Let the library wars commence!

Google has struck a deal with some of the nation's leading research libraries and Oxford University to begin converting their holdings into digital files that would be freely searchable over the Web, The New York Times reports. Now all we need is collective bargaining with copyright owners, something The Register doesn't think the privatised information scavengers of the web are in a position to do.

Avoiding the toxic wasteland

Barely a minute on the Wired website unearthed the little-known US government specific version of Google. Depending on your perspective, this could limit your search to just what the government wants you to read - or save time by avoiding what The Register (who are these guys?) calls a toxic wasteland of real-time noise.

United States to appeal WTO gambling report

The World Trade Organization has ruled against the United States in a cross-border gambling dispute brought by Antigua & Barbuda. The U.S. Trade Representative spokesman immediately issued a statement announcing the United States' intention to refer the "deeply flawed" decision to the WTO's Appellate Body.

The law of unintended consequences

Wired magazine on the world's biggest desalination plant, built to treat more than 35 billion gallons of cruddy, high-saline agricultural runoff per year. But the first step was to placate the Mexican farmers, whose crops were being poisoned by Colorado River water contaminated with runoff from Arizona farms. The fix: Keep the offending runoff out of the river, diverting it from the US side through a 53-mile canal into the Mexican desert. This took care of Mexico's complaints and ended up giving the country a free nature preserve - a wetland habitat now championed by environmental activists.

Technology doesn't make you less stupid...

...it just makes you stupid faster. In How Technology Failed in Iraq, the November issue of MIT's Technology Review recounts how even against a conventional enemy, the info wasn't getting to the people on the ground.

Google your desktop

Hot on the heels of Copernic Desktop Search, Google has launched its free Google Desktop Search beta.

Let's run this up the flagpole and see who salutes

A classic (old) piece about jargon with a translation of Chapter One of Genesis that'll bring tears to your eyes.

Translators and national security

An article in the New York Times suggests the FBI is still underperforming in its translation project management... And there's worse! See fired FBI translator Sibel Edmonds denouncing incompetence and corruption at the agency on CBS's 60 minutes. Then compare and contrast with the case of Katherine Gun, the GCHQ whistleblower whose anti-war leanings got the better of her non-disclosure obligations.

Are the terrorists failing?

Looking at the gruesome images of beheadings and suicide bombings in Iraq, it's easy to think that the Islamic holy warriors are winning. But a new book by a distinguished French Arabist named Gilles Kepel argues the opposite case.

In praise of attrition

Tired of trite analysis of war in an election cycle? Ralph Peters' study in intellectual machoism from the illustrious US Army War College Quarterly is a refreshingly good read. Even includes a dig at defence contractors and their "endless blather about network-centric warfare..."

Jargon and why we outsiders love to hate it

Here's a discussion published in the ITI Bulletin about business jargon and how to deal with it in translation. I was actually looking for Chris Durban's Onionskin, but ITI and ATA seem to be keeping tabs on their copyright. If memory serves, NY agency Accurapid used to publish Onionskin in their Translation Journal, but no more... Check out the journal anyway, it's full of good stuff. Including a new experimental blog that has the potential to grow into (yet another) translator forum...

Detect. Decide. Shoot. Survive.

The online version of the Journal of Electronic Defense was replaced in June 2004 by eDefense. Membership seems to be free. Short article about French naval NCW quotes Valéry Rousset of Thales on the dangers of the OODA loop becoming Observe, Overreact, Destroy, Apologise...

dtSearch meets its match?

The free version of Copernic Desktop Search will be joined later by paid versions with extra features. Thanks to Woody's Office Watch for this latest nugget! It constantly updates the index when your PC is idle, but the output window is less usable than the excellent and more customisable dtSearch, especially with pdfs.

Lots happening in Google's space too, with new stuff from Amazon, Ask Jeeves and others, according to the BBC.

Don't rely on translators!

A nice piece about cross-cultural marketing foul-ups. Probably worth subscribing to Business 2.0 to read the whole article - only $6.99 for a whole year!

Capitalising the internet

Do you put an initial capital letter on Internet? Wired magazine has changed its policy on what may seem a fussy, not to say pedantic, question. Update from worldwidewords

State lottery monopolies fight back

Welcome to the World Lottery Association

The making of an X Box warrior

Video games and new recruits to the military. Dual-use technology enters a new age.