Another search engine relaunch at Microsoft. At least one thing to commend it is they have managed to come up with a name other than "Search" calling it Bing. I always wonder about the product naming at Microsoft, "hey what shall we call our new word processor?", - "Word!".
Still some imagination used here, I've tried it a bit and it is fine but not different enough to make me think it is going to give me a different experience or results. In fact it feels more direct rip off - which is a shame if there is a lot of effort behind the scenes on the actual searching technology. It is even a tongue in cheek beta.
There are some other less well backed engines that are promising to do different indexing and maybe it would have been too risky for MS to follow this approach, the reports at the moment are that they are taking market share off places like Yahoo.
So the doubling up of functionality offered by these two giants continues, one cannot have a browser without the other, an OS, and now search.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Microsoft search engine
Another search engine relaunch at Microsoft. At least one thing to commend it is they have managed to come up with a name other than "Search" calling it Bing. I always wonder about the product name at Microsoft, "hey what shall we call our new wordprocessor?", - "Word!".
Still some imagination used here, I've tried it a bit and it is fine but not different enough
Still some imagination used here, I've tried it a bit and it is fine but not different enough
Series: Dekalog by Krzysztof Kieslowski
This year I've been watching a polish drama series from the 1980s by the director of the three colours series of films.
Each film is very loosely about one of the ten commandments in an everyday context. I say loosely because the film does not overplay the religious background context.
As usual a bleak Polish setting that is bought to life by the characters and their lives, the films are very well directed and filmed.
Kieslowski himself died in the mid 1990s and probably his distinct directing style has died too - so it felt like a piece of TV history watching in 2009. Interesting series (he calls them a "cycle" in his interviews, as they each stand alone).
Each film is very loosely about one of the ten commandments in an everyday context. I say loosely because the film does not overplay the religious background context.
As usual a bleak Polish setting that is bought to life by the characters and their lives, the films are very well directed and filmed.
Kieslowski himself died in the mid 1990s and probably his distinct directing style has died too - so it felt like a piece of TV history watching in 2009. Interesting series (he calls them a "cycle" in his interviews, as they each stand alone).
Lost Generation?
Plenty of coverage in the news this week about how tough it is for current graduates to get jobs. I have plenty of sympathy, I remember the job market of the early 90s was tough.
I saw one interview where the graduates almost had a "because I've done this I should be able to get a job in this area" attitude. I know that will not be true of most graduates and media always picks extreme cases to get a story but it did seem to be slightly warped logic - there are no guarantees in life no matter how much it would be nice to have them.
I think the larger worry for the UK is that we have expanded higher education without much thought for what we were actually teaching. Consequently our skill base is probably skewed and inappropriate for what industry would consider were the needs. We have also let other equally valuable training and education opportunities dwindle (the often talked about apprenticeships or work based training).
The lost generation tag is a little over played though, but a generation that has to compromise a little in career choice? Not such a headline but closer to the truth.
I saw one interview where the graduates almost had a "because I've done this I should be able to get a job in this area" attitude. I know that will not be true of most graduates and media always picks extreme cases to get a story but it did seem to be slightly warped logic - there are no guarantees in life no matter how much it would be nice to have them.
I think the larger worry for the UK is that we have expanded higher education without much thought for what we were actually teaching. Consequently our skill base is probably skewed and inappropriate for what industry would consider were the needs. We have also let other equally valuable training and education opportunities dwindle (the often talked about apprenticeships or work based training).
The lost generation tag is a little over played though, but a generation that has to compromise a little in career choice? Not such a headline but closer to the truth.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Book read: My Trade by Andrew Marr
I previously had read a history of modern Britain by Marr and really enjoyed it. This book is older written in 2004 and is about journalism from the early days to the modern era.
It gives good historical details about how papers developed, and how they took advantage of improved communications to far flung places and correspondents. It also goes into detail about the modern journalist and how things have changed in Marr's working life.
It sometimes paints a bleak picture for "hacks" with big business running papers and caring little for the people who write the stories - a very hire and fire business it seems. Also the dumbing down of the newspaper and a slow death of dedicated foreign journalism. It is not all doom and gloom though, the lower end of the paper market is dying leaving only the more serious papers in years to come.
I had not known the Marr himself was an editor for a paper, during a turbulent time too and he describes what that was like in detail.
Overall a good read, thought provoking and well written.
It gives good historical details about how papers developed, and how they took advantage of improved communications to far flung places and correspondents. It also goes into detail about the modern journalist and how things have changed in Marr's working life.
It sometimes paints a bleak picture for "hacks" with big business running papers and caring little for the people who write the stories - a very hire and fire business it seems. Also the dumbing down of the newspaper and a slow death of dedicated foreign journalism. It is not all doom and gloom though, the lower end of the paper market is dying leaving only the more serious papers in years to come.
I had not known the Marr himself was an editor for a paper, during a turbulent time too and he describes what that was like in detail.
Overall a good read, thought provoking and well written.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Google OS
A not unexpected news story that Google is to launch an operating system. Well it sounds like a browser centric Linux based kernel OS. So much simplified and targeted at people who spend a lot of time online.
Be interesting to see how this develops, a chance to recapture the netbook market a little. Presumably will be free and will need tie in deals with manufacturers - a place where Microsoft have their anti competitive stranglehold.
Be interesting to see how this develops, a chance to recapture the netbook market a little. Presumably will be free and will need tie in deals with manufacturers - a place where Microsoft have their anti competitive stranglehold.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Book read: Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman by J Glieck
A book I've had for a few years but never quite finished, I had the time to read it entirely. It is part Feynman biography and part summary of the history of particle physics. The books is divided into the posts that Feymann held. After describing his early years, the chapters divide MIT, Princeton, Los Alamos (the war years), Cornell, and Caltech.
For me he will be best known for the Challenger enquiry and helping discover the problem with the O-rings on the rocket boosters (something the engineers already knew but management had chosen to ignore). But his work prior to this outshines this, winning the Nobel prize in 1965, and then having worked on the atom bomb during the war.
His working methods were unique, encouraging building up theories from the basics of what is known, and not being led too much by existing work. I think this is because he felt that would stifle original thought and insight. I got the impression only a portion of what he knew or had discovered was ever published - colleagues would often encourage him to write a paper over a blackboard discussion.
The saddest part of the book is the death of his first love Arline from tuberculosis - very moving. It also described the helplessness he must have felt when he was trying to research her illness in vain. He was to marry again, to an English woman who he met while in Europe.
For me he will be best known for the Challenger enquiry and helping discover the problem with the O-rings on the rocket boosters (something the engineers already knew but management had chosen to ignore). But his work prior to this outshines this, winning the Nobel prize in 1965, and then having worked on the atom bomb during the war.
His working methods were unique, encouraging building up theories from the basics of what is known, and not being led too much by existing work. I think this is because he felt that would stifle original thought and insight. I got the impression only a portion of what he knew or had discovered was ever published - colleagues would often encourage him to write a paper over a blackboard discussion.
The saddest part of the book is the death of his first love Arline from tuberculosis - very moving. It also described the helplessness he must have felt when he was trying to research her illness in vain. He was to marry again, to an English woman who he met while in Europe.
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