July 22, 2003

Database news

The Senate eliminated funding for Total Information Awareness. Now it comes down to negotiations with the House.

Google has updated its news feature to allow searches by date, location, exact phrases or publication. It's called Advanced News Search, and I can see a use for it immediately. Suppose you see a reference to "an (insert publication name here) article" but have no idea when it appeared; the original news search only allowed you to look by date, so this is a big improvement.

More bar bet fodder, if you take your wireless laptop into a bar: Amazon is working with publishers to allow text searches of non-fiction books. I can hear it now: "It was FDR!" "Nah, that was Gladstone!" "Wanna bet?"

How pervasive is high-speed internet access in hotels? This article gives a heads-up. The answer seems to be: if you believe the marketing, it's everywhere; if you listen to the surveys of business travelers, it's not. The neatest nugget in the story? A list of Internet-friendly hotels, at Geektools. It's sorted by country, and you can submit your own findings to the provider.

Posted by Linkmeister at July 22, 2003 10:03 AM
Comments

I already wonder how I lived without google. And I am forever annoyed when I can't find what I need through it. I'm constantly googling names of people I used to know, with the expectation that I'll be able to learn what they've been up to. Unfortunately, most people remain anonymous.

Posted by: jadedju at July 22, 2003 07:17 PM

Shelley and I stayed at a Mariott back in June, and it had broadband in the room. I have no idea why they wired the rooms rather than just do a wireless signal (I wound up ethernetting my iBook to the wall and then broadcasting a wireless signal to her latop from it. Shhh! Don't tell!)

Posted by: Scott at July 23, 2003 07:39 AM

Having been an IT guy for a hotel, I'll bet the simple answer is the IT guys understood cable and didn't feel comfortable with WiFI, Scott. Sad but true.

Posted by: Linkmeister at July 23, 2003 08:00 AM

That seems completely bizarre to me, considering that it would be so much more expensive to wire a building than it would be to stick some base stations on a few floors.

Posted by: Scott at July 24, 2003 08:11 AM