Comment A rising tide.... (Score 2) 178
floats all boats.
Submission + - To Break Google's Monopoly On Search, Make Its Index Public (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Different tech companies pose different kinds of threats. I’m focused here on Google, which I’ve been studying for more than six years through both experimental research and monitoring projects. (Google is well aware of my work and not entirely happy with me. The company did not respond to requests for comment.) Google is especially worrisome because it has maintained an unopposed monopoly on search worldwide for nearly a decade. It controls 92 percent of search, with the next largest competitor, Microsoft’s Bing, drawing only 2.5%. Fortunately, there is a simple way to end the company’s monopoly without breaking up its search engine, and that is to turn its “index”—the mammoth and ever-growing database it maintains of internet content—into a kind of public commons.
Doesn’t Google already share its index with everyone in the world? Yes, but only for single searches. I’m talking about requiring Google to share its entire index with outside entities—businesses, nonprofit organizations, even individuals—through what programmers call an application programming interface, or API. Google already allows this kind of sharing with a chosen few, most notably a small but ingenious company called Startpage, which is based in the Netherlands. In 2009, Google granted Startpage access to its index in return for fees generated by ads placed near Startpage search results. With access to Google’s index—the most extensive in the world, by far—Startpage gives you great search results, but with a difference. Google tracks your searches and also monitors you in other ways, so it gives you personalized results. Startpage doesn’t track you—it respects and guarantees your privacy—so it gives you generic results. Some people like customized results; others treasure their privacy.
Doesn’t Google already share its index with everyone in the world? Yes, but only for single searches. I’m talking about requiring Google to share its entire index with outside entities—businesses, nonprofit organizations, even individuals—through what programmers call an application programming interface, or API. Google already allows this kind of sharing with a chosen few, most notably a small but ingenious company called Startpage, which is based in the Netherlands. In 2009, Google granted Startpage access to its index in return for fees generated by ads placed near Startpage search results. With access to Google’s index—the most extensive in the world, by far—Startpage gives you great search results, but with a difference. Google tracks your searches and also monitors you in other ways, so it gives you personalized results. Startpage doesn’t track you—it respects and guarantees your privacy—so it gives you generic results. Some people like customized results; others treasure their privacy.
Comment Ground braid (Score 1) 384
When I have an old piece of coax to discard, I often save the shield and throw away the rest. The braided pieces of copper wire make nice RF ground lines.
Comment Audacity & Ubuntu Studio (Score 1) 264
I don't do anything very advanced, but I am using Audacity running on Ubuntu Studio with a simple USB interface. This allows me to record, edit, playback audio and probably has a lot of other capabilities that I don't use and am not aware of. Audacity is plenty powerful for anything I'm likely to do at home.
Most music people I'm acquainted with are hooked on ProTools, which is prohibitively expensive as far as I'm concerned, but may have features and advantages that I wouldn't appreciate.
Comment Nader to Harper (Score 1) 116
My favorite commentary on this subject so far has been written by Ralph Nader. Someone else may have already referred to this in the comments; I am far too lazy to search for the reference, and it's a good enough piece of writing to be mentioned more than once.
https://t.co/i6wSYugqFy
Comment Re:Salaries (Score 1) 886
You guys should have stuck to selling books.
Comment I had only one thought when I read this. (Score 4, Insightful) 316
It's probably Alice. Although Wally is my personal hero.
Comment This is a relief (Score 5, Funny) 648
I was somewhat gratified to see this. I've been feeling somewhat guilty about my growing tendency to feel sort of sorry for MS lately. See, I didn't even type "M$" like I certainly would have a few years ago.
What with all the i-things and the Desktop is dead and we'll do everything on a little hand-sized touch-screen now they seem to be moving from the Great Defective Monster to simply Irrelevant.
Rather than kicking a puppy, it's like kicking your grandfather. He can't remember who you are, but he's kind of upset by it.
Comment almost equal? (Score 1) 120
Facebook says they have 500 million users. Last I knew, that's quite a bit more than the population of the USA.
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
Comment Mission accomplished (Score 5, Insightful) 1135
If Osama is alive he must be laughing his skinny ass off.
Comment bit.ly (Score 0, Funny) 321
I reached this article from Twitter, via this URL: http://bit.ly/cTGasX
Comment Man Bites Dog (Score 0) 174
That was by far the most fascinating headline I've seen on Slashdot in many a day.
Comment ...can't...stop...myself... (Score -1, Redundant) 316
in North Korea, computer system operates you!
Comment Re:using technology effectively in education (Score 2, Funny) 269
Amen. I am a strong advocate (to whom no one listens) for whiteboard use where I work. Our users are completely familiar with how they work, require no support in running them, and are generally able to invent new ways to use them. These devices are energy-efficient, especially if placed near a window where they will require very little artificial light.
Racist Facial Recognition Software 49
An anonymous reader writes "A black man found that his HP facial-tracking recognition software wouldn't work. Then he discovered it worked fine for a white co-worker. From the article: 'HP's Tony Welch thanked Desi and Wanda, the video's creators, and promised that he and the team at HP were looking into why the camera was behaving the way it was. "The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose," he said. "We believe that the camera might have difficulty 'seeing' contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting."'"
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