By CHOE SANG-HUN

Published: April 20, 2009 SEOUL — A South Korean online economic commentator who criticized and angered the government but commanded a huge following was freed from jail Monday after a court acquitted him of charges of maliciously spreading false information on the Internet. Skip to next paragraph Enlarge This Image Lee Ji-un/Associated Press Park Dae-sung is greeted by his mother, Kim Chun-hwa, after being released from the Seoul Detention Center on Monday. The arrest of Park Dae-sung in January and his ensuing trial on charges of spreading false data in public with a harmful intent — a crime punishable by as much as five years in prison — prompted debate about how much freedom of expression should be tolerated in cyberspace in this extensively wired country. Mr. Park, an unemployed 31-year-old, gained an almost prophet-like status among many South Koreans after he correctly predicted the collapse of the U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, the crash of the South Korean currency — the won — and the effects of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis on South Korea. In some of the hundreds of online commentaries he posted under his pen name, Minerva, Mr. Park also unleashed scathing attacks on the government’s response to the global financial crisis. Some of his postings contained factual errors. The government accused him of undermining the financial markets. In acquitting Mr. Park, Yoo Young-hyeon, a judge at the Seoul Central District Court, ruled Monday that there was no proof that Mr. Park had “had the intention to undermine public interest.” It was also difficult to believe that Mr. Park knew that some of his statements were false at the time when he wrote them, Mr. Yoo said. In July and December, Mr. Park wrote that the government had banned financial firms and major corporations from buying U.S. dollars in a dire effort to arrest the fall of the Korean won — a statement the court Monday said had been false but not criminal. Prosecutors had demanded an 18-month sentence for Mr. Park, accusing him of “blatantly stoking fears among the people” in an economic crisis. Quoting from his writing, they accused the often-satirical blogger of advising people to hoard daily necessities in anticipation of runaway inflation and to “send children to orphanages.” “South Korea may be the only country in the world where a man is tried because he criticized the government’s foreign currency policies,” Mr. Park said in a statement before the judge on April 14. Prosecutors had a week to appeal the verdict. Political parties have intensely monitored and squabbled over Mr. Park’s case. President Lee Myung-bak’s governing Grand National Party has sought to regulate the country’s often unruly online forums, prompting opposition parties to accuse the government of trying to silence its critics. The main opposition Democratic Party on Monday called Mr. Park’s trial “an international embarrassment.” The government has denied wanting to suppress online freedom of expression, but it has long voiced concern about the influence of Internet rumors. Officials blamed online demagogues in part for huge protests last summer against U.S. beef imports that paralyzed the government for weeks. Before his identity was exposed, Mr. Park, as Minerva, had cultivated an aura of mystery, describing himself at times as an old farmer and at others as a former Wall Street financial expert. After he was arrested, many were surprised to learn that he was an unemployed graduate of a two-year community college who spent much of his time at home scouring the Web and reading mail-order books on finance.

A search engine can pull up results, but can it also dish out three meals a day?

That’s what Vladimir Hruda, David Whitehead and Salmaan Ayaz, undergraduate students at the University of Richmond, are hoping. The trio of students built Hoongle.org, a custom Google search engine that promises to donate 20 grains of rice per search to schools in the developing world.
Screen shot of Hoongle.org.

Since the search engine rolled out in September, the site has generated more than 8.5 million grains of rice, or the equivalent of 4,000 meals, Mr. Hruda said. “We’re adding tremendous value to everyday searches,” Mr. Whitehead said.

To finance their food fund, the creators donate the fraction of a penny in revenue generated by each search, which is enough to pay for the equivalent of 20 grains of rice. A small portion of the proceeds goes toward server maintenance charges, Mr. Hruda said. The search engine works through Fill the Cup, a campaign of the United National World Food Program that delivers food to schools around the world.

“Typically charity requires donation,” Mr. Ayaz said. “But we’re creating the value that we’re donating. There’s no cost to us, or anyone, for doing this.”

Mr. Hruda, a mathematics economics major, first came up with the idea to carry out social change through technology after volunteering in Guatemala building stoves. “I wanted to do more,” he said. “And then I came across custom search engines.” He enlisted the help of his friends and Hoongle – a combination of the words “hunger” and “Google” — was born.

Hoongle.org’s strategy is similar to that of FreeRice.com, a nonprofit collaboration between the United Nations World Food Program and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Visitors to the site are asked to play a simple vocabulary game; for each correct answer, 10 grains of rice are donated to developing countries via the United Nations’ World Food Program. To date, close to 63 billion grains of rice have been generated by people playing FreeRice.com.

But unlike FreeRice.com, Mr. Ayaz said, the novelty of Hoongle.org, is less likely to wear off. “We aren’t asking anyone to do anything extra or anything that they aren’t already doing,” he said. The three men are hoping that users will set Hoongle as their default home page, search engine or both, in Firefox and Internet Explorer.

So far, the site is catching on: The team said the search engine had about 90,000 users in 130 countries, and traffic to the site has been doubling every two to three weeks. The team has discussed rolling out versions in different languages and even producing a version for the iPhone.

If the site becomes large enough, the team will consider a partnership with the University of Richmond, to continue development. For now, though, they’re focusing on graduating in a few months. “We’re taking it one step at a time,” Mr. Hruda said. “But we’re excited by the possibilities.”

Learning about: ways to find the best and mostaccurate info on the www And Evaluate it.

Boolean operators and related techniques…..

Ways to know the information is reliable: Four step process:
1. Look for, check-domain name, & code
2. determine author(s) or authorship
3. Look for date and time of publication
4. Determining ownership, sponsership who supports, host, underwites the domain & website
Also some cool tools: The Wayback machine, WHOIS Look-up, Scopes Rumor page and Noodle & related search and citation machines…

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By MIGUEL HELFT
Published: April 14, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo is planning a new round of layoffs, the first since Carol Bartz became chief executive in January, according to several people with knowledge of the situation.

The layoffs could affect several hundred employees and may be announced as early as Tuesday when Yahoo reports first-quarter financial results, said these people, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because the plan is confidential.

A Yahoo spokesman, Brad Williams, declined to comment, citing a company policy not to discuss rumors and speculation.

The cuts would be the third round of layoffs at Yahoo in little more than a year. The Internet company, which has been struggling for more than two years, laid off about 1,000 workers early in 2008. It cut 1,400 or so in the fourth quarter of last year, in continuing efforts to prune its sprawling online business and bring down expenses. It ended the year with 13,600 employees.

In recent years, Yahoo has seen its growth slow and has lost ground to Google in online search. Despite its huge online audience of roughly 500 million people worldwide, it also missed the opportunity to acquire fast growing social Web sites, like YouTube or Facebook, which have become a magnet, especially with younger users.

And its display advertising business, which was concentrated on high-priced ads, has been undercut by the proliferation of sites that offer marketers a way to reach audiences at lower prices. The company has suffered from a continuing exodus of executives and a series of revampings that have damaged employee morale.

Late last year, Yahoo was hit with the deepening recession, which took a further bite out of the company’s online advertising business.

“If you look at the changing economic environment and the changing leadership, it is not surprising that you would see further cuts at the company,” said Scott Kessler, a stock analyst with Standard & Poor’s.

Under Ms. Bartz, Yahoo has also been trying to sell some business units that it doesn’t consider core to its mission, including Hotjobs, the online recruiting service, according to several people familiar with the plans.

Ms. Bartz has been reviewing Yahoo’s businesses. In recent weeks, she renewed discussions with Microsoft, which attempted to buy Yahoo early last year, and later tried to acquire the company’s search business. The new round of talks center around a possible advertising partnership, not an outright acquisition or a sale of Yahoo’s search business, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The exercise was
Besides, I am no Crane, I am a Stork, a bird of excellent character; and see how I love and slave for my father and mother..Look too, at my feathers – they are not the least like those of a Crane.” The Farmer laughed aloud and said, “It may be all as you say, I only know this: I have taken you with these robbers, the Cranes, and you must die in their company.” Birds of a feather flock together.

You typed
Besides, I am no Crane, I am a Stork, a bird of excellent character; and see how I love and slave for my father and mother. Look too, at my feathers – they are not the least like those of a Crane. “ The Farmer laughed aloud and said, “It may be all as you say, I only know this: I have taken you with these robbers, the Cranes, and you must die in their company.” Birds of a feather flock together.

Your speed was 57 WPM with 2 mistakes (adjusted speed 55 WPM)
(did you type an extra word?)

Your typing speed is good.

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The exercise was
A boy was stung by a Nettle..He ran home and told his Mother, saying, “Although it hurts me very much, I only touched it gently.” “That was just why it stung you,” said his Mother..“The next time you touch a Nettle, grasp it boldly, and it will be soft as silk to your hand, and not in the least hurt you.” Whatever you do, do with all your might.

You typed
A boy was stung by a Nettle. He ran home and told his Mother, saying, “Although it hurts me very much, I only touched it gently.” “That was just why it stung you,” said his Mother. “The next time you touch a Nettle, grasp it boldly, and it will be soft as silk to your hand, and not in the least hurt you.” Whatever you do, do with all your might.

Your accuracy was impressive.

Your speed was 58 WPM

Your typing speed is good.

Click here to take the Typing Test again with a new exercise.

Click to get a Typing Certific

My name is Gabriel and I am a sophomore attending IIS ( Indianhead International School). I am 16 and my birthday is August 19, 1993 and I live in Uijeongbu; a city in South Korea. My hobbies and intrests are sports; preciesely soccer and basketball. I am participating in both the soccer and basketball varsity team. Here is some links to my wiki, our school website,  and  the IIS Blog Nation.