links for 2009-10-29

"Today, we're rolling out a search feature that does just that by enabling you to search and more easily discover millions of songs, all via a simple Google web search. If you're searching for music, "time to result" is really "time to music." Now, when you enter a music-related query — like the name of a song, artist or album — your search results will include links to an audio preview of those songs provided by our music search partners MySpace (which just acquired iLike) or Lala. When you click the result you'll be able to listen to an audio preview of the song directly from one of those partners. For example, if I search for [21st century breakdown], the first results provide links to songs from Green Day's new album. MySpace and Lala also provide links to purchase the full song."

"If you have a friend or a family member whose profile should be memorialized, please contact us, so their memory can properly live on among their friends on Facebook."

"But if you dig a little deeper into that dating site, you start to understand how differently Li thinks, and how that thinking reflects an aspect of Chinese consumer Web sites that Westerners frequently miss. Where Chinese Web entrepreneurs shine is in taking an existing business idea – ripping it off, if you like – but then completely rethinking and reinventing that idea’s business model and process. This not only makes the companies more profitable faster, it’s a big reason why home-grown Chinese versions continually beat US companies trying to expand into China."

"The body said it that it was finalising plans to introduce web addresses using non-Latin characters. The proposal – initially approved in 2008 – would allow domain names written in Asian, Arabic or other scripts."

"UI that looked sexy in Photoshop almost always looks overdesigned when we try it for real in the browser. Here’s a hypothesis. Simple and useful designs just don’t seem good enough when they are dead pixels. They need to be brought to life before they can be appreciated. Until that happens we overcompensate with garnish." I totally agree.

"I don’t expect the ebook-reader market to be the next hot thing. But it’s also not a fad, and it’s not going away. These are great devices for reading, even if you need to use one before you’re convinced, and any objection to their current software limitations is likely to be temporary."

"Microsoft keeps burning cash online. Today, for the fifteenth straight quarter, it reported a big operating loss in its Online Services Division."

"The US military in Afghanistan is to be allowed to pay Taliban fighters who renounce violence against the government in Kabul."

"The Legislature gave final approval Wednesday to a ban on texting and using handheld devices behind the wheel. Prohibited activities include emailing, watching DVDs, fooling with MP3 players and video gaming."

"Shares of navigation device makers sunk Wednesday after Google Inc. (GOOG) upgraded its smartphone software to include a free navigation feature." Google is going to just kill in this market space.

"Claiming that the president was preying on the public's fear of contracting a fatal disease last week when he declared the H1N1 virus a national emergency, Republican leaders announced Wednesday that they were officially endorsing the swine flu." Another one of those times when you wonder if The Onion is real news.

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A war? When did Apple start a war? I distinctly remember Steve Jobs saying he wanted 1 percent of the phone market. I don't remember any rhetoric about invading Poland. Do you?"

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"There is one area in which Google Groups continues to shine: Private, or restricted, mailing list discussions. However any attempts at using it for a public discussion medium are completely futile." I totally agree, Google Groups as a public discussion medium is totally broken.

"Serious students of health care have known for a long time that the magic of the marketplace doesn’t work in health care; the United States has the most privatized health-care system in the advanced world, and also the least efficient. The pale reflection of this reality in the current discussion is that reform with a strong public option is cheaper than reform without — which means that as we get closer to really doing something, rhetoric about socialism fades out, and that $100 billion or so in projected savings starts to look awfully attractive." Though I will admit it would be nice if Krugman started citing more often.

"Iceland is the country that has made the most progress in closing the gender gap – knocking Norway off the top spot – a World Economic Forum survey said."

"Personally, I think good writing doesn’t have to be educated or well supported or even grammatically correct. It does have to be interesting enough that other people want to read it. Much of what comes out of high schools and universities fails this test, not because our students are incapable of saying anything interesting, but because a well-meaning but flawed academic system has taught them a lot of bad habits."

""This dance itself was a successful event." –West Contra Costa Unified School District spokesman Marin Trujillo looks on the bright side after the brutal gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside of her high school's homecoming dance." Fuck you indeed.

"Cyberwarfare analysts argue that while most computer security efforts have until now been focused on software, tampering with hardware circuitry may ultimately be an equally dangerous threat. That is because modern computer chips routinely comprise hundreds of millions, or even billions, of transistors. The increasing complexity means that subtle modifications in manufacturing or in the design of chips will be virtually impossible to detect."

"Israel is denying Palestinians access to even the basic minimum of clean, safe water, Amnesty International says. In a report, the human rights group says Israeli water restrictions discriminate against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. It says that in Gaza, Israel's blockade has pushed the already ailing water and sewage system to "crisis point"."

"Chrome OS is a brand new free operating system built around the revolutionary Google Chrome browser."

"The company’s new public source optical-scan voting system, called Frontier Election System, will be submitted for federal certification and testing in the first quarter of next year. The code will be released for public review in November, the company said, on its web site. Sequoia’s proprietary, closed systems are currently used in 16 states and the District of Columbia." That's awesome news.

"Aside is now acceptable to use for secondary content, such as a blogroll, groups of additional navigation and even advertising if that content is related to the page. When used within an article element, the contents should be specifically related to that article, for example a glossary. When using aside, please be aware of these changes of context."

"Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country’s booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials.The agency pays Mr. Karzai for a variety of services, including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the C.I.A.’s direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar, Mr. Karzai’s home."