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Google Can Predict the Flu 289

Posted by kdawson from the sees-you-when-you're-sleeping dept.
An anonymous reader mentions Google Flu Trends, a newly unveiled initiative of Google.org, Google's philanthropic arm. The claim is that this Web service, which aggregates search data to track outbreaks of influenza, can spot disease trends up to 2 weeks before Centers for Disease Control data can. The NYTimes writeup begins: "What if Google knew before anyone else that a fast-spreading flu outbreak was putting you at heightened risk of getting sick? And what if it could alert you, your doctor and your local public health officials before the muscle aches and chills kicked in? That, in essence, is the promise of Google Flu Trends, a new Web tool ... unveiled on Tuesday, right at the start of flu season in the US. Google Flu Trends is based on the simple idea that people who are feeling sick will tend to turn to the Web for information, typing things like 'flu symptoms; or 'muscle aches' into Google. The service tracks such queries and charts their ebb and flow, broken down by regions and states."

Comment Re:Considering the last 8 years... (Score 1) 979

by Akoman (#25504365) Attached to: ACLU Creates Map of US "Constitution-Free Zone"

More accurately what it requires is overwhelming opposition to existing security forces. That's really the difficulty here, in Seattle N30 the anti-globalization movement managed to pull it off - primarily by surprise. But as seen at the Miami FTAA protests, the government wised up and thanks to 'homeland security' initiatives has significantly beefed up its numbers.

The lacking ingredient here is not so much training or arms, its commitment. Mark Rudd put it best when he said that the state has claimed a monopoly on violence, and any violence NOT sanctioned by the state is considered criminal or insane. If you have that viewpoint it doesn't matter how many guns you own.

Anyways, Battle of Athens linksies because it is a REALLY cool story: http://www.constitution.org/mil/tn/batathen.htm
Government

Canadian NDP Leader Praises P2P Communities 169

Posted by Soulskill from the need-something-to-do-between-hockey-games dept.
newtley writes "The New Democrats' Jack Layton has become the first leader of a major Canadian political party to acknowledge the importance of the Internet during a federal election. He's using YouTube to carry his message specifically to the online community, launching it on P2Pnet. 'We don't want to see hidden fees and gouging and service slow-downs all in the interests of promoting the objectives of certain large corporations,' Layton says." Other party members have also spoken out against increased internet regulation. We've been following the Canadian net neutrality debate for quite some time.
Government

California Sec. of State Wants Open Source E-Voting Systems 112

Posted by Soulskill from the nowhere-to-go-but-up dept.
Lucas123 writes "California's Secretary of State, Debra Bowen, was among a group of e-voting experts at MIT yesterday who said the nation's electronic voting systems are still not secure and many run on faulty software. Among the suggestions offered to fix the problem: use open source software, stop delivering e-voting machines to polling places weeks in advance of an election, and keep a paper trail for auditing purposes. Bowen also believes that a ubiquitous Internet voting system could not work without the use of a national ID card system."
The Internet

Knol, the Wikipedia Maybe-Fork? 102

Posted by timothy from the hey-baby-just-say-maybe dept.
Bennett Haselton contributes the following essay on the consequences of license choice as it applies to sites based on user contributions; read on below for more of his big idea for making Knol a more useful resource. "Google Knol should allow its writers to publish under a Creative Commons Share Alike license. The preceding sentence may not mean much to you, but if you've ever wanted to cite a Wikipedia article as a source, or simply read a Wikipedia article with some assurance that someone wasn't pulling your leg with some creative editing, or if you've wanted to contribute to Wikipedia but couldn't afford the time unless you received some modest compensation for it, then the addition of this one simple feature to Knol might make all the difference." (More below.)
The Media

The Net's Effect on Journalism 149

Posted by Zonk from the no-not-that-way-the-other-way dept.
An Associated Press article about the impact of the internet on journalism has a few interesting findings. A few years ago, it was expected that the internet would democratize news coverage. While print media is being rapidly reborn online, web-based news appears to be constraining the number of conversations instead of expanding them. "The news agenda actually seems to be narrowing, with many Web sites primarily packaging news that is produced elsewhere, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism's annual State of the News Media report. Two stories - the war in Iraq and the 2008 presidential election campaign - represented more than a quarter of the stories in newspapers, on television and online last year, the project found. Take away Iraq, Iran and Pakistan, and news from all of the other countries in the world combined filled up less than 6 percent of the American news hole, the project said."

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