Oh My Google

…today’s NYTimes on Google v. Microsoft. Go Google!

Google has been quietly developing what industry experts consider to be the world’s largest computing facility. Last spring, Google had more than 50,000 computers distributed in over a dozen computer centers around the world. The number topped 100,000 by Thanksgiving, according to a person who has detailed knowledge of the Google computing data center. The company is placing a significant bet that Microsoft will be hard pressed to match its response time to the ever increasing torrent of search requests…

…Google has embarked on an ambitious secret effort known as Project Ocean, according to a person involved with the operation. With the cooperation of Stanford University, the company now plans to digitize the entire collection of the vast Stanford Library published before 1923, which is no longer limited by copyright restrictions. The project could add millions of digitized books that would be available exclusively via Google.

Seems Google is also connecting with cellular services so that the whole web can be searchable from anywhere. Now just add voice activation and it all starts to approximate a direct line to an omniscient, if not omnipotent, God. Oh my boggle.

Local Living Economies

…Shared Vision magazine, the Vancouver BC sister publication of Conscious Choice here in Chicago, is running BALLE BC on their cover this month. BALLE is the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies.

Last September, we did a two-day working session in OpenSpaceTech and have been cultivating a wiki website in the Garden to help the Vancouver group get started. So it’s great to see their progess and to see them getting so much good attention. The Chicago BALLE effort is taking shape more slowly. Hello Cleveland, are you guys next?

Invitation Resources

…I often refer to OpenSpaceTech as the skillful practice of invitation, so a big part of the OST resources section of this website is dedicated to writing invitations and collected samples. That section has just been cleaned up and some new perspectives added. OpenSpaceTech/InvitationWriting

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