A program is a spell cast over a computer, turning input into error messages.
—Anonymous
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WTF the world comming to
A teenager in the US state of Florida has committed suicide in front of a live internet audience.
Abraham Biggs, 19, from Pembroke Pines, near Miami, killed himself hours after announcing his intention to do so on his blog.
His family have condemned the website viewers and operators for failing to save him. Local police have launched an investigation.
Authorities say Abraham Biggs took an overdose of anti-depressive drugs.
He posted messages online telling people he was going to kill himself and then started streaming live pictures from his home.
They got hits, they got viewers, nothing happened for hours Rosalind Biggs |
Reports say that some of viewers who logged in to watch began to encourage the teenager to commit suicide, others tried to dissuade him.
After several hours, when he had not moved some viewers finally notified the site's moderator, who then called the police.
The boy's sister said: "They got hits, they got viewers, nothing happened for hours."
It is unclear how many people watched the suicide unfold. Some reports suggest that some viewers thought it was a hoax.
The last transmission from the webcam is of a police officer bursting into Abraham Biggs's room, when he discovers his body and then he places his hand over the camera.
The footage has since been taken down and his father is now calling for more regulation of chatrooms.
Was enough done to prevent the death of Abraham Biggs? Should online communities be at all responsible for their members? What should be done to stop suicide online? Tell us your thoughts by filling in the form below.
By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley |
Users have to be logged in to their Google account to use SearchWiki |
Google has unveiled a tool that will allow users to customise and refine their search queries.
The company's SearchWiki lets users re-order, remove or add specific web search results.
This means the next time they perform the same search, the personalised version will pop up.
"I would call this revolutionary. It's a huge step, not a baby step in the world of search," Google's product manager, Cedric Dupont, told the BBC.
"This is part of an obvious movement of the web to become more participatory, so Google search is adapting to this movement," he said.
"The SearchWiki is about giving users more control over their search results and increasing user happiness," Mr Dupont added.
But industry watchers predict one huge problem with the effort.
"Most people are not going to engage with it and think about where the results should be - if it's above this one or below that one," said Greg Sterling, an editor with SearchEngineLand.com.
"This is really for a motivated or elite core of user who really wants to participate in the process."
"Social search"
As well as ranking results, SearchWiki allows users who have logged in to their Google account to write comments which will have a dialogue balloon next to the result when they return for any further searches.
These will also be public so that others using SearchWiki can view them and get feedback on a website.
It is hoped "people powered" tools like SearchWiki will benefit overall search |
Mr Dupont stressed that SearchWiki would not affect the way websites were ranked by Google.
At the bottom of the page, there will be a link to take users to a page showing what search results others have re-ranked, deleted or added.
Mr Sterling said that if Google managed to get a great number of people re-ranking results, it could improve the overall search experience.
"Lots of people have tried so-called 'social search', combining algorithmic search with human editorial input, because the perception is that humans have the ability to craft a better result in any given situation because they can make distinctions machines can't," he said.
"So this could be quite dramatic if they get a lot of people participating because it could improve the algorithms of the process and serve up better search results."
Matthew Humphries of geek.com would like to see the tool available to the public at large and not just to account holders. He said that even among SearchWiki users, search would be improved.
"You always see posts on forums for different subjects asking for the best resources to help with X. With SearchWiki the responses won't be a bunch of links, they will be a single link to an annotated Google search page," he added.I have been driven to the edge of madness;
And now I fallen in :
And it hurts ;
Now I live in Trinidad that’s a small tropical island of the coast of south America . Seriously . now I don’t want any body hating on my island yea we only have 1.4 million ppl but we float in oil and can fete ( party ) like there is no tomorrow . Now come to think of it that’s a bad thing . Especially being muslim here . For carnival is like I cannot do any thing . Ok ok for those who don’t know carnival in TnT ( Trinidad and Tobago ) runs like this the whole country shuts down . and I mean this literally . The ppl just pour out into the streets in mass well not naked but almost naked many of them in a bikini like costume , some with mud on others with all manner of weird costumes . There are like 6 females to on guy who do this . I of course have to go and turn muslim so now I cant go . But the Idea of all the drunk naked chicks has some appeal I guess but I have to remind my self of some Ahadith like the prophet muhammed said that “ there something’s that are bad for U and u like it and something’s that are good 4 U and U hate it “ , now I think that specifically was to do when the issues of fighting in the cause of Allah came up but I remember it here . yea some of my brothers and sisters fight in the mountains with there Ak 47’s we have to fight the temptation of almoat naked chicks on the road …… Oh U have to hear this one as of last yea the government improved the Mass ( the bands with the music and chicks and alcohol and think ) by building female toilets . Yes fokes when they got drunk and believe U me when u drink the second thing u got to do is pee , they were peeing on the side of d road . as Allah makes the analogy in the Quran about the ppl who “ disbelieve to animals no worst than that “ hell man my dog knows not to pee in front of the house . Well as U can all guess by now the majority of ppl are born like 9mths after carnival . Now I not telling U to come and well u know , why ? 1) Allah will be displeased with U and if that does not push your button check this ppl here real ignorant , I mean really really ignorant . a while back this white girl came here and well was getting here freak on the only thing was that this chick was HIV positive and well some of the guy she slept with she told them I am HIV positive . And I watching all this on TV right so they interviewing one of the guys and he of course did not know that , HIV was a virus or that it causes AIDS or that it can kill you he said that he thought it was like some kinda degree like a B.S.C !!! . We have the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection in the world ( hmmmm I wonder why ) So if U come U have a very good chance of getting it and dying a slow painful death , but well its your choice .
The US navy is likely to have more company in the years to come |
US economic, military and political dominance is likely to decline over the next two decades, according to a new US intelligence report on global trends.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7741049.stm
The National Intelligence Council (NIC) predicts China, India and Russia will increasingly challenge US influence.
It also says the dollar will no longer be the world's major currency, and food and water shortages will fuel conflict.
However, the report concedes that these outcomes are not inevitable and will depend on the actions of world leaders.
The US will remain the single most important actor but will be less dominant Global Trends 2025 |
It will make sombre reading for President-elect Barack Obama, the BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington says, as it paints a bleak picture of the future of US influence and power.
"The next 20 years of transition to a new system are fraught with risks," says Global Trends 2025, the latest of the reports that the NIC prepares every four years in time for the next presidential term.
Nevertheless, it concludes: "The US will remain the single most important actor but will be less dominant."
Nuclear weapons use
The NIC's 2004 study painted a rosier picture of America's global position, with US dominance expected to continue.
NIC REPORT Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader |
But the latest report says that rising economies such as China, India and Brazil will offer the US more competition at the top of a multipolar international system.
A world with more power centres will be less stable than one with one or two superpowers, it says, offering more potential for conflict.
Global warming will have had a greater impact by 2025, triggering food and water scarcities that could fuel conflict around the globe.
There will be greater potential for conflict in the future, the NIC says |
And the use of nuclear weapons will grow increasingly likely, says the report, as rogue states and terrorist groups gain greater access to such weapons.
But the NIC does give some scope for leaders to take action to prevent such scenarios.
"It is not beyond the mind of human beings, or political systems, [or] in some cases [the] working of market mechanisms to address and alleviate if not solve these problems," said Thomas Fingar, chairman of the NIC.
And, adds our correspondent, it is worth noting that American intelligence has been wrong before.