Google e-Book

Google Inc. is in the final stages of launching its long-awaited e-book retailing venture, Google Editions, a move that could shake up the way digital books are sold.

Google Editions hopes to upend the existing e-book market by offering an open, "read anywhere" model that is different from many competitors. Users will be able to buy books directly from Google or from multiple online retailers—including independent bookstores—and add them to an online library tied to a Google account. They will be able to access their Google accounts on most devices with a Web browser, including personal computers, smartphones and tablets.

Google says it is on a mission to reach all Internet users, not just those with tablets, through a program in which websites refer their users to Google Editions. For example, a surfing-related blog could recommend a surfing book, point readers to Google Editions to purchase it, and share revenue with Google. Through another program, booksellers could sell Google Editions e-books from their websites and share revenue with Google.

Technological wow!

I searched for the quotation below in Google. Link number 1 was to Google Books. I selected the icon to Save, send or embed a section of this page. I highlighted the text, and a window popped up Share this clip. I can paste the image or the text, to notebook or blog, or embed. As I did below.

Mark Twain's Letters By Mark Twain, Albert Bigelow Paine

I can also copy the text, as in this case:

Mark Twain's Letters By Mark Twain, Albert Bigelow Paine

Mark Twain's Letters By Mark Twain, Albert Bigelow Paine: "Say I am as prompt as a clock if I only know the day a thing is wanted otherwise I am a natural procrasti naturalist Tell me what day and date you want Nos and and I will tackle and revise them and they ll be"

In the Ron Powers bio it is noted as being from a letter Mark Twain sent to William Dean Howells, dated 8 December 1874.

{Notice the space between procrasti and naturalist; in the book it is a hyphen.}

Geniuses at Play, on the Job

Unless you’re just off the shuttle from Alpha Centauri, you’re already aware of the product that made Google famous: its Search box. It’s become the card catalog for the Internet (and a whopping moneymaker for Google).

Good one: Internet card catalog.