Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Google Is Adding Major Libraries to Its Database. Google plans to begin converting the holdings of leading research libraries into digital files that would be searchable online. By By JOHN MARKOFF and EDWARD WYATT. [NYT > Education] 7:34:00 AM    comment []

China Detains 3 Who Criticized Government. The detentions were the latest in a string of arrests of journalists and scholars who have spoken out against government policies. By By JOSEPH KAHN. [NYT > International] 7:33:32 AM    comment []

OhMyNews Interviews Dan Gillmor. Korean open source news innovators OhMyNews interview Dan Gillmor about his latest leap. Obviously I don't have the name recognition (or savings account) of Gillmor, but I'm sure inspired and comforted knowing I'm not alone: Dan Gillmor's announcement that he will leave the San Jose Mercury News next month in order to start a citizen-journalism venture has left many insiders scratching their heads. Why is the much respected tech writer leaving what he described as "greatest gig in the world" for the perilous journey of developing an entrepreneurial idea in citizen-journalism? It is, in part, because it is there. Gillmor, a well-respected veteran journalist of 25 years, wrote in his blog on Dec. 10: "I hate the idea of leaving. But I'd hate not trying this even more." [unmediated] (See, also, my earlier speculation in this space.) 7:33:25 AM    comment []

More 1980s domain trivia!. Further to this post - My kingdom for a time machine - which listed the first 100 currently registered .com domains, I just unearthed this historical peculiarity: a list of all domains registered up to December 15th 1987 - in all extensions. There are 167 .com, 7 .net, 14 .org, 191 .edu, 13 .gov, 8 .mil, 2 .no (Norway) and 2 .uk (United Kingdom) domains. For comparison purposes, here’s a similar list dated just over six years later: February 22nd 1994. [Jottings.com] 7:32:17 AM    comment []

The Economist: Move over, Big Brother. But in the past few years, something strange has happened. Thanks to the spread of mobile phones, digital cameras and the internet, surveillance technology that was once mostly the province of the state has become far more widely available. [Tomalak's Realm] 7:31:32 AM    comment []

With Great Beer, It's All in the Rocks (and That Doesn't Mean Ice). Pale ale, Pilsener, stout: the secret, it turns out, is in the geology. By KENNETH CHANG. [NYT > Dining and Wine] 7:25:37 AM    comment []