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Pay No Attention To the Condom-Fingered Googler Behind the Curtain

Discover how the Google Book Search project captures pages with unique techniques and fascinating behind-the-scenes details.

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Did you ever wonder how Google is scanning all of those books that are going in their massive Google Book Search project? Well, you can get a pretty good clue by looking at the second and third pages of The Gentleman's Magazine: the scanning is being done by taking ordinary pictures of the pages, and the pages (at least some of them) are arranged by a lady wearing red fingernail polish, a couple of gold rings, and latex covers on her first and second fingers—covers that look notably like condoms. To this DiscoBlogger, anyway.

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