In its latest bid to catch up with rivals Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. is launching a revamped Internet search engine it says will help computer users find information faster, view it more easily and organize it better.
Debuting in test form Wednesday, Windows Live Search is Microsoft's latest move in a major strategy shift that has the world's largest software company focusing more heavily on Internet-based software and services.
Windows Live Search will power queries on live.com, Microsoft's Windows Live Web site, beginning Wednesday. Once the technology has been fully tested, Windows Live Search will replace the existing search engine that powers MSN.com.
The most interesting part of this is the comment here:
"A lot of people think, 'Hey, ... Didn't Google become the popular search engine? And don't they just do a great job? And there's no room for improvement."' Mehdi said. Once people get a feel for Windows Live Search, Mehdi said, "They're going to say, 'Holy cow, I had no idea that search could get this much better!"'
The new search engine includes features such as support for tabbed Web browsing, which lets people keep several search panes open in a single window. Microsoft said other features will include:
A search slider bar that offers previews of data in various forms, perhaps just the Internet address of a Web site, or maybe a snippet of text. As the slider is adjusted, more or less information appears.
A "smart scroll" function that displays all search results at once rather than on separate pages.
Various ways to view pictures, say, as small "thumbnail" shots or full-sized images, without leaving the search page.
An ability for users to save their search parameters as macros that can be run to perform the same search in the future. Microsoft said people will also be able to publish their search macros so people with similar interests can use them.
Sounds pretty interesting. They do have some innovative ideas, and it's about time for someone to shake up basic search and not just build out other services. Google needs to keep an eye on this, and hopefully it gives them a kick in the pants to start shaking up the search world.
dave submitted a link to a YouTube video of Da Colbert Code. According to the person posting the video:
This is pretty amazing. On his 3/2/06 show, Colbert used his 'Da Colbert Code" to predict 5 Oscars (3 Days before the Oscars) ... and got them all right!! ... Lucky guess? or in bed with Jon Stewart :) Just Kidding!
Update: As of right now, the embedded video isn't loading correctly, but the YouTube link works. I'm leaving the video here in the hopes it starts working eventually.
There's a mosnews.com article about some thieves who broke into an abandoned Russian missile silo with the intent of stealing nonferrous metals from missles that were dismantled there. They were instead surprised to find the silo filled with money. They would have probably gotten away with it, except that some of the money ended up blowing away and across the countryside.
MOSS BLUFF, Florida (AP) -- A man was arrested and accused of fatally beating his roommate with hammers because there was no toilet paper in their home, police said.
Capt. Thomas Bibb said Crow initially denied his involvement, but later confessed during questioning.
Crow told investigators that the men were fighting about the toilet paper over the weekend when Matthews pulled out a rifle.
Crow said he then began beating Matthews with the sledgehammer and claw hammer, according to an affidavit.
dave submitted a story about an interactive game that breaks the usual gaming mold. The game is called The Great Escape:
This medieval-looking electric chair sits deep inside an old bank in Madrid. The building has been remodeled to house La Fuga, a real-life role-playing game. Think of La Fuga (The Escape) as a $20 million cross between Halo and laser tag. The goal is simple: Decipher visual riddles to navigate and escape Mazzina, a high tech prison.
The company behind La Fuga is called Négone. It was founded by a sister-and-brother team, network engineer Silvia Garcia Alonso and former investment banker Jorge, who owned a piece of a dotcom that sold to Yahoo! for $400 million. They put their share of the money into live immersive gaming, starting Négone in 2002 and opening La Fuga last October. "There were lots of advances in in-home entertainment," Silvia says, "but in real-world entertainment, there was nothing happening."
A standard first-person shooter was one option, but the duo wanted something more cinematic. "There are certain plots that work again and again," Silvia says. "Finding treasure, a robbery, a big escape. The idea I think we all have when we see these movies is that it would be great to be the main character."
Creating the game presented both physical and intellectual challenges: They needed to erect a maze of steel and exposed concrete, and they needed to build a database to track the progress of each player through the labyrinth. Négone's coders didn't have to worry about writing the sort of physics-simulation software used in videogames, but Silvia says the logic engine - which keeps track of who's where in the building and what they're doing - gave her fits. "For video RPGs, you can use an off-the-shelf game engine, the way EA or Id does," she says. "But there's nothing that could handle all the kinds of data we need to use, so we had to build it ourselves." Now that the Madrid facility is operational, the company is focusing on opening a game center in Manhattan early next year - with plans for 60 more worldwide in the next decade.
I pay 15 euros, set up an account, and receive a navigational unit with a networked PDA and an RFID chip that I strap to my forearm. The chip tracks my progress through the prison.
dave submitted a story from the Salt Lake Tribune about how Jazz player Andrei Kirilenko's wife gives him a "woman allowance."
Masha Lopatova, a former Russian pop star who has been married to the Jazz forward for nearly six years, understands the temptation NBA players are faced with as they travel around the country for seven months a year. And she believes that forbidding something only makes it more tempting. That's why, she revealed in a story in the current issue of ESPN The Magazine, she allows Kirilenko an "allowance" of one night per year with another woman.
"What's forbidden is always desirable. And athletes, particularly men, are susceptible to all the things they are offered," Lopatova said before the Jazz's loss to Charlotte on Wednesday. "It's the same way raising children - If I tell my child, 'No pizza, no pizza, no pizza,' what does he want more than anything? Pizza.
"So this is the arrangement that Andrei and I have," she said, adding, in the spirit of openness, that she does not have a reciprocal agreement with her husband. "If I know about it, it's not cheating."
Kirilenko, according to the magazine story written by Salt Lake City freelance writer Chad Nielsen, has no plans to exercise his "allowance."
"Of course it was a surprise," Kirilenko said. "I'm not planning to do anything. But she said, 'If you want to do it, you can do it.' "
So really, now two nights with another woman in a year is forbidden for him, which by her logic, makes it desirable for him. So she should allow him 2 nights with another woman. But then he'll want 3... The obvious solution is to let him be with another woman all the time. And to Andrei's wife: Nice pizza analogy! If there's anything that parallels wanting to cheat on your wife, it's wanting pizza. They straddle the same moral ground and what kid that wants pizza doesn't also want to cheat on someone? Oh wait, I forgot loophole #3843: It's not cheating if they know about it. It comes right after #3842: It's not cheating if it's not the same zip code.
In anticipation of Jon Stewart's hosting the Oscars, here's a couple of videos of his recent interview on Larry King Live. It's interesting to see that he's actually sick of both political parties.
I'm really eager to see The Fountain, but there's one movie coming out in 2006 that completely blows me away. This movie is going to redefine cinema as we know it. This movie is going to be the most important film of the 21st century. This movie is about snakes. This movie is about planes. This movie is about what happens when one is on the other.
This movie is Snakes on a Plane.
As you can tell, this movie is about snakes on a plane. There are other elements to the plot, like an assassin trying to eliminate a witness in protective custody, but this is all secondary to the main point of the film: snakes that are on a plane. Or, conversely, a plane that has snakes on it. Either way, we know what we're getting: some sort of snake/plane combination, with action-packed results.
As if this wasn't amazing enough, we also have a stellar cast, led by one of the greatest thespians of our time: Samuel L. Jackson. This man needs no introduction. He's been in every movie ever made. He's made shouting into an art. I'm not sure exactly what he's going to do in this movie, but I can tell you this: Samuel L. Jackson doesn't take crap from anybody. Especially snakes. Especially when they're on his goddamn plane.
In case that's not enough for you, the cast is also rounded out by Kenan Thompson, who many of you may know from the Nickelodeon show "Kenan and Kel." I've actually seen a screenshot from Snakes on a Plane with Kenan in it, and suffice it to say, there are snakes on him. And he's not very happy about it. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Kel is going to be in this movie, which is a shame, since it could've resulted in some pretty awesome lines ("Who loves orange soda? Kel loves orange soda! BUT NOT SNAKES"). Then again, can he really top his Oscar-worthy performance in Good Burger?
Of course, there have been efforts to derail this movie, including efforts to change the title to something much less awesome, such as Pacific Air 121. Who the hell would want to see a movie called Pacific Air 121? It doesn't mention snakes at all.
Luckily, Samuel L. Jackson protested, explaining that the title was the only reason he took the job. I can't blame him; Snakes on a Plane is perhaps the greatest movie title since Leprechaun in the Hood. The title lays out exactly what you're getting: There's a plane and there are snakes on it. As Jackson himself puts it, "You either want to see that, or you don't."
Whether or not Snakes on a Plane receives critical acclaim on the level of Brokeback Mountain is a moot point. Brokeback Mountain may have gay cowboys, but Snakes on a Plane has snakes. And a plane. It's such a natural combination; I can't help but wonder if the Wright Brothers had snakes in mind from the start. Regardless of their intentions, it has become obvious to me that planes were meant for snakes, and vice versa. Think of it like Romeo and Juliet, but with reptiles and aircraft.
That is one hell of a preview. How could I not see it?
This is not really a credible source though, and TV Squad has promised to post if any real news about a deal comes up in their Arrested Development section. Of course I will post it here as well. The last official word was Showtime is "in talks" to pick up Arrested Development.
dave submitted an MSNBC link describing how a soccer team traded a player for 33 pounds of meat. THe player then decided to leave soccer for a career in agriculture or construction. The best part? This quote:
"We are upset because we lost twice — firstly because we lost a good player and secondly because we lost our team’s food for a whole week," a Regal Horia official was quoted as saying by the daily in its electronic edition.
They should learn how to draw up contracts, so they can get their dinners back when the player chooses to leave. I wonder if that really was the team's food, or if he was just speaking metaphorically.
