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28 Mar 2010 10:35

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Tech: Microsoft admits it screwed up search, focused on the wrong thing

  • Google owns the “long tail” results. MS is just trying to accept its niche. Why did Microsoft reboot its entire search engine last year? Simple. They realized it was focusing on the wrong thing, good results for obvious searches, when the real money was to be made in more obscure results. “On any given a month,” said Microsoft Bing manager Yusuf Mehdi, “one-third of queries that show up on Bing, it’s the first time we’ve ever seen that query. A huge chunk of those, we’ll never see again.” As a result, Bing has a different focus, one that involves partnerships with startups and depth on intelligent queries. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Mar 2010 14:50

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Tech: Hundreds of communities want a piece of Google’s fiber

  • 600 communities have requested
    to get in on the company’s fast internet plan
  • 190,000 responses from individuals
    have hit the company’s collective inbox source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Mar 2010 09:32

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Tech: One more and it’s a trend: GoDaddy pulls out of China, too

  • They claimed it was the result of restrictive new rules. GoDaddy, a domain-registration service, is one of those services that’s so broadly used that it’s hard to imagine an Internet without it. But China’s gonna get the chance, after GoDaddy balked at new rules for registering .cn domains, including color photos of those registering. As a result, they will no longer register new domains. Crazy. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Mar 2010 22:37

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Tech: Wikipedia went down today, and the world somehow survived

  • And so we remember Thursday, March 25, 2010 as the day every English speaking student failed their research papers.
  • Wikipedia commenter “Jimmy” • Regarding the server meltdown that the site had earlier today. The meltdown, which knocked out the site’s European data center, caused the server not to load for many users. It was due to overheating probably caused by someone looking up this article. “This problem was quickly resolved, but unfortunately it may take up to an hour before access is restored for everyone, due to caching effects,” a blog post on the downtime said. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Mar 2010 10:34

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Music: Good night, sweet WOXY: Great internet radio station in flux

  • A sad day for internet radio. WOXY, an internet station run by Future Sounds (which notably went from terrestrial to online-only), was forced to shut down live broadcasts today. While they could come back to life, it doesn’t sound super-promising based on the message left here. *sigh* If only they were charmed, like Pandora. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Mar 2010 10:19

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Tech, World: So, what can you get away with on China’s Internet, anyway?

  • no You can’t use
    sites like Twitter, Facebook, or many
    blogs, because they can spread info quickly.
  • yes Many English
    papers critical of
    China, including
    The New York Times, are easy to
    read in China.
  • yes Despite China
    making an effort to
    block porn on the
    mainland, many
    porn sites are fairly
    accessible.
  • yes People roam
    the Chinese
    interweb and
    get paid to make
    comments by
    China. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Mar 2010 20:39

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Tech: Feel that breeze? It’s wind caused by the FCC’s blustery broadband plan

  • 4 Mbps the average speed of the current broadband option in U.S. homes; 100 million don’t have broadband
  • 100 Mbps the speed the FCC’s new program strives for in 100 million homes by 2020 *whoooosh* source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink
 

15 Mar 2010 11:12

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Tech, World: Hugo Chavez says that the Internet needs national regulation

  • The Internet cannot be something open where anything is said and done. Every country has to apply its own rules and norms.
  • Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez • Saying the kind of thing that makes us want to throw stuff at the dude. He doesn’t want an open Interweb – he wants to block it to his standards. He’s not alone, obviously, but it’s not exactly the kind of thing that we want to see MORE support for. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Mar 2010 11:20

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Tech, U.S.: Coming soon to Congress: A broadband Internet battle royale

  • FCC The Federal Communications Commission wants to expand broadband access (especially to rural areas that lack fast internet) and widen the wireless spectrum, saying the U.S. is falling behind.
  • telecom The TV industry is concerned that losing chunks of over-the-air spectrum could affect their signals; major telecom providers are also feeling mounting pressure to improve their networks. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Mar 2010 10:29

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Tech: Google’s ready to stick a fork in the desktop computer

  • In three years time, desktops will be irrelevant. In Japan, most research is done today on smart phones, not PCs.
  • Google Europe sales chief John Herlihy • Forecasting the future of the Internet. Simply put, he doesn’t think desktops or laptops have a long shelf life. He claimed that cloud computing would eventually become powerful enough that it would allow people to do just about anything on their phones. The statement, of course, is pretty controversial. We don’t even agree, and we like Google a lot. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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