Drop Bears make Facebook

Mythical bear creates Facebook monster
AMY BRADNEY-GEORGE
April 27, 2010 - 11:31AM

Surprise success: Nick Getley created the Drop Bears fan group on Facebook


A man and his imaginary animal have shown what a quirky idea, a Facebook page and like-minded people can do.
In the world of Facebook, anything goes. From competitive titles such as "Can this pickle get more fans than Nickleback" to the neurotically skewed "Inbox (1) makes me nervous", the variety of pages available on this social-networking giant is both overwhelming and hilarious.
It's not hard to spend hours browsing through Facebook, finding out friends "hate it when inanimate objects look like they have scary faces", "pretend to text in awkward situations" and thought they were the only ones to experience "The Mini Spaz Attack When Your (sic) In Bed, Half Asleep And Imagine Your (sic) Falling".
With millions of Facebook members becoming fans of these pages, it's one of the quickest ways for people to share common beliefs, interests and experiences online. It can also be an unlikely place for business ideas.
Facebook says pages give "public figures, businesses, organisations and other entities" an opportunity to create a public presence on the site.
While they can be used as a way to connect with fans, the user-generated pages seem to be more about connecting people through experiences. In the process, many page creators are learning about business sense within social networking sites like Facebook.
Nick Getley, who created a page for the mythological Australian drop bear (see below), says he originally wanted a humorous way for Australians to relate to each other online.
"As far as I [can] see, I have created a monster, there were only pages for official products at the time and now there are fan pages of everything," he says.
With 72,605 people liking the page, at last count, Getley says he gets hundreds of posts every week.
"They range from nostalgic stories of people who had their fathers scare them with drop bear stories, people who have played a prank on tourists, to foreigners actually seeing the page as evidence itself and then writing their concern as to why people would be a fan of vicious wildlife," he says. "The most fun we have is referencing the 'Great Drop Bear Massacre of 1999' - a fictitious event, obviously, but of Lord of the Rings proportions."
While Drop Bears was Getley's first page creation, he is also involved in managing another 20 or more pages. Getley has even liaised with some businesses about pages he wanted to create, such as the page for Streets Ice Cream's Bubble O'Bill.
"I always liked Bubble O'Bill [ice creams], so when I created a page for them and the fans started growing I asked for permission to get the page verified," he says.
Before Facebook's recent introduction of "community pages" for users who "share similar interests or experiences", Getley says page owners could be asked to verify their legitimacy. To sustain the Drop Bears page he even created a website selling Drop Bear T-shirts.
"I never wanted to make money from the page but we had something like three weeks to authenticate it as a sort of business, so I designed drop bear T-shirts and made a website to keep the page going," he says.
"I like being involved in pages because it's a lot of fun being able to talk to so many fans. It's been a real eye-opener career-wise, too."

User-generated

He says that while he is a fan of bands and businesses on Facebook, he thinks the user-generated pages are a more unique part of his social-networking experience.
"[These] fan pages have the same feeling you got when you were a kid in high school and you were a fan of something that felt obscure, or overlooked," he says. "At least once a week on my fan pages I see posts that say, 'Wow, I had no idea you could be a fan of this!"'
On the other side of the screen are the Facebook members clicking away in agreement. Kelly Hodder, a member who admits to being a "serial page joiner", says it is a fun way to explore Facebook.
"My first impression is that [these] pages are funny - well some of them. Some of the pages I've joined are because I agree with the subject of the pages and want to show my support," she says.
Hodder, who is a fan of pages like "Lindt", "Bubblewrap", "Yelling At Inanimate Objects" and "I Wish Music Played During Epic Moments of My Life and Not Just in Movies", says she never realised how many pages she was actually joining.
"I've been on Facebook for a couple of years now and I guess they add up," she says.
"The bulk of the pages that I join are ones that my friends have joined and they pop up in my news feed ... it's definitely a serial thing [for me] to join."
While Getley says there can be a sense of community around these types of pages, Hodder thinks they are more a surface-level aspect of Facebook.
"I mainly go on there to 'connect' with my friends who I don't see much any more ... I guess it communicates some of my thoughts, beliefs, interests to my friends without me having to actually tell them," she says.
But when visiting pages such as "When I Was Younger I Put My Face Close To The Fan To Hear My Robot Voice" or "When I was your age, everyone wanted a Nokia 3310. Not an iPhone", the level of interaction on the sites shows how much of a community is being built by this technology.
Regardless of whether people have "become fans", or "liked" a page after the recent changes, they add a quirkiness to Facebook that is endearing.
After all, there's nothing quite like signing on and seeing one of your friends enjoys "Looking through a textbook and pointing at pictures and going, 'that's you"'.

Legends of the fall

Drop bears are vicious, deadly animals created in the spirit of true Australian humour to scare unsuspecting people. While the stories and descriptions vary from person to person, drop bears are generally said to resemble koalas, sit in gum trees and drop on unsuspecting victims. Tourists are the most common targets for drop bear stories and it's common for a group of Australians to join in with the joke once someone starts it.
Drop bears have also been popularised by writer Terry Pratchett in his novel The Last Continent and in an ad campaign for Bundaberg Rum.

Another way to engage your customers

Facebook pages are designed as a way for public figures, organisations and businesses to connect with Facebook users.

To create a page, you can go to facebook.com/pages, click on "Create Page" and select what type of page you want to set up. While personal information is not included on a page, Facebook does require that it is linked to an individual person's Facebook account.

After creating the page, the process is similar to setting up a user profile, with sections for information about the focus of the page, photos and other customisable tabs available.

Once active, the page can be suggested to Facebook users and the more people clicking "like" to a page, the more opportunity there is for advertising.

Pages are connected to users' news feeds and the "suggestions" section of the home page, which means updates from the page and responses from users connected to it are spread through a range of networks on Facebook.

The most successful pages are ones that actively connect with fans. Optus has a section of its page dedicated to news from celebrity Kim Kardashian, who is on tour in Australia.

As well as being able to upload photos and videos of the celebrity, the section is linked to her Twitter feed, which is an effective use of new-media cross-promotion.

Another strategy, used on pages such as Pandora Jewellery, is to regularly post status updates asking people to share stories on the page. Companies can then hear directly from the people and those voices are broadcast across each of the user's networks in connection with that company.

Facebook also offers free reporting by measuring people's engagement with the page, the impact it is having and basic data on the types of people accessing it.

When used effectively, Facebook pages may be an asset to online marketing for businesses, organisations and public figures.

Source: smh.com.au

Fontainebleau - McCubbins Retreat

McCubbin's retreat is crumbling
GABRIELLA COSLOVICH
April 24, 2010

HIDDEN away on the north side of Mount Macedon, the wild and under-developed side, an important part of Australian art history lies neglected and crumbling. Its name is Fontainebleau and it is the former country property of the much-loved Australian painter Frederick McCubbin.

Few know of Fontainebleau's existence; even people steeped in the arts are unaware that the woods of Mount Macedon harbour McCubbin's former home. And yet, it is real, and remarkably intact, a Gothic timber cottage virtually unchanged since when McCubbin painted some of his best-known works there early last century, including The Pioneer.

But its future may be in jeopardy. That it has remained untouched and spared from the bulldozer or soul-stripping renovations is greatly due to Fontainebleau's discreet owners of the past 31 years - brothers Mark and Paul Cutler, who no longer reside at the property. The Age tracked them down this week.

The Cutlers set up a not-for-profit trust to buy Fontainebleau, paying about $75,000 for the property in 1979. It is now valued at between $1 million to $1.5 million. Astonishingly, despite the home's great cultural significance, no one else cared a jot about it back in 1979.

''It was up for private sale and nobody bought it, nobody wanted to know it,'' says Mark Cutler, ''We kept it going to the extent we could, but nature is winning that battle. Without us living there and being there it would have fallen over many, many years ago.''

The Cutlers are now living in Hobart and Fontainebleau's sole resident is ''property manager'' Trevor Hoare. But the Cutlers do not have the resources to maintain the home and its seven hectares of garden and bush. Nor do they want to sell it. The last thing Mark Cutler wants to see is Fontainebleau ''turned into a resort or a multi-millionaire's weekend playground''.

It was brother Paul who was instrumental in the purchase of Fontainebleau. A teacher, he had been looking for a secluded property close to Melbourne that he could turn into a place of education, contemplation and creativity.

Just as McCubbin fell in love with Fontainebleau when he stumbled upon it during a Christmas holiday in Woodend in 1901, so too did Paul Cutler, even though he was initially unaware of its history. He quickly learnt of the McCubbin legacy and saw it as perfectly synchronised to his own goals. But Paul Cutler's plans to transform Fontainebleau into a retreat never eventuated. He lived at Fontainbleau for 21 years, and raised his children there.

In 2000, Paul Cutler moved to Hobart, where he is completing a PhD on Buddhist philosophies - and still holding on to his dream for Fontainebleau. But finding someone willing to help fund that vision is another issue entirely.

About five years ago, Mark Cutler met Ian Roberts, from the Harold Mitchell Foundation, to talk about the future of Fontainebleau. At that time, the foundation was looking for a place to set up residential artist studios in Victoria, but that is no longer a priority.

''Look, I do think it's a pity, but I have to add that I used to work in the old Ministry for the Arts and Arts Victoria and I know the number of historic buildings; there are many, many historic buildings of great consequence. The purchase of them is one thing, the upkeep of them is another,'' said Roberts, the foundation's executive officer.

The decline of Fontainebleau has been a major concern for the Woodend and District Heritage Society, which has watched with despair as the property ages. Recently, former National Gallery of Victoria curator John Jones brought a group of curators to Fontainebleau ahead of a major exhibition of the artist's last decade of work, which opens at the Bendigo Art Gallery today. ''The bushland (around Fontainebleau) is so important because, after Heidelberg, it really is the most famous Australian painting spot,'' Jones says.

Fontainebleau's addition to the Victorian Heritage Register this month has buoyed hopes for the property's preservation.

The heritage listing affords some protection to Fontainebleau - no significant works can be done without a permit - and also means the owners are eligible for financial assistance to help with conservation works.

The Cutler vision for Fontainebleau is closely aligned with that of McCubbin's great-grandson David , who is heartened to learn that the house is owned by two brothers who are sensitive to its spirit and legacy. ''It's a huge relief to know that it's not some snide, pernicious little turd who has inherited the property. Sounds like their heart is exactly in the right spot,'' he said.

Privacy or not!

10 nations complain: Google betrays privacy
April 21, 2010



Officials from New Zealand, Canada, France and seven other countries are raising privacy concerns about Google's mapping service and the company's fumbled foray into social networking.

Although the concerns they raise are not new, the officials said the online search leader too often forgets people's privacy rights as it rolls out new technologies.

The bulk of the complaints are over Buzz, which Google launched in February as part of its Gmail service. Buzz quickly came under fire for automatically creating public circles of friends for users, based on their most frequent email contacts. After complaints, the company apologised and made changes to the service.

But in a letter sent this week to Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, privacy and data-protection officials from the 10 countries said they are still "extremely concerned about how a product with such significant privacy issues was launched in the first place."

It said Buzz "betrayed a disappointing disregard for fundamental privacy norms and laws. Moreover, this was not the first time you have failed to take adequate account of privacy considerations when launching new services."

Google Street View, a mapping service that includes street-level photos taken by cameras mounted on cars that sweep through neighborhoods, is another area of concern. The officials complained that Google launched it in various countries without "due consideration of privacy and data protection laws and cultural norms."

"In that instance, you addressed privacy concerns related to such matters as the retention of unblurred facial images only after the fact, and there is continued concern about the adequacy of the information you provide before the images are captured," officials said in their letter, posted on the Web site of Canada's privacy commissioner.

Google said it has "discussed all these issues publicly many times before and have nothing to add to today's letter."

"Of course we do not get everything 100 per cent right — that is why we acted so quickly on Buzz following the user feedback we received," the company said in a statement, adding that it tries very hard to be upfront about what data it collects from users and how it uses the information.

The other countries that signed the letter are Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. Australia was not included.

The officials called on Google to create default settings that protect users' privacy and to ensure that privacy control settings are prominent and easy to use.

"We recognize that Google is not the only online company with a history of introducing services without due regard for the privacy of its users," the letter says. "As a leader in the online world, we hope that your company will set an example for others to follow."

Facebook is one such company, drawing the ire of officials in Canada, Germany and elsewhere for the way it handles user privacy. Canada's privacy commissioner has been investigating changes Facebook made late last year to its privacy settings. Those had given users more granular controls but also nudged them to reveal more to the public.

AP

Source: smh.com.au

Got to love Skype?!

Aussie stranded by ash marries via Skype
LOUISA HEARN
April 20, 2010 - 12:44PM



Technology has saved a Australian-British couple's wedding after they were stranded in Dubai by the volcanic ash cloud disrupting flights in and out of Europe.

Relatives and friends watched Sean Murtagh, 24, from west London, and Natalie Mead, a 30-year-old Australian, take their vows on a laptop fitted with a webcam which was broadcast via Skype to assembled family and friends in Britain.

The groom borrowed his smart shirt and trousers while the bride wore a dress she had in her luggage and the airport hotel donated flowers, balloons and a wedding cake as other stranded passengers joined in on the celebration.

"They have decorated the lobby of the hotel. They made us a three-tier wedding cake, set up a laptop with Skype and a projector," Sean Murtagh said.

"It's spellbinding the amount they have done for us.

"It's been an incredible day. We were never going to forget it anyway but we certainly won't forget it now."

Although the couple were recently married at a civil wedding in Brisbane, they had also planned a ceremony for family and friends in Ealing, west London.

Natalie Mead told Gulf News: "Passengers stranded in the hotel were getting excited for the first time in days when they heard about our wedding; some even helped me with my hair and make-up. It was also great to see everyone in the UK on our wedding day, even if it was via webcam.

"It has been an amazing day and we are just so grateful for everything that everyone has done for us. It is definitely a story to tell the grandchildren. There was no way we were going to let this volcano stop us [from] getting married."

Caroline Black, a celebrant who conducted the online ceremony from London, said: "It was just like any other wedding except the bride and groom weren't there."

"We have seen an increase in the past few days in terms of video-calling because of the [flight disruption] situation," a Skype spokesman told AFP.

"I've heard of executives stuck in the US on the way back to London running their companies via Skype."

Cisco said that the disruption of flights in Europe due to a dangerous layer of ash spewed into the sky by a volcano in Iceland had led to a surge in interest in its "telepresence" technology for online meetings.

"We have seen a huge spike in usage," said Fredrik Halvorsen, newly minted vice-president of Cisco's telepresence technology group.

"We have had all our demo centres and all our video rooms across the world populated by everything from big corporate clients to [small- or medium-size businesses] to government ministries."

- with AFP

Source: smh.com.au

The home phone catches up with the 21st century

FOR years, it was the only way we could reach the outside world, but with the introduction of mobiles and the internet, it soon became something many of us could live without.

Just as the home phone was becoming an endangered species, Telstra this week introduced a new product that it says has completely reinvented it.

The new T-Hub combines the power of the internet with the convenience of a landline. It is a tablet console with an 18cm colour touchscreen and cordless handset.

Using the touchscreen, users can make and receive hands-free calls as well as send and receive SMS messages to other Telstra mobiles and T-Hubs.

Jenny Young, Telstra's executive director for consumer marketing channels, says bringing the internet and the home phone together is a "milestone".

"We're really excited about it," she said. "We're sure Australians are going to enjoy the capabilities it delivers."

The screen is filled with icons that are short cuts to websites. They are accessed wirelessly using a BigPond broadband connection.

Users can log on to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and access information like the weather forecast and news and sports headlines or videos.

The T-Hub will be available to customers in various bundles including a home phone with unlimited local calls, a BigPond broadband plan and a wireless modem gateway. Existing Telstra home phone and internet customers can buy the T-Hub for $299.

While the home phone looks to the future, Tristan O'Brien, of Belair, was admiring its past at Antique Market in Grote St yesterday. "It's good to keep a bit of history . . . especially if they're collectable," he said. "I think some of the things we can do with echnology these days are not necessary, things like social networking. But I guess it enables people to keep in touch easily."

Podcasts & Wikis turn cafes into lecture halls

NATALIE CRAIG
April 11, 2010

Monash University economics-law student Evelyn Young enjoys a coffee while listening to lectures downloaded on to her laptop.

Monash University economics-law student Evelyn Young enjoys a coffee while listening to lectures downloaded on to her laptop. Photo: Craig Sillitoe

Many university students are using new technology to catch up on missed lectures.

FIRST-YEAR tertiary students are spending less time on campus and more time online, as podcasts of lectures become increasingly common.

Three out of four students use podcasts of lectures and a third believe online lecture materials can be a replacement for attending classes, according to the nationwide survey of 2422 first-year students by the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne.

Students spent an average of four days a week on campus in 2009, compared with 4.4 days a week in 1994.

They were studying online for 6.5 hours a week, compared with 4.2 hours in 2004 (the earliest online study data available).

Better computer access and an increase in students' work commitments had fuelled the changes, centre director Richard James said.

While students believed online lecture notes could be a replacement for attending classes, he said there was no evidence to suggest that they routinely did that.

''Student engagement is multifaceted and not necessarily indicated by the time spent on campus … For most students, e-learning complements, but does not replace, face-to-face classes,'' he said.

Universities cannot force students to attend lectures, although some tutorials carry a ''participation'' mark.

Many warn students that lecture recordings are not a substitute for attendance, and are designed for revision only.

But while academics and students say attendance at lectures is declining in all year levels, universities say study patterns are more nuanced as students use technology to complement traditional teaching methods.

Monash University has this year added visual content to audio recordings of lectures - with the potential for more than 1 million downloads a week.

Pro-vice-chancellor Marnie Hughes Warrington said that while physical attendance at lectures could be declining, the system had increased participation overall, with students using the technology in different ways.

''Mature-age students listen to the lectures multiple times for reassurance, while students with family commitments now have access to university study … For some, listening to lectures in another space, like a library, where you're next to other people doing the same thing, is understood by some people as being in a lecture in some way.''

Evelyn Young, a fourth-year economics and law student at Monash University, listens to all her lectures online at home, and says she learns best by meticulously transcribing notes.

''It helps me absorb the information better. It takes, like, five hours to type a two-hour lecture but I generally break for coffee,'' she said.

She rents in Glen Waverley and works 25 hours a week as a sales assistant. Her grades are good and she emails any queries to her lecturers. But they would like to see more of her.

Last year, her international law lecturer threatened to turn off the audio-recorder at crucial moments. ''He hated the recording system and he warned us, 'Sometimes I'll just turn it off if I'm going to say something important' … He thought it was bad for us.''

But e-learning technology could be vital to the survival of universities. The federal government has promised funding to universities to increase participation of people from non-traditional backgrounds, so that 40 per cent of the population has a degree by 2025.

Online access to lectures, tutorial discussions and readings is already allowing regional students and those with family commitments a chance to study.

La Trobe University is overcoming the tyranny of distance for remote students of teaching, who are part of a pilot program using iPod Touch to create a ''virtual classroom'' off campus.

Deakin lecturer Paul Nicholson is teaching a course to students at the Melbourne, Geelong and Warrnambool campuses called ''creating effective learning environments''. There are no physical lectures.

''It's a mediaeval technology, the lecture, and it's so inefficient,'' he said. The cross-campus course instead uses online materials, podcasts and a collaborative ''wiki'' website.

Universities, once the gatekeepers of knowledge, are now disseminating free information online on sites such as iTunes U and Academic Earth.

So why bother going to campus - and why bother paying? ''Students are continually telling us … there's a sea of information out there. I need somebody to guide me through it,'' RMIT deputy vice-chancellor Professor Reid said.

And if students still stay away? ''Good teachers will always attract a crowd.''

iPad buyers react

'Like a gorgeous woman': iPad buyers react
April 5, 2010 - 9:56AM


Apple sold between 600,000 and 700,000 iPads on launch day in the US, with analysts predicting over 7.1 million of the tablets will be sold worldwide this year.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster noted that the iPad was doing better than the iPhone, which sold about half a million units in its first weekend in 2007.

But now that the iPad is in the hands of early adopters, the hard work for Apple begins.
Andreas Schobel reacts after being among the first to purchase an Apple iPad.

Andreas Schobel reacts after being among the first to purchase an Apple iPad. Photo: Reuters

Eager customers intent on being among the first owners of this new class of gadgetry stood in long lines across the US on Saturday. They seemed willing to buy first - and discover uses for the iPad later.

In some ways, it was reminiscent of the lines and hoopla surrounding the 2007 launch of the first iPhone. The difference: People knew then that the iPhone would replace their existing cell phone, an appliance that has become a must-have for everyone from uber-geeks to stay-at-home mums.

With the iPad, which fits somewhere between phone and computer, Apple must convince people who already have smart phones, laptops, e-book readers, set-top boxes and home broadband connections that they need another device that serves many of the same purposes.
Apple customer Andres Schobel holds up his two new iPads at an Apple store in San Francisco. Hundreds of people lined up hours before the Apple store opened to purchase the new iPad which debuted overnight. Click for more photos

Many of the earliest iPad buyers say they will have a better idea of what they'll use it for only after they've had it for a while.

That didn't stop them from imagining, though.

Beth Goza has had iPhones and other smart phones, along with a MacBook Air laptop, yet she believes the iPad has a place in her digital lineup. She likened it to a professional tennis player owning different sneakers for grass, clay and concrete courts.

"At the end of the day, you can get by with one or the other," she said outside an Apple store in Seattle's University Village mall.

But she clearly doesn't want to just "get by." She's already dreaming up specific uses for her iPad, such as knitting applications to help her keep track of her place in a complicated pattern.

Danita Shneidman, a woman in her 60s, wanted one to look at photos and videos of her first grandchild, born this week in Boston.

And then there's Ray Majewski, who went to an Apple store in Freehold, N.J., with his 10-year-old daughter, Julia. The iPad is partly as a reward for her straight A's in school, and partly a present for himself.

"I like the electronic books, and my daughter is really getting into them as well," Majewski said. "I was thinking of getting a Kindle (e-book reader) but then said to myself, 'Why not get an iPad because I can get so much more from that than just reading books?'"

The iPad is essentially a much larger version of Apple's popular iPhone, without the calling capabilities. Just a half-inch thick, the device has a touch screen that measures 9.7 inches on the diagonal - nearly three times the iPhone's. Also like the iPhone, it has no physical keyboard.

For now, Apple is selling iPads that only connect to the internet using Wi-Fi. Those models start at $US499. Versions that also have a 3G broadband data connection will be available by the end of the month. They will cost $US130 more, with the most expensive at $US829.

In Apple stores in Seattle and on New York's Fifth Avenue, the atmosphere was festive, with employees cheering and clapping as customers entered and left. One kid arrived at a San Francisco store in a homemade iPad costume.

Some analysts had predicted the gadget would sell out on Saturday. Although there didn't seem to be problems with supply at Apple stores, two Best Buy stores in the Washington, D.C., area didn't have iPads in stock for sale when they opened.

People could also "pre-order" iPads online to arrive Saturday. Prasad Thammineni did just that, but had to chase the UPS guy down the block from his office in Cambridge, Mass., to get his iPad.

After playing with it for a few hours, his impressions were mostly positive. Typing on the on-screen keyboard wasn't as comfortable as using a laptop with a regular keyboard, and Thammineni said he found himself using several fingers but not touch-typing normally. Still, he said, it was much easier to use than a Kindle keyboard.

But the weight of the device might keep him from typing on the go. Thammineni said that after about two minutes of holding up the device with one hand and typing with the other, it got too heavy, even at a mere 1.5 pounds.

Once the initial iPad excitement settles, Apple may have to work harder to persuade a broader swath of people to buy one. Many companies have tried to sell tablet computers before, but none has caught on with mainstream consumers. And while early adopters who pre-ordered an iPad in recent weeks have gushed about all the ways they hope to use it, skeptics point to all the ways the iPad comes up short.

They argue the on-screen keyboard is hard to use and complain that it lacks a camera and ports for media storage cards and USB devices such as printers. They also bemoan the fact that the iPad can't play Flash video, which means many websites with embedded video clips will look broken to web surfers using Apple's Safari browser. And the iPad can't run more than one program at a time, which even fans hope will change one day soon.

College student Brett Meulmester stood in line at an Apple store in Arlington, Va., to try one out without buying one yet because of cost.

Lower prices could push wider adoption, but when Apple slashed prices for the iPhone just months after its release, early buyers were irate. Tom Quinn, of Sea Girt, N.J., wasn't worried about paying a premium for being one of the first to have an iPad.

"When that happened with the iPhone, they gave out $US100 credit," he said. "If the same thing happens with the iPad, I'm sure they'll do something similar."

For others, cost was clearly not an issue - nor convenience, it seemed. Siggi Manz, a software developer who lives near Frankfurt, Germany, was spending just 20 hours in New York to snag one. Manz, who already carries Apple's MacBook Pro and iPhone, said the iPad would be ideal for note-taking.

"Opening a laptop is sometimes impersonal because the monitor is between us, and the iPhone is too little to really honestly type," Manz said.

James Stuart trekked to Seattle from Canada, where, like Australia, the iPad won't be on sale for another month - too long, in his mind.

"It's like a gorgeous woman - you just want to touch it," he said.

In San Francisco, tattoo artist Max Ackermann is convinced the iPad will "define a giant change in how we perceive computers in general."

Exactly how, Ackermann isn't sure. He and others admit their belief in the iPad grows out of an unwavering devotion to Apple and its products.

Standing outside an Apple store in Arlington, Va., Saturday, was John Kay, a 27-year-old employee of AT&T. He would pay for just about anything Apple made and said, "If they came out with a $US1000 microwave, I'd buy the microwave."

AP with Asher Moses

Source: smh.com.au

Google faces new book-scanning lawsuit

April 1, 2010 - 11:14AM

French publishers will launch a second lawsuit against internet giant Google for digitally scanning their books for its vast online library, one of them said on Wednesday.

"We are taking our turn at going into battle (against Google), along with some of our fellow publishers," Antoine Gallimard, the chief executive of major French publisher Gallimard, told AFP at Paris's annual book fair.

He said that three other big French publishers Albin Michel, Flammarion and Eyrolles would join the action.

Google "has been making us promises for months... and yet continues with its illegal digitisation," without the publishers' consent and in breach of their copyright, Gallimard said.

Google France declined to comment to AFP on the case on Wednesday.

A French court in December ruled that Google had breached the copyright of three publishers owned by the La Martiniere group by scanning entire books or excerpts and putting them online.

It ordered Google to pay 300,000 euros ($442,000) in damages to the publishers and to stop digitising French books without publishers' approval. Google has appealed the decision.

Opponents of Google's scanning activities have also brought a challenge in a US court against its book-scanning agreement with US authors and publishers.

In France, digitisation has become bound up with the sensitive issue of protecting French cultural and intellectual property in recent months.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced a major government plan to scan the country's national treasures and vowed to protect French heritage at a time of suspicions over Google's digitisation drive.

Google said this month that it had reached agreement with the Italian culture ministry to scan up to a million books housed in the national libraries of Rome and Florence.

AFP

Source: smh.com.au