Google’s White Spaces spectrum move worries performers

But not like you’d guess (read on). 

Come to think of it … my cordless phone might suffer from interference, too.  If I only had a free internet connection to use Skype instead, though, I guess it would be OK

Tech Fight: Dolly Parton, Joel Osteen vs. Google, Dell and Motorola | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

The unused portions of the television broadcast spectrum known as white spaces has become the new battleground pitting celebrity performers against big name technology companies.

Country singer Dolly Parton is the latest among celebrities to urge the Federal Communications Commission to put off a vote scheduled for Nov. 4 on the issue. Parton has mega pastor Joel Osteen on her side.

They, other broadcasters and live stage performers, fear that opening up white spaces to new devices will interfere with their ability to use wireless microphones.

Google Books breakthough

You have to love win-win-win deals like this one.

Official Google Blog: New chapter for Google Book Search

With this agreement, in-copyright, out-of-print books will now be available for readers in the U.S. to search, preview and buy online — something that was simply unavailable to date. Most of these books are difficult, if not impossible, to find. They are not sold through bookstores or held on most library shelves, yet they make up the vast majority of books in existence. Today, Google only shows snippets of text from the books where we don’t have copyright holder permission. This agreement enables people to preview up to 20% of the book.

What makes this settlement so powerful is that in addition to being able to find and preview books more easily, users will also be able to read them. And when people read them, authors and publishers of in-copyright works will be compensated. If a reader in the U.S. finds an in-copyright book through Google Book Search, he or she will be able to pay to see the entire book online.