rebootied

Decided to download Google Earth to my iPod, then proceeded to enter my sister's home address in its search function.

The globe spun, slowed, then twisted lazily inward, zooming in on the address nestled in the low California hills, showing the street leading up to it which has been the last leg of so many visits, the driveway I've parked in, and the house where my sister and Lee provide safe harbor against the jetlag and fatigue, plying me effortlessly with coffee, baked treats in the coziest breakfast nook in the world, and endless love and acceptance. I am so overwhelmed with sudden homesickness, it has brought me to the edge of tears. I wonder what exactly is technology enabling, in my case.

Popgadget Personal Technology for Women: Privacy protestors block Google Street View "spy" car:

Street View, Google's attempt to index the entire world in 360 degree photographs, hit a snag this week in the small village of Broughton in Buckinghamshire, England.

Residents formed a human wall, stopping Google's vehicle from entering the village or capturing any useful pictures of its outskirts.

Paul Jacobs, who spotted the Street View car and called an impromptu demonstration, says he was motivated by a fear of burglary, as the area has seen three burglaries in the last six weeks: "If our houses are plastered all over Google, it's an invitation for more criminals to strike."

What do you think of Street View? I know I've had fun using it, but perhaps I'd feel differently if my house were clearly visible. Or if I had anything worth stealing.

Via The Guardian.

Google Chrome, Google's Browser Project: so cool, it has its own comic book by Scott McCloud.

RUN-DMC vs. Jason Nevins - It's Like That (thanks, weezie13 ) 

Of note: Sony/BMG, like many copyright holders, is now officially promoting their artists on YouTube. This is good because stuff goes up there officially, and it's available for viewing without having to go to Sony/BMG's site and navigate through crap and use whatever crappy player they've got going - it allows use of YouTube/Google's search function to find what you want, instead of having to go back and forth on the publisher's site, maybe finding it, maybe missing it even if it's there.

On the other hand, they'll almost certainly be increasingly vigilant about keeping other users away from uploading their own unedited recordings of the artists they represent (not a major problem), as well as the co-opted use of those music recordings in fan videos, use as background in collage videos, and who knows? Maybe they'll even go after young girls lip-syncing Pixies songs - how wrong! But in all seriousness, with the entry of big copyright holders into a realm that has burgeoned under use by casual users, I hope they don't sic the lawyerhounds on the other users, because there's already enough chilling effect on people's ability to interact with the media they love, and share it in their own way.

So Google's Book Search (beta) is open for business. What I don't get is how to search easily for books that are out of copyright, and therefore up for free and legal mashuppery. When I look for Tarzan of the Apes, it returns several volumes that have been recently printed, are therefore in copyright, and therfore do not have the full text available for reading through their service. I had heard, perhaps mistakenly, that Google offered PDFs of the full text of books outside of copyright, but I can't find anything resembling that there, though the full text is available through Project Gutenberg, as the work has been in the public domain in the USA since 1993.

It is confusing to see  works that have entered the public domain listed as protected in Google's book search. Am I using it the wrong way or missing something obvious?

By the way, fuck Sonny Bono right in is dead, I Can't Ski To Save My Life, Not Comprehending the Basis for Copyright ass, and his widow and her cheap, argumentum ad misericordiam (Sonny would have wanted) "forever less one day" in her heinie as well.