gHacks technology news » google books http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:07:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 1 Million Public Domain Books Added To Google Books http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/28/1-million-public-domain-books-added-to-google-books/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/28/1-million-public-domain-books-added-to-google-books/#comments Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:40:03 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=15805 google booksGoogle 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.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/28/1-million-public-domain-books-added-to-google-books/feed/ 3 Google Books Rolls Out New Features http://www.ghacks.net/2009/06/18/google-books-rolls-out-new-features/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/06/18/google-books-rolls-out-new-features/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:23:52 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=13677 google booksGoogle Books is an ambitious project to offer which allows web users to search through more than seven million books online. Google just recently came to an agreement with rights holders that will allow them to expand the service further. Several new additions to Google Books have been announced yesterday that bring new features and functionality to the book searching process.

The changes are outlined in the official Google Booksearch blog. Here is a short rundown of all new features that have been introduced:

  • Embeds and links: It is now possible to embed previews or full views of books in third party websites. It is practically the same feature that allows Youtube users to embed videos on third party websites. Links can now also be saved or send to other users that bring them directly to the current active page of the book.
  • Better search within each book: Searching books has become more powerful for public domain and partner books as searches are not showing a better preview with easier options to jump straight to the part of the book the search term was found.
  • Thumbnail view: See thumbnails of all pages of a public domain or partner book. A click on a thumbnail will open that page directly.
  • Contents drop-down menu: A content drop down menu that allows users to jump straight to a chapter in the book or magazine.
  • Plain Text Mode: Books that are fully available are now easier viewable as plain text copies.
  • Page Turn Button and Animation: Clicking the page turn button will turn the page. This is an alternative to scrolling down manually.
  • Improved Book Overview Page: Additional information about books are displayed in the overview.

Some features that are rolled out sound quite interesting while others will probably not find such a huge following. It is however good to see that Google is improving their service further.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/06/18/google-books-rolls-out-new-features/feed/ 6 Google Books Downloader http://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/19/google-books-downloader/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/19/google-books-downloader/#comments Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:46:05 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=10656 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.

google books download

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.

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