Public Domain / Open Access Image Libraries

There are numerous sources of free images that you are available for use in your projects or blogging.  Most of these image banks are for older images (out of copyright, something you would need to check), but something from the 19th century is probably pretty safe.

From NASA / Flicker. No known copyright restrictions (no need for attribution either).

In some cases you need to attribute the image to the source, but that is a pretty easy restriction to follow for free use.  For tech or space images, NASA is a good source too.  Searching Flickr with filters for Creative Commons licenses also can work too, but you have to make sure the subjects are not people or owned by someone even if the image is free to use.  Before using any image check for yourself to see if you can truly use it or it is public domain, kind of like buyer beware.

Here is a short list of amazing resource sites.  Beware the Internet rabbit hole!

1. The Library of Congress digital Free to Use and Reuse Sets.  I like the Japanese fine prints collection, and you could definitely do a lot of creating with the other historical collections.
   Their main digital collections page with millions of items that are not just images, but you need to be more careful about copyrights and usage.
2. The British Library released over a million images on Flickr that are in the public domain.  There are lots of old maps and other images.  Search or browse for hours.
3. NASA and it many projects and divisions have piles of space images.  Not all are public domain, so do read the usage policies and restrictions.
   Jet Propulsion Laboratory Images and usage policies.
   ASTER Satellite Images that require credit.
   NASA on The Commons are images that are in the public domain on Flickr.
4. Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access has 400,000 images online
   Japanese Illustrated books in the public domain - check policies.
5. Getty Open Content Images, check their usage policies.
6. National Gallery of Art Open Images, check their usage policies.
7. Art Institute of Chicago, under Creative Commons License, make sure the Open Access Checkbox is on for the search.

There are other sources of images too, but this is already a pretty big set.

Free Science Fiction Anthologies From Microsoft and the Atlantic Council

I'm going to be paying for some roof repairs, but I'm going to save a few bucks on some science fiction reading.  There are a couple of new SF anthologies just released this fall for free as ebooks.  One is sponsored by Microsoft Research and the other by the Atlantic Council, a  think tank.  Both have some big name authors such as David Brin, Linda Nagata, Ken Liu, Greg Bear, Nancy Kress, etc.  These fine writers were commissioned to write and hopefully both educate and entertain you with their future postulations.

Inside of a construction site.  The scaffolds go on and on.

The first book is War Stories from the Future (created via the Art of Future Warfare Project).  This book explores the future of armed conflict and social conflict via science fiction stories instead of essays or papers about how things could be.  There is also a bunch of writing up on their project site that is interesting to peruse.

Download here: http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/publications/books/war-stories-from-the-future

The second book is Future Visions: Original Science Fiction Inspired by Microsoft.  This book had Microsoft Research invite eight SF writers in to see and then write about their favourite research projects.  Some very big name SF authors like Nancy Kress, Robert J. Sawyer, Greg Bear, David Brin, Elizabeth Bear, etc.  It might be a bit of a PR effort from Microsoft, but it should be interesting to read about the Microsoft tech in action.

Download here from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0182NCTWS

You may have to select your national Amazon store.  I had to change to Canada.  On a parting note, Microsoft Singapore release this really cool anime short about the IE Browser as personified by a Browser-Tan cute girl character.  Quite entertaining to watch.