Author: mtadros

two new ‘search engines’ that aren’t

mtadros

Well they are not exactly search engines.. they are more atuned to the semantic or intelligent web. One has already launched and the other is in the launching beta process.

wolframThe first is Wolfram Alpha, whose name comes from its creator,  British-born physicist Stephen Wolfram who insists it is not a search engine but rather  “a computational knowledge engine: it generates output by doing computations from its own internal knowledge base, instead of searching the web and returning links.” This engine is based on what he calls Mathematica and not on the semantic web.

He claims that Wolfram|Alpha’s aim is

“to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone.  You enter your question or calculation, and Wolfram|Alpha uses its built-in algorithms and growing collection of data to compute the answer”.

Here is where you can find out about Mathematica.

Naturally right now it is only available for English language searches and is not internationalized just yet.

imindiThe second is iMindi – which, according to its creators, “helps you collect your thoughts and share them with like minded people”.  Since it is still in beta, you need to register to try it and give your opinion.

putting keyword in firefox’s address bar

mtadros

If you are a Firefox user, you probably already know that you can just type a keyword in the address bar and you will get directed to the page you want.  Also, the default search engine is Google. Sometimes when we download an application like AIM or some toolbar like Ask,com, it suddenly changes our default settings. Here is how you can remedy that:

  1. To change the default search engine: In your address bar, type in:  about:config Approve the button that shows up telling you to be careful about changing settings. Inthe filter type
    browser.search.defaultenginename
    Double click that entry (or right click and choose “Modify”) and then type in the name of the search engine you wish to have as the default search engine.
  2. To make the keyword search in the address bar work if it stopped working, do the following: in the address bar type about:config Approve the button that shows up telling you to be careful about changing settings. In the filter type keyword.url then double click it and paste this: http://www.google.com/search?btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=

Hope this was helpful. It took me a while to figure it out. 🙂

Twittering Queen?

mtadros

Twitter did not yet catch up in the Middle East as did Facebook. Nevertheless Queen Rania al Abdullah, Queen of Jordan, is now twittering asfter youtubing. And guess why she twittered? to mark Pope Benedict’s visit to Jordan.

This is what she twittered: “Just choppered to airport to receive the Pope. Husband piloting, he got acrobatic to quiet butterflies in stomach . . . told u he was action man!”[link]

Who is she talking to?

Google Morocco hacked

mtadros

TechCrunch reports that Google Morocco has been hacked today for a few hours before it was discovered and corrected.

Interesting. I wonder who hacked it? and why Morocco’s domain name in particular? or was it just a coincidental act of randomness?

lively

mtadros

Google’s virtual world has launched and it is called Lively. I tried it this morning. Funny. Very cartoonish and has a long way to go, but interesting. I was not happy that I could click on anyone and force  them to animate without their consent – so this guy kissed and hugged me and held my hand without my consent. Which made me slap him and kick him in the groin in return – without his consent.

Pretty funny though. Check it out – but you need a  google account to log in.

_________

Update: Google has pulled the plug on Lively. I guess Lively is now Deadly.