A California inventor has developed a book-binding machine that makes it cheap and easy to print professional-quality books within minutes. Industry analysts say the device could make it possible for consumers to purchase previously hard-to-find texts at most bookstores.

Brewster Kahle likes it.

In a few years, the term "bookstore" may refer to one of those little kiosks in the mall, where today they sell incense, neckties, cheap jewelry, and what-not. It will consist of a keyboard, a plasma display, and a small box resembling an inkjet printer.

One could envision using this flexible technology to sell 'scalable' books. If the 1,181 page version of "The Codebreakers" is too much detail for you, perhaps you'd prefer the 500 page version, or the 250 page version with a focus on pre-20th century technology.

Interested in the latest Harry Potter book? Choose anywhere from 100 to 1,000 pages in length, depending on how much time you have to spend. Buying it for the kids, and want to delete the dark parts of the story? Easy.

How about a version of the LOTR trilogy without all of the poetry and the songs? Done. Care to drop the pages-long descriptions of minutia unrelated to the plot, too? Done. Illustrated, or text only?

Music retail outlets could do this today with audio CDs; it's not clear why they don't. There is simply no good reason why you should ever walk out of Tower Records empty handed because the clerk said, "we don't have that in stock, but we could order it for you and have it here in seven to ten business days."

A good-sized Tower Records has on the order of $1 million in inventory on hand. For a million dollars, the store could buy more than a petabyte of online disk storage, on which they could store more than two million different full length albums in CD quality (not MPEG encoded), along with high quality cover art and liner notes. By comparison, online music services like iTunes and Rhapsody offer only 30,000 to 40,000 different CDs.

Book-Binding Technique Could Revive Rare Texts

From a Washington Post report on CES:

One little gadget debuting at CES claims to put truth detection voice analysis on the bridge of your nose.

"Voice Analysis Eyeglasses" provide real-time analysis on the inside of the lenses about whoever is talking at the time, says its maker, the Israeli company Nemesysco, which developed the technology for counterterrorism and government customers.

"A chip inside the glasses is able to read the voice frequency of the person you are talking to," said Beata Gutman, a spokeswoman for the company. "The voice is analyzed through that chip and there are lights that indicate whether the person is lying."

She said the truth specs were expected to be available at the end of January for $400-$500.

HSARPA may also play a role in helping "socialize" a broad array of sensor technologies where privacy is a concern.

Sensor nets top R&D list for Homeland Security agency

Avi Rubin: "Everyone is a loser."

"Don't be shocked by the tone of my voice
Just got my new weapon, the weapon of choice

...

You can go with this,
Or you can go with that,

...

Be careful, we don't know them
Be careful, we don't know them
Be careful, we don't know them"

Watch the video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice", featuring Christopher Walken, at

http://www.astralwerks.com/fbs/woc/

Heavyweights Are Choosing Sides in Battle Over Next DVD Format

Surely a nation where all of our goods are 10 percent cheaper is not superior to a nation in which most of the population is gainfully employed.

This is a letter in response to the "Bracing for the Blow" article from a few days ago.

Asking questions, but still missing the point.

Goodbye, Good Jobs

... under the DMCA, no developer or consumer can be safe. Is that the future we want to live in?

This article is one of those annual retrospectives that might actually be informative if you've been at Gitmo for the last year, but the author does reiterate a few points worth noting.

Big Intrusions, Tiny Pictures and Patented Problems

Most workers are clueless as to what they can do about it ... and have little protection against the powerful forces of the global economy.

Bracing for the Blow

Grokker gives you an easy way to delve in to a data set, and it often leads to info-revelations.

Going Deeper than Google

Consider the three preceding log entries in the context of Internet governance. Rinse and repeat.

While flexibility was endorsed [by the FCC] in theory, plans to extend flexible rights to licensees were largely set aside.

Get. Out. Of. The. Way.

(Don't miss out on the priceless comment about the "gimpy antelope.")

Selling the Ether [PDF]