Loaded: Twitter U Video

Loaded: Twitter U Video Transcript

AMAZON TAKES ON GOOGLE'S BOOK PROJECT, YOUTUBE WANTS TO RENT OUT MOVIES, AND IF YOU ARE STILL APPREHENSIVE ABOUT TWITTER, YOU CAN TAKE A COLLEGE CLASS ABOUT IT. YIKES. ITS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3RD. I'M NATALI DEL CONTE. IT'S TIME TO GET LOADED. [*] AMAZON IS TAKING ON GOOGLE, OPPOSING THE COMPANY'S PLANS TO DIGITIZE MILLIONS OF BOOKS. AMAZON NOT ONLY JOINED THE OPEN BOOK ALLIANCE THAT OPPOSES GOOGLE BUT ALSO FILED ITS OWN BRIEF WITH THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT. THE COMPANY CLAIMS THAT GOOGLE'S BOOK DIGITIZING PROJECT WILL CHANGE COPYRIGHT LAW AND VIOLATE ANTITRUST LAW. AMAZON DIGITIZES BOOKS TOO BUT THEY HAVE TO GET COPYRIGHT PERMISSION BECAUSE THEY SELL THE BOOKS. GOOGLE'S SETTLEMENT WITH THE AUTHOR'S GUILD GIVES GOOGLE THE RIGHT TO DIGITIZE BOOKS EVEN IF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER CANNOT BE FOUND. AMAZON IS ALSO WORRIED ABOUT PRICE FIXING. OBVIOUSLY AMAZON IS MOTIVATED TO OPPOSE GOOGLE'S DIGITAL BOOKS BECAUSE IT WILL COMPETE WITH THE KINDLE. I HAD PREVIOUSLY HOPED THAT AMAZON WOULD JOIN GOOGLE IN THIS EFFORT BUT IT LOOKS LIKE WE WILL HAVE TO BRACE FOR A FIGHT. I FIND THIS NEWS DISCOURAGING ENOUGH TO BUY A SONY READER. [*] MEANWHILE, GOOGLE IS CONTINUING TO MOVE AHEAD WITH THE BOOKS PROJECT. THE COMPANY HAS SIGNED A DEAL WITH INTEREAD, A BRITISH COMPANY. THIS WILL HELP GOOGLE BRING DIGITAL BOOKS OVERSEAS FOR THE FIRST TIME WHERE CLOSE TO HALF A MILLION OF THEM WILL BE FREE. INSTEREAD HAS ITS OWN EREADER CALLED THE COOL-ER AND IT READS OVER 19 FORMATS INCLUDING EPUB, PDF, AND MP3 FOR AUDIO BOOKS. [*] GOOGLE VOICE IS STILL NOT IN THE IPHONE APP STORE BUT SOMETHING VERY SIMILAR IS. GOOGLE JUST APPROVED LINE2, AN APPLICATION THAT LETS YOU ASSIGN TWO NUMBERS TO YOUR IPHONE, PRESUMABLY ONE FOR FRIENDS AND FAMILY AND ONE FOR BUSINESS ASSOCIATES. IT HAS CALL FILTERING AND VOICEMAIL. A LOT LIKE GOOGLE VOICE. SO WHY THIS AND NOT THAT? [*] A NEW COMPUTER PROGRAM MAY BE ABLE TO DECIPHER ANCIENT TEXTS THAT NO HUMAN HAS EVER BEEN ABLE TO READ. RESEARCHERS IN ISRAEL HAVE WRITTEN THIS PROGRAM IN ORDER TO INDEX AND SEARCH THROUGH HISTORICAL DOCUMENT USING A PATTERN RECOGNITION ALGORITHM. THE PROGRAM IS SAID TO BE ABLE TO DECIPHER LETTERS, WORDS, AND EVEN HANDWRITING STYLES. IT WORKS WITH ANCIENT HEBREW TEXTS FOR NOW BUT DEVELOPERS SAY THAT IT WILL BE ABLE TO SPEAK OTHER LANGUAGES EVENTUALLY. THE PROGRAM COULD BE AVAILABLE TO ACADEMICS IN 2 YEARS. [*] SONY UNVEILED A NEW ULTRAPORTABLE LAPTOP AT THE IFA CONFERENCE IN GERMANY. IT LOOKS A LOT LIKE THE VIAO P. ITS NOT REALLY A NETBOOK. IT'S 11 INCHES AND IT IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE AN ALL-DAY BATTERY. IT WEIGHS JUST HALF A POUND AND I'M ASSUMING IT WILL HAVE 3G LIKE THE VIAO P BUT WE DON'T KNOW THAT FOR SURE. IN FACT, THAT'S ALL WE KNOW FOR NOW. [*] YOU MAY SOON BE ABLE TO RENT MOVIES ON YOUTUBE THE WAY YOU CAN ON NETFLIX OR ITUNES. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL IS REPORTING THAT GOOGLE IS IN DISCUSSIONS WITH MAJOR MOVIE STUDIOS TO RENT OUT MOVIS ON THE SITE. THE STUDIOS IN QUESTION ARE LIONS GATE, SONY, MGM, AND WARER BROTHERS. THE RUMOR IS THAT THESE COULD BE AVAILABLE FOR RENTAL ONLINE THE SAME DAY THAT THEY ARE AVAILABLE FOR RENTAL IN STORES. OF COURSE THIS IS PURE SPECULATION AT THIS POINT. [*] WHEN YOU'RE WATCHING THE U.S. OPEN THIS WEEK YOU WILL NOT SEE ANY OF THE PLAYERS TWITTERING. TOURNAMENT OFFICIALS HAVE PROHIBITED PLAYERS FROM TWEETING DURING THE GAMES, FEARING THAT THEY WOULD SEND OUT INSIDE INFORMATION THAT GAMBLERS COULD USE. PLAYERS ARE ALSO CAUTIONED TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT OFF- COURT TWEETS. SO IF RAFAEL NADAL SAID HE WAS DRINKING GATORADE, WE MIGHT ASSUME HE WAS DEHYDRATED. THE NFL ISSUED A SIMILAR BAN ON SOCIAL NETWORKING DURING GAMES JUST THIS WEEK. [*] MOST OF THE ARTICLES YOU READ ON WIKIPEDIA WERE WRITTEN BY MEN. A STUDY FROM WIKIPEDIA'S NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION FOUND THAT ONE IN EIGHT CONTRIBUTORS TO THE SITE WERE MEN. WE COULD COME UP WITH SEVERAL GUESSES AS TO WHY THIS IS BUT...I WOULD RATHER NOT. [*] WHAT THE HECK IS A DIGI-NOVEL? ANTHONY ZUIKER, THE CREATOR OF THE SHOW CSI IS RELEASING SOMETHING WITH THAT NAME THAT IS SOME KIND OF HYBRID BETWEEN A BOOK, A MOVIE, AND A WEB-SITE. IT IS CALLED LEVEL 26 AND IT WILL MAKE READERS LOG INTO A WEB SITE EVERY 20 PAGES IN ORDER TO WATCH A THREE MINUTE FILM CLIP TIED TO THE STORY. THESE FILMS ARE CALLED CYBER BRIDGES. I CAN'T DECIDE IF I THINK THIS IS GENIUS OR IF I THINK IT IS GIMMICKY. SURELY THE FUTURE OF MEDIA IS MULTI-PLATFORM BUT DO I WANT TO CHASE DOWN MULTIPLE PLATFORMS MYSELF? I DON'T KNOW. WHAT DO YOU THINK? RING IN AT LOADED@CNET.COM. [*] JOURNALISM STUDENTS ARE NOW BEING TRAINED IN THE ART OF THE TWEET. OH MY. DE PAUL UNIVERSITY IS NOW OFFERING A COURSE CALLED "DIGITAL EDITING: FROM BREAKING NEWS TO TWEETS." IT WILL FOCUS ON HOW NEWS BREAKS. I WON'T ARGUE THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE GET THEIR BREAKING NEWS FROM TWITTER BUT IT STILL FEELS LIKE A VERY SUSPECT COLLEGE COURSE TO ME. MAYBE I'M JUST BEING ANACHRONISTIC ABOUT THIS. [*] AND FINALLY I WANT TO READ SOME OF YOUR EMAIL. A VIEWER NAMED CALEB GOT AN INVITE FOR FACEBOOK LITE. HE WAS NOT IMPRESSED. HE WRITES: "WHAT'S THE POINT!? It takes half the functionality away and I don't see the point of trying to "compete with Twitter" or anyone else for that matter if I lose functionality. Facebook should try to implement a simpler design while keeping the core feature set intact. I for one will not be using Facebook Lite again." SO YOU DON'T LIKE IT THEN. OKAY. I WONDER IF THERE WILL BE AN ANTI- FACEBOOK LIKE FACEBOOK GROUP? [*] THOSE ARE ALL OF YOUR HEADLINES FOR TODAY AND THAT WRAPS UP YOUR WEEK OF GETTING LOADED. BEFORE I GO, I WANT TO WISH A HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY TO THE INTERNET. AND AS FOR REAL PEOPLE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX, EARL, MICHAEL, BRENT, AND GEORGE. I WILL SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY. MONDAY IS A HOLIDAY SO WE ARE OFF. THANK YOU FOR WATCHING. I'M NATALI DEL CONTE WITH CNET TV AND YOU'VE JUST BEEN LOADED.