Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Microsoft tries to one-up Google PageRank
Adult Outsourcing Solution
Though a distant third place to Google, Microsoft thinks it can teach its rival a thing or two about searching the Internet.
A big part of Google's rise to search engine leadership was an algorithm called PageRank that assesses a specific page's importance by how many other Web pages link to it and by the importance of those linking pages. Microsoft researchers and academic collaborators, though, detailed an idea this week it calls BrowseRank that seeks to bring more of a human touch to that assessment.
Microsoft likes the results BrowseRank, which assigning Web page priority based on how people actually use the site.
Microsoft likes the results BrowseRank, which assigning Web page priority based on how people actually use the site.
(Credit: Microsoft ResearchA Asia)
Essentially, the researchers tested out a system that replaces PageRanks' link graph--a mathematical model of the hyperlinked connections of the Internet--with what they call a user browsing graph that ranks Web pages by people's behavior.
"The more visits of the page made by the users and the longer time periods spent by the users on the page, the more likely the page is important. We can leverage hundreds of millions of users' implicit voting on page importance," the researchers said in BrowseRank: Letting Web Users Vote for Page Importance, a paper from the SIGIR (Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval) conference this week in Singapore. Authors are Bin Gao, Tie-Yan Liu, and Hang Li from Microsoft Research Asia and Ying Zhang of Nankai University, Zhiming Ma of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Shuyuan He of Peking University.
Search is of tremendous importance to the Internet for many reasons. For one thing, search engines are highly influential middlemen that steer users to Web sites they may not be able to find on their own. For another, queries typed into search engines can be powerful--and in Google's case highly profitable--indications of what type of advertisement to place next to the search results.
But Microsoft lags leader Google and No. 2 Yahoo in search. It's trying hard to catch up, for example with unsuccessful proposals to acquire Yahoo or its search business that would cost the company billions of dollars. And Microsoft just bought search start-up Powerset.
Google isn't putting all its eggs in the PageRank basket, though.
"It's important to keep in mind that PageRank is just one of more than 200 signals we use to determine the ranking of a Web site," the company said in a statement. "Search remains at the core of everything Google does, and we are always working to improve it."
PageRank shortcomings
The Microsoft researchers argue that PageRank has a number of problems. For one thing, people can game the system by building bogus Web sites called link farms. Those sites feature hyperlinks point to a Web page whose importance a person wants to inflate so it appears higher in search results. Another PageRank issue is that the indexing process doesn't take into account the time a user spends on a particular site.
But user behavior, monitored in anonymous form by Web servers and Web browser plug-ins, can be better, the authors argue.
"Experimental results show that BrowseRank can achieve better performance than existing methods, including PageRank...in important page finding, spam page fighting, and relevance ranking.
The researchers gathered their data from "an extremely large group of users under legal agreements with them," according to the paper.
There's no denying PageRank is useful, though, and such algorithms could be added into a larger formula for determining which sites come out on top of search results.
"It is also possible to combine link graph and user behavior data to compute page importance," the researchers said. "We will not discuss more about this possibility in this paper, and simply leave it as future work."
Bringing research to fruition
It can be a long time before research comes to fruition, but funding a group of researchers can be much less expensive than acquiring other companies. No doubt Microsoft, especially after years of effort and its thwarted overtures to Yahoo, would like to see its in-house search efforts bring Google to its knees.
When accused of being dominant, Google representatives often argue the company could lose its search dominance if somebody else builds a better mousetrap and Internet users divert their path to that other door door. "If Microsoft or Yahoo are successful in providing similar or better web search results or more relevant advertisements, or in leveraging their platforms or products to make their Web search or advertising services easier to access, we could experience a significant decline in user traffic or the size of the Google (ad) Network," it said in its most recent quarterly report.
other links:
 The top players are a moving target, though. Yahoo is hoping to improve search with three efforts: BOSS (build your own search service), which lets others employ Yahoo search results along with its search ads; SearchMonkey, which lets content publishers build elaborate mini-Web pages into search results; and Glue Pages, which present a smorgasbord of related content alongside search results. And Google invests heavily, too. Its biggest research team is devoted to search, and the company updated its search formula more than 100 times in the second quarter. And researchers have huge infrastructure at their disposal to try new ideas. "My group at Google has at its disposal many thousands of machines, with storage measured in petabytes," Udi Manber, head of Google's search quality, said of Google's search research infrastructure in a June talk. And, he added, engineers are empowered to try their results, with meetings once or twice a week to see how well they worked: "There is no separation of research and development. Everyone does both." Labels: google, Microsoft
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Ashley Dupre
Adult Outsourcing Solution
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey woman is suing Ashley Dupre, Joe Francis and “Girls Gone Wild” parent company Mantra Entertainment, claiming that Dupre used her lost driver’s license to appear in a “Girls Gone Wild” video. The federal lawsuit filed last week by Amber Arpaio seeks unspecified monetary compensation for defamation and invasion of privacy. Arpaio’s suit said that because of Dupre’s website video, she received numerous calls from friends, family and third parties. Further she claims that her name has traveled through countless websites. Dupre gained notoriety in March when it came out that she was the high-priced call girl named “Kristen” named in court documents who allegedly was hired by N.Y. Gov. Elliot Spitzer for at least one tryst at a posh Washington hotel. Spitzer, known as “Client 9” in the documents, resigned as governor a few days after the scandal broke. Dupre had previously filed a $10 million lawsuit against Francis and “Girls Gone Wild” over the video, which was dropped last month. “She clearly filed her lawsuit just for publicity,” Francis said at the time. “Now that the distraction of this frivolous lawsuit is behind us and I have been vindicated, yet again, we’ve been given the green light to provide her with all the public exposure she could ask for.” Dupre’s suit had alleged that “Girls Gone Wild” and Joe Francis had ruined Dupre’s reputation by publicizing the video. Francis countered by posting the footage indicating that Dupre had willingly volunteered to perform for the “Girls Gone Wild” cameras, providing both a verbal and written release. The footage shows Dupre covered by a terry cloth towel and giving her name as Amber Arpaio. An unseen questioner asks if she is 18 and if the footage can be used on “Girls Gone Wild.” She said yes to both questions before her ID was photographed. Because Dupre had offered false identification and lied about her age on camera, the West Los Angeles-based company initially declined to publish the material. Lawyers for Francis and Dupre had no immediate comment on the lawsuit Thursday. In related news, Dupre has is reportedly in talks to be considered for a slot on MTV. One of the concepts being considered is a dating format. “They’re talking to MTV about Ashley being the next Tila Tequila,” a source said. Labels: Adult, Adult Outsourcing Solution, blogger, google, Social Bookmarking websites, xbiz, xbiz award, XBIZ Hollywood website
Friday, January 25, 2008
2008 XBIZ Awards Official Nominees
Adult Outsourcing Solution
Nominee Submissions The nomination period for the 2008 XBIZ Awards has ended. For VIP tickets to the 2008 XBIZ Awards click here. For Free general admission tickets included with XBIZ Hollywood '08 Conference registration click here. 2008 XBIZ Awards Official Nominees Web/Online Categories - Affiliate Program of the Year
12clicksCash.com, Braincash, CECash, EuroRevenue, Fetish Hits, Gammae, NichePartners, NS Cash, OC Cash, PimpRoll, Platinum Bucks, PussyCash, QuickBuck, SilverCash, TopBucks, TwistysCash
- Emerging Affiliate Program of the Year
CherryPimps, Elite Dollars, High Def Riches, Hush Money, HustlerCash, Incredible Dollars, Juggcash, Latin Teen Cash, Monster Mazuma, PornoPushers, PremiumCash, Red Light Revenue, RhinoPays, Starlight Bucks, SwankDollars
- VOD Company of the Year
Adult DVD Empire, Adult Rental, AEBN/NakedSword, Clips4Sale, GameLink, Hot Movies, SugarVOD, XonDemand, XVN, Yappo
- Content Broker/Licensor of the Year
5starHD, Adult Labs, AdultSexContent, Amazing Content, Cool-Content.com, HDV Adult, Matrix Content, The Content Store, WorldWideContent, XXXContentDirect
- Content Feed Provider of the Year
Almighty Content, Content Pushers, Extreme Feeds, Glamour Girls, ItsYourPorn, M Squared Feeds, Platinum Feeds, PlugInFeeds, Porn2Go, Sexentertain, Webmaster Central, WorldWideFeeds
- Live Video Chat of the Year
AdultWebmasterEmpire, Cams.com, CamSense, CamZ.com, CupidoCam, ImLive.com, Interclimax, ItchLive, LiveBucks, LiveCamNetwork, Video Secrets, WebCamCash
- Web Host of the Year
MojoHost, NationalNet, OC3 Networks, RackSpace, Webair, Webazilla
- Design Studio of the Year
Adult Design Evolution, AdultDesign.com, Adultmix.biz, Blue Design Studios, BlueFly Adult, Cardinal Vices, Dickmans Design, Insane Adult Creations, Lions Territory, Mansion Productions, MarketingAdult.com, Nasty Graphix, PornBuilders, S2O Designs, Wolume Studios, Wyldesites, YoniDesign
- Dating Program of the Year
Adult Friend Finder, DatingGold, Eroticy, Fling.com, IwantU, Lion Dollars, Loadedcash, Lover Cash, SexDateCash, SexSearch
- Web Retailer of the Year
AdamAndEve.com, Adult DVD Empire, Effex Media, eXtremeRestraints, Gamelink, SEXTOY.com, Shop.Private.com, Stockroom.com, Sugar DVD, WantedList.com, XRentDVD.com
- Web Community of the Year
Adult Insider, AdultDVDTalk, AdultWhosWho, AskDamageX, GFY, JBM, PimpBoard, SponsorChat, WebOverdrive, XXX Porn Talk
- Billing Company of the Year (IPSP)
CCBill, CommerceGate, DHD Media, Epoch, Verotel
- Billing Company of the Year (Merch Acc)
DHD Media, Netbilling, Verotel, Zombaio
- Billing Company of the Year (Alternative)
2000Charge, Adult Mobile Solutions, Global-Acces, GXBill, Net Cash, Password-By-Phone, Verotel, Webbilling, WTS
- Mobile Company of the Year
Adult Mobile Solutions, CC Media Network, MobiMetrix, Mobival, SexGoesMobile, Waat Media
- Emerging Web Company of the Year
AWM Open Magazine, Encoding.TV, Manolay.com, Protect-X, Traffic Dude, Yappo
- Software Company of the Year
2Much.net, aWIZ Scripts, Chameleon Submitter, Dream Submitter, Hedonic Software, Mansion Productions, Media Conductor, ObjectCube, Smart Thumbs, The Sponsor Feeds, Too Much Media
- GLBT Web Company of the Year
BangBangBoys.com, Big Muscle.com, COLTcash, Cybersocket, DaddyHunt.com, LavenderLounge.com, MenMachine.com, Pistol Media, PornTeam.com, PrideBucks.com, ZbuckZ.com
- Web Babe/Starlet of the Year
Allison Angel, Andi Pink, Ariel Rebel, Brooke Skye, Casey Parker, Joanna Angel, Lia 19, Melissa Midwest, Naughty Allie, Nicole Graves, Raven Riley, Sunny Leone, Taylor Little, Trisha Uptown, Sexylette, Vanilla DeVille
Movie Production Categories - Studio of the Year
Adam & Eve, Digital Playground, Elegant Angel, Evil Angel, Hush Hush Entertainment, Hustler Video, Naughty America, New Sensations, Pink Visual, Pleasure Productions, Private Media Group, Red Light District, SexZ Pictures, Shane’s World, Smash Pictures, Teravision, Vivid Entertainment, Wicked Pictures
- Emerging Studio of the Year
6969 Entertainment, Bone Digital, Filthy Films, Handheld Pictures, Harmony Films, HellHouse Media, Hot Zone Entertainment, LeMayzing, Matt Zane Productions, Pulpo Inc., Tom Byron Pictures
- GLBT Studio of the Year
Channel 1 Releasing, Collin O’Neal’s World of Men, COLT Studio Group, FPG Entertainment, Hyde Park Productions, Jet Set Entertainment, Lucas Entertainment, Pitbull Productions, Private Man, PZP Productions, Raging Stallion Studios, Studio 2000, Titan Media
- Feature Movie of the Year
Black Worm – Pulpo Inc., Broken – Teravision, Burnt Fury – Vivid Entertainment, Eden – Adam & Eve Pictures, Fashionistas Safado: Berlin – John StaglianoEvil Angel, Insertz – Roy Karch Productions/Sinsation, Not The Brady’s XXX – X-Play/Hustler Video, Operation: Desert Stormy – Wicked Pictures, Spunk’d The Movie – 6969 Entertainment, Upload – SexZ Pictures
- Gonzo Series of the Year
Angels of Debauchery – Jonni Darkko/Evil Angel, Ass Worship – Jules Jordan Video, Barely Legal – Hustler Video, Big Wet Asses – Elegant Angel, Blow Me Sandwich - Zero Tolerance, Cheating Housewives – Smash Pictures, Chemistry – Vivid Entertainment, College Invasion – Shane’s World, Fresh Out the Box – Mercenary Pictures, Homegrown Video – Homegrown Video, Jack’s Playground – Digital Playground, Just Over 18 – Red Light District, My Daughter’s Fucking Blackzilla – Hush Hush Entertainment, Naughty College Schoolgirls – New Sensations, Virtual Sex With… - Digital Playground
- GLBT Feature Movie of the Year
Amazonia: Capture and Release - AMG Brasil, A Rising Star - Ridgeline Films, Bottom of the 9th: Little Big League 3 - All Worlds Video/Channel 1 Releasing, Buckback Mountain - Buck Angel Entertainment, El Rancho - Sarava Productions, FEAR - Titan Media, Grunts - Raging Stallion Studios, Hawai’I - COLT Studio Group, Link V: The Evolution - All Worlds Video/Channel 1 Releasing, Marine Crucible 2: Cocked & Loaded - Centaur Films, Michael Lucas’ Gigolo - Lucas Entertainment, Oliver Twink, PZP Productions, Rich Kid - Private Man, Santo Domingo - Collin O’Neal’s World of Men, Tiger Tyson’s Eiffel Tower - Pitbull Productions, Top Dawgs - FPG Entertainment
- Feature Director of the Year
Andres Tabago, DCypher, Eli Cross, Eon McKai, John Stagliano, Paul Thomas, Pierre Woodman, Roy Karch, Stormy Daniels, Will Ryder
- Gonzo Director of the Year
Erik Everhard, Gazzman, Jim Powers, Jonni Darko, Jules Jordan, Manuel Ferrara, Mike Quasar, Robby D., Tina Tyler, Van Styles, William H.
- GLBT Director of the Year
Brian Mills, Chi Chi LaRue, Chris Steele, Chris Ward, Collin O’Neal, Dennis Bell, Jalin Fuentes, John Rutherford, Kristen Bjorn, Michael Lucas & Tony Dimarco
Additional Categories - Female Performer of the Year
Belladonna, Brianna Love, Carmen Hart, Carmen Luvana, Courtney Cummz, Eva Angelina, Gianna Michaels, Jesse Jane, Jessica Drake, Joanna Angel, Memphis Monroe, Penny Flame, Stormy Daniels, Sunny Lane, Tera Patrick
- Male Performer of the Year
Evan Stone, Erik Everhard, Lexington Steele, Manuel Ferrara, Marco Banderas, Mark Ashley, Mr. Pete, Shane Diesel, Tom Byron, Tommy Gunn
- GLBT Performer of the Year
Buck Angel, Carlo Masi, Collin O’Neal, Dean Flynn, Jake Deckard, Michael Lucas, Ricky Sinz, Tiger Tyson, Trevor Knight, Zack Randall
- New Starlet of the Year
Ashlynn Brooke, Audrey Bitoni, Bree Olson, Casey Parker, Jenny Hendrix, Lela Star, Paulina James, Shay Jordan, Tera Wray, Tessa West
- Novelty Company of the Year
Beamonstar, Big Teaze Toys, California Exotic Novelties, Doc Johnson, Extreme Restraints, Fleshlight, Fun Factory, Jollies Pleasure Toys, Monkey Rocker, Nexus, PHS International, Sliquid, Spartacus Leathers, Sportsheets, Stockroom.com, System Jo, Tantus, Topco Sales
Labels: Adult, blogger, google, Social Bookmarking websites, xbiz, xbiz award
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Adult Outsourcing Solution
AEE Day 2: The Show Floor  By Steve Javors Friday, Jan 11, 2008 Text size:     LAS VEGAS – Day 2 of the Adult Entertainment Expo, at the Sands Convention Center, has a distinctly different flavor than day 1. After the first day, where mostly other trade people in the adult industry traverse the show floor aisles for business and networking, during the second half of the second day the fans enter and the pace picks up considerably. Teravision CEO Evan Seinfeld chatted with fans and business associates white sitting in the pimped-out Teravision booth. Flanked by his wife and company namesake Tera Patrick along with Sasha Grey, Seinfeld reflected on a great 2007 and told XBIZ he was very happy about recently launching his Iron Cross gonzo label. Shane’s World star Casey Parker looked every inch the blond surfer girl right down to the longboard, surf wax on her signing table and a cute yellow bikini as she signed autographs in front of a massive Shane’s World-skinned recreational vehicle. Third World Media provided a different flavor to the show floor with a handful of imported Asian models who were visibly excited to be in Las Vegas to greet their American fans. The Ninn Worx_SR booth attracted a lot of attention when the company’s contract stars donned their warrior outfits for Michael Ninn’s upcoming epic “The Four.” AbbyWinters.com also drew considerable crowds when a squad of its flexible all-natural models engaged in a group yoga session. This activity drew the attention of Evil Angel owner John Stagliano who rushed over camera in hand and began directing. Naughty America’s ubiquitous house booth, replete with white picket fence, now includes a built-out backyard featuring extensive patio furniture. Roxy DeVille made herself at home in one of the bedrooms and invited fans to lay down with her while uber-blondes Puma Swede and Nikki Benz posed on the chrome laden Harley-Davidson in the NA driveway. Star power was in full effect Thursday: Flower Tucci was camped out at Elegant Angel; Joanna Angel held court at Adam & Eve; Courtney Cummz looked rocker-chic at IMLive.com; Memphis Monroe greeted fans with open arms at Pink Visual; Aubrey Addams looked cute as a button at Red Light District; Savanna Samson was vivacious at Vivid; Gianna Michaels was fiercely hot at Jules Jordan Video and Jenny Hendrix looked every bit the rising star at Evil Angel. Other companies also opted for a meeting room in AEE’s B2B Marketplace underneath the main hall. Shane’s World, Anabolic, Zero Tolerance, GVA-TWN, Vouyer Media, Metro Interactive and Northstar Associates conducted business in the meeting lounges down below. With two measured days now in the books, show organizers and exhibitors hope days 3 and 4 provide the expected frenetic pace. Labels: blogger, creative ads, google, web, xbiz
Friday, January 04, 2008
Adult Outsourcing Solution
The new year is just few days away; however, not all parties are planned, not all presents are packed and not all work is done. If you feel under the weather, bored or overwhelmed by the late shopping or working chaos, it’s just the right time to take a short break and get into the right mood. To help you to achieve just that we’ve collected some excellent, funny and touching animated videos — for you, your colleagues, your friends and your family. You probably have seen some of them, but it doesn’t make them less funnier. Enjoy the last days of the year 2007. Smashing 2008, folks! Animated Videos Kiwi! (YouTube) or Kiwi! (Quicktime)
The story of a Kiwi who spends his whole life working towards achieving his dream. Very sad, indeed. But so beautiful, and so touching. 
Scrat-Ice and Scrat-Shine (YouTube)
Scrat, probably the coolest squirrel ever, still doesn’t have any luck. 
Pixar — Lifted (MetaCafe)
Pixar’s latest short-film “Lifted”. Apparently, aliens also need to learn how to drive. 
Funny Cat Cartoon (YouTube)
You probably shouldn’t show this video to your pets. 
For The Birds - McFly (YouTube)
Morality: Whoever laughs last laughs best. 
Bonus What Song Is This? (YouTube)
Can you guess what song is being sung here? It should become apparent at the middle of the video. Hint: don’t read the tags on the YouTube page. They contain spoilers. 
The World’s Most Effective Speed Bump (Gizmodo)
Here’s the perfect way to slow down those doggone kids driving their noisy pocket rockets, invading the neighborhood at high speed without regard to the peace and personal safety of the local inhabitants. Don’t try this at home. Please. Labels: advertisement, animation, creative ads, funny animated movies, google, web
Friday, December 28, 2007
Adult Outsourcing Solution
Update (December 10, 2007 3:30 PM PST): Rogers has now publicly confirmed the activities described below.
Greetings. Please observe closely the image to your left, showing the home page for Google Canada (click the image for a full-sized, full-resolution version).
Does anything seem a bit odd about the normally clean and pristine Google front door? What the blazes is all that ISP-related verbiage taking up the top third of the page? Why would Google ever give an ISP permission to muddy up Google's public face that way?
Well, as you've probably already guessed, Google didn't give this ISP any such permission. The ISP simply decided to modify Google on their own, demonstrating a real world example of ISPs Spying On and Modifying Web Traffic that I was discussing yesterday.
Just brought to my attention today by a concerned reader who chose Google for his example, what you're looking at is reportedly an ongoing test by Rogers in Canada, scheduled for deployment to Rogers Internet customers next quarter.
In case you're curious, "ISNS" on the test Google interception page apparently stands for Internet Subscriber Notification System. For the morbidly curious, here's the javascript and associated code that enables this procedure, which can presumably be applied to any http: (unencrypted) traffic.
While Rogers' current planned use for this Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) and modification system (reportedly manufactured by "In-Browser Marketing" firm "PerfTech") is for account status messages, it's obvious that commercial ISP content and ads (beyond the ISP logos already displayed) would be trivial to introduce through this mechanism. By the way, PerfTech is even using Google for one of its linked promotional examples on the PerfTech home page. I wonder if they bothered to ask Google's permission for that?
Anyway, the fact that there's an opt-out present for future account status messages on the Rogers page insertions hardly changes the extremely problematic and network neutrality unfriendly aspects of such situations, as I noted in yesterday's blog item.
Question: Will Web service providers such as Google and many others, who have spent vast resources in both talent and treasure creating and maintaining their services' appearances and quality, be willing to stand still while any ISP intercepts and modifies their traffic in such a manner?
I can't say for sure of course, but I suspect that a likely reaction might be discerned by paraphrasing Bugs Bunny: "Eh, he don't know them very well, do he?"
--Lauren-- Labels: blogger, google, web
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