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Name That Baby!: Every Parents Guide to Names

Jane Bradshaw

ToolName That Baby!: Every Parents Guide to Names
Published: 01 August, 1998
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As of: July 09th, 2008 03:53:06 AM
Author: Jane Bradshaw

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Court Orders YouTube to Fork Over Video Logs
A federal judge orders YouTube to disclose who watches which video clips and when to Viacom and other copyright holders involved in a $1 billion copyright-infringement lawsuit against the video-sharing service.<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=8b369b1507215916a6d8fd564391be34" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=8b369b1507215916a6d8fd564391be34" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?a=NTyKTO"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?i=NTyKTO" border="0"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=KmKGLJ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=KmKGLJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=IyzZij"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=IyzZij" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=IgzQOj"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=IgzQOj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=IpHOSJ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=IpHOSJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=WxdL6J"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=WxdL6J" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=IcQ6Hj"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=IcQ6Hj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=XjTpgj"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=XjTpgj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=VPB7cJ"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=VPB7cJ" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/tech/internet/~4/326845209" height="1" width="1"/><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/techbiz/it/~4/326845210" height="1" width="1"/>


ICANN Gets Pwned
Not even ICANN and IANA are safe from domain hijacking. Those pesky Turkish hackers strike again.<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=4c52a8b3899a0c1c9a04390ae1ca58b0" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=4c52a8b3899a0c1c9a04390ae1ca58b0" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?a=PQRA8Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?i=PQRA8Y" border="0"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=lDyfEI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=lDyfEI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=KebV6i"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=KebV6i" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=FjqVgi"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=FjqVgi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=kChkYI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=kChkYI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=FopeHI"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=FopeHI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=P8uRBi"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=P8uRBi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=4d9sGi"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=4d9sGi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=dM00qI"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=dM00qI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/tech/internet/~4/322760270" height="1" width="1"/><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/techbiz/it/~4/322760271" height="1" width="1"/>


New Rules Could Mean Hundreds of New Domains
A relaxation of rules by the internet's oversight agency means that .com and .net may soon be joined by a slew of new domain names. What's behind it? Like most things, money.<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=3b05c048362a7c6341080361087f7fa1" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=3b05c048362a7c6341080361087f7fa1" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?a=lnnydq"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?i=lnnydq" border="0"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=waaRwI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=waaRwI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=Rh2Z4i"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=Rh2Z4i" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=PJzN5i"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=PJzN5i" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=naksnI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=naksnI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=ZJXIUI"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=ZJXIUI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=S9XlQi"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=S9XlQi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=Iyh4qi"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=Iyh4qi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=AVAkrI"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=AVAkrI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/tech/internet/~4/321392312" height="1" width="1"/><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/techbiz/it/~4/321392358" height="1" width="1"/>


Supercomputing Power Hits the Desktop, Minus the Software
<p> The PC industry's two largest graphics companies released new top-of-the-line models this week. The new graphics processors will bring not just better videogame performance, but will also turn ordinary desktop PCs into the equivalent of supercomputers -- if programmers can figure out how to take advantage of the chips' massively parallel architectures. </p> <p> "We're talking about every man, woman and child basically having a supercomputer on their desk," says Jon Peddie, a graphics-industry veteran and president of Jon Peddie Research. </p> <p> AMD, which acquired graphics maker ATI in 2006, released two new chips, the Radeon HD 4850 and the Radeon HD 4870. Nvidia, the other dominant player in the space, unveiled its new GeForce GTX 260 and GeForce GTX 280 processors. </p> <p> According to both companies, the new series of chips feature performance measured in teraflops (that's a trillion floating point operations per second), billions of transistors, hundreds of cores and new architectures that, according to industry analysts, could have a staggering effect on not only <cite>Crysis</cite> frame rates, but also how and what we use our computers for. </p> <p> Indeed, cheap access to such formidable computing power could mean that, over the next few years, we will see an explosion of new independent research along with profound new discoveries, analysts say. Additionally, new consumer applications will be able to draw on the graphics processing unit (GPU) for even more eye-watering special effects and even occasionally useful visual information. </p> <p> "We'll start to get things like real-time mapping from Google that incorporates all manner of real world information," says Bob O'Donnell, an analyst at IDC. "All of this is going to bubble up more and more." </p> <p> As Peddie observes, it was only 11 years ago that the U.S. government spent approximately $33 million to build <a href="http://www.sandia.gov/ASCI/Red/">ASCI Red</a>, one of the first supercomputers to achieve 1 teraflop. The new graphics chips offer similar power to the 1997-era supercomputer for a fraction of the cost. </p> <p> "Now we can go down to Fry's or Best Buy and buy a graphics board that has 1 teraflop of processing power for $600 or less," says Peddie. </p> <p> Getting that processing power to work for the average computer user, however, remains a challenge. </p> <p> With the exception of a few games, most applications still aren't made to take advantage of the GPU's power. That's because GPUs are made for parallel processing (crunching lots of bits of data at the same time, then assembling the results all at once), whereas most current software programs are written to be executed serially (operating on one piece of data at a time, then proceeding to the next step). </p> <p> That is starting change, albeit slowly, thanks to new initiatives designed to spur parallel processing. </p> <p> Just last week, Khronos, the industry consortium behind the OpenGL standard, announced what it calls Open Computing Language, or OpenCL. With this new <a href="http://www.khronos.org/news/press/releases/khronos_launches_heterogeneous_computing_initiative/">heterogeneous computing initiative</a>, the group hopes to come up with a standardized (and universal) way of programming parallel computing tasks. </p> <p> In many ways, it's the Holy Grail developers have been waiting for: a hardware-agnostic standard that unleashes the power of multi-core CPUs and GPUs using a familiar language. </p> <p> Apple is throwing its weight behind parallel processing too, and last week <a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/06/09snowleopard.html">committed to using the OpenCL specification</a> as part of its next operating system release, Snow Leopard. </p> <p> Other companies, including AMD, Nvidia, ARM, Freescale, IBM, Imagination, Nokia, Motorola, Qualcomm, Samsung and Texas Instruments have joined the OpenCL working group. </p> <p> If initiatives like OpenCL gain momentum, the days of researchers applying for grants and traveling across the country to use a given university or research facility's super computer may well be at an end. Similarly, distributed computing projects like Folding@Home and Seti@Home may see an huge boost in performance by using hundreds of thousand of computers equipped with these new powerful processors. </p> <p> Of course, if curing cancer or looking for aliens isn't your thing, we can also be fairly certain that <cite>Crysis</cite> will really scream on any system equipped with these new GPUs. </p><br style="clear: both;"/> <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=fdae43d01c1398ab27e844893b19296b"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=fdae43d01c1398ab27e844893b19296b"/></a> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=fdae43d01c1398ab27e844893b19296b" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?a=d63pLY"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?i=d63pLY" border="0"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=6u1yiI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=6u1yiI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=wyu5Xi"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=wyu5Xi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=yIYwMi"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=yIYwMi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=q6m6qI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=q6m6qI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=5wpoWI"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=5wpoWI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=VFsIfi"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=VFsIfi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=6RIVai"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=6RIVai" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=Lx15FI"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=Lx15FI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/tech/internet/~4/316400663" height="1" width="1"/><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/techbiz/it/~4/316400664" height="1" width="1"/>


Verizon Adds 10 States to 50 MB FiOS Rollout
Verizon customers in 10 more states who have the need for speed get their prayers answered with a FiOS upgrade offering 50 mbps downloads and 20 mbps uploads. Congratulations California, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington -- you get the chance to pay $140 a month for internet.<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=4f112d89d753b03f2b52924c9be28c84" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=4f112d89d753b03f2b52924c9be28c84" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?a=UZ3JKd"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?i=UZ3JKd" border="0"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=cxtlII"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=cxtlII" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=DV0sbi"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=DV0sbi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=89huPi"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=89huPi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=kRXWlI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=kRXWlI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=FzXikI"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=FzXikI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=hipmMi"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=hipmMi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=DoTlti"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=DoTlti" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=efac0I"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=efac0I" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/tech/internet/~4/314630250" height="1" width="1"/><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/techbiz/it/~4/314630251" height="1" width="1"/>


Adobe Q2 Earnings Jump Like an Acrobat, Up 41 Percent
The maker of Photoshop design software and the Acrobat publishing tool reports net income of $214.9 million, or 40 cents per share.<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=89c7c85065a63f58e4fc7bb27707e629" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=89c7c85065a63f58e4fc7bb27707e629" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?a=1JxWaH"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?i=1JxWaH" border="0"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=ofe17I"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=ofe17I" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=Hp18ui"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=Hp18ui" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=OSJj4i"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=OSJj4i" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=DvYUtI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=DvYUtI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=h7PV8I"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=h7PV8I" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=c6z98i"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=c6z98i" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=FChQki"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=FChQki" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=NJiuSI"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=NJiuSI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/tech/internet/~4/313306029" height="1" width="1"/><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/techbiz/it/~4/313306034" height="1" width="1"/>


Yahoo Customers Pan Google Ad Deal
Just one day after Yahoo's announcement of its plan to outsource some of its ad business to Google, marketers say they plan to cut their spending on Yahoo and take their business elsewhere.<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=03dab8b564c98ead29bd031e44a72635" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=03dab8b564c98ead29bd031e44a72635" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?a=6OSuIK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?i=6OSuIK" border="0"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=f3AAkI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=f3AAkI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=75NAHi"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=75NAHi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=sSZKYi"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=sSZKYi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=Uc5dOI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=Uc5dOI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=yvmFiI"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=yvmFiI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=fKAa8i"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=fKAa8i" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=ExZXei"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=ExZXei" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=mkGW2I"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=mkGW2I" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/tech/internet/~4/311916321" height="1" width="1"/><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/techbiz/it/~4/311916322" height="1" width="1"/>


FTC Starts Formal Probe of Intel
The Federal Trade Commission, under new leadership, reverses course and begins a formal investigation of Intel and alleged anti-competitive practices. Intel says it's been cooperating with the FTC for years and that its business practices "are well within U.S. law."<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=20ae77df6afe7ef463e04fb8fe9b2c34" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=20ae77df6afe7ef463e04fb8fe9b2c34" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?a=buut2X"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?i=buut2X" border="0"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=VKFDyI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=VKFDyI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=r4hcvi"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=r4hcvi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=Xg7KNi"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=Xg7KNi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=LxE8SI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=LxE8SI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=XGaDMI"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=XGaDMI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=PY5Rbi"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=PY5Rbi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=gdKV5i"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=gdKV5i" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=pTHP8I"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=pTHP8I" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/tech/internet/~4/306417079" height="1" width="1"/><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/techbiz/it/~4/306417124" height="1" width="1"/>


Intel's Latest Chip Touts Low Price Over High Speed
Intel's Atom processor is so economical that the cost of getting on the internet is suddenly in reach for millions more people, the company says.<br style="clear: both;"/> <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=c37dfc5eb29c88c3053e06782d53fa5d"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=c37dfc5eb29c88c3053e06782d53fa5d"/></a> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=c37dfc5eb29c88c3053e06782d53fa5d" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?a=TF5v5F"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?i=TF5v5F" border="0"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=2BB5MI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=2BB5MI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=WBfkMi"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=WBfkMi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=75fs9i"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=75fs9i" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=xlUNbI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=xlUNbI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=QWXSmI"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=QWXSmI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=589zPi"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=589zPi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=Y3KZai"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=Y3KZai" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=z1rG7I"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=z1rG7I" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/tech/internet/~4/303942217" height="1" width="1"/><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/techbiz/it/~4/303942230" height="1" width="1"/>


Prediction Markets Are Hot, But Here's Why They Can Be So Wrong
<!-- pageType= magazinesmall slug= st_essay section= techbiz subsection= it headline= Prediction Markets Are Hot, But Here's Why They Can Be So Wrong authorName= John McQuaid creditType= photo credit= Mauricio Alejo creditType= photo credit= Mauricio Alejo --> <p><strong>The primary season is</strong> drawing to a close. The general election looms. And that roaring sound in your ears? It's the hurricane of predictions swirling around the process. Some of the forecasts come from self-proclaimed experts, some from polls. Here's another prophecy: This year, you'll also be hearing a lot more from the latest trendy political handicapping tool &mdash; the prediction market.</p> <p>As you've no doubt heard, prediction markets are online trading sites that let people buy and sell shares tied to, among myriad other things, the fortunes of candidates and parties. The price of these shares, in turn, reveals which candidates are most likely to win in a real election. For the 2008 political season, <cite>The Wall Street Journal</cite>, <cite>CNN</cite>, and the <cite>National Journal</cite> have all started running their own trading sites. These join the ranks of established political markets such as Intrade, founded in 1999, and the venerable Iowa Electronic Markets, launched in 1988.</p> <p>Prediction markets can be spookily accurate. The Iowa Electronic Markets, for example, has proven more accurate than the polls at least 75 percent of the time since its inception. But like the Democrats, prediction markets will come into the 2008 general election battered from a tough primary season. The big blow came in January, when the markets gave Barack Obama a 91 percent chance of beating Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. Clinton won, leaving prediction-market boosters looking every bit as chuckleheaded as the pollsters and 24-hour-news blowhards. "Nobody Knows Anything," <cite>New York Times</cite> columnist Paul Krugman titled a blog post the next day. "But to be more specific, the prediction markets &mdash; which you see, again and again, touted as having some mystical power to aggregate information &mdash; know no more than the conventional wisdom."</p> <p>What went wrong? After all, markets are renowned for picking up on last-minute swings like the one that swept Clinton to victory. That's why they are so useful and why they seem to have cropped up everywhere in the past few years. Corporations from Google to Chrysler are running markets to tap the collective knowledge of employees. There are trading sites for sports, Hollywood, even avian flu. Have we all been led astray?</p> <p>Sort of. Like financial markets, prediction markets are big information processors, distilling the collective wisdom of their traders. But the success of any market depends upon the stakes and the pool of traders. Most prediction markets aren't anywhere near as robust as those they emulate on Wall Street. "They are thin, trading volumes are anemic, and the dollar amounts at risk are pitifully small," market analyst Barry Ritholtz wrote in January. That opens them up to all kinds of problems as information processors. Political markets, for example, have a lot of political junkies but few real insiders or outsiders, so they're not very good at catching something the polls might miss. This is a problem in other markets as well. When Justin Wolfers, a Wharton School economist and leading prediction-market specialist, and two other economists studied Google's employee market, they found that traders tended to make choices similar to those of their pod-mates and neighbors.</p> <p>So how can prediction markets be rectified? For starters, they need to have real stakes. There is some debate about whether this means money (Wolfers suggests it might not be necessary) or something else, like reputation. But cash is definitely the surest way to grease a market. In June 2007, 25 economists signed a letter urging legislators to grant these markets "safe harbor" from Internet gambling regulations, given the sites' value as forecasting tools.</p> <p>Beyond this, it's important to improve the pool of traders. According to economists, this requires a certain alchemy of expertise and stupidity. With more experts and insiders, the markets can get out ahead of conventional wisdom. But forecasting also needs more so-called noise traders, who do business with almost no information. Noise traders boost accuracy by increasing volume and the potential profits of informed traders.</p> <p>Diversity helps, too. If you can get different types of people to play, experts say, not only do you get a bigger pool and more information, but differing random guesses will cancel each other out, leaving real signals to rise above the noise. Plus, if you have a critical mass of investors with a variety of backgrounds, locations, and interests, they are less likely to move as a herd.</p> <p>As the presidential election draws near and the pundits start talking about the magic of prediction markets, pay attention to whether a given market is likely to have a good variety of traders and that they're playing for something meaningful. If not, stay away. Unless, of course, you happen to have some inside information yourself. In that case, by all means jump in and clean up. </p> <p><em>John McQuaid</em> (<a href="mailto:jmcquaid1@gmail.com">jmcquaid1@gmail.com</a>) <em>is coauthor of</em> Path of Destruction: The Devastation of New Orleans and the Coming Age of Superstorms.</p><br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=3baa6f2c6291e83461deab119d2fc113" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=3baa6f2c6291e83461deab119d2fc113" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?a=98sOR4"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/wired/tech/internet?i=98sOR4" border="0"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=jk7EXI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=jk7EXI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=M3zM7i"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=M3zM7i" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=ybcc1i"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=ybcc1i" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?a=clIHtI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/tech/internet?i=clIHtI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=lHwMnI"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=lHwMnI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=TgvF4i"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=TgvF4i" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=4lukPi"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=4lukPi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?a=LNVXnI"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/techbiz/it?i=LNVXnI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/tech/internet/~4/303425435" height="1" width="1"/><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/techbiz/it/~4/303425437" height="1" width="1"/>