One of the latest impressive innovations to come out of Google is that they have speech recognition software good enough to automatically index audio and video streams and make the spoken word searchable. Due to the impending presidential election, the project is currently focussed on political speeches, and makes it easy for you to compare what different politicians have said about any particular issue. You can find it here: http://labs.google.com/gaudi

Anj

I've been impressed by the growing volume of free talks, books and other high-quality informationalistic edupodloads. I thought I'd list a few of my favourites here - read on for the link-love...

That is all.

A.

I can now verify that asking for a "Short Cappuccino" in Starbucks does indeed work, at least here in Leeds. My order was accepted without comment. It cost £1.85, and was indeed a sensible size and strength. The foam, however, was run o' the mill chunky froth, so my search for a flat white must continue.

I noticed this boingboing article and despaired. This ridiculous legislation, which has already been explicitly rejected by the EU, attempts to enforce a "three strikes and you're out" approach to copyright infringement. Those pushing for these rules have now tried to attach them to another, otherwise reasonable piece of telecoms legislation. Whether or not you agree with this in principle, the legislation on offer is hopelessly broken...

One of the minor pleasures of New Zealand was the Flat White. It's essentially a cappuccino, but with a finer, creamer foam and a stronger mix than you get in Britain. I've missed them, but I may have found an alternative source...