eWeek Reports that Changes are Afoot for Windows Tablet PCs

According to an eWeek story, the millionth tablet PC was finally sold this past February after five years on the market! (Not quit a tidal wave of enthusiasm.) In any case, Microsoft (read: Bill Gates) sincerely wants this platform to succeed and he is convinced that smaller a form factor (about 6 X 8 inch) will make the platform more attractive. Bill reveals his hopes for the new platform in the excerpt from an interveiw with Peter Jennings, quoted in the article: "I am meeting with our tablet people about the idea of carrying text books around. They'll have just a tablet device that they can call up the material on. That's been a dream for a long time, we're making progress there." Just think, someday we can all have four devices: an iPod, a PocketPC/Palm device, a laptop and a tablet! Won't that be grand?!

Will the internet kill the printed book?

Ibrahim Ramjaun, has some interesting comments on this question, in a three part series published in March and April 2005 in LeExpress.mu, a newspaper or online news service from Mauritius (a small island nation off the coast of Madagascar). Read the articles here:

Will the Internet kill the printed book? (Part I)

Will the Internet kill the printed book? (Part II)

Will the Internet kill the printed book? (Part III)

Library Journal Reports that an Oregon Library Worker has been Accused of Stealing Books

One wonders what the defense may be: If the man sincerely believed that books and libraries were dead anyway, perhaps he was trying to do the local branch a favor by culling the hard copy collection. Or, I wonder if the books are also available in the library in online format, was he really stealing at all? He may claim that he was merely appropriating an out of date format of a title otherwise readily available to the library's patrons!

From the "What'll they think of next" File: Google announces "video-blogging"

From the article:
"[Google Co-Founder, Larry] Page admitted there were a number of issues to be sorted out with the service, including concerns about the nature of content that people may want to upload." Duh?

Library Journal Features an Insightful Analysis of Ranganathan's Five Laws

In an article titled, "Ranganathan Online," the authors examine Ranganathan's Five Laws as it applies to digital libraries. Well worth the read. (Even if they don't refer to another late treatment of Ranganathan Five Laws, "Reflections on Ranganathan's Five Laws," 95:3 Law Library Journal 411 (2003)).

French Call Europe to Arms Against "Americanization" of the Global Agenda

Interesting issue: Has American technological supremacy in the ether created a danger of international homoginization of human culture? Has Google become the McDonalds and Wal-Mart of the Internet? Some are beginning to think so....

The International Herald Tribune reports that the librarian of the Bibliotheque Nationale has called "Europe" (by which he seems to mean France) to arms in the digitization war. Jean-Noel Jeanneney says:

"I am not anti-American - far from it," the 62-year-old historian said in an interview in his office in the library's new headquarters overlooking the Seine. "But what I don't want is everything reflected in an American mirror. When it comes to presenting digitized books on the Web, we want to make our choice with our own criteria."

When Google's initial announcement went unnoticed here, then, Jeanneney raised his voice. In a Jan. 23 article in Le Monde titled "When Google Challenges Europe," he warned of "the risk of a crushing domination by America in the definition of the idea that future generations will have of the world." And he urged Europe to "counterattack" to preserve its culture and political influence.

The French Feud with Google heats up

FinFacts, an Irish Business and Financial Journal, carries a wonderful story Mar 26, 2005, "AFP shoots itself in the foot, not Google" by Michael Hennigan. The article implies that Agence France Press (AFP) has sued Google for providing references to its material as part of France's "vendeta" against Google for failing to include Biblioteque Nationale in the list of libraries that it would use as a source to build its online "library" project. In the end the lawsuit will leave AFP references out search results in Google. Everyone loses. Leave to the French to cut off their noses to spite their faces....

The French Feud with Google heats up

FinFacts, an Irish Business and Financial Journal, carries a wonderful story Mar 26, 2005, "AFP shoots itself in the foot, not Google" by Michael Hennigan. The article implies that Agence France Press (AFP) has sued Google for providing references to its material as part of France's "vendeta" against Google for failing to include Biblioteque Nationale in the list of libraries that it would use as a source to build its online "library" project. In the end the lawsuit will leave AFP references out search results in Google. Everyone loses. Leave to the French to cut off their noses to spite their faces....