*The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, June 9, 2004 PT1*
*****eBooks Readable By Both Humans and Computers Since July 4, 1971******
Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart@pobox.com or gbnewby@pglaf.org
Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart@pobox.com
Email address is changing: hart@pobox.com will still work, but the backup
address for when pobox.com is down will soon be hart@pglaf.org The older
hart@beryl.ils.unc edu will probably still work but may be slower. During
emergencies hart@metalab.unc.edu or hart@login.ibiblio.org should work, as
that is still my emergency backup email location. Thanks!!! Michael
eBook Milestones
We Are Over 1/4 of the Way from 10,000 to 20,000
12,885 eBooks As Of Today
7,115 to go to 20,000
It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000
It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to 10,100
It took ~3 years from 2001 to 2004 for our last 10,000
[From 2,885 eBooks in October, 2001 to 12,885 eBooks in June, 2004]
***
[The Newsletter is now being sent in two sections, so you can directly
go to the portions you find most interesting: 1. Founder's Comments,
News, Notes & Queries, and 2. Weekly eBook Update Listing.]
Today, and until we actually GET a new Newsletter editor who want to
do another portion, there will be only 2 parts. . .this is Part 1,
and the eBook listings in Part 2 [New Project Gutenberg Documents].
[Since we are between Newsletter editors, these 2 parts may undergo a
few changes while we are finding a new Newsletter editor. Email us:
hart@pobox.com and gbnewby@pglaf.org if you would like to volunteer.]
This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter
Over Our 32 22/52 Year History, We Have Now Averaged About 397 eBooks/Yr
And This Year We Are Averaging that Same New eBook Level. . .PER MONTH!!!!!
We Are Averaging About 380 eBooks Per Month This Year
90 per week
***
An Interesting Story That Starts With eBooks
Prototyping: A Public Radio Commentary by Bill Hammack
When we think of the latest technological innovation
we usually think of how it affects the industrial western
world - but often it also affects all parts of the world.
Here's a story about its impact on the world's poor.
One day a young engineer named Saul Griffith tried to sell the
Minister of Education for Kenya a new "electronic book" that he'd
invented - a book that stored a complete library in it. The Kenyan
minister told Saul that at least a quarter of his people couldn't even
read the book because they had no glasses.
This sparked Griffith to tackle the problem of making glasses cheaply.
He learned that manufacturing glasses calls for special molds to make
the lenses and a laboratory in which to make them -- plus a doctor to
determine the prescription. In a nation like Kenya, or any rural area,
maintaining molds for the thousands of necessary lenses is costly.
Undaunted, Griffith set out to automate the prescribing and
manufacturing of a pair of glasses. He aimed for a cost of five
dollars a pair since 80% of the families in the world earn at least a
dollar a day. That way glasses would cost only a few days wages.
He designed a pair of goggles with an electronic sensor that monitors
the lens in the wearer's eye and adjusts the goggles's lenses to correct
the vision. This simple tool gave Griffith the correct prescription.
What Griffith then did with that prescription was truly revolutionary:
He built a machine to make the lens on the spot. In the last decade or so,
engineers have developed something called Rapid Prototyping Machines.
These machines can make a three-dimensional object by printing layers
of a thin plastic to build up a real object - not a photo, but the real
thing that you can hold in your hand. So, Griffith took the glasses
prescription and downloaded it to one of these machines, which are about
the size of desktop printer. It uses thin film, kind of like plastic wrap,
to make a lens mold, then injects it with hard plastic to make a lens.
In about five or ten minutes, out pops a complete and correct lens.
This kind of technology promises a revolution in our homes.
Already through the use of computers, we now "make" many things at home
that before we just could not. For example, we can "make" pictures from
our digital cameras, and even "make" movies with a digital camcorder
and a DVD burner. Now the next revolution of making things is just about
to hit. Perhaps in the near future, instead of waiting for a replacement
part for, say, a broken washer, we'll just download some info from the
internet and have our three-dimensional printer make the part.
[I would LOVE any more information relating to this story!]
Copyright 2004 William S. Hammack Enterprises
[Reprinted with permission]
[You can find this article and more at engineerguy.com]
[This one was aired June 8, 2004 on NPR and worldwide]
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In this issue of the Project Gutenberg Weekly newsletter:
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- Have We Given Away A Trillion Yet?
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1 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
76 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
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*** Progress Report
In the first 5.20 months of this year, we produced 1961 new eBooks.
It took us from July 1971 to Jan 1999 to produce our first 1,961 eBooks!
That's 22 WEEKS as Compared to ~28 Years!
77 New eBooks This Week
48 New eBooks Last Week
77 New eBooks This Month [June]
380 Average Per Month in 2004
355 Average Per Month in 2003
203 Average Per Month in 2002
103 Average Per Month in 2001
1978 New eBooks in 2004
4164 New eBooks in 2003
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
====
9823 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
That's Only 41.20 Months!
12,885 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
8,148 eBooks This Week Last Year
====
4,737 New eBooks In Last 12 Months
360 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia
We're still keeping up with Moore's Law!
Moore's Law 12 month percentage = 99%
Moore's Law 18 month percentage = 98%
[100% of Moore's Law = doubling every 18 months]
Check out our website at gutenberg.net, and see below to learn how
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***
FLASHBACK!!!
1978 New eBooks So Far in 2004
It took us ~28 years for the first 1978 !
That's the 5.20 MONTHS of 2004 as Compared to ~28 YEARS!!!
Here Is A Sample Of What Books Were Being Done Around #1978
Dec 1999 Sonnets from the Portuguese, by E. B. Browning[#1][snprgxxx.xxx] 2002
Dec 1999 [Reserved for 2001, by Arthur C. Clarke] [ xxx.xxx] 2001*
Dec 1999 Don Quijote, by Cervantes in Spanish .txt & .htm [2donqxxx.xxx] 2000
[Language: Spanish]
Dec 1999 Crome Yellow, by Aldous Huxley [Aldous Huxley #1] [crmylxxx.xxx] 1999
Dec 1999 Thus Spake Zarathustra, by Friedrich Nietzsche #1 [spzarxxx.xxx] 1998
Dec 1999 Paradise, Divine Comedy, Dante, Tr. by Norton [3ddcnxxx.xxx] 1997
Dec 1999 Purgatory, Divine Comedy, Dante, Tr. by Norton [2ddcnxxx.xxx] 1996
Dec 1999 Hell/Inferno, Divine Comedy, Dante, Tr. by Norton [1ddcnxxx.xxx] 1995
Dec 1999 Adventures among Books, by Andrew Lang [Lang #19][advbkxxx.xxx] 1994
Dec 1999 Told After Supper, by Jerome K. Jerome [JKJ #15] [tldspxxx.xxx] 1993
Dec 1999 Travels in England, and Fragmenta Regalia [trvfgxxx.xxx] 1992
[Title: Travels in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth by Paul
[Hentzner, AND Fragmenta Regalia by Sir Robert Naunton]
Dec 1999 Old Friends, Epistolary Parody, by Andrew Lang[18][oldfnxxx.xxx] 1991
Dec 1999 The Bedford-Row Conspiracy, by Thackeray [WMT #11][bdfrcxxx.xxx] 1990
Dec 1999 The Foolish Dictionary, by Gideon Wurdz [fldctxxx.xxx] 1989
Dec 1999 History of Tom Thumb, etc. Edited by Henry Altemus[thumbxxx.xxx] 1988
Dec 1999 The Outlet, by Andy Adams [outltxxx.xxx] 1987
Dec 1999 Life and Death of Mr. Badman, by John Bunyan[JB#3][badmnxxx.xxx] 1986
Dec 1999 Men's Wives, by William Makepeace Thackeray[WMT10][mnwvsxxx.xxx] 1985
Dec 1999 [Reserved: George Orwell's 1984/Did it come true?][o1984xxx.xxx] 1984*
Dec 1999 Monsieur Beaucaire, by Booth Tarkington [BT #8] [mbeauxxx.xxx] 1983
Nov 1999 Rashomon, by Akutagawa Ryunosuke [in Japanese] [rshmnxxx.xxx] 1982
[Language: Japanese]
Nov 1999 The Right to Read, by Richard M. Stallman [of GNU][tychoxxx.xxx] 1981C
[Language: French] (French version in:) [tychoxxf.xxx]
Nov 1999 Stories by English Authors in Africa, Scribners Ed[sbeaaxxx.xxx] 1980
Nov 1999 The Perdue Chicken Cookbook, by Mitzi Perdue [mitzixxx.xxx] 1979C
Nov 1999 Buttercup Gold, et. al., by Ellen Robena Field [btrcpxxx.xxx] 1978
Nov 1999 Phaedra, by Jean Baptiste Racine, RB Boswell, Tr. [phrdrxxx.xxx] 1977
Nov 1999 Peter Ruff and the Double Four, by Oppenheim[EPO8][rff44xxx.xxx] 1976
Nov 1999 The Legacy of Cain, by Wilkie Collins [Collins#22][lcainxxx.xxx] 1975
Nov 1999 Poetics, by Aristotle, Tr. SH Butcher[Aristotle#1][poetcxxx.xxx] 1974
Nov 1999 Tales of Troy, by Andrew Lang [Andrew Lang #17][tltryxxx.xxx] 1973
Nov 1999 History Of The Britons, by Nennius [brtnsxxx.xxx] 1972
Nov 1999 Erewhon Revisited, by Samuel Butler [S. Butler #2][ervstxxx.xxx] 1971
Nov 1999 A Poor Wise Man, by Mary Roberts Rinehart[MRR #12][pwsmnxxx.xxx] 1970
Nov 1999 Catherine: A Story, by William Thackeray[W.M.T.#9][cthrnxxx.xxx] 1969
Nov 1999 The Human Comedy: Introductions and Appendix[#91][hciaaxxx.xxx] 1968
Nov 1999 The Brotherhood of Consolation, by Balzac[HdB #90][brcnsxxx.xxx] 1967
Nov 1999 The Path of the King, by John Buchan [Buchan #6][tpotkxxx.xxx] 1966
Nov 1999 Captain Blood, by Rafael Sabatini [R. Sabatini #3][cpbldxxx.xxx] 1965
Nov 1999 [Reserved for Pietro di Miceli, PG Webmaster] [ xxx.xxx] 1964*
Nov 1999 The Confession, by Mary Roberts Rinehart [MRR #11][cnfsnxxx.xxx] 1963
Nov 1999 A Defence of Poesie and Poems, by Philip Sidney [dfncpxxx.xxx] 1962
Nov 1999 Books and Bookmen, by Andrew Lang[Andrew Lang #16][bkbkmxxx.xxx] 1961
***
Today Is Day #160 of 2004
This Completes Week #22 and Month #5.20
211 Days/30 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year]
7115 Books To Go To #20,000
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
90 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 22 weeks of this year, we have produced 1978 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 1999 to produce our FIRST 1978 eBooks!!!
That's 22 WEEKS as Compared to ~28 YEARS!!!
With 12,885 eBooks online as of June 09, 2004 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.78 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 $1.23 when we had 7803 eBooks A Year Ago
Can you imagine ~12,800 books each costing ~$.45 less a year later???
Or. . .would this say it better?
Can you imagine ~12,800 books each costing 1/3 less a year later???
At 12,885 eBooks in 32 Years and 11.20 Months We Averaged
391 Per Year [We do more per than that month these days!]
32.4 Per Month
1.06 Per Day
At 1978 eBooks Done In The 160 Days Of 2004 We Averaged
12 Per Day
90 Per Week
380 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:
NORTH KOREA RECALLS MOBILE PHONES
[Too Much Freedom Is A "Bad Thing {TM}"]
North Korea has recalled mobile phones from its citizens, nearly a year
and a half after the service was introduced in the communist country. A
North Korean official attending an inter-Korean economic meeting in
Pyongyang confirmed that mobile phones have been banned since May 25. (The
Age 4 Jun 2004) Rec'd from John Lamp, Deakin U.
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/04/1086203598828.html
[Yet Just the Opposite Policy is in Effect in China to Promote Growth]
EVERY FOURTH CHINESE TO HAVE CELL PHONE BY YEAR-END
One in four Chinese persons will have a mobile phone by the end of the year.
The Ministry of Information Industry predicts that by late 2004 24.5% of
the people, or about 320 million, will own a cellular phone. Cell phones
already account for about half of all operating revenue in China's
telecom industry, with short message and wireless Internet services
seen as important growth sectors. (The Age 7 Jun 2004)
Rec'd from John Lamp, Deakin U.
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/07/1086460208600.html
[More on Strategies for Developing Countries]
SPECIAL SOFTWARE STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Departing from a one-size-fits-all global pricing strategy, Microsoft
has tailored special government-promoted PC sales for Thailand and Malaysia
in a new marketing approach for emerging markets. Localized versions of
Microsoft Windows XP are offered without English-language support, and the
company is apparently developing leaner Windows with features more
appropriate to developing countries. Microsoft executive Barry Goff says,
"This is a new market with very different needs, from an economic
perspective, from a social perspective, from a technical perspective." In
addition Microsoft, companies such as Symantec and Sun Microsystems have
also introduced special government pricing strategies for developing
countries. Jupiter Research industry analyst Joe Wilcox says, "What we're
seeing is the beginning of a trend. The more companies test the waters, the
more of a trend there is because of the competitive threat." (AP/San Jose
Mercury News 7 Jun 2004)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/8860894.htm
CAMERAS ON THE NET
[Big Brother is Watching YOU!]
Digital cameras with Internet protocol capabilities are functioning as
standalone servers that stream video over the Web. IMS Research predicts
that IP cameras will account for about 20% of a surveillance market in
Europe forecast to be worth $460 million in annual sales by 2008. Industry
analyst Simon Harris of IMS says, "It's going to be one of the biggest
trends in the surveillance market over the next few years without a doubt.
The companies that don't have good product offerings for network
surveillance are going to lose market share." (Reuters/USA Today 7 Jun 2004)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-06-07-surveilcams_x.htm
THIS IS YOUR LIFE, ONE MESSAGE AT A TIME
Many users of text messaging are unaware of the fact that their
messages are likely to be saved on servers. Telecom analyst Jeff Kagan says,
"One of the false assumptions that people make is that when they hit the
delete button, messages are gone forever, but nothing can be further from
the truth... It's just a common practice. I don't know an instance where
[messaging companies] delete them." Cell phone text messages seem likely to
be admitted as evidence in the current high-profile trial of basketball
player Kobe Bryant, in that the woman who made charges against him sent
several messages within hours of the alleged incident. Kagan warns
text-messaging enthusiasts: "I think in these days of corporate fraud and in
these days of terrorism we're seeing more and more reason to store forever.
Don't ever say anything on e-mail or text messaging that you don't want to
come back and bite you." (AP/Los Angeles Times 7 Jun 2004)
http://tinyurl.com/2wvse
MICROSOFT WEIGHED MERGER WITH SAP
[Being the Biggest Means You Can Never Be Big Enough. . . .]
Microsoft explored the idea of merging with SAP, the German software
company, but ended negotiations with that company after weighing the
"complexity of the potential transaction." SAP, which makes business
software for large companies, is about one-fifth the size of Microsoft.
Industry analysts say that Microsoft's interest in SAP suggests that
Microsoft is restless with the slowing pace of the PC business, which it has
long dominated. Gartner technology analyst David M. Smith says: "It's no
surprise that Microsoft is looking for other acquisitions in the business
software applications industry. But the fact that Microsoft was talking to
SAP means they were going after the big kahuna." (New York Times 8 Jun 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/08/technology/08soft.html
[More on Mega-Mergers]
ORACLE: 'PEOPLESOFT TAKEOVER WOULD INCREASE COMPETITION'
When companies merge, federal regulators always worry that the merger
will reduce competition -- and yet Oracle is claiming, paradoxically, that
its acquisition of PeopleSoft would actually do just the opposite: increase
competition. In an antitrust case against the company, the government is
taking the position that just three companies -- Oracle, PeopleSoft and SAP
-- have cornered the market for the complex software systems used on large
corporate computers, whereas Oracle is claiming that Microsoft's interest in
SAP (see above) shows that Microsoft wants a bigger piece of the $20-25
billion business applications software market, and that the competitive move
by Microsoft was actually prompted by Oracle's plan to acquire PeopleSoft.
(AP/San Jose Mercury News 7 Jun 2004)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/8863589.htm
[and even more. . .]
MICROSOFT TO APPEAL EU ANTITRUST DECISION
Microsoft has filed an appeal of the European Union's antitrust
decision requiring the company to change business practices deemed
detrimental to competition. Microsoft says that to follow the EU's ruling
would undermine global innovation: "We believe that the interest of
consumers and other European companies should be at the heart of this case.
The Commission's decision undermines the innovative efforts of successful
companies" -- and would "significantly alter incentives for research and
development that are important to global economic growth." EU Competition
Commissioner Mario Monti says he's confident that the Microsoft appeal will
fail. (AP/USA Today 8 Jun 2004)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/techcorporatenews/2004-06-08-ms-ap
peals-eu_x.htm
You have been reading excerpts from NewsScan:
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organization making significant and sustained contributions to the
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***
>From Edupage
ACADEMIC PUBLISHER PURSUES OPEN ACCESS
Academic publisher Reed Elsevier has announced it will begin allowing a
version of open access publishing. Acknowledging ongoing demand from
academics for a less restrictive model for publishing scholarly work,
Reed Elsevier will allow authors whose work has been accepted for
publication to post articles on their own Web sites or those of their
institutions. As standard practices for academic publishing have been
challenged by new media and means of distribution, Reed Elsevier has
come under increasing pressure to adapt its practices and move away
from the traditional subscription model, as a number of other academic
publishers have done. Still, the company's announcement did not
convince some critics. Deborah Cockerill of competitor BioMed Central
said Reed Elsevier's approach to open access publishing is based on
controlling access and retains so many restrictions as to pose no real
threat to the subscription model. On the other hand, Stevan Harnad,
professor at the University of Southampton and a strong supporter of
open access, commended Reed Elsevier for its change, saying that
"the full benefits of open access require not one bit more [from
Reed Elsevier]."
The Guardian, 3 June 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1230217,00.html
[More Open Source News]
SUN TO RELEASE SOLARIS CODE
In a surprise announcement, Sun Microsystems has said it will release
the source code for its Solaris operating system under an open-source
license. Sun formerly controlled a significant portion of the server
market with its proprietary Solaris operating system, but the company
has been losing ground in recent years to products from Linux and
Microsoft, which can be much less expensive than Sun's offerings.
Sun's announcement did not include specifics about its plan but said
that the company "is in the process of soliciting customer feedback in
refining various aspects of the project." Analysts said the
significance of Sun's new stance will depend on the particulars, such
as whether all or just part of the source code will be available. "This
is not the manifestation of a grand plan," said Ashok Kumar, an analyst
at Raymond James and Company. "There are more questions than answers at
this point."
New York Times, 5 June 2004 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/05/todaysheadlines/05sun.html
ITUNES GOING TO EUROPE
Apple Computer is expected on June 15 to announce the release of the
European version of its iTunes music service. Observers expect the
service to be available at the time of the announcement. Details have
yet to be revealed, but analysts expect Apple to do well in the very
competitive European online music market, which already has several
established companies including Napster and OD2. Sales of Apple's
iPod, the only portable player that can play iTunes songs, have been
very strong, with total sales expected to reach 4 million, according to
Simon Dyson of London-based Informa Media. Apple introduced the iTunes
service in the less-competitive U.S. market last year and has sold more
than 70 million songs, including more than 3.3 million in one week.
Reuters, 7 June 2004
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=5361575
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More Headline News Mostly Avoided By The Major U.S. Media
Juan Catalan had spent 5 1/2 months in jail on murder charges
by the time the wheels of justice finally got into gear and
finally watched HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" which had been taping
the baseball game Juan had been at only minutes before the murder.
Juan still had his ticket stubs to the game, which he attended
with his 6 year old daughter, along with family members' testimony
as to his whereabouts the night of the murder, but this was ignored
by the police and district attorneys who claimed to have a witness
who placed Juan at the murder scene. His request to take the lie
detector test was also ignored. Additional cell phone evidence
that placed Juan in the stadium area about 20 minutes before the
murder had also been ignored.
Mr. Catalan, who could have faced the death penalty, has sued
the city of Los Angeles for misconduct, false imprisonment,
and defamation of character.
After 5 1/2 months in jail, a judge finally ruled that the
police and district attorneys had never had any evidence.
***
The University of Illinois, after spending the better part
of a million dollars lost its Illinois Appeals Court case
for violating the free speech rights of its faculty, staff
and student body when the university ordered them to stop
telling prospective faculty, athletes and others not to
come to the University of Illinois due to prevalent racism
as demonstrated by their Indian mascot, Chief Illiniwek.
The legal fees reported were only the external fees paid
to lawyers outside the university, the internal costs in
the case were not made public.
This money, if applied to eduction, could have put as many
as 50 more students through the university during the same
period from 2001 to 2004.
***
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pgweekly_2004_06_09_part_1.txt
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