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Google Books redesign makes it easier to find background info
It's Google Books' 15th birthday, and the tech giant is celebrating it by giving the service a makeover. The redesigned version makes each title's most pertinent information easier to access -- and it puts details in neat little boxes that make them easier on the eyes. The classic interface already showed you a book's description, its author's history and their other works, but the redesigned version will also include options for where you can borrow or purchase the title. There's also a new section that lists similar titles, as well as one that clearly shows the book's bibliography where you'll be able to create citations in APA, MLA, Chicago and other formats.
Modern copyright law can't keep pace with thinking machines
This past April, engineer Alex Reben developed and posted to YouTube, "Deeply Artificial Trees", an art piece powered by machine learning, that leveraged old Joy of Painting videos. It generate gibberish audio in the speaking style and tone of Bob Ross, the show's host. Bob Ross' estate was not amused, subsequently issuing a DMCA takedown request and having the video knocked offline until very recently. Much like Naruto, the famous selfie-snapping black crested macaque, the Trees debacle raises a number of questions of how the Copyright Act of 1976 and DMCA's Fair Use doctrine should be applied to a rapidly evolving technological culture, especially as AI and machine learning techniques approach ubiquity.
Judge rules against authors in Google Books copyright infringement case
Google's Books project, which has indexed millions of titles and made them available online, hasn't always been on completely solid legal footing. After all, Books operates without the permission of authors, which has understandably drawn some ire from copyright holders, not to mention other web giants. Well, a federal ruling handed down today gives strong backing to Google's digitizing efforts: U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by an author group against Google. In his opinion, Chin ruled that showing excerpts of books in search results falls under fair use, and that Books "advances the progress of the arts and sciences, while maintaining respectful consideration for the rights of authors and other creative individuals." Of course, for writers hoping to get paid for access to their works, this decision will come as a disappointment. But considering how deeply ingrained the Google Books project is by now, the ruling is hardly surprising, either.
Google Play Books updated to allow user uploads, supports EPUB and PDF
With the exception of a brief mention in Google Play for Education, Mountain View's book platform was all but absent from its Google I/O presentation. Still, the service is getting updated with a significant new feature: user uploads. It hasn't rolled out to all users yet, but those with access are now able to add up to 1,000 PDF and EPUB files to their Google Play online library. Both the Android and iOS versions of the app will be able to read these files starting today. The update brings a standard assortment of stability and performance improvements too, and Android users will see a few minor visual tweaks. Check out the source link below to see if the feature has rolled out to your account, or click here to peek at Google's biggest I/O announcements.
Google Play Books app arrives in Japan, adds translation, place info, highlighting and more
Not content at stopping with its recent European tour, Google Play Books has made the trip to Japan and brought back a handful of new features. In addition to support for reading Japanese books in a vertical, right-to left layout, Mountain view now lets users tap on names of geographical spots within text and see them pinned to a Google Map alongside the option to find more information using Larry Page's favorite search engine or Wikipedia. A freshly added translation feature takes user-highlighted words and phrases and spits them out in the reader's language of choice. Particularly studious literature lovers can now mark up their digital books with notes and highlights that sync to the web and across their personal fleet of devices. A new sepia tone theme also joined the existing day and night views on their journey abroad. Hit the source links below for more details and the download.
Nexus 7 guidebook appears on Google Play, teaches you how to blink, manage Google Now cards
Trapped in that post-Google I/O funk of hurry up, pre-order and wait? Maybe this can satiate your desires: a Nexus 7 guidebook detailing the basics of Mountain View's upcoming slate. The digital tome covers standard Android usage as well as Jelly Bean specific tips -- including the OS' dynamically resizable widgets, using Google Now cards and "blink for face unlock," a stock Android take on Samsung's eyelid shuttering identification tweak. Ready to read up? Check it out at the Google Play link below.
Google launches Endangered Languages website to save 3,000 at-risk tongues
Google lets users surf the web in 40-plus languages, and its Translate service accounts for 57 different tongues, but those numbers are dwarfed by the grand total of 7,000 currently existing languages. On its official blog today, the company announced the Endangered Languages Project, a website dedicated to preserving at-risk dialects by providing information via audio, video and text samples. Google collaborated with the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and Eastern Michigan University to compile research on the 3,000 languages at risk of dying out, and each language's profile includes results drawn from Google Books. Click through to the source link to check out a global visualization of these tongues -- it's mind-boggling that there are 52 endangered languages in Brazil alone.
Google brokers a deal with French publishers to immortalize out-of-print books
Google has reached an agreement with France's publishers to scan thousands of out-of-print texts. From the terse explanation offered, it looks like Mountain View will digitize the books, but the publishers and authors will retain commercial use of them. It means those editions will presumably be sold over Google Play rather than being offered free -- but on the upside, will mean that you'll save plenty of time checking eBay for that copy of Fly Fishing by J.R. Hartley.
Google Play replaces Android Market, new source for apps, books, movies and music (video)
The Android Market has morphed significantly since its inception, which now allows users to purchase books, music and rent movies, all from within a hub that was originally designed for just apps. To recognize this fundamental shift -- and emphasize the availability of content for sale -- Google is launching a new platform known as Google Play. The move hints at a strategy shift from just Android to the cloud as a whole, and establishes an umbrella brand for the diverse content sold by Google. For example, its Books, Music and Videos apps will now become Play Books, Play Music and Play Movies, while the Android Market itself will take on the moniker of Play Store. Users of Android 2.2 (and above) should notice the software update within the next few days, although other than the new name, initial changes should be minimal. We're also to be on the lookout for a new "Play" tab within the top toolbar of Google's website. To mark the occasion, the company has announced a promotional "Seven Days to Play" sale, which will tease would-be shoppers with discounted apps, books, movies and music throughout the week. For an additional peek at what's in store, you'll find the gallery below and a video after the break.%Gallery-149774%
Google Books for Chrome gets offline support, one less excuse for not reading the 'classics'
So, you can read all those tomes you've picked up through Google Books offline on your smartphone and tablet, but what about on your laptop? Well, if for some reason you've got the desire to power through Finnegans Wake in your browser (though, we're not really sure why you'd do that to yourself) we've got good news -- the Google Books app for Chrome now caches your titles for local reading. To download a book, just hover over the cover in library view and select "make available offline" from the pop-up. Then, even when you can't get your Chromebook connected, you'll be able to sit back and relax with a classic novel or seedy romance tale.
Google thinks your digital books belong on a digital bookcase, digitally (video)
How to best view the Google Books collections? Why, a digital bookcase, of course. But this isn't just any bookcase, it's a giant spinning 3D helix of a bookcase, collecting more than 10,000 titles in 28 subjects. Users can navigate the WebGL Bookcase by spinning it around or swiping it up and down. Sure, it's not the quickest way to locate a title amongst tens of thousands of books, but perhaps it'll offer up some small consolation for those who miss browsing real-life bookstores. You can check out the experiment in the source link below -- be forewarned, however, that it's a bit of a resource hog.
T-Mobile G2 gets its turn for Gingerbread, OTA rolling out now
The T-Mobile G2x was the attention-hoarder this week by getting Gingerbread, but where's the love for its older brother? After all, the G2 seemed to be left for dead as HTC's promise of a Q2 refresh was broken with nary a peep from the manufacturer. No need to feel nervous any longer, folks, as Android 2.3 is now rolling out as an OTA download. In addition to Gingerbread, the listed update will include WiFi improvements, SMS and email notification enhancements, Google Books, and a few cosmetic UI changes. The rollout process will run its course over the coming weeks, so you'll need to exercise just a wee bit more patience here. At least the G2 isn't falling into the depths of obsolescence yet; but for future reference, T-Mobile, please text us when you're running a bit late.
Google Books, Kobo, more get iOS App Store shakedown (update: Kindle too)
Heat waves aside, this last weekend has proven to be a fairly rough one for e-book sellers. In spite of backing off a bit from its initial demands, there have apparently been some major changes afoot in the iOS App Store, with a number of apps scaling back access to their online e-book markets or being pulled from the store altogether. Kobo, one of the former, told The Wall Street Journal (which also reported on its own iOS woes) it was informed on Saturday that it needs to stop selling books through its app. The Google Books app, meanwhile, has been removed altogether, though Google has yet to comment on the matter, possibly revamping the app to comply with the stricter rules. While the adjustments will certainly be a nuisance for the companies involved, selling books through Apple devices will not be an impossibility, so long as customers can still access the markets through Safari. Update: You can now add Amazon to the list as well. The latest version of the Kindle app removes the Kindle Store button that previously allowed you to purchase e-books on your iOS device.
iRiver Story HD review
When it was unveiled back in January, the Story HD, iRiver's first entry into the US e-reader market, boasted all manner of exciting technologies, including an "HD" display and a souped-up (in e-reader terms) processor. Things have changed in the past six months, thanks in part to new Nook and Kobo devices. The other week, however, iRiver pulled out a pre-release surprise that turned plenty of heads: a partnership with Google Books. Are these features enough to make the company competitive in an already crowded market dominated by the Kindle? Find out the answer to all that and more in the review below. %Gallery-128506%
British Library and Google Books partner up to digitize 250,000 out-of-copyright works
Oh paper, ye olde guardian of human wisdom, culture, and history, why must you be so fragile and voluminous? Not a question we ask ourselves every day, admittedly, but when you're talking about the British Library's extensive collection of tomes from the 18th and 19th century, those books, pamphlets and periodicals do stack up pretty quickly. Thankfully, Google's book digitization project has come to the rescue of bewildered researchers, with a new partnership with the British Library that will result in the availability of digital copies of works from that period -- spanning the time of the French and Industrial Revolutions, the Crimean War, the invention of the telegraph, and the end of slavery. In total, some 250,000 such items, all of them long out of copyright, will find a home on Google Books and the British Library's website, and Google has even been nice enough to bear the full cost of transforming them into web-accessible gems of knowledge. Jump past the break for the similarly digital press release.
Google Books for iOS adds landscape reading, speed boost
Google Books for iOS was introduced late last year and opened the world of Google's 2 million digital books to iOS owners. The application competed with Apple's iBooks and Amazon's Kindle application, but it lacked the polish and finesse of these two applications. This latest version released today kicks it up a notch by adding a landscape mode for e-book reading on your iPad and a find feature that shows specific keyword and phrase matches as you scroll through a book. Several bug fixes and enhancements include a nifty 3D page turning feature on the iPad and an new login feature that lets you easily download e-books using your Google account. The speed and performance of the overall application has been improved as well. The updated version of the application is available for free and can be downloaded now from the App Store. [Via MacStories]
Google's deal for book digitization rejected by judge, Books plans sent back to drawing board
It's taken a long, long time to fully consider Google's proposed $125 million settlement with publishers and authors of out-of-print works, but now the ruling has been handed down and it's not the one the Mountain View team wanted. Circuit Judge Chin, who had preliminarily approved the deal back in November 2009, has returned with the new conclusion that actually it goes "too far" in Google's favor. The origins of this settlement stem from a class action lawsuit filed against El Goog for a book digitization project it began back in 2004, and it's important to note that terms were agreed way back in 2008, before a bunch of external objections made them revise the document to its current state and refile it with the court in '09. Since then, the Department of Justice has had a look at antitrust concerns relating to Google potentially having a monopoly on orphan works (those whose author cannot be identified) and Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo have all piped up to say it's a bunk deal. Now, the one man standing between us and a whole ton of web-accessible reading materials has agreed with them. He does leave a pretty large door open for reconciliation, however, should Google be willing to accede to less favorable terms. Let's just hope whatever else transpires doesn't take another year and a half to do so.
Android Market adds e-books; movies and music soon to come?
The Android world's been a-buzz this last week over a few new Android Market URLS, including http://market.android.com/music/ and http://market.android.com/movies/. In case you thought there was nothing to this tip, guess again: the third member of this trifecta (http://market.android.com/books/) has gone live. That's right, visitors to the Android Market can pick up Glenn Beck's mile-a-minute thrill ride The Overton Window for a mere $9. We hope that takes some of the sting out of the fact that a Google Music launch wasn't part of this month's Honeycomb event -- although if we had to wager a guess, we'd say that the company will have Music and Movie offerings soon enough.
Google Books app feels rushed, disappoints
Google Books finally went live in App Store and we here at TUAW couldn't wait to give it a try. Unfortunately, we should have. Google should have spent more time refining and polishing this app before releasing it. Google Books is a bit of a half-baked disappointment. Let's start with the big issues. The application doesn't do landscape. Personally, I'm not completely adverse to portrait book reading -- after all, it gives you the most room to read each page on the screen -- but why doesn't Google give me the choice? I often like flipping back and forth between my books and ongoing solitaire games (I know, I know, but that's what I do, and 4.2.1 makes it easy). Having to re-orient my iPad to the lap-unfriendly portrait orientation is just annoying. A two-page side-by-side layout seems to be a given in the e-reader world. I'm stunned it's not already in there.
Sorry Google Books, I'm sticking with iBooks
Apple's iBooks e-reading app is a flawed, early generation application with GUI and organization issues that fail to match the way that I read books. It has no folders (yet), no way of marking "I've finished reading this book so put it away" (a la the Kindle with its archive feature). Its store is understocked and overpriced. Those are hardly unique criticisms, though -- these flaws permeate throughout the new and under-developed book reader world. So when push comes to shove, I'm sticking with iBooks. Because for me, I want a reader that integrates seamlessly with iTunes. And only iBooks does that right now. I tend to read public domain or buy books from smaller PDF-based vendors like Lulu.com. I've bought a few books from the iBooks store, but I haven't found them a particularly good value. Their DRM limits me to on-device reading; I can't read them from my Mac, even in iTunes. That's a big fail as far as I'm concerned. TUAW's Victor Agreda prefers to buy through Amazon and use the Kindle app. This choice allows him to read across all his devices, including (and especially) on his Macintosh. Amazon offers an unparalleled eBook collection.
