Google To Pay Mozilla $300 Million a Year in Search Deal (NewsFactor)

Google will pay about three times as much as it once did to be the default search engine on Mozilla's Firefox browser. Although Google and Mozilla are keeping the word mum, news reports are leaking details of the deal.

"Under the multi-year agreement, Google Search will continue to be the default search provider for hundreds of millions of Firefox users around the world," said Gary Kovacs, CEO of Mozilla. What Kovacs did not say -- and AllThingsD blogger Kara Swizer is saying -- is this: The Google deal is valued at just shy of $1 billion.

AllThingsD reports that Google will pay just under $300 million a year for the strategic positioning on Firefox. Microsoft was vying for the placement for its Bing decision engine on Firefox. Microsoft also has a deal in place with Facebook.

What About Bing?

"Mozilla was able to involve Microsoft in the discussion and so created some competition for its Firefox 'default' search business. While Google's market share would probably not have been significantly affected by a switch to Bing, it was enough of a threat to generate this deal," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence.

Microsoft had been cozying up to Mozilla in recent months. In October, Mozilla and Bing rolled out Firefox for Bing, a customized version of Firefox that sets Bing as the default search engine in the search box and AwesomeBar and makes Bing.com the default home page. But Bing doesn't have a lock down on the custom Firefox experience. Mozilla is also working with United Internet, Twitter, Yahoo and Yandex on that front.

But Alan Eustace, Google's senior vice president of search, cemented the relationship between the browser rivals, at least in the media. "Mozilla has been a valuable partner to Google over the years and we look forward to continuing this great partnership in the years to come," he said. Google has the lockdown on the search engine for the next three years, at least.

Chrome vs. Firefox

Although Microsoft still has the market-leading browser with Internet Explorer, Firefox and the Google Chrome browser together are making strong gains against the incumbent. According to StatCounter, the combined versions of Internet Explorer hold about 50 percent of the global market share. Safari has gained about 5 percent on the desktop, and about 55 percent on mobile devices.

Chrome has usurped Firefox on the browser usage front. According to StatCounter, Chrome boasts 25.7 percent of the global browser market. That's nearly a 5 percent climb from two years ago. Firefox has 25.23 percent. Some industry watchers predict Chrome could draw a larger advantage against Firefox by the end of the first quarter of 2012.

"Google's own Chrome browser is increasingly a threat to Firefox, and Google's earlier, apparent abandonment of Firefox seemed to be a statement that it no longer needed the company," Sterling said. "However Mozilla seems to have played its hand well here and guaranteed its survival for the foreseeable future."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111223/bs_nf/81509

pearl jam 20 martha marcy may marlene lacuna lacuna paranormal activity 3 trailer paranormal activity 3 trailer oomph

Fake Google Rich Snippets: Next Spam Target

A WebmasterWorld has SEOs and Webmasters complaining that they are noticing their competitors beginning to fake the rich snippets by planting their own microformats into the source code of the page.

Faking rich snippets is fairly easy. All you need to do is add any of the available markup to the page and if Google accepts it, it shows up in the Google search results.

You can fake things such as reviews, people, products, businesses and organizations, recipes, events, music and much more. In fact, recently, Google has been showing and allowing more and more sites to display these rich snippets in the search results.

Is this an issue for you? One webmaster said:

I have lost count the different ways I have seen reviews being faked. Google does have some safeguards in place but if you are creative enough you can get around them.

If you are not experienced I would beg you to think twice before playing around with this. Most inexperienced (and even some experienced) people end up causing themselves more harm then good when taking these shortcuts.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Source: http://feeds.seroundtable.com/~r/SearchEngineRoundtable1/~3/ztqiGx4ubpg/fake-google-rich-snippets-14492.html

animal house role models big ten championship game big ten championship game ultimate fighter 14 ultimate fighter 14 2011 bowl projections

Libyan leader returns to University of Washington (AP)

SEATTLE ? One morning last February, Ali Tarhouni, a professor at the University of Washington's business school, gave his microeconomics students some startling news: He wouldn't be teaching them anymore. He was off to help with the Libyan revolution.

He returned to the university for a brief visit Tuesday following a 10-month absence that saw him serve as the oil and finance minister in the transitional government, hold the hand of a dying 14-year-old boy, and stand bitterly over the battered corpse of Moammar Gadhafi.

"A year ago at this time, I was thinking about what coffee shop would I go to to have a good cup of coffee," Tarhouni said at a news conference. "I've seen a lot of death this last nine months. ... You see a lot of courage, a lot of pain, a lot of pride."

Tarhouni, 60, was exiled from Libya in the 1970s, after he and other students pressed for greater democracy and reforms, and he told his students that he had been on Gadhafi's hit list for three decades.

He earned a doctorate from Michigan State University in 1983 before coming to the University of Washington's Foster School of Business, where he has taught since 1985. He kept pressing for greater freedoms in Libya, without success, and when the revolution finally came, he said, his wife and children knew he would go.

Tarhouni soon found himself heading the oil and finance ministries in the transitional government, backed by rebels who knew his credentials could bring them added legitimacy in the West. He won credit with journalists by speaking honestly about the difficulties and disorganization the rebels faced in those tumultuous days, and became one of the most visible and internationally respected figures in the transitional government.

He declined to continue serving in the government, though, and criticized the country's new leadership as unrepresentative of the populace ? a government he described as unduly influenced by foreign powers, an apparent reference to meddling by Qatar. But on Tuesday he described it as a good government, and said he would continue working to form a new, broad, democratic political party.

"There's really no manual for building a state from scratch," he said. "What makes it really tough is ? we're hoping, we're dreaming, and I believe strongly we will succeed in building a democratic society ? but there's really no history of democracy in Libya. ... I thought I could serve it better by building this political movement."

It isn't clear whether Tarhouni will return to teaching. His stay in Seattle to see his wife and grown children will last just a week.

Among the most memorable moments of his return to Libya from exile were standing in the capital, Tripoli, and declaring it to be free, as well as holding the hand of a crying, injured 14-year-old supporter of Gadhafi, he said.

"I told him, `You're not my enemy,'" Tarhouni said. "He died three hours later."

He was less saddened by the death of Gadhafi.

"I stood over his corpse the same day he was killed," he said. "I thought of the comrades and friends who died in prison and never saw this day. ... I couldn't believe this ugly corpse did this damage to Libya."

Within 15 seconds of getting back in his car, though, he realized Gadhafi was no longer on his mind. There were other things to think of.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111221/ap_on_re_us/us_libya_leader

district 9 pandaria pandaria artie lange baby lisa irwin baby lisa irwin pearl jam 20

Boxer Mayweather gets 90 jail days in Vegas case

FILE-This Oct. 26, 2011 file photo shows boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. walking into court for his misdemeanor harassment case at the Clark County Regional Justice Center. Officials say Mayweather Jr. will plead guilty in Las Vegas to reduced charges in a plea deal settling felony allegations that he battered his ex-girlfriend and a misdemeanor charge that he poked a security guard. An aide to Clark County District Attorney David Roger confirmed the 34-year-old boxer will enter his pleas Wednesday Dec. 21, 2011 in Las Vegas Justice Court. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, Jeff Scheid, File)

FILE-This Oct. 26, 2011 file photo shows boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. walking into court for his misdemeanor harassment case at the Clark County Regional Justice Center. Officials say Mayweather Jr. will plead guilty in Las Vegas to reduced charges in a plea deal settling felony allegations that he battered his ex-girlfriend and a misdemeanor charge that he poked a security guard. An aide to Clark County District Attorney David Roger confirmed the 34-year-old boxer will enter his pleas Wednesday Dec. 21, 2011 in Las Vegas Justice Court. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, Jeff Scheid, File)

Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, and his attorney, Karen Winckler, listen as he is sentenced in Clark County District Court, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, in Las Vegas. Mayweather was sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to reduced battery domestic violence and harassment charges. The 34-year-old was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service and pay a $2,500 fine. The plea deal avoids trial on felony allegations that he hit his ex-girlfriend and threatened two of their children during an argument at her home in September 2010. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. listens as his attorney speaks on his behalf before sentencing in Clark County District Court, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, in Las Vegas. Mayweather was sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to reduced battery domestic violence and harassment charges. The 34-year-old was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service and pay a $2,500 fine. The plea deal avoids trial on felony allegations that he hit his ex-girlfriend and threatened two of their children during an argument at her home in September 2010. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, has his tie adjusted by his manager Leonard Ellerbe while waiting for sentencing in Clark County District Court, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, in Las Vegas. Mayweather was sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to reduced battery domestic violence and harassment charges. The 34-year-old was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service and pay a $2,500 fine. The plea deal avoids trial on felony allegations that he hit his ex-girlfriend and threatened two of their children during an argument at her home in September 2010. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, comments to his attorney Karen Winckler before being sentence in Clark County District Court, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, in Las Vegas. Mayweather was sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to reduced battery domestic violence and harassment charges. The 34-year-old was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service and pay a $2,500 fine. The plea deal avoids trial on felony allegations that he hit his ex-girlfriend and threatened two of their children during an argument at her home in September 2010. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a perfect 42-0 in the ring and has dodged significant jail time several times in domestic violence cases in Las Vegas and Michigan.

But his courtroom streak came to an end Wednesday when a Las Vegas judge sentenced him to 90 days in jail after he pleaded guilty to a reduced battery domestic violence charge and no contest to two harassment charges.

The case stemmed from a hair-pulling, punching and arm-twisting argument with his ex-girlfriend Josie Harris while two of their children watched in September 2010.

"Punishment is appropriate," Justice of the Peace Melissa Saragosa said after a prosecutor complained that Mayweather has been in trouble before and hasn't faced serious consequences.

"No matter who you are, you have consequences to your actions when they escalate to this level of violence," she said.

Good behavior could knock several weeks off Mayweather's sentence. but he will likely serve most of the sentence set to begin Jan. 6, said Officer Bill Cassell, a Las Vegas police spokesman.

Mayweather and his manager, Leonard Ellerbe, declined comment outside the courtroom.

The jail time raises doubts about a possible showdown between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, a champion fighter from the Philippines against whom Mayweather's welterweight success is usually measured.

A long-awaited fight between the two men regarded as among the best of their generation has been delayed by stalling techniques and verbal sparring.

The two men have a defamation lawsuit pending in Las Vegas federal court stemming from statements by Mayweather that he suspects Pacquiao was taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Mayweather returned in September from a 16-month layoff to continue his undefeated record with a controversial knockout of Victor Ortiz in Las Vegas.

Mayweather's promoters have a May 5 date reserved against an as-yet unnamed opponent at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. But if Mayweather is jailed until the end of March, it could cut into the usual eight-plus weeks he takes to train.

Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, said licenses for all fighters expire on Saturday, and most, including Mayweather, have yet to reapply for next year.

He said Mayweather would be asked on his license application if he was convicted of any misdemeanors or felonies.

Kizer said commissioners would then decide whether to approve or deny his license or hold a hearing to talk about it. The commission has been in contact with prosecutors and Mayweather's lawyers as cases against him have progressed, he said.

"The commissioners are definitely up to speed on it and will be when it comes time to consider any kind of application," he said.

Lee Samuels, a spokesman for Pacquiao's promoter Top Rank and Bob Arum, declined comment on Mayweather's sentencing and its possible effect on a match.

Mayweather, 34, stood still in a striped olive vest and showed no reaction as the judge sentenced him to six months in the Clark County jail then suspended half the term.

She gave him credit for three days previously served in jail and ordered him to complete 100 hours of community service, pay a $2,500 fine and complete a yearlong domestic violence counseling program.

The plea deal avoided trial on felony and misdemeanor that could have gotten Mayweather 34 years in state prison if he was convicted on all counts.

Mayweather also is expected to plead no contest next week to a separate misdemeanor harassment charge involving a 21-year-old homeowner association security guard who was poked in the face during an argument about parking tickets placed on cars outside Mayweather's house.

Mayweather's lawyer, Karen Winckler, said she may appeal what she called the unusual sentence handed down Wednesday.

In court, she called Mayweather "a champion in many areas" and aired a list of his good deeds, including buying toys for children for Christmas and promising to donate $100,000 to breast cancer research by the end of December.

Winckler argued that the public would benefit more if Mayweather performed 100 hours of community service with children.

Mayweather is also on the hook for 40 hours of community service with the Las Vegas Habitat for Humanity Project under a South Carolina federal judge's order for dodging a deposition in a music rights lawsuit.

Mayweather has a Jan. 31 deadline on that court order. Habitat for Humanity official Catherine Barnes said Wednesday that Mayweather had not started to log the hours.

Saragosa said Wednesday she was persuaded to jail Mayweather following his admission that he hit Harris and twisted her arm, and that two of their children, ages 9 and 10, witnessed the attack.

Mayweather threatened to kill or make Harris "disappear," Saragosa said, and their 10-year-old son ran from the house and jumped a back gate to fetch security. Mayweather had taken cellphones belonging to Harris and the two boys.

"Things could have gotten more out of hand than they did," the judge said.

Prosecutor Lisa Luzaich cited three previous domestic violence arrests for scuffles involving Harris, with whom Mayweather has three children, and three cases involving another woman with whom Mayweather has one child.

Fines were of no consequence to Mayweather, Luzaich said.

Mayweather goes by the nickname "Money," and was guaranteed $25 million for the Ortiz fight that won him the WBC's welterweight belt. Mayweather earned more than $20 million in a previous fight against "Sugar" Shane Mosley.

Mayweather has been arrested several times since 2002 in battery and violence cases in Las Vegas and in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Mich.

He was convicted in 2002 of misdemeanor battery stemming from a fight with two women at a Las Vegas nightclub. He received a suspended one-year jail sentence and was ordered to undergo impulse-control counseling.

He was fined in Grand Rapids in February 2005 and ordered to perform community service after pleading no contest to misdemeanor assault and battery for a bar fight.

He was acquitted by a Nevada jury in July 2005 after being accused of hitting and kicking Harris during an argument outside a Las Vegas nightclub.

He was acquitted again in October of misdemeanor allegations that he threatened two homeowner association security guards during a parking ticket argument.

Mayweather also faces a civil lawsuit in Las Vegas from two men who allege he orchestrated a shooting attack on them outside a skating rink in 2009. Police have never accused Mayweather of firing shots and he has never been criminally charged in the case.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-12-21-Mayweather-Felony%20Charges/id-f00651b7887d4adf9b4aaa67b68de5e7

michael myers power outage snow storm snow storm reggie bush ufc 137 boston news

Remains of the Day: Evernote Clearly Comes to Firefox [Video]

You can now use Evernote Clearly with Firefox, T-mobile talks about how they used Carrier IQ, and you can manually update your Kindle Fire's software.

Related Stories

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/MPbhXU_7cEE/remains-of-the-day-evernote-clearly-comes-to-firefox

bérénice marlohe bérénice marlohe google offers tim gunn tim gunn death clock death clock

Instapundit ? Blog Archive ? LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: For Law ...

LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: For Law Schools, A Price To Play The ABA?s Way.

If you want a diploma blessed by the A.B.A. ? and you don?t have rich parents, a plum scholarship or an in-state public law school with lots of taxpayer support ? you are pretty much out of luck. And that is not just a problem for would-be attorneys. The lack of affordable law school options, scholars say, helps explain why so many Americans don?t hire lawyers.

?People like to say there are too many lawyers,? says Prof. Andrew Morriss of the University of Alabama School of Law. ?There are too many lawyers who charge $300 an hour. There aren?t too many lawyers who will handle a divorce at a reasonable rate, or handle a bankruptcy at a reasonable rate. But there is no way to be that lawyer and service $150,000 worth of debt.?

Well, it?s a cartel, and those tend to raise costs.

Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 8:28 am

Source: http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/133672/

vlad the impaler steven tyler michael lohan fiddler on the roof rally squirrel rally squirrel scumbag steve

BLM sued over NV mustang castration, roundup plans (AP)

RENO, Nev. ? A coalition of conservationists and wild-horse activists is suing the government to block its implementation of a precedent-setting plan to castrate hundreds of wild stallions in eastern Nevada.

The lawsuit, filed by the Western Watersheds Project, the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign and the Cloud Foundation, follows the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's decision in July to back off a similar plan to castrate hundreds of wild stallions in Wyoming.

The suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., challenges the BLM's plans to remove roughly 1,800 wild horses from the sprawling Pancake Complex near Ely over the next six to 10 years, and to castrate 200 wild stallions before releasing them back to the area as geldings.

The complaint contends the BLM's "scientifically unsound, controversial, untested and radical approaches" to managing mustangs in the 855,000-acre complex violate federal law, and the agency continues to authorize thousands of sheep and cattle to graze on public lands in the area.

"The BLM has violated the law by failing to analyze impacts of domestic livestock and wild horses," said Jon Marvel, executive director of the Idaho-based Western Watershed Project. "I hope this case ends once and for all BLM's illegal bias in favor of cattle and sheep over wild horses and all other native wildlife."

The BLM in July backed off a similar plan to release hundreds of castrated wild stallions back to the range in Wyoming after the same plaintiffs challenged it in court.

BLM spokeswoman JoLynn Worley said the agency views the pilot project as another way to reduce growing horse herds that are damaging rangelands to the detriment of native wildlife.

"That's one thing people always ask about, when they comment on this, whether we can try to do some birth control on stallions in addition to mares," Worley said. "We want to see if this will be one more way to reduce the number of horses and slow down the population."

The BLM plans to remove horses from the Pancake Complex in phases over the next six to 10 years because it lacks sufficient space in its holding facilities, Worley said. Plans call for a reduction in the complex's horse population from about 2,200 to 370 over that period.

"We don't have enough room in our holding facilities to bring in all of those numbers at once. So we're going to break it down into three to four gathers over six to 10 years to make the reductions," Worley said.

Activists have complained the agency's ongoing mass removal of mustangs from public lands has resulted in the stockpiling of horses in long-term facilities in the Midwest at growing taxpayer expense. Captured horses are put up for adoption, but sent to the government-funded facilities if they attract no owners.

There now are more horses in holding facilities ? 41,000 ? than free-roaming horses in 10 Western states ? 33,000. Over the 2011 fiscal year, holding costs accounted for nearly 50 percent of the BLM wild horse and burro program's $75.8 million budget. About half of the West's wild horses are in Nevada.

"After four decades of mismanagement, it's time to draw a line in the sand," said Ginger Kathrens, executive director of the Colorado-based Cloud Foundation. "The agency's policy of destroying America's wild horse herds for the benefit of the livestock industry must come to an end."

But BLM officials maintain public rangelands are not able to withstand the impacts from overpopulated horse herds, which include soil erosion, sedimentation of streams and damage to wildlife habitat.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111219/ap_on_re_us/us_wild_horses_castration

rudolph the red nosed reindeer adam carolla desean jackson rick neuheisel rick neuheisel festivus festivus