Just saw this recently in the headlines; there’s another search engine around called “Hunch.”

…Although once again, it’s not really a search engine like Google is.

It’s another one of the “new,” “evolved,” or “smarter” search engines…a “decision engine” as they may be called (see Bing, Wolfram, or ChaCha)

Seems to be pretty good for getting recommendations on things.

I am dissapointed though: I asked it a philosophical question like “what is love” and was expecting the response “baby, don’t hurt me no more.”

No dice. If this was a REAL search engine, I probably should’ve gotten porno by accident as the default search.

Hi guys. I’m new… *looks at floor and shifts weight uncomfortably*. My name is Heather and I like sewing and riding my bikes and long walks on the beach and kittens…

ANYWAY.

I’ve been slightly bored at work lately and while I typically fill up the slow times by shopping online, I have recently incurred major student loans. Therefore, I have to find free ways to fill up the time. I always enjoy checking out craigslist due to the plethora of services and postings available on the site. In a typical work-filled day, I check out the missed connections ( ya neva know!), free stuff (again, ya neva know!) and gigs (I think I could qualify as a foot fetish model). But now, with the lack of work and even more free time on the computer I have been finding myself exploring areas of craigslist that I have never previously ventured upon. Some are pretty standard, while some are quite bizarre. Here are some examples from some of my favorite areas of craigslist.  Continue reading this post…

From “China’s Porn Filter Blocks Falun Gong Sites”

Internet filtering software that China plans to distribute nationwide blocks content related to a spiritual movement banned in China, despite government claims that the software targets only porn.

The program automatically closes a browser window when it detects Chinese words related to Falun Gong, according to a keyword blacklist decrypted and posted online Thursday in a report by researchers at the University of Michigan.

Falun Gong, a meditation practice, was banned in China as a cult ten years ago after mass gatherings by followers in Beijing stoked government fear.

Clearly, the purpose of this group is to distribute porno en masse.

I can’t even imagine a world where I can’t stream porn on the go…

Continue reading this post…

Bing, search engine launched by Microsoft, is now live.

It’s Microsoft’s attempt to take a chunk out of Google. And from what I’ve been messing around with so far, they might just do it.

Continue reading this post…

This was taken from Yahoo! News:

MELBOURNE (Reuters Life!) – Caught Twittering or on Facebook at work? It’ll make you a better employee, according to an Australian study that shows surfing the Internet for fun during office hours increases productivity.

The University of Melbourne study showed that people who use the Internet for personal reasons at work are about 9 percent more productive that those who do not.

Study author Brent Coker, from the department of management and marketing, said “workplace Internet leisure browsing,” or WILB, helped to sharpened workers’ concentration.

“People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration,” Coker said on the university’s website (www.unimelb.edu.au/)

“Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the Internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days’ work, and as a result, increased productivity,” he said.

According to the study of 300 workers, 70 percent of people who use the Internet at work engage in WILB.

Among the most popular WILB activities are searching for information about products, reading online news sites, playing online games and watching videos on YouTube.

“Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos, using social networking sites or shopping online under the pretence that it costs millions in lost productivity,” said Coker. “That’s not always the case.”

However, Coker said the study looked at people who browsed in moderation, or were on the Internet for less than 20 percent of their total time in the office.

“Those who behave with Internet addiction tendencies will have a lower productivity than those without,” he said.

(Writing by Miral Fahmy; Editing by Valerie Lee)

I think my office should let me do whatever the hell I want at work in order to increase my already OFF THE CHARTS productivity. Including, but not limited to: mini-golfing through the office, flying a kite in the courtyard by the cafeteria, and throwing random items against the wall and seeing how long it takes them to fall down.

Seriously, though, my company has a web filter that doesn’t let us do anything, except most online shopping sites work. That’s it. No personal email, no blogs, no music, nothing.

That’s right, stream old-school NES games here.

No need to install software, play it right out of the browser. Enjoy!

I’ve always been amazed at the possibilities of streaming. I had a discussion with Mike a while ago about streaming music: how in the future we may be able to stream intarnets or podcasts directly into our car. The discussion sort of went like this:

My dad still can’t believe the ridiculous jump from CD to MP3 player. He’s still got a binder full of CDs that he keeps with him in his car. I told him, “My mp3 player can probably hold 1,000 times more than all your binders combined.”

But just imagine what could happen with an internet radio: “This little console in my car can play an infinite amount of music.”

We’re not quite ready for such a concept yet until we hit a stage where WiFi broadcast zones are widespread. The future will be awesome - all we need is a push to stream porno on the go and we’re set.

Baby steps first though. We’re slowly starting to see more services that involve streaming; NetFlix lets us stream movies. Last.fm lets us stream music. And now we may be able to stream games.

I’m not talking about something like Steam (where you can buy, download, and install a new game in a matter of hours). I’m talking about streaming whole games here. It’s a service called “OnLive” and it’s currently in beta stages.

Continue reading this post…