It appears that Microsoft will do anything to keep Google from cutting a deal with Jerry Yang. In addition, we discuss the One Laptop Per Child XO-2 device, as well as the ongoing fascination with Twitter by the digerati crowd, despite the fact that the site is often out of commission.
On this week’s EIC Squared podcast, ZDNet’s Larry Dignan and I discuss the latest developments in the Microhoo saga.
Update 7:52 a.m. PDT: Matt Cutts, Google’s Web spam guru, believes the audio feature is indeed a hat-tip to XKCD. “I love that Google had the sense of humor to add this feature,” he said.
Is it a coincidence? Speak your mind in the comments below, and I’ll update if Google gets back to me with a response.
Also, Munroe himself remarks on his own blog about the audio feature, aptly pointing to one commenter’s post: “It’s the DUMBEST FEATURE I’ve seen thus far. There is no practical use for it. None. Zero. Nada. Sheesh. (The audio preview of my own post sounded moronic!)”
Ask and ye shall receive.
At least if the supplicant is the Net’s most prominent techie cartoonist and Google is in a position to fulfill the request.
Though I could be persuaded otherwise. I suspect it’s evidence of Google being witty, mostly because I’m having trouble figuring out the utility of the feature besides to show off what I see as a generally pretty impressive text-to-speech engine. Perhaps they’re trying to see how well the engine can handle a little more load.
In late September, I chuckled at Randall Munroe’s XKCD cartoon about living to regret YouTube comments. The cartoon suggested a virus that would read people’s YouTube comments back to them before they posted. The result was the mass realization that we’re all a bunch of morons, which, judging by the average YouTube comment I see, doesn’t seem too far off the mark.
(Credit:
CNET News)
It would be more useful if there were some way to train the audio engine when it flubs, as it does with some foreign terms and proper nouns, or at least let it know its errors. I was impressed it could handle some awkward terms, though, including “CNET” and “syzygy.” It runs out of available syllables before the comments field runs out of room for words, though it seems well suited to the typically brief, if inane, YouTube comment.
Well, lo and behold, such a thing now exists, as Google Blogoscoped pointed out Thursday, though alas not with the mandatory listen-before-you-post requirement Munroe suggested. Google added a text-to-speech button that will play back your comments.
YouTube comments, now with a text-to-speech engine.
While Election Day involves a good deal of waiting for results, bloggers won’t be kept silent until the polls close.
“By any kind of absolute standard the man is an appalling moral leper,” he wrote.
“Bear in mind that Philadelphia is where ’street money’ comes into play for Democratic GOTV efforts; this may not be a ‘Black Panther’ at all, but just an ordinary thug hired to look menacing enough to frighten off the weak-kneed,” Ed Morrissey wrote on Hot Air.
The left-leaning site Talking Points Memo tried to subdue the story by checking in with the Obama campaign. A spokesperson for the campaign told Greg Sargent the men were not affiliated with Obama, and an Obama volunteer on site said the two men were not intimidating anyone.
Stories of supposed Black Panthers watching over precincts in Philadelphia at Democrat Barack Obama’s behest flooded right-leaning Web sites and blogs on Tuesday. Pundit Michelle Malkin has footage on her Web site from a University of Pennsylvania student approaching a precinct where two men are standing in front of the door holding clubs. They tell the filmer they are security. Malking refers to the men as a “Obama civilian security force.”
With what’s at stake in this election, it’s easy to blow things out of proportion, seems to be the message from Comedy Central’s Indecision 2008 liveblog, where Dennis DiClaudio takes his shot at the story about “that incident in Philadelphia in which black people were spotted allegedly being black at a polling place.”
He called the story “another desperate Republican attempt to whip up racial hysteria to give them hope of winning the election.”
“We might need to call this a mis-election and go all the way back to the beginning and start all over again,” DiClaudio says.
Partisan Web sites on the left and the right kept busy on Tuesday documenting and rebuffing allegations of intimidation tactics, saying one last goodbye to President Bush, and throwing mud at each other.
E.A. Hanks, in a piece titled, G.O.P. R.I.P.? on the Huffington Post, said the party risks finding itself in a “tar pit of irrevelency…somewhere between Neve Cambell’s career and stacks of leftover ‘Cool Runnings’ VHS tapes.”
While the tension built around who the next president will be, Matthew Yglesias of the progressive group Think Progress took one last shot at President Bush.
Other liberal bloggers took the opportunity to consider the state of the Republican party as a whole.
HotAir.com, another rightwing site, notes that the incident was reported on Fox News.
Meanwhile, Sargent’s colleague at TPM, Josh Marshall, showed a little more passion on the subject.
Google starts opening up
Google is notoriously secretive about exactly how it decides which results to show in response to a particular query–a subject of high interest to companies counting on high placement or people hoping embarrassing Web pages will fade away–but the company has begun opening up. Manber promised in a blog posting in May to shed more light on search quality in coming months.
“We opened the way for any engineer to go improve things. Mostly because it’s based on data,” Manber said. “There is no separation of research and development. Everyone does both.”
“Ideally, we would understand your question, we would understand all knowledge, and match the two,” Manber said.
Of that collection, Google only provided good answers to the inflamed rib query, he said.
Google offers various advanced search options, but its general policy is to use its single search box for everything.
That sounds like a pretty long shortcut, but clearly Google has set its standards and goals very high. “We strive to answer every question, in every language, in a personalized fashion, in less than 100 milliseconds, for free,” Manber said.
Google also tests search algorithm changes on users, different groups of whom receive different search results through a comparison process called split A/B testing.
He also said the company has a team of “dozens” who do nothing but analyze the quality of search results, where quality is measured by hundreds of charts. These employees support the engineers who try to improve the search results, and Google wants those engineers to experiment with new search quality methods, Manber said.
In Manber’s view, humans are a puzzle only beginning to be unlocked. “The 20th century was about conquering nature. The 21st will be about understanding people,” he said, and computing is following suit. “The largest computing clusters in operation today are doing search, e-mail, social networking.”
In other words, the company must use computers to comprehend humans, said Manber, the vice president of engineering in charge of Google search, in a speech at the Gilbane Conference here Wednesday.
Manber shared several details about Google’s search quality process in his speech. For one thing, he said, there are more than 100 “signals” the company uses to determine the order of search results. Signals can be anything from language to location to a person’s previous search behavior–the latter only if the user enabled Google’s search history feature that personalizes results.
That’s not possible today, though, so Google takes a shortcut: Google tries to analyze and summarize all content, extend a user’s query into a summary version, and then match the two.
These experiments take place on a dedicated cluster of servers, Manber said.
“My group at Google has at its disposal many thousands of machines, with storage measured in petabytes,” Manber said. “This is just for our own use, not for satisfying your queries.”
He cited as examples out a series of searches whose intent generally seemed clear enough to a human: southeast utah news-airplane crash 10/25/06, hairstyles for ears that stick out, inflammation and pain under my rib, what is answer to this math problem 6x/10x, how many calories in a pound, if real number show else error blank excel.
Frictionless engineering
“The basic idea is to remove friction from engineers…An engineer with an idea does not ask for permission,” he said. Instead, the engineer tries the experiment, and Google meets once or twice a week to judge by the data whether the changes should be incorporated into Google’s main search results.
“We have to understand as much as we can user intent and give them the answer they need,” Manber said.
Straightforward queries also can be tricky. Google uses context to gauge what exactly “GM” stands for General Motors in the query “GM
cars” but genetically modified in the query “GM foods.”
Tough nuts to crack
Manber appears to take a perverse pleasure in difficult searches, relishing the fact that expectations for search match the rising capability and size of Google’s infrastructure.
Update 2 p.m. PDT: I added more detail and examples of searches that stumped Google.
SAN FRANCISCO–Udi Manber sums up Google’s core challenge with this description of people’s expectations: “Here’s what I say, now give me what I need.”
Udi Manber, head of search engineering at Google, speaks Wednesday at the Gilbane Conference.
The end result: Google adopts search changes quickly and frequently. Google made 450 search algorithm changes in 2007, for example.
(Credit:
Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)
Like Samsung, Micron, and Intel, Toshiba is using multi-level cell (MLC) technology in its high-capacity drives. An MLC memory cell structure allows drive makers to build larger capacity drives at lower cost but it is not as fast as single-level cell (SLC), nor inherently as reliable. (SLC solid state drives are used currently in laptops such as the Apple MacBook Air and ThinkPad X300.)
Another nail in the hard-disk-drive coffin? Well, not quite. But Toshiba’s drive rivals magnetic drives in size while delivering better performance.
(Credit:
Toshiba)
Toshiba has plenty of other company in the high-capacity SSD market, too. Intel says it will ship a 160GB SSD in the fourth quarter, and Micron has stated that it plans to have a 256GB SSD in the same time frame. STEC already ships drives in this capacity.
Dell, to date, has used mostly Samsung SSDs, as has Apple. Dell has said in the past that in tests of an SSD in a Latitude notebook, it saw a 35 percent overall system performance increase over a standard 2.5-inch 5400rpm notebook hard drive–the type of hard disk drive used in ultraportable notebooks today.
Solid-state drives are more expensive than hard-disk drives but are also generally more power efficient and faster.
Toshiba will begin shipping a 256GB solid-state drive, matching Samsung, its bigger, badder rival.
And the two companies are duking it out in more ways than this: both are also vying for SanDisk, the largest maker of retail flash memory drives.
Toshiba is trying to keep pace with the 800-pound SSD gorilla, South Korea-based Samsung. Samsung is the largest flash memory chip supplier in the world and has stated in the past that it would sample a 256GB SSD in September. Toshiba is ranked No. 2.
No pricing was given.
Samples of Toshiba’s 2.5-inch SSD are available now, with mass production following in the fourth quarter, the company said. SSDs currently come in two sizes: smaller 1.8-inch form factors and slightly larger 2.5-inch designs.
Toshiba, like Samsung, says it has developed a controller chip that mitigates the shortcomings of MLC. The “MLC controller…achieves higher read-write speeds, parallel data transfers, and wear leveling,” the company said. Wear leveling reduces the “pounding” on one spot–that could wear out the cell–by spreading out the writes over many different cells.
The Toshiba drive delivers a maximum read speed of 120MB per second and maximum write speed of 70MB per second using a high-speed SATA 3-gigabit-per-second interface.
This app represents one of the many advancements third-party developers have made to the iPhone’s utility. At the same time, it’s unfortunate it’s currently limited only to those with jailbroken iPhones, since even with the SDK, official third-party apps won’t be able to sit passively in the background like this one can. That said, if you’ve got a jailbroken iPhone, installation is a snap. You can find instructions here.
Get a bunch of information in a small space with IntelliScreen–a delightfully simple, yet powerful iPhone app.
The app is controlled by an extensive preferences panel where you can tweak every aspect of each widget, right down to how often each one is updated. Many can even be set to not appear unless there’s new content to show–including the ones for e-mail, SMS messages, and items in your news feeds.
You can successfully have about four of the small, single use widgets on the screen at once, and the options allow you to go in and swap which ones you want to use along with what order you want them in. My favorite of the bunch is the RSS reader which will let you browse several headlines (up to 20 at a time). If you find a story you like you can open it in
Safari by sliding your finger to the right, which will unlock the phone for you as well. The weather widget is also particularly useful, giving you a six-day forecast for multiple cities in a small, but useful form factor.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
[via Just Another iPhone Blog]
Despite the
iPhone app store being weeks away from launch, developer Intelliborn has just released a stellar application for users with jailbroken iPhones. Switchers from Windows Mobile phones who missed the “today” screen that lists a gathering of small bits of information on one screen essentially get the same thing with this app, which will compile weather, e-mail, SMS messages, and even RSS feeds on your phone’s screen every time you hit a button to wake your phone up.
“In addition to their official (house.gov) Web site, a member may maintain another Web site(s), channel(s) or otherwise post material on third-party Web sites,” the new House rules read. They also allow members to provide links to or embed outside content on their official sites, provided they include an exit notice indicating the visitor is leaving the House.
Many members of Congress have, in spite of the rules, already been posting content to YouTube. Relying strictly on the official House and Senate sites can prove insufficient at times, as it did this week as Congress considered the bailout bill.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the change “a significant step forward toward bringing House rules into the multimedia age and allowing for members to effectively communicate with their constituents online.”
The House Rules Committee approved the change for the House of Representatives on Thursday, while the Senate Rules and Administration Committee adopted the new rules on September 19.
The Senate rules also allow for links to be added to official sites. They allow senators to use any third-party site of their choice, but the senators will have an “approved list” of sites for reference.
Members of Congress can finally use Web sites like YouTube, after committees in both the House and Senate adopted new rules allowing members to post content outside of the .gov domain, as long as it is for official purposes.
eBay halts inauguration ticket sales
Netflix: Wiimote, browser make for fab Web TV
Also in this podcast: Sun Microsystems announces it’s laying off up to 6,000 employees; Barack Obama says he’ll post his weekly public addresses to YouTube; eBay shuts down inauguration ticket scams; and Netflix’s CEO dreams of radical change in the realm of home TVs.
Listen now:
Download today’s podcast
Today’s stories:
Businesses warming up to the iPhone
Sun chops heads: Can it get any respect?
Video game sales soar in October
Sun restructures, lays off up to 6,000
Encrypting hard drives on their way
Obama to deliver weekly address via YouTube
Apple reporter Tom Krazit drops by the studio to talk about how Apple’s
iPhone, largely ignored by IT departments in its first generation, is now making its way into more and more companies’ tech arsenal.
Like Ning (which picked up $60 million in funding last month), it lets users build pages out of various components without needing to know any coding. The twist is that if you come across someone else’s design of modules that you dig, you can copy the entire thing to your own page and make it your own. The same goes for individual modules, which can be ported over to any of your Webjam pages, complete with whatever feeds or standalone content they contain.
Earlier today I had a great demo with Webjam, a do-it-all publishing service that launched at the Le Web conference in late 2006. In many ways it was ahead of its time with a platform that lets you create your own social network, blog, online shop, or iGoogle alternative.
These extensive privacy settings might be one of the most complex bits of the service. Each module has its own settings for viewership and editing. Users who visit your creation can become members, and in some cases co-contributors to the content that gets pushed out for others to read. Motte’s example was to show me a page where a Webjam user had two different versions of a blog–one for everyone in the world to see, and a member’s-only version.
The service has already seen accelerating growth in the U.S. over the past few months. Motte says the site has been growing 10 percent a week and is seeing users spend more than 12 minutes on the site (according to Compete), something I think is due to the page creation tool, which is really well done. If you’ve ever used Netvibes or Pageflakes it uses the same system; you simply have a bunch of different boxes you can drop down onto a blank editing canvas, which can be skinned and re-arranged to your liking. Motte says that in many ways his system is like Facebook’s except more open because you get more control over the privacy controls of each box, as well as the data that goes with it.
When it comes down to it, I found Webjam’s creation tools and skinning to be far easier to use than the ones that come with Ning. I think the results looked a little better too, at least with some of the themes you can apply which are on par with some of the really simple and beautiful ones on iGoogle. What’s not as established as Ning is the business model, which for now is simple text ads. The good news for power users looking to potentially get a little cash off of the hosted sites is that the service is rolling out a premium plan in July, which is currently being offered for free until then. Premium members get all the usual perks of services like this, with domain mapping and the option to remove or place banner ads.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
To see some examples of popular Webjam pages you can go here. You can also check out a quick demo of the site maker in action after the break.
Add new content to your site with little modules. There are tons to choose from, you can even drop in ads. (click to enlarge)
Like someone else's Webjam? Just grab it and make it your own. If you've created something special you can also set it to private so other users can't take it and make it their own. (click to enlarge)
Co-founder and CEO Yann Motte, formerly of Yahoo Europe thinks his platform’s got what it takes to rise above the noise of other platform services, social networks, and blogging tools because it can do nearly all of those things nonexclusively. “[Users] don’t have to split their activities between several Web sites,” he says. “It works for you and me, and other people in this industry, but it does not scale for the average user.” Does that mean he wants people to give up their Facebook profiles? No, but Motte believes that Webjam offers the average user more possible combinations to post and discover quality content than the competition.
One thing I’m not sold on is that people would pick Webjam as a blogging platform over a more established service like WordPress or Blogger. Motte acknowledges that Webjam’s blog editor does not offer as many tools or the same level of community interaction, but comes back to say that if you decide to change the focus of your site later on it’s not limited to being just a blog, and that’s not a freedom most users are used to having. One service that took that idea and ran with it was Tumblr, which lets people change course if they get tired of writing things, and simply lets them republish photos, videos, audio, and IM conversations.
And here’s part two:
Here’s part one:
Colleague Dan Farber offered his thoughts about how they did, while Webware’s Rafe Needleman posted a live blog. But I think the video itself is worth checking out to give a full view of what things look like on that very warm chair.
Click here for full coverage of the D: All Things Digital conference.
CARLSBAD, Calif.–While all big CEOs are under scrutiny, the attention focused on Jerry Yang has been particularly intense. That intensity was on evidence during Wednesday’s appearance at the D:All Things Digital conference here.