*The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, June 23, 2004 PT1*
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eBook Milestones
13,005 eBooks As Of Today!!!
6,995 to go to 20,000
We've Added Over 2,000 New eBooks This Year
We Are Nearly 1/3 of the Way from 10,000 to 20,000!!!
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Over Our 32 24/52 Year History, We Have Now Averaged About 400 eBooks/Yr
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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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355 Average Per Month in 2003
203 Average Per Month in 2002
103 Average Per Month in 2001
2098 New eBooks in 2004
4164 New eBooks in 2003
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
====
9943 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
That's Only 41.60 Months!
13,005 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
8,300 eBooks This Week Last Year
====
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We're still keeping up with Moore's Law!
Moore's Law 12 month percentage = 96%
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On 13 Mar 2001, PGDP completed it's first eBook for posting to the Project
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FLASHBACK!!!
2098 New eBooks So Far in 2004
It took us ~29 years for the first 2098 !
That's the 5.60 MONTHS of 2004 as Compared to ~29 YEARS!!!
Here Is A Sample Of What Books Were Being Done Around #2098
Mar 2000 The Bible, in Swedish, From Project Runeberg [biblsxxx.xxx] 2100
Mar 2000 History of the Moravian Church, by J. E. Hutton [hotmcxxx.xxx] 2099
Mar 2000 A Thief in the Night, by E. W. Hornung[Hornung #4][thfntxxx.xxx] 2098
Mar 2000 The Sign of the Four, by Arthur Conan Doyle [#16][sign4xxx.xxx] 2097
Mar 2000 A Smaller History of Greece, by William Smith [asmhgxxx.xxx] 2096
Mar 2000 Clotelle: A Tale of the Southern States, by Brown [clotlxxb.xxx] 2095
(See also #2046 and #241)
Mar 2000 The Original Writings of Samuel Adams, Volume 4 [4sdmsxxx.xxx] 2094
. . .
Mar 2000 The Original Writings of Samuel Adams, Volume 1 [1sdmsxxx.xxx] 2091*
[This one reserved]
Feb 2000 Tao Hua Yuan Ji, by Tao YuanMing [Chinese/English][peachxxx.xxx] 2090
[AKA: Peach Blossom Shangri-la, by Tao YuanMing [short]] [Language: Chinese]
Feb 2000 The Reception of the Origin of Species, T H Huxley[oroosxxx.xxx] 2089
Feb 2000 Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume II [#8][2llcdxxx.xxx] 2088
Feb 2000 Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume I [#7][1llcdxxx.xxx] 2087
Feb 2000 The Slowcoach, by E. V. Lucas [slwchxxx.xxx] 2086
Feb 2000 Cyropaedia, by Xenophon [Transl. H. G. Dakyns] #14[cyrusxxx.xxx] 2085
Feb 2000 The Way of All Flesh, by Samuel Butler [Butler#3][wflshxxx.xxx] 2084
Feb 2000 In Search of the Castaways, by Jules Verne [JV#11][cstwyxxx.xxx] 2083
Feb 2000 Memoirs of the Comtesse du Barry by Lamothe-Langon[dbrryxxx.xxx] 2082
Feb 2000 The Blithedale Romance, by Nathaniel Hawthorne[#7][blthdxxx.xxx] 2081
Feb 2000 Later Poems & Flower of the Mind, by Alice Meynell[2almyxxx.xxx] 2080
Feb 2000 Memoirs of a Minister of France, by Stanley Weyman[moamfxxx.xxx] 2079
Feb 2000 Thais, by Anatole France, Trans. by Douglas [AF#2][thaisxxx.xxx] 2078
Feb 2000 The Nabob, by Alphonse Daudet Transl. W. Blaydes [nabobxxx.xxx] 2077
Feb 2000 The Civilization of China, by Herbert A. Giles[#1][cvchnxxx.xxx] 2076
***
Today Is Day #174 of 2004
This Completes Week #24 and Month #5.60
197 Days/30 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year]
6995 Books To Go To #20,000
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
87 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 24 weeks of this year, we have produced 2093 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 1999 to produce our FIRST 2093 eBooks!!!
That's 24 WEEKS as Compared to ~29 YEARS!!!
With 13,005 eBooks online as of June 23, 2004 it now takes an average
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100,000,000 readers is only about 1.5% of the world's population!
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Can you imagine ~12,950 books each costing ~$.45 less a year later???
Or. . .would this say it better?
Can you imagine ~12,950 books each costing 1/3 less a year later???
At 13,005 eBooks in 32 Years and 11.60 Months We Averaged
394 Per Year [We do nearly that much a month these days!]
32.7 Per Month
1.07 Per Day
At 2098 eBooks Done In The 174 Days Of 2004 We Averaged
12 Per Day
87 Per Week
374 Per Month
The production statistics are calculated based on full weeks'
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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:
AFRICA SET TO DIAL INTO DIGITAL FIRST-WORLD
Under pressure to provide unlimited access to telephones, African
countries are considering a U.S. technology that also offers the promise of
bringing the Internet to some of the world's poorest people. Telephones are
a luxury for the continent's estimated 800 million people, over half of whom
have never made a call. Experts say a version of the US Code Division
Multiple Access (CDMA) standard offers Africa an opportunity to leapfrog
technology into the digital first-world. The CDMA 450 wireless local loop
technology, also known as the "third world standard," is already being used
in some Eastern European countries and Russia as they switch from analog to
digital cellular systems. It promises a new lease of life to many
cash-strapped fixed-line African operators by giving them a chance to roll
out high-quality, affordable voice and data services using non-conventional
methods in areas deemed unprofitable. (The Age 18 Jun 2004) Rec'd from John
Lamp, Deakin U.
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/17/1087245032827.html
TERROR OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL?
A senior Justice Department official has told a Senate committee that
law enforcement faces new threats from Internet-based telephone services,
and warned that legislative efforts to deregulate VoIP (Voice over Internet
Protocol) services could undermine the ability of law enforcement officials
to investigate criminal or terrorist activity. The Justice Department has
asked the FCC to require Internet phone companies to design electronic
conduits in their networks that would make it easier to tap conversations.
James X. Dempsey of the Center for Democracy and Technology says that a
better approach would be for investigators to work cooperatively with
Internet phone providers. (Washington Post 16 Jun 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47882-2004Jun16.html
UNION VERSUS MICROSOFT ON OFFSHORING
The Washington Alliance of Technology Workers claims to have identified
documents that expose Microsoft's intention to hire low-cost foreign vendors
to write its software: "These documents clearly show that as a major
software vendor they're looking at the highest skilled, highest trained
workers to try to move their work abroad." A Microsoft spokeswoman says the
company has long hired outside vendors in India and around the world, but
that the company's core technology work will continue to be done in-house:
"We're in a cyclical business, so that's part of it. In the work we do,
there are areas of expertise. It makes sense to go to the experts because
it's not intellectual property, core technology. We'll continue to do that."
The documents in question show that Microsoft paid its U.S. workers $60 an
hour for software developers, $72 for senior software developers, and $90
for software architects, whereas for workers in India it paid hourly rates
of $23, $31 and $36. (Seattle Times 16 Jun 2004) http://
seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2001957020_microsoft16.html
SELF-DISCIPLINE IN CHINA
The Chinese government is asking Internet service providers there to
sign a "self-discipline pact" and to exercise patriotic judgment: "The basic
principles of self-discipline for the Internet industry are patriotism,
observance of the law, fairness and trustworthiness." Observance of the pact
will require that Web sites post no information "threatening to the national
security, social stability or containing superstitious or erotic content."
(AP/Los Angeles Times 20 Jun 2004)
http://www.latimes.com/technology/ats-ap_technology12jun20,1,608520.story?co
ll=sns-ap-toptechnology
'WORLD'S FIRST' FREE ZONE FOR OUTSOURCING
Dubai Internet City has announced the opening of the world's first free
zone dedicated to the outsourcing industry: "Dubai Outsource Zone (DOZ) will
provide a comprehensive infrastructure and environment for outsourcing
companies to set up global or regional hubs servicing the worldwide market.
DOZ's offering includes 100-percent exemption from taxes, arguably the
world's most reliable technology and communications infrastructure, a
one-stop shop of support services and the best possible working
environment." (The Age 16 Jun 2004) Rec'd from John Lamp, Deakin U.
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/16/1087244950985.html
IBM LOBBYISTS ACCUSED OF ALTERING OF DOCUMENT
The Treasury Department's acting inspector general has concluded that
IBM lobbyists, perhaps with the aid of Treasury Department officials,
illegally altered an internal Treasury document during a debate on pension
policy last fall. The document was a list of "Talking Points" in opposition
to an amendment to bar the Treasury from working on any regulations contrary
to an Illinois judge's finding on cash balance plans. An IBM executive says
the company thought it was distributing a public document that it thought
was widely distributed by Treasury. (Washington Post 17 Jun 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50604-2004Jun17.html
REUNION WEBSITE IN AUSTRALIA A BIG SUCCESS
Two Australian twenty-somethings cashed in on curiosity over the
weekend when their school reunion website sold to a British company for
several million dollars. Rob Barron, 27, and sister Vicki Dawson, a
29-year-old mother of two, sold their www.schoolfriends.com.au to British
competitor Friends Reunited for what industry experts estimate was at least
#1 million ($AU2.7 million). Established in 2000 as "pretty much a hobby,"
schoolfriends now has more than 1 million members in Australia and New
Zealand. (The Australian 21 Jun 2004) Rec'd from John Lamp
http://tinyurl.com/2nplw
FOOD STAMP ERA OVER: THE SYSTEM GOES ELECTRONIC
Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman has declared the end of the "paper era"
of the food stamp program: "This month the food stamp program arrived in
the 21st century. States are destroying the paper coupons, and we don't
anticipate that we'll ever have to print them again." Everybody seems to
like the new electronic debit cards -- the recipients avoid the stigma
attached to the paper coupons, the grocers get paid faster, and the states
find the electronic simpler and less open to fraud. Under the new system,
each recipient has an account in which benefits are electronically deposited
each month, and can be drawn on at the checkout line of a grocery store by
sliding a plastic card through the same device used for commercial debit or
credit cards. One benefits recipient says that when he was a teenager he saw
"addicts who would trade food stamps for drugs even though they had sick
children starving," whereas with the debit cards "you have no choice but to
purchase food."(New York Times 23 Jun 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/23/politics/23FOOD.final.html
[It was reported in the early days of food stamps that they were actually
used as currency among the poor, with those who collected up enough being
actually able to buy a car with them, through their local exchanges.]
DELL WANTS BIGGER SHARE OF EDUCATIONAL MARKET
Dell, which already has a 44% share of the education market, is pushing
even harder, by cutting prices and helping schools create digital
classrooms. Chief executive Michael Dell predicts: "I think it's fair to say
we're going to be growing faster than the market... A lot of these schools
are realizing, as many corporations have, that they really don't want to be
in the business of managing all this themselves, so they have turned to Dell
to do that." Kenneth C. Green of The Campus Computing Project, which tracks
technology use in higher education, comments: "Dell has been very successful
on a price and service-agreement basis -- they cut good deals. These are
commodity products now, so price is very important." (AP/Los Angeles Times
23 Jun 2004) http://tinyurl.com/yubzr
WIRELESS COPS AT THE AIRPORT
State troopers patrolling Boston's Logan International Airport will be
using Blackberry handheld wireless devices to search the database of a
company called LocatePLUS, which holds billions of online public records.
The database was developed by aggregating and integrating a number of
databases to create what the company's chief executive calls a "complete
dossier" on an estimated 205 million people. State Police Lt. Thomas Coffey
calls the system "invaluable" and says "it really provides us with information
that we probably could not obtain elsewhere without a lot of legwork."
LocatePLUS has more than 15,000 customers, including more than
2,000 law enforcement agencies. (AP/USA Today 23 Jun 2004)
http://tinyurl.com/2dp69
You have been reading excerpts from NewsScan:
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To subscribe or unsubscribe to the text, html, or handheld versions
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***
>From Edupage
FTC REFUSES NO-SPAM LIST
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has concluded that a "do not e-mail
list" along the lines of the telephone "do not call list" would be
ineffective and might actually help spammers find legitimate e-mail
addresses. The FTC was ordered to report on the feasibility of such a
list when Congress passed the CAN-SPAM act in 2003. The report suggested
instead the development of an effective sender authentication system,
which would reduce or eliminate e-mail that uses spoofed return addresses.
The FTC has said it will leave the decision on which standard
to employ to the private sector, an issue still under discussion.
New York Times, 16 June 2004 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/technology/16spam.html
GARTNER ESTIMATES U.S. LOST $2.4 BILLION IN 2003 TO ONLINE FRAUD
A report from Gartner estimates that U.S. consumers lost $2.4 billion
to online scammers and phishing attacks in 2003, with most fraud
carried out by people obtaining access to account numbers and
passwords. The most extensive methods used were phishing and key
logging. Gartner surveyed 5,000 U.S. Internet users to reach an
estimate of nearly 2 million victims of online fraud in 2003, with an
average loss of $1,200 per victim. The fastest growing category of
fraud was unauthorized access to checking accounts.
The Register, 16 June 2004
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/16/phish_fraud_grows/
DDOS ATTACK AFFECTS AKAMAI CUSTOMERS
[Last week's report said only for 45 minutes, this says "several hours."
Akamai Technologies was apparently the target of a distributed
denial-of-service (DDoS) attack that slowed traffic across the Internet
early on June 15. Akamai hosts Web content for other businesses and is
reportedly the largest such service provider, handling 15 percent of
Internet traffic. According to reports, the company's major DNS
customers, including MSN.com, Microsoft.com, and Yahoo.com, saw severe
slowdowns on their Web sites, making them nearly inaccessible for
several hours until service was restored.
eWeek, 15 June 2004
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1612740,00.asp
LACK OF OVERSIGHT BLAMED FOR E-RATE PROBLEMS
At a Congressional hearing this week, H. Walker Feaster III, inspector
general of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), said a lack of
adequate funding for oversight was to blame for much of the fraud and
abuse of the E-Rate program. Beginning in January 2003, a series of
investigations into the E-Rate program has turned up evidence of
widespread fraud and waste, such as $23 million of unused computer
equipment and a $58 million network that rarely gets used. Companies
including SBC and a subsidiary of NEC America have agreed to repay
millions of dollars as a result of federal investigations into alleged
abuses. The Office of the Inspector General requested $2 million to
conduct audits into the program, which was later raised to $3 million,
according to Feaster, but those funds were not included in the FCC's
final budget. Feaster said that approximately one-third of the 122 audits
conducted by his office during the past year showed substantial violations.
Internet News, 17 June 2004
http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3370131
FIGHTING CELL-PHONE CHEATING IN SCHOOLS
The high-tech age presents students with a wide range of new
possibilities for cheating, and school officials are always looking for
ways to prevent dishonesty. Using cell phones to send text messages or
even photos of exams to other students has emerged as an easy way for
students to cheat, and the common approach to dealing with the
situation is to confiscate cell phones prior to tests, according to
Benedetto Di Rienzo, the head of the Enrico Tosi Technical Institute
school in northern Italy. Di Rienzo's institution, however, is testing
a new device, developed by military contractors, that jams cell-phone
signals. The device, called C-Guard, interrupts cell-phone signals
within a 262-foot radius and, according to Di Rienzo, has been very
successful at his institution. Use of the device reportedly may be
expanded into Italian universities.
Reuters, 18 June 2004
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=5459016
DOD SEEKS EXEMPTION FROM PRIVACY ACT
The Senate version of the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2005
includes a provision that would exempt the Department of Defense (DoD)
from a part of the Privacy Act, allowing the agency to conduct secret
investigations of U.S. citizens and green-card holders. The provision
was not included in the House of Representatives version of the bill.
Currently only the CIA, which is not allowed to operate within the
United States, and law enforcement have similar exemptions. Officials
from the Pentagon said the exemption is necessary to fight terrorism
and would not affect U.S. citizens. Civil liberties groups disagreed,
saying the DoD should not be involved in such investigations, which
fall under the jurisdiction of the FBI. Timothy Edgar of the American
Civil Liberties Union said, "This would allow military intelligence
officers to undertake what amounts to undercover spying on Americans."
Edgar noted that in February, investigators from the Army sought access
about attendees of a University of Texas conference about Muslim women.
The incident led to an apology by the Army. David Sobel of the
Electronic Privacy Information Center agreed with Edgar, saying the
exemption is "about the [Defense Intelligence Agency] playing an
undercover intelligence role in the U.S."
Wired News, 19 June 2004
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,63917,00.html
[Continued coverage of a previous report]
EFFORTS FAIL TO BLOCK ACCENTURE DEAL
Despite efforts from a group of largely Democratic members of Congress,
the U.S. House of Representatives has given final approval to a
contract between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and
Accenture. Under the contract, which could be worth as much as $10
billion, Accenture will lead efforts to develop security systems to
screen and monitor visitors to the United States. Part of the United
States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT)
program, the Accenture system will capture electronic fingerprints and
photos of foreign nationals as they enter and leave the country and
will include a database to house the information collected. Democratic
Congressmen had objected to awarding the contract to a company based
outside the United States and had introduced an amendment that would
have stripped Accenture of the contract. The amendment was defeated,
though the House of Representatives separately approved a regulation
that prevents the awarding of all future DHS contracts to non-U.S.
companies.
Internet News, 21 June 2004
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3370781
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***
More Headline News Mostly Avoided By The Major U.S. Media
SPACE SHIP ONE "UNCOVERED" BY MAJOR MEDIA
I am writing this while on hold with the NBC newsroom,
after having just spoken with the CBS newsroom, but no
one wants to comment on why none of them are covering
the first private space shot, the equivalent of Senator
John Glenn's historic first space voyage 40 years ago.
When Burt Rutan, in charge of Space Ship One, flew non-
stop around the world a decade ago, all the TV networks
gave wall to wall live coverage of the preparations and
the takeoff, as well as the first hour of the voyage.
[Correction, Dick Rutan, Burt's brother piloted Voyager]
Today Burt Rutan's successful effort to be the first
private venture to reach space and thus claim the
"X Prize" of $10,000,000.00
Eric, from the Today Show confirmed that live coverage
was only provided to the West Coast, where the launch
was taking place, but indicated that the local stations
could have shown this if they wanted to. However, our
local NBC affiliate said they did not have a live feed.
I also called representatives of our local PBS/NPR,
but they didn't have any coverage either.
The historic flight actually seems to have taken place
during my phone calls, with no coverage I could find
on either local television or radio stations, or by
surfing several hundred favorite shortwave stations.
[I should add that this is the first day of Summer,
and thus is one of the worst days for shortwave, but
I would have hoped that SOME of the stations would be
carrying live coverage.
Interestingly enough, several of our local TV stations
were carrying infomercials instead of any coverage.
It is hard to believe that the Voyager flight in 1986,
piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeanna Yeager, got so much
coverage, and for days on end, but that no one decided
to give live national coverage to the team's space effort.
I heard from someone who watches the BBC News instead
of Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, Tom Lehrer,
etc., that the BBC gave more coverage than ANY of our
networks. . .go figure.
***
SONY MERGER WITH BERTELSMANN BMG LABEL GETS NO COVERAGE
The European Commission [EC] has issued a "Statement of
Objections" [SO] to the proposed mega-merger between two
of the world's largest companies.
While the objections seem to have remained confidential,
senior executives have been quick to retaliate. One said,
"The belief that tacit collusion does exist and can result in higher
prices to the consumers is simply plain wrong. It is a great theory,
but it does not stand the test of reality."
He also added, "retailers set the conditions."
The EC obviously has doubts as to the truthfulness of this.
My own personal sources tell me that Sony is carrying out a serious
plan of misinformation and disinformation concerning the merger that
is being quite successful.
If this merger goes through, the new company will control about
half of the new music released.
Even Apple appeared before the EU Commission [and not at Apple's
request] to voice their concerns that Sony's new competitive site
to Apple's iTunes could easily represent monopolistic competition
after Apple's iTunes Europe sold 800,000 tracks in its first week.
[Another item totally missing from all the major media I've seen.]
Of course OD2, the previous best-selling music download site there
could easily say the same thing about Apple as Apple says about Sony!
[As Apple sold 16 times as many tracks as OD2!]
;-)
The 800,000 iTunes were apparently downloaded from only three places,
the UK, France and Germany, and over half of those were from the UK.
If other countries were in the market survey, obviously the totals
would exceed a million paid downloads in the first week.
***
HISTORY STEPPING BACKWARDS
More and more discoveries are leading to the fact that the
expert opinions on the history of mankind have been wrong
by factors of over 100%, given the recent discoveries of
"The Ice Man" and his beautiful copper axe, which put the
age of metallurgy much longer ago than previously believed,
and now with the discovery that agriculture started at least
23,000 years ago in Israel, more than twice as long ago
than previously thought.
***
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pgweekly_2004_06_23_part_1.txt
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