Category: Interesting

Just start a porn site. That’s what these ladies did.

Amazon.com‘s Entry into the Search Engine World launches today. It looks like it’s currently using Google’s Adwords for its sponsored results, and the main results content comes from its own database, Alexa.com, and Amazon.com. It also has a list of what’s new and cool. It does have some interesting features (like built-in “search in the book” from Amazon.com’s database), but nothing too wild, other than interface stuff. I do like the fact that I can type “a9.com/search term” into my URL field and it will search.

What I can see happening is better integration of Amazon.com’s product listings into the results, as another set of sponsored listings. So if somebody searches for an author, for example, it’ll show search results, but also easy ways to buy books from that author. That is one thing that Google will never have is that locked-in product inventory.

Google has no plans to alter its search results despite complaints that the first listing on a search for the word “Jew” directs people to an anti-Semitic Web site. Full Story.

Without the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and our government kindly releasing documents, we would’ve never have known that there have been some serious lies being told regarding the information that our government had prior to 9/11. See these Smoking Gun documents for examples. It was gutsy for the current administration to release damaging documents like this in an election year, but I applaud them for allowing their release. I’m still not voting for Bush.

Ingvar Kamprad, founder of Ikea, now holds that title, says this article, though he denies it in this article. What to believe? I have no idea, but I’m sure he’s not struggling.

Threw me a curveball when I plugged a search into my Google bar this morning and things looked differently. Here’s a round-up of all the changes via Waxy.

This guy did, when he thought of using it on a online bulletin board (a precursor to the modern-day newsgroup).

That’s how Bush responded when told by someone back in 2001 that he wasn’t impressed with his work so far. A good read (that’ll you’ll have to get the Salon Day Pass to read).

Apparently other countries outsource to the U.S. more than we outsource to them.

The value of US exports of legal work, computer programming, telecommunications, banking, engineering, management consulting and other private services jumped to $131.01 billion in 2003, up $8.42 billion from the previous year, the Commerce Department reported.

Imports of such private services-a category that encompasses US outsourcing of call centres and data entry to developing nations, among other things-was $77.38 billion for the year, up 7.94 billion from 2002.

So there’s over a $50 billion difference? Granted, this isn’t an industry-specific study, but it is interesting to think about, and enough, really, to quiet some of outsourcing’s opponents (I don’t really not what to think about it, so don’t ask me).

Using well-placed camera angles and clothes, this stuff if completely safe for work.