You might like this:
I think there are other similiar devices out there. What's nice about this
is the portability- you could carry one into a library, and with enough
memory in the device and time you could scan in multiple books there for
free, and then upload to Freenet or whatever so everyone can have access
to them.
Jeff Davis wrote:
>
> On Wed, 13 Sep 2000 20:51:41 -0700
> Spike Jones <spike66@ibm.net>,
> responding to Samantha, writes:
>
> (Samantha first)
> >> If you know better I would very much like to know how to improve on
> >> this. I've been wanting my library online for many years now. - samantha
> (then spike)
> >You and all of us. I have over a thousand titles, most of em
> >hardback. Ideally I would like to ASCII all the text without
> >destroying the books, if possible. Let me know if you find
> >anything workable. {8-] spike
>
> This has been an interest of mine now for several years. Its value as
> consumer product is, I assert, obvious, and I would guess that Samantha,
> spike, and I are only three of millions who would make use of it on the
> instant it became available.
>
> I therefore offer to join forces with anyone who would like to collaborate
> in its development as a commercial project.
>
> It could be a book holder and page turner that mounts/sets on a flatbed
> scanner (the page turner and scanner would clearly be linked to the
> computer which would coordinate the sequence of events), or a book holder
> and page turner equipped with a mounting frame to accomodate a digital
> camera (again, camera and page turner linked to the computer), or it could
> be a single dedicated unit: one power cable, one data cable to the
> computer, and a slot for placing the book (or, in the large industrial
> model, a stack of books). I suggest that these three variants comprise the
> beginnings of a product line.
>
> The IP issues as I see them: it would be a product that fills a strongly
> sought after, completely legitimate demand, but which enables an
> "illegitimate" application. I'm completely convinced that, after
> precedents set by the vcr, cassete recorders, xerox copiers, and the
> already established fact of scanners and ocr, no legal challenge could be
> successful, in fact I rather doubt such a challenge would even be mounted.
>
> Actually, I gotta believe this in the works already, if not imminent.
> Probably by the scanner people.
>
> Somebody out there knows. Who can burst my bubble? Or, since I like the
> idea so much and am waiting with cash in hand, cmon someone...
>
> SHOW ME THE MAGIC!
>
> Best, Jeff Davis
>
> "Everything's hard till you know how to do it."
> Ray Charles
-- Brian Atkins Director, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence http://www.singinst.org/
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