As you are probably already aware, the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) was another smash this year. The buzz word at the show was 'convergence'.
While I'm not terribly impressed with Google's offerings - PPV video downloads and the 'Google Pack' I am more interested in what keynote speaker Larry Page had to say.
You see, up until recently you couldn't see the whole speech. For some reason only bits and pieces were showing up on the web at various locations. So last Saturday I was able to se the announcements section of the speech, but that was all until yesterday.
The CES (Consumer Electronics Show) has recently completed and one thing that is interesting is that the search engines are playing a larger and larger role; Larger than ever before.
In fact, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft all had exhibits at the show. Also, Microsoft's Chairman Bill Gates and Google co-founder Larry Page were both keynote speakers at the event.
Both promoted their search engines, but both also pushed their consumer electronics.
Google recently released an official explanation of how they rank results in their newsletter for librarians. In this document, Google engineer Matt Cutts explains how Google decides what result goes at the top of the list.
This is a dangerous world for a computer user - threats multiply by the hour designed to swipe your data, cripple your network, steal your identity and in general- wreck havoc. Fortunately you can arm yourself to battle these menaces with several top software programs. And the best part is that these applications are free. So strap on your seatbelt and let's get started!
The first weapon in your arsenal should be anti-virus protection. Many of the popular and expensive programs tend to slow down PC performance and require an annual paid subscription. My impression is that they work no better than their 'freeware' cousins. A good recommendation/alternative is AVG Free Edition from http://www.grisoft.com. This program may not feature every single bell and whistle offered by some of the more commercially available apps, but it does provide rock-solid protection with all the tools needed to keep your system free of viruses, worms and Trojans.
As all of us view the new year, we determine various ways to improve ourselves. Whether its eliminating bad habits, or improving quality of life, January 1st is seen as a new beginning and starting point. Your website too, can use a new look. Consider taking the website to task with these down and dirty quick improvement tips for the new year.
A recent PEW Internet study (http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/171/report_display.asp) exploring how men and women use the Internet points out some interesting differences between the sexes. This caught my attention because in every study we've done; we've tried to break out results by gender and explored the different usage patterns. It's been fascinating to see how millions of years of conditioning and the differences in our respective genetic wiring have impacted our use of a new technology. The PEW study echoed a lot of what we had seen. What I'd like to do over the next two columns is explore this further. Today, I'll present some of the more interesting findings from the PEW study and ours, and next week I'll provide my thoughts on why we may be seeing what we're seeing.
Last month Matt Cutts mentioned that there was a new datacenter Google was testing, however he didn't get into too many details about what it was or why they were testing it.
Today, Matt unveiled 'BigDaddy' (the name they gave it) in his blog. In it he explains what BigDaddy is and isn't.
For one thing, BigDaddy ISN'T a new algorithm. But it is a new foundation for Google. In other words, this new datacenter contains new code that will be rolled out to the other datacenters in the coming months to help improve Google.
While some are reporting that they are seeing different results on the datacenter Matt insists that is more a case of the changing infrastructure than an actual algorithm shift which we normally associate with a Google update.
To judge from the various most popular search lists that are showing up as the year draws to a close, the average search user is a pubescent male, with an IQ that hovers in the low 90's, and who spends an unhealthy amount of time in his room. I have said, on several occasions, that our search patterns are a reflection of our society. If that's true, our society's intellect is about as deep as the ring left by a Starbucks coffee cup.
When I saw the first list come in my email, I don't know why I was surprised. After all, Pamela Anderson holds the record as the most searched for term for the past decade, and Britney Spears and Paris Hilton are breathing down her neck. But come on; are we really as shallow as our searches seem to indicate?
2005 literally took the world by storm. The tragedies of the Asian Tsunami, the Hurricanes that blew through the US Gulf Coast and the earthquakes that swallowed parts of Pakistan have left an indelible mark on 2005. While mother nature cast a shadow on 2005, it was technology that delivered the impact that resulted in a huge outpouring of donations. The world was touched by the human element seen real-time in pictures and videos. Today's technology was able to deliver the graphical grittiness that portrayed the nightmares occurring half a world away.
I love web feeds, also known as RSS or XML feeds. They are so flexible and can provide you with so much information.
That's why in this week's article I'm going to explain how you too can develop a deep admiration for feeds. This is because the use of feeds is growing and will continue to do so in the coming year. If you aren't into feeds by now my question is why not?
Everywhere you look, feeds are available. We have feeds available for all our articles on this site. In fact, if you look to the right of this article you will see the common bright orange "XML" icon denoting the URL to our feed. Below that you will also see we've given you a handy link to add this feed to your Google home page, as well as your my Yahoo! page and even your "MyWeb 2.0" page.