Slashdot Mirror
Amazon Plan Would Allow Text Search Of Books
emmastory writes "The New York Times is running a story (free registration required) about a new development at Amazon - they plan to assemble "a searchable online archive with the texts of tens of thousands of books of nonfiction." Users would only be able to read a certain portion of the text from any one book, but it sounds promising nonetheless. The Times article suggests that this is part of a larger strategy to compete with Google and Yahoo by making Amazon an authoritative source of information on everything book-related."
Shouldn't somebody patent this process before Bezos does??
I remember when doing a search on Amazon for "Database Admin" returned the number 1 response of "The fine art of vaginal fisting" and the reviews that it prompted ... pushing this book up into the top 100 bestsellers. Now what would the ability to read some text from books do ;-)
I always find it annoying when reading a paper boo when I can't Ctrl-F to find a certain segment.
Now I can just hop online to amazon, do the search, it will tell me what page it's on, and I can go read it!
no comment
And minimum wage laborers in 3rd world countries find themselves scanning books into computers and correcting the text using crappy OCR technology for 12 hours a day. This is one job I'd be happy to export to India.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
and if you look for "TEH", will you be redirected to Salshdot ?
Trolling using another account since 2005.
Any returns of C or C++ code might get SCO's law team on your ass..
Trolling is a art,
Isn't this a violation of the privacy of all the people who have biographies for sale at amazon? John Ashcroft could search the text and find out anything they want about Abraham Lincoln! This article should be listed under "Your Rights Online".
I predict the most used keyword will be :
sex
This will then prompt publishers to include several pages at the beginning of every book with nothing but "sex sex sex sex sex sex..."
but then again that's because I'm writing it. :)
..Jeff Keegan
seven syllables explain TiVo: kee gan dot org slash ti vo
"Of course this *could* be great for college paper researchers, looking for a quote or two to stick in a research paper. Depends on how much meat you can really get at."
College is great in this respect. No matter how crazy, ill-conceived, or outlandish your premise is, there are a thousand nut-jobs out there with nice quotations to support it. This would make it even easier to back that dribble up. Especially late the night before it's due, when you need to support that last flimsy claim in order for your paper to make sense.
GeekNights!
Late Night Radio for Geeks!
the book does exist and has raving reviews!!!
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
slim in size but big on info, April 20, 2003 Reviewer: Magdalene Meretrix (see more about me) from Idaho This book is very slim -- there are only about 100 pages in it and much space is taken up with line drawings. It's understandable that the book is so slender since there really aren't volumes of information to impart on the subject, but I really wish the book had been longer. The book does covers the information very well and thoroughly. There is no way to make the information sections of the book longer without artificially stretching it out. As it is, vaginal fisting is a topic best suited to an article, not a full-length book. There is a section near the end of the book with poems and stories about fisting, written by people other than the author. I would have enjoyed it if that section had been expanded, even if it went so far as to take up half the total volume of the book. I was hungry for more information about fisting and would have liked to have seen more on the table at my feast of information.
But even if the reader is disappointed by the quantity of written material, they will not be disappointed by the quality. The author quite obviously knows what she is talking about and has produced a very clear and concise guide to an exotic activity that is one of the less understood forms of pleasure sharing available to adventurous and exploratory couples. Addington discusses safety information, hand positions, necessary and desirable supplies to have on hand, and even more obscure topics such as fisting after a hysterectomy. There is one personal account by a woman who tried fisting but did not enjoy it. I would have liked to have seen more varied accounts, especially stories about difficulties (whether overcome or not) and problems with fisting. I was also surprised that no one, not even the author, mentioned the cathartic or healing experiences that some people can have during a fisting experience. Most of the descriptions of what it feels like to be fisted focused on the sensation of being very full and on a very spiritual level of trust and intimacy. In my experience, this is just one hue of the spectrum of sensations and emotions that can accompany fisting.
Having personal experience with this subject, I can say that Addington has covered the physical territory very well and produced a book that is a good information source for beginning explorations in this intense, cathartic, orgasmic activity. I feel comfortable recommending this book to anyone who is curious about adding this activity to their sex life. Those already participating in fisting will probably not gain anything new from this book (other than the few poems, line drawings and one-page personal accounts) but those who have never been introduced to fisting by a friend or lover will learn quite a bit in the pages of Addington's book.
Was this review helpful to you? 9 of 11 people found the following review helpful: Fully Illustrated Sexual Teaching, November 25, 2002 Reviewer: cousinpaco (see more about me) from Cincinnati, OH United States As an up-and-coming investment banker, I work under extreme pressure. My partner also makes her living in a stressful position. Together, we like to relieve our tensions by exploring ways to spice up our sex-life. It's difficult to find guidance and inspiration for such private matters, but Amazon.com has offered a wealth of options. I was looking for a new idea to try in the bedroom, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
Then I found a wonderful book.
When I first came across the cover, I thought it was the abandoned idea for Spinal Tap's latest album "Smell the Glove." To my pleasant surprise, it was a wonderfully written, illustrated manual on the art of vaginal fisting.
Ms. Addington presents sensitive, tender explanations and answers some delicate questions, which went a long way toward making us both feel much more at ease about our predilictions.
Now, put the rest of the book online, pay the author directly, and ya got something!
search a little, store a little. Search a little store a little more.
Pretty soon you'll have the entire book.
They'll have an app out to search the pieces out and stich them together into one complete book..
Yeah, this will work, thanks for the free ebooks Amazon..
Crikey - you're right - I bet Amazon didn't think of that. We should get Jeff Bezos on the phone right now and tell him.
Oh no, hang on, it seems that they have thought of it. Thank goodness for that - no need for an eagle eyed Slashdot reader to point out the error of their ways.
It seems that, because Amazon has the entire publishing industry over a barrel nowadays, just a few quick calls from Amazon to their biggest suppliers, and a notice in publishers' weekly, and they can go ahead and do whatever they like with the content of the books they sell.
You know, in some music stores, you can go up to listening points and hear music, on demand, without paying for it. D'you think the RIAA should be told? I bet they'd be really keen to sue their key supply channel for this obvious copyright infringement...
*Accessing http://www.amazon.com/search*
Enter your search criteria:______________
*Enter search "Moby Dick"*
Search Complete:
Moby Dick
by: Herman Melville
Call me...
Would You Like to Read More? This title can be purchased for $14.95 through our...
*Back Button*
Enter your search criteria_____________
*Enter search "Tale of Two Cities"*
Search Complete:
A Tale of Two Cities
by: Charles Dickens
It was the best of times, it was the...
Would You Like to Read More? This title can be purchased for $29.95 through our...
*Back Button-Back Button-Back Button-Close*
I wish they'd do this for fiction, although I know it'd be halfway impossible and it probably wouldn't cover out of print books. I've got at least one book that I can't remember the title/author but could quote enough passages or facts to find it.
How many books could there be about a 1-eyed ex-programmer turned fencing instructor who was the original programmer of a computer made of cloned brain tissue that is the server for a MMRPG but has developed consciousness due to another ex-programmer who, dying of cancer, imprinted himself into the game just before he died. But he died partway through the process and, since he was a wizard in the game, summoned the consciousness of the computer into the game in an attempt to access past "saves" of himself to fill in the blank spots, but botches the spell causing the consciousness of the computer to lock in all the other players in the game as hostages. This causes management to abduct the original programmer and force him to go in to the game, using an unimplemented bard class, and convince the consciousness(who, due to some freudian complications, considers itself female and wants to bone the original programmer) to let everyone go.
And that's just the first couple chapters. Given a chance to do a literal search I'd probably just quote a line the programmer says after realizing he still had root access when faced with a bunch of demons "go to hell go directly to hell do not pass go do not collect 200 credits" plus enough random words to narrow it down a bit(for example, partway through he searches for a set of Katana+Wakizashi that grants wishes and is guarded by a Medusa and that the cancer-programmer/wizard has a tortoise for a familiar).
On the off chance anybody recognizes this book(from the late 80's early 90's I think) I'll give you all my mod points:)