From the abstract:

Despite the tremendous growth in the importance and reach of the Web, users unfortunately have little recourse when a Web page fails to load. Web browsers currently provide little feedback on such failures, and typically suggest re-checking the URL or the machine’s network settings. As a result, users are often unable to accurately diagnose Web access problems, and resort to heuristic attempts at resolution, such as haphazardly modifying their settings or simply trying again later. Our system, WebProfiler, leverages end-host cooperation to pool together observations on the success or failure of individual Web accesses from multiple vantage points. These are fed into a simple, collaborative blame attribution algorithm which, as our evaluation on a controlled testbed shows, can accurately diagnose 3.6 times as many failures than would be possible from a single client’s perspective. We present the design of WebProfiler and our prototype implementation, which targets Web failure diagnosis in an enterprise network. We also discuss the additional challenges involved in extending WebProfiler to accommodate clients spread in the wide-area Internet.

Source: Microsoft Research

By Researchers at Google:

Full Text: Query Logs Alone are not Enough
7 pages; PDF.

Abstract:

The practice of guiding a search engine based on query logs observed from the engine’s user population provides large volumes of data but potentially also sacrifices the privacy of the user. In this paper, we ask the following question: Is it possible, given rich instrumented data from a panel and usability study data, to observe complete information without routinely analyzing query logs? What unique benefits to the user could hypothetically be derived from analyzing query logs? We demonstrate that three different modes of collecting data, the field study, the instrumented user panel, and the raw query log, provide complementary sources of data. The query log is the least rich source of data for individual events, but has irreplaceable information for understanding the scope of resources that a search engine needs to provide for the user.

+ EU Warns Google Of Privacy Problems With ‘Street View’ Service

+ Google Names Winners In First Round Of Android Contest

+ Hitwise: Google Again Hits New High; Microsoft & Yahoo Again New Lows

+ Google Updates Earth Imagery & Begins To Blur Faces

+ Twitter Beats (Wow, By 3 Minutes) The USGS With China Earthquake News (via SEL)

+ Powerset Launches Using Wikipedia Data (via SEL)

+ Google Introduces “FriendConnect” Social Widgets For Site Owners (via SEL)

Download Google’s Help Files

Did you ever want to get a help file for Gmail, Google Docs or for Google Desktop so you can print it or save it on your computer? All Google services have help centers that include information about features, tutorials, troubleshooting guides, but you need to find the information in a complicated hierarchy of topics or use the search box.

Fortunately, there’s a way to save all the information related to a Google service: append ?fulldump=1 to the address of a Google help center. This doesn’t work for all Google services, but here’s a list of addresses that dump all the information from a help center (note that the pages are very large and are frequently updated)…

Source: Google Operating System (blog)

+ Live Search’s New Design Goes Live (via SEL)

+ Library launches Spanish ‘InfoLine Chat’ service (Queens Courier)

+ Canada: Commissioner’s office blasts database shutdown (via The Globe and Mail)

+ Oxford University Library Services Chooses MetaLib by Ex Libris (via eContent)

++ Another Googler Leaves for Facebook: Google’s PR Head Departs

++ Yahoo open to further talks with Microsoft: report (via AFP)

“I don’t think it’s over,” IDC analyst Karsten Weide said of Microsoft’s quest to acquire Yahoo. “I think what really happened is Microsoft called Yahoo’s bluff. For now, they are singing the tune, ‘Time is on my side.’” Yahoo announced it had picked July 3 as the date for an annual shareholders meeting, expected to feature fireworks from peeved investors.

+ Yahoo Adds SearchScan Alerts to “Risky” Search Results (via Search Engine Land)

Read About:

+ The launch of the Quaero Research & Development project

+ New clients in Europe and US including the Scottish Government, Virgilio, PricewaterhouseCoopers

+ New offices in Madrid and Rome

+ Interview with CEO, Francois Bourdoncle

Source: Exalead

+ Dow Jones Buys Generate (via Info Today)

+ eBooks: ProQuest Introduces Safari Select for Public Libraries

+ Yahoo Allows Users To Expand/Narrow Results On Map With New Visual Tool (via SEL)

From the article:

A digital treasure trove of information is out there for the taking, but only if students have a means of discovering the way to find it - a search engine that is both academic and user-friendly.

Scores of academic search engines provide a heavyweight alternative to the commercial ones and work against what Brighton University’s professor of media- Tara Brabazon has termed “the Google effect” - a tendency towards mediocrity.

Source: EducationGuardian.co.uk

From a hakia blog post:

We are happy to announce that hakia.com received a 2008 Webware 100 award for “Search and Reference” by Webware, a CNET site. We thank you for your support and votes!

The 2008 Webware 100 awards recognize the best Web 2.0. sites, services and applications. The Web 2.0 user community cast nearly two million votes in an online voting poll which ultimately selected the winners. Finalists for the 2008 Webware 100 Awards were selected by the editors of Webware.

Search with hakia

From the article abstract:

If many aspects of a perfect management sys-tem for e-journals still have to be defined, this is more than true in the case of e-books. E-books are new and the immaturity of existing models is even greater. This lack of maturity is evident in the integration of e-books in MetaLib and SFX. The limitations of SFX for the administration of the ISBN restrict the functionalities of this link technology. On the other hand the interoperability of the portals of e-books leaves much to be desired.

Source: Igelu Newsletter (via e-LIS)

+ Yahoo Including Facebook Profile Images In Search Results (via SEL)

+ Google Yet To Make Headway On Cookies Pledge In Privacy Debate (via SEL)

+ OCLC Worldcat Passes 100 million Bibliographic Entry Mark
At the moment, the total is is 100,017,500 bib records.

+ Google sued over advertising program (via News.com)
See Also: Full Text of Complaint
12 pages; PDF.

From the article:

The Menlo Park startup is one of several companies helping control what pops up on search engines in a new and growing field called online reputation management.

“Search engines tell a story about a person, and if they aren’t careful, they may tell the wrong story,” says Eric Goldman, assistant professor and director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law.

Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal
Thanks to Pete W.

+ Google Maps Now Offers Traffic Predictions (via SEL)

+ Google News Makes Quotes More Discoverable (via SEL)