dontsaynothing.com

Ask.com is the derivative of the once mildly entertaining Askjeeves.com.  There was once a butler who seemed to have infinite knowledge.  Those days are now gone.  Not only is the butler gone, but soon the answers will be too.  While Google has taken over the internet search market, small-time engines like Ask.com pay the price.  There is no way for them to compete with such an awesome search engine. 

After laying of about 40 employees, Ask.com has announced that it will be heading in a new direction.  Discovering the fact that competing with Google requires a lot more than just a fancy butler mascot, Ask has decided to try and narrow its target audience.  What used to be a search engine for those who couldn’t help but ask a question is now becoming a life issue search engine for middle-aged stay-at-home mothers.  While the switch seems a bit extreme at first, it is too early to determine the outcome of this turn-around.  

While Ask.com will be missed as the go-to search engine when Google and Yahoo fell short, hopefully it will come out on top and really provide a service for the women of the world.  

Today, the UK discussed enforcing a ban on illegal music and video downloading from the internet.  As it stands right now, there is no real law in place to prevent such actions; this allows some 6 million people to continue downloading from sites that end in “.uk” without fear of prosecution.  

One of the many issues that has come about because of the internet is the illegal downloading of both music and then later movies.  People don’t seem to think that when they download from the internet, they are stealing.  When in actuality, taking a movie from a store without paying for it is really no different.  It is all stealing.  

And while I said originally that it was movies and music, I really actually mean anything that can be put on the internet for other people to download.  Computer programs are becoming a major download on the internet, and most of them are illegal.  In some cases, this is worse.  While movies and music usually don’t cost more than $10-20, some computer programs cost upwards of $1,000. 

I know that if the UK passes the anti-illegal downloading laws, there will be a massive sigh of disappointment,  heard probably around the world.  But I really don’t understand why.  Why do people feel they have the right to steal from other people?  That logic just doesn’t make sense to me.

The awesomeness that is Google has just taken itself to a whole new level.  The once simple search engine has made some serious improvements over the past years, but now the people at Google are taking another giant leap.  Apparently the confines of the internet has come to bore Google; there are so many other avenues that have not even been traversed, and Google intends to stake claim to them.  

Currently, Google has recently announced its release of its new operating system for cell phones.  While this feature will not be released to all types of phones, there is a decent selection of them to choose from.  Google really is trying to broaden its horizons and take a step out of the box.  But something about the way they do it doesn’t bother me like the way Microsoft does it…Oh wait, they don’t try to monopolize every industry they enter.

In an article from the BBC, the online community Myspace.com is talking about making some serious changes.  And if they ever want my business again, these changes better come fast.  However, the types of changes that are taking place might make people who could be quoted as saying “Facebook is a Myspace wannabe” really want to eat their words.  

Myspace has announced that it is going to make a special platform for programmers.  By doing this, Myspace hopes to be able to add applications to the profiles of its members.  Sound familiar?  Oh right, Facebook already has that.  Facebook enacted the same plan about a year ago with impressive success.  A whopping 15,000 programmers have signed up for their program and introduced applications into the Facebook community.  It will be interesting to see where Myspace takes this program, and one would hope that they take it in a different direction instead of just copying line for line what has already been done.

Even so, I’m not quite sure if this step is enough to save Myspace from the wiles of the idiotic and perverted people that one can find lurking around the website.  I feel like Myspace has run its course.  The BBC mentioned the fact that Facebook’s 60 million members has yet to match the 200 million members that Myspace has accumulated.  While this statistic is impressive at first glance, it brings up the question of active members.  There are plenty of profiles on both Myspace and Facebook that have not be logged into since their day of creation.  And while both sides do in fact have inactive members, Myspace most definitely has a greater percentage of them.

What Myspace really needs is more security.  This once booming online community has become just another means for computers with web security programs to access porn.  Instead of spending millions on petty programs, if Myspace once again wants to be taken seriously, a basic reform needs to take place.