Congress Looking Into Anticompetitive Behavior in the Digital Library Market

It’s absurd how publishers are abusing their position to impose restrictive and expensive terms on public libraries. This will only widen the digital divide.

House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler, at a hearing on competition in digital markets last week. The American Library Association (ALA) has delivered a written report to the House Judiciary Committee telling lawmakers that “unfair behavior by digital market actors,” including Amazon and some major publishers, is “doing concrete harm to libraries.”

Read the full article at Publishers Weekly.

This Cassette Tape-Based Navigation System From 1971 Is Kind Of Brilliant

Following on my earlier post about Apple Maps, here’s some perspective on how far we’ve come.

This clip from a 1971 episode of the BBC television show Tomorrow’s World has so many appealing details to me, most notably the featuring of a lovely UK-spec 1962 Volkswagen Beetle, but the true star of it is the remarkably forward-thinking navigation system the Beetle is fitted with.

Read the full article at jalopnik.com.

Apple is rebuilding Maps from the ground up

I’ve actually been using Apple Maps without issue for quite a while, but this would certainly be a welcome improvement.

’m not sure if you’re aware, but the launch of Apple Maps went poorly. After a rough first impression, an apology from the CEO, several years of patching holes with data partnerships and some glimmers of light with long-awaited transit directions and improvements in business, parking and place data, Apple Maps is still not where it needs to be to be considered a world class service.

Read the full article at techcrunch.com.

Crow vending machine skills ‘redefine intelligence’

I think these crows are smarter than some humans.

A small South Pacific island is home to a crow with remarkable abilities that have scientists hooked. New Caledonian crows make and use tools – including a kind of fishing hook. They can solve complex problems and have even been recorded capturing grubs by repeatedly poking them with a stick until they are so agitated, they bite.

Read the full article at www.bbc.co.uk.