1.
Feature Story / 46th
Week of 2005 / This
weeks POWeek, Jeff Bezos, the founder of
Amazon.com, previewed its new service to sell
just a few pages or chapters of a book -- allowing
one of the world's oldest media to be chopped up
and customized like an album on
iTunes.
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Although he offered few
details, Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said Amazon
customers soon would be able to buy digital
snippets of books for as little as a few cents a
page. That might come in handy for tourists
planning a trip, chefs seeking recipes or students
assigned one chapter in an expensive
textbook.
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The service could help the
Internet retailer emerge as a more
publisher-friendly digital library than Google
Inc., which Thursday launched a free database of
online books. Unlike Google, Amazon plans to offer
books only with the blessings of their
publishers.
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Analysts said Amazon's approach, which
builds on a current feature that offers a peek into
some books, expanded the online experience and
prepared for a day when people were more accustomed
to reading long passages of text on the
computer.
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"It makes it more like browsing in a
bookstore," said Think Equity Partners analyst
Edward Weller, "and you don't even have to put your
clothes on."
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John Sargent, CEO of Holtzbrinck Publishers,
which includes St. Martin's Press and Farrar,
Straus & Giroux, said the success of Apple
Computer Inc.'s iTunes Music Store gave him hope
that book publishers and authors could find an
online business model that gave them a fair share
of the proceeds.
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"This is a brave new world," he
said.
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Amazon said it would sell a digital
"upgrade" to some books for an additional fee. For
example, a computer programmer who buys a software
manual would receive the book in the mail but could
also read through the digital version
online.
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"The search engines have been working on
book-copying strategies themselves," said Legg
Mason analyst Scott Devitt. "This is Amazon showing
people it too has a pretty compelling database of
book text."
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In contrast, Google is scanning vast numbers
of books to add to its Google Print search engine
-- many without permission from the publishers. Its
partners include the University of Michigan,
Stanford University, Harvard University, the New
York Public Library and Oxford
University.
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On Thursday, Google opened its digital
library with thousands of books that are in the
public domain, meaning that they're not under
copyright. Users can search for keywords among the
pages or read entire books on their computer
screens.
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"This is a surprising bit of playing by the
rules for a company that routinely makes up the
rules," said Outsell Inc. analyst Chuck
Richard.
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On Wednesday, Google said it would resume
scanning books, regardless of whether they were
covered by copyright. For copyrighted books, Google
displays only snippets of
pages.
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But the fact that it displays ads beside
search results infuriates many publishers. Trade
groups representing publishers and authors have
sued Google for copyright infringement, contending
that the Internet firm has no right to scan entire
books, even if it doesn't display them in
full.
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Google contends that the scanning is allowed
and that its program can help boost sales by making
titles easier to find.
Part
02 / Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., like
Amazon.com, announced this week, that they too, are
expanding the content they offer on wireless
handsets, a step further in merging their
connection between the Web and
cellphones.
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In the meantime, Linux Backers, Sony
Corp. and Philips have joined forces with the
two largest Linux software distributors to form a
"Patent Pooling" -- to create a company
named, "The Open Invention Network," -- for
sharing Linux patents, royalty-free.
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The Open Invention Network, as the new firm
is known, could mark a breakthrough in resolving
how to protect vendors and customers from patent
royalty disputes resulting from freely shared Linux
code.
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Google doesn't charge for the service,
although data fees may be levied under some
carriers' plans.
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Google introduced the software users need to
search for local businesses and view maps and
satellite images on handsets. SBC Communications
Inc. said it would introduce a Cingular cellphone
that links to Yahoo's
content.
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The plans highlight the eagerness of
Internet and mobile phone companies to attract
consumers who want to use their phones to view
information while on the move. Yahoo and Google
already offer some search services on mobile
handsets. Mobile phones outsold personal computers
almost 4 to 1 last year, researcher Gartner Inc.
said.
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Handset sales grew 30%, more than twice as
fast as PCs.
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Google's new tool, called Google Local for
mobile, is available on a test basis, the Mountain
View, Calif.-based company said. The service works
with certain handsets from Cingular Wireless,
Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc.
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SBC's device, planned for release next year,
will let users access Yahoo services including
photos, instant messaging and e-mail, a spokeswoman
for San Antonio-based SBC
said.
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Yahoo's, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based headquarter
had no comment on product plans, Although Bloomberg
reported that Yahoo Inc. is testing a system that
allows companies to purchase Internet ads and pay
only when customers dial a telephone number listed
in the ad.
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Yahoo is conducting testing of so-called
pay-per-call technology, a spokeswoman said. The
test is being done with Ingenio Inc., a closely
held company in San Francisco that already displays
ads on Time Warner Inc.'s America
Online.
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In regards to the Google report to Bloomberg
News, "that they will be targeting the online
auction market dominated by EBay Inc., with a new
patented system that creates Internet ads
automatically and makes it easier for people to
sell products on the Web, seems to be correct."
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• The
Google Automat will let advertisers enter details
of items they want to sell and automatically create
an ad under one minute, according to a filing with
the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office.
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Mark Soval of LookRadio.com said; "that one
of the reasons Smart90, Yes90, and TVInews.net does
not charge its users, is because we believe whole
heartedly that "free information" access is a form
of advertising, and we write it off as such. We are
hopefull that over time, the "free access" will
morph users into Smart90, TVInews customers with
the convnience of llinking a Smart90 page to the
customers website."
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Soval added, "we follow the lead of all
three of these great companies, lending our NBS100,
VATs dialtone content. We intend to continue to
sell each of their goods, products and services --
anytime they come up with something new."
_________
3.
Editor's Note / Valerie
McKenzie, 82, was the AP Technician who processed
Famous Iwo Jima Flag via IoLL, ( Photoimages over
Land Lines) in 1945, died of brain cancer Oct. 31
at Chesapeake Healthcare in Chesapeake, Va.
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Unlike today, when
newspapers receive photos via computers and
satellites, the system at that time was more of a
hands-on effort. Technicians in Washington and
other major bureaus would receive a negative
transmitted by wire, then make prints that would be
distributed to newspapers by messenger or mail,
said Hal Buell, retired head of photography for
AP.
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McKenzie, a photo technician
for Associated Press for 40 years, was working in
the news organization's Washington bureau, during
World II when the Iwo Jima picture by Joe Rosenthal
arrived. The photo, taken Feb. 23, 1945, earned a
Pulitzer Prize and became the model for the Marine
Corps War
Memorial.
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McKenzie began working for
the wire service in 1944 and retired in 1988 after
assignments in Washington; Newark, N.J.; New York
City; and Omaha.
