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How to use Google. Structure your search queries to get the best results.

Do you know how to use Google?

 One of the most common complaints I hear about search engines is there are too many results for any given search.
Taking Google as the most commonly used search engine and applying a few simple rules to its usage can really help weed out the stuff you don't want to see.

 Start by setting your browser preferences:

 Go to www.google.com and click on the Preferences link to the right of the search field.
In the 'Number Of Results' section, use the pop-up menu to change the default Display from 10 Results Per Page to something larger. Say 100.
That means less clicking through results pages.
The 'Provide Query Suggestions In The Search Box' option in the Query Suggestions section will save you some typing.
Google will now guess the rest of a search term as you enter it. Once you’ve customised your settings, click on Save
Preferences.
You will have to do this for every browser you use.

 OK now you've done that lets look at how to structure a search to get the most relevant results.

 By default Google searches for pages that contain all the words you enter in the search box, in any order, anywhere on the page.
Contain those words within quotes "like this" and Google will return pages containing the exact phrase.

 You're looking for pages that contain some common words or phrases but you would prefer not to see pages that contain certain words.
OK leave them out by prefixing them with a minus sign -. A search for Pluto -Disney should return results about the planet and not a cartoon dog.

 Find This OR That:
You're looking for a Plasma TV but you're fussy about the manufacturer.
Panasonic OR Sony Plasma TV will return results for Panasonic and Sony and no other manufacturers.

 Find Similar Words:
When searching the Web, you often know approximately what you’re looking for but are unsure exactly how something may be phrased.
Place a tilde (~), which means “words like this” (in other words, synonyms or near synonyms) in front of the word you’re unsure of.

 Google’s Search Features page http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html contains much useful information, hints and tips for efficient searching.
Using these simple search rules can cut down the amount of time spent sifting through pages of results that have no real relevance to your query.

  
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Microsoft to open retail stores?

A bold decision if true, given the difficult economic times for the foreseeable future.
Many of Microsoft's established retail partners are finding times tough and some may not survive. So this may not be such a bad idea. Retail premises in prime locations are becoming vacant and could be snapped up for a good price.
But the question is, can Microsoft do retail.
Unlike Apple, Sony and Nokia, all experienced in the art of retail, Microsoft doesn't really have a "Lifestyle". It's a software company that dabbles in bits of hardware, Xboxes and Zunes, the odd mouse or two and a couple of web cams.
I can't see a Microsoft retail store being very exciting, any more than PC World is now.

 Plus the door is now open for a round of the most obvious jokes.

 Will the store be filled with Blue Screens?
Will you have to press the enter button to leave?
Will you be advised to have all your shots up to date before entering?
Will the Genius Bar be staffed by lank haired slightly smelly and overweight nerds in dirty anoraks?
The in store WiFi network might work on your Windows laptop. Then again, it might not.
Etc.

 We'll see how this develops, but given Microsoft's less than stellar nose for style I predict the stores will be a bit gaudy and confusing to the shopper trying to find that new Office application or media player.

 http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/channel/microsoft_plans_to_open_retail...

Do you really know how to use email?

Do you really know how to forward emails?
Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail?
Do you hate it?

 Well so do I, so read this and maybe you can help in some small way to reduce the amount of rubbish circulating the net and clogging up our email servers.

 Every time you forward an email there is information left over from the people who received the message before you did, namely their email addresses and names. As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and all it takes is for one person to get a virus, and his computer can send that virus to every email address that has come across his computer.

 Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them to spammers. Or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit.

 How do you stop it? Well, there are several easy steps. Try the following if you haven't done it before:

 1) When you forward an email, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message (at the top). Highlight them and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second. You MUST click the 'Forward' button first and then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message. If you don't click on 'Forward' first, you won't be able to edit the message at all.

 2) Whenever you send an email to more than one person, do NOT use the To: or Cc: fields for adding email addresses. Always use the BCC: (blind carbon copy) field for listing ALL additional email addresses. This way the people you send to will only see their own email address. If you don't see your BCC: option click on where it says to: and your address list will appear. Highlight the address and choose BCC: and that's it, it's that easy. When you send to BCC: your message will automatically say 'Undisclosed Recipient s' in the 'TO:' field of the people who receive it.

 3) Remove any 'FW :' in the subject line. You can re-name the subject if you wish or even fix spelling.

 4) ALWAYS hit your Forward button from the actual email you are reading. (You may have had to open numerous other pages before you got to the real forwarded message!) Ever get those emails that you have to open 10 pages to read the one page with the information on it? By Forwarding from the actual page you wish someone to view, you stop them from having to open many emails just to see what you sent.

 (5) Have you ever received an email that is a petition? It states a position and asks you to add your name and address and to forward it to 10 or 15 people or your entire address book. The email can be forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and email addresses. DO NOT DO THIS. The completed petition is actually worth a couple of dollars to a professional spammer because of the wealth of valid names and email addresses contained therein.

 If you want to support the petition, send it as your own personal letter to the intended recipient. Your position may carry more weight as a personal letter than a laundry list of names and email addresses on a petition.

 Some other emails to delete and not forward are:
A. The one that says something like, 'Send this email to 10 people and you'll see something great happen.' IT WON'T HAPPEN!!!!

 b. And don't let the bad luck ones scare you either, they should get trashed.

 c. Tempted to forward an 'Amber Alert, or a 'Virus Alert, or some of the other emails floating around nowadays? DON'T. Most of them are junk mail that's been circling the net for YEARS! Just about everything you receive in an email that is in question can be checked out at www.snopes.com or www.truthorfiction.com or www.factcheck.com. It's really easy to find out if it's real or not.

 And one more thing.
Don't use HTML in your emails, switch it off. Use plain text only. HTML email is the spawn of the devil, loved by spammers and virus writers because it can so easily contain bugs.
Read your emails in plain text only and do not download images contained in any html emails.
The ability to switch off HTML is in your email applications preferences. If it isn't get yourself another email application that does offer it.
You don't need pretty coloured text and background images to write a message. It's not going to add anything to your prose.

 So let's stop the junk mail and the viruses.

 And get rid of the advertisements at the bottom of your emails! You pay for your internet why advertise free for them? If they want to advertise in your emails let them pay you!!!!

  
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The Twitter Effect

Steven Fry, actor, writer, humourist and gadget nerd of this parish, tweeted this morning with a link to http://www.iPhorest.com/. The website gives details of a forthcoming iPhone app that plants a virtual tree on the phone and a real tree by way of The Conservation Fund, in areas where the natural habitat is vulnerable.

 A fine idea. Unfortunately such is Mr Fry's following on Twitter the iphorest website buckled under the strain and within minutes the server had cried enough and fallen over.

 In another tweet a few minutes later he mentioned the online petition to Save Bletchley Park, http://savingbletchleypark.org/. The number of petition signatures immediately started to rise.
The previous evening he was kept amused by fellow twitterers while stuck in a lift in a London high rise.

 TV presenter Phillip Schofield, unable to get to the studios on Monday due to the snow, kept his followers amused with his accounts of playing with the kids in the snow, complete with the occasional photo.

 All this has added to the interest in Twitter by the mainstream media, and anyone vaguely tech is being asked to comment in the press and on TV and radio. A family friend who works at the BBC and tweets for the Working Lunch show is frequently asked to assist other programs with things Twitter, and was interviewed by a local radio station about it. The BBC's media correspondents are in demand all over the network to talk about social networking. And increasing numbers of other "celebrities", correspondents and journalists are tweeting their daily lives.

 What are you doing, in 140 characters or less has certainly captured the imagination of millions. But there are still many more millions who 'just don't get it'.
The feeling among many Twitterers is that's ok. At the moment it's good fun, not really taken too seriously, although it has it's serious uses. News stories have been broken on Twitter, including the very first image of the airliner floating on the Hudson River.
But if the unwashed masses start steaming in we may have to find another playground.

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What is inside your contact lens cleaning solution

If you wear contact lenses I bet you have at some time wondered just what is so special about the solutions you use to clean and disinfect them. This article lifted from Wired spills the beans on the constituants of ReNu.

What's Inside: Bausch and Lomb ReNu:

Dymed
Contact lens solution has to strike a balance between killing germs and not burning your eyes when you pop the lenses in. Dymed (polyaminopropyl biguanide) is an antimicrobial agent that attaches to bad little bugs and rips open their cell membranes, letting their guts spill out. Fortunately for your eyeballs, it only works on single-celled organisms.

Hydranate
Known by chemists as hydroxyalkylphosphonate, it removes protein deposits, eliminating the hassle of a separate enzyme treatment. The eye's lubricating fluid contains mucus protein, which over time can build up and cloud your vision like a snot cataract. Hydranate is a compound that traps the mucus molecules and lifts them off the surface of the lens.

Boric Acid
It's a fire retardant, a nuclear-reaction controller, and the stuff that turns silicone oil into Silly Putty. Grandma knew it as an antiseptic eyewash; here it's also a pH buffer. But boric acid has been tagged by the feds as an infant-killing poison. There's only a dash in ReNu, so don't worry—unless you experience one of the more memorable symptoms of boric acid toxicity: blue-green vomit.

Edetate Disodium
This commonly used compound sequesters metallic ions (calcium from tears or possibly particles from air pollution) that might otherwise react with the lens.

Poloxamine
Made of multiple oxyethylene and oxypropylene segments, poloxamine is used in gene therapy as an alternative to artificial viruses for carrying DNA into cells. In this solution, it's just a surfactant that ensnares lipids so they can be washed away.

Sodium Borate
More widely recognized under the alias Borax, it's the same crystalline alkali dust found in Death Valley. It's added to ReNu as a buffering agent, keeping the solution at a comfy pH of 6.5 to 7.8, so you never have to utter the words 'Ahhh, my eyes!'

Sodium Chloride
Since soft lenses are liquid permeable, you want to make sure that your cleaning fluids are as osmotically close to tears as possible. That calls for a pinch of salt—otherwise, the lenses would dry out. Add too much, of course, and your lenses will suck all the moisture out of your eyes, get oversaturated, and start to weep. Creepy.

(Via Wired News.)

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Snowball Fight, London. Trafalgar Square, 6.20pm tonight.

Oh this is going to be good. I hope the mainstream media pick this one up.
Trafalgar Square will play host to The Battle of Trafalgar - Part Deux at 6.20pm sharp.

 You can stay up to date with the battle via http://www.twitter.com/SnowballFight
or read the blog post here http://snowballfightlondon.blogspot.com/

 Wrap up warm and get down there.
Oh, and bring your own balls.

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Snow in the UK. Country grinds to a halt.

It's amazing how well we in the UK don't cope with a few inches of snow.
Despite the met office assuring us over the last seven days that we were in for a significant spell of Arctic like weather with some serious snow falls over the weekend, we have a situation this morning.

 London has pretty much ground to a halt. No buses are running, the subway system has no trains running and both runways at Heathrow are shut. There are delays on most of the main line rail links and to top it all off, the mobile phone networks almost fell over under the strain of people trying to call in or text to say they wouldn't be going in to the office today.

 Hello, is this a 21st century first world country?

 The TwitterVerse is awash with #uksnow tweets and photo's on Twitpic. It was the number one trend for most of the morning.
Other countries manage, why don't we?

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Eurovision 2009. This time we're serious.

During the first edition of Your Country Needs You, the Eurovision "let's pick the singer" TV show, I said of Jade, she's the one.
And I've just seen the news that she did in fact win the viewers vote in the final show last night.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7862824.stm

 Congratulations to the voting public, you picked the right one. And Andrew Lloyd Webber must be pleased with the result.
I was really worried the fickle finger of fate would fall on the cutesie but not quite up to it identical twins.
Good but not really good enough, they had the ahh factor so popular with British viewers, but need a few more years yet.

 Jade is something special. She not only sings well, and many people can do that, but she performs the songs, and there is a big difference.

 Mind you I didn't see the show last night so I have no idea what the song is like. It could be a stinker, but Diane Warren has an enviable track record of mega hits and his lordship is no slouch with the melodies.
Big reputations are on the line.

 Note to Europe.
We're coming, and this time we're serious.

 Professional freelance creative writers for hire in Dubai, UAE, and England.
Creative writing, formal, business, website copy, study,
copywriting, editing, job applications.

Naked ramblers bumming around in Switzerland.

Blame the Germans.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7860556.stm

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A local Swiss authority has decided to get tough on tourists who go wandering around the mountains in the nude.
Many of these nature lovers are from Germany and subscribe to the FKK or 'free body culture.' In short they like taking their clothes off in public.
The local Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden is taking action to discourage them before the warm weather starts.
 
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Does anyone know where Quentin Godwin is?

This is a sad story.
http://www.qismissing.com/page1.php

 One afternoon in May 1992 Quentin Godwin walked out of his house in New Zealand to go to his after school job and has not been seen since.
Despite numerous appeals, press coverage and the help of various missing persons organisations around the world, there has been no news of Quentin.
Someone somewhere must know something.
Do you?

Q

Spreading the word over the internet and your social networks may just help.
His family and friends just need to know. Something.