Category Archives: Cool items

Open Call for tumblr Collaborators

When it comes to collaborative culture, tumblr is where it’s at – and we’re ready to jump in. We’re not going to just redirect this blog, though, we’re opening up our tumblr URL to anyone interested in messing around with … Continue reading

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Lost Landscapes SF6: huge success– Next Lost Landscapes of Detroit February 22

Standing room only for Rick Prelinger’s Lost Landscape of San Francisco 6 at the Internet Archive last night.   New films including “process plates” from studios brought a new sharpness to many of the films presented.   Suggested donations was 5 … Continue reading

Posted in Cool items, Event, News, Video Archive | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Hard Drive Archaeology – And Hackerspaces

Two different, but somewhat related additions to the archive you might want to check out. First, I was contacted earlier this week about a project to recover information off of an old Cray-1 supercomputer hard drive. Unlike, say, trying to … Continue reading

Posted in Cool items, Software Archive | 13 Comments

Why Publishers Support E-book Lending with OpenLibrary.org: A Q&A with Smashwords Mark Coker

This Q&A kicks off a series of conversations with visionary publishers who support e-book digital library lending with OpenLibrary.org. Mark Coker, Founder, CEO and Chief Author Advocate, founded Smashwords  to change the way books are published, marketed and sold.  In … Continue reading

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Buying E-Books from Smashwords

Smashwords’ best-selling authors contribute to OpenLibrary.org Smashwords, the largest distributor of independently published literature, recently provided the Internet Archive and OpenLibrary.org with its first installment of e-Books from best known, best-selling e-Book authors including: Young Adult sensation Amanda Hocking; Fantasy … Continue reading

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Open Library Buying e-Books from Publishers

The Internet Archive is on campaign to buy e-Books from publishers and authors; making more digital books available to readers who prefer using laptops, reading devices or library computers.  Publishers such as Smashwords, Cursor and A Book Apart have already … Continue reading

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1790-1930 U.S. Census Records Available Free

With the U.S. Census Bureau beginning to release statistics from the 2010 census. It seems a good time to mention that Internet Archive has a complete set of the available U.S. Census back to the first one in 1790: From … Continue reading

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Ted Nelson and Zigzag

One of the great things about the Internet Archive is the sense of adventure. There are always creative ideas bouncing around. Many of them come to fruition and occasionally some fail. In the spirit of innovation the inimitable Ted Nelson … Continue reading

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Ted Nelson Launches His Autobiography at Internet Archive

    On October 8, 2010, Brewster Kahle and Internet Archive hosted Ted Nelson’s book launch for his autobiography “Possiplex.” It was a special evening. There was a wide array of guests, including some of Ted’s closest collaborators. Ted Nelson … Continue reading

Posted in Cool items, News, Video Archive | 4 Comments

Little Known Classics You NEED To Watch!

The classic, the rare, the obscure…you movie junkies love this stuff. It’s always cool to discover the weird films made by familiar faces. Kudos Matt Holmes and Peter Willis of Obssessed With Film for assembling a Top 10 of little … Continue reading

Posted in Cool items, Video Archive | 71 Comments

Top 40 best free legal movies you can download right now

Sean P. Aune at tech.blorge has put together a great list of movies on archive.org.  From his blog: The Internet Archive works to bring together anything and everything that resides in the public domain, and that includes movies.  We’ve gathered … Continue reading

Posted in Cool items, Video Archive | 70 Comments

New Open Library Search Engine add-on for Firefox

We’ve developed a Firefox add-on that allows you to directly search Open Library from your browser’s toolbar search field. To install it: 1. Go to: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/144222/ 2. Check the “Let me install this experimental add-on.” button 3. Click “Add to … Continue reading

Posted in Cool items, Open Library | 4 Comments

NASA partners with Internet Archive to archive digital imagery

From Jon Hornstein at Internet Archive’s NASA images: NASA gave a nice shout-out to the Internet Archive for helping them address their Open Government Initiative requirements. http://www.nasa.gov/open/plan/records-management.html Here’s a couple of choice quotes . . . “. . . (the … Continue reading

Posted in Cool items, Education Archive, Image Archive, News, Video Archive | 2 Comments

Relax, You're at an Intermission in a Drive-In

These days, a good drive-in theater is a relatively rare gem to find. Although many have recently been resurrected and a DIY drive-in movement has even occurred, a drive-in is still often seen through nostalgic eyes rather than considered to … Continue reading

Posted in Cool items, Video Archive | Tagged , | 20 Comments

NaBloPoMo, Librarian Style

It’s likely you’ve heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), that time in November when it’s starting to get cold and hundreds of people make a pact together to write a novel in the period of one month. Many fail, … Continue reading

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The Library of Congress at Your Fingertips

To visit The Library of Congress has long been thought of as a distinguished event for the privileged few. Most people throughout the world are unable to get to Washington D.C., so the plethora of resources housed in the library … Continue reading

Posted in Books Archive, Cool items, News | 40 Comments

Swirl, Sniff, Sip With The Bancroft Library

The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley preserves some of the most intriguing rare and hard-to-find books in the country. According to their Web site, their holdings include 60,000 manuscript items, 8,000,000 photographs/pictorial materials, 43,000 microforms, and 23,000 … Continue reading

Posted in Books Archive, Cool items | 1 Comment

Home of the Brave

Gentlemen and ladies, please remove your hats for the singing of our national anthem. We sing it at the beginning of sporting events, during worship services, at memorials for veterans, and in grade school music class. The first verse of … Continue reading

Posted in Audio Archive, Books Archive, Cool items, Video Archive | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

An All-Star Team

It has been about seven months since NASA and Internet Archive teamed up to create nasaimages.org. Through a Space Act Agreement, NASA has granted Internet Archive unprecedented access to all of the NASA centers’ media archives. While media from NASA … Continue reading

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200 Candles for Abraham Lincoln

Just about 200 years ago, or 10 score as Abraham Lincoln might say, one of the most iconic presidents in history was born. On February 12, 1809, Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks gave birth to a baby boy in a … Continue reading

Posted in Audio Archive, Books Archive, Cool items, Video Archive | Tagged , , | 17 Comments