Environment-Friendly Google?

It seems the people in this world are all of a sudden, leaving no stone unturned in their quest to stem the breaking-down of the eco-system. The latest, is a news article I read about a variant of Google.com that is more friendly to the environment.

Blackle.com is the site that uses Google’s search engine technology albeit in a more environment friendly way. When I saw this, I instinctively asked myself: How the hell do you make a search engine environmentally friendly? Well, Blackle.com has the answers.

Apparently, the predominantly white background of the Google site is responsible for a lot of avoidable wastage of energy. Blackle.com works on the fact that a monitor uses relatively lesser energy (upto 20% less) to display a black (or dark) color when compared to the energy taken to display white (or light) color. Blackle.com is just Google with a black background. The creator says that the idea came when he read a post: Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year.  According to the post, a black backgrounded google could save around 3000 MegaWatt-Hours a year. Not insignificant by any means. I say, every bit counts. And as the post says, it is an environment-friendly approach that just takes changing a few color-codes. So why not?

The New iPods Released

The new iPods have been released. Sporting a completely different look and packaged in a much more compact size, the new iPods have increased storage space. The old 30 GB storage space has been completely done away with to make way for the new 80 and 160 GB models. The new models also have wider screens. Fans all over the world have been waiting with bated breath for this update to the now ageing iPods. Check out the pictures here. Also released is the new iPod touch which basically looks like an iPhone without the phone features.

Check out the pics here… 

Conquering the world the internet way

Well, it seems google is no longer going to trudge the path to achieving global information dictatorship alone. Wikipedia is all set to enter the search-engine wars. By December this year, Wikipedia will roll out Wikia Search. A search engine that will be designed along the same lines that has made Wikipedia such a huge success. By harnessing the knowledge of people around the world.

Search engines like google have traditionally relied on complex computer algorithms that decide the best results for any given search terms. But as Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, puts it, “Search engines aren’t about some complex computer functions. It’s really editorial – it’s journalism. Only humans can excel in editorial judgement.” This is the philosophy that has made Wikipedia the success it is today. Wikia Search’s search programs will also be editable by people around the world if they have enough programming knowledge. Users will also be encouraged to rank the websites in order to arrive at the best possible combination of human and computer ranking of searches.

Google’s quest for global dominance was until now left unchecked. But the entry of Wikia into the fray could prove to be the beginning of a long and hard turf battle in the highly lucrative field of online information management.