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Google reports 'alarming' rise in government censorship requests. Google says government requests to remove Web content are way upIn last half of 2011, U.S. agencies asked Google to remove 6,192 pieces of content That's up 718% compared with the previous six-month periodGoogle released its biannual transparency report Sunday night (CNN) -- Western governments, including the United States, appear to be stepping up efforts to censor Internet search results and YouTube videos, according to a "transparency report" released by Google. "It's alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect -- Western democracies not typically associated with censorship," Dorothy Chou, a senior policy analyst at Google, wrote in a blog post on Sunday night.

"For example, in the second half of last year, Spanish regulators asked us to remove 270 search results that linked to blogs and articles in newspapers referencing individuals and public figures, including mayors and public prosecutors. Español | Internet. Social Networking. Networks get things done. Whether it's sending a letter or lighting your home. Networks make it happen. To get from Chicago to Santa Fe, we need to see the network of roads that will get us there. We see that Chicago is connected to St Louis, which is connected to Dallas, which is connected to Santa Fe.

Of course, people networks can help us with finding jobs, meeting new friends, and finding partners. The problem with social networks in the real world is that most of the connections between people are hidden. This problem is being solved by a type of web site called a social networking site. Here's how it works. When you find someone, you click a button that says, "Add as Friend". What's really cool, is that you can see who your friends know, and who your friends' friends know.

This solves a real world problem because your network has hidden opportunities. World Wide Web. Have you ever wondered, when you visit a website, where those words and images come from? These days, as long as we have an Internet connection, using the Web is pretty easy. We can visit billions of pages on things from pet alligators to the weather in Holland. To help figure out how it works, let’s pretend we can get really small, follow the wires and explore what makes the Web work. In order to get to the Web, we need a connection from our home or business to the rest of the online world. This usually happens through the phone or cable lines, or even satellite.

If we could see the connection, the information coming through it would look like little packets of code. For this, we use a web browser. It’s called a “server.” We do this with web addresses. The reason we call it a “web” is that all the servers are connected. Web pages use shortcuts or “links” – words and images we can click, that direct us to page after page. Together, this system makes up the World Wide Web. Web Search Strategies.

The Web may seem like a vast ocean when it comes to finding something you need. Thankfully, search engines can help turn oceans of information into small pools that make finding information easier. Before we dive in, let’s talk a bit about how search works on the Web. Search engines go out and try to account for every word on every webpage. All this information is then organized for easy reference. When you search for a word, the search engine finds all the pages where the word appears, and displays them in the search results.

The problem is that there are often too many results. Say you’re looking for a specific kind of fish, and these represent all the websites on the Web. Try to imagine the exact fish and describe it in the search box. But to be a smart searcher, you should know some basic shortcuts. Here’s another shortcut. Blogs. You've seen the word, you've seen the web sites and you may even have one. But have you ever wondered: What's the big deal about blogs? To make sense of blogs, you have to think about the news and who makes it. We'll look at news in the 20th vs. the 21st century to make our point. In the 20th century, the news was produced professionally. When news happened, reporters wrote the stories and a tiny group of people decided what appeared in a newspaper or broadcast. Professional news was mainstream: general and limited.

The 21st century marked the point where news became both professional and personal. As blogs became popular, they created millions of news sources and gave everyone an audience for their own version of news. With a blog...A business owner can share news about his business A mother can share news about her family Or a sport star can share news with fans These people are all "bloggers". How did this happen? Let's say you have a blog about green living and outdoor photography. Police embracing tech that predicts crimes. New technology allows police to predict crime before it happens, but some agencies can't afford the software.

Predictive analytic software PredPol anticipates future crime based upon past activity. The program was adapted from similar software meant to predict earthquake aftershocks.Many police stations still use obsolete technology due to small budgets and aversion to change.Even so, police depend heavily upon social media to solve crimes.

(CNN) -- For something that predicts the future, the software is deceptively simple looking. A map of a city is marked up with small red squares, each indicating a 500-by-500-foot zone where crimes are likely to take place next. A heat-map mode shows even more precisely where cars may be stolen, houses robbed, people mugged. The program is called PredPol, and it calculates its forecasts based on times and locations of previous crimes, combined with sociological information about criminal behavior and patterns. Gadgets to help you survive a power outage. How the Internet Works in 5 Minutes.