- Copycat much, Yahoo? Not that your beta testing of a search feature that displays answers to queries and links to websites on the fly as people type their queries isn't sweet and all…….it’s just that the good folks at Google have already been there and done that. In fact, Google has been doing it for months now and you touting Search Direct as proof that your company is still a player in the search market and an innovator despite its search partnership with Microsoft just looks weak. "Search is incredibly important," said Blake Irving, Yahoo's chief product officer, during a press conference. "Search matters to customers and it matters to us." That’s great, but Search Direct is not a great example of how Yahoo has been able to focus on the search user experience while relying on Microsoft for back-end functions, like website crawling and indexing, as Irving would have the world believe. Instead, it’s Yahoo burying its head in the sand and pretending that it is coming out with a groundbreaking new project that will revolutionize the world of online searches when in reality, that revolution has already taken place and been stamped with a giant “G.” Just like Google’s Instant Search, Yahoo Search Direct will get query results as they type, without having to finish the query, hit enter or scan the results page. Not only does Yahoo believe Search Direct will increase speed, but it also is banking on the app attracting the attention of end users and boosting usage of its search engine. "It's a super-powerful results set," Irving said. To create Search Direct, Yahoo created a separate search platform for, including its own index and algorithms. Obviously Yahoo needed to address the notion that they were doing little more than ripping off Google’s existing idea and their argument for that is theirs delivers more direct answers. Irving also pointed out that Google Instant Search doesn't respond necessarily to every keystroke and repaints the entire search results page, whereas Search Direct responds to every character typed and has a more compact interface. When Search Direct launches, it will be available in the United States only until an international rollout later this year…………
- Bad news, my Colombian nose candy-loving friends. The Man is sticking it to you once again, pulling stupid sh*t that is likely to drive up the price you pay for a good eight ball of coke. This time, Mexican and Ecuadorian authorities have teamed up to deliver a tandem punch to the groin of Bolivian marching powder lovers everywhere by detaining an in-law of top drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman who allegedly ran a transnational drug operation that reached as far as Ecuador and pulling off coordinated raids in Ecuador that resulted in the seizure of 4 metric tons of cocaine allegedly connected to the group. Suspect Victor Manuel Felix is both an in-law of Guzman and the godfather of one of the drug lord's children, meaning he is viewed as a major takedown for this coalition of fools. Losing Felix will be a tough blow for the cartel because the head of anti-drug operations for Mexico's federal police says he headed up a financial network for Guzman's Sinaloa cartel. Now that they have lost their CFO, for all intents and purposes, do you have any idea how difficult it will be for them to keep their operation running at a high level? Drug cartel CFO’s don’t just grow on trees, you know? When prominent members of the cartel are arrested, the overall danger level of doing business goes up and when the danger level goes up, costs go up. Who does that hurt? Not the cartels, who simply raise the price of their product to compensate. Not the authorities, who can take pride in fighting the “good fight” and garner praise from the public on their commitment to winning the war on drugs. No, the real losers are the coke heads on a street corner near you who must now pay a significantly higher amount for their next fix. As a result, they will be even more irascible and cantankerous than usual and that much more likely to rob, knife or shoot someone who gets on their bad side. But do the authorities in any nation consider all of this when they make a big arrest or seize a huge supply of blow? No, of course not. Their only concern is winning the public relations war and one-upping their nemeses, those running the cartels they claim are ruining this world of ours. Thanks for nothing Mexican and Ecuadorian authorities, I hope you all are feeling verrrrrry good about yourselves right now………….
- The fact that any of us knows who NeNe Leakes is says almost everything a person need to know about the sad state of the entertainment industry in the United States and American culture in general. Leakes is but one member of Bravo’s ever-growing Real Houseskanks franchise in which the network follows around a bunch of rich, arrogant, privileged and incredibly shallow upper-class women in various cities across the country and in the process, gives them the mistaken impression that they are a) relevant, b) smart, c) interesting and d) actual celebrities. That was enough to land Leakes a spot on the current season of Celebrity Apprentice, where she is now locked in a bitter catfight with fellow contestant and The View talking head Star Jones. Leakes and Jones have been battling back and forth all season and the Houseskanks cast member fired the latest salvo Wednesday morning on Access Hollywood Live, one day after Jones stopped by the show and refused to speak about the feud, saying, “You know how selfish I am – I’m not going to come on TV and talk about somebody else. Please! Next.” Leakes doesn’t have the same problem and returned fire in scathing fashion. “I’m glad that she said that she’s selfish, because she is,” she fumed. “She’s bossy, selfish, conniving, manipulative, all of those things… She is a disaster, honey. Believe me when I tell you, she is a disaster.” She added that while she “does not care for” for Star, she doesn’t “hate” or “dislike” her because, quite frankly, she’s too busy being “precious and beautiful.” How very humble for you, you glorified Real World-er who is on TV only because she married a rich, powerful man and found a TV network with low enough programming standards to put a bunch of drama queen houseskanks on the air. Instead of mocking Jones for her 2010 heart surgery and affiliation with the American Heart Association, why not try contributing something of worth to the world and then do some talking? Oh, and talking junk about Jones being jealous of you “because I’m hot” doesn’t fly either because…….well, you’re not really that hot. Should you care to see proof of that last fact, watch “Celebrity Apprentice” drama on Sundays at 9 p.m. on NBC……………
- Should we feel quite as confident in Ivy League institutions if they can’t overcome a small vermin problem? Not to pile on my pals at Columbia University, but the good people of Manhattan’s Upper West Side are already doing so and as such, I may as well join the fray. Like any growing university charging its students tens of thousands of dollars a year in tuition alone, Columbia has recently undertaken several on-campus construction projects to renovate and repair existing buildings. Obviously, any construction project is going to create noise, potential traffic issues and maybe dust and debris wafting through the air from time to time. But residents near the Columbia campus say the construction is causing more than commotion. The locals believe that the construction is also responsible for an uncontrollable rat problem in their neighborhood. "Yea, the rats are taking over," said Barbara Marshall, the block president on 151st Street and Alicia Barksdale and president of the 3333 Tenants Association. The obvious question for Marshall and her cohorts is, “What’s new?” After all, New York City has long been known as a haven for rodents and they are almost part of Manhattan’s charm and allure, alongside Central Park, Times Square, Restaurant Row, Broadway and the subway system. What makes this situation so different? "They aren't little rats, they are sizes of cats and kittens," explained Barksdale. What, you didn’t want to go Annie Hall and claim they were the size of a Buick? The TA says it has seen an increased number of calls from upset residents recently about the rats, which have turned up dead on residents' front porches. One woman claimed to have witnessed a truly bizarre scene in which a pack of rats chased a group of children near 153rd Street. So not only is there a rat problem, but the rats are belligerent, militant and on the attack? This could be worse than any of us imagined. Columbia officials insist they are not to blame for the rat epidemic and that experts have looked into the pest problem and found no evidence that an increased number of rats can be linked to the construction. They also pointed to their existing pest management program as proof of their readiness to handle any such problem, were it their fault. In the meantime, residents have hired exterminators to address the problem and some have also attended rodent workshops. “We're asking Columbia to take responsibility for the mess they made," said Marshall. As a potential olive branch to Marshall and her fellow rat haters, the university is planning a workshop to help tame the pest problem. If anyone can get a handle on this rodent uprising, it has to be the wicked smart Ivy Leaguers, right…………
- While the NFL’s lockout may show no signs of abating any time soon, commissioner Roger Goodell is on the record as saying that owners haven't talked about using replacement players if the work stoppage stretches on into the fall and the start of the regular season. "We have not had any discussions or consideration of replacement players," Goodell said at a news conference. "It hasn't been discussed, it hasn't been considered, and it's not in our plans." Goodell also issued a veiled threat disguised as a passive aggressive bargaining tactic when he claimed the league might not keep its last contract offer on the table if bargaining doesn't resume soon. With the lockout ongoing, no contact between the league's 32 clubs and players is allowed and the commissioner also confirmed that five teams have been fined or been told the league is investigating them for violating offseason rules prohibiting contact with players. The league is at a near-standstill for now, with the lone exception being preparations for April’s draft. Those efforts can go on as usual because potential draftees are not officially part of the NFL at this point. The draft will happen beginning on April 28 and teams will select players just as they normally would, with the one possible difference being that what used to be known as the NFL Players’ Association before it decertified and continued acting exactly like it did before decertification has hinted at holding an “alternative” draft event and having draftees show up there instead of at the actual draft. Either way, Goodell said he hasn't spoken to NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith since March 11, when talks ended after 16 days of federal mediation, and recent comments by leaders of the artists formerly known as the NFLPA suggest that there are no plans for serious talks any time soon. They don’t seem inclined to accept the league’s most recent proposal, which included an increase in their 2011 salary cap offer from $131 million to $141 million, plus a chance to earn a percentage of any higher-than-projected revenues above a certain threshold. "Every day that goes by," Goodell said, "makes it harder and harder to keep the elements in that proposal." Umm, commissioner, the players don’t seem swayed by your veiled threats. They also do not seem concerned about the prospect of the league losing games to a work stoppage for the first time since 1987, not if it means accepting what they deem an inferior offer. During the 1987 work stoppage, the league did use replacement players before a new labor agreement was reached and the regular players returned to complete the season. This time around, there may not be a season, not the way the situation is progressing………
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