Inside search engines' war on bad results

ANYONE can publish on the web, but it would be better if some people didn't; the world does not need another site that provides advice on how to unlock an iPhone or find cheap car insurance. Now new evidence shows that search engines have upped their game to make sure their results are not dominated by such low-quality sites.

Search engines are meant to pick out high-quality sites amid the sea of knock-offs, but even they get overwhelmed. As recently as March, for example, the first 10 results from a Google search for "how to organise your desktop" contained nine links to pages churned out by "content farms" - websites that publish reams of articles, often of dubious quality, that aim simply to attract clicks and advertising dollars.

That prompted New Scientist to ask computer scientistRichard McCreadie at the University of Glasgow, UK, to look into the issue. The results show that Google and Microsoft have won a major victory in the fight against such content farms. In the process they may have inflicted serious pain on two organisations often cited as providers of content farm material: Seed, a project from AOL, appears to have stopped commissioning content from freelance writers, though the firm declined to comment. And Santa Monica-based Demand Media has seen its stock price fall by over 50 per cent since it went public earlier this year for $1.5 billion.

Most of the credit for such changes has been given to Google, which this February announced that it had updated its search algorithm in a bid to prioritise sites that publish original and well-researched material. It won't provide details, but many site owners noticed that the update detected and penalised sites that publish multiple near-identical articles, a favourite tactic of content farms. For example, the traffic flowing from search engines to eHow, a Demand Media site, dropped 20 per cent after the update. Google has also enlisted users to keep up the fight - it says that it now demotes sites that people choose to exclude from search results.

To test how successful Google and Microsoft's Bing have been at fending off content-farmed results, McCreadie ran 50 search queries known to be a target of content farmers, such as "how to train for a marathon", in March and August this year. Then he paid people to examine the results for links to low-quality sites, where "low quality" was defined as uninformative sites whose primary function appears to be displaying adverts.

The results are striking. In the case of the marathon query, sites that contained lists of generic tips, such as "invest in a good pair of running shoes", were present in the top 10 in March but had disappeared by August, while high-quality sources, such as Runner's World magazine, now appear near the top. Similar trends were found throughout the 50 queries.

The story is far from over. Search engines play such a prominent role in our lives - Google alone handles over a billion queries a day - that companies constantly vie for the top places in the results. Sites can rank highly by producing authoritative material, but this is expensive, so there will always be those looking for a cheap short cut. Content farms may be out for now, but with billions of dollars hanging in the balance, it's just a matter of time before the next battle commences.

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Audience has a favorite in 'X Factor' final four

Frank Micelotta / FOX.

'X Factor's' final four: Josh Krajcik, Melanie Amaro, Marcus Canty and Chris Rene

By Craig Berman, TODAY.com contributor

Nicole Scherzinger was the lightning rod for "X Factor" criticism this week, getting blasted for her indecision that sealed Rachel Crow?s elimination. But that doesn?t bother her. ?I can handle the boos a lot better because they make me stronger,? she told host Steve Jones.

Let?s hope so, because she got more of that this week, including from her fellow judges. When the host read a fan tweet that said ?Sometimes the judges just spew out random drivel just because they have to ?say something,?? L.A. theatrically pointed at her. And truthfully, only one of her comments this week was at all memorable, and that was because it was so ridiculous. We?ll get to that later.

But Nicole can be comforted by one fact: She won?t be in that position again as a judge. The contestant with the lowest number of votes goes home this week, so she can be as indecisive as she wants.

That change has to be good news for Marcus Canty. Canty?s still the odds-on favorite to go home, as the three-time Save Me Song Champion (tm L.A. Reid) hasn?t built up the fan support of the other three contenders. Also, America did him no favors by making him sing ?I?ll Make Love to You,? by Boyz II Men, which made him look like a wedding singer.

His follow-up, ?Careless Whisper,? was his most original performance of the competition, but not the kind of song that makes uncommitted fans of the show flock to him. ?The odds of him being among the top two vote getters is just about zero, but he doesn?t have to four-peat as the sing-off champion to survive. He just has to come in next-to-last.

Judging from the studio audience, that?s unlikely. The ?Chris Re-ne! Chris Re-ne!? chants were even louder than the booing Nicole got a week ago, though again America gave him a curious song to sing (we really want this guy covering Sugar Ray songs? Think, people!). But his second song was a risk that paid off, in Alicia Keys? ?No One,? and his story about making his late father proud tugged at the heartstrings. Nobody who supported him to this point would switch gears based on that.

Meanwhile, Simon Cowell did everything but get down on his knees and beg the viewers to keep Melanie Amaro around. From Mariah Carey?s ?Hero? to the classic ?Feeling Good,? she shone again on Wednesday, and her mentor urged the audience to pick up the phones and make sure she made next week?s finale. She deserves that, and will likely get it.

That leaves Josh Krajcik, who?s in an interesting position. On the one hand, Rachel Crow fans who aren?t happy with Nicole are unlikely to throw their support to her mentee, though obviously it?s not like he tells her who to vote for. On the other, the people gave him the best song to sing by picking ?Come Together,? which suited both his voice and his style.

Then he went with ?Hallelujah? as his second number. Here?s where Nicole lost a little bit of perspective. ??He?s never performed it before but it will be the best version that anyone?s ever heard of this song,? Nicole said.

Seriously, Nicole? Just don?t go there. He did fine, well enough that both Paula Abdul and Simon called him a favorite, but his version wasn?t even the best among reality show contestants, much less touching Leonard Cohen or Jeff Buckley. It was the best version anyone had ever heard, assuming it was the only version. But even so, it was probably enough to keep him safe and finally send Canty packing.

Who do you think will survive into the top three? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/15/9465616-final-four-perform-on-x-factor-and-the-audience-already-has-a-favorite

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S&P downgrade threat a clarion call for euro reform (Reuters)

PARIS/BERLIN (Reuters) ? A threat by Standard & Poors to slash credit ratings across the euro zone sounded a clarion call on Tuesday, which could help Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel force through a change to the European Union treaty at a summit this week.

The French president and German chancellor are determined to change European rules to impose mandatory penalties on countries that exceed deficit targets, aiming to restore market confidence and prevent a sovereign debt crisis spiraling out of control.

Citing "continuing disagreements among European policy makers on how to tackle the immediate market confidence crisis," S&P threatened to cut the credit ratings of 15 countries, including Germany and France, by 1-2 notches.

The U.S.-based ratings agency went a step further on Tuesday, placing the top-notch rating of the euro zone's rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), on negative watch since it depends on the creditworthiness of the currency bloc's six AAA-rated sovereigns.

S&P also warned of slowing growth amid so much austerity, predicting a 40 percent chance of a fall in euro zone output.

A downgrade could automatically require some investment funds to sell bonds of affected states, making those countries' borrowing costs rise still further.

Merkel brushed off the threat.

"What a ratings agency does is its own responsibility," she said, promising European leaders would make decisions at this week's summit that would restore confidence.

Her finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said the wake-up call was S&P's way of urging European leaders to act, and reflected financial market uncertainty rather than economic fundamentals.

"It is simply an appeal to the heads of state and government that on December 9 everyone has to do their duty," Schaeuble told a panel discussion in Vienna.

Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the 17 euro zone finance ministers, said he was "astonished" by S&P's announcement.

He described it as "a wild exaggeration and also unfair" and said it failed to take into account a new austerity plan for Italy, which pulled borrowing costs for the biggest of the euro zone's ailing countries back from the brink.

In Paris, Sarkozy's office said S&P had taken its decision last Tuesday, before both the Italian budget and the Franco-German plan for stricter budget rules.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner arrived in Europe to confer with key policymakers ahead of the summit on Thursday and Friday, a sign that Washington shares the view that the event will be a make-or-break moment for the global economy.

Geithner began his talks by meeting European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in Frankfurt. Neither man commented afterwards but ECB policymaker Ewald Nowotny said the S&P move would have no bearing on the bank's policy.

"The ECB does not let itself be put under pressure. Our decisions are our responsibility," he told reporters in Vienna.

Geithner will also meet the leaders of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the EU institutions to press for decisive action to arrest the crisis.

Sarkozy and Merkel's plan to force states to cut deficits would be accompanied by an early launch of a permanent bailout fund for euro states in distress.

That could provide the political cover that the ECB needs to buy more bonds of ailing countries as a short-term stopgap, preventing countries from running out of money if they cannot sell bonds on the open market.

INVESTORS CHEER

ECB chief Draghi has signaled that a euro zone "fiscal compact" could encourage the central bank to act more decisively on the crisis. It has been reluctant to buy up debt from distressed euro states more aggressively, arguing doing so would take pressure off governments to fix their finances.

Investors cheered a plan announced on Monday by new technocratic prime minister Mario Monti, slashing its borrowing costs. Yields on Italian 10-year bonds fell below 6 percent for the first time since October 28.

Just last month, Italy - the euro zone's biggest debtor with 1.9 trillion euros of bonds outstanding - appeared headed for a crunch after the interest rate demanded by investors to lend to it soared above 7 percent, a rate at which other countries needed bailouts.

Were it not for his 30-billion-euro austerity plan, Monti declared, "Italy would have collapsed, Italy would go into a situation similar to that of Greece."

Goldman Sachs Asset Management Chairman Jim O'Neill told Reuters that Italian government debt yields now looked very attractive unless there was a "complete fiasco" at this week's EU summit. There would be no euro without Italy, he said.

Sarkozy and Merkel say they want treaty changes to be agreed in March and ratified after France wraps up presidential and legislative elections in June.

They won a boost on Tuesday when incoming Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy said he would support a new treaty. Although not yet in office, Rajoy is expected to meet Merkel and Sarkozy and outline his policies at a congress of European conservative leaders in Marseille on Thursday.

However, some other EU governments, notably Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands, are reluctant to amend the treaty, either due to eurosceptics at home or because they fear losing possible referendums on ratification.

If countries such as euro outsider Britain blocked a treaty change for all of the 27 EU members, the 17 states that use the common currency could proceed with an agreement on their own, Merkel and Sarkozy said.

S&P said it would conclude its review "as soon as possible" after the summit, making clear that it wanted to see political as well as financial solutions.

It said ratings could be lowered by one notch for Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and by up to two notches for the remaining nine placed under review, including currently AAA-rated France. Cyprus was already on downgrade watch and Greece already has a 'junk' CC-rating.

European stocks, bond futures, and the euro were hit by the shock warning, halting a rally in global equities that began last week as the MSCI world equity index fell 0.6 percent.

Bond yields across the euro zone rose, with top-rated German and French bonds underperforming peripheral debt as a recent flight to quality began to unwind.

After two hours of talks with Merkel in Paris on Monday, Sarkozy told a joint news conference: "What we want ... is to tell the world that in Europe the rule is that we pay back our debts, reduce our deficits, restore growth."

Merkel added: "This package shows that we are absolutely determined to keep the euro as a stable currency and as an important contributor to European stability."

Sarkozy and Merkel said they would send their plan to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy on Wednesday, in time for Friday's summit. The Belgian, who will chair that crucial meeting, would have preferred to avoid treaty change but has been sounding out other governments on their receptiveness.

(Additional reporting by Michael Shields and Sylvia Westall in Vienna, David Lawder in Frankfurt,; Writing by Peter Graff and Paul Taylor; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111206/bs_nm/us_eurozone

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PROMISES, PROMISES: Securing US border impossible (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/170387877?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Bucks and Timberwolves will meet twice in short NBA preseason

The Milwaukee Bucks announced a two-game exhibition schedule Friday afternoon. Both games will be against the Minnesota Timberwolves in each team?s home arena.

The first contest will be played Saturday night, Dec. 17 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. The second game will be on Wednesday night, Dec. 21 at Milwaukee?s Bradley Center.

The Milwaukee contest will be the 35th annual MACC Fund Game, which benefits the Midwest Athletes against Childhood Cancer. MACC Fund president and former Bucks star Jon McGlocklin said cure rates for child cancers have grown from 20 percent to 80 percent over the last 35 years. He said the Bucks and their fans have contributed to that success.

Brewers GM denies rumor of increased offer to Fielder

Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin says there?s no truth to a report that the Brewers are willing to increase their offer to free agent first baseman Prince Fielder.

ESPN?s Buster Olney had tweeted that the Brewers have told agent Scott Boras they?re willing to boost the five-year, $100 million offer they made last year to six years and $120 million if that would help reach an agreement.

Melvin said the Brewers have not had any discussions with Boras about that. He they wouldn?t confirm it if they did.

Melvin told the Journal Sentinel he?ll probably touch base with Boras next week in Dallas during baseball?s Winter Meetings. He did not say that an offer would be made.

Tags: sports,?wisconsin,?proam

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5559506070

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Design and Implementation of Automotive Electronic Equipment ...

Abstract

More and more electrical equipments which could improve the performance of the automotive have been added to the automotive.However,it could not only makes drivering more harder but also brings more hidden dangers. One of the most dangers is the drivers attention away from the road when the drivers try to operate these electrical equipments,and many traffic accidents could happen because of this. New generation of automotive electrical equipments are facing the driving safety problems,and there is an effective way to solve this problem by using voice control. The speech recognition rate has been greatly improved as the new generation of voice-dedicated SoC Unispeech birth and optimization of speech recognition algorithms. And it has been achieved in many automotive applications. The drivers could oprate the automotive electrical equipment fast and easy without divert attention based on voice control.It makes drive more easy and safety.This paper presents a automotive electronic equipment control system which based on speaker-independent HMM algorithm speech recognition. The speech recognition unit based on Unispeech-SDA80D51,a speech recognition processing SOC witch has DSP and microcontroller dual-core inside. Voice processing execution unit based on chips of MCU.The control objects are automotive electrical equipments. Successfully achieved the automotive audio,car air conditioning, windshield wipers, non-safety lights and windows integrated?s speech control. In addition,add anti-jamming design to system against noise and electromagnetic interference inside of automotive,leading to the formation of the automotive voice control system, and produced a model system.After the model system has be completed, we had tested the system performance and accuracy of operation on it, and the voice recognition rate reached 92.71%, the accuracy of operation rate reached 96%. It has proven that shis system achieved the expected goals.

Source: http://www.it-paper.com/design-and-implementation-of-automotive-electronic-equipment-control-system-based-on-speaker-independent-speech-recognition.html

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How to make phone calls through Google+ Hangouts

Google

By Rosa Golijan

Google+ Hangouts let you set up?group video chats in seconds, but what happens if you want to invite a friend who isn't near a computer or a webcam? Until recently, that buddy would've been left out?? but now you can simply add him or her as a voice-only participant by making a phone call through the Hangout.

Google employee?? and inventor of Internet Relay Chat (IRC)???Jarkko Oikarinen announced the new feature in a Google+ post on Thursday.?He explains that the addition of phone calls to Hangouts is supposed to make arranging party lines and conference calls even simpler.

All you have to do to add a telephone participant to a Google+ Hangout is tap the "Invite" button at the top of the Hangout's interface, click the "Phone" tab on the left, enter a phone number, and click "Call Now."?That's it!?

It's worth noting that this new feature is initially available only inside Hangouts With Extra?? which is simply a version of Hangouts with a handful of additional tools. It?currently only supports calls in the U.S. and Canada.

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Want more tech news, silly puns or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts, or circling her?on?Google+.

Source: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/02/9166200-how-to-make-phone-calls-through-google-hangouts

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