The idea of Google Books was first conceived in 2002 when a small group of Google programmers started pondering the question of how many man hours it would take to scan every single book ever written. We still don’t know the true answer to this question although just eight years from the idea conception there are now over 10 million books catalogued in their database.
While the first scan was done manually on a 300 page book and took 40 minutes to process,Google now use cameras capable of scanning at a rate of 1,000 pages an hour and also work with 20,000 publisher partners who provide content directly. They have also been able to provide over 1 million books that can be read in full from cover to cover;these unrestricted works are either books that have fallen out of copyright or have been provided with publishers express permission.
As well as simply scanning the books,Google performs OCR (Optical Character Recognition) on the pages,thereby turning them in to pure text which can be entered in to their database. As a result when you do a Google Search you are now not only returned results from relevant websites but also your search terms are checked against a library encompassing millions of books and appropriate matches are suggested for further reading.
The integration in to the Google Search engine means you may have already inadvertently stumbled across Google Books but if you haven’t and are eager to explore then the Google Books can be found by visiting the site http://books.google.co.uk/ directly. Being a Google service,it almost goes without saying that the service is completely free of charge and is instead paid for via a minimal number of sponsored links which are in no way intrusive or detrimental to the service.
From the Google Books site you can perform searches,add books to your virtual library or organise your collection in a logical manner. Searching for a book and then subsequently clicking on it opens an interface which allows you to either view the directly scanned pages from the book or in some instances a ‘plain text’ version. This plain text can then be copied and passed to another application or simply printed out for reading offline.
Books still under copyright enjoy the protection of a variety of access limitations and security measures which limit the number of viewable pages making the experience somewhat akin to being able to flick through the first couple of pages in a library or bookshop. Despite this protection there have rather predictably been a number of fairly major lawsuits issued by individuals and publishers alike;some with legitimate grievances and others just seeking money or publicity.
Possibly the most notable case was between The Authors Guild,the publishing industry and Google which resulted in Google agreeing to a settlement on October 28,2008. This would see them pay a total $125 million not only to pay the court costs of the plaintiffs but also create a Book Rights Registry which will collect and disburse revenue generated by all third party sites such as Google which provide content based on the content of books covered by the agreement.
These issues aside,on the whole I am amazed that again this relatively new company have been able to offer such an incredible gift to the world. With Google Books we have the potential to preserve centuries of human literacy work for generations to come as well as promoting the spread and availability of knowledge amongst all groups and all classes of people.
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Monday, 5 December 2011
ONLINE ILM KI DUNYA: Google Books –Online Literature Library
ONLINE ILM KI DUNYA: Google Books –Online Literature Library: Google Books –Online Literature Library http://onlineilmkidunya.blogspot.com/ The idea of Google Books was first conceived in 2002 when ...
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Google Books –Online Literature Library
Google Books –Online Literature Library
http://onlineilmkidunya.blogspot.com/
IT News
Pidgin - Multiple Instant Messenger ServicePidgin –Multiple Instant Messenger Service
If like me,you find yourself juggling multiple messenger applications to keep your friends,family and colleagues happy you will be glad to hear about Pidgin. Formally known as Gaim,Pidgin is an open-source messaging program that allows the simultaneous use of multiple instant messenger services through one application.
Available as a free of charge download from www.pidgin.im,this small program supports 17 networks including favourites AOL,MSN and Yahoo as well some lesser known ones such as Jabber and Gadu-Gadu. Additional chat clients such as Skype and the Facebook Chat tool can be added through the use of freely available third party plugins which are easily located on the Pidgin site.
Once installed,simply select the type of account you want to add (for example a Google Talk account) along with your user name and password. Any of your contacts from that account that are currently online will automatically appear in the buddies list and you can begin chatting straight away. Not only does this offer the distinct advantage that you don’t need to switch between several applications if you have contact with friends on multiple networks but it also cuts down on the resource requirements of having multiple chat services running on one machine.
Along with being cross compatible with different networks,the Pidgin application is also available for many different Operating Systems;as well as the obvious Windows version,the developers have provided support for Solaris,SkyOS,Qtopia,UNIX,Linux and even the AmigaOS.
All the standard features you would come to expect such as contact organiser,custom smileys,file transfers and group chats are present. The only slight criticism that I would have is that it doesn’t support video and voice chat however my assumption is that these protocols are difficult to integrate in to an application that has been designed to be compatible with dozens of networks and half a dozen different Operating Systems. Hopefully this lack of functionality will be addressed in future releases.
Pidgin is completely customisable;the preferences dialog box provides an area where you can define every conceivable option including the interface,sounds,network connection,chat logging and your default availability status. In terms of appearance you can also change the font type,size and colour,formatting along with installing new themes which change the appearance of smileys and status icons. An additional option to install themes in order to change the actual user interface would be welcome as the default interface may be a little dull and unintuitive for some users.
Source: http://www.computerarticles.co.uk/pidgin-multiple-instant-messenger-service/
Available as a free of charge download from www.pidgin.im,this small program supports 17 networks including favourites AOL,MSN and Yahoo as well some lesser known ones such as Jabber and Gadu-Gadu. Additional chat clients such as Skype and the Facebook Chat tool can be added through the use of freely available third party plugins which are easily located on the Pidgin site.
Once installed,simply select the type of account you want to add (for example a Google Talk account) along with your user name and password. Any of your contacts from that account that are currently online will automatically appear in the buddies list and you can begin chatting straight away. Not only does this offer the distinct advantage that you don’t need to switch between several applications if you have contact with friends on multiple networks but it also cuts down on the resource requirements of having multiple chat services running on one machine.
Along with being cross compatible with different networks,the Pidgin application is also available for many different Operating Systems;as well as the obvious Windows version,the developers have provided support for Solaris,SkyOS,Qtopia,UNIX,Linux and even the AmigaOS.
All the standard features you would come to expect such as contact organiser,custom smileys,file transfers and group chats are present. The only slight criticism that I would have is that it doesn’t support video and voice chat however my assumption is that these protocols are difficult to integrate in to an application that has been designed to be compatible with dozens of networks and half a dozen different Operating Systems. Hopefully this lack of functionality will be addressed in future releases.
Pidgin is completely customisable;the preferences dialog box provides an area where you can define every conceivable option including the interface,sounds,network connection,chat logging and your default availability status. In terms of appearance you can also change the font type,size and colour,formatting along with installing new themes which change the appearance of smileys and status icons. An additional option to install themes in order to change the actual user interface would be welcome as the default interface may be a little dull and unintuitive for some users.
Source: http://www.computerarticles.co.uk/pidgin-multiple-instant-messenger-service/
Computer software
Computer software
http://onlineilmkidunya.blogspot.com/
Software is a program that enables a computer to perform a specific task, as opposed to the physical components of the system (hardware).
Practical computer systems divide software into three major classes: system software, programming software and application software, although the distinction is arbitrary, and often blurred. Computer software has to be "loaded" into the computer's storage (such as a hard drive, memory, or RAM).
Once the software is loaded, the computer is able to execute the software.
Computers operate by executing the computer program.
This involves passing instructions from the application software, through the system software, to the hardware which ultimately receives the instruction as machine code.
Each instruction causes the computer to carry out an operation -- moving data, carrying out a computation, or altering the control flow of instructions.
For more information about the topic Computer software, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/c/computer_software.htm
Friday, 2 December 2011
ONLINE ILM KI DUNYA: Top science News
Amazing Time-Lapse Video of Earth from the International Space Station
by Mike O'Neill
An incredible new 5 minute video shows a time-lapse view of the Earth from the International Space Station. Words don’t do justice to the extreme beauty and visual majesty of this video. It gives you a glimpse of the experience of being in space that is so breathtaking it leaves you yearning to be on the next mission to the International Space Station.
Photographs were taken onboard the International Space Station during Expedition 28 and Expedition 29 that were used by Michael König of Berlin, Germany to create this time-lapse video. The pictures were taken by flight engineers Satoshi Furukawa, Ron Garan, and other astronauts during August, September, and October 2011.
Read to find more background information on this spectacular video including details of the breathtaking views of the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis captured in this footage.
Source: http://scitechdaily.com/time-lapse-video-earth-international-space-station/
ONLINE ILM KI DUNYA: Top science News
NASA Curiosity Heads to Mars
We’re heading back to Mars to search for any clues that might indicate life has or could exist on the big red planet. Of course, by ‘we’ I mean the new Mars Science Laboratory known as the Curiosity rover, the largest and most advanced rover that’s ever been sent to Mars.
The Curiosity is the size of a car or small SUV and weighs approximately a ton, with a scientific payload that’s ten times more massive than the instruments carried by previous rovers. A few of the tools the mobile lab is equipped with include cameras, a robotic arm, a drill, and a laser that can vaporize tiny segments of rock that can then be studied by on-board instruments.
“The MSL rover is essentially like a geologist in a self-contained laboratory,” says Wanda Harding, the MSL’s mission manager for the Launch Services Program, “and the capabilities that exist are probably the next best thing to sending a human to do the same job.”
Since Curiosity is loaded with more equipment than previous rovers, a different power source was needed because the solar arrays that were used on earlier models wouldn’t provide enough power for the new MSL. To insure that power levels don’t become an issue, the Department of Energy built a nuclear-powered electrical system called a multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG). The MMRTG converts heat from a small core of plutonium into approximately 110 watts of electricity, with the conversion process taking place around the clock all year long.
According to NASA, Curiosity will launch at 7:02AM PST on Saturday, November 26th from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The 354 million mile journey is expected to take more than eight months, with the rover landing on Mars in early August 2012.
Source: http://scitechdaily.com/nasa-curiosity-heads-to-mars/
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