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Facebook has just rolled out its implementation of Microsoft Live Search, which allows
members of the site to search the Web without leaving the social network. The implementation is
fairly straightforward: in the search box on the top right of Facebook, which is also used for
quick access to your friends’ profiles and intrasite search, there is now an option to
“Search the Web,” which in turn triggers a query of Microsoft Live Search. Results
then display within a custom interface designed for Facebook.
Microsoft and Facebook announced their search and advertising partnership back in July, so
today’s news does not come as a surprise. At the time, I wondered if Facebook might do
something outside the box with the deal, writing “What will be interesting to see is if the
social networks begin to do innovative things with social search by leveraging your friends
list.” That does not appear to be the case so far, as the search results are essentially
what you’d expect to see on any search engine.
Of course, Facebook is spinning the news as something slightly more interesting, writing on their
company
blog, “Imagine your friend has just invited you to an event at a restaurant you
don’t know anything about. Without leaving Facebook, you can check out the details of the
restaurant on the web. Or, say you see a note in your News Feed about a friend’s new
laptop. If you are also in the market for a new computer or you just want to check out what she
purchased, you can search the web for more information about it without having to leave
Facebook.”
That’s all good and true, but you can also just enter in a search in your Google toolbar
after seeing something interesting in your News Feed. Facebook (and to an extent, MySpace through
its deal with Google) has an opportunity to do something cool with social search, but so far this
looks like a typical search engine-content partner deal, where adding search to a site with tens
of millions of eyeballs will certainly increase query volume, but not enough to make a huge dent
in the overall search market.
---
Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web:
Anna Politkovskaya was killed two years ago. I remember that the day of the funeral was just like
today - rainy. Many, many people came to the cemetery. Familiar faces, recognizable. To some
extent, it was comforting to be next to them… Why was it so painful? People like Anna
stood against trouble, lies and hypocrisy that were coming upon us (and which have eventually
prevailed). She didn't fit into the “new world order” in this one country
STYLISTICALLY. Now we live just like that, without Anna, without her existence on the earth. It
is tough. […]
Two years ago Anna Politkovskaya was murdered. A true Journalist and a real Citizen, a Patriot of
Russia.
In general, we have an extremely perverted and, I'd say, a wild notion of what patriotism is.
Many people consider it patriotic to beat up a Caucasus native in the street, to bomb Georgia, to
show [their] behinds to the USA. No, that's not patriotism, that's husk, which will be causing
nothing but shame in our offspring.
What Anna Politkovskaya was doing was patriotic. It is patriotic to tell the truth, to expose the
liars among officials, to fight for world peace, to walk alone through a mob of crazed thugs who
have small and great power, and, the main thing, not to be scared of them. The bullet was the
only thing that they could stop her with. Because she didn't need to make a career, nor did she
need the regime's favors, the status of a courtier or a pocket [tamed] journalist, all she needed
was just to tell the truth. And it was impossible to ask her to be silent, impossible to bribe or
intimidate her.
I didn't agree with her on everything, but I respected her as a Journalist, and as a Patriot. The
best thing we can do to honor the memory of Anna Politkovskaya is to win the fight for freedom of
speech, for the priority of human rights, for the democratic state. This is the only way to honor
the memory of this person.
We remember…
LJ user gengri posted an announcement of a memorial rally to take place at 7 PM in St.
Petersburg today - and pointed out (RUS)
the reason why the event has not been approved by city officials:
[…] It appears that from 7 to 9 PM some maintenance work will be taking place in the park
at Troitskaya Square. The city administration's Committee on the Issues of Legality offered to
hold the event not by the [Solovki] Stone, but in the 50th
Anniversary of October Park at Prospekt Metallistov. What kind of people are these…
According to LJ user shoorman, the St. Petersburg rally was expected to take place by
the Solovki Stone despite the official ban - the blogger cited a local politician (RUS) who had made a
media statement about the upcoming rally:
[…] Nevertheless, the memorial for Anna Politkovskaya will take place at the traditional
spot - by the Solovki Stone at Troitskaya Square. “Anyone can come up to the stone whenever
he or she wishes to. Despite the blatant cynicism present in the actions of the city authorities,
we will still come at this time and on this day to the Solovki Stone to honor Anna
Politkovskaya's memory. It's not just our right, but it's also our duty to her. And it does not
require approval of any committees. Everything will be quiet and peaceful, the way it has to be
during minutes of grief,” commented one of the event's organizers, the leader of St.
Petersburg branch of Yabloko Party, Maksim Reznik. […]
LJ user tupikinwrote (RUS)
about his expectations for the rally on Pushkin Square in Moscow - and for the outcome of the
investigation into Politkovskaya's murder:
Today, Oct. 7, 2008, marks two years since the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was
writing articles that made someone in the North Caucasus and (possibly) in Moscow uncomfortable.
The investigation should determine exactly who [they were making uncomfortable]. But it is
unlikely that it will. Not in this country, not at this time.
If a million people showed up for today's rally in her memory in Moscow, maybe the truth would be
told, who knows. Or perhaps two million are needed for that, or three? What kind of rally should
gather for the regime in the country to change?
A meeting is actually starting in memory of Politkovskaya in Moscow, at this very moment at
Pushkin Square. How many people will take part? I don't think there'll be more than 500. And
since it's raining heavily - maybe the total of 300.
Some of those who are late, by the way, will probably still be able to make it there. Maybe I'll
make it there, too. We'll see.
LJ user pesnyasolveigwrote (RUS) that this year she did not want
to attend the memorial rally in Moscow. Here is why:
I don't know whether I'll go to the rally in memory of Anna Stepanovna [Politkovskaya]. Up until
now, I have been attending all the events. But today I don't feel like it. Last time, at the end
of August, on [Politkovskaya's] birthday - I was listening to [Garry Kasparov] - and it hurt a lot. It hurt
because they've started to trade in memory. They made a show where there shouldn't have been one,
it wasn't proper, wasn't human. I just remember. And I want everyone to remember. Today is
October 7. The day to remember Anna Politkovskaya. Two years without…
LJ user aleshru, who did attend the Moscow rally, posted (RUS) a photo of smiling Mikhail Kasyanov, ex-member of the opposition
coalition “The Other Russia.”
LJ user posmixatorposted two
pictures (UKR) from a tiny memorial event at Kyiv's Independence Square.
The annual Anna Politkovskaya Awards ceremony has taken place at the Frontline Club in London.
This is the second event of this kind already. This time the award went to the Afghan activist
Malalai Joya. A totally amazing woman - fearless and clever. Just think of it, she has been
courageous enough to stand up against corruption in Karzai's government and against the Taleban
movement.
After that, even though she has become a parliament member, she is receiving threats and is
forced to constantly hide, change her location. She has been chased out of parliament.
Malalai is not tall, but full of energy and fearless.
She burst into tears when she received the award, and then delivered a passionate speech against
the U.S. and Britain.
[…]
[photo of Joya]
Natasha Estemirova, a journalist from [Chechnya's capital] Grozny, was there, too. She received
the award last year. This time, she talked about the events in Ingushetia. Very briefly, but very
passionately.
[photo of Estemirova]
It is indeed very difficult in Ingushetia now. Some politicians and experts are equating the
situation there with civil war. They are talking about power gap there, chaos, constant murders,
blood feud…
Anna Politkovskaya's sister, Yelena Kudimova, was there as well.
[photo of Kudimova]
And, finally, Marianna Katsarova, the organizer and the inspiration behind both the award and the
annual meeting, a human rights activist and a feminist. She is the head of the RAW in WAR (Reach
All Women in War) organization.
[photo of Katsarova]
It turned out to be a very emotional evening. Kudos to Marianna!
LJ user tapirr posted a selection
of links to Russian-language resources on Anna Politkovskaya - including Masha Novikova's
documentary about Anna Politkovskaya: “Anna, Seven Years on the Frontline” (in
Russian, with English subtitles).
LJ user l-dream posted a Feb. 2006 photo of Politkovskaya and wrote (RUS):
This is what she looked like the last time I saw her.
Category: Business
Released: Sep 03, 2008
Price: Free
Description:
This is a mobile version of the AIRSHED Emissions Calculator located online at http://www.airshed.co.nz/education/emissions-calculator. It is
based on the emission factors and methodology published by New
ZealandÃ?Âs Ministry for the Environment in
April 2008. It is designed for use by New Zealand-based individuals and households. To determine
your carbon footprint, just enter your activity data for the relevant period in each of the 4
categories. Visit http://www.airshed.co.nz/airshop should you wish to access services designed to
offset your emissions. Carbon offsets should only be used as part of an emissions management effort
that focuses first on reducing emissions. For more information on climate change, emissions
calculations and carbon offsets, see our website: http://www.airshed.co.nz. Terms and conditions of use: 1. AIRSHED makes all
reasonable efforts to ensure that its emissions calculators are accurate and are based on the most
up-to-date emissions factors published by reputable sources. To the extent allowed by law, AIRSHED
will not be liable for any damage or loss whatsoever suffered or incurred by anyone that relies on
these emissions calculators. 2. If AIRSHED changes the emissions factors that it applies to its
emissions calculators, this will not affect any emissions calculations or offset services sales
made before these changes were made.
Note: The description above is the official one supplied by the application
developer and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of this site or its staff.
When I was a caterpillar in the PR profession, I used to enjoy learning everything about the
media. Making media contacts was one of my favorite roles. I engrossed in it to the extent that I
shifted my profile entirely to media relations.
However, one thing that has confused me is pampering the media unnecessarily. I was stunned
seeing my colleagues giving endless gifts to the media. It was a shock as in my professional
course of Advertisement and PR I have been taught about professionalism. But I could not see any
professionalism in taking gifts for attending events or for doing stories.
During my professional traveling so far for events, I have seen a culture that many times the
media asks for gifts openly. They ask bluntly about what gift you are giving. It was really
shocking when some of them asked straightforwardly for cash in an envelope to attend an event.
It’s not only the PR agency that encourages this culture but somewhere the clients are also
responsible for the same. One of the biggest players in automobile industry thinks that if they
do not give gifts to media, the event will be considered incomplete. They also think that the
media will not write their stories without gifts irrespective of the fact how important the news
they are sharing is.
Last year we had a big event in Rajasthan. One night before the event, a government minister died
in a road accident. I started getting calls from the media till late night saying that they would
not be able to attend the event as a minister has died and they will be busy in that. They asked
me what we are giving as gifts. I was left with no option but to tell them and next day I found
all media persons at the event. I believe gifts were more important than the death of the
minister.
This seems more of buying the media rather than indulging in media relations. Or in other words,
we can say this is the another definition of MEDIA BUYING in PR industry.
Later on I came to know that this is not the case in tier two cities alone, in metros, the scene
is worst. Even in the capital, so many journalists from reputed media houses attend events just
for gifts. Sometimes journalists give phone calls and ask for gifts without attending the event.
And of course even after this, the story is not assured. But if the editor will eliminate the
story, the journalist will never say that he or she has taken a gift from PR agency so please
don’t stop the story. There are journalists who create issues for not getting the gifts.
They make excuses for not attending the events from next time and also try their best to stop the
stories.
It is a regular practice that has been carried by PR, journalists, and clients. But it creates a
problem for small organizations who can’t afford expensive gifts for the media. We have
noticed few journalists who try to stop stories of PR agencies that refuse to give gifts.
Another issue I believe which doesn’t make any sense is the pick ‘n’ drop for
media. There is no point providing such facilities to media. In exceptional cases like providing
drop back facility to female journalists in the night or taking media out for a day is quite
acceptable. But calling a cab at your place four to five hours before the event and using the
same for the rest of the day is really unethical. It really doesn’t make a sense to provide
a cab to such a place which is just half kilometer away from the venue of the event. Still many
media persons ask for pick ‘n’ drop for these small distances, despite the fact they
get paid from their companies for traveling officially. They say it openly if we want us to
attend an event, you have to provide the pick ‘n’ drop. PR agencies need to spare one
executive to coordinate the cabs for these special guest of our. Sometime it feels like doing
transportation business rather than real PR.
There are also some people who attend events without being invited for it and they openly ask for
gifts too. They belong to such media houses, which are not relevant either for PR agencies or for
the clients. Some people do not belong to any media houses but still claim to be journalists and
ask for gifts. Few retired journalists are sometimes also being noticed attending events for
their share. Sometimes they start misbehaving or threatening PR persons and try to show them the
MEDIA POWER.
Sometimes they ask for two gifts at one go. Helping media in getting a discount in a
clients’ product is acceptable but giving gifts, cabs, and other facilities to them to get
the stories done is extremely unethical.
Needless to say that they have stronger network than any other in this industry. They update
themselves with all the events everyday with the exact timings and venue. Sometimes clients ask
us to find out the events happening on a particular date and we find it difficult to find all the
relevant details. I must say it is an indirect learning for all of us.
I have noticed Mumbai as the only place where these practices are not followed. In the rest of
the country the meaning of professionalism goes for a toss. I don’t know who is to be
blamed for this. PR agencies or Clients? Obviously we cannot blame the media as we only support
these practices for one or the other reason. I feel this process will continue like this and
media will keep on taking the advantage of it. But still I want to stop this crap. Don’t
know how.
You still have discretion regarding the extent and scope of the mental health benefits you offer to
employees and their families. This includes sharing the cost of premiums, limits on numbers of
visits or days of coverage, ... See original here: Me...
The SillyBrit pointed me to another wonderful example of the "yeah, we are biased, we don't care,
its the new journalism" mentality of the modern Left. Here is a BBC article
making the rounds, written by Roger Bolton. I would like to think Mr. Bolton was not
purposefully trying to be a complete snob toward believing Christians, but his writing makes it
hard to conclude otherwise. Let's look at some of the more notable comments found in this BBC
production.
Under the picture provided above a caption is provided, "What is probably the oldest known bible
(bible? How about qur'an?) is being digitised (yes, that proves it is a British production),
reuniting its scattered parts for the first time since its discovery 160 years ago. It is
markedly different from its modern equivalent. What's left out?"
I am truly left wondering if Mr. Bolton himself has ever studied Codex Sinaiticus? I have more
resources on the subject than the time to read them, but when I get a few moments I do enjoy
reading works like the one pictured here. If I only worked in NT subjects I'd spend a lot more
time on the issue, since I have such a passion for textual critical issues. But I was recently
reading through portions of this work on a flight to...somewhere (I lose track), and my, I got
odd looks from my fellow passengers. Almost as odd as the looks I get when reading books filled
with Arabic quotations. In any case, one of the frustrating things about this article is the
obvious assumption on Bolton's part that believing Christians are a bunch of bumbling fools
without the first interest in the history of their own faith. And given Bolton's main source
is...Bart Ehrman (just how important is that debate in January?), I have to note that Ehrman
likewise hints broadly that Christians have in essence "hidden" the history of the Bible and, in
general, are ignorant thereof. That is partly true, but it is not because those of us who are not
ignorant of the truth do not make every attempt to spread that knowledge far and wide. Ehrman
even claims to be the first one to write a layman's level book explaining textual critical
matters. I guess he skipped The King James Only Controversy, which did just that long
before his own book came out (he was referring to MisQuoting Jesus---I would say there
is a lot more discussion of textual variation in my work than in his).
Getting back to the article, is א (Aleph, the designation in textual critical works for
Codex Sinaiticus) "markedly different" than modern Bibles? Well, aside from its age, its
language, its form, to what is Bolton referring? Two things: a warped, "textual scholar spins
stuff for the ignorant media" view of how "different" its text is from the modern Greek textual
platform (NA/UBS) together with the "if it was bound together as one volume, that must mean the
original creator viewed all the books as canonical" claim. That's the extent of it. The well-read
Christian already knows this, so evidently we are not the folks Bolton is trying to impress.
The article gives a little background and mentions the fact that א is going "on line" (see
it here). Then we get this
amazingly condescending paragraph:
For those who believe the Bible is the inerrant, unaltered word of God, there will be some very
uncomfortable questions to answer. It shows there have been thousands of alterations to today's
bible.
Oh no! Surely, no one who believes the Bible is the inerrant, unaltered Word of God has ever run
into a history of the Bible! None of us have ever poured over Sinaiticus, marveled at such a
treasure...oh, wait, even Tischendorf was a Christian who believed the Bible was the Word of God.
Well, so sorry, chap (please read that with a British accent). I guess I can't blame
Bolton---Ehrman likewise gives the impression that "born agains" are these ignorant, back-woods
folks who don't know anything about the Bible. He promotes the viewpoint regularly, whether he
knows it or not, so possibly Bolton is just following his sources? In any case, the idea that the
publication of א is going to present "questions" that we Bible believers have not fully
worked through long, long ago only shows how little Mr. Bolton knows his subject.
The Codex, probably the oldest Bible we have, also has books which are missing from the
Authorised Version that most Christians are familiar with today - and it does not have crucial
verses relating to the Resurrection.
Notice the assumption that "inclusion between leather covers = inclusion in the canon." He
clearly has no idea that this is a disputed claim, and is simply following Ehrman, who, sadly,
often forgets to provide "the other side" to the ever-hungry media. Yes, א contains
non-canonical books, specifically, the Shepherd of Hermes and the Epistle of Barnabas. Both were,
at some point in time, viewed as canonical by small groups of believers, often by those from the
area where the books were actually produced. But it is a long leap from this historical
observation (one known to any first year church history student in Bible college) to the
uncritically promoted conclusion that this means the original copyists/producers of א
believed these books to be Scripture. It is just as likely, and in fact, more likely, that they
did not. Why? Because א was produced around the time of the Council of Nicea, and the
fortunes of both of those books had fallen off considerably by that time. They were considered by
many to be good books to be read for edification, but not part of canonical Scripture (to borrow
the conclusion of Athanasius writing just a few decades later). Having them copied and included
no more made them canonical than including John MacArthur's study notes makes them
canonical. It was easier to have such a major project as that represented by א done in one
fell swoop rather than having lots of smaller projects, and the result was a very, very large
book. But one book is easier to transport/carry than multiples, and evidently, that is what
happened in this case. But the specifics aside, I can only shake my head at the condescending
attitude of the media today that would assume that if you believe in inerrancy you must be an
IQ-challenged dolt without the first clue as to the history of your own faith. And I hope the
reader finds Bolton's quotation of the words of Barnabas at least somewhat revealing: how dare
Barnabas contain such words...except...that they come from the New Testament (Matthew 27:25).
At this point Ehrman comes into view, and of course, what I found interesting was Ehrman's
repetition of his "the Bible can't be inspired because it was not copied perfectly in every
single instance" argument: the very essence of our debate in January. Listen to this paragraph:
And although many of the other alterations and differences are minor, these may take some
explaining for those who believe every word comes from God.
Sadly, the answers given...for centuries...often by leading Christian scholars in the United
Kingdom seem to be utter news to this writer. This level of ignorance is truly amazing.
Later he opines,
Fundamentalists, who believe every word in the Bible is true, may find these differences
unsettling.
Yeah, us fundies have never heard of Sinaiticus alright. Amazing, just amazing. Can Bolton really
believe Sinaiticus is news? We move on,
Mr Ehrman was a born again Bible-believing Evangelical until he read the original Greek texts and
noticed some discrepancies.
The Bible we now use can't be the inerrant word of God, he says, since what we have are the
sometimes mistaken words copied by fallible scribes.
Someone needs to get this story straight, and I think Dr. Ehrman should be on the front lines
correcting all these misapprehensions...unless it is his own story that has caused them. Ehrman
has directly, clearly said that it was not the textual issue that caused him to lose his faith,
it was theodicy, the problem of evil. Yet, he does not seem overly intent upon correcting this
kind of false assertion. Sadly, MisQuoting Jesus sold a lot better than God's
Problem did, so, when you are depending upon your role as the "reverse Paul," maybe it is
acceptable to allow the readers to think you converted for reasons you say you did not, as long
as it "helps the cause."
This may not sound like a heavy-weight argument, but I intend, early on in our debate, to ask a
basic question of Dr. Ehrman: "Why?" Yes, "why?" Why do you believe God could not have inspired
His Word in writing (outside of chiseling it in a mountain side) until Gutenberg, at the
earliest, and probably, not until computerized technology came about? Can you give us something
more than "Well, I just don't think He would use imperfect human beings to transmit His Word over
time...or, he'd remove their humanity from them long enough to over-ride any possible copyist
errors anyway"? I hope my question will be answered in the opening statements, honestly, but if
it isn't, I will be asking that one pretty early on.
Four variants are noted in the article. Note that Bolton never gives the references. He leaves it
nebulous so that it looks a lot more nefarious than the reality. Regular readers of this blog
will have to chuckle just a little bit at this one:
Nor are there words of forgiveness from the cross. Jesus does not say "Father forgive them for
they know not what they do".
Who was it who did an entire hour on the textual variant at Luke 23:34 just recently on their
webcast? Oh, that was me and Alan K.! Yes indeed. And did we not discuss the two
readings of Sinaiticus? In fact, I posted graphics from the manuscript to aid those listening to
the webcast (found
here). And yet somehow, I still believe in the inerrancy of Scripture! How can this be?
Isn't it odd that we conservative, Bible-believing Christians produce hour long webcasts going
in-depth into the text of א but all the BBC can do is give vague references without even
providing the citations of the relevant texts? And why even raise well-known textual issues like
John 7:53-8:11, unless you are either writing this solely for shock value, or, you really have no
idea what you are talking about?
Once again, this is all we can expect out of the leftist media today, almost anywhere. There is
no counter-balancing in sources, no checking of facts. Just throw it out there, assume anyone who
is not a good secular humanist is an ignorant and gullible person fresh off the farm, and think
you have practiced true journalism. My, how far the BBC has fallen!
Web bookmarks are badly in need of an overhaul. Sure, they’re fine for jumping to the dozen
or so sites you visit on a daily basis, but they quickly become unwieldy whenever they’re
used for research purposes. Folders of bookmarked job listings or apartment openings on
Craigslists become practically useless as you frequently need to revisit them to remind yourself
why you bookmarked them in the first place.
Today sees the launch of SimplyBox, a San
Francisco-based startup that allows users to clip portions of websites in a visual way,
overcoming some of the shortcomings of traditional bookmarks. SimplyBox is currently available as
plugins for Internet Explorer and Firefox, with a Safari version on the way.
To use SimplyBox, you hit the “Box and Save” button in the browser toolbar, which
turns your mouse arrow into a targeting cursor and displays a series of “boxes” at
the bottom of the screen. After highlighting the portion of the page you’d like to save for
later, you drag it into the box you’d like to store it in. The whole process is very
intuitive and only takes a few seconds.
Clicking on the toolbar’s SimplyBox logo brings you to your profile page, where you can
access and sort through each of your boxes. Clippings appear as large images that clearly show
their contents, and can be displayed in a desktop view (where you can drag them around), a list
view, or a grid. Users can also add comments to each of the snippets.
In practice, the plugin seems to work well, especially when conducting research across a number
of sites. For example, house hunters could easily use the service to keep track of the homes
they’re interested in, clipping photos and summaries for future reference. The site also
allows users to share their boxes with friends, so they collaborate on a single project. Finally,
the toolbar includes a “box and send” function that sends snippets in Emails as image
files.
SimplyBox’s biggest flaw is that its snippets are simple images - they don’t retain
any of the functionality of their original source. If you were to snap a clip of a YouTube video,
it would only appear as an image, and you’d have to visit the linked page to see the video
itself. That said, it’s still a big improvement over simple bookmarks.
There are a number of other “clipping” tools available, including Sazell, Diigo, and to some
extent, Safari’s Webclip.
Crunch Network: CrunchBase the
free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Four childhood friends from Flint, Michigan who started jamming in a basement as an apparent
means of seeking refuge from a city with "staggering unemployment and one of the nation's highest
crime rates" now comprise the band Kinetic Stereokids, whose debut album (2007's Basement
Kids) earned them gigs opening for ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Explosions in
the Sky and Secret Machines.
Now, the subterranean foursome is readying a three-song EP with their next batch of songs: the
pretty "Have a Nice Day," the more explosive/experimental "Blunder" and a live rendition of
"Explosions Were Heard," recorded during a life appearance on Seattle's much-loved KEXP radio
station.
This is guitar-based music for listeners who have become accustomed to having their music spiced
up with samples; the songs are streaked with one-time melodic appearances and vocal snippets from
various sources. But unlike some bands that over-rely on the sample, these guys share an
extremely musical sensibility that suffuses each element with little handmade sonic easter eggs,
such as the laughing Wii baby,
processed fiddle and chimes.
Credit, to a certain extent, the consummate mastering skills of one Jeff Lipton who also put the
finishing touches on albums by Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem and Wilco, although without the
band's hard-won skills, of course, it'd amount to little more than putting lipstick on a pig.
If you are unfamiliar with the term, a lucid dream is one in which you are aware that you are
dreaming. Lucid, of course denotes consciousness. The extent to which you are lucid within your
dream depends on how stable the dream is, how much of the drea...
Since 2005,
Oracle has spent at least $32 billion on acquisitions -- turning itself into the
vendor of a top-to-bottom enterprise software stack that is arguably broader in scope than any
rival suite.
In doing so, Oracle hasn't diluted its database focus. Sales of databases and middleware still
account for more than half of its revenue. And according to consulting firm Gartner, Oracle
controlled 49 percent of the global database market last year, with more revenue than the
next four vendors -- IBM, Microsoft,
Teradata and Sybase -- combined.
But Oracle has shown some signs of vulnerability at the high end of the database market. For
instance, many Web 2.0 companies are eschewing its databases and instead running
open-source technologies like MySQL on grids of PC servers. And corporate users with data
warehouses sized in the hundreds of terabytes, or even in the petabyte range, are finding
column-oriented databases and specially tuned data
warehousing appliances to be more scalable than Oracle databases are.
So Oracle's annual OpenWorld conference in San Francisco two weeks ago was heavy on database
news as the company tried to show that it is agile enough -- and its software is robust
enough -- to respond to the new challengers.
At the top of the list was Oracle's announcement of a pair of hardware
products -- its first ever -- aimed at users looking to get ultrafast performance out of
their ultralarge databases.
For the past six months, Oracle
CEO Larry Ellison had teased users and analysts with hints that the vendor would introduce a
"database accelerator" at OpenWorld. That turned out to be the Exadata Storage Server, which
combines Oracle's parallel query software with ProLiant servers from development partner
Hewlett-Packard.
What makes the Exadata system different from a typical storage server, according to Oracle, is
the database intelligence built into the device. Ellison claimed that Exadata can speed up large
queries by performing lower-level calculations on the information it stores and then sending the
results to the main database, instead of flooding it with raw data.
The other new product, the industrial-sounding HP Oracle Database Machine, is a self-contained
system designed to match up against integrated data warehousing appliances from vendors like
Teradata and Netezza.
The Database Machine combines eight regular database servers running Oracle Database 11g with 14
Exadata systems that have a total storage capacity of 168TB and InfiniBand connections offering
14GB/sec. of aggregate data bandwidth.
That all costs a mere $2.33 million -- for existing customers that have enterprise or unlimited
Oracle database licenses. New customers would have to pony up for licenses for the eight database
servers; based on the configuration recommended in an Oracle white paper, that would cost
an additional $3.22 million, analysts said.
Even so, Christo Kutrovsky, a database administrator at The Pythian Group, an Ottawa-based
company that manages databases for corporate clients, said he thinks the Database Machine could
be worth the steep cost if the alternative is having the IT department try to assemble a similar
system itself.
"Ninety percent of the problems I've seen are due to improperly configured systems," Kutrovsky
wrote in Pythian's corporate blog. Installing the Database Machine eliminates that issue by
making configuration errors "impossible," he said.
According to Oracle, customers that tested production workloads on a half-size Database Machine
said queries ran 10 to 72 times faster than they did on other systems. Those early users include
the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, supermarket chain Giant Eagle and LGR Telecommunications, which
develops data warehousing systems for telecommunications carriers.
In a blog post, Forrester Research Inc. analyst James Kobielus described the introduction of the
Database Machine and Exadata as "a bold move into
petabyte scale-out territory -- an emerging, very-high-end niche in which one veteran vendor,
Teradata, has been preeminent."
Kobielus also noted that Oracle's storage layer is transparent to applications, meaning they
don't need to be rewritten in order for users to see performance gains on the new systems.
Lukewarm receptionBut Tim Hall, a U.K.-based Oracle DBA, blogged that he was "a
little underwhelmed" by the OpenWorld announcement. "It all seems a little irrelevant to me,"
Hall wrote, citing the price tags and high-end focus of the new products. "For me, this is like
discussing the merits of a Lamborghini when I'm actually going to buy a Renault Clio."
And independent database analyst Curt Monash said that although the Database Machine and Exadata
are impressive from a technical standpoint, he doesn't expect them to win over many Web 2.0
companies or other new users. The technologies make the most sense for businesses that already
use Oracle's data warehousing products and "are content to pay Oracle prices," Monash said.
For companies that don't have money to spend on a turbocharged system like the Database Machine,
Oracle is touting 11g's Advanced
Compression option. In a session at OpenWorld, Oracle officials said the data compression
technology can dramatically shrink database table sizes and boost read/write speeds by as much as
three to four times in data warehouses as well as transaction databases.
In fact, Oracle claims that companies using Advanced Compression no longer need to move seldom-
or never-used older data to archives. Instead, they can keep all that information in their
production databases, according to Oracle officials.
But users haven't flocked to Advanced Compression yet. One reason is that it's not a free add-on:
Licenses start at $11,500 per processor -- a relatively high price in its own right.
In addition, the technology is available only to users of the year-old 11g Enterprise Edition,
which has yet to be widely adopted. Andrew
Mendelsohn , senior vice president of server technologies at Oracle, said that 75
percent of the company's database customers are running its 10g release, while another 20
percent are still using the even older 9i version.
For instance, LGR Telecommunications has built a pair of 300TB data warehouses for AT&T,
which stores its caller data records in them. But the databases, which run concurrently, are
based on 10g and can't take advantage of Advanced Compression yet.
Hannes van Rooven, a technology manager at LGR, said during a presentation at OpenWorld that his
company uses compression only to a limited extent now, although it does plan to increase its
usage "extensively" in the future.
Intermap Technologies Inc. is running the spatial version of 11g for an 11TB database of mapping
and imagery data that is expected to grow to 40TB by the first quarter of 2010. But Sue Merrigan,
senior director of information management at Intermap, said that the company doesn't compress the
data "because we're concerned it would lose its accuracy."
That wouldn't happen, Oracle officials said. But comments such as Merrigan's show that even among
some of its loyal customers, the vendor still has a sales job to do on Advanced Compression --
never mind the Database Machine and Exadata.
Chris Kanaracus of the IDG News Service contributed to this story.
div class="rxbodyfield"p page="1" class="ArticleBody"Since 2005, a
href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/inform.do?command=searchamp;searchTerms=Oracle+Corporation"Oracle/a
has spent at least $32 billion on a
href="http://www.oracle.com/corporate/acquisition.html"acquisitions/a -- turning itself into the
vendor of a top-to-bottom enterprise software stack that is arguably broader in scope than any
rival suite./pp align="right"a
href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/idg.us.info.rss/news;pos=imu;tile=6;sz=336x280;skey=patch_management;pkey=security;ord=123456789?"
target="_blank" /img
src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/idg.us.info.rss/news;pos=imu;tile=6;sz=336x280;skey=patch_management;pkey=security;ord=123456789?"
width="336" height="280" border="0" alt="" align="right"//a/pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"In doing
so, Oracle hasn#39;t diluted its database focus. Sales of databases and middleware still account
for more than half of its revenue. And according to consulting firm Gartner, Oracle controlled 49
percent#160;of the global database market last year, with more revenue than the next four vendors
-- IBM, Microsoft, a
href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/inform.do?command=searchamp;searchTerms=Teradata+Corporation"Teradata/a
and Sybase -- combined./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"b[ Discover the top-rated IT products as
rated by the a href="http://www.infoworld.com/testcenter/?source=fssr"InfoWorld Test Center/a.
]/b/pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"But Oracle has shown some signs of vulnerability at the high end
of the database market. For instance, many Web 2.0 companies are eschewing its databases and
instead running a
href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasicamp;taxonomyName=databasesamp;articleId=9087918amp;taxonomyId=173amp;intsrc=kc_feat"open-source
technologies/a like MySQL on grids of PC servers. And corporate users with data warehouses sized in
the hundreds of terabytes, or even in the petabyte range, are finding a
href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasicamp;taxonomyName=Data+Warehousingamp;articleId=9112938amp;taxonomyId=55amp;pageNumber=1"column-oriented
databases/a and specially tuned a
href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasicamp;articleId=9110624"data
warehousing appliances/a to be more scalable than Oracle databases are./pp page="1"
class="ArticleBody"So Oracle#39;s annual OpenWorld conference in San Francisco two weeks ago was
heavy on a
href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasicamp;articleId=9115291"database
news/a as the company tried to show that it is agile enough -- and its software is robust enough --
to respond to the new challengers./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"At the top of the list was
Oracle#39;s announcement of a pair of a
href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasicamp;articleId=9115623"hardware
products/a -- its first ever -- aimed at users looking to get ultrafast performance out of their
ultralarge databases./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"For the past six months, a
href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/inform.do?command=searchamp;searchTerms=Larry+Ellison"Oracle
CEO Larry Ellison/a had teased users and analysts with hints that the vendor would introduce a
quot;database acceleratorquot; at OpenWorld. That turned out to be the Exadata Storage Server,
which combines Oracle#39;s parallel query software with ProLiant servers from development partner
Hewlett-Packard./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"What makes the Exadata system different from a
typical storage server, according to Oracle, is the database intelligence built into the device.
Ellison claimed that Exadata can speed up large queries by performing lower-level calculations on
the information it stores and then sending the results to the main database, instead of flooding it
with raw data./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"The other new product, the industrial-sounding HP
Oracle Database Machine, is a self-contained system designed to match up against integrated data
warehousing appliances from vendors like Teradata and Netezza./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"The
Database Machine combines eight regular database servers running Oracle Database 11g with 14
Exadata systems that have a total storage capacity of 168TB and InfiniBand connections offering
14GB/sec. of aggregate data bandwidth./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"That all costs a mere $2.33
million -- for existing customers that have enterprise or unlimited Oracle database licenses. New
customers would have to pony up for licenses for the eight database servers; based on the
configuration recommended in an Oracle white paper, that would cost a
href="http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasicamp;articleId=9116017"an
additional $3.22 million/a, analysts said./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"Even so, Christo
Kutrovsky, a database administrator at The Pythian Group, an Ottawa-based company that manages
databases for corporate clients, said he thinks the Database Machine could be worth the steep cost
if the alternative is having the IT department try to assemble a similar system itself./pp page="2"
class="ArticleBody"quot;Ninety percent of the problems I#39;ve seen are due to improperly
configured systems,quot; Kutrovsky wrote in Pythian#39;s corporate blog. Installing the Database
Machine eliminates that issue by making configuration errors quot;impossible,quot; he said./pp
page="2" class="ArticleBody"According to Oracle, customers that tested production workloads on a
half-size Database Machine said queries ran 10 to 72 times faster than they did on other systems.
Those early users include the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, supermarket chain Giant Eagle and LGR
Telecommunications, which develops data warehousing systems for telecommunications carriers./pp
page="2" class="ArticleBody"In a blog post, Forrester Research Inc. analyst James Kobielus
described the introduction of the Database Machine and Exadata as quot;a bold move into a
href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasicamp;taxonomyName=databasesamp;articleId=9112018amp;taxonomyId=53amp;intsrc=kc_feat"petabyte/a
scale-out territory -- an emerging, very-high-end niche in which one veteran vendor, Teradata, has
been preeminent.quot;/pp page="2" class="ArticleBody"Kobielus also noted that Oracle#39;s storage
layer is transparent to applications, meaning they don#39;t need to be rewritten in order for users
to see performance gains on the new systems./pp page="2" class="ArticleBody"strongLukewarm
receptionbr//strongBut Tim Hall, a U.K.-based Oracle DBA, blogged that he was quot;a little
underwhelmedquot; by the OpenWorld announcement. quot;It all seems a little irrelevant to me,quot;
Hall wrote, citing the price tags and high-end focus of the new products. quot;For me, this is like
discussing the merits of a Lamborghini when I#39;m actually going to buy a Renault Clio.quot;/pp
page="2" class="ArticleBody"And independent database analyst Curt Monash said that although the
Database Machine and Exadata are impressive from a technical standpoint, he doesn#39;t expect them
to win over many Web 2.0 companies or other new users. The technologies make the most sense for
businesses that already use Oracle#39;s data warehousing products and quot;are content to pay
Oracle prices,quot; Monash said./pp page="2" class="ArticleBody"For companies that don#39;t have
money to spend on a turbocharged system like the Database Machine, Oracle is touting 11g#39;s a
href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasicamp;articleId=9115759"Advanced
Compression/a option. In a session at OpenWorld, Oracle officials said the data compression
technology can dramatically shrink database table sizes and boost read/write speeds by as much as
three to four times in data warehouses as well as transaction databases./pp page="2"
class="ArticleBody"In fact, Oracle claims that companies using Advanced Compression no longer need
to move seldom- or never-used older data to archives. Instead, they can keep all that information
in their production databases, according to Oracle officials./pp page="2" class="ArticleBody"But
users haven#39;t flocked to Advanced Compression yet. One reason is that it#39;s not a free add-on:
Licenses start at $11,500 per processor -- a relatively high price in its own right./pp page="2"
class="ArticleBody"In addition, the technology is available only to users of the year-old 11g
Enterprise Edition, which has yet to be widely adopted. a
href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/inform.do?command=searchamp;searchTerms=Andrew+Mendelsohn"Andrew
Mendelsohn/a , senior vice president of server technologies at Oracle, said that 75 percent#160;of
the company#39;s database customers are running its 10g release, while another 20 percent#160;are
still using the even older 9i version./pp page="3" class="ArticleBody"For instance, LGR
Telecommunications has built a pair of 300TB data warehouses for ATamp;T, which stores its caller
data records in them. But the databases, which run concurrently, are based on 10g and can#39;t take
advantage of Advanced Compression yet./pp page="3" class="ArticleBody"Hannes van Rooven, a
technology manager at LGR, said during a presentation at OpenWorld that his company uses
compression only to a limited extent now, although it does plan to increase its usage
quot;extensivelyquot; in the future./pp page="3" class="ArticleBody"Intermap Technologies Inc. is
running the spatial version of 11g for an 11TB database of mapping and imagery data that is
expected to grow to 40TB by the first quarter of 2010. But Sue Merrigan, senior director of
information management at Intermap, said that the company doesn#39;t compress the data quot;because
we#39;re concerned it would lose its accuracy.quot;/pp page="3" class="ArticleBody"That wouldn#39;t
happen, Oracle officials said. But comments such as Merrigan#39;s show that even among some of its
loyal customers, the vendor still has a sales job to do on Advanced Compression -- never mind the
Database Machine and Exadata./pp page="3" class="ArticleBody"emChris Kanaracus of the IDG News
Service contributed to this story./em/p/div
European financial stocks suffered sharp losses, as worries about the extent of the crisis in the
sector deepened after finance ministers failed to reach a consensus on how to react
Publication Date: 2008 Oct PMID: 18776897br/Authors: Mozzachiodi, R. - Lorenzetti, F. D. - Baxter,
D. A. - Byrne, J. H.br/Journal: Nat Neuroscibr/br/Learning can lead to changes in the intrinsic
excitability of neurons. However, the extent to which these changes persist and the role they have
in the expression of memory remain unclear. We found that in vitro analogs of operant conditioning
produced a long-term (24 h) increase in the excitability of an identified neuron (B51) that is
critical for the ex
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and reject those that you are not interested in
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)
Facebook has just rolled out its implementation of Microsoft Live Search, which allows
members of the site to search the Web without leaving the social network. The implementation is
fairly straightforward: in the search box on the top right of Facebook, which is also used for
quick access to your friends’ profiles and intrasite search, there is now an option to
“Search the Web,” which in turn triggers a query of Microsoft Live Search. Results
then display within a custom interface designed for Facebook.
Category: Business
