com
Wikia is working to develop and popularize a freely licensed (open source) search engine. What you see here is our first alpha release.
We are aware that the quality of the search results is low.
Wikia’s search engine concept is that of trusted user feedback from a community of users acting together in an open, transparent, public way. Of course, before we start, we have no user feedback data. So the results are pretty bad. But we expect them to improve rapidly in coming weeks, so please bookmark the site and return often.
Right now, the most important thing you can do is help with the “mini articles” that appear at the top of popular search terms. These will vary in purpose according to the circumstance, but the primary uses will be:
At the bottom of every page is a link to Post bug reports. Please use that link liberally to give us large amounts of feedback.
Search is a fundamental part of the infrastructure of the Internet, and therefore it can and should be done in an open, objective, accountable way. This site, which we have been working on for a long time now, represents the first draft of the future of search.
Please feel free to join us, make some friends, and let’s try to do something friendly, interesting, and different.
Google Operating System Weblog, “Google Is All About Large Amounts of Data“: In a very interesting interview from October, Google’s VP Marissa Mayer confessed that having access to large amounts of data is in many instances more important than creating great algorithms.
Right now Google is really good with keywords, and that’s a limitation we think the search engine should be able to overcome with time. People should be able to ask questions, and we should understand their meaning, or they should be able to talk about things at a conceptual level. We see a lot of concept-based questions — not about what words will appear on the page but more like “what is this about?” A lot of people will turn to things like the semantic Web as a possible answer to that. But what we’re seeing actually is that with a lot of data, you ultimately see things that seem intelligent even though they’re done through brute force.
When you type in “GM” into Google, we know it’s “General Motors.” If you type in “GM foods” we answer with “genetically modified foods.” Because we’re processing so much data, we have a lot of context around things like acronyms. Suddenly, the search engine seems smart like it achieved that semantic understanding, but it hasn’t really. It has to do with brute force. That said, I think the best algorithm for search is a mix of both brute-force computation and sheer comprehensiveness and also the qualitative human component.
Marissa Mayer admitted that the main reason why Google launched the free 411 service is to get a lot of data necessary for training speech recognition algorithms. (more…)
Below is Tim Berners-Lee’s post that coined the term, ‘the Giant Global Graph’…and why I now own the GiantGlobalGraph.us, CloudGraph.com and GraphCloud.com domain names.
“Well, it has been a long time since my last post here. So many topics, so little time. Some talks, a couple of Design Issues articles, but no blog posts. To dissipate the worry of expectation of quality, I resolve to lower the bar. More about what I had for breakfast.
So The Graph word has been creeping in. BradFitz talks of the Social Graph as does Alex Iskold, who discusses social graphs and network theory in general, points out that users want to own their own social graphs. He also points out that examples of graphs are the Internet and the Web. So what’s with the Graph word?
Maybe it is because Net and Web have been used. For perfectly good things .. but different things. (more…)
My APML Feed
<?xml version=”1.0″?> <APML version=“0.6″> <Head> <Title /> <Generator>apml.engagd.com</Generator> <DateCreated>2007-10-23T02:55:24Z</DateCreated> </Head> <Body defaultprofile=“Home”> <Profile name=“Home”>
<ImplicitData> <Concepts>
…
There is some controversy
floating around the blogosphere about the nature of the next web. We got a clear signal from Tim O’Reilly that there is no need to continue the versioning fad and call it “Web 3.0,” but still, people disagree about what’s coming next. To me, what is coming is not a single thing, but a web that is characterized by several major themes.Among the evolving aspects of the new web are Semantics, Attention (Implicit Behavior) and Personalization. Regardless of what we are decide to call this next web, the information in it is going to be more meaningful, more automatic, and more tailored to each of us.
A critical piece of the next web evolution is the introduction of structured information. This concept is so basic to us as humans, that we completely overlook the fact that it is quite foreign to computers. When a person looks at a book on Amazon, she sees a book, with the author, ISBN number, publisher and the publication date. To a computer that page on Amazon is nothing more than a bunch of HTML. Increasingly, information on the web is becoming more and more structured. This process is happening via several major movements: (more…)
“Some folks have been asking me for the clear definition of the term Web 3.0.
Web 2.0 services are now the commoditized platform, not the final product. In a world where a social network, wiki, or social bookmarking service can be built for free and in an instant, what’s next?
Web 2.0 services like digg and YouTube evolve into Web 3.0 services with an additional layer of individual excellence and focus. As an example, funnyordie.com leverages all the standard YouTube Web 2.0 feature sets like syndication and social networking, while adding a layer of talent and trust to them. (more…)
Nickelback - All the Right Reasons - Rockstar (Unedited) -
Song Meaning via Wikipedia
The song details the stereotype that most people have about the life of a rockstar. The lead singer, Chad Kroeger, assumes the role of a person wanting to get to that life. It also features many clichés and popular beliefs of what fame can get one, such as
“I want a brand new house/ on an episode of Cribs/ And a bathroom I can play baseball in/ And a king size tub big enough/ for ten plus me/ I’ll need a credit card that’s got no limit/ And a big black jet with a bedroom in it/ Gonna join the mile high club/ At thirty-seven thousand feet/ I want a new tour bus full of old guitars/ My own star on Hollywood Boulevard.” [1]
Spoken-word vocals between each verse are provided by Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. Gibbons assumes the role of the rock star who has already made it, asking challenging questions to the would-be newcomer. Others have interpreted his lines as the devil egging the narrarator on to sell his soul for the rockstar lifestyle, (i.e. “Tell me watcha want”,”Ah, so watcha need? “). [2] It is also mentioned that Billy Gibbons character is not an aged rocker. As he is offering not just advice to the new rocker it is possible that Billy’s character may be the devil. This comes from the long history in music of hopefuls allegedly selling their souls for fortune and fame as a musician. The most famous of these being blues patriarch Robert Johnson.
(more…)
Read/Write
Web.com has recently published about the 10 web trends to look out for over the next 10 years…
Semantic Web
Artificial Intelligence
Virtual Worlds
Mobile 
Attention Economy
Web Sites As Web Services
Online Video / Internet TV
Rich Internet Apps
International Web
Personalization
