Google challenger in Vietnam redirecting queries

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) ? A Russian-financed search engine seeking to challenge Google's dominance in Vietnam is redirecting queries for some politically sensitive terms to the American company's search engine, apparently as a way of avoiding government anger or legal liability for sending surfers to sites containing criticism of the ruling party.

The move Thursday follows an Associated Press story on the well-funded start up, Coc Coc, which noted it didn't seem to be censoring results. The shift illustrates the difficulties facing companies in Vietnam's booming Internet industry, which must contend with a government intent on stifling online dissent that is a challenge to its authoritarian rule.

For Coc Coc, it sends a message to the ruling Communist Party that it doesn't have to worry about it encouraging opposition to one party rule. But it points to possible difficulties for Google if it wants to open offices and promote its products in Vietnam ? and not have to act as a government censor. Google doesn't have an office in Vietnam because it is concerned about liability for content on its servers. Coc Coc has more than 300 staff and a large office in Hanoi, the capital.

The AP story Wednesday noted that Coc Coc search results for "Viet Tan," a well-known overseas pro-democracy group outlawed in Vietnam, were similar to Google's. Each brought up the English and Vietnamese language websites of the organization. By Thursday, that had changed. Searchers were greeted with a message saying the search "was not valid" before being automatically redirected to the Google page displaying the returns for "Viet Tan." Searches for one of the country's most well-known dissidents, Le Quoc Quan, were dealt with in the same way.

In an interview with a Coc Coc representative over an instant messaging service, the company said it "decided not to serve the segment of political queries at all."

"We are computer geeks completely out of politics and keen on technologies only," the representative said. "It's not our focus at all. So that whenever you want to find something in English, French or about politics in Vietnamese ? just please use Google."

Google declined to comment.

In 2010, Google shifted its search engine in China to Hong Kong after a censorship row with Beijing. The decision allowed Baidu, a Chinese search engine that censors on behalf of the government, to dominate the market. Google does take down some material at the requests of governments around the world, but balks at wholesale censoring of content.

Coc Coc, or "Knock Knock" in English, is the latest in a series of challengers to Google's dominance in Vietnam, a country of 90 million people with one of the fastest-growing Internet use rates in the world. It believes that its algorithms make for a better search in the Vietnamese language. It is also photographing and filming commercial businesses on streets around the country, data that is used for a richer search experience.

Shaken by the explosion in online dissent, Vietnam's government is drafting laws that would tighten freedom of expression on the Internet and possibly force companies such as Google to keep their servers inside the country. It routinely blocks and filters sensitive sites, sentences bloggers to long jail terms and is alleged to be involved in hacking attacks on websites critical of the ruling party.

___

Follow Chris Brummitt on Twitter at twitter.com/cjbrummitt

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-05-16-Vietnam-Google%20Challenger/id-33da03cde2b248b6880df2c2fc466f38

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New method of finding planets scores its first discovery

May 13, 2013 ? Detecting alien worlds presents a significant challenge since they are small, faint, and close to their stars. The two most prolific techniques for finding exoplanets are radial velocity (looking for wobbling stars) and transits (looking for dimming stars). A team at Tel Aviv University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) has just discovered an exoplanet using a new method that relies on Einstein's special theory of relativity.

"We are looking for very subtle effects. We needed high quality measurements of stellar brightnesses, accurate to a few parts per million," said team member David Latham of the CfA.

"This was only possible because of the exquisite data NASA is collecting with the Kepler spacecraft," added lead author Simchon Faigler of Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Although Kepler was designed to find transiting planets, this planet was not identified using the transit method. Instead, it was discovered using a technique first proposed by Avi Loeb of the CfA and his colleague Scott Gaudi (now at Ohio State University) in 2003. (Coincidentally, they developed their theory while visiting the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where Einstein once worked.)

The new method looks for three small effects that occur simultaneously as a planet orbits the star. Einstein's "beaming" effect causes the star to brighten as it moves toward us, tugged by the planet, and dim as it moves away. The brightening results from photons "piling up" in energy, as well as light getting focused in the direction of the star's motion due to relativistic effects.

"This is the first time that this aspect of Einstein's theory of relativity has been used to discover a planet," said co-author Tsevi Mazeh of Tel Aviv University.

The team also looked for signs that the star was stretched into a football shape by gravitational tides from the orbiting planet. The star would appear brighter when we observe the "football" from the side, due to more visible surface area, and fainter when viewed end-on. The third small effect was due to starlight reflected by the planet itself.

Once the new planet was identified, it was confirmed by Latham using radial velocity observations gathered by the TRES spectrograph at Whipple Observatory in Arizona, and by Lev Tal-Or (Tel Aviv University) using the SOPHIE spectrograph at the Haute-Provence Observatory in France. A closer look at the Kepler data also showed that the planet transits its star, providing additional confirmation.

"Einstein's planet," formally known as Kepler-76b, is a "hot Jupiter" that orbits its star every 1.5 days. Its diameter is about 25 percent larger than Jupiter and it weighs twice as much. It orbits a type F star located about 2,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.

The planet is tidally locked to its star, always showing the same face to it, just as the Moon is tidally locked to Earth. As a result, Kepler-76b broils at a temperature of about 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit.

Interestingly, the team found strong evidence that the planet has extremely fast jet-stream winds that carry the heat around it. As a result, the hottest point on Kepler-76b isn't the substellar point ("high noon") but a location offset by about 10,000 miles. This effect has only been observed once before, on HD 189733b, and only in infrared light with the Spitzer Space Telescope. This is the first time optical observations have shown evidence of alien jet stream winds at work.

Although the new method can't find Earth-sized worlds using current technology, it offers astronomers a unique discovery opportunity. Unlike radial velocity searches, it doesn't require high-precision spectra. Unlike transits, it doesn't require a precise alignment of planet and star as seen from Earth.

"Each planet-hunting technique has its strengths and weaknesses. And each novel technique we add to the arsenal allows us to probe planets in new regimes," said CfA's Avi Loeb.

Kepler-76b was identified by the BEER algorithm, whose acronym stands for relativistic BEaming, Ellipsoidal, and Reflection/emission modulations. BEER was developed by Professor Tsevi Mazeh and his student, Simchon Faigler, at Tel Aviv University, Israel.

The paper announcing this discovery has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal and is available online.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/vTx3jEIxD04/130513152840.htm

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Stop Laughing at Newt Gingrich, He Knows the Future

May 13 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $5,849,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,388,064 3. Kevin Streelman $2,572,989 4. Billy Horschel $2,567,891 5. Matt Kuchar $2,493,387 6. Phil Mickelson $2,220,280 7. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,207,683 8. D.A. Points $2,019,702 9. Steve Stricker $1,977,140 10. Graeme McDowell $1,910,654 11. Jason Day $1,802,797 12. Webb Simpson $1,759,015 13. Dustin Johnson $1,748,907 14. Hunter Mahan $1,682,939 15. Charles Howell III $1,561,988 16. Russell Henley $1,546,638 17. Martin Laird $1,531,950 18. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stop-laughing-newt-gingrich-knows-future-224323684.html

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Tanning Mom to Appear in Gay Porn Movie

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/tanning-mom-to-appear-in-gay-porn-movie/

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The World's Tallest Chair Swing Is Actually Quite Tall

Stockholm's 130-year-old amusement park, Gr?na Lund, just opened the tallest chair swing in the world, and it's 397 feet tall. For context the tallest steel roller coaster in the U.S., Kingda Ka, is 456 feet at its tallest point. So yeah, for a humble chair swing this thing is pretty lofty.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/MI6ajoaj30Q/the-worlds-tallest-chair-swing-is-actually-quite-tall-492561534

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Grizzlies advance, win 4 straight over Clippers

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) ? The Grizzlies are very happy after finally getting a bit of payback for their first-round loss to the Los Angeles Clippers a year ago.

They also made a bit of NBA history.

Memphis became only the 10th team in NBA history to win four straight after trailing 0-2 ? and the first to win the next four all by double digits. The Grizzlies won four straight postseason games for the first time in their short playoff history, ousting the Los Angeles Clippers in six games with a 118-105 victory on Friday night.

Zach Randolph, who had 23 points before being ejected with 1:57 left, said the Grizzlies had a lot of emotion in their locker room rallying from 0-2 when people thought they were down. Winning this series also makes up a bit for losing to the Clippers in Game 7 in this arena a year ago.

"Last year I thought we should have won the series, but we didn't," Randolph said. "It means more this time."

Memphis' win sets up a rematch in the Western Conference semifinals against Oklahoma City, the team that beat the Grizzlies in seven games in 2011, the only other time they won a playoff series. The Grizzlies will play Game 1 against the Thunder on Sunday in Oklahoma City.

"Sky is the limit for us," Grizzlies guard Tony Allen said. "To back up what he (Randolph) said, one game at a time has been our motto. We are a blue-collar team. We are going to grind it out game in and game out. We are just looking forward to Sunday, taking it one game at a time."

The Grizzlies and Clippers posted matching franchise records going 56-32 in the regular season. The Clippers had the No. 4 seed and home-court advantage after winning the season series 3-1 against Memphis, and they even won their ninth straight game going up 2-0 in Los Angeles. Then they wound up losing four straight for only the third time this season.

Now the Clippers have to decide whether to bring back coach Vinny Del Negro, who wants to return, and try to convince Chris Paul not to leave when he hits free agency in July. Paul said he has plenty of time to figure out his next move.

"Our season is over," Paul said. "There's nothing to take away from it. It is what it is. We lost."

Mike Conley also scored 23 points thanks to going 12 of 17 at the free throw line for Memphis. The Grizzlies finished with seven players in double figures. Tony Allen had a postseason-best 19 points and Jerryd Bayless had 16.

Reserve Matt Barnes scored a career playoff-best 30 points for Los Angeles. Paul had 28 points before being ejected with 2:29 left for crashing into Marc Gasol off a missed free throw, though he shook hands with several Grizzlies before going to the locker room.

Del Negro said he didn't understand how Paul could be thrown out of the game. Paul had never been ejected from the playoffs before, and he thanked an unnamed friend for reminding him to watch what he said to reporters.

"I got kids to feed," Paul said.

Blake Griffin didn't start because of his sprained right ankle, and he scored nine points in 13:56. Del Negro said Griffin's ankle was as big as a grapefruit limiting him to a few minutes at a stretch.

"This is not how we wanted it to end," Griffin said.

NBA Commissioner David Stern was on hand, as was Atlanta Falcons receiver Julio Jones. Conley had old Ohio State teammate Greg Oden in the arena as well. Having the commissioner on hand didn't slow anyone down in a game featuring lots of headlocks and knockdowns along with seven technical fouls combined. Even Grant Hill had three fouls in 3 minutes in the first half, and Chauncey Billups got a flagrant-1.

"They came out threw and everything at us," Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said. "They played small. They played smaller. They pressed. They zoned. They gave hard fouls. They really competed. We held our poise. Held up mentally tough-wise and were able to get the win."

Billups credited the Grizzlies for never letting them get into a rhythm or their Lob City run-and-gun approach.

"Because of that, we lose the series," Billups said.

Los Angeles led only once, 45-44 on Barnes' fourth 3-pointer with 5:08 left in the second quarter. The teams had four more ties before Quincy Pondexter hit a 3 with 2:02 left putting the Grizzlies ahead to stay at 54-51.

The Clippers had one last run, a 10-1 spurt capped by Caron Butler's 20-foot jumper with 5:16 left pulling them within 103-97. Conley hit a 3 followed by a 3 from Bayless, and Randolph scored inside with 3:06 remaining to push the lead back to 111-99.

Billups had as many fouls as points (four). He got that flagrant-1 in the third when he put his body into Conley trying to stop a fast-break layup attempt and putting his right arm around Conley's neck as they went to the floor. Conley hit the free throws, then hit a 3-pointer from the left corner giving the Grizzlies a 74-61 lead with 7:11 left.

After the bucket, Randolph and Griffin wrestled each other to the court in a tangle of bodies. That earned the duo their fourth double-foul in this series with Randolph getting a technical.

Paul picked up his technical for expressing his disgust when Randolph scored and picked up the foul. Griffin said the tape will speak for what happened on that play, but he felt a hand on his neck. Randolph said Griffin was pulling him down so he tried to brace for the fall.

NOTES: Hollins played for one of the nine teams that rallied from a 0-2 deficit. He was with Portland in 1977 when the Trail Blazers rallied to beat Philadelphia for the NBA championship. ... The Clippers did manage to snap a streak by the Grizzlies. Memphis had held opponents to 25 points or fewer in the third quarter in 52 straight games since Jan. 14, a streak 25 games longer than any other in the shot clock era. The Clippers scored 26 in the third. ... Memphis went 23-1 in the regular season when scoring at least 100 points and is 3-0 in the postseason. ... Memphis also had its 13th straight sellout in the postseason.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/grizzlies-advance-win-4-straight-over-clippers-074049486.html

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