Microsoft launches MSN adCenter

Monday, September 26, 2005

Microsoft announced today the official launch of MSN adCenter in France and Singapore. adCenter allows advertisers to target specific demographics using information provided by Microsoft’s Hotmail and Microsoft Passport Network users.

“The launch of adCenter in France and Singapore is a great first step to delivering on our global vision to connect advertisers to consumers in a much more meaningful way,” said Yusuf Mehdi, senior V.P. of MSN Information Services & Merchant Platform.

Advertisers will be able to target ads based on geographic location, gender, age range, time of day, and day of the week. If MSN has no information on the visitor it will display ads based upon keywords. Additional features include a cost estimator and a site analyzer that will recommend keywords based on the content of the advertiser’s website.

MSN currently has a contract for Yahoo ads that runs through 2006, and they are expected to slowly phase them out, although MSN has not confirmed this.

adCenter has been in testing in France and Singapore since March. Testing in the US will begin in October. Microsoft plans to eventually sell ads on websites outside of MSN.

This initiative is a part of a broader strategy that Microsoft has launched to compete against Google’s AdWords service, in operation for several years, which allows advertisers to bid on specific keywords and ensure ad placement on the company’s search engine and other online properties. Microsoft’s chief executive vowed to “kill Google” in an expletive-laden tirade against the firm, according to US court documents filed by Google.

Many internet users choose to block web page advertisements from both Microsoft and Google, using several different techniques of ad filtering, such as adblock in the firefox web browser.

Two-and-a-half tonnes of marijuana destroyed in Afghan school

Sunday, December 21, 2008

The combined efforts of agents from the Afghan Commandos and Coalition forces have led to the discovery and destruction of two-and-a-half tonnes of marijuana in an abandoned school in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar on Friday.

Kandah?r province or Qandahar (??????,{??????) is one of the largest of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is located in southern Afghanistan, between Helamand, Oruzgan and Zabul provinces. Its capital is the city of Kandah?r, also spelled Qandah?r, (?????? or ??????), the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of 450,300 (2006 estimate). Kandahar City is located on the Arghandab River. The province has a population of nearly 890,000, with more than 300,000 living in its capital city. The main inhabitants of Kandahar province are the Pashtun people.

An improvised explosive device and an unexploded mortar round, both 100-meters away from the school, also were destroyed. Foot patrol by the combined forces yielded tips which led to the drug discovery. A Commando also discovered a large room filled with marijuana seeds. The marijuana was placed in two-foot-tall (0.6-meter) stacks that filled multiple 12ft-by-12ft rooms. Rust on the furniture suggests the Afghan schoolhouse may not have been used as such for a long period of time. No students or faculty were around at the time of the drug bust.

U.S. Forces Afghanistan spokesperson, Col. Jerry O’Hara said that “using drugs to fund insurgent activity is bad enough; using a school as a drug warehouse is an attack on the future of all Afghanistan.”

Xinhua has reported that “according to a recent U.N. report, Afghanistan produces over 90 percent of the world’s opium as Taliban militants will benefit nearly 500 million U.S. dollars from opium trade in 2008.”

Meanwhile, coalition troops have killed four militants in Zabul Province. They also detained five suspects on Saturday. Adm. Mike Mullen, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that “the United States would send between 20,000 and 30,000 more forces to Afghanistan by summer.” “Those forces will primarily move into the country’s south, where the insurgency is the most entrenched,” he added.

Spelbound declared winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2010

Monday, June 7, 2010

An acrobatic group known by the name of Spelbound has been declared as the winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2010, a televised variety talent show competition broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom. As the winning act of the show, Spelbound have won £100,000 (US$144,580, 120,313, A$175,079) and a place at The Royal Variety Performance, an annual gala evening that is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family.

In no particular order, the top three acts were revealed to be two dancers known by their stage name of Twist and Pulse, gymnastic group Spelbound and Kieran Gaffney, whose act involves playing on the drum kit. After Kieran Gaffney was revealed to be in third place, Anthony McPartlin, who hosts Britain’s Got Talent with Declan Donnelly, said to Kieran: “Well done Kieran. Kieran, you’re a star, you came back, you got all the way to the final. I know you’ve loved this. You’ve loved this, haven’t you?” In response to this, Kieran Gaffney stated: “Thank you very much. Thank you, everyone for supporting me. Thank you.”

Shortly afterwards, on the episode that was broadcast live on ITV1 on Saturday, Anthony announced: “After tens of thousands of auditons, five semi-finals and an amazing final, this…this is it. One of you is about to walk away with £100,000 and a place at this year’s Royal Variety Performance. The winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2010 is…Spelbound!” Glen Murphy from Twist and Pulse commented about finishing in second place, stating: “Yeah, it’s amazing. I can’t even believe it. I can’t believe it at all.”

Alex Uttley, a 24-year-old member of Spelbound, commented on the gymnastic group’s victory, commenting: “Oh, my god. This is unbelieveable. We just want to say thank you to everyone out there. It just shows that all our hard work has paid off.” One of the coaches of Spelbound, named Neil Griffiths, stated about Spelbound: “Oh, they’ve worked so hard over the last few weeks. Um, since the semi-final, we…we really had to pull out the stops to try and up the game. They’ve not known they’ve worked in the gym from six in the morning till twelve…twelve o’clock of the night. I couldn’t have asked for more. Um, it’s a team of coaches. I don’t take all the credit myself. There’s, uh, two people up there that know who they are who’ve been fantastic.”

Spelbound consists of 24-year-old Alex Uttley, Nicholas Illingworth, aged 24, Adam Buckingham, aged 21, 20-year-old Adam McAssey, 19-year-old Douglas Fordyce, 18-year-old Edward Upcott, 18-year-old Leighanne Cowler, 17-year-old Katie Axten, 17-year-old Lauren Kemp, 15-year-old Jonathan Stranks, Abigail Ralph, aged 15, 13-year-old Hollianne Wood and Amy Mackenzie, aged 12. Bookmakers had previously predicted that Spelbound would be the most likely act to become the winner of the series.

The running order for the final started with Twist and Pulse. The second act to perform was Liam McNally, a 14-year-old singer. The running order subsequently continued with 40-year-old impressionist Paul Burling, singer Christopher Stone, aged 28, Tina & Chandi, a woman and dog dancing act, Connected, a five-piece singing group, Kieran Gaffney, aged 12, 22-year-old Tobias Mead, a dancer, 80-year-old singer Janey Cutler and Spelbound in that particular order.

Earlier on in the final, Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden has stated to Spelbound: “We are hosting the 2012 Olympics and I think ‘what a brilliant opening act’.” Fellow judge Piers Morgan also commented that “[t]he purpose of this show is to identify hidden great British talent. You are that act.” After Spelbound won in the final, another judge, named Simon Cowell, stated that “the right boys and girls won on the night” and that he could “only say on live TV that that was one of the most astonishing things I have ever seen. Seriously.”

The Best Car Loan Fundamentals Explained

Submitted by: Jason Creation

When we decide to get a new car, most of us just don’t have that type of cash laying around to buy it with. This is where a car loan comes into play. There are some things that you should be well aware of being getting yourself a car loan.

First off, you should understand that there’s an amazing opportunity here on the internet when it comes to getting a car loan. There are hundreds of different companies online that offer car loans and with a little bit of research you are going to be able to figure out which type of car loan is going to be the best fit for you.

Let’s take a look at what the different types of car loan that are available to consumers on the internet.

Long-Term: These types of car loans are usually only offered to consumers when they are looking to buy a brand new car and will usually last for a length of thirty six, forty eight, and sixty months. This type of car loan will provide you with a smaller monthly payment, but you will end up having to pay more over the duration of the loan due to the interest rates.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQdzeVbJPmU[/youtube]

One thing to be aware of with these types of loans is that if you are not careful than the value of the car that you get could fall below what you actually have left to pay on the loan which is referred to as an upside down loan.

Short-Term: These types of car loans will have a higher monthly payment attached to them, but at the same time you will end up paying less money on the interest than you would with the long term loans. These types of loans are usually the best way to go if you have the budget to afford a higher monthly car loan payment.

There are a lot of different ways you can go in order to get yourself a car loan. Different financial lending institutions will offer their potential clients different types of car loan and you should always consider which types of car loan options are available to you before you decide which one fits your personal financial profile.

Credit Unions: If you happen to be a member of a credit union, you would have the opportunity to apply for a comparatively larger car loan with a smaller rate of interest than you would be offered from other financial lenders. Make certain that you check with your credit union to see what types of offers they have available with their car loans.

Car Dealers: Often times it is a lot easier to get yourself a car loan through a physical car dealership than through the other methods. The only down side to this is that the interest rates that you will be offered will be higher on this type of car loan, but on the other hand the process is very quick and there are high chances of being approved for it.

Home Equity Car Loans: By leveraging your home as a piece of collateral, you are be enabled to get yourself a car loan. Even though this type of loan has the ability to provide you with a higher interest rate, there are some tax advantages to doing this that may offset that cost. You should consult with your tax attorney in the event that you decide to explore this option.

The benefit of having the internet at your disposal when it comes to getting yourself a car loan is the ability to research all of your options thoroughly. As long as you do all of your homework and fully understand all of the terms of any financing deal that you are about to get into, you will be well prepared for any potential problems in the future should they arise.

About the Author: Jason Creation – Want to find out more information on

Used Car Loans

and

Bad Credit Car Loans

, then look no further.

Source:

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Parts of internet break as ‘512k day’ reached by routers

Thursday, August 14, 2014

On Tuesday many internet routers, used to find the pathways to different parts of the web, reached their memory limit of 512,000 entries in the tables they use to store the routes, causing problems for many users.

A router is used to direct a user towards the area of the internet where they will find the content they are looking for, e.g. a web page. The recent problem was caused by the arbitrary memory limit built into the design of many aging routers. A limit was needed to prevent the cost of hardware from becoming prohibitively expensive in the days when physical data storage was still comparatively expensive. This small amount of memory in turn limits the number of directions which can be stored on a single router leading to different parts of the internet. When this limit was reached, it caused outages of services among Internet Service Providers. Many routers, including older ones provided by Cisco Systems Inc., are limited to storing a total of 512,000 routes or paths.

This limit was reached on Tuesday, reported to have been triggered by Verizon publishing another 15,000 paths. Those affected included eBay, LastPass, and clients of the web hosting company Liquid Web, who lost much of their services until Verizon withdrew some of these new paths. Problems nevertheless continued throughout the day, even after the withdrawal.

A longer term fix is possible, but it would require manually replacing old routers with newer, more capable ones. It is hard to tell what issues would temporarily cascade though the internet by taking down routers from part of the internet for maintenance. Many experts have warned that problems could continue until these difficult fixes have been implemented, although the recent switch to a newer form of IP Addresses, IPv6, will temporarily help the issue. Wired News reported that Andre Toonk, a network engineer, had stated that the number of network outages on the internet, typically around 1,500, yesterday peaked at 2,587, enough to become clearly noticeable.

Ice Cream History Facts Where Did This Creamy Cool Dessert Originate?

By C. Steendahl

The history of ice cream is a mixture of both truth and myth. No one would think that it could be traced back to ancient civilizations, and that these civilizations possessed techniques of storing and keeping ice. The earliest known ice houses can be traced to 4000 years ago in Mesopotamia. History also shows that the pharaohs of Egypt used to have ice shipped to them, and that the Roman Emperor Nero in the 4th century used to have servants run to the mountains to collect ice for his fruit toppings.

This is not ice cream as we know it, but it shows that the idea of ‘iced desert’ has been around for centuries. The earliest kind of ice cream as we know it can be found from the Chinese with King Tang (AD 618) who had invented a method of mixing ice and milk into flavorful concoctions. Folklore also claims that Marco Polo saw Ice Cream being made in China and brought the recipe back to Italy. This is how it is claimed that Ice Cream came to the West, but Marco Polo never mentions this anywhere in his writings.

Ice Cream, as a dairy delight, first came into popularity in the 1600’s. The story goes that Charles I of England’s cook had acquired a Chinese recipe for ice cream and presented it as an after dinner desert at a state banquet. Charles I was so impressed that he wanted this delicacy to be served only in his palace, and offered the cook 500 pounds a year to keep the recipe secret. However, this didn’t happen. Charles I was soon beheaded after coming under some serious unpopularity, and the ‘secret’ recipe of ice cream was out.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVpF99zuQhA[/youtube]

Ice cream then first began to feature in public life in the 18th century when cream, milk and egg yolks began to be mixed with ices. A 1768 cookbook (L’Art de Bien Faire les Glaces d’Office by M. Emy) was published and featured many different recipes for flavored ice and ice cream. Ice cream then traveled to the USA through colonists, and it began to be sold by confectioners in cities. The first ice cream Parlor in America opened up in 1776 in New York.

When a man named Italo Marchiony used to sell ice cream on Wall Street from his cart, he discovered that many customers were breaking or wondering off with his serving glasses (and this cost him money.) To drop his overhead costs, he invented edible waffle cups with sloping sides and a flat bottom. Hence, the ice cream cone started coming into being. He patented this idea in 1903.

Ice cream first started becoming more widely available since Nancy Johnson invented the hand cranked churn. This freezer ensured that there was no need for continuous chilling between the production and consumer. She sold the patent to a Philadelphia kitchen wholesaler, who had made enough of these freezers by 1847 to satisfy the increasing demand. The first ice cream factory was opened in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1851 by a dairy farmer who was looking for new ways to satisfy the incredible demand for his cream. He found that he could produce ice cream for twice the price of his cream on it’s own, and soon opened up branches all over the country.

When the continuous process freezer was perfected in 1926, refrigeration became common, and this resulted in an explosion of parlors and stores selling ice cream all over the world and allowed for mass production. This soon developed into the industry we know today. These days, electrical appliances allow for anyone to make ice-cream at home with ease.

About the Author: For more interesting food facts and great meal ideas and a free menu planning report visit

MenuPlanningCentral.com

Watch for a great meal planning offer and let me – The Menu Mom – help you take care of dinner tonight!

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MuchMusic Video Awards this Sunday in Toronto, Canada; Wikinews will be there

This article mentions the Wikimedia Foundation, one of its projects, or people related to it. Wikinews is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Wikinews will be attending The 2007 MuchMusic Video Awards this weekend, a popular annual event in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. True stars will be out to play, present, and else wise schmooze at the CHUM-City Building just above the city’s Entertainment District in the Queen Street West neighbourhood.

MuchMusic is the most popular music channel in Canada, and has been holding the event since 1990. Roughly 6000 fans line the streets surrounding Much headquarters each year, and 1200 more score “the wristband” and enjoy a free festival-style show in the parking lot, watching four outdoor performance areas spread out in the downtown location. New this year is a special roof-top stage, on the top of the building.

Last year’s show reached 3.5 million viewers in Canada and 100 million around the globe, with broadcasts in 65 countries.

Performing at the show will be Avril Lavigne, Fergie, Billy Talent, Hilary Duff, Alexisonfire, Maroon 5, Belly, The Used, and Finger Eleven.

On stage presenting will be Nickelback, Jay Manuel (Canada’s Next Top Model, America’s Next Top Model), Tara Reid (American Pie, this fall’s Land of Canaan), Joss Stone, Sum 41, Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia, Grudge 2), Hedley, Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors), Sean Avery (New York Rangers), George, Sam Roberts, Emilie de Ravin (LOST), Marianas Trench, and Kardinal Offishall.

Photographer Robin Wong will be photographing the red carpet of the MMVAs for Wikinews and Wikipedia. He first helped the sites in April of this year, photographing Hilary Duff at MuchMusic. Wong’s extensive client list includes Fidelty Investments, Flare Magazine, Masterfile, First Light, Fashion Television, FCB Canada, Profit Magazine, Financial Post, and Publicis. His works have appeared in the 2004 and 2005 Applied Arts Awards Annual, the top publication for the creative industry.

Contents

  • 1 Still open for voting
  • 2 FLICK OFF at Gift Lounge
  • 3 See also
  • 4 Sources
  • 5 External links

AEK Athens fans damage ferry-boat in Greece

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Angry fans of the AEK Athens football team damaged the ferry “Ierapetra” during the route from Heraklio, Crete, to the port of Rafina in Attica. About 700 AEK supporters boarded the ferry after the end of the Greek football cup final between Olympiacos and AEK which took place in Crete. The victory of Olympiacos over AEK, 3-0, angered the supporters of AEK, which is believed to be the catalyst for damage in both the stadium and the ship.

The Prosecutor ordered a preliminary inquiry into the incidents that took place onboard the Ierapetra. During the trip, a group of youths started breaking everything for no apparent reason. They caused extensive damage to the passenger lounges and the bars, while they responded to the crew’s pleas with cursing. A Greek police officer was injured in the leg by a flare, and a crewmember was also injured.

The owner of the ship, Dane Sea Line of Piraeus, estimates the cost of damage to the ship at €150,000.

The Greek media has accused the administration of Greek police and the Ministers of Public Order and Shipping of negligence in not doing more to prevent the events.

Interview: Drupal founder Dries Buytaert balances community and company interests

Sunday, February 24, 2008

In the year 2000, Dries Buytaert created Drupal, a freely licensed and open source tool to manage websites, as a bulletin board for his college dorm. Since Dries released the software and a community of thousands of volunteer developers have added and improved modules, Drupal has grown immensely popular. Drupal won the overall Open CMS Award in 2007, and some speakers in Drupal’s spacious developer’s room at FOSDEM 2008 were dreaming aloud of its world domination.

Buytaert (now 29) just finished his doctoral thesis and has founded the start-up Acquia. The new company wants to become Drupal’s best friend, with the help of an all-star team and US$7 million collected from venture capitalists. Wikinews reporter Michaël Laurent sat down with Dries in Brussels to discuss these recent exciting developments.

Contents

  • 1 The interview
    • 1.1 On FOSDEM
    • 1.2 On Drupal
    • 1.3 Acquia: company-community interaction
    • 1.4 The future, near and far
  • 2 Related news
  • 3 Sources
  • 4 External links

Avoid These Three Regrets When You Build Your Screened Porch}

Avoid These Three Regrets When You Build Your Screened Porch

by

Marvin Lee

If you are considering building a screened porch, take some time to think about some of the important factors that will affect your use and enjoyment. The best screened porch layouts blend these three design principles into the overall cage. Many times people don’t comprehend how crucial each element influences the total comfort and joy of their screened porch. Before you move any dirt, consider completely how each of these factors will touch your overall design. Spending a little time on this will pay big benefits down the road.

Footprint – This is perhaps the most important and incorporates the physical layout and location. There are two points to consider on this item:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDmLW4tcd9c[/youtube]

* Size – Avoid the regret of not getting all space you want. Most people love their screened porch but many regret not making it bigger. A few extra square feet can make a huge difference. Adding extra space is realtively cheap when you do your project but gets very expensive if not impossible to do later. You will use your screened porch very often and will rapidly become aware that a few extra feet would allow bookshelves, additional entertainment space, or a nook for quietly reading. Supplementary area can make room for a summer kitchen or a place to put the band for your outdoor parties.

Your aim should be to get the largest porch you can afford based on how you will use it through the years. If you have small children take into account how it will be when they become larger. How will you use the space when they get older? If you don’t have kids or they are grown, a small room might be satisfactory for you.

* Location – Consider where the screened porch will be in regard to to the sun at specific parts of the day when you will want to use it. In Central Florida, we get a lot of sunshine so if you have the chance to locate it under shade, this will help keep your patio cooler. Most of the time, Southern and Western facing windows get the most sun. If you can’t do that, you can use window treatments such as shades, shutters, and blinds to help cut the heat from the sun. Also, think over the view that you will have once you complete the addition. You will most likely want to lay out your screened porch for more privacy so think of which areas will do that best.

Another influential component in location is traffic flow. If you are planning to use your screened porch for entertaining then you might want to locate it off of the kitchen. You might desire to augment the play area for the children so something with access off of the living room might be more appropriate. Access from the bedroom might be important if you are considering leaving your doors and windows open on a nice night. It is complicated to add access subsequent and crucial to think of all the present and future uses for your patio.

* Amenities – There are so many possibilities now available that you can augment to your screened porch. Outdoor kitchens, fireplaces, wet bars, fans, special lighting and built in shelving are just some possibilities. Selecting what you want early and adding these features at the time of construction will be much cheaper and quicker than including subsequent. If you are thinking about using your outside area as ‘spill over space’ meaning that guests will use both spaces during a get together then you might choose to think over adding some of these conveniences. You may also want to consider adding electrial outlets either in the floor or nearby if you desire to use the room for a workout area and need to plug in a TV or treadmill.

* Maintenance – A well constructed screened porch in most cases does not need much maintenance but you should make sure that you are using good quality material for construction. Ensure that you are getting good screen and aluminum that will ride out the elements. In Central Florida you will want to make sure that your structure will resist the winds and storms we commonly get. Confer with the contractor you are working with or your product supplier to establish you are getting a product that will last. Be sure to build suitably to circumvent water damage – a screen porch’s adversary. Building in things like venting the trim, pitching the floor slightly, flashing ledgers, and protecting posts are all extremely important and will help make your screened porch space last a long time.

The added time you take to accurately design your screened porch investment will pay large rewards later in years of enjoyment and greater value to your home. We have beautiful weather in Orlando and screened porches can be a wonderful addition to make the most of it. Carefully consider all aspects of screened porch designs before you build or talk to a contractor. Contractors specializing in enclosed porches can also help you choose the best value for your dollar. Take the time to analyze all of your options – then build knowing you will have the best of screened porch designs.

Kanon Builders

(407) 516-9067 Central Florida Screen Rooms and Sunrooms

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Avoid These Three Regrets When You Build Your Screened Porch

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