gHacks technology news » books

1 Million Public Domain Books Added To Google Books

Martin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:40:03 +0000

Google Books is an extensive books and magazines search engine that is maintained by Google. Users can search for books online, browse them on the website if the publishers or authors have given permission, look at references or buy or borrow it. The service became more interesting to a lot of readers thanks to the recent announcement that more than 1 million public domain books have been added to the library of available books.

The biggest benefit for searchers is that the full text is available at the website. The text can either be viewed online or downloaded in pdf format to a local computer system instead.

Books that are available completely for online viewing and downloading are marked with a green full view text. A search for classics like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet or Faust will reveal search results that include full versions but also books with limited or no preview. It is however safe to say that most classic books are provided in at least one full view edition.

The advanced search parameters can be used to search only for books or magazines that are available completely on the website. A few thousand books are usually available in full view if the name of a mastermind like Goethe, Schiller or Shakespeare is entered. Modern books on the other hand are usually not available as full versions.

Tags: books, books search engine, Google, google books, public domain, search books

Self-publish for free with Lulu

Daniel Pataki — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:53:40 +0000

If you think you’ve got what it takes, why not write a book? Oh yeah, it’s takes a load of time, a huge load of marketing effort, and even more money to get enough published to start selling. It’s also risky, since you could be throwing money out the window if people don’t buy your book. Lulu gives you extremely good tools to publish your own book, and since they offer printing on demand, you won’t have to pay a dime until someone buys your book, even then, you only pay for printing, plus a little bit. All in all it’s the solution for bloggers, aspiring writers who want to show off their skills in the “real world”.

The model behind Lulu is that you write the book, upload it in a suitable format, select lots of options and then save it as a book. You can create commercial grade hardcover illustrated books, the tech behind it is really flexible, your imagination is the limit. There are no costs involved anywhere. The “catch” is that it will cost you more to print a book than it would if you would take it to a publisher to print 10,000 copies. The reason is purely economic (economies of scale), printing a few copies of a book is relatively more expensive than doing a large amount.

These costs are deducted from the sale of your book, so it’s all good, since you don’t actually see the cost, after one successful sale you still get money. You can set your own price for the book, Lulu will deduct its own costs, and you get the rest. They also offer lots of tutorials on creating the document for the finished version of the book, and for once they really are helpful, even for people who’ve dabbled in this before.

Overall, I love Lulu, I used it to create a book, and I will be sending myself a copy soon. If for nothing else, you can create a really great gift for your friends & family!

Tags: books, diy, publish

Catalogue your DVDs, games and book

Joe — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 20:58:48 +0000

Often you will be certain that you have a DVD but cannot remember where you placed it or if you lent it someone. The best way to keep track of your possessions is to catalogue them, allowing you to remind yourself of where they are, but also letting you quickly value them.

It may seem like a timely process, but software can quickly hasten the process and if you’re willing to pay $10-$20, you can buy hardware which will further minimise the needed time.

You must initially decide how you will input your possessions into whatever software you choose to own. Naturally, you can input the product’s details but this can be timely. Other options are to buy an inexpensive barcode scanner or some software even allows you to utilise your webcam as a barcode scanner.

With regards to software, there are options for every platform.

The de facto official cataloguing software for OS X has to be Delicious Library. Delicious Library allows you to search Amazon for items, through keywords, barcodes, titles, authors, directors etc., and then import the data, including the current price used versions sell there, straight into the software. Items can then be displayed in a number of ways, including an aesthetically appealing ’shelf’ mode which shows the picture of each item on a shelf and is at the item’s size. One can also rate items inside the software. Supported input modes are typing, scanning barcodes with the iSight camera (to varied degrees of success) or using their Bluetooth barcode scanner (which costs over $100!). It also allows libraries to be shared over a local network. It costs $40.

MediaMan is similar software for Windows. It too grabs data off Amazon, displays it in a ’shelf’-like view. It supports USB barcode scanners and webcams too. It works on XP and Vista, and also costs $40! Basically, it’s like Delicious Library for Windows!

GCStar is free and open-source cataloguing software, for Linux, BSD, OS X and Windows. The software can grab data from a host of sources.

I use a CueCat Barcode Scanner, which when modified works with all of the above software. It simply converts barcodes into keystrokes. You can pick one of these up for around �10, but ensure it’s modified or it won’t work.

Tags: books, catalog, catalog software, catalogue, catalogue software, cuecat, delicious library, dvd, Games, gcstar, library, mediaman

How to Find the Best Deals on Textbooks

Cheryl — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:36:56 +0000

Most of you will agree with me when I say that education (especially in university) is expensive. After tuition and living costs, the next highest expense on the list will no doubt be textbooks. College textbooks prescribed by the university change on an almost yearly basis and most students have no choice but to cough up the money to buy them.

In the early days, the only way a student could find a cheaper textbook was to buy a used copy from someone who had taken the same course earlier. Now, with the internet, you can search for textbooks online and buy them from the online store. However, if you want to score a good deal, it’s best to use a service like Campusbooks.

For people who have no time to scour multiple websites or don’t know all the resources for buying textbooks online, Campusbooks is extremely helpful. When you look for a book, the site searches multiple sites like Amazon, AbeBooks, eBay, and other similar sites. Then, the search results are neatly displayed so you can check whatever interests you. Once you select a book, you are directed to the online store to make the payment.

Users can search for a book by name, author, keyword, or ISBN number. Additionally, they can browse by category. When search results are displayed, a summary of the lowest prices is shown first. The next two sections in the results page are the lowest prices for new books and used ones. Search results include international editions as well, which are often cheaper than books in the US. A search for a biochemistry book showed a 100$ price difference between the US and the international versions.

Campusbooks has a lot of other services. Users can sell their old textbooks to other sites or go one step further and donate textbooks. The site also offers to alert a user when the book he’s looking for becomes available at a particular price. With Campusbooks, it’s easier to find the cheapest textbooks available.

Have you ever used Campusbooks? What do you think of this service? What other sites do you know of to get textbooks and other school supplies cheap? Let me know in the comments.

Tags: books, capusbooks, education, online stores

Wikipedia gets books and gets printed

Joe — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:26:40 +0000

Last year, the German Wikipedia was printed. Now, many Wikipedias worldwide – including the English Wikipedia – has given people the opportunity to compile a book of Wikipedia articles which can then be professionally printed or exported as a PDF or OpenDocument.

Wikipedia has enabled the ‘Book’ extension to MediaWiki, the content management system it utilises. This adds a ‘add page’ link to every page, allowing users to compile a book. This book can then be sorted by the user into chapters. Afterwards, it can be shared with other Wikipedians. Currently, only logged-in users can utilise this tool.

Wikipedia has a built-in rendering engine which will grabs the pages, fetches the images and parses them before they are given to the user as a PDF or OpenDocument text. The user can also use PediaPress to have the book professionally bound and printed.

The ‘Book’ extension has a number of features for ‘expert’ users. For example, the user can elect to only include a certain version of an article. This could pose useful if the article being covered has reached ‘Featured’ or ‘Good’ quality, as they are sure information in the version which reached that standard is reliable and accurate.

Books can be made on any topic, or combinations of topics, on Wikipedia (or other projects with have enabled this extension, such as Wikibooks). There are some restrictions on what can be printed, as PediaPress are based in Germany so German law applies.

It is an amazing display of quite how big Wikipedia is. I made a book about the European Union, comprising about 45 articles, and when I sent it to PediaPress, it totalled a massive 2444 pages (3 volumes!). I shan’t be buying this, as it will cost me about €80! Prices for smaller books start at $8.90 for 100 pages. A fraction of this is donated to the Wikimedia Foundation. These books are black and white and measure 8″ x 5.5″ (about 20cmx14cm).

The books (from the preview I’ve seen) and the PDFs are well laid out. The PDFs are all selectable and are easy to navigate. It also contains links to the images’ pages. Amusingly, to maintain GFDL compatibility every editor to the article has to be mentioned! I, for example, are credited for writing a minute amount of the article on the Czech Republic.

I question how popular this will be though; as convenient as books may be, I would imagine institutions like schools would rather buy published textbooks than volunteer made ones.

It is worth emphasising that Wikibooks contains resources written as textbook entries, rather than articles. Perhaps that will be a practical application of PediaPress and this new move.

More information is available on the Wikpedia help page.

TechCrunch has also covered this story, but I simply found it through browsing Wikipedia!

Tags: books, Open Source, opendocument, pdf, pediapress, reference, wiki, wikibooks, wikimedia, wikipedia

Google Books Downloader

Martin — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:46:05 +0000

Google Books Search provides an interesting way to search for books and magazines that have been scanned by Google. The books and magazines can be viewed online but there is no way to make the contents available offline easily. It is possible to save the whole page to the local computer but that would mean that it is available in html format with an extra folder for additional elements which is not really handy.

A better alternative would be the software program Google Books Downloader which can be used to download parts or entire books in pdf format. The process requires some manual work on part of the user. Books and magazines are identified by an unique ID which is displayed in the address bar. That unique ID has to be copied and pasted into the software. Everything else is done automatically by the software. The program will scan all pages of the selected book or magazine and display all pages in its interface.

Each page can be selected for download separately which is useful if only selected parts of the book or magazine should be downloaded. The other option available is to download the full book or magazine right away to the local computer.

Only the scanned magazine or book pages are downloaded and included in the pdf document. The size of the pdf document depends on the number of pages of the book or magazine. Google Books Downloader provides an excellent way of downloading books and magazines from Google easily.

Tags: books, download books, download magazines, google books, google books downloader, google books search, magazine downloader, magazines, windows software

Use Worldcat to Search Libraries Worldwide

Cheryl — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:39:08 +0000

I never quite understood why most people shy away from going to a library. After all, 9 times out of 10, the information you are looking for is available at your local library. In fact, libraries have an excellent collection, not only of books but also CDs, DVDs, scientific journals, etc.

One common reason people shy away from libraries is that they cannot find what they are looking for. The solution to this problem is to use Worldcat. It is a publicly accessible online interface that lets you search the collections of libraries in your community and around the world.

Worldcat lets you search for books, CDs, DVDs, audio books, journals, and just about anything that a library stocks. The best part is that you can search all the libraries in your area at one go. Just type in your search query and your pin code and voila! a list of all the libraries in your neighborhood with the item you searched for.

Depending on your library’s access rules, you may even be able to check out a book directly. If you want to further involve yourself, you can register for a free account. It allows you to build lists, write reviews, and even purchase items from Amazon. Proceeds from the sale go towards supporting your local library.

Worldcat currently searches libraries in 112 countries. I don’t know how many people here visit libraries but I would give Worldcat a try. After all, you never know when you might need it.

Have you ever used Worldcat? What do you think of the service? Do you know of any other similar websites? Let me know in the comments.

Tags: books, library search, media, Worldcat

Catalog your books with Goodreads

Daniel Pataki — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:16:49 +0000

I’ve previously written about Librarything, a book cataloging service, and now here I am again with another similar service, Goodreads. This service is very similar, but there are a few features which I like more here, making this a better solution for me.

The basics are the same. Fnd your books, add them, share them, indicate if you want to read a book and so on. However you can add your books using inline editing. With Library things you add a book, a page is loaded, you edit, then have to go back. With Goodreads there is a sort of inline popup box allowing you to add books much quicker. I owe about 40 Terry Pratchett books, so this made my initial set up much easier.

There is also a cool book compatability test which shows you, based upon your reading of a lot of books, which books would be best for you. This, and other friendly features make this more appealing to me, while basically there is not much difference between the two. If you’ve alread set one up extensively perhaps you’re better off there, but if you are ust starting I suggest going with Goodreads.

Tags: books, services, social

Book selection 2.0 with LibraryThing

Daniel Pataki — Tue, 27 May 2008 05:40:47 +0000

I’m not kidding, it can sometimes take me 10-20 minutes to figure out what to read. From a book’s title you might not be able to derive anything from the story, and even if you read the back cover you may be left in the dark, you definitely won’t know what quality the writing is.

LibraryThing, a great online book catalog essentially, helps you a lot because it allows you to manage your bookshelf virtually, but also to give and get recommendations and a whole lot of other info. LibraryThing of course knows all the default things about each book, writer, title, ISBN, publishing info and so on, but it ads an extra layer by providing social information.

People can review a book, tag it, and even have conversations about it, making book choosing much more productive. Actually this time, you may not spend less time, since this is such an absorbing experience, but at least you will choose a good book every time.

LibraryThink also supports group creation, private and non-private groups, bookstore info with GoogleMaps integration and a load more. I’ll be cataloging my book collection soon, and I hope to find the most awesome books, interacting and sharing my knowledge. I think I’m going to spend a lot more time here than I thought…

Tags: books, reading, suggestion

Find Book, Music, and Movie Recommendations According to Your Tastes

Cheryl — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:36:27 +0000

You’ve just watched this movie that you really enjoyed. Now you’re in the mood for something similar but you don’t quite know what to pick next. Don’t worry. All you have to do is head over to ThisOneNext and let them do the choosing for you.

ThisOneNext or TON if you please is an extension of the already popular What Should I Read Next site. Both sites are the brainchild of a group of people called Thoughtplay Ltd. The working of the site is simple. You type in the name of a book, music artist, or movie. The site asks you to confirm your selection and then proceeds to give you a small list of recommendations you can try out next.

How does this work? Well, the site produces its lists purely on the basis of something called collective taste. This means that when people input the book or movie you are searching for into their own favorites list, you get to see their choices. This means the more your movie is in someone’s list, the more recommendations you are provided with.

I typed in names of a few movies and books and was fairly impressed with the recommendations of the site. Another nice part of the site is that the recommended titles have links to Amazon, where you can purchase the movie you want to see. A small percentage of your purchase goes back to the site to help its running.

You can contribute to the site as well. Simply register with them and you can enter in your own favorites and help out other visitors to the site. Registration is free and only needs an email address.

Overall, the site is interesting and quite helpful when you are stuck with making a choice. I’d love to see how the site grows in future as I think the concept has great potential. Do you know of any similar sites? Do you agree with the recommendations? Let me know.

Tags: books, movies, music recommendation, Online Services, thisonenext

Hands free reading for lazy bookworms

Daniel Pataki — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 23:22:37 +0000

There are three places where I read a lot. My table while eating, my bed (usually eating as well) and on the John (after eating). I usually struggle in my bed and at my desk because I can’t get the damned book to stay open, or at least be readable while open. So far I’ve actually placed my laptop on the book, but here’s a cool solution, the BookGem!

It’s a simple book stand that has an easy to use mechanism for turning the pages. You still need to do this yourself, so this is not yet perfect, but it is much simpler than lifting the laptop, turning the page (adding half a pound of grease to the book), carefully positioning the laptop back and resuming the lovely meal.

The handy tool is small enough to put in your pocket (although you will look a bit weird) and is sturdy enough to hold most books. It is available through Cool Tools for a quite attractive $15. I really am thinking of placing an order, if someone has used one of these please do share your thoughts. (Found through Lifehacker)

Tags: books, reading

Books in your mobile phone

Martin — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:23:25 +0000

Reading books using a mobile phone is probably not the most pleasant way but it surely is better than sitting around doing nothing at all. Books in My Phone provide hundreds of books that can be downloaded and transferred to your mobile phone. The user can chose between two ways to transfer the books to his mobile phone.

He can either download the books to his computer and transfer them afterwards using the normal means of connecting his mobile phone to the computer or he can connect with his mobile to the Internet and download the books directly. The second option is probably only advisable if you have a free data contingent.

The books are optimized for mobile phones, some of the features are:

Adjustable font size settings. Make the letters bigger or smaller according to your personal preference.
Night-vision mode. Makes it easy to read in a dark room.
Chapter navigation. Navigate the book by chapter.
Pause & Auto-resume function. Automatically pauses and resumes to accommodate incoming calls.
Auto-bookmark. You never have to remember where you’re up to in the book.

I would say the books are mostly classic literature books from authors such as Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, Joseph Conrad and Sir Walter Scott. All books are out of copyright in the United States which means it is perfectly legal to download those books to your mobile phone.

Two versions are always offered. The first offering a better reading experience but requires a modern phone while the other does work on older phones as well. I would try the first version and see if it is supported by the phone and only if it is not supported I would download and use the second version.

Read More:

Books in my phone

Tags: books, iPhone, mobile phones, Mobiles, Nokia

Download some great free Audiobooks

Martin — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 06:29:24 +0000

Audiobooks become increasingly popular and there are many pay sites that offer downloads of Audiobooks after you paid for them. It is however possible to download free Audiobooks from various sites from the Internet. The main problem with finding those free sites is that many pay sites offer free samples of the Audiobooks as well but you have to pay when you want to listen to the complete book.

It should also be noted that there is a difference in quality. Human readers are of course capable of narrating the story in a higher quality than a computer reader can ever achieve. The following websites offer high quality Audiobooks that can be downloaded for free to your computer. I try to list some of the most remarkable books from those sites next to the link to give you an impression about the content that they offer:

Thought Audio

Free Classic Audiobooks

Do you know more sources for free Audiobooks that are read by humans ? Let me know, always looking for more.

Tags: audiobooks, authors, books, free, music

Unsuggester and some Apache .htaccess tips

Dearon — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 01:39:56 +0000

If you read a lot of books, it’s always nice to know if there are others books that you might like based on a list of books you like. Well Unsuggester is kinda like that, but then the other way around. You type in a title of a book you like, and the site servers you a list of books you will probably not like. It is not very useful, but who knows maybe you’ll find a nice book even though the system says you will probably not like it.

Now i don’t know how many readers work with websites, but maybe some of you can use this link. It’s an article on how to speed up sites using .htaccess file. It is quite a read but it looks promising, and the comment discussion there can also prove to be quite useful.

Tags: apache, bad-suggestions, books, htacces, library

gHacks technology news » books

1 Million Public Domain Books Added To Google Books

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Self-publish for free with Lulu

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How to Find the Best Deals on Textbooks

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Wikipedia gets books and gets printed

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Books in your mobile phone

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Unsuggester and some Apache .htaccess tips

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