Even Lamer Than Second Life

Google Lively
In retrospect, I was a fool to mention Barack Obama in a place where I could get body-slammed. But I was well into my first hour as an avatar in Google Lively, the search company's frustrating and dull new virtual world, and I was bored. I'd already explored the room designed to resemble Google's gleeful corporate headquarters; conversation there never progressed beyond "Hello," "How old are you?" and "What should we do here?" Now I was in a room that looked like a high-school science lab. It was a rough scene. A guy shaped like a bobble-headed baby was punching and kicking the female avatars, and another dude kept blowing things up. "So, have you guys been following Obama's overseas trip?" I ventured, to break the ice. "Didn't catch it," one woman said. Then the baby dropped a huge anvil on me, and that was that.

Digital worlds have won a great deal of press attention—the Sims Online made the cover of Time when it launched in 2002, and there have been perhaps billions of news stories about Second Life. Despite all this hubbub, none of these virtual worlds has managed to gain mainstream appeal. The Sims Online never took off; Electronic Arts, its parent company, plans to shut it down at the end of this month.

Google's new service, which launched in early July, looks like it will fit perfectly in a field littered with failures. Lively is still rough, but even in a more complete form, it seems unlikely to take virtual worlds mainstream. The service is freighted with technical problems: I've had trouble using it for more than an hour without seeing it crash, and even when it works, it's terribly slow (also, it runs only on Windows machines). But tech difficulties are the least of Lively's troubles. Its oppressive dreariness is more worrisome.


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Imagine an amusement park that lacks any rides, games, entertainers, and junk food. That's Lively: The place looks fun, and you're sure to spend a few minutes exploring its pretty 3-D landscapes, but then what? Your only option is to talk to people—and that's where the trouble begins. Google's avatar-designing tools are not yet as sophisticated as those in other online worlds, so everyone in Lively looks pretty similar. You find yourself repeating the same questions to every avatar: How old are you? Where do you live? Oh, that's interesting, and what do you do? Fascinating, tell me more.

Some people may find this a thrilling use of their time; I kept switching back to my e-mail, hoping I'd received some interesting spam. And I wasn't alone. Like prisoners in solitary, everyone here keeps lamenting that they've got nothing to do. It's no wonder people turn to violence. Among the actions Lively allows you to perform on others are body-slam, kick, kung fu, punch, slap, and squash. True, there's also kiss and hug, but boredom doesn't inspire generosity of spirit. Lifting another avatar and throwing him to the ground produces a thrilling animated sequence, and for an instant, at least, you're having fun.

It's entirely possible that in my trips to Lively, I simply visited the wrong places. Unlike Second Life, Lively isn't technically a virtual world—it's more like a virtual apartment complex, a common architecture that connects a group of unrelated "rooms." In Second Life, you're allowed to interact with pretty much everyone else who's using the software. In Lively, your conversations are limited to the other people nearby; anyone else using the software is as good as dead to you.

Google's setup is a clever attempt to widen Lively's appeal. Because different groups of people can hang out in different rooms, Lively could become all things to all people: The jocks can party in one room while the nerds study in another, neither troubling the other. Lively works through a Web interface, and each room can be "embedded" on a Web site as easily as a YouTube clip. Google imagines that sites will use Lively to add a three-dimensional chat space to their existing communities. Lefty politicos might hang out in a Lively room embedded on Daily Kos, say, while those on the right congregate in a room on Red State. Perhaps in those niche-interest rooms, conversation would flow more easily than in rooms on Lively's most-popular list. There's always the chance, though, that a griefer will stop in and drop anvils on everyone.

Virtual worlds haven't yet taken off for the simple reason that talking to strangers in a 3-D space is not for everyone. Multiplayer games like World of Warcraft have a built-in advantage here; if people get sick of each other, they can always just play the game. Purely social worlds like Second Life, places that lack any obvious elements of gameplay, are known to have a large "churn rate"—the vast majority of people who try them out don't take up permanent residence.

Second Life, which garnered tremendous enthusiasm when worldwide brands and political campaigns began advertising in it, has had little luck getting users to stick around. Only 500,000 people regularly log in, and when you land there, it's easy to see why. The service seems to offer nothing more than the chance to do what you normally do on the Internet—IM, e-mail, buy stuff—through a harder-to-use interface. The people who take to this tend to be those comfortable with typed banter, people interested in the aesthetics of online space, people looking for cybersex. The one positive note: Second Life has been held up as a bastion for disabled people, who use it as a way to fantasize about life in other bodies.

For the rest of us, virtual worlds can seem pointless. The other day I was in a crowded Lively room, surrounded by avatars who were dancing, punching, screaming, and laughing. "Nothing to do here, I don't think I'll come back," one guy announced to the room. Finally, I'd made a real connection.
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Twitter anti-spam efforts go overboard

Re-Posted from Jennifer Leggio
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone wrote yesterday that its fight against spam is an “ongoing battle” but his team has taken big steps in stopping the unwanted follows from bots. According to Stone, Twitter’s already implemented a serious action plan:

To combat aggressive following directly we have recently imposed new limits on following—spammy accounts following too many users have been drastically curbed. Those that existed prior to this new limit await review. Our administrative tools for finding and dealing with spam grow more sophisticated as we learn more.

Unfortunately, in doing so three companies who use Twitter to engage with their customers have been limited in their ability to add new followers. Comcast, Jet Blue and Pandora have all confirmed that as of yesterday they were unable to follow folks who have followed them — a swift kick to their customer engagement outreach. The companies aren’t even going around trying to add random new users. These are users who have reached out to them.

I just learned this is hitting individuals as well. Last night Chris Brogan (who follows just under 11,000 — a reciprocated amount) told me that he was, indeed, able to add followers. But as of this morning he cannot. Around midnight last night I heard from Robert Scoble (who follows about 20,000 people — also a reciprocated amount) that he can still follow but I haven’t yet heard back about whether or not he can still do so today.

Frank Eliason of Comcast, who runs the company’s Twitter feed, said when he first found out he could not follow-back customers he immediately contacted Twitter support. What he received was a lackluster reply.

“The first response was to delete followers,” Eliason said. “The second response was it may take a few days but they will look into it.”

So both Comcast and Pandora began deleting followers and in Pandora’s case, only after deleting about 600 followers was the company able to follow new fans who were already following them.

“I do want to be completely respectful in how I use Twitter, so if anyone thinks I’m being too spammy, I’m open to changing how I communicate with Pandora fans on Twitter,” said Lucia Willow, community manager for Pandora.

But these companies, nor individuals, should have to go to these great lengths. None have been flagged for spamming and all have a principle to follow customers who have engaged directly with them or who discuss their companies. As more and more companies turn to Twitter for customer loyalty and customer engagement, it is critical that they, at the very least, be able to follow back the folks who follow them. While Twitter’s stability issues are improving this new battle-gone-awry with spammers might be the next thing to make users look to other services for customer engagement through microblogging.

It appears, according to the Twitter blog, that the service is stabbing at spammers based on a ratio of followers to followees. This works, but it creates issues like the above — something that security experts might call a “false positive” — and it’s nowhere near refined enough.

“Rather than looking at the ratio of followers to following, which could artificially deflate because of people unfollowing a user, Twitter should look into the probability of a user being reciprocated on a following notice to a given individual within a limited period of time” said Adam J. O’Donnell, Ph.D., director of emerging technology at Cloudmark.

“It is computationally cheap to perform that ratio computation, and probably why Twitter decided to do that first,” O’Donnell said. “It’s a great first step but it definitely needs some fine-tuning. Spam is a continuous battle and you need to have many mechanisms to prevent abuse, including this kind of throttling and blacklisting on behavior on a social network.”

While Twitter was not reachable for comment, it said on its blog that its measures may not be as sophisticated as required and the service will continue to grow.

Part of our work will be to keep iterating and evolving our approach to spam so we can provide a good experience on Twitter.

In the meantime, what can companies, community managers and individuals do to not lose reader or customer loyalty?

Whether or not you can immediately follow folks back, engage with them directly. Keep your notification emails handy and reach out to those folks through “@” messages until you can add them directly.
Keep your communications active with your existing Twitter follower base and engage in conversations versus using your feed to merely push information (which could inadvertently get you categorized as a spammer).
If you’ve been forced to unfollow people to keep your account from getting completely blacklisted, communicate honestly to your customers and fans, and let them know that this move was due to Twitter’s current spam policies and not due to your lack of interest in engaging with them. Let them know you WILL be back.
Keep a log of which customers you’ve had to unfollow and re-follow them immediately after Twitter updates its spam procedures.
[Update 7/22/2008: 11:44 a.m. - Receiving word from folks who follow as few as 50 people that they are being capped as well. This does not appear to be a volume issue.

Microsoft’s Google envy is its Vietnam.

Is Microsoft fighting an unwinnable war with its online business and search obsession?

It’s a valid question and one that needs to be asked. At some point you have to wonder if Microsoft’s Google envy is its Vietnam. As Mary Jo Foley noted Microsoft’s answer to its online woes is to spend, spend, spend. You have to wonder at the returns. Some analysts have dismissed these online investment worries because the Microsoft’s broader business is doing fine. But if these online results become a drag just when Microsoft should be at its peak product and earnings cycle it’s an issue.

It’s not like Microsoft just discovered the Web. It has been there all along. It had its epiphany to squash Netscape more than a decade ago. Its properties aren’t half bad. And Microsoft is a top 5 player on the Web in terms of traffic. Good luck turning a profit though. Microsoft is an afterthought in search. Display advertising is hurting the software giant’s online revenue. And Microsoft is hell-bent on conquering a market it knows little about–advertising. Of course, Microsoft wants to know more about advertising and has been acquiring accordingly, but where are those returns?

After Microsoft released its fourth quarter results the online unit stood out for all the wrong reasons. The online services business lost $1.23 billion for the fiscal year ending June 30. I quipped that it’s no wonder that Microsoft is so hot for Yahoo. Something has to save this online business.

And what’s startling about that figure is that Microsoft only lost $732 million in 2007. Microsoft’s online services business was actually profitable in 2005.



Now you can argue that the collapse of Microsoft’s narrowband dial-up service was the issue, but even so operating income is headed in the wrong direction. What’s the explanation? Microsoft is investing in the future. Microsoft will continue to spend heavily on search. Execs told investors it will compete in search–even if it has to pay people for their queries.

But all that spending may not add up to much. Unless Microsoft buys AOL or Yahoo its online business isn’t likely to turn a profit in the current fiscal year. Why? The online business is headed for a dry spell. What does that mean for Microsoft, which has an online business that wasn’t profitable even during good times?

Indeed, Microsoft is already seeing a slowdown. It noted that “monetization lagged” because of “tightening advertising budgets combined with a more competitive display pricing environment.” Sure Microsoft is investing in more premium online content, but that’s also more expensive.

CFO Chris Liddell made it clear the online services business is in investment mode. On a conference call he said:

The online services business has a totally different dynamic and is in a period of significant investment. We do not make these investments lightly, as the loss in this division will be a drag on an otherwise exceptionally good performance. Translation: Microsoft’s online business will lose money in fiscal 2009 too.

However, we believe that the additional investments of several hundreds of millions of dollars is worth the short-term cost, given the opportunity to participate in a market where the opportunity is measured in the tens of billions of dollars.

Liddell also talked about improving social networking assets across all delivery vehicles–PC, phone and Web. Microsoft also plans to “invigorate our MSN portal experience” and blow two-thirds of its online investing dollars on improving search.

When asked how Microsoft will compete with Google on search with or without Yahoo, Liddell said:

In the search area, clearly that’s the one where, relatively speaking, we are the most behind and that’s why we’re taking a different approach, which again I mentioned in the prepared remarks where we are focusing in particular on the areas of search where there’s a strong commercial intent, our verticals like retail, travel, real estate, local. We’re looking at different approaches where we might potentially take a disruptive and innovative business model, for example, Cashback, and then looking at winning distribution deals.

Now in the short-term, that isn’t going to make the division profitable and I think clearly from our guidance, that’s not the case. So as I said in the remarks, if you look at the operating margin structure of the company, you really have to look at the three distinct businesses. We feel good about the margin structure for our core businesses in particular growing double-digit revenue on. Entertainment and devices will be broadly flat but online is going to be negative

In other words, Microsoft’s online business is the appendage that’s going to dilute good gains in its core businesses in fiscal 2009. Microsoft wouldn’t address fiscal 2010 or 2011 or make any projections about when the online business would be profitable.

Bottom line: Microsoft’s online war will continue with no end in sight.

If the battle with Apple is open source’s Vietnam

The real enemy of open source remains what it has always been.

Not Apple Inc. The copyright industries.

Music companies. Movie companies. TV companies. Radio companies. Book companies. Magazine companies. Newspaper companies. (Often, now, the same company.)

Media has feared the Web since the day it was spun. The DMCA and No Electronic Theft Act were aimed at the Internet.

Turned out they were aimed at open source as well. Open source is a child of the Internet.

The copyright industries have demanded for a decade that before their content is released it must carry a Digital Rights Management (DRM) scheme. The other media treat this as a given, as obvious, as a necessity.

Of course it’s nothing of the sort. The success of Apple’s iTunes proved that the insistance on a DRM was counter-productive. Rather than assuring that people pay for each song, clip or pageview, it cemented Apple’s control of the music channel.

Despite a rush away from DRM by the music industry, it’s too late. Meanwhile, the video industries are demanding the same treatment. So you have Viacom’s suit against Google and the MPAA’s attempts to bankrupt BitTorrent users.

This has split the community. FOSS advocates refuse to accept the need for DRMs, so media won’t play on FOSS boxes. Open source companies give in reluctantly. The result is that Linux is a virtual content-free zone.

This is changing, slowly, but now resistance comes from the Linux user side of the divide. Many Linux users obey the FOSS imperative and resist DRMs. Right or wrong is not the question here. It’s just the reality.

Apple has used that reality to its advantage.

Apple embraces DRMs, and any other restrictions the copyright industries want. This is at the heart of its power. Its alliance with the copyright industries has brought Apple from the brink of irrelevance to dominance of the handheld Internet and gadget markets in this decade.

But don’t forget who gave Apple that power. If the battle with Apple is open source’s Vietnam, just remember it’s the copyright industries who began this Cold War.

Google earnings fall short

Google’s second quarter earnings missed Wall Street estimates and executives moved to allay concerns about the company’s ability to weather a dicey ad environment.

The search giant on Thursday reported net income of $1.25 billion, or $3.92 a share, on revenue of $5.37 billion excluding traffic acquisition costs (statement). Excluding charges, Google reported second quarter earnings of $4.63 a share. Wall Street was expecting earnings of $4.74 on revenue of $5.37 billion. A picture is worth 1,000 words:

Aside from an earnings miss a sequential decline in paid clicks couldn’t have helped. However, let’s put this in perspective. Most companies would kill for this quarterly performance.

On the company’s conference call, executives said they were pleased with the quarter and reiterated that Google wasn’t seeing big macroeconomic issues. The most notable item on the call was Google’s analysis of economic conditions.

“We’re very well positioned in a slowdown especially if it gets worse,” said CEO Eric Schmidt, who added there would be “a flight to quality” if the economy tanked.

Hal Varian, Google’s chief economist, talked about “a Wal-Mart effect” where consumers looking to save a few dollars will research and buy more goods online. Presumably these folks would use Google to save a few bucks.

Color me skeptical. Anyone that lived through the dot-com bust has heard these lines before and no company is immune if there’s a recession. Nevertheless, I’d agree Google is better positioned than its peers.

Among the early highlights:

As usual, CEO Eric Schmidt said Google was pleased with “what we think are good results.” He also talked up Google’s deal with Yahoo and reiterating that the two remain fierce competitors.
On DoubleClick, Schmidt noted that integration was underway and the team is together to carry display ad forward.
Varian said that the company was seeing positive trends across its verticals even in ones–financial services and automotive that have been getting pummeled. The message: ROI based ads will be last to get cut.
Executives didn’t offer any real color on DoubleClick’s performance other than noting that the unit was doing well. Memo to Google: It would sure be nice to see a display ad breakout next go round.
By the numbers (revenue includes TAC):

Operating income was $1.58 billion, up from $1.55 billion in the first quarter.
Traffic acquisition costs were $1.47 billion.
Google site revenue was $3.53 billion, up 42 percent from a year ago, but up 4 percent from the first quarter. Partner sites (AdSense) was $1.66 billion, up 22 percent from a year ago, but down from the first quarter. International revenue was 52 percent of the total compared to 48 percent from a year ago.
Paid clicks were up 19 percent, but down 1 percent from the first quarter.
Google had 19,604 full-time employees as of June 30.
Capital expenditures were $698 million, most of which was spent on IT.
According to Citi analyst Mark Mahaney’s cheat sheet, Google’s results generally fell into the neutral to negative category.

Run for WWF and Help Fight Climate Change

Run for WWF and Help Fight Climate Change
Sign up to run the Nike+ Human Race and help WWF fight climate change. Friends and family can sponsor your participation as you train for the 10K and run on August 31. Once you register, you can use the Nike+ pledge tool to raise money for WWF with every mile you run. Sign up today at nikeplus.com.

Unmanned flights give peek at melting ice

Unmanned flights give peek at melting ice
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Aircraft flying over Greenland will offer a view of the melting Greenland Ice Sheet and its potential for raising the global sea level, U.S. scientists said.

The two unmanned Manta planes will help scientists determine whether the ice sheet's melt rate will accelerate, Betsy Weatherhead of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory said in a news release.

A view of the region from 500-1,000 feet above the ice can provide fine-scale measurements of the water and surface of the glaciers, said Weatherhead, a scientist for the Arctic test bed of NOAA's Unmanned Aircraft Systems program. The Mantas can provide that view, cruising at low altitudes over little-known terrain without endangering humans.

The Greenland Ice Sheet is shrinking at a rate of 40-50 cubic miles annually, a pace that's accelerating, NOAA said. Better observations could help explain the role of short-lived surface lakes and why the edges of the ice sheet are melting so fast.

"We're concerned that as temperatures rise, more heat will cause more melting, more melting will create bigger lakes, and the rate of ice loss will accelerate," said NOAA's John Adler, the project manager.

The unmanned flights will last three weeks.

Intel rolls out Centrino 2 processor

Intel on Tuesday launched its Centrino 2 processor with integrated graphics for notebooks. This chip platform, formerly known as Montevina, was delayed by a few weeks due to technical and certification problems.

The news comes as Intel preps its second quarter earnings, which will be closely watched. Intel is expected to report earnings of 25 cents a share after market close and the results should be on target. Why? Most of Intel’s sales come from abroad–it is fairly insulated from the U.S. economy. Nevertheless, profit margins will be under the microscope to see if AMD is putting up a pricing fight.

Intel had planned to roll out Centrino 2 about the same time AMD unveiled its Puma platform for notebook PCs. AMD, however, was out first with its chip and integrated graphics–a rare win for Intel’s primary rival.

In the meantime, the Centrino 2 lineup includes dual-core processors–including one running at 3.06 GHz–with plans to unveil eight processors in 90 days. That batch will include the first mobile quad-core chips. Intel plans to have a lineup of 14 new processors to power laptops. The first installment of the Centrino 2 rollout includes five dual core processors.

Intel’s big pitch with the Centrino 2 is better performance, improved battery life, faster Wi-Fi and WiMax in the future. Intel expects nearly 250 systems built on the Centrino 2 platform.

Among the details:

The processors come with a faster 1066MHz front side bus and up to 6MB of L2 cache;
Three versions of the first five operate at 25 watts;
Processor components can idle to save power;
Wi-Fi data rates up to 450 Mbps.
Intel said Centrino 2 laptops will hit the market later this month and into August.

Demographics of the United States are shifting radically to the grey

It’s easy and fashionable to talk about “digital natives” that have grown up online, but the demographics of the United States are shifting radically to the grey and Web services developers should heed that news and make changes in their products and plans as a result. Old coots, like me, may hold the key to your future.

Advertising Age offers a fine summary of the demographic changes ahead in an article posted today (sorry, it’s a subscription site). The key figure is that the average head-of-household in the U.S. today is 49.5 years old and that 80 percent of the growth in number of households during the next half-decade will be “among those headed by people 55 and older.” These are also the people with the most money to spend in coming years.

The number of households headed by 35- to 44-year-olds and 45 to 54 year-olds will actually decrease by one percent in the next five years.

What does it mean for developers? Well, first off, you’d better start thinking about the size of type and detail in graphical components used in your designs. I know many older people who cannot read anything on a mobile phone. The iPhone appeals to older people I talk to because they can zoom in on the type. One of the winning features of the Amazon Kindle, based on my talking with people about mine, is that the text size can be adjusted to accommodate poor eyesight.

But take it a step further—the CAPTCHA challenges used by many commerce and comment systems are virtually impossible to read without being able to zoom in to see the letters more clearly. CAPTCHA phrases that frustrate older people who cannot see as well as a 20-year-old could be costing you 20 percent of your conversions, based on the number of people over 50 using the Web today, and it will only get worse.

Another feature of this older Web, according to Ad Age, is the potential for a significant change in the risk tolerance of people in many buying circumstances. “A risk-averse consumer wants to hear at least two of these three words: guarantee, safety and experience,” according to Peter Francese, of Ogilvy & Mather, who authored the Ad Age article.

The care-free Web where everyone shares every personal detail isn’t likely to define the future of Web services—early adopters nothwithstanding, because it is a mistake to judge the market based on the behavior of older innovators that dominate among early adopters. More typical behavior asserts itself, on average, every time. We need to be designing services that honor the desire for privacy.

This “cautious” environment is critical to your Web business today, even if you plan to cash out well before your members get old. After the initial thrill of large audiences collecting rapidly around a Web service, the valuation of acquisitions will increasingly factor in the service’s ability to retain users over a long time. If your business is built on winning 20-year-olds and keeping them as customers for the five or so years before they start a family, that’s not going to be sustainable.

Indeed, the next largest group will be among households headed by 25 to 34 year olds, in other words those establishing families. They’ll be different families than in their parents’ generation, but security and privacy, especially with regard to the online activity of children, will nevertheless be more important to these people than during their college years. That is the fact of growing up.

The other surprising element of the demographic shift, at least to me, is the increasing divergence between regions of the United States. According to Francese, we’re a nation that is deciding to live in groups close to our own age and race. The West is decidedly younger and more diverse ethnically diverse than the rest of the country, while the Northeast is becoming an enclave of the older family. This fragmentation of demographic blocks appears to be accelerating, because younger people are increasingly diverse and mobile.

As we design applications that address personal needs and geographic economies, software developers may need to be thinking in terms of regionalizing services even within the formally monolithic U.S. market. That means acknowledging and serving different regions and multiple languages (particularly as a bridge to being engaged with the American experience) in our software. With 40 percent of U.S. population growth coming from immigration, this may be your greatest opportunity to start new long-lasting relationships with customers.

It won’t be our father’s Web, but neither will it be our children’s Web. Take a cue from what marketers are worrying about in their planning when thinking about the right designs for Web services and user experience.

Toyota is upgrading its Prius solar panels on the roof

July 8, 2008 9:57 AM PDT
Toyota to launch solar-powered Prius
Posted by Rory Reid Post a comment
(Credit: Toyota)
We applaud any carmaker that harnesses the power of technology, particularly if it helps fuel economy, make driving fun, or makes us look cool. That's why we launched the U.K. version of Car Tech.

So our ears perked up when we heard Toyota is upgrading its Prius. Not only will it feature a hybrid electric-petrol engine and automatic self-parking (see its robot skillz in action ), but it will soon get solar panels on the roof to power its air-conditioning system.

That last bit might not sound too exciting, but it has potential. Automotive air-con systems are usually powered by your car's engine, which has to work harder to keep the car moving, and its occupants cool. By using a solar panel and electric motor combo, Toyota is able to use the power of the sun against itself, save gas, and reduce CO2 emissions.

It's a shame these particular solar panels can't be used to power the entire vehicle, but there is hope: A U.S. company called SEV has already demonstrated a modified, solar-powered Prius that improves fuel economy by around 29 per cent. According to SEV, this gives you a daily electric-only range of 20 miles.

We'll have to wait until 2009 to see whether Toyota's implementation makes a real difference, but in the meantime, you can watch video review of the current Prius at www.toyota.com.

Google forced 2 turn over YouTube user histories 2 Viacom

The latest battle in Google’s ongoing court battle with Viacom over YouTube copyright infringement is a glass half full or half empty situation. In the half full department, Google scored a legal victory as a judge shot down Viacom requests for the search giant’s search code and other critical intellectual property. In the half empty department, Google is being forced to turn over YouTube user histories to Viacom.

While much of today’s debate (Techmeme) about this ruling will focus on user histories, the ruling needs to be viewed with a broader lens.

From a business perspective Google comes out ahead–its intellectual property won’t be floated around a courtroom. It’s fascinating how Viacom was asking for everything from source code to ad and video schemas–in other words most of the IP behind Google’s business. Reading the ruling shows what a fishing expedition–or witch-hunt for users–this lawsuit has become. Even with confidentiality, it’s clear Viacom could have used this suit to glean some competitive edge. On the flip side, users clearly lose, but at least Viacom isn’t sorting through your private videos.

Here’s the scorecard from Tuesday’s ruling by Louis Stanton (PDF), a judge in the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York:

Viacom was seeking Google’s search code to see how the company encourages copyright infringement on YouTube.

Specifically:

Plaintiffs move jointly pursuant compel YouTube and Google to produce certain electronically stored information and documents, including a critical trade secret: the computer source code which controls both the YouTube.com search function and Google’s internet search tool “Google.com”. YouTube and Google cross-move for a protective order barring disclosure of that search code, which they contend is responsible for Google’s growth “from its founding in 1998 to a multi-national presence with more than 16,000 employees and a market valuation of roughly $150 billion”, and cannot be disclosed without risking the loss of the business.

The judge agreed that the search code “is of enormous commercial value” and could cause harm to Google even with a confidentiality agreement. Viacom argued that the only way to check if Google’s claim that its code couldn’t determine between infringement and non-infringement was to check out the code. The judge denied Viacom’s request.

Viacom also wanted Google to produce another trade secret, the source code for its video ID program. Specifically:

Plaintiffs also move to compel production of another undisputed trade secret, the computer source code for the newly invented “Video ID” program. Using that program, copyright owners may furnish YouTube with video reference samples, which YouTube will use to search for and locate video clips in its library which have characteristics sufficiently matching those of the samples as to suggest infringement. That program’s source code is the product of “approximately 50,000 man hours of engineering time and millions of dollars of research and development costs”, and maintaining its confidentiality is essential to prevent others from creating competing programs without any equivalent investment, and to bar users who wish to post infringing content onto YouTube.com from learning ways to trick the Video ID program and thus “escape detection.”

Viacom wanted the code to demonstrate what Google could be doing, but wasn’t to control infringement. The judge told Viacom that they could observe Video ID’s operation and glean the information it wanted. The request was denied.

Viacom wanted Google to turn over all removed videos from YouTube.

Specifically, Viacom argued that “direct access to the removed videos is essential to
identify which (if any) infringe their alleged copyrights.” Google said Viacom should have to specify the videos it wants. The judge sided with Viacom. Google has to hand over all of the removed videos, a total in the millions.

Viacom wanted video related data from YouTube’s logging database. That’s a toned down way to say that Viacom wanted login IDs, the time a user watched it, the IP address and the video identifier. Specifically:

Plaintiffs seek all data from the Logging database concerning each time a YouTube video has been viewed on the YouTube website or through embedding on a third-party website. They need the data to compare the attractiveness of allegedly infringing videos with that of non-infringing videos. A markedly higher proportion of infringing-video watching may bear on plaintiffs’ vicarious liability claim, and defendants’ substantial non-infringing use defense. Defendants argue generally that plaintiffs’ request is unduly burdensome because producing the enormous amount of information in the Logging database (about 12 terabytes of data) “would be expensive and time-consuming, particularly in light of the need to examine the contents for privileged and work product material.”

And.

Defendants argue that the data should not be disclosed because of the users’ privacy concerns, saying that “Plaintiffs would likely be able to determine the viewing and video uploading habits of YouTube’s users based on the user’s login ID and the user’s IP address”. But defendants cite no authority barring them from disclosing such information in civil discovery proceedings, and their privacy concerns are speculative.

The judge ruled for Viacom and Google has to produce the user histories.

Viacom wanted the databases that have information about each video available in the YouTube collection–title, keywords, comments and whether it has been flagged as inappropriate among other items.

Specifically, Viacom wanted the info to show “that defendants have an ability to control infringements. Plaintiffs contend that only direct access to the electronic data would give them “the ability to quickly search, sort and analyze millions of pieces of information.”

Google argued that Viacom’s request was too broad. The judge denied Viacom’s request.

Viacom wanted Google’s advertising and video content schemas–the index that shows how data in a database is organized.

Google obviously argued that the advertising schemas are confidential. Viacom argued that the schema is relevant to show what Google “could have or should have known about the extent to which their advertising revenues were associated with infringing content, and the extent to which Defendants had the ability to control, block or prevent advertising from being associated with infringing videos.”

On the video database schema, Viacom has a similar argument. Viacom wanted to know whether Google was really trying to control infringement. Google said that schema is too critical to its business.

The judge ruled for Google on both schemas.

Viacom wanted data on all private videos from YouTube users. A private video is one where only a person authorized by a user can view it.

Google argued that Viacom’s request is a privacy violation under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Viacom argued that it needed to view these private videos to gauge copyright violations.

The judge ruled for Google.

Final score: While Google has to hand over user histories the outcome of this ruling could have been a lot worse. For instance, Viacom could have sorted through millions of private videos–say a childbirth or 2 year old birthday party video for family–in a quest for some Rugrats copyright violation. Google could have handed over most of its advertising IP to Viacom, which would have likely benefited because it depends on advertising too.

What the shiitake mushroom(Lentinula edodes) is " Sushi "

In Japanese cuisine, sushi (寿司, 鮨, 鮓?) is vinegared rice, usually topped with other ingredients, including fish, various meats, and vegetables. Outside of Japan, sushi is sometimes misunderstood to mean the raw fish itself, or even any fresh raw-seafood dishes.[1] In Japan, sliced raw fish alone is called sashimi and is distinct from sushi, as sashimi is the raw fish component, not the rice component. The word sushi itself comes from an outdated grammatical form of a word that is no longer used in other contexts; literally, sushi means "it's sour."
There are various types of sushi: sushi served rolled inside nori (dried and pressed layer sheets of seaweed or alga) called makizushi (巻き) or rolls; sushi made with toppings laid with hand-formed clumps of rice called nigirizushi (にぎり); toppings stuffed into a small pouch of fried tofu called inarizushi; and toppings served scattered over a bowl of sushi rice called chirashi-zushi (ちらし).
History

Main article: History of sushi
The main idea in the preparation of sushi is the preservation and fermentation of fish with salt and rice, a process that has been traced back to China and Southeast Asia where fish and rice fermentation dishes still exist today. The science behind the fermentation of fish in rice is that the vinegar produced from the fermenting rice breaks the fish down into amino acids. This results in one of the five basic tastes, called umami in Japanese.[2] The oldest form of sushi in Japan, Narezushi still very closely resembles this process. In Japan, Narezushi evolved into Oshizushi and ultimately Edomae nigirizushi, which is what the world today knows as "sushi".
Modern Japanese sushi has little resemblance to the traditional lacto-fermented rice dish. Originally, when the fermented fish was taken out of the rice, only the fish was consumed and the fermented rice was discarded. The strong-tasting and -smelling funazushi, a kind of narezushi made near Lake Biwa in Japan, resembles the traditional fermented dish.
Beginning in the Muromachi period (1336–1573) of Japan, vinegar was added to the mixture for better taste and for preservation. The vinegar accentuated the rice's sourness, and was known to increase its life span, allowing the fermentation process to be shortened and eventually abandoned. In the following centuries, sushi in Osaka evolved into oshi-zushi, the seafood and the rice were pressed using wooden (usually bamboo) molds. By the mid 18th century, this form of sushi had reached Edo (contemporary Tokyo).[3]


Sushi by Hiroshige in Edo period
The contemporary version, internationally known as "sushi," was invented by Hanaya Yohei (華屋与兵衛; 1799–1858) at the end of Edo period in Edo. The sushi invented by Hanaya was an early form of fast food that was not fermented (it was therefore prepared quickly) and could be eaten with one's hands roadside or in a theatre.[3] Originally, this sushi was known as Edomae zushi, because it used freshly caught fish in the Edo-mae (Edo Bay or Tokyo Bay). Though the fish used in modern sushi no longer usually comes from Tokyo Bay, it is still formally known as Edomae nigirizushi.
[edit]Types of sushi



Types of sushi
The common ingredient across all the different kinds of sushi is sushi rice (known as shari in Japanese). The variety in sushi arises from the different fillings and toppings, condiments, and the way these ingredients are put together. The same ingredients may be assembled in a traditional or a contemporary way, creating a very different final result.[4]
[edit]Nigiri-zushi
Nigiri-zushi (握り寿司, lit. hand-formed sushi). This is the most typical form of sushi in restaurants[citation needed]. It consists of an oblong mound of sushi rice that is pressed between the palms of the hands, with a speck of wasabi and a slice of topping called neta draped over it. This is possibly bound with a thin band of nori, and is often served in pairs.
Gunkan-maki (軍艦巻, lit. warship roll). A special type of nigiri-zushi: an oval, hand-formed clump of sushi rice that has a strip of "nori" wrapped around its perimeter to form a vessel that is filled in with topping(s). The topping is typically some soft, loose or fine-chopped ingredient that requires the confinement of nori such as roe, natto, oysters, and quail eggs. Gunkan-maki was invented at the Ginza Kyubey (Kubei) restaurant in 1931;[5][6] its invention significantly expanded the repertoire of soft toppings used in sushi.
[edit]Maki-zushi (roll)


Rolling maki


Maki rolls
Makizushi (巻き寿司, lit. rolled sushi). A cylindrical piece, formed with the help of a bamboo mat, called a makisu (巻き簾). Makizushi is generally wrapped in nori, but can occasionally be found wrapped in a thin omelette, sesame seeds, cucumber, or parsley.[1] Makizushi is usually cut into six or eight pieces, which constitutes a single roll order. Below are some common types of makizushi, but many other kinds exist.
Futomaki (太巻き, lit. large or fat rolls). A large cylindrical piece, with nori on the outside. A typical futomaki is three or four centimeters (1.5 in) in diameter. They are often made with two or three fillings that are chosen for their complementary tastes and colors. During the Setsubun festival, it is traditional in Kansai to eat uncut futomaki in its cylindrical form. Futomaki is generally vegetarian, but may include toppings such as tiny fish eggs.
Hosomaki (細巻き, lit. thin rolls). A small cylindrical piece, with the nori on the outside. A typical hosomaki has a diameter of about two centimeters (0.75 in). They generally contain only one filling, often tuna, cucumber, kanpyō, thinly sliced carrots, or, more recently, avocado.
Kappamaki, (河童巻き) a kind of Hosomaki filled with cucumber, is named after the Japanese legendary water imp fond of cucumbers called the kappa. Traditionally, Kappamaki is consumed to clear the palate between eating raw fish and other kinds of food, so that the flavors of the fish are distinct from the tastes of other foods.
Tekkamaki (鉄火巻き) is a kind of Hosomaki filled with raw tuna. Although some believe that the name "Tekka", meaning 'red hot iron', alludes to the color of the tuna flesh, it actually originated as a quick snack to eat in gambling dens called "Tekkaba (鉄火場)", much like the sandwich.[7][8]
Negitoromaki (ねぎとろ巻) is a kind of Hosomaki filled with scallion and chopped tuna. Fatty tuna is often used in this style.
Tsunamayomaki (ツナマヨ巻) is a kind of Hosomaki filled with canned tuna tossed with mayonnaise.
Uramaki (裏巻き, lit. inside-out rolls). A medium-sized cylindrical piece, with two or more fillings. Uramaki differs from other maki because the rice is on the outside and the nori inside. The filling is in the center surrounded by nori, then a layer of rice, and an outer coating of some other ingredients such as roe or toasted sesame seeds. It can be made with different fillings such as tuna, crab meat, avocado, mayonnaise, cucumber, carrots. This is typically thought of as an invention to suit the American palate [2], and is not commonly seen in Japan. The increasing popularity of sushi in North America, as well as around the world, has resulted in numerous kinds of uramaki and regional off-shoots being created, such as the California roll, the B.C. roll (grilled salmon skin), and the Philadelphia roll (cream cheese).
The caterpillar roll includes avocado, unagi, and carrot greens.
The dynamite roll includes yellowtail (hamachi), and fillings such as bean sprouts, carrots, chili and spicy mayo.
The rainbow roll features sashimi, layered outside with rice.
The spider roll includes fried soft shell crab and other fillings such as cucumber, avocado, daikon sprouts or lettuce, roe, and spicy mayonnaise.
A Philadelphia roll contains smoked salmon, cream cheese, cucumber, and/or onion.
A BC roll has grilled salmon with sweet sauce and cucumber. It is named after British Columbia for its famous wild Pacific salmon.
A crunchy roll is typically a California roll with shrimp tempura wrapped inside with the other ingredients, with the outside of the roll coated with fried tempura batter crumbs. It is often served with chili sauce on the side.
The Godzilla Roll includes yellowtail, deep-fried in tempura, topped with teriyaki and a stripe of hot sauce, and then sprinkled with green onions.
Other rolls may include scallops, spicy tuna, beef or chicken or teriyaki roll, okra, vegetables, and cheese. Sushi rolls can also be made with Brown rice and black rice. These have also appeared in Japanese cuisine.
Temaki (手巻き, lit. hand rolls). A large cone-shaped piece of nori on the outside and the ingredients spilling out the wide end. A typical temaki is about ten centimeters (4 in) long, and is eaten with fingers because it is too awkward to pick it up with chopsticks. For optimal taste and texture, Temaki must be eaten quickly after being made because the nori cone soon absorbs moisture from the filling and loses its crispness and becomes somewhat difficult to bite.


Makizushi selection (Futomaki and Inarizushi at right) from a Kansai Super store.
Inari-zushi (稲荷寿司, stuffed sushi). A pouch of fried tofu filled with usually just sushi rice. It is named after the Shinto god Inari, who is believed to have a fondness for fried tofu. The pouch is normally fashioned as deep-fried tofu (油揚げ, abura age). Regional variations include pouches are made of a thin omelet (帛紗寿司, fukusa-zushi or 茶巾寿司, chakin-zushi) or dried gourd shavings (干瓢, kanpyō).
[edit]Oshizushi
Oshizushi (押し寿司, lit. pressed sushi). A block-shaped piece formed using a wooden mold, called an oshibako. The chef lines the bottom of the oshibako with the toppings, covers them with sushi rice, and then presses the lid of the mold down to create a compact, rectilinear block. The block is removed from the mold and then cut into bite-sized pieces. This variety originates from the Kansai Region and is a favourite and specialty of Osaka.
[edit]Chirashizushi


Chirashizushi
Chirashizushi (ちらし寿司, lit. scattered sushi). A bowl of sushi rice with other ingredients mixed in (also refers to barazushi). It is commonly eaten in Japan because it is filling, fast and easy to make. Chirashizushi most often varies regionally because it is eaten annually as a part of the Doll Festival, celebrated only during March in Japan.
Edomae chirashizushi (Edo-style scattered sushi) is an uncooked ingredient that is arranged artfully on top of the sushi rice in a bowl.
Gomokuzushi (Kansai-style sushi). Cooked or uncooked ingredients mixed in the body of rice in a bowl.
[edit]Narezushi (old style fermented sushi)
Narezushi (熟れ寿司, lit. matured sushi) is an older form of sushi. Skinned and gutted fish are stuffed with salt, placed in a wooden barrel, doused with salt again, and then weighed down with a heavy tsukemonoishi (pickling stone). They are supposedly salted for ten days to a month, then placed in water for 15 minutes to an hour. They are then placed in another barrel, sandwiched, and layered with cooled steamed rice and fish. Then the mixture is again partially sealed with otoshibuta and a pickling stone. As days pass, water seeps out, which must be removed. Six months later, this funazushi can be eaten, and remains edible for another six months or more.
Funazushi (鮒寿司) is a dish in Japanese cooking, which involves with anaerobic lacto-fermentation of fresh water fish, funa (鮒, crucian carp). The dish is famous as a regional dish from Shiga Prefecture, It is considered to be a chinmi, a delicacy in Japanese cooking.[9]
[edit]Temarizushi
Temarizushi are ball-shaped sushi made by pressing rice and fish into a ball-shaped form by hand using a plastic wrap. They are quite easy to make and thus a good starting point for beginners.[citation needed]
[edit]Ingredients



Various nigiri sushi in an ice sculpture.
All sushi has a base of specially prepared rice, and complemented with other ingredients.
[edit]Sushi rice
Sushi is made with white, short-grained, Japanese rice mixed with a dressing made of rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and occasionally kombu & sake. It is usually cooled to room temperature before being used for a filling in a sushi. In some fusion cuisine restaurants, short grain brown rice and wild rice are also used.
Sushi rice (sushi-meshi) is prepared with short-grain Japanese rice, which has a consistency that differs from long-grain strains such as India. The essential quality is its stickiness. Rice that is too sticky has a mushy texture; if not sticky enough, it feels dry. Freshly harvested rice (shinmai) typically has too much water, and requires extra time to drain the rice cooker after washing.
There are regional variations in sushi rice and, of course, individual chefs have their individual methods. Most of the variations are in the rice vinegar dressing: "the Tokyo version of the dressing commonly uses more salt; in Osaka, the dressing has more sugar."
[edit]Nori


A sheet of nori
The seaweed wrappers used in maki and temaki are called nori. Nori is an alga, traditionally cultivated into the harbors of Japan. Originally, algae was scraped from dock pilings, rolled out into thin, edible sheets, and dried in the sun, in a process similar to making rice paper. Whereas in Japan Nori may never be toasted before being used in food, many brands found in the U.S. reach drying temperatures above 108 degrees Fahrenheit.
Today, the commercial product is farmed, produced, toasted, packaged, and sold in standard-size sheets in about 18 cm by 21 cm (7 in by 8 in). Higher quality nori is thick, smooth, shiny, green,[citation needed] and has no holes. When stored for several months, nori sheets can change color to dark green-brownish.
Nori by itself is an edible snack and is available with salt or flavored with teriyaki sauce. The flavored variety, however, tends to be of lesser quality and is not suitable for sushi.
[edit]Omelette

Wikibooks Cookbook has an article on
Inarizushi
When making fukusazushi, a paper-thin omelet may replace a sheet of nori as the wrapping. The omelet is traditionally made on a rectangular omelet pan (makiyakinabe), and used to form the pouch for the rice and fillings.
[edit]Toppings and fillings


Yaki Anago-Ippon-Nigiri (焼きアナゴ一本握り). A roasted and sweet sauced whole conger.
Main article: List of sushi and sashimi ingredients
Fish
For culinary, sanitary, and aesthetic reasons, fish eaten raw must be fresher and of higher quality than fish which is cooked.
Professional sushi chefs are trained to recognize good fish. Important attributes include smells, colour, and being free of obvious parasites that normal commercial inspection do not detect (many go undetected).
Only ocean fish are used raw in sushi; freshwater fish are more likely to harbour parasites that are harmful to humans if uncooked.
Commonly-used fish are tuna (akami, chūtoro, shiro-maguro, toro), Japanese amberjack, also known as yellowtail (hamachi), snapper (kurodai), conger (hamo), mackerel (saba), salmon (sake), and eel (anago and unagi). The most valued sushi ingredient is toro, the fatty cut of tuna. This comes in a variety of ōtoro (often from the bluefin species of tuna) and chūtoro, meaning middle toro, implying that it is halfway into the fattiness between toro and regular red tuna (akami).
Aburi style refers to nigiri sushi where the fish is partially grilled (topside) and partially raw.
Seafood
Other seafoods such as squid (ika), octopus (tako), shrimp (ebi and amaebi), clam (mirugai, aoyagi and akagi), fish roe (ikura, masago, kazunoko and tobiko), sea urchin (uni), crab (kani), and various kinds of shellfish (abalone, prawn, scallop) are the most popular seafoods in sushi. Oysters, however, are not typically put in sushi because the taste is not thought to go well with the rice. However, some sushi restaurants in New Orleans are known to serve Fried Oyster Rolls and Crawfish rolls.


Ebifurai-Maki(エビフライ巻き). Fried-Shrimp Roll.
Vegetables
Pickled daikon radish (takuan) in shinko maki, pickled vegetables (tsukemono), fermented soybeans (nattō) in nattō maki, avocado in California rolls, cucumber in kappa maki, asparagus, yam, pickled ume (umeboshi), gourd (kampyō), burdock (gobo), and sweet corn may be mixed with mayonnaise.
Red meat
Beef, ham, spam, sausage, and horse meat are often lightly cooked.
Note: It is a common misconception that in Hawaii, fried Spam is a popular local variation for sushi. In reality, Spam musubi differs from sushi in that its rice lacks the vinegar required to classify it. Spam musubi is correctly classified as onigiri.
Other fillings
Tofu, Eggs (in the form of slightly sweet, layered omelet called tamagoyaki), and raw quail eggs ride as a gunkan-maki topping.


Date-Maki (伊達巻). Futomaki wrapped with sweet-tamagoyaki.
[edit]Condiments
Shōyu
The common name for soy sauce. In sushi restaurants, it may also be referred to as murasaki (lit. "purple").
Wasabi
A piquant paste made from the grated root of the wasabi plant. Real wasabi (hon-wasabi) is Wasabi japonica. Hon-wasabi has anti-microbial properties and may reduce the risk of food poisoning.[10] The traditional grating tool for wasabi is a sharkskin grater or samegawa oroshi.
An imitation wasabi (seiyo-wasabi), made from horseradish and mustard powder and dyed green is common. It is found at lower-end kaiten zushi restaurants, in bento box sushi and at most restaurants outside of Japan. If it is manufactured in Japan, it may be labelled "Japanese Horseradish".[11]
In sushi restaurants, wasabi may be referred to as namida ("tears").
Gari
Sweet, pickled ginger. Eaten to both cleanse the palate as well as to aid in the digestive process.
Ocha
In Japan, green tea (ocha) is invariably served together with sushi. Better sushi restaurants often use a distinctive premium tea known as mecha. In sushi vocabulary, green tea is known as agari.
[edit]Nutritional information

The main ingredients of sushi, raw fish and rice are naturally low in fat (with the exception of some rolls, especially Western style rolls), high in protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. Specifically:
Fats: Most seafood are naturally low in fat; and what fat is found in them is generally rich in unsaturated fat Omega-3. Since sushi is often served raw, no fat is introduced in its preparation.
Proteins: Fish, tofu, seafood, egg, and many other sushi fillings contain high levels of protein.
Vitamins and Minerals: These are found in many of the vegetables used for sushi. For example, the gari and nori used to make sushi are both rich in nutrients. Other vegetables wrapped within the sushi also offer various degrees of nutritional value.
Carbohydrates: These are found in the rice and the vegetables.
[edit]Health risks
Some fish such as tuna, especially bluefin, can carry high levels of mercury and can be hazardous when consumed in large quantities. As of January 2008, quite a few New York City restaurants offer tuna sushi with high enough concentration of mercury that a weekly reference dose is contained in 2−6 pieces, depending on the amount of tuna in sushi and the person's weight.[12] Consuming raw or undercooked seafood presents the risk of anisakiasis.[13][14] Uncooked seafood also often carries the bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which can cause diarrhea.
Sushi is usually eaten with salty condiments such as soy sauce, which are added by the diner in whatever quantity is desired. Those with hypertension or renal disorders must be careful not to inadvertently eat too much salt through overuse of salty condiments.
[edit]Presentation



Sushi chef preparing Nigirizushi, Kyoto, Japan.
In Japan, and increasingly abroad, conveyor belt sushi/sushi train (kaiten zushi) restaurants are a popular, cost effective way of eating sushi. At these restaurants, the sushi is served on color-coded plates, with each color denoting the cost of the sushi serving. The plates are placed on a conveyor belt or boats floating in a moat. As the belt or boat passes, the customers choose their desired plates. After finishing, the bill is tallied by counting how many plates of each color have been taken. Some kaiten sushi restaurants in Japan operate on a fixed price system, with each plate, consisting usually of two pieces of sushi, generally costing between ¥100 and ¥200.
More traditionally, sushi is served on minimalist Japanese-style, geometric, wood or lacquer plates which are mono- or duo-tone in color, in keeping with the aesthetic qualities of this cuisine. Many small sushi restaurants actually use no plates — the sushi is eaten directly off of the wooden counter, usually with one's hands.
Modern fusion presentation has given sushi a European sensibility, taking Japanese minimalism and garnishing it with Western gestures such as the colorful arrangement of edible ingredients, the use of differently flavored sauces, and the mixing of foreign flavors. Highly suggestive of French cuisine, this deviates somewhat from the more traditional, austere style of Japanese sushi.
[edit]Etiquette

Sushi can be eaten either by hand or using chopsticks, although traditionally nigiri is eaten with the fingers because the rice is packed loosely so as to fall apart in one's mouth, and would disintegrate on chopsticks.[15] In Tokugawa Shogunate, most sushi stands stood in front of Sentō. So the customers' fingers seemed to be clean, otherwise it seemed to be very rude to eat anything without chopsticks. Nowadays, customers are considered to wipe fingers well with oshibori(wet towel) before eating.
Traditionally, one should start with white-fleshed or milder-tasting items and proceed into darker, stronger-flavored varieties later. Condiments (soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger) may be used as desired. However, consider the following recommendations:
The soy sauce is to flavor the fish, not the rice, and should be used sparingly so as to not overwhelm the flavor of the fish.
As one connoisseur counsels, "adding wasabi to soy sauce is a disaster. It reduces the spiciness dramatically and masks the taste of the fish."[16] (Likewise, the pickled ginger should be eaten by itself as a palate cleanser between types of sushi, not dipped in soy sauce.) This, however, may be a matter of personal taste as the two are sometimes mixed to form a single dipping sauce known as Wasabi-joyu. In top-end sushi restaurants, it is also considered bad form to request or add extra wasabi when the chef has (or should have) already placed a suitable amount in each morsel.
Also contrary to popular belief in the west, sake is not considered a natural pairing of sushi, since the flavor is too similar to rice to enrich the meal. Beer is usually preferred choice of drink for accompanying sushi.
Many sushi restaurants offer fixed-price sets, selected by the chef from the catch of the day. These are often graded as shō-chiku-bai (松竹梅), shō/matsu (松, pine), chiku/take (竹, bamboo) and bai/ume (梅, ume), with matsu the most expensive and ume the cheapest. The house soy sauce is often diluted with dashi, a broth made from fish flakes and kelp.
In Japan, staff in sushi restaurants often employ a complex code-like vocabulary, where alternate words are substituted for common items. For example, egg is called gyoku ("jewel"), rice is called shari (Buddha's bones), soy sauce is called murasaki ("purple") and the bill is known as o-aiso ("courtesy", "compliment"). The code words vary from place to place and often evolve locally to incorporate puns: for example, shako might be called garēji (garage), because the Japanese word shako can also refer to a vehicle depot. These terms would not be used, or even understood, in other contexts, but regular patrons may pick up and use this specialized terminology themselves while dining in the restaurant.
[edit]Utensils for preparing sushi

Fukin: Kitchen cloth.
Hangiri: Rice barrel.
Hocho: Kitchen knives.
Makisu: Bamboo rolling mat.
Ryoribashi: Cooking chopsticks.
Shamoji: Wooden rice paddle.
Makiyakinabe: Rectangular omelet pan.
Oshizushihako: a mold used to make oshizushi.
Also see the comprehensive list of Japanese cooking utensils.
[edit]Guinness World Records

January 1992: A 325 kg (715 lb) Bluefin tuna sold for $83,500 (almost $257 / kg or $117 / lb) in Tokyo, Japan. The tuna was reduced to 2,400 servings of sushi for wealthy diners at $75 per serving. The estimated takings from this one fish were approximately $180,000. At the time, the fish held the record for Most Expensive Fish.
October 12, 1997: The longest sushi roll. Six hundred members of the Nikopaka Festa Committee made a kappamaki (cucumber roll) that was 1 km (3,281 ft.) long at Yoshii, Japan.

637 million google users surfing with insecure browser

According to a new study from researchers at Google, IBM and ETH Zurich, there are about 637 million Google users surfing the Internet with a vulnerable Web browser.

Using data from Google search queries and security vulnerability aggregator Secunia, the study (HTML or PDF) found that a whopping 45 percent of Google users “were not using the most secure Web browser version on any working day from January 2007 to June 2008.”



The researchers used the most recent major versions of Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), Firefox 2 (FF2), Safari 3 (SF3) and Opera 9 (OP9) as the benchmark version for the most secure Web browser measurements and suggests that the auto-update mechanism in Mozilla Firefox is working well to keep users up to date.

We discovered that at most 83.3% of Firefox users, 65.3% of Safari users, 56.1% of Opera users, and 47.6% of Internet Explorer users were using the latest most secure browser version on any day between January 2007 to June 2008. For the latest version analysis of Safari, we only considered the date range Dec 2007 to June 2008, when Safari version 3 became widespread.

However, despite the single-click integrated auto-update functionality of Firefox, rather surprisingly, about 17% Firefox users (one out of six) continue to surf the Web with an outdated version of the Web browser.

The entire report is a valuable read on the state of browser security but, as Brian Krebs points out, the conclusions should be considered conservative since it does not include information on vulnerable plugins (think Flash Player, Adobe Reader, Java, QuickTime, etc). Also, bear in mind that these numbers only represent Google users. In China, for example, Google is the number two search provider behind Baidu, meaning that a large percentage of Web users are not included.

The Steve Jobs Standard

The Steve Jobs Standard
Posted by Tom Steinert-Threlkeld @ 5:45 am
Ever since the black turtlenecked one appeared at the Worldwide Developers Conference, there has been no shortage of discussion about the health of Steve Jobs, the worry that he is mortal and who might succeed him.There’s the photo by photo rundown of the increasingly thin Jobs. There’s the discussion of whether the latest gauntness is because he is a “cancer victim”
or just suffering from a ‘common bug’, like the company said. There are the rundowns, like this one, of who might succeed Jobs at the helm of Apple.
Yet, of course, no one can succeed Steve Jobs. And there is no way for him to pass on his ferocity in first arriving at a clear vision of what a new electronic device should be and then making sure it gets executed, down to the most minor-seeming detail.

Also see: Pondering Apple in a post-Jobs world

When he get bumped out of Apple in 1985, John Sculley tried to prove his worth in carrying on the touch by shepherding the Apple MessagePad, aka Newton, into the market. The idea was to be a whole new type of handheld computer, not just a “personal digital assistant.” But its handwriting recognition was suspect, it was too big to fit in pocket and overpriced. The Palm Pilot won the day.


After John Sculley came Michael Spindler and then Gil Amelio. Remember them? For what?

Since he came back, Jobs has become the lovable terror of the digital era. He rebooted the company’s computers, with the bubble-shaped iMacs. He took over the nascent digital music business with the achingly simple iPod and well-thought-out iTunes store. He’s come close to the same kind of rethink of an existing device, with the keyless iPhone for mobile communications. The only place he’s stubbed his foot is with the Apple TV, but that can be fixed.

He’s been a one-man wrecking crew. More than two decades after the launch of Macintosh, all the great minds at Microsoft still haven’t caught up with their imitation, Windows. The latest iteration, Vista, has been generally panned. Bill Gates is happy retiring. Jobs and crew, meanwhile, are happier building Snow Leopard – and new ways of remaking more parts of the digital world.

In the meantime, there are scores of well-funded electronics companies out there with intelligent CEOs. And none of them have come up with a device that has “killed” the iPod, excited users like the iPhone or, even with overwhelming market share, done away with the Macintosh.

Maybe it will be different the next time Jobs leaves Apple, whether of his own accord or because of health concerns. Maybe Tim Cook really has the same fire and ability.

But you have to doubt it. The record inside and outside Apple says that Jobs stands alone. He has talent, perserverance and a devotion to making devices that delight in ways that others can’t imagine – or carry out.

In the meantime, just enjoy every day this guy steps in the door. We don’t need medical affidavits in the back of 10-K reports to the Securities Exchange Commission or doctors appearing on stage with Jobs at each MacWorld or developer event.

Let the man work on his magic and appreciate it for as long as is humanly possible.