Sci-tech
Google
Search Turns Scholarly Google
has now launched a new search engine, Google Scholar which
can exclusively search for academic texts and scientific articles,
instead of web pages. The free search engine launched at http://scholar.google.com,
draws upon newly developed algorithms to list the academic
research that appears to be most relevant to a search request.
"Google has benefited a lot from scholarly research,
so this is one way we are giving back to the scholarly community,"
Nature quoted Anurag Acharya, a Google engineer who helped
develop the new search tools, as saying. The search engine
would only return the most relevant seminal papers on the
subject searched, rather than the web sites. Google Scholar
has a subversive feature, however. Each hit also links to
all the free versions of the article it has found saved on
other sites, for example on personal home pages, elsewhere
on the Internet.
U.S.
Files Suit Against Internet 'Spy Ware' The
U.S. government has sued a New Hampshire man in its first
attempt to crack down on Internet "spy ware" that
seizes control of a user's computer without permission. The
U.S. Federal Trade Commission asked a federal court to shut
down an operation that it said disables users' computers in
an attempt to bully them into buying anti-spy ware products.
Internet users unwittingly download the software when they
visit Web sites that contain certain banner ads. The software
exploits a hole in Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer Web
browser to work its way onto computers without users' knowledge,
according to the lawsuit. The software hijacks Web browsers,
causes CD-ROM trays to mysteriously slide open and slows down
computers or causes them to cease working altogether. A torrent
of "pop up" messages urges consumers to buy programmes
called Spy Wiper or Spy Deleter to clean up the mess. The
FTC has taken action against companies that redirect browsers
before but has never sued a company for secretly installing
software. Spy ware comes in many forms -- from keystroke loggers
that can capture passwords, credit-card numbers and other
sensitive data to relatively harmless programmes that deliver
pop-up ads. Currently there are no national anti-spy ware
laws on the books, though several places have them.
Call
Centres Get Faster IT
giant IBM is in the process of developing an artificial intelligence
system, that will help call centre executives to instantly
provide information to their clients without having to browse
through their vast data bank, thus saving time. According
to NewScientist, using a combination of speech recognition
and search engine technology, the system will hunt a call
centre's databanks for the information a customer wants and
present it to the operator. The system works by listening
in to the conversation and identifying keywords spoken by
the customer. It then flashes up the most relevant information
it can find onto the operator's screen. IBM project leader
Johan Schuurmans says an early version of the system allowed
calls to be handled about 20 per cent faster than normal.
Call centres often take calls for several clients and each
operator may have as many as 10,000 pages of product data
to choose from. Finding the right page to match a customer's
query can be tough, and the caller frequently has to be put
on hold while the operator searches for the relevant information.
But the new system will do away with these unnecessary delays.
Jamesbond@hotmail.com
at E Bay Now
your favourite fictional characters can double up as your
e mail addresses like Bridget Jones@ hotmail.com or 'Star
Trek's' Princess Leia@ hotmail.com and all you have to do
is go on the auction site E Bay and place your bid. The addresses
are being offered by a new free hotmail.co.uk service, launched
by Microsoft and it has been found that James Bond is the
most sought after address as it has attracted the highest
bid of 1,500 pounds in two days. While 'Star Trek's' evil
Darthvadar leapt to 51 pounds, the princess was worth 61 pounds.
Eight women put in a bid for Bridget Jones, making the price
reach 27 pounds in less than two days.
A
Unique Technique The
women of Periyathazai village, India, have adopted hygienic
scientific methods to dehydrate fish for storage. Fish, particularly
smaller varieties, were until recently dried on the sandy
beach unhygie-nically. Under the impact of strong sea blown
winds, the finished products were exposed to lot of dust and
sand particles during the five days on average it took to
dry fish. During the rainy season, they faced more problems,
as maggots started developing in the half-dried fish. Above
all, they could not get the right price for their products.
Thanks to the efforts made by the local authorities, things
have totally changed here after they were exposed to the solar
fish-drier, capable of drying 250 kg of fish in just eight
hours hygienically. The solar fish dryer converts solar energy
into thermal energy and hot air generator dries the fish.
The villagers are happy with the innovation. "Usually
we suffer losses due to the price fall of fresh fish. At that
time the idea of solar drier came to our mind and we went
ahead. Today we get a good price for the dried fish because
it is completely hygienic, which makes the products fast moving,"
said Shanti, an employee.
of
Drying Fish The
women of Periyathazai village, India, have adopted hygienic
scientific methods to dehydrate fish for storage. Fish, particularly
smaller varieties, were until recently dried on the sandy
beach unhygie-nically. Under the impact of strong sea blown
winds, the finished products were exposed to lot of dust and
sand particles during the five days on average it took to
dry fish. During the rainy season, they faced more problems,
as maggots started developing in the half-dried fish. Above
all, they could not get the right price for their products.
Thanks to the efforts made by the local authorities, things
have totally changed here after they were exposed to the solar
fish-drier, capable of drying 250 kg of fish in just eight
hours hygienically. The solar fish dryer converts solar energy
into thermal energy and hot air generator dries the fish.
The villagers are happy with the innovation. "Usually
we suffer losses due to the price fall of fresh fish. At that
time the idea of solar drier came to our mind and we went
ahead. Today we get a good price for the dried fish because
it is completely hygienic, which makes the products fast moving,"
said Shanti, an employee.
Copyright
(R) thedailystar.net 2004
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