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Complaining about Google being default in Firefox is Microsofts job (or Yahoo or someone else). However, if Microsoft had complained about that they would have _had_ to make it optional in IE7 as well. So, Microsoft kept quiet about that.

Sorry if this is getting offtopic.

http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessnews/wpn-4 5-20040401GoogleGMailAprilFoolsHoax.html

> Is through Net Users' adoption of Firefox since the default startup page is Google.

Only in the English and European builds, IIRC. Firefox uses Yahoo as the default startup page in China/Japan/Korea.

Reference: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-2 0051201YahooFirefoxPartnerInAsianMarket.html

"Classic. Maybe they need to pony up and get their name in the adsense block?!?!? "

Make that a NON-FUNCTIONAL AdSense block..

Sounds like they may have been involved in some click fraud schemes..

Or they're just using the obsolete code or broke some other rule... (like overlapping graphics.)

From KinderStart's home page..

"<!-- AdSense Code (07-10-2003, Garry) //-->
<!-- Updated 04-13-2004 //-->"

Notice the dates of the AdSense updates.....

The Chinese government is a reference? article about launch "China Daily Information Company (CDIC), partners with China Communications Corp (CCC), is set to launch...search engine." The only thing worse would be a search engine controlled by the US government. (That wasn't a joke.)

Yahoo! is probably attempting to get into the media, and having bad publicity in the media industry has worse consequences than it would in the high-tech industry.
Yeah. It's apparent that they sure wouldn't want to do anything that would result in bad publicity.

Why should a cellphone company allow the user to store gigabytes of high resolution pictures so they can return home to their PC and download the pictures FOR FREE to their computer. Why should a cellphone company allow people to listen to hours of music or watch hours of video FOR FREE. Why should a cellphone company allow ANY feature to be used for free on a cellphone.

My phone allows me to do all of the above and more, including switching to another provider's SIM and a very smooth way to use calling cards to get around the extortionate international rates available on pay-as-you-go SIMs in Europe.

This also sounds a lot like the thing scoble describes here [http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/blogtalk/wpn-5 8-20060104BillGatesKeynoteatCESThatPlaytableRocks. html%5D (6:52 entry).

There are plenty of other more-neutral studies that say basically the same thing.

Late in 2004 some studies were done that were pretty thorough. I know it's kind of old now but I can't imagine things have gotten any better.

A study was done by AOL and the National Cyber Security Alliance. Some of their findings:

6% of users thought they had a virus currently on their computer. A scan revealed that actually 19% of all the users had viruses.

71% of those with antivirus software thought that it updated weekly or daily. However, a scan revealed that only 33% of all the users had actually updated their antivirus within the last week.

53% thought they had spyware on their computer. A scan revealed that in truth, 80% of all the users had spyware.

References:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/10/25/HNaolsur vey_1.html
http://www.staysafeonline.info/pdf/NCSA-AOLIn-Home StudyRelease.pdf
http://www.staysafeonline.info/pdf/safety_study_v0 4.pdf

Another study by Dell estimated that nearly 90% of all desktop computers are infected somehow, with 1 out of 5 calls to Dell tech-support being virus/spyware related. Most people aren't even aware that their computers have been compromised:

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php? content_id=71662
http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessnews/wpn-4 5-20041015DellsSpywareSurvey.html

Google plans to offer free universal wifi. Al Gore plans to help create the next internet, and bring internet TV to the masses with current TV. Apple plans to offer Itunes over the new internet, through Googles new internet based linux operating system. Now all we have to do is bring Sony into the fold and get some of the gaming companies involved. I look forward to the day where I can play games online through wifi from anywhere. Here are some URLs to back up my statements. Al Gore, Google, Current TV, free wifi for all Information on who Google is hiring Google Hiring Google will hire all the best Phd students from the elite universities first. Once Google becomes so large that they run out of Phd students from elite universities, then they will begin hiring us! So I'm now in love with Google. Google if you are reading this PLEASE PLEASE give me a job, even if I'm just doing something completely stupid, I'm sure with all the millions of jobs you are creating that you'll find something for me. I hope Google continues to innovate because these innovations are creating jobs by the millions. Building a new internet would create millions of jobs for all of us. Building a new OS would create thousands of jobs. I hope Google gets involved with the gaming industry and lets me have access to a video game search engine. I hope they let us gamble and bet on games. I hope Google creates a new video game stock market where we can bet on the success or failure of games. GIMME MONEY DAMNIT!

They didn't say, but it is enough that they were able to take advertisements out of the main Opera browser.

The Mozilla foundation makes $30 million from having the default search bar in Firefox as Google. I bet Opera has a similar deal.

And Yahoo is the default in Asian markets for Firefox. Hooray for bidding wars!

WebProNews.com has a longer article, I haven't seen one with much detail.

WebProNews.com has a longer article, I haven't seen one with much detail.

Perhaps they are not exactly strangers ...

Google has been beating market analyst's expectation with absurdly high numbers again and aging [1]. And I tell you what; the demand for ads is NOT increasing at the same speed that the profits are growing. The internet economy is still growing anemically. These days it seems that you are not measuring the rate at which Google is growing, but the rate at witch the Google growth is growing =D ! It's the fact that people are getting SCAMMED. Mod me down on this if you want, paying more isn't giving you more. Paying more put you at a higher bracket, now can make more money from you That is if the theory behind Cringey's friend is correct.

Let's try this analogy: You are in New York, you decide to open up a business selling stilettos [2] but you are not getting many customers. You go to the local ad company and make a request for marketing. I'd like more women of ages 20 - 35 (or similar demographic) to be exposed to my store. Instead of giving you the price of each billboard/newspaper per month they say: You know kiddo, we have other shoe stores wanting to advertise for that same demographic, how about this: you choose a price, whatever you want for each customer that walks into your door with our ads. The more you pay, the more customers walk into your store. You give them the money, women flock to your store you are good.

Now you decide to go and open a store with a different name on another side of town. You sell the same exact merchandise same requested demographic. You you're your brother for the same negotiation with the ad agency, except you pay TEN times more for each customer. You end up getting only 20% more customers for 1000% the price. So you say screw this, I'll pay the ad agency only 4x the money. Ad company looks at you: Ah, he was paying good money but decided to downgrade... We'll show him. And your new store gets 20% less customers although paying 400% more in ads. Are you getting your money worth for it? What if that was the Military paying for ads for recruitment? A company can only earn so much (I cant' remember on top of my head it's between 10 and 20 percent profit). Halliburton is being demonized for overcharging at max 5% over quota. What if Halliburton says: We'll deliver 20% more if you pay us 1000% ? The company would be eaten alive by media scrutiny. What is Halliburton charged 400% more to the feds than the state government? Well since the states have quotas while the feds can print their money they should be charged more... eh?

This is not even an auction. Halliburton would burned at the stake for this behaviour. It has been said and let me repeat it, Google may strive to be non evil but IT CAN NOT. They are a public company and by definition they must work to earn more money. It's the law!

But you say: I'm a consumer, I don't buy ads, why should this bother me? Ah but the more each company pays for ads the more they must earn... and you are their revenue.

[1]a - http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessnews/wpn-4 5-20050421GoogleBeatsAbsurdlyHighExpectations.html
[1]b - http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,69291, 00.html
[2] Women's high heel shoes. Women wearing these seem to exist in real life, not just movies. I'm still looking for hard proof.

Don't forget about all the fraudulent clicks ey... It seems like they're having a lot of problems with those...

Don't forget about all the fraudulent clicks ey... It seems like they're having a lot of problems with those...

It may be ligitimate, but I may bet it is abuse also. The company did not made Google Mail software as it may be mislead by the topic. They just had the name, and must be asking a lot of money for it. If their product was a successfull high profitable product I would understand the claim. Google will change the name to Google Mail. It will be google mail all over the site, and people will still call it GMail. There will be no need to pay for the GMail name. It already happened in germany

I wish google would improve it algorithm to validate these links.
I'm sure they are working on it in the meantime using traffic power's optimization thechniques seems to get you Blacklisted on Google.

2005 The Bureau has been unable to ascertain that the firm has a valid business license. Consumers who do business with an unlicensed firm do so at their own risk.

Google plans to offer broadband over powerlines. Al Gore plans to help create the next internet, and bring internet TV to the masses with current TV. Apple plans to offer Itunes over the new internet, through Googles new internet based linux operating system.

Now all we have to do is bring Nintendo into the fold and get some of the gaming companies involved. I look forward to the day where I can play games online through wifi from anywhere.

Here are some URLs to back up my statements.

Al Gore, Google, Current TV, Broadband Over PowerLines

Information on who Google is hiring Google Hiring

Google will hire all the best Phd students from the elite universities first. Once Google becomes so large that they run out of Phd students from elite universities, then they will begin hiring us! So I'm now in love with Google. Google if you are reading this PLEASE PLEASE give me a job, even if I'm just doing something completely stupid, I'm sure with all the millions of jobs you are creating that you'll find something for me.

I hope Google continues to innovate because these innovations are creating jobs by the millions. Building a new internet would create millions of jobs for all of us. Building a new OS would create thousands of jobs. I hope Google gets involved with the gaming industry and lets me have access to a video game search engine. I hope they let us gamble and bet on games. I hope Google creates a new video game stock market where we can bet on the success or failure of games. GIMME MONEY DAMNIT!

Not to mention, according to any other article that you check out there, you'll see that the gas giant (which of course, could not sustain life on its nonexistent surface), is far outside of the habitable region of the star. It orbits at a distance of only 4 million miles.

That means that a year on that planet lasts less than 4 of our days, and the surface of any rocky moon of that gas giant would be hotter than even Venus or Mercury -- a toasty 1,300 degrees F.

Hey, Linux bugs are free! Their Microsoft cousins have to appease Red China.
http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessnews/wpn-4 5-20050613MicrosoftBlocksWordsToAppeaseRedChina.ht ml

Get real, get VMS! http://www.openvmshobbyist.com/

And, Lord knows, this was a slashdot-specific story, and you certainly couldn't have gotten details anywhere else before you opened your mouth.

Okay - so is this not a related problem to that of cryogenics (where one of the biggest problems is crystal generation due to slow freezing?)

It seems to me that recently a large number of the pieces for workable human cryogenics have started to fall into place. The astonishingly brazen (and amazingly logical) recent research into saline cryogenics goes something like: oxygen keeps things alive but also causes decay once dead - flushing a creature's blood (the source of oxygen) out and replacing it with a saline solution (that can be liquid colder than water) preserves the organism - and it can be reanimated after two hours with no ill effects.

So wouldn't the next step to be flash-freezing an entire creature? Replace the blood with saline, pressurize the body being frozen, reduce to under 0 degrees C (or whatever the freezing point of saline), then reduce pressure and "bump" - freeze everything instantly? Sure, it would take some serious nerve to volunteer for that one ("hi, we're going to extract all your blood and freeze you") - but it seems almost obtainable with today's technology.

Which is where research like this article comes in, trying to understanding the thawing process.

It seems like the "endgame" - ie: preventing terminal death - is far more obtainable than actually fixing what's wrong with a person's body and extending their life. We've almost figured out how to turn people on and off - but not how fix them so they won't permanently expire if their own devices. That needs to come next. And fast.

I may be grasping at straws, but I have a very strong desire for my runtime to extend beyond my otherwise "natural" lifespan - I'm already nearly 30 years old and starting to panic about being at the halfway point.

I'll happily have my conciousness implanted into a floor-cleaning or trash-sorting robot in 2000 year's time, so long as I'm still alive, not a total slave and have some rights as an "ascended" being. I'd like to have my own thoughts, own real property and assets (or virtual like a nice Matrix or Second Life - even if real items are capped because of severe population problems), I'd like to associate, communicate, create and socialise with whoever I wish over the hive-mind internet. It'd be nice to have an occasional weekend off for recreation as well.

Not much of a future life for living? But you'd get to see the future. For real. It'll be like a chapter of Planetary - exploring and documenting the strangeness and joy of ourselves through the eyes of a time traveller.

It could also mean that today's humans become tomorrow's robots. This could be how we achieve sentient robots - by making hardware that replaces our wetware, then transfering aging humans over to it. Not everyone would get to be jet planes and spaceships. Some would drive cars, some would make things for the humans, some would become domestic appliances. But I'll sweep floors on the moon in 2000 years if it means I'm not dead.

This is quite possibly the worst summary I've ever seen.
Fallacies:

1. This affects AdWords advertisers whose ads are *published* on the AdSense network. Not AdSense publishers. At all.

2. Image creatives have been an option in our AdWords accounts for at least 6 months. You see them on some AdSense publishers already, you just don't know it.

The real news here is the following:
1. Google is *bringing back* (they had it years ago) cost-per-impression advertising. However, this comes with improvements. I won't spam, see references. (R1)

2. Google is going to finally allow AdWords advertisers to decide what content network sites their ads are published on. (R1) Now we can decide NOT to place our ads on shady sites and fall victim to click fraud.

On the real news item #1, this is of huge interest because Google is allowing some "creepage" back to the CPM (cost-per-mil impressions) model. This seems to indicate that they're finally recognizing that click fraud is a *huge* problem. To the tune of it being estimated 15-20% clicks in competitive CPC (cost-per-click) markets on Google might be fraudulent. (R2)

References: (R1) (R2)

Looks like gmail is now out of beta; or very close to it. I had 6 invites for several months, and yesterday, I finally managed to get rid of 1. So I was rather shocked to see today that one of my gmail accounts now has _50_ invites (the other is stuck at 10 invites). Seems I am not the only one.

As for invites. Bah. 50 is going to take 1 metric forever to send all of them out. Nevertheless, if you have been living under a deep, dark rock, and you don't yet, somehow, have a gmail account, leave first name, last name, and email address to send the invite to, and I will send invites to as many people as I can be bothered to.
(Note: first name and last name can be anything. You can change it after you sign up. Secondly, in the past hotmail and yahoo email have placed invites in the spam folder. Check there if your expected invite does not appear.)

Looks like gmail is now out of beta; or very close to it. I had 6 invites for several months, and yesterday, I finally managed to get rid of 1. So I was rather shocked to see today that one of my gmail accounts now has _50_ invites (the other is stuck at 10 invites). Seems I am not the only one.

As for invites. Bah. 50 is going to take 1 metric forever to send all of them out. Nevertheless, if you have been living under a deep, dark rock, and you don't yet, somehow, have a gmail account, leave first name, last name, and email address to send the invite to, and I will send invites to as many people as I can be bothered to.
(Note: first name and last name can be anything. You can change it after you sign up. Secondly, in the past hotmail and yahoo email have placed invites in the spam folder. Check there if your expected invite does not appear.)

Today I noticed that I have this little box in my Gmail account saying that I've now got 50 Gmail invitations.

webpronews

Naw, the Americans still piss off the world the most in That Department

This feels like the Wiki topic debate in many ways. Except with one big difference no set group "moderation" option. While info can be repeated over and comments added by other blogs there isn't a central location which sumerizes all the views.

During the elections one station had a "blog point of view" (I forget who) which they were trying to use as feedback for trying to see what issues people were talking about most and what general opions were. So as a census type review of the public eye they seemed to think it had some merrit at least. Maybe this is a place to start? Blog Stats

Examples blogs you might consider news:
"E-LawLibrary Weblog provides professional analysis and commentary on current news items regarding research, the information profession, libraries, the legal profession, and law school."
E-LawLibrary Weblog

Blogging for PR?

If your now convinced... ;) You too can own your own blogger: A Blogger Put himself on Auctions at e-bay

Read this
Looks like Microsoft PR department has also heeded to the warning :-)

(Author claims to be a Google nut.)"

This may be the nicest thing anyone's ever said about Jeeves.

"MSN must be using a very similar algorithm."

You are not the only one saying that Microsoft is copying Google. Basically, they are indexing whatever Google does. Apparently they didn't have enough content of their own.

Stupid fool. AOL is not the Internet.

AOL does, however, make the Internet better.

Yeah, 6000lb+ vehicles used SOLELY for business purposes have some special rules regarding depreciation under section 179. More info here.

The clean car credit applies to personal AND business vehicles, however.

You're kidding, right? That's like saying most warez sites are up "by mistake". Open proxies are a service provided to avoid censorship like when China censors Google for political reasons or the US censors the Olympics for commercial reasons

Already been done. Linkage here.

# whereis microsoft
microsoft:
# which microsoft
no microsoft in /sbin /bin /usr/sbin /usr/bin /usr/ccs/bin/ /usr/games /usr/local/sbin /usr/local/bin

# uname
SunOS

Ok all joking aside, here is a nice article. Search Engine Watch editor Danny Sullivan's Keynote speech yesterday was entitled "Search Wars."

(Ok, technically their business is to sell as many AdWords as possible, but they do this by being the no. 1 search engine, and they are that because they provide the best search experience for the user.)