES CHARGE UP E-BOOKS
The market for e-books has yet to heat up, but a startup called
Waterfront Media is betting that by adding interactive tools such as a
shopping-list generator, a meal planner and a message board, consumers will
find the electronic versions of self-help books more useful than old-style
hard copy. Waterfront partners with publishers that specialize in advice
and personal-help books to create an authoritative Web site, which it then
markets through online advertising. The partner receives a portion of the
subscription fees, creating an additional revenue stream for the book
publishers. Waterfront's biggest success is with the South Beach Diet -- a
modified version of the Atkins diet that has topped the bestseller list for
months. The company's www.southbeachdiet.com Web site makes up the bulk of
its 300,000 paid subscribers, who get a six-week version of the diet and
access to a "beach buddies" service that pairs up dieters with similar
weight-loss goals. Other Waterfront partnerships include Tyndale House,
which publishes the best-selling "Left Behind" novels, financial expert
Jean Chatzky, fitness guru Denise Austin and New Age doctor Andrew Weil,
and has several new projects in the works. (Wall Street Journal 23 Mar 2004)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108008089806963339,00.html (sub re'q)
EU, US REGULATORS SEE MICROSOFT DIFFERENTLY
The European Union's decision to fine Microsoft Corp. and require it to
make alternate versions of its Windows operating system (NewsScan Daily 24
Mar 2004) is considerably tougher than the position taken by the U.S.
Department of Justice. Democrat Senator Patty Murray of Washington state
says: "This ruling is yet another example of the EU assaulting a successful
American industry and policies that support our economic growth." Business
experts are making the point that it is very difficult for companies to
abide by divergent international rules, and attorney E. Marcellus
Williamson, a specialist in EU antitrust issues, says: "In a world in which
products cross borders regularly and in which dominant companies operate in
both places ... it becomes difficult to advise those companies on what kind
of unilateral conduct they can engage in." And attorney Eleanor M. Fox,
another EU antitrust expert, predicts: "I anticipate there will be another
round of angst" over the different approaches of Europe and America.
(Washington Post 25 Mar 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22278-2004Mar24.html
HP CONTINUES LINUX EXPANSION
Hewlett-Packard is expanding its partnership with Novell by packaging
its SuSE version of Linux with computers purchased by corporate clients. The
HP executive in charge of that company's Linux division says: "When you have
the No. 1 client provider and a major Linux distributor out there, this is a
pretty significant move." The decision to expand the use of the Linux
platform at HP was made as the result of expressions of interest by "a
number of very large customers from Fortune 50 companies." IDC analyst Roger
Kay says, "What's interesting is the possibility it will give Microsoft the
impression that it's actually in a competitive market. It would act like a
competitor rather than a monopoly and use price as a competitive tool."
(AP/San Jose Mercury News 25 Mar 2004)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/8267380.htm
CASINO WINNINGS MAY INVOLVE HIGH-TECH TRICKERY
Two men and a woman, all from Eastern Europe, have been arrested on
suspicion of cheating at a London casino after winning more than #1 million
at the roulette table. The Daily Mirror newspaper reported that police are
investigating whether the trio used a laser scanner inside a mobile phone
to calculate the speed of the ball on the spinning wheel to predict its
likely final resting place. (AP/CNN.com 23 Mar 2004)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/03/23/ritz.casino.ap/index.html
[And now. . .drum roll please. . ."The New World Order"]
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>From Edupage
MOVES AFOOT TO CRIMINALIZE FILE SHARING
Congress is working on several fronts to address the issue of copyright
violations over the Internet. Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Patrick
Leahy (D-Vt.) last week introduced a bill that would give the Justice
Department authority to bring civil lawsuits against those guilty of
trading copyrighted files on P2P networks. According to Hatch, the
Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation (Pirate)
Act of 2004 would provide law enforcement with tools to fight companies
that attract users with free music, movies, and pornography, making
piracy and pornography the "cornerstones" of a business model. The
Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture
Association of America applauded the Pirate Act. Meanwhile, a draft
bill was circulated among members of Congress that would criminalize
file trading. According to the draft, those found guilty of sharing
large numbers of copyrighted works or single copies of prerelease
content could face fines and prison time. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tx.)
reportedly has agreed to introduce the bill if he can find co-sponsors,
though his office declined to comment.
Wired News, 26 March 2004
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,62830,00.html
INEXPENSIVE COMPUTER DEBUTS IN INDIA
An inexpensive handheld computer, designed by researchers at the Indian
Institute of Science in Bangalore, India, debuted last week. Conceived
in 2001 as a way to make Internet technology accessible to millions of
poor Indians, the Simputer had to overcome a three-year delay due to
lack of interest from computer manufacturers. Funding for development
of the Simputer ultimately came from the government-owned Bharat
Electronics, which will produce the machines. The computer, which will
be called the Amida Simputer, will cost about $240 and will go on sale
in April. It uses a Linux-based operating system, employs a stylus, and
offers users Internet access. Developers hope that the Simputer will
bridge a broad technology gap in a country where fewer than 10 people
in every 1,000 have computers, primarily because of cost.
BBC, 29 March 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3578309.stm
MIT DEVELOPS, GIVES AWAY, DISTANCE-ED SOFTWARE
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has built a
portal-development application designed to help institutions set up and
manage distance-education programs. Called Caddie.net, the software,
which can be downloaded free, allows users to build various portals for
the different aspects of a distance-education program. Portals can be
built, for example, for registration, course management, or online
testing. Sean M. Rowland of Hibernia College in Ireland, which has been
using a similar tool from MIT for some time, compared the application
to those sold by Blackboard or WebCT. "For me," said Rowland, "it's
Blackboard that you can control yourself." Last year MIT launched its
OpenCourseWare project, which offers free, online access to the course
materials for more than 500 MIT courses. Richard C. Larson, a professor
of electrical engineering at MIT, described the Caddie.net project as
being "very much in the spirit of MIT OpenCourseWare."
Chronicle of Higher Education, 24 March 2004 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2004/03/2004032407n.htm
TRADE GROUP BLAMES EDUCATION FOR OFFSHORING
A new report from the American Electronics Association downplays the
number of high-tech jobs being sent overseas and contends that one of
the primary reasons for such offshoring is a lack of appropriately
skilled workers in the United States. While the report acknowledges
that some are being hurt by offshoring, the authors contend that the
numbers of jobs lost is exaggerated. The report argues that many
companies are sending jobs overseas because U.S. institutions are not
sufficiently focused on math and science education, leaving graduates
unprepared for the demands of the workplace. Furthermore, because
high-tech companies must compete with one another, as soon as one
company outsources jobs, others must follow suit to reap similar
financial benefit, which is not the primary reason to outsource,
according to the report. The report also urges the federal government
to increase funding for technology research and to avoid
"protectionist" policies intended to dissuade U.S. corporations from
offshoring high-tech jobs.
Wired News, 24 March 2004
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,62780,00.html
EU ISSUES RULING AGAINST MICROSOFT
The European Union (EU) today issued an antitrust ruling against
Microsoft, finding that the company abused its monopoly in the
operating systems market to disadvantage competitors. Specifically, the
company was accused of harming makers of media players, such as
RealNetworks and Apple Computer, in bundling its own Windows Media
Player software with its market-dominating operating system. The EU's
ruling includes a fine of $613 million and requires the software
company to offer two versions of its operating system, one with Media
Player and one without. Microsoft is prohibited from offering consumers
a discount if they purchase the operating system with Media Player. The
EU's ruling also compels Microsoft to disclose currently proprietary
information about how its operating system works to allow other
companies to develop software that can work well with Windows.
Microsoft will appeal the ruling.
New York Times, 24 March 2004 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/24/business/24CND-SOFT.html
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More Headline News Mostly Avoided By The Major U.S. Media
YOU'RE JOB COULD BE OUTSOURCED AT BIRTH
In an unprecendented move, financial centers are refusing to invest
in startups that do not have internations connections to outsource
jobs from the very beginning. In fact, many of these startups are
starting with more Third World employees than local employees, and
only achieve a 50/50 parity ratio
This is in addition to traditional companies moving jobs out of the
United States at an astounding rate, the latest victims being the
workers at very traditional Fannie May candy company and the Radio
Flyer company that has made those little red wagons since the 20's.
Sometimes the companies would rather go out of business, as in the
case of Fannie May [and Fannie Farmer] even though their workers
want to step in to save the company [and their jobs], while in
other cases, such as Radio Flyer, all their metal products and
related jobs have been outsourced to China. These two events
alone are responsible for raising the Chicago unemployment rate
in unprecendented numbers.
However, the real news is that many, perhaps even most, of the
NEW companies coming into existence will have jobs primarily of
the outsourced natures from their very inception, and only the
most successful of them will ever achieve 50/50 parity.
Thus it is not only the very rich "old money" corporations that
are doing so much outsourcing that it hurts the US economy, but
now it would appear most of the "new money" corporations will be
doing an even greater amount of damage to the unemployment rate,
only this will possibily go "under the radar" of the current US
employment figures, since the jobs can't be said to actually
have been "lost," since they never existed here.
Remember the advent of "The Bedroom Communities?"
Is the US simply going to become the first "Bedroom Nation?"
Someone should ask Michael Moore, who did that great piece on
the US becoming a nation of gated communities. . .apparently
nearly 1/5 of the US now falls into that category, and it is
still rising.
"The rich get getting richer and the poor are getting poorer."
***
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pgweekly_2004_03_31_part_1.txt
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