Google hopes to turn the river into a canal

Before too long, expect to find anything that anyone puts on the Internet on Google within seconds: with luck, it might even be useful.

Real-time search has come to Google. The company has been hinting at this day for several months, most recently when it announced a deal to access Twitter’s “firehose” of data. But it presented its vision for real-time search before the media Monday at the Computer History Museum, claiming to have made a little history on its own.

Over the next few days, Google users will start to notice a box called “Latest results” on the main search results page for a topic that’s guaranteed to produce results. Google used “Obama” as its example, and searches for that query place a new box that automatically scrolls through recent “real-time” results associated with that topic from sources like Twitter, FriendFeed, and Google News, as well as new Web pages–such as this story–as they are created.

The concept is hot in the search world: Microsoft’s Bing also displays updates from Twitter and various blogs, although those results are not integrated with the main page. And Yahoo has also signed up with a company called OneRiot to throw its hat into the real-time search wars.

What’s less clear, however, is how useful this technology will be unless Google and others working on the problem can bring the same degree of relevance and trust to real-time results that it brings to regular search results. Google News can already confuse the casual user who wonders how and why those particular headlines were singled out, so how will relevancy work when a stream of news can knock a particularly authoritative result off your screen in seconds?

“It’s a very hard problem. Language understanding is still an unsolved problem,” said Amit Singhal, a Google Fellow and one of the key players in developing this product. “Not only do we have to understand what someone is saying, but we have to get to the deeper semantics of what is indeed true. We have to work through many issues. Truth ends up being a rather vague notion.”

In a way, this challenge is right up Google’s alley. The company is obsessed with speed when it comes to presenting results, agonizing over whether design changes that add tenths of seconds to page-loading times are worth the effort.

And now that seemingly everyone has a blog, a microblog, a social-networking profile, and commenting identity (or 29), new content on the Internet is being generated at an astounding pace. Google used to think it would be able to index all the world’s information in about 300 years, but CEO Eric Schmidt told CNET in November that one of Google’s greatest challenges in the decades ahead will be staying abreast of the explosion in content enabled by social media.

That’s why it’s a bit surprising that Google, the world’s leading search engine by a wide margin, hasn’t necessarily been a leader in this area. Marissa Mayer, vice president of search and user experience at Google, admitted Monday the company could have moved more quickly to organize the vast amount of data produced by services such as Twitter. Anyone who has tried to use Twitter Search knows that real-time search at the moment is like the regular Internet was 10 years ago: a blast of information that’s impressive in its scope but overwhelming in its usefulness.

But what Google is trying to do is leapfrog the notion of Twitter as the vanguard of the real-time content explosion. Twitter is undeniably hot at the moment, but new Web pages are generated constantly, especially as traditional media companies move online. One need only to think back to this summer when news reports of Michael Jackson’s death sent millions online looking for confirmation, staggering services such as Google and Twitter under that load.

Google said it plans to display all kinds of Internet content in its “Latest news” box. Google didn’t pay Twitter an undisclosed amount of money for access to its feed for no reason, however; the speed at which real-time content is generated can be harnessed much easier if search providers such as Google have that information pushed to them, rather than having to pull it out of the Web itself.

That raises the question of just how Google will index and rank real-time results. The company needs to develop the real-time equivalent of PageRank, which evaluates Web pages by the number of other pages that are linking to that page. That’s something Google “is beginning to experiment with,” Mayer said in a question-and-answer session following Google’s presentation.

There’s definitely some way to do that, but it certainly is not a simple problem. Someone with 15,000 Twitter followers is not necessarily as authoritative in one area as they are in another, and Google will have to figure out some way to evaluate this information to make it truly useful.

Until then, however, news junkies can entertain themselves watching the Latest results section spin with updates on Tiger Woods’ latest paramour or the glacial progress of Congress’ attempt to pass health-care reform legislation.

In a roughly 10-second period Monday afternoon on Google’s Trends page, where it is testing out the real-time service, the feed for “Pearl Harbor Day”–the second most popular trend on the Internet Monday behind the aforementioned Tiger Woods–produced a tweet about a Pearl Harbor Day poem, a news story on people who were in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and a gentleman celebrating Ruby Diner’s 27th anniversary with a $2.70 Rubyburger. (He also happened to note in his tweet that it was Pearl Harbor Day.)

(SEE MORE AT THE ORIGINAL SOURCE BY CLICKING HERE)

Want to know how much phone companies and internet service providers charge to funnel your private communications or records to U.S. law enforcement and spy agencies?

That’s the question muckraker and Indiana University graduate student Christopher Soghoian asked all agencies within the Department of Justice, under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed a few months ago. But before the agencies could provide the data, Verizon and Yahoo intervened and filed an objection on grounds that, among other things, they would be ridiculed and publicly shamed were their surveillance price sheets made public. Read the full story

(Wired) — Google is set to become your new phone company, perhaps reducing your phone bill to zilch in the process.

Seriously.

Google has bought Gizmo5, an online phone company that is akin to Skype but based on open protocols and with a lot fewer users. TechCrunch, which broke the news on Monday, reported that Google spent $30 million on the company.

Google announced the Gizmo acquisition on Thursday afternoon Pacific Time. Gizmo5’s founder Michael Robertson, a brash serial entrepreneur, will become an Adviser to Google Voice. Read the full story

Are you looking for some quick cash? If so you can get paid online fast 6 different ways. The first way is to read paid emails. The second is to use paid search engines. The third method is to take cash surveys. The fourth way is to join a forum that pays members for posting. The fifth is to click on ads for a website that pays for that. The sixth way is to write articles for websites. The great thing about these opportunities to make some quick online is you probably already do them for free.
1. Paid Emails. You can earn some nice cash reading emails. The first step is to find a legitimate website that sends out emails and pays members for reading them. Most emails pay around a nickel. It does not sound like much but it adds up quick. You can expect to receive about five emails per day from whatever email program you decide to sign up with. Signing up is always free and you are allowed to sign up with as many companies as you want. The more you join the more money you will be able to make. The best program to join is inbox dollars.

2. Paid Search Engines. This is one of the best ways to get paid online. There are several search engines out there that use google, yahoo, and live search results. They will actually pay you to use their search engine to get those same results or a mix of those results. They are referred to as paid search engines. The way you can get paid with those is to win prizes, cash, and sweepstakes. Also with these you can earn money by referring your friends which is easy since they will be able make money doing something they already do while not seeing a decrease in the quality of their search results .

3. Cash Surveys. Surveys have long been a popular way to make money. There is a lot of controversy surrounding this topic. A lot of people think it is a scam. Although there are a lot of survey scams out there, there are still lots of legitimate companies pay members good money for participating in surveys. Every once in a while you will get to partake in a phone survey or focus group. Phone surveys pay much more that surveys taken online. Focus groups are where the money is at. They almost always pay over one hundred dollars. Survey scout is the best paid survey program

4. Paid forums. If you are already a member of a couple forums you will love this opportunity. After you join a paid forum you earn money every time you post a new message. Basically, you are allowed to post as much as you want. Be careful not to become a spammer. If they think you are spamming they will kick you off the website forever. The best forum to post on is FTP.

5. Paid Per Click. Anyone can make money with this method. All you do is join a website that pays members to click on advertisements. Once you view the advertisement for 30 seconds you are credited. Do not expect to get rich with this method. There is serious cash in referrals, but you only earn a penny each time you click on a ad. The best paid to click program is bux.to.

6. Write Articles. There are so many places that you can get paid for writing articles on the internet. Here is how it works. You start off by writing an article. Once you publish it google ads are placed next to your article. Whenever someone clicks on a ad next to your article you earn money. How much you earn depends on a lot of things. Google is very secretive about the payment procedures. Some clicks will pay as much as 20 dollars while others pay only a penny. Hubpages is the most profitable website to write articles on.
These five methods of making money on the internet are great if you need cash quick. However, they cannot create a substantial long term income. If you are looking for something like that you should try something else. The top 5 online businesses are website building, affiliate programs, blogging for money, eBay business, and data entry positions.

http://www.articlesbase.com/

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – On an unseasonably warm day in mid-September in this hotbed of hockey, a crowd packed around a makeshift fence at David Lam Park to watch a slightly staged pickup soccer game.

One team had members of the Vancouver Whitecaps, who play in the top tier of the United Soccer Leagues and are destined to join Major League Soccer in 2011.

On the other team was a scruffy-haired local athlete: Steve Nash.

The several hundred fans who came for this “Showdown in Downtown” charity match – put together by Nash – watched the Suns point guard, Whitecaps minority owner and full-time soccer nut set up headers with precision passes, boot one-time kicks and control the general speed of the match.

Five days later, 5,135 fans crowded the Whitecaps’ home at Swangard Stadium to cheer a different local athlete with the same jutting jaw and petite facial features: Steve’s brother Martin, the Whitecaps’ starting midfielder and captain. He did much of the same – paced the soccer pitch with high lobs and passes, continuously finding teammates throughout the match.

While their playing styles might appear similar, the Nash brothers have increased the profile of soccer in this city in different ways – Steve with his name recognition, Martin with his behind-the-scenes grunt work.

“I’m out and about in the community here, in being a part of this team and coaching. I think it was good for (Steve) to get involved, to be behind the (Whitecaps’ MLS) bid,” Martin Nash said. “I think it is good for publicity for the MLS as well to have him interested and being involved.”

Around Vancouver, signs of Steve Nash’s celebrity are pasted across the city: sports clubs he owns, billboard advertisements, people wearing his No. 13 Suns jersey. Although hockey rules Vancouver, Steve, who grew up in nearby Victoria, is the region’s favorite son.

“He is a recognizable face, a huge celebrity here in Canada – our most famous current athlete,” Whitecaps defender Marco Reda said.

In July 2008, after talking with his friend, Whitecaps co-owner and former Yahoo! president, Jeff Mallett, it was announced that Steve would make a financial commitment to the Whitecaps as a minority owner. At that point, the Whitecaps were planning to bid to join MLS in 2011.

Formed in 1974, the Whitecaps boasted a sound fan base, good facilities, and stable ownership with Mallett, majority owner Greg Kerfoot and Boston Celtics co-owner Steve Luczo. But Nash brought a different type of quality to the bid – a star quality.

“You can just see the positives in terms of him, not just being known by the fans, but interacting with the fans and having a passion for the sport which is really important here,” MLS president Mark Abbott said. “You can tell that he loves the game.”

And on March 18, this helped Vancouver win its bid.

“I think the MLS was very excited that Steve would be a tag associated with our club,” Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi said. “It was very exciting to have someone of his stature and the way he conducts himself. He brings a lot of, a lot more profile to the club.”

Steve’s celebrity status with the Whitecaps could easily overshadow Martin’s accomplishments, but the younger Nash has carved his own soccer niche in the area. Martin, 33, who is in his ninth season with the Whitecaps, spends close to 20 hours a week coaching soccer. Some of it is for pay, some of it is for fun, but all of it comes from his social conscience – to give back to the game.

One day before a Whitecaps’ playoff game against the Portland Timbers in October, Martin spent his Wednesday night teaching a U-11 team how to dribble, pass and shoot. He even showed off a little, as the group of 10 stared in awe when Martin balanced a ball on his forehead.

“You always want to help out and see the game grow because it is what I have been doing my whole life and it is what I love doing,” Martin said.

As the team prepares for its move to MLS, the brothers see their roles with the Whitecaps evolving.

Owning the team is part of Steve’s post-basketball plan, to keep his hand in a sport he cares about, while also moving the game forward in his home area. It’s something he hopes to be more involved with once his basketball career is over.

“I feel like I still have a lot to give as a basketball player. But I have to realize that I am mature enough now and at a stage where I am happy to start other pursuits,” Steve said. “So, being a part of the ownership group of the Vancouver Whitecaps is one of those pursuits that fulfills a passion of mine, but also brings something really incredible to our home province.”

Meanwhile, Martin would like to simply get to 2011. With soccer mortality inching closer, he wants to play on his hometown team when it reaches the highest professional soccer level in North America.

“Personally, I would love to be a part of it because it would be that final progression,” Martin said. “To be there for it would be great.”

http://www.azcentral.com/

A rumor circulating among Facebook users claims the popular third-party application Fan Check should be avoided because it allegedly downloads a virus to your computer. Here’s an example:

We've received tips about a Facebook application called Fan Check; reports say this application is actually a virus, and should be avoided at all costs.

The first thing you need to know is that this has NOT been confirmed as true. According to the developer of the software, Fan Check is a safe, legitimate Facebook app that doesn’t require the downloading of anything other than Adobe Flash. No evidence to the contrary has surface so far, according to antivirus software vendor Sophos. Read the full story