Alexander’s Blog

Google, the world’s most popular search engine, has quietly deleted more than 100 controversial sites from some search result listings. Absent from Google’s French and German listings are Web sites that are anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi or related to white supremacy, according to a new report from Harvard University’s Berkman Center. Also banned is Jesus-is-lord.com, a fundamentalist Christian site that is adamantly opposed to abortion.

Google confirmed on Wednesday that the sites had been removed from listings available at Google.fr and Google.de. The removed sites continue to appear in listings on the main Google.com site.

The Harvard report, prepared by law student Ben Edelman and assistant professor Jonathan Zittrain, and scheduled to be released Thursday, is the result of automated testing of Google’s massive 2.5 billion-page index and a comparison of the results returned by different foreign-language versions. The duo found 113 excluded sites, most with racial overtones.

“To avoid legal liability, we remove sites from Google.de search results pages that may conflict with German law,” said Google spokesman Nate Tyler. He indicated that each site that was delisted came after a specific complaint from a foreign government.

German law considers the publication of Holocaust denials and similar material as an incitement of racial and ethnic hatred, and therefore illegal. In the past, Germany has ordered Internet providers to block access to U.S. Web sites that post revisionist literature.

France has similar laws that allowed a students’ antiracism group to successfully sue Yahoo in a Paris court for allowing Third Reich memorabilia and Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” to be sold on the company’s auction sites. In November 2001, a U.S. judge ruled that the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech protects Yahoo from liability.

Google’s battles
The Harvard report comes as Google is becoming increasingly embroiled in international political disputes over copyright and censorship. China blocked access to Google last month.

Google was criticized in March for bowing to a demand from the Church of Scientology to delete critical sites from its index. In a response that won praise, Google replied by pledging to report future legal threats to the ChillingEffects.org site run by law school clinics.

As Google has become the way more and more people find information on the Internet, it has also become an increasingly visible target for copyright complaints about cached information and allegedly infringing links. ChillingEffect.org’s Google section lists 16 requests or legal threats the company has received in the past three months. One Google competitor and critic even suggested that the wildly popular search engine be transformed into a government-controlled “public utility.”

Check out the complete article and Google’s response here.

I recently ordered this new gadget called magicJack that can be used to make free long distance calls anywhere in USA and Canada without a phone service or even a telephone set. All you need is a computer running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or an Intel-based Mac that has a broadband connection to the Internet.

How does magicJack work?
MagicJack is a new voice over IP (VoIP) device about the size of a matchbox that has two connectors. You plug one end into the USB port on your computer. The other end connects to an analog phone. Once you plug this product it takes about a minute or so for it to load and configure the software. It doesn’t install any software on the computer (except for a shortcut on the desktop). MagicJack’s software runs in memory and the device configures itself automatically. If you want to remove the software, all you have to do is unplug magicJack from the USB port and delete the shortcut icon on the desktop. That’s it. There’s nothing else that needs to be done.

When you plug magicJack into another computer, your Contacts list and other information is automatically displayed because the information is saved on the device, not on the computer where you initially configured the product. This allows you to simply roam between computers without re-configuring magicJack. For example, you can take this little gadget with you when you travel with your laptop. As long as your computer is connected to the Internet, you can can plug one end of your magicJack into your computer’s USB port and the other to an analog telephone set. You can then use the phone to dial as you normally would, except that your phone will not be plugged into the phone company’s wall jack. There is no need for a telephone service to use this device. However, in case your Internet connection is down you might want to have your cell phone handy to call 911 in case of an emergency. You don’t have to have a phone set to use magicJack, you can also use your computer’s microphone and a headset. Here’s what the initial setup screen looks like.

System requirements
In the past couple of days that I’ve used magicJack, I’ve successfully tested it on Windows XP Professional SP2 and Windows Vista. I haven’t had a chance to test it on a Mac but there is a beta version available right now that is supposed to work on Intel-based Macs. According to the manufacturer’s Web site, to upgrade your magicJack to work on a Macintosh, you must plug magicJack into a USB port on a Windows computer.

Price
As far as price, magicJack costs only $39.95, which includes the service charges for the first year. The following year you’ll pay only $20/year. That’s less than $2 per month. So technically the device costs $19.95 because the $39.95 includes one-year subscription. As far as I know, magicJack is cheaper to use than other VoIP service providers that have been around for a while.

Benefits
The nice thing about magicJack is that it lets you make free calls to anywhere in the United States and Canada regardless of your location. So whether you are in Brazil at an Internet cafe or at an office in Nepal, the calls you make to United States and Canada are free without any per-minute charges. I am sure Sprint, Verizon and other cell phone companies aren’t too happy to see this product in the market. Starting next month you will be able to call additional countries around the world and if the receiving party also has a magicJack then the call will be free, otherwise there would be a small per-minute fee for each call. You should expect the fees to be lower than what your long-distance companies charge.

I should point out that besides free long-distance calls to US and Canada, you also get free voice mail, free call forwarding, free three-way calling, free caller ID, and a free phone number of your choice of area code with magicJack. I haven’t had a chance to try the voice mail service or faxing through magicJack yet.

Drawbacks
MagicJack doesn’t allow you to import or export the Contacts list but there is an add-in for Microsoft Outlook that you can download. The add-in allows you to dial directly from your contacts in Outlook. The biggest challenge you will face after purchasing magicJack is getting it out of its bubble pack. On the Internet forums people rate magicJack’s packaging as its biggest flaw. I have also noticed that some of the links in the software are broken. Several of the components are relatively new or are still in beta so that might be a reason for some broken links. For example, you can supposedly optimize magicJack by clicking on a link but the link is broken and gives you file error. It takes you to the URL http://support.magicjack.com/magicfix/magicFix.html which does not exist. After doing some troubleshooting I discovered that it should be pointed to http://www.magicjack.com/site/magicfix.html.

I tried to access the technical forum at http://forum.magicjack.com/forum/index.php but I received the error “Sorry but this board is currently unavailable.” Again, the forum is in beta so one would expect such issues. By the way, make sure that you have the correct plug-ins for Javascripts for your browser or else you may encounter problems using magicJack’s Web site. This is not a drawback, it’s something that you need to do to use Web sites that utilize Javascripts.

Reviews
This product has been covered by several major news services, including CBS, CNBC, BBC, CNET, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe. Most, if not all, of the reviews of this product have been favorable in the press as well as on Internet forums. Click here to learn more about this product or to try it for free for 30-days.

Here’s some useful information posted by the University of Washington regarding peer-to-peer file-sharing issues.

1. Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing: What is the risk?

Every day, millions of computer users share files online. Whether it is music, games, or software, file-sharing can give people access to a wealth of information. You simply download special software that connects your computer to an informal network of other computers running the same software. Millions of users could be connected to each other through this software at one time. The software often is free and easily accessible.

Sounds promising, right? Maybe, but make sure that you consider the trade-offs. File-sharing can have a number of risks. For example, when you are connected to file-sharing programs, you may unknowingly allow others to copy private files you never intended to share. You may download material that is protected by the copyright laws and find yourself mired in legal issues. You may download a virus or facilitate a security breach.

For a more details on securing your personal information and additional information on file-sharing software and how to remove it, see file-sharing security and software programs.

2. What is the copyright issue?
Under copyright law, it is illegal to download or share copyrighted materials such as music or movies without the permission of the copyright owner. The record and movie industry in recent years has taken an aggressive approach to stopping illegal downloading and file sharing. This has put many students at the nation’s colleges and universities at some legal risk.

Your actions when downloading or sharing files are traceable and could result in a significant financial penalty to you.

3. What is the record and music industry doing about illegal downloads?
There are many initiatives that address illegal file sharing. For instance, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is now sending colleges and universities letters pointing to specific alleged instances of illegal file sharing and requesting the university to forward the letter to the person the university identifies as being associated with the activity. The letter, called a “Pre-Settlement Letter” notifies the student that he or she has a specified number of days to settle with the RIAA by going to a designated website, entering identifying information, and paying a set amount, usually between $3,000 and $5,000, but sometimes considerably more. The letter states that, if the recipient chooses not to settle, the RIAA will file a lawsuit and the offer to settle for the amount stipulated may no longer be an option.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

If you are working with graphics on your Web site, it is a good idea to compress them so they will be smaller in size and will load quickly in the browser. Author John Lee has written an article in his blog on TechRepulbic’s Web site that explains the steps in detail. The author describes when and how to compress graphics.

An easy way to remember when it is appropriate to compress a graphic as a GIF or a JPEG is this simple mnemonic:

GIF stands for Graphic Interchange Format, and its compression scheme works by dropping colors from a graphic. The maximum number of colors a GIF can hold is 256, and any colors that are dropped in the compression process are gone forever and are not interpolated by the Web browser. GIF compression is best used for graphics that have areas of flat colors with minimal (if any) gradients.

Click here to read the entire article.

The Internet offers wide appeal to people with disabilities. But many of those same people find it frustrating or impossible to use a handheld mouse. Software developed at the University of Washington provides an alternative using one of the oldest and most versatile modes of communication: the human voice.

Vocal Joystick detects sounds 100 times a second and instantaneously turns that sound into movement on the screen. Different vowel sounds dictate the direction: “ah,” “ee,” “aw” and “oo” and other sounds move the cursor one of eight directions. Users can transition smoothly from one vowel to another, and louder sounds make the cursor move faster. The sounds “k” and “ch” simulate clicking and releasing the mouse buttons.

Versions of Vocal Joystick exist for browsing the Web, drawing on a screen, controlling a cursor and playing a video game. A version also exists for operating a robotic arm, and Jeffrey Bilmes, a UW associate professor of electrical engineering, believes the technology could be used to control an electronic wheelchair.

Read the rest of the story and watch the video here.