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Google offers semantic search
Google has given its Web search engine an injection of semantic technology, as the search leader pushes into what many consider the future of search on the Internet.The new technology will allow Google’s search engine to identify associations and concepts related to a query, improving the list of related search terms Google displays along with its results. For example, Google’s search engine, upon encountering a query like “principles of physics,” now understands that “angular momentum,” “special relativity,” “big bang” and “quantum mechanics” are related terms.
Intel soon to launch new Xeon chips
Intel’s upcoming Xeon server chips incorporate significant advancements that could form the basis for future chips that could handle high-performance computing tasks. The new Xeons are based on Intel’s latest Nehalem microarchitecture, which improves system speed by cutting bottlenecks that plagued Intel’s earlier chips. The advancements are a step by Intel to build server chips that are able to run applications faster. Chip makers are consistently etching more complex features onto the surface of processors to handle a larger number of applications, which could reduce the need for extra components in servers. Intel is due to launch the Xeon chips on March 30, and initial offerings will be targeted at workstations and servers.
Pirate Bay to offer anonymous surfing
The founders of widely used BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay are getting ready to launch IPREDator, a network service that makes people online more anonymous by using a VPN. The service is set to launch before April 1. It will be priced at about €5 (US$7) per month, and to protect users, no data or logs will be saved. The choice of name and launch date is no coincidence. On April 1 Sweden will get a new law that will make it easier for copyright holders to go after file sharers. The law is based on the European Union’s Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED), hence the name of the service.
Apple king of mobile Internet usage
Apple’s mobile-device user interface has made it so much easier to access the Internet compared to other mobile devices that its iPod Touch, which isn’t even a mobile phone, beats out all mobile phones except the iPhone in terms of volume of Internet access, according to data released by AdMob. The iPod Touch doesn’t have a cellular connection, but users can access the Internet via Wi-Fi. It generated 6.7 percent of mobile traffic for AdMob in February. That’s less than the 11.2 percent traffic generated from the iPhone, but more than any other mobile phone. Motorola’s Razr came in third place, with 2.9 percent of AdMob’s traffic.
…And those are the top stories from the IDG Global IT News Update, brought to you by the IDG News Service. I’m Sumner Lemon in Singapore. Join us again later for more news from the world of technology.
