Monthly Archives: September 2010

Well IE9 wasn’t really my idea … but one of my gripes about IE8 and earlier versions was that nagging question of  “Why does this site bog down the whole browser?” – when very often some slow loading web site, or one that’s down completely, or some glitch on a web site, seemed to lock the web browser completely. It makes someone that knows (just a little bit…) want to ask: With all this multi-tasking and multi-core processors and such – why is something bogging down the browser, or even Windows itself? So according to a PC World report … maybe this problem is fixed???? I’ll let you know later. I just got it.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/205499/microsoft_ie9_its_just_plain_good.html?tk=nl_dnx_h_crawl

will lead you to a link for the download. Even the download of the beta was easy to get!!!! No logging into MS Technet and applying for a Beta program in order to get it. You just click and get it. The download was fairly fast. The installation was fairly fast. It did require a reboot of Windows 7. And so far it seems to be working pretty good. But I haven’t had it long enough to really critique it yet. So I’ll roll with it for awhile and see what happens.

The download link is here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/download/ie-9/worldwide

NOTE: Boats … Yachts … with important computers like NAV COMPUTERS or SHIPS COMPUTERS should probably wait awhile before installing Internet Explorer 9. This is Beta software … and you should NOT run Beta software on an important computer. Try on a laptop … or an extra unimportant PC if you want. (If I wasn’t confident that I could recover Windows 7 from any possible problems, I wouldn’t run it either … or would run it in a VM in Vmware or Virtual Box or similar Virtual PC environment.)

Here’s some of the article, well the point where it says they solved MY problem. (My Idea!)

Microsoft IE9: It’s Just Plain Good!The first beta of IE9 is the first truly modern browser from Redmond. Try it without prejudice. Harry McCracken, Technologizer

Another architectural improvement: If something in a tab crashes or  just bogs the browser down, IE9 is designed to resist issues that impact  other tabs or bring the browser down altogether. I’m good at making  browsers choke–especially Chrome and Safari, lately–and IE9 does seem  rather robust, especially for a beta. I’ve had glitches in specific  tabs, but they haven’t seeped out into other ones or rendered the  browser inoperative.

(more at the link above.)

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Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications @ marinetelecom.net

Ahoy,

The long anticipated launch of Splice Boating is just around the corner. Next Thursday (yes a week from today) splice boating
will go live.

Visit the Splice website and jump on the list (if you haven’t already) to be sure to be one of the first to
get access. We will have a limited amount of space and interest has been high, don’t miss out!

Check out WindPath at the Newport  International Boat Show today through Sunday, our team is on North Commercial
Warf under the WindPath tent and looking forward to Speaking with you!

While the WindPath iPad giveaway madness has ended (congrats to our winner, Brian Jacobs of Seattle, WA) we are
planning some other very cool stuff for our friends in the near future, you will be hearing about it soon.

Best,

Ian Treibick
President
WindPath Fractional Yachting
http://www.WindPath.com

P.S. We will be giving away some really valuable stuff during the Splice Boating launch, be sure to jump on the list so you do not miss out:
http://www.SpliceBoating.com

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications @ marinetelecom.net

Houson we have lift off … errr… I think it was a lift DOWN (an undersea thing not a “SPACE” thing) not up. Not being an Oil Rig Equipment Engineer myself here at Alan Spicer Marine Telecom … I don’t really understand all of this. But it’s been taken to NASA (that’s not Undersea Administration – but National Aeronautic and Space Administration) … for forensic analysis. Apparently with spacecraft forensic analysis expertise this NASA facility was the best place to take this thing. Anyway it was located and lifted UP out of the sea and transported to this NASA facility. I wonder, is it as big as a space shuttle? A London Doubledecker Bus? An Inmarsat 4 Satellite?

http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/exclusive-hires-photos-deepwater?17393&goback=%2Egde_62537_news_195620550

gCaptain Exclusive – HiRes Photos Of The Deepwater Horizon’s BOP
Published: September 14th, 2010 by John Konrad

It’s not a WOPR computer, but a BOP … a LMRP, whatever that is…

In a gCaptain exclusive, high resolution photographs where taken of the Deepwater Horizon’s BOP stack as it sits now at NASA’s Michoud facility in New Orleans. The photos where taken early today and can be accessed via the following links:

DWH BOP – High Resolution (on Gcaptain web site)
DWH LMRP – High Resolution (on Gcaptain web site)

Tomorrow officials with BOEMRE and the USCG are holding a workshop with technical representatives of the parties of interest in the investigation to determine the forensic test to be performed on the Horizon’s stack. The testing will be performed by Det Norske Veritas, a chief competitor of the Horizon’s classification society ABS. While the parties in interest will have input into the testing protocol, the final forensic testing protocol will be developed by the DNV Forensic Team and must be approved by the Joint Investigation prior to the start of testing.

(but don’t take MY word for it … got see the Hi-Res at “gCaptain”.)

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications @ marinetelecom.net
 

Alan Spicer’s Comments: The meltdown of the Internet has been joked about for years. I was quoted back in the 90′s of making such a crack (joke) while working for a small ISP in South Florida. I’ve been writing articles recently on the current IP Addresses Running Out situation (IPv4) and the coming of IPv6. For the most part going forward into IPv6 is going to be seemless for most people. The Operating Systems like Windows, Mac, Unix, Linux – already have the support for it. And the Internet backbone systems also have it. “The Last Mile” as with anything in Telecom is always the problem. The connection to your home or business (your ISP) will have to switch you over one day soon. And a lot of end users might end up having to toss their routers out and get new ones that support IPv6 functionality both towards the Internet and towards their inside premises network (Local Area Network, or LAN.)

I really don’t think that users that get switched to IPv6 will have trouble getting to any web sites IPv4 or IPv6 nor do I think that anything will get “Black Holed” because the end users or the web sites didn’t switch yet. I think that The ISP and Backbone Routers will handled shuffling everyone across any such boundry just fine. That being said – IT and Networking guys – no doubt – need to be up on IPv6 … in other words knowledgeable and competent with it. This is why I have done my homework, and continue to do so, to be ready for any transition that my customers need.

So on to the article:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/205294/is_the_end_of_the_internet_near.html?tk=nl_dnx_h_crawl

It is now a bit more than 18 years since Frank Kastenholtz first noticed that assignments of one class of IP addresses would soon outrun supply. This observation led the press to think that the Internet was running out of all IP addresses (it was not) and to the IETF initiating a process to develop a “next generation” Internet protocol that would have vastly more addresses so that it would, in theory, never run out.

A lot of things have changed in the Internet since 1992 but, finally, we are approaching the time when there will be no new IP addresses to assign to new Internet users. At least there will be no more of the kind of addresses the Internet has been using for most of its existence.

IPv6 vs. carrier-grade NAT

Kastenholtz’s observation led the IETF to develop IP version 6 (IPv6). It also led the IETF to recommend changing the way IP addresses were assigned to be more conservative of address space. Kastenholtz, along with other researchers, predicted in 1994 that we would run out of IP version 4 addresses in 2008 plus or minus three years. That prediction turns out to be quite good — the current prediction is that the repository of IPv4 addresses will run out next June (right at 2008+3) and the regional IP address registries will run out less than a year later.

The lack of IPv4 addresses to assign does not mean that the Internet will stop working or growing. Organizations that have unused IPv4 addresses will be able to transfer them to organizations that need addresses. But IPv4 addresses will become harder, and more expensive, to get. The better long-term solution is to migrate to IPv6.

Major operating systems and equipment vendors already support IPv6 but there are not all that many IPv6-enabled Internet sites or service providers in the United States. That is slowly changing. Google, Faceboo and other big service providers are bringing up IPv6 sites and some of the large ISPs can transport IPv6. My own site is not yet on IPv6 although my Mac-based systems have supported IPv6 for years. My ISP (Comcast) only recently started IPv6 trials. I expect to be IPv6-connected as soon as Comcast rolls out the service.

If you work for a company that has an Internet presence you should be thinking about bringing up your Web sites on IPv6, as well as IPv4, so that future IPv6-only customers will be able to access your services.

(More at the link above.)

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications @ marinetelecom.net

http://www.pcworld.com/article/205295/gang_uses_facebook_to_rob_houses.html?tk=nl_dnx_h_crawl

John P. Mello Jr., PC World
Sep 10, 2010 7:33 pm
Leaving the house this weekend? Telling all your Facebook buds about it? You might want to reconsider that.

Police in Nashua, New Hampshire broke up a robbery ring this week that was using Facebook to plan their heists. The gang was monitoring Facebook pages to determine when a target would be out of their home and then robbed it. Some 50 home robberies were reported in the city with a population of 85,000 during August alone, although only 18 have been linked to the Facebook gang so far. As a result of breaking up the gang, Police say they’ve recovered $100,000 to $200,000.

Although, Facebook has made progress in tightening up its privacy controls, many users still leave themselves vulnerable to snoopers. Just how vulnerable can be seen by going a website called Openbook. It will scour public Facebook pages for keywords. For example, by searching on vacation, you could discover Facebook members catching a little R&R and with a little more research, find where their vacated home is located.

Earlier this year, another website, PleaseRobMe, demonstrated how the location of online gamers could be tracked using Twitter. It aggregated tweets that used a social networking game called Foursquare to announce when players left their homes. For casing a break-in, tracking tweets sure beats sitting in a parked car outside a victim’s house. Currently, PleaseRobMe appears to be on hiatus.

(More at the link above.)

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications @ marinetelecom.net

http://www.pcworld.com/article/205305/as_google_gets_smarter_are_we_getting_dumber.html?tk=nl_dnx_h_crawl

Analysis: Google has replaced what for many may be the last creative act — building search queries — with another process of selecting from available choices.

Google’s gazillionaire co-founder Sergey Brin said yesterday “we want Google to be the third half of your brain.” But at the rate Google is going they’ll soon form all three halves.

As you know, Google announced last week Google Instant, which predicts your search queries before you type them. Rather than having to construct an entire query all by yourself, you can now type a couple of letters and then choose from the options Google presents to you.

Google Instant comes immediately after the launch of Google Scribe, which is a kind of Google instant for writing, rather than search. It works inside online e-mail and browser-based applications like word processing applications.

Within a period of a couple of days, Google has replaced what for many may be the last creative act — the construction of search queries and the contrivance of phrases, sentences and paragraphs — with another process of selecting from available choices.

People these days, especially young people, live in a copy-and-paste world. Music is “sampled.” Jeans come pre-faded and pre-ripped — kids buy their rebellion at the mall. Many college students don’t view the construction of research papers from copied and pasted Wikipedia entries as an act of plagiarism. Sometimes I wonder if young people even know what creativity is.

And this is just the beginning.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently hinted at his company’s grand vision for the future of search, which involves Google giving you search results before you even think you want to search. The idea is that as you walk around your mobile device interrupts you and tells you what it thinks you will want to know. You won’t Google it. Google will Google you!

(more at the link above.)

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications @ marinetelecom.net




Video from YouTube.com regarding this event

Click on the Picture for LARGER view 

U.S. Marines free ship from Somali pirates

Click on the Picture for LARGER view 

http://www.maritime-connector.com/NewsDetails/9650/lang/English/U-S–Marines-free-ship-from-Somali-pirates.wshtml?goback=%2Egde_119261_member_29278844

Click on the Picture for LARGER view

10.09.2010

In a predawn raid with helicopters hovering nearby, 24 U.S. Marines scaled aboard a hijacked ship in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, arrested the nine pirates on board and freed the ship — all without firing a shot, the American military said.

American officials said the rescue appeared to be the first time the U.S. military had boarded a ship commandeered by Somali pirates, who have been hijacking vessel after vessel off Somalia’s coast and wreaking havoc on some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

The pirates had threatened to open fire on the Americans but, once the Marines boarded the freighter, most of them dropped their AK-47s. The others hid in spaces throughout the ship.

“They had been showing a bravado,” Marine Capt. Alexander Martin said. “But when we got there, you could see the change in their eyes. They decided they’d rather live than die.”

Marines used cutting torches, saws, hammers and other tools to break into various ship compartments to ferret out hiding pirates.

Despite the intense international naval presence in the region, the pirates are on track to have another banner year, with more than 30 ships hijacked in 2010 and tens of millions of dollars in ransoms. But not this time.

According to U.S. officials, around 5 a.m. Thursday, two teams of 12 Marines each motored up in inflatable boats to the hijacked ship, a 436-foot-long German-owned cargo vessel called the Magellan Star. A band of Somali pirates had seized the ship and its crew of 11 in the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia, on Wednesday morning. It was carrying steel chains.

The Marines clambered up portable ladders — much as pirates have been doing — and swiftly took over the ship, U.S. officials said. Two helicopters hovered overhead, throwing down cones of light. A Turkish frigate, part of an American-led anti-piracy task force, was nearby. All nine pirates surrendered without a shot, U.S. officials said. The Magellan Star’s crew was safe, too.

A spokeswoman for the Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said the Marines had been able to stay in constant contact with the crew on board, receiving specific information about the number of pirates and their locations on the ship, as well as the locations of crew members.

Source: mercurynews.com; Jeffrey Gettleman, Eric Schmitt

http://maritimeaccident.org/2010/09/10/magellan-star-pirate-take-down-give-the-master-a-pat-on-the-back-for-a-text-book-defence?goback=%2Egde_62537_member_29351121

Magellan Star Pirate Take-Down – Give The Master A Pat On The Back For A Text-Book Defence

US Marines who took the Magellan Star from the pirates who boarded it the previous day are being roundly and properly congratulated for their professionalism and restraint but without the text-book citadel defence mounted by the master and crew of the vessel itself the ship would have become just another Hobyo Hilton.

A citadel is a system of threat identification, deterrence and defence. The term is often mistakenly applied to the saferooms into which officers and crew lock themselves as a last resort to await rescue.

The pirates managed to overcome the outer layers of the ‘citadel’ and board the dead ship. Their problems started immediately. The system had been so successfully prepared that one of the pirates, irate, telephoned the ship owner. A man speaking broken English demanded fiercely: ‘Where is the crew here? Why is the engine not working?” (Hamburger Abentblat).

A well-written account by Captain Alex Martin, USMC, Force Recon Platoon Commander,”BLUE COLLAR 6″ 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, reveals that after securing the vessel it still took the marines three hours to break through to the citadel’s saferoom:

“The crew rescue, which was Bravo Element’s doing, was a second, equally important story.  The recovery amounted to a 3 hour effort.  And Blue Collar seemed a fitting call sign as I watched my guys defeat half a dozen obstacles in confined spaces using thermal torches, power saws, and heavy tools.  The physical stamina of the Marines cutting the doors and barricades the crew set in as their own defense against the pirates was impressive.  I watched as they rotated on the equipment, all the while holding security, and thought: these are some tough ass blue collar pipe hitters.

Despite announcements I was making over the ship’s loudspeaker to the crew (in Russian and English), despite loudspeaker callouts made inside the spaces by the Marines, and despite a pre-planned arrangement between the crew and Captain Bolt (which was briefed to me, Cold War style, at 3 am on the morning of the assault, and involved British maritime shipping and insurance agencies, soviet-bloc code words and authentications, a Polish captain, Russian and a mixed international crew, Somalian pirates with hostages who threatened to “burn her” and a Turkish command vessel) the crew kept falling back to defensive positions, scared and uncertain of what was happening.  In classical Murphy fashion, they lost their phone’s battery power the very minute we boarded their ship.

Deep in the engine room, Bravo Element continued to work the problem, as 1st Lt Williams and his trailer Marines rushed to conduct a detailed clearance of all spaces as well as augment the breaching effort.  Alpha Element coordinated the entry of the US Coast Guard LEDET (Law Enforcement Detachment), NCIS, the Dubuque’s VBSS team and a constant resupply effort that was underway to bring us water, breaching tools, and the ship’s damage control experts.

They finally cut one last hole, and called in with our loudspeaker that it was safe, the Marines had control of their ship, and to please come out.  The ship’s captain peered hesitatingly from behind a steel bulkhead, still unwilling to come forward.  Sgt Chesmore ripped an American flag patch from his shooter’s kit and held into the room as a final identification.  The captain broke into a huge smile and immediately called his crew from their hiding places.  They ran forward, unlocked the final barricaded door in their “citadel” and were escorted topside.  Excited.  Exhausted.  And happy to have their ship back.”

A number of points lay between the lines of this account. The Magellan Star’s crew had several defensive positions within the vessel and were well prepared – it was not just a case of locking themselves into a saferoom.

It was a superb defence that kept the pirates at bay for hours.

The US Marines did a great job, and so did the master and crew of Magellan Star. Give them all a pat on the back.

See Also

Magellan Star Released By Marines “Without A Shot”

The Magellan Star: Pirate Takedown, Force Recon Style by Capt. Alexander Martin

Maersk Alabama “Followed Best Practice”

Citadel Compliance Might Kill Seafarers

How To Be A Hostage

* Another quote from: http://blog.usni.org/2010/09/09/pirates-beware-force-recon-really-does-have-your-number/

Pirates Beware: Force Recon Really Does Have Your Number

YN2(SW) H. Lucien Gauthier III Says:

“The suspected pirates were all likely in their 20s and 30s, and some of them didn’t have shoes or shirts, Marines on board at the time of the raid said. After they gave up, their fear was obvious, said Capt. Alexander Martin, commander of the force recon platoon. They have been detained aboard the guided missile cruiser Princeton, Berger said, but officials would not immediately say where they may be taken next.
“As soon as the first stack of [Marines] made our way into the bridge, their hands were up, their weapons were down, they moved to their knees and they were compliant,” Martin said. “At that point, they were pretty scared. One guy actually defecated himself. … He sh– his pants. I don’t know if that can go on the news or not, but that actually happened.”
–Conway Endorses Force Recon After Pirate Rescue
(NAVY TIMES 09 SEP 10) … Dan Lamothe

Aparently that can go in the news… Sir, I owe you a beer for that quote.

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications @ marinetelecom.net

Satellite Sector Sees Business Returning, but What Happens Next?

http://www.satellitetoday.com/eletters/ibc/2010-09-09/35001.html?hq_e=el&hq_m=2041282&hq_l=5&hq_v=4737859b62

Satellite Sector Sees Business Returning, but What Happens Next?

Tired of hearing about the collapse of the economy or how sluggish the recovery has been?

(Alan Spicer Says: You got my attention.)

Well, if you’re in the satellite sector, it seems that you don’t have to anymore, and IBC 2010 opens at a time when business looks to be booming.

   Throughout the economic crisis, the satellite operators have felt little impact, and now business for FSS players is reaching highs that haven’t been seen in quite a while. According to Euroconsult research, transponder fill rates have reached 77 percent, the highest rate in 10 years, and this number may peak at 78 percent before the end of the year.
   The markets also have opened back up for satellite projects, with project both small and large and from new ventures and established operators able to find backers for their business plans.

   This resurgence is more than welcome but also raises a few warning flags. First, will this business resurgence extend throughout the satellite sector, and second, will this rush by operators to add more capacity create a glut that ultimately drives transponder prices down as part of another boom-and-bust cycle?

   It looks like IBC 2010 will ride the optimism of one of the most positive business climates in the past several years, but satellite players and the communications sector as a whole still needs to be wary of its past.

(More at the link)

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications @ marinetelecom.net

Communications, Television: Analysts Cautious on 3-D TV Take-Up (Satellitetoday.com)

http://www.satellitetoday.com/eletters/ibc/2010-09-09/35002.html?hq_e=el&hq_m=2041282&hq_l=9&hq_v=4737859b62

* Alan Spicer’s Comments: Most of us just got HDTV in the last few years. In Marine, Yachting, the already had large flat screen TV’s (at least in the Salon) on many yachts. Some of them (trust me a boat gave me one) weighed a TON and didn’t have the newer HDMI inputs. A lot of below decks TV’s were analog 4:3 TV boxes of the old NTSC TV style. A lot of those are getting switched over on boats to flat panel TV’s. But High Definition Content was a little slow coming to yachting. DirecTV HD couldn’t be watched until just recently (last year?) on KVH Satellite Systems and also Seatel / Cobham just came out with a home dish in a Auto-Align System that gets the typical white Radome. That has to be a BIG antenna. KVH came out with a smaller HDTV antenna I believe it was last year.

Anyway like I was saying … a lot of people have already laid out cash expenditures for Flat Panel TV’s most of them lately being Digital (ATSC) TV, HDMI Input, and consequently HDTV capable. I wonder, like this article says, how many people are going to want to lay out cash again … to have 3D TVs ? I for one am not real excited about the idea of having to wear some kind of 3D glasses in order to watch TV. Sometimes I watch TV and work on the computer at the same time. Sometimes people are in a social setting … Let’s say on yachts … in the salon … it almost seems kind of rude to be sitting there with 3D glasses on. And like others have said the glasses are often specific to the TV model and they can get lost or broken. Anyway my complaints and opinions aside – here is the article I just spotted:

————————————————————————————————————————————————

While 3-D TV continues to dominate headlines and discussions due to early efforts by broadcasters such as DirecTV, Discovery and ESPN, many industry analysts remain cautious about the potential take-up of 3-D TV.

   “ABI is being a bit cautious with our forecast for 3-D-ready TV sales. We believe that the market will grow, but TV manufacturers are placing the technology in TVs without having a pull from consumers at this point,” said Jason Blackwell, senior analyst, ABI Research. “We have not completely finalized our 3-D TV forecast, but by 2015, 3-D TV will reach about 18 percent penetration of worldwide, flat panel-TV sales. In markets like North America and Western Europe, penetration will exceed 20 percent of flat panel-TV sales. We believe that HD and Internet connectivity will be more significant drivers for consumer purchases than 3-D alone.”

   Maxim Baudry, a satellite analyst at French telecoms consultancy, Idate, said, “It is only after 2015 that we think 3-D will become more popular, when price of TV sets decrease and the technology becomes more mature. There are a number of reasons why expect the take-up to be slow. Firstly, with the current economic context, people try to avoid expenses that they consider not so important. Secondly, a majority of households have already spent money for a brand new HDTV set, and they are not willing to spend immediately money for a new 3-D TV set. Thirdly, prices of 3-D TV sets are extremely high right now. Finally, 3-D content is not widely available yet on premium channels.”

   One of the questions now is does it make sense for broadcasters to make aggressive moves into 3-D TV? “Most leading broadcasters are considering 3-D and the implications of acquiring and offering 3-D content,” said Anna Hunt, senior analyst, IMS Research. “The cost for 3-D content production is quite high, and penetration of 3-D TV sets in the home is currently low, so everyone is taking cautious steps, looking to identify what type of content would benefit most from 3-D and how they can deliver 3-D content using existing infrastructure.”

   The additional effort required to produce 3-D programming and making sure it is high quality also is a detriment to many broadcasters, said Blackwell. “I don’t think it makes sense for everything to be broadcast in 3-D, and in many cases the effort would be better spent on HD,” he said.

(More at the link above.)

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications @ marinetelecom.net

* Alan Spicer says: 

Google.com’s logo, which often gets changed to some kind of gizmo on holidays and such, the day before went into a bouncing balls gadget … and then yesterday it went into a grey backrounded “Google” which changed back into color as you typed in the search box. Several blogs and online sites speculated as to what this was all about … some kind of Google announcement was forthcoming with an event pending? Anyway now, Google.com “classic” home page does searches ahead of your typing … already returning results after the first letter. I don’t know if anyone else saw it but it was sort of doing this already for some time on iGoogle if you register with Google and get a username and password (e.g. if you have Google Gmail.) It seems to be still acting the same way on iGoogle as it has been acting lately. Returning a drop-down box with possible things that you might be “going to type” before you type them. I guess that kind of helps sometimes if others have already searched for what you’re looking for then it will give you suggestions as you type. But it seemed to piss me off quite often because whatever “code” Javascript or whatever that does that … seemed to bog down my system a bit. I kept wanting to blame my wireless keyboard, but it wasn’t that. It was that “read ahead” … “think ahead” thing going on in iGoogle. Well it seems like Google.com “classic” has extended this even more, and it’s actually returning full page “results” as you progress in typing from the first letter on. * I, for one, am not sure I like that. I don’t think I need to get results back for each-and-every letter that I type in a search text. I only need it to kick in, if at all, when I get to the “meat” of what I’m looking for. I think … (“It don’t really matter what I think, … once that first bullet goes past you head … politics and that other sh just goes right out the window” — Blackhawk Down) that it has a bad tendancy to encourage people to do “fuzzy searching” and “fuzzy surfing” of the web. If too many choices are presented – too soon in the dialog for a search request – then we tend to go “hey that looks interesting…” even if it has NOTHING to do with what we’re searching for. It could be a real time waster. Another cost of lost productivity in businesses across america (both big, in the cubicles, and small office / home office) because of all the fuzzy surfing that it will cause. That’s just my 2 cents worth for now… On to the article from PC World.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/205041/google_instant_searches_the_web_before_you_type.html?tk=nl_dnx_h_crawl

Google Instant Searches the Web As You Type

Jared Newman, PC World
Sep 8, 2010 1:38 pm

Google has rekindle its love for speedy Web searches with Google Instant, a new version of the search engine that displays results as you type.

When typing a search query with Google Instant, results appear after the first letter is entered, and they update as the user types. Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search and user experience, said results are actually delivered “before you type,” because Google Instant predicts and automatically completes search terms.

According to Google, a typical searcher spends nine seconds entering a query, and 15 seconds searching for answers. Google hopes to shave two to five seconds per search using Google Instant.

Click to EnlargeGoogle claims that Instant won’t considerably slow down Internet connections, because the amount of data delivered for search terms is relatively small, and because the system only sends parts of the page that change when more typing alters a search result. For connections that are already slow, Google Instant automatically turns off, and users can also shut off the service through their user preferences or by clicking the drop down box to the right of the search bar.

(more at the link above.)

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications @ marinetelecom.net