Librarian of Fortune

Google becomes a reality search engine

I've been talking about "reality browsers" such as the Layar app for iPhones and Android phones. Google has done them one better with Google Goggles. As the New York Times described it:

Google unveiled a smartphone application called Goggles. It allows users to search the Web, not by typing or by speaking keywords, but by snapping an image with a cellphone and feeding it into Google’s search engine.

How tall is that mountain on the horizon? Snap and get the answer. Who is the artist behind this painting? Snap and find out. What about that stadium in front of you? Snap and see a schedule of future games there.

This is just too cool. One more step toward the day when I'll have magic glasses that remind me the name of the person walking toward me with a smile on her face and her hand extended in greeting, who I cannot remember from Adam's off ox.

latest columns online

My November and December columns for EContent are up.

• "Of Moore and Magic">As a lifetime geek, two axioms have always offered me the promise of ever-expanding possibilities. The first is Moore's Law, in which Gordon Moore projected a doubling every 2 years of the number of transistors that could fit on an integrated circuit. The second axiom is Arthur C. Clarke's observation in 1973 that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." I see correlations between us info pros and both Moore's Law and Clarke's law of prediction.... EContent, November 2009


• "Publishing 2.0"" These are interesting times for the publishing industry. Newspapers are shuddering after watching their classified ad revenue disappear, their subscribers die off, and their readers migrate to news content that is more current than the morning edition. Editors complain bitterly about the public's apparent preference for unverified crowdsourcing and (even worse) blogs over professional journalism.... EContent, December 2009

The future of the info industry

I was just interviewed by Dick Kaser and Marydee Ojala at the Online Information conference in London. My conversation with Marydee wound up on the virtual cutting room floor, but the segment in which I talked about the future of the information profession and my take on the current challenges for the premium-priced online services are at the Infotoday Blog.