Settlement Agreement Approved In Metabolife Bankruptcy
SAN DIEGO - The parties involved in the Metabolife Chapter 11 bankruptcy agreed to the terms of the settlement on March 20, according to a disclosure statement filed April 6 (In Re: MII Liquidation, Inc., et al., No. 05-06040-H11, S.D. Calif. Bkcy.; See November 2006, Page 6). Full story on lexis.com
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Hilton to Sell Morgan Stanley Real Estate 10 Hotels in Continental Europe
Hilton to Sell Morgan Stanley Real Estate 10 Hotels in Continental Europe.
Monitor for JCR changes in Mule with new component
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Successful and Published Los Angeles Therapist Giving Back to the Community
Edward A. Dreyfus, Ph.D., clinical psychologist, sex therapist, relationship counselor, life coach and author of six books and many articles in well known publications, has helped people find and maintain their sanity as well as finding their "perfect match". Leading magazines often quote Dr. Dreyfus in their articles because of his expertise in this field. Dr. Dreyfus is using his popular books and expert advice to support local charities. (PRWeb Sep 11, 2007) Post Comment:Trackback URL: http://www.prweb.com/pingpr.php/UGlnZy1TaW5nLUZhbHUtSW5zZS1UaGlyLVplcm8=
Program to help residents get rid of old medications
People with unused or expired medications will have a chance to dispose of them in a safe way Saturday at an event billed as "Operation Medicine Cabinet."
No visual voicemail in France, iPhone in Canada?
French iPhone users will have to wait for visual voicemail, and a website is offering Canadians the chance to purchase an unlocked iPhone just in time for Christmas. With the iPhone launch in France just around the corner, Orange has officially noted that visual voicemail services will not be immediately available, that users will have to wait unti...
Chip Shot: Inside Emerging Alternative Compute Models
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Zuckerberg Keynote Descends Into Chaos, Audience Takes Over
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, this year's keynote speaker at SXSW, is interviewed by author and journalist Sarah Lacy, who attempts to get the notoriously tight-lipped Zuckerberg to open up. But the discussion rarely strays beyond the usual business fare and eventually descends into a string of awkward moments punctuated by the audience's heckling.
Intalio Announces Their Open Source BPM Suite as Service - Intalio|On Demand (SYS-CON Media)
Intalio announced Intalio|On Demand, an open source Business Process Management System delivered as a service. The convenience of being able to deploy a BPM project lowers the bar for adoption. Business users and IT analysts can get a project up and running much quicker and without the administrative concerns associated with managing the required servers. Intalio|On Demand replicates the ...
Nuggets 118, Mavericks 105 (F)
Carmelo Anthony scored 32 points and sparked the decisive run in the third quarter of the Denver Nuggets' 118-105 win over the sliding Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.
BurnAgain FS enters public beta
Freeridecoding has opened a public beta for a new application, BurnAgain FS. Unlike some of the company's other programs, which operate entirely under a separate window, FS lets users change the data on a CD or DVD through Finder. It does this by mounting a disc as if it were a hard drive, in turn letting users add, edit and delete files multiple...
A Few Bad Votes Too Many?
Posted by Nick Gerner
I've been reading some of the papers from AIRWeb '08, the recent web spam conference, and I came across one called, "A Few Bad Votes Too Many? Towards Robust Ranking in Social Media." What was really interesting to me is that the authors quantify the effects of vote spam in "thumbing" systems (like the one we have here at SEOmoz), and that they rank the usefulness of different features in ranking questions and answers. The results suggest that an average of just six spam controlled votes can half search relevance:
The "baselines" here (the bottom two lines) are similar to what you get when you sort answers by votes. So think about that when you get a highly thumbed answer "Buy Mortgage Loans Cheap" as the number one result to the query, "how to bake apple pie." The "GBrank" lines take into account a few more features, and the best performing system (represented by the red line above) tries to take into account the fact that thumbs can be spammed.
No surprise here: spammers can alter search results. But how bad are thumbs compared to other features in the presence of spam? The researchers conveniently listed the features they used and their relative importance. I've reproduced it below:
Without spammers, here are the top 10 features useful for ranking questions and answers in response to user queries. I've bolded community-based features.
- similarity between query and question
- number of resolved questions for answerer
- length ratio between query and answer
- number of thumbs down votes
- number of stars for answerer
- number of thumbs up votes
- similarity between query and question/answer
- number of answer terms
- number of questions asked by answerer
- answer’s lifetime
With thumb spam the top 10 features are a bit different:
- similarity between query and question
- number of resolved questions for answerer
- length ratio between query and answer
- number of stars for answerer
- similarity between query and question/answer
- number of answer terms
- number of questions asked by answerer
- answer’s lifetime
- number of question terms
- length ratio between query and question
This sounds like pretty bad news for sites relying on community interaction. Recall that, by at least one measure, even an average of about six spammer controlled accounts (just six spurious thumbs up) can half the performance of search at question answering sites.
There is, however, a silver lining to be pulled from this paper. Notice the number two feature in both lists: "number of resolved questions for answerer." Also present in both lists are, "number of stars for answerer" and "number of questions asked by answerer." While this paper didn't consider attacking these features, it is comforting to know that these remain valid (and very useful) features. One might also argue that some of these community features are going to be harder to attack, and easier to monitor by moderators.
It should come as no surprise that deeper forms of social engagement are more useful to the community site, in this case for search ranking. Also, if you're trying to improve your visibility/authority in that community, and get your content (in this case, answers to questions) in the hands of more readers, you're much better off spending your time and energy on these deeper forms of engagement.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, rather than just thumbing this post, add a comment. Or better yet, write a YOUmoz post in response (here's an idea: What did this paper miss? What have I pulled from this paper which doesn't generalize to the outside world?).
And if you're a spammer and think you can get away with thumbing your Yahoo! Answers to the top of their SERPs, know that they've got their eye on you! ...but state-of-the-art algorithmic detection still has a long way to go to really catch you :(
P.S. I'm headed to Costa Rica for the next 10 days without internet, phone, etc. So if you post a comment and I don't respond, that would be why.
Should I sell my old spam servers or just reinstall them
I was in the server room agian today looking at my old spam server, what do you reckon sell and reinstall them ? DaveN (Read on Source)
Attensa and Real Time Matrix Announce Exclusive Strategic Technology Partnership To Bring Precisely
Portland, OR ? January 10, 2007 ? Attensa, Inc., a leading developer of Enterprise RSS software, and The Real Time Matrix Corp., an innovator in precision search and real-time matching and filtering technology, are working together to help business users create precisely focused search channels that automatically and continuously deliver exactly the content they are searching for without duplication. The partnership brings together the power of Attensa's persistent search capability which scans Internet search engines to continuously deliver information as soon as it is published with Real Time Matrix's sophisticated aggregation, matching and correlation techniques to deliver information that has been intelligently filtered to precisely match the searcher's criteria with public and premium content. "Real Time Matrix and Attensa are working together to give business users an RSS tuner which does an exceptional job of separating signal from noise," said Craig Barnes, Attensa CEO. "Using persistent precision search to continuously deliver highly relevant information is an essential business tool which slashes the time it takes to stay on top of rapidly changing world." "This technology cuts through information overload and puts control into the individuals' hands. Users simply set up and refine their search criteria and we deliver accurate, relevant and timely results with extreme prejudice," said Jeff Whitehead, The Real Time Matrix CEO. "With Attensa and Real Time Matrix researchers can search the past and filter the future by tuning their search criteria, in real time to deliver exactly the information they want without duplication, as soon as it is observed on the Internet." The persistent precision search technology filters public Internet and blog search engines and can be extended to include specialized internal and premium content available within the enterprise. About Attensa Attensa, Inc. is a venture backed company developing software that gets the right information to the right people at the right time and controls the flow by prioritizing and filtering Web feeds and articles so people get the most relevant, timely information anywhere on any device. For more information and to keep informed about new product introductions, please visit the company?s Web site at http://www.attensa.com/ and our blog at http://www.attensa.com/blogs/attensa. About Real Time Matrix Corporation The Real Time Matrix Corporation is a privately-held start-up, co-founded and funded by Edge Venture Capital and based in the San Francisco Bay Area, The Real Time Matrix founders have 50 years combined software expertise focused on media distribution, analytics, and messaging. For more information please visit the company?s web site and http://www.realtimematrix.com.
New Marketing Technology Awaits Your Firm
Law firms, notoriously resistant to new technology, have several new marketing tools available to spread their message, from using text messaging for "mobile marketing" to "search engine optimization." Depending on how tech-savvy they are, many law firms are taking notice.
Gomes' deal completes Wolves' priority list
It's good to finally have the details ironed out and a roster of guys we actually want (and who want to be here). This is by far the most … read more talented team we've ever had in Minnesota, I'm excited for the season to begin! (Read on Source)
Is America Ready for Its First BlackBerry President?
Experts say it probably doesn't matter whether the next U.S. president actually uses information technology.
87 salmonella cases reported across Quebec
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Promero Announces Free Link Exchange Program
... software, software development, sports, telecommunications, telemarketing, telephone systems, travel, VOIP, web development, web directories, web hosting and work at home opportunities. Promero will accept suggestions for new categories that are ...
Got Office Docs? Back Them Up With Google's GData API
Google provides a set of simple APIs called GData which let you write data to most of their web services quickly and easily. We'll show you how it's done in this tutorial by creating an automated backup system for your office docs using the Documents List Data API and Google Docs.
Andrew Langdon to head Jones Lang LaSalle?s Bangkok Office
Andrew Langdon to head Jones Lang LaSalle?s Bangkok Office.
Zaheer, Haddin in heated discussion
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It’s official. Vikings fans need to be happy
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Review: Google's first phone smart, but needs work (AP)
AP - Given Google Inc.'s reputation as a trend setter on the Web, I expected great things from its first mobile phone — especially since it is emerging more than a year after Apple Inc. launched the enormously popular iPhone.
Metabolife Founder Pleads Guilty To Lying To FDA; Faces 5 Years In Prison
SAN DIEGO - Michael J. Ellis, founder and former president of Metabolife International Inc., on Nov. 5 pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of making false statements to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1999 about the safety of Metabolife's ephedra supplements (USA v. Metabolife, Inc., et al., No. 03 CR 1088-J, S.D. Calif.). Full story on lexis.com
Cobol Job Market Heating Up
snydeq writes "Developers seeking job security in the years ahead could find an unlikely edge in Cobol. According to an InfoWorld report, demand for Cobol skills is surging, with salaries on the rise. More importantly, the short supply of offshore Cobol programmers and the fact that mainframes aren't going away anytime soon are spurring longevity for big-iron skills, with many companies looking to hire in-house Cobol pros to bridge mainframe Cobol apps to the rest of the enterprise. The report provides further evidence that Cobol may indeed be primed for a comeback, with new kinds of Cobol integration jobs emerging to prove old-guard skills are critical to some of the hottest areas of software development today."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Report: Isiah, police clash on OD drama details - FOXSports.com
 New York Daily News | Report: Isiah, police clash on OD drama details FOXSports.com - Former Knicks coach Isiah Thomas was hospitalized yesterday after overdosing on sleeping pills at his Westchester mansion, sources said. Thomas Taken From Home After Overdose of Pills Accidential OD reported at Isiah Thomas' house |
Avocent Enhances Its Data Center Management Software to Help IT Better Manage Virtual Server Sprawl
... management, saving time and money while unifying control of virtual environments. -- Support for Windows Server 2008 -- Today businesses with Windows environments can upgrade their servers to Microsoft's newest ...
Virgin's In-flight Wi-Fi Coming Monday
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