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Google

Submission + - Hard-Coded Bias In Google Search Results? (benedelman.org)

Submitted by bonch
bonch writes: Technology consultant Benjamin Edelman has developed a methodology for determining the existence of a hard-coded bias in Google's search engine which places Google's services at the top of the results page. Searching for a stock ticker places Google Finance at the top along with a price chart, but adding a comma to the end of the query removes the Google link completely. Other variations, such as 'a sore throat' instead of 'sore throat,' removes Google Health from its top position. Queries in other categories provide links to not only Google services but also their preferred partners. Though Google claims it does not bias its results, Edelman cites a 2007 admission from Google's Marissa Mayers that they placed Google Finance at the top of the results page, calling it 'only fair' because they made the search engine. Edelman notes that Google cites its use of unbiased algorithms to dismiss antitrust scrutiny, and he recalls the DOJ's intervention in airlines providing favorable results for its own flights in customer reservation systems they owned.
Earth

Submission + - Wrong Turn Brought Australian Sharks to Club Med

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "The Herald Sun of Australia reports that genetic studies suggest great white sharks from around Australia may have turned up in the Mediterranean after they made a wrong turn about 450,000 years ago. "We looked at the DNA signature of the sharks and found they were all from the same extended family. The founding mothers had the same DNA as great white sharks found off the coast of Australia," says Dr. Les Noble. The sharks frequently swim between Australia and Africa and with the Agulhas leakage in full force during the late Pleistocene period shutting off the route between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, a few pregnant females headed west and entered the Atlantic Ocean. The sharks tried to turn around but by then their path was blocked by the west coast of Africa, so following the coast eastwards they eventually reached the Straits of Gibraltar, and the mouth of the Mediterranean. "We discovered that genetically Mediterranean white sharks are effectively a displaced Australian population which was probably a consequence of a historical navigational error by a few pregnant females during a time of global climate change," says Dr Cathy Jones, a shark geneticist from the University of Aberdeen's School of Biological Sciences. "Once they got to the Mediterranean they may have become trapped because its peninsulas and channels make it like a giant lobster pot." Their singular ancestry is potentially bad news because shark populations in the Mediterranean are plummeting fast. If the great whites were the result of a one-off accident, it means that their dwindling numbers are unlikely to be replaced by new migrants from elsewhere in the world."
Idle

Submission + - Pastor: Married Church Leaders Must Drop Facebook (nj.com) 2

Submitted by WrongSizeGlass
WrongSizeGlass writes: Rev. Cedric Miller is ordering about 50 married church officials to delete their Facebook accounts or resign from their leadership positions. Miller said 20 couples from his Living Word Christian Fellowship Church have recently run into marital trouble after a spouse connected with an ex-flame via the social networking site. On Sunday, he plans to "strongly suggest" that all married people to stop using Facebook, lest they endanger their marriage.

Is Facebook now one of the Deadly Sins? Is it the latest excuse for infidelity or just the latest scapegoat?
Robotics

Submission + - Robots learn from rats' brains (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by schliz
schliz writes: Engineers and neuroscientists are translating how rats navigate into probabilistic algorithms that could direct robots through complicated human environments. The Australian research team has developed software versions of three types of brain cells — place cells, head direction cells, and grid cells — and hope their findings will allow cheap, domestic robots like the Roomba to navigate intelligently, without the need for expensive sensors.
The Media

Submission + - Adventurer's photos capture a bygone Mecca - CNN.c (cnn.com)

Submitted by timothy
timothy writes: Says the story: "He was an adventurer, a scholar, and possibly a spy — but as Dutchman Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje proved with his rare 1885 photographs and sound recordings of Mecca, he was also a pioneering multimedia journalist."

Submission + - Monster Cable Takes Down Search Engine With DMCA (techdirt.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Monster Cable was apparently upset that people could use the Jaxed.com classified search engine (which search eBay, Craigslist and others...) to find Monster Cable products, so it sent DMCA notices and had the website taken down by GoDaddy. The site is back up, now that it's deleted its entire Electronics category, but it's difficult to see how the original takedown was even legitimate in the first place. Jaxed wasn't hosting any of the content and it's unclear how it could be accused of infringing on Monster's copyright.
Science

Submission + - Scientists fix major quantum computing problem (techeye.net)

Submitted by bossanovalithium
bossanovalithium writes: Scientists have been working on a theoretical quantum computer that can work even if one in four quantum bits were missing or partying in Vegas with a dead cat and Elvis.

The plan works on paper and could help scientists build devices as large as three qubits and lower the engineering requirements of a functional machine.

University of Queensland physicist Thomas Stace worked with Sean Barrett of the Imperial College London said quantum computers that used photons as qubits risked losing some of these particles as they were scattered or absorbed.
Government

Submission + - Man Records TSA Ejection After Refusing Body Scan (signonsandiego.com) 3

Submitted by bonch
bonch writes: A man refusing a full-body scan and 'groin check' was ejected from the San Diego International Airport by the TSA as he recorded the incident with a cell phone sitting on his luggage. John Tyner, who posted his account of events along with the video on his blog, refused to pass through a full-body scanner, citing privacy and health concerns. Tyner was escorted to a security area for a patdown but, after hearing a description of the procedure, told the agent, 'You touch my junk and I'm going to have you arrested.' This led to a series of encounters with supervisors as well as a visit from a local police officer. Tyner was told that he was not being detained against his will, but that if he left the area, he would be hit with a civil suit and a $10,000 fine. He walked out the airport anyway, posting his account two hours later. The new TSA procedures have generated criticism from both passengers and airline crew, and one activist has proposed a National Opt-Out Day.
Transportation

Submission + - Amazing Brick Machine Rolls Out Roads Like Carpet (inhabitat.com) 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Brick roads are beautiful and durable, but we don’t see them too often due to the effort it takes to prouce them. What once was a labor-intensive, back-breaking job has now become a snap with this automatic Dutch paver laying machine, called the Tiger-Stone. The device rolls out automatically assembled bricks to create an instant road anywhere it travels. A small telescoping forklift feeds the hopper, allowing the Tiger-Stone to lay out an impressive 400 meters of road day, and the span can be adjusted up to six meters wide.
Networking

Wikipedia Could Block 67 Million Verizon Customers 481

Posted by timothy from the but-that's-why-the-internet-exists dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A particularly nasty Wikipedia vandal has forced a discussion to take place over whether to block edits from an address range used by over 67 million Verizon customers. Verizon has not responded to abusive Wikipedia users on their network before, even though the abusive Verizon users have released private information (phone numbers, etc.) of numerous individuals, and made countless threats that have also been reported to law enforcement. Wikipedia has done something similar in the past with users on the AOL network, which used proxy servers and thus allowed vandals to continue disrupting the site. Discussion is also taking place on alternate solutions to deal with abuse from this Verizon user, named 'Zsfgseg' on Wikipedia. If a block of millions is enacted, Verizon could potentially change how they assign IP addresses, or be forced at least to address a PR nightmare."
Education

Which Language To Learn? 897

Posted by kdawson from the future-proofing-the-skillset dept.
LordStormes writes "I've been a Java/C++/PHP developer for about 6 years now. However, I'm seeing the jobs for these languages dry up, and Java in particular is worrisome with all the Oracle nonsense going on. I think it's time to pick up a new language or risk my skills fading into uselessness. I'm looking to do mostly Web-based back-end stuff. I've contemplated Perl, Python, Ruby, Erlang, Go, and several other languages, but I'll put it to you — what language makes the most sense now to get the jobs? I've deliberately omitted .NET — I have no desire to do the Microsoft languages."

Submission + - Which Language to Learn? 3

Submitted by LordStormes
LordStormes writes: I've been a Java/C++/PHP developer for about 6 years now. However, I'm seeing the jobs for these languages dry up, and Java in particular is worrisome with all the Oracle nonsense going on. I think it's time to pick up a new language or risk my skills fading into uselessness. I'm looking to do mostly Web-based back-end stuff. I've contemplated Perl, Python, Ruby, Erlang, Go, and several other languages, but I'll put it to you — what language makes the most sense now to get the jobs? I've deliberately omitted .NET — I have no desire to do the Microsoft languages.
Oracle

Submission + - Ellison Grilled At Oracle-SAP Trial (computerworld.com)

Submitted by CWmike
CWmike writes: Oracle CEO Larry Ellison faced tough questioning on the witness stand Monday morning about the effects of TomorrowNow's intellectual-property theft on his company. He told the court that TomorrowNow's services could have enabled SAP to steal as many as 30% of Oracle's PeopleSoft customers and 10% of its Siebel customers. Based on the price Oracle paid for those companies, SAP would have had to pay Oracle $4 billion for a license, Ellison said. But under cross-examination, SAP lawyers disputed Ellison's assertion that Oracle felt threatened by the TomorrowNow acquisition or that it was worried about losing customers to SAP. 'There's not a single public or private, internal or external PowerPoint, speech, slide, e-mail or scribble on a napkin that says any of that, is there?" SAP's lawyer asked Ellison. 'I had those discussions with people but I don't tend to write those things down,' Ellison replied. In more grilling, SAP's lawyer asked, 'You don't know why any specific Oracle customer left Oracle for TomorrowNow, do you Mr. Ellison?' Ellison replied, 'No, I don't know the specifics for any given customer.' And 358 is 'nowhere near 30% of PeopleSoft's customers, is it?' SAP counsel asked. 'No,' Ellison replied.
Music

Submission + - Mozart meets Darwin (blogspot.com)

Submitted by Csiko
Csiko writes: Mozart meets Darwin is a web application evolving pieces of music on a server using evolutionary methods based on user feedback.

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