Filed Under (Search Engines, News) by admin on 14-05-2008
After a lot of buzz around the future-to-be Google killer, Powerset has finally released a limited showcase version of its new semantic search tool that speaks ‘natural language’. The new search engine is designed to search Wikipedia articles providing more relevant results and sometimes even direct answers to your questions. Powerset’s search engine claims to be able to unlock the actual meaning of every word in Wikipedia.
Google and other search engines can’t really understand the content they read, they can’t tell if a word is used as a noun or verb, perceiving it just as a set of symbols. This is, of course, a very simplified concept of the search algorithm. Search engines do have a bit of ‘intelligence’ but it is more like guessing based on statistical data rather then the ability to read into words deciphering their actual meaning.
The technology behind Powerset, on the other hand, claims to understand the meaning of words and their relations in the sentence. Although Powerset can’t really speak the language we do, it can analyze the information extracting the facts and their relations. Read the rest of this entry »
According to the official Microsoft blog, the company launched beta versions of service packs for Visual Studio 2008 and .Net Framework 3.5 web development tools. The betas are designed for testing purposes and Microsoft specialists recommend using them on test computers only. The final versions of service packs with full support of SQL Server 2008 database are due to come out this summer. SQL Server 2008 capable of storing structured and non-structured data is to be released later this year.
The Service Pack 1 beta version for Visual Studio 2008 offers enhanced functionality for Windows Presentation Foundation as well as additional Visual Basic and C++ tools, improved JavaScript and web development performance.
The Service Pack 1 beta for .Net Framework 3.5 introduces ASP.NET Dynamic Data allowing rapid data development without code modifications, and a new addition to ASP.NET AJAX with browser history support. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed Under (Software, News) by admin on 12-05-2008
Microsoft claims that its new operating system Windows Vista is the most secure in the whole product line of Windows. However, according to a research conducted by PC Tools Software security provider, Windows vista is more vulnerable to dangerous malware then its predecessor Windows 200 and only slightly more secure then Windows XP. Statistical data from nearly 1.5 million computers shows that Vista fails to secure 639 threats per 1000 computers, compared to 586 for Windows 2000, 478 for Windows 2003 and 1,021 for Windows XP which remains to be the most insecure version of Windows. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed Under (Web Design) by admin on 08-05-2008
Today all sorts of businesses, information providers and even charity organizations realize the importance of web presence. But websites don’t just appear. In fact developing an appealing user and search engine friendly website is an extremely challenging task. Design is a key component of any website and, unless you are a web designer yourself you’ll have to hire one. With thousands of designers and web developers, design agencies and individual freelancers out there it’s not at all easy to make the right choice.
Before you start checking credentials and contacting your prospects you need to decide what you want from your website. You should figure out how big you think your website should be, who will its target audience be, would you like to be able to update it yourself, will you be selling anything, and of course what budget you can afford.
Once you’ve done your homework, you can start searching for a designer. It is usually web designers themselves or people with at least some knowledge of web design who can easily spot a good web designer. Referrals are the safest way to go. Remember that you don’t need the best web designer in the world, you need the one who will do the job and leave you satisfied with the results. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed Under (News) by admin on 08-05-2008
After three months of negotiations Microsoft has finally withdrawn its monstrous takeover bid for Yahoo! Internet group. Looks like the biggest deal in the history of Microsoft Corporation is not going to happen. The two sides failed to reach an agreement despite Microsoft’s intense efforts to purchase the second most popular search engine after Google.
Microsoft placed its initial takeover bid of $44.6 billion hoping that by acquiring Yahoo it will be able to break the dominance of Google on the online search market. However, Yahoo!’s leadership demanded at least another $10bn on top of the offer. Although Microsoft several times raised the bid up to the final $50bn it was still not enough to tempt Yahoo! into a merger. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed Under (Blogging) by admin on 08-05-2008
What is it?
Although the word widget might look a bit funny it has become a commonly used term, especially among bloggers utilizing the world-famous Wordpress software.
The term ‘Wordpress widgets’ is applied to any user-friendly sidebar function in Wordpress themes including such elements as search box, meta-tags, RSS feed links, recent posts, categories, etc. which can be arranged by a blogger into the blog’s sidebar in any way they want.
The majority of modern Wordpress themes are widget-ready, i.e. users can modify them without having to change the code. You just log in as the administrator and drag the elements you want to the sidebar adding and rearranging them whenever you wish.
Wordpress is in itself a very easy-to-use blogging application, and with the addition of widgets it has become even more user-friendly providing for a most pleasant blogging experience. Read the rest of this entry »
