Publishers and Google Reach Agreement

Mountain View, CA and Washington, DC; October 4, 2012 – The Association of American Publishers (AAP) and Google today announced a settlement agreement that will provide access to publishers’ in-copyright books and journals digitized by Google for its Google Library Project. The dismissal of the lawsuit will end seven years of litigation.

The agreement settles a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against Google on October 19, 2005 by five AAP member publishers. As the settlement is between the parties to the litigation, the court is not required to approve its terms.

The settlement acknowledges the rights and interests of copyright-holders. US publishers can choose to make available or choose to remove their books and journals digitized by Google for its Library Project. Those deciding not to remove their works will have the option to receive a digital copy for their use.

Apart from the settlement, US publishers can continue to make individual agreements with Google for use of their other digitally-scanned works.

“We are pleased that this settlement addresses the issues that led to the litigation,” said Tom Allen, President and CEO, AAP. “It shows that digital services can provide innovative means to discover content while still respecting the rights of copyright-holders.”

“Google is a company that puts innovation front and center with all that it does,” said David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, Google. “By putting this litigation with the publishers behind us, we can stay focused on our core mission and work to increase the number of books available to educate, excite and entertain our users via Google Play.”

Google Books allows users to browse up to 20% of books and then purchase digital versions through Google Play. Under the agreement, books scanned by Google in the Library Project can now be included by publishers.

Further terms of the agreement are confidential.

This settlement does not affect Google’s current litigation with the Authors Guild or otherwise address the underlying questions in that suit.

The publisher plaintiffs are The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.; Pearson Education, Inc. and Penguin Group (USA) Inc., both part of Pearson; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; and Simon & Schuster, Inc. part of CBS Corporation.

About the Association of American Publishers
The 300 members of AAP are building the future of publishing. AAP represents America’s premier creators of high-quality entertainment, education, scientific and professional published content. We dedicate the creative, intellectual, financial and technological investments to bring great ideas to life and deliver content to the world’s audiences in all the ways they seek it.

About Google Inc.
Google is a global technology leader focused on improving the ways people connect with information. Google’s innovations in web search and advertising have made its website a top Internet property and its brand one of the most recognized in the world.

Google is a trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

AAP Contact:
Andi Sporkin
asporkin@publishers.org
202-220-4554

Google Contact:
Maggie Shiels
maggies@google.com
650-214-4340

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EBay Gadget Re-Sellers, Using RSS Feeds To Stay Up To Date With The Latest Cool New Gadget Trends

Attention gadget shop owners and eBay electronic gadgets sellers! Do you have trouble keeping up to date with the latest gadgets and e-commerce developments and making your site 'sticky' enough to develop a loyal customer base?

RSS may be the answer. A web 2.0 format that is keeping netizens up to date with recent developments on the internet and helping webmasters everywhere develop an online community that is more loyal than has ever been possible.

It didn't seem so long ago that keeping up to date with the latest hi tech gadgets and cool spy gadgets was no problem at all. There were only a handful of gadget sites out there and, with even fewer blogs to monitor; keeping up to date with gadget news was easy.

Keeping customers loyal was also not a problem as there was a good chance there were only a handful of similar sites on the internet offering similar products making it very easy to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Unfortunately those days have changed.

As of May 2008 there were 3000 gadget blogs alone registered on popular blog aggregate Technorati with the website announcing it had indexed 100 million blogs in December 2007.

So what does that mean for you the gadget shop owner or eBay gadget reseller? What it means is that there's more to sort through to get product ideas and more competitors for your customers' attentions and disposable incomes.

This is where RSS will be invaluable for your business.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a format which webmasters and content creators use to create bulletin-like 'feeds' which are sent out to subscribers when the webmaster's site is updated or a new story is added.

By subscribing to a RSS feeds you will save valuable time previously wasted visiting online gadget shops, computer gadgets blogs and strange gadgets blogs unnecessarily. You can also use it to keep your customers informed when you add the latest gadgets and new inventions to your inventory.

Setting up a RSS feed for your site and getting RSS feeds from a gadget shop or blog on hi tech gadgets, strange gadgets or spy gadgets couldn't be easier with popular blog aggregator, Icerocket.com, offering a free RSS creation service.

Once you have set up the service it is important to remember that RSS feeds are short by nature and only contain text, or hyperlink text. So it is important to include an enticing title and make sure your first two or three sentences are something that will make people want to visit the page.

Receiving RSS feeds is also a relatively easy task to accomplish with a wide number of RSS feed readers being available. In fact all that needs to be done is to set up a RSS reader and subscribe to the RSS feeds you are interested in.

Some of the more free web-based readers are Google Reader, My Yahoo, Bloglines and Newsgator. They all are extremely easy to sign up to and mostly look and operate much like email accounts like Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail.

The next step is to subscribe to feeds from gadget shops and blogs on gadgets and gizmos that are guaranteed to keep you ahead of your competitors with stock.

This can be done any number of ways depending on which feed reader and which internet browser you are using.

You can search on the readers themselves for relevant feeds. However this is likely to leave you with a large number of unusual gadgets and cool spy gadgets blogs to keep checking up on.

If the cool electronic gadgets website has a RSS subscription button on its news page designed for your chosen reader then you won't have any problem subscribing. All you need to do is to click on the button and follow the steps.

You could also click on the RSS button and copy the URL from the page of code that opens (the URL will probably contain the code XML or feed). You should then paste it into the 'add feed' dialog box in your RSS reader.

Flock or Firefox browsers make adding RSS feeds extremely easy. All you need to do is to click on the RSS link at the top of the page beside the URL bar and another window will open, letting you set up a feed directly in your browser.

Make yourself into a more dominant force on the internet. Get a RSS reader and subscriptions and set up your own RSS feed and change your gadget shop into a sturdy, sticky site with more cool gadgets and hot gadget gifts than your competitors.

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Technology Help Small to Mid Size Companies Achieve Their Financial Goals

Today, IT solutions are aiding small and mid-sized companies alike, as they compete with Fortune 500 companies for a piece of the pie. We live in an age of fierce competitiveness, fiscal concern, and global turmoil and uncertainty. Companies are working hard to continually improve operational efficiency. Many are looking to IT (information technology) to reduce operating costs and increase efficiency by automating and streamlining existing business processes.

Smart companies are achieving their business and financial goals by embracing and making technology work for them. Porcelain Patch is one such small company that has embraced Internet Technology to help improve the bottom line while enhancing customer service. Since 1938, Porcelain Patch and Glaze has prided itself on offering the finest electrostatic painting and porcelain reglazing services to homeowners, office managers and building managers all over New England. Porcelain Patch can point to over a half-century of experience and a long list of satisfied customers. At this time, the company employs 12 field technicians, 2 full time sales people and 2 customer service/marketing representatives. They have been in Watertown, MA since the mid 1960's.

As the president and owner of Porcelain Patch, Jonathan Gleason is always looking for ways to further gain efficiency and maintain customer loyalty, while keeping operating costs down. He is a technology buff and a true believer in utilizing IT to gain a competitive edge. As a starting point, Jonathan recognized long ago that in today's Internet-driven business environment, a strong web presence is not only mandatory, but also it is the most valuable marketing tool that can set him apart from his competitors. He also understood that a web site can ONLY be effective if it is keeps up with the dynamic nature of the Internet and provides up-to-date information to its visitors. This, he realized, was the major challenge - one that required a lot of resources.

To make the web site an effective marketing tool, Jonathan commissioned Blue Robin Inc., to build a new web infrastructure for Porcelain Patch - one that can be organic. The new platform was built with a powerful Content Management System (CMS) through which authorized personnel can update the content of the site on-the-fly.

With its EZedit(TM), Blue Robin focused to deliver a robust, full-featured Content Management System to Porcelain Patch with a user-friendly environment that can accommodate multiple users at the company, with varying skill levels. The CMS provides Porcelain Patch with an easy-to-use, multi-level authenticated text and HTML editor with similar features and functionalities of popular word processing applications, which their employees were already familiar with using. The company took to the implementation of the new web site with its CMS, like a duck takes to water.

As a result, in 2007, the company's website has turned into one of the most cost effective and important lead generators and image builder. In such a short time frame, Porcelain Patch has transformed its marketing from using a full page in their local Yellow Pages book to a cyber-based strategy to increase revenue by generating more traffic to its web site.

Another item that Jonathan had identified as a cost area was his company's traditional phone system. Beyond the cost, the phone system was posing all kinds of problems that impacted customer service and created a bottle neck. Jonathan wanted a sophisticated phone system similar to the one used by the fortune 500 companies, without the high price tag. Jonathan began looking into Voice Over IP technology (VoIP) and did a significant amount of research into what companies could provide the most useful and cost effective solutions, before committing again to Blue Robin, Inc.'s Enterprise Voip(TM) phone system.
The most important benefit of VoIP is its cost savings for Porcelain patch. Blue Robin's Enterprise VoIP(TM) has offered significant cost savings while providing numerous new features.

Jonathan had long ago understood that to compete effectively in the eWorld, his business infrastructure must have two essential components: A High-speed Internet connection and a sophisticated phone system. The arrival of VoIP technology makes it possible to say goodbye to traditional phone and PBX phone systems as well as the high cost associated with multiple phone lines. As a matter of record, the #1 reason Porcelain Patch adopted a VoIP phone system was cost, cost and cost. The Enterprise Voip(TM) system from Blue Robin is much less expensive to deploy than a traditional PBX and it has been far cheaper month-to-month than paying the large phone bills Porcelain Patch used to have. In addition to the reduced monthly cost of the Enterprise Voip(TM) phone system, the company also looked to keep the initial and any recurring charges down, as well as ensuring ease of implementation and use. Blue Robin was able to successfully meet and exceed all of Porcelain Patch's requirements.

Like many corporations today, Porcelain Patch is experiencing the advantages of IT first hand as a key component of its business strategies. Jonathan will continue to use new technology to drastically change their business functions and to shift cost structures resulting in what some call the, "information based organization." Implementing today's new technologies shows how a business can successfully grow from within, creating a cycle of cost control, leading to better products and services, leading to more growth.

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Finding Out If Your Husband is Cheating by Using Technology, Electronics, and Gadgets

I sometimes get emails from wives who are trying to find out if their husband is cheating. Some are hoping to catch him in the act and others just want to know for their own peace of mind. Many have already asked their husbands about their suspicions and have been told that they are imagining things or have been met by a husband who is angry at being "wrongly accused."

Whatever situation your are in, you can often find out if your husband is cheating by checking the technology that he is probably using to carry out the cheating. Or, you can make use of the many gadgets available to record his activities. In other words, you're going to follow his electronic trail. I feel that theses methods are far superior to following your husband or confronting him, as I rarely see these two scenarios work out very well. At least when you are checking his electronics, you don't run the risk of a physical confrontation, and, if you're wrong, you can avoid being caught and eroding the marriage.

Gadgets That Can Help You Catch Your Cheating Husband: You don't always have to hire a private investigator to help you figure out where your husband is going. And you can avoid following him by using gadgets.

They have GPS magnets that you can stick on the bottom of his car. They have little pens that you can put in his car, office, or bedroom to record audio. They have tiny cameras that you can put in TV cabinets, in chest of drawers, or in air conditioner vents. Basically you can usually find a gadget for any place that you would want to spy. Of course, the risk with these is your spouse finding them because at that point it would be obvious who put them there. I usually prefer to spy using his own electronics because this leaves less of a trail and has less of a chance of detection.

Technology That Helps You To Catch Cheating Husbands Using Their Own Electronics: Some of the most common technologies to catch cheating spouses involves taking a look at the tools they use to carry out their cheating. Think about it for a second. If your husband is cheating, he needs a way to communicate with the other woman when he isn't with her (and likely is with you.) What is the most logical and easy way for him to do this? He might use his cell phone to text her, message or call her. He might use the computer to email or IM her. Or, he might go into a chat room or make use of social networking sites like Facebook or my space.

Either way, you can often use his love of these electronics to catch him. There are many choices of good software and programs that will allow you to go right along behind him on his phone or computer. Some of them work even if he's erased things or used passwords he thinks you can't possibly figure out. One of the key reasons that I like these technologies is that you don't have to leave them lying around when you aren't using them (as is the case with cameras and GPS magnets.) So, there is much less risk that you are going to be caught. You basically just find a safe time to check out his electronics, read, view, or print out whatever you need, and then high tail it out of there when you are done, leaving no evidence that you were checking up on him.

Of course, what you do with what you find is completely up to you. And, how far you take this is also up to you. I find that some people just want to know about the existence of cheating, but they don't want all the details because they are too painful. If this is your case, you can pretty much stop reading or looking whenever your suspicions are confirmed. And if they aren't confirmed, then that's useful knowledge to have also and you will have the peace of mind that your husband is innocent of cheating on you.

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2013 Technology Trends

If the world will remain on actual course, 2013 could be a year for gadgets, new trends and amazing gizmos  easily overshadowing conventional Macs and PCs. The market embodies a provision wheel, and analysts are called for another prevision in order to depict what 2013 technology trends will look like. Understandably, we'll experience more bandwidth, more 3D (hopefully it will be real 3D) and new website interactions. 3D TV will be raging, and many of us we'll be using tablets for something.

So, this is me looking in a crystal ball and trying to describe what 2013 will look like.

The Launch of the PS4 and Xbox 720

We saw the launch of Nintendo's Wii U in 2012 and I'm sure that we'll see the new PS4 and Xbox 720 by the end of 2013. These new consoles will provide improvements in graphical power, design, gaming experience. The PS4 was codenamed "Orbis" and is build around AMD x64 CPU. It is believed that it could handle screen resolutions of up to 4000 x 2000 pixels. 3D is the thing of the future, and PS4 will provide 3D gaming experience in full HD.

The Xbox 720 is codenamed "Durango" and is powered by an 16 cores IBM Power PC CPU.

Cloud Computing and Gaming

Apple has already launched Airplay, which grants you to stream games wirelessly to your HDTV. Only that producers and coders are searching ways to take it to the next level and grant you to leave the gaming consoles behind and move to cloud computing and gaming. Can we anticipate a new gaming network in 2013? Why not!

Networking in 2013: 10 Gigabit & 4G

4G technology is here for some time but it's not spread worldwide. This is history in the making, and 4G networks just started to rollout really fast. With advances to both roaming and bandwidth direction, 4G networks will provide more and better connection. 4G means HD resolution on your cell phone, less delay and more speed.

Another cool technology that we may see in 2013 is the 10 gigabit networking. Developed by Marvel, this networking product is called Avanta and it promises 100 times more speed.

Real 3D

I genuinely believed that we would not experience real 3D until 2018, mostly because the active shutter glasses that are presently required are way too costly. Nevertheless 3ality Digital showcased a professional JVC flat panel display that was really good with the far less costly Dolby 3D polarized glasses that they provide in theaters.

I really believe that 3D movies seen through these glasses could be more popular in 2013.

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Technologically Advanced Gadgets for Business and Play

Technologically advanced gadgets definitely make work easier and faster in the office and while some of them may cost a fortune, there are devices which are economically priced. Our dependence on this gadgets has reached a point wherein spending a single day without them in the office is simply unthinkable no matter the nature of the job and the size of the organization.

Amongst all the gadgets which a contemporary office should be equipped with, two of the most common options are a rackmount LCD and a label manager. While the former saves a lot of space and is supportive of a number of operating systems like Windows 95, 2000, ME, XP and so on, the latter helps to create a series of bar codes to make work easier in the office.

There are some gadgets which are not just limited to office use but support mobility. Such gadgets, the most popular in this category being the USB pen, are not fixed to a single location but can be carried around wherever the owner goes. Therefore, carrying a USB pen implies not just carrying a pen for writing but also carrying all the important business data and information stored within the pen drive.

It is imperative for any fully operational business to have a printer for scores of documents and letter which are printed every day. So this accounts for the presence of normal printers in the office and when the budget is unlimited it is the faster and more efficient laser printers which are depended upon. Nowadays, it is common for a printer to be combined with a scanner so that the tasks of making copies and faxing them can be achieved simultaneously.

The popularity of gadgets has resulted in the market being inundated with a wide variety in terms of brands, features and applications. As a result, gadgets for business applications and fun like mobile phones, storage drives and high speed Internet can now be acquired at competitive rates and used for making life easier at home as well as work.

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Technology and Jacuzzi - The Ultimate Experience

When I look at this jacuzzi I say to myself: someday... someday you'll be mine! Aside that, I'm glad to let you know that this special jacuzzi is called Jacuzzi La Scala T650 Entertainment Bath and it's from Private Collection.  I couldn't find a price for it, but considering its luxury design I would say it's not cheap.

specs:

• 84" long x 74" wide x 51" high
• 43" screen, a DVD system and a surround sound system
• 6 fully adjustable PowerPro jets
• 2 directionally adjustable body and side jets
• 2 directionally adjustable foot jets
• underwater lighting, floating remote control, silent air induction system, energy-efficient

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