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Comment Re:Oh bull (Score 1) 91

by wik (#26326351) Attached to: Data Mining Rescues Investigative Journalism

Finding these blips is the easy part. Any first year grad student can do it. They will even learn something from the process.

The interesting part is figuring out which blips are important and which don't matter, then explaining why. Pushing the identification part to an algorithm is a waste of time and I don't expect computers to be taking over research part any time in the foreseeable future.
Google

Submission + - Google's Search within Search Alarms Some Sellers

Submitted by
Googling Yourself
Googling Yourself writes: "Bob Tedeschi at the New York Times writes about Google's new search-within-search feature that lets users stay on Google to find pages on popular sites like those of The Washington Post, Wikipedia, The New York Times, Wal-Mart and others. The problem, for some in the industry, is that when someone enters a term into that secondary search box, Google will display ads for competing sites, thereby profiting from ads it sells against the brand. "Why would I advertise on those other sites when I could just advertise on Google and piggyback on the equity of the other brands?" says Donna L. Hoffman, co-director of the Sloan Center for Internet Retailing. Some companies like Amazon have apparently chosen to ask Google to remove the search-within-search function from their sites, While Google has not received much negative feedback on the service, a Google spokesperson said, the company could change it in the future."
Microsoft

Submission + - Why Microsoft won't have Blu-ray on the Xbox (thestandard.com) 1

Submitted by
Ian Lamont
Ian Lamont writes: "Ever since Toshiba stopped production of HD DVD players, many Xbox 360 owners have been wondering when Microsoft will offer some sort of Blu-ray option for the Xbox 360. The answer: Probably never. Microsoft's product manager for the Xbox 360 has told Reuters that Microsoft is not in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association. Why not? The Industry Standard points to HDi, an obscure Microsoft technology that was part of the HD DVD interactivity layer. HDi may be dead on physical media, but it could potentially be applied to other Microsoft HD-compatible technologies such as Xbox Live Arcade and Windows Media Center, and be part of a long-term play to own a big share of the market for HD content delivered over the Internet."
Social Networks

Submission + - NASA Seeks a Younger Crowd with Retooled Site

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "In a move that Cnet calls "[seeking] to draw the Myspace crowd", NASA has overhauled their website. The new look site is an attempt to appeal to a younger generation enamored with all the goodies that "web 2.0" sites like MySpace have to offer. The new site features new blogs and a top video playlist of shuttle footage and the like.

The questions I pose to the /. community are these: is this really a good idea? Do social-networking inspired tactics have a place in NASA's plan for the future? Does NASA even have a choice? Is this a matter of adapt or die?"
Social Networks

Submission + - "Beacon": Worse than Facebook Admitted?

Submitted by Bootsy Collins
Bootsy Collins writes: A Computer Associates security researcher claims, on the basis of tests, that Facebook's "Beacon" system is collecting information on users and their actions on affiliate sites even if the user is not logged into Facebook at the time, and even if the user is opting-out of passing that information to Beacon. If correct, these activities contradict Facebook's public statements to the contrary.
Privacy

Questionable Data Mining Concerns IRC Community 306

Posted by CmdrTaco from the that-eliza-can't-keep-her-mouth-shut dept.
jessekeys writes "Two days ago an article on TechCrunch about IRSeeK revealed to the community that a service logs conversations of public IRC channels and put them into a public searchable database. What is especially shocking for the community is that the logging bots are very hard to identify. They have human-like nicks, connect via anonymous Tor nodes and authenticate as mIRC clients. IRSeeK never asked for permission and violates the privacy terms of networks and users. A lot of chatters were deeply disturbed finding themselves on the search engine in logs which could date back to 2005. As a result, Freenode, the largest FOSS IRC network in existence, immediately banned all tor connections while the community gathered and set up a public wiki page to share knowledge and news about IRSeeK. The demands are clear: remove all existing logs and stop covert operations in our channels and networks. Right now, the IRSeeK search is unavailable as there are talks talking place with Freenode Staff."
Space

The Device NASA Is Leaving Behind 163

Posted by CmdrTaco
iminplaya writes "After years of delays, NASA hopes to launch this week a European-built laboratory that will greatly expand the research capability of the international space station. Although some call it a milestone, the launch has focused new attention on the space agency's earlier decision to back out of plans to send up a different, $1.5 billion device — one that many scientists contend would produce far more significant knowledge. "...it would be a true international disgrace if this instrument ends up as a museum piece that never is used.""
Privacy

RCMP Won't Go After Personal Filesharers 405

Posted by kdawson from the sigh-of-relief-eh dept.
mlauzon writes "The RCMP announced that it will stop targeting people who download copyrighted material for personal use (Google translation). Their priority will be to focus on organized crime and copyright theft that affects the health and safety of consumers, such as copyright violations related to medicine and electrical appliances, instead of the cash flow of large corporations. Around the same time that the CRIA successfully took Demonoid offline, the RCMP made clear that Demonoid's users don't have to worry about getting prosecuted, at least not in Canada. 'Piracy for personal use is no longer targeted,' Noël St-Hilaire, head of copyright theft investigations of the RCMP, said in an interview. 'It is too easy to copy these days and we do not know how to stop it.'"
Google

Submission + - Google Services on LG Mobiles

Submitted by abracadabra
abracadabra writes: LG Electronics and Google has tied up for a global collaboration to pre-install Google's services on millions of LG mobile phones. Mobile users around the world will now be able to easily search for information, find locations, update blogs and manage email while on the move.

more at http://digitallinks.blogspot.com/2007/04/google-se rvices-on-lg-mobiles.html

Feed Flies Don't Buzz About Aimlessly (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
How you ever stopped to wonder how a fruit fly is able to locate and blissfully drown in your wine glass on a warm summer evening, especially since its flight path seems to be so erratic? Are the spontaneous flight paths of fruit flies really random or do they serve some real purpose?
Media

Submission + - Top forecaster blasts Gore for "alarmism"

Submitted by
wattsup
wattsup writes: "America's top hurricane forecaster called Al Gore "a gross alarmist" Friday for his activism on global warming.

"He's one of these guys that preaches the end of the world type of things. I think he's doing a great disservice and he doesn't know what he's talking about," Dr. William Gray said in an interview with The Associated Press at the National Hurricane Conference in New Orleans, where he delivered the closing speech.

His comments came the same day as the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change approved a report that concludes the world will face dire consequences due to climate change.

After a quiet year in 2006, Gray has predicted a very active hurricane season for 2007, but maintains that there is no connection between hurricane activity and recent temperature trends. Oddly, while many are hailing his hurricane predictions as gospel, many are also ignoring his views on climate change."
Security

Submission + - Open Source within DoD & Intelligence Systems

Submitted by
jmwci1
jmwci1 writes: "http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=07/04/ 07/0517238

Brigadier General Nick Justice, the Deputy Program Officer for the Army's Program Executive Office, Command, Control and Communications Tactical (PEO C3T) said that open source software currently plays a critical role in his command's activities.

"Our job is to provide accurate and timely information to the soldier in the field so they can perform their mission," said General Justice. "Open source software is part of the integrated network fabric which connects and enables our command and control system to work effectively, as people's lives depend on it.

"When we rolled into Baghdad, we did it using open source," General Justice continued. "It may come as a surprise to many of you, but the U.S. Army is "the" single largest install base for Red Hat Linux. I'm their largest customer.""

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