After Microsoft’s on-again-off-again-maybe-not-done-yet bid for Yahoo or some part thereof, its acquisition of Powerset shows that it want to be a serious player in search. Better search results might drive users to Live Search, or at least keep them from leaving when the results aren’t so hot. Yet there’s still a lot more Microsoft needs to do.

Posted by Zoov on 03 Jul 2008
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Adobe announced a partnership with Google and Yahoo to make rich Internet applications (RIAs) friendlier to search engines. The enhanced capabilities by search engines are targeted at crawling and reading the Flash file format (SWF). Previously, search engines like Google were able to crawl text and links on static SWF Web content, but the new partnership looks to help bring that information to users immediately.

Posted by Zoov on 03 Jul 2008
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A new study has linked increased HDL, the “good” kind of cholesterol, with a decreased risk of memory loss with age. Doctors say keeping your HDL up benefits your mind and your body. The study tested 3,000 British subjects to find their levels of HDL cholesterol and then asked them to try to memorize 20 words.

Posted by Zoov on 03 Jul 2008
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NASA scientist James Hansen issued an urgent warning in his speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., June 23. The occasion was the 20th anniversary of his landmark 1988 testimony before a Senate panel, in which he warned that global warming was here and we were causing most of it. Now he’s being just as forceful, but the outlook is worse. “We really are in a planetary emergency,” Hansen said. Greenhouse gas emissions (mostly carbon dioxide) have continued basically unabated since 1988, he noted, and atmospheric levels are now at 385 ppm (parts per million) — and we’re adding 2 ppm per year. At 450 ppm there would be no ice left on the planet, which would mean major changes in climate and sea level. At the world’s current rate of emissions, we could hit that point 33 years from now.

Posted by Zoov on 30 Jun 2008
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