The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, April 14, 2004 PT1
*****eBooks Readable By Both Humans and Computers Since July 4, 1971******
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eBook Milestones
We Have Done Over 9,000 eBooks Since January 1, 2001 !!!
We Are ~1/5 of the Way from 10,000 to 20,000
12326 eBooks As Of Today!!!
7674 to go to 20,000
It took 32 years from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000
It took 4 years from 2000 to 2004 for our last 10,000
[From 2,326 to 12,326 = September, 2000 to April, 2004]
***
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In this issue of the Project Gutenberg Weekly newsletter:
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That's 10 WEEKS as Compared to ~27 Years!
89 New eBooks This Week
92 New eBooks Last Week
89 New eBooks This Month [April]
443 Average Per Month in 2004
355 Average Per Month in 2003
203 Average Per Month in 2002
103 Average Per Month in 2001
1419 New eBooks in 2004
4164 New eBooks in 2003
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
====
9244 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
That's Only 39.25 Months!
12,326 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
7,611 eBooks This Week Last Year
====
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349 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia
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FLASHBACK!!!
1419 New eBooks So Far in 2004
It took us 27 years for the first 1419 !
That's the 3 MONTHS of 2004 as Compared to ~27 YEARS!!!
Here Is A Sample Of What Books Were Being Done Around #1419
Sep 1998 Native Life in South Africa, by Sol Plaatje [nlisaxxx.xxx] 1452
Sep 1998 The Art of Lawn Tennis, by William T. Tilden, 2D [tenisxxx.xxx] 1451
Sep 1998 Pollyanna, by Eleanor H. Porter[Eleanor Porter #4][plynaxxx.xxx] 1450
Sep 1998 The Valley of the Moon, by Jack London[London #49][vlymnxxx.xxx] 1449
Sep 1998 Heidi, by Johanna Spyri [The Popular Kid's Story][heidixxx.xxx] 1448
Sep 1998 The Illustrious Prince, by E. Phillips Oppenheim 3[iprncxxx.xxx] 1447
Sep 1998 Perfect Behavior, by Donald Ogden Stewart [satire][pbhvrxxx.xxx] 1446
Sep 1998 Aeroplanes, by J. S. Zerbe [aerozxxx.xxx] 1445
Sep 1998 The Voice of the City, by O Henry [O Henry #1][vcctyxxx.xxx] 1444
Sep 1998 Two Poets, by Honore de Balzac [de Balzac #37][2poetxxx.xxx] 1443
Sep 1998 Kingdom of the Blind, by E. Phillips Oppenheim #2[kblndxxx.xxx] 1442
Sep 1998 The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner #4[aafrmxxx.xxx] 1441
Aug 1998 Woman and Labour, by Olive Schreiner [Olive's #3][wmlbrxxx.xxx] 1440
Aug 1998 Dreams, by Olive Schreiner [Olive Schreiner #2][drmosxxx.xxx] 1439
Aug 1998 No Name, by Wilkie Collins [#6 by Wilkie Collins][nnamexxx.xxx] 1438
Aug 1998 Juana by Honore de Balzac[#36 by Honore de Balzac][juanaxxx.xxx] 1437
Aug 1998 A Voyage to Abyssinia, by Father Jerome Lobo [vygabxxx.xxx] 1436
Aug 1998 Miscellaneous Papers, by Charles Dickens [CD #47][mspcdxxx.xxx] 1435 ä
Aug 1998 Essays, by Alice Meynell [Alice Meynell #7][esyamxxx.xxx] 1434
Aug 1998 The Red Inn, by Honore de Balzac [de Balzac #35][rdinnxxx.xxx] 1433
Aug 1998 Seraphita, by Honore de Balzac [de Balzac #34][sraphxxx.xxx] 1432
Aug 1998 Trooper Peter Halket, by Olive Schreiner [trptrxxx.xxx] 1431
Aug 1998 Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by E. Nesbit #6[bsshkxxx.xxx] 1430
Aug 1998 The Garden Party, by Katherine Mansfield [KM #1][gprtyxxx.xxx] 1429
Aug 1998 La Grenadiere, by Honore de Balzac [de Balzac #33][grndrxxx.xxx] 1428
Aug 1998 A Drama on the Seashore, by Balzac [de Balzac #32][seshrxxx.xxx] 1427
Aug 1998 The Recruit, by Honore de Balzac [de Balzac #31][recrtxxx.xxx] 1426
Aug 1998 El Verdugo, by Honore de Balzac [de Balzac #30][vrdugxxx.xxx] 1425
Aug 1998 Castle Rackrent, by Maria Edgeworth [Edgeworth #1][rkrntxxx.xxx] 1424
Aug 1998 No Thoroughfare, by Dickens [#47] & Collins [#5] [nothoxxx.xxx] 1423
Aug 1998 Going into Society, by Charles Dickens[Dickens#46][gisocxxx.xxx] 1422
Aug 1998 Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy by Charles Dickens [CD #45][mlrlgxxx.xxx] 1421
Aug 1998 London's Underworld, by Thomas Holmes [lndwdxxx.xxx] 1420
Aug 1998 Mugby Junction, by Charles Dickens [Dickens #44][mgjncxxx.xxx] 1419
Aug 1998 Country Sentiment, by Robert Graves [csentxxx.xxx] 1418
Aug 1998 Sons of the Soil by Honore de Balzac [Balzac #29][ssoilxxx.xxx] 1417
Aug 1998 Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings, by Charles Dickens [#43][mlldgxxx.xxx] 1416
Aug 1998 Doctor Marigold, by Charles Dickens [Dickens #42][drmrgxxx.xxx] 1415
Aug 1998 Somebody's Luggage, by Charles Dickens[Dickens#41][smlggxxx.xxx] 1414
Aug 1998 Tom Tiddler's Ground, by Charles Dickens [CD #40][ttgndxxx.xxx] 1413
Aug 1998 Masterman Ready, by Captain Marryat [Marryat #1][mmrdyxxx.xxx] 1412
Aug 1998 Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac [de Balzac #28][dmspcxxx.xxx] 1411
Aug 1998 The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac [#27][lunacxxx.xxx] 1410
Aug 1998 The Soul of the Far East, by Percival Lowell [#1][sofrexxx.xxx] 1409
Aug 1998 The Natural History of Selborne, by Gilbert White [tnhosxxx.xxx] 1408
Aug 1998 A Message From the Sea by Charles Dickens [CD #39][amftsxxx.xxx] 1407
Aug 1998 Perils of Certain English Prisoners by Dickens #38[pocepxxx.xxx] 1406
Aug 1998 The Collection of Antiquities, by Balzac [HDB #26][clntqxxx.xxx] 1405
Jul 1998 The Federalist Papers, by Hamilton, Jay & Madison [federxxa.xxx] 1404
Jul 1998 A Start in Life, by Honore de Balzac [Balzac #25][stlifxxx.xxx] 1403
Jul 1998 Where the Blue Begins, by Christopher Morley [wtbbgxxx.xxx] 1402
Jul 1998 Tarzan the Untamed, Edgar R. Burroughs [Tarzan #7][tarz7xxx.xxx] 1401
Jul 1998 Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens[Dickens#38][grexpxxx.xxx] 1400
Jul 1998 Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy/Tolstoi [Tolstoy #5][nkrnnxxx.xxx] 1399
***
Today Is Day #098 of 2004
This Completes Week #14 and Month #3
265 Days/38 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year]
7674 Books To Go To #20,000
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
101 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]
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*** Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet???
Statistical Review
In the 14 weeks of this year, we have produced 1419 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 1997 to produce our FIRST 1419 eBooks!!!
That's 12 WEEKS as Compared to ~27 YEARS!!!
With 12,326 eBooks online as of April 14, 2004 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.81 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 $1.31 when we had 7611 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 12,326 eBooks in 32 Years and 9.25 Months We Averaged
373 Per Year [We do more per than that month these days!]
31.1 Per Month
1.02 Per Day
At 1419 eBooks Done In The 091 Days Of 2004 We Averaged
14.6 Per Day
102.3 Per Week
443.3 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:
PROJECT AVALANCHE COULD SNOWBALL
Project Avalanche is putting a new spin on the coop concept -- rather
than sharing health foods or vacation condos, members share intellectual
property. For $30,000 a year, companies may donate any in-house software to
the Avalanche library and may use, free of charge, any other software in
the library's collection. While the project's still in its fledgling stage,
several big names have lined up as sponsors, including Best Buy, Cargill
and Medtronic. One of the first donations came from Best Buy, which
contributed its AppTalk software -- a piece of so-called plumbing software
that enables programs to communicate with each other. Avalanche founders
Andrew Black and Scott Lien have big plans for their high-tech coop, aimed
primarily at saving members the aggravation of paying thousands or even
millions of dollars to companies like Siebel Systems and Microsoft, whose
bread-and-butter revenue is generated through custom software applications
and licensing arrangements. Black and Lien reason that by harnessing the
combined talent pool of member companies, they will be able to come up with
superior generic products that could benefit all members, allowing them to
save their real time and energy for software projects that generate a
concrete competitive advantage. (Wall Street Journal 12 Apr 2004)
MICROSOFT SETTLES INTERTRUST PATENT LAWSUIT
Microsoft has settled a lawsuit brought three years ago by InterTrust
Technologies, which alleged that the software giant infringed on its
digital rights management patents. Microsoft will pay $440 million to
InterTrust, which is owned by a joint venture of Sony, Philips Electronics
and investment banking firm Stephens Inc. The announcement comes on the
heels of Microsoft's agreement last week to pay Sun Microsystems $1.6
million to settle an antitrust lawsuit and resolve patent claims. And last
month, Microsoft settled a patent lawsuit filed by AT&T over
voice-recognition technology. Terms of that settlement were not disclosed.
(AP/Washington Post 12 Apr 2004) http://
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4960-2004Apr12.html?nav=headlines
PLAGIARISM SOFTWARE DETECTS NEW MARKET IN CORPORATE WORLD
Software designed to detect plagiarism is moving from academia, where
it's been used for years to flag phony term papers, to the corporate world.
Newspapers, law firms and even the U.N. Security Council are using the
data-sifting tools to ensure their documents are original works, and
companies such as iParadigm, Glatt Plagiarism Services, MyDropBox and CFL
Software Development have moved quickly to meet the new demand. And while
some businesses have been reluctant to deploy such software, iParadigm
president John Barrie predicts that soon the number of corporate clients
will outstrip academics. "The stakes are 100 times greater. We're not
talking about grades anymore," he says. (AP/Washington Post 6 Apr 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54144-2004Apr6.html
MOBILE PHONES CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF?
Contrary to popular airline lore, mobile phones don't really
interfere with airline navigation systems. The real reason phones are
banned during flight is that they disrupt mobile networks on the ground as
they zoom from one base-station to the next at 500 miles an hour. But that
problem is about to be solved, thanks to new technology that will prevent
cell phone signals from leaving the airplane cabin. Instead, a laptop-sized
base station, called a "picocell," will emit a network signal that will
enable onboard cell phones to "roam" -- eliminating any interference with
avionics and terrestrial networks. The new technology is the creation of
WirelessCabin, a consortium led by the German Aerospace Center and
including members such as Airbus, Siemens and Ericsson. It is designed for
cell phones using the European-dominant GSM standard and also supports the
popular Wi-Fi protocol. A similar system targeting business jets will be
flight-tested this year, and European and U.S. regulatory bodies are
developing rules to address the use of wireless devices in flight. Airlines
likely will team with wireless carriers or satellite operators to
administer the in-flight mobile calling systems, and may try tying the
service to their frequent flyer programs, offering members lower rates or
flyer miles when they make calls. (The Economist 1 Apr 2004)
http://www.economist.com
TELSTRA BLOCKS PORT 25
Telstra's BigPond service will start closing access to port 25, used
by outgoing SMTP e-mail, on April 13. "Although some businesses use Port 25
to run their own e-mail systems, spammers also use it to send spam
disguised as normal e-mails," Telstra told BigPond subscribers in an
e-mail. The move to block port 25, which has been under consideration for
six months, is just one of a number of anti-spam measures that will be
unveiled "over the next few weeks," according to a Telstra spokesman, who
adds that the measures will include "taking some steps with Telstra Webmail."
Telstra has been criticized for allowing sign-up for its Webmail service
to remain too easy for spammers to abuse with automated sign-up programs.
(The Australian 6 Apr 2004) http://
australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,9205613%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html
AUSTRALIAN JUNK E-MAIL LAWS TAKE EFFECT
Hard-core spammers will be the main target when Australia's
communications watchdog begins to enforce anti-spam legislation beginning
this Saturday. While penalties of $1.1 million a day will be reserved for
prolific spammers, most complaints about spamming will be treated with a
simple phone call, according to the Australian Communications Authority.
The ACA's focus will be on compliance, says Anti-Spam team manager Anthony
Wing. "We are really targeting, in the first instance, the hard-core
spammers. As long as people are trying to comply in the first instance, if
we get a complaint it will result in a phone call." Wing says reducing the
amount of spam that hits Australia's borders is a "longer program" that
requires international co-operation. (The Age 6 Apr 2004)
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/05/1081017085876.html
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***
>From Edupage
FILM PRICES CUT TO FIGHT PIRACY IN RUSSIA
High rates of DVD and CD piracy in Russia have prompted entertainment
companies to try to fight rampant copyright violations by lowering
prices on legitimate copies of movies and music. Reports indicate that
9 of every 10 DVDs sold in Russia are counterfeit, while 60 percent of
CDs sold there are pirated copies, and some antipiracy groups say the
problem is getting worse. Movies that have not been released on DVD yet
are routinely available in Russian black markets for the equivalent of
about $4 (U.S.), and copies of recently released music CDs can usually
be bought for less than that. Given the level of piracy, U.S. film
companies, including Columbia TriStar and Time Warner, have lowered the
prices for DVDs in an effort to get Russians accustomed to buying legal
copies of movies, "but at a price that most of the population can
afford," according to Vyacheslav Dobychin, general director of Columbia
TriStar's Russian licensee. Movie producers have been strongly opposed
to lowering prices in the United States as a means to discourage
piracy. Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of
America, said, "You can never compete on price with a pirate."
New York Times, 7 April 2004 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/07/movies/07PIRA.html
SEARCH SITES STOP SHOWING GAMBLING ADS
Search engines Google and Yahoo have announced they will no longer run
advertisements for online casinos, which U.S. officials say violate
American anti-gambling laws. Overture, the Yahoo subsidiary that sells
sponsored links on the site, attributed the decision to the "lack of
clarity" of legal and regulatory implications. MSN, which purchases
advertising links from Overture, confirmed it would also stop running
casino ads as a result of Yahoo's decision. Officials from Google said
the company would end casino ads in all of its markets, whereas Yahoo
will continue to include the ads on its sites outside the United
States. Lycos has also indicated its intention to stop running casino
ads, though a date for such an action has not been announced. Lost
revenue from the ads is not expected to have a significant effect on
the search companies, but some believe the lack of exposure will have
an enormous impact on casinos' ability to reach customers.
New York Times, 5 April 2004 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/05/technology/05yahoo.html
You have been reading excerpts from Edupage:
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***
More Headline News Mostly Avoided By The Major U.S. Media
[I'm working up more information for you on this subject]
I got a little more information on this yesterday, including a
price list that shows the mimimum necessary single piece to do
this costs $10,000, with more powerful variations nearly double.
In addition, there are any number of accessories that may or may
not be required, it's not terribly clear, and these are somewhat
expensive, but not enough to double the price.
I've been researching and reporting on "Stereolithography" or 3-D
printing for about 10 years, and still have very little in the way
of press coverage of a pretty exciting computer application. . .
"printing" actual 3-D objects from your computer. At our weekly
Geek Lunch yesterday, I was advised that ads for "printers" that
use lasers to "print" on wood, plastic, fabric, paper, glass,
leather, stone, ceramic rubber, etc., have been listed and
advertized in some of the PC magazines since I left on my
speaking tour around four months ago. One of the cutest
applications I noticed was the making of "popup books" in
which the laser actually cuts the pages so when it sits at
a right angle, something as complex as an architectural
"concept building" can appear in a nice 3-D rendering.
I'm not sure yet if there might not be more work entailed
to make sure the paper/cardboard folded properly.
Any additional information on ANY 3-D printers???
Please email hart@pobox.com.
***
61% of American Companies Paid No Income Tax From 1996-2000,
in response to claim that American companies pay 50% in tax.
***
Viagra is one of the latest products to be represented in
The Dow Jones figures reported daily in the news. . . .
Of all the original stocks reported in this figure, G.E.,
General Electric, owner of NBC, is the only one remaining;
originally the Edison Electric Company, founded by the
inventor of the lightbulb, record player [and recorder],
and many other products.
***
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pgweekly_2004_04_14_part_1.txt
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