Google Forms Partnership With NASA

jangobongo writes "Google said on Wednesday that it plans to partner with NASA on space research projects. The new partnership will involve R&D on biotechnology, information technology and nanotechnology, as well as supercomputing. The news article notes some of the mutual benefits: "Google stands to gain from learning about NASA's supercomputers, which could come in handy as the Mountain View search engine compiles even bigger indexes of information and video. NASA leaders cited the benefits of getting access to Google's search expertise to pick out nuggets of information from the volumes of data streaming back from satellites and human space launches."" This story might seem familiar to you. Consider it a public service: if I didn't screw up occasionally, a lot of angry readers would have no other way to vent their rage in a safe environment.

Comments

Saw that coming

[fembots]

First they were collaborating on technology, so the next natural step is to form a partnership. All in all took less than 10 hours to decide.

Re:Saw that coming

[Zarquil]

10 more hours and they'll have a marriage with a couple of really rowdy kids running around the place...

Re:Saw that coming

[iotashan]

Look, ma... Duplicate comments for a duplicate post! :)

Re:Saw that coming

[fembots]

Are you talking to me or CmdrTaco?

Re:Saw that coming

[SoCalChris]

From everything I've heard, the editors never even respond to dupe reports.

And something tells me that he didn't have to spend more than a few seconds "hunting" for the dupe, considering it is still on the front page.

Re:Saw that coming

[daniil]

I was talking to you, even though in hindsight, I should have saved that harsh tone for TripMaster Monkey (hey, at least your post was topical).

Re:Saw that coming

[p33p3r]

Better to form a team than to become a contractor

R E P O S T

[popo]

Fer crying out loud, its not only a repost, its *still* up on the /. front page!!!

Get it together CmdrTaco!

Re:R E P O S T

[Megane]

Zonk is so good that he's been posting dupes before the original article appears!

Re:R E P O S T

[ectospasm]

I can't find it, but I think I saw somewhere where CmdrTaco said that dupes served a purpose, such as giving people who haven't seen the story yet a chance to read about it. Of course, the fact that the original for this story is on the front page is still pretty sad...

Re:R E P O S T

[Rahga]

Physics can explain this...

The article is moving is moving so fast that that while it appears to be in at the bottom of the page one second, then at the top of the page by the next second. However, the article has taken what would feel like days in our time to make the trip, and observes that we haven't moved at all.

Re:R E P O S T

[oGMo]

But this one features the Google icon on top, so we're getting both sides of the story.

Re:R E P O S T

[djh101010]

Fer crying out loud, its not only a repost, its *still* up on the /. front page!!!

Once again, I saw this before it happened (subscribers see articles before they go "green") and reported it to the "If you see a serious problem with this article, report it to daddypants@slashdot.org". I sent the email, with a link and everything to Zonk's post of the same thing.

Just like last time, nothing happened. No acknowledgement of the email (automated _or_ human), and the dupe went out.

Hey editors, does anyone read the daddypants emails? Am I wasting my time? I mean, if you're not going to do anything about it anyway, remove the mailto: link.

Annoyed,
djh101010

Re:R E P O S T

[jericho4.0]

Not as bad as this one.

Re:R E P O S T

[fantastic]

Its getting like CNN, disregard all the other news , ie reject posts from the rest of us and repost the same old thing time and time again.

Re:R E P O S T

[djh101010]

I don't suppose that whatever rocket scientist who modded that post "redundant" would care to explain their thinking?

Re:R E P O S T

[twilight30]

You're still subscribing?

Why in the name of crikey would you want to do that? Continuing to shoot money their way is essentially reinforcing their poor behaviour.

If it were me, I'd be thinking seriously about cancelling it and firing them a strongly-worded letter explaining why.

Re:R E P O S T

[Jim Hall]

Fer crying out loud, its not only a repost, its *still* up on the /. front page!!!

You know, I think I'll submit this same story tomorrow, and see if they post it ... :-)

Re:R E P O S T

[Anonymous Coward]

Tell me sir, how does it feel to PAY for the privilege to see a post in advance, give a fair warning of DUPE-ness, and get modded redundant?
I'll get modded down too, but it won't cost me any :-)

But then again I'm going AC, to not spoilt the points the good people gave me.

Re:R E P O S T

[djh101010]

You're still subscribing? Why in the name of crikey would you want to do that? Continuing to shoot money their way is essentially reinforcing their poor behaviour.

Well, I haven't used up my pages yet. As to if I'll send more money? (shrug) Dunno. I'm not really seeing any benefit to being a subscriber other than being able to see the dups before they're posted,y'know?

Re:R E P O S T

[RealAlaskan]

It's a duplicate. If you want to discourage dup's, don't come look here and tell us it's a repost; don't click on it at all. If Slashdot gets no traffic from reposts, they'll soon stop wasting front page space on them.

I sort of like reposts, since I usually don't come here often enough to see both the original and the repost. These dup's double the chance that I'll see a story on the front page. Having both on the front page at the same time is a little goofy, I have to admit. Still, if that doesn't hurt either their pride or their revenue stream, why should the slashdot crew care?

Re:R E P O S T

[extrasolar]

Well, maybe the daddypants account is just a joke or something. Here, try the following email address because I'm *sure* it works: rootdevslashnull@slashdot.org .

Re:R E P O S T

[gronofer]

You may think it's just funny, but these duplicates are making it hard to read slashdot. Lets say you start at the front page and read the articles until you see one that looks familiar. So have you read all the new stuff and reached the stuff you were reading yesterday, or is it a dup?

For safety, you could take a look at the next article too, but maybe there were just two dups in a row?

How many articles do you need to check before you are sure you have reached yesterday's stuff?

Re:R E P O S T

[phyruxus]

(Score:-1, Redundant)
someday we'll hear from the department of redundancy department. someday.

lol

So it wasn't a joke after all

[scenestar]

Sign me up for G.C.H.E.E.S.E.

http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html

Re:So it wasn't a joke after all

[filesiteguy]

Heh, you beat me to the punch (line). That's the first thought that I had after reading this. Google...NASA...lunar jobs.

Searching Space

[rsmith-mac]

Am I the only one that finds a certain sense of subtle irony in a search engine company searching space itself? Now if only I could use Google to find my car keys...

Re:Searching Space

[bhsx]

You can!

Re:Searching Space

[blackmonday]

I searched Google for your car keys, they're in between the cushions on your couch.

Re:Searching Space

[NitsujTPU]

Ya I'm a girl - do you have a problem with it, bub?

No, I don't.

Re:Searching Space

[abirdman]

I get that, but what worried me was the idea they might try and replace a rocket engine with a search engine. Maybe the new staff at the top of NASA needs to talk to someone in the know, about how those infernal contraptions really work! Sheesh.

Re:Searching Space

[arodland]

Ya I'm a girl

A transgendered, bilingual girl, at that!

Re:Searching Space

[RM6f9]

"Space, the final frontier - These are the voyages of the Starship Google-borg, its continuing mission: To absorb strange new worlds; to search out new life, and new assimilations, to boldly go where no one has gone before."

Re:Searching Space

[morganjharvey]

I think this is where I insert the comment about life immitating bbspot or somesuch?
I can't remember where I saw the link for this originally, but here it is.

cheers, morgan

Re:Searching Space

[NitsujTPU]

Listen to you with your one-upmanship.

We all know the real reason behind this.

[Rude Turnip]

I think Google is just hoping to get discounted fares for trips to their lunar base.

Google with NASA... huh?

[PickyH3D]

I really cannot imagine that Google needs assistance with super computing? The distributed computing they perform alone shows their own expertise in the area. I also would assume that distributed computing serves their purposes better than a single super computer (or even a few).

Really, what I am saying is, why is Google doing this, or more over, being allowed to do this? Seems to me to be a bunch of PR. When I first read it, I thought, "that's cool, good of them," but now I seem to find myself questioning what Google has to gain. It's not like they can make the data streaming from the satellites and other inputs available to the public.

Re:Google with NASA... huh?

[ZachPruckowski]

Even if Google is the best at supercomputing, they would benefit from the old adage that "two heads are better than one". NASA has been at this for longer, and maybe they can together come up with something better than Google has now.

Is there any chance that Google will be paid for their work? Maybe that's happening in a less public manner (still legal and open, but not advertised)? I mean, who reads budget documents?

Or maybe Google is really trying to do something good? I mean, their motto is "Don't be Evil", right? Not that I accept what people say at face value, but it is worth considering.

Re:Google with NASA... huh?

[Nefarious Wheel]

Cue Collossus: "You will learn to love me"

--The Forbin Project

Re:Google with NASA... huh?

[PickyH3D]

I love the logic there. Also, thanks for posting anonymously, puss. I was looking for a reason to be encouraged by the news. Your reply exemplifies that of a Google fanboy/anti-MS zealot. Thanks for playing.

Re:Duped in under 9 hours.

[Otter]

...and it's not like there's a high threshold here for Google stories. Haven't they changed their cafeteria prices or repainted their parking spaces or something since this morning?

All your base belong to Google?

[fizz]

Ive been saying this for the better part of two years now. Google will own the world! Its not MS you have to worry about. Maybe people should actually start putting in for their jobs on the lunar base as it might become a reality instead of a practicle joke :)

NASA twenty years from now

[totallygeek]

The head of NASA will be saying, "Looking back, working with Google was a mistake."

Next within 2 hours on news!

[TarrySingh]

Google's partnership with NASA confirmed! :-)

Well...

[Bob Vila's Hammer]

Its as if some terrific universal force has finally put 2 and 2 exclusive forces together. In that vein, I sure wish Nerf would get together with Louisville Slugger and produce a crotchbat that can handle my needs. As far as I'm concerned, the formula nerf + crotch hasn't yet equaled lots of fun.

Re:/.ed *still*

[adavies42]

ITYM "still /.ed".

MS-Spacestation?

[zappepcs]

Now that google is working with NASA (Twice) does this mean that Ms will build the MS Spacestation in order to beat google?

Re:MS-Spacestation?

[twiddlingbits]

Of course then we would have to build the Linux Space Station "Tvorlds" to prove the MS SpaceStation "Ballmer" with it's proprietary technologies is bad and evil. Penguins in Space!

Of course, Having THREE Space Stations (1.5 working, the OpenSource one and 25% of the other two) is a step forward from where the ISS is now.

Re:MS-Spacestation?

[jebilbrey]

I bet the UK mars probe (Beagle) was secretly sponsored by Microsoft. That explains why it crashed to the ground at a couple hundred miles per hour! It BSODed mid landing!!!

Re:MS-Spacestation?

[pasword ***]

They are on the way...
The contest made history this week, when Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's SpaceShipOne craft sped 100km above Earth'

Could we get a finer detailed..

[FreshFunk510]

.. play-by-play of the growing relationship with Google and Nasa? Because 2 stories in 1 day is certainly not enough for me.

Should Be Open Bid

[geomon]

The government should only form alliances with industry where there are no other obvious partners. While Google may have a lead on search technology, opening up the partnership process to include Microsoft and Yahoo! would benefit the government more than sole sourcing.

Competition for government partnerships is always better than just selecting the current industry lead. The US government did that with office suites and is now paying a hefty price for that decision.

Re:Should Be Open Bid

[NeoSkandranon]

It seems like it would perhaps be a bad idea to let three cutthroat competitors into a parternship with an "outsider" ---on the one hand you get 3 different kinds of input, but how do you deal with the competitors squabbling?

Re:Should Be Open Bid

[ZachPruckowski]

That really hasn't been the government trend in this administration. Besides, didn't I read somewhere that Google is paying for this privledge?

I agree in principal that open bid is needed, but MS, Yahoo, and Google are fairly different. I mean, it is possible to define a set of requirements for which Google is the only real choice out there.

Re:Should Be Open Bid

[Brendor]

I wrote this reply to the previous article but thought it might be relevant here as well. Google's "robustly academic" corporate culture of as well of their product offerings are well suited to NASA in particular.

"Considering how much data NASA has to process, I think Google's tools fit right in . . ."

I remember a TV news piece about NASA not having the capability to process the data in it s collection due to the bandwidth of the tape backup system at the time and the shelf life and quantity of the tapes. This is the sort of data set that Google seems to look for in any market they can conceive of.

Since this data is work of the federal government it should be Public domain as well. The Public would benefit form having such information available. Anything from videos of all previous shuttle missions (NASA TV presented by Google Video) to Galactic Maps, Transcripts and scientific data from unmanned and manned missions going back to the 1950s. (Does NASA (or any other govt. agency) currently offer the data they've collected for the public in usable formats such as excel spreadsheets or other comparable formats that are not primarily publications formats such as PDF or HTML?)

Re:Should Be Open Bid

[CSfreakazoid]

Why should anybody else be involved? Yahoo, the second best ranked search engine is "powered by GOOGLE" any company that convince someone to pay them and give them a monopoly deservse the eclusive partnership.

Wow, it really IS Rocket Science!

[argent]

Wow, search engine technology really is Rocket Science!

At least it's not Brain Surgery.

Re:Wow, it really IS Rocket Science!

[EnderWiggin99]

Apparently not to the Slashcode authors, who can't even be bothered to do a background check on new story submissions. How hard is it to automate a dupe-checker to verify that the title keywords and the submission links are not found in the submissions database before the story goes live?

Apparently very very difficult. Google must be worth its market cap.

hehe, i'm a bad person.

[Frac]

So, it's a dupe.

As a subscriber, you'll see a note under unposted articles that says:

"See any serious problems with this story? Email our on-duty editor."

You know what... I know this was a dupe, and I didn't tell their on-duty editor!!!!

I'm feeling mischievous today.

Re:hehe, i'm a bad person.

[lukedukekiwi]

its only taco, no damage done

Re:hehe, i'm a bad person.

[Amouth]

you know i saw the orignal this moringing.. and just as i was going to leave work i check and hot damn it is right here on the top.. i had to check the clock to make sure i didn't jsut dream that i spent the day working and praying i didn't have to be here for another 8 hours..

good thing it was a dupe.. becuse i don't think i could have taken the other option

Re:Pete and Repeat

[spoonyfork]

Pete and Repeat are on a boat, Pete jumps off, who's left . . . ?

Repeat.

Pete and Repeat are on a boat. Pete jumps off. Who's left?

Simply Shocked

[eunos94]

I say, who would have thought? I know I couldn't have any prior knowledge of this. Not even if it had still be on the front page of Slashdot.

That’s a misprint

[BandwidthHog]

It’s supposed to read “Google Forms Partnership with NSA.”

search engine

[ecumenical_40oz]

find: moon landing AND mars landing NOT 15 year wait NOT 10 Billion dollar price tag

Re:search engine

[A beautiful mind]

Empty set (0.0003 sec)

It's a job; not a hobby

[Sun Tzu]

Evidently, Taco doesn't read /.

Implications in the Geospatial domain

[Lord Satri]

As indicated on the brand-new slash-css website http://slashgisrs.org/ , this new "team" will probably have an impact on GIS.

"Google's engineers will be able to pick NASA's brains for ideas on supercomputing design, which could help the company in its efforts to create products such as 3-D maps. "We already have Google Earth. We'd like to have Google Mars and Google Moon," quipped Peter Norvig, director of search quality at Google."
Taken from http://appdomains.slashgisrs.org/article.pl?sid=05 /09/29/173248

Re:New opportunity for a partnership!

[op12]

The data has been mined, and a month of posts has be reduced to 6 posts:

1. Google becoming evil!
2. Google vs. Microsoft!
3. IE vs. Firefox!
4. *AA coming after $P2P
5. Linux/Open source: is it spreading/becoming mainstream?
6. Slashvertisments


...I keed.......kind of...

A Better Partnership

[eander315]

I wish they would partner with Slashdot so the editors can search the site before posting DUPES.

CmdrTaco says....

[dotpavan]

..Consider it a public service: if I didn't screw up occasionally, a lot of angry readers would have no other way to vent their rage in a safe environment.

what are you talking? if we were to direct our anger on you, then what is the-punch-bag-of-slashdot-dept CowboyNeal for?

Article has it backwards.

[team99parody]

From TFA: "Google stands to gain from learning about NASA's supercomputers, which could come in handy as the Mountain View search engine compiles even bigger indexes of information and video."

More realistically, NASA's supercomputer guys stand to gain from learning how to build even bigger supercompuers than their for cheaper.

It seems all too often that the press seems to misrepresent the old stoggy has-beens as "teaching" teh upstarts (like the other story on slashdot that claimed "HP Propelling Linux Into Truly 'Big' Time", when IBM & Google have pretty much proven that Linux is leading HP if anything propelling HP into the big time).

I think the partnership's great, though -- I'd love to see what kinds of computing efforts could be pulled off with NASA's resources (billions are small to them (" as the average launch expenditures during its operations up to 2005 accumulates to $1.3 billion " from wikipedia); while it still makes news when Google raises 4-billion) and Google's knowledge.

Re:Article has it backwards.

[cnkeller]

More realistically, NASA's supercomputer guys stand to gain from learning how to build even bigger supercompuers than their for cheaper.

Disclaimer: I work at NAS, but in no way speak for them.

The kinds of computing work and research (and problems) that we deal with here are traditionally of the shared memory kind. It's a lot more challenging problem space than linking up a few thousand 1U boxes over gigE and calling it a supercomputer (hello va tech); even if the linpack runs are fairly impressive for that type of system. This isn't to say that both sides won't benefit from the partnership, but as far as I can tell, Google doesn't do supercomputing.

Re:Article has it backwards.

[Lightman_73]

Please, someone with mod points, mod the parent up insightful.

For the grandparent : repeat after me : "a bunch of loosely connected c.o.t.s. boxes used for running a bunch of (sequential) jobs is not a supercomputer". Supercomputers (with or without virtual shared memory, NUMA or not) are a completely different thing. They may be, in some cases, similar on a hardware level, but they're two worlds apart from a software standpoint.

instant karma

[cobbaut]

just copy all the +5 comments from http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/2 9/120241&tid=236&tid=217&tid=126&tid=14

Re:instant karma

[benjamin264]

Or repost your comments and see if they get modded the same...

In any event, I really hope that all of this does generate some positive interest in NASA.

Re:instant karma

[dummyname12]

OK!:

One small step for man
(Score:5, Funny)
by LiquidCoooled (634315) Alter Relationship on Thursday September 29, @09:08PM (#13674792)
A giant leap for google kind towards the Copernicus Center [google.com]

Old News.
(Score:5, Funny)
by HugePedlar (900427) Alter Relationship on Thursday September 29, @09:08PM (#13674794)
(http://www.hugepedlar.com/)
http://moon.google.com/ [google.com] and http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html [google.com]

Reasoning
(Score:5, Funny)
by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 29, @09:15PM (#13674830)
        Nasa recently unveiled plans to make another moon landing by 2020
And why not, they've looked for Osama every other place that he isn't.

I can see it all now...
(Score:5, Funny)
by Linker3000 (626634) Alter Relationship on Thursday September 29, @09:32PM (#13674915)
"Mission Control, this is Mars Pathfinder 1, we are experiencing minor power fluctuations on bus C and require some diagnostic advice, over..."
"Pathfinder 1, roger that, wait one..."
"Pathfinder, this is Mission Control, please surf to history.nasa.gov/ap13rb/ch4pt.2.pdf. If you need a copy of Acrobat Reader please advise and I will supply the URL, over..."

Re:I can see it all now...
(Score:5, Funny)
by LiquidCoooled (634315) Alter Relationship on Thursday September 29, @09:39PM (#13674938)
Thats still sounds a like a hell of a lot better future than if they chose Microsoft for the on board diagnosis:
"Mission Control, this is Mars Pathfinder 1, we are experiencing minor power fluctuations on bus C and require some diagnostic advice, over..."
Clippy: It looks like your all going to die. Would you like to.....
*silent scream*

SETI to GETI
(Score:5, Funny)
by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 29, @09:42PM (#13674950)
The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence will be replaced by Google for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence.

Re:Moffett
(Score:5, Informative)
by josephtd (817237) Alter Relationship on Thursday September 29, @09:27PM (#13674888)
Yea, well there is now a surplus of of office space around the Moffett Field area. My office is over on Shoreline and there are For Lease signs everywhere.

Re:Google never should have went public
(Score:5, Informative)
by bheer (633842) Alter Relationship on Thursday September 29, @09:44PM (#13674964)
Google's stock offering has been very carefully structured to give Larry and Sergei a lot more control[1] than the ordinary shareholding public (and besides, Google is still relatively closely held - the main shareholders of Google are its investors and they trust the founders+Eric Schmidt implicitly). In fact, the non-founding shareholders (mostly Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia) likely know that Google's 'goofiness' makes for good press and share price, and as long as the party continues they're unlikely to rock the boat.
[1] WaPo: After IPO, Google Founders Plan to Remain in Control [washingtonpost.com]

The Perfect /. Story

[Viper Daimao]

Google and NASA in the same /. story! Will they be using linux or some other open source software? If so, then we may have the Perfect /. Story!!

Hey, if the editors can dupe, why cant I?

Re:The Perfect /. Story

[vandon]

NASA has big archives of space data, and they're only going to get bigger - the next generation of earth observing satellites are expected to generate 4 petabytes/year. That's 4 * 10**15, folks - think 8,000 500 GB drives. Per year. For at least the next ten years. One year is on the order of the size of Google's web cache.

Current archives are merely huge, and off-the-shelf databases are having trouble indexing it all - I've heard of a database holding just metadata (date/time, geographic extent, data type, resolution, format, etc.) for millions of observations where queries were taking tens of seconds, and this was with top-of-the-line commercial database software with all the spatial search bells and whistles.

If anybody can come up with a better way to store and index this stuff, it's Google.

Re:The Perfect /. Story

[mikeabbotthome]

That makes sense. How to best handle vast databases on a budget. I suspect that some of what google might be researching involves extracting information from images and possibly that could be involved as well.

Why not?

[CPNABEND]

While I do not believe the common folks would care, there are a lot of geeks that would love to google for Mars info, etc. It is information paid for with taxpayer $$, and has no national security implications... Unless the Martians are massing the space ships for an attack. :^)

Re:Pete and Repeat

[Karma_fucker_sucker]

How fucking dare you say "asterisk"!

I read a funny joke press release this morning

[Work Account]

GOOGLE/NASA TEAM UP
SILICON VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, USA
AP NEWS WIRE
One of the first fruits of the Google/NASA pairing will be the gShuttle. The existing space shuttle will be modified to store 10x the amount the previous shuttle could (though no details yet from NASA as to why they need that much space and if they'd actually use it). The new shuttle would also bring up paid advertisments based on various criteria, the formula for which Google has not made public. Another gShuttle innovation would be a radically simplier control and navigation system. The pilots will not simply type in their commands to the shuttle (e.g. "rearThrusters:fire burntime:10"). One particularly interesting feature is the "I feel lucky" button on the navigation console, no specifics as to the exact function of this button was put forth by the Google spokesdrone.

First Google Earth..

[Ryan Amos]

...next, Google Space!

Re:First Google Earth..

[UnapprovedThought]

Ya, there's so many possibilities, I can barely contain the excitement:

• Now we can search the Moon for... traces of the Apollo module, and ... uh?
• We can search inside Mars for the Beagle crash site, and ... uh?
• We can search the asteroid belt for... rocks? Irony?
• We can search Jupiter to see where the Big Red Storm is today?
• We can search Saturn for... ring composition?
• We can search inside Neptune for... car keys?
• We can search inside Ur...

OK, maybe those of us who haven't lost our moral fibre should stick to searching the inner planets, and leave those "other" types of searches to those in the law-making bodies of the executive branch who are inherently unable to enjoy those types of things and will therefore exercise the appropriate levels of restraint when reviewing the data they have collected *cough* *cough*....

Re:New opportunity for a partnership!

[stupidfoo]

You forgot one:
7. Vaporware

And I'd alter 1 to read "Google becoming evil/is awesome!"

We ALREADY HAVE google Moon!!

[JeffHeatonDotCom]

We already have google moon. Check it out:

http://moon.google.com

GO GOOGLE!

[NIN1385]

There is no end to this, it is great. Glad to see stuff like this happening, this is the only company I have no problem with if they decide to monopolize the industry. Milton Bradley would be so proud they're following in the footsteps of his board game!

Re:GO GOOGLE!

[fucksl4shd0t]

Except Milton Bradley had nothing to do with Monopoly. Parker Brothers were the guys that originally distributed it.

But they didn't invent it, and neither did Darrow, the man credited with inventing it.

Re:GO GOOGLE!

[Kinky Bass Junk]

"this is the only company I have no problem with if they decide to monopolize the industry."

And that's the exact problem with this. Google is lulling people into believing that their monopoly is an "OK" monopoly; no monopoly is a good monopoly. They're teaming up with the government! You can't get much more monopolistic than that. If Microsoft teamed up with the Government, what would you say?

Re:GO GOOGLE!

[NIN1385]

Bah, it's going to happen eventually anyway...whether it's google or something worse, I'd rather have it be google.

Re:What would the world's smartest people do?

[vertinox]

but now I seem to find myself questioning what Google has to gain.

Think about it. If you put some of the world's brightest minds in the same building and they all have a discussion among themselves, what would they conclude they would all like to do?

GET OFF THIS GOD FORSAKEN PLANET!

Coming Soon - NASOOGLE!

[Anonymous Coward]

Useless, overweight organisations - combine! Forming NASOOGLE! No wonder Google has managed to make their stock price defy gravity recently. :) I'm sure we'll soon see the other fruits of their work:

* The Space Shuttle "USS Beta", it sorta works but nobody can be held responsible because it's clearly still being tested. And you want a ride, you have to be invited by someone else who's already an astronaut.

* "Unintrusive" advertising on all Hubble images. Sure, you get a slightly less useful image (and hey, it's text, so it can't be bad.. right?) - but for some reason you can now never delete any data. Images of Uranus now all have links to toilet humor websites, due to advertisers for whom the joke never seem to get old.

* Thousands of junker PCs at mission control are running in a cluster - half of them have failed, but who knows which ones? The NASOOGLE Surveyor robots are sent on a 3 year mission to the server room to seek out dead machines. Bonus mission: second robot accidentally enters nerd founder's psyche, discovers their virginity, buried under pile of money and stock certificates. Core sample of founder's brain is unsucessful due to excessive ego field, boosted by recent purchase of a private Boeing 767.

* Google Maps now randomly delivers distances in Imperial or Metric, without telling you which. It'll crash (into another planet) when asked to be specific.

* Meanwhile, NASOOGLE tests a new type of spacecraft drive, powered by pure irony emminating from Slashdot posters asserting Google's "do no evil" policy. Point out that the only product Google sells is advertising (since when have advertising companies ever worked in the interest of you, their targets?), view lunatic Google zealots defending Google for being bastion of good, hook web browser up to irony detector, and voila! Sustained spaceflight is achieved, travelling at twice the speed of light.

I could go on, but I'm bored now. Google and NASA both seem to be waning organisations who haven't really done anything original, worthwhile or exciting in a while. They kind of deserve each other at this point.

America Writers' Guild Lawsuit in 5... 4...

[doublem]

In related news, the American Writers' Guild has filed a lawsuit to block Google from partnering with NASA.

A Guild Spokes-Weasel said, "We can't let them do NAYTHING until they resolve their issues with us. If they want to do anything, they have to pay us a licensing fee."

Aanother revenue generating source

[managedcode]

This is a confluence of intellectual monsters. No doubt, MIT students line up for Google recruting events. Damm it they got another revenue source and trust me this will be something big say atleast few 100 million dollars.
By the way are you using managed code to build your apps ? Trust MCPP.

"Brain! Brain! What is BRAIN?!!!"

[Thud457]

Google, Google, Google!

You're gonna feel pretty dumb when Google ships you off to toil in the soylent green mines!

Re:In other news...

[WilliamSChips]

In other news, the "THIS IS A DUPE" whiners form a partnership with the /. editors--because the latter repeats itself less.

Its time has come...my gift to the /. community...

[Linker3000]

Slashdot EeziPost (TM) MK I

#NB: For obvious reasons, the first option is ENABLED by default - remember to turn off if you are NOT responding to a dupe

[X] Another: [X] Dupe [ ] Slashvertisment [X] WTF [X] $editor is a dork

[ ] Frist psot [ ] link to GNAA [ ] Link to goatse [ ] $random_drivel

[ ] I Haven't RTFA, but... $random_opinionated_comment

[ ] Slashdotted already!. I bet their server runs on $topic_item too

[ ] Soul_sucking registration required

[ ] Mod Parent [ ] up [ ] Down

[ ] Fsck: [ ] SCO [ ] Micro$oft [ ] DMCA [ ] DRM [ ] MPAA [ ] RIAA [ ] Google [ ] Bush [ ] You all

[ ] I for one welcome our new $topic_item overlords

[ ] Imagine a beowulf cluster of those

[ ] In Soviet Russia, $topic_item owns you!

[X] Meh!

[ ] Netcraft confirms $topic_item is: [ ] dead [ ] dying

[ ] But have the inventors thought of what will happen if $random_amateur_insight

[ ] Once again the USA is clamping down on my [ ] Amendment rights.

[ ] You insensitive clod

[ ] But people who download music from P2P networks are more likely to buy the album

[ ] Cue DVD Jon-type crack in 3..2..1

[ ] Torrent, anyone?

[ ] Here's a link to a patch: $random_linux_distro_url

[ ] Profit!!

[ ] Still no cure for cancer

Why don't they just BUY NASA and be done with it?

[wsanders]

Tired of getting screwed by Congress? Tired of being forced to implement 30 year old obsolete and dangerous technology for political reasons? Tired of some pork barrel law that forces your Operation center to locate in hurricane-prone areas?

Privatize!

Coming soon: Google buys the education system! No more aguing about whether cavemen rode dinosaurs like horses!

Re:Pete and Repeat

[Thud457]

"Who's left?"

No, Who's not on the boat, he's on first.

sheesh!

Re:New opportunity for a partnership!

[bd1e0d0]

This would be wonderful. Slashdot.Google.com! I wonder what it would be like ...

Tell this to Peter Norvig!

[Lord Satri]

I know this. I guess Peter Norvig, director of search quality at Google, was meaning improving Google Moon. He wanted to fit Google Moon and Google Mars in the same sentence, with a confusing result!

That's wicked - wish I had mod points!!!

[StuffJustHappens]

See Subject - LOL

Re:That's wicked - wish I had mod points!!!

[jx100]

..don't you mean...

  Slashdot EeziPost (TM) MK I

#NB: For obvious reasons, the first option is ENABLED by default - remember to turn off if you are NOT responding to a dupe

[ ] Another: [ ] Dupe [ ] Slashvertisment [ ] WTF [ ] $editor is a dork

[ ] Frist psot [ ] link to GNAA [ ] Link to goatse [ ] $random_drivel

[ ] I Haven't RTFA, but... $random_opinionated_comment

[ ] Slashdotted already!. I bet their server runs on $topic_item too

[ ] Soul_sucking registration required

[X] Mod Parent [X] up [ ] Down

[ ] Fsck: [ ] SCO [ ] Micro$oft [ ] DMCA [ ] DRM [ ] MPAA [ ] RIAA [ ] Google [ ] Bush [ ] You all

[ ] I for one welcome our new $topic_item overlords

[ ] Imagine a beowulf cluster of those

[ ] In Soviet Russia, $topic_item owns you!

[ ] Meh!

[ ] Netcraft confirms $topic_item is: [ ] dead [ ] dying

[ ] But have the inventors thought of what will happen if $random_amateur_insight

[ ] Once again the USA is clamping down on my [ ] Amendment rights.

[X] You insensitive clod

[ ] But people who download music from P2P networks are more likely to buy the album

[ ] Cue DVD Jon-type crack in 3..2..1

[ ] Torrent, anyone?

[ ] Here's a link to a patch: $random_linux_distro_url

[ ] Profit!!

[ ] Still no cure for cancer

?

Problems

[uberdave]

Google moon doesn't have any of the Ranger sites, nor any of the Russian sites. I'm not sure, but I don't think the far side of the moon is even shown.

Re:Its time has come...my gift to the /. community

[SoCalChris]

[ ] Still no cure for cancer

I think your Slashdot EeziPost (TM) MK I is having a conflict with the Fark SquirrelNut Commentator 3000 (TM)

Google twenty years from now

[chill]

More like the head of Google will be saying, "Looking back, working with NASA was a mistake."

I guess the response to the April 1st ad to work at Google's Moon location was just to overwhelming to ignore.

  -Charles

Is it possible to mod down dupe complainers?

[yog]

I guess it's handy to know that a story is redundant, but when most of the ensuing discussion is focussed on that point, it gets kind of boring, not to mention that the postings are themselves dupes of each other. I wish that the user options provided a way to hide such postings so that those of us interested in the story can discuss it. Although, I do tend to browse at -1 since some decent comments do get modded down by ignorant moderators.

I think it's really cool that NASA is partnering with Google; there seems to be some real synergy there. Someone at Google or at NASA is thinking creatively. NASA has data, and Google has data-processing technologies. Makes sense.

I disagree with the guy who thinks Google should share the partnership with Yahoo and Microsoft. Think of the complexities that would be involved in such a 4-way collaboration, with the three competitors jockeying for a dominant role while publicly acting like friendly partners, while secretly trying to steal each other's technologies, and so forth. No, Google is the premier search engine in the world; no one else comes close, and it seems unlikely that MS/Yahoo will become household search terms any time soon. "Let's just MSN that recipe when we get home!" "Did you yahoo this or did you write yourself?" No I don't think so somehow.

It would be interesting to see if NASA opens up its space probe data streams to Google searches in the future. Perhaps this will spawn a whole new cottage industry of weekend warriors who try to interpret the gigabytes of information streaming back from Mars probes and the like.

Re:Is it possible to mod down dupe complainers?

[Thing 1]

Is it possible to mod down dupe complainers?

It should be fairly simple to add a regex text field with a modifier of your choice.

Like for Friends, Foes, Fans, and Freaks, you can choose different modifiers; this would open it up so you could, say, mod to -5 any post with "dupe" in it.

Several of those could be added: subject, comment, signature, and even name. Actually, do it the way Google does attachments, and have the type be a drop-down as well. Then you could have as many as you like, and the default view doesn't take a lot of screen real estate.

Me, I'd +5 any mention of Discworld or Douglas Adams. ;-)

Giving me the idea that, like your relationships, it might be nice to have the regexs be public. (It should be optional though.)

Dupes - That's What We Do!

[wsanders]

Taco is just f***ing with us - read the intro. It can't be one of /.'s core competencies yet, they haven't registered the domain:

Get it while it's hot:

Whois Server Version 1.3 ...
No match for domain "SLASHDUP.COM".

Re:Its time has come...my gift to the /. community

[Linker3000]

In other new: Drew claims code infringement and hires same lawyer as SCO, grabs another beer. His dog wants compensation.

NASA and Google

[p33p3r]

A place with a scary database (search engine) mating with a place with scary (Cray YMP) computers. How scary can that be.Hmmmmmmmmm

Well...

[deathy_epl ccs]

I for one praise our beloved Google overlords.

Different Story

[kwiqsilver]

The earlier story had a Nasa logo, this one has a Google logo. That makes them completely different stories.

SETI

[mattsucks]

Google outta partner with SETI.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=space+aliens+ from+alpha+centauri&btnG=Google+Search

Seems a lot simpler than the way we search now.

Re:Its time has come...my gift to the /. community

[WilliamSChips]

You forgot:

[ ] Degrading(sometimes funny, sometimes just plain stupid--parent is the former) comment about the /. community

Google Forms Partnership With Slashdot

[Lars T.]

This will enable Slashdot editors to google articles on Slashdot, so they can guarantee a steady flow of dupes.

Re:Its time has come...my gift to the /. community

[Chris Pimlott]

Don't forget

[ ] Coral Cache: XXX.nyud.net:8090

In a manner of speaking...

[psycho]

>if I didn't screw up occasionally,

For large values of "occasionally"?

Re:Eletric Shock Therapy

[Ranger]

You mean they actually enjoy it?

Re:Its time has come...my gift to the /. community

[speculatrix]

[ ] still no flying car

FUCKING DUPE!!!!

[SoupIsGoodFood_42]

if I didn't screw up occasionally, a lot of angry readers would have no other way to vent their rage in a safe environment.

fucking fucking dupe!!!! stupid slashdot!!! stupid invalid htmlcode!!!!!!! dupe stories crap editors!!!!!! fucking dupe fucking dupe!!!!!!!12!111M fucking fucking dupe!!!! stupid slashdot!!! stupid invalid htmlcode!!!!!!! dupe stories crap editors!!!!!! fucking dupe fucking dupe!!!!!!!12!111M fucking fucking dupe!!!! stupid slashdot!!! stupid invalid htmlcode!!!!!!! dupe stories crap editors!!!!!! fucking dupe fucking dupe!!!!!!!12!111M

Hey, you're right! I feel much better, now. I just wish the lameness filter would let me post in all-caps... I could really let loose then.

Re:Eletric Shock Therapy

[KylePflug]

Redundant? What, they already have electrodes?

Re:Pete and Repeat

[JabberWokky]

No, not with a repeater. With his Peter.

--
Evan

Copernicus

[Ctrl-Z]

Naturally, this is right in line with Google's Copernicus initiative. I'm sure it will also help their mapping of the moon. A big win for Google!

The logical Google Extensions are...

[DrDebug]

http://maps.google.com/moon

and

http://maps.google.com/mars

Re:Typical...

[tourvil]

Maybe Taco should make me an editor.

Well you got modded redundant, you're obviously qualified!

News to me...

[Evro]

Maybe CmdrTaco, like me, has Zonk's stories blocked. This story's new to me!

if I didn't screw up occasionally...

[d_54321]

if I didn't screw up occasionally, a lot of angry readers would have no other way to vent their rage in a safe environment.
Replace "readers" with "citizens" and this sounds like an awesome way to start out the next State of the Union speech...

SUPERDUPE!

[timothykaine]

For christ sakes, its still on the front page. Perhaps the only words our mods can read are "cut" and "paste".

Steve Ballmer to kill NASA

[NotBorg]

Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer has reportedly launched a chair in to orbit and vowed to "fucking kill NASA." In a press conference, Ballmer announced Microsoft's new space program claiming it was the next logical step, closing the gap between itself and rival companies such as Google and Yahoo! Launch.

Although one chair doesnt seem like much of a threat, Microsoft plans to launch one million chairs and provide an innovative software solutions to track space seats through MSN's search portal.

Re:Pete and Repeat

[Dirtside]

"I have but one asterisk for my country." - Nathan Hale (sic)

Re:instant karma -not working.

[Neoncow]

Haha, you lose. :P

It's only a metaphor.

[bernfast]

Google partnering with NASA is only a metaphor for searching the universe for information. It's not meant literally as you can easily recognize from the fact that it doesn't make the slightest bit of sense.

And this is very odd, because without that fairly simple and obvious piece of knowledge, nothing that ever happened on the Earth could possibly make the slightest bit of sense.

Re:Searching Space (Screenie)

[tincho_uy]

Actually, this came up in a fark PS contest some time ago... Now that'd be neat!

Skynet?

[Seltsam]

What? No obvious Skynet reference?