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Como ganar un Oscar (Actores)

Por Doly Mallet
® Reforma. (24 febrero 2008).

Si se trata de un Actor:

1 Si usted es actor y es guapo, tiene problemas. Le recomendamos volverse feo o interpretar a alguien con enfermedades mentales, aunque probablemente no gane y sólo reciba nominación (Brad Pitt en Doce Monos, 1995; Leonardo DiCaprio en El Aviador, 2004; Johnny Depp en Sweeney Todd, 2007).

2 La segunda opción, mucho más recomendable, es volverse director (Kevin Costner por Danza con Lobos, 1990; Robert Redford por Gente Como Uno, 1980; Clint Eastwood por Los Imperdonables, 1992). Eso le dará cierto caché y ya podrá ser considerado posteriormente.

3 Si usted es mujer guapa y se transforma en fea ganará más fácilmente que los hombres (Charlize Theron en Monster: Asesina en Serie, 2003; Nicole Kidman en Las Horas, 2002).

4 Si usted intentó todo esto, pero es demasiado guapo, su pareja también es demasiado guapa, son muy exitosos y tienen unos hijitos perfectos; no pida tanto y confórmese con lo que tiene. Mire a Angelina Jolie y Brad Pitt. No fueron nominados por Todo Corazón (2007) y El Asesinato de Jesse James por el Cobarde Robert Ford (2007). Eso que ella sí fue considerada en los Globos de Oro y él ganó como Mejor Actor en el Festival de Venecia.

5 Si usted es feo y, además, hace el papel de alguien con problemas físicos o mentales tiene más posibilidades de ganar (Jamie Foxx, por Ray, 2004; Jack Nicholson en Mejor Imposible, 1997; Geoffrey Rush en Claroscuro, 1996; Tom Hanks en Forrest Gump, 1994; Dustin Hoffman en Cuando los Hermanos se Encuentran, 1988).

6 Suba o baje de peso. Al menos recibirá una nominación (Tom Hanks por Náufrago, 2000; Renée Zellweger por El Diario de Bridget Jones, 2001).

7 Si su papel es muy importante, pero cree que la competencia es dura, propóngase como actor de reparto, no como principal. Aunque no gane, recibirá nominación (Javier Bardem en Sin Lugar para los Débiles, 2007; Julianne Moore en Las Horas, 2002; Jake Gyllenhaal en Secreto en la Montaña, 2005).

8 Si usted es joven, poco conocido y la Academia piensa que puede tener una brillante carrera, obtendrá un Óscar (de Reparto o como Actor Principal) y, con él, un gran lanzamiento (Angelina Jolie en Inocencia Interrumpida, 1999; Hilary Swank en Los Muchachos No Lloran, 1999; Benicio del Toro en Tráfico, 2000).

9 Si por el contrario, usted ya es muuuuuy conocido y no le habían dado un Óscar, no se preocupe, lo obtendrá después aunque no haya sido el mejor papel de su vida. (Paul Newman por El Color del Dinero, 1986; después de siete nominaciones). También aplica para directores (Martin Scorsese por Los Infiltrados, 2006; después de seis nominaciones).

10 Si no consigue nada de esto, persevere hasta volverse viejo. Si la Academia cree que usted va a morir pronto, empezará a nominarlo sin parar: Mire a Judi Dench: tiene cinco nominaciones y un Óscar por un papel de 10 minutos en Shakespeare Apasionado (1998). O Gloria Stuart, quien nunca había sido nominada en su vida y participó en la terna como Mejor Actriz de Reparto por un papel de 15 minutos en Titanic (1997). Es el mismo caso de Hal Holbrook, nominado este año por Camino Salvaje (2007).

© Derechos Reservados 2008 Consorcio Interamericano de Comunicación, S. A. de C. V.
Website:

Angelique Boyer (Galeria 4)

Como ganar un Oscar (Directores)

Por Doly Mallet
® Reforma. (24 febrero 2008).

Si se trata de un Director:

1 Si va a hacer una película, inclínese por un drama. Es el género favorito de la Academia.

2 Evite el horror. La única cinta que ha ganado la estatuilla en este género ha sido El Silencio de los Inocentes (1991); y de suspenso fue Rebecca (1940) de Alfred Hitchcock. Si quiere ir a la segura, no se meta en caminos poco usados. Y olvídese por completo de la ciencia ficción; nunca ha ganado.

3 Si prefiere otro género, sus opciones son el musical (Chicago, 2002; La Novicia Rebelde, 1965; Mi Bella Dama, 1964) o el épico (Gladiador, 2000; El Último Emperador, 1987; Ben Hur, 1959).

4 Puede ser una comedia, pero deberá ser comedia-dramática-inteligente (Shakespeare Apasionado, 1998; Belleza Americana, 1999; Annie Hall, 1977); lo cual es difícil de conseguir. Por lo tanto, es más probable que quede solamente nominado y no gane el premio mayor. Insistimos, elija el drama.

5 Ya que tiene el drama, escoja una "bio-pic". Es mucho más factible que lo consideren si lo que está contando es un "caso real" (Una Mente Brillante, 2001; La Lista de Schindler, 1993; Amadeus, 1984). Aunque la vida del sujeto en cuestión ya sea dramática de por sí, usted exagérela lo más posible (Corazón Valiente, 1995).

6 Tendrá más posibilidades si su protagonista -aunque sea ficticio- tiene algún problema mental (Forrest Gump, 1994; Cuando los Hermanos se Encuentran, 1988; Una Mente Brillante, 2001).

7 La historia debe ser como sigue: protagonista noble de corazón lucha por un ideal (acorde con los valores americanos); sufre y sigue sufriendo para, al final, cumplir su meta. Puede ser más trágico si es pobre y muere (Golpes del Destino, 2004; Gladiador, 2000; Corazón Valiente, 1995).

8 Debe asegurarse que su película no haya representado una pérdida. Acuérdese del caso Pearl Harbor: Entre el Fuego y la Pasión (2001), que todos pensaron sería la nueva Titanic, pero como fue un desastre en taquilla los Óscares no la tomaron en cuenta.

9 No utilice temas tabúes; la Academia es conservadora. Aunque ya le está dando su lugar a los afroamericanos, todavía no termina de abrir las puertas a los homosexuales. Recuerde que la favorita Secreto en la Montaña (2005) perdió ante una película sobre el racismo, Alto Impacto (2004).

10 No olvide que la mayoría de los miembros de la Academia pertenecen a la comunidad judía; por lo mismo, no se le ocurra decir comentarios antisemitas o hacer una película demasiado católica que pueda ser interpretada como insultante. Mel Gibson era consentido en Corazón Valiente (5 Óscares, y otras 5 nominaciones) y cayó por completo de la gracia de los jueces con La Pasión de Cristo (2004, cero Óscares).

11 Otro camino es que haga su cinta con poco dinero, pero con un guión original y bien escrito. Probablemente no gane, pero se le nominará (Juno: Correr, Crecer y Tropezar, 2007; Pequeña Miss Sunshine, 2006; Entre Copas, 2004). Si corre con suerte, años después se puede convertir en director de culto (Quentin Tarantino por Tiempos Violentos, 1994; Los hermanos Coen por Fargo: Secuestro Involuntario, 1996).

12 Ya que tiene su producto, participe en diversos festivales. Si va adquiriendo premios, la Academia volteará a verlo más fácilmente.

© Derechos Reservados 2008 Consorcio Interamericano de Comunicación, S. A. de C. V.

Website:

Hello, Pittsburgh



On Tuesday, March 4, the Google Pittsburgh office will open its doors to the technical community for a special evening. We'll kick things off with some mingling over beer, wine and snacks, and then transition into a tech talk with one of our local engineers, Pat Stephenson.

Pat will discuss the implementation of Dapper, a low-overhead system for monitoring the performance of large, distributed applications at Google, and the tools his team has built to analyze the data in a talk titled "Dapper: It's 11 p.m. and do you know where your RPC is?"

We hope to create a collegial atmosphere where members of the technical community can learn from and get to know one another.

If you're in the Pittsburgh area, please join us. Space is limited, however, so hurry and register.

Bringing it all together



Many of you have been waiting for JotSpot to re-emerge, integrated into Google -- and now it's happening. Here's the story:

In the last 10 years, the way all of us work has changed. We've grown accustomed to always being connected through email and instant messaging. Consequently, people are working together in teams more often, with larger groups, and with others who may be in different parts of the country or the world. We are shifting our focus from personal to team productivity. It's less about "you" and more about "us."

But with this explosion in collaboration, how do you bring together everything your team needs to work? How do you take information, whether it is on your desktop or online, and share it with specific groups of people -- your team, the company, the public?

Meet Google Sites, the newest addition to the Google Apps product suite. It was designed to allow you to easily create a network of sites and share them with whomever you choose. Google Sites lets you pull together information from across Google Apps by embedding documents, spreadsheets, presentations, videos, and calendars in your sites. Of course, we also harness the power of Google search technology so your search results are always fast and relevant.

What does it take to start using Google Sites? Just a click of a button -- that's it. Here's an overview with more detail:



We're just finishing up the code to migrate existing JotSpot customer wikis to Google sites, so if you're already a JotSpot customer, you'll be hearing from us soon on how to make the switch.

If you aren't a Google Apps customer yet and want to use Google Sites, sign up at http://sites.google.com.

Google Health, a first look



It's been a busy week for the Google Health team. Last week we announced our partnership and pilot with the Cleveland Clinic. This week, the team has been at the HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) conference in Orlando, Florida, where Eric Schmidt gave the closing keynote. Eric's keynote marks the first time we've talked publicly about the product we've been designing and building. His talk also offered a deeper view into our overall health strategy. (Watch the video.)

Google Health aims to solve an urgent need that dovetails with our overall mission of organizing patient information and making it accessible and useful. Through our health offering, our users will be empowered to collect, store, and manage their own medical records online.

For the healthcare industry, online personal health records (PHRs) aren't a new idea and, in some cases, online PHRs already exist for patients. Here's what we think sets Google Health apart:
  • Privacy and Security - Due to the sensitive and personal nature of the data that will be stored in Google Health, we need to conduct our health service with the same privacy, security, and integrity users have come to expect in all our services. Google Health will protect the privacy of your health information by giving you complete control over your data. We won't sell or share your data without your explicit permission. Our privacy policy and practices have been developed in thoughtful collaboration with experts from the Google Health Advisory Council.
  • Platform - One of the most exciting and innovative parts of Google Health is our platform strategy. We're assembling a directory of third-party services that interoperate with Google Health. Right now, this means you'll be able to automatically import information such as your doctors' records, your prescription history, and your test results into Google Health in order to easily access and control your data. Later, this platform strategy will mean that you will be able to interact with services and tools easily, and will be able to do things like schedule appointments, refill prescriptions, and start using new wellness tools.
  • Portability - Our Internet presence ultimately means that through Google Health, you will be able to have access and control over your health data from anywhere. Through the Cleveland Clinic pilot, we have already found great use-cases in which, for example, people spend 6 months of the year in Ohio, and 6 months of the year in Florida or Arizona, and will now be able to move their health data between their various health providers seamlessly and with total control. Previously, this would have required carrying paper records back and forth. With Google Health, the user can simply import the data from each medical facility and then choose to share it with the other facilities. It's advances in data portability like this that we think can really make a difference in the quality of healthcare. The clearer and more comprehensive the information regarding your health becomes, the better your care will be.
  • User focus - We aren't doctors or healthcare experts, but one thing Google can create is a clean, easy-to-use user experience that makes managing your health information straightforward and easy. We're still iterating and testing our user interface, but here is what the welcome screen looks like:

    Here is a screenshot deeper in the application:
  • We're proud of the product that we've designed and are continuing to build, but recognize that we are just at the initial stages of our "launch early and iterate" strategy. We look forward to the feedback we will receive from our Cleveland Clinic pilot, from all of you, and from the initial users of our service when we make it publicly available in the coming months.
Update: Added link to video of Eric's talk; refreshed second screenshot.

Kim in Bongo Jeans

“Every designer takes a little from other inspirations, a little from what they like here and there. You envy something like this when you see everything done and ........
3 Pics

Project CARE in San Francisco



As we mentioned last fall, GrandCentral's Project CARE initiative, which provides permanent telephone numbers and voicemail services to the homeless, has partnered with San Francisco's Project Homeless Connect (PHC) to support the city's homeless as they get back on their feet.

Today, Mayor Gavin Newsom will announce plans to give every homeless person in San Francisco a local phone number and voicemail account through Project CARE. We're thrilled to be a part of this effort, and as a first step towards simplifying the process of setting up a phone number and voicemail, we're rolling out a website where shelters and agencies across the city can create new accounts. Project CARE will also be visiting both city-owned and private shelters to help introduce this new system, assist the staff in familiarizing with the process, and answer any questions.

We're firm believers in the power of technology to improve the daily lives of individuals and communities as a whole, and we recognize that access to phone and voicemail services is one way that GrandCentral can help San Francisco's homeless stay connected with family, friends, social workers, health care providers, and potential employers.

While we're excited to bring this technology to our local Bay Area community, our ultimate goal is to provide these invaluable services to cities and shelters across the country.

If you're in San Francisco and would like to learn more about Project CARE's work with PHC, please join us at today's Project Homeless Connect 21 at the Billy Graham Civic Auditorium. If you can't make it to the event, check out Project Homeless Connect's website.

Engagement Party!


One of our interns Christine is getting married and she is having a Super Chic Black and White Engagement Party.
Isn't her inspiration board beautimous!

Gabriela Spanic (Galeria 2)










Fotos:
TeleMundo, Revista Maxim, Urbe Bikini y TV Notas

Otras Fotos:
Gabriela Spanic (Galeria 3)

Fotos de Daniela Spanic
(Hermana Gemela de Gabriela):

Justo en la Mira

Justo en la Mira (Vantage Point, 2008) es una película dirigida por Pete Travis y estelarizada por Dennis Quaid, William Hurt y Forest Whitaker, con una actuación especial de Sigourney Weaver. Tal y como sucede en la película Rashomon (1950) de Akira Kurosawa, Justo en la Mira cuenta la historia distintas personas (con puntos de vista diferentes) tras el intento de asesinato del Presidente de los Estados Unidos de América durante una reunión cumbre en Salamanca, España. Los personajes involucrados son: Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) y Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox), agentes del servicio secreto asignados para proteger al Presidente Ashton (William Hurt); Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker), un turista norteamericano que ha captado algunas escenas previas al atentado con su videocámara; Enrique (Eduardo Noriega) un policía encubierto español, quien luce como sospechoso y la productora de televisión Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver), cuyo noticiero de Global News Network capta la escena del atentado. Tras ser herido de bala en un par de ocasiones, el Presidente es transportado en ambulancia, pero sucede una explosión en la plaza, que deja numerosas víctimas. Thomas Barnes, instantes después de la explosión, trata de hallar a los responsables mediante la grabación de Howard Lewis y la filmación de los reporteros de Rex Brooks. Todo aparece apuntar como responsable a Enrique, quien por su parte ha identificado a su ex-novia Veronica (Ayelet Zurer) como la portadora de la bomba. Ella ha huido del lugar simulando ser un paramédico, junto a Sam Suarez (Saïd Taghmaoui), quien es el cerebro de la operación. Los terroristas tienen conocimiento de que el Presidente (William Hurt)ha enviado a un doble a la plaza, por lo que Javier (Edgar Ramirez), soldado de fuerzas especiales que colabora con los terroristas (debido a que éstos tienen prisionero a su hermano) acude al hotel donde se encuentra realmente el Presidente para secuestrarlo. Tras una detonación que mata a muchos agentes, Javier mata al resto de los guardaespaldas y secuestra con ayuda de Sam y Veronica al Presidente, el cual es conducido a una ambulancia. Thomas Barnes hará todo lo posible por rescatar al mandatario, a pesar de la traición de uno de los agentes del Servicio Secreto.

Justo en la Mira establece una premisa interesante al llegar al fondo de los hechos mediante el rompecabezas que se forma con los elementos aportados por diferentes testigos del atentado. Sin embargo, pronto cae en cierta repetitividad al mostrar los mismos hechos con pocas y nuevas variantes. Al final la historia da un vuelco cuando el protagonista tiene la imagen completa del suceso y entonces veremos algunas secuencias de acción donde destaca la persecución de Barnes en automóvil tras los sospechosos. De cualquier manera, se agradece el esfuerzo de presentar de manera diferente una película de acción convencional.

Justo en la Mira: *** (Buena)

Webinar: Website Optimizer, What Should I Test?

We continue to receive a lot of questions about Google Website Optimizer, our website testing and optimization tool. Those of you who are familiar with Website Optimizer may have seen the Quick Start Guide and read our advanced testing strategies. Recently, however, you've asked us for more insight on what you should be testing on your webpages. "Should I test my headlines, images, or buttons? Google, what do I test?"

To answer these questions and more, we'd like to invite you to join Website Optimizer's Product Manager, Tom Leung, and guest presenter Bryan Eisenberg (Chief Persuasion Officer, FutureNow, Inc.) for a free online seminar.

TITLE: Website Optimizer: What Should I Test?
DATE: Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
TIME: 9:00 - 10:00 am PST (Pacific Standard Time)
JOIN US: Register to attend

During this online seminar, Tom and Bryan will:
  • Provide a brief introduction to Website Optimizer for newer users
  • Delve into testing best practice
  • Discuss some of the top elements to test on any webpage
  • Review top mistakes people make when developing new content to test
Upon registration, we also invite you to submit specific topics you'd like Tom and Bryan to cover.

We look forward to seeing you there!

We are calling Amanda and Greg our Wine and Rose, Chic couple. Their wedding will be amazing - lots of fun with a flair for the romantic. Isn't this board fantastic!

Searching right to left



Many of us in the English-searching world don't realize that a large portion of the world's population writes (and types) right-to-left. For the Arabic, Hebrew, and other right-to-left searchers of the world, searching just got a little easier. If you're searching from a supported local interface (e.g. google.co.il/ or google.com.eg/) we now dynamically detect the direction of your query.

Enter a query like [افرض مثلآ] or [מכבי חיפה] and your query will align right so you can type to the left. Enter a query like [2008 world cup soccer] or [(5 - 3) * 32] and it will align left so you can type to the right. Enter a mixed query like [SMS משלוח] and we'll set the alignment and overall direction based (roughly) on the first word.

We've enjoyed learning about bidirectional issues. Enabling applications for bidirectionality is especially tricky because any sentence or phrase may contain a mix of left-to-right text (e.g. English, numbers), right-to-left text (e.g. Arabic, Hebrew), and neutral text (e.g. punctuation). The rules for displaying the direction of characters in individual words are different from the rules for displaying the direction of words in a phrase. Things are further complicated due to widely varying limitations across web browsers.

We hope you'll enjoy the improved search experience!

Tux is Ready!

Tux was so excited to be reminded that we leave for Ireland in 2 days, he ran to the closet and grabbed his scarf - ya know in preparation for the cold weather. Doesn't he look handsome!

A renewed wish for open document standards



The subject of open document standards grows in importance not only for the technically- minded, but for anyone who uses a computer to work on editable documents. Across the board, standards are crucial. They ensure that the devices and technology you use today will continue to work tomorrow, that your DVDs will play in your player, that your calls will go through to any network, and that your documents will be accessible from whichever system you choose today and in the future.

Google supports open document standards and the Open Document Format - ODF, the recognized international standard (ISO 26300). ODF is supported and implemented across the globe, and its communal creation and iteration has helped ensure the transparency, consistency and interoperability necessary in a workable standard.

Currently, the technology industry is evaluating a proposed ISO standard for document formats. Given the importance of a workable standard, Microsoft's submission of Office Open XML (OOXML ) as an additional international standard has caught the attention of many. In September 2007, the original request to ISO was defeated. After further technical analysis of the specification along with all the additional data available on OOXML, Google believes OOXML would be an insufficient and unnecessary standard, designed purely around the needs of Microsoft Office.

We join the ODF Alliance and many other experts in our belief that OOXML doesn't meet the criteria required for a globally-accepted standard. (An overview of our findings and sample technical issues unresolved are posted here.)

As ISO Member bodies around the world work on possible revisions of their vote previously submitted, the deadline of March 30th approaches fast. I invite you to pay close attention, and heed the call of many for unification of OOXML into ODF. A document standards decision may not matter to you today, but as someone who relies on constant access to editable documents, spreadsheets and presentations, it may matter immensely in the near future.

About the Unity bandwidth consortium



As more and more people conduct online searches and interact with applications like Gmail, Google Earth and YouTube, we've had to think outside the box to create a more scalable, affordable and easy to manage network that meets our users' needs worldwide. One of the biggest challenges we face is staying ahead of our broadband capacity needs, especially across Asia.

One of the ways we are addressing this is by working with five other international companies to create a consortium. Collectively we just signed an agreement to build a new high-bandwidth subsea cable system linking the U.S. and Japan (more detail in the press release). This cable system, named Unity, will address increasing broadband demand by providing more capacity to sustain the unprecedented growth in data and Internet traffic between Asia and the U.S. Our participation in building Unity ultimately helps provide our users with faster and more reliable connectivity.

If you're wondering whether we're going into the undersea cable business, the answer is no. We're not competing with telecom providers, but the volume of data we need to move around the world has grown to the point where in some cases we've exceeded the ability traditional players can offer. Our partnership with these companies is just another step in ensuring that we're delivering the best possible experience to people around the world.

Searching for the Wisconsin primaries



We're in the midst of a big election season, and of course that means pollsters and pundits have lots to say about where it will all end. I've been curious to see if their predictions match up with trends in online searches. So as my 20% project, I devised a method to track the number of searches for each candidate's name. I wanted to visually represent the trends I found, so I plotted them onto Google Maps to see where the searches were concentrated. It's fascinating to see how people in a region have turned to the Internet to engage in the primaries.

Last Tuesday during the Wisconsin primary, the maps for Democratic queries (blue) and Republican queries (red) in Wisconsin turned out slightly different than each other. The circles are proportional to the amounts of search terms that contained the name of a Democratic or Republican candidate. Of course, the data includes queries for both positive and negative keywords for each.

From the data, we can see that Democratic candidates were searched more often in Madison, while Republican candidate queries were more widely dispersed throughout the state:





We'll continue to study interesting search trends as they apply to election queries and share other findings with you.

Update: Corrected title.

Introducing Analytics Seminars for Success

Following on the success of our AdWords Seminars for Success program, we'll be introducing a new series of Analytics Seminars for Success starting in March. Led by Google Analytics Authorized Consultants, these full day seminars will cover the in's and out's of using Google Analytics to track and optimize your website's performance.

We'll be offering two different levels of Analytics Seminars:

Introduction & User Training - designed for those who want an introduction to Google Analytics, setting up Analytics, exploring the user interface, and analyzing reports. (Detailed course description)

Advanced Technical Implementation - designed for more technical users who want to do advanced testing, tracking, and code customization. (Detailed course description)

AdWords and Analytics Seminars will be coming to following cities in the next few months:

AdWords
March 10 - Denver - AdWords: Beginner & Intermediate
March 24 - San Francisco Bay Area - AdWords: Beginner & Intermediate
April 7 - San Diego - AdWords: Beginner & Intermediate
April 28 - Dallas - AdWords: Beginner & Intermediate

Analytics
March 25 - San Francisco Bay Area - Analytics: Introduction & User Training
March 25 - Raleigh - Analytics: Introduction & User Training
March 26 - San Francisco Bay Area - Analytics: Advanced Technical Implmentation
March 26 - Raleigh - Analytics: Advanced Technical Implmentation

Sign up 7 days before the seminar date and we'll even throw in a $50 AdWords advertising credit. (View the terms and conditions of advertising credits.) You'll find more information about these seminars, including course outlines and registration instructions at http://www.google.com/awseminars. And of course, if you'd like to be informed when AdWords and Analytics Seminars become available in your area, simply fill out this form.

Supporting cluster computing in the research community



Research and development is the foundation of innovation in the technology industry, and both Google and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are committed to making substantial investments in computer science research and education to ensure that our students, faculty and scientists remain on the leading edge of computing and have the tools necessary to make significant advances. As the technology industry moves into an exciting new phase of massively scaled, highly distributed computing, academic users have expressed a need for resources to engage and explore this emerging model, which is already responsible for many "internet-scale" applications that we now take for granted. That's why we're excited to announce that the NSF will use resources made available via Google and IBM's Academic Cluster Computing Initiative (ACCI) to reach the broader research community and explore new applications for massively scaled, highly distributed computing.

In October of 2007, Google and IBM announced the first pilot phase of the ACCI, which granted several prominent U.S. universities access to a cluster of thousands of processors running Apache's Hadoop, an open source distributed computing platform inspired by Google's file system and MapReduce programming model. (There's a YouTube video showing how students and faculty at the University of Washington have made use of the cluster.) Encouraged by these results, we sought out ways to extend the reach of this technology, and given its prominence in national research funding, the NSF emerged as a natural partner. For decades, the NSF has engaged the U.S. research community by setting research agendas and encouraging the development and adoption of disruptive technology, and this partnership will encourage a broader range of academic researchers to develop innovative new methods of data analysis using the unique advantages of massively parallel systems architecture - without the massive infrastructure costs usually associated with large-scale computer clusters.

Starting this year, the NSF will work to evaluate project proposals from academic researchers across many disciplines and select some of the most interesting and promising projects to receive ACCI computational grants. More details, including information on how to apply for access to these resources via the NSF's Cluster Exploratory (CluE) program, will be posted soon on the NSF site.

Our secret sauce



I was recently a guest columnist on the Freakonomics Blog. There were several interesting questions from the readers, but one was quite striking:

"How can we explain the fairly entrenched position of Google, even though the differences in search algorithms are now only recognizable at the margins? Is there some hidden network effect that makes it better for all of us to use the same search engine?"

It seems that a lot of people are trying to figure out why Google has done so well. The difficulty is that the typical economic forces at work in many technology businesses that lead to entrenchment don't seem to explain our success. Let's take a look at the usual culprits.

Supply side economies of scale. This refers to the fact that a larger business may enjoy a cost advantage. The problem is that though there probably are some scale advantages, they get played out at a reasonably small scale. There are plenty of data centers out there and plenty of people that know how to run them efficiently.

Lock-in. The idea here is that when users have a high cost of switching to an alternative provider, they can be charged high prices that reflect the fact that they are effectively locked in to a single provider. But if you look at Google's business, the competition is only a click away. Users can trivially switch search engines. Most of our large customers also advertise on other search engines. And most publishers get their ads from a variety of providers, including their own sales force. So there are very small costs of switching to an alternative search engine for users, advertisers, and publishers.

Network effects. This refers to a phenomenon where the amount that people are willing to pay for a service depends on the number of people that have already adopted a service. The classic example is a fax machine: the amount that I am willing to pay for a fax machine depends on how many of my correspondents already have one. But this doesn't fit the Google case either: my decision to use Google is irrelevant to other users. It's true that advertisers want to advertise where there are lot of users but that doesn't affect the amount that they are willing to pay on a per user basis. The value of a user to an advertiser depends on how likely he or she is to buy, not how many users there are. A small website about knitting could be a great place to advertise yarn and could charge rates far higher for such ads than a much larger site.

If it isn't economies of scale, lock-in, or network effects, what is it that explains Google's success?

The answer, at least in my opinion, is a much older economic concept called "learning by doing" that was first formalized by Nobel Laureate Kenneth Arrow back in 1962. It refers to the widely-observed phenomenon that the longer a company has been doing something, the better it gets at doing it.

Google has been searching the web for nearly 10 years, which is far longer than our major competitors. It's not surprising that we've learned a lot about how to do this well. We're constantly experimenting with new algorithms. Those that offer an improvement get rolled into the production version; the others go back to the drawing board for refinement.

So I would argue that Google really does have a better product than the competition -- not because we have more or better ingredients, but because we have better recipes. And we are continuously improving those recipes precisely because we know the competition is only a click away. We can't fall back on economies of scale, or switching costs, or network effects, to isolate us from the competition. The only thing we can do is work as hard as we can to keep our search quality better than that of the other engines.

Hiring your Photographer


I had a really nice conversation with an amazing photographer this weekend at our Bridal Show (we're in Florida, our shows are later...) but anyway -

We had a really interesting conversation on how brides are hiring their photographer. A lot of brides are basing their photography decision on the photographers web site and blogs alone.

This trend worries me a bit, photography has a lot to do with personality of the photographer, and the final album. Your wedding should tell a story and if you are hiring a photographer based on their blogs (which you can tell a fair amount of someones personality from their blog) but that one on one time is important as well. This person or people will be in your face your entire wedding day, don't you want to make sure your personalities melt well together?

And the final album is vital, it tells your love story. Don't you want it to be amazing, perfect and totally utterly reflect you and your story?


When looking at photographer options consider all of the options-

  1. Take a look at their website and see if you like their work
  2. Set up a meeting to meet them in person
  3. While looking at the photographers albums see if you really get to know their clients from looking at the book
  4. Make sure you like the person you are talking to

These are very important aspects of wedding photography, don't hire someone just because they have a cool video on their site or a way neat-o blog.... this is YOUR once in a lifetime most cherished celebration, make sure it's perfect!

Roselyn Sanchez (Galeria 1)










Fotos:
Revistas Stuff, Maxim y Hollywood Press

Otras fotos:
Roselyn Sanchez (Galeria 2)

Katrina and SPICE Telecom



Katrina Kaif has been roped in as the new ambassador for the Spice Group ...
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Abhi Bachchan and FM Jeans

Abhishek Bachchan is now endorsing Flying Machine Jeans. Promotional shots for the product are all sprayed up with Junior B ’style’. In this Black & White Catalog, he has given .....

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Petroleo Sangriento

Petróleo Sangriento (There will be Blood, 2007) es una película basada parcialmente en la novela de Upton Sinclair "Oil!" (publicada en 1927) y en algunas referencias de la vida del magnate petrolero Edward L. Doheny. Petróleo Sangriento fue dirigida por Paul Thomas Anderson y estelarizada por Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano y Dillon Freasier. La película nos cuenta la historia de un minero en búsqueda de plata, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), quien accidentalmente descubre un pequeño yacimiento de petróleo en un sitio llamado Coyote Hills (1898). Al principio extraen el petróleo a cubetadas, aunque su gente irá tecnificando el proceso mediante la implementación de sistemas de extracción. Plainview comienza a amasar una pequeña fortuna (1911) y tras conocer de la existencia de abundantes reservas petroleras en un pueblo llamado Little Boston (en California) no duda en utilizar a su pequeño hijo adoptivo, H.W. Plainview (Dillon Freasier), para convencer a los granjeros de que le vendan sus tierras o al menos se las arrienden. El pequeño Plainview sufre un accidente que lo deja sordo, lo cual afecta l relación con su padre, quien termina ingresándolo de manera temporal en un internado. Daniel Plainview encuentra cierta resistencia en un joven predicador de Little Boston, Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), quien desea que parte del dinero obtenido sea destinado en la construcción de una iglesia. Plainview no sólo se enfrentará a la codicia de Sunday sino a la de un supuesto medio hermano y a la de los representantes de la poderosa petrolera Standard Oil, quienes desean comprarle el yacimiento o de lo contrario bloquear el transporte del combustible a través del ferrocarril. Plainview establece un plan alternativo al construir un oleoducto hasta la costa, donde surtirá de combustible a la Union Oil. El único terreno que no posee Plainview es el de un viejo granjero que pertenece a la congregación de Eli Sunday, quien obligará a Daniel a "rebautizarse" a cambio del permiso para usar el terreno para el oleoducto. Pasan los años y Daniel se consolida como magnate petrolero (1927), aunque termina disgustado con su hijo H.W. Plainview, quien tomará su propio camino. Al final, Daniel y Eli Sunday tendrán un nuevo y fatídico encuentro en la mansión de Plainview, cuando Eli acude a pedirle dinero pues ha quedado arruinado. La frase final de Daniel lo resume todo: "I'm finished."

La historia se sitúa en los inicios de la industria petrolera y detalla el desarrollo de la misma, cuando recién comenzaba la lucha económica por el control del energético. Petróleo Sangriento es un interesante relato que se destaca por la excelente actuación de Daniel Day-Lewis, quien aparece en escena casi todo el tiempo y encarna a un obsesivo empresario dispuesto a prevalecer sin importar sobre quién tenga que pasar por encima. Day-Lewis realiza un papel digno del Oscar a Mejor Actor.

Petróleo Sangriento: *** (Buena)

The art of science and engineering



(Cross-posted on the Google Lat Long Blog.)

Google Moon and Google Mars are great examples of products that required much more than pure software engineering to produce. There was quite a bit of science, and even a little bit of artistry, that went into their creation. They both expose large volumes of imagery and information in simple and accessible designs, and it turns out that I'm not the only one who thinks that they qualify as art in this regard.

New York's Museum of Modern Art has honored both products by including them in their exhibition Design and the Elastic Mind, which opens to the public on February 24th. The exhibit showcases objects and systems that pair modern design with innovations in science and engineering in creative ways. Google Moon's Apollo landing panoramas and Google Mars' imagery of the largest canyons and volcanoes in the solar system were intended to do exactly that, by applying Google Maps technology to places that are out of this world.

We're delighted that MOMA saw fit to include us in their lineup, and recommend the show to anyone living in or visiting the New York area. It runs through May 12th.

Pretty Things!


I've been introducing our new interns to the world of inspiration boards, and Kristin did this one. It's one of my favorites so far - although the Brown and Burgundy one is another close one, I'll share that next week.

This board is for Sam and Joey, they want a pink and green fun and classy event. Don't you think she totally nailed it!