Google recognises the search as being currently topical and adds a link (which is clearly seperate to the search results) to the news page.
However you will find that if you click that link the first news story in this case comes from the Jamaica Observer. Its simply untrue to say its "googles article" google doesnt really have articles of its own. It doesnt have its own media service to promote etc; Google cannot be biased towards its own news articles because it doesnt strictly have its own news articles only links to articles it has found.
Try it for yourself anyway google's news aggregator isnt inherently biased from what I can see.
I suppose its kind of like Schroedingers Bear. The bear is acutally in two states at the same time, One where it is in the process of crapping and the other where it is not crapping. It is only once the Bear is observed by you, that the dual state of the bear is broken.
Completely off-topic, i know... but couldnt resist the obvious humor value here...
Sure, they do that, but you will notice that google is an aggregator. So the news article link google may post is not always a google article more often than not an article that has been aggregated from somewhere else. Google is not a news/media company wheras MSNBC is.
I also found what I took to be a bias against Microsoft on Google!
What results you might see in Google, I beleive are unbiased. In the sense that, with google, you cannot pay them for high search rankings. Although there are well known ways to improve ones chances of getting a better google rating; Everybody has the same opportunity to optimise there site to improve their rankings.
Microsoft MSN and other Search engines, Use human filtered results and payed rankings, in addition to spidering.
I trust google to be unbiased, yes they are a big company, and yes they now have stock options.
looking for browsers would also seem to me to be a dubious search term. Since such a high percentage of people are using it by default, the liklihood of there being sites adovocating it; simply because in most cases its already there. However there are lots of sites by people reccommending firefox or opera saying its a better broswer than IE why (probably because its true). I would actually expect results in line with the Google ones more than I would expect the results that MSN gives.
Id say the varied results from google are more indicative of an unbiased result. Did you try any other search terms or just those for browser?
I cant help but wonder what would be the impact on the internet as a whole if Microsoft were to take over google's position.
here are a few random thoughts and speculative stab's in the dark.
I think that the first sign of a downward turn in googles fortune might be an increased reliance on advertising. Advertising on google is handled very well. As soon a someone like Microsoft start to eat into google's revenue margins; I'd predict google depending more and more on advertising to recoup the losses. In turn that will drive users away. In other words competition from Microsoft could make google shit.
Joe Sixpack , Soccer Mom, and Fred Bloggs; dont care about unbiased and accurate results will continue to use MSN Search none the wiser. They will never have the pain of even knowing or understanding that their default search engine is a hodge, podge of paid-for rankings and Market Influencing (In the favor of big corps) search filters. They'll never question otherwise, they dont expect anything else.
There is'nt a whole lot that can be done by us geeks to avoid the sad fact that there are more dumb computer users than there are geeks, hackers and developers. Sure Sys Admins and "Local Geek's" can continue to install systems for businesses and friends and set Google up to be the default home page, but if the time comes when google is not a sound choice any more then what ?
Very few people realise the importance of Googles unbiased and accurate search result. Its impact however is much more than that. It is, in effect a gateway to the internet, to such an extent that some people regard google as "the internet".
I think that if Microsoft were allowed to dominate the Search world its impact on the internet as a whole would be far reaching and difficult to imagine. Its not just a case of anti-microsoft on my part; but I feel that we cannot allow a corporation , any corporation (not just microsoft) that has its fingers in so many pies to distort the only remaining level playing field we have left. Nobody should have the right to pick, choose, and influence Internet search to the kind of degree that MSN does and will. It is giving up control and giving up freedom. Its just a terrible thing that so many people who live in this world have the belief that we live in a free world; when quite frankly we dont. Many people might say but we do live in a free world (well most people in the western world!); that is just perception, and so long as there are people that perceive they live in freedom there will be less reason for them to fight for the cause of true freedom. Maybe when they start to realise that every where they go and everything they , and every eletronics gizmo they buy has Microsoft stamped on it; they might start to think about freedom and choice again.. who knows ?
Imagine a world without google, where search results filter out websites such as this one, or those of people developing Open Source Programs? Imagine a world where searching for.iso 's is a filtered search term; and its impossible to find an alternative unbiased search engine because MSN decided to omit those results from your search.
Okay these thoughts may be a tad sensationalist. But if just one or two of those things happened on however small a scale. Ask yourself , who to do you want to trust today ?
It may not be such a sound move on Apples part. For a start it would inconclusively highlight to consumers the main issue with iPod... lack of compatibility with different fileformats. And also the issue of its DRM.
The other thing is that strictly speaking (if you read the original article) Real did no such hacking of the iPod. Rather enabled Real's software to use parts of iTunes if it was previously installed. And in addition took advantage of the known iPod drm mechanisms and found a way to work with them in such a way that enabled their files to play. In fact I think it would be an extremely hard case to prove that any form of copyright circumvention has taken place at all.
I wonder if some of the parts on this thing (eg the screen) are the same as will be used in the PSP ; it would make good sense to reap some of the research costs for that piece of hardware on their other product lines.
worse still... this is a true story... I was in a pub near where i live a week or two ago. My friend was waiting next to me for his change. I enquired why it was taking so long; He said.. there's something wrong with the Till..My immediate reaction was to ask the barman if the thing was running windows. He said "NT-4" Im waiting for it to reboot , I said, well thats your problem then; and walked off with a smug grin on my face... When windows gets in the way of me getting beer then there are some severe problems...
We have all heard of those "One For All" remote controls. Well if you need all these different devices to use it ; isnt it more of a "All For One" system?
Dan O'Dowd, CEO of Green Hills Software, suggests that open source software has the capability of being sabotaged by foreign developers and should not be used for U.S. military or security purposes.
Urmm , so what operating system do you use then Dan O'Dowd? and which newspapers and websites do you read?
You're obviously using a closed source operating system that is free of viruses, worms, holes and other security problems. What might this mystery closed source operating system that you are using that doesnt pose a threat to the nations security?
While I agree with you to some extent. M$Office "is" available for linux, you just have to use an intermediary program called "Wine" for best results though Codeweavers works exceptionally.
Id be interested to know if any large universities or colleges deploy wine on any scale
It must be said that while I and many others have been using Linux for several years. Reading an industry analyst suggest that Microsoft write a linux version of Office for sale in developing coutries makes it ever more apparent that the Linux and Open Source phenomena is a ball that is just going to keep on rolling and gathering pace.
I can remember only a couple of years ago linux was a word used by techies and geeks alone. Reading articles in PC magazines was rare and more often than not they were put to one side implying that linux was just a toy and it'll never take off. From where im standing opinions are changing, and those very same people are now "getting it"...
Roll on the next few years baby, we are witnessing the beginnings of a real revolution.
Microsoft wrote the virus, and timed it to coincide with the Google IPO. As payback for googles refusal to co-operate with their new search engine proposals.
It's difficult to imagine that there are more instances of MyDoom querying google than actual people. That would indicate that this thing is riddled an absurdly enormous number of windows machines.
Nick
Re:Hopefully this fixed the bugs in 2004.1
on
Gentoo 2004.2 Released
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
This is actually an interesting point.. One of the benefits of gentoo is the optimisation for ones hardware. If you have a fast machine the install-compile process is not so bad providing you dont cock anything up along the way. Once you have a gentoo up and running updates and installing packages with such unprecidented ease makes the initial effort well worth the while. Quite often there are the snyde remarks about waiting for stuff to compile. In all honesty once you have a gentoo box up and running compiling the odd thing from time to time is rarely an inconvenience.
I slightly drifted from the parent there but what i was going to suggest is this. There must be many many people with systems compiled for a specific architecture. eg My box is compiled and optimised for a Dual Athlon MP ; It would be quite nice if there way a way i could "dump" my system somewhere where others with similar architecture could take advantage of the optimised, but pre-compiled system. Over time, i'd envisage a library of "Gentoo's" specifically built for different systems. Do people think that this is a viable idea, and how might it be done ?
Ah, but headphones can only easily position sound relative to your head's position and orientation -- whereas this room wafefront synthesis system positions sound relative to the *room*.
Is this really what someone watching a film wants? This technology might be cool for theme events etc but when you are in the cinema you are sitting in one position and not moving around. I myself as a film goer would prefer to know that wherever i sat in the auditorium i'd be getting the same experience as everyone else. And from a movie producers point of view id want everyone who saw my film to have an equal experience.
when you are watching something on a movie screen you want the audio relative to the movie ; what you are watching. Not to the room in which you are watching.
There is a much cheaper way to do this. Simply purchase a polystyrene head (of the sort used for placing wigs and hairpeices)
Slice down the middle with a hot wire and hollow out the ear canals for two microphones and embed these in the head. Glue back together and jack the trailing leads from your head's "ears" into your favorite recording equipments. And.... Play...
It works , its cheap and simple, and best of all no fraunhoffer licensing fee's
here are some examples (including mp3's) of the technique...
I'd have to agree. It stands to reason that if you can create a mathematical analysis tool that ascertains an images likelihood of fakeness, It is entirely conceivable to use the same mathematical techniques to process an image in such a way that it passes the test.
Seriously why are PS2 Modchips illegal? That is going to piss a lot of people off. Id imagine people migrating to other platforms where the modchip is not illegal. Is this really in Sony's best interests?
Me personally id rather support my favorite console manufacturer by buying the games. Thats why my PS2 is not modded. Homebrew game development is affected however, and although unlike other console manufacturers Sony sell a linux kit with all the trimmings for peanuts. It doesnt seem fair that one console platform should be protected from modchips while another is not, id be worried that it might be a disadvantage to owning a ps2 over something else.
I am not trolling but i feel the need to say that I really am surprised none of the testers mentioned how bad the file requester is, it hasnt improved a great deal in the latest version. However i dont know what they might have been used to, I havent used windows for a while so it might be better in their eyes.
There really is no comparison to the flexibility of the KDE file requester http://www.blackapology.com/downloads/f ilereq1.png
I cant help but think that gnomes obsession with human interface guidelines and usability studies must be flawed in some way.
The usability study while interesting is simply asking users to perform a number of functions. EG can you open a file or can you view a pdf or browse the web etc. How about "can you open a file that is tucked away deep in the bowels of the filesystem in some arbitrary directory" , id be willing to place money on the fact that the files these users were asked to open were located conveniently in the current path.
Usability seems to be based on whether or not people can perform certain tasks and not whether the way those tasks can be improved. It is deemed a success if the tester succeeds in performing a set goal. A useability study should be about using a desktop in a specific capacity for extended periods of time. Only then will the annoying problems start to crop up.
The pixel-level graphics control is very nice, but on the series 60 it's slower than drawing an Image.
Im not being funny or anything here , but that sounds like an odd thing to say. I can play the N-Gage version of Tomb Raider, and Super Monkey Ball on my Series 60 Nokia 6600; with identical performace to the N-Gage; hey and it doesnt look like a taco. Point being that we are talking texture mapped 3d graphics here; How your comment fits into this i dont know... but surely it can't be as bad as you are making out.
Slashdot Mirror
From what I can tell if you do a normal search in the search engine part of google eg somthing topical (i chose cricket)
Cricket
Google recognises the search as being currently topical and adds a link (which is clearly seperate to the search results) to the news page.
However you will find that if you click that link the first news story in this case comes from the Jamaica Observer. Its simply untrue to say its "googles article" google doesnt really have articles of its own. It doesnt have its own media service to promote etc; Google cannot be biased towards its own news articles because it doesnt strictly have its own news articles only links to articles it has found.
Try it for yourself anyway google's news aggregator isnt inherently biased from what I can see.
I suppose its kind of like Schroedingers Bear. The bear is acutally in two states at the same time, One where it is in the process of crapping and the other where it is not crapping. It is only once the Bear is observed by you, that the dual state of the bear is broken.
... but couldnt resist the obvious humor value here...
Completely off-topic, i know
Nick...
Sure, they do that, but you will notice that google is an aggregator. So the news article link google may post is not always a google article more often than not an article that has been aggregated from somewhere else. Google is not a news/media company wheras MSNBC is.
This invalidates your point somewhat.
nick
Presumably they will be employing the same type of biasing toward their search engine as well.
...
Nick
I also found what I took to be a bias against Microsoft on Google!
What results you might see in Google, I beleive are unbiased. In the sense that, with google, you cannot pay them for high search rankings. Although there are well known ways to improve ones chances of getting a better google rating; Everybody has the same opportunity to optimise there site to improve their rankings.
Microsoft MSN and other Search engines, Use human filtered results and payed rankings, in addition to spidering.
I trust google to be unbiased, yes they are a big company, and yes they now have stock options.
looking for browsers would also seem to me to be a dubious search term. Since such a high percentage of people are using it by default, the liklihood of there being sites adovocating it; simply because in most cases its already there. However there are lots of sites by people reccommending firefox or opera saying its a better broswer than IE why (probably because its true). I would actually expect results in line with the Google ones more than I would expect the results that MSN gives.
Id say the varied results from google are more indicative of an unbiased result. Did you try any other search terms or just those for browser?
Nick...
I cant help but wonder what would be the impact on the internet as a whole if Microsoft were to take over google's position.
.. who knows ?
.iso 's is a filtered search term; and its impossible to find an alternative unbiased search engine because MSN decided to omit those results from your search.
here are a few random thoughts and speculative stab's in the dark.
I think that the first sign of a downward turn in googles fortune might be an increased reliance on advertising. Advertising on google is handled very well. As soon a someone like Microsoft start to eat into google's revenue margins; I'd predict google depending more and more on advertising to recoup the losses. In turn that will drive users away. In other words competition from Microsoft could make google shit.
Joe Sixpack , Soccer Mom, and Fred Bloggs; dont care about unbiased and accurate results will continue to use MSN Search none the wiser. They will never have the pain of even knowing or understanding that their default search engine is a hodge, podge of paid-for rankings and Market Influencing (In the favor of big corps) search filters. They'll never question otherwise, they dont expect anything else.
There is'nt a whole lot that can be done by us geeks to avoid the sad fact that there are more dumb computer users than there are geeks, hackers and developers. Sure Sys Admins and "Local Geek's" can continue to install systems for businesses and friends and set Google up to be the default home page, but if the time comes when google is not a sound choice any more then what ?
Very few people realise the importance of Googles unbiased and accurate search result. Its impact however is much more than that. It is, in effect a gateway to the internet, to such an extent that some people regard google as "the internet".
I think that if Microsoft were allowed to dominate the Search world its impact on the internet as a whole would be far reaching and difficult to imagine. Its not just a case of anti-microsoft on my part; but I feel that we cannot allow a corporation , any corporation (not just microsoft) that has its fingers in so many pies to distort the only remaining level playing field we have left. Nobody should have the right to pick, choose, and influence Internet search to the kind of degree that MSN does and will. It is giving up control and giving up freedom. Its just a terrible thing that so many people who live in this world have the belief that we live in a free world; when quite frankly we dont. Many people might say but we do live in a free world (well most people in the western world!); that is just perception, and so long as there are people that perceive they live in freedom there will be less reason for them to fight for the cause of true freedom. Maybe when they start to realise that every where they go and everything they , and every eletronics gizmo they buy has Microsoft stamped on it; they might start to think about freedom and choice again
Imagine a world without google, where search results filter out websites such as this one, or those of people developing Open Source Programs? Imagine a world where searching for
Okay these thoughts may be a tad sensationalist. But if just one or two of those things happened on however small a scale. Ask yourself , who to do you want to trust today ?
Nick...
It may not be such a sound move on Apples part. For a start it would inconclusively highlight to consumers the main issue with iPod... lack of compatibility with different fileformats. And also the issue of its DRM.
The other thing is that strictly speaking (if you read the original article) Real did no such hacking of the iPod. Rather enabled Real's software to use parts of iTunes if it was previously installed. And in addition took advantage of the known iPod drm mechanisms and found a way to work with them in such a way that enabled their files to play. In fact I think it would be an extremely hard case to prove that any form of copyright circumvention has taken place at all.
I wonder if some of the parts on this thing (eg the screen) are the same as will be used in the PSP ; it would make good sense to reap some of the research costs for that piece of hardware on their other product lines.
worse still ... this is a true story ... I was in a pub near where i live a week or two ago. My friend was waiting next to me for his change. I enquired why it was taking so long; He said .. there's something wrong with the Till..My immediate reaction was to ask the barman if the thing was running windows. He said "NT-4" Im waiting for it to reboot , I said, well thats your problem then; and walked off with a smug grin on my face... When windows gets in the way of me getting beer then there are some severe problems...
Nick...
We have all heard of those "One For All" remote controls. Well if you need all these different devices to use it ; isnt it more of a "All For One" system?
For some reason I'm thinking of the Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds
Dan O'Dowd, CEO of Green Hills Software, suggests that open source software has the capability of being sabotaged by foreign developers and should not be used for U.S. military or security purposes.
Urmm , so what operating system do you use then Dan O'Dowd? and which newspapers and websites do you read?
You're obviously using a closed source operating system that is free of viruses, worms, holes and other security problems. What might this mystery closed source operating system that you are using that doesnt pose a threat to the nations security?
While I agree with you to some extent. M$Office "is" available for linux, you just have to use an intermediary program called "Wine" for best results though Codeweavers works exceptionally.
Id be interested to know if any large universities or colleges deploy wine on any scale
It must be said that while I and many others have been using Linux for several years. Reading an industry analyst suggest that Microsoft write a linux version of Office for sale in developing coutries makes it ever more apparent that the Linux and Open Source phenomena is a ball that is just going to keep on rolling and gathering pace.
I can remember only a couple of years ago linux was a word used by techies and geeks alone. Reading articles in PC magazines was rare and more often than not they were put to one side implying that linux was just a toy and it'll never take off. From where im standing opinions are changing, and those very same people are now "getting it"...
Roll on the next few years baby, we are witnessing the beginnings of a real revolution.
Nick...
Microsoft wrote the virus, and timed it to coincide with the Google IPO. As payback for googles refusal to co-operate with their new search engine proposals.
It's difficult to imagine that there are more instances of MyDoom querying google than actual people. That would indicate that this thing is riddled an absurdly enormous number of windows machines.
Nick
This is actually an interesting point ..
...
One of the benefits of gentoo is the optimisation for ones hardware. If you have a fast machine the install-compile process is not so bad providing you dont cock anything up along the way. Once you have a gentoo up and running updates and installing packages with such unprecidented ease makes the initial effort well worth the while. Quite often there are the snyde remarks about waiting for stuff to compile. In all honesty once you have a gentoo box up and running compiling the odd thing from time to time is rarely an inconvenience.
I slightly drifted from the parent there but what i was going to suggest is this. There must be many many people with systems compiled for a specific architecture. eg My box is compiled and optimised for a Dual Athlon MP ; It would be quite nice if there way a way i could "dump" my system somewhere where others with similar architecture could take advantage of the optimised, but pre-compiled system. Over time, i'd envisage a library of "Gentoo's" specifically built for different systems. Do people think that this is a viable idea, and how might it be done ?
Nick
Think about how Michael Bolton feels, having been deposited from the rectum of RIAA unto the public library.
Surely if these folks are wanting to evolve gnome into something else. A more appropriate and funkier sounding name would be "GeGnome" (pron. genome)
...
Nick
Ah, but headphones can only easily position sound relative to your head's position and orientation -- whereas this room wafefront synthesis system positions sound relative to the *room*.
Is this really what someone watching a film wants? This technology might be cool for theme events etc but when you are in the cinema you are sitting in one position and not moving around. I myself as a film goer would prefer to know that wherever i sat in the auditorium i'd be getting the same experience as everyone else. And from a movie producers point of view id want everyone who saw my film to have an equal experience.
when you are watching something on a movie screen you want the audio relative to the movie ; what you are watching. Not to the room in which you are watching.
There is a much cheaper way to do this.
.... Play ...
...
Simply purchase a polystyrene head (of the sort used for placing wigs and hairpeices)
Slice down the middle with a hot wire and hollow out the ear canals for two microphones and embed these in the head. Glue back together and jack the trailing leads from your head's "ears" into your favorite recording equipments. And
It works , its cheap and simple, and best of all no fraunhoffer licensing fee's
here are some examples (including mp3's) of the technique...
Binauraul Holophonic Sound
Nick
I'd have to agree. It stands to reason that if you can create a mathematical analysis tool that ascertains an images likelihood of fakeness, It is entirely conceivable to use the same mathematical techniques to process an image in such a way that it passes the test.
Seriously why are PS2 Modchips illegal? That is going to piss a lot of people off. Id imagine people migrating to other platforms where the modchip is not illegal. Is this really in Sony's best interests?
Me personally id rather support my favorite console manufacturer by buying the games. Thats why my PS2 is not modded. Homebrew game development is affected however, and although unlike other console manufacturers Sony sell a linux kit with all the trimmings for peanuts. It doesnt seem fair that one console platform should be protected from modchips while another is not, id be worried that it might be a disadvantage to owning a ps2 over something else.
I am not trolling but i feel the need to say that I really am surprised none of the testers mentioned how bad the file requester is, it hasnt improved a great deal in the latest version. However i dont know what they might have been used to, I havent used windows for a while so it might be better in their eyes.
f ilereq1.png
...
There really is no comparison to the flexibility of the KDE file requester
http://www.blackapology.com/downloads/
I cant help but think that gnomes obsession with human interface guidelines and usability studies must be flawed in some way.
The usability study while interesting is simply asking users to perform a number of functions. EG can you open a file or can you view a pdf or browse the web etc. How about "can you open a file that is tucked away deep in the bowels of the filesystem in some arbitrary directory" , id be willing to place money on the fact that the files these users were asked to open were located conveniently in the current path.
Usability seems to be based on whether or not people can perform certain tasks and not whether the way those tasks can be improved. It is deemed a success if the tester succeeds in performing a set goal. A useability study should be about using a desktop in a specific capacity for extended periods of time. Only then will the annoying problems start to crop up.
Nick
Playstation / Playstation 2?
... take sony on .. I dare you...
Dont they also use the ELF format? go on
The pixel-level graphics control is very nice, but on the series 60 it's slower than drawing an Image.
..
Im not being funny or anything here , but that sounds like an odd thing to say. I can play the N-Gage version of Tomb Raider, and Super Monkey Ball on my Series 60 Nokia 6600; with identical performace to the N-Gage; hey and it doesnt look like a taco. Point being that we are talking texture mapped 3d graphics here; How your comment fits into this i dont know... but surely it can't be as bad as you are making out.
Nick