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MGM has officially announced a late-February Blu-ray bow for 'Ronin,' though fans may be disappointed by the lack of extras on the bones release. Originally scheduled for a late-2007 Blu-ray release (before...img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/highdefdigestallnews/~4/460894101" height="1" width="1"/

pFiled under: a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/hybrids/" rel="tag"Hybrids/Alternative/a, a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/green/" rel="tag"Green/a, a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/ice/" rel="tag"I.C.E./a, a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/gm/" rel="tag"GM/a/pa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/fisker-karma-1/583252/"img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/11/fisker_karma_450.jpg" alt="" //abr / div style="text-align: center;"emstrongsmallClick above for high-res gallery of the Fisker Karma/small/strong/embr //div br /Fisker Automotive has apparently decided that 260 hp and 260 lb-ft of torque should be plenty of power to recharge some batteries. Those 260 galloping ponies will come courtesy of the General in the form of its 2.0L direct injected and turbocharged Ecotec four banger, an engine that we've sampled ourselves plenty of times. We feel well qualified, therefore, to suggest that this is an excellent motor, but it really sounds like a major case of overkill for this particular application. Perhaps that's better than "underkill" (if such a word actually existed) as that powerful engine ought to be able to recharge the Fisker Karma's on-board lithium ion batteries at an extremely brisk pace. The faster the internal combustion engine can charge up the battery pack, the quicker the car can revert back to its native electric-only operation. Plus, that engine is a relatively light chunk of alloy, so the Karma's motor shouldn't be burdened by the gasoline-fed boat anchor too horribly under electric power. br /br /We also find it a bit interesting that Fisker chose GM as its powertrain supplier, which means that the Karma and GM's own Chevy Volt are now even closer cousins than before. Both vehicles will sport four doors, lithium ion batteries and an extended-range electric vehicle drivetrain; and with this announcement, both are now slated to share a href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/09/25/gm-officially-announces-flint-mi-production-for-volt-cruze-engin/"four cylinder engines/a from GM. This kinda makes 'em second-cousins through marriage, no?br /br /div class="postgallery"pstrongGallery: a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/fisker-karma-1/"Fisker Karma/a/strong/pa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/fisker-karma-1/583462/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/01/fiskerkarmalive81_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/fisker-karma-1/583460/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/01/fiskerkarmalive87_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/fisker-karma-1/583465/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/01/fiskerkarmalive85_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/fisker-karma-1/583328/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/01/0010fiskerkarma_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/fisker-karma-1/583461/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/01/fiskerkarmalive88_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //a/divpa href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/21/fisker-karma-to-use-gms-2-0-liter-turbod-four/" rel="bookmark"Continue reading emFisker Karma to use GM's 2.0-liter turbo'd four/em/a/pp style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/21/fisker-karma-to-use-gms-2-0-liter-turbod-four/"Fisker Karma to use GM's 2.0-liter turbo'd four/a originally appeared on a href="http://www.autoblog.com"Autoblog/a on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:59:00 EST. Please see our a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/"terms for use of feeds/a./ph6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/h6a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/21/fisker-karma-to-use-gms-2-0-liter-turbod-four/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"Permalink/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/1379597/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"Email this/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/21/fisker-karma-to-use-gms-2-0-liter-turbod-four/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"Comments/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/uiMvQTlG-9SlZQ25jVmCoALpP8I/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/uiMvQTlG-9SlZQ25jVmCoALpP8I/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?a=fzxlh1BU"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?i=fzxlh1BU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?a=GFImcr6A"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?i=GFImcr6A" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weblogsinc/autoblog/~4/vwqCftRe-uk" height="1" width="1"/

Contemplating the possible nomination of Sen. Hillary Clinton to be secretary of state, commentator and author Christopher Hitchens, a frequent and harsh Clinton critic, revived the unsubstantiated claim that Hillary Clinton blocked any action by the Clinton administration in war-torn Bosnia in 1993 because she didn't want it to interfere with passage of her health-care plan. In reviving the claim on MSNBC's Hardball, MSNBC's 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and CNN's Larry King Live between November 17 and November 19, Hitchens purported to quote Hillary Clinton demanding of Bill Clinton that he not intervene in Bosnia, lest, in Hitchens' words on the November 17 Hardball, it "spoil my wonderful health-care plan, which should be front and center." In a March 31 article for Slate.com, Hitchens cited Sally Bedell Smith's For Love of Politics: Bill and Hillary Clinton: The White House Years for the claim that Hillary Clinton blocked Clinton administration intervention in Bosnia, but the book does not support Hitchens' claim; it does not mention Hitchens' purported quote or otherwise assert that Hillary Clinton directed Bill Clinton not to take action in Bosnia.

On all three shows, Hitchens also revived his claim that then-Defense Secretary Les Aspin was a strong proponent of U.S. intervention in Bosnia but was thwarted by Hillary Clinton. In his Slate article, as purported further support for his claim that Hillary Clinton blocked action in Bosnia to protect her domestic priority, Hitchens cited an exchange he said he had with Aspin that does not, in fact, prove his broader claim about Hillary Clinton. Moreover, in her book, On the Edge: The Clinton Presidency (Simon & Schuster, 1994), author Elizabeth Drew, a former Washington correspondent with The New Yorker, writes that, contrary to media reports at the time, Aspin was not a proponent of U.S. intervention in Bosnia.

In his Slate article, Hitchens quoted at length from Bedell Smith's book, which includes numerous other errors and flaws, to advance the claim that Hillary Clinton deterred President Clinton from intervening in Bosnia because it would "distract attention from the first lady's health care 'initiative.' " However, neither the quote Hitchens cited from Bedell Smith -- nor the Newsweek article that she referenced -- supports Hitchens' claims.

In For Love of Politics, Bedell Smith wrote:

Taking the advice of [then-Vice President] Al Gore and National Security Advisor Tony Lake, Bill agreed to a proposal to bomb Serbian military positions while helping the Muslims acquire weapons to defend themselves -- the fulfillment of a pledge he had made during the 1992 campaign. But instead of pushing European leaders to sign on, he directed Secretary of State Warren Christopher merely to consult with them. When they balked at the plan, Bill quickly retreated, creating a "perception of drift." The key factor in Bill's policy reversal was Hillary, who was said to have "deep misgivings," and viewed the situation as "a Vietnam that would compromise health-care reform." The United States took no further action in Bosnia, and the "ethnic cleansing" by the Serbs was to continue for two more years, resulting in the deaths of more than 250,000 people.

In asserting that Hillary Clinton "was said to have 'deep misgivings,' and viewed the situation as 'a Vietnam that would compromise health-care reform,' " Bedell Smith did not purport to quote Hillary Clinton directly and did not assert that she directed her husband to do or not do anything with respect to Bosnia, as Hitchens has repeatedly claimed.

Moreover, Bedell Smith cites a 1993 Newsweek article by Tom Post for her claim that Hillary Clinton "was said to have 'deep misgivings,' and viewed the situation as 'a Vietnam that would compromise health-care reform.' " But Post did not report that as fact; rather, in the article Bedell Smith cited, he reported that sources gave differing accounts of the influences on Bill Clinton's Bosnia policy, providing one point of view offered by adviser Mandy Grunwald, but then citing "other sources" saying that Hillary Clinton had "deep misgivings" about Bosnia, and quoting a "friend" saying: "She regards this as a Vietnam that would compromise health-care reform." Moreover, the Newsweek article does not support Bedell Smith's flat assertion that Hillary was "[t]he key factor in Bill's policy reversal" on Bosnia, and Bedell Smith provides no other support for the assertion.

From the Newsweek article:

By the time Christopher returned to Washington, the mood was grim. His aides had warned him of a weakening of resolve in the White House. Could it be that political consultants had gotten to the president and warned him to back off Bosnia? "We don't mess around with foreign-policy decisions," insists Mandy Grunwald, an informal adviser. "Nobody is saying, 'You've got an economic program to worry about, don't do this'." But other sources say the most important adviser of all-Hillary Rodham Clinton-has deep misgivings. "She regards this as a Vietnam that would compromise health-care reform," says a friend.

After quoting from Bedell Smith's book, Hitchens wrote in his Slate article:

I can personally witness to the truth of this, too. I can remember, first, one of the Clintons' closest personal advisers -- Sidney Blumenthal -- referring with acid contempt to Warren Christopher as "a blend of Pontius Pilate with Ichabod Crane." I can remember, second, a meeting with Clinton's then-Secretary of Defense Les Aspin at the British Embassy. When I challenged him on the sellout of the Bosnians, he drew me aside and told me that he had asked the White House for permission to land his own plane at Sarajevo airport, if only as a gesture of reassurance that the United States had not forgotten its commitments. The response from the happy couple was unambiguous: He was to do no such thing, lest it distract attention from the first lady's health care "initiative."

Hitchens did not explain how the anecdote he attributes to Aspin about being told not to land his plane in Sarajevo "lest it distract attention from the first lady's health care 'initiative' " proves the truth of Bedell Smith's claim that it was Hillary's purported "misgivings" that served as "[t]he key factor" in the delay of U.S. intervention in Bosnia.

Moreover, in his three television appearances on November 17, 18, and 19, Hitchens presented Aspin as a strong proponent of U.S. intervention in Bosnia, up against Hillary Clinton. For example, on November 18, Hitchens said:

HITCHENS: We all remember, or we should, that when Les Aspin had then got the Clinton administration very nearly to do something about the horror in the Balkans that belatedly the Clinton administration did decide to stop -- the Clinton-Gore administration -- they delayed it because Hillary said, "No, no, don't do it, it will take away attention from my brilliant, wonderful health care program" that we all remember so well.

But in her book, Drew reported the opposite -- that Aspin "was for doing as little as possible in Bosnia." From Drew's book:

Contrary to many published reports at the time, Aspin (who was said to favor bombing) was for doing as little as possible in Bosnia. He thought it was "a loser from the start," that there was no way to deal with the problem effectively without enormous military force, and that neither the United States nor Europe was willing to pay that price. He argued that the best they could end up with was a divided Bosnia -- Serb, Croat, and Muslim -- with the Serbs maintaining control over most of the land they had already won in the war. When the question of bombing Bosnian Serb artillery sites arose in the spring of 1993, Aspin favored a cease-fire in place. [Page 142]

From the November 17 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

CHRIS MATTHEWS (host): Well, I probably disagree with Hitchens on this, but I am very suspicious when [Sen.] Jon Kyl [R-AZ], a major supporter of the war in Iraq, a complete hawk, a neocon in many ways, complete hawk, supports her for this. Henry Kissinger's come out of the woodwork. He supports her for this.

HITCHENS: Yes.

MATTHEWS: Why do these establishment conservatives want her? What are they up to? Why do they want her? I don't know what they want.

HITCHENS: Don't compare Kissinger -- don't compare Kissinger to Kyl. I mean, Kissinger is a critic of the war and a so-called realist, and someone who likes leaving dictators like Saddam Hussein in place --

MATTHEWS: Well, why do they both want her? They're both Republicans. Why do they want her?

HITCHENS: Because she's a status-quo type, and they know they can, so to speak, trust her. She's a member of their club. Just to comment on what Peter said a moment ago: If you remember -- and I'll drag you back to this Bosnia farce that she inflicted on us during the campaign. Actually, when there was pressure on the Clinton administration -- Les Aspin was secretary of defense, you remember -- to do something about Sarajevo, to stop the killing, to prevent the ethnic cleansing, Hillary Clinton moved in hard on her husband and said, "Don't you do a thing about Bosnia. It'll spoil my wonderful health-care plan, which should be front and center." And remember how beautifully that worked out, too.

PETER BEINART (The New Republic editor-at-large and Time contributor): I'm not sure I think that's an entirely accurate accounting of --

HITCHENS: Yes, it is.

BEINART: -- her role in Bosnia. And the reality is that the Clintons, albeit very late, the Clinton administration acted very well --

MATTHEWS: OK.

BEINART: -- in Bosnia in 1995.

HITCHENS: Over her objections.

MATTHEWS: OK.

BEINART: I'm not sure it was over her objections.

HITCHENS: Yes, it was.

From the November 18 edition of MSNBC's 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with David Gregory:

GREGORY: And what's the impact on a Secretary of State Clinton because of those associations? Can they not put up a firewall between them?

HITCHENS: Well, as I say, if it hadn't involved her, too, the campaign finance scandals -- we're not talking about the ongoing stuff -- Mr. Clinton's huge speaking fees in the Gulf and elsewhere -- we're talking about previous convictions in the Clinton fundraising scandal. If it wasn't for the fact that she couldn't refuse her brothers everything -- or sorry, anything -- couldn't refuse them anything; anything they wanted they seem to have got, including some kind of deal for Marc Rich -- all of this might be forgivable or it might assume a different proportion, David, if it wasn't for the fact that this woman doesn't really have any foreign policy experience worth mentioning.

And what is memorable about it is pretty bad. We all remember, or we should, that when Les Aspin had then got the Clinton administration very nearly to do something about the horror in the Balkans that belatedly the Clinton administration did decide to stop -- the Clinton-Gore administration -- they delayed it because Hillary said, "No, no, don't do it, it will take away attention from my brilliant, wonderful health care program" that we all remember so well. At least on health care, she knows enough about the subject to have really changed American health care for the worse in her time. But foreign policy, she --

GREGORY: And yet --

HITCHENS: About foreign policy, she doesn't even know that much.

From the November 19 edition of CNN's Larry King Live:

LARRY KING (host): Christopher, if she takes the job, does that end her presidential ambitions?

HITCHENS: No. I mean, I actually agree with what Tom Friedman said. It must be very nerve-racking if you're a president to have a secretary of state who you know is thinking about four years ahead or maybe eight all the time. She never thinks about anything else, never has thought about anything else, except the possibility that she might one day be president of the United States. Wasn't even a team player in her own husband's administration.

Remember, when Les Aspin wanted to do something finally about Sarajevo and the rape of Bosnia, Hillary Clinton said, "No, I don't want you intervening. You'll get in the way of my health-care plan," which you remember worked out so brilliantly. Someone who simply cannot think about anything but her own ego, or sometimes, her husband's, but who -- if Barack Obama does this to himself, he'll never have a minute's peace in foreign policy --

KING: Paul [Begala] --

HITCHENS: -- and neither will we. And every lobbyist and foreign policy interest group from China to Indonesia will be laughing --

KING: Paul, what do you make of that?

HITCHENS: -- because they've got exactly the person they know listens to them.

a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vxzIamlzoAamp;eurl=http://www.thecriticalcondition.com/"The Worst Day of My Life./a SLYTP br /

p For those who like their PL History presented in avante guard beat poetry, a video of Steele amp; Gabriel's a href='http://blog.jaoo.dk/2008/11/21/art-and-code-obscure-or-beautiful-code/'50 in 50/a speech at JAOO is made to order. Or as the link says:/p blockquote p A fun, artistic and enlightning presentation full of interesting facts - and who better to do it than Richard P. Gabriel and Guy L. Steele (the great Quux). Nothing more to say than the rallying cry; More cowbell!/p/blockquote p Passing aside the Stephen Wright comic delivery of the two speakers, there are a lot of interesting thoughts, though very few are dwelled on. I think the most interesting things were the languages that they chose as expositions for the major ideas that they covered. Here's the ones that I picked out (though I ended up with only 49):/p blockquote table border='2'tr valign='top'td nowrapb Do Loops/b/tdtd Fortran (Pascal,APL)/tdtd nowrapb Guarded Commands/b/tdtd Algol-68/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Array Origin/b/tdtd C, Fortan, Pascal, APL/tdtd nowrapb Extensible Language/b/tdtd PPL/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Domain Specific Language/b/tdtd APT/tdtd nowrapb Structured Programming/b/tdtd BLISS, INTERCAL/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Text vs. Environment/b/tdtd Algol-60, Lisp, Smalltalk/tdtd nowrapb Language as Educational Tool/b/tdtd Logo/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Stack Machines/b/tdtd Befunge (SECD Machine, Forth)/tdtd nowrapb Formal Dynamic Semantics/b/tdtd SECD/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Data Parallelism/b/tdtd APL/tdtd nowrapb Enumerated Types/b/tdtd Pascal/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Coercion/b/tdtd PL/I (Fortran-V)/tdtd nowrapb Backtracking and Theorem Proving/b/tdtd Conniver (Prolog)/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Hierarchical Records/b/tdtd COBOL/tdtd nowrapb Argument Handling/b/tdtd Common Lisp, Ada, Python (VB, C#, Suneido, PL/pgSQ)/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Pointers amp; Lists/b/tdtd IPL-V/tdtd nowrapb Coding in Natural Language/b/tdtd Perligata (COBOL, Hypercard)/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Parsing/b/tdtd Yacc (LR1, Recursive Descent)/tdtd nowrapb Computational Drama/b/tdtd Shakespeare/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Linked Records/b/tdtd AED/tdtd nowrapb Reasoning/b/tdtd Prolog/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Mathematical Syntax/b/tdtd MADCAP, MIRFAC, Kleerer-May System/tdtd nowrapb Type Declarators/b/tdtd C/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Line Numbers/b/tdtd Basic (Focal, APL)/tdtd nowrapb Data Abstraction/b/tdtd CLU, Alphard/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Visual Languages/b/tdtd Piet/tdtd nowrapb Dynamic vs. Lexical Scoping/b/tdtd Scheme/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Pattern Matching amp; Replacement/b/tdtd COMIT, SNOBOL/tdtd nowrapb Knowledge Representation/b/tdtd KRL (Conniver, Microplanner)/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Branding/b/tdtd Ada (COMIT, SNOBOL, TRAC)/tdtd nowrapb Stream Processing/b/tdtd Lucid/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Dynamic Languages/b/tdtd AMBIT/L/tdtd nowrapb Generic Functions/b/tdtd Lisp/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Program as Data/b/tdtd Lisp/tdtd nowrapb Reflection/b/tdtd Lisp/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Macro Processor/b/tdtd TRAC, ML/I, Limp, M4/tdtd nowrapb Metacircular Interpreters/b/tdtd Lisp/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Call By Name vs. Call By Value/b/tdtd C, Algol-60/tdtd nowrapb Functional Programming/b/tdtd KRC/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Dangling Else/b/tdtd Algol-60/tdtd nowrapb Control Parallelism/b/tdtd Occam/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Formal Static Semantics/b/tdtd Algol-68/tdtd nowrapb Domain Specific Languages/b/tdtd HQ9+, MUMBLE/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Algebraic Formula Manipulation/b/tdtd Formac (Macsyma, Mathematica)/tdtd nowrapb Build Languages/b/tdtd Make, Ant, Rake (JCL)/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Message Passing/b/tdtd Smalltalk (C++, C#, Java, Flavors, Common Loops, CLOS, Scheme, Dylan, Simula, Self)/tdtd nowrapb Scripting/b/tdtd Perl/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Objects/b/tdtd Simula (Smalltalk, C++, Java)/tdtd nowrapb /b/tdtd /td/tr/table/blockquote

In a November 21 Washington Times article about President-elect Barack Obama's plan to lift the ban on gays and lesbians serving in the military, Robert Knight, director of the Media Research Center's Culture and Media Institute, was quoted as saying that the efforts of activists to lift the ban will lead to "a Pearl Harbor moment." Knight is also a columnist for Townhall.com and Human Events.

According to the Times, Knight said: "Homosexual activists are overconfident because they have not yet seen a counterforce emerge as occurred in 1993. ... But as the threat grows stronger, we will see groups forming and the resistance building." Knight was then quoted as saying: "Americans go about their business and are not activists until they have a Pearl Harbor moment. That has yet to happen, but it will." The Times also reported that Knight said most Americans "are unaware that gay activists have the military in their gun sights."

Knight previously compared the legalization of same-sex marriage to the attack on Pearl Harbor. In his June 17 Townhall.com column, Knight wrote that former Human Rights Campaign executive director Elizabeth Birch "not[ed] that the natural elements had remained intact in the Bay State [Massachusetts] following the beginning of 'gay marriage.' She assured the young audience, which soaked up her utterly illogical argument, that the 'sun still came out, the birds still chirped and the flowers still bloomed,' or something to that effect." Knight continued: "Well, the birds chirped and the flowers bloomed in Pearl Harbor on December 8, 1941, as the American fleet lay smoldering."

Knight has also previously stated that "the endgame of the gay rights activists, and I've said this before, is the criminalization of Christianity," and claimed that "gay rights advocates are laying the foundation for the criminalization of Christianity, Judaism and every other religion that preaches God's view of sexual morality."

From The Washington Times November 21 article:

"Homosexual activists are overconfident because they have not yet seen a counterforce emerge as occurred in 1993," said Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Media Institute at the Media Research Center, an organization that seeks to balance perceived liberal bias in mainstream news coverage.

"But as the threat grows stronger, we will see groups forming and the resistance building," he said. "Americans go about their business and are not activists until they have a Pearl Harbor moment. That has yet to happen, but it will."

He added that most Americans "are unaware that gay activists have the military in their gun sights."

pI tripped over a reference to artificial intelligence the other day. I guess I tripped because it's not a term I hear very much any more. Maybe it's because I hang around with a lot of geeky people, but it seems quaint and maybe a little pretentious./p pInstead, I hear about a lot of very specific techniques: Bayesian networks, collaborative filtering and the slope-one algorithm. I guess those fall under the artificial intelligence umbrella, but often it's really a matter of harvesting human intelligence and then acting on the results./p pGoogle has just turned on a change that reportedly has been a href=http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/20/google-makes-major-interface-change-to-search-searchwiki/ in a fairly wide test,/a giving logged-in Google users a chance to vote up/down specific items returned by search queries. /p pThis is a huge change for Google, which made its mark by observation-based harvesting of human intelligence. Both Google Search and Google News observe the results of human decisions and use those observations to recommend items. /p pGoogle Search places a high value on inbound links, which are considered to reflect whether a page is authoritative. If a lot of people link to a page, it must be good. This is why blog spammers prowl the net, posting comments that sneakily embed a link to their websites./p pGoogle News looks at the relative prominence that has been given to a story by editors at thousands of news-related websites, then uses that information to help design its top-level presentation. Rather than reflecting the news judgment of an editor at Google (there isn't one), Google reflects a sort of broad consensus among human editors./p pThe new Google feature -- which it calls SearchWiki -- switches gears and asks people to take an overt action to provide it with information about human judgment./p pLet me bring this home to the world of news sites. This is a good thing because the scale and impact of Google will significantly broaden the pool of people who are in the habit of explicitly evaluating items on the net. This is a habit we can use to our advantage./p pMany news sites are adding rate this item features, then using that to display lists of actively top rated stories, often paired with observationally ranked most emailed and most viewed. That's one way to use the information, but it's a fairly naive way./p pI'm far more interested in how we might use this information to generate personalized recommendations using collaborative-filtering principles and that mysterious slope-one algorithm that I mentioned. /p pAs so often is the case, there's a href=http://drupal.org/project/crealready a Drupal module for that/a, one that originated as a 2006 Google Summer of Code project. As we collect rankings, ratings and other overt evaluations on our websites, I'm looking forward to pointing the recommendation module at that data and seeing what comes out of it./p

a href="http://www.thisismymilwaukee.com/"This is my Milwaukee/a (SLYTP-esque) br / No, I have no clue what it is either.

Former NFL star Michael Vick is back in Virginia to face state dogfighting charges.

Great news for all you aspiring paparazzi -- it looks like someone has finally figured out how to eliminate that nasty camera phone shutter lag. By sending image data directly to the camera's display and capturing it as a modified SpeedTagged JPEG when the time comes to immortalize that precious moment (or romantic indiscretion), the Scalado Camera Solution not only takes nigh-on instantaneous photos, but also provides high quality, real-time preview, pan and zoom. With several camera phone sensor and module manufacturers (including Aptina, OmniVision Samsung, and MtekVision) already on the SpeedTags tip, it looks like that laggedy old camera phone may soon be a thing of the past. Don't believe us? Take a look at the demo video yourself. It's after the break.

[Via Slashphone]

Continue reading Scalado demonstrates zero-lag cellphone camera

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Scalado demonstrates zero-lag cellphone camera originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey Makers, This is David J. Neff and you may know me as the MAKE Halloween blogger, but after meeting all the guys and gal from MAKE at Maker Faire Austin 2008 they thought I should join the party that's still going on. So I have been asked to build some of the kits from the Maker Shed and document how hard or easy they are to make along with some tips. Now I have made Halloween props for several years but none of those as complicated as some of the stuff in the Maker Shed. So tune in as an average guy takes on some truly cool projects. Feel free to leave me comments or shortcuts as I build and post projects.My first project was the LED Clock.

a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/11/branching_out.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890" /Read more/a | a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/11/branching_out.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890" / Permalink/a | a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/11/branching_out.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890#comments" /Comments/a | a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/diy_projects/?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890" /Read more articles in DIY Projects/a | a href="http://digg.com/submit?url=blog.makezine.com%2Farchive%2F2008%2F11%2Fbranching_out.htmltitle=Branching%20Outbodytext=Hey%20Makers%2C%20This%20is%20David%20J.%20Neff%20and%20you%20may%20know%20me%20as%20the%20MAKE%20Halloween%20blogger%2C%20but%20after%20meeting%20all%20the%20guys%20and%20gal%20from%20MAKE%20at%20Maker%20Faire%20Austin%202008%20they%20thought%20I%20should%20join%20the%20party%20that%26apos%3Bs...topic=tech_news" /Digg this!/a

The Solar Vertical Lamp adds some mood lighting through the blinds.img src=http://dw.com.com/clear/c.gif?ts=1115768950edId=3prtnr=CNET%20Networks,%20Inc.oid=2100-null-ptId=2547onId=nullsId=17asId=astId=1CTYPE=rss_feedsCVAL= border=0 height=1 width=1 alt= /

Posting a thread about Creative open-sourcing the X-Fi Linux Driver (link) got me wondering about the X-Fi Vista driver scene. I have a 1st gen X-Fi Fatal1ty sitting in a box somewhere around here, choosing instead to use my IP35 Pro's Realtek solution after tiring of the driver dramas.

Have the drivers improved to the point where its worth considering dropping an X-Fi back in?

Online gaming competition site, BringIt, has launched in open beta, but its gambling element may cause some issues.

img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1121 Paris Hilton Benji Repo/post_image/post_image-1121_paris_hilton_benjirepo_00.jpg" border="0"br Paris Hilton called into a href="http://www.kiisfm.com/cc-common/losangeles/podcast/kiis.html"Ryan Seacrest's radio show/a this morning to set the record straight on her relationship with Benji Madden. Supposedly, the two are "just talking a break," and Paris hinted they could get back together, according to a href="http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b70047_paris_on_benji_were_just_taking_break.html"E! News/a: blockquote"He is an incredible person, and we will always be really close," Hilton said. "We will see what happens in the future. I am still in love with him."br As for why they decided to go their separate ways for now...br "He has been working nonstop with his brother on his new record. I am working and traveling," she said. "All these reports that say I dumped him aren't true. This is a decision we made together as adults."/blockquote The last time I was on a "break" from a relationship, I sat around in my boxers for days on end building LEGOs and watching porn. (Its been five years, but I know she'll call me back as soon as her husband gives her the message.) I'm sure Benji Madden's doing the same thing - or he's frantically searching for a hooker that won't make him wear a HAZMAT suit. I'm not a mind reader. div style="width: 425px; margin: 0 0 0 30px; padding: 0;"ul style="list-style-type: none; display: block; width: 425px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"li style="display: block; float: left; width: 90px; height: 134px; margin: 0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0;"a href="http://thesuperficial.com/2008/11/paris_hilton_benji_madden_just.php" style="display: block; width: 90px; height: 134px; background: #CCC; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; padding: 0;"img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1121 Paris Hilton Benji Repo/gallery_thumb/gallery_thumb-1121_paris_hilton_benjirepo_00.jpg" style="display: block; border: 1px solid #cccccc; width: 88px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/a/lili style="display: block; float: left; width: 90px; height: 134px; margin: 0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0;"a href="http://thesuperficial.com/2008/11/paris_hilton_benji_madden_just.php?bfm_index=1" style="display: block; width: 90px; height: 134px; background: #CCC; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; padding: 0;"img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1121 Paris Hilton Benji Repo/gallery_thumb/gallery_thumb-1121_paris_hilton_benjirepo_01.jpg" style="display: block; border: 1px solid #cccccc; width: 88px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/a/lili style="display: block; float: left; width: 90px; height: 134px; margin: 0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0;"a href="http://thesuperficial.com/2008/11/paris_hilton_benji_madden_just.php?bfm_index=2" style="display: block; width: 90px; height: 134px; background: #CCC; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; padding: 0;"img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1121 Paris Hilton Benji Repo/gallery_thumb/gallery_thumb-1121_paris_hilton_benjirepo_02.jpg" style="display: block; border: 1px solid #cccccc; width: 88px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/a/lili style="display: block; float: left; width: 90px; height: 134px; margin: 0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0;"a href="http://thesuperficial.com/2008/11/paris_hilton_benji_madden_just.php?bfm_index=3" style="display: block; width: 90px; height: 134px; background: #CCC; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; padding: 0;"img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1121 Paris Hilton Benji Repo/gallery_thumb/gallery_thumb-1121_paris_hilton_benjirepo_03.jpg" style="display: block; border: 1px solid #cccccc; width: 88px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/a/lili style="display: block; float: left; width: 90px; height: 134px; margin: 0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0;"a href="http://thesuperficial.com/2008/11/paris_hilton_benji_madden_just.php?bfm_index=4" style="display: block; width: 90px; height: 134px; background: #CCC; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; padding: 0;"img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1121 Paris Hilton Benji Repo/gallery_thumb/gallery_thumb-1121_paris_hilton_benjirepo_04.jpg" style="display: block; border: 1px solid #cccccc; width: 88px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/a/lili style="display: block; float: left; width: 90px; height: 134px; margin: 0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0;"a href="http://thesuperficial.com/2008/11/paris_hilton_benji_madden_just.php?bfm_index=5" style="display: block; width: 90px; height: 134px; background: #CCC; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; padding: 0;"img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1121 Paris Hilton Benji Repo/gallery_thumb/gallery_thumb-1121_paris_hilton_benjirepo_05.jpg" style="display: block; border: 1px solid #cccccc; width: 88px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/a/li/uldiv style="clear: left;"/div/div div class = "credit"Photos: WENN/div pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/2V5AX9nGnv7ARbaq4LFsc_vLqwU/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/2V5AX9nGnv7ARbaq4LFsc_vLqwU/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thesuperficial/SNxk/~4/weuWmBKT7f4" height="1" width="1"/

pFiled under: a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/utilities/" rel="tag"Utilities/a, a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/windows/" rel="tag"Windows/a, a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/freeware/" rel="tag"Freeware/a/pa href="http://cyber-d.blogspot.com/2005/10/cyber-ds-auto-delete-101.html"img hspace="4" height="292" width="250" vspace="16" border="0" align="right" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2008/11/auto-delete.jpg" alt="Auto Delete" //aEarlier today we showed you how to a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/11/21/help-how-do-i-tidy-up-a-disorganized-hard-drive/"keep your hard drive organized/a with tools to remove duplicate files and clean up your file and folder management system. But what if you want to just delete all the gunk you download and never use? That's what a href="http://cyber-d.blogspot.com/2005/10/cyber-ds-auto-delete-101.html"Auto Delete/a is for.br /br /This free Windows utility lets you automatically delete old files in a given folder. You can fine tune the settings to delete files that have been hanging out for a day, a year, or somewhere in between. Files can be moved to the recycle bin or permanently deleted. And you can choose whether to include subfolders or not.br /br /It might be a good idea to set Auto Delete to monitor your web browser's default download directory. Odds are if you haven't moved a file out of that directory after a few weeks, you're not really going to use it and it's just taking up space on your hard drive.br /br /[via a href="http://shellcity.net/?egg=a"Shell Extension City/a]p style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/11/21/keep-your-hard-drive-clean-with-auto-delete/"Keep your hard drive clean with Auto-Delete/a originally appeared on a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com"Download Squad/a on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/"terms for use of feeds/a./ph6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/h6a href=http://cyber-d.blogspot.com/2005/10/cyber-ds-auto-delete-101.htmlRead/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/11/21/keep-your-hard-drive-clean-with-auto-delete/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"Permalink/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/1379662/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"Email this/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/11/21/keep-your-hard-drive-clean-with-auto-delete/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"Comments/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/8O3Dj3C4SoWnAq6CVRSFNxBWQYs/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/8O3Dj3C4SoWnAq6CVRSFNxBWQYs/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/downloadsquad?a=TD6McOfW"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/downloadsquad?i=TD6McOfW" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/downloadsquad?a=RRelgYj4"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/downloadsquad?i=RRelgYj4" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weblogsinc/downloadsquad/~4/pQBD0SqvHAU" height="1" width="1"/

I couldn't get through my iPhone App Store Updates since yesterday. It says, "Cannot connect to iTunes Store". It's been that way on firmware 2.1 and 2.2. Am I the only one? If not, what happened? Thanks.

When ever I connect my Ipod touch to my computer, the time and date goes total haywire. I try fixing it by setting the time and date of the iPod back to current time, but that isn't helping.

Is there anyway I could fix this problem?

PS: It always goes in the month of October, none of the other months.